Life Matters - December 7, 2022

For a democratic republic to survive in a society, a culture, and its government there must needs be a higher law governing the principles by which it lives, as John Adams said upon signing the newly minted Constitution of the United States of America, “This Constitution has been written for a moral and religious people, it is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” As we teeter on the crux of “any other” I have a proposal. I propose that we return to the values of our forebearers. And not just return as in going back but return as in meeting God where He is and where He wants to meet us. In the present. That we presently, corporately, pick up our Bibles and we study-connect-with God through His Word and Spirit. That we—in that frame of heart and mind—ask Him for Holy Spirit direction. That we—in that frame of heart and mind—endeavor to leave this world better than it was when we arrived.  

The 1960s’ decisions in the courts and in academia infecting the education of this nation’s children, beginning in grade school through college, didn’t have any immediately noticeable negative side effects. The sky didn’t fall, nature didn’t implode, lightning didn’t strike where in my mind it should have. (God is more merciful than I am) In the decade of the 60s, in the learning institutions of this great nation, stealthily and persistently, unbelief began to ooze its sneaky tendrils into every facet of academia. God was being cancelled. Some held out longer than others, but the response of big government was to withhold school funding to the noncompliant school districts. There was no recourse unless one pulled his and her children from public school and “footed” the extra cost of parochial schools or homeschool. “Extra” because these people still went on paying property taxes, of which a sizeable amount went to the public school system. Those who could, paid their taxes and then paid the second time for the schooling of their children. And those who couldn’t? I don’t know for sure, but I suspect many got sucked into a system they didn’t agree with. And many others didn’t see what was ‘’coming down the pike.’’ Back then it was illegal to not show up at public school and so the authorities were sent to one-room parochial schools to transport the schoolchildren to the nearest public school where they could get a “proper” education with “properly licensed” teachers. But the Amish, especially, were persistent. They appeared in courts, they lobbied and eventually prevailed. There was room made in the lawbooks to accommodate church (parochial) schools. In the meantime, many continued to send or transport their children to these church schools. Wary teachers watched for public school transport buses and at a pre-arranged and drilled signal the schoolchildren scattered through back doors and side windows to run and hide. An iconic photo from that time period shows Amish schoolchildren bailing out of school windows with many already scattering into a cornfield adjoining the schoolyard. Their ingenuity paid off and now, some 60 years later we can see that ingenuity as being driven by wisdom.  

The hot topics in the 60s were the “origin of species,” which, “back in the day” was still taught for what it was and is. A theory. But for the first time in known history “Christian civilization” had a “civilized,” “scientific,” alternative to the belief that we were created by our loving Father in heaven. To whom we are accountable. “Accountable,” especially to God, seems to be the trigger word in our day that releases explosions of resistance. The covert resistance of the sixties has become the overt resistance of today. In the covert resistance to God in the 60s, God’s Word, the Holy Bible, was also cancelled in public schools as was communication with Him in prayer. “We” sowed to the wind, now we are reaping the whirlwind. For years it seemed natural law (which is also of God) kept the U.S. citizenry somewhat in check. But even natural law became pushed against, resisted, even to this day, until now even male and female genders cannot be understood biologically. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Rom. 1:22) Genders are supposedly determined by a vague specter referred to as “emotional orientation.” Even the very young are being physically mutilated into a resemblance of the opposite sex. And to what purpose? Supposedly for the “mental welfare” of struggling young people. To be continued...

Life Matters!