Loving Biblically

You have probably seen the bumper sticker, “Love is a Verb.” It is correct, of course, but love is also a noun. The important thing to know is that biblical love, the noun, is always expressed in action; love really is a verb. The modern definitions of love cannot be confused with the biblical truth. Love in the biblical sense cannot mean affection or lust as Hollywood portrays. Nor can love be mere acceptance without judgment as the moderns would have us believe (eg. Rob Bell). Although biblical love is not purely an emotion, it has an emotional component. (See “More Than a Feeling”) The question then becomes what actions appropriately express biblical love.

The prayer of Paul in Philippians 1:9-10 gives a clue to what real, biblical love must look like. “And this I pray: that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is superior, in order that you may be sincere and blameless in the day of Christ.” Paul did not simply pray that the Philippians would love more; he asked that they might love better, “in knowledge and discernment.” We need to know who to love and how to love.

This is not just some academic exercise of interest only to scholars. Jesus plainly said that love would be the distinguishing attribute of His disciples (John 13:35). While that statement was about love among His followers, His other great commandment about love broadens the field: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He even went so far as to say we must love our enemies. That pretty well covers the whole human race. And it applies to everyone who claims the name of Christ. That covers the “who.”

The “how” is more difficult to summarize. One answer is to understand the first century meaning of the verb the New Testament uses for love: agapao (ἀγαπάω). As many have said, this is not a love primarily of the emotions but of the will. However, I have come to realize late in my life that it is not devoid of emotion if fully engaged. (See “More Than a Feeling”) The love that we are to imitate is the love of God, and that contains an element of compassion as demonstrated time and again throughout the Old and New Testaments. We have only to witness Yahweh pining over wayward Israel or Jesus weeping over Jerusalem to see the emotional aspect of divine love.

We are not left clueless as to what loving actions look like. In what perhaps is Jesus’ most well-known parable, he describes love in action by telling the story of the “good Samaritan.” In the story, a man takes care of another’s immediate physical needs and goes a step further to provide for his short-term security. We aren’t told if the Samaritan had feelings for the injured man; what we do know is that he made an effort to care for him. The word “care” is my favorite synonym for “love” in the Bible. Biblical love means to care about someone, to care for them, to care for them as you would care for yourself.

Here is where love gets tricky. If I love someone who is abusing drugs, it may seem that meeting their immediate need would mean providing them with drugs. This is patently ridiculous. The best thing I can do is help them get clean; this is their true need, not another fix. Sometimes, love must be tough. This also applies to what we tell people. If someone is contemplating an action that is contrary to God’s will, we are bound to tell them that the Bible condemns their actions (Galatians 6:1-4).

I am inching out on a limb now, but I think that in a representative government like we have in America, our love for our fellow-citizens compels us to support causes that will foster an atmosphere that is conducive to biblical principles. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I believe abortion falls into this category. Many Americans want a mother to have the right to terminate a pregnancy at will. Terminating a pregnancy is taking a human life according to the teaching of Scripture.

Taking a human life is something that can be done properly only under the most dire circumstances. Defending one’s life or the life of another can be accepted; just wars fall into this category. Capital punishment has long been thought to be another instance of the proper taking of a life, but this concept is reasonably debated. Taking a human life because it would be inconvenient for another person is clearly not acceptable by biblical standards. Pressing for public policy that severely limits access to abortion is a way to show love for all those who may be contemplating a dreadful mistake.

This is nothing like the “theocracy” that Christian opponents claim it is. If a majority of voters want policies that support biblical principles, they have every right to see them enacted. Furthermore, it is not hateful to seek such policies. In the public square today, the word hate has devolved into a code word for disagreement. If you disagree with abortion on demand, you hate women. If you disagree with the LGBTQ agenda, you hate gays. If you support limiting immigration in any way, you hate foreigners. It is not hateful to disagree with someone on public policy matters, but that is where we have come in today’s public discourse.

My final point has me quite a way out on the limb I mentioned, but I believe I am still attached to the trunk of truth. Campaigning for policies that support biblical principles is not hateful; in fact, it is the most loving thing we can do. I believe that people everywhere in the world would be best served, best cared for by regimes that followed biblical principles. Keeping America on the track of her founding, biblical principles is the loving thing to do. Speaking against those who disagree is not hateful; it is instructive in its intent and loving in its motivation.

