Saturday, July 10, 2021

THE BIG LIE

 “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Though it is often attributed to him, there is no solid evidence Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels ever said the quote above. Often called the “big lie,” the statement comes from Mein Kampf¸ Hitler’s manifesto in which he applied it to Jewish behavior rather than a tactic he advocated.[i] Nevertheless, Joseph Goebbels and the Nazis used big lie propaganda to turn European anti-Semitism into mass murder.[ii]

Once again, a “big lie” is being used to distort and destroy. Crits[iii] currently employ it to tell Americans their country is evil and deserves cancellation. Nikole Hannah-Jones employed it when writing the “1619 Project” which “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative.”[iv] Other historians, some in our own movement, adopt this narrative too, as indicated in the first sentence in an article published in the July 2020 newsletter of the Association of College Ministries. The author writes, “The last few months have forced America to face the original sin of racism. Both Hannah-Jones and article’s author believe the United States began in a hotbed of racism.  Such racism is systemic[v] and can only be dealt with through substantial political and cultural changes. As one writer put it, “We will not eliminate racism without major policy and structural changes in the U.S.”

When I asked what policy and structural changes were advocated, all I got back in return were efforts to shame me and question my intelligence. Most Crits are honest in admitting the only solution to systemic racism is the elimination of capitalism and Western culture. Critical Theory, specifically Critical Race Theory, is an attack on Western civilization, Christianity, and rational thought.

Let’s consider one aspect of the “big lie,” that of America’s “original sin of racism.” Crits claim white settlers established slavery as early as 1619 and continued it, with the full complicity of the church.[vi]  Several historical facts play in direct opposition to this thesis.

First, slavery was not unique to the Western Hemisphere. As sociologist Rodney Stark puts it, “Excesses of political correctness have all but erased awareness that slavery was nearly universal to all societies able to afford it, and that only in the West did significant moral opposition ever arise and lead to abolition.”[vii]

Regardless of how far into the past one goes, slavery existed among peoples, tribes, and civilizations. None are exempt. It was once thought slavery was contingent on civilization, but it was also prevalent among aboriginal societies as well. Even North American Indian tribes practiced slavery, and, in some northwest Indian villages, slaves comprised a third of the population. Slaves could be found in the ancient civilizations of Persia, Greece, and Rome. Stark says that “all early civilizations—including Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, China, and India—involved extensive use of slave labor.”[viii] Of greater emphasis is the fact African slavery predates colonial slavery. History shows us slavery declined in the Roman Empire and Medieval Europe only because of the rise of Christianity.

Through the centuries, history reveals two types of slavery. There was consumption slavery, which applied to house servants and slaves permitted to labor in a skill, occupation, public official, or teachers. There was also industrial slavery, which applied to slaves involved in field work, construction, or other manual labor. Except for the description of Israelite slavery in Egypt, most biblical slavery is of the consumption variety. It is a captured servant girl, for example, who tells Naaman there is a prophet in Israel who can heal his leprosy. At this juncture, it is helpful to realize human beings became slaves “by birth, by capture, by being sold by parents or relatives, or by judicial proceeding.”[ix]

Second, the first slaves did not enter America in 1619. The first slaves in colonial North America were white indentured servants who came several years before the first blacks. Objections arise immediately because indentured servitude is not considered slavery. But let’s get real for a moment! In real terms, indentured servants sold their labor for a set time. They sold themselves! An interesting study by English scholars Don Jordan and Michael Walsh states indentured servants “discovered that they were placed under the power of masters who had more or less total control over their destiny.”[x] Well, it is argued, indentured servitude was for a specified time, not a lifetime. For all intents and purposes, the first indentured servants were enslaved for a lifetime. Life expectancy in the New World was so short that most indentured servants died before the end of their term. Furthermore, as Jordan and Walsh state:

Slavery is not defined by time but by the experience of the subject. To be the chattel of another, to be required by law to give absolute obedience in everything and to be subject to whippings, brandings and chaining for any show of defiance, to be these things, as were many whites, was to be enslaved.[xi] (Emphasis added)

None of this detracts from the enormity of the suffering of later black slaves, but it was based on the white servitude preceding it. Jordan and Walsh cite Lerone Bennett, an African American writer:

