God or Lawlessness

If modern culture is to escape the oblivion that has engulfed the earlier civilizations of man, the recovery of the will of the self-revealed God in the realm of justice and law is crucially imperative. Return to pagan misconceptions of divinized rulers, or a divinized cosmos, or a quasi-Christian conception of natural law or natural justice will bring inevitable disillusionment. Not all pleas for transcendent authority will truly serve God or man. By aggrandizing law and human rights and welfare to their sovereignty, all manner of earthly leaders eagerly preempt the role of the divine and obscure the living God of Scriptural revelation. The alternatives are clear: we return to the God of the Bible or we perish in the pit of lawlessness.

Carl F.H. Henry (1983) cited by Albert Mohler, “The Intellectual Roots of the Sexual Revolution”

Public School Teaches What to Think About, Not What to Think

Well-schooled people, like schoolbooks, are very much alike.  Propagandists have known for [over] a century that school-educated people are easier to lead than ignorant people, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer confirmed in his studies of Nazism.

It’s very useful for some people that our form of schooling tells children what to think about, how to think about it, and when to think about it.  It’s very useful to some groups that children are trained to be dependent on experts, to react to titles instead of judging the real men and women who hide behind the titles.  It isn’t very healthy for families and neighborhoods, cultures and religions.  But, then, school was never about those things anyway.  That’s why we don’t have them around anymore.  You can thank government schooling for that.

John Taylor Gatto, “What’s Really Wrong With Our Schools?” pg.21

Why the Hostility Against Liberals?

Everything that modern liberalism accomplishes is accomplished at the barrel of a government rifle.  You do not trust in the generosity of the American people to provide, through private charity, things such as clothing, food, shelter, and health care, so you empower the government to take from them and spend the money on wasteful, inefficient, and inadequate government entitlement programs.  You do not trust in the personal responsibility of the average American to wield firearms in defense of themselves and their families, so you seek to empower the government to criminalize the use and possession of firearms by private citizens.  Every time you empower the government, you lose more of your personal liberty – it’s an axiomatic truth.  What angers me the most about you is the eagerness with which you allow the incremental enslavement to occur.  You are the cliched and proverbial frog in the pot who has actually convinced himself that he’s discovered a big, silver jacuzzi.  Somehow, you’re naive enough to believe that one more degree of heat won’t really matter that much.

I have the utmost respect for a slave who is continuously seeking a path to freedom.  What I cannot stomach is a free man who is continuous seeking a path to servitude by willingly trading his freedom for the false sense of security that government will provide. …

Servitude can exist in a free society, but freedom cannot exist in a slave nation.  In a free country, you have the liberty to join with others of your political ilk and realize whatever collectivist ideals you can dream up.  You can start your own little commune where the sign at the front gate says, “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need”, and everyone can work for the mutual benefit of everyone else.  In my society, you have the freedom to do that.

In your society, I don’t have the same freedom.  If your collectivism offends me, I am not free to start my own free society within its borders.  In order for collectivism to work, everyone must be on board, even those who oppose it – why do you think there was a Berlin Wall?

by Jeremy N. Choate, “Dear Liberal…Here’s Why I’m So Hostile”

The Result of Public Education

Freedom Needs Self-Control

Freedom can only work when self-control prevails.  A free society is a self-policing society.  When a citizenry ceases to limit the exercise of its own individual desires, moral anarchy inevitably results, ending in the condition described at the close of the Book of Judges:  “Everyone does what is right in his own eyes.”

Patrick Michael Murphy, “How the West Was Lost,” p.167

Truth and Confrontation

The Marriage Relationship

How is a man to treat his wife? Let me give some negatives first.  He is not to abuse her.  It is possible for a man to abuse his body, and many men do abuse their bodies — by eating too much, by drinking too much, and in various other ways.  That is to abuse the body, to maltreat it, to be unkind to it.  Now, says the Apostle, a man who does that is a fool, because if a man maltreats his body, and abuses it, he himself is going to suffer.  You cannot detach yourself from your body; and if you think you can, and abuse your body, you will be the one to suffer.  Your mind will suffer, your heart will suffer, the whole of your life will suffer.  You may say, “I do not care about my body, I am living a life of the intellect”; but if you keep on doing that you will soon find that you no longer have the intellect that you once had, and you will not be able to think as you once did.  If you abuse your body, you are the one who is going to suffer.  Not only the body, but you yourself will suffer as well.  It is exactly the same in the marriage relationship.  If a man abuses his wife he will suffer as well as the wife.  So, apart from the inherent wrongfulness, the man is a fool.  If a man abuses his wife there is going to be a breakdown not only in the wife but also in the man, and in the relationship between the two.  Surely this is what is happening so commonly in the world today.  It should be unthinkable that a Christian man should abuse his wife.

