The Embryo Is Human From Conception

We [Christians], on our part, believe the angels to officiate herein for God. The embryo therefore becomes a human being in the womb from the moment that its form is completed. The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion, inasmuch as there exists already the rudiment of a human being, which has imputed to it even now the condition of life and death, since it is already liable to the issues of both, although, by living still in the mother, it for the most part shares its own state with the mother.

Tertullian, “A Treatise on the Soul,” Chapter 37

REAL Marriage Benefits Society

Marriage doesn’t serve individuals’ or couples’ needs for equality and justice before the law.  It serves the cultural need for social norms for how we channel sexual energy in socially beneficial ways.  Marriage is the way we socialize men, protect women from the exploitation of unattached males and ensure every child grows up with a mother and a father.  This is driven by nature, and it is why we find it in every known society and the major world religions.

Glenn T. Stanton and Dr. Bill Maier, “Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting,” pg.46

An Effect of Premarital Sex

Let’s look at the effects premarital sex has on people and relationships.  Two people get to know each other, and at some point in the relationship decide to have sex.  The relationship stops growing right there, because physical gratification becomes more important than emotional, mental or spiritual cohesion.  They can’t stand to be in one another’s company without having sex.  The majority of their conversation is spent discussing the next time they can get together for sex (even though they may not come right out and say it).  They can hardly take part in leisure activities because the need to have one another is so strong.

Testimony of unnamed person, cited by Josh McDowell and Dick Day, "Why Wait?" p.254

Wisdom From Winston Churchill

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

Winston Churchill, The River War, first edition, Vol II, pages 248-250

The Vice of Capitalism

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. 

Winston Churchill, cited by John Hawkins, "Everything You Need To Know About Socialism in 20 Quotes"

Funded By The Government?!?

Socialists Lie About Themselves

The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office.

Ludwig von Mises, cited by John Hawkins, "Everything You Need To Know About Socialism in 20 Quotes"

The Greatest Wealth

The greatest wealth a man may acquire is the wisdom he gains from living.

Narrator on the movie, "So Dear To My Heart"

Do Not Assume One Is A Christian Just Because They Claim To Be

As to your saying of us [Christians] that we are a most shameful set, and utterly steeped in luxury, avarice, and depravity, we will not deny that this is true of some. It is, however, a sufficient testimonial for our name, that this cannot be said of all, not even of the greater part of us. It must happen even in the healthiest and purest body, that a mole should grow, or a wart arise on it, or freckles disfigure it. Not even the sky itself is clear with so perfect a serenity as not to be flecked with some filmy cloud.  A slight spot on the face, because it is obvious in so conspicuous a part, only serves to show purity of the entire complexion. The goodness of the larger portion is well attested by the slender flaw. But although you prove that some of our people are evil, you do not hereby prove that they are Christians. Search and see whether there is any sect to which (a partial shortcoming) is imputed as a general stain. You are accustomed in conversation yourselves to say, in disparagement of us, “Why is so-and-so deceitful, when the Christians are so self-denying? why merciless, when they are so merciful?” You thus bear your testimony to the fact that this is not the character of Christians, when you ask, in the way of a retort, how men who are reputed to be Christians can be of such and such a disposition. There is a good deal of difference between an imputation and a name, between an opinion and the truth. For names were appointed for the express purpose of setting their proper limits between mere designation and actual condition. How many indeed are said to be philosophers, who for all that do not fulfill the law of philosophy? All bear the name in respect of their profession; but they hold the designation without the excellence of the profession, and they disgrace the real thing under the shallow pretence of its name. Men are not straightway of such and such a character, because they are said to be so; but when they are not, it is vain to say so of them: they only deceive people who attach reality to a name, when it is its consistency with fact which decides the condition implied in the name. And yet persons of this doubtful stamp do not assemble with us, neither do they belong to our communion: by their delinquency they become yours once more, since we should be unwilling to mix even with them whom your violence and cruelty compelled to recant. Yet we should, of course, be more ready to have included amongst us those who have unwillingly forsaken our discipline than willful apostates. However, you have no right to call them Christians, to whom the Christians themselves deny that name, and who have not learned to deny themselves.

Tertullian, Ad Nationes, Chapter V

Calling Evil Good

The heathen, who have not a full revelation of the truth, for they are not taught of God, hold a thing evil and good as it suits self-will and passion, making that which is good in one place evil in another, and that which is evil in one place in another good. 

