Bite 2 of this elephant.....

Cumes conclusion. (and his glaring weakness)

"That creed (to which he feels we must subscribe) is that we should join with others ...and should transfer our narcissistic self to no other institution than one that embraces us all."

James... dude.. HELLOOOOOO.. this kind of thinking is good for Lygon street cafes and Journalists/Arts majors engaging in mutual warm fuzzies and self congratulation, but unfortunately, it has emerged out of the intellectual and moral vacuum created by the 'Death of God' and our friend Mr Neitche. Post modernism is simply the 'shotgun' approach to truth, everyone has his little bit and they all go in different directions.

This produces a debilitated, crippled society where "each man does what is right in his own eyes", unless of course he is busted by the drug squad etc.

A much bigger problem for this weakened, suicidal, morally bankrupt society, is that NOT EVERY CULTURE SHARES THIS VIEW. Specially those who believe that they have a Holy Book which is above reproach AND.. (more importantly) justifies them expanding their belief system by violence and war. Not only that, but that version of truth encompasses the whole of society and government. There is no discussion of 'State and Church' as in Islam, they are one.

Christian foundations are both our weakness and our strength. We have the freedom to either accept or reject the Gospel. It is by nature an 'offer'. "I stand at the door and knock, to him who opens, I will come in" said Jesus.

Unfortunately, too many of us have a 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on our doors.

Does Dr Cumes really, seriously believe that those under the Quran will ever listen to his views ? Does he know these people exist? Does he watch SBS ? "The world and all that is in it belongs to Allah and His messenger" is the mantra of that group.

We have a different message. "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Jesus)

Australia has 0.3% of the world's population and yet we carry on as if we are the greatest place on earth.

Why is that? Because we are actually whining, insecure prats who like to blame anyone but ourselves and our "friends".

What we also forget is that most of the world's population are different to us.

BOAZ: Did you read my comments on Nietzsche though? If you had, you would notice that a) Nietzsche didn't cause the death of God (he was largely engaging in social commentary), and b) he was concerned about a post-Christian moral vacuum. Nietzsche would have been just as concerned as anyone else with post-modernism.

The scene with the tightrope walker involves the following: the tightrope walker is trying to walk between two towers and a jester comes out and overtakes him, and then the tightrope walker loses his nerve and falls to his own death. This symbolism represents (modern) man trying to walk between the animal and the superman, and losing his philosophical nerve or belief system (in this case his belief in Christianity), yet being unable to replace it with something that will allow him to go on to reach a higher self (the other tower of the superman), hence his demise.

That’s right Marilyn, we really are in a privileged minority –

"If we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

The village would have 60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 from the USA and Canada, and 1 from the South Pacific

51 would be male, 49 would be female

82 would be non-white; 18 white

67 would be non-Christian; 33 would be Christian

80 would live in substandard housing

67 would be unable to read

50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation

33 would be without access to a safe water supply

39 would lack access to improved sanitation

24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76 that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)

7 people would have access to the Internet

1 would have a college education

1 would have HIV

2 would be near birth; 1 near death

5 would control 32% of the entire world’s wealth; all 5 would be US citizens

33 would be receiving --and attempting to live on-- only 3% of the income of “the village” "

An expanded interpretation of this comparision can be found at -
http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/pm_globalvillage.html

In reality, I guess that not many people really care what we think about ourselves or anybody else.

Interesting posts wobble.

I simply cannot understand the reason that people who clearly hate Australia, Australian people, and Australian values, continue to live in this wonderful country.

I have only been overseas twice - for holidays. On both occasions, I read about the countries, their histories, culture and customs before I embarked on my holiday. I made sure that I knew the laws of the land. I made sure that I met locals in order to further understand the laws of their land. Not difficult really. Just respectful.

Cheers
Kay

Dear Shorbe... agreed...and that is exactly my point. We HAVE fallen, we are spiralling out of control down toward what we wish is a net, but it's not there.

Most folk advocating humanistic approaches to life miss this crucial point.
Jesus said something along these lines (a parable) Luke 11:

"24 The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says,'I will turn back to my house from which I came out.'

25 When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.

26 Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

I can only observe our society and conclude that we are not just heading towards, but have already arrived at that 'last state'.
Why ? well, a lot of our 'Christianity' has been, and is, very nominal, cultural. We made a show of getting rid of the 'unclean spirits' and had a facade of Christian living, but inside we were empty, many have not embraced the life in the Spirit which would replace the 'old life'. There has just been a bit of a 'tidy up'......

Then, lacking in a secure foundation, we are vulnerable to the very things we sought to rid ourselves of with a shallow Christianity, and the old life comes back, as 7 storm troopers, blitzkreiging our sensibilities, and leading us down a 7fold worse path.

I've mentioned in my very first post some 'litmus' tests or indicators of this.
This post might seem a bit apocalyptic, but just as Neitzche used imagery, I'm referring to our Lords parables.

I hope we will all not just 'tidy the house' but replace the previous unclean guest by inviting the Holy One knocking at our door to enter in, and abide with us.