But not only should the husband not abuse his wife, in the second place, he should not neglect her.  Come back again to the analogy of the body.  A man can neglect his body.  It often happens, and again it always leads to trouble.  To neglect the body is bad, it is foolish, it is wrong.  Man has been so constituted that his is body, mind and spirit, and the three are in intimate relationship on with another.  We are surely aware of this.  . . .  If you neglect the body you yourself will suffer for it.  Many a man has done that, many a scholar has done that, and through neglect of the body his work has suffered.  That is because of the essential unity between these parts of our personalities.

It is exactly the same in the married relationship, says the Apostle.  How much trouble is caused in the realm of marriage simply because of neglect! . . .  It is lamentable that a man should get married and then proceed to neglect his wife.  In other words, here is a man who has married, but who in essential matters goes on living as if he were still a bachelor.  He is still living his own detached life, he still spends his time with his men friends.  . . .  A married man must no longer act as if he were a single man; his wife should be involved in everything. . . .  I venture to lay it down as a rule that a Christian man should not accept an invitation to a social occasion without his wife.  There is irreparable damage done to many marriages because men meet alone in their clubs without their wives.  That is wrong, because it is a denial of first principles.  Man and wife should do things together.  Of course, the man in his business has to be alone, and there are other occasions when he has to be alone; but if it is a social occasion, something into which a wife can enter, she should enter, and it is the business of the husband to see to it that she does enter.  I suggest that all Christian husbands should automatically refuse every such invitation which comes to them alone and does not include their wives.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home & Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, pg. 215-217

Marriage Is Better Than Cohabiting

Compared to their married peers, cohabiters consistently have lower rates of well-being than married people.  Why?  Because cohabiting relationships are ambiguous.  Usually each partner  has a different understanding of the nature and future of the relationship.  In marriage the couple is clear about the claim they have on each other.  Husbands are more likely to come home after work and not stay out all night with the guys than boyfriends are.  Wives and husbands are not as likely to flirt with others outside the relationship.  Marriage helps them know who they belong to emotionally and sexually.

Glenn T. Stanton and Dr. Bill Maier, “Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting,” pg.124-125

"Legal" Doesn't Mean "Moral"

The Intrusive Government

The founders of American democracy may not have been Christian themselves, but their understanding of limited government emerged out of a culture in which the single most powerful and deep source of values was inarguably Christianity.  This is why the erosion of Christian influence and the rise of secularism in America have been accompanied by a dramatic expansion in the size and the role of government.

In the Christian view, government is essentially a policeman—now, it has become not only a policeman, but also a nanny, teacher, guide, healer, and provider of happiness and material security.  It has also become a means of steering society toward an imaginary secular ideal.  The end of this process will have been reached when the government is master, tyrant, source of values, spiritual guide—and chastiser of those who do not conform.  This chastisement will be done by all-knowing experts (like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins) for the good of humanity.

Joseph Keysor, “Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible,” pg.436

Reaping the Consequences of the Homosexual Agenda

Youngsters who are even now prematurely assaulted with sexual references will have this issue thrown in to further damage their psychological health.  We should expect a rise in the rate of teenage suicides as youngsters are forced to “decide” early as to their sexual orientation.  We should expect a rise in AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as an increase in sexual abuse by men preying on vulnerable youth.  We can anticipate that those who speak out against homosexuality will be increasingly reviled and repressed, while gay and lesbian activists will become increasingly vocal and persuasive in pushing their agendas in the media, in courts, in all branches of government.  Already today, when science and homosexuality clash, science has been nudged aside.  In the political campaign to normalize homosexuality, psychiatrists who claim to be able to help those who voluntarily wish to leave the homosexual lifestyle are ignored and even spat upon.  Any facts that counter the dogma that homosexuality is as much a part of a person as skin color are rejected.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, "America's Real War," pg.205-206 (1999)

Diversity in College?

