The Need for Christian Education

Douglas Groothuis

Many arguments are marshaled against Christian schools and Christian home-schooling. Those, such as myself, who categorically reject state (public) education as insufficiently Christian, inefficient, and inherently unfair are, in for some lively debates. The objections raised must be met.

Objection #1. “If you send your children to Christian schools they’ll be in a sheltered, hot-house environment and will be isolated from the ‘real world.’ ”

Non-Christian education is what shields a child from the “real world,” the world God created and the world God speaks of in the Bible. Education ungrounded in God’s truth from beginning to end is necessarily poisoned with un-reality. Christian children should be exposed to non-Christian thinking later in their education through a thorough grasp of Christian apologetics (the defense of the faith). Biblical truth must be instilled before error is confronted.

Objection #2. “You should send your children to public schools to evangelize other children and teachers.” Soldiers are not sent into battle immediately after being drafted. They require training in the skills of combat. Thus so with Christian children. The young are not equipped to adequately counteract the entrenched secularism of the public schools. Those in the state schools can be evangelized in other contexts.

Objection #3. “Christian parents can debrief their children after school to counteract the non-Christian thinking.” This could be called “anorexic education.” The child is gorged with secularism seven or eight hours a day and then coaxed to vomit it up after school. If Christian education was pursued such extremes could be avoided. It is also questionable how effective such a method can be. Can a few hours a week of discussion really neutralize the teaching of an entire week? While an antidote may neutralize the effects of a poison somewhat, the best course is to avoid the poison to begin with.

Objection #4. “We must improve our public schools.” These are really “state schools.” We must here squarely face a neglected dilemma. “Public” education supposedly belongs to everyone. We all pay for it through taxes; we all have access to it; we all must send our children there (compulsory attendance laws) or to an “approved” alternative. Yet how can public school curriculum fairly represent all those who finance it? How can it become “all things to all people” It cannot. All education proceeds according to its worldview. Facts and values cannot be separated. Education is not ideologically neutral. Eliminating “sectarianism” (specifically Christian ideas) from state education certainly will not fumigate the schools of religion. The religion of Secular Humanism will simply take its place. A look at the history of state education will show that its instigators, by and large, were far from Christian. This is especially the case with Robert Owen (atheist socialist), Horace Mann (Unitarian), and John Dewey (atheist socialist). Their goals have been implemented and are deeply engrained at every level. On this, see Rousas John Rushdoony, The Messianic Character of American Education.

Equal access for Christian ideas in the state schools (such as Intelligent Design) should be viewed as an emergency measure, not a final solution.

Objection #5. “But the public schools are free.” No, they are not. We pay a high price of taxation (whether we use them or not). Because of the inefficiencies of statist bureaucracy, private (free) education is more cost-efficient. No culture can afford to subscribe to secularism (see Proverbs 8:36).

Objection #6. “But how many people can afford Christian education?” This is a difficult matter. But we must think according to biblical principles first and foremost. It’s been said that Christians cannot afford not to send their children to Christian schools. They must not relinquish their children to institutionalized error about the things that matter most. Financially, sacrifices might need to be made. The church should band together in this, sharing her resources. Tithing and giving must be applied to this end. In the long run, if state education is dismantled—or even if an voucher system was put in place—more money would be available for private education.

Objection #7. “But so many Christian schools are unaccredited.” This may be so. But who is the ultimate accreditor, Jesus Christ or human institutions? We must work to build a Christian counter-culture not dependent on the recognition of the non-Christian world. But this counter-culture should advance the kingdom into every area and so become the dominant culture over time. We are not there yet. Yet we should not sell our educational souls for the sake of accreditation. We must not be “unequally yoked” to apostate curriculum.

Objection #8. “We’ve had some bad experiences with Christian education.” Undoubtedly, many have had this happen. We also have “bad experiences” with poor preaching, bad meals, and irritating relatives. But this doesn’t lead us to condemn preaching as such, give up eating, or hate our family members. You are either part of the problem or the solution. If you jettison Christian education because of a few bad experiences you are definitely part of the problem. You are also illogical. A few bad experiences cannot be universalized to apply to all Christian education. Furthermore, bad Christian education is better than good State education. State education (see #4) is beyond reform in principle.

