Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.
Friedman, Milton
The Quest for Truth–Part 1 April 29, 2009
Augustine was one of the most influential Church leaders of Western History. Yet he began his life full of oppositions toward Christianity, and his autobiography, Confessions, reveal how God redeemed him from his errors. Born in North Africa approximately during the middle of the fourth century, Augustine describes how—during his childhood and adolescence—he basked in his own sin, refusing to heed God’s Word, or the wise advice of his Christian mother. By his early twenties, he had abandoned himself to a life of pleasure, and began to use his classical education to resist Christianity. However, by his mid-twenties, he read Cicero’s Hortensius, which inspired him to seek the truth, even at the cost of his own pleasure. What followed was the struggle to answer his objections toward Christianity, including the nature of evil, the nature of God, and the requirement to give up his own sin.
“I had too much conceit to accept [the Scriptures’] simplicity and not enough insight to penetrate their depths.” After reading the Hortensius, Augustine was driven to find the truth and began reading the Scriptures to find the answers to his objections toward Christianity. After reading the great Greek and Roman literature; however, the words of the Scriptures seemed dull and vulgar. Moreover, Augustine had ignored or forgotten so much of his early Christian teaching that he received about the Scriptures, that he could not comprehend them on his own, and they seemed contradictory. He reasoned that if the Christians built their faith on this book alone, their beliefs had to be faulty, and he turned farther yet from the true faith. In his late twenties, he moved from Rome to Milan where he met the great Bishop Ambrose, who showed him how to interpret the Word of God. From him, Augustine learned that not everything in Scripture is literal, and in the correct context nothing contradicts itself. Once he began to interpret the God’s Word correctly, Augustine slowly began to find the solutions to the rest of his objections toward Christianity.
Self-Pity April 26, 2009
As Christians we should never feel sorry for ourselves. The moment we do so, we lose our energy, we lose the will to fight and the will to live, and are
paralyzed.
Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn
Communication: Use with caution April 26, 2009
God gives man the ability to think and reason, and then to organize these thoughts into speech. Due to sin’s entrance into the world; however, man naturally distorts this gift, sinning against God and harming other people. Accordingly, God provides guidelines in his word so that man regains much of his knowledge about how to glorify Him through effective speaking skills. The Scriptures command Christians to speak boldly and without fear, because they must further God’s kingdom with every topic they choose.
Joshua one, verse nine bids the Lord’s followers to “be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” For a believer to do otherwise would express doubt in God’s sovereignty and question their need to serve him. Additionally, effective communication requires that the speaker expresses confidence in what he says. For instance, if an evangelist shrinks from persecution and ridicule and demonstrates little knowledge of the Gospel, he does not exalt God in this particular area.
Contrarily, Christians must not speak on any topic by glorying in themselves or condescending to their listeners. The Bible gives several examples of the apostles directing the adoration of the crowds from themselves to their Savior. When their audience begins worshiping them as gods, they reply, “We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God” (Acts 14:15). Rather than taking advantage of the adoration of their listeners or exalting in their admirable speaking skills, they give all the glory to God, redirecting the focus of the crowd to the Lord.
Similarly, the Scriptures forbid misusing God’s gift of speech by patronizing or demeaning an audience. By the time of the Roman Empire, the Jewish religious leaders have become so self-righteous that they refuse to acknowledge their own sins while condemning the sins of others. However, the very Scriptures that they claim to adhere to reprove their arrogance: “Pride…and the froward mouth do I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). Christ openly condemns pride as sin, and communes with those who speak humbly while he conducts his earthly ministry.
Despite such explicit guidelines, the Christian often strays from the Biblical model of public oratory. Although he attempts to keep his attitude toward others firm but loving when he speaks, he naturally falls away from the ideal pattern. At times, he forgets to trust in God and fails to do his best when speaking because he has little confidence, or fears ridicule and persecution. However, the Scriptures clearly condemn this attitude promising that, “The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips; but the just shall come out of trouble” (Prov. 12:13). The assurance further explains that the Christian’s fear stems from his doubt of God.
Occasionally, the Christian delivers a powerful message that seems to glorify his Savior. Yet when his audience congratulates him, he forgets to give the credit to his Lord and thank Him for his talent. Finally, if the speaker knows a great amount about his topic, he occasionally forgets that “the Lord lifteth up the meek; he casteth the wicked to the ground” (Ps. 147:6). Consequently he condescends to his audience, forgetting that God granted him the knowledge, and he once knew as little as his listeners.
