Secularism's Cant and Its Insecurity
The secular state has clung to the notion that it is neutral toward all religions. Therefore, from the vantage point of neutrality, it can claim the modern secular state believes in religious freedom, liberty of conscience, and tolerance. It turns out that this is all a bunch of horse manure.
A moment's reflection would show that in order to promulgate the idea of religious toleration and freedom for all religions, the secular state has already decided that no religion is actually true; the only true truth is the secularist stance, which presupposes the ultimate irrelevance and untruth of all religions.
In one sense, the secular state is clearly neutral towards all fairy stories. Little Red Riding Hood compels no more loyalty from the State than, say, Cinderella. Why can the State argue for universal toleration towards all such children's fables and fairy stories? Because all such stories are equally untrue. They are fairy stories after all. In precisely the same manner, the secular state proclaims toleration and freedom for all religions.
Saturday, 21 May 2016
Friday, 20 May 2016
Indecent Exposure As a Human Right, Part II
Governed By Morons
If incoherence were beans, or cheese, or sour cream, or anything like that, Obama’s executive DECREE on bathrooms in government schools would be at least a nine-layer dip.
Incoherence, how do I not follow thee? Let me be unable to count the ways. There are too many. They come too fast. They are throwing them at my head now. Breathe, Wilson. Just do them one at a time.
First . . . no, wait. Better not say first. That’s counting.
Actually I can say first when just setting the stage. So first, I did actually read that dog’s breakfast of an “guidance” letter from the Justice Department. Here are the two quotes that kind of revealed to the watching world that the strongest nation in the world is now being governed by morons. But we cannot say this in a pejorative way, as though we had a right to look down on our rulers, because the only people dumber than morons are the people who allow themselves to be governed by morons.
Douglas Wilson on Obama's Enforced Trans-Genderism in Schools
Blog&MablogIf incoherence were beans, or cheese, or sour cream, or anything like that, Obama’s executive DECREE on bathrooms in government schools would be at least a nine-layer dip.
Incoherence, how do I not follow thee? Let me be unable to count the ways. There are too many. They come too fast. They are throwing them at my head now. Breathe, Wilson. Just do them one at a time.
First . . . no, wait. Better not say first. That’s counting.
Actually I can say first when just setting the stage. So first, I did actually read that dog’s breakfast of an “guidance” letter from the Justice Department. Here are the two quotes that kind of revealed to the watching world that the strongest nation in the world is now being governed by morons. But we cannot say this in a pejorative way, as though we had a right to look down on our rulers, because the only people dumber than morons are the people who allow themselves to be governed by morons.
Daily Devotional
Taken Out of Ourselves
And then one or other dies. And we think of this as love cut short; like a dance stopped in mid-career or a flower with its head unluckily snapped off—something truncated and therefore, lacking its due shape. I wonder. If, as I can’t help suspecting, the dead also feel the pains of separation then for both lovers, and for all pairs of lovers without exception, bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love.
It follows marriage as normally as marriage follows courtship or as autumn follows summer. It is not a truncation of the process but one of its phases; not the interruption of the dance, but the next figure. We are ‘taken out of ourselves’ by the loved one while she is here. Then comes the tragic figure of the dance in which we must learn to be still taken out of ourselves though the bodily presence is withdrawn, to love the very Her, and not fall back to loving our past, or our memory, or our sorrow, or our relief from sorrow, or our own love.
Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:
And then one or other dies. And we think of this as love cut short; like a dance stopped in mid-career or a flower with its head unluckily snapped off—something truncated and therefore, lacking its due shape. I wonder. If, as I can’t help suspecting, the dead also feel the pains of separation then for both lovers, and for all pairs of lovers without exception, bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love.
It follows marriage as normally as marriage follows courtship or as autumn follows summer. It is not a truncation of the process but one of its phases; not the interruption of the dance, but the next figure. We are ‘taken out of ourselves’ by the loved one while she is here. Then comes the tragic figure of the dance in which we must learn to be still taken out of ourselves though the bodily presence is withdrawn, to love the very Her, and not fall back to loving our past, or our memory, or our sorrow, or our relief from sorrow, or our own love.
A Grief Observed. Copyright © 1961 by N. W. Clerk, restored 1996 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Preface by Douglas H. Gresham copyright © 1994 by Douglas H. Gresham. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Call of Philosemitism
Following Apostolic Teaching
We have just finished reading an interesting volume on the Jewish Question--about the place and position of Jewish people upon the earth. In the West, anti-semitism is making a "comeback" it would seem. This is taking place, in part because of the influence of Islam in general and the attitudes and activities of some Islamic refugees in Europe, on the one hand, and because of the recent tendency of the Left sympathetically to embrace Islam, and Islam's prejudices. Anti-semitism is one such.
How refreshing it has been, then, to read Gertrude Himmelfarb's The People of the Book: Philosemitism in England, From Cromwell to Churchill (London: Encounter Books, 2011). The historical, gradual re-acceptance of Jewish people into the United Kingdom is fascinating in part because of the cast of actors involved over a three hundred year period, from Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans onward. This cast begins with Cromwell, of course, who was staunchly philosemitic (that is, a lover of the Jewish people). The Jews had been expelled from England: Cromwell began the reversal of that position. But it also includes luminaries such as philosopher, John Locke, scientist, Isaac Newton, and notables such as Edmund Burke, William Macaulay, author and politician, Benjamin Disraeli, Gladstone and Winston Churchill, as well as literary figures such as Walter Scott, George Eliot and Charles Dickens.
This political and literary tradition, coupled with the attempt by Hitler to exorcise the Jewish people from the human race and the reaction that was part of World War II has left the English speaking world largely philosemitic--at least up to our generation, when things have begun to change.
Himmelfarb documents the connection between a love of the Old Testament amongst Christians--one of the great consequences of the Reformation--and a sense of kinship and respect for the Jewish people that was one of its fruits, particularly in England. Puritan scholarship with respect to the Old Testament, to the Hebrew language, and to traditional rabbinic teaching was legendary. Out of it came an abiding theme of philosemitism that flowed through to the wider culture of learning, the arts, and politics. It did not win Jewish people full civil and political rights immediately--but the leaven was at work, and in the end the "revolution" was bloodless and a consequence of the "natural acceptance" of higher and deeper truths. It represents a particular high water mark of Christian civilisation.
With the attenuation and decline of the Christian faith in the English speaking world--already well under way by the end of the nineteenth century, and gathering pace throughout the twentieth, it was inevitable that the Jewish Question would arise again. And so it has come to pass.
