Reflections on God … Man … Life
Let me clarify something today. I can almost hear some readers of this blog thinking, “He criticizes the president and Congress so much that he can’t really have any respect for the government.” The opposite is true. I have the highest regard for the federal government. This comes from a reading of the Constitution, the debates over its ratification, and the character of many of those who helped bring it to pass. I believe the form of government set up by… Read more »
In my recent re-reading of C. S. Lewis’s The Four Loves, I came across a section that I had forgotten, which deals with one’s love of country—both the positive and negative aspects. This had a particular appeal to me as I prepare to teach American history once again to university students, many of whom are rather blank slates when it comes to knowledge of the past. “We all know,” Lewis begins, “that this love [of country] becomes a demon when… Read more »
Twitter is not inherently evil. Like all technological developments, it depends how it is used. I have few problems with it because I follow only those people and organizations that speak either God’s truths and/or are faithful to the principles He has established. There are some, however, who seem to see it as a weapon—and it comes from both sides of the political arena: President Trump stirred up controversy (again) recently with a couple of pointed tweets. One targeted a… Read more »
Last week, President Trump spoke to a crowd of young conservatives at a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) conference in Washington, DC. In the process of criticizing former special counsel Robert Mueller, he said the following: “Then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” He was referring, of course, to the second article in the US Constitution. Well, I’ve read the Constitution (I won’t speak for President Trump as to whether… Read more »
Let’s talk about money and accountability for how it is used. Now, that may sound rather mundane, but we do have a money and accountability problem in this nation. Why is this important? Jesus spoke about the connection in Luke 16 when offering a parable about someone who was dishonest as a money manager. It ends with these pointed words to the rest of us: Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is… Read more »
I’m all for presidents trying to reach out and talk with leaders of other countries, even when they’re not our friends. After all, that was a real factor in the fall of the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan tried to communicate with, in order—Brehznev, Andropov, and Chernenko—but they all rebuffed him. Then they died. He finally found someone he could talk to and arranged a time when they could sit down together. Reagan developed a genuine relationship with Gorbachev, but it… Read more »
C. S. Lewis was no fan of politics. He had listened to political discussions from his youth, as his father was a lawyer with the government, but he found such talk ultimately unsatisfying. Yet that doesn’t mean he wasn’t concerned about good governing and the basis for understanding what is necessary for it. So even though he shied away from writing too much on politics per se, he never avoided advocating foundational concepts that applied to a society—government and culture… Read more »