Harmatiai: Part Two

The narrative of self-destruction and futility continues from the last post.

7. The Betrayal of Laodicea and the Second Fallen Civil War

The fallen cities have generally become disillusioned with the leadership of Sardis, and the Laodiceans have gradually become less concerned about their allegiance to Eleyon, and more concerned about simply seeking the good life. As they look to the apparent successes of the Luminosa and the failings of their own states, they seriously consider if moving under Alero's banner might be more stable and prosperous. After all, when Sardis was sacked, the population had been given a chance to remake their lives in the safety of the Luminosan cities, and many of them were fitting in quite comfortably.

In about the twelfth century, Laodicea holds a referendum. The issue at hand is whether they will pledge their allegiance to Sardis or to Eleris. The humans vote to join with the Luminosa. They send a delegation to Eleris, to discuss terms of this new relationship. Laodicea is to become a vassal city of the Luminosa, sending taxes and in turn, promised protection. A delegation from the Luminosa comes to the Laodiceans and ratifies the agreement with them there. At this point, the elves are commanded to leave Laodicea and find some other city to dwell in, along with the humans in the minority who disagreed with the decision. This population emigrates to the remaining cities, Sardis, Ephesus and Philadelphia.

Upon hearing about their complete betrayal this time, the council of Sardis is incensed against Laodicea. Sardis sends missives to Pergamum, Ephesus and Philadelphia to rally against the Laodicean traitors, but Pergamum sends only a token force, Ephesus ignores the messenger entirely and Philadelphia, expectedly, declines and upholds Laodicea's right to choose their own fate. Sardis nonetheless declares war on Laodicea and makes aggressive advances. They manage to cause considerable damage to the surrounding lands but upon reaching Laodicea, they find that there is already a strange enhancement of the Luminosan magic, that is able to repulse all their efforts. Sardis has no choice but to back off and accept the current geopolitical realities of the times.

8. The Rise of Totalitarian Sardis

The people of Sardis are frustrated and angry with their defeats and loss of power. They hark back to times past when they were the leaders of the Fallen, not only in name but in fact. They dream again of greatness and a federation of cities, strong in unity and able to take down the Luminosa to bring prophecy to fulfilment. They lament the fractured and degraded nature of many of the other cities, one by one succumbing to destructive tendencies. The people of Sardis have themselves remained morally upright, well managed in their societies and the most prosperous of the cities. Eleris still cannot compare head to head with the might of the Sardinian army on the open field, and the edifices, civil law and economy of Sardis is unmatched.

One man decides that something must be done. The pattern of Sardis must be enforced on the remaining Fallen cities to strengthen them against the decay of immorality and despair. The government of Sardis must extend its dominion over the other cities in order to lift them out of the errors of their ways. The council of Sardis decides to grant dictatorship to this one man, a man with a vision of a revitalised world, with the city of Sardis as its enlightened authority. With this in mind, Sardis begins to make diplomatic overtures externally. Internally, the policy of Sardis falls ever more tightly into the grip of the central government, with the ultimate aim of embodying the ideal of strength in unity, where all areas of society work towards one goal.

Pergamum decides to accept the offer to become Sardis' vassal, as they have felt threatened by the expansion of Luminosan influence through Laodicea. Ephesus however, once again ignores Sardis, criticising them for their arrogance in assuming superiority and the right to rule. Philadelphia insists that a vision of a federation is incompatible with the kind of government that Sardis's council is turning into, which has a centralised and absolutist philosophy.

9. The Sardinian Subjugation War and the Concealment of Ephesus

Insulted and determined to remain true to his vision, the dictator of Sardis declares war on Ephesus and Philadelphia, the last free cities. Philadelphia cannot resist, as they have long remained pacifists and have not developed any significant martial technologies of their own. Some are allowed to remain in Philadelphian lands, but most of the population is taken back to Sardis to begin the next phase of the plan, full scale mobilisation for war with the Luminosa.

Ephesus, by the thirteenth century, has become a highly stratified society. Magical purebloods sit at the top, commanding most of the resources and inbreeding to maintain their magical potential. The lower classes take on manual labour while the upper classes pursue esoteric research. Their slant has been intensely biological, delving into physiology, ecosystems, cloning and genetic engineering. They are determined that the solution to the Luminosan problem will come not from man, but from harnessing the powers of nature, believing that the militarised Sardis is fundamentally misguided. When the armies of Sardis come to storm Ephesus, the very forest and waters around them seem enchanted and dangerous, strange creatures with venom and claws attack the armies of Sardis and drive them back. Ephesus becomes a hidden city, protected by its environment, its location is forgotten in time. Only the elves of Philadelphia are permitted access and can find their way through the shifting glades and labyrinthine paths.

10. The Sardinian-Luminosan War and the Bane of Sardis

Soon, the Sardinians are ready for their greatest push against the Luminosa. The Philadelphians have been treated like slaves and the Pergamines, having lost their magical potential utterly, like second class citizens. The army of Sardis is effectively tiered, the expendable Philadelphians, the infantry Pergamines, and the elite Sardinian forces.

The first push against the Luminosa is lethal and highly successful. Laodicea is infiltrated with a precision and tactical genius that takes the defenders completely off guard. The necromantic magical source is destroyed and the power of the Luminosa broken in that region. Laodicea is annexed for Sardis. The Sardinian army moves on and swiftly attacks Alaris, the cultural jewel of the Luminosa, which for the first time is captured successfully, such that it can no longer serve as a source of supplies and support for a besieged Eleris. The strategies employed by Sardis though, effective as they may be, come at great cost of life, particularly to the lower ranks and the Philadelphian slaves. Even the Luminosa are taken aback by the Sardinian leadership's willingness to sacrifice human lives for their objectives.

The final phase of Sardis' war plan begins. They surround Eleris and the most unnerving initiative is put into motion. Suicide agents simply give themselves up in a destructive frenzy within Eleris, and these kamikaze attacks throw the Elerian defences into complete disorder. This is the hidden innovation of the tyrant, and upon its implementation, his cabinet fractures. Nonetheless, the tyrant enters Alero's temple, and manages to destroy the necromantic heart of Eleris, disabling the armies and defences of the city. In his victory, he boasts to Alero that he is the Messiah, come to crush the serpent's head. Alero only begins to laugh, to mock the tyrant's utter hypocrisy and abandonment of honour. In a great speech, Alero calls upon all that remains of nobility among humans and the Sardinian leadership to rally and put down their deranged leader.

The greatest war criminals of Sardis are trialled and found guilty, sentenced to the dungeons of Eleris to await their end in the batteries of the generators. The reconstruction effort is great, helped along by the resources of the remaining Sardinians, who decide that they must give up the fight and work for the reconciliation of the cities, even the Luminosa. Sardis would never again rise up in violence against its neighbours.