When someone removes the cataracts of whiteness from our eyes, and when we look with unclouded vision on the bloody shadow of the American past, we will recognize for the first time that the Afro-American, who was so often second in freedom, was also second in slavery.[xii]

The first black slaves arrived in North America in 1626 when a Dutch ship brought a slave shipment to Manhattan Island. Hannah-Jones and Gorman date the arrival of slaves at 1619.[xiii] Why the discrepancy? If Crits insist on distinguishing indentured servitude from slavery, the fact is when blacks arrived in Jamestown in 1619 they were considered indentured servants and few outlived their term of indenture. By 1625 there were only 23 Africans in the colony.[xiv] Should any white or black outlive their indenture, they were freed and eligible to receive a “headright.”[xv]  One of those who secured his freedom was Anthony Johnson who was among those Africans arriving in 1619. His story represents a paradox and a counter to the contemporary Crit 1619 narrative.

Anthony Johnson, as the African came to be known, not only secured his freedom but also became a successful planter himself and went on to buy servants of his own, white as well as black. Thirty years after Johnson first touched American soil, he got into a dispute with a servant, a fellow African who was demanding his freedom. Johnson resolved it by persuading a court to enslave the man for life. This was one of the first cases of lifetime slavery being imposed in North America—a black man playing one of the villains imposed in the ghastly tragedy that was beginning to unfold.[xvi]

The point is slavery is a horrible evil. At the same time, only those determined to perpetuate the “big lie” insist the origin of slavery in America was color specific and began in 1619. As Lerone Bennett said, “Not only in Virginia but also in New England, the first Blacks were integrated into a forced labor system that had little or nothing to do with skin color.”[xvii] It is no wonder numerous reputable historians raised questions about the New York Times “1619 Project.”

There is a third factor entering into the contention slavery was America’s original sin. It is well known slavery always created moral problems. This fact is true in heathen cultures as well as later Christian societies. When slavery reappeared after a Medieval hiatus, the Catholic Church first raised issues regarding the treatment of slaves and in some instances called for manumission and abolition. Catholic popes approved the issuance of a variety of codes establishing treatment of Native American slaves.

While slavery existed in most North American colonies, slavery in the North mostly consisted of consumption slavery. At one point, slaves could be found everywhere but Maine and Massachusetts. Such slaves were generally treated well and became part of the family. Therefore, slavery, as we usually consider it, was restricted to the South. Despite counting slaves as “real estate” in the South, laws prohibited murder and slave owners were obligated to feed, clothe, and provide medical care for slaves. In some Southern cities, slaves could “hire themselves out (paying a fee to their masters), and sometimes they pursued highly skilled trades.”[xviii]

Although Crits choose to denigrate the “Declaration of Independence,” the document shows the attitudes of the Founders. Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Jefferson, a Virginian, owned more than 600 slaves during his adult life, but he consistently spoke out against the international slave trade and outlawed it while he was president. Like many Americans, he favored gradual manumission as opposed to immediate freedom. His initial draft of the “Declaration of Independence” contained a clause denouncing King George III for “forcing the slave trade onto the American colonies.”[xix] Furthermore, he was a lifelong advocate of ending the Atlantic Slave Trade and as president signed the 1807 law forbidding importation of African slaves.

None of this was unusual in early United States history. The American white population, even in the South, saw slavery as a “necessary evil.” Prior to the growth of King Cotton, indigo was a cash crop grown mostly in South Carolina. Working with indigo was both labor intensive and dangerous. Extracting the dye required splitting the indigo reed and soaking it to release the dye. Ponds where indigo reeds soaked often became stagnant and malarial. Growers preferred using Irish immigrants to work the indigo to black slaves because the Irish were ignorant, deplorable, and a “dime a dozen.” Once short-staple cotton became profitable due to the invention of the Cotton Gin, blacks were increasingly utilized.

Despite all of this, pressure to abolish slavery began as early as 1700. Samuel Sewell published The Selling of Joseph, the first abolitionist tract written in America. Sewell was a prominent Bostonian, a devout Puritan, a Harvard graduate, and successful merchant. The abolition movement, however, began not in Boston, but years later in Philadelphia. Stark writes:

John Woolman, a very pious young man whose moral concerns about slavery surfaced when he was asked by his employer to draw up a bill of sale for a female slave. He did so but experienced unrelieved guilt as a result. Woolman’s concerns about slavery grew critical when, while traveling through Virginia, he observed the misery of slaves. Upon his return, he wrote his first tract against the “sin of slavery.”  … He began by quoting Matt. 25:40: “For as much as ye did it to the least of my brethren, ye did it unto me,” with the direct implication that to enslave a “Negro” was to enslave Christ.[xx]

From that point on, the Quakers vigorously opposed slavery and many other Christian leaders and groups became abolitionists. Northern churches and ministers identified with the anti-slavery cause including Lyman Beecher and Charles Grandison Finney.

