he·don·ism
/ˈhēdnˌizəm,ˈhēdəˌnizəm/
noun
1. the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence.
Philosophy: the ethical theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life.
When I was a child, I was blessed to go to Church every single week. As I got older, I also attended a vibrant youth ministry every single Wednesday evening.
Admittedly, it has taken me many years to realize that while church attendance was and is very important, and I encourage it, that’s not really what influenced my life. Back then, what really influenced my life more than anything were friends and the government-run school I attended. I believe it is time for many of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s to admit what way of life and lifestyle many of us really were disciples of. It’s time to admit many of us were trained up and put on the road to hedonism.
I am not saying in every circumstance, but in many, many ways, we were directed toward hedonism being the way of life we should pursue. I encourage you to pray about this. Think about and remember the music, movies. Think about the fact that in the government-run schools we were educated in frowned immensely on not talking about the God of the Bible and not teaching His good and right ways. What was promoted and taught? The philosophy of hedonism. I encourage you to pray and truly seek out God’s counsel on this.
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning;
for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33-34
As I look back on my life, I realize how much I listened to and allowed the ideas of humans to influence my life instead of hearing and obeying God’s ways to live in this world that He has given to us. Just one example in my life is in regard to the meaning of the word love. The Bible is clear that love is long suffering and love is kind, and it does not envy, nor is it self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13). A friend of mine “counseled” me in the meaning of the word and “helped” me to see that love could mean something else. This person encouraged me to see that loving someone could be having sex with another person I desired to be with that wasn’t my wife to “show” her how much I “loved” her, even though we knew that the Bible taught something completely different. Sadly, I began to see the “wisdom” in this new thought. In essence, this person was trying to convince me to live out the philosophy of hedonism, that “pleasure is the highest and proper aim of human life.”
Think about much of the music children and teenagers were exposed to in the 1970s and 1980s:
“Pour some sugar on me”
“Girls, girls, girls”
“Shook me all night long”
“Talk dirty to me”
“When doves cry”
Those of us who grew up listening to songs like these know what they are about. You’re not an idiot and neither am I. These songs and many songs like them are all about hedonism. It is my belief that it is time for those of us who grew up in that time and indulged in hedonism, and possibly still are, need to confess our sin, ask for forgiveness, and repent – turn away from this way of life.
I think if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll see things in our society and even in the Church now have only gotten worse.
I greatly encourage you to begin to strive to live out for Jesus Christ in all that you do. Begin to raise your children in Godliness and not in the ways of the world anymore. As Christ followers, we need to take Romans 12:2 seriously.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
- Romans 12:2
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As Christians, we are commanded to go out and preach the Word and make disciples of all peoples. Paul emphasizes to preach the Word – not to preach opinions, not to preach culture, and not to preach your own additions or subtractions. We are to preach the Word, explain it, and showcase the practical living of the truths of it. Yet what has happened today is a near complete abandoning of this command of how we are to preach. While expository preaching keeps a preacher on the text and topical preaching enables a preacher to address specific issues a church needs to deal with (both are valid), most preachers are not preaching what the Bible says but what they want to say or what they think the audience wants to hear.
In the ancient days, when a king sought to send out a message to his people, he would send a herald to proclaim the message to the masses. The herald had a clear job: to proclaim the message, answer a few questions, and never ever give a different message. If it was discovered that a herald was changing the message the king gave, it was a death sentence. The kings weren’t the first to do this either; the Bible did it first.
In Deuteronomy, God sets the standards for how a prophet (a person who claims to speak for God to man) should deliver the message and those who professed to speak “Thus says the Lord” when the Lord did not speak. They were to be put to death. God took those who used His name very seriously. The preacher behind the pulpit, the missionary, the evangelist, the author, those in any para-ministry, the apologist, and anyone who has a platform and proclaims the faith and proclaims the Gospel is under this category. I am included, too. The bigger the platform, the stricter the standard is held. While there is room for growth and maturing, just as there was for the prophets, it is absolutely imperative that when we profess to represent the faith, we represent it correctly and we proclaim what God said, not what we want Him to say. Any person who has ever understood the severity of this job does not want this job. They know how serious it is to preach and how they will be held accountable to God for how they represent Him. We can’t mess around with this.
The first sin came about because of not taking God at His Word and by adding and subtracting to it. In Genesis 3, the serpent came in and asked, “Has God indeed said…?” What was Eve’s response? “We can eat from any tree, but from the tree in the middle of the garden we may not eat nor touch lest we die.” Go back to Genesis 2 and see what God actually said. He said do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He did not say to not touch it. Eve added to God’s command and thus did not believe it. But Eve mentioned the tree in the middle of the garden: singular. There was not just one tree in the middle of the garden; there were two. The Tree of Life was also there. God gave Adam and Eve a choice: the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve left out the Tree of Life in her answer. So with that noted, it is reasonable to suggest that Adam and Eve created their own barriers from BOTH trees, lest they be tempted from the wrong one. Because they did not believe what God said and both added and took away from His command, they were easy prey for Satan to lead them to temptation and into sin.
When we change the message from what God said even in the slightest manner, we set ourselves up for severe trouble. Now, please don’t read what I am not saying here. I am not saying we can only directly quote Scripture and that is all we can say when we have a platform. That is not what I am saying. I am saying that we cannot make the message something different. We do have freedom to explore, dig deeper, and explain and apply the text. But all of that has to be done within the framework from which it is given.
There is a controversy about the show The Chosen. It is a fictional supposition about how the ministry of Jesus may have looked. There are people who object to such things because they are “adding to Scripture” things that were not there. I have two problems with such notions. 1) They aren’t calling their work “Scripture,” so they aren’t adding anything to it at all. That said, those watching it should know that it is not Scripture and still let Scripture be the standard. 2) These people who are reading commentaries, writing commentaries, preaching, and effectively doing the same thing.
So what does it mean to “add” or “subtract” from Scripture? It does not mean we cannot explore what and how things may have looked like from the people who lived through the Bible’s accounts. People say that the geological models of the Young Earth Creation position are “adding” to Scripture because the Bible does not speak about volcanoes and earthquakes during the Flood. I find such arguments extremely weak and frankly extremely hypocritical. Who is objecting to such models? Those who are turning to the outside, the secular community, sources completely outside Scripture, and whose work takes no input from Scripture (or minimal at that). THEY are the ones “adding to Scripture” because they are going completely outside the Bible to answer questions they believe the Bible is silent on. They do not stay within the framework or the facts that are explicitly given. Could the Young Earth geology models be wrong, be incomplete, or have problems? Absolutely. But the alternate models have much bigger problems, namely the willful denial of the history of Scripture. Even those who believe that a flood happened in Noah’s day believe that if such a flood does not fit ALL the details that are explicitly given, it is not Noah’s Flood and it demonstrates unbelief in the account of Scripture. The Flood describes a global event and ANY model that does not have those details is taking away what God did say and adding what He did not say. While it is possible such people may be saved, the Biblical standards showcase that such people are not fit to be heralds of the faith because they are not accurately representing what God said.
