Let's Practice System Distancing: The Abortion Edition

5/4/2022

So, the System has released it's latest current thing communication . . . ahem, manipulation . . . which just happens to focus on everyone's favorite "hot-button issue" -- abortion.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Abortion is evil. It is among the most grievous of sins. That is all.

Now that we've cleared that up, let's concentrate on the System's latest current thing, which happens to be a leaked Supreme Court "opinion" draft that challenges the current abortion legislation in the United States.

News of the leak has, predictably, "lit up" the Christian/conservative blog world. Everywhere I look I see Christians and conservative revving themselves up for the next hot battle in the spiritual war. Some are vowing to take the fight to the streets. Others insist the leaked document is a sign of divine providence. A few have even suggested that the document represents a turning point in the spiritual war.

I don't want to add any commentary to the "issue" itself. What I want to do is make people aware of this latest current thing provides the perfect opportunity for Christians to practice system distancing. (The opportunity does not exist for those who identify purely as conservatives because conservatism is wedded to the System by default and cannot exist without it.)

The first thing to keep in mind is this -- the System issued the communication and made sure news of it was widespread. This implies that the Establishment very much wants everyone to be acutely aware of the "issue" and to participate in the issue via the System in some way by thinking about it, writing about it, arguing about it, raising hopes about it, fighting about it, etc. Moreover, the Establishment wants everyone to "have a position" on the issue. They want people to become personally invested in this latest communication on terms the System dictates. This applies especially to Christians, for whom abortion is a big concern.

Secondly, this newest current thing is a clear example of the System wanting people to listen to what it is saying about this issue here and now and to forget about what it is not saying here and now. And there are many things the System is not talking about these days -- the very same things it could not stop talking about mere weeks or months ago.

Thirdly, these sorts of communications are usually released to foster hope in the System. The overall aim is to coax Christians and conservatives into thinking that the System still contains vestiges of real good, that it is capable of self-correction, that it can address "issues" that are important to Christians, that it has the potential to redeem itself and turn a corner.

Fourthly, communications of this nature are meant to keep everyone fixated on external forces that are entirely out of our control. Instead of investing time and energy on aligning with God and Creation outwith the System, Christians are being lured into investing time and energy aligning with the external forces of System manipulation within the System.

Finally, the primary objective of the System is mass damnation, and it will employ the most nefarious and deceptive means to assure this.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point. I'm not arguing that we shouldn't care about abortion or that we shouldn't pay some attention to developments around this "issue".

At the same time, I think it is a mistake to become too invested in this latest "current thing". Moreover, I believe this latest piece of System manipulation offers an excellent opportunity to practice the spiritual imperative of system distancing, which I have briefly outlined here.

To sum up, the best way to help the cause of the issue the System is currently promulgating is too keep your actions and thoughts about the issue largely outside of the System itself.

20 Comments

William Wildblood

5/4/2022 17:00:29

Very perceptive post, Frank. Abortion is evil, of course, but this whole debate is a distraction to get people steamed up about something that is basically a spiritual external and in that sense not important. It just diverts one's spiritual energies into worldly channels. I hope people understand that in the way it is meant.

Francis Berger

5/4/2022 17:11:41

Thanks, William. I've been hammering on about system distancing for over two years, but I'm not sure if people understand what I mean by it. I hope your excellent comment helps build comprehension in this regard.

Luke

5/4/2022 19:19:51

The real issue is that gas went up by 30c a gallon since last week!
When this news came out I knew to ignore it as best as I could, but there was a phrase in that back of my mind that I couldn't recall, but now I realize I was trying to remember the words "system distancing". Thanks for the reminder.

Jeffrey Cantrell

5/4/2022 19:59:37

Of course, don't forget the obvious. These rapid hot-button issues are simply a form of emotional vampirism whereby the evil feeds off the energy of those who are "incited" by the latest outrage.

John Venlet link

5/4/2022 23:01:28

Excellent post, Francis. I've linked to it. Thank you.

5/5/2022 19:25:57

Thank you, John. Much appreciated.

Kathleen

5/5/2022 03:29:20

I understand your thoughts here, Francis, but I have to disagree. I do not intend to personally get worked up by the system's latest “outrage” even though it’s nothing new. Because abortion is morally wrong and evil, it becomes a moral imperative for me to oppose it in a public manner, whatever way I choose to make this known. I don’t need to invest a lot of energy or care what the system’s position on this is. It may indeed be a way to distract from other things but this doesn’t change the seriousness of the situation at hand. I am morally opposed to the murder of innocents, especially children, and will not be waiting or caring what the system is planning to do or not to do. I’m not “riled up” by this issue, it’s literally been ongoing since the beginning of child sacrifice, many centuries ago. Nothing has changed.

