Superiority Of Western Culture: Example #2

In a comment to one of my posts, a person took issue with my linking to La Shawn Barber because, this person said, Ms. Barber is anti-Catholic. Immediately I comb [...]

Maybe what actus was trying to say is that the “Islamic extremists” who resort to violence to threaten the women may not be representative of that particular cultural milieu.

Also, on a related point, I am not sure what this proves. What do we mean by “superiority” of Western culture?

Western culture, and all other cultures for that matter, throughout history has exhibited biased, myopic, prejudiced and misinformed traditions/legacies/practices and the fact that the current manifestations of some form of “western” culture has desirable traits does not mean that on the whole it is “superior.” But, of course, that is your opinion, and you have a right to express it. I am just expressing my doubt that is all.

Have a great day!

From God’s perspective, we are taught that there is now only one way to heavean, which is thru Jesus. The “Before Christ” modus being faithfulness to God’s laws and the requirement for sacrifices, then any other way is going to come up short. In the first example, we have Cain & Abel: Abel offered his fatted firstlings as a sacrifice that was pleasing to God, while his brother grudgingly offered an “inferior” sacrifice from his harvest. Not because of the matter of it, as some have thought; but because it was not offered in faith and sincerity, but in a formal and hypocritical manner, without any regard to the Messiah and his sacrifice, and without any view to the glory of God. No notice was taken, no approbation was given of it by the above token, or any other; so that it was manifest to Cain himself, that God did not approve of it, or was well pleased with it, as with his brother’s.

From Satan’s POV, his overarching goal is to separate mankind from God’s love and grace by any means necessary, to include false religions. Therefore, even a religion of peace, while “morally good” here on earth will still have the net effect of condemning a person to eternal separation from God. For Satan, Buddhism or relativist Christianity is just as good as Hinduism which constrains humans to a caste system or Islam which claims to trump Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. For that matter, secular faiths, such as atheism, fascism and communism are just another spiritual tool to send people to hell. In the case of the Middle East, Satan simply cannot abide the thot that people might have the freedom to choose whom they might serve. This is the threat of democracy, to unlock Satan’s death grip upon millions upon millions of people. In that sense, it is only logical for the false prophets to encourage the intimidation and persecution of those that might be tempted to modernize Islam.

Actus: whether you believe in the Biblical plan of salvation or not is irrelevant to this issue; however your assertion of fascism being a part of Western Civilization “traditions” is idiotic. A part of our collective history, yes; tradition, most definitely not!!! If anything, fascism was a impediment to the advancement of WC, which we beat back in WWII. Furthermore, Nazism in the guise of Christianity and shades of Buddhism is morally equilavent to Baathism cloaked in Islamic rhetoric. If we stick with the notion that Islam is a religion of peace, then Baathism and Wahhabism are the modern day blight upon Islam. The fact that mainstream Muslims haven’t really been jumping front and center to denounce it is telling, as much as many “christians” leaders (modern day WCC & NCC for instance) didn’t condemn the Nazis or the Soviets in their time.

Bush is right when he says freedom is a gift from God, just as our forefathers asserted that we are all created with unalienable rights, and if no one else is willing to step up, then we have to go it alone. How can anyone freely find God’s truth if they are forced to submit to a single ideology? As Christians, we are indeed our brother’s keeper to the point that we must exert ourselves to influence our government to intervene whenever and wherever for the sake of oppressed peoples around the world. Afghanistan and Iraq is perhaps the starting point for this iteration of being our brother’s keeper. sKerry, on the other hand would just as soon ignore the world by invoking a higher do-nothing authjority, the UN in order to maintain the illusion of peace in our time. The real question is whether the American majority will chose to be their brother’s keeper or not in 04 & 08.

Good grief, I looked at how I just posted…I thought I was rereading before I posted. Sorry about that.

This country is the greatest for freedoms and I pray we hold on to our decent moral values. Bless you LaShawn, bless you.

Its typical of these islamic monsters to resort to such tactic they are rank cowards who hide behind their hoods and masks they dont have the guts to face any of their fellow arabs for fear that they would probably get their head cut off.

