“We should always remember our propensity to guard against the sin we are least likely to fall into. The indulgent parent is all on guard against tyranny, and the tyrannical parent is very careful not to be too soft.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 17
Sin Doesn’t Balance Sin
“In contrast, the dictatorial parent thinks that he is simply being firm, while the indulgent parent thins she is simply being kind. In both cases, they call their failure something else. And on top of that, both types often believe that they’re ‘balancing out’ the other. They each lean in opposite directions in the canoe, which, incidentally, is how you capsize a canoe.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 16
No Coercion at the Center
“Any society requires force for the outliers but is not held together at the center by force. When the ruling elites start to opt out of this societal bond—‘laws are for the little people’—there is usually a time lag, but the little people do catch on. And when they catch on, the whole thing spirals down into chaos.”
Keep Your Kids, pp. 21-22
Feeding or Eating
“This is the behavior of a ruler who devours his people rather than a ruler who feeds his people. You can see the contrast in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus feeds the people by the sea right after Herod throws a banquet where the head of John the Baptist is brought out on a serving platter. One king feeds His people, one king eats his people.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 15
Looks Nice on the Coffee Table
“Godless secularism still maintains an impressive facade. Like an ornate shell of a long dead creature of the deep blue sea, there is enough to keep quite a number of people from pointing out the obvious, to wit, that the shell is hollow.”
No One Fools Around With the Words of their God
“Notice how nobody ever says that the majority opinions in pursuit of judicial activism are ‘living documents’ also. No, you have to interpret their words with sobriety and respect, no funny business, and why? Where respect for the plain meaning of words is demanded, you have identified the god of the system.”
Keep It Sensible
“You don’t have to give up all your perspectives, opinions, and thoughts on child-rearing. You don’t have to assume that everyone who criticizes your parenting is right. They might not be; they might be as self-deceived as you have sometimes been. But you do have to budget for that possibility. You must surrender the point to God in principle. The key to being a sensible parent is to be a sensible person.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 14
In Step With the Spirit
“Being spiritual does not mean being ethereal or ghostly. Being spiritual means being obedient—and this includes the way you speak to your children, discipline your children, encourage your children, teach your children.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 12
Laws Reflect the God of the System
“If man is god, as he is in secularism, then the ethics of that society will reflect the nature of man. But man changes all the time. He is unstable, like water.”
Water Flows Downstream
“If the parents are foolish, then so will the parenting be. If the parents are dictatorial, then so will the parenting be. If the parents are wise, then so will the parenting be.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 12