Objection #9. “It’s too late. How can we change it all now?” Some thought it too late to deal with the institution of slavery. But it was not. Christian ethics is governed by truth, not expediency. Our culture gives us the context for our ethical deliberation and action but it should not determine them. If it does, we have been conformed to the world (Romans 12:1, 2; 1 John 2:15-17). We must expand our Christian vision, not give in to the circumstances.

Objection #10. “If we disestablish public education, many will not be educated.” We forget that mandatory, State education is not as old as America. We did well without it for a good long time. And state education today is not doing a sterling job of decreasing illiteracy as is. Education should gradually be returned to the family and the church, instead of being monopolized by the State. Christians must also open their Christian schools to those who cannot afford to go elsewhere. This is a long-term, gradual solution. We need the fortitude and patience that only the Holy Spirit gives to be successful over time.

Recommended Reading:

1.      Blumenfeld, Samuel. Is Public Education Necessary? (Old Greenwich: The Devin-Adair Company, 1981), 263 pages. A scholarly and cogent treatment of the development of public education. Dissipates a score of popular misconceptions. Excellent.

2.      Gato, John Taylor, Weapons of Mass Instruction A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling (New Society Publishers, 2010.

3.      Kienel, Paul A. The Christian School: Why It Is Right for Your Child (Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1974), 131 pages. Short, but cogent.

4.      LaHaye, Tim. The Battle for the Public Schools (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revel, 1983), 283 pages. LaHaye is sometimes simplistic, but he exposes just what is happening in the State schools and what can be done about it.

5.      Rushdoony, Rousas John. The Messianic Character of American Education (Ross House books, reprint, 1995.)

This goes in the regular mail tomorrow:

Dear Boulder Atheists:

I asked Denver Atheists and Freethinkers to have me speak to their group in a Q&A session. They declined.

Please consider having me speak to your group for no fee. There will be no lecture, nothing sold, and no sign up sheet. I simply would like to have a civil discussion.

Best,
Doug Groothuis, Denver Seminary

Remember, or Perish

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Young Voters, Unite and Loose Your Ignorance

Young voter, please consider:

1. You were emotionally manipulated to vote for Obama. Most of you did not know the issues and did not understand Obama's ideology: far left, anti-colonialist, anti-American exceptionalism.
2. You were won over by an almost entirely pro-Obama mainstream media. You did not seek out alternative views.
3. You loved the "hope" theme; but you should now see that long-term unemployment, fantastic debt, an expanding federal government intent on taking away your freedoms (particularly economic and religious freedom), and Obama's inability to protect our troops abroad, has shattered the dream of hope.
4. Mitt Romney may not be as "cool" (in postmodern, debased ways) as Obama. Get over it. What counts are:

(a) Character. The man has donated all his pay for holding office back the government he served. He does not seal most of his past, as does Obama.

(b) Track record: Romney saved the Olympics, got bipartisan support in MA and is a successful businessman: meaning he created thousands of jobs.

(c) Political Philosophy: Romney is far more American (in the best way) than Obama, who is anti-American. He supports our founding ideals, found in the Declaration and Constitution. Read them some time. 75% of college grades cannot explain the purpose of the First Amendment. That is part of the reason they voted for Obama.

I could go on, but I urge you, I implore you, to not just sit out the vote, but to vote for Romney-Ryan. If you like youth and hope combined, look to Paul Ryan: a brilliant and knowledgeable, and honorable man.

From Romney Facebook

Let's take a lesson from Barack Obama. This is what he wrote his millions of email recipients, today: "This election will come down to one thing: how many folks get out there and vote. It's that simple.
Today, I'm meeting up with a neighbor and heading to the polls in my hometown of Chicago. Will you join me? No reason to wait for November 6th in Ohio. Confirm your early vote polling place, vote with me today, and yes, bring a friend with you." 
Okay, Barack, finally a good idea. But we're voting for Mitt Romney and the whole conservative slate because we want our country back!

Logos Prayer, inspired by St. Patrick

Prayer (John 1:1-18)

Logos above me,
Logos within me,
Logos behind me,
Logos ahead of me,
Logos beyond me.
Logos before creation,
Logos in creation,
Logos unto the Eschaton.
Logos forever.

