# The Decline of Civilization



## Von (May 16, 2018)

Your opinions on the following quote would be appreciated:

"_...The fundamental ideas undergirding a doctrine of historical progress are these: (1) a sovereign predestinating agent who (or impersonal force that) guarantees the linearity of history (anticyclicalism); (2) cultural and social authority based on a representative's publicly acknowledged legitimacy, which in turn is derived from his (or their) access to (3) the wisdom revealed by the sovereign agent or force, meaning detailed knowledge of permanent standards of evaluation ("Progress compared to what?"); (4) culture-wide cause-and-effect relationships (challenge and successful response); and (5) compound growth over long periods of time (technical knowledge, tools, and the division of labor). If anyone of these five premises is abandoned, the entire system collapses theoretically, and will therefore eventually collapse historically..._" - Gary North, Millenialism and Social Theory

I *don't *want opinions on Gary North (I know he is controversial).
I want opinions on the validity of the statement.


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## RamistThomist (May 16, 2018)

I held to the form of the argument for a while. I think there is some psychological truth to it, and I think it does apply empirically to single nations. However, when nations join together in conspiracy against the Lord and his Christ, the individual failures of nations are often muted and the new supra-national bloc becomes quite formidable. Ironically, this is exactly the division of labor that North so praises (correctly, I might add).


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