Final Exam

“You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.” -Deuteronomy 11:19

This is ancient history to most of you and to the general college scene of today. But back in the 1960’s, Mrs. Moe and I faced our final hurdle in our senior year at Wheaton College in a much dreaded ritual known as Senior Comprehensives. The very words of “Senior Comps” struck fear and trembling into student hearts. For three years we pretended that they were afar off and not to be contemplated. But in that last year, we had to run the gauntlet of a 4 hour exam that covered both general knowledge and our major field. Rumors abounded of students who didn’t pass and had to repeat in order to graduate. There was also no real way to study for it. You either knew it or you didn’t. We never saw a score. You either passed or failed. Fortunately, we both survived.

I have no intention of subjecting our high school students to such an ordeal, but the thought is tempting at times. And if I did, the subjects I shared in last Thursday evening’s Parent In-Service would be the heart and soul of it. A number of you were interested enough in them to ask for a copy. I share them with you here and will also send out an electronic copy as well. What I do hope to do is to weave these issues into our high school studies so that as one point or another all students will be able to understand the questions and be able to speak to them from a Christian world view by the time they graduate. I believe that in doing so they will be prepared to be salt and light in our dying culture. It is imperative that we understand what we are up against in the increasingly hostile world in which we live. In disseminating these questions, I covet your eagerness to learn as well by listening, reading, and even researching these topics yourself so that your dinner table conversation can be sprinkled with lively discussion of the issues that matter to our life and times. I will also be sending out a power point presentation for you to help you understand why a Christian world-view is so important and how we are communicating a world-view whether we realize it or not. My simple proposition is this; that all students graduating from RECA should be able to demonstrate the following:

• The ability to make a rational argument concerning the dangers and threats of relativism as opposed to objective truth.
• The ability to articulate an argument for “original intent” as a method of interpreting our Constitution versus the idea of “a living document” and how that will shape our future.
• A full understanding of the effects of evolutionary thinking upon culture, law, medicine, and the rights of man.
• The ability to define what it means to be fully human and what distinguishes us from the animal kingdom.
• A full understanding of what separation of church and state meant to our forefathers (civil and religious) versus today.
• A knowledge of what is at stake in the debate over diversity and multi-culturalism.
• An ability to argue a defense of traditional marriage.
• An ability to articulate the right of religious people to speak to moral issues in the public square from their religious base.
• An understanding of a Christian view towards the environment.
• A demonstrated understanding of reasons for the reliability of the Scriptures.

As I see it, this is where the battle lines are being drawn within our nation for this next generation. Let’s help equip them for the fight. And it is never too early to start. I would hope that bits and pieces of this conversation would be taking place well before high school. We are making disciples for spiritual warfare. Preparing them for college is just a side show.

Mercy and Truth, Mr. Moe

Dignity IV

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” -Pro. 14:34

Gilbert Meilander has written a recent book on the subject of the dignity of man entitled Neither Beast Nor God.* I just naturally liked it already because of the title. We are not in the same category as any beast of the field which is a distinction no longer assumed in the public sphere. Our friends at P.E.T.A. regularly remind us of that and accuse us of “specie snobbery” or some such thing. Without the Bible, it is hard to explain why humans should have their way in this world just because they happen to be on the top of the food chain.

Meilander book-ends the topic with the reminder that we are not gods either no matter how much some of us might wistfully imagine in fractured moments of self-delusion.. It is Satan’s oldest trick to tease us into some grasp at equality with God as happened in the garden or at the tower of Babel. Our Mormon friends find this not so repulsive or unobtainable as one might think.

In the book, the author talks about human dignity as that common distinction afforded the human race as opposed to animal or vegetable life. He characterizes it, however, as a somewhat slippery term that invites comparisons among us as when certain people show themselves notoriously inhuman in their personal conduct or merely as not having as much worth as another. Meilander points to the necessity of grounding everything in the concept of personal dignity, an idea that finds its roots squarely in Scripture.

“A society can acknowledge and reward differences in accomplishment and achievement, it can recognize the sadness and tragedy of disability and fading capacities, and it can appreciate the worth of particular loves and special bonds of association—it can, that is, honor and affirm the dignity of the human condition, of this creature who is neither beast nor god. But it can safely do this only when its first and last commitment is to respect the equal dignity of persons, each of whom is made for community with God.”

I recently read the tawdry story of a young woman who had driven her husband to the hospital early one morning. She was drunk, and he was suffering a gunshot wound to the abdomen as a result their argument. They both sounded absolutely pathetic. Not the kind of folks I would choose as neighbors or sitting as a jury of my peers. Yet, both retain a sense of personal dignity that requires me to treat them as people for whom Christ died and still seeks to save. Our secular society finds our compassion in this regard as helplessly “religious” in nature and therefore irrelevant to the public sphere. They would even criticize us for interjecting religion into matters of state. Yet, Meilander finds that it is the unbelievers “who find themselves mute when asked to give an account of our shared public commitment [to equal respect for every human being].” Their silence in this regard is both enlightening and frightful.

