Is this True?

Order is better than disorder.
Order within the Overorder is better that order without.
He who is able to order is better than he who can't.
And he who comprehends the functional relationship of his order and the Overorder, that man, he is a saint.


"Think about it, then pop off." John Barry

I Apologize

I am a loyal American citizen. I have served in our country's military. I like hot dogs and fireworks with the usual middle-aged verve of the chunkier portions of my generation. I put my hand over my heart at the appropriate occasions. So, on this day, this Fourth of July, I pass on one other aspect of acute, if Cassandra-like, mental precision.

We were wrong.
George the III was right and was the Lord's anointed.

So in the spirit of a Democrat Congress apologizing for the perfidy of others, I apologize to Her Majesty, Elizabeth the II for my country's sins.

I am perhaps alone in the metaphoric rending of garment. Mayhap it be only I for whom the potato salad turns to ashes upon consumption. But it is also I alone who will stand with eyes narrowed as the Great Unwashed gyrates through their patriotic fit.

I am loyal to America as she is, as I live in her. So it is of now I celebrate America thankful for the order and protection she provides.
Celebrate her founding? Pshaw!
I am big on King Solomon. Not so big on the adultery and murder that brought his mom and dad together.

Society for Classical Learning Conference

I been gone, just me, alone.
Gone away to San Antone.
"But, baby, baby," I moanin' phone,
"It's hot as sin. I'm comin' home."

Parents: A Five Ton Dumb Truck Filled with Ten Pound Sacks of Stupid

If all men seek peace, all men will notice those that have it. He who has it, Peace not merely placidity, has it for cause. Does he know the cause and did he craft, design, submit to, or recognize that cause? Could he communicate it to the curious among the rest of man? The rest all want that which he has and he both understands and can convey what brought his peace to be. The rest will learn from him and will follow in his Way.
Peace will be caused by an applied order and the quality and nature of the Peace will be the quality and nature of the order.
Peace with God means you have ordered, reconciled, ceased to rebel in your life before God. Domestic peace means the home (its schedule, furniture, cleanliness, etc) is in order. Relational peace means that your nearest and dearest have ordered their expression of relational emotion.
In whatever kind of peace men seek they will consider very seriously that kind of order that the peaceful example of such recommends.

In other words...
Your children, O Christian parent, want a Peace and have ample time to perceive it in you. If you have it, Peace not merely placidity, do you know why and can you communicate that why? If they want to be like you (does anyone want to be like you?), they will want to know and they will follow.


(As an aside: they don't want denominational/orthodox peace first and foremost so don't base the home order on catechizing. They need to see you satisfied by the Love of God, obedient by grace not Law, loving your neighbor as yourself, living by reason not passion).


But more than likely...
If you are not at peace, you are either boring (placid without cause) or a collection of chaotic moments. Who (since all men want peace) wishes to follow either example? In the dull they can't spot any cause which is transferable other than a commitment to abject soullessness run through a word generator of Christian terms and trends. In the chaotic parent, they, the children already have what you have, thank you very much. You live by impulse and passion and so do they. If you want them to "turn out" ought you not "turn out" first? Who would wish to believe that which you claim to believe when you cannot show that it caused any peace in you?

You are dull and thankfully can't blame Jesus or you are "swayed by various impulse" none of which produce peace or an understanding of the ordered life.

This is the answer to every parental concern.
When your "Jesus" didn't fix you, why would your children hope in Him.

The Lieutenants at Big Haus

At the Big Haus we have had tenants for almost thirty years. Our ministry has been to introduce them to the Christian mind on any subject that came up. These tenants got only an ad hoc experience but it seemed to bear fruit for the Kingdom of Heaven. This multi-decade commitment convinced us we might know what we were doing and it encouraged us to shape the ministry more consciously. This last year we added the role of a Big Haus lieutenancy. Our supporters endowed two rooms which we can offer to people, (rent free but they pay for food), who come to go through a structured program covering the most influential things that have shaped our own thought. This last year Andrew Knecht spent two semesters here and Travis Schnider one semester. I've asked them to write up a general impression. This post is what Andrew provided and Travis' will be posted when it arrives.

