The Spiritual Ditches of Political and Governmental Involvement and Priestly Parental Pride - J.C. Harrison

Have you fallen in a ditch?

Before my wife and I moved to Illinois, we had some wonderful Christian neighbors.  Not long after we met them, they had a baby girl. I distinctly remember one conversation I had with the dad concerning raising their daughter (at that time my wife and I didn’t have any children and knew nothing about home schooling). He said he planned to raise her so far to the right so that when she rebelled a bit, she would wind up in a more centered walk with Christ. Again, I knew nothing of home schooling then, but even then his words did not seem the best way to raise a child.

This tendency to fall over in a ditch (or jump from one ditch to the other) is a common problem for all of us. We see something we are doing wrong and over compensate our lives to the degree that we still are sinning, just in an opposite ditch. One example of this is politics and government, and it seems to be a timely subject to discuss.

The straight and narrow: Romans 13: 1-7 (ESV)

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”

Left Side Ditch: Have nothing to do with anything political. No voting, No Discussions, No Protests.

Right Side Ditch: Disrespect all government authority that does not line up with the Bible.  Protest at every opportunity, and have a goal to belittle and humiliate anyone that does not agree with your political views. (Note: “Right” does not indicate correctness here, just an opposite directions from “Left”)

As you faithfully pray about where you are in your walk with Christ as it relates to the government and politics, please spend more time in prayer and reading Romans 13: 1-7 (and related passages) than you do listening to Fox News or some conservative talk show. The answers to our involvement in politics and government can be found in the bible if we seek His will and pray for His revelation. 

To continue the metaphor let's discuss having pride in our children's accomplishments.  A loving parent will most always have an inner joy when their child accomplishes something. How that inner joy manifest itself to outward praise is what needs to be considered. Too often it shows itself as pride in the child over praise for Jesus. 

When pondering our praise for our children, consider Paul's praise of the church at Ephesus. Because of their faith and love for the saints, he praised and prayed for them. To keep this simple and brief, praise should be given to our children as a pattern of praise that we should give our heavenly father. That's exactly what Paul was doing. Praising people that were praising God.

The straight and narrow: Proverbs 22:6 and Matthew 25:23 ESV

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

“His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'”

Left side ditch: Give no praise or "pats on the back" for any accomplishment or spiritual growth of your children, for fear that they will develop pride in themselves and not offer thanks to God. Result: A child that does not understand the affection and love God has for His people.

Right side of ditch: Heap praise and adoration on your children for every accomplishment no matter how small, and teach them they can do whatever they set their mind to. Result: A child that takes pride in him/herself over Christ and believes God owes us blessings for our service to Him.

As we train our child in the way that he or she is bent, let us do so with the goal that they understand the real purpose in life. All praise should help them see a pattern of praise for Jesus Christ.

     Mr. J.C. Harrison

J.C. Harrison is the son of a Southern Baptist Minister, a 13 year homeschool dad and the current coordinator of the Saint Clair County Christian Home Educators support group.

Image by Leaping Lizard

What's Your Attitude?

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 2:5

     For about as long as I can remember, my mom has reminded us to have a “servant’s heart.”  It’s a good reminder of what our attitudes should be like.  If you read Philippians 2:5 in context, you can see more in depth just exactly what that type of an attitude should entail.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others

   better than yourselves. ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests,

   but also to the interests of others.”    -Philippians 2:3-4

     Paul tells us that we should be humble, considering other’s better than ourselves as opposed to doing things for our own gain.  We’re supposed to put others before ourselves.  How often have you gotten upset at someone because you had to do what they wanted, not what you or anyone else wanted to do?  If you’re anything like me, this really annoys you.  Unfortunately, this is because, as human beings, we are sinful, and that’s our selfish nature rearing its head.  But it also brings up a good point.  How often do we do that very same thing without even thinking?  All too often, we’re so concerned about ourselves that we don’t even remember to consider the wants of others.  We’re being selfish.  Look at the verse again, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…”

     If you use Google to find the definitions of those words, this is what you come up with:

          Selfish – adj. (of a person, action, or motive) Lacking consideration for others;

      concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.

          Ambition – n. A strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring

     determination and hard work.

Desire and determination to achieve success.