The same thing goes for foreign policy. For example, calling out the Chinese for their role in the corona virus pandemic is not hateful; it does not mean I hate the Chinese. It means I love my fellow-citizens enough to want them to stand against a serious threat to our country. Supporting policies that limit immigration does not make me a xenophobe; it means I love my fellow-citizens enough to want them protected against the ravages of uncontrolled immigration. I love the people who are in distress and want to come to America, but biblically speaking, it is not the job of government to care for them; that is the Christians’ job; it is the responsibility of the church to meet their needs.

I am back to Paul’s words to the Philippians. Christian, biblical love must abound in knowledge and discernment if we aim to be sincere and blameless. To know how God loves, we have to dig deeply into the Bible and ferret out the true measure of divine love; it is a mix of caring, compassion and judgment. The most difficult thing to grasp is that God’s love involves discernment – judgment. Yes, God so loved the world that He sent His Son that believers should not perish but spend eternity with Him. Notice: the unbelievers perish. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” It would be cruel, unloving for Jesus to demand obedience and then grant eternal life to all without discerning between the obedient and the disobedient.

I have put myself in a tough place. If I am obedient to Christ and love in a biblical way, I will offend some people. Some people will think I am a hater; they may hate me for what I say and do. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I will recount the words of Jesus: “They hated me; they will hate you too.” I am not happy about this situation. Another passage of Scripture comes to mind: “Whether it is better to obey God or man, you decide.” I know where I stand. I know I am sincere; I trust I am blameless as well.

NOTE: If you can disprove my position with a biblical argument, please comment here. I must review all comments before they will appear on this page. I will not publish your comment unless you specifically permit me to do so.

2020 Election Fraud

A thoughtful, highly intelligent young friend of mine whom I have know since he was a student in my high school classroom thirty years ago has been debating the assertion that there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election. He invited me to review a Wikipedia article that details the situation surrounding over 50 cases of alleged fraud. Having reviewed the article, I am surprised my young friend suggested it; it does little to deny the possibility of fraud in the election. To be fair, what it does is show that there has been precious little adjudication one way or the other.

As the chart below indicates, as of this study only six cases had been ruled on, four cases had trials ongoing, and six cases had been appealed. In other words, forty-four cases remained undecided. This does not mean they are either right or wrong about election fraud; it means we don’t know whether there was fraud or not. The only way to know if the election results were tampered with will be to bring more of these cases under scrutiny.

Add to the court cases the uncertainty caused by several statistical anomalies, and you have a reason to want the investigations to continue. The anomalies are of two types: one shows highly improbable shifts in voter allegiance from Republican to Democrat in several blocks of voters; the second is reports of batches of mail or absentee ballots being almost entirely votes for Biden. Both of these situations logically demand a closer look. Even with the Trump hatred fomented by biased media, the likelihood that entire voting blocks would swing from a large Republican majority to a similar ratio favoring Democrats is questionable. Finding large batches of Biden-only votes late on election night is also highly suspicious, particularly when Republican poll-watchers were kept from observing in some cases.

The bottom line is that the election reeks of potential fraud. Sadly, the justice system that should be the check to balance Democrat shenanigans has either sold out to the Dems, or it has moved too slowly to raise the fraud issue before the election was certified. County election officials and even judges are not above acting on their personal bias rather than remaining neutral. One has only to remember the decisions of the Ninth Circuit Court in recent years to see that bias is alive and well in the judicial system. The split decisions of the Supreme Court fall almost entirely along political lines proving that the courts do not remain immune to the forces of ideological whim.

I think it was very presidential of President Trump to concede the election to Biden in the face of such uncertainty. Given the slow turning of the wheels of justice, it appears unlikely that a complete picture of the election will emerge before January 20. Denouncing the radicals who stormed the Capitol during the certification was Trump being presidential. His promise to affect a smooth transition of power to the Biden apparatus was presidential. To have done otherwise would have thrown the country into a state of indecision and unrest that would be counterproductive.

