The post below originally went from the sentence "The pioneers of the English Reformation were under a mix of Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and Baptist influences that contributed to the various positions on baptismal salvation among them." to the sentence: "While a great variety of issues were debated within the Anglican communion, the communication of saving grace through baptism was a point of general agreement."
Friday, November 23, 2012
Were the Reformers Heretics? part 8
Please note that the entire series entitled "Were the Reformers Heretics"? can now be viewed by clicking here as one complete essay.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Is Conscience the Guide for Goodness?
Paul said that even the Gentiles have the law written in their hearts (Rom 2:15a) and their conscience bears witness of this by accusing or excusing them. The conscience itself is not the standard of behavior, but the law written in the heart. Despite a depraved, sinful nature, every human starts out with a default law that informs his conscience. The law is the standard and the conscience is the warning device. Over a period of time, layers of new laws, standards, and requirements will be added to the default position. God's law will be diminished and ignored. With some the law of God will be strengthened by reading it, memorizing it, meditating upon it, and by hearing it preached. God's law is objective goodness.
The conscience is an internal alarm system that goes off according to a soul's highest perceived standard. The default standard is God's law written in the heart, but that will change, depending upon the influences upon a person. The alarm might sound for a Moslem when he misses one of his five required prayer sessions or for an Amish man when he shaves his beard, because those are their perceived standards. The prayer and beard requirements are not scriptural, but they are people's highest perceived standards, so that's what also informs their consciences.
The nature of depravity sends someone away from the law of God to his own way. Many times God's standards are lowered when someone is following his own path away from God's law. Sure, some might add to God's law, but they also will take away from it as well.
Let's say that you have a young lady wearing a pair of shorts about mid thigh, and her conscience does not sound any kind of warning to her. Why? There could be a number of reasons, but one is that her standard has changed. She is not being guided by her conscience, but by a perceived standard. If the perceived standard is wrong, and her conscience says nothing, it doesn't mean that she is doing right. Her conscience is misinformed. That's how the conscience works. It could be that it does violate her highest perceived standard, but she has already damaged her conscience. Her conscience isn't working correctly, because she has damaged it in some way, which usually occurs by not paying attention to it when it is sounding its alarm. The conscience can become almost useless to the one who has stopped listening to it.
In other words, the conscience is not our guide. The law of God is the radar that tells the warning system that the airplane is flying into a mountain, and the audible warning siren is the conscience that tells the pilots to pull up. The conscience is guided by its perceived standard. The default standard is the law of God, but that gets effected by harmful godless and worldly influences. The standard itself is the guide and the conscience reacts to the standard. The conscience never operates on its own, but always in conjunction with the information it is being sent.
Someone recently wrote these following two statements.
First,
Second,
The guy who wrote this was arguing for an absence of dress standards, so that individual consciences would choose the path of goodness relating to modest dress. You can see he doesn't understand the conscience. A new Corinthian believer may have a conscience that warns him against eating meat offered unto idols, because he has a standard that tells him that's wrong. Scripture wasn't informing him that it was wrong, but it was the perceived standard he possessed about idolatry. Someone else may not have that standard, so his conscience remains silent. However, if it was wrong to eat meat offered unto idols, and your conscience was silent when you ate, that doesn't mean you should follow your conscience in that instance.
Shorts might fit a girl's standard of modesty, so when she wears them, her conscience warns of nothing. Does that mean she is right in wearing them? Is the conscience a standard of virtue? We judge, not based upon the conscience, but based upon whether it is good for the girl to wear shorts or not. If we allow conscience to guide, we are depending on mere perception, that is, subjectivity, whatever the girl thinks or feels is right. If the girl is disobeying God, if she is sinning, and her conscience doesn't warn her, are we harming her by giving her the scriptural standard? Of course not. She is being helped, because she is being given the true standard of goodness.