The fourteenth century begins with a new hope for a world of peace, under the purported benevolence of Alero. Eleris, Alaris, Sardis, Pergamum and Laodicea, the only cities of significance remaining, pool their resources to a try to commit to a better future. The victor narrative of the Luminosa is promulgated throughout the world, in the effort to quell dissent. Sardis the magnificent is scarred by a collective guilt and for a time retreats from centre stage, before eventually emerging as a tamed lion under the steady hand of the Luminosa. Pergamum is all but degraded, becoming a city of such vice and hedonism that her reputation is infamous. Some of the Pergamian elite, or whatever remains of them, move to Alaris where they find some semblance of how Pergamum used to be, a place of creativity and artistic pursuit. Laodicea only remains as an output, most of the population moving to Eleris and Alaris in the reconstruction effort and settling in afterwards.

11. The Ministry of Noah

Only two cities remain outside the influence of the Luminosa. The first is Ephesus, seemingly fading into isolated irrelevance. The second is Philadelphia, which is little but a small hamlet after the draining war. It is from humble Philadelphia that a man receives a call that will upend the new world order. About a hundred years have passed since the war, and the last elves of Philadelphia are given instructions. Eleyon instructs that Noah, a farmer of Philadelphia and its youngest man, is to marry and have three sons. The Philadelphians had stopped procreating after Noah was born, because of a misinterpretation of his name. When Noah's sons are mature, word comes again, Noah is to go with three of his sons to the cities of Sardis, Ephesus and Pergamum to prophesy about a disaster that is to come, for the wrath of the Eleyon is burning against them. He is to invite them to the salvation that Eleyon will prepare for them.

Noah goes to Ephesus first, shown the path by the elves of Philadelphia. In Ephesus, he is treated with scorn, for he has no elvish blood, and is but a peasant in their eyes. The Ephesians believe that they will one day be the victors over the Luminosa, and their hope in a salvation of their own making deafens them to Noah's prophecy. Only one daughter of one of the noble houses of Ephesus chooses to come away with him. She becomes the wife of Japheth, Noah's eldest son.

Noah goes to Sardis, and preaches but the Sardinians despise his message, refusing to believe any more in the words of Eleyon which they had tried repeatedly and failed to fulfil. Eleyon is a liar they claim, all his words have only brought about death and destruction, not salvation. The will of Sardis is spent in rage and grief and all they want now is to work for the healing of man. Only one daughter of Sardis believes and comes with them, she becomes the wife of Shem, Noah's middle son.

Finally, Noah goes to Pergamum, the pleasure city of the antediluvian world, and preaches judgement. The Pergamines accept the judgement but do not wish to be saved, welcoming the message that the world will come to an end. Once again, only one daughter of Ephesus believes Noah and comes away with them, and she becomes the wife of Ham, Noah's youngest son.

In total Noah ministers for six years, from 1630 to 1636, and when he returns to Philadelphia, Eleyon tells him to begin to build an ark.

12. The Death of Cain, The Destruction of Ephesus, Sardis and Pergamum

In the year 1650, Cain dies despite the best medical intervention of the Luminosa and Alero's image begins to come apart. There was nothing to be done, the breath of Eleyon had departed from Cain's flesh. Sardis and Pergamum are also caught up in fresh turmoil and Alero suppresses them brutally. The events of the Cradle of Sinners occur. Dalvos falls into Ephesus, Lelia, on the run, passes through Pergamum to try and reach Philadelphia, while Barvos and the delegation arrive at Philadelphia, determined to learn the way to Ephesus.

In the ensuing drama, Ephesus is found guilty of trying to create a disease to eliminate the Luminosa, and a weapon of nuclear proportions is detonated there, destroying the main city in 1651. However, its refuges remain hidden, and from there, the Ephesians attempt to stage their revenge. The elves of Ephesus flee with pairs of animals to Philadelphia, all affected by radiation. Many of the elves themselves soon die of radiation poisoning. The rest pass over the mountains in a final departure, with the Philadelphian elves. Eleyon sets up a protective barrier around Philadelphia so that they cannot be pursued.

13. The Plague of the Luminosa

In the year 1655, the Luminosa begin to succumb to a sickening and deadly disease. It is the perfect biological weapon, spreading from person to person, with long incubation periods and highly infectious. The plague begins in Sardis, but soon spread through all the Luminosan cities. Pergamum is the first to be completely overwhelmed, then Alaris. Selvia dies in this plague.

14. The Third Fallen-Luminosan War and the Flood
The remaining healthy individuals in Sardis and Eleris decide that the entire Ephesian forest must be completely destroyed. A vast army of Ephesians emerges from the forest, with all manner of strange beasts and half-men, and they march on Sardis to destroy it. The final confrontation occurs once again on the historic Mirrosea mesa. As the battle rages, the deluge begins. Noah, his family and the animals in the ark are preserved.

Semi-Fictional Key Dates:
Birth of Noah - 1056
Lifespan decree - 1530
Birth of Japheth - 1565
Birth of Shem - 1567
Maturity of Japheth - 1630
Maturity of Ham - 1634
Ministry of Noah - 1630 to 1636
Building of the Ark: 1636 to 1656
Death of Cain - 1650
Death of Lamech - 1651
Flood - 1656

What has been is what will be, 

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”?

It has been already in the ages before us.

There is no remembrance of former things, 

nor will there be any remembrance of later things 

yet to be among those who come after

Ecclesiastes 1: 9-11

Harmatiai: Part One

It's always pleasant when I can incorporate more biblical inspirations into the mythos of Eldwan, and this one has happened so precisely that I cannot claim to have devised it alone. It follows very much from the previous post that explains the new developments to the magical system of Eldwan. The way that it all fell into place was quite uncanny. I had previously wanted to develop the non-Luminosan societies to a greater extent, and thought I would perhaps have 7 houses of elves, and 7 cities of men that they would lead, but I was stumped as to how to characterise them in ways that would be meaningful and distinct. I came up with a rough draft of some possibilities rather on a whim, focusing on a key deficiency of truth for each city. 

I've recently been studying the Revelation to John and hit the section about the 7 churches of Asia Minor, then I had flash of inspiration to link each church to one of the cities. As I was reading and thinking through each of the rebukes and encouragements given to the churches, I began to match them up. Quite eerily, I only had to make two minor changes and everything fell into place. The saga and downfall of the seven fallen cities is described below.

A History of the Fallen Cities

An Overview: When the Fallen are expelled from the garden, Eleyon tells the elves to prepare to depart, for He intends to spare them from the ravages of sin. Seven couples of Elves however, determine that they wish to remain among the Fallen, wishing to do what they can to preserve the lives of their brethren. They wish to be moral guides and teachers of wisdom to the societies they come along side of. They would not be rulers or generals, but servants. Eleyon warns them that their choice will mean suffering and the eventual destruction of their families. Nonetheless, the fourteen elves are resolute. Knowing the goodness behind their intentions, and that he would have done the same, Eleyon grants their petition, with one condition, that there ought not to be any intermarriage between the elvish lines and the fallen lines.