Tertullian, The Shows, or de Spectaculis, Chapter XXI

Socialism Is For Losers

Socialism is for those who think most people are losers. Capitalism is for those who think most people can take care of themselves. 

John Hawkins, "Everything You Need To Know About Socialism in 20 Quotes"

Voluntary vs Forced

Socialism states that you owe me something simply because I exist. Capitalism, by contrast, results in a sort of reality-forced altruism: I may not want to help you, I may dislike you, but if I don't give you a product or service you want, I will starve. Voluntary exchange is more moral than forced redistribution.

Ben Shapiro, cited by John Hawkins, "Everything You Need To Know About Socialism in 20 Quotes"

The Job of Racial Agitation

There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.

Booker T. Washington, cited byJoseph Dobrian, “Racial Incidents are a manufactured crisis”

Political Correctness and Racial Hoaxes

Political correctness is a war on noticing. When racial hoaxes are perpetrated, we’re not supposed to notice that they’re hoaxes, let alone openly suggest that they might be. That would be racist. Racial polarization must be maintained, encouraged, augmented wherever it might be in danger of disappearing, because some people, of all races, make a living from it.

Joseph Dobrian, “Racial Incidents are a manufactured crisis.”

The Problem With Socialism

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money."

Margaret Thatcher, Cited by John Hawkins, "Everything You Need To Know About Socialism in 20 Quotes"

Describing the Democrat Party

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” 

Frédéric Bastiat, Cited by John Hawkins, "Everything You Need To Know About Socialism in 20 Quotes"

Avoid Public School

HT to J.L. Pattison

Cohabitation Will Not Improve Future Marriage

Contrary to conventional wisdom that living together before marriage will screen out poor matches and therefore improve subsequent marital stability, there is considerable empirical evidence demonstrating that premarital cohabitation is associated with lowered marital stability. . . .

“Marriages that are preceded by living together have 50 percent higher disruption rates than marriages without premarital cohabitation,” said noted demographer Larry Bumpass from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and sociologist Andrew Cherlin of John Hopkins. 

Glenn T. Stanton, “The Ring Makes All the Difference,” pg.60, 61

Parenting Affects Sexual Immorality

A major study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family found that boys and girls who lived with both biological parents had the lowest risk of becoming sexually active.  Teens living with only one biological parent had the highest risk of becoming sexually active at younger ages.  Children raised by homosexuals are more likely to develop homosexual tendencies themselves.

Gregg Jackson, “Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies,” p.246

Pornography Is Slander Against God’s Creation

Pornography is a slander against the goodness of God’s creation and a corruption of this good gift God has given His creatures out of His own self-giving love.  To abuse this gift is to weaken not only the institution of marriage but the fabric of civilization itself.  To choose lust over love is to debase humanity and to worship the false god Priapus in the most brazen form of modern idolatry.

The deliberate use of pornography is nothing less than the willful invitation of illicit lovers, objectified sex objects, and forbidden knowledge into a man’s heart, mind, and soul.  The damage to the man’s heart is beyond measure, and the cost in human misery will only be made clear on the Day of Judgment.  From the moment each boy reaches puberty until the day he is lowered into the ground, every man will struggle with lust.  Let us follow the biblical example and scriptural command that we make a covenant with our eyes lest we sin.  In this society, we are called to be nothing less than a corps of the mutually accountable amidst a world that lives as if it will never be called to account.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr., “Desire and Deceit: The Real Cost of Sexual Tolerance,” pg.41-42

Why the LEFT Hates Christianity

Hitler’s main objection to Christianity [in Mein Kampf] was its “intolerance”—the same objection raised by the anti-religious left in America today.  How these secularists hate to be told that their way is wrong.  Their guilty consciences fill them with rage against bearers of the unpleasant truth that they are wrong.  This is why their fake “tolerance” extends to many sorts of evildoers, but not to people who challenge their presuppositions too strongly.

Joseph Keysor, “Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible,” pg. 101

False Diagnosis of ADHD

ADHD is spreading like wildfire.  It used to be confined to a small percentage of kids who had clear-cut problems that started at a very early age and caused them unmistakeable difficulties in many situations.  Then all manner of classroom disruption was medicalized and ADHD was applied so promiscuously that an amazing 10 percent of kids now qualify.  Every classroom now has at least one or two kids on medication.  And increasingly, ADHD is becoming an explain-all for all sorts of performance problems in adults as well.

