Christianity and The Middle Ground: Looking Ahead to 2022

12/26/2021

I firmly believe that "things came to a point" in 2020. The ever-shrinking gray area separating good from evil melted away. The distinctions between good and evil became remarkably perceptible. The side for God and Creation and the side opposed to God and Creation became easily discernible. A choice between the two sides became inevitable and unavoidable.

If recognizing and acknowledging "the point" was the point of 2020, then what is/was the point of 2021? I would posit 2021 is/was all about the big question:

Which side are you on?

And side means side. No middle ground!

Those who continue to frame the sides the point has revealed as 'fanatical extremes' are on the wrong side.

Those who desire to act as some kind of fair and balanced mediating voice of reason between the 'fanatical extremes' are on the wrong side.

Those who offer thoughtful takes on complex situations when situations are simple to the point of requiring no real thought at all are on the wrong side.

Those who continue to bow to experts, trust the science, praise democracy, support System Christianity, and disparage 'conspiracies' are on the wrong side.

Those who treat evil as "issues" that demand rational debate are on the wrong side.

Those who deride individuals who are able to discern good and evil are on the wrong side.

Those who believe the middle ground is superior to either side is on the wrong side.

Those who write articles and blog posts that come off sounding like warmed over Platonic dialogues are on the wrong side.

Those who refuse to call spade a spade are on the wrong side.

Those who believe the middle ground is the only hope for saving Western civilization or Christianity are on the wrong side.

Those who believe the System is neutral or good are on the wrong side.

Those who advocate for the middle ground because it allows them to maintain their status and comfort within the System are on the wrong side.

Those who believe in the middle ground as a means to salvation are on the wrong side.

Those who envision Heaven as some sort of middle ground are on the wrong side.

Those who believe that the middle ground has anything to do with Christian love, tolerance, charity, virtue, morality or truth, beauty, and goodness are on the wrong side.

Those who believe Jesus wants us to dedicate our efforts to maintaining the middle ground in this time and place are on the wrong side.

Those who believe Jesus had anything to do with, has anything to do with, or would have anything to do with the middle ground are on the wrong side.

Those who actually believe the middle ground to be a viable Christian choice in this time and place are most definitely on the wrong side.

2020 made the sides extremely clear and distinguishable. 2021 demanded a choice between sides. 2022 will lay bare the consequences of that choice.

And one of the most significant things 2022 will reveal is the undeniable non-existence of that cherished middle ground.

14 Comments

William Wildblood

12/26/2021 20:14:23

A great summing up. I like all of it but this made me laugh "Those who write articles and blog posts that come off sounding like warmed over Platonic dialogues are on the wrong side. " So true. A few years ago that may have had some validity but now it completely misses the point.

bruce charlton

12/26/2021 23:03:10

I think this is correct - except that I have been shown as so bad at prediction I would avoid comment about what 2022 will bring -- if I endorsed your prediction this would ensure the prediction did Not happen!

Yes, the sides became clear in 2021; and the very lop-sided nature of them - with extremely few on the right side, and perhaps even fewer at the end of 2021 than at the beginning (the peck push caused more to lapse into wrongsidedness).

The degree of unawareness of sides (and therefore being on the wrong side) continues to astonish. Despite all that has happened and continues; it seems to me that hardly anybody really acknowledges the vast change, and its implications.

People and organizations - including those (like churches) that have substantially collapsed - still talk as if this is just a blip.

As you know - I have been a big cricket fan; and it was quite something to watch The Ashes in Adelaide on TV - and see a near-empty stadium. And yet nobody I have seen or heard is discussing that this (two years on, and restrictions still getting worse) must mean the end of test match cricket is approaching. Add other sports, live music, theatre, etc etc - yet crickets from those who are supposed to be dedicated to these activities...

Francis Berger

12/27/2021 09:35:29

@ Bruce - Yes, I am wary of predictions as well and generally do not like making them. In this particular case, I don't expect any sort of mass revelation. Instead, I sense that those who continue to support a middle ground position will inevitably discover that no such position exists. The other side will tolerate middle grounders to an extent, but only as far as it helps lure people definitively onto the other side. Otherwise, the other side will not tolerate any sort of moderate position.

You are right about the unawareness of sides. Most moderns only see one side and they see that side is good (mostly because it is the only side they can perceive and/or conceptualize). Yet this is exactly what makes the mediators and middle grounders such a strange lot. Unlike the majority, they are keenly aware of the two sides, but refuse to commit to one or the other, mostly due to what they perceive as extremism.

This is particularly interesting from a Christian perspective because it frames each side as being too deeply entrenched in their positions to be "good." For example, they categorize those who are completely against the peck agenda as too unreasonable and fanatical and then apply the same criteria to the totalitarian peck pushers. The middle ground position rejects the extremes and roughly asserts the peck as a morally neutral choice that individuals must be free to make and that governments must not mandate or coerce.

The problem with this position is simple - it doesn't really exist. Pecks are increasingly not a matter of individual choice; mandates and coercion already exist and continue to intensify.

Rationalizing the middle ground position is going to become increasingly difficult in 2022, especially for Christians. That doesn't mean people won't try - but I sense that these attempts will be rendered increasingly flimsy and pointless, especially as individuals realize the middle ground position is built on a mirage.

