Posts from — January 2002

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5

what will the meek inherit? the earth, Christ tells us. why is it so common in the church these days that we don’t believe this? we ‘sprititualize’ it, and twist the meaning into “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit heaven.” but that simply isn’t what the text says.

can you imagine the congregational reaction if a pastor one sunday during his sermon altered the first half of the verse? “Blessed are the proud, for they shall inherit the earth.” it wouldn’t be tolerated, not even by the most liberal churches.

and yet, that’s precisely what even the staunchly reformed do to the text.

so today i was proctoring an exam for a coworker. they seemed to be a pretty good group, no obvious looking at other people’s papers or anything.
i was reading Future Men, by Douglas Wilson. good book, highly recommended for men to read, even though it’s about raising boys.

anyhow, i looked around just to make sure thing crazy was going on, and what do i see but a rather normal looking girl with her right pinky finger inserts, quite deeply, into her right nostril. boy, she was digging away in there. and then she pulled it out to reveal a nice sized booger on the tip of her finger. “ahhh!” i thought, and looked away so that she would not know i saw her mining. this was a wise move on my part, for it prevented both her and myself from experiencing the potential embarassment.

i went back into my book in a fruitless attempt to remove the image that had been burned into my mind.

five or ten minutes later i give another cursory glance around the room… and see her picking again! and she saw me see her doing it this time! she quickly changed the pick to a ‘nose-wipe’ in an unsuccessful attempt to hide the fact of the matter.

what an eventful morning!

For Those Interested:

My Blog History Report

i took the ‘which member of U2 are you’ quizlet thing… i don’t want to post the picture and text of my result, but i was the edge.

When I say that government schools are not an acceptable option for Christian parents to educate their children, quite often the reply is “I went to the public schools, and i turned out fine”.

Think about that. This is the reason Christian parents use to justify sending their children to government schools. Where are they looking to determine how to live their life? Are they looking to the Scriptures, as they should? No, unfortunately they aren’t. They are using experience as their guide in life, to determine what is moral and what is not moral.

Now, the irony here is incredible. Why is it that they think this way? Why is it that they use their reason to be their guide rather than the Word of God?

Because that is how their government education taught them to think.

i think it’s easy for us to compare ourselves to others, and then make the judgement of how well we’re doing in our christian lives based on that. of course, this is wrong. it makes it very easy for us to see all the errors in other peoples’ lives and think “oh, i’m so above them”. i rather hate it. but i think i’m rather prone to it, on occasion.

what we ought to do is judge ourselves according to the requirements of God’s word. if we consistently do this, there will be no problems with pride. i can guarantee that.

another thought i’ve had today is whether there’s really any difference between saying “you’re wrong” and “i belive you’re wrong”.

Leviticus 14
33 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
34 When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession;
35 And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house:
36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house:
37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall;
38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:
39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:
41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:
42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.
43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered;
44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house; it is unclean.
45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.
–
Matthew 21
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Matthew 23
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Matthew 24
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

and in other college sports occurrences…

i was behind a car this morning belonging to the perfect woman for my friend, chris. her license plate read: GTRGAL

now, sure if you want to be unimaginative or just downright mean, you could say it means guitar gal, or gutter gal, or gate regal or any number of things. but i still like my interpretation best. and nobody likes you anyway.

i was mocked today for wearing my carolina hat. the guy at the car place said that i’d have a duke hat on by the end of the season.

ch.

on my drive to work this morning i flipped on WLNI (to get my talk radio fix), and they were discussing this story:

Islam studies required in California district
Course has 7th-graders memorizing Koran verses, praying to Allah
—————————————————————
2002 WorldNetDaily.com

In the wake of Sept. 11, an increasing number of California public school students must attend an intensive three-week course on Islam, reports ASSIST News Service.

The course mandates that seventh-graders learn the tenets of Islam, study the important figures of the faith, wear a robe, adopt a Muslim name and stage their own jihad. Adding to this apparent hypocrisy, reports ANS, students must memorize many verses in the Koran, are taught to pray “in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful” and are instructed to chant, “Praise to Allah, Lord of Creation.”

“We could never teach Christianity like this,” one outraged parent told ANS.

Elizabeth Christina Lemings, a teacher in the Byron, Calif., Union School District, was unaware of the course until her seventh-grade son brought home the handouts. Obtained by ANS, the handouts include a history of Islam and the life of Mohammad, its founder. There are 25 Islamic terms that must be memorized, six Islamic (Arabic) phrases, 20 Islamic proverbs to learn along with the Five Pillars of Faith and 10 key Islamic prophets and disciples to be studied.