In 1833 leading abolitionists formed the American Anti-Slavery Society led by passionate William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator. By 1838 more than 1,000 chapters of the American Anti-Slavery Society were holding forth for immediate emancipation—abolition. The church fought for abolition. Stark writes: “Moreover, as abolition sentiments spread, it was primarily the churches (often local congregations), not secular clubs and organizations, that issued formal statements on behalf of ending slavery.”[xxi]

Outspoken abolitionism Northern churches caused division in congregations and denominations. During this period Baptists split into northern and southern denominations as did the Presbyterians and Methodists. Despite all this resistance to slavery, how could the church be complicit? Jemar Tisby sums up his claim for the church’s complicity for slavery when he writes:

The failure of many Christians in the South and across the nation to decisively oppose the racism in their families, communities, and even in their own churches provided fertile soil for the seeds of hatred to grow. The refusal to act in the midst of injustice is itself an act of injustice. Indifference to oppression perpetuates oppression.

History and Scripture teaches us that there can be no reconciliation without repentance. There can be no repentance without confession. And there can be no repentance without truth.[xxii] (Emphasis added)

There is so much wrong in Tisby’s statement, I do not have time to deal with all of it. Suffice it to say, I have already supplied evidence that the church “across the nation” was not complicit in continuing the “peculiar institution.” When Tisby speaks of racism, he is not utilizing the traditional definition of racism. Rather, he is speaking and writing in Marxist language which assumes a majority population oppresses one that is a minority. Further, Ephesians 2 and Colossians 3 says nothing about the necessity of repentance and confession prior to the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile. Once individuals are brought to Christ, they enter a relationship in which there is unity. Christ does the work, Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female, and, dare I say, white, black, red, and yellow are all made one. It remains for Christ’s disciples to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind; their neighbor as themselves, and each other with a sacrificial love.

Like most Crits, Tisby and others are so focused on groups they do not see that God’s focus is on individuals. What is happening in contemporary culture is that those caught up in Critical Race Theory and all its components are blinded by their emphasis on the philosophies of men. They are unable to see that the “misconceptions perpetrated by historians whose failure to see things as they were lay mainly in their antagonism toward religion in general.”[xxiii]

Such misconceptions stem from two sources: (1) A desire to reject religion in general and Christianity in particular. The CRT attacks, supposedly on issues of racism, are really attacks on Western culture arising from postmodern ideology and is essentially an effort to undermine and destroy the influence of Scripture and the church. (2) Marxist ideology, which is a heretical form of Christianity. Marxists envision a culture driven by unselfishness.  Sadly, only two means exist for accomplishing this: voluntary denial of self-interest or force. Only biblical Christianity leads to the former.

I end with this from Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rathe


[i] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie

[iii] The term “crit” is a term applied to advocates of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Therefore, I use it here and in subsequent articles dealing with CRT subjects.

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1619_Project

[v] “Systemic” is defined as (1) of or relating to a system, especially when affecting the entirety of a thing; (2) relating to or nothing a policy, practice, or set of beliefs that has been established as normative or customary through a political, social, or economic system. It is this second definition that applies to accusations of “systemic racism.”

[vi] See Jemar Tisby’s book Color of Compromise for a defense of the so-called truth about the American church’s complicity in racism. The greatest problem with Tisby’s book is his painting with a broad brush of the entire American church prior to and after the Civil War. He is guilty of stereotyping all Christians because they did not meet the Crits requirement of immediate and bold action against racism and slavery. He is guilty of imposing on the past conscious beliefs of the present.

[vii] Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), p. 291. Stark rejects any contention by historical revisionists to deny the church’s role in abolition.

[viii] Stark, p. 296.

[ix] Stark., p. 292.

[x] Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America (New York: New York University Press, 2007), p. 15.

[xi] Jordan and Walsh.

