Solving the Political Issues of Today: The example of King Alfred

I should preface this post by stating that the Hegelian dialectic of history is an absolutely absurd "philosophical" thought. This thinking has been the source of much social upheaval and bloodshed since its formation. Social advancement is not a force of history; we are not advancing towards any utopia. Christian truth teaches us there is movement but towards God's salvific will for mankind or towards the machinations of the evil one. This is why statements like, "It's [insert current year here]! We should have moved on from this!" are ridiculous statements. We will never get past anything, no matter if it is the current year, as long as the issue in question leads us away from communing with our Creator, Jesus Christ. Just because it is the current year, does not take away from the reality that there is a way of light and a way of darkness and that God gives reality and existence to all things.

Add to this that "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). With this proper understanding of history, one can now see why we can learn from the past. History does repeat itself just with different actors, different stages, and different props. It is also interesting to note that the ancient world did not speak of "economic crisis" or used the word "crisis" at all like we use it today. Instead there it was the "judgement of God" the ancients used to describe any disaster. Of course to the modern and secular mind, this sounds superstitious. However this is simply because they are atheists and have no knowledge on how the cosmos really is sustained.

Judgement of God is falsely understood in the West (from my experience, in ALL the Christian denominations or "non-denominations") and has been for sometime. The judgement of God is NOT mankind breaking the rules of God then God sending punishment for our crimes. No! God is Love and is unchanging. He is not angered one day then happy with us another. This is anthropomorphizing God and such a god does not exist; this is a false God. Instead, the judgement of God is the created order, being out of order, entering back into proper order. If one looks at how St. Symeon the New Theologian described the Fall, one can understand the behavior of creation better. See his Ethical Discourses.

So God actually is sparing society at large from the full consequences of our sins. He is holding back creation desiring to purge itself of the sickness and corruption we bring upon it by not pursuing God's way of Light and Life. God is not the author of evil. He is the Savior from evil. Enough of the folly of the atheist and his egomania.

So, how do we go about solving the huge social, economic, political disaster we experience today? Well first we have to look at everything around us as the Lord would like us to see it. The plethora of problems we face is the judgement of God to lead us to repentance. Other people have been able to turn away from this judgement or wrath of God. Therefore, I am strongly convinced of two things.

One, our problems are the accumulation of so much anti-Christian thought and activity (originally coming from the "churches" and sometimes still coming from Western Christian thought). The only thing that can save us from such a buildup of hostility to authentic and true Christian life is repentance in the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church alone equips Her Christians with all the necessary tools to accomplish salvation in full while still in this world. I know it seems so far fetched, but if we are really going heal, if this is something we actually want to achieve, then repentance in the Orthodox Church is the only way. She alone produces Saints (i.e. men who have been healed from sin).

Two, in our own history, we have an excellent example how to proceed: the life of King Alfred the Great.

"Somebody once called Sir Winston Churchill the greatest Englishman ever. No, Churchill corrected him, the greatest is King Alfred." Source.

King Alfred was a great lawgiver, diplomat, a military organizer par excellance, statesman, war-chief, noblest of nobleman, a serious scholar, and most importantly: a devout Orthodox Christian.

Here is how the English affectionately describe him:

"ALFRED The Light of a Benighted Age

Was a Philosopher and a Christian

The Father of his People

The Founder of the English

MONARCHY and LIBERTY."

       -- Anonymous dedication on King Alfred's Tower (1772).

"We discern across the centuries a commanding and versatile intelligence, wielding with equal force the sword of war and of justice; using in defence arms and policy; cherishing religion, learning, and art in the midst of adversity and danger; welding together a nation, and seeking always across the feuds and hatreds of the age a peace which would smile upon the land."

       -- Winston Churchill

"Alike for what he did and for what he was, there is none to equal Alfred in the whole line of English sovereigns; and no monarch in history ever deserved more truly the epithet of Great."

       -- Encyclopædia Britannica (1911), Volume 1

How does Alfred the Great help us today? A summary of his life is here. First, let me share how his age parallels our age. Then, his solutions will give us direction for our own problems.

King Alfred's world was one of illiteracy. While we are not illiterate, we may as well be illiterate. Think of why we want to have a literate society: increase of knowledge, engage in critical thinking, effective communications. Right? Well with our literacy rate as high as we see it (granted is a great achievement), what advancement has that brought to our reading material. Walk into bookstores, I venture to guess most of it is garbage. Especially in the children's section, utter garbage (the popularity of vampire romances should be enough of an indication). If one takes away the percentage of the population that does not use their literacy to truly increase in knowledge (this would include most of the media, politicians, bureaucrats, entertainers, propagandists in education, bums/welfare cases) or those who use their literacy for the epidemic time wasting (i.e. entertainment), then I bet we are closer to a literacy rate of a few centuries ago than the figure we have today.