So what about the guy whose conscience is offended by our eating meat offered to idols? If his standard is wrong, shouldn't we tell him? Sure. We let him know. Until he knows, we don't eat. But that's because it's not wrong not to eat! We're fine not eating. And even once he knows, that doesn't mean we go ahead and eat, because it could still be a stumbling block to others. Paul writes other principles as well to guide these types of situations and decision making.
When people's consciences are being given the wrong standard, we tell those people the right standard. We inform them from scripture. If someone wears a higher standard of clothing, that will not affect the conscience of the person wearing a lower standard. Why? His or her conscience will only sound if the highest perceived standard is violated. The higher standard is not breaking her lower standard. I think you understand this.
Biblical standards are good. They give right information to a conscience. The properly operating conscience can then warn if the standard is being violated, to save a person from a moral disaster, to help him to be good.
The idea that we have no rules of modesty because we'll keep someone from using his conscience is all wrong. The guy I quoted above didn't and doesn't know what he's talking about, and he's leading people astray. A conscience is not harmed and can only be helped by being given the correct and biblical standard. Standards of modesty change in the world and in cultures. They do. They get worse. They go overboard. The Bible doesn't change though. There is objective modesty, objective goodness, even as there is objective truth and beauty. We can observe how Christians have interpreted and applied Biblical teaching of modesty through history. That's what should inform our conscience. It should be our virtue, our standard, by which our conscience will warn. If someone is immodest, we criticize and challenge. That helps someone, even if he won't believe it, and even if his conscience says otherwise.
An Addendum
Why would someone, like the man who wrote the quotes above, be upset about asking questions about standards of modesty? Based on what he wrote, it seems that he doesn't like standards of goodness being imposed on others. From other things I've read from him, sometime in his past, he was placed under standards on similar campuses as Maranatha. Even though they were "strict" in their dress code at the time, they also had a low standard for beauty. He reacts to the cultural deprivation with a scorched earth criticism of all fundamentalists. He attacks all the standards. We don't combat a low standard of beauty with a low standard of goodness. We should look for a biblical standard for both.
The conscience is an internal alarm system that goes off according to a soul's highest perceived standard. The default standard is God's law written in the heart, but that will change, depending upon the influences upon a person. The alarm might sound for a Moslem when he misses one of his five required prayer sessions or for an Amish man when he shaves his beard, because those are their perceived standards. The prayer and beard requirements are not scriptural, but they are people's highest perceived standards, so that's what also informs their consciences.
The nature of depravity sends someone away from the law of God to his own way. Many times God's standards are lowered when someone is following his own path away from God's law. Sure, some might add to God's law, but they also will take away from it as well.
Let's say that you have a young lady wearing a pair of shorts about mid thigh, and her conscience does not sound any kind of warning to her. Why? There could be a number of reasons, but one is that her standard has changed. She is not being guided by her conscience, but by a perceived standard. If the perceived standard is wrong, and her conscience says nothing, it doesn't mean that she is doing right. Her conscience is misinformed. That's how the conscience works. It could be that it does violate her highest perceived standard, but she has already damaged her conscience. Her conscience isn't working correctly, because she has damaged it in some way, which usually occurs by not paying attention to it when it is sounding its alarm. The conscience can become almost useless to the one who has stopped listening to it.
In other words, the conscience is not our guide. The law of God is the radar that tells the warning system that the airplane is flying into a mountain, and the audible warning siren is the conscience that tells the pilots to pull up. The conscience is guided by its perceived standard. The default standard is the law of God, but that gets effected by harmful godless and worldly influences. The standard itself is the guide and the conscience reacts to the standard. The conscience never operates on its own, but always in conjunction with the information it is being sent.
Someone recently wrote these following two statements.
First,
Can a Christian be good on someone else's nickel? Can he hitch his virtue to someone else's conscience? If Jesus wore a mustache, would an Amish man have accused him of pride?
Second,
Standards of modesty do change. How they change is worth some serious thought. And any external constraint on the life of faith, according to the Apostle Paul at least, involves a consideration of the individual conscience.