Thank you, Logos.

Apologetics at Denver Seminary

Denver Seminary offers a 10-hour Certificate of Completion in Christian Apologetics. Please consider taking this, if you do not want the full two-year degree.

Health Care Exchanges

HEALTH CARE EXCHANGES: THE WORST IDEA YOU NEVER HEARD OF By Eric Novack Danger ahead: with the passage of President Obama's health care law by Congress in 2010 and the affirmation of its constitutionality by the Supreme Court in 2012, our country is on track for a health care system that combines the spending indiscipline of the Pentagon with the utter unaccountability of our public schools. Such will be the legacy of the sadly misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), barring a political U-turn in the future. Fortunately, that can occur. We still have an opportunity to get it right—but this will require Americans to see past the smokescreen put up by subsidy-seeking special interests and look carefully at actual policies and their impact. Obama Promised but Didn't Deliver Remember the landscape before PPACA was enacted? For millions of our fellow citizens, access to quality health care had long been a problem. The cost of health care was a huge issue for everyone. And politicians' promises about the future of Medicare and Medicaid were becoming ever more empty. So when Barack Obama pledged to make reforms that would address these exact issues, an overwhelming majority cheered. What the president delivered, however, is a series of policies that will demonstrably make access worse, especially for the needy; that will make costs skyrocket for families while enriching special interests from insurance companies to hospitals; that will imperil Medicare's and Medicaid's very existence; and that will place health care decisions that rightly belong to patients and families in the hands of politicians and their pals. Thanks for nothing. The hated individual-mandate provision is the best known of PPACA's many bad features. But perhaps the most insidious of the law's provisions is the creation of health insurance exchanges as a state-by-state “marketplace” for purchasing insurance. It will place control over massive flows of federal, state, and personal dollars in the hands of a few corporations with minimal oversight and accountability. This is why the insurance industry, hospital associations, state and regional chambers of commerce, and other “pro-business” groups avidly support the exchanges—and have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to convincing state legislators and governors that somehow this is a free-market solution for health care. It's nothing of the kind. Faux Markets, not Free Markets In the coming decade, insurance companies, along with hospital corporations functioning as insurance companies, stand to get $800 billion in taxpayer subsidies to sell policies through exchanges. That's according to the Congressional Budget Office. But a more accurate ten-year price tag, since the program is not slated to begin until 2014 and takes several years to ramp up, may approach $2 trillion. In some states the amount of money flowing through the exchanges each year will rapidly become larger than the entire state budget. As this happens, since dollars translate directly into political power, the companies whose representatives legally hold majority (or even super-majority) control over the oversight boards of the exchanges will, for practical purposes, rule the state. Once entrenched, these exchanges with their vast control over rulemaking—including access to care, creation of new health care facilities, and the stifling of competition—will be nearly impossible to displace. The subsidies are attached to patients and families, who will be treated (as they increasingly are already) as commodities worth government funds rather than, well, patients. But it gets worse because, stunningly, the enormous sums being thrown at insurance and hospital companies will not even be close to enough. Economist Austin Frakt, writing on Ezra Klein's liberalWashington Post blog, noted that the subsidies may be much lower than expected in terms of total insurance costs, and that many children may not be eligible for subsidies. Paying More for Less Under PPACA, after 2018, the subsidies allowed will be below the projected rate of rising health care costs. When this intentional shortfall is added to Obamacare's 18 different tax increases (not including the individual mandate, now judicially certified as a tax in itself), the result will be that American families will be paying even more, for less. States that are moving forward to establish the exchanges as called for are already spending billions of federal dollars just to help begin implementing the complex bureaucracy and even more complex technology platform that will be required. Not only must policymakers integrate what is, in many states, a completely outdated Medicaid computer system with the exchanges, but the technology platform must also have the ability to collect and analyze eligibility data and then transmit that data to the federal government. That's because the IRS will need access to all the data from each state in order to advise the exchanges how much of a subsidy is available for insurance companies to buy down the cost of coverage for policyholders. This past August, President Obama's Department of Health and Human Services handed out another nearly $900 million to eight states working on implementation of their exchanges. California recently signed a $360 million contract with a company to help them just get an exchange up and running. Massachusetts spends over $30 million per year on administrative costs for their exchange. The kicker: due to administrative costs, an identical policy will be more expensive when purchased through an exchange than from outside. Even before the exchanges begin, new insurance broker fees and other hidden taxes are being piled on families and businesses. Lobbyists on the March Interest groups have deployed lobbyists to every crevice of state legislatures and governors' suites, peddling the poll-tested language of “free-market reforms,” “state-based control,” “keep power away from Washington,” and “won't our state do a better job of making decisions for our residents than politicians in D.C.?” What they fail to reveal is that—in spite of everything—states will have little control over the fundamental rules under which the health insurance exchanges function. State legislators and governors must have very short memories if they forget that Medicaid was supposed to be a state-based program too—but now states must go hat in hand to Washington, when controlled by either party, to make even minor changes to their Medicaid programs. If that is not enough, the checklist for states to comply with the exchange rules runs 27 pages long, with many tasks being so vaguely defined as to make it nearly impossible to know in advance if time and money spent will be adequate. Resistance by States Could Stymie Feds But here's a ray of hope: states that resist the lobbying onslaught and refuse to begin establishing these puppet exchanges may be taking a large step toward blocking PPACA's implementation, period. You see, the law does not appear to give a federal exchange the authority to offer subsidies to insurers, without which the whole scheme would collapse. While the administration will try to laugh this out of court, no one can predict how judges will rule. Scoffers should recall that litigation against the individual mandate and the Medicaid mandate was also deemed hopeless not long ago. We the people and our elected state legislators should just say no to these market-fixing, government-created, and ultimately government- and corporate-crony-controlled health insurance exchanges. This is a top priority for every American who believes that the Obama's health care law has put us on the wrong path—everyone who wants decisions made by patients and families, not politicians and their pals. Cronyism and collectivism, to which both parties unfortunately are susceptible, must not go unopposed. Let's raise our voices accordingly.

