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A little update for the week. Well, the biggest news is that I have a new grandson, Francis Fuller, 8 pounds, 1 ounce, born at 11.14 p.m. on July 29th, so that's number seven. It's so good to have kids around. My son released an album this week called Overcome. It's available on Spotify. It details. Various things that him and his family have gone through in the last few years. He opened for my tour. That was exciting. I enjoyed that a lot, so give that a listen. We released the climate piece. We released a piece detailing out, I would say, the big climate lie. The failure of the modelers to take into account the effect of carbon dioxide on plant growth, which has been phenomenal. So you can check that out on X or at The Telegraph because The Telegraph published it in its entirety. Anyways, on with the show. I hope you find it useful, challenging, provocative, compelling, all those things a lecture should be. The question of belief currently plagues the world. And that's true culturally and politically, say, with regards to so-called identity politics. Identity isn't politics, by the way. Identity is something much more fundamental than politics. And so when we have identity politics, we have the collapse of the sacred into the political. And that's a reality. And that's a reflection of the death of God. And that is not a good thing. That is failure to keep those things that should be rendered unto Caesar separate from those things that should be rendered unto God. Tonight, we're going to investigate what it means to believe, I would say. And we're going to do that in relationship to the biblical stories, which is what this. This book that the tour is based on is about. Is the Bible true? Well, the first issue you have to wrestle with if you're going to pose that question is, well, what's the Bible about? And you have to understand the argument that it's dramatized, that it's dramatized, that it's dramatized. And you have to understand the argument that it's dramatized. psychology, biology, and the morality that is portrayed in the biblical text actually dovetail. And I also think that has to be the case insofar as both are true. That's the conclusion you would draw if you assumed or observed that the truth is in the final analysis of unity. What's one of the fundamental truths of the biblical library that might be regarded as acceptable and novel, brilliant even, on the scientific front? The truth that psychological stability and maturity and social integrity and community itself are predicated on psychology. The truth that the Bible is a sacrifice. So what does that mean? The Bible characterizes God. It characterizes man, woman, and society. And it characterizes the relationship between man, woman, society, and God. And it portrays that relationship as sacrificial. And understanding that is, there's nothing more important than a sacrifice. Understanding what that means. And I don't mean the understanding that's the belief in a creed. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, for example. That begs the question, what do you mean believe? I mean understanding what the biblical description of sacrifice means so deeply that it becomes comprehensible And I would say un-challengeable, philosophically, and simultaneously something of immense, continuous, and immediate practical significance. So to understand it, you have to understand it in the highest possible manner, at the highest level of abstraction. But you have to be able to have incorporated it, that understanding, thoroughly enough so that it guides every decision in your life. Every decision you make to speak or move your eyes. Imagine your favorite lecture. Dial that up on Macs, put that on steroids, and then add some cinematic elements to it. That's the best way I could describe a Peterson Academy lecture. I went to college because I had to. I go to Peterson Academy because I want to. I'm still paying off college from 10 years ago, and I'm also still questioning the value that I got out of college. In traditional universities, a lot of times it's just pretty dry. They don't bring the same energy as the professors at Peterson Academy. It is a completely different experience to learn from somebody who actually wants to teach you. If you've been on the fence about this, this is the time. That thing that's calling to you, you won't have an answer for it unless you enroll and see for yourself. You have the opportunity to investigate that calling. Thank you. All right. We'll start the examination of the characterization and the sacrificial motif with the story of Cain and Abel. It's a very short story. It's a miraculously short story. It's only about two paragraphs long. It's unbelievably condensed and dense. And it reads. It really lays out the battleground between two different sacrificial approaches to life. Not only two different sacrificial approaches to life, but the two different sacrificial approaches to life that characterize the conflict in the human soul, the eternal political battle, and the struggle between good and evil. And the struggle between good and evil at the level of the cosmos itself. What does sacrifice mean? This is the rub. When modern people read the story of Cain and Abel, the archaic dramatization constitutes an impediment to understanding. Abel makes an altar. And on that altar, he immolates, burns the choicest cuts of the finest animals of his flock. And he offers that to God. Now, that's a hard thing for modern people to wrap their heads around. We don't really understand the purpose of the altar. We don't understand why. We don't understand why these archaic people would immolate an offering. We don't understand what the offering means. And we don't understand why what's offered is what's offered. And that's a major problem. Especially given that the story of Cain and Abel sets the framework for understanding the entire pattern of narrative that characterizes the story of Cain and Abel. This is the Bible after that story as it unfolds. The first question, therefore, is what does it mean to sacrifice? It means to give something up. Why do you have to give something up? Well, let's imagine that you want to establish a relationship with a woman or a man in your marriage. Is it all about you? Well, try that out and see how it works. My suspicions is your wife will object. Whatever it's all about, it's not all about you. And there's a further question. Even if it was all about you, exactly, what do you mean that it's all about you? Do you mean that it's all about what the most immature part of you wants right now and to hell with everything else? Because generally, even if you're a small child and it's all about you, what it actually means is that it's all about whatever whim, whatever narrow and immature whim happens to possess you, at the moment. So, even if it's all about you, the you that it's all about is not an integrated and unitary you, it's