logos redux

St. Peter famously observed that St. Paul’s writings contained many things “that are hard to understand.” Yet twenty centuries of Christians (ordinary people and clergy) have nevertheless assumed the right and responsibility of interpreting Paul for themselves, without Paul’s help. God expects us to act as though we, the audience, have access to Paul’s meaning, even though we are not Paul himself. The same is true of less authoritative figures, like politicians and public speakers…

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“My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs)—or to ‘unconstitutional Monarchy.’ I would arrest anybody who uses the word State (in any sense other than the inanimate realm of England and its inhabitants, a thing that has neither power, rights not mind); and after a chance of recantation, execute them if they remained obstinate! If we could get back to personal names, it would do a lot of good. Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people. If people were in the habit of referring to ‘King George’s council, Winston and his gang,’ it would go a long way to clearing thought, and reducing the frightful landslide into Theyocacy. Anyway the proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints… is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity. The mediaevals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 63-64

Via Mark Horne, hornes.org/mark

“As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X…. What I want to do is look up C…. I call him the Forgotten Man…He is the man who is never thought of. He works, he votes—generally he prays—but he always pays.”

William Graham Sumner, The Forgotten Man

“The principles in the Bible include the idea that governing authorities are responsible to God for their actions…The government officials must work for justice, not for their own private gain or in order to favor some individuals or groups…Moreover, a subsidy for one particular kind of work [e.g., musicians, artists, inventors, and their distributors] favors this kind of work in comparison with others. It is favoritism toward some. The Bible forbids favoritism or partiality in the government because it is unjust: ‘You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, … Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, …’ (Deuteronomy 16:19-20)…Restrictions on copying amount to a subsidy for certain kinds of intellectual work. That involves partiality, and is unjust.”

Vern Poythress, “Copyrights and Copying: Why the Laws Should be Changed“

Personally, I find it irresponsible that institutions everywhere (including my school) are not only offering, but encouraging everyone to get the vaccine. And if you work in the medical field in NYC you don’t have a choice. This whole thing smacks of a very good way to ingratiate yourself to a field that you’d really like to have behind you on a huge piece of policy that’s coming down the pike. Hmm, I wonder what that could be?

HT: Mark Horne

“The corporation[s] [e.g., the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America] [have] been clever enough and unscrupulous enough to get lawmakers to make laws forcing manufacturers to make their machines in ways that restrict access and copying. Propaganda will say that all this is a good thing, because we are thereby respecting intellectual property ‘rights.’ In my opinion, both the so-called ‘property’ and the so-called ‘rights’ have been created out of thin air to conceal the actual situation, namely that the government is using bad laws to subsidize monopolists.”

Vern Poythress, “Copyrights and Copying: Why the Laws Should be Changed“

In the spirit of the Life Chain protest, and in the spirit of the Church’s witness against evil, both of which you can read about here, here are ten woes against the nation that harbors and protects abortionists and their clients…

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