Some will say I over emphasize on Genesis and don’t emphasize the Gospel enough. Those who get Genesis wrong rarely get the rest of the Gospel right. We now have preachers who say that God loves homosexuals just as they are and will not make them change their ways. We have replaced God’s method of evangelism and teaching within the church with secular models of age-segregation. We have replaced God’s method of responding to the Gospel of repentance and faith to just saying a prayer. We have removed God’s teaching of holiness and purity and added to God’s love and mercy that we will be rich here on earth, enjoying pleasure all now. And as one preacher said, “Americans’ theology is 3000 miles wide and only 6 inches deep.” He’s not wrong. Why? Because we have taken away what God actually said and added what we want to hear instead.
It is a very dangerous thing to give God’s message. We must learn how to rightly divide the Word and preach it correctly. Those who have a problem with this need to step down. They need to be silent and not speak. The consequences for speaking about God wrongly are deadly. Take God seriously. Take His Word seriously. Any departure from it is sin. If we profess His name yet depart from His Word, no good thing will ever come of it.
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The Shawshank Redemption is considered one of the greatest movies ever made. It’s about a banker who was charged with the murder of his wife, when it wasn’t him, and sent to prison. He befriends another prisoner, Red, who acts as the narrator of the story. In one scene, a prisoner, Brooks, who had been there for nearly 50 years was released on parole and he couldn’t handle life outside of prison, committing suicide. When the other prisoners got word about it, they couldn’t understand why, and Red explained it perfectly. Brooks had been “institutionalized.” Red said, talking about the prison walls, “First you hate it, then you get used to it, then you can’t live without it.” Brooks was a well-known respected person in the prison, but outside the prison, he was a nobody and it made him snap. But the truth Red speaks about being “institutionalized” extends far beyond the prison system.
We humans are creatures of habits and we love institutions. We love to build ourselves concrete structures that define what we do and where we go and when we do things. But we are prone to something with that: we get so attached to a process or a way of doing things that it becomes “institutionalized” and we don’t know how to think outside it. Traditions are the same thing in this case. My pastor describes a tradition as “something you do without knowing why you do it.” There are many institutions and traditions we do where we don’t know why we do it and they’ve become a “prison” without walls or guards.
Remember when I wrote about Brainwashing a few months ago? Institutionalization IS a form of brainwashing. It gets you used to a system to the point where you are dependent upon it, and to the point that you cannot comprehend getting the services from any other means. A great example is the welfare system. Once a person gets onto welfare, it is easy for them to get “institutionalized” with it, and they cannot comprehend life without it: a life of actually doing quality work, earning what you get, and truly living freely. (That is not a blanket statement, as there are many people who truly don’t want to be on the system but cannot make ends meet at that time.)
Public schools are another example. Yes, I am a public school teacher, so I can talk about this first-hand. Did you know that the “summer vacation” was scheduled in so kids could join their parents and work the harvest for the farms? Now we do it just to do it. I love my fellow teachers and I love my administrators; they are doing the best they know how to do. However, the school system has failed. When I was in college, 85% of incoming freshman had to take remedial math courses. The schools are turning out people who are literally uneducated and illiterate all the time, just passing them on to keep “failure rates” down and so they can get their federal funding. And when parents pull their students to go to “charter schools” or private schools, the main public schools whine that they are losing money by these “competition” schools. But do we have to do school THIS way? The arguments for shutting down the Department of Education have nothing to do with shutting down education but actually getting the government out of it and to revive what it actually should be: training and equipping students to be independent thinkers and able to live and operate without being dependent upon the state, and to be able to test what they are hearing. It’s the complete opposite of what students are getting now.
Science itself has become institutionalized. Two weeks ago I spoke for a mini-conference about radiometric dating and I quoted John Woodmorrappe from his book The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods where he points out how “Deep Time” has been institutionalized and so thoroughly that no one ever questions Deep Time itself or the methods that showcase it. They’ll examine every detail about conditions etc. but never the methods themselves. An example is when soft-biological tissue was found. No one ever thought to ask, “Are these fossils really millions of years old?” Instead they asked, “Wow, what could have preserved it this long?” They never question the ages.
Guess what? The church isn’t immune to this either. Voddie Baucham has an intriguing interview in which he suggests we abolish the “youth ministry” programs as we know it because they obviously aren’t working, and they have produced a very dangerous side effect. Parents have abdicated their role in raising their children, giving the spiritual lessons over to the youth pastor, and expecting the 1-3 hours the youth pastors have with the kids to undo the 40+ hours kids spend each week in the public schools. Parents need to be involved, yet the churches not only are not encouraging this but they get on parents’ cases (including church staff) if their kids aren’t in the youth programs (Baucham gives anecdotes about this). Youth ministry has been institutionalized, and doing anything different is a strange concept.
Beware that COVID right now is “institutionalizing” us with all the masks and social distancing regulations. The whole “new normal” is exactly this: institutionalization. I know MANY people are frustrated with these rules and know they are utterly ridiculous, however, they have been institutionalized enough themselves to not know how to operate outside the system or how to question it. As our president Jason DeZurik has been saying, “The way forward is back.” For our country to return to what it was, we must go back to when the government did not have such overreach. The only way this can happen is if we as a nation return back to God and get elected leaders who also fear God.
Now, do not hear what I am not saying. I am NOT calling for antinomianism or anarchy or a free-for-all. I know more than many others the necessity for structure, but structure should not exist for the purpose of structure. Jesus constantly got on the Pharisees’ case for this. Yet, Jesus still gave commands, even though they are easy and light. The difference is why are they there: because of man’s traditions or because of God’s order? When we follow Jesus, He gives us freedom. Freedom to do so much more than we could possibly imagine, but it’s not whatever we want to do. We must have boundaries. A common analogy is if you want to swim the ocean you are free to do so. You can go wherever you want, but you lack the resources to get anywhere. Instead you need to confine yourself to a ship and you can sail the ocean. But it takes a master navigator to get you to certain places that you can’t get to on your own. Jesus can get us there, but to get there we have to let Him direct where and how the ship goes.
