“Laws multiply when the lawgivers want to have subjects instead of citizens. When laws swarm like the frogs of Egypt, the reason for it is to increase guilt. This guilt means two things—one is that when there are multitudinous regulations, they can always get you for something. Second, it turns everyone into a lawbreaker, but because our consciences are not trained by the Scriptures, when it gets to the point of resistance, we are dragged into the fray with uneasy consciences—instead of walking toward the confrontation with a clean heart and well-oiled shield.”
Radical Relativism
“This toxic use of empathy is destroying Western civilization, and I don’t think I am overstating things. The doctrine of empathy is tearing our culture apart . . . I’m talking about empathy as it is being employed by our therapeutic professionals. Their definition—the toxic one—has worked its way into our laws, into our customs, into our HR departments, into our media, into the military, and into our courts. This form of empathy demands that we feel with others without making any judgments whatsoever about them or their behavior. It is the delivery platform of radical relativism.”
Keep Your Kids, pp. 30-31
A Foundation of Lies
“Too many people in their marriages, families, and friendships try to build koinonia fellowship on the foundation of lying. They want peace, and so they will make peace by apologizing when they don’t think they need to, or they will give a soft answer when a straight answer was requested. Don’t lie for the sake of a superficial peace.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 22
Think Ahead
“If you are going to run a marathon, you don’t get ready for it by running around the block the day before.”
Liberty Is Not Ethereal
“We have forgotten that liberty must be understood in terms of durable goods.”
Don’t Italicize Their Point
“You can’t ask someone if you have a short temper and then blow up (or stop talking to them for six months) if they say yes.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 21
Politicians Who Say Arrrgh
“Where do I get the authority to relegate the mighty ones who pass our tax laws (in their august and solemn assemblies) to the status of those who say arrrgh, and who have a parrot on their shoulders.”
A Metaphor for Your Spiritual Condition
“Too many Christians have adopted a foolish approach to automotive maintenance. ‘Don’t lift the hood if you don’t want to know.’ That’s not the way to go. It means you’re not trying to deal with the problem until it’s desperate. There are a lot of problems that can be corrected with minimal intervention—but if you put it off, put it off, put it off, then the engine freezes and everything blows up. Just change the oil now, and this won’t happen.”
Keep Your Kids, pp. 19-20
Theft Presupposes Property Rights
“I cannot commit adultery is there is no marriage. I cannot murder if there is no right to life. I cannot bear false witness if there is no truth. And, bring this to the point, I cannot steal or covet unless there is such a thing as my neighbor having a right to whatever is modified by his very own personal pronoun. To adapt the nouns from the tenth commandment—his house, his servants, his livestock, or anything else that is HIS.”
Three Years After the Congregation Took a Vow
“But in three years, that very same child might be careening around the cookie table like a chimpanzee on meth, with both fists full of cookies. If one of our parents remembers the vow we all took back in that heartwarming moment and attempts to talk with you about your child, how easy is it to get defensive? The answer: very easy. Your heart and your mouth are full of arguments that are, on paper, good arguments. This person doesn’t know your child’s name. This person doesn’t know your child’s favorite food (it’s cookies). This person doesn’t know your child’s bedtime (they don’t have a bedtime).”
Keep Your Kids, pp. 18-19