The guy who wrote this was arguing for an absence of dress standards, so that individual consciences would choose the path of goodness relating to modest dress. You can see he doesn't understand the conscience. A new Corinthian believer may have a conscience that warns him against eating meat offered unto idols, because he has a standard that tells him that's wrong. Scripture wasn't informing him that it was wrong, but it was the perceived standard he possessed about idolatry. Someone else may not have that standard, so his conscience remains silent. However, if it was wrong to eat meat offered unto idols, and your conscience was silent when you ate, that doesn't mean you should follow your conscience in that instance.
Shorts might fit a girl's standard of modesty, so when she wears them, her conscience warns of nothing. Does that mean she is right in wearing them? Is the conscience a standard of virtue? We judge, not based upon the conscience, but based upon whether it is good for the girl to wear shorts or not. If we allow conscience to guide, we are depending on mere perception, that is, subjectivity, whatever the girl thinks or feels is right. If the girl is disobeying God, if she is sinning, and her conscience doesn't warn her, are we harming her by giving her the scriptural standard? Of course not. She is being helped, because she is being given the true standard of goodness.
So what about the guy whose conscience is offended by our eating meat offered to idols? If his standard is wrong, shouldn't we tell him? Sure. We let him know. Until he knows, we don't eat. But that's because it's not wrong not to eat! We're fine not eating. And even once he knows, that doesn't mean we go ahead and eat, because it could still be a stumbling block to others. Paul writes other principles as well to guide these types of situations and decision making.
When people's consciences are being given the wrong standard, we tell those people the right standard. We inform them from scripture. If someone wears a higher standard of clothing, that will not affect the conscience of the person wearing a lower standard. Why? His or her conscience will only sound if the highest perceived standard is violated. The higher standard is not breaking her lower standard. I think you understand this.
Biblical standards are good. They give right information to a conscience. The properly operating conscience can then warn if the standard is being violated, to save a person from a moral disaster, to help him to be good.
The idea that we have no rules of modesty because we'll keep someone from using his conscience is all wrong. The guy I quoted above didn't and doesn't know what he's talking about, and he's leading people astray. A conscience is not harmed and can only be helped by being given the correct and biblical standard. Standards of modesty change in the world and in cultures. They do. They get worse. They go overboard. The Bible doesn't change though. There is objective modesty, objective goodness, even as there is objective truth and beauty. We can observe how Christians have interpreted and applied Biblical teaching of modesty through history. That's what should inform our conscience. It should be our virtue, our standard, by which our conscience will warn. If someone is immodest, we criticize and challenge. That helps someone, even if he won't believe it, and even if his conscience says otherwise.
An Addendum
Why would someone, like the man who wrote the quotes above, be upset about asking questions about standards of modesty? Based on what he wrote, it seems that he doesn't like standards of goodness being imposed on others. From other things I've read from him, sometime in his past, he was placed under standards on similar campuses as Maranatha. Even though they were "strict" in their dress code at the time, they also had a low standard for beauty. He reacts to the cultural deprivation with a scorched earth criticism of all fundamentalists. He attacks all the standards. We don't combat a low standard of beauty with a low standard of goodness. We should look for a biblical standard for both.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
My Peace of Mind
by David J. Warner (member of Bethel Baptist Church)
My peace of mind is buried deep
Inside the arms of Jesus' keep.
My blessed heart relaxes in
The vows God gives again, again.
My peace of mind is like a stream,
A quiet flow, not much extreme,
Because the Lord is sure enough
To bring me through the rough and tough.
My peace of mind will question not,
Nor want to feel a grave distraught,
Nor do what others will do with ease,
For what the Lord will do I please.
Yea, questions none, For God is good;
Enough for me is Jesus' blood.
One piece of grace is peace of mind,
Much more all earth can me assign.
My peace of mind is buried deep
Inside the arms of Jesus' keep.
My blessed heart relaxes in
The vows God gives again, again.