The rich young ruler and Matthew the disciple were both very wealthy men. One was institutionalized; he could not figure out how to live his life outside his system of a lavish lifestyle. The other gave it up in an instant. Jesus did not come to set up an institution (the church Jesus envisioned is not an institution), but a Kingdom. This Kingdom does have structure and order, but that order comes out of the headship of Christ and the counsel of the Holy Spirit, not an institution. And often we’ll be asked to “break the rules” (man’s rules, not God’s) just to get us out of institutionalized thinking and into an even greater freedom. As Jesus told Simon Peter after calling Matthew to join him in The Chosen, “Get used to different.” The life of a Christian means we need to “get used to different.”
I used to be very institutionalized. My worst tantrum as a child was when my babysitter put me to bed 30 minutes LATE. It threw me off my schedule. That said, my journey with Christ has been amazing, where for 20+ years now, I’ve known nothing but my general direction/calling and what I am doing at this moment. Tomorrow, it can all change (this year has been a LOT of change), but if it does, I know the faithfulness of my God and it will be challenging, but it will be an adventure worth taking. Let’s break free from our “institutions” and instead enjoy life with true order and structure found in Christ.
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We’ve almost all heard the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Most reading this probably even think that this is not only true, but you’re probably thinking it’s a great and encouraging saying. Friends, please bear with me as I tell you: not so much.
Years ago, I was discipled and mentored by a pastor for almost 15 months who seriously challenged me in my thinking with this phrase. He allowed me to not only make the claim to defend this phrase, but then he allowed me to give him what I perceived as a good argument for it. My discipler looked at me, put up his hands and said, “Ahhhh!” in frustration. I was like, “What?”
He asked me, “Do you know where that phrase came from?” I said, “From Hillary Clinton.” (The first time I personally heard this phrase was in the 1990’s when Hillary Clinton was the first lady to then President Bill Clinton.)
My mentor went on to tell me about how his daughter had been a missionary in Africa and how she has seen this African proverb in action. He told me that this phrase came from the fact that men and women were choosing not to marry. They were having sex with each other with no lifelong commitment. So, when a child was born, no one knew who the father of the child was because the men and the women had been having sex with multiple partners. So, the men were relinquishing their God-given responsibility to raise and care for their child. This is why this African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” exists and where it came from.
This is a huge issue with this phrase. In that context, this phrase goes directly against the Word of God and the institution of marriage between one man and one woman that God Almighty set up from almost the beginning of time (Genesis 2:21-25).
As time moves on and generation after generation continues, we can now see the very fruit of this phrase and its abhorrent mindset. Not only are we seeing children being raised without fathers, but women are without a husband to help raise these children and even be there for their grandchildren. It is a vicious cycle that tends to be repeated over, and over, and over again.
Now, I am almost certain there are some reading this who are probably upset and more than likely are saying something like, “Well, I’m a teacher and I can help teach someone else’s child,” or “I don’t have children, so are you saying it’s bad to help someone with their child or that I can’t help someone with their child?” Not at all. I am saying that ultimately, the God-given responsibility to raise children has been given to the parents of those children.
Unless a person has been living under a rock, or just flat out is ignoring reality, we can all see the dangerous fruit of this mindset taking over our nation, not just in casual sex but now in the rearing and teaching of children in our society. Getting away from the Biblical principle and God-ordained institution of one man and one woman marriage certainly hasn’t done our society any favors. Not only mothers but fathers, you are extremely important.
#TheWayForwardIsBack
For more study on this subject please consider digging into the following passages:
Ephesians 6:1-9
Colossians 3:15-25
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After all the wisdom we’ve read in the book of Ecclesiastes, we have finally made it to the conclusion of this book!
This conclusion section begins by going back to the author of this book, the Teacher. Verse 9 says, “Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.”
It’s one thing to have wisdom, and it’s a completely different thing to give that wisdom to others. When I was in college, I had a few professors who were incredibly intelligent, but they were not good at teaching that knowledge to those of us who didn’t have their level of genius. Just because a person knows something, whether intellectual knowledge or how to perform a skilled task, doesn’t mean that they are able to teach that thing to others. The Teacher is pointing out here that he not only had the wisdom but also shared it with others, through the writing of this book.
It’s clear that the Teacher was careful in selecting his words. The second half of verse 9 contains three verbs in the Hebrew that are all in an intensive form: he balanced, he searched, and he made straight many wise words. The fact that these verbs are intensive shows that the Teacher didn’t just write whatever came to mind but was intentional about choosing the words that make up this book. It’s also interesting that the Hebrew noun for “proverb,” which we know to be a wise saying, comes from the same root as the Hebrew verb for “to rule or reign.” It is implied that anyone who is in authority should heed these wise sayings, and that is clearly true for the Teacher’s life.
Verse 10 emphasizes this fact: “The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.” This verse also begins with another intensive verb for seeking just the right words to write down. It literally says in Hebrew that he sought to find the delightful or pleasurable words, though we know from reading the book that this does not mean that he sugar-coated everything to make it sound good to us; in fact, at face value, this book seems like quite a downer. But he states that everything he wrote is upright and true, which I believe we can verify simply by reading it.
This claim is also verified in verse 11: “The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails — given by one shepherd.” The one shepherd these words were given by is, of course, the one true God. We know that God gave the Teacher this wisdom, and the Teacher has imparted it to his readers of that day all the way through time to us and our future generations. These wise words are to be firmly embedded into our lives to encourage us to honor God with all that we do.
Verse 12 gives a warning against other literature that may not be as full of Godly wisdom: “Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.” Just do a quick look on the Internet today and you’ll find millions of books available; none of them come close to the wisdom that is contained in the Bible. Some books help us comprehend and apply the wisdom of the Bible to our lives, while some may actually point us away from that wisdom. Studying all of these books, especially those that are not helping us study the truth of God’s Word, will make us very weary, and they will not help us live better God-honoring lives.
The Teacher’s final concluding thoughts are in verses 13-14: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” This is the point of life for the Teacher, to fear God and do what He has instructed us to do. We know that we will be judged for our actions in this life, so we should strive to have wisdom and to do what is right.
But, for us living on the other side of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we know that there is more to it. We are still called to fear God and keep His commandments, but we also know that when we have faith in Jesus’ sacrificial death, our judgment will be Jesus’ judgment. God will have grace on us for when we mess up keeping God’s commandments. We deserve death for our actions and our disobedience of God, but through Jesus, we will have life. We will be judged, but because of our faith, God will hand Jesus’ judgment over to us - eternal life with Him instead of eternal judgment.
While this is the conclusion of the text of Ecclesiastes, next week I’ll write a summary of the highlights my study through this book. It definitely has been an adventure in wisdom!