I will be curious to see what happens to the allegations of fraud contained in the forty-four cases in the study that have not been investigated either judicially or otherwise. It will be an unprecedented situation if sufficient fraud is discovered after January 20 to change the results of the election in Trump’s favor. To my knowledge, the country has never faced such a challenge. I don’t think the Constitution has a clause covering election correction after a presidential inauguration.

I do know that the situation surrounding the 2020 presidential election has seriously undermined the confidence of a large slice of the electorate. The machinations of the Democrats to change the way we vote supposedly motivated by concerns related to the COVID 19 restrictions must be reviewed. God willing there won’t be a pandemic at the time of the next national election in 2022, and the extreme measures taken in 2020 can be eliminated. Every one of the changes the Democrats made to the voting process increases the potential for fraud. The most pressing priority in the next two years for any who care about election integrity must be to reinstate a voting process that is transparent and fair to all.

Total count of post-election lawsuits
State	Dropped	Dismissed	Appeal ongoing	Trial ongoing	Ruled	Total
Arizona	3	3	1	0	0	7
Georgia	1	3	2	1	0	7
Michigan	2	3	1	0	1	7
Nevada	2	5	0	0	0	7
Pennsylvania*	1	7	1	1	3	13
Wisconsin	1	4	1	0	1	7
Others	1	2	0	2	1	6
Totals	11	27	6	4	6	54

 

The Importance of Being Right

"As God’s people, we are given guidelines throughout Scripture for how to treat others, how to use our words, and how to control our thoughts. Yet we do not do this on our own. God’s Spirit now dwells in us—we are His temple (2 Cor 6:16). And He performs this work in us so that we may live as disciples at all times and in all places.” ¹ As Paul told the Philippians, “ For the one at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure [or purpose], is God.”

This devotional was drawn from Leviticus where we learn that God is holy and calls His people to be holy also. “Holy” means set apart for a purpose. We must learn our purpose in order to fulfill the demand to be holy. In my case, I am as certain as I can be that God’s purpose for me is to be a teacher. In my early twenties, during a time of deep searching I heard Him say this to me in as near an audible voice as I have ever experienced. Over the years since then, my calling has been confirmed both by God and His people.

In the longest of my several careers, I was employed as a teacher of English mostly, so I was fulfilling my call and gifting while earning a living. This is not the only possible way for me to be “holy,” however. The so-called Great Commission in Matthew’s Gospel is a record of Jesus’ command to His disciples to “make disciples… teaching them.” The core meaning of “disciple” is to be a learner; learning and teaching are two sides of the same coin. This is where Aubrey Smith’s observation comes in. We are called to be disciples, teachers at all times.

If I am to be a teacher, a disciple of Jesus worthy of the calling, I must be certain that what I am teaching is the truth. God forbid that I should present a lesson that contains anything false or misleading. After all, Jesus is the Truth, so if I am mirroring Him, representing Him, I must represent the truth to the best of my ability. For this reason, I study, I research, I prepare the lessons I plan to teach with greatest care. This certainly applies to my efforts to teach Bible lessons, but it applies equally to anything I attempt to share by way of educating an audience.

I have been publishing a blog for over ten years. Each one of the 300+ articles I have written represent at least two or three hours of research and collateral reading, sometimes more, often spread over more than one day. I take that amount of time because I want to assure myself that I am presenting the truth. Many of my articles express my opinions. Opinions are not the same as facts. Facts are discreet pieces of truth; truth is an absolute. For something to be true, it must be true for all people at all times in all situations.

While I believe the Bible is the final arbiter of knowable truth, there are many true things that are not explicitly stated in the Bible. The earth is round; the universe is expanding; nuclear fission produces heat. These are all true things not mentioned in the Scripture, and the list of such things is virtually endless. The same can be said of behaviors in general or specific actions. To judge the truth of such things, one must understand some basic principles of truth taught in Scripture and apply those principles to specific situations.