Yes dear lady, yes…Dean is my son. He has been a wonderful son throughout my life. We really went through some rough times and he has always been respectful to me as well as his brother that protects our country under the umbrella of Homeland Security. The son I was reunited with lives in Washington state and so does my daughter.

I do not have CNN but following the links The Black Republican gave me tonight at 8:00 there is an interview about this country being divided on immigration.

I can not tell you how deeply I feel about this subject. I love the mexican people. My very best friends were mexican people I grrew up with. My hometown as well as Deaan’s is, El Paso, Texas. I spent 23, 24 years of my life there so of course I love the rich traditions and honor the many many fine people that are Mexican American’s that serve our country in a state and government office’s around this country.

I wish I had cable so I could see it tonight. My son loves Michelle Malkin, and of course his band of brother’s serving here around and throughout our soil. I can tell you as his Mother I go to bed at night in deep prayer to keep a watch over my youngest son. He gives his whole heart and soul to his job. He followed in his Dad’s footsteps. His Dad was Assistant Director of Immigration and worked himself up to that position from the Border Patrol. My kid kinda got a lot of joshin’ since he had a Dad that did tremendous work. My son in no time made his own way and he is not called, Jr. anymore! He is just himself. He does have a heart for Jesus La Shawn.

This is a cute story and off completely from your post…maybe not tho’, because I am free to write this because of the brave and wonderful women that gave that right to me, my own daddy fought in WWII.

Anyway, my kid (ha…going to be 30 in Dec!) wore a little bead bracelet that I know you and your readers are very familiar with…WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? The bracelet had, WWJD in initials and then beads. I had given him a sterling siver necklace with the charm hanging on it that many police officers and firemen and gov’t people in law enforcement. It is, St. Michael, the patriot saint for protection. Many of his band of brothers all over this land wear it. I have a deep rich heritage in the Catholics even tho I am a simple christian following Jesus.

My son goes into work one day wearing his bracelet. He never gave it a thought, it is just a part of his belief. His supervisor came up to him and asked him what that bracelet stood for. My son smiled and said, “Oh, that means, What would Jesus do in any given situation.” His supervisor looked at him and said, “You can’t wear that since you are wearing your Border Patrol uniform!” My kid was stunned to say the least but he came back with a firm and respectful tone. “Sir, I see you are wearing a nice gold chain with the, Italian Horn hanging on it. Does that also fall under the category of not being able to wear something since both you and I wear the same uniform?” His supervisor started to mumble and then my son responded, “I didn’t think so sir, but if I’m wrong you be sure to note it on my evaluation sheet.”

Geez…lil’ fella could got in some trouble, guess he can take care of himself. I just wanted my boys to stay little and even tho’ I would get their little heads and try to squish them down…they just went on up and grew into their own.

Thank you sweetheart and I will be back, Dean has bugged me forever to get my own blog. Trouble is, I use my laptop like a typewriter. I did know a lot of things but somethings happened and my memory of things Dean so patiently helped me with are gone. I am trying to get the Video Professor because tech. books and even sometimes the dummy books are hard for me and now I also know it is because of my rhumatoid arth/lupus disease and these awful strong drugs keeping me feom crippling. But you and me know Jesus is right here with me and my, Mr. Pips!

Go over to Dean’s World today under manuiplation…I’m there. I was a steady for about two years but can’t be anymore. Just a few people knew I was his Mom because in the beginning we wanted it that way. People can put two and two together and see our similar styles and lingo. He really is a nut, a goofball, a sweetheart, a grouch…but he’s me blood and belongs to his wife now….Phew!

Even tho’ I strayed off the topic I feel very bad for what is going on in Bagdad. This country is bringing our culture over there and it is extremely hard for those that have lived a certain way all their lives. Part of me wanted to go get Saddam and part of me did not. It is scarey because we need defending here on our soil.