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On March 13-15, we held our Here I Stand Apologetics Conference in Findlay, Ohio. We were pleased with how things went and are looking forward to hosting another conference on Saturday, October 17, 2020. In these interesting times we live in as the world keeps changing and changing, it is very important to have a Biblical foundation not only for your own life and family but when engaging with others in this new world we find ourselves in.
Some things that have been said about our ministry and conferences from those who use our free online resources, read our books, and attend our conferences are as follows:
- The conference just helped me re-affirm the truth of God’s Word. The facts of God are all around us.
- It was good to be reminded that we can trust and rely the truth of God’s Word. We can be confident that what we confess is greater than the world and offers true hope to unbelievers.
- The resources you offer have given me a better understanding of a Biblical foundation and the importance of the Bible so I can know how to answer tough questions of unbelievers.
- I was encouraged and reminded that people must want to learn for me to speak and have dialogue about spiritual things.
- It was interesting to learn about how so many cultures around the world have stories about a worldwide flood.
- I loved learning about the importance of the Abrahamic Covenant. Very interesting.
- I appreciate that I was able to ask questions after each talk.
- I now have historic proof under my belt to be more confident in sharing God’s Word.
- I loved the facility and the group was a perfect size. It gave me a “learning mindset.”
As you can see, our conference was a huge success. We plan to keep our free resources being available to the public. With all that said, I encourage you, even in this bizarre time in our nation, to get registered for our next conference coming up in October. You can register for this free conference at this link. We all hope to see you join us at this next conference in October!
1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
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This year, Worldview Warriors has decided to try and start a scholarship fund for graduating high school seniors who aspire to attend a Christian college. We are still working out the details in order for people to apply for this scholarship, and we are looking forward to the day when we can give it out to a graduating high school senior.
To try and start this fund, we are making these new t-shirts available to the public.
All proceeds from these t-shirt sales will go into this college scholarship fund.
This week, we have a special pre-order offer. For every shirt that is ordered by this Saturday, February 29, you’ll receive a free copy of Katie Erickson’s new book by Worldview Warriors Publishing, Tough Questions: Biblical Answers to Life’s Challenges. We appreciate any support you can give us in this endeavor.
We are also pleased to remind you that our mission statement is: Equipping students to impact this generation for Jesus Christ. One way we have been able to already do that through these t-shirts is with the gifts and talents of high school student Israel Risner. We are so blessed that he is allowing us to use his design on these t-shirts in order to start this college scholarship fund.
You can order T-Shirts right now at this link. Remember all proceeds from these shirts will go into our new college scholarship fund, and if you order by Saturday, February 29th, you will receive a free copy of Katie Erickson’s book Tough Questions as well.
Thanks for all of your support!
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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” ~Proverbs 3:5
This is one of the most famous verses out of the book of Proverbs, and I can truly say it is the least obeyed. It’s certainly one I don’t apply as often as I’d like to say. Do we truly trust in the Lord with all our hearts? Or do we lean on our own understanding, our own way of thinking? One of my pet peeves is when I hear people claim to be Christians, then spew out some completely heretical and anti-Biblical teachings. After I correct them with, “This is what the Bible actually says,” their response is, “That’s your interpretation.”
God never intended any of us to “interpret” the Bible in any fashion other than the clear language in which it was written. It’s an issue I’ve hit through numerous articles but specifically in my post A Matter of Interpretation. Katie Erickson has also written an article where she gives the basics of hermeneutics. But in all this, there is a key feature in all the arguments about Bible interpretation to watch out for. Who is the filter for determining what is said – God or you?
Many people will say, “How can you read anything without ‘interpreting’ it? After all, we all read our own understanding and experiences into everything we read.” That’s actually true. One of the things I’ve frequently taught is what our worldview is and what it does. It acts as the filter for how we receive and understand things. As Christians, it is imperative that the worldview we use is not ours but God’s in “interpreting” Scripture. These people who side with worldly ideas, even while claiming to be Christian, do not use the Bible as the filter and standard for interpretation, but their own ideas and their own thinking. And in the vast majority of cases, those ideas are in line with this world and with the “experts” of this world, and not with God’s direct, clear, and unambiguous message. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. The only way to make sure we are getting it right is to NOT trust ourselves, but to trust God alone.
I see this particularly strong in the Old Earth Creation circles, but I also hear this in the Prosperity Gospel circles and heavily in the Emergent Church/Progressive Christian circles. The idea is the same: “I get the be the boss of what God says and whether I want to believe it or not. If I don’t like it, I can change what it means to make it more palatable.” How many times have you heard people saying, “We need to reach these lost people with a message they can understand and receive?” But they aren’t talking about presenting the same true Gospel in a language they can understand, but rather taking out the “offensive” parts. So instead of saying, “God created the heavens and the earth in six days,” to a scientific audience, they instead say, “The science shows billion of years (it doesn’t) therefore the Bible didn’t quite understand what we know today.” Instead of saying homosexuality is a sin, they say, “God loves them just as they are.” What they strive to do is to take out the sting of the Gospel. Why? Because they don’t trust God can do what he does best: convince the heart of the unbeliever, and instead trust upon their own understanding of how a message is to be received.
How should we trust in the Lord, then? How can we read the Bible without inserting our opinions into it? The easy answer is to get you out of the way and let God speak straight. One thing I don’t see nor hear from those who favor “other interpretations” is the seeking of God to clarify what He meant. I tell the skeptics that when I don’t understand something in the Bible, I ask the Author what He was saying. Words have meaning and while languages do change, the message has not. God said what He meant, and He meant what He said. We have to learn to trust God that He got it right the first time, didn’t stutter in saying it, and will deliver perfectly on what He said. When people disregard God and don’t trust what He said on things like Genesis, rest assured that with FEW exceptions, they also disregard and don’t trust Him on things like the Gospel or about His return. And many will do this the whole time claiming to be Christians and that they believe the Gospel. Do they? Making a proclamation of faith is one thing, but Jesus said that won’t cut it.
Why is it so hard to trust God? Man knows less than 1% of what there is to know and each time we discover something, the more we realize how little we do know. Yet God is omniscient. He knows everything there is to know. Why is it hard to trust the one who knows everything to have things under control? Why do we so easily trust ourselves, who truly know very little in comparison? There is an easy answer to this: sin, namely pride. When the Serpent tempted Eve, the temptation was to be as knowledgeable and to be like God. Since the Fall, man has always sought to be better than God. He always sought to be smarter, wiser, more moral, and better than God. That’s precisely what Satan tried to do in his initial rebellion against God.