My peace of mind is like a stream,
A quiet flow, not much extreme,
Because the Lord is sure enough
To bring me through the rough and tough.
My peace of mind will question not,
Nor want to feel a grave distraught,
Nor do what others will do with ease,
For what the Lord will do I please.
Yea, questions none, For God is good;
Enough for me is Jesus' blood.
One piece of grace is peace of mind,
Much more all earth can me assign.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Were the Reformers Heretics? part 7
Please note that the entire series entitled "Were the Reformers Heretics"? can now be viewed by clicking here as one complete essay.
The post below originally went from the sentence "The Westminster Confession, which was prepared by the Westminster Assembly in 1647 ..." to the sentence: "As a Reformed document, following John Calvin ... salvation sealed to them through the sacrament."
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Coherent or Incoherent Imagination, Depending
First, a little office cleaning. I'll be continuing my unpopular series on the ark narrative. Doing doctrinal or exegetical pieces like that indicates that controversy does in fact sell. Notice the feeding frenzy on the Petraeus story now that the affair is involved. This is not say, however, that I write controversy for audience. I don't, or else I'd never write things like the ark narrative. I'm just stating the fact that I have less readership when I write those. And then we will be getting up the audio of this year's Word of Truth Conference that finished on Sunday. It was a good conference with good sessions. We have some on video right now at youtube.
There is one God and He is one. The one God is true, good, and beautiful. God is right in doctrine, practice, and aesthetics. An imagination that reflects who God is, a theocentric one, will recognize and accede, therefore, to what is true and good and beautiful.
Since God is one, you cannot separate any one attribute or quality of God from another. A particular imagination might be nourished or developed in the beauty of God, as testified by the aesthetics of that person. He loves the beautiful---beautiful art, beautiful music, and beautiful literature. That same person, however, does not manifest the same love for the true and the good.
Whatever God says is good is indeed good. A dress standard taught by God in His Word is good. If you reject modesty in dress, for instance, and yet profess to embrace beauty, you possess an incoherent imagination. Your view of God's beauty could not be coming from a moral imagination when that view contradicts God's goodness. A right view of God, a moral imagination, a Biblical worldview, a theocentric one, is coherent. You cannot separate God's goodness from his beauty.
You can read men online who are critics of an evangelical and fundamentalist imagination of beauty. They see an impoverished imagination almost indifferent to a theocentric aesthetic, as witnessed by deficient art, music, and literature. There aren't many of these critics. Most don't understand or care. And yet of these critics, some of the most ornery don't do good. They are hyper about beauty and dismissive about good.
Beauty is objective, that is, real beauty is found in the object, not just in the perception of it from the point of view of the subject. It is beautiful in itself. The same is found in goodness.
When someone forsakes goodness and truth, he forsakes beauty. If someone abandons one, he does the others too. God is one. Since He is one, His truth, goodness, and beauty are coherent. An imagination that deserts one for the others, in fact renounces them all. His world view is incoherent. It can't be coming from God. In a sense, it only borrows from a theocentric imagination for one aspect of morality.
If you hear someone tout beauty and deny goodness, he can't be believed or trusted.
**************
There is one God and He is one. The one God is true, good, and beautiful. God is right in doctrine, practice, and aesthetics. An imagination that reflects who God is, a theocentric one, will recognize and accede, therefore, to what is true and good and beautiful.
Since God is one, you cannot separate any one attribute or quality of God from another. A particular imagination might be nourished or developed in the beauty of God, as testified by the aesthetics of that person. He loves the beautiful---beautiful art, beautiful music, and beautiful literature. That same person, however, does not manifest the same love for the true and the good.
Whatever God says is good is indeed good. A dress standard taught by God in His Word is good. If you reject modesty in dress, for instance, and yet profess to embrace beauty, you possess an incoherent imagination. Your view of God's beauty could not be coming from a moral imagination when that view contradicts God's goodness. A right view of God, a moral imagination, a Biblical worldview, a theocentric one, is coherent. You cannot separate God's goodness from his beauty.
