Below are two articles about Barack Obama and abortion that raise some issues worth discussing. Check ‘em out.
http://thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.14_George_Robert_Obama%27s%20Abortion%20Extremism_.xml
http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2630
Perhaps it isn’t wise for me to say such things publicly, but here goes: I’m not a big fan of long-term public schooling. This is not so much because I want to shelter kids from worldly influences, but because public shools produce poorly educated children. Of course, there is a chorus of mothers (perhaps my own mother included) now saying, “My kid went to public school and he turned out alright.” To this I offer a couple of responses. First, if I turned out alright (some would perhaps dispute this), in my judgment, it is largely because of other factors besides my public education–good parenting and the grace of God, to name just two. In other words, some students turn out “alright” not because of public education but despite it. Second, educationally speaking, I might take some issue with whether many kids (such as myself) actually “turn out alright.” Perhaps we’ve placed the cookie on too low of a shelf when it comes to our definitions of “alright.” Some might consider me to be a well-behaved and well-educated person, but I regularly lament how little I know and how little I learned about certain subjects. At age 30, I feel like I’m playing catch-up on a lot of things. I believe we can do much better than long-term public education in the pursuit of shaping our kids into mature thinkers who make a significant impact on the world for the sake of Christ. Infinitely more should be said on this subject, but, for now, I can only point to a good book on education that I heartily recommend to parents who are thinking about the long-term education of their children. It’s a good starting place. It is called Wisdom and Eloqence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning (Crossway), by Robert Littlejohn and Charles T. Evans. More to come on these issues later.
I’ve been reading Dave Harvey’s book on marriage, When Sinners Say “I Do” (see my sidebar for more information on the book), and was helped by the following quote by Charles Spurgeon: “Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned, to hate the evil which has been forgiven him, and to live to the honour of the Redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed” (quoted in Arnold Dallimore, Spurgeon: A New Biography [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987], 14; also quoted in Dave Harvey, When Sinners Say “I Do” [Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2007], 38). I hope the quote causes you, as it did me, to be struck more with the great mercy of God in rescuing us from our high treason against him (see Ephesians 2:1-10 for a similar contrast and a similar response from Paul—“by grace we have been saved!”).
As I read David McCullough’s best-selling book, John Adams (Simon & Schuster, 2001), I didn’t get the sense that the second U. S. president had a robust Christian faith. At least, McCullough, perhaps unintentionally, doesn’t present him that way. Rather, the book portrays Adams as a man whose Christian principles are always lurking behind the scenes, giving shape to many of his views on life and politics, but not existing at the forefront of his mind and heart. (In fairness to Adams, there may have been more to his Christian faith than what comes across in McCullough’s portrayal. Devotion to the conventions of modern [secular] history writing may impede an author’s ability to represent a Christian way of life from within.) Nevertheless, there are some important lessons to be learned—by everyone in general, and by modern politicians in particular—from Adams’s character traits and views of God and the world (which is far more than I can say for McCullough’s portrayal of Thomas Jefferson). The following are a few things worth emulating.
His Understanding of the Human Condition
Adams often had a perceptive sense of his own shortcomings, and he realized that he could not well tame the workings of even his own mind. He said, “I can as easily still the fierce tempests or stop the rapid thunderbolt, as command the motions and operations of my own mind” (41). When he wrote these words, he was having trouble overcoming absent-mindedness, laziness, and daydreaming. He couldn’t stick with his resolutions to read more seriously or quit chewing tobacco. We are not told if he took the consequent biblical step of entrusting himself to God’s mercy to transform the human heart, mind, and will, in order to conform them to divine designs. But recognizing the inabilities of human volition is a necessary—and often missed—first step in the right direction.
