The message of Christianity must ring out clearly in the modern tumult

 

Cornelius Van Til (1895 - 1987)

 

If Christianity is to be heard above the din and noise of modern irrationalism and existentialism, it must think in terms of its own basic categories. If it has to import some of its materials from the enemy, it cannot expect effectively to conquer the enemy. It is the Christian Faith that alone has the truth; this should be its claim. It should be made with all modesty; those who have accepted it once were blind. They have been saved by grace. Little would it behoove them to regard themselves as the source of wisdom. But disclaiming themselves as the source of wisdom, they cannot make apology for God and for Christ the Son of God. If men would be saved, if they would save their culture as well as themselves, they must meet the requirements of God. There is no other way to truth. “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that the world by its wisdom knew not God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe” ( 1 Cor. 1:20–21)

Cornelius Van Til, A Christian Theory of Knowledge (pp. 23-4)

An Encounter with the Virgin at Lourdes

 

Such surrender could bring sufferers close to death. Before her cure, Blanche Meurat said that her body was shivering and cracking until she met the Virgin:

‘Good Saint Mary, if I am still useful on earth, cure me, since I am your child, and if I am not useful, take me! I am yours.’ Then turning my eyes towards Our Good Mother of Heaven, I saw her smiling and repeating to me, three times, ‘Leave! My child! Do not hesitate, you are indeed cured,’ and, as I still hesitated, an invincible force that I cannot describe pushed me powerfully out of my stretcher from which I stepped.

It is not clear if she was referring to the statue in the Grotto or to a vision, nor does she say how she interpreted the smile—as forgiveness, reassurance, encouragement or a combination of all these qualities. She none the less emphasized the sense of presence, both close and authoritative, which physically moved her off her stretcher, to the astonishment of those looking on.

Meurat’s account of what she saw, heard and felt shows how she tried to give voice to the relationship between her imaginative encounter with the Virgin and the way it was translated into physical action. It provides a perfect example of the way the ‘self’—a totality of imagination, sensation, posture and bodily motion—was reoriented through an existential process that depended entirely on a belief in the presence of the Virgin and the maternal force associated with her. The encounter was so powerful precisely because it contrasted her finite humanity and its bodily limitations with a sense of the infinite and its supernatural possibility. This conception was not Cartesian; it preferred a vision of human wholeness and rejected the restrictions of mentalist preoccupations—cogito ergo sum—that favored mind over body and thought over being, in favour of a unified conception of the self. The process could not be explained by reference to a precise physiological or psychological mechanism; rather the undefined nature of the transformation within the ‘self’ gave it unimagined strength.

Ruth Harris, Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age (pp. 310-11)    

How have we gotten here? Mass Formation Psychosis

Bridge over the Washougal River in Washington State (Photo: Leslie Butler)

 

Clark County Today Administrator Heidi Wetzler shares clinical psychology professor Mattias Desmet’s theory about the societal conditions under which a population ends up willingly sacrificing their freedom: 

I received the following comment recently from a reader in Africa, on a column I wrote a while back regarding natural immunity. It captures the essence of my daily inner dialogue. 

“Arguments from privileged countries. We in Africa have little access to vaccines, boosters, etc. The question we should be asking is, how is Africa managing? You people have already caused mayhem over Omicron. Our good doctors from South Africa have told us not to panic, but the rest of the world is in the highest panic mode yet … your countries’ have over 70% vaccinated, boosted etc. You should be at peace … you will die of fear.”

Continue reading: Opinion: How have we gotten here? Mass Formation Psychosis, explained https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-how-have-we-gotten-here-mass-formation-psychosis-explained/

Watch: WHY DO SO MANY STILL BUY INTO THE NARRATIVE? https://youtu.be/uLDpZ8daIVM