Dr. Henry Morris Dies at Age 87

"The greatest defender of the doctrine of Creation in church history has gone to be with the Lord. No single man in the last two thousand years has contributed more to the defense of the book of Genesis or been more effective in rallying the people of God to embrace the historical, grammatical, literal, normative interpretation of its text than a humble, mild-mannered hydrologist named Dr. Henry Morris." The full story here.

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Our "City on a Hill" Conference

Our Family's Blog

Quote

"When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith." - Abraham Kuyper dlr

This Day in History 02/22

George Washington was born this day, February 22, 1732. In his Presidential Inaugural Address, he said: "It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe." Washington continued: "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of Providential agency." dlr

Oh, Man that's Beautiful!

Something or someone has Chris really fired up! I wish I could write like that... Here. To which I add my hearty, AMEN! dlr

Absolute Insanity - Chris Ortiz

"So, let me get this straight, Mr. President. Arabs can takeover all major U.S. ports without any delay suggested by Congress, but I can't get on an airplane without taking off my shoes, searching my bag, and inspecting my person? Is there something I'm missing here?" The rest of his post is here. dlr

The Law of God

"No enactment of man can be considered law unless it conforms to the law of God." - William Blackstone

This Day in History

"From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shore of Tripoli." The Marine Corp anthem recalls when Muslims of North Africa, know as the Barbary Pirates, were seizing American ships and cargo, and selling the crews as slaves. On February 16, 1804, in what Admiral Horatio Nelson described as the "most bold and daring act of the age," Lieutenant Stephen Decatur sailed his ship, the Intrepid, at night into the pirate harbor of Tripoli, burned a ship and escaped unharmed amidst fierce enemy fire. The Arabic version of the original treaty offered by Tripoli, which they had not honored, stated: "We...agreed that if American Christians are traveling with a nation that is at war with...Tripoli...neither he nor his goods shall be taken."

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Quote

Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." - George Washington dlr

This Day in History

In the 3rd century, Emperor Claudius the Goth not only commanded that the Roman gods be worshipped, but he temporarily forbade marriage, because he believed single men made better soldiers. Legend has it that Valentine, who was a bishop of Italy, risked the Emperor’s wrath by refusing to worship idols and for secretly marrying young couples. Saint Valentine was dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to death on February 14, 269 AD. While awaiting execution, it is said that he prayed for the jailers' sick daughter, who miraculously recovered. He wrote her a note and signed it, "from your Valentine."

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The Centrality of Peripherals – Douglas Wilson

"In all this, we must remember the centrality of peripherals. The point is not to favor the peripherals instead of the center. That would be the sin of majoring on minors, swallowing camels, and all the rest of it. Rather, the point is that on this question the Christian world has fallen into the fallacy of bifurcation. Either we emphasize the center and wave off the peripherals as unimportant, or we emphasize the peripherals and forget the center. But remember, the fruit -- which Christ required for identifying the nature of a tree -- is way out on the edges of the tree and at the farthest point away from the root. We must recover the notion that peripherals are central because the center is important. Of course we cannot cleanse the inside of the cup by washing the outside. But when someone is transformed on the inside, this will neccessarily have ramifications on the outside" (The Paideia of God, p. 49). Posted by Douglas Wilson

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Keeper at Home

Keeper at Home

My wife on being a “keeper at home” here.

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"Born Again"

“Born Again” is Not a Figure of Speech – Mark Rushdoony

The term “born again” confused Nicodemus two millennia ago because he tried to apply it to natural birth. It confuses many today because they reduce it to a mere figure of speech, a metaphor for a spiritual awakening.

The term “born again” is not just a metaphor. In a metaphor, a word or phrase that properly describes one thing is used to describe another. “Computer memory” is a metaphor. Whatever storage devices computers have, we know they are not a true memory. “Computer memory” borrows language that properly applies to humans. Being “born again” does not just borrow the language of birth; it truly is a form of birth, as the synonym “new birth” implies.

By our natural birth we are born into the humanity of Adam and are his heirs. Only Adam and Eve were created; we are born their heirs. Those “born again” are born into Jesus Christ, are new creatures and heirs with Him by their adoption as the children of God. The new birth is a new definition of birth, a new sort of birth, not just a figurative comparison to natural birth. The new birth is different than man’s first in that it deals with a new humanity, the new man, the new creature in Jesus Christ.