Eric Novack (M.D., University of California) practices as an orthopedic surgeon in Phoenix and is chairman of the U.S. Healthcare Freedom Coalition. This essay is adapted from his speech at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver on June 29, 2012. Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation. By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizenship, and renew the spirit of 1776.

CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call  800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at www.CentennialCCU.org. Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial donor, you can help us restore America's moral core and prepare tomorrow's leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the envelope provided. Thank you for your support. - John Andrews, Director

John Andrews is the director of the Centennial Institute and a former president of the Colorado Senate.

Truth

Facts on the ground: Election 2012.

1. Obama cannot run on his record; it is awful. People are waking up to this.
2. His ads are unfair and take Romney out of context.
3. He relies on nonsense mantra such as "you want the rich to play by a different set of rules." He never, ever explains what this means, because it is nothing but baseless class envy.
4. The major media are biased toward Obama, even the debate moderators. Notice this, please.
5. No Christian should vote for Obama. He is against religious liberty (the HHS mandate), against the unborn (tax-payer support for abortion), he does not know how to manage money: consider the debt. The Bible says, "The borrower is the slave to the lender." Do we want to be slaves to communist China?
6. Obama is not on the side of the poor. He wants to spread money around through the state. This does not empower people, but makes them dependent and fosters an entitlement mentality: the opposite of a biblical ethic.
7. His vice president (one breath away from the presidency) is an abject buffoon and radically incompetent.
8. He does not protect Americans abroad in our own embassies.
9. He is gutting the military in an increasingly dangerous world. Our enemies understand strength. They will not change if we are "nice" to them. They lick their chops and lunge for more power over us.
10. Vote for Romney-Ryan. They believe in a saner approach to civil government; they will deal with the debt; they will cut spending; they will support the military; they will be far more pro-life than Obama, who is the most aggressively pro-abortion and infanticide president in our history.

Social Justice?

On the supposed social justice of the evangelical left.