Man does not trust God because in his sinful, prideful heart, he thinks he’s better than God. But is that true? Can man top God? The answer is an emphatic NO. Nothing man can do can best what God offers. When all men gather together to rage and battle against God, He laughs at them. God knows their thoughts and he knows how to answer each thought. The heart of man is wicked and deceitful. It lies to us. We will readily lie to ourselves to make us feel good, even to our own peril.
And why? Why do we do that? The answer is because we’ve been trained by both our own sin and by the education system to trust our minds and to trust yourself. We commonly hear phrases like, “Follow your heart,” or “What does your heart tell you?” Teachers and counselors always ask, “What do you want to do?” It’s always self-driven, self-understanding, and self-motivated. Our world today focuses as much attention on trusting yourself and trusting your own understanding that when we suddenly come to the Bible, we read it via the same training we received from the world. Let me break it to you simply, but firmly. You cannot be a Christian and live or think as the world does without the Holy Spirit convicting you about it and dealing with it.
We have to stop trusting we can figure it out. This is really hard for intellectual types like me, because those who are educated and know how to think tend to rely on our own understanding far more often than we would like to admit. When you read the Bible, let God speak. Put all your “other books” aside, including the commentaries if you must. They aren’t Scripture and they aren’t they don’t carry the same authority. Many of them are true and many of them are good reading, however, what you are reading is what someone who was not inspired by God thought about what they learned. It doesn’t carry the same authority. Don’t trust upon them over God (as many are wont to do).
Trust the Lord COMPLETELY. Forsake your own understanding because unless it is completely yielded to Christ, it is not to be trusted. When it is completely yielded to Christ, it will cease being your understanding but rather Christ sharing His understanding through you. Stop listening to the “wise of this world.” They really don’t know anything. Buy the Truth, seek wisdom, and get understanding, but know that it can only come from God and will return to God for His glory and His purposes. Anything else is null, void, in vain, and utterly worthless.
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"Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding." ~Proverbs 23:23
As I’ve read through the Proverbs in my personal studies recently, I’ve noticed how well it treats truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding. There are two primary descriptions Proverbs uses for these four things: a person deserving to be cherished, and the most precious possession one could acquire. These four terms can nearly be used interchangeably, but allow me to distinguish them.
Truth is the simple facts. It is what it is and no matter what anyone says, it always is. It doesn’t change and it doesn’t care about opinions or education or emotions. Wisdom is application and knowing when and how to use the truth or how to address those who despise it. Instruction is the passing of knowledge and wisdom to the next generation. Understanding is knowing more than just the facts but what is all involved with them, what is required for them to be true, and the implications of them.
Proverbs 23:23 tells us to buy the truth. How can something so precious be bought? It is not talking about a mere monetary value, because truth’s value cannot be measured. Instead it is talking about setting everything you have aside and getting this precious jewel. Jesus taught a parable about this idea. A man working in someone else’s field finds an invaluable jewel in the field. He buries it, sells everything he has, and then buys that field, knowing it has the treasure that is more valuable than anything he owned prior combined.
Truth is to be bought, but it is not to be sold. Isn’t that a contradiction? Doesn’t buying something mean the other person is selling it? Again, that only applies if you are talking monetarily, which this verse is not. Peter faced the idea of selling Truth. In Acts 8, God was moving extensively throughout Jerusalem in establishing the church, and a man named Simon Bar-Jesus (not the same Jesus as our Messiah), wanted to buy the Holy Spirit. He didn’t really want the Holy Spirit but the power and reputation that was coming with it. He wanted in on the fun. Peter got into his face and cursed him, “Your money perish with you.” Simon immediately repented, but the point stands. He sought to buy the power, but not the Truth.
When we have the Truth, we don’t charge for giving it. We don’t ask for favors in return. It was offered freely to us and we should give it freely. While I could classify myself as a newbie on the speaking platform (I have several conferences under my belt, but I am not a regular speaker), I decided early on that I would never charge any church or group any honorarium for speaking at their event. I would need the group to only cover transportation costs if necessary, and if they wanted to give me a love offering, that is another issue. But I would never ask for money to speak, nor would I expect a love offering for my financial support in these endeavors. While I am to seek and buy whatever it takes to get truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding, I am never to sell it as though it was something I should ever part with for selfish gain.
What makes Truth so precious? As I mentioned above, it is often described as a person. Proverbs 1-9 describes wisdom as one which protects, preserves, guides, comforts, and stops evil and temptations. There is someone who fits that description: God. When we seek Truth and Wisdom, we are actually seeking God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” [emphasis mine]. He doesn’t merely have Truth. He is Truth. He is the standard.
It is worth noting here that this proverb does not talk about knowledge that should be pursued. It is not talking about “go get an education.” There are many “educated” people today who do not know a thing. We have many high school graduates who can’t even read because they were passed on through the grades and given “participation grades” instead of having to work. I have met some PhDs whom I wonder how they even passed the college entrance exams. Now, don’t read what I am not saying. I am not saying to never go to school. I am saying that school can only offer you knowledge which may be true or may be false. It does not offer truth nor wisdom nor true instruction, nor understanding. It offers what you need to do a job according to worldly standards and frequently it is only enough to do the job, not enough to think on your own, and especially not enough to question the system. Knowledge puffs up and makes one proud. Wisdom and truth, however, should make us humble, knowing that the only real knowledge is a gift from God, not a product of our own work. But like muscles, for us to be able to use wisdom and truth, they have to be used and practiced.
God offers His Truth freely to any and all who seek Him. If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask. But you need to ask the correct source. The only correct source is God. When we pursue Truth, we are pursing God. This is why partial science will lead us away from God into secular humanism and naturalism, but following true science will lead us to the One True God. The more one truly studies ALL of science holistically, without abandoning the basics, the more he will discover the One True God was there all along. The famous proverb of all the world’s scientists and experts climbing the mountain of knowledge is still true. When they reach the top, they will find a group of Biblical theologians who have been camped there for centuries. You will never find Truth without finding God with it; and if you despise God, you will never find Truth, because you will show to hate the Truth and lash out against anyone who speaks it.
The Truth of God is open and available to any who wants it. He does not offer it via a private revelation that only one person can access. He does not share all His “secrets” with every person, but with those He is most intimate with; however, every one of us has the opportunity to be that intimate with God. We are as close to God as we want to be. We have to make the effort to work with God and let Him do His recreative and sanctifying work in us. But everything God offers is available to those willing to put in the effort to go get it (again, it is a gift, not a wage-earning work). Buy the Truth. Pursue God with everything you have and you will get Him, and you will never be disappointed in Him.
