Cogent Commentary

To be effective teachers, Christian homeschooling parents need a regular diet of cogent commentary on important issues of our day. It is crucial, though, that the commentary comes from reliable sources that share a biblical worldview.

Bojidar Marinov, missionary to Bulgaria, has such a reliable perspective. I call your attention to two articles I've read of his in the last month, The True Origin of Foreign Missions and the one exercepted below, Woody Allen Wants to Make Obama Dictator in Chief.

In its flight from God and His Law, the Left didn't find freedom from religious beliefs, neither did it find wisdom. To the contrary, the Left rejected the ordered house of the Christian religion only to live in the jungle of primitive creature worship and superstition; and instead of wisdom, it got irrationalism and stupidity. Woody Allen is an end product of this process.

Irrational superstitious creature-worshippers do not build civilizations. They can only live as parasites in a civilization created by those who worship the Creator. Woody Allen's faith is dying across America, and his brilliant famoser Kerl will go down in history as the worst President America ever had. God is not to be mocked.

God Has His Witnesses Everywhere

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Driving Miss Dorothy

For the past eighteen-plus years, my daughter and I have spent countless hours with each other. Even though she will reach her eighteenth birthday in a couple of weeks, I date our relationship from the day I went to the local pregnancy center for a pregnancy test. Having been a supporter for years, it seemed a fitting location to confirm that my third child was on the way.

Yesterday, that “baby” passed her driving test and today she took her first solo voyage, since the restriction of driving with a licensed driver in the car has been removed. I vividly recall my angst when my two older children reached this milestone. Maybe it is the passage of time or a better sense of how things go, but today angst was not among the emotions I experienced.

One of my observations about this transition is how different the parent/child relationship becomes when children no longer need to rely on parents for transportation. And although it will be pleasant to sleep in sometimes and not spend huge blocks of time chauffeuring her around, there are things that I will miss.

I will miss the study time I enjoyed while waiting for her piano lessons or golf practice to be over. I’ll miss the time I spent knitting and listening to audio sermons during those waits. Most of all, I will miss the bonding time that came when we travelled to and from her classes, tournaments, or lessons. I will miss her help with shopping runs we made on our way home. Somehow, sitting side by side rather than face to face often allowed for greater freedom in sharing important topics. With my older children, I never fully appreciated how much I needed to replace those car times with times for us to catch up on the events of our day. With younger children still requiring transportation, I didn’t notice the negative effect of that lack soon enough.

One of the most precious aspects of the homeschooling life is the opportunity to develop strong relationships within the family. As we reach milestones, the years of growth and nurturing turn into years of maturing friendship and respect. With a good foundation, change can foster growth rather than inhibit it.

The Roots of Planned Parenthood

This ad first appeared during the 2008 presidential campaign. However, its message is as timely as ever.

Minimizing the Work of the Holy Spirit

Many feel that young children cannot handle difficult Biblical doctrines like the doctrines of hell, eternal damnation, predestination, and election. They choose to emphasize the "more pleasant" elements of the faith, such as storing up treasures in heaven, ministering angels, and letting one's light shine. They do not want to present a "negative" view of God because they are afraid that would discourage children from choosing to follow Jesus.

However, when children do not learn early that they possess an inherited trait that puts them at enmity with God, they blissfully "float" through childhood without being aware of the spiritual dangers they face. For Christ's work to have cogent meaning for them, it is imperative that they learn in their tenderhearted years what a tremendous price was paid by Jesus for sin and that apart from Him they have no hope of rescue. Our Savior had so much confidence that children were able to receive His teachings that He presented children as examples that adults should follow as they entered the Kingdom (Mark 10:15).

The shielding of children from these strong, sobering doctrines and the reluctance of adults in children's lives to "tell it like it is" points to a greater problem, namely a serious minimizing of the power and influence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. Because twenty-first-century Christendom is replete with antinomianism, easy-believism, and syncretism, many Christian parents don't expect to see the transformation of the Holy Spirit in the lives of their children. Could it be that they don't expect to see it in the lives of adults either?(read more)

"Science" Catches Up with the Bible

Students of the Bible (specifically Romans 1) already know what a Yale University psychologist has concluded. The headline reporting his finding reads: Babies know the difference between good and evil at six months, study reveals

At the age of six months babies can barely sit up - let along take their first tottering steps, crawl or talk.
But, according to psychologists, they have already developed a sense of moral code - and can tell the difference between good and evil.
An astonishing series of experiments is challenging the views of many psychologists and social scientists that human beings are born as 'blank slates' - and that our morality is shaped by our parents and experiences. (Read more)

As Clear as Mud

Homeschooling parents/teachers are always on the lookout for ways to improve their children's writing. I encourage them to focus on content first (something worthwhile to share), clarity of expression (easily understood), and then work to improve the grammar and syntax (conforms to writing conventions).  I suggest that they view it as a work in progress.

I thought I would share the text of the warning label that accompanied the new water dispensing unit we purchased today. I offer it as an encouragement to those who are distraught over their children's writing level. I'm sure none quite hit the nadir of the following directive. I have not changed one word!  Really, I haven't.