some instinctual drive that's possessing you at the moment that demands immediate gratification, regardless of the cost. Sacrifice is necessary. Sacrifice is necessary, because it's all about you. not only do they have to be aligned with you now they have to be aligned with you tomorrow and they have to be aligned with you next week and next month and next year and a decade from now and 20 years from now and 50 years from now and so what that means is that as you interact with every gesture and word if you're interacting properly you're interacting in a manner that ensures the integration of your relationship now so that you're pleased to be in each other's company and playing properly together in a manner that makes you want to continue the game in a manner that makes the game playable tomorrow and next week and next month and next year and 10 years from now and 50 years from now and so your mode of operation in the present is requires that you sacrifice whatever it is that something in you wants right now to the necessity of the approval and love of your partner but not only that approval and love now but that love and approval as it unfolds reciprocally along the longest possible temporal axis and that's not all because it isn't just you and it's also not just you and your wife it's going to be let's say you and your wife and your children and you and your wife and her parents and your parents and your siblings and your friends and your community and so what that means is that you have to regulate and integrate your desires for the moment with the future in terms of the unfolding of your multiple relationships and the community and you can imagine that there's a manner in which that might be conducted optimally so that everyone wants to play along so that there's no requirement to use compulsion or force when you could use invitation to the game and you could imagine that the ultimate game that everyone wants to play that works for the largest number of people across the longest possible span of time is the game that all proximal desire has to be subjugated to and there's no difference between that and offering up your idiot whims to the spirit of God it's the same thing the spirit of God being the ultimate unity that beckons at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of values that brings everything together in the most harmonious possible way what does Abel do? well he immolates his sacrifice on the altar okay so let's let's take that apart a little bit you burn something on an altar and you convert it into smoke you convert it into spirit let's say an aerial spirit that rises and you do that so that the spirit that's in heaven the ultimate up the spirit that's transcendent and subordinate the spirit that lives in heaven or the sky can detect the essence of your offering what's the hypothesis the unity that he exists at the pinnacle of being evaluates the quality of your sacrifice now if you believe that you're more likely to be rewarded when you do well and less likely to be rewarded when you make a second-rate offering or offer something in the spirit of malevolence then you believe that there's a transcendent spirit that sees all that evaluates the quality of your offerings do you believe that does your conscience call you to task when you offer less than your best that's the same question Abel is a shepherd and he offers the best he has why is he a shepherd because a shepherd protects the flock takes care of the vulnerable keeps the predators the wolves and the lions at bay and occupies his lowly and ordinary position with dignity in service Abel's a shepherd like David like Moses like Christ he's an archetypal representation of what's best about masculinity that capacity to keep the true predators at bay and to protect the most vulnerable able is furthermore the masculine spirit that sacrifices diligently that's his care of the flocks and that then takes the best of what he has to offer and offers it upward to the highest conceivable aim which means that Abel is he who does his best Cain by consequence holds something in reserve his sacrifices are bloodless they have no cost they are second-rate and in consequence Cain fails Abel sacrifices are met with acceptance and admiration by the community and by God Abel is popular with his compatriots he's attractive to women and God himself smiles on Abel's offerings because they're of the highest quality Cain plays a deceptive game that's lazy and arrogant lazy because he doesn't offer his best deceptive because he believes that he's the only man in the world who is the best because he believes that in his failure because he believes that in his failure because he believes that in his failure to offer his best he can deceive himself to offer his best he can deceive himself to offer his best he can deceive himself his fellow men the community as such and his fellow men the community as such and his fellow men the community as such and God and so Cain is the spirit of God and so Cain is the spirit of God and so Cain is the spirit of arrogance that presumes that God himself arrogance that presumes that God himself arrogance that presumes that God himself will be satisfied with whatever you will be satisfied with whatever you will be satisfied with whatever you offer that's not the best and that's a offer that's not the best and that's a offer that's not the best and that's a foolish and presumptuous foolish and presumptuous foolish and presumptuous presupposition foolish because presupposition foolish because presupposition foolish because anyone with eyes open knows that life anyone with eyes open knows that life anyone with eyes open knows that life is so difficult and so challenging that is so difficult and so challenging that is so difficult and so challenging that the probability that you will get away the probability that you will get away the probability that you will get away with anything other than your absolute with anything other than your absolute with anything other than your absolute best is zero presumptuous because Cain best is zero presumptuous because Cain best is zero presumptuous because Cain believes that his believes that his believes that his own soul his fellow man and God are so own soul his fellow man and God are so own soul his fellow man and God are so foolish that they'll be fooled into foolish that they'll be fooled into foolish that they'll be fooled into accepting his false offering as if it's accepting his false offering as if it's accepting his false offering as if it's valid and so Cain places himself higher valid and so Cain places himself higher valid and so Cain places himself higher in the heavenly hierarchy in terms of in the heavenly hierarchy in terms of in the heavenly hierarchy in terms of authority than God himself and that's an authority than God himself and that's an authority than God himself and that's an unwise move what's the consequence well unwise move what's the consequence