[xii] Jordan and Walsh., p. 14 citing Lerone Bennett Jr., Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America 1619-1964. Available as an eBook from Amazon for $1.99.

[xiii] Stark, p. 318.

[xiv] Jordan and Walsh, p. 87.

[xv] The English Virginia Company awarded 50 acres to free men in the colony: a headright. It proved advantageous to bring indentured servants to Jamestown because those who did so received 50 acres for every immigrant. If I understand this correctly, it was doubly advantageous because when the servant died the land reverted to the individual who brought in the servant.

[xvi] Jordan and Walsh, p. 169.

[xvii] Jordan and Walsh, 170.

[xviii] Stark, 322.

[xix] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson_and_slavery

[xx] Stark, p 340.

[xxi] Stark, p. 343.

[xxii] Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019), Kindle.

[xxiii] Stark, p. 347.

Thursday, April 08, 2021

Why Socialism Doesn't Work

 In a talk I recently gave, I stated that socialism has failed every single time it has been tried. I was asked if I linked socialism with totalitarianism. I affirmed it did. I was then essentially asked about what is often called "democratic socialism."

The truth is, there is no such thing as "democratic socialism." Sweden is usually touted as an example of Bernie Sanders' claim of "democratic socialism." The truth is, when Sweden became a wealthy country it experimented with socialism. After a few years Swedes realized socialism removed incentive to produce and began to erode the country's economic position. Therefore, Sweden returned to a market economy although they did retain some of the social programs enacted under socialism. Socialism in Sweden did not work.
Venezuela, it is true, enacted socialism under Maduro, by a vote of the people. Promised "heaven on earth," the Venezuelan people voted for socialism. It all seemed to work for a time, then the wheels came off. As in every other effort to install socialism, Venezuela discovered that when the government ran out of "everyone else's money," the only way to maintain governmental power was through force. Venezuela under Maduro became a totalitarian state forcing socialism on the population. Like Sweden, Venezuela was once an economic powerhouse. Based on its oil, the country was one of, if not the richest, in South America. Under socialism it is now one of the poorest.
Everywhere socialism has been tried it has failed. Socialist governments retained power only by the barrel of a gun. Not only has socialism failed, it produced governmental mass murder wherever it has been tried. Russia, China, Cambodia, and Germany slaughtered millions to retain control.
Germany? When was Germany ever a socialist nation? The NATIONAL SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY began in 1919-20 and came to power in the 1930s. Like the Soviet Union and China, the Nazis were SOCIALIST. The ONLY difference is the "wedding" of nationalism with socialism. Nazi and Fascist regimes are simply socialism with a strong emphasis on nationalism. Bolshevik communism/socialism saw itself as a world-wide phenomenon and expected a world-wide proletarian revolution to overthrow capitalism. ALL SOCIALISM IS RADICAL LEFT-WING and fails every time.
Why does it fail? It is because socialism and progressivism is rooted in the same wrong-headed view of humanity. Progressives and socialists see humans a good. All that is needed to reveal their goodness is to eliminate the social and cultural ills that create situations where they MUST "act out."
Therefore, eliminate poverty and there will be no need to steal. Eliminate inequality in wealth and restore peace. Eliminate "oppression" and humans will not hate, or lie, or harm others.
That human beings are essentially good is the greatest falsehood every given. Human beings are depraved wicked beings and have been since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Perhaps depravity isn't total. Even the most wicked do some good things, but one immoral act or thought cannot be rectified by all any or all good deeds.
That's why socialism won't work. Human beings are inherently selfish and seek to blame everything and everyone for their problems. In socialism only the governmental leaders comprise the one percent and no one else has much of anything.
If you think socialism is an attainable utopia, consider the Venezuelans who were once rich now scrounging food in dumpsters. Consider the Russians who carried brief cases everywhere they went hoping to find something--even toilet paper--to buy because socialism couldn't provide even the basic necessities. Russians lived for more than 70 years on a COVID-like shut-down!!! Consider the Chinese students with their little red books in hand killing China's intellectuals and businessmen.
No, socialism never works. It can't. It is based on the greatest of lies: humans aren't gods and they aren't good.

Friday, September 04, 2020

BIBLICAL JUSTICE OR "SOCIAL JUSTICE"

 

“You shall not steal.”
Exodus 20:15

Steal = “take (another person's property) without 
permission or legal right and without intending to return it.”