You can read men online who are critics of an evangelical and fundamentalist imagination of beauty. They see an impoverished imagination almost indifferent to a theocentric aesthetic, as witnessed by deficient art, music, and literature. There aren't many of these critics. Most don't understand or care. And yet of these critics, some of the most ornery don't do good. They are hyper about beauty and dismissive about good.
Beauty is objective, that is, real beauty is found in the object, not just in the perception of it from the point of view of the subject. It is beautiful in itself. The same is found in goodness.
When someone forsakes goodness and truth, he forsakes beauty. If someone abandons one, he does the others too. God is one. Since He is one, His truth, goodness, and beauty are coherent. An imagination that deserts one for the others, in fact renounces them all. His world view is incoherent. It can't be coming from God. In a sense, it only borrows from a theocentric imagination for one aspect of morality.
If you hear someone tout beauty and deny goodness, he can't be believed or trusted.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Separation Confusion in So-Called Classic , Historical, or Traditional Fundamentalism
I feel sorry for fundamentalists. Let me explain.
The Bible teaches separation. It is clear. If you want to know what the Bible teaches on separation, read A Pure Church, a 300 plus page volume with a full scripture index, and excellent exegesis of the appropriate and pertinent passages. The teaching in the book does not deny itself. It is consistent. And it is being practiced by churches right now. What the Bible teaches is always consistent. God is one God and He doesn't deny Himself. His teaching in His Word could not deny itself, because He doesn't deny Himself. He couldn't, because He is one God.
There is a big branch of fundamentalism that calls itself historic fundamentalism, the true fundamentalism, with the other stuff false, what these self-professing 'historic fundamentalists' would contend is 'not fundamentalism.' However, what these self-professing historic fundamentalists say is separation has always contradicted itself and the Bible itself. I give them some credit for saying that separation is a biblical teaching and defend them for that, but they do not get it right, and I'm going to highlight a few contemporary, recent examples to make this plain.
Some might say "leave well enough alone." Why write about it? I would like for fundamentalists to think about what they are doing and change, submit to the truth for the glory of God. I'm hoping that giving these examples will help them. There are some, most likely, that it won't help. They are bound to be non-separatists and were never separatists by conviction in the first place.
Before I get into my examples, I'm not saying that I don't think that some of these men have done good things. I like a lot about what they do. That's not the point. The point is: are they practicing Biblical separation? Are they consistent in their practice of separation?
Example One
Independent Baptists, those who call themselves separatists, separated from the Southern Baptist Convention. They remained separate from Southern Baptists. They taught to separate from Southern Baptists. Recently, independent Baptists have begun to fellowship with Southern Baptists. You saw this with Calvary Baptist Church of Lansdale and its seminary fellowship with Mark Dever, Southern Baptist leader, by having him speak at their conference. Calvary in Lansdale is moving away from this separation position as seen by a lot of decisions it has made, but there are many to whom this action is no consequence, other fundamentalists.
Scott Aniol, the head of Religious Affections Ministries, a historic fundamentalist parachurch organization, is also a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is fellowshiping with that Southern Baptist institution under the cooperative program of the Southern Baptist Convention. He joins in the ranks of Billy Graham and Rick Warren, the many liberals still in the convention, and the high percentage of unconverted membership in its churches. The Southern Baptist Aniol will join FBF and BJU board member Mike Harding for his Preserving the Truth Conference.
Example Two
Chuck Swindoll is neither a separatist or fundamentalist. He wrote the sine qua non anti-fundamentalist book, The Grace Awakening, in which he said that we ought to think of God in sweats, cut-offs, or a swim suit (p. 53). But he is big and he is famous and he is a kind of Christian celebrity. Fundamentalist Chris Anderson brags about his fellowship with Swindoll in their collaboration with some of the music that he wrote, being sung at Swindoll's church, Stonebriar Community Church.
