Reflections on God … Man … Life
Opinions on contemporary political happenings and the workings of civil government.
I support Israel. Why? It is the ancient homeland of the Jews, the place where God handed down His law, the center of the world from the establishment of His people through the ministry of Jesus. It is where Jesus suffered and died for us all. It was the scene of His resurrection. Now, none of that necessarily means I should support Israel today. If that nation was a hotbed of terrorism and a threat to the world, I wouldn’t… Read more »
I’m taking my time reading through Margaret Thatcher’s The Path to Power, going one section at a time, as I try to increase my knowledge of the history of the United Kingdom in the late twentieth century. As I’ve followed her life from her time with her family, to her university years at Oxford, to her early political career, I’ve been fascinated with her observations of the era. I was struck particularly by a section of the book dealing with… Read more »
I’ve decided to devote today’s post to praise for a number of things that have gone right lately. It’s always easy to critique the development of current events, given the Obama administration’s penchant for upending the Constitution and Biblical morality, so it’s nice to point out the other side for a change. All of these praises today come, surprisingly, as a result of Supreme Court decisions. After the agony of the Court’s rulings on Obamacare and the Defense of Marriage… Read more »
July 2, 1776—The Continental Congress declares the independence of the United States of America. July 4, 1776—The final wording of the Declaration of Independence is agreed upon by the Congress. July 8, 1776—The newly printed Declaration of Independence is read publicly in cities and towns across the new nation. It took another seven years of toil and agony to realize that Declaration’s premise: the United States, with inalienable rights given by God, took its place among the other nations of… Read more »
Yesterday’s post offered some insightful analysis by C. S. Lewis on the dangers of putting the government in charge of everything in our lives. That same essay, which he wrote in 1958, goes on to issue further warnings. I couldn’t contain them all in one post, so I decided to carry his thoughts over to today also. He writes of freedom and its necessary corollary—an education free from government control: I believe a man is happier, and happy in a… Read more »
C. S. Lewis didn’t write a lot specifically about civil government because that wasn’t his priority. Yet when he did write on the subject, he was lucid and devastating with respect to how government can become a terror to individuals. One of his essays in God in the Dock is entitled “Is Progress Possible?” but the subtitle really gets to the point of the essay: “Willing Slaves of the Welfare State.” He knew whereof he spoke, writing this in 1958… Read more »
Memorial Day should be a solemn commemoration of those who had their lives cut short in defense of freedom. Critics will say that not everyone who died in a war was of sterling character and should be lifted up as heroes. I agree. God looks at the heart. Yet it is important to stop and consider the overall picture. Would we have a nation today that still strives toward the ideal of a properly ordered liberty—liberty with responsibility, not license… Read more »