hi am I alone here Dave where'd you go I'm in the background just watching and waiting for my turn to speak oh shoot do your thing do your thing okay well where do I begin um well Happy New Year everybody I don't think uh it's gonna be very happy but um as long as you have faith and uh courage and your soul uh we'll get through anything how's that good okay um I want to talk a little bit about um evil and uh the nature of evil and uh how this is um actually a gift to the world and to all who will use the awareness of it to push us towards God so uh this is how I came to embrace God and I know many other stories similar to mine uh and I will try to explain what I mean by that um the world of course is in a very uh uh treacherous State and uh maybe I think everyone knows it deep in doubt deep down inside uh but try to kind of cling to these uh uh false hopes uh to try to uh kind of wish it away um and we're being sold all kinds of um hopeful kind of I dreams that you know one thing that really irritates me is uh parents uh getting it in their head that the new generation will save the world and they raise their children with this pressure on their shoulders to be the ones that um that agitate for a better world um the problem with that is that the problem is not understood properly and there's no way the Young uh can assess it properly without at least firm and sound and wise counsel which is I think and very short supply uh these days um but primarily it shouldn't be anyone's idea to save the world this is a tremendous error you're not here to save the world now let's just try to define the term here the terms that I use what what do we mean by world uh well the at the individual micro level uh the world is the body the body is temporary and the desires of the body uh are often in conflict with the true desires of the spirit or the soul and so at the macro level the world is uh not just the Earth but the concerns of the world the realm of politics economics culture um uh nationality uh race and gender identity and so on these things are temporal and the problems of the world are caused by uh distorted view of life that sort of puts all um the uh um concerns in the political economic cultural Realm and now we have a new god named science which is increasingly in the mainstream behaving like some kind of a cult religion where it's supposed to be taken on Blind Faith which of course is the very opposite of the original uh nature of science purpose of science the cause of the end of the world is a spiritual problem because of the end of the world is not contrary to popular belief uh corrupt world powers some people think it's the wef and the Chinese Communist Party that's ending the world others are saying that uh anti-vax I'll put that in air quotes anti-science science denier types are the cause of the end of the world uh and on and on everyone has their idea of what's causing the world to be in such entire trouble and from there you have factions of people trying to devise ways to mitigate these problems and save the world and all these factions are coming from a point of serious error so they're going to just add problem on the problem on the problem and so the seeds of division which are already sowed but uh increase the division to a point where dialogue will become as is increasingly clear today already uh becoming impossible uh when we raise our children to think that this is their their generation are the is the one that's going to save the world uh what you're doing is is your your giving them the frame of mind at the earliest stages of their development uh to sort of divide their social world into uh goodies and Baddies well you know if you don't agree with me that you know white supremacy is a problem and you're not my friend or uh if you think this that and the other x y and z then you're a racist or a homophobe or uh you know if you think this and that the other thing you're this or that the other thing and on and on uh you're you're training your children to be self-righteous which is uh a terrible thing uh to be raised in this kind of uh attitude when you don't know a damn thing about life as you know the self-righteous or often quite ignorant they really think they have the answer and uh and so what they're doing is they're setting up their children to uh um to be quite vulnerable to the most hideous and massive forms of manipulation uh so the world is under I believe a state of serious manipulation high level sophisticated and voluminous forms of manipulation bombarding social media and the mainstream media books movies and then self-amplified through the realm of social media which I've always considered as a sort of peer pressure cooker I just stews uh you know uh certain mentalities and and percept uh perspectives perceptions of the world um and uh and so you know you you get sucked into this stuff and you um uh you find yourself in peer Groups International anonymous uh coming at you at the speed of light every day what's that going to do especially to the young people who are uh raised and bred in this environment um so getting back to uh God and the and God's word um there is um countless exhortations and warnings throughout scripture to uh keep your eye on the Eternal and keep your mind and heart on God and divine infinity and do not make friends with this world do not attach yourself to the flesh and to the concerns of this world and um I I've noticed that especially in modern Christianity that uh not only is this uh is this um instruction kind of ignored but I think it's largely uh misunderstood or not explored enough just when we need it the most um and it's it the common factors I think uh among most religions uh is that this comes up in in various forms you know uh Buddhism uh singles out these uh you know desire as the cause of so much suffering um attachment is a uh a central tenet of Buddhism um and as one example there's many others from different other religions that more or less say the same thing uh and again uh the followers of Eastern philosophies and religion uh have these ideas on their lips and I always get the impression that they too don't really understand what it means um it's easy to say um but it's a lot harder to understand it and practice it without falling into some kind of uh cynical uh kind of cold detachment which is a big temptation funnily enough a lot of people that that go running to some uh comforting philosophy or religion whether it be Buddhism or Christianity is that pain is the the pain of life is just becoming too much and they're looking for some kind of uh uh comfort and release and relief from the the pain and Trauma that they're holding inside um this is um this can go one of two ways or more ways maybe but um the one way is to to harden the heart and uh kind of uh embrace um habits of thought habits of being that blunt and uh doll the the senses because the pain is just too much and the other way to go is uh to the very center of the heart of Christ which is the pain is there for a reason it has to be understood and it has to be experienced and Grace is the culmination of that effort to fully go into the center of it to give yourself up to it and to understand it and understand your role in it and that comes to a state of Truth repentance and when you are truly repentant then the mercy of God floods into you almost like a physical andevitability and physical laws there's a corollary to the spiritual law um God does not have favorites his Mercy is infinite that means even people that we intensely despise and the world teaches us to intensely despise even the greatest evil individual you can imagine in the history books we have no idea we have no idea if this person at the end of his Road uh truly faced up to it truly repented and truly received the infinite mercy of God we do not know we cannot know we have no idea and if God's mercy is that infinite then what great news is it for anyone you know if so and so and such and such could be saved surely you can be saved so uh that is the hope of the world literally that is the hope of the world and so the cause of the end of the world is not corrupt Powers uh institutions uh war generals arms manufacturers Pharmaceutical profiteers uh white supremacists for some oh there's enemies everywhere aren't there these people and these entities and these institutions are not ending the world this is what is ending the world Millions and millions and perhaps billions of Souls in denial of reality that do not lead the life of self-examination so when we raise our children to Crusade for the uh salvation of the world and of course it's from a completely secular point of view these people that try to encourage their children to be the lefties um what you're doing is you're denying them the basic training the basic training that traditional tried and true basic training that a child needs self-control self-awareness discipline courage patience endurance humility you're basically teaching them the opposite okay when you try to make them into some kind of a member of a life-saving world-saving cult uh they're being raised to look constantly externally and then they get it in their head that they're on the right team they're on the good team and they're fighting bad people and bad ideas everywhere they go um without understanding or even having a glimmer of reality involving themselves and who they are and where their errors might be um so the greatest form of pro the only effective form of protest is to walk with God and stand in truth wherever that may lead um you you might not um be very popular uh but as my father always told us kids when we were growing up and I'm sure many children of My Generation I don't know about today's but uh have also been told by their Guardians um that if you have one true faithful friend one just one a genuine friend that has your back and never gives up their faith in you you're rich you're you're incredibly wealthy if you