Live Not by Lies, A Library Edition - Part 2
Live Not by Lies, A Library Edition - Part 2
Why the petition....our books tell the truth.
(If you haven’t signed our petition to get Brave Books and Tuttle Twins books into our libraries, please do so now.)
In case you missed it - Live Not by Lies - Part 1
(Since the writing of this post, the library administration has become open to dialogue. Please pray as we discuss our concerns and work towards and compromise.)
“The day Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was exiled to the west from Soviet Russia, he released the text of Live Not By Lies, (which can be found here: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Center — Solzhenitsyn Live Not by Lies) In this essay he basically said, while we can’t go to the town square and say what we think, we can refuse to say things we don’t believe. Today we see a similar phenomenon. People are losing their jobs and businesses because of what they say. People in institutions no longer see themselves as individuals but as part of a collective.” -Rod Dreher
What does it mean exactly to not live by lies today?
“Let’s first look at what a man who refuses to live by lies according to Solzhenitsyn, he:
· Will not say, write, affirm, or distribute anything that distorts the truth
· Will not go to a demonstration or participate in a collective action unless he truly believes in the cause
· Will not take part in a meeting in which the discussion is forced and no one can speak the truth
· Will not vote for a candidate or proposal he considers to be “dubious or unworthy”
· Will walk out of an event “as soon as he hears the speaker utter a lie, ideological drivel, or shameless propaganda”
· Will not support journalism that “distorts or hides the underlying facts
‘This is by no means an exhaustive list of the possible and necessary ways of evading lies,’ Solzhenitsyn writes. ‘But he who begins to cleanse himself will, with a cleansed eye, easily discern yet other opportunities.’” (Taken from Live Not by Lies, A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher)
Pray about it, how does this apply today?
Use discernment but know when the Holy Spirit is calling you to tell the truth. Sometimes you might need to let something go. Maybe it’s not the right time or not the right moment, but when the time comes, follow His prompting. If it’s never time to share, maybe rethink that.
There is a strong desire for humans to go along to get along. If our kids know how to follow Jesus, they have what they need to resist collective thinking and compare everything to the Word of God. However, it’s not enough for us to only teach the Bible. We can teach our children history and equip them to see the signs of history repeating itself. The German church didn’t know. We cannot say that we didn’t know, we can learn from their mistake.
Also, there is a good book called, Hold Onto Your Kids, Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld. This book explains how children are not developmentally ready to resist peer pressure if they become too peer attached too early in life. When they are ready, they will be able to hold their ground. Perhaps this is another reason why totalitarian governments look to weaken the parent-child relationship.
Is it possible we could be putting our kids in situations where they are forced to lie to themselves and others?
Intersectionality
“People who bear identities within the so-called “matrix of oppression” link their identities to one another by way of intersectionality.” - Rod Dreher in Live Not by Lies, a Manuel for Christian Dissidents
An account called Gays against Groomers picked up on this and realized that their struggle was being hijacked for nefarious reasons. The same seems to be happening with the disability community. Although there has been little discussion about it publicly, this can be seen in the book, Bodies are Cool, mentioned in Part 1 of this series.
Telling the Truth
This is why we want “Our Books” in the libraries. In totalitarian societies, people like us, distributed leaflets in secret at great risk of peril to themselves and their families. In today’s soft totalitarianism, our literature isn’t illegal, but its effectively banned from public institutions. Soft totalitarianism relies on private systems to do their dirty work. In this case, it’s the literary journals as private institutions, who are simply not interested in the likes of conservative authors. (In case you missed it, we went over library policy in the post Shifting Gears. Our libraries here in Montgomery County, Texas, will not place literature that is not reviewed by the right literary journals. It’s convenient.)
As far as we know, Brave Books and Tuttle Twins books are not in a single public library in America. We are up against a goliath. Thankfully though, differing opinion is still legal in this country, and we can fight to get our books into the libraries if we want to, so we will. This is how we tell the truth!
Recommendations
Bonhoeffer by Eric MeTaxas
Irreversible Damage, The Transgender Craze Seducing our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay. He has several good episodes about Social Emotional Learning and how this is used to traumatize kids.
(Live Not by Lies was an essay written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on the day of his exile from Soviet Russia, which will be discussed further in Part 2 of this series.)
Live Not by Lies, A Manual for Christian Dissidents, by Rod Dreher – also discussed further in part 1
Exposed by Texas Scorecard Season 4 is about how Texas kids are under attack, narrated by Sara Gonzalez
Read-Alouds:
(honest stories and epic stories that encourage truth telling)
The Wingfeather Saga - The first book is in the library.
The Ikabog by JK Rowling - (in the library, not a Christian book) a dark, political tale, many parallels to our story today
Words on Fire by Jennifer Nielson - (in the library, not a Christian book) The story shows the importance of books for a nation’s culture and identity.