          Vain – adj. Having or showing an excessively high opinion of one’s appearance,

     abilities, or worth.

          Conceit – n. excessive pride in oneself

     Put all that together, and Paul is telling us not to have a strong desire to achieve something that focuses on our own personal profit or pleasure or because we have excessive pride in ourselves and our own worth.  Instead, we’re to focus on the other person!  We should do things because we’re focusing on doing something for the profit or pleasure of another, because we believe in their worth.  Just imagine how much better things would be if we all did that for each other!

     We have a tendency of thinking that we’re better than everyone else.  You know, that whole, “taking excessive pride in our own worth”?  Well…

⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷ but made himself nothing,
    taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    and became obedient to death —
        even death on a cross!”

-Philippians 2:5-8

     Jesus is the Son of God.  If anyone had a reason to be prideful, or, in the context of this article, look to their interests before those of everyone else around them, it would be Jesus.  But even though He had equality with God, He was the perfect example of what a servant should be.  Philippians 2:7 says He made Himself nothing!  If you’re “nothing” or a “nobody”, that typically means you’re below the notice of everyone around you.  The desires and needs of those around you are more important than your own.  When you read the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), you see over and over how He looked out for the interests of His followers, and even, in some cases, His “enemies”.  Read verse 8 again.

“And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    and became obedient to death —
        even death on a cross!”

     Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us.  Jesus was God come to Earth in the form of a man, and instead of expecting everyone to serve Him, He set an example by serving everyone else.  Even to the point of offering His life as a payment for our sins.  Not just for His followers then, but those who would come later.  It makes me think of John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

     I want to challenge you all to make a conscious effort to do something each day to serve the people around you, without asking for recognition.  Humble yourself, instead of being selfish.  Even if it’s your obnoxious little siblings, someone who wants to do something you don’t want to do, or just doing something nice for someone else, even if they don’t ask.  The results can be amazing. 

     The Comma Queen

Image by The Comma Queen.

A Logical Creator

"The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship."

Psalm 19:1

               

       It's logical to believe in God. That's just a plain, simple, fact. Despite what your beliefs are, your beliefs don't declare truth. Facts and logic declare truth. What proof is there that God exists? Here are some that will influence your thinking, or help you share with others.

      The world we live in is one of the greatest proofs for the existence of God. The very fact that the universe exists at all points to a Creator. The most cynical scientist doesn't believe that everything around us came from nothing. There had to be a beginning, which then points to a Beginner (Gen1:1).

      But the world wasn't just created; it was designed. Whether you study the cosmos or the human body, you will find that the systems, cycles, and rhythms of life operate with incredible precision and accuracy. You will conclude, like many others (including the world's top scientists), that all of it came from an intelligent Designer, who is powerful and loving. Yet in spite of the evidence around us, people have done a strange thing. They have chosen to focus on the creation rather than the Creator. And they even claim that a God couldn't even exist. That would be like seeing a painting, and concluding that the artist had nothing to do with it, or that the artist didn't matter. To observe the world, our earthly home, and say that it came from nothing and God didn't do it is ridiculous.

         Something doesn't just come nothing. This would be an insult to your intellect if such scenarios were ever insisted upon you. Every time we look at something built by man---a house, for example---we know it had a builder. When we see something that has design, like a watch; artwork, like a painting; and order, like our solar system, we know someone was responsible for them; a Designer, Artist, and orderer. So if everything man-made has a creator, designer, artist, or orderer behind it, why would we not think that there is a Creator, Designer, Artist, and Orderer behind everything that's not? Wherever we see creation, design, art, or order it's obvious that there was some intelligent force to make it happen (consider the presidents' heads at Mt. Rushmore).

      There is no evidence that there is no God. Many people (especially atheists in this topic) think that reason is on their side. Yet without any evidence to back up their belief, what they actually had was blind faith---and they use that as a basis for their eternal destiny, afterlife (which there is) or not. To believe in God, some people think it may take blind faith. But we use calculated faith for most choices in life, and we should do the same for our choices about the afterlife.

      Logically, we know that there cannot be an unpainted painting, an unsculpted sculpture, an undesigned design. That just doesn't make sense. And for us to base our eternal destiny on something we know is not reasonable makes even less sense. That'll be taking chances by basing our eternal life on something that we know is not a fact. Atheism is blind faith, unreasonable, and, therefore, can't be proven.

