Political "Blame Game"

My latest on Presidential Prayer Team appears today, an in-depth research into why Susan G. Komen for the Cure reinstated its annual grant to Planned Parenthood. In short, they were bullied. See the whole article here:

http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/opinion/

Screaming at the television

Okay, I'll admit it: I like trivia and I watch Jeopardy. This week featured the finals of the annual college student tournament. Like their children's tournament, the questions are a slight bit skewed for the age group. But not as much, because, after all, these are young adults. And very bright ones at that.

In yesterday's final of the week long tournament, the three contestants were a nonchalant young man with trendy, spiky hair from Vanderbilt, a sulky "woman" from Goucher (a highly politically correct all-female private college in Baltimore where Margaret Sanger is practically deified), and a flippant Asian gal from University of North Texas.    

As you would expect from "the best and the brightest," they did well in all categories - from abstruse science topics to the usual pop culture categories (music, movies, TV). They especially excelled in government and politics. Following the typical pattern of avoiding the category you know the least about until last, the one category they had not touched until the end of the final round of double jeopardy was - books of the Bible.  Because it was a close game and the scores were nearly even, they strategically started at the bottom of the category (the high dollar questions) and worked their way back up to the top.

In all my years of watching Jeopardy, I have never seen a category so completely stymie a group of contestants, much less the finalists in a highly-contested tournament! There's always one contestant who just happens to be an expert on whatever esoteric topic the Jeopardy writers may dream up. Not only did no one successfully answer the first three questions - no one even buzzed in with a close guess (almost unprecedented)! These were all questions I think my elementary students at Veritas could have answered with ease. For the most part, they looked disinterested - the wise-cracking gal from North Texas actually held up her hands in the "Who cares?" pose after the second uncomfortable silence. After the third miss, host Alex Trebek, attempting ease the tension, made a little joke that "at least you're learning something today."

As an anti-climax, they got the last two questions (the lowest dollar value, and therefore the easiest) right, even though the happy-go-lucky dude from Vandy mistook Exodus for Genesis. Then the sulky broad from Goucher got it after him (by process of elimination, one might assume). The Vandy dude also got one right about Job.The flippant chick from North Texas, who went on to win the whole tournament, didn't buzz in once, clearly blowing off the entire category.

I screamed at the television set. "You are a wicked and adulterous generation, and God will judge you!"  The trouble is....they are the best and brightest of that generation. Jeremiah, move over, we got some lamentin' to do!      

The finger in the dike

Last Saturday night Steve Johnson and Annette hosted the first "couples night" since they moved to their new house. I have been meeting monthly with them (excepting December and January, when Steve and Annette were moving and resettling) since last July. They are couples, with mostly pre-school age children, whom Steve and Annette have  know since younger days at El Camino Baptist. I have been speaking on various topics related to parenting and Biblical principles. They are responsive and highly interactive.  

This month I read a section from John Rosemond's Parenting by the Book about teaching children self-respect (and by inference, respect for others) as opposed to self-esteem (ego-centrism). As a professional psychologist, Rosemond does a great job of refuting the current postmodern psychological parenting mantras that have overtaken American society. He constrasts these (and their disastrous results) with what he calls "what Grandma knew," which is based on Biblical foundations and agrarian common sense.

The questions in the discussion afterwards were both thoughtful and revelatory. Several of these moms have secular education degrees and are having to work hard to ovecome the bad psychology they were taught.  All are somewhat affected by misinformed peer expectations and the ever-present pressure to conform to everyone else's mistakes. It is becoming harder than ever for a Christian family to stand alone in the choices they make for their children.         

For a few moments it felt as though a veil were being lifted in the understanding of some of them. The crushing weight of an ungodly culture is oppressive, but knowing you are not alone does help. On the way home I thought of the legend of the little Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike. It is easy to feel as though too few are doing too little to hold the flood waters back.

But I thank God for authors like John Rosemond and Voddie Baucham and Tedd Tripp,who are saying the things that Christian parents need to hear. And I am especially thankful for Steve and Annette, who are reaching out to help their own friends. God bless them, every one!      

   

Our hymn of the month at Dove Mountain

This just blesses the socks off me every time we sing it!

From today's Losungen

The Son of Man will gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. Mark 13:27

Sometimes I wonder how I interpreted texgts like this before I was Reformed.  Things that make you go...Hmmmmm. 

Who will be gathered?
Who does the gathering?

Presidential Prayer Team

When I was keeping the Dove Mountaineers blog, I was accustomed to two things I won't be doing here: (1) linking to my Presidential Prayer Team articles whenever a new one came out, and (2) announcing each Friday (at the initial request of a family who no longer attend my class) what the topic would be for the following Sunday. Yet it always seemed to come to a surprise to my Sunday School class that I even write a column for Presidential Prayer Team (and Steve got so embarrassed at my mentioning it recently that he mock-chided me in front of the class for "self-promotion" - there's truth in every jibe, I know). And the class as a whole didn't seem to pay attention to the weekly reminders. I think it's safe to say that they are generally not net readers.