This is where opinion enters. Jeffrey Dahmer, Idi Amin and Adolf Hitler are not mentioned by name in the Bible. However, it is my opinion that their actions are wrong, bad, unbiblical; that is to say that their actions do not align with what the Bible identifies as true goodness. “The good,” as the Greeks sought it and the Bible reveals it, is an element of “the True.” When I apply what I consider to be the good and true as revealed in the Bible, I can form an opinion of the actions of people. While my opinion is not Scripture, if I have correctly applied Scripture, my opinion is valid.

This is true of all opinions. All opinions are by no means of equal validity. Opinions are based on facts aka truth. An opinion based on “facts” that are not true is not a valid opinion. Jesus said knowing the truth sets one free. Knowledge, then, is the key to intellectual as well as spiritual freedom. Knowledge of that which is true is what makes it possible to form a valid opinion. In my thinking, I want all my opinions to comport with the truth revealed in Scripture because it alone validates truth.

From beginning to end, the Bible explicitly and implicitly teaches that wisdom begins with knowledge. Full life, meaningful life, eternal life (zoe), Jesus said is found in knowing God. (John 17:3) God is best known by getting to know His revelation of Himself in Scripture, although He can also be understood through the things He has made. (Romans 1:20) This is why I search the Scriptures daily to learn all I can about God. This also explains my interest in everything from astrophysics to bioethics. God is revealed in both Scripture and nature.

I crave that revelation because I want to be right. As a teacher it is essential that I be right. This is why James said, “Be not many of you teachers.” This is why Aubrey Smith’s quote struck me when I read it. I must allow the Holy Spirit to continue His work in me so that I may, “live as [a disciple] at all times and in all places.” It may sound arrogant to say, but when I express an opinion, at that moment, in my state of knowledge at that moment, I believe I am right. I welcome all challenges to my positions as long as they are based on the same foundation as that on which I stand: revealed truth. If I am wrong, I want to be proved wrong so that I can correct my position. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is of utmost importance that I be right. If there is something wrong with that, prove it.

^[1] Smith, Aubrey. (2014). Redefining Sacred Space. In J. D. Barry & R. Van Noord (Eds.), Moment with God: A Devotional on Every Biblical Book. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

America Held Captive

 Here’s a strange thought: maybe American Christians are being punished with a Biden presidency. I’m thinking along the same lines as when I wrote “Today’s Chaldean Chastisement.” Believers are about to be taken captive in their own land by the powers of darkness in the form of a government apparatus that will systematically remove the Judeo-Christian basis that has influenced policy since the country’s founding. I am not saying that America has ever been a Christian nation. I am not saying all Democrats are evil. I am not saying that there are no Christians who identify as Democrats. I am saying that the apparatus that will come to pass under a Biden administration will be decidedly un- or anti-Christian in many ways.

Some Democrat positions may be debatable by honest Christians; some clearly are not. For one, abortion at any stage of pregnancy takes a human life. An embryo that will eventually become a viable human being is nothing but human; killing it is taking human life. This is murder and is prohibited by Bible principles. Many in the Democrat party are only one vote away from approving infanticide; killing an unwanted child after birth is on their agenda. The neighbors of ancient Israel worshipped a god called Molech who demanded they offer their children on his altar as burnt sacrifices. The 21^st century god of the “Choice” movement is called Convenience, and the heinous nature of the act is the same.

Second, God created male and female humans as unique yet equal bearers of His image. He ordained family – “Be fruitful and multiply” – as the foundation of human society. Pretending that humans can choose what gender they wish to be is utter foolishness; simple biology teaches this. Worse, the resulting confusion of gender dysphoria damages individuals and ignoring gender roles destroys the meaning of “family.” Same sex unions cannot be considered marriage in the biblical sense because they do not create family in the biblical sense. A Biden administration will continue the spread of this unbiblical thinking and make it unpopular to think otherwise. Acting contrary to this thinking is already a criminal act in many situations.

Third, I once heard a riddle that asked how you could tell that a politician was lying; the answer was that his/her lips would be moving. Lying is not a Democrat behavior only; Republicans lie also. Both are human and therefore subject to human frailty. The problem with our current crop of Democrats is the pervasiveness and consequence of their lies. The Clinton era lies (Whitewater, Lewinsky, their Foundation’s activities, etc.) were bad, but they mostly benefitted themselves personally. Biden era lies cover up activity that will eventually destroy America if it continues. The big tech/China cabal Democrats are trying to hide is the most dangerous threat to our country since Soviet communism. Trusting the major media outlets to uncover these lies is a fool’s errand because the media have become complicit in the project to lie to the American people.

