“And the result of that is the destruction of education, which is what we in fact see all around us. Without discipline, there are no disciples, and without disciples or students, there can be no education . . . The excuses may be believed for a while, but time is a great revealer. The abandonment …
Ezra Nehemiah 9
Introduction: Integrity in leaders is not something that makes safeguards unnecessary. Integrity in leaders is manifested in the first place by their insistence on safeguards. This desire for manifest integrity and accountability is seen clearly in how Ezra behaves in this chapter. The people of Israel are under the law of God, all of them. …
A Table of Groveling?
The disciples, Jesus said, were those who continued with Him in his temptations. And closely associated with this, He said that He appointed to them a kingdom, just as the Father had appointed unto Him. Confession of sin is certainly appropriate in the worship of God, but it belongs in our first approach to Him, …
Take Off Your Shoes
As we are given the enormous privilege, again, of ascending into the heavenly places to worship God in the name of Jesus Christ, take special care. We are walking into the throne room of God, and so we must take off our shoes — we are entering into a most holy place. If we walk …
A Democratic Downgrade
“The phenomenon was in part merely an unpleasant by-product of mass education: a man who might have done no harm as a head footman a century or two ago can do tremendous harm as an assistant professor or a film critic.” [Bryan F. Griffin, Panic Among the Philistines (Chicago, Regnery Gateway, 1983), p. 183.]
Punishment and Discipline
“Punishment is interested simply in justice; discipline is interested in the twin aspects of preparation and correction. When students are made to work hard, this is preparation for life. When a student is corrected for fooling around and wasting time, this is correction that returns the student to his preparation for life. In both cases, …
Protections for the Accuser
We have been talking about the rights of the accused in matters of justice. But in the tangled web of human experience, in many cases the accuser can rapidly become the accused. Then what do we do? The first thing to do, especially for all internet observers, is to maintain a heart check, a heart …
All About Sex
Brian McLaren recently posted some comments on, you guessed it, homosexuality, and, as might be expected, he was strong on the need to be what he was pleased to call “pastoral,” and weak on what was known, in another day and time, as “biblical.” He was asked by a young couple what his church’s position …
Truth Behind the Plow
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 74 “He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding” (Prov. 12:11). If you want food, then you have to walk behind the plow for a bit. One of …
Almost As Real As Movie Reviews
“The same might have been said not only of Time itself but of most of the American popular press. All over the land of the free, hip little film critics were celebrating the exhibition of Mr. Ripploh’s lower orifices with the words and phrases they’d memorized while studying for their Master’s degrees. ‘The latest film …