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If you have been a supporter or follower of the ministry of Worldview Warriors in the past, I would like to thank you for all of the support and trust you have in us. I so appreciate it.
Today, I want to address a question we have received in the past from many of you about the direction of Worldview Warriors in encouraging and equipping the saints to impact this generation. Our primary focus is still 14- to 24-year-old students. As I have shared, we realize that our ministry is to parents and grandparents of these students as well.
Attempting to equip students is great, but if in the process of equipping students to impact this generation for Jesus Christ we lose their parents and grandparents in the process, then really how effective was this effort? We ask this question because God has set into place the family unit as one man and one woman to raise up their own children to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to live out God’s wonderful ways in the real world.
So, with that in mind, we are going to continue to do what we have been doing, and we also are getting into the publishing world this year. Believe it or not, not everyone is not on the internet. Though we do have a very strong online presence, we have chosen to start publishing books to hopefully expand our presence even more, to continue equipping not only students but their parents and grandparents as well.
The following are three books that are scheduled to be released on Monday, January 28, 2019.
Our first book is What The Bible Says About… by Katie Erickson. Have you ever wondered what the Bible says on a certain topic? Wonder no more! This book contains Bible passages and explanations on what the Bible says regarding more than 50 different topics! Some topics include what the Bible says about heaven, hell, addictions, miracles, authority, and more. Each topic’s discussion is laid out in a systematic manner, including some personal stories and examples from the author. Be encouraged to dig into God’s Word more as you find out what the Bible says on all these topics.
Our second book is Biblical Foundations by C.A. Wolcott, known to our regular readers as Charlie. What is Christianity? What does it mean to be a Christian? How can we live out this faith in practical ways in our everyday lives? Why should we believe or follow Christianity? What makes Christianity true? Through these 60 studies, C.A. Wolcott answers these questions from various angles, giving solid reasons why we can trust the Bible, why Christianity is indeed the only true religion, and how we can live out this life beyond religious church services.
Lastly, but not least, our third book is Heroes of the Faith by Logan Ames. “I AM who I AM.” That is the name by which God identified himself to Moses when he spoke through a burning bush. Can we take part in some of the extraordinary things that God is doing in the world today just like those men and women did during their days? You better believe it! As you read about these heroes, you will find strength and hope that you too can be part of the miraculous work of God even when the odds seem insurmountable.
These three resources will be available on our website, and you can like our Worldview Warriors Publishing Facebook page for all the news on these books as well. We are excited to see where God leads in this new endeavor.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
It is common today to hear Supreme Court opinions referred to as “settled law,” but is that really what they are? Of course, most of those reading this would say that the Supreme Court does not have the power to make law, but does the Court have the power to determine which interpretation of the law everyone must follow? This interpretation of the law by the Supreme Court is what is often meant when people use the term “settled law,” but that term is a complete misnomer.
The term “settled law” is actually a carryover from British courts at the time of the Revolution, and it was used primarily as a reference to those portions of the common law which had been adjudicated in the courts. This usage can be seen in the 1874 edition of the Albany Law Journal which contains this statement:
“Though the common law of England at the time of the revolution was adopted by us, none but the plainest principles were considered to be settled law until passed upon by the courts.”
This demonstrates that the concept of settled law is a part of the branch of law known as common law, but what does that tell us about the use of this term in the context of the Supreme Court in America?
Quite simply, it tells us that Supreme Court opinions do not establish settled law. Why not? Only the states can determine what is and what is not part of the common law. The federal government does not have a common law; it only has statutory law. This was expressly stated by the Supreme Court itself in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins where the Court declared unequivocally:
“There is no federal general common law. Congress has no power to declare substantive rules of common law applicable in a State, whether they be local in their nature or ‘general,’ be they commercial law or a part of the law of torts. And no clause in the Constitution purports to confer such a power upon the federal courts.”
The concept of settled law has no application to federal laws because the federal government does not have any common law to be settled by the courts. Only the states can have settled law within their various common law jurisdictions. To speak of settled law on a federal level is literally nonsense.
But if Supreme Court opinions do not establish settled laws, what exactly do they do?
Again, the answer is very simple. Supreme Court opinions tell the parties to a particular case (the plaintiffs and the defendants) how the law applies to their particular situation. That’s it. The Court has no power to give its rulings any greater influence than that. Each individual determination by the Court applies only to the particular situation and to the particular parties that were before the Court at the time that they gave their opinion.
In support of this conclusion, the Supreme Court itself declared in Martin v. Wilks that:
“A judgment or decree among parties to a lawsuit resolves issues as among them, but it does not conclude the rights of strangers to those proceedings.”
And in Hansberry v. Lee, the Court said:
“It is a principle of general application in Anglo-American jurisprudence that one is not bound by a judgment in personam in a litigation in which he is not designated as a party or to which he has not been made a party by service of process. A judgment rendered in such circumstances is not entitled to the full faith and credit which the Constitution and statute of the United States prescribe; and judicial action enforcing it against the person or property of the absent party is not that due process which the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments require.”
And in Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, the Court proclaimed that:
“It is a violation of due process for a judgment to be binding on a litigant who was not a party or a privy and therefore has never had an opportunity to be heard.”
There are many additional cases which could be cited as well. Over and over and over again, our Supreme Court has recognized that the lack of a federal common law prevents the Court from establishing settled law and that no opinion from the Court is binding on anyone other than those who were given an opportunity to defend themselves before the Court. Though many people still refer to Court opinions as “settled law,” the simple fact remains that the Supreme Court has no lawmaking power because we have no common law on the federal level of our government.
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The topic of science and the Bible, and the agreement or disagreement between the two, often comes up in the context of the origins debate of creation vs. evolution. I’ll leave that discussion to our blog writers who are much more experienced and knowledgeable in it, but I will take a look at what the Bible says about science.
First of all, what is science? While there are lots of areas to science, simply put it is observing, studying, experimenting, and learning about the world around us and how it works. Today we have biology, chemistry, physics, etc., but these were all named long after the Bible was written, so there is no direct mention in the Bible of science. But the Bible still talks about the concepts of science.
There are many passages in the Bible where we see the writers observing God’s creation. Psalm 111:2 says, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.” Psalm 19:1-6 tells of the wonders God has created in this world for us to observe: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.”
The Bible also has passages that refer to scientific concepts that we have since proven to be true. For example, Isaiah 40:22 indicates that the earth is round, Job 26:7 tells how the earth seems to float in space, Ecclesiastes 1:6 tells about wind currents, and Psalm 8:8 and Isaiah 43:16 indicate that there are currents in the sea.