To answer Nicodemus’ puzzlement about being born again, our Lord said a man must be born of both water and of the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God. He distinguishes the two births further: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Christ never said “I’m not really talking about a birth; it’s just an expression,” and neither must we. He said there is, in fact, a second birth, a birth by the power of God’s Spirit into the new humanity of Jesus Christ.

Our natural birth makes us the heirs of Adam and Eve. Morally, we are their sons and daughters (C.S. Lewis’ description of humans as “sons of Adam” and “daughters of Eve” in his Narnia series is thus a theologically astute one); we are corrupted and naturally sinners. Paul, however, refers to Christ as the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:45. He is the representative of the new man, the new humanity. By the grace of God and the power of His Spirit, we are “born again,” made into new creatures in Christ. In our natural birth we are born “of water” into the old man or humanity. In our new birth we are born again “of the Spirit” into the new man, the new humanity. “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

If the new birth is seen as mere imagery, it can, like modern art, be seen as an image of almost anything. A constant intellectual assault on Christianity is the accusation that it is merely one manifestation of man’s endless spiritual quest. As such, it is derided as a defective one because of its claim to uniqueness. Modern man wants to accommodate natural man and sanctify him in his good intentions. Christianity says that natural man is the problem, that he needs the transforming power of regeneration and a new birth as a new man in the supernatural man, Jesus Christ.

Scripture says our destiny is not about our spiritual quest to find but in whom we are found. Natural man after Adam must be born again into Jesus Christ.

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Rev. Mark R. Rushdoony is president of Chalcedon and Ross House Books. He is also editor-in-chief of Faith for All of Life and Chalcedon’s other publications.

The World is Run by Children

The Chalcedon Foundation - Faith for All Life:

Photo by David S. Price dlr

Public Liberty

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined. " - Patrick Henry dlr

More on Vouchers - Douglas Wilson

Food Stamps for Conservatives

"Third, vouchers expose the essential hypocrisy of many of our attitudes on public policy. Educational vouchers are nothing but food stamps for conservatives. It is remarkable how often we do not see the principle involved. We simply react to some 'wasteful' program, defining wasteful as 'someone else getting the money.' Until we learn to fight statism by refusing to accept benefits, our hypocrisy will be evident. Anyone can complain about having to pay; where is the distinctively Christian worldview in that? (The Paideia of God, p. 36). - Posted by Douglas Wilson

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Vouchers and State-Sponsored Theft - Douglas Wilson

[Speaking of school vouchers] "This essay is not calling for tax revolt -- a refusal to pay taxes because I am being stolen from. Rather, the point is that we should stop clamoring for yet another program that would require the government to steal still more. The reason we are stolen from is that we are thievish at heart; God judges us according to how we treat others. The measure we use is measured to us. I pay exorbitant taxes because somewhere, someone else is yelling for a program. If we start yelling for a program, it hardly looks like repentance" (The Paideia of God, p. 35).

Posted by Douglas Wilson dlr

In the Country by Richard Mitchell

Here.

IN THE COUNTRY of the blind, the one-eyed man is, as we all know, king. And across the way, in the country of the witless, the half-wit is king. And why not? It’s only natural, and considering the circumstances, not really a bad system. We do the best we can. But it is a system with some unhappy consequences. The one-eyed man knows that he could never be king in the land of the two-eyed, and the half-wit knows that he would be small potatoes indeed in a land where most people had all or most of their wits about them. These rulers, therefore, will be inordinately selective about their social programs, which will be designed not only to protect against the rise of the witful and the sighted, but, just as important, to ensure a never-failing supply of the witless and utterly blind. Even to the half-wit and the one-eyed man, it is clear that other half-wits and one-eyed men are potential competitors and supplanters, and they invert the ancient tale in which an anxious tyrant kept watch against a one-sandaled stranger by keeping watch against wanderers with both eyes and operating minds. Uneasy lies the head. Unfortunately, most people are born with two eyes and even the propensity to think. If nothing is done about this, chaos, obviously, threatens the land. Even worse, unemployment threatens the one-eyed man and the half-wit. However, since they do in fact rule, those potentates have not much to fear, for they can command the construction and perpetuation of a state-supported and legally enforced system for the early detection and obliteration of antisocial traits, and thus arrange that witfulness and 20-20 vision will trouble the land as little as possible. The system is called “education.” dlr

Biblical Thinking

Here and here.

The first link went to a blog post by Doug Phillips that apparently isn't on their site anymore. As soon as I can find the text of the article I will post it here.

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