The Aeneid Recommendations
The talk around the country is the release of the Iraq Study Group Report, and its recommendations regarding U.S. involvement in Iraq. I got the gist of what they were saying, and certainly all good American Catholicists will have their opinion about what it says and what we should do.
Does it recommend what Rome did? If I'm not mistaken, I believe Rome conquered a territory by rounding up all the king's lieutenants and executing every one. Every single one of them. They then brought the king to Caesar's rostrum for all to see, and dropped him to the floor where Caesar placed his foot on his neck and asked him a simple question.
"Are you with me, or your former country?"
If he answered "Caesar," he was allowed to live. If he answered the latter, he too was executed.
Saddam Hussein has already made his choice. Why is contemporary Rome allowing all of his lieutenants to run around fomenting what everyone now concedes is a civil war? Certainly at the beginning of this endeavor the U.S. neutralized all the Baathist elements, right? The fact is, if Rome would do what Rome should do, it would be utterly merciless and take out any and all the leaders of militias and insurgent groups alike. Problem solved.
Do I condone such a strategy? Of course not. The Kingdom to which I belong is not of this World. I have nothing to say one way or the other. What I do here is watch and see what is happening in that World, and I view it through the lens of Scripture. I do that because I simply want to offer a take for people who may actually have a desire to do the same.
The idea here is that Rome should be so condemnatory that people come to Christ, the only escape from such a body of death. What I see is the U.S. pussy-footing around, trying to be "Christian" and negotiate and be diplomatic-- a pusillanimity that, if I remember correctly, did in the original Roman Empire.
But that's just it. It doesn't make sense. Are they doing all this just to play dumb? Is George Bush just that stupid? Or is he merely carrying through the Jesuitic designs he's assigned to implement? Is then the ultimate result then to keep the ministry of condemnation looking like the World's version of Christianity-- that's the Catholicist Nation-- and keeping millions from Christ and in this gargantuous crusading God club?
I'm sure very few people noticed, but The Aeneid briefly made the LA Times bestseller list, hitting No. 12 the last week of November. The reason is that it is a new translation of the revered ode to Romanist conduct. Much of Virgil's work is about the interaction of the characters with the gods who govern what happens to them. Ingratiation with the proper gods means success, if those gods can deftly exploit the antipathy of the rival gods.
How many gods do Catholicists today work valiantly to appease at the price of what others' gods want? How confident were the Iraq Study Group people to proclaim that their way was the way we all should follow. These people are truly gods to Catholicists who rely on them to guide their thought and behavior.
It's all war. Even in the plea to end war is war. Unending war of spiritual and emotional violence if not physical. Even in the debate about what should be done in Iraq is war, and people like it. Hey, the first line of The Aeneid is "I sing of war and of the man of war."
It is quite interesting reading the Times review of Robert Fagles' translation. It is by renowned historical chronicler Thomas Cahill, and at one point he says, "[Fagles'] language is always our language, spoken as any one of us might speak if the spirit of Virgil came to possess us." The fact is, the spirit of Virgil does possess every intractable Catholicist-- I see how Cahill speaks so glowingly of the translation. Furthermore, he quotes Fagles in his postscript "pointing to 'the price of empire' as a lesson for our time and by asserting that Virgil 'may speak, from a distance that seems to narrow every year, to our own history as well.'"
No kidding. The U.S. is so plainly the legacy of Cain it isn't funny. So many singing of war-- they can't get enough of it.
Hey, what am I to say. I can only trust in the God who offers authentic peace. That is the challenge I have now: Watching this stuff happen and just trusting that He has it all within His purposes. Indeed I can't figure out much of it. In many ways it doesn't make sense. I only say this because I too having been Catholicist, I thought I had to have my god all lined up with my beliefs so I could gird my own little altar of control.
But to accept that His matters are too great for me is part of understanding Him. That's what He wants, that's what He says. He just wants us to know and understand Him.
So then...
Who is He? I'm not going to try to tell you, I find I can too often mess that up. Want to get it right? Just go to the links column there to the right and click "Scripture." Read what it says. Pray that you'd know Him. He'll tell you.