Deuteronomy 16:19 (NASB) 
"You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.”

 

Diane Becton, Contra Costa County District Attorney, countered biblical concepts of justice Thursday, September 3, 2020, when she ordered her prosecutors to consider “need” when considering charges against looters. Located outside San Francisco, Contra Costa County is east of San Francisco Bay.

The new mandate makes It difficult to prosecute cases of looting such as those occurring in major American cities since early May. County prosecutors must now consider whether the looting was “for financial gain or personal need.”

Becton’s ruling did not quietly slip by other county officials. Antioch Mayor Sean Wright rebuked Becton calling her plan irresponsible and disturbing. Steve Aiello, president of the Antioch Police Union called the guidelines “reckless” causing hurt to local individuals and businesses. Becton’s ruling begs the question: Who determines what is “need” and what is not? Mayor Sean Wright had this question on his mind when he said, “For the District Attorney to put out that kind of plan is irresponsible and where do you exactly draw the line on need because these are people’s businesses that are being impacted and livelihoods that are being destroyed.”[i]

Does tailoring decisions to prosecute at law based on need or considering circumstances really fit an understanding of justice? At first glance the Merriam-Webster dictionary seems to support a positive answer. Justice is defined as “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.”[ii] Added to this, the dictionary defines justice as “the quality of being just, impartial or fair” and “conformity to truth.” Thinking I could find a biblical definition of justice, I turned to Baker’s Encyclopedia of the Bible. I was wrong. The entry for “justice” referred me to “righteousness” which defines that term as “conformity to a certain set of expectations.”[iii]

In my view, the key to understanding justice is an understanding of the word “just.” As I am using it term here “just” is defined as (a) “acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good: RIGHTEOUS” or (b) “being what is merited DESERVED.” In other words, justice is the administration of what is deserved. It is deserved judgment (Deuteronomy 16:19, Amplified Bible). A biblical understanding of “justice” is seen in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

Partiality and unequal administration of justice plagues the current American justice system. As noted above, Deuteronomy 16:19 says, “You shall not misinterpret or misapply judgment; you shall not be partial….”[iv] It is not all that difficult to recall instances when the administration of justice was anything but impartial. How often have celebrities and government officials escaped judgment with a slap on the wrist while someone else felt the law’s strong arm? “Justice” personified is supposedly blind. Failure to indict looters for theft, regardless of circumstances, is not impartiality before the law.

Becton’s decision undoubtedly derives from her acceptance of Critical Race Theory. Becton and five other Black female prosecutors wrote an opinion piece in August for Politico which began, “Our criminal legal system was constructed to control Black people and people of color.”[v] This statement not only represents the opinion of the five prosecutors[vi] it is a classic representation of Critical Race Theory propaganda.

Critical Race Theory, which is rooted in Cultural Marxism, defines “social justice” quite differently. According to the National Association of Social Workers, “social justice” is “the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities.”[vii] Social justice warriors express this definition in the demand for ‘equity.” By the way, equity and equality represent completely different concepts. Equality has to do with status, rights, and opportunity.”[viii] When linked to social justice equity means “equality of result or outcome.”

               Equality means citizen A and citizen B are equal. Each enjoy the same opportunity, rights and standing.  Equity means shares are adjusted so both A and B made equal. Equity requires fooling around with the system so there is equality of outcome or result. Critical Race Theory proponents believe equality is merely an illusion. Thus, it is no accident for Becton to see our criminal justice system the means to control minorities. Because of such inequity, the “hurt of the past” – slavery, Jim Crow Laws, lynching, etc. – must be made up so everyone is equal and then, and only then, can racism be eliminated. Looting really is not stealing! It is reparations for past mistreatment. Looting simply makes up for needs created by oppression. Therefore, looters should not be prosecuted.