However while the Christian bears guilt for many mistakes, he learns from both his fear and his pride. As he grows in his faith and studies public speaking, his mistakes become less frequent and he develops the loving attitude that he strives for. During the times that he remembers to balance his growing skill as a spokesman with a Biblical approach to the art, he truly improves enough to simultaneously glorify God and deliver an excellent speech.
A Peek into the Presidency of John Adams April 23, 2009
The election and presidency of George Washington’s successor, John Adams, signified many firsts for the United States, and the people watched expectantly to see if the new nation would survive without the leadership of their popular first president. Many watched the election with bated breath, as party pride kept the voters from unanimity for the first time. After the founding father and lawyer had been elected, Adams became the first to experience many aspects of the American presidency, including life in the White House.
In 1796, John Adams, a Federalist, ran for president, along with Thomas Jefferson, and others. Adams used his status as a Federalist to identify himself with George Washington, which made him extremely popular. Unlike Washington, Adams experienced a close election, for he won seventy-one electoral votes, versus Jefferson’s sixty-eight. At the time, the winning candidate became president, while the runner-up became vice president. Thus, Thomas Jefferson became John Adams’ vice president, although he had opposed Adams in the election.
As soon as he was inaugurated, Adams faced difficulties with France. France was showing increasing hostility toward America, so Adams began to prepare for war. Nevertheless, his foremost goal was to negotiate with France, and he made this intention public to that country’s leaders. By 1799, The French signed the Treaty of Mortefontaine with the Americans, which curtailed the hostilities. As the American populace heard of this, they displayed a renewed zeal for their country and the president. Due mostly to Adam’s role in averting war, the popularity of the Federalist Party reached its height.
Still wary of France’s commitment to the new treaty, America’s Congress proposed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which stated that an immigrant had to wait fourteen years to become a citizen. The Acts also made it illegal to criticize the president and the government. Congress intended this to deter French agents from becoming United States citizens and to keep them from publishing lies about the government. However, many Americans saw the Act as a threat to their constitutional rights.
Adams approved this measure in 1798, and the Federalists instantly became unpopular. The Democrat-Republicans saw their opportunity, and accused Adams of trying to smother the people’s right to freedom of speech. Realizing that the elections were approaching, the Federalists argued that the Democrat-Republicans were endeavoring to return supreme power to the states, and that if they won the election, chaos would rule. Adam’s party, however, could not redeem itself from the unpopularity caused by Alien and Sedition Acts, and in 1800, the people chose Thomas Jefferson as president.
The presidency of John Adams demonstrated that America was capable of transitioning between presidents, despite Adams’ close rivalry with Thomas Jefferson in the election. As president, Adams had become popular with the Americans for his role in ending the hostilities with France, but had lost much of that esteem when he signed the Alien and Sedition Acts. As he was unable to gain back his popularity in time for the election, his opponent, Jefferson became the third president, marking the end of Federalist popularity, and the rise of Jeffersonian democracy.
Submission: A Confusion of Definitions April 22, 2009
In the 1960’s, a cultural revolution occurred in America that would change the world forever: traditional authority crumbled. A new class of citizens—teenagers—rose, determined to defy parental authority. Hippies broke standard codes of conduct. Obedience to God became outdated. Not surprisingly, the submission became universally hated by all as a sign of weakness and unfairness as the word came to mean police interference and general inequality. Yet many forms of obedience and deference remained as fixtures in the culture and Americans still accepted and even admired these things. How did the word “submission” come to arouse such conflicting feelings?
One reason for the simultaneous admiration and hatred of submission lies in modern cultural ideals. Everyone acknowledges that some form of order must exist. Children listen to adults in charge of them, or they will sit in timeout. Employees should do the will of their bosses, or they will get fired. Citizens live under the law, or they will go to jail. Without this sort of obedience, chaos would break out. People applaud other forms of submission, such as the death of Christ, for their selflessness and the fact that they exist as a “good example” to humankind. However, some ideals of the past—particularly Biblical ideas that no longer seem to make sense in a modern world—have become repudiated because they seem to disparage equality. For instance, the submission of a woman to her husband only elicits scorn today, and indeed, it seems unfair to the wife. According to one article, “Feminism…appears to be the prevalent school of thought, from women who simply earn a living in the workforce to women who adamantly hate men” (http://thebisonnews.com). However, although the culture plays a large part in how people view submission, the definition of the word itself may have a role in how different groups of people respond to the idea of deference.