have two or three then that's almost obscene you're now you're a trillionaire uh very wealthy indeed and that's all you need if uh 10 000 people or more despise you do you have that one or two good solid friendships uh your um you're doing fine as long as you're walking with God and you are determined to see to seek to see to understand the truth about yourself about the world no matter where that leads it's bound to be unpopular um what do you say Dave yeah I'm taking I'm taking notes Here okay um it seems like the you're doing a little compare and contrast between worldliness and faithfulness or spirituality yeah and worldliness and you hit the bullet points with uh child rearing education hope salvation friendship sanity and uh the the linchpin is sanity which is a synonym for humility humility Insanity are the same thing it's just accepting reality as it is yeah and you hinted at uh you didn't say it explicitly explicitly be hinted at the idea of karma cause and effect and sort of the law where um if you place yourself in a humble mindset of faithfulness then automatically you're going to get The Graces and these sorts of things so I've always emphasized the Catholic version or the Christian version of the Eastern concept of Karma as very very very powerful and important to our walk with God because it's so powerfully connected to the orderliness of the cosmos that God created freely and lovingly and how cause and effect uh is real and unavoidable and very very very very very painful if you choose unwisely well that's it that's it that's my takeaway uh on my notes that I took while you were talking okay and I appreciate I appreciate uh that's a good starting point for uh our conversation now so it sounds it sounds to me like you are dealing with uh correct me if I'm wrong but you're dealing with this day-to-day uh friends family neighbors who are raising their kids in a way that troubles you um we can all see it around us but you seem to be more personally touched by the fact that it's happening so maybe just talk a little bit about why that why that is is it because you have a child you have one child right I have one child yes is it because of that is that why you're more sensitive to the issue of child rearing might have increased my my awareness of what's going on around me because I'm more concerned when you have a child and you're thinking about your future but I know I I think that I've always or at least quite a while now um uh especially since era 911. 911 uh was kind of like when I gave up a fair amount of my media consumption when it really hit home to me that uh that the media is absolutely off the rails and cannot be trusted whatsoever um but um you know I just increasingly over those decades uh have been observing people and and uh and finding myself in conversations at dinner tables and and my travels and whatever that um that uh I I can't help but uh interject and uh offer my perspective on things um and get into little arguments and sometimes not so little arguments uh which I've learned actually over the years um who the difference between those with whom it is worth arguing with and those who or not and once you just let it go or learn subtle ways to just sail one off kindly but um clearly and walk away um but uh you know I've I've gotten um I've caused a lot of um discomfort and some people from saying what I would consider just as plain as day common sense uh you know in the old days which I kind of miss uh the old days when arguments would get heated terribly heated and I would get quite out of control as with my opponents now that's not a good thing but at least I learned a lot I learned a lot about myself and it was through those errors of those those hated uh out of control tirades um that um that led me to uh reflect and it's like holy crap that didn't work and what's wrong with me and anger is not very good for my health and it's not helping anyone and so I changed I learned I learned from that I learned from the terrible stuff now um I I'm not I'm not so consumed by rage in fact I've I've I've healed myself a lot of of that rage over the last 10 years or so I feel better than ever and more confident than ever uh to be able to just plainly State what I see and and now it's the other side that um and it's a new kind of yelling it's a new kind of Rage because in the old days we would rage at each other but we'd have something to say you know like my my I come from a I come from a family of Debaters okay if you want to call it that but um I I grew up in a very loud house there were uh four of us siblings uh all within three years my mother had twins I'm one of them we were the last to come my older brother is uh a little under three years older than and my sisters uh one year and one month older than me and my twin so that that's a lot of children in a very short basically the same age group you know the three-year difference uh my father was a a very temperamental man um and he would get emotional and fly off the handle to make his point my sister was uh well they were a good match they were yelling at each other all the time my mother was more of the Peace maker but now and then she would lose it too but dinner table uh reality at the menu house was uh a lot of yelling at pointing fingers and and then a lot of teasing and mockery and sarcasm and all that stuff so I I grew up in the soil of you know uh sink or swim you know fight or die um and uh and I'm grateful for that I mean I'm sure our neighbors thought we were mad we were crazy um but um I prefer that to some of these more uh very stayed very polite very proper uh families at their dinner table talking about nice and small banal things and uh everything punctual and um I I prefer a mess I do I I just I would rather people get it out right out in the open and our our characters are tested by it um we learn a fair amount about ourselves and about those that we're fighting with as painful as it can get um but the other thing too is that um there is a uh there's a longevity to this kind of family my parents stayed together um it seemed miserable from the outside but they they stuck it out they stuck it out and they truly were good friends Underneath It All and my siblings all you know we all turned out pretty well um there's there's no uh I mean like any family there's Club you know you know skeletons in the closet and some of us get along Better Together than than others pairings and whatever but the point is is that um I I get a sense that we really know each other uh doesn't mean we agree with each other and that's not the point of it at all but um I shouldn't be you don't have to we don't have to agree with each other um but we we do have to step up to the plate this has always been my position and uh although I couldn't articulate it is clear now in my adulthood but it's this if you're going to believe something if you're going to take a position or a trust a position that many people are taking and you take it on yourself because you think it's the right thing to do well guess what you are responsible for it that means you better damn well understand the position that you're standing in and be able to advocate for it in your own words under any conditions with whomever if you cannot do that then you have to examine yourself and you have to weigh it out is this sensible do is my belief or my opinion or perspective on this or that true and if the majority of the world believes this or that is true it doesn't mean it is true God knows history is full of examples uh where entire societies were LED off the cliff for believing the wrong thing um so the truth has nothing to do with numbers it it is either true or it is not true and it's up to the individual to assess for themselves as honestly as possible whether or not any given position is true so um being raised as a as a fighter as a debater I I don't think I will ever lose that in me that when I hear someone say something that doesn't add up or uh strikes me as an obvious kind of parroting of a popular idea I uh I generally uh ask a question that trips them up well if this then why that or what about this you know simple gentle questions that force them to uh be in a position where either they're going to have something to say or they're going to get quite offended and that's the first Telltale sign I think if someone's not standing on Solid Ground a person who is easily offended is someone who is basically invested so much of their mind and their heart their emotions and their attachments uh and their sense of self and their place in the world and everything they've invested it all into an idea that they haven't bothered to examine for themselves and so when they stand exposed they are not nearly dealing with uh an intellectual exercise their whole being is under attack that's how they feel and so they lash out and uh they meet rational inquiry with irrational emotionalism hyper defensiveness that's a that's a Telltale sign that you're not standing on Solid Ground um so that's that's my my message there it's like okay believe whatever you want think you know whatever you want there's no uh one I'm not posting my ID on you but I am willing to articulate my position if you ask a question if you inquire I'll have something to say and if you stump me uh well then now begins a true debate and I might learn something from you and vice versa you might learn something from me but uh the truth is the truth there's no such thing as my truth it's the truth okay the truth goes by the pronoun okay it's it's the truth and we're here to find it together so I got a couple of notes here I'll just throw them all out there and you can uh talk about whichever one's interest you first uh interesting note was I watched a Jewish rabbi the other day um and he referred to screaming and yelling thank God because in the Jewish Hebrew language the the word one of the words for prayer is screaming in agony at God so that's an interesting note