The Fallen who do not take up Alero's invitation are segregated into seven groups and spread out over the surface of the earth to found seven cities. For the sake of clarity, I will use the names of the seven churches in Revelation, though they will not be the final names of those cities. Meanwhile, Alero's society, the Luminosa, grows gradually more powerful as they develop technologically.

Key Events

1. The First Marriage of an Elf and a Woman in Sardis

2. The Death of Adam

3. The Failed Messiah and the First Fallen-Luminosan War

4. The Sack of Smryna and the Second Fallen-Luminosan War

5. The Rape of Thyatria and the First Fallen Civil War

6. The Despair of Pergamum and the Expulsion of the Pergamine Elves

7. The Betrayal of Laodicea and the Second Fallen Civil War

8. The Rise of Totalitarian Sardis

9. The Sardinian Subjugation War and the Concealment of Ephesus

10. The Sardinian-Luminosan War and the Bane of Sardis

11. The Ministry of Noah

12. The Death of Cain, The Destruction of Ephesus, Sardis and Pergamum

13. The Plague of the Luminosa

14. The Third Fallen-Luminosan War and the Flood

Detailed Accounts

1. The First Marriage of an Elf and a Woman in Sardis
For the first several hundred years, the system holds. The fallen turn to the Elves for wisdom when there are issues they cannot resolve among themselves. Societies prosper and steward the land they have well. The population of the seven cities grows and the societies appear to flourish. Though the ban on mixed marriages is in place, it becomes harder and harder to reason about why things must be segregated in the way they are to some of the societies of the Fallen.

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.

Genesis 6:1

One of the biggest themes I would like to explore with Eldwan is the difficulty we have in determining what is wise and what is unwise. That which appears good and beautiful to us may not in fact be truly good and beautiful, and the consequences may be so far reaching that they cannot be anticipated. So, by about the fifth or sixth century, the cracks begin to give. In the city of Sardis, a young couple, a son of the Elves and a daughter of the Fallen resolve to be married into one household. Their elders tell them that the Elf will lose his immortality, but that does not change the Elf's mind and he decides he would rather choose mortality than to be apart from his beloved. In defiance of their elders, who had stronger convictions, they marry and have issue. The debate rages over definitions of good and evil, over what the potential consequences of this action will be. Yet, their marriage is healthy, and children of this union are not only healthy, but it soon becomes apparent that they are sensitive and can use magic.

Critics are silenced and the floodgates open. Many more Sardinian couples that had not spoken out about their love follow the precedent, and there are soon many more half-elven children walking the streets of Sardis. Two other cities, Ephesus and Pergamum, also begin to allow mixed marriages. The other four cities adopt various postures: Philadelphia and Smryna simply recall the other original instruction and chooses to trust in the intentions of Eleyon. Thyatira and Laodicea respond by trying to put more regulations around human and elf relations, imposing more segregations and in Thyatira, living separately.

Sardis begins to grow into unprecedented might, through the use of magic to generate abundance from their land, as do Ephesus and Pergamum to a lesser degree. By the ninth century, all of the population of Sardis has elvish blood and can use magic. Sardis grows proud, and in their relations with the other cities, Sardis begins to posture more as a hegemon than as an equal. Sensing that something is deeply awry, the elves of Ephesus and Pergamum put a stop to any further marriages between elves and humans.

2. The Death of Adam

In the year 930, in the city of Philadelphia, age finally claims the life of Adam, and it becomes clear that even without violent injury, those who are fallen will face the cold grip of mortality. In Eldwan, death by old age was introduced by Ilvesu, as she took matters into her own hands and poisoned the tree of ether. It had not been in the original intent of Eleyon for death to come through biological degradation.

With his death, representatives of all men come to Philadelphia, which has remained a small and humble city through the centuries, a metropolis of the surrounding agrarian towns. For the first time in centuries, Cain is seen among his brothers, come to pay respects to his father. The elves sense something deeply disturbing emanating from the presence of the Luminosan delegation, a chilling and unnatural power.

After the ceremony, fear begins to settle into the hearts of humans. Eve is also ailing, and she knows her death is also soon upon her. The words of Eleyon ring through their minds, about the fate of Adam, and also, about the fate of the serpent. After the departure of the Luminosa, Eve, in her despair, declares her personal hatred of the serpent, for his role in the fall of mankind.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring,

He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Genesis 3:15

3. The Failed Messiah and the First Fallen-Luminosan War

As the delegation of Sardis returns to their grand capital, they discuss the events that have just transpired. One young man speaks up, he is the brightest of his generation, and the elders listen to him, for they are overcome with uncertainty about their own fates. He claims to have a mission from Eleyon, that he is the promised seed, and be the one to crush Alero. He believes that in destroying the Luminosa, they would fulfil the prophecy. By showing their hatred of the serpent, they would redeem themselves and Eleyon would return to make everything aright.

Missives are sent out to the seven cities of the Fallen, telling them to prepare to arm against the Luminosa. The half-elves especially, begin to train in combat, using magic. Weapons are designed for the first time, primitive, but nonetheless, deadly for the inexperienced and unprepared.

Alero soon discovers what is afoot, and begins to prepare the Luminosa for what is to come. The armies of the Fallen challenge the Luminosa on the Mirrorsea. The Fallen discover that their magic is far stronger, and grow confident in their success on the battlefield. They push the Luminosan army back on the defensive, and they retreat to Eleris. Here the tide of the battle begins to turn against the Fallen, as the Luminosa find greater proximity with their power source, but they still seem on equal footing. I will not work out the details of the battle. Perhaps as death fills the air, the Luminosa get increasingly strong since that is the basis of their magic. In the end, the young leader is killed, the Luminosa are triumphant, and the coalition fractures.

In the aftermath of the war, the Thyatirans begin to envy the power of the three cities with half elves. The Philadelphians and Smyrnans contributed the least to the war, believing that it was misguided, and so Sardis begins to nurse a grudge against them, accusing them of cowardice and pacifism. The Laodiceans are discouraged by their lack of magic and begin to internalise an inferiority narrative. The Pergamine half elves are also revealed to be much stronger than any other magic users for some mysterious reason, and fractures and divisions become manifest.

4. The Sack of Smryna and the Second Fallen-Luminosan War

As the Fallen recover from the aftermath of the failure of this great war, the Luminosa now discipline and regroup. The Luminosa are keen to take revenge, and also to rebuild their lost source of energy. To that end, Alero incites them to target the city of Smyrna, also relatively weak, unaided by magic, and close to their borders.

The elves had cautioned against the madness of such a conflict, and many broken families are grieving for lost ones. A shattered idealism has left a hollow sense of purposelessness in its wake. The cities attempt to go back to normal, but the horrors of the war cannot be forgotten. Laodicea disarms entirely, revolted by the very idea of weapons, others, particularly the three cities with half elves, determine that they must find even more effective means of circumventing Elerian defences.