We have just finished reading an interesting volume on the Jewish Question--about the place and position of Jewish people upon the earth. In the West, anti-semitism is making a "comeback" it would seem. This is taking place, in part because of the influence of Islam in general and the attitudes and activities of some Islamic refugees in Europe, on the one hand, and because of the recent tendency of the Left sympathetically to embrace Islam, and Islam's prejudices. Anti-semitism is one such.
How refreshing it has been, then, to read Gertrude Himmelfarb's The People of the Book: Philosemitism in England, From Cromwell to Churchill (London: Encounter Books, 2011). The historical, gradual re-acceptance of Jewish people into the United Kingdom is fascinating in part because of the cast of actors involved over a three hundred year period, from Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans onward. This cast begins with Cromwell, of course, who was staunchly philosemitic (that is, a lover of the Jewish people). The Jews had been expelled from England: Cromwell began the reversal of that position. But it also includes luminaries such as philosopher, John Locke, scientist, Isaac Newton, and notables such as Edmund Burke, William Macaulay, author and politician, Benjamin Disraeli, Gladstone and Winston Churchill, as well as literary figures such as Walter Scott, George Eliot and Charles Dickens.
This political and literary tradition, coupled with the attempt by Hitler to exorcise the Jewish people from the human race and the reaction that was part of World War II has left the English speaking world largely philosemitic--at least up to our generation, when things have begun to change.
Himmelfarb documents the connection between a love of the Old Testament amongst Christians--one of the great consequences of the Reformation--and a sense of kinship and respect for the Jewish people that was one of its fruits, particularly in England. Puritan scholarship with respect to the Old Testament, to the Hebrew language, and to traditional rabbinic teaching was legendary. Out of it came an abiding theme of philosemitism that flowed through to the wider culture of learning, the arts, and politics. It did not win Jewish people full civil and political rights immediately--but the leaven was at work, and in the end the "revolution" was bloodless and a consequence of the "natural acceptance" of higher and deeper truths. It represents a particular high water mark of Christian civilisation.
With the attenuation and decline of the Christian faith in the English speaking world--already well under way by the end of the nineteenth century, and gathering pace throughout the twentieth, it was inevitable that the Jewish Question would arise again. And so it has come to pass.
Thursday, 19 May 2016
Indecent Exposure As a Human Right, Part I
Civil Rights Doctrines Perverted to Justify Indecent Exposure
President Obama is not wasting time. His days in the White House are numbered. He is doing all he can to bring into being the radical millenarian vision to which he is wedded. The latest outrage is an attempt to institute by diktat the revolutionary notion of wilful gender identity in the nation's schools.
We will run a series of articles over the next couple of days addressing this outrage.Firstly, the Editors of National Review:
The Obama Administration Rewrites Title IX
By The Editors — May 13, 2016
This morning the Department of Justice and Department of Education released a joint statement of extraordinary breadth and scope. Under the guise of offering “guidance,” the Obama administration put every single public and private educational institution receiving federal funds on notice that it intends to interpret and enforce Title IX — a statute, written in 1972, that by its explicit terms only prohibits sex discrimination — as also prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “gender identity, including discrimination based on a student’s transgender status.” If a boy claims he is a girl, then, according to the Obama administration, he is a girl and must be treated as such by the educational institution.
Daily Devotional
What Is Meekness?
The result of trusting God and the rolling of our anxieties onto God and waiting patiently for God is that we don't give way to quick and fretful anger. But instead, we give place to wrath and hand our cause over to God and let him vindicate us if he chooses. And then, as James says, in this quiet confidence we are slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19). We become reasonable and open to correction.
Meekness loves to learn. And it counts the blows of a friend as precious. And when it must say a critical word to a person caught in sin or error, it speaks from the deep conviction of its own fallibility and its own susceptibility to sin and its utter dependence on the grace of God. The quietness and openness and vulnerability of meekness is a very beautiful and a very painful thing. It goes against all that we are by our sinful nature. It requires supernatural help.
If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, that is, if you trust him and commit your way to him and wait patiently for him, God has already begun to help you and will help you more. And the primary way that he will help you is to assure your heart that you are a fellow heir of Jesus Christ and that the world and everything in it is yours.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)
John Piper
Meekness begins when we put our trust in God. Then, because we trust him, we commit our way to him. We roll onto him our anxieties, or frustrations, our plans, our relationships, our jobs, our health. And then we wait patiently for the Lord. We trust his timing and his power and his grace to work things out in the best way for his glory and for our good.The result of trusting God and the rolling of our anxieties onto God and waiting patiently for God is that we don't give way to quick and fretful anger. But instead, we give place to wrath and hand our cause over to God and let him vindicate us if he chooses. And then, as James says, in this quiet confidence we are slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19). We become reasonable and open to correction.
Meekness loves to learn. And it counts the blows of a friend as precious. And when it must say a critical word to a person caught in sin or error, it speaks from the deep conviction of its own fallibility and its own susceptibility to sin and its utter dependence on the grace of God. The quietness and openness and vulnerability of meekness is a very beautiful and a very painful thing. It goes against all that we are by our sinful nature. It requires supernatural help.
If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, that is, if you trust him and commit your way to him and wait patiently for him, God has already begun to help you and will help you more. And the primary way that he will help you is to assure your heart that you are a fellow heir of Jesus Christ and that the world and everything in it is yours.
A New Constantine?
Is Chinese Premier Xi Jinping Going to Follow The Example of an Ancient Roman Emperor
There have been a series of articles published in Epoch Times over recent months to the effect that the current Chinese Premier, Xi Jinping is going to change the stance of the Chinese Government toward Falun Gong. Epoch Times is an international media organisation owned and controlled by Falun Gong, an erstwhile religion which has been severely and implacably persecuted by the Chinese regime for over a decade.
We read:
Through a number of unusual political gestures, Xi Jinping appears to have hinted at a departure from the policy of his predecessor toward the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline, a large group that was targeted for elimination in 1999 shortly after they mounted that appeal to the central government.We are unable to comment on the reliability of this report.