Advocates of Critical Race Theory, which is becoming rampant in the church, categorize everyone in terms of oppressor and oppressed. Builders of Western civilization constructed culture precisely to oppress people of color and other minorities. Western culture is built by white male capitalist Christians. For true “social justice” – racial justice – to come about Western culture must be replaced and eliminated.[ix] Black Lives Matter is an organization bent on destroying Western culture, Christianity, and America’s constitutional government.[x]

Christian leaders need to get their heads out of the sand and realize how anti-Christian and anti-American Critical Race Theory, particularly as exemplified in the Black Lives Matter organization and a host of pseudo-academics, really is. Thankfully, there are Christians and Christian organizations beginning to speak out in opposition to the Marxist ideology influencing American politicians and captivating many Evangelical Christians and churches.[xi] Should Critical Race Theory become more prevalent than it is, religious freedom and other rights Americans hold dear will be in danger


[iii] “Righteousness,” Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. II (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988), p. 1860.

[iv] Amplified Bible

[vi] Diana Becton, Contra Costa County, California; Satana Deberry, Durham County, N.C.; Kim Foxx, Cook County, ILll; Rachael Rollins, Suffolk County, MA.

[ix] Recent events where Black Lives Matter members publicly burned Bibles, vandalized churches, and killed a Christian counter-protester proves the point.

[x] See http://blacklivesmatter.com and read their “What We Believe” page.

[xi] See Decision Magazine online at https://decisionmagazine.com/the-stated-goals-of-black-lives-matter-are-anti-christian/, Center for Biblical Unity at https://www.centerforbiblicalunity.com/, and material from Eric Metaxas, Jordan Peterson, and James Lindsay.

Sunday, August 02, 2020

CHURCH LEADERS MUST CONFRONT "CRITICAL THEORY"

Inform yourself about "critical theory" or "critical race theory." It is Marxist based and imposes a non-Christian worldview. Not only that, it is divisive creating issues within churches and our culture. For a brief introduction to the subject I recommend Rich Hoyer's three July messages for Louisville's Lyndon Christian Church which contrasts the worldview of those adopting "critical theory" and those holding a biblical worldview. Others who can give you more detail can be found at shenviapologetics.com and the videos of Voddie Baucham, particularly those delivered at "Sovereign Nations."
Why the advice? Because the concepts of "critical theory" rest behind the Black Lives Movement, Antifa, and much of the social unrest in our nation. It under-girds the thinking of much of the radical Democrat party and is being taught in most of our secular colleges and universities.
However, even more importantly, it is making its way into the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in dramatic fashion. A history professor at a well-known and respected Christian university in "our" fellowship adopts its concepts. Many preachers, without a personal awareness, adopt the language, and thus the concepts, of "critical theory." How do I know. I am beginning to hear terms such as "white privilege," "equity," and "social justice" in sermons and articles. I'm sure most use those terms thinking in biblical terms, but in the language of "critical theory" and "critical race theory" they mean something entirely different. Even the term "racism" now has two meanings. One is traditional, the other can only be understood against the backdrop of the "critical theory" worldview. I'm sure most in our movement think of racism in terms of its traditional definition, but when used in the context of other "critical theory" terms means something quite different and extremely dangerous.
Church leaders, in particular, must -- absolutely must -- become familiar with the subject and its terminology. God gave the elders of Christ's church the responsibility of guarding the flock (Acts 20) and the qualifications for eldership include an awareness of false teaching in order to "refute those who contradict" (Titus 1:9).

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

BEING SET UP

At time I wonder if forces on the loose in our country aren't setting us, the American people, for drastic changes yet to come. Changes resulting in a loss of freedom and the destruction of our way of life.

I don't think I am a conspiracy nut, but some things just seem too obvious to ignore ... and the past demonstrates what I mean. Let me illustrate.

It began in the decades of the '70s and '80s. Television programs, and sitcoms in particular, prepared us for a wider acceptance of generally forbidden sexual issues. If you remember, Lucy and Desi -- a married couple -- slept in twin beds. Sexual contact, even in movies, was more implied that expressed. Viewers began seeing changes in programming following the "sexual revolution" of the Vietnam era. While still a bit questionable, couples began living together prior to marriage and sexual issues became increasingly overt. Then sitcoms came along with 'two dads," "Three's Company" (two women and a male), and living together prior to marriage became acceptable. Popular James Bond movies familiarized us with "Pussy Galore" and "Octopussy." Bond was always portrayed as a sexual stud who could bed any woman he wished. With each perversion portrayed on the screen we, the viers, became increasingly hardened and accepting. Today nearly anything goes on the television and movie screens. Nudity is common place. Programs steamed from Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO and other providers show all but penetration.