It is instructive to witness the great outpouring of love and concern for the people of Haiti coming from a) Christians and b) countries sharing a traditional Christian heritage. They recognize the personal dignity that resides in each poor, helpless, and struggling Haitian man, woman, and child in spite of language, culture, tradition, or even religion. We go because Christ went. We weep because Christ wept. We have compassion because Christ had compassion. And in doing these things for the least of those, we do it unto Him. When enough of us continue this great commission and tradition, we can actually exalt a nation.

*2009, Encounter Books, New York, NY.

Dignity III

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” -Genesis 1:26

If you wondered if there were any fresh questions regarding the dignity of man out there today, you need look no farther than the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It is not a journal I subscribe to or keep up with regularly but you need to hear the rich and imaginative language with which two highly educated doctors have come up with in justifying the taking of human life. The article which ran in the December, 2009, journal has a title which says it all: “An ethically justified practical approach to offering, recommending, performing, and referring for induced abortion and feticide.” My guard goes up immediately anytime I read about an ethically justified practical approach to anything. It is almost a sure give-away that someone is going to rationalize something horribly wrong.

Sure enough, the authors, Frank A. Chervenak, M.D., and Laurence B. McCullough, Ph.D., have created a very high sounding argument justifying the practice of abortion by redefining when human life takes on value and meaning. According to them, “the fetus lacks the capacity to generate a perspective on its interests” due to “the immaturity of the fetal central nervous system.” Did you get that? In other words, human life that cannot reflect upon its own self interest has no inherent value or meaning. The authors go on to insist that we have obligations to the fetus only “…when the fetus is reliably expected later to achieve moral status as a child and person” which is “…established only by the pregnant woman's decision to confer the status of being a patient.” They talk about some concern for a fetus who has viability outside the womb but after all this talk of “perspective on its interests” and the conferring of personhood only by the mother, we can envision only a muddled life ethic perched precariously on the most slippery of slopes.

If you were not confused already, catch this surefire guide to directing the limited role for a doctor’s “individual conscience.” One needs to be careful because “…in contrast to professional conscience, individual conscience is variable because of the striking heterogeneity of the sources of morality that form individual conscience.” There you have it. The conscience of the individual is inherently untrustworthy because it is formed by who-knows-what source of inspiration. It might even be contaminated by religious views which we all know are oh-so personal (read “arbitrary” and “capricious”) in nature. We who have amateur consciences are to leave these choices of life and death to those trusted souls who can exercise a more “professional conscience.”

We do not have here some diabolical evil geniuses out of a James Bond movie or some sci-fi tale twisting logic and language to cover their perverse schemes. These are pre-eminent scholars and medical minds of the highest order who are conjuring up this Brave New World now on our doorstep. The dignity of human life is under attack simply because our new leaders have abandoned the ground of being that has for centuries defined western civilization. They search desperately for another rock of understanding but can only come up with “the capacity to generate a perspective on its interests” or simply, the ability to choose. Just how will this kind of thinking hold up in situations of despair when a parent, a spouse, or the state questions the practicality of caring for a life that has become burdensome? I thought so.

You have an opportunity to stand with others this weekend upholding a Biblical standard for the dignity of all human life by attending the Right to Life prayer service at Calvary Baptist Church, 3200 Kingston Pike, at 2:00 PM, Sunday, Jan. 24^th, featuring Mr. Jim Wood of Wears Valley Ranch. What a great field trip for you and your children. They need to know that being little is not necessarily safe anymore.

Dignity I

Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; ASV Heb. 2:14

For all you word fans out there, Christmas is a time where we celebrate the Incarnation; God with us. Like no other, our God chose to come near and inhabit our world with us in human form. Incarnation literally means “in flesh.” It derives from the Latin word, caro, from which we derive all sorts of words such as carnal, carnivorous, and even carnival which harks back to the celebrations that would take place before the “doing away with meat” during Lent. The Incarnation of Christ in our world has been the source of much holiday meditation of mine and is a concept that both appalls me and thrills me.

On the appalling side, I can get quite queasy when I dwell on the weaknesses of the flesh. I could never be a doctor or especially a surgeon. Once the body is opened up, I am easily sickened by the sights of quivering, bloody tissue. I prefer to picture each of you as freshly washed and groomed persons in your Sunday best beaming smiles from your Christmas pictures. That you are spirits wrapped in flesh that is subject to a thousand corruptions and quite capable of emanating the foulest of substances is a fact I choose not to dwell upon. And our Lord stooped to take on this mantle of weakness? It is hard for me to imagine a more bizarre scenario. How could he do this?