      

      When you look at a building, you'll know that the building itself is proof of a building. We know you don't just gather some wires, concrete, pipes, windows, paint, etc., then turn around and look to suddenly find a building. A building requires a builder. "The sun, moon, stars, oceans, sand, each unique snowflake, the 3 billion pieces of your DNA that are different from mine, are absolute proof that there had to be a Creator", Mark Cahill, author of One Heartbeat Away, said to an atheist.

   

       The fact that you can't see, touch, taste, smell, or hear the builder of a skyscraper doesn't mean that such a person doesn't exist. Amazing faith isn’t' needed to know there was a builder of a building. Decide when you look at the evidence. The piece of evidence you have is the work that the builder left behind. It's the same with God. The evidence for us to view is all the evidence we'll need to know that God exists. It makes more sense to believe that there is a God than it does to believe that there isn't one.

      Many don't want to believe in God because they don't get satisfactory answers about God. Just because you may not have satisfactory answers about God doesn't mean He doesn't exist. We don't need satisfactory answers; we need truth, facts, and reasonable answers. God is not as difficult to believe in as you may think. You might not understand Him, but that's no excuse for saying He doesn't exist.

Haiku

Source: God is in the Small Stuff and It All Matters by Bruce (Bickel) and Stan(Jantz); and One Heartbeat Away by Mark Cahill

Image by The Comma Queen

Reality?

In one of my previous articles entitled ‘The Truth?’ I went over the basic Post-Modern Worldview; where everything depends on the individual’s beliefs and experiences. We came to the conclusion that, not only is this detrimental to a stable society, it is directly opposed to God’s Objective Truth. This week we will study two different yet related Worldviews; Nihilism and Existentialism.

Let’s start off with Nihilism. Nihilism (in a nutshell) is the belief that nothing really exists, so nothing really matters. There is no reality. Nothing is 'really real' so nothing really matters. Now this is extreme Nihilism but it can take many forms; denial of the worth of everything instead of the denial of their actual existence. The main social problem with Nihilism is that, by definition, nothing matters. People don't matter, ideas don't matter, so therefore society and even life itself does not matter. This is why it is rare to find a fully fledged Nihilist who has neither committed suicide or gone completely insane. We'll pick apart the scriptural flaws in a minute.

Existentialism is the philosophical world's desperate effort to save Nihilism. It redefines existence to the objective (observable) and subjective (non-observable). The problem is that the emphasis is placed on the objective, but with scary implications. Existentialism states that even though death is the end you historic events have a lasting effect on your actions. Translation: you are not responsible for your actions; outside stimuli are. This creates a whole different start of social problems. Now, not only are there no absolute morals, you aren't even responsible for your own actions, even when you break your own moral code. Once again this creates an anarchically society.

1 Corinthians 2:13b-14 (NKJV) says that "...not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The second main reason (I went over the first in 'The Truth?') that the Theistic Christian Worldview is so despised by other worldviews is that they simply don't get it. Even Islam and Judaism (the only two other monotheistic - one God - worldviews, both fairly works based, but Judaism focusing more on sacrificial atonement) makes more sense to  polytheists or atheists. Why? Well, with extra-biblical reasoning we could say it is because of the amazing grace God has show us, especially in a grace/faith based redemption instead of a works based one. And that is valid, but, using this verse we can say that the main reason that non-Christians don't understand our worldview is because our worldview cannot be taught 'in words as man teaches' and fully comprehended. The things of God are foolish to him.

So why does this even matter? What does a person's view of reality have to do with what really matters most (like Truth)? Reality and Truth go hand in hand. In James W. Sire's book ‘The Universe Next Door’ (an excellent resource for breaking down 8 different worldviews present in our culture) he stays that our answer to 'What is really real?' is “the most fundamental. It sets the boundaries for the answers that can consistently be given to the other questions.”¹ So without a correct answer to ‘What is really real?’ there can be no other correct answers that remain consistent with you first answer. Reality is this; God is real, and He created the universe and everything in it. God is real, and there is no other.