After a few decades, Smyrna is besieged with a ferocity fuelled by a drive for revenge. They are overwhelmed and the entire surviving population taken as prisoners of war. They are given a choice join the Luminosa or be kept as fuel for the necromantic powerhouse. Many choose to join the Luminosa but an elect are faithful to their call, and they are kept in the dungeons of Eleris.

The remaining six cities of the Fallen are enraged and Sardis, Pergamum, Ephesus, Thyatira and Laodicea rally again and attack. Philadelphia once again only sends support in the form of supplies. Once again, the Luminosa are weaker further away from Eleris, but as they approach it, the Luminosa grow stronger. In this war, the Fallen do not even make it as far as they did in the first war. The Pergamine half elves were falsely confident, but in this war they are somehow much weaker than in the previous one. The Laodicean division is filled with fear and turns to flee from the battle, causing the Thyatiran division to sustain much heavier losses. The Fallen are forced to retreat. The Luminosa do not pursue them, for their objective is attained.

The Pergamine half-elves, in examining their performance, realise that this generation of half-elves is only about an eighth to a quarter as strong as the last generation, and it comes to light that Pergamum has been tolerating sexual immorality and this is diluting their magical potential.

5. The Rape of Thyatira and the First Fallen Civil War

Now the Thyatiran humans are filled with hatred against the Laodiceans, who they feel betrayed them. They are also overcome with fear that as a non-magical city of the Fallen, the Luminosa will target them in a future war. A woman rises up in the council of Thyatira and decides that drastic action must be taken. The leaders of Thyatira rally behind her and they arm themselves and head towards the elvish district. Then the tragic doom of the Thyatiran elves transpires. The elves who resist too strongly are simply killed, while the rest of the male elves are raped in an effort to try and conceive half-elven children by them.

Not all of the Thyatirans engage in this madness. A few try to save the elves they can and spirit them away to the other cities. Those who opposed the woman and her forces are also expelled from Thyatira, many of them head to Philadelphia. Of the elves who survive, some are they are so overcome by hurt and shame that they can no longer hope in their original mission. Those who flee to Philadelphia are nursed and cared for, and many of the scarred elves from the other cities eventually go to Philadelphia where they find that they are the most welcome. They eventually decide to leave the cradle and pass beyond the mountains. This is the first establishment of the secret west road through the mountains, a road which many elves will follow in future.

The three magical cities are utterly shocked and disgusted by what comes to be called the Rape of Thyatira. Those who flee to Laodicea also warn them that the Thyatirans are coming to exact their revenge for the cowardice of the Laodiceans in the Second Fallen-Luminosan War. The four cities band together and condemn Thyatira, declaring a war of extermination on the depraved city that had betrayed their elven teachers. There is no contest between the magical and non-magical forces, Thyatira is utterly sacked.

6. The Despair of Pergamum and the Expulsion of the Pergamine Elves

The Pergamine forces carry back stories of the carnage they witnessed in Thyatira. Having seen now the destruction of two of their sister cities, one from external forces and one from internal forces, they begin to give up on the plan of Eleyon, on the hope that he had given through the promise of a victory over Alero and eventual restoration.

Pergamum begins to cut off ties with the other cities, retreating from the world. Eventually, the mindset of hedonism begins to set in: Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Immorality becomes rampant and more and more people exchange the eternal for the temporal. The faithful of Pergamum begin to insist that their elves must depart, or they will be overrun by the growing evil of the city. The elves elect to stay, but soon, they are forced out by the masses, who do not want to be reminded of the transcendant. The Pergamine elves and faithful journey to Philadelphia where they find rest, welcome and solace. Some of the Pergamine elves now follow their Thyatiran fellows, past the mountains.

Rippling Degradation: An Expanded Magical Mechanism

I had previously incorporated aspects exploitable for necromancy into Eldwan's magical system in order to power Luminosan society. This second major revision comes by devising changes to the system that also link magical potency to sexual purity. It began with the idea that sexual impurity has consequences that are not immediate and not tangible for us, living in the times when we are now. But I felt that fantasy has the unique ability to render the intangible, tangible. Therefore I decided to take the opportunity and assign links between the two. 

In the overall scheme of things, sexual impurity is linked to magical motor functions, and because of the sins of those in ages past, we have lost those motor functions entirely, thus sexual purity no longer has consequences that are as obvious to us as they once were. This is not because there are no consequences, but rather that we have become so defiled as a species that anything of value in that respect has been utterly lost. Perhaps one could think of a family heirloom that was supposed to be passed faithfully from generation to generation, but in the midst of bickering and strife, is rendered worthless.

To be clear, since this is the first post in a long time to discuss the magic of Eldwan, I will describe it here. Eldwan is a world of three planes, the ether is the most fundamental, energy is of condensed ether, and matter is condensed energy. Magic basically refers to a direct manipulation of energy, and it operates according to four schools, corresponding to the four fundamental forces of physics. Like our physical bodies, humans in Eldwan were originally created with sensory and motor energy based pathways, an energy-based body if you will. Just as with physical senses, the magical senses allowed us to sense energy directly, and as with the physical neuro-musculo-skeletal system, magical motor systems would allow for direct application of various forces.

An additional disclaimer, but when I write about Eldwan and use biblical names, as I also will in the post following this one, I am not referring to the actual people, but rather their parallels in my subcreation, who's language I have not yet devised.

When Adam and Eve are first made, in their sinless state, they have senses to all three substances, ether, energy and matter, but a motor component only for matter. As humans matured they were allowed to eat of the tree that granted energy manipulation, thus acquiring access to a whole new layer of capabilities. They began to learn how to use it and wield their new power responsibly. However, in rebellion, some, Adam and Eve included, take of the second tree before the appointed time, or perhaps they are never meant to eat of that tree. Whatever it is, the consequences play out. The punishment of Eleyon is a removal of their ability to sense the magical world. Their direct ability to sense energy is removed from them in a neat severance of metaphysical substance.

As a result, their ability to sense their own glory, which had previously served as a covering of dignity, is lost, and they appear physically naked to one another. However, they actually still retain the entire structure of the energy based component of their being, and they could theoretically thrash around like a blind and deaf man with that body, dangerous as it may be. Like physical muscles, the energy body atrophies with disuse, and so many of the Fallen assume that their magical abilities are simply gone forever after the fall.

So this is the setup at the beginning of history and soon two key discoveries are made.

When Abel is murdered, Alero notices something quite unexpected. Abel's primary awareness, which was in the material realm, pushes through the barriers to the higher realms all the way through to the etheric plane as his body expires. In addition, Cain, by some strange empathy, also experiences a temporary opening of his own magical senses and for the briefest moment. This emphatic magical sense is the basis for necromancy, and Alero bases his promise of restoration of magic to the Luminosa on this mechanism.

