Music and Life Lessons

Music is a wonderful thing.  It often speaks in ways that words cannot.  I’ve noticed that my listening preferences have come full circle during my high school years – for a while I liked to really “jam out,” but now I’m back to the slower, more thoughtful songs that I enjoyed when I was a freshman – only now the lyrics really hit home.  I recently discovered a few songs that spoke to my heart, and through them I’ve learned some very important lessons – lessons that, while not new, have to be learned repeatedly.  This post admittedly breaks my pattern – I’m not talking about politics or philosophy or economics.  Don’t worry, I’ll get back to that soon enough; but right now, pardon me while I become a little vulnerable for the next few paragraphs.

These aren’t in any kind of order; I’m going to include a portion of the song’s lyrics, then share my thoughts on it.  The titles are links to the songs on YouTube.

Help Me Find It

(Sidewalk Prophets)

I don’t know where to go from here – it all used to seem so clear;

I’m finding I can’t do this on my own.

I don’t know where to go from here –

 as long as I know that You are near, I’m done fighting, I’m finally letting go.

If there’s a road I should walk, help me find it.

If I need to be still, give me peace for the moment.

Whatever Your will, whatever Your will…

Can You help me find it? Help me find it…

Life is a journey.  Over the past year, I’ve been down what for me is a long road (though I know in the grand scheme of things it’s not long at all).  Through my college search, I saw a lot of uncertainty—a lot of bumps in the road—took a few wrong turns, tried to plan out my life, and then found myself standing still, saying, “Okay God, show me the way.”  I finally gave up trying to plot my own course and handed my future over to Him, asking Him to make my path crystal clear.  He did it with scholarships: I signed the contract at Colorado Christian University just a few short weeks later, without a doubt in my mind that that was where God was taking me.  You might be at an impasse.  Just know this: God has a plan.  You might not see it right now, and His path might not take you where you think you want to go, but it will take you where you’re supposed to be, without fail.  Until God opens the next door, praise Him in the hallway.

Faith is Not a Feeling

(Josh Wilson)

I have learned that feelings come and go,

And we all know emotions ebb and flow;

Some days I gotta trust what I already know:

That You never let go, You never let go.

There are days I hear You loud and clear,

Like nothing in the world could interfere;

I can sense you deep, deep down in my bones,

And I know I’m not alone, I know I’m not alone.

But when I don’t feel you moving, that doesn’t mean that you have disappeared;

And when I don’t feel you with me, oh God, that doesn’t mean you’re not there.

So I keep on believing… faith is not a feeling.

I’ve had those days when I felt God’s presence in my life, His finger upon me, and His Spirit within me.  When I was at the American Legion Oratorical Competition in Indianapolis last month, God really looked out for me – he paved the way for me through each round.  I not only saw his handiwork, but felt empowered in an incredible way as I was speaking; I was even granted opportunities to share his love and encouragement with some of the other competitors.  It was amazing.

But I also have those days when I’m getting… nothing.  It’s like a dead phone line – no signal, no breath of fresh air.  I feel so empty and alone, I don’t know what to do with myself.  I’m in one of those “downs” right now: it feels like He’s not speaking, not doing anything in me, through me, for me.  I just have to keep choosing to have faith, choosing to trust what I already know: that my Creator King is there somewhere, and He has a plan for my future even if I can’t see the whole picture.

Love Will Have the Final Word

(Jason Gray)

When the place that broke inside you will not mend, 
and you wander in the dark without a friend; 
When the night goes on and on, remember when it all goes wrong that 
this is how we know it's not the end.

Sorrow may close a chapter, but the story will end with laughter, 
'cause the worst thing is never the last thing – no, the last thing will be the best thing!

As long as God is on His throne, I am carried by the hope that 
love will have the final word.

Relationships are hard.  It takes effort and intentionality to plant the seeds of friendship, and energy and endurance to tend them.  Do we pay attention to the loner in our midst, or just let them slip through the cracks?  How often do we unknowingly leave people out or let them feel unwelcome?  How can we know for sure where we belong, versus where we just end up?  How many close friends is it really possible to have?  When should we give up on a seemingly one-sided relationship? 

How do we know who our real friends are?

This is a question I’m pondering as I prepare to graduate.  I’m staying close to home, but I’ll be saying farewell to a number of my friends who are going out of state.  My heart hurts.  See, I'm a bit of an introvert, but I do need people.  If I were to give up and quit pursuing friendships, I would wither and die alone.  I know that if a friendship is real, it won’t be affected by time or distance… but I don’t know who will care to keep in touch.  I’m scared of graduating – We’re closing a chapter: who will step over the page to walk with me through the next?  I know people can fail me – even the best can let me down; I have to look to Jesus for my hope and joy.   I’m ending this chapter with some excitement and some sorrow and fear, and trusting that love will have the final word.