Fourth, a takeover by China would end the religious liberty this country has enjoyed. There is no religious liberty under any communist state; certainly, there is none in China. Communism as a philosophy seeks to eliminate all religion. Although a political coup is not condemned by Scripture, and some were divinely ordained, the call to do whatever is possible to increase the spread of the gospel is biblical. Stopping the spread of communism is a biblical endeavor, in my opinion. A Biden administration would return us to the Obama days of reduced military strength and capitulation to the enemies of Christianity.

There. I said it. If you are a Democrat supporter and still reading, I suspect you are fuming. The fact is, as a representative democracy, Americans get the type of government the majority of voters want. Unfortunately, between 35% and 40% of voters in America want the “free” stuff the Democrats pretend to offer. They vote Democrat because they think it will improve their lot in life. They do this in ignorance because they have believed a lie. The truth of what a communist/socialist government will provide is demonstrated by China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Argentina, Cuba and a few countries in Africa. None of those countries is troubled by illegal immigration. Why? Because no one wants what they have to offer. If our public education system were doing its job, everyone would know this is true.

I believe the majority of Americans registered to vote would reject socialism on a straight-up vote versus capitalism. However, the Democrats are able to parlay the 35%-40% of ignorant voters into a 48%-51% “majority” in a national election through deceptive campaigning aided by a biased media and outright fraud in the elections. The apathy of conservative Christian voters also helps shift the balance in the Democrats’ favor.

What will it be like to live as captives in our own country? Individual rights once guaranteed by the Constitution will be gradually taken away. Free speech, religious freedom, the right to assemble, the right to bear arms and the right to privacy will disappear. Private ownership of property will decrease as massive, forced wealth transfers are initiated by a bloated Washington bureaucracy, universal health care, free college tuition and more of the “free” stuff people wanted.

The “Green New Deal” will drive up energy costs forcing average Americans to pay a high percentage of their income for necessities such as transportation and home heating. Eventually, the “Deal” will outlaw all petroleum powered vehicles putting an end to or making the cost prohibitive for many recreational pursuits. Endless government restrictions on manufacturing and commerce will hobble the economy lowering actual revenue to government causing repeated rounds of increased taxation.

Except for the 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th Amendment freedoms mentioned above, the rest of what Christians will lose is economic in nature. Because there is no biblical right to wealth (ignoring the prosperity gospel position), there is no sound biblical footing to oppose much of the Democrat program. Sincere Christians from both parties could honestly debate immigration policy, economic measures, the proper size and scope of government itself and many other issues.

The problem is that there has been no debate (see “What’s Wrong With Politics in America”). The progressive agenda (aka socialism) is taking the country by force. This is not a war won by armed troops and bombs; this war has been waged in increments by stealth. The root of “stealth” is “steal.” That is apropos: the freedoms conservatism cherishes and protects are being stolen from us while we sleep. I just hope that when we wake up in Babylon it won’t be too late to reverse the damage caused by the theft.

Related posts: “Obama Isn’t the Problem”; “Tsunami Warning”; and just for fun ”A Modest Proposal”

Christmas 2020

I hear a lot of whining about what a rough year 2020 has been. Imagine a year when the government has banned public meetings of your church. Violations of the ban are likely to get you fined or imprisoned. Speaking the truth of the gospel has been outlawed. Personal expressions of your faith are being criminalized. Society as a whole is not just ignorant of the Bible; they are belligerent to its message of salvation. Those who attempt to spread the Good News are often persecuted and sometimes even martyred. There has never been such a troubled year.

Except that what I just described was the situation facing the first generation of the church. And it grew explosively. When the Roman Catholic church took the place of secular government in the Middle Ages, it again became dangerous to express beliefs that were contrary to the controlling powers. The Roman church viciously persecuted biblically patterned groups like the Waldenses and Albigenses; men like Wycliffe and Hus were persecuted or martyred for telling the truth as they believed it.