“The chasm [between Islam and Christianity] cannot be bridged by rickety planks of compromise. Syncretism would be equivalent to surrender; for Islam thrives only by its denial of the authority of the Scriptures, the Deity of our Lord, the blessedness of the Holy Trinity, the cruciality and significance of the Cross, (nay, its very historicity) and the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ as King and Saviour. And this denial is accompanied by the assertion of the authority of another book, the Koran, the eclipse of Christ’s glory by another prophet, even Mohammed, and the substitution of another path to holiness and forgiveness than the way of the Cross. These denials and assertions are imbedded in the Koran and are the orthodox belief of ninety percent of the people. On every one of these points the true Moslem stands arrayed in armor against the missionary and the Truth, of which he is the custodian and preacher.” (Samuel Zwemer, “The Chasm” The Moslem World, vol. IX, no. 2/April 1919, pp. 112-113)

More Obama Nonsense (to put it nicely)

Obama: "Romney has a one-point plan: let the rich play by a different set of rules."

Groothuis: This is meaningless nonsense (on stilts). What could it mean? The "rich" live under the same Constitution and laws that everyone else does. The rich pay a higher percentage of tax than do lower income groups. They also pay more in absolute money than any other group. So what could Obama mean? It means nothing, nothing, nothing. Rather, it stokes class envy. The rich do not play by a different set of rules; rather, they play the rules in such a way as produce a different outcome from what many achieve: great wealth. But Obama thinks that if the rich are rich, they must have cheated. Why think that?

“I can tell you that if you were to elect President Obama, you know what you're going to get. You're going to get a repeat of the last four years. We just can't afford four more years like the last four years.” – Mitt Romney

Truth

Doug Groothuis

Thoughts on truth, inspired by Bertrand Russell

Any concept of truth that deems truth to be somehow dependent on our culture or our minds or wills makes truth into something that we (either collectively or individually) create and control. This is the case for all views of truth that abandon correspondence as the essence and meaning of truth. This disregard for reality encourages what Russell called “cosmic impiety.”

The concept of “truth” as something dependent upon facts largely outside human control has been one of the ways in which philosophy hitherto has inculcated the necessary element of humility. When this check is removed, a further step is taken on the road towards a certain kind of madness—the intoxication with power.[1]

Russell is on to something deep and rich—a truth about truth and untruth. When people untether themselves from any responsibility to get reality right, to be true to the truth come what may, they forfeit the humility of being beholden to a reality outside of themselves—a reality that may prove one right or prove one wrong, but which one does not command. One must rather obey—or disobey. Whether one is an atheist or a theist or anything else, cosmic piety means submission to the truth of reality, come what may.

---

1.      Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, p. 818.

Darwinism against science

The Darwinian paradigm, with its exorcism of intelligent causes, may in fact retard scientific pursuits in some areas. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Darwinists believed that much of DNA is “junk” (nonfunctional) because it is the remains of previously functioning DNA from earlier stages of evolution. This would fit the Darwinist model. However, one who believes the genetic code was designed, would have more incentive to scientifically investigate whether or not this DNA is truly junk, since the assumption would be that it probably serves some purpose. The same holds true for supposedly vestigial organs, as discussed in the previous chapter. As noted in the previous chapter, Darwinian anthropologists have repeatedly been too eager to confirm human evolution and have jumped to unreasonable conclusions. Moreover, a plethora of scientists have been fruitfully motivated to find design patterns in nature precisely because of their antecedent belief that some design was forthcoming.

Schaeffer on Nothing

We are considering existence, the fact that something is there. Remember Jean-Paul Sartre's statement that the basic philosophic question is that something is there rather than nothing being there. The first basic answer is that everything that exists has come out of absolutely nothing. In other words, you begin with nothing. Now, to hold this view, it must be absolutely nothing. It must be what I call nothing nothing. It cannot be nothing something or something nothing. If one is to accept this answer, it must be nothing nothing, which means there must be no energy, no mass, no motion, and no personality.

My description of nothing nothing runs like this. Suppose we had a very black blackboard which had never been used. On this blackboard we drew a circle, and inside that circle there was everything that was -- and there was nothing within the circle. Then we erase the circle. This is nothing nothing. You must not let anybody say he is giving an answer beginning with nothing and then really begin with something: energy, mass, motion, or personality. That would be something, and something is not nothing.