well unwise move what's the consequence well what's the consequence in your own life what's the consequence in your own life what's the consequence in your own life of your failure to offer what's best of your failure to offer what's best of your failure to offer what's best failure the failure that makes your failure the failure that makes your failure the failure that makes your countenance fall that's what happens to countenance fall that's what happens to countenance fall that's what happens to Cain his countenance falls why he's Cain his countenance falls why he's Cain his countenance falls why he's unhappy bitter miserable resentful and unhappy bitter miserable resentful and unhappy bitter miserable resentful and angry angry angry why because his second-rate sacrifices why because his second-rate sacrifices why because his second-rate sacrifices aren't accepted why else because he's aren't accepted why else because he's aren't accepted why else because he's forced to live with Abel, who's doing his best and upon whom the sun constantly shines. Cain, whose countenance falls, becomes bitter and resentful and determines that he's in a position to call God to judgment. That's what we do when we observe our failures and make the presumption that there's something wrong with the cosmic order, such that we're failing rather than presuming, if what we're offering is not being accepted, that that's a consequence of our own inadequacy. And so Cain has a chat with God and makes his displeasure known. How is it, he says to God, that you've created a world so corrupt that everything my brother Abel does turns to gold and everything I do fails? And God says, if you did well, would you not be accepted? And that's the fundamental question of conscience. If you are not allowed back into the paradisal garden, perhaps you're carrying something with you that doesn't deserve admission. The alternative to conceptualizing your miserable failure as a consequence of your own inadequacy in sacrifice is the presumption that there's something wrong with you. Not only with the cosmic order, but with the nature of the spirit that established that order. There is no difference between resentment in relationship to God and Luciferian usurpation. They are the same thing. And God tells Cain two things. Number one, if you did well, you would be accepted. And second, don't be thinking, that your resentment and bitterness and misery is a consequence of your failure. Modern materialist, left-wing social theorists assume that bitter criminality is a consequence of poverty, for example. But most people who are poor aren't criminal. So the causal relationship between low socioeconomic status or even failure and outright bitter resentful criminality is not deterministic. And that's what God tells Cain. He says, your countenance has fallen and you believe that your angry, painful bitterness is a consequence of your failure. And you believe that that failure is a consequence of your failure. This is a reflection of the inadequacy of creation itself, but in truth, this is what you've done. The spirit of sin itself crouched at your door and in your bitterness and resentment and failure to take responsibility, you invited it in to have its way with you. If you make a mistake, you could admit to the error, which is to confess, you could reconstitute your aim, and you could atone, or you could observe the bitter consequences of your failure, double down like the pharaonic tyrant, accuse God, and stay miserable. If you make a mistake, you could admit to the error, which is to confess, you could observe the bitter consequences of your failure, double down like the pharaonic tyrant, accuse God, and stay miserable. That's what Cain chooses to do. God says to him, sin crouched at your door like a sexually aroused predatory animal, and you invited it in to have its way with you. What does that mean? It doesn't merely mean that the spirit of sin tempted and possessed Cain. It means that the spirit of sin could not have possessed or tempted Cain, had he not voluntarily invited it in and entered into a creative relationship with it, brooding upon his failure and the pain that has been generated in consequence. Imagining how the world would be if only he had the success and the control that he wants. Dreaming of the revenge that he could take on those that opposed him. Imagining what it would be like if Abel failed despite his appropriate sacrifices and Cain prevailed. Luxuriating in his fantasies of revenge. You ask yourself, perhaps, how the people who commit the cruelest and vilest of acts can come to that end. And the answer is a thousand hours of bitter fantasizing. A thousand hours of creative consort with the spirit of darkness itself, which they invited in to. have its way with them as a means of obtaining revenge against themselves for their failure, society for rejecting them, and God for having the temerity to create the world in the first place. And so that's what God tells Cain. And he is seriously unhappy with that response. All are when we discuss our situation with our conscience and are informed in consequence that the failures that made us bitter and resentful are a property to be laid at our own feet. And so Cain leaves the discussion with God. And his countenance falls further. He's angrier, he's bitterer, he's more bitter, he's more resentful, he's actively vengeful, he's plotting. He goes to Abel, who he admires and wants to be, and says, Perhaps we could work together in the field. An invitation to play. And Abel. who's always hoping for the reclamation of his wayward brother, agrees. And Cain takes him to the field and beats him to death with a rock. And God shows up again in the form of Cain's conscience. And Cain says, Am I my brother's keeper? And the answer to that is yes. And God says, The earth itself cries out to me in consequence of the blood that's been spilled. And Cain says, My punishment is more than I can bear. And what does that mean? There's no one so doomed as the person who's destroyed his own ideal. And that's what Cain does. No ideal, no aim. No ideal, no upward progress. No aim and upward progress. No hope. And so now Cain is destined to wander forever in the land of no hope alone. And that's the land of Nod. The land of Nod is the place that children go when they sleep. It's the land of unconsciousness. And alienation from self, man, and God. And that is the inevitable wandering place of the individual who makes poor sacrifices, wreaks vengeance on his fellow, shakes his fist at God, and violates the social and divine contract. And that's the fate. And that's the fate. And that's the fate of Cain. But that's not all. Cain's descendants are the engineers who build cities and make tools and worship technology as an alternative to aligning their spirits properly with God. Cain's descendants are the Canaanites who are, from thenceforth on, the enemy of the chosen people of God and the evil inhabitants