5/5/2022 11:27:31

Kathleen, I don't think you are disagreeing at all.

System distancing is not about neutrality, aloofness, indifference, or silence. It is about understanding that something like abortion is fundamentally a spiritual and metaphysical issue on which everyone *must* take a position.

The position one takes determines which side of the spiritual war the individual is on. If we take a position that the System dictates to us, then we are on the wrong side. If our position comes from our own heart, spirit, and alignment with God, then we are on the right side.

System distancing is not about remaining silent or out of the public eye - although these are options. It is about refusing to engage the issue on the terms the System dictates via the understanding that engaging the issue on the System's terms is to engage in evil.

The System wants us to act and think reactive-ly; I posit that we should act and think *creatively*. A big part of thinking and acting creatively involves the understanding that the System is net-evil, has evil motivations, and aims at mass damnation -- even when, especially when, it appears to be acting in the interest of "good".

Michelle

5/5/2022 04:19:34

Don't get me wrong, righting and error is almost always a good thing. But i can't get excited about the Supreme Court possibly overturning its earlier error(s) when doing so won't fix the major errors of the system itself and the peoples' hearts, not one bit. I won't give their system any credence by rejoicing. Now, if the Court was to say that they will be striking down, in the name of Christ, all the erroneous rulings, now you've peaked my interest.

Because at the end of the day, the woman who was so demonically possessed to murder her own child will still do so. I can already hear the NGOs licking their lips at the amounts of money that will flow into them from the system so that every woman (and pregnant man) has equal access to "healthcare". The people are broken and evil and so is their system.

They can have it. For me, to use a modern word, meh. I'll just keep working on getting my (spiritual and physical) house in order and encourage my loved ones to do the same for the dark days in this world to come. Repent now.

5/5/2022 19:33:31

@ Michelle - "Because at the end of the day, the woman who was so demonically possessed to murder her own child will still do so."

Spot on. Also, please see Dr. Charlton's comment below. It connects well with some of what you have expressed.

bruce charlton

5/5/2022 15:40:59

Well said Frank. It's sad to see how people all stampede when instructed by the demonic Establishment - including trad Christians. After all, nothing has even happened.

Speaking as a long-term atheist who converted late - I also think Christians greatly misjudge the abortion question. Abortion is essentially a specifically Christian moral issue. According to Rodney Stark's history of Christianity, abortion was part of a pro-natalist, pro-family set of moral principle by the early Christians - and which were significantly responsible for the rapid growth of the early church by natural increase (leading to larger surviving families among the wealthier classes).

What I am getting at is that Christians tend to assume that abortion is naturally and spontaneously abhorrent to all 'decent' people - whereas that just does not seem to be true historically.

On the contrary, its wrongness is really apparent only to Christians (as an approximation - including those religions subsequently influenced by Christianity).

Thus it seems than many tribal societies around the world practiced (or try to practice) abortion and infanticide quite openly or with the merest facade of excuse; as well as many pagan societies.

This seems to explain why there is an impassable gulf on this issue; the Christian position is based on different deep assumptions that are distinctive, and unshared with the secular (or feebly religious) mass of people.

What this means, in terms of policy, is that the issue of making abortion illegal is down-stream beyond the primacy of Christian conversion. Without mass Christian conversion First, abortion will very probably be sought by many people, because human beings seemingly do not have the natural 'gut feeling' that it is wrong.

5/5/2022 19:31:31

Thanks, Bruce. Great comment.

"What this means, in terms of policy, is that the issue of making abortion illegal is down-stream beyond the primacy of Christian conversion. Without mass Christian conversion First, abortion will very probably be sought by many people, because human beings seemingly do not have the natural 'gut feeling' that it is wrong."

You hit the nail on the head there.

James Stoertz

6/11/2022 01:54:50

I really appreciate this article and the points from Bruce Charlton whom I read "religiously". But in attempt to counter the depressing conclusion that follows from a need for "mass Christian conversion" (which I do not expect to happen before a cataclysmic event) I'd like to make several, potentially positive counterpoints:
1) Moloch existed outside of Christianity. It was the deification of child sacrifice. There are other examples of child sacrifice like early Central American "civilizations". Without deification, I doubt that we would naturally perform child sacrifice partly because of point #2 below. Mothers naturally love and defend their children unless coerced otherwise. Fathers naturally foster procreation of their genetic progeny and will defend it.
2) The carnal man has a natural revulsion to death and the dead. As an example, people avoid hitting a dead carcass with their car on the road. Another example is that we hire undertakers and require lower castes to handle the dead. The only reason we don't have a revulsion to abortion is because the experience has been socially sterilized.

