tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954626196989247233.post588427789465022525..comments2023-08-10T04:05:10.114-05:00Comments on Enchanted Etymologist: AnthemEnchanted Etymologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04804670986143972002noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954626196989247233.post-13048721287541633022010-04-17T20:15:20.988-05:002010-04-17T20:15:20.988-05:00Hey! I saw on your blogger profile that you're...Hey! I saw on your blogger profile that you're a fan of Wayne Batson's The Door Within Trilogy! Me too! One of his writing friends, Bryan Davis, wrote a really good book called Starlighter that I think you'd enjoy. I'm giving it away for free on my blog! If you're interested, stop in and enter!<br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />-Nathan<br />http://whisperedroars.blogspot.com/Nathan R. Petriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13245359167893921691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954626196989247233.post-24928750589595474362010-03-23T13:24:22.030-05:002010-03-23T13:24:22.030-05:00You have written a very thought-provoking essay. I...You have written a very thought-provoking essay. I have never read Ayn Rand, and now, after reading your essay, I remember why not. I left home when I was 17, and I told my parents I was leaving “to find the truth.” (It was a case of the “I” seeking escape from the great “We.”) There was obviously a lot of rebellion in my reasons for leaving home, the whole drugs, sex, rock and roll thing of the late 60s and early 70s. But I weakly continued to think about life and truth, when I was sober and had a clear mind, and I would even talk to friends about some of my own thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. I visited an old girl friend of mine living in Atlanta, only to find her strung out on drugs, and I remember telling her that there’s got to be something inside us to make us high on life. She immediately asked if I had become a “Jesus Freak.” To which I just as quickly replied, “No!” Looking back now over 40 years, I only wish I could have replied, yes. A couple months later she was murdered by her own brother who split her head with a hatchet. But, hey, he was only acting out his own thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. His sister had given up using her mind; she had become one of the “cattle” shuffled around by forces outside of her control.<br /><br />I wrongly thought that I, as a “sovereign individual,” could arrive at what Francis Schaeffer called “true truth.” That is, that I could find truth independently on my own without any help from God or even other men. That’s what the philosophers and our teachers tell us; that is, they tell us we can know the truth on our own. But I never stopped to think that if I didn’t have any outside help, someone to tell me what truth is, then how would I know what truth was when I finally found it. Of course if we believe in the autonomy of man, we can then suggest that truth is whatever we want it to be (Humpty Dumpty’s philosophy as explained to Alice on the meaning of words).<br /><br />To make a long story short, God intervened. In His mercy and grace, He opened my eyes to see the truth as recorded in John 14:6. God had to show me that He existed and that the Bible is His written revelation to man. The “true truth” is found in the true Logos, Jesus Christ (John 1:1).<br /><br />I know that Ayn Rand is popular among many Libertarians, and I think that’s because her “objectivism” is seen as an answer to communism. The political state of our own nation seems to be similar to what you described as the great “We.” Modern Libertarians want to be “free” and celebrate the “I.” The prisoner in your essay with his “latent and instinctive fear of death” is modern man wanting to be autonomous but discovering he is incapable of true freedom—simply because he doesn’t know what that means. Without an objective standard (The Bible) which sits above man, modern man makes himself the measure/standard. The fear of death in man is what the Apostle Paul calls “the wrath of God” which he says is “revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). And “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Rom 1:22).<br /><br />Thanks for taking the time to read <i>Anthem</i> and then to write about it. I enjoyed your thoughts—makes me want to read the book myself (well, almost….).<br /><br />Tell your Daddy, I said, Hi.<br />Tom Brewernottmbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12120021167442735981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954626196989247233.post-58446032031127064142010-03-22T11:52:42.933-05:002010-03-22T11:52:42.933-05:00Wow...hmmm...<b><i>Wow...hmmm...</i></b>The Militant Pacifisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13114020353418814651noreply@blogger.com