His Understanding of Human Limitations
Adams believed that the prosperity of the country depended not ultimately upon the strength of military might, the health of the economy, or the intellect, ability, and character of its leaders, but upon God. As McCullough writes, “For Adams the ultimate command rested always beyond the reach of mortal men, just as the very natures and actions of men themselves were often determined by their Maker.” As Adams himself once put it, “The prosperity of [my administration] to the country will depend upon Heaven, and very little on anything in my power” (527). On the topic of human limitations, he wrote to his granddaughter, with the wisdom of a grandfather, “You are not singular in your suspicions that you know but little. . . . The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know. . . . Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough” (650).
His Understanding of Human Equality
In a time when it was unpopular in many quarters, he believed that slavery was a blight on humankind and should be ended. Such a desire was rooted in his belief that all humans were endowed by their Creator with equal dignity and rights. With perhaps one or two improprieties of expression, he got close to biblical truth when he wrote, “The doctrine of human equality is founded entirely in the Christian doctrine that we are all children of the same Father, all accountable to Him for our conduct to one another, all equally bound to respect each other’s self love” (619). One can only wonder what might have been if others, such as Thomas Jefferson, who owned a number of slaves until his death, had carried similar principles to their logical end with reference to slavery. (One also wonders what will come from current trends to abandon the idea that the Creator has endowed humans with equal dignity if they are carried to their logical end.)
His Faithfulness in Hard Work
He was a man who regularly rose at 5:00 a.m. and labored with single-minded devotion to keep up his farm, to learn from his books, to carry out important political matters, and to teach his children. There is one story in the book, which is seemingly representative of his life, in which Adams worked long hours during the day to execute his duties as a foreign diplomat and then sat at the table with his son, John Quincy, who became the sixth U. S. president, for long hours into the evening, working with him on his studies. He seemed to give himself fully to whatever he set out to do.
His Enjoyment of Relationships and Conversation
We regularly find Adams enjoying the company of others and contributing his own wit and wisdom to conversation. He tells, for example, of his pleasure in conversing with his barber, who was “never . . . at a loss for a story to tell”: “while he is shaving and combing me . . . he contributes more than I could have imagined to my comfort in this life” (106).
His Ability to Wonder at God’s Creative Handiwork
Adams always enjoyed the wonders of life, but in his old age we find him doing so all the more—and explicitly in praise to the Creator. I’ll sign off with the following descriptive quotation.
I never delighted much in contemplating commas and colons, or in spelling or measuring syllables; but now . . . if I attempt to look at these little objects, I find my imagination, in spite of all my exertions, roaming in the Milky Way, among the nebulae, those mighty orbs, and stupendous orbits of suns, planets, satellites, and comets, which compose the incomprehensible universe; and if I do not sink into nothing in my own estimation, I feel an irresistible impulse to fall on my knees, in adoration of the power that moves, the wisdom that directs, and the benevolence that sanctifies this wonderful whole. [630]
I believe that all things were created by and for God (Acts 17:24-27; Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:16), are related to and sustained by him (Colossians 1:17-20; Ephesians 1:9-10; Hebrews 1:3), and display his grace, power, and wisdom (Psalm 19:1; 104; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:19). Moreover, God himself is truth, beauty, goodness, love, and so on (see, e.g., John 14:6; 17:17; 1 John 4:8). Such things find their very definition in God. Without God, there is no such thing as truth or beauty or goodness or love. Putting it more positively, all truth, beauty, goodness, and love are God’s truth, beauty, goodness, and love. The implication of all this is that we cannot properly understand any subject without seeking to understand what God has revealed about himself and the world. Education will be truncated if it does not teach all subjects with God in full view (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Job 28:28). As Dorothy Sayers once put it, “theology is the mistress-science without which the whole educational structure will necessarily lack its final synthesis. Those who disagree about this will remain content to leave their pupil’s education still full of loose ends” (The Lost Tools of Learning). Thus the best education is Christian education. All other kinds of education will be helpful only to the extent that they borrow capital from biblical truth, but they will not enable students to flourish in God’s world—and who doesn’t live in God’s world? (Colossians 1:16; Acts 17:25-26)—as much as Christian education will when it is understood and executed properly (see Psalm 1).