On the thrilling side, the very fact that Christ did take on the form of human flesh with all its concomitant weaknesses and frailties is incredibly ennobling. Christmas forever puts a stamp of extreme value upon all human flesh as God himself chooses to take it on for the purpose of redeeming all humanity. He shares in our universal weakness, our suffering, and our pain to accomplish His plan of salvation for a broken and lost creation. But not for all, not for the plants, the animals; just for man alone. All creation stands as a mere backdrop for this drama of redemption for people such as you and I.

This is what changes everything when we look at creation and all the world. Mankind has a dignity and worth because of the price tag God put upon it. This idea has previously infected all of western civilization through the ages but now is in grave danger. Our modern world is attempting to maintain the old values regarding the dignity of man apart from the underpinnings of Christian faith. Pity on those who try for it is hard to do. Many hang their hopes on focusing on the rationality of man and his free will to choose. This is a threadbare hope at best and one which will wither away, but surely it will never resist the onslaught of a determined attack. Even now there are those who talk about defending new born life only when a certain “viability” is attained. “Choice” is, in fact, championed as a supreme act of the free will in terminating the unborn. And the loss of rationality is becoming dangerously close to justify the ending of “unmeaningful” life.

When we talk of critical thinking as a worthwhile and virtuous activity, I would urge you to examine with your children this whole idea of the dignity of man as we have traditionally come to presume upon it. It is in poor health in our society, and we Christians are the only folks that have the gold standard antidote. Do your children know what is at stake here? I would plead with you to take time and effort to discuss and teach them in very concrete terms the ramifications of the incarnation. This can be a Bible lesson or one seen in literature or History. The stark test of it is to visit a nursing home and wade into rooms full of the feeble, the broken, the incontinent, the mentally absent, the less than sweet smelling, and to touch their translucent skin in a way that says that they have great value because God said so. The fate of our society as we know it depends upon it.

Becky Ashe still does not ‘get it’

Becky Ashe still does not ‘get it’ (Evolving debate, Feb. 3, Knoxville News Sentinel). Her blind and unswerving devotion to evolutionary theory is obvious and laced with the kind of one-sided arrogance we have grown to expect. She wants to ‘keep the lines of communication open’ yet implies that if only public school teachers had only done a better job of educating people about the scientific process, the debate would be over. (Read: “All who disagree with me are uneducated about the scientific process.”) Her claim that Knox schools do not teach human evolution is insipid deception that only the most naïve would swallow. Either humans are part of the evolutionary chain or not a part of “all life.” She claims to stick with only what science is able to show us but in so doing reveals a prejudice so deeply ingrained that requires one to ignore the most startling discoveries of the past 50 years. Micro evolution, the kind that animal breeders regularly exploit, is a given. The spontaneous generation of life and macro evolution still require great leaps of faith and are coming under increasing skepticism in the scientific community. The true scientist finds himself truly humbled at the staggering complexity of even the most simple cell, a fact not known or even vaguely anticipated in Darwin’s time. I find Ms. Ashe and Prof. Wellman the ones who are woefully lacking in the information needed to have an intelligent discussion. Check out Ben Stein’s movie “Expelled” to get a good look at what a closed mind looks like. This is not the spirit of modern science. It is knee jerk subservience to what some have called “a fairy tale for adults so that they can determine their own sexual mores.” Knox Co. is behind the curve in merely “teaching the assigned curriculum” while castigating opposing viewpoints as adherents of “mythologies.” And then they wonder why so many families jump ship from this lumbering ark of educational intolerance.

Thanksgiving

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

In a recent issue of Christianity Today, Cornelius Plantinga Jr. made a chilling observation by commenting, “It must be an odd feeling to be thankful to nobody in particular.”[1] We have all just witnessed plenty of that, I am sure, with last week’s national Thanksgiving holiday celebrated by Christians and atheists alike. Any tally of the mention of “God” verses the mention of “turkey” in our daily media would have shown a great imbalance in favor of the bird. Plantinga pointed out, however, that being thankful “in general” is very odd. “It’s a little like being married in general.”

Before dismissing for the holidays last week, my Spanish teaching wife brought out in her class that Thanksgiving is a truly unique American holiday. No other country has anything quite like it. With that said, she ventured out onto thin ice and asked her class who the first celebrants were thankful to. There was much awkward silence followed by timid expressions of pilgrims being thankful to the Indians for bringing food. Yes. That was it. The pilgrims were thankful to the Indians for bringing food. This was the sage consensus of high school sophomores and juniors from a rural area of Knox County in the heart of the Bible Belt. It was enough to make a grown teacher cry. She went on to remind them of the Jamestown and Roanoke colonies, two failed experiments with which they were at least familiar. Can anyone say, “survival?” The survivors of Plymouth Rock had a lot more on their minds than a mere harvest feast and Indian game. They were thankful to an almighty God for their basic existence after their first devastating winter of this new land was behind them.

