Christian Relaunch

Adaptation

Realpolitik. An adaptation to aggression is to make peace with the aggressor, to accept "the facts on the ground" (status quo post bellum), eschewing a futile and harmful pursuit of restitution or retribution. This can range from tactical retreat to complete capitulation.

Realpolitik in this sense excludes committing aggression ourselves, though the word as originally used by Von Rochau did not exclude it.

Conditional aid. In a spoiled world, my aid may be abused, so it is wise to be cautious about giving it.

Solitary venery to relieve distress may be adaptively useful if healthy ethoic development has been disturbed and marital venery is unavailable or impractical in the circumstances.

Adapting to Misrule. Misrule is not encroachment, so there is no question of counteraction. A maltreated subject remains her king's subject and should obey him. If his motive is wicked this may involve actions on her part that seem wicked, but the blame is his not hers.

Are there no exceptions? I see no need for any, and I know no tenable definition of a criterion for them.

"A man who divorces his bride?" She should continue to obey him while she remains his subject. And if he transfers her she should then obey her new king, whether or not that involves a new marriage.

"Inherently improper action?" No action is inherently improper; impropriety depends on motive. There are no bad actions, only bad motives. To insert a knife in a human abdomen is not inherently improper; surgeons do it all the time.

"Bad motive?" Motive often plays such a subtle role in decision-making, and identifying "clearly bad motives" so subjective, that any attempt would undermine the family principle altogether.

"Prostitution?" If a man requires a woman in his household to engage venereally with a man she regards as not her groom, she should obey, and both men must in due course account to God.