of the tyrannical and hedonistic states. And that's not all. The descendants of Cain are the first makers of weapons of war. That's Tubal-Cain. And the first practitioners of the tit-for-tat revenge that spirals into genocide and the first practitioners of the tit-for-tat revenge that spirals into genocide is not some self-serving, sanctimonious, immature defense against the terror of death or some hypothetical creation of the Heavenly Father behind whose skirts cowards hide. There isn't anything more terrible to contemplate than the necessity of having everything that isn't acceptable about us. and the first practitioners of the tit-for-tat revenge that spirals into genocide of your life. We'll wrap you in styrofoam, we'll put you in a corner in the basement, we'll feed you with a tube and you won't have to worry about anything. Or do you say and hope instead that your child determines to take on the challenge of maturity, to face the difficulties of the world, to leave your welcoming home and to take their chances with their destiny? Well, insofar as you are an incarnation of the Spirit of the Benevolent Father, you encourage the acceptance of the voluntary challenge that catalyzes characterological development upward and that's what the voice of God is for Abraham. The voice that says, "Leave what's comfortable and take your place in the catastrophe of the world." And it is a catastrophe for Abraham. What does he face? Famine first, tyranny second, then he goes to war. The angels of God come to him and tell him that he's to be the prophet to the city threatened with destruction by God. Then he's called upon to sacrifice his only son. There's nothing about the adventure of Abraham that's a burden any less than the hoisting of the crucified burden. But Abraham has the adventure of his life and he makes the appropriate sacrifices with each adventure and his character develops so profoundly that it's as if he becomes a new person and in fact he starts as Abram and ends as Abraham and Abraham is the father of nations. When the Spirit of Adventure comes to Abraham, it offers him a covenant. The covenant is the relationship with the divine that characterizes the proper sacrificial mode of human existence. God tells Abraham, "If you have the courage and the faith to leave the zone of comfort and pursue the adventure of your life, this will be your reward. Your life will be a blessing to your life." If you have the courage and the faith to leave the zone of comfort and pursue the adventure of your life, this will be your reward. Your life will be a blessing to your life. If you have the courage and the faith to leave the zone of comfort and pursue the adventure of your life, this will be your reward. to you. You imagine for a moment that you're considering the circumstances of your own life. It's three in the morning and you're wrestling with your conscience and maybe not victoriously. You're uprating yourself for your failures. You remember those times when you did offer your best and you faced the challenges that were in front of you and that you lived in service to the people you loved and to the higher good and you at least momentarily prevailed and you satisfy yourself in relationship to the acceptability of your own being with the memories of your occasional proper sacrificial triumph. God tells Abraham, if you did nothing but abide by the calling of the spirit of adventure, your life would be a blessing to you. If that wasn't true, why would you be pleased when you saw your son or your daughter face the challenges that mature them in a voluntary manner and take on the burden of their own maturity? You know in your heart of hearts, insofar as you love your children, that if they follow their destiny, they're going to be a blessing to you. If they follow their destiny, they're going to be a blessing to you. But that's not the only offer. God tells Abraham that if he has the adventure of his life, instead of falling prey to the infantile temptations of satiation and wealth, that his name will become renowned among his peers and for valid reasons. And so not only will he be a blessing to himself, but also the pattern of his life. His life will be such that other people will turn to him as a model for emulation and as a figure of genuine and valid admiration. And so that's a harmonious conjunction of what's best for the individual and best for the social world. To live in a manner that's a blessing to you, that is so starkly a blessing that other people recognize it too, in the absence of any, any manipulation or deception. And that's not the only offer. God tells Abraham that if he does those two things, he'll establish something permanent and of lasting value. In Abraham's case, a dynasty that makes him, that makes his descendants innumerable, and that makes him the father of nations. That Abraham, if he follows the pattern of adventure, without reservation, and makes the appropriate sacrifices in consequence, that he'll establish a pattern of being that best ensures that his children will thrive, and that their children will thrive, and that their children will thrive, and multiply, and grow, until the people who wrestle with God in the most adventurous manner inherit the earth. God tells Abraham, if, if he does all three of those things, that he will also live his life in a manner that's maximally beneficial to everyone else. Indicating thereby that the world is a place of adventure that has an infinite potential, that whatever you might garner for yourself in the course of your truly adventurous and upward striving, could be created and produced in a manner that did nothing, but increased the probability that everyone else could have the same thing. That's the cornucopia of possibility that characterizes the potential that God broods upon at the beginning of time itself, and out of which he extracts the natural and man and the social and natural order. And that's the possibility that's in front of you at every moment, as a reflection of the image of God. And it's the contending with that possibility, that's the dragon fight that reveals the most valuable hidden treasure in the manner that's most adventurous in the pursuit of what's most upward in the establishment of a sacrificial relationship with what's most high, and that's the covenant with God. By definition. That's the story. What's the sacrifice that's represented by Christ? There's a story in Exodus. This is a miraculous story. It's the conjunction of these two stories that's miraculous. The Israelites are out in the desert. They've sojourned for decades. They're tired and exhausted. They're pining for the tyranny. They're still miserable slaves. They whine and complain bitterly about their fate. They're lost. They cease abiding by the dictates of Moses. They turn to the worship of false idols. And they break their covenant with God. Who's displeased as a consequence. And who sends his miserable and faithless people poisonous snakes