I am so happy we helped the many thousands of Iraq people and know the women were living a terribly rough life. This is terrible news La Shawn, it really is and I give you tremendous credit for standing firm on your views and even the respect you have for your christian heritage. I don’t know how I would feel if I lived most of my life under that mad man and I can not imagine how conflicted those women are. I don’t like to read or watch the television anymore. I just frequent a few blogs and I am not interested in that much anymore either.

I do read Michelle Malkin almost daily but mostly I am as so many others, trying to do my best to get healthier and live a most simple life. It’s great knowing you are out there speaking for women the way you do. I don’t even read my sons blog as I once did by contributing. I think I won’t write there and then I happen onto something and say a few things but not anymore. I would rather read him and his wife and see their opinions.

When the Virginia Military Institute was opened to women cadets (a decision I vehemently opposed) you will notice there was absolutely no fear of bombings or the like from those who took issue with that dubious decision (it was a court decision, as I recall, not VMI’s decision).

Thus we see the Mohammedan world with the extreme suppression of women, by violence if necessary. This has been true for centuries. In the West, we see an obliteration of any distinction of proper sex roles. This is recent.

No, I am not suggesting a ’split-the-difference’ kind of thing. There is a right way for men and women to be contented in proper roles. This has been a hallmark of God-fearing societies, and generally confusion results from a culture forgetting God, whether it be in secularism or Mohammedanism.

‘Actus: that is a superficial assesment. The Germans got on board with Fascism because it sounded good. ‘

Talk about superficial.

‘Likewise, Baathism offered women suffrage from the prevailing Islamic mores. But at what price? Look at Syria or Saddamn’s Iraq. Would you prefer that kind of freedom compared to Saudi Arabia?’

I don’t think its accurate to model it as a choice.

Mark, I understand that most will disagree with me on the “brother’s keeper” role, and accept it. Maybe it’s just my ideal of a “perfect” world — call me a radical.

Nevertheless, I have always taken issue with real politik and the obscene desire to maintain the status quo at any cost. This ideology is also moot if we as a nation determine that we will NOT be Christian in nature, and therefore disinclined to be our brother’s keeper — ‘better them than us’.

The way I see it, we should have put all the economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on any and all nations that abuse their citizens. For instance China over Tiananmen Square. Granted, any effort to constrain another country will be undermined by other less scrupulous countries. Nevertheless since we are the largest single economy, our sanctions on human rights principles would have been nothing to sneeze at. Bush I let them go with nary a slap (MFN) on the wrist and Clinton let them steal all the technology they wanted.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t advocate military might as a tool of 1st resort, rather like TR, we should walk softly and carry a big stick. I can imagine some readers jumping in about the US not being perfect; yeah, yeah, spare me the victimology rheotoric and the judge not… blah, blah.

But where diplomacy fails, in the case of Rawanda, Sudan et al, we should have been more proactive and assertive to the point of sending in troops. Part of my logic, I think, stems from the fact that our nation is indeed made up of peoples from every corner of the world and therefore, we as a nation have a stake in the well being of all mankind.

Short of sending the troops into Sudan, there’s still plenty of options that we have yet to exercise. For sure, Bush could have been more assertive, if not for that silly toy poodle yapping at his ankle.

This is where sKerry’s vaunted faith in diplomacy is sorely lacking. Even the UN is now blaming his stooopid anti-Bush rhetoric for prolonging the civil strife and mayhem in Haiti. sKerry may have been born with a silver foot in his mouth; but he’s been hit with the idiot stick upside the head one time too many and manages to be on the wrong side of every issue in every foreign endeavor — Nam, Nicaurauga, Iraq, Haiti and what next?

To wit the rising issue of modern day slavery. Dubya is making the appropriate noises, but in the interest of global-tested harmony, is sKerry going to ignore that? With the rampant rise in pornography, can Americans even be motivated to do anything about the sex trade, given the prevailing mores that it’s just something between two or more consenting adults?

But that’s all for another series of topics, but perhaps you might understand a little of where I’m coming from. In looking ahead to the unfulfilled prophecies where John writes of a great revival, who will be the saints partaking struggle against evil in the end times?