Although the Reformation brought some relief for truth-tellers, even Calvin was known for harsh judgments against those who disagreed with his particular brand of reform. When a group of people attempted to escape persecution for their beliefs in Europe in the Seventeenth century, they founded Plymouth colony in the New World, only to carry on the exclusiveness and bigotry they were leaving behind. Folks who wanted to practice a private version of the faith outside the community were shunned or worse. “Papists” were banned outright, a feeling that carried all the way to the presidency of John F. Kennedy in the 1960’s.

Everyone is familiar with the “under God” controversy surrounding the Pledge of Allegiance and the battle to remove the Ten Commandments from public spaces. I heard yesterday that an HOA somewhere won’t let a homeowner put a cross on his own property. Despite the promise of the First Amendment, religious speech is criminalized being branded “hate speech” when it criticizes a protected group. 2020 has been a tough year, but it’s really nothing new.

I have been introduced to a new way of looking at the situation facing Christians by Dr. Michael S. Heiser. I discovered Heiser’s enlightened view when I read The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible a few years ago. (See “Understanding the Book of Job: The Heiser Effect”) Since then, besides a couple re-reads of Unseen Realm, I have followed more of what he has written. Heiser is a scholar of ancient Mideastern languages, particularly biblical Hebrew. His work has opened my eyes to the supernatural worldview of the biblical writers and their audience.

This matters at Christmas because of what Christmas means in the supernatural world. As the word came to the Apostle John from heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” Heiser opens our eyes to the fact that bringing a new King into the world upsets those who have claimed rulership of that world for millennia. Jesus’ dialogue with Satan during His temptation proves that the dark lord assumed ownership of the kingdoms he offered to the King. (Mt. 4:9-10) The King said He was bringing a sword (Mt. 10:34) and the kingdom would come by force. (Mt. 11:12)

The baby that shepherds worshipped in the manger would grow to become the divine/human representative of God charged with the retaking of the kingdom. The Savior had to live in the flesh so that He could die to save all flesh. His physical death was required to regain the lost kingdom and to purchase life for Himself and all who believe on Him. The marvel is that the Messiah didn’t stay dead; He was raised from death to reign over the earth, first in a spiritual victory; then He will ultimately return to reign physically with His faithful followers.

In 2020 we are in the same place as our brothers in 120 and 1220 and 1620: we are in the midst of a cosmic battle for control of the earth. The word John heard from the 24 elders was, “We give thanks to you, Lord God All-Powerful, the one who is and the one who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.  And the nations were angry.” (Revelation 11:17-18) The reign has “begun,” but the spiritual powers have not yet been put fully in subjection. “The nations” are angry because they see their power being drained away.

Heiser paints a clear picture of how the “nations” are associated with the powerful beings that populate the spiritual realm. Even before the Messiah came, the Psalmist noted that, “the nations rage.” (Psalm 2:1) Psalm 2 ends with a warning for the “kings” who rule the earth: “So then, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth.  Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his anger burns quickly. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Heiser makes it abundantly clear that these “kings” are the spirit beings that God, the King of spirits, placed in charge of the nations while He took Israel for His own. (Deuteronomy 32:8)) The nations were set aside temporarily while God worked out the redemption plan through Israel. The fulfillment of that plan began in a manger in Bethlehem. It continued through the agony of Messiah on the Roman cross where a victory was won over death. It continues in 2020 with the struggle of Christ’s followers who attempt to bring the Kingdom of light against the kingdom of darkness. ((See “Bringing the Kingdom”)

If this seems like a dark message to share at Christmas, remember that when Simeon prophesied over Mary at her baby boy’s temple presentation, he told her a sword would pierce her heart. The New Testament is full of warnings that tribulations and trials will come. We are in a war; expect trouble. The thing that makes this a happy message is that we know who wins – who has won really. We cannot be surprised that things are tough; it was promised. The good news is that persevering produces strong faith (James 1:2-4) and suffering is the “evident token” of our salvation. (Philippians 1:28)

Smile and sigh at the wonder of the manger. Marvel at the angels’ announcement to the shepherds. Then grit your teeth and take a deep breath so that you can stand firm when “the nations rage.” Remember Who stands by your side. Remember the closing line of Psalm 2: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Adolescence. Ugh!

