It’s good and necessary to praise loyalty, the binding element of strong families, friendships, communities, churches, and basically everything that matters.
1) Priorities keep things straight: first is your love to God, then is your love toward other men (keep the first commandment first). I've often heard it with marriage that your spouse is like a triangle, with God at the other vertex: the closer you both come to God the closer you come together. So too with other relationships, including your relationship with the government: if the government is aligned with God's law and pusuing His will, then you should ally strongly with it. If the government is acting against God's law and will, then you should ally strongly against it. Or perhaps: ally yourself with the government that *should* be. You can be patriotic without being blindly so: you aren't in love with the country as-is—you're in love with what it could and should be. For example, in America the Beautiful's second verse, it says: "America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!" It's not that you think everything every politician does is good; you know it has flaws, but you work with God to overcome those flaws.
2) It's amazing to me how the story of Robin Hood has been so abused over the years. People watered it down to "take from the rich and give to the poor" when "the rich" of the story are the corrupted government. Nice quote: "no deed done in our absence ... shall be remembered to thy disadvantage." Not that it won't be remembered, but that it won't be rememberd to his *disadvantage*. Really good stuff there: seek to act such that when the true king returns your actions are seen as loyal.
I recently started Howard Pyle's Robin Hood on audiobook. Have you read it? It is delightful. The guy is no socialist; he's a protector of the vulnerable and a man who loves having fun.
It's further provedential in that if eomer had not sacked the orcs near Fangorn the hobbits would not have recruited the ents.
Great point
The saga is an excellent meditation on Providence—I can’t think of a better one
Another excellent post drawing for the deep well of virtue contained in the LOTR.
Thank you kindly, sir--JRRT knew what's what! At this point I try to revisit the saga once a year. It repays the effort.
Great post! Thanks for sharing your thoughts~
1) Priorities keep things straight: first is your love to God, then is your love toward other men (keep the first commandment first). I've often heard it with marriage that your spouse is like a triangle, with God at the other vertex: the closer you both come to God the closer you come together. So too with other relationships, including your relationship with the government: if the government is aligned with God's law and pusuing His will, then you should ally strongly with it. If the government is acting against God's law and will, then you should ally strongly against it. Or perhaps: ally yourself with the government that *should* be. You can be patriotic without being blindly so: you aren't in love with the country as-is—you're in love with what it could and should be. For example, in America the Beautiful's second verse, it says: "America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!" It's not that you think everything every politician does is good; you know it has flaws, but you work with God to overcome those flaws.
2) It's amazing to me how the story of Robin Hood has been so abused over the years. People watered it down to "take from the rich and give to the poor" when "the rich" of the story are the corrupted government. Nice quote: "no deed done in our absence ... shall be remembered to thy disadvantage." Not that it won't be remembered, but that it won't be rememberd to his *disadvantage*. Really good stuff there: seek to act such that when the true king returns your actions are seen as loyal.
I recently started Howard Pyle's Robin Hood on audiobook. Have you read it? It is delightful. The guy is no socialist; he's a protector of the vulnerable and a man who loves having fun.
My sister and I read that book endlessly as children. I read it aloud to my kids last year (ages 6-15), and they all loved it!
Really enjoyed this one.
I’ve had discussions with a few friends over which virtue is more foundational: love or loyalty. I lean toward loyalty.