tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151851613935522073.post4622943523491287548..comments2023-05-06T02:34:03.026-07:00Comments on Chronicles of Atlantis: How Would We Know?Athoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09158421880497827083noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151851613935522073.post-4253621373520244702007-10-09T17:30:00.000-07:002007-10-09T17:30:00.000-07:00We can achieve victory only by passing through the...We can achieve victory only by passing through the fire of self-sacrifice. What that fire will look like, I cannot say. Perhaps it will be the aftermath of an ill-starred attack upon Iran. Perhaps it will me a nuclear attack. Perhaps it will will be a total financial and economic collapse brought on by our current drive for empire.<BR/><BR/>Only by accepting the Cross when it is offered to us can we pass through defeat unto victory. Only by sacrificing ourselves can we save what is dear to us. All other paths lead to Nemesis.Danbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00627270393248813976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151851613935522073.post-37134374694310971012007-10-09T15:05:00.000-07:002007-10-09T15:05:00.000-07:00For the record, Mark Shea posted:Interesting thoug...For the record, <A HREF="http://www.markshea.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html#5891668761219404063" REL="nofollow">Mark Shea posted</A>:<BR/><BR/><EM>Interesting thought puzzle for those attempting to think Christianly about how we should conduct ourselves in the world. I'm not sure of the positive side of the question. As to Isildur's Bane, I think the answer is obvious: the temptation to commit intrinsically immoral acts in order to get what we want or protect us from the evil we fear appears to be the great temptation of our culture.</EM>Athoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09158421880497827083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7151851613935522073.post-25152131031606543502007-10-09T14:08:00.000-07:002007-10-09T14:08:00.000-07:00Athos,The question you raise here is so important ...Athos,<BR/><BR/>The question you raise here is so important that I've been reluctant to respond until my thinking on it is a bit clearer. I'm still not there, but I wanted to say something provisionally. It may well be that we cannot identify a goal or define a victory that stands apart from the responsibility of each of us to be faithful stewards. Our friend Gil Bailie once said, “Western culture’s historical confidence and cultural resourcefulness is deeply indebted to Christianity’s eschatological hope, the glow of Easter on the horizon of history.” Well, the light is dying now, and we stand on the threshold of a great darkness. It is impossible for us to know what may lie in the midst of that darkness, much less what awaits humanity on the other side, but ultimately that not our business. To win victories in the darkness we would have to enter the darkness, where no victory is possible. As Christians, our eyes are fixed upon that glow on the horizon; its light is carried in our hearts and spread through lives of faithful service. What goals we may attain and what victories we may wrest will be defined only by the presence of that light in each of our lives and, therefore, in an otherwise benighted world.Mark Gordonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03370958932767047313noreply@blogger.com