Example Three
A group of fundamentalists, independent Baptists in Minnesota announce their fellowship with Phil Johnson for a men's meeting.
Example Four
John Vaughn, the president of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship preached with Clarence Sexton and Jack Schaap at the Baptist Friends Conference.
Example Five
Matt Olson, president of the fundamentalist Northland International University, revels in his fellowship between him and a Sovereign Grace, continuationist church.
Alright, enough. This is becoming typical of what is called historic fundamentalism. It isn't consistent with fundamental Baptist separation of the past. Their practice seems to be going by the wayside. And it is no wonder with the confusing position that these self-proclaiming historic fundamentalists take.
If someone holds to false doctrine or disobeys God's Word and doesn't turn from that, do we separate?
The Bible teaches separation. It is clear. If you want to know what the Bible teaches on separation, read A Pure Church, a 300 plus page volume with a full scripture index, and excellent exegesis of the appropriate and pertinent passages. The teaching in the book does not deny itself. It is consistent. And it is being practiced by churches right now. What the Bible teaches is always consistent. God is one God and He doesn't deny Himself. His teaching in His Word could not deny itself, because He doesn't deny Himself. He couldn't, because He is one God.
There is a big branch of fundamentalism that calls itself historic fundamentalism, the true fundamentalism, with the other stuff false, what these self-professing 'historic fundamentalists' would contend is 'not fundamentalism.' However, what these self-professing historic fundamentalists say is separation has always contradicted itself and the Bible itself. I give them some credit for saying that separation is a biblical teaching and defend them for that, but they do not get it right, and I'm going to highlight a few contemporary, recent examples to make this plain.
Some might say "leave well enough alone." Why write about it? I would like for fundamentalists to think about what they are doing and change, submit to the truth for the glory of God. I'm hoping that giving these examples will help them. There are some, most likely, that it won't help. They are bound to be non-separatists and were never separatists by conviction in the first place.
Before I get into my examples, I'm not saying that I don't think that some of these men have done good things. I like a lot about what they do. That's not the point. The point is: are they practicing Biblical separation? Are they consistent in their practice of separation?
Example One
Independent Baptists, those who call themselves separatists, separated from the Southern Baptist Convention. They remained separate from Southern Baptists. They taught to separate from Southern Baptists. Recently, independent Baptists have begun to fellowship with Southern Baptists. You saw this with Calvary Baptist Church of Lansdale and its seminary fellowship with Mark Dever, Southern Baptist leader, by having him speak at their conference. Calvary in Lansdale is moving away from this separation position as seen by a lot of decisions it has made, but there are many to whom this action is no consequence, other fundamentalists.
Scott Aniol, the head of Religious Affections Ministries, a historic fundamentalist parachurch organization, is also a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is fellowshiping with that Southern Baptist institution under the cooperative program of the Southern Baptist Convention. He joins in the ranks of Billy Graham and Rick Warren, the many liberals still in the convention, and the high percentage of unconverted membership in its churches. The Southern Baptist Aniol will join FBF and BJU board member Mike Harding for his Preserving the Truth Conference.
Example Two
Chuck Swindoll is neither a separatist or fundamentalist. He wrote the sine qua non anti-fundamentalist book, The Grace Awakening, in which he said that we ought to think of God in sweats, cut-offs, or a swim suit (p. 53). But he is big and he is famous and he is a kind of Christian celebrity. Fundamentalist Chris Anderson brags about his fellowship with Swindoll in their collaboration with some of the music that he wrote, being sung at Swindoll's church, Stonebriar Community Church.
Example Three
A group of fundamentalists, independent Baptists in Minnesota announce their fellowship with Phil Johnson for a men's meeting.
Example Four
John Vaughn, the president of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship preached with Clarence Sexton and Jack Schaap at the Baptist Friends Conference.
Example Five
Matt Olson, president of the fundamentalist Northland International University, revels in his fellowship between him and a Sovereign Grace, continuationist church.