to bite them. Why? Because no matter how bad things are for you, there's something stupid you could still do. There's something stupid you could still do. To make it worse. And so you could blame God for sending the snakes. Or you could say. If you misbehave badly enough. The snakes are certain to come. And that's what happens to the Israelites. And so they're all being bitten by the poisonous snakes. And that makes them desperate enough to turn back to Moses and to ask him to intervene with God. They send a representative to Moses and say, We know you have a pipeline to the divine. We're having a lot of trouble with these snakes that God appears to have sent. Maybe you could put in a good word for the chosen people and get God to call off the snakes. And so Moses, who's also not very happy with the Israelites, agrees yet again to intercede on their behalf and says to God, Your people are groaning under the burden of their own sin and the punishment that you have done for them. What is it that you have so rightly sent for them? Is there something that could be done about the snakes? And God says, yes. And then you might think that the simple solution would be to eliminate all the snakes. But then you might ask yourself, If you were doing the best for your son as he was developing, would you chase away all the snakes? And make him safe? Or would you teach him to handle whatever snake came his way? And so God says to Moses, Have the Israelites gather up their bronze and make of the bronze a statue. And make the statue the staff of tradition and authority. And put a serpent on the staff. And so the. The Israelites can gaze on that which would otherwise poison them and become immune. The symbol of healing, the staff of Asclepius, is the serpent and the staff. The pharmacon is a little of the poison that bit you as the cure. The serpent on the staff. The staff is the stark fact that if you're willing to voluntarily confront that which is most poisonous, you can become immune to its bite. That's what God tells the Israelites. Look upon that which threatens and poisons you most deeply. And prevail. Thousands of years later, Christ tells his followers that for the world to be redeemed, he has to be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. Like the brazen serpent in the wilderness. Now that's a very strange story. Why would Christ assimilate himself to the poisonous. To the poisonous serpent in the desert? Why, indeed? Carl Jung described the passion story as the archetypal tragedy. What did he mean? Well, you know that there's a difference between a story that's comedic, that has a happy ending, and a story that's tragic. A tragic story is something terrible happening to a villain? No. Something terrible happens to a villain. That's a story of justice. A tragedy is a story of something terrible happening to someone who's innocent. So what's the most intense possible tragedy? What tragedy would you present if you took all the tragedy of the world and distilled it into the ultimate tragedy? The ultimate tragedy would be the worst possible tragedy. The ultimate tragedy would be the worst possible suffering of the most innocent possible person. And that's the passion story. What's the worst possible suffering? Death? Death when young? The worst imaginable painful death invented by the tyrant to torture you into submission? Culminating in your death with when young? In front of the mother who loves you deeply? In consequence of the betrayal by your best friend? While you're abandoned by the disciples that have seen you do miraculous things? While being pursued by the mob of your own people who choose your painful death over the punishment of a criminal who they know is a criminal? They know to be a criminal even when they know you're innocent and not only innocent but someone who's done nothing but good? Well, that mob is dominated by a foreign tyranny that worships power. The worst possible fate for the least possibly deserving person. And that's not all. Because death, no matter how painful and unjust, is not the worst thing that human beings have to face. After Christ's crucifixion, he descends into hell like Jonah and confronts malevolence itself and emerges victorious. What does it mean? The pathway to redemption is the voluntary confrontation with the worst possible death and the spirit of death. The spirit of evil itself. Why? Well, how else could it possibly work? How are you going to get through life? Productively? Happily? As a benefit to other people? As a man or a woman who could establish something permanent? If you are too afraid to face the reality of your own suffering and death? If you run from that, how are you going to cope with that? How are you going to cope with that? If you run from it? You can't cope from anything by running from it. And then that's bad enough, but there's the reality of evil too, which is, if anything, worse than death. If you could choose your own death as an alternative to the suffering of the people you love at the hands of the most evil person you could imagine, which would you pick? Insofar as you have people you love, you'd pick your own death in a heartbeat. That's what it means to be a parent. What that means is that there are worse evils than death. And what that means is that there are worse things about life than suffering and death. And what that means is that not only do we have to confront suffering and death, but we have to stand up against evil itself. And that's why Christ is the sacrificial model for Western civilization. And there's no way around that. As far as I can tell, if the integrity of the psyche is dependent on maturation and sacrifice, and the sanctity of the marriage is dependent on the mutual sacrifice of wife and husband, and the stability and productivity of the family is dependent on the sacrifice of the parents, and the community is dependent on the sacrifice of the families, and so on all the way up, the hierarchy to the sacrifice that's most pleasing to God, then it's the willingness to shoulder the burden of the ultimate sacrifice that reconciles what's highest and man. And that's the story of the crucifixion. And the call to the followers of Christ to pick up their cross and follow the crucifixion. And the call to the followers of Christ to follow the crucifixion. the altar is the center of the church the church is the center of the town civilization itself in its western form is predicated on our worship of the central sacrifice upon which the integrity of the psyche and the productive stability of the community is necessarily founded there's no what's the alternative to that the idea that your second rate offerings are going to be accepted the notion that you can pull the wool over your own eyes and the eyes of your fellow man and society and God himself, the notion that there's no up whatsoever in which case you're in Cain's situation with no ideal and wandering unconsciously in the land of isolated eternal