Xi Jinping’s recent actions—which include moderate remarks on how to treat petitioners, the purge of some particularly rough security officials, demands that the security forces conduct themselves with probity, and what borders on conciliatory remarks about religion in China—while subtle, indicate, in part due to their sequence and timing around such a sensitive anniversary, a potential shift in stance and emphasis to the Party’s status quo policies.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow
The Pride of Life in a Codpiece
Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog
As the bathroom wars continue to unfold, and as the advocates of totalitolerance continue to embrace the arts of coercion, as they continue to bombard us with ideas so fine they have to be mandatory, it has been natural for Christians to try to pivot.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be opposing same sex mirage. Perhaps we shouldn’t be opposing the rights of mentally disturbed men to pee with our daughters. I know, somebody suggests, let’s turn the discussion to matters of religious liberty. Surely there we might find some common ground there. Surely there we will be able to reach a compromise.Church State
There may be some short term tactical relief in such a move, and I am entirely in favor of it if and when it happens. Those who fight for such tactical relief are to be commended. But there is no long-term strategic success to be found in the fight for religious liberty. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but somebody has to. Here is the reason:
Religious liberty is itself a religious value.
Religions differ. They differ wildly. They differ fundamentally. Some religions value liberty for practitioners of other religions, and some religions don’t value liberty for practitioners of other religions. Some religions respect the authority of the individual to choose his own religion, and other religions don’t allow for conversions at all. If you want the fruit called religious liberty, you have to want the tree that this kind of fruit grows on.
This means that if we want maximum liberty for people who don’t believe in Jesus, then we will have to . . . believe in Jesus.
Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog
As the bathroom wars continue to unfold, and as the advocates of totalitolerance continue to embrace the arts of coercion, as they continue to bombard us with ideas so fine they have to be mandatory, it has been natural for Christians to try to pivot.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be opposing same sex mirage. Perhaps we shouldn’t be opposing the rights of mentally disturbed men to pee with our daughters. I know, somebody suggests, let’s turn the discussion to matters of religious liberty. Surely there we might find some common ground there. Surely there we will be able to reach a compromise.Church State
There may be some short term tactical relief in such a move, and I am entirely in favor of it if and when it happens. Those who fight for such tactical relief are to be commended. But there is no long-term strategic success to be found in the fight for religious liberty. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but somebody has to. Here is the reason:
Religious liberty is itself a religious value.
Religions differ. They differ wildly. They differ fundamentally. Some religions value liberty for practitioners of other religions, and some religions don’t value liberty for practitioners of other religions. Some religions respect the authority of the individual to choose his own religion, and other religions don’t allow for conversions at all. If you want the fruit called religious liberty, you have to want the tree that this kind of fruit grows on.
This means that if we want maximum liberty for people who don’t believe in Jesus, then we will have to . . . believe in Jesus.
Daily Devotional
Absolutely Clean--and Free
"All that believe are justified." Acts 13:39
Are they who stand before the throne of God justified now?--so are we, as truly and as clearly justified as they who walk in white and sing melodious praises to celestial harps. The thief upon the cross was justified the moment that he turned the eye of faith to Jesus; and Paul, the aged, after years of service, was not more justified than was the thief with no service at all.
We are today accepted in the Beloved, today absolved from sin, today acquitted at the bar of God. Oh! soul-transporting thought! There are some clusters of Eshcol's vine which we shall not be able to gather till we enter heaven; but this is a bough which runneth over the wall. This is not as the corn of the land, which we can never eat till we cross the Jordan; but this is part of the manna in the wilderness, a portion of our daily nutriment with which God supplies us in our journeying to and fro.
We are now--even now pardoned; even now are our sins put away; even now we stand in the sight of God accepted, as though we had never been guilty. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." There is not a sin in the Book of God, even now, against one of his people.
Who dareth to lay anything to their charge? There is neither speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing remaining upon any one believer in the matter of justification in the sight of the Judge of all the earth. Let present privilege awaken us to present duty, and now, while life lasts, let us spend and be spent for our sweet Lord Jesus.
"All that believe are justified." Acts 13:39
Charles H. Spurgeon
The believer in Christ receives a present justification. Faith does not produce this fruit by-and-by, but now. So far as justification is the result of faith, it is given to the soul in the moment when it closes with Christ, and accepts him as its all in all.Are they who stand before the throne of God justified now?--so are we, as truly and as clearly justified as they who walk in white and sing melodious praises to celestial harps. The thief upon the cross was justified the moment that he turned the eye of faith to Jesus; and Paul, the aged, after years of service, was not more justified than was the thief with no service at all.
We are today accepted in the Beloved, today absolved from sin, today acquitted at the bar of God. Oh! soul-transporting thought! There are some clusters of Eshcol's vine which we shall not be able to gather till we enter heaven; but this is a bough which runneth over the wall. This is not as the corn of the land, which we can never eat till we cross the Jordan; but this is part of the manna in the wilderness, a portion of our daily nutriment with which God supplies us in our journeying to and fro.
We are now--even now pardoned; even now are our sins put away; even now we stand in the sight of God accepted, as though we had never been guilty. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." There is not a sin in the Book of God, even now, against one of his people.
Who dareth to lay anything to their charge? There is neither speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing remaining upon any one believer in the matter of justification in the sight of the Judge of all the earth. Let present privilege awaken us to present duty, and now, while life lasts, let us spend and be spent for our sweet Lord Jesus.
Paradigm Shifts and Mumblings
What's That Young Kid Saying?
One of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, Cornelius Van Til once observed that when human beings (of whatever stripe) begin to think about the world and study it they have already made up their minds what they will find. Neutrality is impossible. The fisherman's net mesh has already pre-determined what kinds of fish will be caught before it is cast into the sea.
In the eighteenth through to the early twentieth centuries, the ruling theological paradigm was Deism. Sure god existed, but he/she/it was detached and removed from the material realm, far from the realm of creatures, stars, and planets, or, in other words, from the realm of time, space, energy, and matter. Most scientists, academics, and researchers presumed Deism--consciously or unconsciously--before they began their work. In other words, they presupposed from the outset that they would find no evidence whatsoever of God's handiwork or presence in the realms of time, space, energy and matter, and, lo and behold, their research "proved" what they had presupposed.
But as the twentieth century progressed the Deistic presuppositions became more and more problematic. It has become science's "dirty little secret" or its skeleton in the closet. As Douglas Kelly has written:
One of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, Cornelius Van Til once observed that when human beings (of whatever stripe) begin to think about the world and study it they have already made up their minds what they will find. Neutrality is impossible. The fisherman's net mesh has already pre-determined what kinds of fish will be caught before it is cast into the sea.
In the eighteenth through to the early twentieth centuries, the ruling theological paradigm was Deism. Sure god existed, but he/she/it was detached and removed from the material realm, far from the realm of creatures, stars, and planets, or, in other words, from the realm of time, space, energy, and matter. Most scientists, academics, and researchers presumed Deism--consciously or unconsciously--before they began their work. In other words, they presupposed from the outset that they would find no evidence whatsoever of God's handiwork or presence in the realms of time, space, energy and matter, and, lo and behold, their research "proved" what they had presupposed.
