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Links Thoughts on: |
“The society in which we live is the
one which we deserve. If we continually complain about “how bad things are”
without being willing to do something ourselves, we are only a bothersome
noise. If you see what you feel is a problem, and you don’t do anything to
correct it, you don’t have any room to complain.” One of the problems I see in the world
today is that people repeat the same “mistakes” all the time. What is it to
make a mistake? There are mistakes like adding 3 + 4 and getting 12. Unless
one is calculating something as a professional in which others will have to
fix what we do (or will be hurt by what we do) it is not a moral defect. Then
there are mistakes that are moral defects. These are mistakes that do not
have amoral consequences, but have immoral consequences. Violating God’s law
is immoral. Looking just at the law concerning our relationship with others: dishonor
one’s parents, fail to preserve life, take what does not belong to you, be
sexually active outside of Biblical marriage, telling less than the whole
truth to someone’s harm, or being jealous of what someone else’s bounty.
These are not mistakes like math errors, they are sins. All of these require
repentance. But in this day and age, who uses that
term? How many people even know what it means to repent? The idea of
repentance includes turning away from the wrong that has been done with a
commitment to not do the same wrong again. While repentance is not
necessarily perfect — we may very well repeat the same wrong even with our
best efforts — it is required of everyone. So many this day want to dismiss a
real repentance with “my bad” or “I’m sorry” that they forget that the object
of repentance is to not repeat the same error again. If we never get to
repentance, and we don’t make this part of our regular expression of what is
right and wrong, then we cannot hope to have our society improve. Laws do not
improve our society, they are not there to improve people; laws exist to
protect innocent people from those that choose to do wrong. (It may be that
the punishment imposed will act as a deterrent, and that is their purpose …
to change behavior, not the heart.) If we are to have society to improve,
it will only be done through the changed hearts of the people. If we insist
that there is nothing wrong with behaviors (that is it is just personal
choices, not what is truly right and truly wrong) then we cannot possibly see
people repent. We cannot possibly have society improve. We can only have
improvement if we call what is right, right, and what is wrong, wrong. Who
is Brian Withnell?
One of the most important freedoms we
possess in our land is the freedom of religion. If we value this freedom, we
need to uphold that freedom for everyone. Those that have differing religions
have a need to be sure they can get a quality education for their children.
At the same time, they may be in the position of not being able to school
their children themselves. For example, a single dad who works to support his
children after the death of a spouse may have to send his children to public
school. He might not have the money to send them to a private religious
school (even inexpensive Christian schools can cost $4000 per child). Now if
that dad is a Buddhist, Moslem, or Hindu, he would cringe to have to send his
child to a school that taught any other religion. That is why many people
feel that public schools should not teach religion. I certainly would
not want to see my child educated in Shinto at school, even if that were the
predominant religion of the community. As an alternative, home schooling
allows a parent to teach their child in accordance with family beliefs and
values, yet still have public schools not teaching a formal religion. (Not
that they can do anything but teach some “religious” viewpoint—whatever the
axiom set a person chooses, it is still an axiom set.) Because I believe
that Christianity has a message against which “the gates of hell cannot
prevail” I do not believe that the message of the cross can be contained.
Even when My wife is a
blessing. “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives blessing from
the Lord.” A husband is to love his wife even as he would love his own body.
He is to nourish and care for her. The man who does not take care of his wife
is lacking in sense. His wife is his greatest asset, and she can be a great
blessing. The man who “competes” with his wife does so to his own ruin. Children
are a blessing from the Lord. The man with many sons need not be ashamed when
he sits in the gate. I have been blessed with 2 daughters and 3 sons. The
ages at present range from a married daughter, to a two-year-old. The riches
that I have are greater than those with billions of dollars, but no children. |