The Bible has a lot to say about knowledge, and science is really just the search for more knowledge regarding how our world works. We know that God has all knowledge, and as we seek out God we will be seeking more knowledge of Him and of how our world works. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” Colossians 2:2-3 says, “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Job 38-40 tells about all the mysteries of God’s creation that mankind will likely never know.
King Solomon ponders the idea of science and knowledge in Ecclesiastes 1:13-17: “I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, ‘Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.’ Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.”
The Bible is not a science textbook; it is a book that tells us all about the God who created science and everything that we can observe and even many things we can’t yet observe. We humans are curious by nature, so we’ll continue seeking out answers to the mysteries of this world. But more importantly, seek out a relationship with the Creator who made it!
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Last week I wrote about Rene Descartes’ foundationalism. He began with an awareness of his own consciousness and rationalized all of his beliefs on that basis. He reckoned that all of his beliefs could be held without the shadow of a doubt, including his belief in God, as long as they were justified along these lines.
The level of indubitability that Descartes was looking for was impractical because the skepticism that arose in response to him proved that one can always be skeptical of anything, no matter how well-founded is the belief. An endless litany of “But what if it wasn’t though?” could always follow whatever belief someone had, even Descartes’ famous line: “I think therefore, I am.” The skeptics became a very popular school of thought.
Many philosophers, like Kant, began to address this skepticism but really only made matters worse. Kant suggested that there were two worlds: the material world (phenomena) which we could perceive with our five senses and could be measured and observed, and that which lies beyond perception (noumena), which cannot be measured or observed. This is the spiritual world, basically.
For Kant, the material world could be known and therefore the data concerning it could be called knowledge. The spiritual world could not be known (in Kant’s opinion) except through subjective experiences and therefore could only ever be “belief” but never “knowledge.” This separation between belief and knowledge remains today.
So according to Kant and those who follow him, one could never say, “We know that Jesus Christ rose from the dead,” because such a statement cannot be substantiated by material or physical evidence. Let me hasten to say that Kantians are in error even here. The resurrection of Jesus is a known historical fact. It has been substantiated by material, physical evidence. The resurrection of Jesus, therefore, constitutes knowledge not merely belief even by Kant’s less-than-ideal standards.
Kant believed that one could not know anything that belonged in the spiritual world with any degree of certainty; one could only ever guess. He also believed that no one could ever speak to us from the spiritual world and so we would never know anything about it. After all, he might have reasoned, when you ask the dead about the spiritual world they say nothing, so it must be nothing.
This thinking became the basis of reading the Bible with a hyper-critical point of view. In the opinion of the intellectuals that followed Kant, the Bible had to be demythologized, that is that all of the spiritual or supernatural accounts had to be reinterpreted with nothing supernatural admitted. Hence, neither Jesus nor anyone else could have performed miracles. He could have risen from the dead and neither will you when you die. Jesus was not born of a virgin, did not feed the five thousand, and did not heal a blind man. And on and on the hellish litany drones.
This way of reading the Bible bears several names even today among them: German higher-criticism, hyper-criticism, demythological reading, JDEP, etc. (You can look them up for fun sometime.) But the common denominator in all of these names is that the supernatural doesn’t exist and so the Bible had to be reinterpreted.
This kind of reading is actually foreign to Scripture. The Bible teaches that we can know what lies in the spiritual world and that we have had many voices speak to us from that side (see Hebrews 1:1) especially now that Jesus has come and spoken to us (Hebrews 1:2 plus the entirety of the New Testament). Nevertheless, this alien hermeneutic was imported into reading the Bible. These Germans (calling themselves the Academy) were actually reading the Bible to justify UNbelief. That is why it is an unfaithful reading of Scripture.
This hyper-criticism has destroyed the European church. It was imported to America in the early 1900’s through the mainline churches, most notably the Presbyterian Church. It has sterilized and destroyed that once-great center of Christianity along with much of the mainline denominations of the 20th century. Now it is at work among Evangelicals in many different ways but among them Progressive Christianity, the Emergent Church, Affirming Churches, etc.
The Bible is a supernatural book that teaches that God is there and that He can be known. He acts in supernatural ways both in the past and still today. A system of belief that denies this fundamental truth is contrary to Scripture and foreign to true Christianity. But these unbelievers want to have a semblance of religion and so they play word games with the Bible, importing this alien interpretation to the Scripture and denying the Lord.
Hyper-criticism is a cult.
If you don’t believe me, read an account of a hyper-critical insider who happened to be born again and then subsequently left the Academy. You can find it here; be prepared, it is powerful.
If you are going to know God, you must begin by taking the Bible at face value. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). You will never have true knowledge of the spiritual world if you predetermine that it does not exist. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile” (Psalm 14:1).
We can talk more about this sometime, but for now, friend, reject any Bible teacher who denies that the Bible is truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Reject any Bible teacher that denies the supernatural or miracles. Reject teachers who say that this or that book is “non-historical” or that Paul didn’t write 2 Timothy, or that Moses didn’t write Genesis, etc. They don’t know, can’t know, but are driven by their personal unbelief. They would like you to also not believe the truth of the Bible, even while they pretend to be the Bible’s friend. They lie. They are apostates. They have wandered from the faith.
“For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 4).
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by Nathan Buck
After a long and struggling summer, some serious issues at work, health issues within our extended family, and then some doubt about our vacation even happening, we finally got the “all clear” to go. It was amazing. Everything we looked forward to was just perfect, and we UNWOUND.
I am sad to say that when we returned, it only took 48 hours for me to be completely WOUND again. Just that quick, on the heels of an amazing time of relaxation, I was stressed out. It was hard for me to see the way forward, especially since I let the horizontal struggles sweep me back off my bearings.
What are some simple principles that can help us move forward, to grow and to go the way God wants, moving forward in the horizontal, without losing sight of the vertical? This sounds like it should be easy. But there are plenty of things that can lead us off course, and most of them need to be handled FIRST in our mind, before we lose our way.
Read 2 Timothy 4:1-2. Paul is encouraging a young leader in the Lord and giving Him guidelines to stay on course. Those guidelines are just as relevant to us today as they were to Timothy then.
Paul starts this chapter saying that he “solemnly charges” Timothy in regards to His purpose and calling. The Greek words Paul uses for “solemnly charges” mean to testify or give witness like in a court case. In other words, this is important, and it has the weight of life, death, and eternity connected to it.
What does he charge Timothy with? To be ready in season and out of season, to preach the Word of God. Do you know that we are all supposed to do this? If we believe what the Bible teaches that we are all ministers of the good news of Jesus, if we believe we are the priesthood of all believers, then we all share in this charge to preach. Maybe not on a platform or to audiences, but in and out of season. So, ALWAYS and EVERYWHERE.
