Dear visionaries, Stan chides us for our attitudes toward the government schools. He said “my father and my grandfather have preached to me that Christian people do these things without expecting consideration in return. It is simply the way life should be.” I actually agree with this completely, as far as it goes, and would …
Reformation Sunday 2004
INTRODUCTION: We are fast approaching the five hundredth anniversary of the glorious Reformation. The history of the Church is always tangled, and we can never approach it in a simplistic fashion. But with all such allowances made, the Reformation was a great work of the Holy Spirit, and we are right to remember and celebrate …
Mother Love
Once two women were quarreling, and I am afraid that their quarrel was loud enough to be heard by others at the restaurant where they were having lunch. As it happens, there was a wise woman who attended the same church they did who happened to overhear. Deciding that since they had made the affair …
Another Crouton in the Salad of Pluralism
Dear visionaries, Morning, everybody. Time for that morning dose of vitriol! Gary was answered well on the statistical matters by Dale. Our discussion of this whole topic was not precipitated by the discovery that kids were coming into government schools at a “higher rate” than they were “pushing them through the doors of private schools.” …
The Slavery of Relativism
Dear visionaries, Susanna has outed me. Was that nice? I ask you. First things first: she says, “In my ‘simplistically relativist’ world some things are always wrong . . .” I do not want to say that anything was wrong with your history courses, but something was seriously askew in your philosophy and ethics study. …
Gratitude and Childbirth
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 19 In our last installment, we noted that the last one hundred years has brought to us some astonishing blessings in the realm of health. We live much longer on average-an average of about thirty years longer. In response, it …
Believing Your Own Propaganda
Dear visionaries, The debate between rival absolutes is one kind of debate, like the kind that happened at the battle of Tours. Obviously, when two contradictory claims of absolute truth collide, both can be wrong, but both cannot be right. The rules of engagement in this are of interest to those of us who believe …
Debating Relativism Is Like War With France
Dear visionaries, Just got back in town after a week out, and had a fun time catching up. I agree with William (!) about one post a day. What a good deal that would be. Although I am a little concerned that a liberal wants to work out this kind of a solution without the …
Words on a Page
One of the perennial frustrations in contemporary political discourse is caused by the linguistic dishonesty of the human heart. For example, the Constitution says certain very specific things about what can and cannot be done, and our current crop of solons blithely disregard such “words on a page” in order to do whatever it is …
Keep Your Shirt On
Dear visionaries, Bill Jameson argues that if he found the sight of a bare breast caused him to consider being unfaithful to his wife, then he would examine the depth of his commitment to the marriage — and he would not place blame upon a woman who chose to bare her breast. But then again, …