because you were talking about that you know the passion is screaming and all sorts of things in the context of Truth seeking the truth the other uh dichotomy I want to talk about is uh or I want you to talk about is when to have a thin skin when to have a thick skin and how how do you know when to switch back and forth to being sensitive and being insensitive and being secure and being being uh you know passive and being active these sorts of things the other thing is um a lot of my guests to object to my podcast because it's called Catholic verses and I like I I am seeking antagonism because I don't if if two of us disagree about something we can't both be right we might both be wrong but we can't both be right well at least one of us has to be wrong that's why I call my my podcast versus because I'm looking for differences about metaphysics and philosophy and religion and trying to examine them and this is is the basis of my podcast examining our our mind and yours most cherished but unexamined heretofore unexamined beliefs that's very very Central to my to my way of uh to my the way my mind works and intuitively how I approach the truth and then the final thing is I was at a party with you the other night and there was a a friend of ours a nice young lady who is uh preaching Anarchy anarchism and a couple of us were opposing her uh what I think is a naive worldview but um she got very upset and angry and took things personally it seems and started you know so there's that's an example where uh you know maybe I've got a little bit more battle experience in the realm of ideas and just how uh you know it was it was a struggle for me to to remain sensitive because I I do have a thick skin when it comes to battling in the realm of ideas so maybe just uh talk about any of those things I threw out there for you um yeah uh well first going back to the the anger at God thing um I didn't say anger it's just sort of a passionate cry to God okay yeah even if it's helped me help me help me yeah okay but uh yeah uh yeah because you painted a picture of kind of mired and Agony and uh and uh sort of like a a Pity full and almost uh uh desperation uh why won't you help me now please can't you hear me um um so the uh the uh I don't know if this is completely uh relating to what you're saying but um this this kind of uh this anguish um is is has reached full expression I think in uh that there well you know there's this saying what kind of God you know what kind of God would allow such suffering in the world and uh you know if if I were God I would make everything nice and pleasant if he really loved us you know that kind of mentality uh you know that's frightening rampant these days and uh I mean it's been around for since since job or longer but but it's just as a sort of a a cultural expression because you know this is a secular culture uh so there's there's definitely uh there's there's a difference between uh say a bunch of people in and the world having having a big beef with with God but when it's uh sanctioned as a kind of an official Viewpoint um which it is now uh because we are basically an atheist secular society uh and the new atheists take that kind of angle uh to the health like that seems to be their whole uh Foundation of their philosophy it's like screw you God if that's what God is then I want nothing to do with it and uh it's it's a terribly dangerous fairy tale because that's just not how reality works and anyone who thinks that there is a Divine eternal God behind reality is a fool a child stuck an old unevolved superstitions and uh and hey guess what they're ending the world because real progress will be when we get rid of God and embrace uh science and reason and uh let them have the day the Ubermensch yes okay so uh at the heart of it really is resentment it's as old as the hills it's this kind of inability or unwillingness to take on the the true challenge of being alive and um and so uh it seems to me my my feeling of it is that uh God designed this world uh exactly as it is for uh for exactly the right reasons and uh if we hold in our minds that this is a is a most temporal realm of existence a fleeting existence that this is not all there is see if we live life as if this is all there is then uh well look out your window that's the result the result is um uh a lot of expectations that fail that don't come true um a lot of foolish Investments that go bust its betrayal after betrayal after betrayal and then the resent builds up and uh and then it's a power struggle and uh and then there's death you know um but if you live as though this is not the only reality if there is much more than meet CI if there is much more to existence than this fleshly and temporal existence uh then you uh then you give yourself a foundation a psychological Foundation to stand on to be able to get perspective you cannot get perspective from yourself you cannot be in your flesh and in your ego and in this world and expect to get any perspective at all you need tools to get outside of yourself you need the tools to uh to be able to examine the world this passionately and when you have a habit of mind that includes God then you have that tool then you can say instead of uh talking to yourself all the time oh what do I see here what how can I make sense out of this and where do I stand in this but instead you say God show me uh this is totally confusing and then you are able to sort of step outside of yourself into a more silent unaffected position and uh and God opens your eyes you know and let's not be too literal about that it's just basically when you get out of yourself get yourself out of the way then you are actually able to use uh your god-given eyes and see what's really there it's very hard to do but without faith it's impossible to do and uh we're not talking about an easy way here it's not it's it's it's not supposed to be easy there's a wonderful story I don't know if you saw this um uh the the famous actor there um void um yeah and uh he was talking about this very very difficult time that he was going through with his marriage uh with one of his children and his career and everything was uh and his alcoholism and everything was coming to a head and it was getting very very difficult for him and he uh describes how he he fell down on the kitchen floor prostrate head on the floor banging his fists on the floor and crying out why God why why does this have to be so difficult and just then he heard plain as day crystal clear in one of his ears a gentle and loving voice say these simple words it's supposed to be and it's supposed to be difficult supposed to be difficult why why is it supposed to be difficult um uh because we have a barrier in our in the nature of our very existence there's a barrier that we have to be willing to cross and we have to be willing to do it if if we cling to this world and we expect it to be easy and we resent God for not making it easy uh well what happens when we raise children like that make everything easy as possible uh keep them from all danger make it as safe as safe as safe you know this is like a you know a safety Obsession uh Society we're in right now the obsession over safety that started really ramping up in my childhood increasingly through the 80s you know all about that broken homes so what you have is uh single moms and single dads ridden with guilt for their failed marriage and the burden it has on their children and so to overcompensate they try to be buddies you know they want to be buddies with your children and they make it easy for them and they they spoil them in many ways not just physically but uh like not materially but psychologically as well they spoil them as a way of overcompensating for their their failed marriage um so this creates weak people and they come into the world unequipped and weak and tyrannical because they're not getting their way anymore and the world is causing so much trouble and it's the world's fault that uh they are so oppressed and they uh get uh very irrational and easily swayed and manipulated into the most toxic and irrational philosophies imaginable it's a it's a terrible tragedy and uh life and the most ideal conditions the most ideal loving faithful parents in a thriving economy and a perfect ecology life in the most ideal situations is difficult it's never easy there will always be some difficulty because we're dealing with our our human nature our egos and our desires uh so there's no solution in the external world there's no economic system or conditions that we could forage that will solve the problem it might make things better like I think a christianized society does better uh but it's not permanent because uh it will always succumb to the Tendencies towards corruption that is in our nature nothing will last things might get better for a while uh but uh it's the people that have the uh or uh rooted in faith and this is another misunderstood bird we touched it on it in the past and uh God of course is a totally misunderstood word so this is why uh much of what I say will um be uh rejected and ridiculed by the people that precisely the people that I would like to reach um but uh Faith just simply means this if we can put it in secular terms so that my secular friends out there could hear what I'm saying uh let's for your sake leave God out of it so what does faith mean if we leave God out of it well another word associated with God is truth okay so let's just replace god with truth for now and see if it makes sense to you now you simply have to have faith that there is such thing as a truth as a grand truth a big truth behind both natural law and spiritual and moral law there is an Ultimate Reality that makes all of it possible don't have to call it God you can have some naturalistic explanation if you'd like but you cannot lose your faith that there is truth even if it's so big that we'll never find it so mysterious and complex that will never comprehend it