ATTENTION 

1. This product is not intended to be used by the people who has the disfigurement on their body, sense organ and intelligence. Also for the one who is in lack of experience and common sense (including the children). Only in condition that they are payed enough attention by the person who is responsible for their safety can these people use the product under the instruction of their guardian.
2. WARNING--Do not use flammable appliances inside the food storage compartments of the appliance, unless they are type recommended by the manufacturer.
3. To avoid a hazard due to instability of appliance, it must be fixed in accordance with the instructions.
4. In the back of water dispenser there is a fixing sheet, consumers should connect the fixing sheet with the wall or unmoved object by themselves, in order to avoid it fall down.
5. WARNING--Do not damage the refrigerant circuit. 

I'm still trying to figure out where the food storage compartment is in my water dispenser!!  My husband asked me honestly to assess any disfigurement he may have on his intelligence.

Hit the Road

One of the biggest accomplishments of the Roman Empire was its very travelable roads. Thus the expression, “All roads lead to Rome.” Conversely, all of them also led away from Rome. Originally constructed to facilitate Roman conquest, roads were the providential infrastructure that allowed the gospel of Jesus Christ to be propagated throughout Europe and Asia Minor.

Today’s internet superhighway, laid down for purposes other than the sharing the gospel, is having the same effect. Social networking pages, websites like Chalcedon’s that promote dominion-oriented Biblical worldviews, and live chat sites shrink the globe and allow the people of God to travel while remaining physically in one area.

The implications of this are huge, if we put on the glasses of Scripture to see what a blessing these technologies can be as we further the Kingdom of God. The structure is there; it is our calling to make use of the gifts and talents we’ve been given and adapt them in our time to make disciples of all nations.

If you don’t know how to use a computer, figure it out or get someone to help you! If you email friends and family regularly, be sure to attach some sound Biblical reading material for them to consider. When sharing on networking sites, boldly proclaim your point of view. We have a means by which to exercise our dominion mandate in ways that were unimaginable just twenty years ago.

So, maybe it’s time for you to hit the road!

A Mother's Day Message

The following essay, The Mother's War by Vox Day, first appeared on the WND website in May of 2007. With the permission of the author, I included it in my book The Homeschool Life.

Mother's Day is, to be honest, somewhat of an annoyance. It's manifestly one of those tedious Hallmark holidays wherein everyone is supposed to run out and support the revenue stream of cardboard manufacturers in the name of expressing gratitude to mothers, fathers, grandparents and anyone else to whom we might be related.

I imagine it won't be long until Sept. 18 is declared Anonymous Sperm Donor's Day, which will probably be celebrated by giving matching card sets to one's two mommies and lighting a candle for dear old anonymous sperm donor, whoever he might be.

Mothers are not only important, they are absolutely vital due to their position as front-line shock troops in the ongoing, centuries-long struggle for the survival of Western civilization. Despite the fact that their maternal instinct has been harassed, criticized, mocked, belittled and subjected to a 40-year effort to indoctrinate it out of existence, our mothers stubbornly continue doing the only thing we actually need women to do in order for our civilization to survive, bearing and raising children.

We don't need female doctors. We don't need female scientists. We don't need female entrepreneurs. We don't need female producers of PowerPoint presentations. And we really don't need female politicians.

While we can argue about whether such luxuries are beneficial or detrimental to society, there is no arguing the empirical evidence which proves that civilization has survived without them before and could easily do so again.

But without mothers, there is no civilization. Without mothers, there is no future for the civilized.

Europe is in the process of discovering what a world without mothers is like. It is an ugly picture, a brutal picture. It is a probable future that promises to be much worse than the most exaggerated images of past patriarchal oppression ever painted by Betty Friedan or Gloria Steinhem. Without mothers, there is only barbarism and the choice between the brothel and the burqa.

Motherhood is a sacrifice. It may mean putting off a college education and a career, or even giving them up entirely. It may mean sacrificing a flawless figure. It may mean sacrificing dreams. It definitely means putting two, three, four or more lives ahead of your own. But motherhood is also an expression of hope. Motherhood is a vote of confidence in the future of mankind. Motherhood is the brave voice of a woman saying, "I will not live life for today. I will create life for many tomorrows."
Cards, gifts and flowers are no adequate expressions of gratitude for this living statement of faith.

In the ongoing war against Christian civilization, it is the mothers who matter most. The sterile secularists don't fear Christian intellectuals or Christian pastors, they regard the former as petty annoyances and there's little need to worry about one weekly hour of Christian teaching on Sundays overcoming 40 hours of secular reprogramming from Monday to Friday. But they fear our mothers who can create children faster than they can manage to indoctrinate them. And they are downright terrified of our homeschooling mothers who rob them of their primary means of creating a new generation of secular barbarians.

Every time a woman says "I do," every time a wife turns to her husband and says "let's have another baby," every time a mother hugs her child and says "how would you like me to be your teacher?" she is striking a powerful blow in defense of her faith, her family, her church and God. We should celebrate these bold decisions -- these audacious acts -- as victories, not just for the family and the faith, but for civilization and mankind.

It is not enough to thank our mothers. We owe them a debt that cannot be repaid. But we can, and we must, love them, honor them, support them and sustain them as they faithfully continue to wage their mother's war.