But as the twentieth century progressed the Deistic presuppositions became more and more problematic. It has become science's "dirty little secret" or its skeleton in the closet. As Douglas Kelly has written:
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Another Evil Money Launderer
Emma Watson Exposed
Sagacity, Care, and Prudence: the Benefits of Blind Offshore Trusts
Emma Watson denied avoiding tax after becoming the latest high-profile name listed in the Panama Papers offshore data leak. The actress, currently taking a break from acting to campaign for feminism, is listed as a beneficiary of a company based in the British Virgin Islands.We note that Emma Watson is a wealthy woman; therefore she belongs to the exploitative classes who oppress the poor. The capital allegedly owned by Watson means that less money is available to the poor. In the mind of the Left, to attack Watson is not only a moral thing to do. It is a civic duty.
But Watson said the account was set up for the sole purpose of "protecting her anonymity and safety". A spokesman for the 26-year-old Harry Potter star said: "Emma receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever, only privacy."
Her account came to light after data collated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was published online for the first time. [Note: the data was hacked--that is, stolen. But when "evil capitalists and money launderers are the target, all's fair--apparently. Who quibbles about such details--that greater good and all that. Ed.]
More than 200,000 offshore account details from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, are now available.
"UK companies are required to publicly publish details of their shareholders and therefore do not give her the necessary anonymity required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardised in the past owing to such information being publicly available," Watson's spokesman said. "Offshore companies do not publish these shareholder details."
Other famous names listed in the papers include the Duchess of York, The X Factor's Simon Cowell and Paul Burrell, the former butler to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. [NZ Herald]
Daily Devotional
At the Bottom of It All
In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:5)
John Piper
The experience of Charles Spurgeon is not beyond the ability of any ordinary Christian.Spurgeon (1834–1892) was a contemporary of George Mueller. He served the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for over thirty years as the most famous pastor of his day. His preaching was so powerful that people were converted to Christ every week. His sermons are still in print today and he is held up by many as a model soul–winner.
He recalls an experience when he was sixteen that shaped his life and ministry for the rest of his days.
When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this.
I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths [the doctrine of election] in my own soul — when they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man — that I had made progress in Scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all, that clue to the truth of God.
One week–night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher’s sermon, for I did not believe it.
The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment — I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so?
Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, “I ascribe my change wholly to God.”
Failing In The Duty of Care
Slow Learners
Yesterday we took a look at the continuing failure in government schools to teach mathematics. Today's piece focuses upon reading. The reality is that government schools are failing to teach kids from low socio-economic strata to read. This means that the children from low socio-economic homes grow up and stay poor. They are unable or unlikely to escape the poverty trap.
On the other hand, kids from middle class homes and families generally do OK. They learn to read satisfactorily, if not well. How does this work? It works as one would expect. The most potent educational environment is the home. Pupils from middle class families pick up enough knowledge about language (they hear it spoken, they observe their parents reading, there are books around the hous--and so forth) and they arrive at school more ready and more primed to read.
Yesterday we took a look at the continuing failure in government schools to teach mathematics. Today's piece focuses upon reading. The reality is that government schools are failing to teach kids from low socio-economic strata to read. This means that the children from low socio-economic homes grow up and stay poor. They are unable or unlikely to escape the poverty trap.
On the other hand, kids from middle class homes and families generally do OK. They learn to read satisfactorily, if not well. How does this work? It works as one would expect. The most potent educational environment is the home. Pupils from middle class families pick up enough knowledge about language (they hear it spoken, they observe their parents reading, there are books around the hous--and so forth) and they arrive at school more ready and more primed to read.
One academic described it as similar to the "Matthew effect", where the "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" and said New Zealand needed to address the way it taught children from disadvantaged backgrounds. "You have the children that come into school with lots of literacy knowledge, enough to attach new knowledge to, so they will learn to read no matter how they are taught," said Massey University's Dr Alison Arrow. . . . kids that come in with limited knowledge have nothing to build on. They don't know spoken words have sounds in them, for example. So if they don't get explicit instruction when they get to school they struggle to catch up and they will lag behind for the rest of their school career." [NZ Herald]Well, say the official Left, the solution to the plague of illiteracy amongst the poor is glaringly obvious: eradicate poverty and hey presto the kids from poorer homes will match the reading ability of middle class kids right through all their years of schooling.
Monday, 16 May 2016
Allah Commands Their Death
Christian Converts Persecution by Muslims in Germany
Chris Tomlinson
Breitbart London
A new study shows that potentially thousands of Christians have been attacked and harassed in German migrant homes by Muslim guards and fellow migrants.
Multiple human rights organizations are warning the German government of the conditions that Christians in asylum homes are being subjected to. One organization in particular has chronicled 231 specific cases of the harassment of Christians by Muslim migrants and Muslim security guards in asylum homes.
Open Doors is a humanitarian relief organization that specializes in helping Christians who are persecuted worldwide. Markus Rode, a member of the group, said that the study is only “the tip of the iceberg” and called for more action to address the problem Frankfurter Allgemeine reports.
Chris Tomlinson
Breitbart London
A new study shows that potentially thousands of Christians have been attacked and harassed in German migrant homes by Muslim guards and fellow migrants.
Multiple human rights organizations are warning the German government of the conditions that Christians in asylum homes are being subjected to. One organization in particular has chronicled 231 specific cases of the harassment of Christians by Muslim migrants and Muslim security guards in asylum homes.
Open Doors is a humanitarian relief organization that specializes in helping Christians who are persecuted worldwide. Markus Rode, a member of the group, said that the study is only “the tip of the iceberg” and called for more action to address the problem Frankfurter Allgemeine reports.
Daily Devotional
What Else Is Needed?
Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is abundant, and flows to them in constant streams, until they become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold compared with thy God? Thou couldst not live on it; thy spiritual life could not be sustained by it. Put it on a troubled conscience, and could it allay its pangs? Apply it to a desponding heart, and see if it could stay a solitary groan, or give one grief the less? But thou hast God, and in him thou hast more than gold or riches ever could buy.
Some have their portion in that which most men love--applause and fame; but ask thyself, is not thy God more to thee than that? What if a myriad clarions should be loud in thine applause, would this prepare thee to pass the Jordan, or cheer thee in prospect of judgment? No, there are griefs in life which wealth cannot alleviate; and there is the deep need of a dying hour, for which no riches can provide. But when thou hast God for thy portion, thou hast more than all else put together. In him every want is met, whether in life or in death.
