Is 1984 Too Crazy a Comparison?

Maybe I've finally gone nuts (some of my liberal critics sure think so). Or maybe like Kramer, "I'm so crazy I've gone totally sane." Now I realize there is no human agency (or at least I would like to think so) that is as far over the top as the "Big Brother" described in 1984 but none the less there are elements of the Institutional behavior that is scary.

The obvious comparisons are the totalitarian government, the total loss of individual freedom, the slogans "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery", and "Ignorance is Strength" all seem to ring incredibly true at times. One point that struck home is the idea that "Who controls the past, controls the present and who controls the present controls the past" (sorry about the lack of anotation but I am reading in my Amazon Kindle these days and it doesn't use page numbers!). Throughtout the debate is the ongoing power exercised by Louisville to reinterpret history and as they completely rewrite the Book of Order they are rewriting history. Expunging all record of things undesireable while, just like in 1984, doing so without anyone's knowledge or awareness. Major pieces of the constitution of the PCUSA will just go down the "Memory Hole".

But even all of that wasn't what struck me as the most diabolical thing that I could compare to life in the PCUSA it is this rather long qoute that I will type here and let speak for itself:

"The problem was how to keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world. Goods must be produced, but they must not be distributed. And in practice the only way of achieving this was by continuous warfare. The Essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. .... It is deliberate policy to keep even the favoured groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another."

That passage just made me say hmmm..... War is Peace...? Peace, Unity and Purity Report...

So many of those who seem to be caught in the middle remind me of the horse in another of Orwell's great works "I'll work harder."

Churches under Seige Part 3 - Kirk of the Hills

For me this is the "Shot Heard Round the World". I want to put it in context so bear with me as I tell the story from my own perspective:

I was attending a Synod of the Sun post TPUP event called "Next Steps". I was the only vocal Evangelical in the room (later I asked is there were others and about 5 more raised their hands). I ended up expressing my incredible frustration that out of a Synod representing 100's of churches most of whom would self identify as "conservative" I was one of only 6 conservatives that could be found willing to attend. I explained that such an event resulted in mutually affirmed heterodoxy. You feel normal because everyone in the room is just as far to the left as you are except a few scared individuals (not my exact words but the meaning conveyed).

It was at that meeting and after a polite disagreement with the Exec from Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery (EOP) that the announcement of Kirk of the Hills disaffiliation arrived. Now the EOP story was that they had to cloud every church title in their presbytery because some of their "Indian" churches were running amok taking out loans on their property etc (a little paternalistic don't you think?) of course at the same time th "Louisville Papers" story had just broken, needless to say all of us evangelicals were skeptical about the innocence of EOP. However, all of us were sincere in sending the team from EOP home with prayers - I think I recall that we prayed for the Kirk of the Hills as well.

Since that time Kirk of the Hills has been under siege.

Folks lets be honest - there are other churches in Tulsa, the PCUSA presence there is not held in question. Kirk of the Hills is never going to return to the fold and the minority there is so small that they can never sustain the property maintenance, much less the note. So why the ongoing battle? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Tenants must pay their rent. The so called mission priorities of the liberal groups must be sustained and the only way to do it is to get huge cash settlements. These large churches can pay them so the lawyer expenses will get covered. Additionally the cost is recouped in the sense of preventative maintenance. The huge legal expenses and great risk have backed many clergy and their congregations away from property freedom.

Many big evangelical churches considered the choice for freedom and have retreated. So their huge donations to the Presbytery's and the PCUSA will be sustained.

Hidden deep in the heart of the FOG report are two significant pieces of constitutional change:

Around the Scuttlebutt (can I say that on a Christian blog?)

all of this eventually (I believe) in direct logical procession leads to the AC formed in PSL.

So when denominational authorities say "Trust Us" is it any wonder that many of us tend to say, "grab your wallet"?