Heather Shaler

5/6/2022 01:42:48

That's just what my husband and I were saying about it: it's either a distraction, or throwing the conservatives a bone (or something more nefarious that we can't dream up). Either way, we don't want to reach the end of our lives and discover that we've only ever thought about System issues, and on System terms, when the System tells us to.

We recently did something we've always wanted to do, but were never able to before: we got chickens! We're still building a predator-proof run, and since we have a hawk problem, I spend a lot of time "chickensitting" them while they roam outside. I've come to the conclusion that just about everyone would benefit from owning and regularly observing a flock of chickens. First of all, it's more wholesome and intellectually stimulating than practically all other modern entertainment. Second, and I speak for myself, it does invite one to consider all the ways one has acted like a chicken, always hive-mindedly lurching from one Big Issue to the next. One of them is particularly poor at finding bugs, but on several occasions I've seen her seize a huge leaf and go tearing through the underbrush peeping at the top of her little lungs to say, " I Found Something Significant!" And the others go tearing after her every single time.

Sometimes my cat sidles up to me while I'm watching them. I can see the prey drive and hunger in his eyes, but he knows not to touch. In fact, after a minute he resolutely closes his eyes and ignores them, even though he would love nothing more than to join in their hen-party, and maybe even profit off it. He knows that keeping his eyes open and getting invested in them would be bad for him.

Be the cat, people! Not the chickens.

5/6/2022 17:22:50

@ Heather - Good comment. Thanks.

Chickens, huh? What a coincidence -- I'm getting a dozen hens myself next week. I wanted to do it last spring, but I couldn't find the time. This year, I decided to make the commitment. We can share chicken stories!

lea

5/6/2022 03:31:11

Topic itself is a little too hot to handle for me right now, while also missing the perspective on the american side of it. Just want to comment on 'gut feeling'. It's starting to come to light that the gut and the microbiome have so many interacting parts, and connections to other regions of the body that we might have to start taking it literally.

The gut as a potential 'synaptic-web like' information processing area that functions not entirely unlike the brain, and is engaged in constant communication of sorts. It could turn out to be one of 3 different areas in the human body where something like this occurs, the heart being one of them too. Even for the hardcore scientism enthusiast this might be uhm.. food for thought (pun very much intended)

Zork

5/6/2022 14:18:46

Great article!

I personally believe the repealing of this law has more to do with preparing for mass forced vaccinations down the road, by removing the "My body, my choice" defence.

A defence which has stood test after test in the abortion arena up until this point.

Removing that defence, will greatly weaken peoples ability to resist forced vaccinations using the same logic that has served the pro-choice crowd for soo long.

As a Christian, I have very mixed feelings. Happy that lives will definately be saved by repealing this horrible law, but if it is used to help pave the way to the mark of the beast system being put in place, then I feel I should resist such things as well.

I guess in a world system full of increasingly overt evil and deception at every turn, its not about siding on issues.

It become increasingly about keeping focused on Jesus and letting God handle the judgements.

5/6/2022 17:31:39

@ Zork - That's a great observation. I've thought about that, too. Getting rid of body/choice would certainly make peck mandates easier to implement. By the same token, the body/choice defense was a nothing burger when it came to the peck -- at least here in Europe.

Still, there is also the health/life connection . . .

Whatever the case, we know it won't be "good." It's time Christians stop treating the anti-Christian System as something that is capable of doing "good". After all -- why would the anti-Christian System want to uphold Christian morality on this issue?

Dr. Charlton wrote a good piece on this today. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet.

5/7/2022 02:04:06

That is very true, I was not thinking in a more global mindset and was applying the my body my choice to our side of the pond, where carrys a lot more gravitas. Excellent point I had been blind to:)

Thank you for your great articles, they always give me pause and spur personal introspection, sometimes uncomfortably so:)

I will check out the other article you references as well.

5/7/2022 19:53:50

@ Zork - I always have to remind myself that evil has no real "goal" beyond destroying what is good. It's main motivation is opposition to God and good, and it will use any means necessary in its opposition.

That's why so much of what it does "makes no sense" and often contradicts it's previously stated aims. Though we must discern and try to determine what evil is up to, we shouldn't get bogged down in the details too much, but stay focused on doing good rather than falling into the trap of simply opposing evil.

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Let's Practice System Distancing: The Abortion Edition

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