suffering or you're possessed by the spirit of Cain that's resentful and bitter that shakes its fist at God that becomes murderous and then genocidal those don't those what those are the pathways to hell that are the alternative to the pathway to heaven and what's the pathway to heaven the straight and narrow path right, well why straight because a lot has to go before you know it before you walk that pathway because a lot has to be offered up before you're an imitator of Christ that's for sure is the possibility that God's will could be done on earth as it is in heaven dependent on your willingness to participate in that process of sacrifice that's the story that's why there's an insistence in western culture that there's a you're made in the image of God that you have the rights of someone who has an alliance with what's of highest value that's why you have the responsibility to shoulder the burden of your own governance that's associated with the idea that sovereignty is inherent in each of us as individuals do we believe that each of us is a locale of divine worth? how do you want to be treated by your wife? how does she want to be treated by you? how do your children want to be treated by you? do they want to be treated as if they're do they want to be treated as if they're mortal loci of divine value? mortal loci of divine value? will they be more than pleased to have to do with you if that's how you treat them? will they turn away from you as if you're a tyrant? or someone who's utterly useless in your hedonistic stupidity if you treat them in some alternate manner? if you treat them in some alternate manner? how about with regard to how you treat yourself? are you in concordance with your own conscience? when you forthrightly bear the burden of your destiny and you do that voluntarily in good faith and with courage? do you admire yourself when you're whiny and bitter and resentful and murderous and genocidal? and you do that voluntarily in good faith and with courage? is that true? is that true? well, that's what the biblical stories indicate well, that's what the biblical stories indicate do we believe that? well, the proof of that is in our action well, the proof of that is in our action well, the proof of that is in our action what does Christ say at the end of time? what does Christ say at the end of time? the worst of all eternal punishments the worst of all eternal punishments is reserved for the people who sit on the fence is reserved for the people who sit on the fence do we believe? well, if we're nihilistic and resentful well, if we're nihilistic and resentful then we believe in the spirit that shakes its fist at God that shakes its fist at God and eternally rebels if we believe in the eternal logos if we believe in the eternal logos then we confront the terrible combination of dragon and treasure that's the potential chaos around us that's the potential chaos around us we take the burden for our life on our own shoulders those are the options or we waver in the middle stupidly trying to play both ends against the middle trying to play both ends against the middle those are all positions of faith they're all positions of belief there's no escape from faith there's no escape from belief an ignorant person has to make his way forward with faith faith in what? the biblical stories call us to faith in the logos the logos that establish divine order at the beginning of time in consequence of the decision to take the full weight of the catastrophe of existence on itself and that's the image in whose that's the image that's the God in whose image you're hypothetically made and so what's the moral of the biblical story act like it act like it thank you very much thank you very much thank you very much thank you everyone Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your patience and your willingness to listen to that. I'm going to invite my wife, Tammy, back on the stage, and we're going to answer some questions. Thank you. Okay. Do you need a minute? No, I think we can continue. All right. Let's see. Okay, here's one. You've expressed the importance of myths that shape our society. Would you ever consider writing fiction to contribute to our damaged cultural narrative? I wrote a fairy tale, a modified version of a Grimm's Brother fairy tale called Water of Life. I made a musical screenplay out of that, and we're working at the moment on about a dozen songs that are associated with that. So that's one answer of yes to that. And you may remember that I started working on a noir detective novel at one point, too. I read it to you. I remember that. I read it to your family at Christmas. I didn't go over very well. Yeah. It's a little on the dark side, you might say. Yeah. I suppose if I wasn't doing this, I would engage myself in endeavors that were more creative and artistic. And I have a facility for writing musical plays and foolish poetry for children, and possibly very dark detective novels. And that would be very entertaining. And maybe the time for that will come, but who knows what the future will bring at the moment. This seems to be. You need the luxury to do that, you know? And to have that luxury, you have to be living in a. In a time where it's reasonable to isolate yourself from the broader concerns of society and devote yourself to your private concerns. And that's not the situation that we're in at the moment. So until I'm satisfied that all hell is not about to break loose, my plan, and my wife's plan, and my family's plan is to continue doing what we're doing and leave the more enjoyable, creative, purely creative endeavors aside until God willing, the time comes that that's the appropriate pursuit. Thank you. just recorded an album. Yeah. Our son, Julian, just recorded an album. It's a little dark, too, though, I'd say. But that should come out in six months. Well, Tammy and I, we've recorded a fair bit of music. The piece of music that will close this show is one of the pieces we recorded. And I'm going to be working with the musician, Victor Swift, who started this show on some music in the summer. And we have a bit of an opportunity now that this tour is coming to its current conclusion to play in the fictional and creative realm. And so, you know, it's very fun to do that. It's extremely engaging. And we'll have some time to do it. So some time, that's good. That's a lot better than no time. And we'll make hay while the sun shines. And so. Yeah, that's right. If you were going to be a first-time father, which you were, you were a first-time father, a right-wing father, I don't know if you were a right-wing father. By reputation. Yes, by reputation. How would you prepare your children to face the woke-slash-left-wing culture? Well, stay married to your wife. Well, that's the first answer, you know. A huge element of the woke culture is the more pathological elements of the pride display. How about we put it that way? The notion that you can do whatever you