Nevertheless, I like writing for PPT and and am thankful to continue doing so. It leads me to research in venues I might not ordinarily be delving into, and it meshes nicely with my commitment to the Manhattan Declaration. I have more to say about this another time, but by the time I edit this for typos (thank you, Friendly Fire) it will be time to leave for  the new Dad's study breakfast at Veritas Academy.

Anyway, I do have a new article out and you can go to it here.

Kitchen revelation

Okay, this may not sound like much of a revelation, but it needs a little context. 

Both in my vocation and avocations, I have lots of opportunities to experience rejection. Some of it is very direct, but it also comes in subtle forms, ranging from tiny but constant corrections and critiques, to unintentional disregard (people ignoring me without realizing it). Usually, it isn't me personally that is being rejected, but it's the value of things I stand for, believe in, and practice.

A mature Christian prays about this, goes to the Word, meditates on the sufferings of Christ, counts his blessings, expresses gratitude to God, and presses on. I get that, and am thankful that God grants grace and strength to go on.

But "sometimes a light surprises"* and yesterday I had one of those moments. It wasn't a dramatic mountaintop setting. Linda and I were standing in the kitchen. Spontaneously, we began naming the reasons we are content in our calling as Christian educators. Iron sharpened iron as we piled reason upon reason that we are fulfilled in what we do. The revelatory part was that we always knew this cognitively, but in a gracious act of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we felt validated as ministers. We knew in our hearts that what we do has unique ministry validity, in spite of the disregard of others, and in spite of what most people in the church regard as vocational ministries. We embraced and thanked God together.

Later in the day, two more validations blessed and humbled me. I was able to have an hour-long conversation with a former student I had not seen in several years - a fine young man serving God in bold and faithful ways.             

And I received this e mail from the parent of a current student:

Dear Dr. Askew,

I just love this book. [Little Pilgrim's Progress] It is great!!!  Thank you so much for introducing me to this book.  M--- is loving it, and the university style of schooling has allowed me to be able to talk with M--- about this book………….God gave me an opportunity to talk truth to M---………….in a very neat way, to talk about our faith in a more grown up way…..it was so cool, and the characters are so neat in this book.  I want to give this book to my two so called nieces.  What a neat way to explain about God’s love.

*   

Sometimes a light surprises
  The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord who rises
  With healing in His wings;
When comforts are declining,
  He grants the soul again

A season of clear shining,
  To cheer it after rain.

William Cowper (1731-1800)

49Up

I ran across a fascinating documentary last night on Hulu called 49 Up. It follows the lives of a group of British children from ages seven through forty-nine, beginning back in 1964, with updates having been filmed every seven years. It doesn't "explain" itself very much, except to say that it was meant to give a "glimpse of Britain's future." 

The individual children in the project seem to be a cross section in terms of economic and social backgrounds, and their adult lives have turned out to be just as diverse. Most of the film, which was last updated in 2006 whent he individuals were 49, concerns their present lives, with frequent flashbacks to ages 7, 14, 21 , 28, 35, and 42.  I thought it was interesting that only one of the subjects (out of about a dozen) dropped out of the project, and refused to be interviewed again after age 21.

The first two thirds of the film seemed rather bleak to me. Quite a few divorces, some children born out of wedlock, career diappointments, etc. The theme of surviving economically comes up frequently in the film, but the pathos is that all of them seem to be looking for more than that. For many, that search has been satisfied in relationships - family, grandchildren, etc. Only near the end of the film do a few of the people seem to have lived lives that our %#*! worldview crowd might consider "redemptive" in any sort of way...through charities, voluntary service, political service, etc.;  one even conducts home Bible studies.

I was struck by how little most were willing to settle for, in life. The majority seem resigned to the fact that there may not be a transcendent purpose. It would be very difficult for me to relate to the lifestyles and thinking of most of them.  For the most part, by 2006, the majority might be described as "postmodern" in philosophy:  the universe is governed by random chance, and we define ourselves subjectively through what we make of the experiences we have along the way.  

Eccelsiastes 1:2-4 came to mind:

  ² “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
   says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
   Everything is meaningless.”
 ³ What do people gain from all their labors
   at which they toil under the sun?
⁴ Generations come and generations go,
   but the earth remains forever.

I wanted so much to embrace some of them and tell them how the story concludes, in Eccesiastes 12:13...

¹³ Now all has been heard;
   here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
   for this is the duty of all mankind.

Of course, this is not the whole story, in the gospel sense. But since "fear of God is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7), I believe that Godly fear alone would inevitably lead one to the gospel. But the sense of "something outside oneself, of any authority or significance" seems hard to find in the world today.

God forbid that those who claim to know the truth should not stand out and look different from those living "lives of quiet desperation" (Thoreau).

Thanks to the filmmakers for holding up such a faithful mirror to the age in which I have lived.