For an idea of who some of the "gods" of the Catholicist Nation are, go here.
Does it recommend what Rome did? If I'm not mistaken, I believe Rome conquered a territory by rounding up all the king's lieutenants and executing every one. Every single one of them. They then brought the king to Caesar's rostrum for all to see, and dropped him to the floor where Caesar placed his foot on his neck and asked him a simple question.
"Are you with me, or your former country?"
If he answered "Caesar," he was allowed to live. If he answered the latter, he too was executed.
Saddam Hussein has already made his choice. Why is contemporary Rome allowing all of his lieutenants to run around fomenting what everyone now concedes is a civil war? Certainly at the beginning of this endeavor the U.S. neutralized all the Baathist elements, right? The fact is, if Rome would do what Rome should do, it would be utterly merciless and take out any and all the leaders of militias and insurgent groups alike. Problem solved.
Do I condone such a strategy? Of course not. The Kingdom to which I belong is not of this World. I have nothing to say one way or the other. What I do here is watch and see what is happening in that World, and I view it through the lens of Scripture. I do that because I simply want to offer a take for people who may actually have a desire to do the same.
The idea here is that Rome should be so condemnatory that people come to Christ, the only escape from such a body of death. What I see is the U.S. pussy-footing around, trying to be "Christian" and negotiate and be diplomatic-- a pusillanimity that, if I remember correctly, did in the original Roman Empire.
But that's just it. It doesn't make sense. Are they doing all this just to play dumb? Is George Bush just that stupid? Or is he merely carrying through the Jesuitic designs he's assigned to implement? Is then the ultimate result then to keep the ministry of condemnation looking like the World's version of Christianity-- that's the Catholicist Nation-- and keeping millions from Christ and in this gargantuous crusading God club?
I'm sure very few people noticed, but The Aeneid briefly made the LA Times bestseller list, hitting No. 12 the last week of November. The reason is that it is a new translation of the revered ode to Romanist conduct. Much of Virgil's work is about the interaction of the characters with the gods who govern what happens to them. Ingratiation with the proper gods means success, if those gods can deftly exploit the antipathy of the rival gods.
How many gods do Catholicists today work valiantly to appease at the price of what others' gods want? How confident were the Iraq Study Group people to proclaim that their way was the way we all should follow. These people are truly gods to Catholicists who rely on them to guide their thought and behavior.
It's all war. Even in the plea to end war is war. Unending war of spiritual and emotional violence if not physical. Even in the debate about what should be done in Iraq is war, and people like it. Hey, the first line of The Aeneid is "I sing of war and of the man of war."
It is quite interesting reading the Times review of Robert Fagles' translation. It is by renowned historical chronicler Thomas Cahill, and at one point he says, "[Fagles'] language is always our language, spoken as any one of us might speak if the spirit of Virgil came to possess us." The fact is, the spirit of Virgil does possess every intractable Catholicist-- I see how Cahill speaks so glowingly of the translation. Furthermore, he quotes Fagles in his postscript "pointing to 'the price of empire' as a lesson for our time and by asserting that Virgil 'may speak, from a distance that seems to narrow every year, to our own history as well.'"
No kidding. The U.S. is so plainly the legacy of Cain it isn't funny. So many singing of war-- they can't get enough of it.
Hey, what am I to say. I can only trust in the God who offers authentic peace. That is the challenge I have now: Watching this stuff happen and just trusting that He has it all within His purposes. Indeed I can't figure out much of it. In many ways it doesn't make sense. I only say this because I too having been Catholicist, I thought I had to have my god all lined up with my beliefs so I could gird my own little altar of control.
But to accept that His matters are too great for me is part of understanding Him. That's what He wants, that's what He says. He just wants us to know and understand Him.
So then...
Who is He? I'm not going to try to tell you, I find I can too often mess that up. Want to get it right? Just go to the links column there to the right and click "Scripture." Read what it says. Pray that you'd know Him. He'll tell you.
For an idea of who some of the "gods" of the Catholicist Nation are, go here.
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