Now the second mechanic I will describe is the actual novelty in this post. In the original design in Eldwan, the mother was the main contributor of physical substance for a new embryo. On the other hand, the father would be the main contributor of metaphysical, energy based substance. Something quite strange then happens, when the elves and humans have half-elven offspring. This was prohibited by Eleyon when they first asked if they might stay among their fallen brethren to guide them, nonetheless, a union happens after a few generations in defiance of the command. Specifically, when the 'sons of God' have children with the 'daughters of men', their children are once again able to use magic, because their senses are restored. These become the great heroes, the men of renown. By this means, three of the now seven houses of Fallen men reacquire the ability to use magic.

There is an additional point that drives the loss of sexual purity home. Let me arbitrarily assign a value of 12 units to the default magical strength available to each individual before the fall. This value is of 'genetic' potential, which, like physical traits, can be maximised only under optimal conditions. The Fallen, though unable to sense magic, still retained a latent potential, and when there were children by their elven fathers, this was unlocked once again.

The way that magical potential is inherited though, is not Mendelian. Rather, it comes from a common pool. When two individuals have relations in Eldwan, their very constitution is changed. Suppose both partners start with 12 units. After being joined, they retain a personal pool and a common pool is formed. The ratio of these pools is 1:1 for each individual. Thus, A and B would both have a personal pool of 6 units, and a common pool of 12 units. They access the common pool based on proximity to each other. When they are in physical contact, both of them can now draw upon 18 units in a synergistic fashion. The strength of access to the common pool diminishes according to the inverse square law. This is quite literally becoming 'one flesh'. Any child conceived by this union draws from the common pool, which is 12 units, as their starting potential. Therefore, in a faithful and monogamous society, the design holds true, and each generation is no less worse than the last.

Now the disorder enters. When A has relations with another individual, C who also has a potential of 12, the balance is altered. A now has two common pools and one personal pool, which splits his potentials as 4:4:4, instead of the intended 6:6. As a result, A's two common pools with B and C only have a total of 10 units, instead of the intended 12. A second consequence of this is that A in fact has the potential to draw upon even more magic than before. With his two common pools and his own, He can draw on a grand total of 26 units, even more than 18. Already the potentials for abusing this system begin to take shape.

First of all, when there are affairs and unfaithfulness, this system quickly begins to degenerate, with each generation inheriting less and less because of the choices of their parents. Soon there are families which have stronger bloodlines and those of weaker and more impure bloodlines. There is stratification and a very understandable reason for prejudice against the weaker families. There becomes a segregation of classes, with the higher classes marrying among themselves to preserve their magical potential, and judging those who have sexual immorality and weaker houses as unfit for spousal union.  The lower classes become forced to work physically, labouring in toil, while the upper classes disdain them and have their magic to spare them the demeaning drudgery.

Second, the potential for prostitution of a totally different kind becomes possible. A bully of a person could promise protection to others in exchange for access to their magical potential, acquiring vast reaches of magical potential for him or herself. The children of this 'strong wizard' of sorts would, counterintuitively, be much weaker compared to their parent. A dynasty obsessed with power yet losing its ability to work magic could begin a concubine system, with the parent forcing numerous partners on the heir, in order to raise the heir's abilities. This only accelerates the downward spiral of that family.

That is as far as I will detail things for now. In the next post, the wider consequences of abusing this system will be shown through the corruption of the houses of men and elves, the societies that lived apart from the Luminosa.

An Outline

I started writing a post to attempt to summarise my current position on the nature of free will. It did not stay within reasonable boundaries. Instead, what I ended up with seems to be the germ of something much larger than I anticipated. This is the outline:

Its current title is:
The Consequences of Volition - An Exercise in Deductive Reasoning

The outline's a little rough but:

1. Father God’s Purpose: To create more children for Himself who would dwell in harmonious relationships with Him and with each other.
• Who is God?
• What position was God in before all of creation?
• What as the impetus that moved God to create?
• What is relationship?
2. Design: Gave us volition, gave us influence and has a plan for every area of life. He made us after His own image, with full personality and ways to know the world. 
• Content for Life: 
• God’s Design of the Natural World
• God’s Plan for Society
• The Image of God
• Personality
• The Will
• The Weight of Choice
• Influence
• Power
• Meaning
3. Teaching: He made us without any knowledge to begin with, that we would grow in our understanding. How do we figure out how to make choices?
• Ways by which we acquire information:
• Natural Senses
• Language
• Faith
• Knowledge Acquisition
• Emotions
• Reason
• Wisdom Acquisition
• Humility
• The ability to make the right decision.
4. Sin: Origin, Consequences, Spread, Fullness
• We chose disobedience: Consequences, Responsibility and Sinful Nature
• Impact of Sin on Design in relation to power.
• The laws we cannot change
• The laws we can change
• Impact of Sin on Teaching
• The loss of wisdom: Disobedience and Pride
• The corruption of emotions and reason
• The assault on truth: Deceitful Information
• The Fullness of Sin
• Self-destruction of a society
• Judgement by a Holy and Angry God
• Thoughts on Antediluvian Society
5. Mercy
• The robust designs of God: Allowances and Compensation
• The redemption plan
• The Role of Revelation and Prophecy
• The societies that survived
6. Discipline
• Distinguishing Consequence from Punishment
• Distinguishing Punishment from Destruction
• Subjecting Creation to Futility
• The supremacy of God’s goodness
7. Redemption by the Son
• The cure: Breaking the power of Sin
• The sovereign choice of God’s methods
• The significance of the Son
• Amazing Grace
8. Empowerment by the Spirit
• What is the primary role of Holy Spirit?
• Inviolable Will
• Completing the work that the Son initiated
9. Faithful/Church: 
• Salvation: Saviour
• Restoration: Lord
• Cooperation between God and His people
• The Role of Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer
• The failures of the church
• The overwhelming power of Grace
10. Apostasy
• A matter of the heart: Blaspheming Holy Spirit
• Full corruption of every source of information
• Full corruption of every knowledge acquisition
• When Grace is insufficient
• Hardening of Hearts
11. The Last Judgement
• The Holiness of God in finality on the disobedient
• The Wrath of God
12. Restoration
• What becomes of the faithful?
• Perfect Fellowship and Society
• Back to the original Design
• More discovery and content to explore

It will not cover everything in this world, but it encompasses so much that I cannot help but want to write out what I feel will communicate the power of this perspective.

Perhaps I will follow this up with a Testimony, which will fundamentally be of an inductive approach. The last great document will be an Apologia, which will be an application of abductive reasoning. The first document will serve as a clarification for me as I wade through my experiences and other worldviews in the latter two documents.

Update: I have set up a satellite blog - 'The Consequences of Volition' in order to expand on these ideas properly. I will probably take a break from writing on this blog for awhile so that I can work on putting all the ideas I have been given into words.