Alright, enough. This is becoming typical of what is called historic fundamentalism. It isn't consistent with fundamental Baptist separation of the past. Their practice seems to be going by the wayside. And it is no wonder with the confusing position that these self-proclaiming historic fundamentalists take.
If someone holds to false doctrine or disobeys God's Word and doesn't turn from that, do we separate?
Friday, November 09, 2012
Were the Reformers Heretics? part 6
Please note that the entire series entitled "Were the Reformers Heretics"? can now be viewed by clicking here as one complete essay.
The post below originally went from the sentence "Reformed confessional statements ..." to the sentence: "God already performed the work of regeneration on them in their infancy, and this salvation was sealed to them in baptism."
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
A Tipping Point and a New America
I believe that the 2012 election is a symptom of a new America. Even if there are some minor shifts in ebb and flow, where economic reality smacks enough people in the face that Republicans could in the future eek out victories with a more talented politician than Mitt Romney, the tide has still turned.
What we have today, which is a different country, relates to years of erosion of this society and culture. I'm saddened about it, but the answer never was in government or a particular political philosophy. I would like a different government and political philosophy, but that would come only with people who thought the same way as I do. That change will not occur without conversion. The problem, as I see it, is that more conversions relate very much to the condition of the soil (Matthew 13---men's hearts), and we don't have the cultural infrastructure for that to improve. All signs say that's only going to get worse. People are listening less than ever.
A cross section of the Obama voter will help understand what has happened. It's not hard to see. Women voted for Obama by about 10% and men voted for Romney by about 10%. There are quite a few more women in the country. Then married women support Romney and single women Obama. Again, you can see that single women put Obama in office. The gullible and vulnerable to deceit are now a huge voting bloc in the country. They are not swayed by substance. We're talking about people who use "like" every other sentence getting their President. These are the people swayed by the dog-on-the-car-top kind of arguments. They are convinced by the picture of the President with his cool jacket walking on the New Jersey shore. These are the voters with free contraception as a major policy point.
To understand the big picture, let me mention a little picture. I don't live there, but the city of San Jose voted for a 2 dollar an hour increase in the minimum wage, from 8 to 10 dollars. A very large number of people will receive a pay raise, and then a smaller but still large number of people will lose their job. Prices will go up for everyone. Two things here. First, the people who voted for this are too shallow and superficial to comprehend that simple reality. Second, people don't care so much about freedom and private property, as they do what they want only for themselves. In the long run, more rampant poverty and then shorter lifespans. Poverty is the greatest determiner of longevity in a country. Less average annual income, smaller life.
It's easy to see how that a big number of Obama voters chose him with predominately an immoral reason. Homosexuals want their way---he gives it to them. Hispanics want little to no prosecution of immigration law---he gives it to them. Union workers want to keep their job when their company cannot make a profit---he gives it to them. People who don't want to pay for healthcare until they get really sick, want to get "insurance" after they get really sick---he gives it to them. Environmentalists want to get paid for making solar panels that cost more to make than they do to buy---he gives it to them. Men and women want to terminate a pregnancy, because the child is inconvenient---he gives it to them. College students want their college paid for by someone else---he gives it to them. Teachers want to keep working even if they can't do the job---he gives it to them. I'm not saying that all of these people will actually get what they want. It's not possible. But with him, they're convinced they have a better shot at it. So they bet on him.
We have government entitlements. We have government education. We have government housing. We have government food stamps. We have government jobs. Now we have government health care. People will become even more dependent on the government and we have seen how that people cannot wean themselves off of this dependence. When there aren't enough productive tax payers to fund it anymore, and so government service must be cut, you have riots. That, among other reasons, is why in the next three months, gun and ammunition sales will be higher than at any time in American history.
We believe in the depravity of man, but the depravity has increased and the nation has sunk. You know that when you hear this President talking that his words mean something different than what they sound like they do. You can't believe what he says. When he says he wants to work with you, he means he wants his way and he wants to take advantage of you. He doesn't see the world like you do.