Education that begins and ends with God must be explicitly Christological. What I mean is that Jesus Christ must provide the content and be the goal of all education. Not only do all the promises of God point to and “find their Yes” in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20; Romans 15:8; cf. Luke 24:24, 44-47; Acts 10:43; John 5:46-47; Romans 1:2-4), but also “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are found in him (Colossians 2:2-3). Additionally, God designed all of history and all the universe to find their fullness in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 1:18-20). When we say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, we must direct our attention to the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus Christ is the prism through which we must view all forms of education in order to discover all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And if we expect our education to carry out the purpose for which it was designed, we must direct it to Christ.
How should all this work out in practice? By advocating a philosophy of teaching all things in relation to God in Christ, I do not intend a sort of mechanical mode of instruction in which the name Jesus is mentioned at the end of every sentence about Abraham Lincoln (like one may hear in some Islamic institutions, where “Allah be praised” or something similar is spoken almost as a punctuation mark to every thought, or in some American pulpits, where a phrase such as “bless God” is heard whenever the pastor pauses to take a breath). Viewing God rightly is not a mechanical or merely ritualistic exercise; it is a personal and relational and practical way of life (much like the fact that I do not love and honor my wife by mentioning her name at the end of every sentence, but by thinking of her and talking with her often, getting to know her mannerisms and wishes and ways of thinking, cherishing her, and organizing my own life with her in view).
Rather, what I have in mind amounts to at least two things. First, children should be taught a biblical worldview in broad outline. When we teach and flesh out the biblical narrative of Creation, Rebellion, and Redemption, students will be more equipped to place other subjects, such as history, math, science, geography, art, and music—not to mention ethics or virtue or goodness—in proper perspective. They will understand from a biblical view of creation that butterflies have bright colors and bananas have a pleasant taste because God has displayed his gracious provision and powerful wisdom. They will understand that stars and canyons and mountains provide wonder because they reflect God’s majesty. They will understand that we have eyes, eardrums, taste buds, and nerve endings so that we might hear a symphony, see the color of flowers, taste the sweetness of honey, and feel a loving hug because of God’s mercy to give us not only things to enjoy but also the capacity to enjoy them. They will understand that when they take up a paint brush in art class, they are reflecting the creativity of the One who made the landscape that opens up before them. They will understand what the framers of the U. S. Constitution borrowed (perhaps unwittingly) from the biblical picture of creation: that all human beings have equal dignity, since the same God has created all people everywhere in his image (see Genesis 1:27; Acts 17:24-27). They will understand from human rebellion and God’s subsequent judgment why there is war and strife and calamity written all over their history books. They will understand from human rebellion and the need for God’s work of redemption that political legislation and human technology and amassing wealth, all of which can be used greatly for God’s purposes, have not and will not solve human troubles by themselves. The human heart must be transformed by the mercy of God in Christ if true joy and life are to be found and if legislation and technology are going to work properly in God’s world. In these and countless other ways, teaching a broad biblical worldview provides the proper perspective for every part of education.
Second, in addition to a biblical worldview in broad outline, students should regularly be taught the specific words of God as well as the stories of his acts of judgment and salvation. As Moses said to the people of Israel,
these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. . . . When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us [Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 20-25].
The same principle applies equally today. We should teach students God’s acts of judgment and salvation culminating in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and pervade our homes and travels and lying down and rising with his specific words and commands (see John 14:15; 15:10). (A good example of the latter for kids would be something like Ephesians 6:1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”) When we teach children the broad outline of a biblical worldview and regularly discuss God’s acts and commands, all other subjects (grammar, math, science, geography, history, literature, etc.)—which we should teach with all diligence—will come into their proper orbit.
Singing is essential to the Christian life. Have you ever noticed in the Scriptures that, at crucial points in redemptive history, God’s people sing? Exodus 14 tells the story of God bringing his people across the Red Sea to escape slavery in Egypt. The final verses of the chapter summarize the event like this: “Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses” (Exodus 14:30-31). End of story? No, notice how Exodus 15 begins: “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, ‘I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously . . . . The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him’” (Exodus 15:1-2). The song continues for eighteen verses, recounting God’s mighty act of redemption and highlighting his majestic holiness, awesome deeds, and steadfast love.