Perspectives: De Culpis - Part 2

In part one, I tried to draw the connection between influence and responsibility. Because our choices affect others, we also share in the responsibility of their choices. Likewise, since we are affected by the choices that others have made, they share in responsibility for our actions. When we will be called to account, we will be called to explain not only the things that we have done, but also every little repercussion that a word of advice or warning has the the decisions of others. However, the one who weighs all the influences on your heart, and comes to that final decision to abide or divide with God is still going to be you.

Let me now address another aspect of responsibility. Surely then, the skeptic says, God is ultimately responsible for all the disasters of this world. Isn't it a bit of a farce to say that God experienced all this emotion and bother when He was the one who made it all and knew it was going to happen in advance? This falls back into the line of reasoning that we are incapable of doing anything about our lives because God has somehow 'pre-determined' everything. We blame God for the evil in our lives, and the evil in our world.

It's not a new tendency at all. When Adam makes his excuses, he does more than blame the woman. In his words: 'The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.' [Emphasis added]. Sadly, we're all about as spineless as Adam when we confront our sins most of the time. Was it God's fault? I do not think so at all. When He finished His creation, He saw that it was all 'very good'. There was no flaw from God's end, and that principle continues till today.

In the book of James he writes:

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James 1: 12-15

We are the ones, we created wills, who chose and choose and will choose to rebel against the designs of God and in doing so, invite destruction from the consequences of our sins.

After Adam we soon see the generational effects of sin. I don't think Adam and Eve had any idea what they were unleashing when they ate of their tree, but for some reason or another, Cain murders Abel, but he still feels shame about it. In a few more generations, Lamech boasts about his murders and twists God's words to Cain irreverently and beyond all recognition. Hearts got harder and harder. 

Our parents are two people who have enormous influence over us, whether they are present or absent, involved or detached, righteous or debauched. I think with each generation, there is a tendency for the sins of our parents in their own imperfection to impact their children in harsh ways. These effects distort the child's understanding of parenthood, family, God and him or herself. In the middle of this confusion, information about good and evil, our picture of what relationships should look like, is twisted and sometimes even lost completely. They become like mutations in precancerous cells, passing from one generation to the next, each successive family inheriting the relational damage of the family that preceded it temporally, and adding to the mix its own cocktail of carcinogens. Finally the whole dynasty crumbles down from the original design and breaks away selfishly in a mad rebellion and rush to destruction. Every society had acquired different mutations, different deviations from the original design. All of us have gone astray.

Why did God destroy the antediluvian society? They were already set to destroy themselves. They would do so far in advance of the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer. I think that if there was even a chance that that society would have produced one faithful and righteous person, who would respond to the message of the Gospel, then God would have preserved it. In fact, what God chose to do, to rescue Noah and his family, and wipe the rest of mankind out was a mercy. As I described previously, that society must have become so depraved that any new children born into it would find themselves so assaulted by lies and the consequences of sin as to have no chance of coming into their own redemption and relationship with God.

The societies that God allows to persist, He does so for the sake of the individuals that He sees who will emerge from those societies to the fullness of a walk with Him. The societies that are terminally ill, well, those are ripe for His judgement and He then acts to contain the consequences of sin.

Christ came into this world for about 33 years. In that time, He broke the power of sin by a reliance on God that helped Him to overcome the powers of darkness that dominated the society of His day. He saw the mutations that had come into the social fabric of His age and spoke out against them. he spoke the truth. He has been doing that ever since. The truth of God is the spiritual equivalent of that holy grail in cancer research, targeted gene therapy. He digs deep into our very constitutions and confronts the lie within, then reveals to us the truth. Then we begin to produce the right mRNA, the right proteins, and proper function is restored. How much we ought to love His word and His law! For those are the means by which we receive the truth and are restored. The generational power of sin is broken, individuals, then families then whole societies are set free from its destructive effects.

The power of Christ is so great that all these societies that one would deem broken beyond all repair are still within His saving grace. But right from the outset, forces have pushed back against the good news. We have devised up with ever more deceptive and convincing ways to discredit the work and even the existence of the Son, going beyond that to deny the very existence of God. There will come a day where we are insensitive to even the greatest love and sacrifice of all, when we collectively, as a new Babel, a new global society, become so numb to the higher and more transcendent poetry of life that we are beyond even the grace of God because all His efforts, which are not insignificant, avail not upon the hardness of the hearts of men.

It has come to that point before and it will come to that point again. Jesus Himself was aware of this even as He ministered to the people of Jerusalem when He said:

'Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man' 

Luke 17:26

and later with the words about Sodom and Gomorrah in the rest of Luke 17.

To end this train of thought, I would like to see what it means for that perennial problem of predestination. Has God chosen us or have we chosen Him?

In a post from quite awhile back, I discuss the nature of 'sinful nature'. I believe there is now another aspect of it that I have to incorporate into my understanding. Sinful nature is not only the state of broken fellowship with God, but it is also the state of bearing the consequences of the sins of the generations before us. The sins of others around us dramatically increase the likelihood that we will give in to sin ourselves. That is what we have inherited. It is not some fluffy spiritualised condition, it is the burden of generational brokenness that is all too manifest. I stand by the original post's stand however, in that no matter what our background, we still have that ultimate choice of whether we want to obey or disobey, submit or subvert. But the power to break free from the grip of sin comes only in Jesus Christ. I do not find it in contradiction with my understanding of a perverse society that is little more than a factory for doomed souls. As I have said, we are responsible for more than ourselves and others are also responsible for us, that concept clarifies this apparent contradiction for me.

But you argue. How can God be sure that there will not be a single child, caught in the midst of the darkness of sin of the society, who will miraculously come to know Him personally before He wipes that society off the map? You mention in your previous post that no matter what kind of background we come from, God is able to redeem. Are you saying that His power is too limited? Let me posit a counter-argument. What if a society is so far gone that there are no children in the first place?

Child sacrifice has been with the human race of a long time. We see it in the worship of Molech way back in Canaanite times. How disastrous. The lies of the enemy became so powerful that people burnt their babies alive. What do we make of such a society? Every society is only a few generations away from extinction. If we have so twisted the design of reproduction that a society overall would rather not reproduce than reproduce, then it has ended. There are no more uncertainties about it, and no more potential righteous souls. Do we see this happening now? I don't need to tell you what I mean by this. You already know where it is headed.

Already in many developed nations, abortion rates hover at around a quarter of all recorded pregnancies. Is it so inconceivable that those numbers will continue to rise? Is it too difficult to accept that a society that does not care for children, parenting and family should implode on itself by sheer biological limitation? As more and more people fall to the lies of deception in this world, those numbers will rise chillingly.

Say that there is a spring of water that has for many years been active and productive, but the water can end up in very different places. It may end up on a farm somewhere to be used for crops, or meander down to a delta and reach the open ocean. It may end up in packed in a can of a sweet carbonated drink for all I know. Let us say that the kingdom of heaven is that vast open ocean. How might we be sure that no more water is going to flow into the ocean? The spring dries up. What happens then? The wrath of God can descend without question because there is no more uncertainty about where the water from the spring is going to go because there is simply no more water to observe. The font is damaged beyond repair. When Jesus spoke of letting the little children come to Him, I suspect this was the deeper chord He was trying to pluck. A society that hates its children is in the final stages of its self-destruction.

