The sensual, carnal, depraved, hedonistic West

SolitaryRoad.com

Website owner:  James Miller

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What word would you use to best describe the modern western world? I think one word: Sensual.

Sensual. Relating to or involving gratification of the senses and physical, especially sexual, pleasure.

synonyms: physical, physically gratifying, carnal, bodily, fleshly, animal; hedonistic, epicurean, voluptuary

● sexually attractive, sexy, voluptuous, sultry, seductive, passionate; sexually exciting/arousing, erotic, sexual

"a beautiful, sensual woman"

antonyms: spiritual, mental, ascetic, frigid, passionless

Ascetic. Characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.

"an ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and manual labor"

synonyms: austere, self-denying, abstinent, abstemious, nonindulgent, self-disciplined, frugal, simple, rigorous, strict, severe, hair-shirt, spartan, monastic, monkish, monklike, nunlike; reclusive, solitary, cloistered, eremitic, anchoritic, hermitic; celibate, continent, chaste, puritanical, self-abnegating, otherworldly, mortified

I would say that sensuousness, hedonism, and materialism are the most defining characteristics of the modern Western man. If one goes on You Tube and looks at some videos of the beaches of, let us say, Greece, Portugal, Spain, or France, one can be sure to see large numbers of shapely, beautiful women in bikinis, bikinis which are so skimpy that they are really just G-strings. These G-strings seem to be the “in thing”, the current fashion, to the extent that that is the only thing you do see (you just don’t see any women more modestly dressed). Welcome to the heart, mind, and soul of the modern West — LUST spelled in capital letters, the God of the West. The West just keeps pushing the limits further and further in regard to Lust, Sensuality and nudity. No one in the West can escape the lustful image of the scantily clad woman. Not even if you want to. If you just go on the internet these lustful images are thrust before your eyes, like it or not. (If you click on them you will probably be introduced to some pornography). That is the West. What about Christianity? There is nothing that describes Christianity better than the words Decent, Moral, Chaste, Pure. True Christianity is moral, chaste, and pure if nothing else. So where does this take us? God’s way is the way of self-discipline, self-denial, austerity, decency, morality, chastity, purity, and Goodness and Satan’s way is that of self-indulgence, alcohol, drugs, Lust, Sex, Moral Depravity, Wickedness. We have here two total opposites. There couldn’t be a bigger contrast. I would indeed say that true Christianity is basically ascetic. My own philosophy. It is basically an ascetic philosophy on living. It is all about self-control, self-discipline. My Principles for Living Life represent the application of an essentially ascetic philosophy. In fact, in my youth my personal reflections led me into a personal decision to consciously embrace a kind of Spartan asceticism in living life. You see that in my life habits. I am now 80 years old and I am still walking 5 to 10 miles, doing 15 minutes of back exercises, and sleeping on a hard surface every day as I have for the last 40 years. I have still never touched alcohol, drugs, or tobacco or used a curse word or four-letter word. It is all about personal discipline. And I honestly believe that God has watched out over me in a special way over the years and been especially good to me. My life has been a very happy, good one. I have been very happily married to a very special girl for over 50 years. And I don’t think my kind of life is at all typical. I look around me and what I see is messed up lives everywhere. Sin messes peoples’ lives up. But to follow the kind of life I have followed you have to be willing to be different. You have to be willing to stand alone. And that is something that very few people are willing to do. No one is willing to be different. Everyone wants to be accepted and part of the group. Everyone wants the validation of social acceptance. Everyone wants to be liked and accepted. And if you want social acceptance you have to go Satan’s Way. Satan owns the mind and heart of the crowd. His way is the way of Wickedness, rebellion against God. His way is the way of the world. See:

The need for social acceptance and approval --- its power

Walking a solitary road

You are what you are and you can’t fake it. What we are shows itself in a thousand ways. What we are is revealed in the kind of language we use, our interests and amusements, the way we dress, the music we like, our conduct with others, the kind of people we are most comfortable around. We may not see ourselves clearly but other people will see us clearly. We may deceive ourselves but we won’t deceive others. However, it is possible for a person to change at a most basic level. And that is where the Christian message comes in. It involves repenting of your sinful ways, turning to God, and following in his way. But you can’t just sit on the fence, follow both God and Satan. That doesn’t work. You must choose God and reject Satan.

Let us now consider another word:

Wholesome. Conducive to or promoting moral well-being.

synonyms: moral, ethical, good, nice, clean, virtuous, pure, innocent, chaste; uplifting, edifying, improving, nonerotic, nonviolent, righteous, upright, upstanding, high-minded, right-minded, proper, correct, honorable, honest, just, noble, respectable, decent, simple;

"good wholesome fun"

The word “wholesome” gives an idea of what true Christianity is about.

Aug 2019