With God for thy portion thou art rich indeed, for he will supply thy need, comfort thy heart, assuage thy grief, guide thy steps, be with thee in the dark valley, and then take thee home, to enjoy him as thy portion forever. "I have enough," said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can say, but Jacob replies, "I have all things," which is a note too high for carnal minds.
"Thou art my portion, O Lord." Psalm 119:57
Charles H. Spurgeon
Look at thy possessions, O believer, and compare thy portion with the lot of thy fellowmen. Some of them have their portion in the field; they are rich, and their harvests yield them a golden increase; but what are harvests compared with thy God, who is the God of harvests? What are bursting granaries compared with him, who is the Husbandman, and feeds thee with the bread of heaven?Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is abundant, and flows to them in constant streams, until they become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold compared with thy God? Thou couldst not live on it; thy spiritual life could not be sustained by it. Put it on a troubled conscience, and could it allay its pangs? Apply it to a desponding heart, and see if it could stay a solitary groan, or give one grief the less? But thou hast God, and in him thou hast more than gold or riches ever could buy.
Some have their portion in that which most men love--applause and fame; but ask thyself, is not thy God more to thee than that? What if a myriad clarions should be loud in thine applause, would this prepare thee to pass the Jordan, or cheer thee in prospect of judgment? No, there are griefs in life which wealth cannot alleviate; and there is the deep need of a dying hour, for which no riches can provide. But when thou hast God for thy portion, thou hast more than all else put together. In him every want is met, whether in life or in death.
With God for thy portion thou art rich indeed, for he will supply thy need, comfort thy heart, assuage thy grief, guide thy steps, be with thee in the dark valley, and then take thee home, to enjoy him as thy portion forever. "I have enough," said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can say, but Jacob replies, "I have all things," which is a note too high for carnal minds.
Close To the Working Definition of Insanity
Failure in Maths Will Be Fixed By More of the Same
Our highly vaunted New Zealand Secondary School curriculum focuses upon students achieving passes or credits in NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement). But at least in maths the system is developing into a comprehensive failure. As one wag put it, NCEA has come to mean "No Child Educated in Arithmetic".
The NZ Herald complains:
Thousands of children begin secondary school each year without the reading, writing or maths skills needed to make it through. . . . A national monitoring study from 2013 had even lower results, with just 41 per cent of students at the expected level when they leave primary, despite the majority achieving well just four years earlier.Let's see now. The fundamentals of mathematics--that is, arithmetic--have been around for millennia. There is nothing new here.
The drop-off after Year 4 - when students are aged 9 to 10 - is a trend across all subjects, but in mathematics it is particularly significant. "International studies and national data provide clear evidence that we have a serious achievement challenge in mathematics," a Ministry of Education maths plan said. "We have very good evidence about what leads to effective mathematics teaching and learning. But putting this together in the classroom and making it possible across the system is challenging and complex."
Saturday, 14 May 2016
The Theologically Vacuous Imperial Cult
The Idolatry of the Donald
The American Conservative
“I even brought my Bible—the evangelicals, OK?” Donald Trump whinged at a campaign stop in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. “We love the evangelicals and we’re polling so well.” For good measure, he waved his prop a little more and doubled down, “I really want to win Iowa—and again, the evangelicals, the Tea Party—we’re doing unbelievably, and I think I’m going to win Iowa.”
This sycophantic word vomit was about average as Trump’s public forays into religion go. His transparent attempts to cast himself as a churchgoer have been awkward at best, and more often approach the bizarre if not the heretical. Nevertheless, as the man himself would say, the professing evangelicals—and the “professing” is key here—love him. They really, really do.
But for all the headlines the Trumpvangelicals have snagged, their vehement support is ably matched by the strident opposition to Trump found among millions of American Christians of all stripes, many of them (like me) appalled that such blatant pandering and brash prurience is, well, working on our fellow travelers in the faith. Nearly a year into this misadventure, it is still tempting to ask: How is this happening? How is the heir of the Moral Majority endorsing a twice-divorced former strip club owner? How is Trump so appealing to what is supposed to be a Christian nation?
And it is in precisely that last phrase—“Christian nation”—the answer may be found: America’s entrenched, pseudo-Christian civil religion is the primary culprit here. President Trump is the due result of our theologically vacant imperial cult, which in the guise of orthodoxy worships only the power of the state.
Trump is the natural product of American civil religion.
By Bonnie KristianThe American Conservative
“I even brought my Bible—the evangelicals, OK?” Donald Trump whinged at a campaign stop in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. “We love the evangelicals and we’re polling so well.” For good measure, he waved his prop a little more and doubled down, “I really want to win Iowa—and again, the evangelicals, the Tea Party—we’re doing unbelievably, and I think I’m going to win Iowa.”
This sycophantic word vomit was about average as Trump’s public forays into religion go. His transparent attempts to cast himself as a churchgoer have been awkward at best, and more often approach the bizarre if not the heretical. Nevertheless, as the man himself would say, the professing evangelicals—and the “professing” is key here—love him. They really, really do.
But for all the headlines the Trumpvangelicals have snagged, their vehement support is ably matched by the strident opposition to Trump found among millions of American Christians of all stripes, many of them (like me) appalled that such blatant pandering and brash prurience is, well, working on our fellow travelers in the faith. Nearly a year into this misadventure, it is still tempting to ask: How is this happening? How is the heir of the Moral Majority endorsing a twice-divorced former strip club owner? How is Trump so appealing to what is supposed to be a Christian nation?
And it is in precisely that last phrase—“Christian nation”—the answer may be found: America’s entrenched, pseudo-Christian civil religion is the primary culprit here. President Trump is the due result of our theologically vacant imperial cult, which in the guise of orthodoxy worships only the power of the state.
Daily Devotional
On Grief
C. S. Lewis
Real sorrow ends neither with a bang nor a whimper. Sometimes, after a spiritual journey like Dante’s, down to the centre and then, terrace by terrace, up the mountain of accepted pain, it may rise into peace—but a peace hardly less severe than itself. Sometimes it remains for life, a puddle in the mind which grows always wider, shallower, and more unwholesome. Sometimes it just peters out, as other moods do. One of these alternatives has grandeur, but not tragic grandeur.
From Experiment in Criticism
Compiled in Words to Live By
Compiled in Words to Live By
Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Economic Ignorance
National Embarrassment
The current leader of the Labour Party in New Zealand, Andrew Little appears to be more than a few sandwiches short of a picnic. His career before becoming a professional politician consisted of being a union manager. His commercial experience is, to put it kindly, somewhat limited. But he is steeped in the ideology of class warfare--workers versus the capitalists and that sort of thing.