The truth is I have never heard this argument sustained, for it is unthinkable that all that now is has come out of utter nothing. But theoretically, that is the first possible answer.
(Francis A. Schaeffer, He Is There and He Is Not Silent, Ch. 1)

A Vote for Obama

Again:

A vote for Obama is a vote for:
1. Abortion on demand. 50,000,000 have already been killed.
2. Tax supported abortion. That means you.
3. Limiting the free exercise of religion, since O's secular laws will conflict with the religious conscience of many.
4. America being humiliated globally as he cuts the military. Think of the non-response to our embasasies being trashed and our people killed.
5. Huge, staggering debt, mortgaging our future and that of generations
6. State take-over of health care. This is worse for the poor and everyone else. Quality goes down, scarcity increases. The federal government is already broke.
7. A man of intense arrogance, a poor work ethics, and overweening pride as President.
8. More unemployment as the state increases power.
9. More people on food stamps, which encourages dependence and sloth.
10. Same-sex marriage as normative at all levels of life.
11. Rising energy costs as he pursues idiotic "green" solutions that solve nothing. Think: Solyndra.
12. I could go on. If so, how can you go to the voting booth and chose against America, goodness, and truth?

Groothuis on TV

I am interviewed for the last twenty minutes of this program on the questin, "Who is Jesus?"

A philosopher always has a concealed carry argument.

Duke and the Gals

I will be giving this talk for Christian for Biblical Equality on September 24 at the Executive Board Room of Denver Seminary. Lunch starts at 11:30.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D., DougGroothuis@gmail.com

Duke Ellington, The Ministry of Women,

and the Mission of God

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing—Duke Ellington.

I.                  The Story of SS

A.    Gifted young servant of God, teacher, pure heart

B.    But is a woman stepping into teaching roles at a seminary and the church, as well as at secular schools.

C.    Not received as she should be because she is a woman

II.              The Mission of God

A.    To make himself known to the world:

1.      John 1:1-5, 14, 18

2.      Matthew 28:18-20

B.    In order to be rightly worshiped as the one true God (Philippians 2:5-11)

C.    In order to restore shalom and expand his Kingdom in every area of life through the preaching and living of the Gospel (John 3:16-18; Romans 5:1-8)

III.          Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974)

A.    Duke’s philosophy of race and music

1.      Deserve respect by your playing of jazz and living

a.      Spend “time in the woodshed”

b.     Master your “chops”—alone and with others

c.      Improvisation (see Ted Gioia, The Imperfect Art)

d.     Have big ears (listen)

e.      See Harvey Cohen, Duke Ellington’s America (Oxford, 2011)

2.      He was articulate in music and in speaking

Example: “Afro-Eurasian Eclipse” (audio clip)

3.      Was patient in advancing jazz music and his race, but insistent

4.      He supported his other musicians and was a showman, but not a prima donna

a.      Always introduced his band affectionately and with respect

b.     Paul Gonsalves tenor saxophone solo at Newport Jazz Festival in 1958

IV.           Women in Ministry for the Mission of God

A.    The mission of God is primary (play jazz well), not women’s equality (demand recognition; or use of affirmative action)

1.      Time in the woodshed (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14)

2.      Master your chops (Malachi 2:7; Titus 2:7-8)

a.      Research, writing

b.     Speaking (1 Peter 4:11)

B.    Earn the right to be heard through excellence in research, writing, teaching, preaching, and living. See Andreas Kostenberger, Excellence (Crossway, 2011).  Kostenberger is a traditionalist, though.

C.    Be patient, but insistent

D.   Be a team player and support others in the cause (1 Corinthians 13)

Further Readings on Jazz, Women in Ministry, and the Mission of God

1.      Robert Gelinas, Finding the Groove: Finding a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan, 2009). See my review of this book at Denver Journal (2010) at: http://www.denverseminary.edu/article/finding-the-groove-composing-a-jazz-shaped-faith/

2.      Douglas Groothuis, On Jesus (Wadsworth, 2003), chapter seven, “Jesus’ View of Women.”

3.      Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, Women Caught in the Conflict (1994; Wipf and Stock reprint).

4.      Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, Good News for Women (Baker Books, 1997).