Without Truth, All Religion is the Same

The New Civ[ilization]…is a kind of religious smorgasbord, where everyone can cheerfully pick and choose from a vast array of spiritual elements, gradually building his own religion.  Inside the New Civ Mind, every idea is equally true.  For them, this premise is the real value, the ultimate meaning that can be apprehended: the acceptance, the nonjudgmental “tolerance” of all ideas, all definitions.  How does one persuade a person that one definition is superior to another, when his highest values deny that such a thing is possible?  Thus, in the New Civ, at least for now, there can be as many religions as there are human beings, every possible one of which is regarded as equally valid, all exactly as efficacious in saving one’s soul—because the concept of salvation itself is arbitrary, just as true or invalid as any individual decides it is.  In the New Civ, we fulfill Satan’s promise to Adam: we are our own god.  Whatever we believe is “true,” and whatever we don’t believe is not “true,” because there is no eternal standard of Truth, no supreme God as the Bible describes the idea.

Patrick Michael Murphy, “How the West Was Lost,” p.153

Whose Moral Compass?

Government cannot “fix” things, because government comes at problems from a fallen human (materialistic) perspective. Free money just isn’t the answer to everything. In fact, it’s not the answer to much of anything, but it is government’s favorite tool. They can use it for bribery, they can punish states and businesses by withholding it, or they can use it to wallpaper their congressional bathrooms – but it never gets at the heart of the problem. God, the real God, is central to informing us who we are and how we should behave.

Marriage was a union between a male and female who together produced, cared for, and raised children. There was a personal moral responsibility to these relationships. Two parent families with a male and female role model were the norm. Taking personal responsibility for the family and individual economic circumstance was the morally responsible way to live and was often rewarded. Being peer accountable to the community was thought of as normal. Even if an individual or family were poor, they had a sense of pride and personal respect. Taking a “handout” was not taken lightly. The one helping had a sense of doing good, the one receiving was appreciative, and when their financial picture changed (for most poverty is a temporary condition) they would help others as they remembered how someone had cared for them.

In the 1960s, the “war on poverty” was declared, which often made government the “daddy,” and removed personal responsibility. It changed the structure of the family and created dependence on the Federal Government rather than on God. Women were financially rewarded for having children out of wedlock, and more children meant more government benefits. In certain communities it became the norm for children to grow up in single parent homes without a father. The children in turn became dependents to the State. So too, the so-called nanny-state also relieved grown children of the responsibility to provide for parents or other family members, and it also encroached upon the churches’ mission of meeting the needs of the poor.

Don and Joy Veinot, Whose Moral Compass?

Perverting the Constitution

Homosexual and sex-rejecting (aka “transgender”) activists have been abusing, exploiting, and perverting the U.S. Constitution to serve their sexually anarchistic cultural revolution for years. Their revolution recognizes no authority and few boundaries. The public good and truth of marriage and properly ordered sexuality, the rights of children, and the Constitution will be sacrificed on the twin altars of perverse sexual desire and absolute autonomy

Our Founding Fathers—deists and theists alike—must be whirling maelstroms in their resting places over the abuse of the U.S. Constitution to enable public homosex.

Laurie Higgins, "Homosexualists Abuse the Constitution--Again"

Compulsory Schooling is Indoctrination

Compulsory schooling has been, from the beginning, a scheme of indoctrination into the new concept of mass man, an important part of which was the creation of a proletariat.  According to August Comte (surely the godfather of scientific schooling), you could create a useful proletariat class by breaking connections between children and their families, their communities, their God, and themselves.

John Taylor Gatto, “What’s Really Wrong With Our Schools?” pg.20

ADHD Diagnosis From Bad Presuppositions

The basis for the diagnosis  ADHD is the presupposition “that some children who cannot sit still and pay attention in school have a biologically based behavior disorder.”  Of course the corollary assumptions are that the child cannot be held accountable for his behavior, that the Bible’s teaching on parenting is at best irrelevant and more probably harmful, that drug therapy is the appropriate treatment, and that Biblical counseling is inappropriate in such cases.  These assumptions are not based on fact, but on beliefs contrary to Biblical teaching about behavior.