I can’t decide if it’s God’s sense of humor playing a joke on parents or an example of His deep wisdom that our children go through the trials of adolescence. It is not a modern development. I think I hear it in Joseph’s interaction with his brothers (Genesis 37); even Jesus at twelve (pre-teen? tweener?) demonstrated what looks like typical teenage behavior on one level. When He stayed behind in Jerusalem after the feast and was not found until three days later by his parents, his retort to His distraught mother might be updated thus: “Duh! You should have known where I was.” (Luke 2:49)

My own teenage rebellion was mild by comparison to some. I think my desire to please my dad and earn some expression of affection kept me from the worst I might have considered. As a teen in the sixties, I grew my hair as long as he allowed (collar length, no more). I listened to that dreaded rock music my parents despised (while they made me listen to classical in proportion to the rock). I smoked the tires a few times on my mom’s 396 c.i./325 h.p. Chevy Caprice station wagon. In the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll days, my deeds were very mild-mannered.

While the adolescent trials may be endemic to the human condition, I do believe our society has increased the likelihood that trouble may come. First, we have extended the period during which teens may express themselves independently. For most of human history until the late twentieth century, children went to work and began a more-or-less adult life at the start of adolescence. The development of universal education lasting thirteen years pushes adulthood and its responsibilities much later, even later yet for children who attend college right after high school.

The other societal phenomenon that makes today’s adolescent more likely to have problems is the freedom most children are given at an early age. In many modern homes, children have their own room, their own TV, their own computer giving them a degree of independence that was unknown until recently. Add to this the almost universal teenage driver’s license and often free use of a car, and you have a recipe for disaster. The teens who don’t kill themselves (and their friends) by driving insanely drive themselves into all sorts of places they would not otherwise be able to access. Prognosis: trouble.

One would hope that teens from Christian homes would be spared these temptations. As a teacher in Christian high schools for many years, I have witnessed the evidence that this is too often not the case. In fact, it seems as if the children from stricter parents tend to push the limits even harder than their less restricted peers. I cannot count the number of times I have heard teens say they despise rules when the reasons for the rules are not explained to them in any acceptable way. When petty infractions incur draconian discipline, many teens decide that all rules were made to be broken. I have seen many disasters including suicide committed by teens who could not bear up under the seeming mindlessness of their parents’ requirements.

One can understand the frustration that caused Mark Twain to quip, “When a boy turns 13, put him in a barrel and feed him through a knot hole. When he turns 16, plug up the hole.” Overkill, yes, but understandable. Children differ in how they react to adolescent trials and must be treated accordingly. As I watched things in the home where I grew up, I saw everything from complete compliance in one of my siblings to near disastrous rebellion in another. There is no one-size-fits-all approach as Twain humorously suggested.

The Bible principle that best instructs parents on this issue is found in the often quoted, often misunderstood Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is often misunderstood as meaning that parents can mold a child in the way they think he should go: make rules for him to follow. I don’t think this is what the Teacher intended. Hebrew is a picture language, and the picture painted in this verse is instructive. A literal translation might read, “Begin training your youngster according to his tastes (literally: mouth)….” Many parents do take the mouth analogy seriously, thinking of a horse’s bit that forces the way. I prefer to see it as a call to find out the child’s interests and talents and help him develop them. Naturally, if a child “likes” breaking things and hurting people, this does not apply. But generally, children gravitate toward things they enjoy, and they can succeed at. Here is where the parents “lead.”

This idea of helping a child find his sweet spot in life is a metaphor for what God does with His children, I think. He places His Spirit within us at [re]birth, and the idea is that we will develop the natural talents we are given alongside the spiritual gifts God provides each one of us. If we allow God to “train us up in the way we should go,” when we mature in Christ, we will find satisfaction and have no desire to, “depart from [God’s plan for us.]” I’m glad God’s treatment is not like Mark Twain suggested but instead of stifling us, He “provides us all things richly for [our] enjoyment.” That enjoyment is doubled when we seek His path for us and walk in it.