Just after Isaiah peers into the future at the coming kingdom of God in which the Spirit-guided Messiah reigns with righteousness and faithfulness (Isaiah 11:3-5), filling the earth with the knowledge of God (11:9) and bringing a glorious resting place to the nations (11:10), he describes this coming salvation in Exodus terminology. God will lead his people across the Sea of Egypt in sandals, and “there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt” (11:15-16). End of story? No, notice what immediately follows in chapter 12:
You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation [the very words of Exodus 15:2!].” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” [Isaiah 12:1-6].
The new and final Exodus, salvation through the Messiah, will lead God’s people to sing! (The same process from salvation to singing appears in Isaiah 25-26.)
Mary is forever etched on the pages of the biblical witness as a fulfillment of the words of Isaiah’s prophecy. The angel Gabriel tells Mary that her son “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:23-33). What does Mary do as these historic messianic events unfold before her? She sings! “Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47). Her song continues for another eight verses, highlighting God’s saving mercy and faithfulness.
These and other biblical examples show the indispensability of singing for those who have known God’s saving work. Paul says that the one who is filled with God’s Spirit will be heard addressing others “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all [his or her] heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (see Ephesians 5:18-21; cf. Colossians 3:16-17). If God has brought you out of slavery to sin, and you have drawn water from the wells of salvation, then, whatever you do, sing! Don’t just listen to the music. Join in, and tell of his deeds among the peoples. If no one is around, the shower, the car, and the elevator are as good as any place to follow the Spirit’s prodding to make melody to the Lord with all your heart.
In keeping with the theme of this blog, I’d like to marvel a bit about God and his world. Sometimes I pause and tremble at the immensity of the created order. When I look at the stars, my mind gets boggled by the vastness of space. And then I remember that God “determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names,” which is to say that he is ”abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:4-5). Few things terrify me and fill me with wonder more than the depths of the ocean, which humanity has yet to explore fully. (Whenever I get the chance, I download sea exploration videos from National Geographic and watch octopuses change color to blend in with their surroundings in order to avoid predators.) And, of course, God “has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand” (Isaiah 40:12). Such language labors to do as much justice as possible to the vastness and incomprehensibility of God.
One such text recently left me stunned when its implications landed on me. After Job describes the creative power of God, by which he “hangs the earth on nothing” and gathers up water in clouds without them bursting open, he says, “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:7-8, 14). Have you ever considered the immensity of the world’s wonders and stopped to think that you are hearing but a small whisper of God and glimpsing only the outskirts of his ways? How little must we know of his infinite power and wisdom if all this is just a whisper compared to his thunder. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33).
I have always feared the blogosphere. I don’t enter it often. Once a fortnight—maybe. (I can hear my wife laughing at me for using the word fortnight, but it just takes less energy to say than “every two weeks.”) Entering the blogosphere may lead to my ruin, but I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, and I just finished a biography of John Adams which got me to thinking what little we’d know about him if it weren’t for his letters and journal entries. Some of them are quite enlightening. And what a precious gift would the world have missed if David Brainerd had not logged his personal exploits! Perhaps the likes of some such as William Carey, who acknowledged a great debt to Brainerd’s diary, would not have done so much for the cause of Christ. I do not pretend to be any more than a chirping cricket in comparison to these singing swans, but I’d be content if a few of my morsels and marvelings helped crack open a window to a new world for some. Besides, most of what I intend to do is not to shed any new light on the universe but to pass on light from the One who brought it into existence—as well as from a few sages who have refracted that light far better than I could. If you choose to read my musings, I would welcome your (pithy) comments. If you choose not to read, I trust you will still be able to live a full, rich, and happy life.
Full of wonder,
Kent