want with whoever you want whenever you want. Whenever the hell you want, the consequences be damned. And that's an insanely immature attitude combined with. So it's an infantile and it's a toddler-like attitude with the addition of sexual motivation. And it's not. There's nothing about it that works. The people who have the most sex are men. Married religious couples. So, you can tell your children that. Or you could act it out. You know, with some due caution. Stay married to your wife. See if you can figure out how to continue being in love with her. Play together. Model that for your kids. They're going to want that a lot more than whatever idiot hedonistic malevolence is forced upon them by the dimwits of the radical left. So. Example. There's nothing more important than example. What else? Regular meals with your kids. That's a good idea. Read to them at bedtime so you establish that. Time to educate them. To attend to them. To teach them to read. To teach them to be literate. And then keep an eye on them. Teach them to deal with serpents. Play with them. Fathers are very good at that. Fathers are the adventurous spirit of play. Wrestle with them. Toughen them up. Challenge them. Set high standards. Don't let them get away with anything. But not because you're the cruel voice of conscience but because look, we used to take our kids to restaurants when they were little. And they didn't run around like mad hyenas making fools of themselves. And the reason for that was because we didn't want people to respond to them as if they were misbehaving fools. We wanted people to be pleased with them. And to be impressed by them in the. manner that God promised Abraham he would be impressive if he conducted himself properly. It was typical when we took our kids to restaurants that at the end of our meals other couples, other people in the restaurant would come up and say nice things to the children. Because they sat there and acted like civilized human beings even when they were 18 months old. You couldn't ask them to do that for two hours but you could ask them to do that for 45 minutes and they learned how to do that and there was nothing in that that about that that wasn't good. I wrote a chapter in my first book. The title was Do Not Allow Your Children to Do Anything That Makes You Dislike Them. And that's a very straightforward rule. If your kids are acting up and you're displeased well maybe you're a patriarchal tyrant so you could go ask your wife. You could say dear that son of yours is annoying me. Is that because I'm a patriarchal son of a bitch or because he's a little bastard? And then it's up to your up to your wife to say well you are a little cruel these days and you could shape up or that little rat is also annoying me. In which case you could conclude that if your child is annoying both of you despite the fact that you hypothetically love him he would probably be annoying other people which isn't good for him. So that should be brought to a halt. And so then you do you employ whatever minimal force is necessary to say no and to ensure that he doesn't make a spectacle of himself. My son Julian is a very civilized person and also a very tough person was a ornery little two-year-old. He was quite insistent that he get his way and it took a fair bit of wrestling to help him learn to manage his will but he did and because of that we could rely on his judgment from the time he was three and that's never changed and so it was a pleasure to be around him and it didn't take that much it wasn't that much trouble it was nowhere near as much trouble as not doing it. We didn't say no that often but when we said no what we meant was if you continue doing that something you do not like will happen to you with 100% probability. Right and that's what no means and if that's the rod of iron behind your no then when you say no you get listened to and then you don't have to say it that often and so that's what I would recommend to a new father. Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them. If you do not like your children you will be cruel to them. And so you regulate your child's behaviour so they don't have to encounter the monstrous part of you accidentally at the worst possible time. Right. This is not a question just a big thank you for being the light in the darkness and for being the voice that my generation needs a big hug from the benches. You Mexicans! Okay question. What advice would you give to someone whose little sister is saying she's trans? What is the best way to proceed as an older sister? Thank you. I think part of what you do is you do two things. You let her know in no uncertain terms that she is not to do anything that harms herself. That that is not acceptable. No dressing like the opposite sex. No hormones. No puberty blockers. And no butchering surgery. That means war, right? No, that is not happening. No matter what. Any child that is poking around in that satanic realm is testing to see if anyone cares enough to stop her. Hey. There's an actress in the U.S., Ellen Page. My understanding of Ellen Page is that she was quite badly brutalized as a child actress. That is not rare. What's the consequence? She came to hate her own sexuality. And no one ever loved her enough to protect her properly. That's a catastrophe. She cut off her breasts. No one loved her enough to stop that. You have a sister. You need to let her know that she is loved. She is loved. And that she is not to hurt herself. Because she's valuable. And that she has the trouble that young girls have. And that she's to confront those and face them and accept them and welcome them in the same courageous spirit that Mary accepted the challenge from God when she found that she was pregnant to be a woman. not only reconcile herself to the fact of her femininity, but to welcome it and to be a model as a sister for doing that. But then again, to ally that with absolute 100% unshakable resolve to burn everything to the ground, to stop the butchery, right? What's your advice for Mexicans that want to be and do good in a country where murder, violence, and corruption is the norm? Well, you know, I talked about that tonight. I mean, when Jacob, Jacob becomes Israel, right? As his character, transforms. He transforms so completely that he becomes a new person and he becomes the progenitor of those who wrestle with God. That's Jacob. Jacob is not a good guy when he starts out. He is a lying, manipulative, self-satisfied, intellectual, tent-dwelling mama's boy. That's what he is. He deceives his father and manipulates his brother out of his rightful inheritance. And because of that, he has to run from his home. Although you could imagine that that's a relief for Jacob because he gets away from his mother. And on the way to his uncle, he has to run from his home. And he has a dream. And the dream is of Jacob's ladder, this spiral upward that has God at its pinnacle, with the angels from God moving up and down on