Easy Chair No. 148, June 4, 1987 — The French Revolution: The Revolution That Never Ended

The Relaxed Man

We live in an age medicated for tension but starved for peace. Surrounded by constant noise, bad news, and pressure, we try to treat anxiety with pills while ignoring the deeper problem God is not enough in our thinking. Scripture is clear: a relaxed, trusting heart brings life and health, while a broken, anxious spirit wears the body down. We have more comfort than any generation before us, yet less peace, because we absorb the world’s problems instead of resting in God’s rule. True rest doesn’t come from numbing the symptoms, but from feeding on God’s Word, committing our ways to Him, and learning again how to trust.

Are We Over-Polluted and Over-Populated?

This passage argues that fears of overpopulation and overpollution are largely myths. Citing Dr. Julian L. Simon’s The Ultimate Resource, it emphasizes that food production, farmland availability, and natural resources are increasing, not diminishing. Pollution has been declining, population density does not inherently create social or biological problems, and immigration contributes positively to society. The author highlights that claims of resource scarcity often serve as a pretext for statist controls and planning, which can threaten individual freedom. Rather than limiting growth, evidence suggests human ingenuity continues to expand resources and improve living standards. #OverpopulationMyth #ResourceAbundance #Freedom #PopulationGrowth #EnvironmentalRealities

Kwan-Yin Versus Christ

In “Kwan-Yin Versus Christ,” Rushdoony contrasts Biblical Christianity with the relativistic, equalitarian impulse he traces to Eastern religions, arguing that modern socialism and progressive lawlessness flow from a worldview that denies absolute distinctions between good and evil. He presents Kwan-yin’s refusal to enter paradise until all are included as the logical symbol of total inclusivism, a mercy that ultimately abolishes justice by treating righteousness and criminality as morally equivalent. This mindset, he contends, has deeply shaped Western liberalism, weakening Biblical law, elevating the rights of criminals over the protection of the innocent, and producing social breakdown rather than compassion. The issue, therefore, is not political technique or voting strategy but a religious choice between relativism and Biblical absolutes: either Christ, with His unchanging law and real justice, or Kwan-yin’s sentimental democracy of good and evil, which promises heaven but delivers hell.

Faith in Action

She summed it up in one sentence: “You take it, Lord it’s too much for me.” In a hospital hallway, amid stories of grief piled on grief, that simple act of trust revealed what real faith looks like. Too often we treat worry as virtue, putting on a public display of anxiety as if God needs our fretting to do His job. But Scripture calls anxiety a sign of little faith, not deep concern. Real peace comes when we stop second-guessing God, apply His Word, seek faithful solutions, and place the weight where it belongs. Sometimes the most powerful prayer is the simplest one: Lord, You take it.

Rationalism and Tyranny

Rationalism treats reason as ultimate, impersonal, and nonhistorical, reducing God to a logical concept rather than the living Lord who reveals Himself in history. By denying God’s incomprehensibility and replacing revelation with human reason, rationalism elevates intellectual elites as arbiters of truth. Historically, this leads not to freedom but to tyranny, as “philosopher-kings” claim authority over others deemed less rational. Biblical faith, by contrast, grounds knowledge in God’s self-revelation and affirms all men as image-bearers under God’s law limiting power, resisting tyranny, and ordering life by obedience rather than domination.