Elizabeth B’s analogy is quite applicable to my logic as pertains to helping the boat sink as slowly as possible on a nation to nation basis while Christians rescue otherwise doomed souls by showing the way to Christ.

Another analogy would be Lord of the Rings regarding the reluctance of men banding together to take on the orcs and ultimately Sauron.
This being Christians willing to use the sword and shield as necessary to protect the weak.

It appears to this reader that you are measuring the worth of any given culture/society by the quantity of freedom it accords women. Might it not be that there are additional characteristics by which to measure?

For example, the amount of charity the citizens give to the less fortunate, a measure by which the United States far surpasses any other nation in the history of the world. And it is not only charity at home, but charity abroad. Nor do I mean charity through government coercion, but that which comes freely from people. Even when that charity does come from taxes, such as in aiding recovery from natural disasters, it is generally seen as a good thing.

Furthermore, how many countries willing to shed blood for strangers can you name? I can name one and that is America. Think Belleau Wood 1917. Think Normandy 1944. Think Phillipines 1944. Think South Korea 1950. Think South Viet Nam 1965. Think Grenada 1986. Think Kuwait 1991. Think Somalia 1993. Think Afghanistan 2001. Think Iraq 2003.

Americans were wounded, crippled, and killed in each of those places and others for one reason – - to deliver the gift of freedom asking nothing in return. Colin Powell wrote eloquently about that uniquely American trait in a tribute to the American GI published in Time Magazine June 14, 1999: “All they asked for in repayment from those they freed was the opportunity to help them become part of the world of democracy–and just enough land to bury their fallen comrades, beneath simple white crosses and Stars of David.”

Yes, I know that our country has been terribly divided on such issues since Viet Nam, perhaps since Korea. But those who speak against helping others are seldom those who are sacrificing to do so. More often than not they are those who are unwilling to make that sacrifice.

I also know that heroism, honor, duty, patriotism, don’t put food on the table or get the toilets cleaned, but neither does detracting from their appeal to our higher nature. It is indeed our higher nature that compels us to hurt for another. It is indeed our higher nature that causes us to sacrifice for another. John 15:13 reads “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Americans have done that in spades and only America has done that for strangers.

That America is flawed does not detract from that higher nature, after all we are human, all too human and have a lower nature as well. We sometimes see the better and pursue the worse. Sometimes that lower nature rises to power and influence. Like some others here, I fear that the lower nature may be ascendant at this time in our history. The likes of Michael Moore, John Kerry, Jane Fonda, Larry Flint and others who demean much of what is good about America and promote much that is not good seem to be gaining strength daily. They seem able to seduce people into false beliefs by appealing to their fears, their prejudices, their inherent selfishness, and their ignorance.

Recently, in one of my classes a young woman got up to speak and began her statement with “Since George Bush is racist…”. In the same class another student started off his speech with, “Israel is an illegitimate state…”. I spoke with them after class explaining that basing one’s thinking on an unproven premise is almost certain to lead to false conclusions. Such views are clearly the result of indoctrination and ignorance and that needs to be corrected.

The premise that America is, on balance, a good country is undeniable. Yes, America had slavery and America ended slavery not because of pressure from without, but because of righteousness from within. Yes, America had the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow and America outlawed and corrected those evils because it was the right thing to do. Yes, America did not permit women legal status and America corrected that also. And then America went beyond her borders and did the same, or attempted to, for other nations. Some may argue that America did so because of selfish national interests. I would argue that it is precisely in the national interest to do the right thing.

I believe America is great because she is founded in Judeo-Christian values and principles. The reason I share La Shawn’s concerns for our country is that it is that foundation which is being attacked, sometimes unwittingly, by the persons named above as well as by organized groups which seek to erode and eventually destroy that foundation. However, our history gives me hope. We have been a house divided before and we have survived, have grown as a people and become stronger, and I think better. Just as cast iron placed under extreme heat becomes steel, people enduring extreme hardship become stronger. I have faith that America will endure and emerge better and stronger. To borrow the rallying cry of the sixties, albeit aiming at different results, “keep the faith”.