you still have to have faith that there is something Beyond you and yourself and human reality that's it if you lose that faith you've thrown out the ore you're out on a big sea with shifting currents and you've thrown up the steering wheel and you've thrown out the oars good luck yeah I had a crisis of faith in my early 20s where uh you know I was an atheist at the time um but it was a crisis of faith and I called it a crisis of Faith even though I did not believe in God because I had lost faith in my body in my the ability of my heart to keep pumping like how am I pumping my heart how am I doing this well how am I breathing um because obviously these aren't conscious activities these are subconscious automatic activities of the of the human body but I lost faith in them and I was I was plagued by anxiety and panic attacks for a full year to the point where I couldn't sleep and I was just bathed in sweat and my heart palpitating and just the total crisis of Faith as an atheist but you mentioned uh Jon Voight and his little um private Revelation that it's supposed to be difficult it brings to mind Saint Teresa of avilo and she was on her way somewhere in the rain in her horse-drawn carriage and the wheel got stuck in the mud she had to get out and she ended up falling in the mud and she asked God why why do you treat me this way and God said I treat all my friends this way I want to get a show note to my friend my new friend Daniel drazenovich he says he's in live chat how are you doing my brother he says I suffer therefore I exist yes that's it so that's it that's it we suffer we therefore exist because if you're not suffering well you're in heaven you're either okay if you're not suffering you're either in heaven or you're down here deluded as hell we're on some good drugs or you know you're hiding something from yourself you've signed up for made yeah yeah ah so anyway the the apocalyptic Vision that I have is that uh the world is under the grip of a horrendous Mass manipulation that the um the uh the technocrats are getting their way and uh a world tyranny is emerging uh like the world has never known indeed a tyranny that was never possible uh at this level before that is made possible by a particular forms of technology and infrastructure uh that enables this tyranny is as old as the hills of course but the other thing that brings to mind actually the big problem that I have with people who say well the prophets were wrong you know they've been saying the world is going to end since the beginning of time and hey guess what we're still here um these these cheap and childish kind of uh you know aha we got them see there's no God and the prophets were full of crap because look they were wrong um well they they Comfort themselves in their ignorance they haven't looked into it for themselves uh but what um what the prophets the apocalyptic prophets all have in common is that they had a very clear um understanding of human nature they looked around and they saw what they saw they saw what other people didn't dare see so they saw Into the Heart of the dark Heart Of The Human Condition and they saw also that from time to time from age to age uh we are getting uh more and more uh productive in our cleverness of technology is advancing uh and that seems to be a constant so they put the two and two together uh you know we see you know prophecies like uh kind of like a supernatural word uh like it implies you know God spoke to them um and I I believe that I believe I believe God speaks to humanity I'm not discounting that but I'm saying that um whether or not God spoke directly to a prophet doesn't change the fact that uh there was logic involved they saw clearly something some some uh visceral and Universal aspect of the Human Condition and they concluded a trajectory they saw into the future it could be a combination of uh you know inspired vision and logic or it could be all one or the other but to me uh the most useful way to look at it is that there's no there's nothing they saw that you or I can't see if we will it if we or if we are willing to let go of our attachments and our ideas about ourselves and uh and just sort of uh step back zoom out and look down here and see what's really going on you you too can sort of see a trajectory and where it's obviously most likely to lead it's not good news I mean most people don't want to put up with that kind of uh they don't want to ruin their dinner hope for that kind of stuff um but um but when you live as if this isn't all there is if you make a habit and other old traditional piece of wisdom Council is to live your life as if you're going to die today uh that hasn't quite gone out of style it's still a bit of a cliche uh probably mostly laughed at these days but um but nonetheless it's still out there and it's wise live as if you're going to die tomorrow just remember you're going to die and I live by the 50 50 principal uh math be damned I say 50 50. either I'm going to get through the end of this day alive or I'm not it's exactly 50 50. now if you live like that you know it's going to give you a different perspective than if you think you've got a long road ahead of you and uh that I'll repent later on my deathbed yeah you know like prepare now uh so uh there's there's there's all kinds of little tricks that we can habitually practice that keep our perspective from getting uh taken over and manipulated and distorted by worldly concerns yeah I want to mention the Catholic dogma that um there was a certain Dominion that Satan has over us humans okay that's a Dogma it's a defeated a dogma and we can we can haggle over what exactly that means and to what extent Satan has Dominion but Satan is the prince of this world but the reason I'm mentioning it is because some non-catholic Christians are very uh convinced psychologically that if they Embrace their own righteousness that they have in Christ because of the once for all act on the cross then they can act as though Satan does not have any dominion over them it's part of the once saved always secure Doctrine a lot of Protestants have and a friend of mine who's a Protestant is very concerned about me because I am a bit more dour and a bit more concerned about virtue and sort of saddened by my lack of virtue and my lack of faith and these sorts of things and she's she's constantly gently supporting me to say well David you are righteous you have the righteousness of Christ just embrace it just dive in Let Go Let Jesus take the wheel and part of me thinks that's good advice part of me thinks it's bad advice because it's world it's worldly yeah and it's a Vain and it's uh it's hubris yeah so talk a little bit about the Dominion of Satan because you've you've made it very clear that you see the darkness in the worldliness of the world and how how blinding it is um obviously you don't buy into the once saved always say no hell no no no no no this is I think that's uh that's a trick of the devil uh you know everything's fine now don't worry about it God's got your side you know you you signed up you're fine and more than that you are righteous you right now are I know that's the worst part right that's the worst part um no I I've I've um I've always loved the Catholic Church even when I wasn't a Catholic and uh my my mother and her uh side of the family my mother's family uh were catholic and raised Catholic and um my grandmother her mother was a real hero of our household because she she was just so wise and so funny uh it takes a certain humility to to to Laugh To Laugh In Spite of oneself and to laugh at one's own misfortunes and that set a very powerful example that even my uh devout atheist brother uh uh can appreciate um she was loved by everybody because she walked into a room and no matter what the situation was you were glad that she was there you know it's like you think of the worst situation and in comes that one person the whole world that you're just so grateful they're there so you could turn any situation into something uh workable and actually quite enjoyable that was her Catholic thing she had this Inner Strength this uh natural humility the warmth a wicked sense of humor and she came through all kinds of hardships growing up and she had a very hard uh motherhood raising five children and uh with limited resources and she never complained um and she prayed fervently and it was Private she didn't push her religion on us uh uh but you know we saw her grab her Rosary at bedtime and go off oh what's Grandma doing oh she's praying but she never pushed it on us now and then God would come out and she would say some words of Faith almost in passing we knew that she was religious um but her relationship with God was extremely personal and what she imparted to us as her grandchildren uh was done uh indirectly and subtly and and through mostly through example um and my mother uh was uh you know just uh spitting image of her in so many ways you know she endured like a saint she had the patience of the saint you know and uh the one thing that made them so loved by the neighborhoods uh and the families um was their humor you know the the the the very people that you would think would have so much to complain about uh live their life quite the opposite I want to say something about humor because uh Bishop Fulton Sheen made a good point about humor and its connection with sanity and its connection therefore with humility yeah humor is just nothing more or less than the ability to see through things in a way that most people can't see through them so God has a sense of humor because God proceeds perfectly he sees through everything so uh the Blessed or venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen would emphasize that and he was he was another another great teacher he was a very very funny man very dramatic and very intense you know there wasn't uh there was no banality in his and his soul uh he was a very serious serious cat and uh and uh whoa