Literacy concerns reading ability but just as true regarding writing abilities (see here showing how much greater writing style was between the Victorian era and the modern era). Schools are doing an abysmal job of instilling knowledge compared to only a century ago. See here. The fact that we use less words today than the English did in Shakespeare's day should tell you exactly how well society has done for itself. Instead of exploring new realities, defining things in more detail or giving a larger expression of concepts (all of which would require new words), we do none of these things and avoid them (which means words would drop out of use quicker than new words come into being). Greeks have a huge vocabulary because they were philosophers and theologians for thousands of years. We are not a people of philosophy or theology, but instead entertainment so naturally are vocabulary becomes more primitive.

Literacy is to allow man to engage in critical thinking. Our ability to critically think in the post-modern age is a joke. I think everyone knows it. See here and here. So we are better off than the illiterate world of King Alfred, but still, we are in a dire educational and literary situation.

The other aspect of King Alfred's time was invading pagan hoards that were wrecking havoc in England. The Viking Danes had conquered every English kingdom, except King Alfred's Wessex. The Danes were pagans, they came to England with their idol worship. They had the immortality typical of pagans. The situation was dark and it was a time of war. As the Danes advanced on King Alfred's Wessex. He was faced with the problem of protecting Wessex from the advancing hoard of Danes which had violated all rules of diplomacy. This is where King Added found himself. Yet, he tuned the course of England completely around to affect the whole course of history. He Christianized the pagan, brought peace to the whole of England, and became the king of all the English. What a change! Like today, especially in Europe, you have "refugees" abusing our laws to fool our incompetent leaders that an invasion is not taking place. They are more susceptible to engaging in violent and sexual assaults against each other and (now that they are here) their hosts. Crime statistics clearly show this. They do not contribute to our culture which insane governments now encourage this entry of non-contributors by not considering "liable for public charge" when considering entry. The flow had increased in staggering numbers. Some countries are taking these types of immigrants into their borders by over a million a year. Million plus a year! This is an invasion, they are all young healthy military aged men that have just enough women and children for photo ops.

How did King Alfred approach these problems? Or it would be more accurate to ask: how did he not only solve these problems but completely reverse them to establish himself as sole Ruler of the Saxons (never united as they were until King Alfred) and the Danes (the enemy which had been on the brink of conquering the whole nation)?

When King Alfred had turned the course of English history and defeated Guthrum and the Danes, it was required that he become baptized and join the Church. No doubt King Alfred viewed the war between Saxon and Dane as a matter conflict of Christian and barbarian heathens. King Alfred knew from history and experience there would be no peace in England while the barbarians lived there. He knew of only two solutions. Drive them out or make them Christians. This was multiculturalism in King Alfred's day although being a great man, he knew it had to end or else England would perish. King Alfred, as soon as he could call the shots, made brilliant decisions that showed his greatness. He diplomatically and mercifully allowed the Danes to keep their land (Danelaw) where they had been long settled but on the condition that they be baptized into the Church. Guthrum and many with him submitted to this with King Alfred standing in as his sponsor and god-father.

These elements may seem just like historic points, but there is much that is going on here that truly brought peace to England. A low-Church Protestant would not see it and would probably disagree with King Alfred's decision of a "forced conversion." However, this disagreement is only a result of ignorance about historic and liturgical Christianity, which is the Christianity guided by the Holy Spirit from Christ and His Apostles. So let me explain in two points what is happening here for those who are not Christian or inside denominations (especially "non-denominations") that have never received an authentic and full Christian worldview. A third point will cover King Alfred and education.

First, he was committed to driving them out, but let them stay on their conversion to Christianity. Saxons and Danes were killing each other and the Danes were absolutely brutal and the English were in a struggle for their survival. Today, when enemies enter into our land and come among our people we say they are "enriching our society". People who say this are insane. Well, the Danes were enriching English society and making it diverse by their violence, blood-lust, and inclination towards rape. As they spread across England, King Alfred was the only one to drive them into the sea. However, he never did drive them into the sea and still achieved peace. As a great warrior but also diplomat he was always offering the olive branch towards the Danes and willing to let them stay in England. But King Alfred knew that God is one, therefore to receive the peace of God, a people must be one. One, not only in name but mind and heart. This oneness only occurs in Christ. We only receive the peace of God if we unite to God. This is done by our organic and true union to the Body of God, the Body of Christ, i.e. the Church. The act of baptism joins one to this Church and usher in peace. This is the Church's message to bring peace to society. Since Guthrum and the Danes now could participate in the peace and oneness of the Christian English people, they preserved the English nation and made it greater than it had been since anyone could remember without having to expel the Danes.