Into Your Hands
(Diamond Rio)

I used to pray, but you know I never listened,
Always expecting I'd get my way in the end.

All of this time, you were there patiently waiting,
Loving me, faithfully laying your grace over me.

Time and again I've been hangin' on tight;
I'm losing my grip on the life I thought was mine.

Into your hands I'm gonna let it all go;
A part of this man is longing for you,
'Cause you know
What I feel, where I stand, where I'll be, who I am.
I give it all into your hands.

This is one of those lessons I have to keep learning – one of those reminders that I need over and over again.  Two years ago, at the end of my sophomore year, I thought I knew where I was going.  I was playing softball at the local high school, teaching piano lessons, involved in various music competitions, and planning to major in music education.  Then I started speech and debate – rather, my parents decided I was going to start speech and debate.  To say that I was disinterested would be a major understatement.  It was the last thing I wanted to do, but my parents didn’t know that until much later, because I conducted an experiment.  I decided to let go of my will and step outside of my comfort zone: trust my parents, trust God, and see what might happen.  I soon found myself smack in the middle of the best thing that has ever happened to me.  Because of speech and debate, I’ve found my true interests and passions – all the pieces of my education and upbringing have come together – had a ton of fun, and gotten to know some very special people.  I let go of what I thought I wanted, and God handed me what was really best for me.

Now I have to let go again.  I’ve been holding on tight to my idea of what life should look like, holding on to times that are changing and people that are leaving me (literally, emotionally, or… both).  Everything is changing, but it’s been this way before: I’ve seen change, I’ve been afraid of the unknown, and I’ve seen God work it all out.  Change always hurts, but it hurts a whole lot less if we don’t hold on so tight and fight it so hard.  I’m stepping out of my comfort zone again.  I’m losing control.  I’m letting go.

Life is Beautiful

(The Afters)

Living and dying, laughing or crying,

If we have the whole world, 
or have nothing,

I know there are long nights, 
but we’ll make it –

With every sunrise comes a new light

And all of the things that make us 
feel like we have it all.

All of the times that make us realize

we have it all.

I have so much to be thankful for!  It’s easy to forget, in all of our day-to-day frustrations and trials, just how good life really is.  Some days seem full of nothing but annoyances, and I catch myself wanting out; but this song reminds me to be thankful for the little things and enjoy life right here and now – my own beautiful backyard, the crabapple tree that I’ve climbed so many times that I know every knot and twig, my little siblings playing with Legos (those hurt like nothing else when stepped on in the dark – I don’t have to be thankful for the Legos, but for the dear kiddos who play with them!), Mom’s delicious cooking and last night’s leftovers that become today’s lunch, each time my brother and I have the same thought at the same time, my sister struggling to learn a new song on the piano… every precious little moment that makes life what it is.  Life is changing dramatically over the next couple of months; I’m apprehensive, excited, sad… I have to remind myself not to wish away this life too quickly, because days will come when I will want it back.

Rockin’of the Cradle

(Rodney Atkins)

I wanna live with no excuses, and love with no regrets,

Take the bad with the good, and know I did my best.

Walkin’ in the sunshine and dancin’ in the rain,

From the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of that long black limousine.

I came in this world with nothin’, and that’s how I’ll leave someday;

All that I’ll take with me is the love I gave away.

It’s love that makes the difference, from a pauper to a king,

From the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of that long black limousine.

I wanna love the life I’m livin’,

And live the life I dream…

From the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of that long black limousine.

This is another country song.  I like country songs – sometimes.  Country songs aren’t always depressing – this is a happy, encouraging one that really speaks for itself.  I don’t need to say much about it, except that it reminds me to live life to its fullest.  Say what needs said, do what needs done.  You never know if today might be your last day – or someone else’s.  This keeps me going, keeps me pursuing friendships and caring about people even when it’s hard.  Enjoy life.  Enjoy people.  Live with no excuses, and love with no regrets. 

There.  Now you know me a good deal better than you did a few paragraphs ago.  There are, of course, many more songs that make me sigh or laugh or cry, but this is a pretty good representation of the styles I enjoy and the messages that I find important.  I hope you enjoyed my rant… perhaps you’ll find hope and joy in these songs as well.  The bottom line: live life to its fullest today, and trust God to handle tomorrow.  

American Education ~ Then and Now

Mark Twain quipped, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”  Though said (mostly) in jest, this accurately illustrates the fact that the public school system has… problems.  I’d like to take a look at American education, and consider two questions from in light of God’s law and our Founders’ intent.  Should religion be taught in the public schools?  Who is to educate the child, and for what purpose?