5.      Rebecca Merrill Groothuis and Ronald Pierce, eds., Discovering Biblical Equality (InterVarsity Press, 2004).

6.      Kevin Whitehead, What is Jazz? (Oxford, 2011).

7.      Christopher Wright, The Mission of God (InterVarsity Press, 2006).

8.      Christopher Wright, The Mission of God’s People (InterVarsity Press, 2010).

Another Obama Lie

American embassies are aflame around the globe, and Obama says this is not a sign of Islamic anti-Americanism. That is utterly and dangerously false.

Vote for Romney-Ryan--if you still respect America more than Islam.

From Huxley to Orwell

Years ago, I was arrested and provoked by a literary comparison made by the estimable social and media critic, Neil Postman. In the introduction to his seminal book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman compared two dystopic and well-known novels: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell. Postman claimed that we were then (1985) living in a kind of Huxlian world, a world in which the state need not legally enslave us or ban books or “flush things down the memory hole.” The last phrase comes from Orwell, whose nightmare scenario is that of totalitarianism: a boot stamping a human face forever. Postman convincingly argues in his inimitable clear, clever, and sober style that we are “amusing ourselves to death” through our infatuation with television and other technologies. These devices have an “ecological effect,” in changing our entire sensory environment—a point he develops in several books, including Technopoly.  The state need not impose its brutal will on willing slaves—those who refuse to think critically or understand history. These sheeple pose no threat. They are too diverted, too a-mused (which means “not thinking”).

For many years, I have agreed with Postman’s theory. But now, twenty-five years after first reading the book (and I have read it three times), I realize that our “brave new world” can easily become a “1984.” In other words, the Huxlian world of stupefied (but well-entertained, of course) drones provide the prelude to the total statism of Orwell’s nightmare. An energized and ideologically-directed politician is never content with the status quo. His political vision requires more: remaking the human in the image of the state. The previous stupefaction dismantled critical thinking, a knowledge of history, and a concern for truth (acedia). Now the sheeple can be penned in, totally directed, and redefined as “political animals” in the worst sense possible (and not Aristotle’s).

That, I suggest, is the state in which we find ourselves. Oblivion of one kind paves the way for oblivion of another kind. Or: stupefaction leads to statification—at least when the right man is in place. If Barack Obama wins a second turn, this will be our fate. May God have mercy

Wisdom from Schaeffer

“Christians must realize that there is a difference between being a cobelligerent and an ally. At times you will seem to be saying exactly the same thing as the New Left elite or the Establishment elite. If there is social injustice, say there is social injustice. If we need order, say we need order. In these cases, and at these specific points, we would be cobelligerents. But do not align yourself as though you are in either of these camps: You are an ally of neither. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is different from either – totally different.”

--The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century

Co-belligerency and the 2012 Election

Many Christians are unaware of the principle of co-belligerency in matters of public life. Briefly, it is based on two biblical principles: natural law (Rom. 2:14-5) and the commonweal (Jeremiah 19:7). This matters for this election and the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).

1. One does not need to be a Christian to discern basic principles of right and wrong. In fact, some non-Christians understand morality better than some Christians. This has nothing to do with salvation, but with moral knowledge, in politics and elsewhere.

2. The church is not the whole of life. Christians are citizens of heaven first, but also citizens of earth and put here to have dominion and be salt and light. We should seek the good of the city to which we are exiled, as Jeremiah put it.

3. Therefore, it is no sin for a Christian to vote for someone who is not a Christian, if that non-Christian has more moral and political knowledge than his opponent, and if he or she is more likely to contribute to the commonweal. Mitt Romney would not be Pastor-in-Chief, but Commander-in-Chief. His beliefs align with those of our Founders far better than our present President, who, in his own words wants to "fundamentally transform America"--meaning: undo the Constitution and cut America down to size. (See "2016: Obama's America" on this for a keen abductive argument that explains Obama to a "T".) Romney has experience in fixing dire problems, such as the Olympics and failing businesses. Obama has fixed nothing, but has exacerbated economic, moral, and military problems nearly beyond control.

4. Therefore: Vote for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and contribute to their campaign any way you can.

Economics 101

“It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today, and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the tax rates…. [A]n economy constrained by high tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance the budget, just as it will never create enough jobs or enough profits.” Democratic President, John F. Kennedy, 1963.

Friends, this is supply side economics. It works: Kennedy knew it; Reagan knew it. See also the Laffer curve for the details in economics.