One of the first declarations regarding the day of Thanksgiving comes from the State of New Hampshire in 1782 and reads, “The United States in Congress assembled, taking into their consideration the many instances of divine goodness to these States:[...] Do hereby recommend to the inhabitants of these States in general, the observation of THURSDAY the twenty-eight day of NOVEMBER next, as a day of solemn THANKSGIVING to GOD for all his mercies: and they do further recommend to all ranks, to testify to their gratitude to GOD for his goodness, by a cheerful obedience of his laws, and by promoting, each in his station, and by his influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness.”[2]

No ambiguity there. Clearly, such a clear-cut and stark statement of religious faith today would send deep shivers across our sophisticated sensibilities that have demonstrated here-to-fore impossible capacities of tolerance for the bizarre and profane but not, indeed, for “the practice of true and undefiled religion.” We have the zealous promoters of a “secular” and “inclusive” society to thank for that. They have waged a carefully articulated war against the mixing of the sacred and the secular seeking libertine license for themselves while denying that morality has anything to do with “the foundation of public prosperity and national happiness.” Not content with their victory in judicial and political precedents, they have moved to expunge even the memory of our religious heritage as a nation. How do you do that? History is subverted to tell us that Pilgrims were thankful to Indians for bringing food. Evidently they have done their job well.

The telling of our nation’s history is critical to our sense of identity and the continuance of our values. It is the front line of our culture wars. Don’t assume anything. Question everything. Beware of strangers bearing texts published after 1970. Don’t drink the cultural water. We are in a fight, and the enemy takes no prisoners.


[1]Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., “Assurances of the Heart” Christianity Today, Vol. 39, no. 13.
[2]Thanksgiving Proclamation State of New-Hampshire. In Committee of Safety, Exeter, November 1, 1782

Total Depravity

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. - Psalms 51:5 NIV

Starting points are so important. And so we stand at yet another one. As much as we wish at times that time would stand still, that our children remain children, that their cuteness and innocence be preserved forever, they will continue to grow and press on to maturity. Each school year is a recognition of life and growth pushing us on into new territory where we have not been before. As you prepare to lay down another large stone in your children’s lives, I pray you may be at peace with that and that we all may be equal to the task. We are moving on. God help us. Amen.

Another starting point that matters in a huge way is our concept of human nature. We start from a viewpoint that says that all of us have sinned and have gone astray. There is none perfect, no not one. Romans tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We believe in the absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit for Salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of human nature. This comes straight from our statement of faith. It is known as the doctrine of total depravity; that man in his natural state is totally depraved. This language may be frightening but simply means that our natural bent, our original condition upon birth, is sinful. We are inclined from birth to selfishness, slothfulness, deceit, and defensiveness, among other things.

Our founding fathers, acting from a Christian consensus, believed this and so created a Constitution that did not entrust power to any one person or branch of government. This is the foundation of our system of checks and balances. The French Revolution fell sway to another way of thinking; that man in his natural condition was good, but that man’s weakness and corruption was due to society and all the damage it inflicted upon the young from birth. Rousseau and others popularized this viewpoint and attempted to build systems of government upon it. They failed. Ours is still here, though this optimistic viewpoint of the nature of man keeps returning in the wishful minds of people who are extremely uncomfortable with the whole concept of sin.

I spoke last week about the travails of our public school system. I believe what we are witnessing is an attempt to bring about a system that will produce upon command students that will learn, absorb, and graduate. Failure is not an option. It must be the system that is wrong: not the student or the home from which they came.

It has been said that never was there more evidence for any Christian doctrine than the natural depravity of man, but never was there a Christian doctrine that was more unpopular and despised. We love your children and think they are sweet, but we also believe that they will require training and discipline to develop the potential within them. Their natural bent is not to be studious or organized or even respectful of those who wish to teach them. This may be a dour perspective, but it is a huge advantage in beginning any educational adventure because it happens to coincide with reality. We enter this arena of struggle full knowing that it is an uphill fight from the start. In order to win it, we must be armed not only with God’s love which sees the potential in each life but also the rod of truth, the word of God, which is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit…a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). Add in the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit and you have a potent mix for success. Marshalling these, we have a great starting point for a great year.

Brave New World

I am also including a piece I have submitted to our local newspaper in response to a fellow who wants to legalize assisted suicide for the elderly. It might not make a whole lot of sense if you have not read his, but I include it at no extra charge. Feel free to respond anytime. Thankfully, your rotten tomatoes cannot travel through cyberspace.....

Al Westerfield is not alone, unfortunately, among those who in a fit of Brave New World mentality propose suicide as a surefire cure for the ills of old age. No, there are no laws against suicide. Prosecution poses serious problems. And suicide certainly meets all the criterion of purely utilitarian reasoning. I have a great book for those who are enthralled with such thinking entitled The Nazi Conscience by Claudia Koonz. It details all sorts of utilitarian solutions for social ills, all imposed with great ulterior aims and braced by philosophic arguments of the highest order.