During the same period of the '60s and '70s movies and television presented homosexuality and lesbianism as normal traits. Before the end of the century numerous television shows portrayed at least one "gay" character. For young people homosexuality became acceptable and any questioning or negative response was seen as bigoted and intolerant. Media did its job, it made what was formerly unacceptable acceptable. Today's programming constantly throw formerly objectionable attitudes and lifestyles at us with the intent of showing them as normal and acceptable. With few exceptions, television shows must have at least one homosexual, lesbian, or transsexual character. The media places sexual or gender related issues on the same level as racial or religious matters. Take "FBI: Most Wanted" for example. Among the leading characters on the program there is a black lesbian, a Native American (Indian), a Muslim, and a white man married to a deceased Native American raising  a racially mixed child.

Don't misunderstand me, but I don't see people of color as "people of color." I see them as people! l do not relate to my daughter as a Korean Asian. She is my daughter. Whether red, yellow, black or white; all are precious in God's sight.  At the same time, I do not relate to my friends in the Palm Springs Sunup Rotary as gay. They are my friends. However, I do not accept their gayness as an appropriate lifestyle. I do not have to accept their lifestyle or their morality as normal or acceptable. I can accept them without accepting their beliefs, customs, lifestyle or morality.

Just as concerning are the expressions of control portrayed as normal in the media. Do you ever wonder how police or the FBI, as portrayed in the media, seems to have constant surveillance on the public? Watch an NCIS or FBI program and you have to wonder how they can track criminals speeding away so easily. Cell phone GPS apps ... well, okay, but do governmental agencies have the right to track individuals at will? And now, governmental agencies using drones to monitor "social distancing." Can authorities really approach a home and willy nilly smash in the doors and enter? Did they actually do that at the home of Roger Stone? The government officials were armed, but they they smash down the door?

Are we being prepared by such portrayals for that kind of loss of freedom? I don't know. You tell me.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Media Lies


Why is anyone amazed at media lies? Those who comprise the media have lied to the American people since before the Vietnam War. It was the Vietnam war, however, that gave new impetus to media lies.

Media lies about the conflict in Vietnam seemed to skyrocket during the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive. Before Tet, the North's National Liberation Front and the North Vietnamese Army spent months infiltrating South Vietnam. Beginning on January 31, 1968 Communist North Vietnamese soldiers and infiltrators attacked 100 cities in South Vietnam. The offensive lasted 26 days with Communist casualties in the multiple thousands and U.S. killed numbering 150. The worst fighting centered on Hue resulting in the death of thousands of Communist soldiers and civilians. One photograph shocked the American public. It was a photograph of a captured North Vietnamese infiltrator being brutally shot on the streets of Saigon. The captured Communist's hands were tied behind his back.

The American media showed this picture, which won a Pulitzer prize for photography, with little comment. Never mind that the man, a Viet Cong infiltrator and since out of uniform considered a spy, summarily faced immediate execution which is the fate most captured spies face in wartime.

In addition, the American press highlighted civilian deaths with little concern as to who caused those deaths. It is strange, too, since the press made little note of the massive civilian deaths in the fire bombing of Dresden or the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The press, because of liberal opposition to the war, reported what it wanted to report and put a massive spin on the rest.

Listening to the great Walter Conkite on the evening news, you heard again and again how American forces lost the Tet Offensive, the greatest media lie of the period. The American media, and a minority of Americans, opposed the Vietnam War, but the media bears the responsibility for stirring up opposition to the war.

(One of the best sources to help gain understanding of American military strategy and an evaluation of American forces in Vietnam is Victor Dais Hanson, "Carnage and Culture." In this book Hanson notes through case studies of western battles from the times of Greeks to the present, that American strength on the battlefield is not simply the result of superior armaments and technology. American strength relies on that to be sure, but under girding the technology is America's freedom, entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, and willingness to consider points of view regardless of rank.)
From Vietnam to the present, the media has adopted whatever the left wants. They have twisted the truth repeatedly in their lies to the American people. Over the years from 1968 to the present the lies only got worse. Now, with few exceptions, the media cannot be trusted to give us unbiased "facts only" truth.

I know it is difficult to avoid sprinkling personal bias in the stores reported. When I took a class in reporting at Kansas State University it became obvious to me how any reporting from the majority of students tended to move left. I seriously doubt many recognized their perspective as bias because they had been inundated with such thinking since grade school.