We find ourselves embarrassed by the apparent ignorance of the man. He often shows that he has little clue about how three quarters of the rest of the population think, live, and act. For Andy, it's all about class warfare: the oppressed proletariat versus the capitalist pigs.
He is at present promoting a bill in Parliament, the Healthy Homes Guarantees Bill. This would require landlords to ensure that all rental homes are warm and dry, and that each home must have a heating source. When it was pointed out to Andy that this would inevitably mean that rents would go up, Andy fiercely denied that would be the case, unless the respective landlords were rapacious and greedy.
One cannot miss the slime of class warfare oozing forth.
The current leader of the Labour Party in New Zealand, Andrew Little appears to be more than a few sandwiches short of a picnic. His career before becoming a professional politician consisted of being a union manager. His commercial experience is, to put it kindly, somewhat limited. But he is steeped in the ideology of class warfare--workers versus the capitalists and that sort of thing.
We find ourselves embarrassed by the apparent ignorance of the man. He often shows that he has little clue about how three quarters of the rest of the population think, live, and act. For Andy, it's all about class warfare: the oppressed proletariat versus the capitalist pigs.
He is at present promoting a bill in Parliament, the Healthy Homes Guarantees Bill. This would require landlords to ensure that all rental homes are warm and dry, and that each home must have a heating source. When it was pointed out to Andy that this would inevitably mean that rents would go up, Andy fiercely denied that would be the case, unless the respective landlords were rapacious and greedy.
One cannot miss the slime of class warfare oozing forth.
Friday, 13 May 2016
Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow
Surrender the Good Surrender?
Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog
Carl Trueman says a lot of good things here, and I invite you all to reflect on them. Having done so, I want to take this occasion to argue with his selection of one word, about which more in a minute.Surrender
Trueman sees right through the posing of those Christians whose idea of “engaging culture” is really just an excuse for aping pop culture, driven by a deep-seated need to show clips from top movies during the sermon. But fondling the Egyptians’ gold and leering at the Egyptian girls is not the same thing as plundering the Egyptians. Quite a different mindset is involved.
So the word Trueman uses that I want to take issue with is anti-culture.
Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog
Carl Trueman says a lot of good things here, and I invite you all to reflect on them. Having done so, I want to take this occasion to argue with his selection of one word, about which more in a minute.Surrender
Trueman sees right through the posing of those Christians whose idea of “engaging culture” is really just an excuse for aping pop culture, driven by a deep-seated need to show clips from top movies during the sermon. But fondling the Egyptians’ gold and leering at the Egyptian girls is not the same thing as plundering the Egyptians. Quite a different mindset is involved.
So the word Trueman uses that I want to take issue with is anti-culture.
Daily Devotional
Why the Trial of Faith?
"All the days of my appointed time will I wait." Job 14:14
We should not have full fellowship with Christ if we did not for awhile sojourn below, for he was baptized with a baptism of suffering among men, and we must be baptized with the same if we would share his kingdom. Fellowship with Christ is so honourable that the sorest sorrow is a light price by which to procure it.
Another reason for our lingering here is for the good of others. We would not wish to enter heaven till our work is done, and it may be that we are yet ordained to minister light to souls benighted in the wilderness of sin. Our prolonged stay here is doubtless for God's glory. A tried saint, like a well-cut diamond, glitters much in the King's crown. Nothing reflects so much honour on a workman as a protracted and severe trial of his work, and its triumphant endurance of the ordeal without giving way in any part. We are God's workmanship, in whom he will be glorified by our afflictions.
It is for the honour of Jesus that we endure the trial of our faith with sacred joy. Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of Jesus, and feel, "If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots of earth. If to live on earth forever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven."
Our time is fixed and settled by eternal decree. Let us not be anxious about it, but wait with patience till the gates of pearl shall open.
"All the days of my appointed time will I wait." Job 14:14
Charles H. Spurgeon
A little stay on earth will make heaven more heavenly. Nothing makes rest so sweet as toil; nothing renders security so pleasant as exposure to alarms. The bitter quassia cups of earth will give a relish to the new wine which sparkles in the golden bowls of glory. Our battered armour and scarred countenances will render more illustrious our victory above, when we are welcomed to the seats of those who have overcome the world.We should not have full fellowship with Christ if we did not for awhile sojourn below, for he was baptized with a baptism of suffering among men, and we must be baptized with the same if we would share his kingdom. Fellowship with Christ is so honourable that the sorest sorrow is a light price by which to procure it.
Another reason for our lingering here is for the good of others. We would not wish to enter heaven till our work is done, and it may be that we are yet ordained to minister light to souls benighted in the wilderness of sin. Our prolonged stay here is doubtless for God's glory. A tried saint, like a well-cut diamond, glitters much in the King's crown. Nothing reflects so much honour on a workman as a protracted and severe trial of his work, and its triumphant endurance of the ordeal without giving way in any part. We are God's workmanship, in whom he will be glorified by our afflictions.
It is for the honour of Jesus that we endure the trial of our faith with sacred joy. Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of Jesus, and feel, "If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots of earth. If to live on earth forever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven."
Our time is fixed and settled by eternal decree. Let us not be anxious about it, but wait with patience till the gates of pearl shall open.
The West's Tower of Babel
Good To Be Alive
It's an exciting time to be a Christian at the beginning of the third millennium, AD. Whilst the Church is growing in leaps and bounds in parts of the world which have long suffered under the darkness of Unbelief and its attendant cruelties, the West's defalcation from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord is gathering strength.
We Christians in the West are called to be merry warriors, fighting the good fight. One of the reasons for merriment and joy is that Unbelief in the West is reaching its apogee. We have seen (and will continue to see) the ridiculous spectacle of militant materialists shouting their atheism from the rooftops, whilst clinging to Victorian moralisms. Man is the measure of all things and nothing human is foreign to me. Except . . . Except . . . Except Islamic radicals blowing up innocent men, women, and children. That's evil incarnate!
Western Unbelief denies the presence of God, yet spends most of its energy declaiming perceived wickedness and evils of one kind or another. Its moralism has no foundation or meaning or authority, but it is asserted with a passion and vehemence which can only be associated with gnawing insecurity. When the point is weak, speak louder.
But others in the West's present intellectual pantheon are less loud and more thoughtful. They know the jig is up.
Thursday, 12 May 2016
When Less is a Whole Lot More
Why the Spanish May be Better Off Without a Government
The Spectator
On 26 October last year, the Spanish government shut up shop in preparation for a general election. This duly took place in December but then a strange thing happened: after all the build-up, the arguments, the posters and the television coverage, the result was… nothing. The various parties were so balanced, so mutually distrustful and ill-assorted that no government could be formed. Since last October, therefore, there has been no government in Spain.
