I am back! After a long hiatus and some issues that are still persisting on being issues, I have decided to continue. A reintroduction is in order. The future of this blog 2ill be discussed as well. We will delve into that at the end of this entry.
I am Beau Albertine and I am a Christian Conservative American. It is in that order in which I identify. This needs to be elucidated upon because without knowing what it means then neither a reintroduction nor an introduction will be worth anything. Disclaimer: it is a sad state of affairs that makes it necessary that those terms need proper defining.
First and most importantly, I am a Christian. What does it mean to be a Christian? So many people claim that title and believe many different, sometimes contradictory, things.
In the most simplest of definitions Christianity can be summed up in John 14:6-7:
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.7“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
This the belief that Christ is the only true way to know God and enter into Heaven. It is also the belief that Christ died and rose again so to free us from our sin; 1 Corinthians 15:13-14
13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
It is in these foundational tenets of our faith that we find our hope. We can be free from the sin that enslaves us to our selves. We are free from the sin that separates us from our Creator and Redeemer. The things that plague you, haunt you, inhibit you are defeated. They have no power over you when you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. For a little more on this I suggest you read posts I made before the reboot: here, here, and finally here. Also here. Don't forget this one! A future post on Christian particularism is planned
So, why is this first? It's because if Christianity is true then it is the most important fact in the history of the universe. God, eternity, and either the salvation or the continued servitude to your sins far outweighs the temporal connections you have to this life. The Judeo-Christian faith also contains a set of values that can be applied to not only your life, but to the entire world. These values, if applied truly, will create a world worth living in.
So, God first, but why Conservatism second? Conservatism is an application of those values mentioned in the previous paragraph. It's a system of principles that exalt personal responsibility, charity, freedom, honesty, love of family, love of your fellow man, equality of all under the law, and justice for all. The only value that would be found in Christianity that is not included in Conservatism is the commandment to love your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. This is because Conservatism is a secular application of the truths found in Judeo-Christianity. Conservatism believes in religious liberty and doesn't seek to force a conversion to any particular religion. In Christianity it wouldn't be a sincere conversion anyway.
This is what makes up modern Conservatism. It is very similar to Classic Liberalism. This is why you might hear conservatives be reluctant to call leftists: liberal. It should be pointed out that this is a very basic outline of our beliefs. Its main purpose is to fight for your freedom to make your own decisions because you are capable of making it without the government "helping". (There are some exceptions that are necessary. Disabled and elderly persons that don't come from families with the means of supporting them are some such exceptions.)
This comes second because it has to do with how a nation should be run. These principles outline rights and responsibilities of the citizenry. It necessarily limits what a government can do in order to protect the rights of the people. People have short lives and find it very difficult to think beyond their own lives, so find putting ideology before country to be difficult and offensive to do. We know countries have come and gone, but refuse to believe it can happen to us. It can and, if things keep going the way they are going, it will. This is why we must preserve our faith and ideology. These values will preserve our nation and if it should fall, they will rebuild our nation. It is good to be proud of one's nation unless that nation fell due to its own foolishness. This will be discussed more in depth in future articles.
Next up is American. I believe in the principles in which this country was founded. I am thankful that I was born in a nation whose Constitution wasn't a law for the citizens, but for the government. We are based on a document that is a list of shall nots aimed at the ruling authority!
The founding ideals paved the way for abolition of slavery, racial equality, women's suffrage, biological sex equality, religious liberty, open discussion of ideas and if we don't like something we can run for office or protest! In a time of empires, kings, conquerors, and the general population being subject to the whims of their so-called betters our Founding Fathers said, "Screw that." We were given an equality we take for granted now. I can think of no other nations, other than Israel, whose founding was so dedicated to the Rule of Law rather than the rule of man. (Israel's kings had to follow the Law given to Moses by God. These were the same Laws the people had to follow. Much like them we have fulfilled God's prophecy concerning human government. 1 Samuel 8:10-18.)
To truly appreciate the miracle that is the United States of America you must read the history of our founding. You have to read our founding documents. You have to read all that in the context of the rest of the world at that time. When you read about the American Revolution you have to keep in mind that the most powerful empire on the earth was defeated by underfunded, underfed, exhausted farmers. It was David vs. Goliath. Keep in mind that our Founding Fathers could have set up a monarchical government. They shunned nobility for themselves, so we could have true equality. Say what you will of their personal religious beliefs, but we live in a truly miraculous and blessed nation.
Sadly, we have cast off the blessing and embraced the rule of men. Government has become bloated and corrupt. We have an elected aristocracy concerned with how they can aggregate authority to themselves. "How can we misappropriate power that rightfully belongs to the People," they ask themselves. To be more clear, we have went from a nation whose Founding Fathers considered themselves to be no better than "We the People" to a nation whose public servants fancy themselves to be the haut monde of American society.
For this reason I list American last. We are a nation in decline. It is at this junction one realizes it's neither the nation, land, borders, laws, leaders, nor form of government that made us wonderful. What made us great was our Judeo-Christian principles and the faithfulness to those principles. It is without a sound belief in God as a moral foundation that our nation, land, borders, laws, leaders, and form of government become meaningless.
That is what it has become; meaningless.
So, this is where we find ourselves. Part of my goal is to illuminate the way out of the moral decadence in which we find ourselves. Spoiler: it involves Jesus, This blog will be a bit of an analysis of how we found ourselves here. We will discuss just how decayed our culture is, the fruits of a dead culture, and so much more.
This will hopefully be regularly updated. A possible schedule is still being determined, but it will be, at the very least, weekly. Bi-weekly or even tri-weekly is what I would like it to be. The main goal is to spread the Word and to dispell the taboo around beliefs in God, tradition, and a true community. My dream is to get published and work my way into becoming an actual writer.
Come along with me for this ride into the unknown.
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