Logos

The thrust of this Primer is to describe and expose the ideology that has been a lethal threat to Western Civilization over the past 50 years: neo-Marxism, including Postmodernism.  Part of the strategy to oppose and defeat this curse is to remind ourselves of the foundations of Western Civilization.  What is it that the neo-Marxists are so focused on destroying?

Undoubtedly the most fundamental target is Judeo-Christianity, both in its theoretical framework as well as in its practice. Of primary importance relative to culture and politics in Judeo-Christianity are the concepts of the individual, objective truth, logic, dialogue, and free speech. Additionally, there is the concept of the flawed nature of the individual, and the need to provide checks and balances within the culture to optimize the realization of the potential for good for the individual.  And the concept of flawed-ness itself rests upon an objective, transcendent moral order which defines good and evil.

Much of the philosophical underpinnings of Western Civilization can be understood in the Christian concept of the Logos.  In the New Testament Gospel of John, the first words are:

“In the beginning was the Word [i.e., Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

Later on, the statement is made:

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Clearly the Logos is identified in the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

Note that the “All things came into being through him…” phrase refers to the origins of everything, outlined in Genesis 1: “In the beginning, God created…”.  As the Genesis 1 narrative continues, it is seen that as Logos speaks, order is created where chaos previously existed.  For example, the metaphor used several time states, “…the evening [chaos] and the morning [order]…” indicates that the Logos transforms chaos into habitable order.

That same principle can be found everywhere, even with humans: spoken truth – the Logos — is transformative for the good of everyone.  Other words associated with Logos include “logic” and “dialogue”.  Without logic, chaos is inevitable.  And because humans are fallible, dialogue is needed to achieve the greatest good.

Marxism and Postmodernism are the enemies of the Logos.

Consider St. John again, this time in instruction to Christ followers:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ [i.e., the Logos] has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

Critique: The many quotes in from neo-Marxist founders given in Parts 1 and 2 demonstrate that their primary target was the Logos.  The ongoing chaos resulting from Marxism over the past 100 years could not possibly be clearer in demonstrating the validity of St. John’s statements.

Consider the following from W. B. Yeats (in The Second Coming, 1919):

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

The falconer is the Logos – Jesus Christ — and the falcon is Western culture as Marxism impacts in a widening manner.  Almost every phrase in the above poem is evidenced in today’s onslaught of neo-Marxism, and their “long march through the culture” is nearly completed. Yet as individuals follow the Logos – first of all, in their own lives, then with their families and acquaintances – and, further, understand the principalities and powers (see Ephesians 6:12) that are at work in our culture, then the combination of personal wholeness and the recognition of the spiritual dynamics will create a Logos-based movement which will have the potential of restoring the habitable order that has eroded in the West, especially over the past 50 years.   There is every reason to think that a revitalized, Gospel-proclaiming Christianity would or at least should be at the forefront of this movement.

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