My point: Listen for the spin and do your best to identify the bias. By the way, reporting and opinion pundits on Fox aren't innocent of presenting a biased perspective. Theirs just tends to move more toward the right. Thus, be careful and seek out facts on your own. And...if you are Christian, let Romans 13 help you sort out the role of government and apply it to the political realities of today.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

P.C. IN THE CLASSROOM

While serving with First Christian Church in Canton I was asked to teach a summer school course at Malone College (now University). Malone University is a "Christian" school associated with the Evangelical Friends (a version of the Quakers).

MU asked me to teach a course in Multiculturalism so I looked over the syllabus a previous instructor used then developed my own six-week course plan. The previous instructor used James Sire's book, "The Universe Next Door" as a core text. I boned up on the subjects and entered the classroom prepared. I expected Malone's status as a "Christian College" to promote a Christian world-view. Boy, was I wrong. Most of my students were teachers taking summer work to maintain their certification. They were a mix of racial, ethnic, and religious (or non-religious) backgrounds and projected a totally secular worldview. While I tried to avoid cramming a hard-nosed Christian worldview down their throats, I did present the material from a Christian perspective. Well, as you might expect, that was the first and last time I taught for Malone. I was not even permitted to view expected course evaluations. Nothing else was ever said to me about the course and I was simply never contacted again.

This did not come to me entirely unexpected. During my tenure at First Christian Church, the Adult Christian Education Department presented a Creation Seminar. I had hoped the science department at Malone would at least let students know of the seminar. Not one word was given to students despite publicity sent directly to the Malone science department. I did not expect Malone professors to agree with all aspects of the program, I hoped that since Malone professed its Christianity there would be a willingness to at least let students hear a variety of creationist view.

I have not done any research on this issue, but I expect many of our "so-called" Christian Colleges and Universities offer their academic from a Christian perspective. With the exception of a few weak Bible course, there's just not much there to promise a Christian worldview or Christian behavior.

Surely, you're thinking; this is true in these denominational "Christian" Colleges, but not in our Christian Church and Church of Christ Christian Colleges and Universities. As they say in France, au contraire mon frere!!!

When Alexander Campbell established Bethany College, he offered liberal arts but built each course and each department with a strong biblical emphasis. Yes, even science and math were taught with a biblical worldview.

I taught online for the Consortium of Christian Colleges for Online Eduation from 2001-2014. The Consortium ended in 2014. I taught Restoration History and History of Christianity in tandem with Dr. James North. During those years, the schools participating in the consortium maintained a strong biblical emphasis and worldview. Most emphasized preparing ministers and church leaders. I had students from Manhattan Christian College, Ozark Christian College, Cincinnati Christian University, Nebraska Christian College, Boise Bible College, Mid-Atlantic Christian University, Maritime Christian College, Johnson University, and possibly one or two others. One summer I taught both courses with 54 students enrolled. Some of these schools developed their on online programs. That fact contributed to the consortium's demise.

Another school identified with the Restoration Movement asked me to teach sections of World Civilization online. I found that a rewarding and challenging opportunity. However, after a few years teaching for them my relationship with the college came to a rather abrupt end. While I can't prove it, I think I know why.

Students for my World Civilization courses came from a variety of backgrounds and ethnic groups. They were located across America. When the subject of slavery in the United States came up in discussion groups, I interacted with the students. I pointed out that slavery, while sometimes vicious and awful, was the result of varying economic systems north and south. The northern manufacturing economy employed "free labor" but often mistreated, misused, and abused workers often creating indebtedness to company stores -- virtual slavery. Laborers on factory floors, sometimes as young as five, had no guarantee of medical treatment in case of injury and were usually fired if unable to work leaving them destitute. At the same time, with the importation of slaves illegal shortly after 1800 the cost of slaves went sky high. Plantation owners -- a plantation was defined in the south as a farm with at least 50 slaves -- often paid more for a healthy slave than a farmer would pay today for  an expensive combine or other piece of equipment. Many slave owners provided at least rudimentary medical treatment and food. Still being a slave meant no freedom of movement and the possibility of separation of families.

Several students undoubtedly reacted negatively to my accurate descriptions. Thus, I was not politically correct. Academic freedom meant little and neither did truth. I fear this is the sort of thing that happens on College campuses--even those associated with "our" movement.