To separate faith from education, or religion from schooling, is an impossible feat.  In popular culture, the question has been widespread whether we will mix religion and education; however, the question is not whether or religion will be allowed to mix with education, but which religion will be allowed to mix.  Indeed, religion is being taught in American public schools; it’s just a different religion than the one that was so deeply a part of our culture from the colonial days until the early 20^th century. 

In the public school, we are not allowed to teach that God created the world, but we are allowed to teach that the world came into being on its own, or that it was created by a ‘big bang.’  I have a question, then: is it not an equally religious position to teach that God did not create the world, as to teach that he did?  If “God created the world” is a religious statement, then “God did not create the world” is also a religious statement.  Both are statements of faith!  Now, of course we do not hear these views stated quite so plainly in the public schools most of the time; but a child can be taught that God did not create the world without it being stated so bluntly.  To teach an alternate view—that man evolved out of an ape or what have you—is perfectly equivalent to teaching that God did not create the universe!

The theory of evolution has infiltrated American thought and practice, but it was not always so.  During the beginning years of our country, there was no distinction among public and private schools on ‘secular’ or ‘religious’ grounds; all schools were based on the idea that religion and education were inseparable.  Eventually, however, the prominence of Puritanism began to fade as the Enlightenment reached America.  This led to a rejection of revelation-based faith, and an acceptance of reason-based faith in the form of deism.  Deism claimed that while God created the world, he also equipped the mind of man to distinguish right from wrong on his own.  Thus, God did not have to stick around to keep the universe in working order.  Deists believed that the Bible was true, but only to the extent that it was in harmony with reason.  Instead of submitting reason to revelation as demanded by the Christian faith, deism reversed the order, submitting revelation to reason and thus placing the final authority in the hands and mind of man. 

Only a small step was required to get from Deism to Atheistic evolution.  After all, if God was only needed to create the universe but it could take care of itself after that, He might as well be gone.  But if God vanished after the initial creation, we needed an explanation for the existence of life as we know it.  Enter Charles Darwin, a naturalist whose studies of the finches on the Galapagos Islands and various other species led him to the theory of evolution, an idea that allowed men to drop the idea of an intelligent Creator in a rationally acceptable manner.  Through On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1891), Charles Darwin brought the theory of evolution into the forefront of popular thought.  Through the public schools, the seeds of these radical ideas were planted in the fertile soil of youthful minds.  This humanistic view—the idea that “God did not create the universe”—has slowly infiltrated the classrooms and minds of America, replacing the Judeo-Christian faith that was inherent to the foundation of our country. 

Now, as to my second question: from a Biblical perspective, education ought to be tailored to a child’s individual needs and interests, and the child should be trained by his parents.  The Bible has little to say about schools, but it holds some very important lessons about learning, knowledge, students, and teachers.  The training of children is a responsibility delegated to the parents by God, and they are to diligently teach them God’s commandments and principles all the time (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).  Rather than training the individual for the service of culture, and far from obliterating the individual for the service of the state, Biblical education was for the training of the individual in the service of God.

American schooling fit this model for many years.  In colonial America, children were either trained at home—George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson were homeschooled, among others—or attended small schools that focused on the individual student and taught Biblical principles.  The New England Primer was the main elementary textbook used from 1680-1830; it contains the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, a series of alphabet lessons based upon lessons from the book of Proverbs, the Golden Rule, a very simple catechism that summarizes Biblical figures from Adam to Paul and the basics of the Christian faith, the well-known Westminster Shorter Catechism, and a selection of poems, hymns, and simple prayers, including the all-too-familiar “Now I lay me down to sleep.”  The McGuffey Readers, used in schools through the beginning of the 20^th Century, contained references to Creation, the fear of God, the deity of Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and other Scriptural essentials.  Schools were created so that children could read the Bible for themselves—and the children were eager to do so!

Enter the modern humanist philosophers.  They held a strictly man-centered view of life and morality; their ideas ran parallel to those of Charles Darwin.  They were hopelessly idealistic, with their own explanation of man’s problems, their own ethical standards that came from who-knows-where, and their own savior for man—namely, a socialist state.  The God-ordained covenant relationships of family and church stand in the way of the humanist, Communist vision of the authoritarian, all-powerful state.  In the late 1700s, Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued for a system of public education by the state that would withdraw the child as much as possible from parents and relatives.  In the 1800s, Karl Marx recognized that the nuclear family and its commitment to direct the education and upbringing of children is the one major impediment to the all-consuming state; with the abolishment of home education, family bonds would weaken and the state would assume a more dominant role. 