The New Iconoclasts

 I was visiting family last weekend, and somehow the question of who discovered America came up. I asked my eight-year-old (“I’m going to be nine.”) grandson if he knew. He shook his head, and to be fair, he may simply have forgotten that lesson if it was ever mentioned. However, when I asked if he knew about Columbus, his Mom informed me that they no longer teach that Columbus discovered America because he is thought to be an evil person. We also discussed the fact that the continent of America was probably “discovered” by Vikings, possibly Leif Ericson, long before Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. And, of course, the island Columbus first landed on isn’t even American territory.

Columbus did eventually get to the American mainland where he continued his “evil” European domination. I will not deny that the European taking of the Western hemisphere was arrogant imperialism with a large dose of bigotry and condescension. However, to discard all mention of the great explorer is to lose a sense of his truly great achievement: he debunked a false notion that ruled the scientific community of his day. He proved the earth was not flat. He may have miscalculated the planet’s size, but he was correct about its shape. He opened the door for the Age of Exploration.

Columbus also extended the reach of the dominant culture of his day, the consequences of which were not fully positive. Nor were they completely negative. Say what you will about 15^th century Roman Catholic theology, Columbus and subsequent explorers did bring knowledge of the Savior of the world to the “new world.” In his own words, Columbus expressed his desire to bring Christianity to the people of the newly discovered continent. Secular historians, the sanitizers of history, put his evangelistic zeal in the category of arrogant imperialism. How dare he think his religion was superior to that of the natives.

While modern missiologists will no doubt shudder at the tactics of Columbus et al, their motives cannot be impugned. Certainly, the explorers of the Enlightenment day sought riches. Had Columbus not promised to return with ships laden with gold, Ferdinand and Isabella would never have financed his venture as a missions trip. We may never know whether his primary motivation was economic, religious, or simply a burning desire to prove his round earth theory. But if we erase Columbus from the history books, we will never get to have that discussion.

It is a discussion worth having. Just as Israel was commanded to remember her history, America should remember hers. I realize the history of Israel is the story of God’s redemption of the human race and therefore eminently important, whereas America’s history is not inspired Scripture with eternal significance. However, in the same way that the Israelites could track the coming of the Messiah through her past, Americans can trace the development of a nation that is unique in all human history. There are valuable lessons to be learned from a study of the American foundations. We live in an ordered universe where the principle of cause and effect operates not only in the “hard” sciences like physics but in the social sciences as well.

To erase great men from our history because they were greatly flawed is to eliminate the possibility of learning from the ill effects of their actions. To hide their flaws as my grade school history did with Columbus isn’t ideal either. Surely a balance can be found between painting him as the devil incarnate and whitewashing him as God’s righteous servant. Even a third-grade student could be made to understand the man’s sincere religious motivations and his prowess as a navigator and sailor while recognizing his moral and fiscal failures as an administrator.

I know my third-grade grandson can understand the nuances of flawed people. Like too many young children today, he has had live with the consequences of moral failure. Children should not be “protected” from the reality of the mixed alloy of human character; it is valuable information. The Bible certainly does not gloss over its heroes’ moral difficulties. Remember that David and Moses were both murderers. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived according to the biblical record, couldn’t control his carnal desires. Peter denied his Savior at a critical moment while all the others closest to Jesus fled into the night.

I believe it is foolish arrogance to read our twenty-first century political/moral sensitivities back into history. Deleting Columbus or any other person who doesn’t meet a modern, politically correct standard has the same effect as the ancient historians who made up tales that suited their fancy. Mythology makes for entertaining reading, and often it presents moral lessons, but it is not a substitute for a true account of actual events in the past.

This is a big problem, but a committed group of parents could stage a coup at the next school board election and influence a local body to make changes that would lead to an honest history curriculum. Even within the dreaded Core standards now adopted by most states there is room for a local district to supplement their history texts with those that present the real thing. Our children deserve to know where we have come from as a nation. Who knows; maybe if our public schools had been teaching history honestly for the last few decades there would be fewer young people who think socialism is the answer to all our problems.