Anyone making a case for legalizing suicide must first dismiss the antiquated values of the Christian faith. Westerfield does this, as many before him, by hiding behind the flimsy veil of the doctrine of “separation of church and state.” No one, we are told, should be allowed to impose their religious beliefs on all. In one fell swoop, he dismisses all Christians from participating in the Democratic process because they are tainted with religious belief. Effectively disenfranchised, we evidently should be content with allowing only atheists and agnostics to form the laws of our nation. However, slavery could very well still exist if it were not for the abolitionists who led the fight to impose their Christian morality upon the South.

The idea of legalizing assisted suicide seems so innocuous when confined to discussions of the terminally ill. This animal does not observe nice fences, however, and quickly invades the body politic creating all sorts of malicious mischief. Eager heirs are always standing ready to jump the gun. The medical profession can easily be corrupted to make decisions of life and death based upon the bottom line. Our culture can soon be seduced to evaluate life in terms of “meaningfulness” versus “cost to society.” It is a slippery slope leading back to the Spartan culture of old where babies were inspected upon birth and the weak thrown off cliffs.

Most insinuating of all, this talk of the “nobility of suicide” becomes a black hole that sucks those suffering from depression, no matter what age or medical condition, into its irreversible grasp. I have lost three friends to suicide already. Only one was suffering a terminal illness. Depression is a disease of worthlessness, a feeling that one is a burden to family, friends, and society. I am glad my 93 year old mother did not read Mr. Westerfield’s article. She is making a valiant effort to cling to her dignity and sense of worth through her declining days. The last thing she needs is a voice telling her to end it and save us all a lot of trouble. How cruel.

Assisted suicide and the mentality supporting it puts man in the role of playing God. That is a burden no man was meant to bear. We aren’t doing all that well at running a County Commission let alone take on the task of deciding who is meant to die and when.

Expelled

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Ps. 139:14 NIV

Who are the dangerous ones, believers or unbelievers? This was just one of the questions explored on screen in the new movie released this last week, “Expelled,” with Ben Stein. It is not a movie for everybody. No crashing helicopters, no daredevil exploits by daring stuntmen, no chase scenes, or glamorous Hollywood starlets. But, if you are one of those odd few who like the chase of ideas presented in graphic first person interviews with some of the most brilliant minds of our time, this is your movie; this is your Indiana Jones equivalent thriller. “Expelled” is a documentary laced with comic relief supplied by entertaining footage from dozens of old films, both historical and dramatic. Ben Stein, a tantalizingly dead-panned provocateur, dares to tread where no man has gone before. He takes on the challenge of the evolutionary establishment who presently have a choke hold on all the positions of power within academia. It should be required viewing for every pre-college, Christian student.

The over riding issue is freedom. Is there any room for divergent thinking within the realm of science to any other explanation of origins? The evidence he mounts has got to be embarrassing for he brings before the world the plain spoken words of the proponents of materialistic evolution from their own mouths. He gives more than ample time for the prestigious representatives of Darwinian thinking to spill their hard bitten prejudice against any and all who would dare question the sanctity of standard evolutionary dogma. The enemy is not simply any Christian or creationist, for whom they reserve their greatest scorn, but also against any who would argue a case for intelligent design, even from a non-theistic base.

Ben Stein takes one on a journey as he explores the avenues of his questioning down some very significant paths. Who are the dangerous ones? Many secular thinkers classify religion as the source of the greatest danger to world peace. Yet, Stein takes one on a trip through the history of eugenics built squarely upon evolutionary thinking. His visit to the edifices of Nazi-ism were especially haunting. As he listens to a guide explain the workings of a Nazi hospital where the weak and handicapped were routinely executed, he asks the guide, “So what would you say to the Nazi doctor in charge of this hospital if you could?” Her ready answers came to a screeching halt as she could offer nothing, no pronouncement, no judgment, no warning, no rebuke. Her speechlessness made me gasp. It was postmodernism at its naked worst.

This helped frame the whole question as to what is at stake in this war of ideology. If the origin of life is pure chance, all morality is capricious choice. Human freedom is a myth. Purpose is made void. Death is final. Man is not special. These implications were brought forth in clear relief even by an unbeliever. But most of all, the integrity of science itself is forfeit if it becomes prisoner to a particular world view. And apparently, this is what has happened. Materialistic evolution has become the mantra of the establishment because of a secular world view that finds life without God quite liberating.

The Achilles heel of evolutionary thinking, however, is found within the realm of science itself. If a single, self-replicating cell, known as the foundation of life, was understood in Darwin’s day as complicated as an automobile, scientists now know that it is as complicated as a Saturn V rocket or even a galaxy by comparison. The DNA of a single cell contains so much information that chance is no longer a viable explanation. God has imprinted enough mystery in nature to confound the wise even into our time.