funny as hell as well just knew knew when to drop it you know uh but uh what was the point where where are we getting at yeah the the the the the Protestant thing yeah so the Catholic example see as I was saying I've always been attracted to that because I love my my mother and her and my grandmother and her all my aunts on that side that they were just a riot they were just incredibly fun people and uh and no slouches okay they they were highly intelligent people even if they didn't realize it themselves uh the Catholic example so that is basically uh who who are who are our role models well Christ first and foremost and the Saints and what did the Saints what was the character of the Saints the saints were not walking around self-righteous saying that they're saved and if only you do what I do you'll be saved they were doing the opposite and all the the religious music The Sacred Music uh you know the Requiem Mass and the uh you know the Sanctus and the uh the the Christ have mercy Christ have mercy you know uh uh that you you have this image of of uh of someone who has absolutely well not absolutely but they don't seem to have an idea of just how far they've gone in their spiritual journey they have no idea how wise and good they are [Music] exactly they're comparing themselves you know the idea that the the uh the the the the goodest man uh on Earth the finest and highest most high Saint on Earth is barely Worthy of sitting at the table of the lowest angels in heaven that's the attitude of a true saint the one that is constantly and daily uh turning to Christ and begging for his Mercy begging for cleansing Heal Me Oh Lord Heal Me O Lord and then uh on top of that and maybe even foremost beyond that is their uh prayer prayers for the world and for their brothers and sisters the uh the pain of seeing such a lost world weighs on them but not like these leftists who want to save the world because a true Catholic knows that that's Folly a true Catholic knows that the project is to save Souls um that the sinking ship is a given and the goal therefore is to save Souls literally to get them ready and willing to face God yeah I would say that uh the sink the Satan's sink is shipping but the ship is sinking sorry but uh you know the the image that the fathers used for the church one of the many images was Noah's Ark and uh without your loss but within your saved and sadly only eight Souls chose to be saved by getting into the Ark in Noah's day but today uh in God's Great Mercy we have the in the age of the church we've been given a lot of time uh and a lot of patience is being offered to us and we're invited into the ark and the flood that's coming is not a flood of water God promised it won't be a flood of water but it will be a flood of fire and so um we have to get into the ark and you and I I mean I don't know what your status is with with the church but uh you seem to be talking is if you're Catholic or Catholic or whatever but um you know the the idea is to get into the ark and to to enjoy the safety but the security we have is a very tentative safety it depends on our will which is uh weak and fallen and we are tempted to sin and this is what my Protestant friends don't seem to understand about my my state of mind it's not a panic or anxiety I have a lot of Peace being in the church but I know myself and I do not trust myself that's the difference that's what they don't seem to understand why do I have a certain Shadow over my joy the joy that I should have in Christ The Shadow is my knowledge of self to know myself to know that I am weak and that I'm selfish and that I have not killed the old man completely as I lost to go to heaven I have not killed the old man completely I still am dancing with the devil from time to time he knows how to seduce me with his lies and his worldliness and that's why there's a shadow over the joy that I must have as a saint the Saints uh had the joy but they also had the wherewithal to know that they too were nothing as you mentioned so it's it is subtle it is more nuanced than the once saved always saved yeah false joy of the one saved well to that I would add the the strong uh desire for people to uh be happy you know and it's understandable of course we want to be happy um and you know the the purpose of life oh well you know the Baltimore Baltimore catechism says the purpose why I was made was to know God to love God and to serve God why so that I can be happy with him forever in the next life so this kind of sums up what you're driving out here yeah and then they'll come back with uh oh well why wait until some fictional afterlife to be happy that this you know Christianity is a slave religion it's a slave morality that that keeps us uh down and prevents us from fulfilling our potential and our happiness Here and Now um and again that that's not a terrible argument you know well I would just compare I would just compare Aaron with Moses during the licentious orgy well uh Moses was up on the mountain which team do you want to be on which world view do you want to uh dive into you know I'm with Moses I'm not with Aaron in that particular yeah um yeah we passed it for 80 Days by the way Moses because he did 240 40 days in a row so I'm going with him even though it's a tougher road than the the sexual orgy of food yes yeah ditto for me um the happiness thing when you make happiness the meaning of life then uh then you're you're basically uh unwittingly um walking not only the path to your own destruction but you're feeding the destruction of the world uh without realizing it uh because you're basically uh first of all it's selfish and uh you can try to mitigate or blind yourself to the fact that it's selfish by saying well I'm I'm out I want the whole world to be happy and it's like I I believe everyone should be happy and has the right to be happy join us join our Mafia join us yeah uh and and of course because everything is blacked in white Whited uh by people who refuse to uh face up to the uh mystical and infinite truth of of Catholicism and and The Godly way uh that takes work it's not it's not laid out like uh an easy uh uh paint by number kind of thing it's not easy it takes it takes thought it takes a lifetime of exploration so it's not easy of course it's not anything great is not easy anything worthwhile in this life is not easy so uh you know again coming back to raising children do we raise children really I mean if if you look back uh you know over time societies that more or less held it together uh the traditional wisdom that survived how do we raise our children to be happy and to embrace happiness as the meaning of life well unfortunately increasingly more and more people are raising their children in today's world like this but that's not what that's that's not through traditional wisdom and what I keep saying traditional wisdom as if it's something to just sort of blindly believe in no uh you have to understand everything for yourself and ask yourself well why did such and such work for such a long time um and um or uh you know why do we believe in such and such just because it's an old idea look how terribly it turned out um Etc but then you have to look at the sources and do you trust uh this side of the story um you also have to explore your heart and your common sense because I think that the truth is not something that is discovered in a physical and temporal way but the truth is written in our hearts and comes from an eternal source and you just have to shut up and listen to it uh but no we raise our children to be discipline as we talked about before uh to endure to have patience uh that uh good things come to those who wait uh you want you want to be good at something you have to work and you have to be a good sport and lose with Grace and so the whole uh the whole uh process of growing up is a challenge you want to take that challenge away you're taking away their strength they're you're taking away the actual formation of their souls when you do that and there's a of course there's a fine line and you don't go the other extreme of course and cause them to suffer because you think suffering is good you don't go looking for suffering it'll come to you don't worry about that that's foolish too oh well suffering is the way I'm gonna carry my cross and make sure everyone knows about it no no no you just simply do not allow happiness to be the meaning of life period you don't replace it with suffering suffering isn't the meaning of life either how's that you just reject both and keep your eye on the ball who am I where am I going am I being honest with myself am I being honest with others what do I want to achieve am I willing to do the work to achieve it how big is the love in my heart is it of the true sacrificial nature that it requires to be without which it is not real love uh these are painful questions these are shortcomings that are Universal and a serious life aims to uh to improving each one of these virtues and reducing the vices and that's a war against the flesh and that is a a arduous and willed path direction towards the narrow gate the god where the fruits is eternal now I don't find that hard to understand uh now uh but I went through that period where the world was uh seducing me along with everyone else into thinking this is ridiculous why wait until the Eternal after life to have joy um but um but now it makes perfect sense to me especially when I see uh the direction that the world seems to be taking and then also holding it as an as an example in my mind always my wonderful grandmother uh who did have joy in her heart and but she suffered but she didn't okay this is this is the big one okay this is the big one what made my grandmother so amazing it's not because she was amazing she was a sinner it's not because she didn't suffer oh yeah she suffered but the Catholic character is that which the the person the Catholic carries their own cross and the person who is not following