How could this possibly happen?  There were six contributors: wording changes in DSM-IV; heavy drug company marketing to doctors and advertising to the general public; extensive media coverage; pressure from harried parents and teachers to control unruly children; extra time given on tests and extra school services for those with an ADHD diagnosis; and finally, the widespread misuse of prescription stimulants for general performance enhancement and recreation.

The most obvious explanation is by far the least likely—that the real prevalence of attentional and hyperactivity problems has actually increased.  There is no reason to think the kids have changed, it is just that the labels have.  We now diagnose as mental disorder attentional and behavioral problems that used to be seen as part of life and of normal individual variation.  The most convincing evidence of this comes from a large study with a particularly disturbing finding.  A child’s date of birth was a very powerful predictor of whether or not he would get the diagnosis of ADHD.  Boys born in January were at 70 percent higher risk than those born in December simply because January 1 was the cutoff for grade assignment.  The youngest, least developmentally mature kids in the class are much more likely to get the ADHD diagnosis.  The birthday effect was almost as influential in girls.  We have turned being immature because being young into a disease to be treated with a pill.

Allen Frances, M.D, "Saving Normal," pg.141-142

Freudianism Misallocates Resources

Another dismaying effect that Freudian theory has brought about in American thought and culture has been the misallocation of resources.  This has been most prominent in the field of mental illness, where the vast majority of the nation’s 200,000 [1992 numbers] psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers spend their time doing counseling and psychotherapy based, directly or indirectly, on Freudian theory.  Talking to one’s therapist about your mother has become virtually a national pastime and continues to usurp an extraordinary large share of professional resources that should be going to the seriously mentally ill.

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., "Freudian Fraud: the Malignant Effect of Freud's Theory on American Thought and Culture," p.251-252

Evolutionists Can't Face the Truth

Secular evolutionists must oppose creation ministries because, if what we are saying is right (and it is)--that God is Creator--then their whole philosophy is destroyed.  The basis for their philosophy decrees there is no God.  If evolution is not true, the only alternative is creation.  That is why they will cling to the evolutionary philosophy even if the evidence is totally contradictory.  It is really a spiritual question. 

Ken Ham, “The Lie,” pg.37

What the World and Liberal Christians Have Done With the Truth

Unless I am utterly mistaken, there is nothing so old as the truth; and the already proved antiquity of the divine writings is so far of use to me, that it leads men more easily to take it in that they are the treasure-source whence all later wisdom has been taken. … What poet or sophist has not drunk at the fountain of the prophets? Thence, accordingly, the philosophers watered their arid minds, so that it is the things they have from us which bring us into comparison with them. For this reason, I imagine, philosophy was banished by certain states … its disciples sought to imitate our doctrines; and ambitious, as I have said, of glory and eloquence alone, if they fell upon anything in the collection of sacred Scriptures which displeased them, in their own peculiar style of research, they perverted it to serve their purpose: for they had no adequate faith in their divinity to keep them from changing them, nor had they any sufficient understanding of them, either, as being still at the time under veil—even obscure to the Jews themselves, whose peculiar possession they seemed to be. For so, too, if the truth was distinguished by its simplicity, the more on that account the fastidiousness of man, too proud to believe, set to altering it; so that even what they found certain they made uncertain by their admixtures. Finding a simple revelation of God, they proceeded to dispute about Him, not as He had revealed to them, but turned aside to debate about His properties, His nature, His abode. … According to each one’s fancy, He has introduced either something new, or refashioned the old. Nor need we wonder if the speculations of philosophers have perverted the older Scriptures. Some of their brood, with their opinions, have even adulterated our new-given Christian revelation, and corrupted it into a system of philosophic doctrines, and from the one path have struck off many and inexplicable by-roads.

Tertullian (ca. 150-220 A.D.), Apology, Chapter XLVII

What Is YOUR Moral Base?