“We can’t even mention the name of Jesus in the public schools,” Lemings laments, “but … they teach Islam as the true religion, and students are taught about Islam and how to pray to Allah. Can you imagine the barrage of lawsuits and problems we would have from the ACLU if Christianity were taught in the public schools, and if we tried to teach about the contributions of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Apostle Paul? But when it comes to furthering the Islamic religion in the public schools, there is not one word from the ACLU, People for the American Way or anybody else. This is hypocrisy.”

ANS reports that students are to pretend that they are Muslims, wear Muslim clothing to school, stage their own jihad via a dice game and pick out a Muslim name (to replace their own) from a list of 30.

When asked what they thought about the course, students described it as “fun,” while others described Islam as “a pretty culture.” Joseph Lemings, 12, told ANS, “the jihad was like playing a video game.”

The “fun” description disturbs Elizabeth Lemings, who sees the course as a tool, not only to engender sympathy and support for the Muslim cause, but for recruitment.

“This is not just a class of history of examining culture,” she said. “This course is entirely too specific. It is more about indoctrination.”

Nancy Castro, principal of Intermediate-Excelsior School of Byron, told ANS that the Islam course (included within “History of Culture”) reflects California educational standards. Castro maintains the course “is not religion, but ancient culture and history. We do not endorse any religion; we just make students aware.” Castro further emphasized the course textbook is in use throughout California.

The textbook used for the Islamic course, “Across The Centuries,” is published by Houghton-Mifflin and has been adopted by the California school system. In it, according to ANS, Islam is presented broadly in a completely positive manner, whereas the limited references to Christianity are “shown in a negative light, with events such as the Inquisition, and the Salem witch hunts highlighted in bold, black type.” ANS notes the portrayal of Islam leaves out word of “the wars, massacres, cruelties against Christians and other non-Muslims that Islam has consistently perpetrated over the centuries.”

Asked if there was any response from parents about the Islam course, Castro told ANS, “Oh, a couple of parents called to express concerns, three to be exact.”

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25997

now, they discussed, briefly, the fact that if the Christian religion were taught in this way, the ACLU would be all up in arms about it. there would be nothing short of a national outrage. basically what’s in included in the article (they didn’t read those parts on the air, of course… they just discussed them.) and this is all true, and should be noted. there is an anti-christian attitude in our country.

then they began asking what they would do if their children were forced to take these sorts of classes. one man, eric powers (who is a christian), said that he would call the superintendent of his school district, and file a complaint. (wooo) then, the scenario went on, the superintendent acknowledged the complaint, but did not change anything. the children still had to go to the muslim class. eric said he would pull his kids out of school. they apparently all agreed that this would be the right thing to do, but said that most people would just shrug their shoulders and say they couldn’t change anything so why bother pulling their kids out. afterall, that would require a lot of work on their part as parents – either teaching their kids themselves or paying for a private school. next, they went to a commercial and i popped in a cd.
*
now i agree with them. the children ought to be pulled out of the classroom by their parents, but most parents are too lazy or complacent to do it. it’s shameful, indeed. but i go even further.

sure, this islam forced feeding class out in liberal california is horrible, but is it any better here in conversvative lynchburg, virginia? nope. christian children are taught on a daily basis that God doesn’t matter. they can ignore God for 8 hours a day, and just get a neutral education. “god doesn’t apply to this area of life” they are told. by both the system and their parents. “it’s just math,” they might say, “christian principles don’t need to be taught with that”. foolishness! Christans are to love the Lord their God with all their heart, all their soul, and all their mind (matt 22:37). that’s right, our mind is included there. how we think should praise god. when we do arithmatic, we should be honoring and praising our god in it. the same holds true for every subject. neutrality is a lie, and we, the church, have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

these people on the radio show were saying they’d pull their kids from the schools if something “dramatic” happened, like the article presents. but the most basic and foundational principles by which we should live are not only being ignored, but actually argued against every single day in the government schools, and these christian parents, with many more across the country, stand by and watch their children become indoctrinated into a pagan worldview. it’s no wonder that christian children continually fall away.

perhaps someone can explain this to me…

an instructor comes in, and starts aimlessly flipping through my slide book.
i ask her what she’s looking for.
she tells me she wants the trichinella slides.
i tell her they’re in the parasitology section.
she says okay.
she keeps flipping around and pulling out trays and can’t find the slides she wants.
i go to help her…
and find that she’s got the book open to the invertebrate zoology section, and is looking in the i.z. boxes.

now, not only has she made herself look stupid (whether she is aware of that or not i cannot say), but she’s also messed up my space, here. she can’t just ask. nooo… that would be entirely too difficult. and well, it would save several minutes of both our time. we couldn’t have that. this is a government school, afterall.

October 2, 2001.

that’s geneva’s birthday. it’s also a palindrome, which makes it a fun day to have your birthday on.

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