Christ who has been sucked into the world and manipulated by the devil's path are the ones that try to make others carry their cross for them and that is the big difference yeah well my friend Daniel asks in the live chat a good question I want to take a stab at it and I'll let you take a stab at it he asks is a saint a person enlightened and transfigured a new creature that has conquered its old nature well I would answer that a saint I mean we can look up the definition of how someone gets canonized as a saint which includes you know heroic virtue and these sorts of things but I would go to Saint Augustine who said that there are two cities characterized by two loves uh one the love of self unto contempt of God and the other being the love of God and the contempt of self that's my number one definition of what a saint is and I'm of two minds about that meaning that I still love myself and I'm still contemptuous toward God God help me and I don't like this uh the fact that I'm that I'm not a saint yet but I'm very much aware of the fact that I must be if I'm going to enjoy God forever in the next life so it's an ongoing struggle and the fact that I am struggling is uh is a good sign right it's a good sign there are plenty of people in the world that are not struggling they don't even know that uh Christ is God so I'm way ahead of a lot of people so not complaining about the fact that I'm not a saint I'm just working on it right and that fact that very fact is a good sign yeah now uh you know we can't judge the hurt and we don't know if uh my friend Tom Meniere's grandmother is a saint in heaven or she's burning off some of her self-love in purgatory uh it's none of our business frankly but we will know on Judgment Day uh we're gonna get to see the story the intimate details of everyone's uh lives and there are some theologians who say that uh God will for forgive and forget many of our sins that are confessed sacramentally so maybe parts of the history uh you know some of the most embarrassing parts of my history might be cut left on The Cutting Room floor I don't know I'm happy either way I don't really don't care but whatever God God knows best if some things are completely forgotten but by him out of Mercy but but the point is that we we're all on a journey and every to use another platitude every saint has a past just like every sinner has a future and it's just uh it's a journey so I'll let Tom give his two cents uh yeah well I Concur and that's that's that is the Beauty and the gift of of the Catholic faith is that it's um it's it's a the church is a hospital for for six Souls uh it's it's not a place where the The Chosen uh Elites the elites of uh Christ's Circle get together and Pat themselves on the back um I smell even a hint of that in any church and I'm out of there uh we know that this is where we have to go we we're Sinners we have to go to the hospital our souls are sick and we need a good doctor and uh the role of the priest is a just about as serious a responsibility as you can imagine because that's their role their role is to save Souls and if they are false teachers they are doing their um they're doing Untold damage and um and damning themselves so uh so how do this is why I you know I I do I I embrace the Catholic faith I have um I have some skepticism lingering skepticism about the structure of the church and the uh especially the Vatican um yeah we all know it's corrupt everyone knows it's correct so we don't need to worry about it is it corrupt is it not corrupt well we know don't worry about that it is of course um again I think this is a this is a part of Satan's plot is to uh to make the church look as badly as possible um and um uh so the the conflation the the Fatal conflation you know that goes on with people that are so quick and willing uh and uh Desiring to shock religion out of the world get rid of it um you know they Embrace that oh look at the Vatican you believe that how could you go to church I mean it's all a fraud uh it's a terrible and fatal conflation um because maybe in bath water yeah baby and bath water thing and it works every time I mean it really does work it's it's uh Satan doesn't have to try that hard uh he is the master deceiver and um the the the big flaws you know even among Christians who do believe in God and the devil uh the big uh the fatal error especially among Protestants well there's many Protestants that include increasingly more Catholics that are just uh dismissing the notion of Satan altogether which is uh unbelievable but uh Satan is formidably intelligent uh he is a fallen angel uh he has been cut off from heaven and he uh he has spiritual powers and he knows us more than we dare acknowledge he knows us almost completely he knows us almost as good as God knows us almost he's always one short but not that short off like just one little bit off but he's that close he knows us almost as good as God knows us uh God knows us and tries to uh he wants us home he wants us home the Angels weep over our dilemma and they try they want us home the devil knows us and goes ah this shouldn't be so hard to trick them and get my way with them um so that's the story of the devil uh don't underestimate how damn clever he is and he operates in this world and he operates in uh official garb and uh highly polished intellectual Authority and uh he um seduces the entire world he's pretty smart and most of his tricks work um and and increasingly as things get uh down to the Crunch and everything is supposed about to fly apart when his day is short uh that's when he starts to lose it and panic and lash out and expose his true nature and um so the problem is so basically I have no opinion as to what how many people might end up turning around and facing God I have no idea I don't know if most people will fail a few people will go to heaven uh but that shouldn't be our concern Our concern should be to uh assume that we ourselves are going to hell and um and don't assume that we're going to heaven just because we uh believe and love God like the Saints don't make that assumption and so from that humble position uh we can look out in the world even at our worst enemies and even at the most vile monsters at the top of the elite chain of world power and remember God's infant Mercy and what he calls us to do is to be strong enough and confident enough in God's way that we can withstand all the barbs and arrows thrown at us all the manipulations defy peer pressure do not succumb to the big lie to the little lie stand in truth but in Grace and pray for our fellow men amen you know one of the most satanic uh quotes that I've heard in my lifetime from a public figure and I'll let you guess which public figure it was the quote is I am the science do you remember that one no what I don't I don't understand why he's not universally reviled I don't understand why he is not universally reviled that people will still turn to him as some kind of authority figure that is through the roof that is through the roof there's another good one there's another good one that comes to mind recently where they said oh don't worry we have uh um a vaccine now we've developed that's good for all future variants okay of the coronavirus so if that's not hubris I don't know what is if that's not uh the height of silliness I don't know what is it so you know just to say this is not to you know put anyone down in particular it's just to um to illustrate the way Satan Works in this world and how if you're if you have eyes to see and ears to hear it's everywhere yes and More in more or less uh subtle ways and sometimes he's just bold and blatant and I think Satan is getting more and more bold to say things like that yeah it becomes laughable right well it becomes laughable to uh to some of us uh but the reason why it's getting more bold and more laughable I think is that the uh the psychological operations that have been going on these past few decades uh and it takes a few decades to really sort of saturate an entire generation with a frame of mind and that's what we're seeing now so there's been this Frame of Mind this kind of character overall character of uh the new generation the new generation say you know uh parent and child of this of this time that we're in that has been so conditioned that um that he can get away with uh being uh over the top like he can get away with it uh not with everybody but uh but part of the war plan is that uh well if he gets if he gets most of the people with a pocketbook that are actually voting and consuming you can get most of them and uh get them all lining up for the injections uh then it doesn't matter if there's even hundreds of thousands or Millions others that uh see through him in fact it's to his Advantage because now the division is so uh intense and um and we're still living and uh we're dealing with a reality that even the people that do get it and see through the tricks are still most of them are secular so uh so they're not going to be fighting in uh in the uh Godly way they're going to be fighting the other side of their opponents here on Earth so as long as they're fighting each other uh that that works to his Advantage um that that's my view of it it is getting absurd it's getting over the top it's getting every day you hear something uh coming from powers of the world that uh he just scratch your head and pull your hair and say how could people fall for that and you get this little little glimmer of hope whenever that happens you know don't you it's like oh now the the game is bust I mean no one's gonna fall for that and then shock and horror you realize that everyone's sort of collectively Shrugged and a lot of people did believe it and you just uh oh my oh my God um so um that was that's sort of my theory as as to why that that might be you know uh people have been blinded that much uh in fear and but but also because a lot of people have gone so far down a particular Road they're so