Taught of God himself what goodness is, we [Christians] have both a perfect knowledge of it as revealed to us by a perfect Master; and faithfully we do His will, as enjoined on us by a Judge we dare not despise. But your ideas of virtue you have got from mere human opinion; on human authority, too, its obligation rests: hence your system of practical morality is deficient, both in the fulness and authority requisite to produce a life of real virtue. Man’s wisdom to point out what is good, is no greater than his authority to exact the keeping of it; the one is as easily deceived as the other is despised. And so, which is the ampler rule, to say, “Thou shalt not kill,” or to teach, “Be not even angry?” Which is more perfect, to forbid adultery, or to restrain from even a single lustful look? Which indicates the higher intelligence, interdicting evil-doing, or evil-speaking? Which is more thorough, not allowing an injury, or not even suffering an injury done to you to be repaid? Though withal you know that these very laws also of yours, which seem to lead to virtue, have been borrowed from the law of God as the ancient model. Of the age of Moses we have already spoken. But what is the real authority of human laws, when it is in man’s power both to evade them, by generally managing to hide himself out of sight in his crimes, and to despise them sometimes, if inclination or necessity leads him to offend? Think of these things, too, in the light of the brevity of any punishment you can inflict—never to last longer than till death. …  No doubt about it, we, who receive our awards under the judgment of an all-seeing God, and who look forward to eternal punishment from Him for sin,—we alone make real effort to attain a blameless life, under the influence of our ampler knowledge, the impossibility of concealment, and the greatness of the threatened torment, not merely long-enduring but everlasting, fearing Him, whom he too should fear who the fearing judges,—even God, I mean, and not the proconsul.

Tertullian (ca. 150-220 A.D.), Apology, Chapter XLV

The Multicultural Cult: Part II

Today, attempts to get black or Hispanic youngsters to speak the language of the society around them are decried by multiculturalists. And any attempt to get them to behave according to the cultural norms of the larger society is denounced as “cultural imperialism,” if not racism.

The multicultural dogma is that we are to “celebrate” all cultures, not change them. In other words, people who lag educationally or economically are to keep on doing what they have been doing — but somehow have better results in the future than in the past. And, if they don’t have better results in the future, it is society’s fault.

Thomas Sowell, “The Multicultural Cult: Part II”

The Multicultural Cult: Part I

Among the ways that people with different cultures have managed to minimize frictions have been (1) mutual cultural accommodations, even while not amalgamating completely, and (2) living separately in their own enclaves. Both of these approaches are anathema to the multicultural cultists.

Expecting any group to adapt their lifestyles to the cultural values of the larger society around them is "cultural imperialism" according to the multicultural cult. And living in separate neighborhoods is considered to be so terrible that there are government-financed programs to take people from high-crime slums and put them in subsidized housing in middle-class neighborhoods.

Multiculturalists condemn people's objections to transplanting hoodlums, criminals and dysfunctional families into the midst of people who may have sacrificed for years to be able to escape from living among hoodlums, criminals and dysfunctional families.

The actual direct experience of the people who complain about the consequences of these social experiments is often dismissed as mere biased "perceptions" or "stereotypes," if not outright "racism." But some of the strongest complaints have come from middle-class blacks who have fled ghetto life, only to have the government transplant ghetto life back into their midst.

Thomas Sowell, “The Multicultural Cult”

The Verbal Dexterity of the LEFT

Verbal dexterity plays a key role in insulating the vision of the anointed from the vicissitudes of mere facts.  Through the magic of definitions, no one can ever catch AIDS by “casual contact” and no one will ever be murdered by a “homeless” person.  Any newly discovered way by which someone catches AIDS will then be removed from the category of “casual contact” and any homeless person who commits murder will thereafter be referred to in the media as a “transient” or a “drifter”—but not “homeless.

Thomas Sowell, "The Vision of the Anointed," pg.243

Nazis and Christianity

Hitler and many top Nazis rejected Christianity.  They considered it an offshoot of Judaism that encouraged weakness and humility instead of aggression.  In wartime, however, they realized that it was counterproductive to deprive Germans of the comfort of religion.  Accordingly they allowed Christian military chaplains—Roman Catholic as well as Protestant—to minister to the men of the Wehrmacht. 

Doris L. Bergen, “War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust,” pg.165

The Media Stage

The media are less a window on reality than a stage on which officials and journalists perform self-scripted, self-serving fictions.

Paul Weaver, “Selling the Story,” New York Times, 7/29/94, p.A13.  Cited by Thomas Sowell, "The Vision of the Anointed," pg.259