Dr. James Thomas, “The Christian Home and ADHD,” The Biblical Counselor, January 1995, p.1.  Cited by Robert D. Smith, M.D., The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference, pg.165

The Husband’s Reign Must Be By Love

We must remember that power must be tempered by love; it is to be controlled by love, it is the power of love.  No husband is entitled to say that he is the head of the wife unless he loves his wife.  He is not carrying out the Scriptural injunction unless he does so.  These things go together.  In other words, it is a manifestation of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit not only gives power but He gives love and also discipline.  So as the husband exercises his privilege as the head of the wife, and the head of the family, he does so in this way.  He is to be controlled always by love, and he is to be controlled by discipline.  He must discipline himself.  There may be the tendency to dictate, but he must not do so — “power, love, sound mind” (discipline).  All that is implicit here in this great word “love”.

So the reign of the husband is to be a reign and rule of love; it is a leadership of love.  It is not the idea of a pope or a dictator; it is not a case of “ipse dixit”; he does not speak “ex-cathedra”.  No, it is the power of love, it is the discipline of the Spirit, guarding this power and authority and dignity which are given to the husband.  That is clearly the fundamental and controlling idea in the whole of this matter — “Husbands, love your wives.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home & Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, pg.132

Moms AND Dads Are Necessary!

A married father is substantially less likely to abuse his wife or children than men in any other category.  This means that boys and girls with married fathers learn by observation how men should treat women.  Girls with involved fathers, therefore, are more likely to select for themselves good husbands because they have a proper standard by which to judge all candidates.  Fathers themselves also help weed out bad candidates.  Boys raised with fathers are more likely to be good husbands because they can emulate their fathers’ successes and learn from their failures.  This is perhaps why societies with involved fathers are more likely to be female-affirming cultures.

Girls and boys with married mothers learn from their mothers what healthy and respectful female relationships with men look like.  Girls who observe their mothers confidently and lovingly interacting with their fathers learn how to interact confidently with men.  Same-sex homes can’t provide this important example and therefore will have a difficult time helping their children have healthy heterosexual relationships.

Glenn T. Stanton and Dr. Bill Maier, “Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting,” pg.118-119

Are You Ready To Stand For the Truth?

Those who want to fight evil first of all have to understand what evil is.  They also need a firm basis for their understanding, one that is shared by enough people to make joint action possible.  Secondly, they have to be prepared to fight evil—and by “fight” I don’t mean only standing up for the truth, as vital as that first step is.  I also mean “fight” as in war legally waged by duly appointed governments, using bombs, and bullets, and requiring blood, guts, self-sacrifice, heroism, determination, perseverance, and confidence in the rightness of one’s cause.

These two qualities—understanding of evil and the strength to resist it—are not in abundance in our modern western society.  Those who have been brought up to believe that the supreme goods of life are pleasure, self-indulgence, passive comfort, and security, are not going to have the will to resist.  Believing that “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” doesn’t help.  Can this who think that George Washington was no different from Yassir Arafat really be expected to fight evil?

Joseph Keysor, “Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible,” pg.436

Sex Is Everybody's Business

For centuries America has recognized that sex is truly everyone’s business.  Drawing from the Hebrew Bible, Roman law, English law, and American law have all prohibited polygamy, incest, and (until recently) adultery.  These laws reflected our conviction that we all have a say in what two of our fellow citizens might be doing in the privacy of their bedroom.  Yet, during the past three and a half decades or so, too many of us have uncritically embraced the revolutionary idea that sex is nobody else’s business. . . .  Our society flaunts sex publicly while claiming it is private; the truth is that sex is a private act with immensely powerful impact.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, "America's Real War," pg.203, 204

"Gays" Do Not Exist

An intelligent Christian should not concede that "gay" people exist, because they don't exist.  God created men and women for each other.  He did not create other subcategories of sex and sexuality; all human beings are oriented toward finding the opposite sex and forming a procreative union with them.  Some of His creations rebel against God's vision and defile themselves by engaging in sodomy.  But gayness is not an identity; it is a fallen condition for individuals who have revolted against God and set their own desires above the call to follow their Creator's design.  Christian churches have almost always maintained that these are children of God who need to be saved from such iniquity with prayer and compassion.

Robert Oscar Lopez, “Christian America’s ‘High Noon’ Moment.”

The State and Marriage

The state is in the business of recognizing marriage not because every marriage will produce a child but because every child has a mother and a father.  Through its marriage policy, the state respects the natural bonds that unite the parents who brought a child into the world and encourages them to commit to each other permanently and exclusively.

Ryan T. Anderson, “Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom,” pg.33

Schooling a Religion?

Schooling is our official state religion; in no way is it a neutral vehicle for learning.

John Taylor Gatto, “What’s Really Wrong With Our Schools?” pg.18