invested in uh this you know once you're in so deep you can't admit how wrong you are and it's horrifying to see the long road back if it you know so the the only choice really is to double down and uh and so it gets uh it sort of becomes a self-perpetuating uh black hole Circle you know uh Vortex it gets crazier and crazier uh if you don't mind I'd like to read a poem by one of my favorite Saints Saint Anselm and then you can comment on it it's it's relevant to our discussion uh about uh the humility of the Saints and the danger that we're all in and uh even the great Saints uh have the humility to know that they were in danger so it's Saint Anselm of canterbury's prayer to Saint Stephen the first martyr I'll just read a segment of it that's relevant he says I stand continually in danger although I do not always recognize this and I am the more miserable and wretched when I forget that it is so for God always sees my sins always his severe judgment threatens the sinfulness of my soul always hell gapes and its torments are ready to snatch my wretched Soul away to that place thus I am placed when I awake thus when I sleep thus when I smile thus when I jest thus when I am proud thus when I am humiliated thus when angry thus when Vindicated thus thus I am when I miserably love the Delights of the flesh thus I am then always and everywhere wow yeah it's amazing so we need to we cannot be we cannot uh if if this great Saint is expressing these concerns these legitimate concerns who are we to dismiss them so frivolously oh no I'm saved by the blood of Christ no no you know it's a process first of all it's a process it's an ongoing thing and well it's a road it's a road and the road is not uh is not over until Christ says so it's a road and so it's a choice and um it's like it's almost like you know the Protestant position is almost like saying you know yeah you know I teach piano uh someone might have been thinking about learning piano for many years but never quite got into it never really believed and it strong enough and then one day to decide and you know they come to me and they say um I I believe in piano and I believe in my ability to play piano and then I dust them on the forehead and I bless them and go and be a great pianist um it's the same logic right I mean that's so ridiculous so uh no you chose Christ it's like okay guess what being Christian is probably a thousand or ten thousand old more difficult than becoming a virtuoso pianist or violinist this is serious stuff it's very very serious if if someone okay suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food if one of you says to him go I wish you well keep warm and well fed but does nothing about his physical needs what good is it in the same way Faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action is dead this is that's right St James that's right that's right it's it's a daily thing and you know uh the tradition of nightly prayers I I think that the only a real value and it's a very important one nightly prayers is basically taking stock of yourself every night at the end of the day uh you face God and you ask God to shine his light on you um I see I see some bugs and cobwebs and filth and my soul but I'm not sure if I see all of it and you turn to God you take stock you're a little stock of your little self and you pray to God that um uh to help you see even clearer every day every night did I walk the will of God today did I take the opportunities he offered today where I could be of help where I could be of service did I lie today did I you know on and on and on taking stock every night um I'm a big fan of New Year's actually um and I I come across people that uh you know try to uh oh well it's just an arbitrary day on the calendar and it's like all this nonsense and the noise making it midnight and it's just you know it's the it's just a calendar of one of many it's just an arbitrary time and all this stuff and my argument to that is that you know no it's valuable the way I look at New Year's Eve it's the end of the year it's the last day of the year ideally you're with people that you truly love your best friends come to your New Year's party only your best your truest friends and if that's only a crowd of three or four with a bottle of Porto whatever or if it's 20 people in your family all the better but you're with people you love and then midnight strikes and at midnight the entire year is behind you and a lot has happened in a year a lot has happened to you and to others both externally and internally um take stock of the whole year where do you stand with these people where do you stand with God what did you do this year where are you going and um the uh you know the old uh 10 resolutions kind of tradition uh it can be twisted into more secular use uh how can I grow my business this year uh I've got to lose weight maybe I'll quit smoking this year and all this stuff which is all fine and good but the um the the more uh religious uh angle of the resolutions is to weed out your vices your spiritual vices primarily um uh and to uh to practice the virtues and to do it for God not for your worldly success but to do it for the Salvation of your soul and for the pleasure of God so I think it's very valuable yeah any any ritual see I any ritual any any reminder whatever it might be or they're so Central I think to human society and to and to personal development ritual is very very important um it shouldn't be uh exalted to to the level of uh eternal principles and God himself they are tools it's like we shouldn't Elevate mathematics or science uh into some kind of a god they are tools but rituals are incredibly valuable tools because we humans need reminders we need regularity uh you know we go out into the world we get an idea a goal and then we go this way and that way and uh circumstances unfold in ways quite unpredictable and uh soon we're in to ourselves into ourselves and the Rewards or the or the punishments that come our way and and then ritual Boom come back here come back here just for one day or just for one hour here's the ritual it's time now huh and it reminds us because we need these constant reminders we need these constant Focus points to get back on the program yeah you know I do uh the first thing I do in the morning is the sign of the cross like even if I have to take a leak really badly I just it takes no effort to make the sign of the cross as you're rushing to the bathroom whatever so um you know and my night with the uh the Jesuit examine of Saint Ignatius of Loyola which is seeking it's like hide and seek trying to find The Graces in the day and then The Graces that come from God obviously and then the sins that come from my self-love and uh you know begging for a greater ever greater Vision so that we can see the grace and we can see our own sin and uh so yeah I I also have uh a checklist even though I preach on my podcast constantly against having a checklist religiosity it's a supplement to my faith my walk with God is uh you know some of these uh reality checks and these checklists so I have a spiritual Journal every 15 minutes of every day I'm noting on three levels what's happening what am I doing physically and how am I feeling these sorts of things and uh you know the most important things that I want to highlight are virtue and vice right so it's just a tool it's just a ladder once I Ascend then I can kick away the latter you can burn it you can scrap it I don't care what you do with this stupid checklist I don't care it's just a tool it has its place for now because I'm weak and uh Saint Augustine said we don't need the Bible it's only those who are weak who need the Bible if you have the supernatural virtues of faith hope and love Christians do not need the Bible but as it stands you know we we do need the Bible because we don't have we're not walking in faith hope and love so uh the Saints understood that there is a usefulness to checklists into doing the examine and these sorts of things but it's it's it the the map is not the destination and the finger pointing is not is not God you know precisely precisely yeah so it's about having perspective and I'm not going to shun the tools and the toys that I have as a spiritual child I'm still going to be nursing myself on milk until I'm ready for solid food as Saint Paul said and it's just again the humility where are you at and what are you doing and what do you need do you need a 12-step program right now for your alcoholism or whatever it is do you need uh do you need crutches because your ankle is broken like these aren't these aren't trivial things they like you know are you having trouble reading have you thought about getting a pair of reading glasses like this is practical stuff right uh we all know that in heaven there won't be crutches there won't be AAA meetings and there won't be glasses we know that but let's be realistic like right here and now this is what I need period that's right yeah very well said very well said so uh yeah we need all the help we can get and uh uh I think that the The Shining of ritual uh comes from uh the uh well it's it's uh logical result of uh a full-on secular secularization of society where people are uh so full of belief in themselves and that we can rely on ourselves whatever that means um you know self-reliance of course is a good thing uh but that is in the realm of you know practical things like uh God is not going to tie your camel for you by yourself Jesus is not going to take the wheel uh he gave you an adrenal gland for a reason [Music] um so self-reliance of course but but the idea that that science or man's reason alone uh can uh uh can determine the nature of reality absent God because that's the fundamental Assumption of materialistic science and then from what we learn in the physical sciences uh to assume the uh the uh [Music] over ruling wisdom to uh make use of this and that insight and Technology to order the world um is uh