Let me return to that point I was making. If you've persisted this long I thank you for your patience. In a relationship, who is responsible for its health and vitality? I've touched on this already in part one, but as the adage says, you need two hands to clap. 

'We love because He first loved us.'

1 John 4:19

We have a God who has already done all that He can to make it possible for us to come to Him. He has laid out he red carpet, He has come to dwell among us. He has covered our imperfections with a sacrifice that He provided. I know no other God who so desires so strongly such a connection with humanity. But He also knows that some will respond, and others will not. Not because we have no choice in the matter, but He has seen. Because He has seen, He works, and to us in our limited perspectives, it seems like He has decided things for us. If the relationship does not work out, it is through no fault of God. The fault is entirely on us and our rebellious wills.

God says the words:

'I will be gracious on whom I will be gracious and 

I will have compassion on whom I will show compassion.'

Exodus 33:19

He is not saying these words as a dictator. He is saying them as the Lord of lords, who is omniscient about the past, present and future. He is telling us that what looks like injustice from our limited perspective is not injustice at all from His perspective. He is telling us not to challenge, or be stumbled up by His judgements because He considers and sees factors that we cannot ever hope to fully comprehend. He knows better, not because He thinks He does, but because He does. The astonishing degree of connectivity that the human race has is something only God can tackle in His judgements. Only He can see how the ideas of false prophets have enslaved the thinking of subsequent generations and call them to trial. Only He can peer into the depths of the human heart and tell us whether we have walked by the Spirit or by the flesh for each small decision. Only He has the accurate picture of responsibility and influence that comprises societies we are only dimly aware of and cannot hope to fully document. Never you mind Big Data and an invasion of privacy by governments. Even if they had all the information God had, we would not be close to making the right judgements afterwards.

Will we trust His justice? The justice of an omniscient God?

Perspectives: De Culpis - Part 1

Like many of the ideas I have had recently, this thread is not something that I have derived very explicitly from didactic instruction. To be quite frank, my mind has been so abuzz with all sorts of themes that I should like to take a whole week out and pen them all down before they are lost to the murky waters of memory. In summary:

1. The nature of the political left and right, in relation to chesed ve'emet, and the lyrics of Wicked.

2. A crazy link between the ideas of Strauss Howe generational theory and the eschatological views of what Skye Jethani calls evolution and evacation theology.

3. The church's loss or surrender of the faculty and power of reason and academia to deceptive powers that has become a major source of misconception.

Today though, I would like to deal with the issue of responsibility. I know the title somewhat implies the responsibility of sin, but I'm going to move a little beyond that in the later half of this text.

I think we can all admit this: We like it when blame can be pinned down. It gives us a sense of clarity, and in some cases, an uneasy absolution. We see this from the very beginning, in Genesis 3, when, as it is popularly thought, the man pointed to the woman and the woman, in turn, highlights the serpent. With the passing of culpability, or the accusative fixation of fault on certain individuals or even communities, the narrative is neat and tidy. It goes like this: 

'Something is wrong, we're not always too sure what, but we know things are not right. There is someone at fault, and that someone is surely not us. It must be them! We must do something to rid them from our presence. Once we do that, we'll be all better again.'

This narrative gives us unity. It provides our societies with a common enemy to focus on and work towards eradicating. Many of you see where I'm going with this surely. At times, 'them' has been the lazy aristocrats, the greedy bankers, the communists, the Jews, the Lutherans or the iconolaters. Now there are those who would put blame of radical Muslims, on immigrants, on desperate refugees. A framework of us against them is created. Its very dualist in its approach, in the Zoroastrian sense of the word. There are good guys, whom we are, and bad guys, who are beyond redemption. 'Heaven forbid that someone I should know finds him or herself on the wrong side of the fence that we are constructing here.' 

By imbibing this narrative, we side step the words to the Ephesians:

'For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, 

against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, 

against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.'

Sure, one can say that this passage simply moves the culpability onto the spiritual evil forces around us, and guilty of the same blame game, but there is a distinction to be made at this juncture. When we pin the blame on people, we do so at the expense of creatures of whom God tells us He can redeem. Unlike humans, there is no known provision for redemption for the rebellion of the host of angels who turned away. For now, let us move on to the antithesis.

There is another common narrative, increasingly acceptable because of the inherent meaninglessness that popular ideologies of the age promote. That narrative generally follows this vein:

'I'm not responsible. In fact, no one is responsible for anything. Everything has been determined already, and things are the way they are because that's just what has been mechanically dictated since the inception of this universe.'

Like the first narrative, this manifests in many forms. In the secular world, it is determinism. Volition is an illusion it tell us. Everything that I have done is a result of mechanistic or probabilistic collisions and interactions of particles within me. Morality is irrelevant, for how can I be held responsible for the simple mathematical outworking of the fundamental laws of nature that none may disobey?

In the religious world, the dictator may manifest in many guises. In some belief structures, it is fate. Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos reign supreme. If even the ruler of Olympus finds it hard to appeal against their decisions, what influence do mere mortals have? In others, it is karma. Strangely enough, in some strains, God is the grandest dictator of them all. The uber-Calvinists whom Calvin would probably have found a little strange also chime with the sentiment that free will is non-existent within the framework of the sovereignty of God. That view seems quite contradictory to me, because if God was going to make us automata in the first place, why the whole effort to woo us back to Him, to tolerate the disasters of the scarlet sins of this world in order to save an elect? I understand that there are many passages that can be interpreted both on the side of free will and predestination to fruitless argument. I am not here to address those today. 

I will merely state that in my opinion, the dramatic story that is told in the Word, and is still unfolding before us, seems more consistent with the gentle coaxing of the rebellious independent will of man. After all, do we see computer engineers try to encourage poorly written programme to turn into what it was meant to be, or do we see them intervene dramatically and alter the very composition of its code? We are more complex than the most sophisticated software in existence.

What then is my synthesis? To use some Hegelian concepts for clarity:

Thesis - Responsibility is placed on an individual, preferably not ourselves.

Antithesis - Responsibility is diffused beyond any meaningful source.

Synthesis - Responsibility is both individual and societal.

This will take awhile to explain.

In Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell writes this through the words of Somni-451:

'Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, 

past and present, and by each crime, and every kindness, we birth our future.'

While I do not subscribe fully to every line in her speech, I believe this one captures something of an understanding of human nature that we have lost sight of in the developed world. We are individuals but we are not isolated.