Poisonous Roots

If there was one thing that Francis Schaeffer tried to teach us, it was that ideas have consequences. It was a short step from Rousseau’s desire to follow nature to the Marquis de Sade and his treatment of women because nature had made men the stronger of the sexes. After Darwin burst his idea of survival of the fittest upon the world, many quickly bent it to their purposes and thereby justified all sorts of inhuman treatment of their fellow man. And when one convinces himself that he speaks for the proletariat, the suppressed masses of the world, no crime becomes unthinkable.

Schaeffer was quixotically tilting against powerful windmills, however, for his message matured just as the West was in the process of dumping the very idea that truth existed in a relativistic, post-modern fit of righteous self-cleansing. Tolerance replaced truth as the supreme virtue. All would have lived happily ever after except for the inconvenient truth of 9-11. We were rudely shown that there are still some very powerful and dangerous ideas running amok out there for which many would gladly sacrifice their lives in balls of flaming death falling from the skies.

It should be no surprise that our leaders and the elite of our society seem powerless and ill-equipped to deal with this threat. They were raised on the pabulum of tolerance as virtue and can’t understand why all men of reason do not respond in kind. But fight they must, and so they have committed us to a war of weapons and treasure with some lip service given to freedom and democracy. But we are up against a people that are interested in neither freedom nor democracy. There is not enough money to buy them nor can we force them to be free, a very un-democratic action, indeed.

There is a missing component in this war, and it is that of ideology. Compare our behavior in Iraq with that of our forces in Japan at the end of WWII. Gen. MacArthur entered Japan with near dictatorial powers and with a clear vision for going down in history not as a great general but as someone who brought “the solace and hope and faith of Christian morals” to the land of a vanquished foe. Japan was a tradition-directed culture where the individual was subsumed into a collective mindset not seen in the West since the middle ages. The Emperor was divine, women were inferior beings, peasants were sharecroppers shackled to the land, and Shintoism promoted martial virtues and the inferiority of other races. There were no civil rights or liberties and power was wielded by the gumbatsu (militarists) and the zaibatsu (11 industrial families). Japan was a totalitarian society more akin to ancient Sparta than any modern nation.

MacArthur suspended the Emperor’s functions, brought freedom of the press, instituted civil liberties, released all political prisoners, demanded women’s suffrage, and informed the public of Japan’s war crimes. Most importantly, he sought to turn their idolatry for the warrior class into hatred and contempt by removing all militaristic propaganda from school textbooks. He established academic freedom, forbid all discrimination, and opened schools to women. In a new constitution he virtually dictated, the armed forces were abolished and war was renounced as a sovereign right of the nation. Dozens of other drastic changes were made, far too many to mention here.

As a result of his cultural meddling, the national income surpassed pre-war levels in just 5 years, 90% of land ended up in the hands of people who farmed it, cholera was wiped out, and the life expectancy of men increased by 8 years and women 14 years. Most importantly, the Shinto, militaristic, and totalitarian mindset disappeared. Eight years after VJ Day, Theodor Geisel (“Dr. Seuss”) visited Japan and conducted an extensive survey of Japanese children who were encouraged to draw pictures of what they wanted to become. Every profession was noted from doctors to wrestlers, but only one child drew a soldier. And he wanted to become a MacArthur.

Contrast this to our war in Iraq which targets Al Qaeda fighters but not the philosophy and mentality that propels them. For every one we kill, there may be two or three willing to take their place. Our troops have to wind their way through dangerous streets while mosque loudspeakers boom forth anti-American tirades over the heads of those sent there to protect them. We dare not enter a mosque where they are busy inculcating another generation with the poison of anti-Israel venom and Arab imperialism through Jihad. Terrorism is not a deviant of misplaced Islamic fundamentalism. It is part and parcel of Jihad which is clearly understood in the Arab world as holy war, not an internal struggle.

While Christianity suffered from the hands of extremists in the middle-ages, witch burning and the inquisition were doomed from the start because they were so against the grain of Christ’s teaching. These practices pale against the crimes of Jihad today which sanctions the killing of infidels and glorifies the assassins with sainthood: all this very clearly consistent with the teachings and practices of Islam’s first and greatest prophet.

The main goal of much of Arab education is to instill a rabid commitment to destroy Israel. Everything from nursery rhymes to textbooks teaches children about Jews being pigs, dogs, and devils out to steal their land. “May God bless us with shahada (martyrdom)” is their prayer. A totalitarian control grips their lives with fear used to direct blind vengeance against the Jew and the forces of modernism that come from the West. The Muslim faith is assured through fear, shame, intimidation, imprisonment, or death. Women lead second class lives, fatalism is endemic to the culture, personal responsibility is a foreign concept, and lying to protect family or culture from outsiders is considered a virtue. Preserving family honor is more important than happiness or a healthy life. Hate speech pervades Arab TV and the mosques. Contrary to common perception, Islamic radicalism is not a product of ignorance and poverty even though Arab lands boast some of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. The majority of the radicals are coming out of the upper classes and medical schools. These zealots are simply acting out what they have been taught from childhood: kill infidels, Americans, Jews, and Christians and gain the rewards and honors for those who die in Jihad.