is uh hubris that um that is unparalleled and uh Untouched by anything in history uh we cannot rely on ourselves for spiritual sustenance we need God and uh and we need any little tool and trick just as a child learning uh how to walk how to talk how to write how to play games um and on and on uh we are children and we are undeveloped and we are fallen and we need to remember that a regular and balanced diet of play and work and regular ritual a schedule if you will you know there's our our daily uh uh practical level schedule we all believe in that we would agree I mean come on and so uh there's also a spiritual schedule and it's it's a daily thing and you know uh prayer uh dates on the calendar and the right use of that ritual and knowing what they're there for the things that we have to remind ourselves constantly about to keep us uh humble and aware and uh growing in in faith which again uh another word for that is courage right that be not afraid I think is essential so uh developing more and more courage less and less concern about what other people think of us and what the world expects from us and basically getting stronger day by day year by year and that is what it is to grow in faith it means to grow in strength well you said something about self-reliance that got me thinking about um what that looks like practically in terms of the four last things death judgment Heaven and Hell basically it's comes down to Karma once again like God will not force you to choose the better part okay but if you if you if you do that's called Heaven if you don't it's called hell but let's look at Hell in the context of self-reliance have you ever seen the movie uh The Shining where he he's he sees the beautiful young woman naked in the bathtub and then he Embraces her and she's just old and wrinkled and gross and rotting and have you ever been in uh you know uh you've seen we've we all know the cliche and we've all done it ourselves where we say to a beautiful woman you're beautiful and you know your hair is beautiful your lips are beautiful not knowing the hair is fake and the lips are fake right and then you know you smell good you smell very good but it's not she doesn't smell good it's all the products you put on that smell good okay go to a pharmacy go to the beauty section look at how much it takes to make us look and smell good okay yeah so hell hell is God saying to the self-reliant human okay you want you want to be the source then you want to be you and you want to be self-reliant you will be stuck with yourself this is what you are you're rotting your decaying you're falling away from being without me you can't even be sustained in being so I'll let you fall away from being you're going to be rotting disgusting smelly and it's just a nightmare it's just a nightmare choosing self is a nightmare but we can fool ourselves into thinking I smell good well you smell good today because like two hours ago you took a shower okay um I look good yeah because you spent an hour getting pretty with all kinds of augmentations okay so um do you want to be do you want to be yourself for all eternity or would you not rather be divinized die to self and live in Christ the god of Jesus Christ do you not want that do you not want that like think about it so this is an approach that we could possibly take with the atheist uh with the non-religious secular worldly person it's like just please remember who and what you are and uh especially if God leaves you to your own devices to fall away from everything that's good and holy Beauty Health goodness it's not pretty I'm sorry it's not pretty and this is not to this is not to bash God's creation God's creation is good but we fell from Grace so we live in a fallen world and there are consequences to that so let's not hitch our wagon to that train please for the love of God yes Amen brother so is there any other point you want to make before we wrap up because I got another interview coming up here um no let me just look at here when I uh we covered that we covered that oh yeah uh never let anyone uh tell you happy holidays or get offended at you when you don't say that it's Merry Christmas it's Merry Christmas it's on the calendar folks look it up uh Victoria Day uh you know I don't I don't uh I don't care for I mean Victoria I don't know really much about Royal history I've I sort of trust them about as much as I do the Vatican so I'm not a big fan of Queen Victoria but guess what Victoria Day comes along I get a day off work like everyone else and it's called Victoria Day and I say to my friends hey what are you doing uh Victoria Day weekend and they say oh I'm going up the country do you want to come or or whatever it might be and they call it Victoria Day two even though we don't believe even Victoria okay folks it's Merry Christmas and anyone who's offended because they're not included uh pray for them because it's the people that are easily offended at the most banal things like meaning to me Victoria is just a banal fact of history to others is she's sacred I don't take that away from them she was she was the Supreme uh leader of the Anglican religion so there's something to be said for that yeah yeah well anyway whatever it might be some people they hold her in almost Divine esteem and uh people like me don't I'm not taking it away from them and they're not taking anything away from me when they call it Victoria Day as I also do because that's the reason why the uh government uh decided to uh make it a national holiday uh why are we have the day off oh it's Victoria Day Labor Day Christmas it's Christmas folks it's Merry Christmas it doesn't matter if you're a Christian don't let people manipulate you into changing language and the meanings and the designation of days and on and on uh to suit their feelings you're not helping anyone by bowing to that you're hurting people it's that serious when you start changing language and you allow manipulators to change language that is the opening of a door okay and there's a corridor through that door and it gets darker and stupider and more and more irrational ultimately violent and destructive of the very god-given faculties that keep us together it starts with the word I agree I agree 100 it just occurred to me I got a friend who um is has been struggling with depression I'm not going to name this friend um but I'm wondering what words of wisdom you would have uh uh you know this person is agnostic about God and whatever flirts with the idea of God from time to time you know like all atheists do maybe a little bit more than the average atheist actually but um just some general advice you don't know this person and you don't know exactly what they're going through with the source and the cause is of the depression or How deep the depression is no one knows but this person and God but um you I'm interested to hear what you might have to say just in terms of general advice uh and I'm sure it will contain a spiritual component a Christian component so sorry what I want you to give advice so you're a depressed friend yeah um well I'm no stranger to depression uh knock on wood I haven't been depressed or bored for uh many many years now uh since I fully embraced God um but uh I'm no stranger to it and uh I don't know what kind of advice I can give that would be helpful but um but I discovered that uh that the old way is the right way and that is if you're depressed or feeling weak what happens when you're depressed you're focused on yourself uh there there is uh there is some kind of a shortcoming some kind of uh uh a a barrier of a wall that you can't get past you're stuck in a cell in your soul uh and so um in that state of mind you're really concerned with yourself and how do I get out of this trap how do I get out of the dark how do I get into the light how can I feel better again and the old way is when you're feeling that way be of service to others you know uh you might not know what to do you might not feel like doing it chances are you won't feel like doing it uh go to a church go to a homeless shelter uh wash someone's clothes feed them some soup sweep someone's floors do something for someone else because banal as it is as unskilled as it might how little it would require from you just a bit of Labor in a little bit and um you will feel better pretty quickly might not heal you overnight but it'll take your mind off of yourself and you will be in the company of people that are actually worse off than you and it'll give you perspective uh that's all I can really offer uh I certainly would uh advise against going to see a psychiatrist post uh be intimately most firmly do not do that okay I I agree I agree excellent advice excellent advice because you snuck in the spiritual in in the Garb that is very accessible yeah uh it's still not gonna be fun or easy to do but it's an excellent excellent advice and I hadn't thought of that so you've armed me well so thank you so much for uh for that advice okay and thank you for this talk I think we've wrapped it up let me just see I know you have someone else who are we talked about that we talked about that with that yeah we covered everything great excellent well next time we'll have more to discuss there's always more to discuss with God and his church and uh really uh I love you like a brother and I'm so happy to you yeah likewise well hopefully we'll see each other soon I'm not sure if I'm going uh to see you at a certain event this Friday but maybe one of the other Fridays we'll see how things go okay okay I look forward to that and uh Happy New Year to you doing Anna and uh happy holidays oh uh I'd like to come see your church so maybe we can do something this Sunday this Sunday okay Sunday morning 9 30. okay we'll get there we'll get there uh at 9 15 or something like that okay okay perfect all right brother thank you so much and we'll talk soon remember to pray for me and mine yeah I sure will okay my brother okay love you