Second, the requirement of baptism did not really make Guthrum a Christian, some might argue. This line of thinking is the same thinking that rejects infant baptism. An infant cannot really be a Christian since they have not made a rational and conscious decision to be a Christian. These concepts of an "age of accountability" or "age of reason" are foreign viruses in the Christian worldview. They came about from the atheist line of thinking found in the "Enlighenment" (which was not enlightening). The historic and proper perspective and worldview regarding infant baptism (the same understanding that would bring King Alfred to require Guthrum's baptism) is that the mature Christian knows what is good for a person and under illumination from the Holy Spirit can bring men to salvation. Christians have the light of God and with this light sees the spiritual conditions that are best for people whether they realize it or not. So, maybe not understanding entirely what is happening, we baptize them. They must be free to choose to accept the road to salvation every day, every hour, every moment, just like any other Christian. However, due to the conditions that brought them into the Church, they have sponsors or godparents. The remarkable thing about King Alfred is that he personally put this responsibility on himself.

King Alfred as Guthrum's godfather also speaks to the greatness of King Alfred. By doing this, King Alfred put himself into a position as personally responsible for the soul of Guthrum and helping him into salvation. This speaks the the devoutness and the seriousness King Alfred had towards making the Dane's Christian for the health of English society and personal care for these new subjects. The ancient practice of sponsors was a result of so many people entering into the Church that a bishop could not get to know so many people well enough to see if they were ready to receive baptism. So he took trusted and holy deacons and virgins to vouch for their readiness. These were the first godparents. Due to their sanctity, the bishop could trust their judgement. Infant baptisms quickly received these same men and women of the Christian community to step in as sponsors because the bishop could rely on them and their spiritual advancement to do well in guiding the growing infant into a Christian adulthood. This is the history of sponsors and godparents. It is a great responsibility because the Church expects the godparent to make a Christian. King Alfred understood these things and he accepted this fearful role to personally commit his soul to Christianize his former enemy.

Third, King Alfred revitalized learning by gathering resources all over England and from abroad. He gathered books, he gathered scholars and formed a court school and curriculum for English education. He used English for the education as many as he could educate, but those who wished to enter into the clergy would continue their education in Latin. King Alfred believed that without education, there would be little Christian wisdom and no success in English endeavors, the nation would fail and he was seeing this unfold before his eyes.

This is a most excellent model in dealing with our societal brokenness. I am convinced nothing in King Alfred's solution cannot be applied to today. I am convinced Orthodoxy is the only cure for society, there is no doubt in my mind. The Orthodox Church needs to grow spiritually so that we produce our own saints. The Orthodox Church needs to grow in numbers so the we have workers for this harvest and can shine the light of Christ into men's souls. It does not matter one bit that this happened many centuries ago, it is a completely irrelevant point. This is because (as mentioned at the beginning) there is not dialectic of history and we are not advancing towards any great progressive utopia.

We must drive out any foreign elements that do not share our values or we will have not peace, it will be a culture of chaos, violence, and death. Driving out that which is alien often does require aggression. The point is, these things are here now anyway. How many victims, who look to their leaders for security must be sacrificed, in their own homeland, to accommodate the foreign and alien. Diversity in food, music, and skin color is not a price worth paying if the poverty, violence, and illiteracy of the third world comes along with it (granted this part is only my opinion). This is the politics of today. Diversity, understood today, is not a value it is a destructive agent. Oneness is a value since God is one. We are not nations of immigrants. Some families settled this land, fought for independence or freedom, gave birth to the nation, created our local, state, and national governments, and wrote our first laws. No one ought to have a greater say in the direction of our nation than them. This is their home.

I know this sounds mean. We cannot fall into the trap of being nice people. I have become convinced that nice is simply a word to control people and/or hinder real communication. What is nice? Not mean? Well what is that? Nice is a word that has no meaning. If someone is calling a person nice or mean, all they consciously or subconsciously are saying is how well they conform to the secular and atheist values of today. If you do not speak to women about abortion, that is nice of you. If you welcome foreign invaders into your homeland you are being nice to them. You are a nice person. We need to wake up and come to our senses. Stop caring what the evil powers tell you and follow the example of King Alfred! Pray for the salvation of the foreigner that invades your home! While they resist you, take care to achieve victory in driving them out. It is both together until peace is reached.

We should work to save them and bring them to Christ and His Church at every moment. We must stress the importance that we will not have peace while we have diversity. We should unite all things to the oneness of Christ since he is the true source of peace. We will not longer have  the necessity of driving anyone out if we can do this. Meanwhile, we must also look to ourselves. Our education is the result of those who wish to control us and initiate us into the kingdom of Satan. Yes, the schools are this bad, the question is whether you have the eyes to see it. Some things were universally believed in the ancient world. Largely because when not followed the awful consequences that occurred would convince everyone of the truth of these things. Now, you only find it in small portions of Christianity since what passes for Christianity follows the world into darkness it is just a generation or two removed. Look to the ancient paths, as the Prophet Jeremiah exhorts.  We need to learn from the wisdom we have abandoned from the past. To keep moving blindly towards an imaginary non-existent utopia by casting aside the accumulated wisdom of the past (we are more advanced than them! attitude) then we will completely self-annihilate our culture and society. Since we find ourselves reaching an existential debate on to whom this nation will belong in the future. I offer the example of King Alfred to show us the way. His situation was much more dire but he achieved things greater than many in the history of Kings and Nations.