Secular submission differs greatly from that of the Christians: “We are told the origin of the meaning of the underlying Greek word for submission is derived from military imagery of one “ranked under” the one in authority over him” (www.bible.org). It usually involves involuntary deference, self-interest, and even humiliation at times. For example, children in a classroom used to obey teachers, often simply because feared to wear a dunce cap or endure a hand-slapping in front of a whole classroom. They really had no choice about behaving in school; they had to listen to avoid embarrassment. Similarly, animals often obey their masters only to earn food or avoid harsh words. Rarely do they follow humans out of sheer devotion. When this sort of submission applies to equals such as man and woman, it of course wreaks havoc and gives one person an unfair advantage over the other.
Ironically, the submission that people admire—selfless, voluntary, silent obedience—lies in the Christian understanding of deference and the example of Christ. Luke 22:42 records Jesus as saying, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” While Christ, as God, could have left humans to their own destruction, he chose to save them, and this involved death, as decreed by the Father. Thus, he voluntarily entered into a situation, and while he recoiled against the pain, he simply said “thy will be done,” enduring most of the agony of the cross in silence. In love for God and gratitude for his selfless obedience, Christians must strive to imitate this ideal: “Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ” (Eph. 5:21). Clearly, this implies that two equals must show deference to each other and cooperate with one another; this is far different than the world’s sense of forced “pecking order.” Clearly, this sort of human submission exists as an admirable quality rather than a weakness.
The definition of a word can clearly lead to confusion unless properly defined right away. External, worldly submission, while often necessary for young children and people under the law, can indeed lead to degradation and inequality. It rarely holds society together without the deeper, Christian form of consideration. People inadvertently despise their own, external, involuntary submission while admiring the ideal that Christ set out. Confusing it with their worldliness, they in turn spurn the Biblical form as weak and unfair. Truly, the world rejects authority, faith, understanding, and true consideration for another, all because of the misunderstood definition of one word.
Free Will April 19, 2009
Free will I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have met with
will, and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in
blessed bonds of grace.
Spurgeon, C. H.
Jersey Blues April 19, 2009
The Asbury Park Press has again announced that the State of New Jersey will encourage lottery sales to fill the collers. No surprises there; this has been going on for several years. The pressure that the state government puts on New Jersey residents to use the lottery should strike civilians as an insult to thier intelligence. The chances for actually winning the lottery amount to one in a thousand, and the industry only awards an average of about 55 cents for every dollar spent. Thus, by raising false hopes in consumers, officials employ deception in order to feed the state’s greed and unwise use of money. Also, New Jersey is an extremely expensive state. According to the Department of Commerce, “New Jersey residents are the 3rd highest taxed citizens in the whole US.” Yet according to the New Jersey Real Estate Report, “New Jersey’s …debt is… above the $38 billion mark.” Clearly, putting more money into the hands of the state government will not solve the ultimate problem. Instead of putting their energy into raising even more money, New Jersey officials need to eliminate superfluous spending and learn how to manage the enormous funds they already possess.
The Persecuted Church: Vietnam April 17, 2009
In May 2007, Le Thi Cong Nhan, a Vietnamese Christian and lawyer, was sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years of house arrest. Nhan was arrested and sentenced alongside Nguyen Van Dai, a Protestant church leader and lawyer. They are accused of a wide range of crimes; such as “conspiring with terrorists, in their efforts to promote human rights efforts, including religious rights and democracy.” They are also accused of compiling “evidence of Vietnam’s suppression of the Protestant religion and providing it to the U.S.-based Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam.”
“O give us help against the adversary, for deliverance by man is in vain. Through God we shall do valiantly, and it is He who will tread down our adversaries.” (Psalm 60:11,12)
Incarnation April 17, 2009
The glory of the incarnation is that it presents to our adoring gaze not a
humanized God or a deified man, but a true God-man – one who is all that God is
and at the same time all that man is: one on whose almighty arm we can rest, and to whose human sympathy we can appeal.
Warfield, Benjamin B.