Andrew Knecht

The Big Haus offered a wonderful opportunity to me this past year. The Lieutenancy program offered through the Big Haus Society blessed me in many facets of my life. Mr. Evan Wilson's reading curriculum covered a wide area of topics from which to choose any number of discussion points, from education to metaphysical beings, the purpose and place for humor to a life in the Holy Spirit, from the dilemmas of espionage to what women and men really want. Each author provided aspects to better understand the Big Haus way of life, one of peace and understanding. Discussions both formally with Evan and around the house generally encouraged honing of my ideas and development of my philosophy. And although I was provided with Evan's theories on each subject, self-assurance and truth-seeking were the goal in all talks. The lifestyle of the Big Haus propagates love, honor and hospitality.

Through the Big Haus Lieutenancy, seeing and understanding how and why Evan and Leslie Wilson live as they do, I am seeking more fervently a life in tune with God's Word and Truth. I gained tools and ideas to catapult my thought to deeper and more practical areas. I enjoyed great authors and found others to read in the future. I ate like a king and praised God for the hospitality I and others enjoyed. I thank God for giving me the circumstance to grow and mature.

"A tranquil mind gives life to the flesh, but passion makes the bones rot."

Proverbs 14:30

The Oracle again:

We have just started a young lady named Kensington Baines on the program and we have one other open spot for a person whose interests match what we provide.

If you know anyone who might be interested in such, check us out here.

An application is here.

If you would like to share in supporting this work, our contacts are available at this link.

I am the Soul of Passion

I Peter 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Passions. This is what moves you, gives you cause for the various effects you encounter when you are stupid. Yep, that's it folks. If you don't have a reason or habit for doing something (and reasons can be assessed and habits trained) you will use your passion for doing something. Then your life become "Stupid on Parade." The removal of ignorance is a great antidote for passionate foolishness. Have you ever wondered why, with all your religious protestations, you still sin like a fraternity brother? Try thinking about your life rather than waiting for Jesus to show up like a buxom blond.

Don't get me wrong. I am a fan of passion, at least those that involve the desires of the flesh and the eyes. Why seem I to be bashing them? I am not. I am entering your life today to suggest that you reposition passion. Heretofore you have used it as a cause. It has gotten you into sin, folly and dumb decisions. Occasionally it is positive, but trust me, that was only accidental. I would suggest that you place passion as "effect" rather than "cause", the punctuation of the sensible sentence of your life, thought, and wise/holy choices. Let wisdom and holiness take a wife for you "not in the passion of lust like the heathen who do not know God." Enjoy this well selected wife passionately. Let good sex be an effect of a good choice and good ideas. Pursuing your fleshy passions as a cause gets you a few nights of steam and a subsequent life of hell. Make up your mind first. A mind made up is examinable. Talking to the drunken ramblings of the passionately driven is not beneficial for they cannot understand. Their "cause" is passion and their life reflects that especial teenage brilliance. So many lives are proudly run this way that many ministries succumb to this method of life decisions and try to replace passions that cause sin with an uninformed "passion for Jesus." Such people and ministries are especially susceptible to false teachers.

II Timothy 3:6-7 For among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

The desires of the Spirit are in this way different from the desires of the flesh. Our possession of the Spirit rests on a response, belief, and conclusion regarding a Truth. This is an informed position on the Nature of Things. Wisely based passions, those existent as effects of truth, do function as future causes but they have been guided. They serve and harmonize with the truth that bred them. A wisely selected, passionately enjoyed wife (versus a passionately selected, wisely regretted one) does find her husband more enjoyably bound to the the marriage. When passion is an effect of a thoughtful good it can become a cause of good.

I Peter 1:13 says, "Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. "

Boo-Yah!

Thanks to Molly Worthen, (correspondent to the stars and Edmund Burke monarchist) me and my faithful pipe have attained to a brief appearance in the Evangelical stratosphere.

My natural "soft spoken"ness precludes me vaunting myself in any kind of triumphal way but of course, you, my faithful vassals, can fill in the blank.