^{Leaping Lizard}

¹‘The Universe Next Door’ by James W. Sire, Fourth Edition, page 20

Image by Leaping Lizard 

How Does Music Affect Us?

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Ephesians4:29 (NIV)

     For many people, music is a big part of their normal life.  I know it’s a big part of mine.  I listen to my iPod and my CD’s quite a bit, and even when I’m not, I almost always have a song stuck in my head.  But just how much does music affect us?  Is it helpful, or is it harmful?  Does it even affect us at all?

     Well, to start with, listening to certain types of music, such as classical and baroque, can cause one’s body to relax and helps to decrease blood pressure.  Other types of music, though, have the possibility of increasing the heart rate and blood pressure.

     In addition to affecting the body, classical music can also help one’s studies by relaxing the brain, which in turn makes it easier to remember things.  Take Albert Einstein for example.  Many people think of him as one of the greatest masterminds ever to walk this earth, but very few realize that as a boy, he didn’t do well in school.  One of his teachers even suggested that his parents pull him from school and get him a job that wouldn’t require much education so that they wouldn’t waste their money by sending the ‘stupid boy’ to school.  Luckily for him though, his parents paid no attention to the teachers and instead bought him a violin to help with his lessons.  As strange as that may seem, it was the key to enriching young Albert’s studies.  Even Einstein himself attested to the fact that it was the violin that assisted him in making improvements in his school.   In fact, he improved so much that he is now considered to be one of the smartest men in history.

     Another example of how music affects one’s studies would be a class taught by Dr. George Lozanov, a Bulgarian psychologist, who designed an improved way of teaching foreign languages. In his class, he played certain baroque pieces in the background while his students studied.  By doing this, he proved that it was possible to learn a language in about a month with approximately 85% to 100% efficiency.  By using his system, his students were able to learn close to half of the words and phrases for a school term in one day, with an average retention rate of 92%.  That’s almost 1,000 words memorized near perfectly!  In addition to that, after four years of not studying at all, his students were able to recall nearly 100% of what he had taught them!

     Keep in mind though, that listening to music doesn’t guarantee recall, but, as noted above, it definitely helps.  In fact, the ability to recall information is even better if you are listening to the same music when you are recalling as when you were learning.  The music in and of its self isn’t a necessary part of the learning process, so one would be wise not to rely on it completely, simply because it has been known to work in other instances.*

     The previous examples show some of the positive aspects of music, but it is unfortunate that not all music is helpful.  (Please note that in the following examples, I’m generalizing.  I don’t believe that all rock music is bad.)  Many people tend think that rock music is harmful to humans, and a lot of the time, they are correct.  Not only do the lyrics often encourage drugs, alcohol, suicide, and other issues, but the songs themselves normally contain irregular beats and shrill frequencies that are harmful to the body.  For example, back in the 70’s, teenagers would bring raw eggs to rock concerts and set them on the edge of the stage.  By the end of the concert, their eggs would be hard boiled and ready to be eaten.  Even though that may not be the same effect that rock music has on our bodies, who wants to listen to songs that have the ability to hard boil eggs?  Not to mention the volume at which some people listen to heavy metal, rap, and rock music!  That can also be a harmful ‘side effect’ to listening to that kind of music.

     It is also thought that there might be a bit of a connection between listening to certain types of music, such as heavy metal and rap, and thoughts of suicide, poor schoolwork, and drug use, though it may simply be that those certain types of people are drawn to that sort of music, because there is no evidence proving that rock music is the reason for such behavior.**

     Some of you are probably wondering what in the world the verse at the top of the page has to do with the title of this article.  We typically associate Ephesians 4:29 with our speech–the things we say, how we say them, etc.–and unless we’re singing, what does that have to do with the music we listen to?  Well, looking at the last half of the verse (…but only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.) we can see that the things we listen to are supposed to be good things, things that benefit us, and build us up.  Sometimes that refers to the lyrics in a song, other times, it refers to the things that can actually be beneficial or harmful.  So while much of this is just speculation, it definitely provides something to think about when it comes to choosing the music you listen to, what music you listen to at what times, and how you listen to it.

     The Comma Queen

Sources:

*http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n15/mente/musica.html

**http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/325.php

Image by The Comma Queen