Unfortunately, our state department does not want to get involved in ideological warfare. They have been educated in America where we do not want to make judgments involving cultures or religions. Our president has called Islam a “religion of peace” and said that he worships the same god as they; two statements which are greeted with incredulous unbelief in the Arab world as hopelessly naive. But in this wishful thinking, he is well at home among the campuses of America where non-judgmental relativism reigns.

We are caught on the horns of a terrible dilemma. We have engaged the most radical believers of Islam in armed conflict but do not have the heart or conviction to tell them that they embrace a false and horribly self-destructive world view. Without curing the cause, we are condemned to continue the conflict with no end in sight. As someone has said, “We have the means to destroy them but not the will. They have the will to destroy us but not the means.” The possession of those means, however, is only a matter of time.

The answer is not to destroy them first. We can, however, address the cultural imbalance that exists between us and the Arab world. We can demand access for access, freedom for freedom as the price of doing business with the Western world. We grant them religious freedom here. It should be matched by equal freedom within their nations. My friends can’t even take their personal Bibles with them when traveling to Saudi Arabia. For every mosque built in America, they need to permit the building of churches in Mecca and around the Arab world. If American wealth and blood are being spilt to renew Afghanistan, we should insist that they guarantee Christian believers the right to life and limb and make freedom of religion a foundation of their law.

Secondly, we need to challenge Islamic clerics and intellectuals to save Islam through reform. They will either reform it or risk starting WWIII. The Jihad needs to be renounced for the relic of the middle-ages that it is. On that point of belief we could easily discover who our friends are in the Islamic world. Without that renunciation, we face an intransigent foe. If Islam is the religion of peace promoting understanding as many of them say, it needs to be taught to their own children. That is the proof we need.

MacArthur realized we needed to change Japanese culture from the ground up and the ideas it was built upon; not just defeat them in battle. Without that change, the death dealing pilots of 9-11 could just as well have been the descendants of the kamikaze suicide bombers of old. Ideas do have consequences.


Sources: American Caesar, William Manchester, Little, Brown and Co, 1978.
Now They Call Me Infidel, Nonie Darwish, Sentinel, The Penguin Group, 2006.

Cades Cove

Well, I tried to tempt all or some of you last weekend. No one could manage to break free plus the fact that they still are banning all back country fires in the Smokies turned me from going overnight solo to doing a "book tour" of Cades Cove. Fall is a great hiking time but I don't like the idea of going to bed at 7:30 unless I am really whipped. One needs a fire and some good company.

I enjoyed some great music going to and from the cove, got to bike leisurely through the Cove, stopped along the way and worked myself through a short book I wanted to read, and had a serendipitous moment at the Missionary Baptist Church. I attached a copy of that interlude which I wrote up for this week's Thurs. News. Not a bad day, all in all.

There are some great unexplored areas of the cove which offer sunny hillsides, tranquil pastures, and peaceful reflection. I aim to explore more of it over time as I can.

“I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.” –Ps. 104:33

My instructions to our teachers were explicit: come back to school after home study week with a fresh love for a new book, an old friend, or an eternal truth. To make sure I practiced what I preached, I set off last Sat. morning intending on a book tour of Cades Cove. I packed a lunch, a couple of books, and took off on my bike through the Cove looking for sunny hillsides and quiet nooks.

My first stop was at the off road Primitive Baptist Church. I could not help but notice the sweet sound of singing coming from inside and was instantly drawn in. There I found a dozen or so family members, young and old, singing the old hymns of the faith up in front in rich harmonies. I sat down and joined in. They had come in and discovered the wonderful acoustics of the old church in its delightful simplicity. Wooden floors, wooden walls, and wooden ceiling joined together to breathe a special magic into this little impromptu choir, much the way a well-made violin resonates the sound of the strings and spills it forth in rich fashion. They were rediscovering and reliving the musical heritage of its original occupants who knew full well the delight of acapella singing. Accompanying the thrill of hearing the sound of intermingling voices and old familiar tunes, I delighted in the instant bond of connection with these perfect strangers. They not only knew the old songs of Zion, they loved them. It made my heart sing to hear young people suggesting this song and then that one with the genuine zest that only comes in knowing the truth they proclaim.