LaShawn, I’ve been reading your blog since about the time of the Dan Rather stupidity and am impressed with your site. (I stumbled onto your site through Power Line actually). I found this thread interesting and I agree with your assessment wholeheartedly. It sounds to me like Actus suffers from a bad case of moral relativism….I think that is a liberal malady isn’t it? I too can’t fathom someone finding any value in the culture you cited over one like ours that places the highest value on individual liberty, particularly liberty to pursue one’s personal relationship with God. I’m confident that God leads us to that relationship and doesn’t need violent goons to help him.

Allan, ditto.

“You haven’t been reading the NY Times or liberal blogs like DU.Com have you La Shawn. But you don’t want to. It is too depressing.”

On the Times magazine Suskin had a nice story about an interaction with a bush aide where he tried to defend the enlightement and empiricism, but was told that his ‘reality based community’ was out of the loop.

How about this? That’s because Europe is losing their WC at a faster rate than ours. In spite of the evidence that socialism is but a pipe dream, yet they are determined to press on with ruinous policies run by elites. That’s a part of their history and part of Euro tradition, but not part of the overarching WC founded on Greek/Roman civics and Judeo-Christian traditions. If WC is a misnomer by your semantic definition, then I have no problem with NWC (New World Civilization, ie US).

” If WC is a misnomer by your semantic definition, then I have no problem with NWC (New World Civilization, ie US).”

I think that thats the disagreement — I think people are taking the US to be the West, rather than looking at the west as a whole, and what it has been and come from. While I think that social policies of welfare maximization and social floors have a basis in the tradition you mention, I don’t think they are the only policies with a claim to that tradition, the only ones that can rightfully follow from that. Which leaves room for other policies to have a place in this tradition.

Take for example, Adam Smith’s advocacy of universal education.

Allow me to pose a question, a dilemma which I find myself in. It should be obvious from my previous post that I love this country. However, I am also a professing and practicing Evangelical Christian who believes in the second coming. Whenever that happens where will the United States fit in since the center of everything will be Jerusalem and where, then, should our loyalty reside?

Allan, Mark; that the crux of my comments. Where will we be when the nations of the world rise up against Israel and her allies. As I interpret it, there will be at least two great battles. The first will repel these enemies and lay the region to waste with fires burning for 7 years and the final will conclude with the return of Christ.

Are we going to be part of the antichrist coalition, Global Test and all? I also think of the fact that God promises to bless NATIONS that bless Israel and curse nations that curse Israel. That to me means the onus is on the nations, not so much the people individually, altho they will be held personally accountable for their actions.

That said, if this nation is run by We The People, therefore it is incumbent upon us Christians to ensure that our leaders bless Israel, or we will suffer the curse as a nation. That should be our litmus test for electing leaders, more so than abortion, gay marriage etc.

sKerry seems to think that Arafat is the one he should be sucking up to. Also we can’t count too much on the secular Jews here since they are adamantly “anti-zionist” — self-haters, much like the ACLU and other anti-American organizations.

Mark:
“art of the problem with the West is that it includes both the US second amendment and universal health care. Which of these do you have a problem with, as though I can’t guess?…”

Its not that I have a problem with either — being a gun owner with no insurance — its that it makes this idea of ‘the west’ a bit too fuzzy.

Andy – You are right about the majority of American Jews, unfortunately. However, they distrust Christians because of their historical experience with European Christians and have not yet awakened to knowing that the U.S. is not Europe and American Christians are not European ones.

Mark – My Bible refers to Israel, Jerusalem, and thousands of locations in the Middle East. It does not differentiate between Biblical Israel and secular Israel and I doubt that is a determination we need to make. God will make it by either saving his people or going to His plan B.

Andy: As always, you have given me good thoughts a-plenty to ponder.

Fortunately, not all North American Jews are in the “Get the Goy” (Michael Savage’s line) mentality. Names like Ilana Mercer and Jacob Neusner come immediately to mind (as well as Savage himself).