Churches have failed. They have tried to get along with the world, and most will take this as a cue to do it even more. You're hearing it all around. Belief has diminished. Pragmatism reigns. Methods have become more important than God's Word.
Here's how to adjust to it. Don't consider yourself to be in America anymore. What you thought was America is not. Think of yourself as living in a foreign country and you're a missionary. Missionaries don't think they're going to change the government where they live. They are working at seeing the people change. That's our only hope. Be a missionary in your own country.
What we have today, which is a different country, relates to years of erosion of this society and culture. I'm saddened about it, but the answer never was in government or a particular political philosophy. I would like a different government and political philosophy, but that would come only with people who thought the same way as I do. That change will not occur without conversion. The problem, as I see it, is that more conversions relate very much to the condition of the soil (Matthew 13---men's hearts), and we don't have the cultural infrastructure for that to improve. All signs say that's only going to get worse. People are listening less than ever.
A cross section of the Obama voter will help understand what has happened. It's not hard to see. Women voted for Obama by about 10% and men voted for Romney by about 10%. There are quite a few more women in the country. Then married women support Romney and single women Obama. Again, you can see that single women put Obama in office. The gullible and vulnerable to deceit are now a huge voting bloc in the country. They are not swayed by substance. We're talking about people who use "like" every other sentence getting their President. These are the people swayed by the dog-on-the-car-top kind of arguments. They are convinced by the picture of the President with his cool jacket walking on the New Jersey shore. These are the voters with free contraception as a major policy point.
To understand the big picture, let me mention a little picture. I don't live there, but the city of San Jose voted for a 2 dollar an hour increase in the minimum wage, from 8 to 10 dollars. A very large number of people will receive a pay raise, and then a smaller but still large number of people will lose their job. Prices will go up for everyone. Two things here. First, the people who voted for this are too shallow and superficial to comprehend that simple reality. Second, people don't care so much about freedom and private property, as they do what they want only for themselves. In the long run, more rampant poverty and then shorter lifespans. Poverty is the greatest determiner of longevity in a country. Less average annual income, smaller life.
It's easy to see how that a big number of Obama voters chose him with predominately an immoral reason. Homosexuals want their way---he gives it to them. Hispanics want little to no prosecution of immigration law---he gives it to them. Union workers want to keep their job when their company cannot make a profit---he gives it to them. People who don't want to pay for healthcare until they get really sick, want to get "insurance" after they get really sick---he gives it to them. Environmentalists want to get paid for making solar panels that cost more to make than they do to buy---he gives it to them. Men and women want to terminate a pregnancy, because the child is inconvenient---he gives it to them. College students want their college paid for by someone else---he gives it to them. Teachers want to keep working even if they can't do the job---he gives it to them. I'm not saying that all of these people will actually get what they want. It's not possible. But with him, they're convinced they have a better shot at it. So they bet on him.
We have government entitlements. We have government education. We have government housing. We have government food stamps. We have government jobs. Now we have government health care. People will become even more dependent on the government and we have seen how that people cannot wean themselves off of this dependence. When there aren't enough productive tax payers to fund it anymore, and so government service must be cut, you have riots. That, among other reasons, is why in the next three months, gun and ammunition sales will be higher than at any time in American history.
We believe in the depravity of man, but the depravity has increased and the nation has sunk. You know that when you hear this President talking that his words mean something different than what they sound like they do. You can't believe what he says. When he says he wants to work with you, he means he wants his way and he wants to take advantage of you. He doesn't see the world like you do.
Churches have failed. They have tried to get along with the world, and most will take this as a cue to do it even more. You're hearing it all around. Belief has diminished. Pragmatism reigns. Methods have become more important than God's Word.
Here's how to adjust to it. Don't consider yourself to be in America anymore. What you thought was America is not. Think of yourself as living in a foreign country and you're a missionary. Missionaries don't think they're going to change the government where they live. They are working at seeing the people change. That's our only hope. Be a missionary in your own country.
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