the pathway to heaven. And he wakes up and he builds an altar and he makes a vow to God to journey up the ladder to heaven. What does that mean? It means that he decides to turn away from his iniquity and to become good. What does that mean for you? It means that you could decide to do that. You could decide to do good. How? Well, in the biblical stories, the way you do. You become good, you could say, is the Old Testament way and then the New Testament way. The Old Testament way is, thou shalt not. The commandments. Stop doing the things you know are stupid. And it's a game in a way you can play with yourself. It's like you can look at your life, you can talk to your conscience, you can decide what you're doing that's counterproductive and wrong, by your own standards of evaluation, and then you can see which of those things you would be able to change. Maybe. And then you can change them. And then every time you make that sacrifice, and you shed a little bit of dead wood, or you allow it to be burned off, then you're a little wiser and you can see a little more clearly, and you can see what else might have to go. You can see that if your eye offends you, that it should be plucked out. And then maybe you can get to the point where you can not only stop, doing what's bad, but you could start doing what's good, which is really what Christ calls upon people to do. He talks to the rich young man who says to him, Lord, I have been a devout follower of the commandments. I honor my parents. I keep the commandments. But my life is still insufficient. And Christ says to him, you must sell everything you have and follow me. And Christ's disciples say, if that's the price of salvation, then no one is willing to pay it. And people read that as if it's an anti-capitalist screed. That's the liberation theology take, let's say. And that isn't what it means at all. It means that if you've stopped doing what's wrong and. If you're not doing enough of what's right to be engaged in your life, then you have to radically change what you're doing. And you have to give up everything that's an impediment to your progress forward. And for the rich young man, Christ's diagnosis was that his wealth was bringing him misery and not buying for him entrance into the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven. So what does that mean practically? You want to fight the tyrant? Like Moses? You want to stand up for the slave like Moses? Get your house in order. How do you do that? Start with yourself. Stop doing the stupid things that you're doing that you know are stupid. Start doing the things that you know are good. Pursue that religiously. And then you'll. Learn how to set things in order. Beyond the confines of your own soul. Beyond the dynamics of your relationship with your wife. Beyond the stabilization of your own family. Maybe you'll become enough of a person so that having put what's right in front of you in order, you have something more to offer to everyone else. So? One step at a time. You want to turn yourself into the person whose words ring true. And those are the people that no tyrant can stand against. That's the man who goes to the court of the pharaoh and says, God commanded me to say to you, let my people go so they may worship me in the desert. What does that mean? It doesn't mean. It doesn't mean. It doesn't mean let my people go so they can have a naked orgy while worshiping the golden calf. It means let my people go so they can adopt the mature sacrificial attitude that establishes the state that does not require a king or a slave. How do you participate in that? By standing up against your own tyranny. By standing up against the tyranny in your marriage and in your family. in your community, in the state, by. sacrificing your slavish habits by attending to what calls to you by establishing a relationship with your conscience and by becoming a leader and if enough people do that the tyrants will vanish and the slaves will be free so you all know that I think at some level or you wouldn't be here tonight listening to this you're here because something is calling to you and so I would say get at it there's tyrants that need to be confronted and slaves that need to be freed and you might be one of the tyrants and one of the slaves so you could start with yourself all right everybody thank you very much it was very nice to be here very nice to see you all thank you Tim my pleasure thanks for coming thank you very much for coming tonight bye thank you my dear thank you for the poster good to see you all thank you thank you good night everybody do you hear that that sound right that means that summer's officially here it means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shaped like a cartoon but this summer Mint Mobile has a better treat every plan including Unlimited is $15 a month and unlike ice cream it won't drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture does anyone have any cash give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch upfront payment of $45 for three months $90 for six months or $180 for 12 month plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms now we've all heard the radio ads about owing the IRS money they try to scare you and frighten you into calling well tax relief advocates is different if you owe the IRS $5,000 $50,000 or $500,000 TRA has a tax relief advocate as a solution to resolve your tax problem don't lose hope TRA could reduce or even eliminate what you owe their passion is taxes and helping regular people and businesses fix their IRS mess they have over 1,000 five-star Google reviews and an A-plus with the Better Business Bureau you don't have to be afraid of the IRS anymore real tax relief programs are available that can give you a fresh start so don't wait go to TRA.com it's TRA.com or call 800-575-1753 again that's 800-575-1753 tax relief advocates real solutions for real people Dave Portnow here game day is here DraftKings game day has officially arrived with massive deals exclusive offers and an all-day celebration built for sports fans no more countdown no more waiting today is game day the DraftKings sports app is now live in all 50 states that means from Texas to California to Florida every fan can get in on the action one app every sport all 50 states get pumped game day is here it's time to celebrate new DraftKings customers sign up with code Spotify spend 5 bucks to get 200 in rewards within 21 days that's code Spotify in partnership with DraftKings the crown is yours event trading offered by DraftKings predictions a CFTC registered futures commission merchant trading involves risk of loss market availability varies eligibility restrictions apply $50 every 7 days via click to claim issued in non-withdrawable predictions dollars that expire in the future in one year terms at DKNG.co slash predictions promo nationwide based on sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contests availability varies by state