Another couple wandered in and joined us. His voice was powerful and strong and full of zeal for the task at hand. It stoked our enthusiasm all the more. Someone suggested we gather in a circle to get a better blend. We did, and the songs continued to roll. Visitors piled in and many sat or joined in as well. We rejoiced with each new title that was pulled up from memory in which we again discovered common ground. I take credit for suggesting “It is well with my soul” which proved to be the highpoint as the inspired voices hurled themselves into its swelling words of praise. The place boomed. I couldn’t decide if I would rather be in the midst or be standing out in the parking lot to hear the praise ring from this historic structure against the beautiful backdrop of mountains and sky.

All total, we sang for well over an hour. We couldn’t pull ourselves away. No one wanted to leave. It was one of those serendipitous moments that becomes a treasured memory. Later, I joined these memories with the search I had made of the East Tennessee Rationalists Society website. They are a curiosity of mine and while visiting my children who are fully wireless, I took the time to wander through their comings and goings. They have a photo of Rodin’s “The Thinker” on their standard. Evidently they do not know that “The Thinker” is not engaged in secular, rational thought but is part of a larger frieze inspired by Dante’s “Inferno” where he is pondering his eternal fate between heaven and hell. For a society trying to explore alternatives to supernaturalism, I find it quite amusing. They are in earnest, however, and are steeped in intellectual skepticism of the highest order. Altogether, my week ended in sincere empathy for them. Theirs is a dry and barren faith. Atheism has no music that can stir the soul like a dozen voices in a simple, country church. There simply are no songs for unbelief. How truly sad. On the other hand, it is said that the early Methodists out sang their enemies. May we not neglect the power of song to propel the joy of the Kingdom deep within our souls and to a dry and thirsty generation.

The War

I had not planned to write this tonight but it just sort of flowed out. Since many of you may have been watching PBS this past week, I thought I would send it out fresh from the pen/keyboard.

“Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: to deliver thee from the way of the evil man.” –Pro. 2:11

You may have been captivated as I was by the week long series by Ken Burns on PBS entitled simply, “The War.” Much of it was familiar territory to me from a historical point of view. But the personal vignettes and eye-witness accounts were riveting. Tonight was the end point. I was affected by each segment but now at the end I sit quietly mulling over the utter gravity of it all. It did not end with a punch but rather as a long, tedious tale; much like a gripping novel would. It was a story where I identified with the characters through thick and thin, but now the tale finds a quiet finish where there are no winners, simply survivors. To see these young warriors come home from scenes that rival anything out of Tolkein’s tortured, middle-earth imagination and watch them step back into the routine, the normal, the trivial pursuits of everyday life, brings an agonizing hush to the heart. For those who had seen the most ragged edge of war, it had to be hard to relate to the silly and banal concerns of normal living. And who could know their stories? Who could understand the horrors they had witnessed or perpetrated upon an intransigent foe? Or should anyone even want to know?

The answer in part has to be a resounding, “Yes!” No, the gory details of battlefield life and death need not be played and replayed to satisfy our voyeuristic curiosities. Don’t misunderstand; the history of pain written across countless cemeteries and broken family trees is important less anyone get a misguided and romantic view of war. But I would rather focus on the ideas and convictions that so gripped the enemy that they were just as willing to die for an evil cause as we were for a just one. This did not garner much of Mr. Burns penetrating attention, but the unmistakable portrait of the enemy was there. You did not have to look far.

Many G.I.’s went to war not really thinking or realizing just what was at stake. No American could imagine the horrors of the death camps discovered only late in the war in 1945. It was only when we entered the foul nests of the enemy’s dens that we saw the ghastly results of an idea taken to its logical conclusion. And to witness the unquestioning discipline of the Japanese whose culture had bred a race of the most formidable soldiers the modern world had ever seen was frightening even at a distance of some 60 years. Their capacity for cruelty knew few bounds. Wherever they went, they treated their victims with utmost contempt. A real warrior would have rather died fighting than to surrender. Therefore, by simple and logical extension, these who somehow survived and found themselves captive were less than human beings, objects not of pity but of derision. Then there were the kamikaze pilots who turned their planes into human bombs. An American sailor told how a pilot would strap on the head scarf of suicide for the emperor sincerely believing that he would earn an automatic place in heaven. Then, after a slight pause, he added with a firm sense of conviction, “Of course, he was wrong.”

In that simple phrase, so much is summed up. Ideas are important. The right ones can evoke selfless humanitarianism that spreads comfort to the sick, food to the hungry, and justice to the oppressed. The wrong ones can enslave whole peoples, spread death and destruction at unimaginable levels, and create a mindset in which the unthinkable becomes thinkable, even commonplace. Not all cultures are created equal. What happened in Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan was no accident, no political aberration, or the work of a mad few. These plagues upon man were carefully engineered over generations, injected into the very young, and willingly spread among every level of society. They were wrong. They were evil. And they were deadly. I only pray we may be alert to the viruses of the soul at loose in our society.