Christianity for Modern Pagans, ch. 6: Vanity of Human Justice.

Ambrose Bierce: A conservative is one enamored of existing evils; a liberal wants to replace them with new ones.

Kreeft: “We don’t want to believe that the evils of our age are only another version of perennial injustice. We want to believe that either they are far worse than those of the past or far lighter. If we believe they are worse, the past becomes our Utopia; if they are lighter, the future does.”

I have been trying to articulate this thought and related ideas for lo these many years. We do not live in the best of times, nor the worst of times. There are things from the past that it would be good to bring back: simplicity, family closeness, extended family networks, a joy in work, a rhythm of work and recreation. But other aspects of the (agrarian) past are abhorrent: lack of medical care, work so hard that it drove many to an early grave, a single dependence on the land and the weather that saw families starve or lose their livelihood in a bad year, harsh discipline of children, lack of educational opportunities.

As for the future, I do not believe that every day, in every way, we are getting better and better, nor do I hold to a post-millennial view of history which says that we Christians, as we conform to the image of Christ, are busily ushering in the reign of Christ on this earth. I’m not a premillennialist either, seeing everything getting worse and worse, descending into chaos and judgement. No, rather I believe that this world will end in God’s time, either with a bang or a whimper, and then Our Lord Jesus Christ will reign over a new heaven and a new earth forever and ever. Amen.

Pascal: “When everything is moving at once, nothing appears to be moving, as on board ship. When everyone is moving toward depravity, no one seems to be moving, but if someone stops, he shows up the others who are rushing on, by acting as a fixed point.”

The Fixed Point is Christ Himself. I can judge my life and ethics by the life and ethics of Jesus. However, I also become something of a “fixed point” as I follow and conform myself to him. In this, I will be seen as a dangerous reactionary by some and a religious fanatic by others, but as closely as I follow Jesus, I will be less and less changeable and more and more a stable point of reference. Again may it be so.