What is 'The remnant'?

No juicy quotes, just a link to Isiahs job I was pointed to this essay by a chap who doesn't want to be my friend, mabye he was finding the job hard. Are we 'the remnant'? is that why we are here at ATS?

reply to post by freebornman


I haven't read it yet I will though but I was under the impression that the remnant refers to the portion of Jews left in New Babylon who will be called out of the city before its destruction to take refuge in the city of Petra in Jordan.

reply to post by freebornman


I haven't read it yet I will though but I was under the impression that the remnant refers to the portion of Jews left in New Babylon who will be called out of the city before its destruction to take refuge in the city of Petra in Jordan.

reply to post by freebornman


I haven't read it yet I will though but I was under the impression that the remnant refers to the portion of Jews left in New Babylon who will be called out of the city before its destruction to take refuge in the city of Petra in Jordan.

reply to post by Josephus

Thank you for responding, I do not practice religion, but I do recognise that my moral knowledge is a result of christian teaching.

Originally posted by freebornman
No juicy quotes, just a link to Isiahs job I was pointed to this essay by a chap who doesn't want to be my friend, mabye he was finding the job hard. Are we 'the remnant'? is that why we are here at ATS?

I found the link fascinating and the text certainly resonates. I would say that anyone who is a remnant would know it, or at least recognize the probability. You would imagine a forum like ATS might attract some of them, they would be curious, enquiring types for sure with a tendency to think and live outside the mainstream.

Thank's for bringing it up, freebornman.

reply to post by freebornman


I don't know how many will understand this thread. Thank you for the link and I will be back with some other words. So far, I am at this quote, which I enjoyed reading.

As the word masses is commonly used, it suggests agglomerations of poor and underprivileged people, labouring people, proletarians, and it means nothing like that; it means simply the majority. The mass-man is one who has neither the force of intellect to apprehend the principles issuing in what we know as the humane life, nor the force of character to adhere to those principles steadily and strictly as laws of conduct; and because such people make up the great and overwhelming majority of mankind, they are called collectively the masses. The line of differentiation between the masses and the Remnant is set invariably by quality, not by circumstance. The Remnant are those who by force of intellect are able to apprehend these principles, and by force of character are able, at least measurably, to cleave to them. The masses are those who are unable to do either.

And yes, a very few here on this website are the remnant. Most are against anything connected with the type of truth that denies ignorance. No matter how clear the truth is made, they trample the pearls.

reply to post by freebornman


It covers the French Revolution, followed by the enlightenment. It then goes into the new world experiment and says this.

On this side of the ocean a whole new continent stood ready for a large-scale experiment with this theory. It afforded every conceivable resource whereby the masses might develop a civilization made in their own likeness and after their own image. There was no force of tradition to disturb them in their preponderance, or to check them in a thoroughgoing disparagement of the Remnant. Immense natural wealth, unquestioned predominance, virtual isolation, freedom from external interference and the fear of it, and, finally, a century and a half of time – such are the advantages which the mass-man has had in bringing forth a civilization which should set the earlier preachers and philosophers at naught in their belief that nothing substantial can be expected from the masses, but only from the Remnant.

I can't help but think of the masses that were displaced as 70 million fled Europe for the new world. Those 70 million then displace the same number of natives who were slaughtered and moved to reservations from our benevolence and kindness. In this case, which are the masses and which is the remnant?

If, on the other hand, it should turn out that the Lord and Isaiah and Plato and Marcus Aurelius were right in their estimate of the relative social value of the masses and the Remnant, the case is somewhat different. Moreover, since with everything in their favour the masses have so far given such an extremely discouraging account of themselves, it would seem that the question at issue between these two bodies of opinion might most profitably be reopened.

What value is there for the member of humanity that lives simply, apart from the masses? This is a sad testimony for the majority of our world. If we take the words of Christ seriously, what of our own lives would we possess and what would we get rid of? This is a sobering reality knowing that a judgment is coming. As I have stated many times, the truth of God's will is to give and receive only. The mark of the thief is taking rather than giving. Because we have produced generation after generation of adherents to objectivism, altruism is quickly becoming the remnant of humanity still working for others. It's a house divided against itself. What has changed over thousands of years? NOTHING!! We are still the same as we were in the garden. Anyone who thinks they are worthy of anything above that of the law are delusional. We are wholly corrupt. Like Isaiah says, filthy rags at our best.

Many would look at our "modern" society and say otherwise. I would simply point out that our current course of choices over 300 years of civilization will only end in fire. We are corrupting the Earth as never before. We inherited a rain forest and will leave it a burning field of weeds. This is precisely why intervention will be necessary. What is the main marker for ALL of us in this situation?

Selfishness

2 Timothy 3

3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Who among us are free from all of these 18 identifiers (6+6+6)? Is this a depressing thought? No so fast.

Is there ANY hope at all? YES! God's will is to give and not take. Love keeps no records of wrongs. The reason we are here in the first place is to show us why we need God. Our will is failed. This does not, in any way, imply that free will is bad. It must be founded on a cornerstone of truth. That cornerstone is the authority of God's will. What is God's will? To give and receive only. What is given must first be earned. Selfishness takes what is earned and keeps it. It develops products that cannot give back. God's fruit of HIS knowledge ONLY gives. An apple that is not eaten will return to the Earth. Not so for a cell phone.

The remnant is Christ and the church. ONE and only ONE did what none of us can do collectively. This is the gift of God. The whole world is saved by what is given. We receive what only God can give. We receive a new Robe (body) and Crown (Mind) that is holy. We receive a new Earth and a new Heavens, wholly incorruptible. There is hope and love is the fulfillment of the very law we can never entirely fulfill.

reply to post by EnochWasRight

Thank you for a thoughtful response, EWR, I think we see the same thing through different lenses.

I cannot bear blind obeisance for anything, but if you look for truth you can find it anywhere. History shows us that the bible has been used by wicked men for wicked purposes ever since it was written, but in it is such truth, wisdom and beauty.
The quote @ 2 Timothy 3 put me in mind of this:-

"We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self control." -- attributed to an inscription in an Ancient Egyptian tomb, quoted in Buckminster Fuller's I Seem To Be a Verb
And also the best bumper-sticker I ever saw, saying:- 'Hire a teenager, while they still know everything'