In order to preach the Word, you have to know the Word. In order to know the Word, we have to learn the Word. So, what is the best way to learn? Check out these statistics in regard to learning. People remember:
10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
50% of what they see and hear
70% of what they discuss with others
80% of what they personally experience
But there is one more method that causes us to remember and learn better than all these. In fact, it has a whopping 95% retention by those who absorb and assimilate knowledge this way. Maximum learning comes from TEACHING OTHERS!
When we break something down and help someone else learn it, we actually improve our own abilities exponentially. Children who take on their own student actually learn faster and become stronger at whatever they are learning, because they are engaging every aspect of what it takes to grow and mature in their own abilities – at the same time they are helping someone else develop theirs. The same is true of our faith.
Knowing God is the most important aspect of your life and the most significant relationship you have. Are you passionately seeking to understand His Word, so that you can live and share His teachings and promises? Who are you learning from, and who are you teaching? Are you ready to preach in season and out of season? If not, who will you partner with for your learning and development? Who will you teach in order to galvanize and refine your own learning? Will you make the time to do so in regards to your faith?
The way forward starts with a solid understanding of our VERTICAL bearings and intentional growth and teaching from God's Word to keep us from being overrun and burnt out by the ways of the world.
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Aldous Huxley wrote his most popular book The Brave New World in 1931. It was a dystopian look at a possible future in which the world is entirely managed by central planning. Last week I reminded you, constant reader, of Orwell’s 1984 and the stark similarities to modern life, but this week I want to reacquaint you with Huxley’s work.
If you recall, Huxley’s BNW was set the year 632 AF (after Ford) and controlled by Mustapha Mond as the World Controller. The world is subdivided into 5 classes: idiots called Epsilons, next Deltas, Gammas, Betas, Alphas. Each person is hatched in a test tube and is genetically engineered for maximum efficiency. The lower classes are “produced” to be hardy against the environment, they are strong for menial labor, and they are kept stupid enough to not want “higher” attainment. They are completely controlled through the use of recreational sex and drugs. The higher classes are more intelligent and they are suited for white collar work.
There is no sickness in this society. Everyone is perfectly happy. As the character of Mustapha Mond described the World Society:
"The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get. They’re well off; they’re safe; they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers they feel strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave.”
This description sounds chillingly like the Cardinal Principles document produced by the NEA Report in 1918, which has remained the ideology of public education from then until now. The methodology has changed wildly since 1918, but the ideology has remained constant: the production of a stable and contented populace.
One of the complaints of this Report according to Frances Fitzgerald, who studied American textbooks as part of her work America Revised, is that the older educational standard was too high and that it led “boys and girls away from pursuits for which they are adapted,” assumedly toward pursuits that the NEA did not feel boys and girls were “adapted” such as entrepreneurialism, invention, or other “white collar” work. Fitzgerald shows that the Report of ’17 called for a reorientation from history toward “social studies.” We need look no further than the destruction of southern monuments to realize that this principle has been fully realized today. There is a disregard for actual history, in preference for a sterilized social justice revisionist history.
Fitzgerald further indicts modern textbooks by looking for a uniting “ideology behind the texts.” She concludes that they do not convey history but rather present “a catechism… of American socialist realism.”
John Gatto quotes Fitzgerald’s work in his own book: “More than once she notes ‘actual hostility to the notion of intellectual training.’ Passion, in partnership with impatience for debate.” We need look no further than the modern university campus to see the fruit of passion plus impatience for debate. Speakers are routinely shouted down or harmed on American campuses. This is not because they are millennials; it is because they are the product of a multi-billion-dollar indoctrination regime that is an almost universal cradle-to-grave educational system controlled by the NEA and their Cardinal Principles. This is why we have to think of it as a “new brand of salvation,” that humanity can manage itself to a higher form of social life. Next stop—socialism unhindered by dissenters, “a socialism so good it’s mandatory.”
The idea is that “correctly managed mass schooling would result in a population so dependent on leaders that schism and revolution would be things of the past. . . No more wars, no civil disputes.” Just happy shiny idiots collecting stamps and laughing riotously anytime someone hits his head on a doorway. For proof, one need look no further than one’s own internal reaction to the government-by-manipulation on display at every facet of modern life. Don’t want to wear a seatbelt even if you are the only one in the car? Here’s your fine. Don’t want to bake a cake for people you don’t agree with? Here is a fine so large you’ll no longer be in business. On and on and on. From the DMV to the Veteran’s Hospital, we Americans have become all too familiar with government meddling in everyday life.
According to Fitzgerald’s findings, American textbooks are deliberately dumbing us down, numbing our minds to the upsetting realities in the world, simplifying us to pull our levers and pay our taxes and leave the thinking for the Alphas.
As Mustapha quipped, “’Just to give you a general idea,’ he would explain to them. For of course some sort of general idea they must have, if they were to do their work intelligently—though as little of one, if they were to be good and happy members of society, as possible.”
In conclusion, Gatto writes:
“The appearance of Cardinal Principles signaled the triumph of forces which had been working since the 1890’s to break the hold of complex reading, debate, and writing as the common heritage of children reared in America. Like the resourcefulness and rigors of character that small farming conveyed, complex and active literacy produces a kind of character antagonistic to hierarchical, expert-driven, class-based society. As the nature of American society was moved deliberately in this direction, forges upon which a different kind of American had been hammered were eliminated. We see this process nearly complete in the presentation of Cardinal Principles.”
In short, critical thinking had to go. One needs only look around to see that this fruit has long ago set. America is plunging into intellectual chaos. College students are demanding to be enslaved with socialism and refuse to exit the echo chamber.
Christians, I have endeavored to display that the government schools are an ill-fit for your child for more reasons than that they teach evolution and don’t have explicit moments of prayer. They are diseased with humanism to the very core—producing venomous fruit. Even when public institutions taught creationism and had prayer, they were still training students not to think, all the while placating unsuspecting Christian parents that all is well.
Americans worship one god really: government. We learned it in the religious school of secular humanism we were forced to attend. The twin values, ordinances if you will, of this American religion are personal security and affluence. We Christians must reorient around our Lord, Jesus Christ. We must orient in His kingdom, which is not of this world even though our message of the gospel is for this world. We are in the world, but not of the world. We love the world because God loves it. We attempt the reconciliation of God and world. If you feel no pressure to conform to the world and its standard, perhaps it is because you have already done so. Romans 12:1-2 is for you.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