Over and over in the stories of the bible we see that effects that one person's choices have on the lives of others. King David's affair with Bathsheba, at first clandestine, is exposed, and the consequences ripple out in uncontrolled waves to taint the rest of his household. On the other hand, the obedience of a prince of Egypt leads a people from slavery into freedom. This principle does not just apply with the great heads of state however. The love of a Moabite woman for her mother in law results in her eventually becoming an ancestor of King David himself, and in his life he runs to Moab for refuge. The slave Onesimus, in his service to Paul and Philemon, teaches the community about respect for servants. The willing heart of a young Jewess allows for the incarnation of the greatest history changer the world has ever known.

It is glaringly obvious once we look at the lives of those around us, at our own lives. We are shaped by uncounted influences, connected in ways profound to others, whether overt or covert. Family, friends, colleagues, fellow citizens, the global community, we affect one another with words and deeds as part of the intricate tapestry of the human epic.

So why do we live as though the individual is all there is? We seek our own self-promotion, and when when we choose to destroy ourselves in addictive behaviour and self-pity we act as though no one else will be affected. We live as though we are isolated, that no one cares about you except yourself. Do we not sense the subtler harms and influences that our behaviour has?

In the modern liberal democracy, we cherish our rights. Simultaneously, we dread our responsibilities, even when those responsibilities have to do with maintaining the rights our forbears have fought so hard for. We like to behave as though we are responsible for no one but ourselves, and live in denial of the disastrous effects that our wanton pursuits have on our dislocated relationships.

I suppose the point that I'm trying to get at is this: Our choices do not just affect ourselves. It seems like rather an inane observation to make, but let me carry on with its implications.

Sin often compounds sin. Let us consider a relationship gone sour. Very rarely can one say that it was entirely one or the other person's fault. Little things build up over time into raging and furious storms within us that nigh impossible to reconcile over. When one side sins, it often makes it easier for the other side to follow suit, not necessarily in a sin of the same kind, but in a reciprocal sort of way. Left uncontrolled, they feed on each other in some sort of mutual parasitism, exhausting the vibrancy and health of that relationship. To borrow Paul's language: A husband who waits for his wife to respect him before he loves her, and a wife who is resolved that she cannot respect her husband until he loves her properly, will likely find themselves waiting for quite some time.

One person's sin makes it easier for another to do so. Sin becomes easier to justify. How many times do we comfort ourselves with the thought that something can't be that bad since so many people engage in it? We shut ourselves into communities of people who are just as deluded as we are so that we can ignore the emotional alarms that blare by filling our heads with so-called supportive and encouraging words from the false prophets of our age.

As our failures and their consequences metastasise like a cancer in our societies, the power of sin grows and it becomes harder and harder for the righteous to maintain their convictions. The children who find themselves in such societies are torn left and right by powers malevolent that distort and destroy their understanding of God and of themselves. They grow up and perpetuate, or even augment the brokenness of this world, and each generation becomes more lost than the one before.

When God judges an annihilates society, such as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, I would suggest it is because they have gone so far astray that every new birth in that society is another lost soul. They have forgotten so much of His truth that every conception is doomed to destruction, not by God, but by the sheer depravity of the environment in which that soul will mature. Fatherhood and motherhood become meaningless words, moral education is non-existent. In His mercy on those who would be unborn, He amputates the diseased tissues of the collective body of humanity. We see this in the days of Noah, and we observe the same trends today.

Who is to blame for this destruction? Society? Society is fundamentally composed of individuals, all influencing and connected with each other. In every decision, we impact the future of our nation on scales that are too far reaching to realise in the moment, and in this globalised context, we shape the global society.

In this day and age we have a society that tolerates a lot of sin and in some cases even endorses it. We have a society that answers economic questions of what to produce and how much to produce without any moral compunctions. We fail to ask the question of ought: We know what we can make, but we do not ask if it is right to make it. We have a society where pornography and violence are produced, accessible and not questioned. Increasingly they are not kept in private, but broadcast to massive audiences, a la the recent Marvel movie of a superhero whose name bears the tone of what he represents chillingly accurately. We have a society that has more functions at its fingertips than ever before, but we do not ask if it is right to send an emotionally manipulative message at any time of the night, or if it is right to produce platforms that drive our egomania with likes and comments.

Where then is hope? Does God leave us to our destructive tendencies, not merely on an individual level, but on a societal level? Thankfully He has not abandoned us. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that spread through a batch of dough. By a slow influence, whole nations and cultures have changed to adopt the principles of the kingdom order. One individual, then another, chooses rightly, and their righteous choices also tug on the lives of those around them, influencing, impacting, transforming and redeeming.

When God sees us, it is true that He values us as individuals. He values the uniqueness, the gifts, the aspects of you that He gave you that make you the marvellous creation that you are. But He looks beyond you. In you He sees the potential you have to impact the lives of others. Each smile that you give a cashier, every glare that you cast on rival, each word of life or death spoken intentionally or carelessly that digs deep and roots itself in the soul of its recipient.

We are confronted with choices, and the methods by which we make those choices are shaped by the cultural milieu we find ourselves in. When God judges our actions, I doubt He will judge us individually either. If I may use a literary example, when George Wilson pulls that trigger on Gatsby, the outside world sees a madman shooting a tycoon out of revenge and spite. But the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg, the symbol of the eyes of God, see more than that. They see an adulterous man having an affair with a married woman, a deceptive Tom Buchanan feeding George the wrong information, a careless Daisy moving on and leaving a disaster in her wake, a society where the rich get off free and the poor are oppressed, a materialistic and selfish ambition that justifies the horrid actions of the characters, the hypocrisy of moral bankruptcy under a glossy sheen.

So much has gone into shaping every tiny decision, but the Lord knows it all. No human judge could do this. I suspect that this potent combination of omniscience and justice will be one of the deciding factors that causes each person to leave the judgement at the Great White Throne thoroughly satisfied with the verdict, no matter what that verdict will be.

To return to the original question: Our decisions are a balance between our own wills and the forces that impose themselves on our wills. Yes there may be powerful societal forces at work, but those forces do not have final authority over the decision I make in the end. When I choose to sin in this day and age, I still make that choice and I am still responsible, but in many cases, I am not the only one responsible. Because we are influenced by others, the responsibility of my choice falls not only on me, but on those around me who have influenced me. It is not a case of me being solely to blame, or of me being helpless in the face of overwhelming powers.

This explains another observation to me as well. Since the coming of Christ, every man and every society has the potential to be redeemed. The powerful bondage of sin over societies has been overcome, is being overcome and is still to be overcome through the gradual permeative influence of the gospel. No longer do we see a society wiped off the face of the earth in the manner of Sodom because now there is hope!

Yet we also see the final coup in action. As I wrote about in the post 'Insufficient Grace', we see that the world is increasingly rejecting the hope that is in Christ. There will come a day when what is left of humanity is so caught up in its own pride and delusions that the gospel ceases to have any effect, for hearts would have become so hard. In that day, Dies Irae, we will see the final judgement come, and it will come upon all men because at that point, all men will be part of one terminally diseased society.

This post is getting too long, and new ideas keep flooding my mind. I shall break it off here and write a second part to this.