Reflections on God … Man … Life
Last week, North Korea attacked South Korea. This is an old story: it happened in 1950 as well, which led to a three-year war [police action?] that ended in a truce, but not a real solution to the dilemma. The North has never given up its original intent—to take over the entire Korean peninsula. It remains one of the most hardline communist governments in the world, and continues to be supported by China. When it chose to fire missiles at… Read more »
In C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, a senior devil—Screwtape—gives advice to a junior devil—Wormwood—under his tutelage. Reading this “advice” provides excellent insight into how God works in our lives. For instance, on the subject of prayer, what might a devil say? Here’s one possibility: Whenever they are attending to the Enemy Himself we are defeated, but there are ways of preventing them from doing so. The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves. Keep them… Read more »
Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1863 that started the national holiday. Keep in mind that he issued it in the midst of the most horrible war ever fought on American soil. Yet he wanted the nation to remember all the blessings God had bestowed. Lincoln wrote all of this own speeches and proclamations. He had a way with words. In my Civil War class, we examine a number of his speeches, and students come away impressed with his… Read more »
From the pen of Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer, who taught me a lot in my early years of trying to grasp the foundations of the faith: The first meaning [of philosophy] is a discipline, an academic subject. That is what we usually think of as philosophy: a highly technical study which few people pursue. In this sense, few people are philosophers. But there is a second meaning that we must not miss if we are going to understand the problem… Read more »
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the economy was the big issue in the elections. A related concern was the attempt by the federal government to unleash unlimited power over everyone’s lives—all of which was unconstitutional. The two ought to go together. More people thought about the economy, of course, but I was encouraged by the new discussion on constitutionalism, particularly by those on the Tea Party side of politics. It can be argued that overreaching constitutional authority… Read more »
Tomorrow, Americans will vote for every seat in the House of Representatives and about 1/3 of Senate seats. The new Congress will convene in late January. As it does, it needs a few reminders. These come from the U.S. Constitution. In particular, each new member of Congress ought to reflect on Article One, Section 8, which deals with the taxing power and the authority for legislation. It says, The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and… Read more »