Serhei

12/27/2021 00:15:36

The year 2022 will be 'now that you know which side you are on, what will you make for it?'

(One could say 'how will you fight for it' but in most people's minds that would place a grievous mis-emphasis on political battles over spiritual ones.)

12/27/2021 09:36:21

@ Serhei - Yes, good point.

Lady Mermaid link

12/27/2021 01:39:00

This has been a hard truth for me to bear as I'm a person who tries to avoid conflict and get along whenever possible. Perhaps this is part of being a woman to focus on building bridges.

However, the excuses have vanished. A lot of "nice" people support outright wicked agendas. It's still something that I have to work on grasping and accepting even though I know in my heart it's true. It can be easy to reduce Christianity to "the religion of being nice". However, while Jesus is The Prince of Peace, that peace is not an accommodation of evil, but a peace that comes from repentance and being on the side of Creation.

12/27/2021 09:49:44

@ Lady Mermaid - Good points. I don't think should seek conflict with middle grounders. Nor should we try to convince them of anything. If pressed, we should merely state our case and leave it at that. In this sense, we're not actively burning bridges out of spite or pride, but we are also not wasting our time and effort building bridges to nowhere.

For me it all comes down to spiritual learning, the bulk of which must be completed by individuals themselves. The middle ground position offers a great deal in terms of spiritual learning, but it should be a transitory phase at best. At some point, a commitment to one side or the other needs to be made (especially today when the choices are so clear) otherwise one becomes susceptible to the practice of accommodating evil as a default position.

Bookslinger

12/27/2021 21:31:42

Preach it, bro!

Frank, you are more correct than you realize.

Each and every middle-grounder is either a knowing accomplice or an unwitting dupe of the left in the left's classic "triangulation" maneuvers that have been going on since at least Marx and Engels.

As long as the leftists keep moving farther out at twice the pace, 2x, that they really want to, then the middle-ers, the compromisers, move left at 1x speed.

The compromisers are essentially the "controlled opposition" in something of a Hegelian Dialectic: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis.

Once someone pointed it out to me, this was obvious: Left and Right are the two rails of the same track - the wheels on the left track are just way ahead of the wheels on the rigut track.

Or another way of saying it: (The leadership on) the right give(s) the left exactly what they ask for, just 25 years after they first start asking.

Another way to say it, the middle-grounders enable the far left to engage in "creeping margins", or "incrementalism."

12/28/2021 08:25:21

@ Books - Or salami slicing . . .

https://www.francisberger.com/blog/satan-loves-to-slice-salami

David Llewellyn Dodds

12/28/2021 00:44:37

'The Bethlehem Declaration: Challenging the moral liceity of the abortion-tainted experimental ['pecks'...] and calling for universal opposition to "[...] mandates"' is admirably clear, thorough, and emphatic. (I encountered it via Patrick Delaney's "Thu Dec 16, 2021 - 10:10 pm EST" LifeSiteNews article 'Prominent bishops, priests, laity sign "Bethlehem Declaration" that opposes "morally illicit" ['pecks']'.)

12/28/2021 08:23:42

@ David - Yes, that's right, but it hasn't stopped a few noted Catholic bloggers from rationalizing their way out of things like The Bethlehem Declaration via the middle ground approach. The misguided gumption of some of these Thomas Aquinas wannabes never ceases to amaze me.

Dirt Farmer

12/28/2021 03:30:04

" ... thoughtful takes on complex situations when situations are simple to the point of requiring no real thought ..."

This is the bullet point that resonates most with me. I think this is why so many of the high-IQ expertocracy (including the majority of M.Div pastors) get tripped up. They're so impressed with their credentials and peerage that they've forgotten "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." No matter how simple the issue (e.g. Thou shalt not covet), the expert class has been conditioned to invest themselves in deep analysis to arrive at a more nuanced and esoteric understanding. (We see it also with the USSC's inability to grasp the meaning of "shall not be infringed.")

The same goes for some of my professing friends in the pews, who put their faith in the expertocracy. I'll hear a sermon that (to my ears) clearly articulates a straightforward/simple call to hold fast against worldly wiles ... 3 mins afterward I'm conversing with a person who feels affirmed in their middle-ground. Cognitive dissonance is a real thing. I've learned that there's a time to confront the middle-grounder, and a time to smile and say nothing.

12/28/2021 08:20:25

@ Dirt Farmer - I quite agree. What is needed now more than ever is a sober peasant mind:

https://www.francisberger.com/blog/with-a-sober-peasant-mind

12/28/2021 16:33:04

I know I'm on the right side, not because I hold the best arguments, but because my insane government criminalized social interaction (even for small children), and the police can kick down my door if I have a family gathering. If that's not bad enough, children as young as 7 must wear surgical masks 40 hours a week at school. The only time that they can remove the rag is while eating. Even during class, they're muzzled. It's SICK. So, I know I'm right to oppose this insanity. The sophists can take their fancy arguments and stick them you know where. And really, the worst part is the enthusiastic compliance of these braindead morons that I call fellow citizens. These stinky snitches.

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Christianity and The Middle Ground: Looking Ahead to 2022

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