One can imagine that the average political correspondent would think this a terrible problem, maybe even a crisis. The Financial Times has referred to Spain ‘enduring’ months of ‘political uncertainty’. This is assumed to be a matter requiring furrowed brows and grave tones. But the economy seems to be taking a different view of the matter. It is bowling along more breezily than in a long time. The growth rate during the final quarter of last year was an annualised 2.9 per cent, which, in these days of dismal Euro-growth, is a star performance — easily beating the pants off Italy, France and even Germany.
The improvement has continued this year. Unemployment has fallen month after month and is now down to 20.4 per cent which, though awful, is an improvement on a year ago when it was 23.2 per cent. That is a much better showing than in most EU countries.
The state’s most important economic role is to get out of the way
James BartholomewThe Spectator
On 26 October last year, the Spanish government shut up shop in preparation for a general election. This duly took place in December but then a strange thing happened: after all the build-up, the arguments, the posters and the television coverage, the result was… nothing. The various parties were so balanced, so mutually distrustful and ill-assorted that no government could be formed. Since last October, therefore, there has been no government in Spain.
One can imagine that the average political correspondent would think this a terrible problem, maybe even a crisis. The Financial Times has referred to Spain ‘enduring’ months of ‘political uncertainty’. This is assumed to be a matter requiring furrowed brows and grave tones. But the economy seems to be taking a different view of the matter. It is bowling along more breezily than in a long time. The growth rate during the final quarter of last year was an annualised 2.9 per cent, which, in these days of dismal Euro-growth, is a star performance — easily beating the pants off Italy, France and even Germany.
The improvement has continued this year. Unemployment has fallen month after month and is now down to 20.4 per cent which, though awful, is an improvement on a year ago when it was 23.2 per cent. That is a much better showing than in most EU countries.
Daily Devotional
On Morality
C. S. Lewis
I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Everyone there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes. But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world. No one’s eyes can see very far beyond that: lots of people’s eyes can see further than mine.
Mere Christianity. Copyright © 1952, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1980, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
When Ignorance Becomes Invincible
Entertaining Incompetence
The reflexive mindset of the Left is that capitalists (owners of capital--that is, property or money) are evil. They are involved in a grand conspiracy to oppress the proletariat. Money means power. Power always has its way over the poor, who, by definition, are powerless. [A suppressed premise is always at work in this mindset: namely, that the pot of capital is fixed. If one has more capital, the amount of wealth or capital held by others diminished accordingly. The Left, therefore, reflexively also believes that an egalitarian redistribution of all capital is the only just outcome.]
In New Zealand this has led to an unusual, yet completely understandable situation. The Left believes that the current Prime Minister, John Key is both evil and corrupt. He has to be, by definition, because he is rich. Consequently, the Prime Minister is responsible for making other people poor. He is an oppressor of the poor. Moreover, to the Leftist mind, he made his money in the worst possible way. It was easy money. He did not work up a sweat. He did not labour or work hard. He made his money out of buying and selling currencies on global money markets. Thus, Key is not only a member of the oppressor evil class. He is also a leech, and a blood sucker.
For the past decade the Left has laboured to expose John Key's corruption and evil.
The reflexive mindset of the Left is that capitalists (owners of capital--that is, property or money) are evil. They are involved in a grand conspiracy to oppress the proletariat. Money means power. Power always has its way over the poor, who, by definition, are powerless. [A suppressed premise is always at work in this mindset: namely, that the pot of capital is fixed. If one has more capital, the amount of wealth or capital held by others diminished accordingly. The Left, therefore, reflexively also believes that an egalitarian redistribution of all capital is the only just outcome.]
In New Zealand this has led to an unusual, yet completely understandable situation. The Left believes that the current Prime Minister, John Key is both evil and corrupt. He has to be, by definition, because he is rich. Consequently, the Prime Minister is responsible for making other people poor. He is an oppressor of the poor. Moreover, to the Leftist mind, he made his money in the worst possible way. It was easy money. He did not work up a sweat. He did not labour or work hard. He made his money out of buying and selling currencies on global money markets. Thus, Key is not only a member of the oppressor evil class. He is also a leech, and a blood sucker.
For the past decade the Left has laboured to expose John Key's corruption and evil.
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow
A Trump Administration Might be a Good Thing
Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog
No, no. I haven’t gone soft in the #NeverTrump department. Read on.
“Their heart is as fat as grease; But I delight in thy law” (Ps. 119:70).
1. A Trump administration would manifestly be a judgment from God, and judgments from God are good. Not pleasant, but they are always good.
Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog
No, no. I haven’t gone soft in the #NeverTrump department. Read on.
“Their heart is as fat as grease; But I delight in thy law” (Ps. 119:70).
1. A Trump administration would manifestly be a judgment from God, and judgments from God are good. Not pleasant, but they are always good.
God knows how to make the ears tingle (Jer. 19:3). And when He brings evil upon a nation, He is doing what is good.2. A Trump administration would mean that as a nation we had abandoned the pretenses of hypocrisy and evasion. Our egotism would be manifest, our pride appalling, and our insolence remarkable.
When politicians are hypocrites, voters have plausible deniability. But when the politicians brag about their infidelity, when they boast in their ignorance, when they luxuriate in their dishonesty, and it doesn’t appear to matter to the electorate, then it is time to acknowledge that the electorate deserves whatever it is going to get, good and hard.3. A Trump administration would identify a larger number of “conservative” hustlers than have already been revealed.
Daily Devotional
By His Stripes Does Healing Come
"Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all." Matthew 12:15
In every corner of the field he was triumphant over evil, and received the homage of delivered captives. He came, he saw, he conquered everywhere. Whatever my own case may be, the beloved Physician can heal me; and whatever may be the state of others whom I may remember at this moment in prayer, I may have hope in Jesus that he will be able to heal them of their sins. My child, my friend, my dearest one, I can have hope for each, for all, when I remember the healing power of my Lord; and on my own account, however severe my struggle with sins and infirmities, I may yet be of good cheer. He who on earth walked the hospitals, still dispenses his grace, and works wonders among the sons of men: let me go to him at once in right earnest.
Let me praise him, as I remember how he wrought his spiritual cures, which bring him most renown. It was by taking upon himself our sicknesses. "By his stripes we are healed." The Church on earth is full of souls healed by our beloved Physician; and the inhabitants of heaven itself confess that "He healed them all." Come, then, my soul, publish abroad the virtue of his grace, and let it be "to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off."
"Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all." Matthew 12:15
Charles H. Spurgeon
What a mass of hideous sickness must have thrust itself under the eye of Jesus! Yet we read not that he was disgusted, but patiently waited on every case. What a singular variety of evils must have met at his feet! What sickening ulcers and putrefying sores! Yet he was ready for every new shape of the monster evil, and was victor over it in every form. Let the arrow fly from what quarter it might, he quenched its fiery power. The heat of fever, or the cold of dropsy; the lethargy of palsy, or the rage of madness; the filth of leprosy, or the darkness of ophthalmia--all knew the power of his word, and fled at his command.In every corner of the field he was triumphant over evil, and received the homage of delivered captives. He came, he saw, he conquered everywhere. Whatever my own case may be, the beloved Physician can heal me; and whatever may be the state of others whom I may remember at this moment in prayer, I may have hope in Jesus that he will be able to heal them of their sins. My child, my friend, my dearest one, I can have hope for each, for all, when I remember the healing power of my Lord; and on my own account, however severe my struggle with sins and infirmities, I may yet be of good cheer. He who on earth walked the hospitals, still dispenses his grace, and works wonders among the sons of men: let me go to him at once in right earnest.
Let me praise him, as I remember how he wrought his spiritual cures, which bring him most renown. It was by taking upon himself our sicknesses. "By his stripes we are healed." The Church on earth is full of souls healed by our beloved Physician; and the inhabitants of heaven itself confess that "He healed them all." Come, then, my soul, publish abroad the virtue of his grace, and let it be "to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off."
It's the Vibe
How Embarrassing
New Zealand has its own Dennis Denuto. Trust us to imitate the Aussies. Actually, our Dennis is female, so strictly we have our own Denyse Denuto.
For those of our readers who have never had the fun of watching the Australian comedy, The Castle, below is the classic courtroom scene in which lawyer, Dennis Denuto is attempting to argue his client's case against eminent domain. If you haven't seen it, take a look. Clearly Dennis has a dizzying intellect and a scintillating grasp of the law.
We now have our own version of Dennis, one Andrea Vance.
New Zealand has its own Dennis Denuto. Trust us to imitate the Aussies. Actually, our Dennis is female, so strictly we have our own Denyse Denuto.
For those of our readers who have never had the fun of watching the Australian comedy, The Castle, below is the classic courtroom scene in which lawyer, Dennis Denuto is attempting to argue his client's case against eminent domain. If you haven't seen it, take a look. Clearly Dennis has a dizzying intellect and a scintillating grasp of the law.
We now have our own version of Dennis, one Andrea Vance.
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Letter From America (About Evangelicals vs the Republican Party)
It's Trump: Here's what evangelicals should do now
Bruce Ashford
Fox News
Following his victory in the Indiana primary, Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for president of the United States. In upcoming days, many of us in the evangelical community will be tempted to be despondent, maybe even to detach ourselves from the political process out of a feeling of helplessness. And yet, we should not despair. Although we have lost the nomination contest, at the same time we surely have won an opportunity to regain our evangelical witness.
We must regain our witness. Even if Trump were to have lost the nomination in a contested convention, Evangelicals had already slipped up by supporting the rise of a primary candidate whose campaign is characterized by overheated ethno-nationalistic aggression, who wants to curb free speech, who did not immediately and decisively distance himself from David Duke’s support for his candidacy, who seems only questionably committed to the pro-Life and religious liberty causes, who regularly demeans those who oppose him, and whose rallies have been punctuated by violence and civil unrest. In spite of these things, a certain sector of the Evangelical world—let’s call them Trumpangelicals—support his candidacy.
But what about the rest of us, those of us who are Evangelical but cannot countenance the thought of an Evangelical-supported Trump nomination?
Bruce Ashford
Fox News
Following his victory in the Indiana primary, Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for president of the United States. In upcoming days, many of us in the evangelical community will be tempted to be despondent, maybe even to detach ourselves from the political process out of a feeling of helplessness. And yet, we should not despair. Although we have lost the nomination contest, at the same time we surely have won an opportunity to regain our evangelical witness.
We must regain our witness. Even if Trump were to have lost the nomination in a contested convention, Evangelicals had already slipped up by supporting the rise of a primary candidate whose campaign is characterized by overheated ethno-nationalistic aggression, who wants to curb free speech, who did not immediately and decisively distance himself from David Duke’s support for his candidacy, who seems only questionably committed to the pro-Life and religious liberty causes, who regularly demeans those who oppose him, and whose rallies have been punctuated by violence and civil unrest. In spite of these things, a certain sector of the Evangelical world—let’s call them Trumpangelicals—support his candidacy.
But what about the rest of us, those of us who are Evangelical but cannot countenance the thought of an Evangelical-supported Trump nomination?
Daily Devotional
Pleased with His Precepts
The apostle John says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” In other words, the way that being born of God overcomes the worldly burdensomeness of God’s commandments is by begetting faith. This is confirmed in verse 1, which says, literally, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”
Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not make ourselves born again by deciding to believe. God makes us willing to believe by causing us to be born again. As Peter said in his first letter, God “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Our living hope, or faith in future grace, is the work of God through new birth.
So when John says, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,” and then adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith,” I take him to mean that God enables us, by the new birth, to overcome the world — that is, to overcome our worldly disinclination to keep God’s commandments. The new birth does this by creating faith, which evidently includes a disposition to be pleased, rather than put off, by God’s commandments.
Therefore, it is faith that overcomes our inborn hostility to God and his will, and frees us to keep his commandments, and say with the psalmist, “I delight to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8).
I delight to do your will, O my God. (Psalm 40:8)
John Piper
How does being born of God make the commandments of God a delight rather than a burden?The apostle John says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” In other words, the way that being born of God overcomes the worldly burdensomeness of God’s commandments is by begetting faith. This is confirmed in verse 1, which says, literally, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”
Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not make ourselves born again by deciding to believe. God makes us willing to believe by causing us to be born again. As Peter said in his first letter, God “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Our living hope, or faith in future grace, is the work of God through new birth.
So when John says, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,” and then adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith,” I take him to mean that God enables us, by the new birth, to overcome the world — that is, to overcome our worldly disinclination to keep God’s commandments. The new birth does this by creating faith, which evidently includes a disposition to be pleased, rather than put off, by God’s commandments.
Therefore, it is faith that overcomes our inborn hostility to God and his will, and frees us to keep his commandments, and say with the psalmist, “I delight to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8).
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