In the early 1900s, John Dewey, called the father of Western education because of the profound impact he had upon modern American education, built upon the ideas of Rousseau and Marx; he writes, “The school is primarily a social institution.  [Education] is the regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness.”  This system directs the centralization of power in the nation’s education from the family, to the local school districts, to the state departments, and finally to the federal government.  Dewey set a precedent for centralized, standardized, institutionalized education systems that are not built for the child’s individual needs, interests, and abilities, but are all about training the individual to fit into the social entity of the state.  Everything else—academic rigor, character training, the fear of God, and work ethic—takes a back seat.  The school has replaced the church as the core of community.

The goals, values, and convictions which are held highest in a particular group of people become the driving force behind the education of the next generation.  In early America, the goal of society was liberty, particularly liberty of religion.  This goal was achieved through policies and institutions based on God-given unalienable rights, individualism, limited government, and a virtuous and educated citizenry.  When, through the work of Charles Darwin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, and John Dewey, God was erased from the picture and Americans began to seek immediate pleasure rather than liberty to worship their Creator, our culture began to unravel.  The right of the parent to train his child was diminished, education became focused on the “social consciousness” rather than the individual, the power of government expanded exponentially, and the desire for excellence in education and virtue all but disappeared—all because Western civilization rejected God as the Creator and Sustainer of life.  The philosophy of education begins with a philosophy of life.  

Works Cited

Overman, Christian. Assumptions That Affect Our Lives: The Shaping of Western Civilization: A Contrast between Greek and Hebrew Thought. Louisiana, MO: Micah Pub., 1996. Print.

Swanson, Kevin. Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West. Parker, CO: Generations With Vision, 2013. Print.

The Morality of a Nation

Winston Churchill once pointed out that “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  This statement emphasizes the fact that, though times change, our inherent human nature remains the same.  Sinful actions and desires may change in deed, but they will never change in nature.  If we are to understand the fundamental beliefs, assumptions, and problems of humanity today, we must examine those of the humanity that has gone before.

Consider the following statements and what time and place in history they describe:

-          People, especially educated ones, have rejected traditional religion. 

-          Astrology is practiced. 

-          Patriotism has declined. 

-          The upper class is consumed with pleasure. 

-          Education stresses knowledge more than character, and produces masses of half-educated people. 

-          Public athletic games have turned into professional contests. 

-          Homosexuality is popular. 

-          The dramas of the day are full of seduction and adultery. 

-          A women’s liberation movement has brought women into active roles in a previously male-oriented culture. 

-          Motherhood is devalued, and the bearing of children is viewed as an inconvenience. 

-          Abortion is commonly practiced.

-          There is fighting and unrest within the nation between people of different faiths and ethnic groups.

-          Willingness to join the military is decreasing.

-          The government is called upon to provide for the everyday needs of citizens.

This list is taken from the first chapter of Assumptions that Affect our Lives by Christian Overman.  These statements, though intended to describe Ancient Greece on the verge of decline, apply sadly and surprisingly to modern America.  We have seen some significant changes in people’s assumptions in America’s past.  For example, it is assumed in today’s society that if a boy brings a deadly weapon to school, mass murder will result.  Fifty years ago, children in junior high brought guns to school for show-and-tell.  They were cool—and for hunting rabbits.  Times have changed.  4,000 unborn children die every day in America, something that would have been unthinkable a hundred years ago.  America is on a steep decline, in all the same ways as Ancient Greece right before its fall.

A Biblical set of assumptions addresses every sphere of life: education, church, government, and parenting.  These may contrast popular thought and culture but are still upheld by a significant number of God’s people.  In Ancient Greece, children were handed over to the state at an early age to be trained up in the service of the nation.  However, education is not the responsibility of the state or the government, but of parents and grandparents who will bring up their children in the way they should go.  The church is not a building only, and not restrained to a specific location; it is the body of Christ’s believers in fellowship wherever they are.  Government is under God and subject to Him, for the purpose of protecting the people’s physical well-being and has no control over their hearts, minds, and religious beliefs.  Parenting is closely tied to education, for every aspect of both education and parenting is essential to a child’s mental and spiritual well-being.

I have several practical life ‘assumptions’ that rest near to my heart.  The first and most significant is the deity of Jesus Christ.  He willingly gave his life to save mine, and his love and joy are inherent to my very being.  All the rest follow this: my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and should be used to his glory.  My family members are my friends, gifts from God that are not to be taken for granted.  My Christian friends are my family: we are to hold each other up through fellowship in the Spirit.  My unbelieving friends are my mission field—I am to be Jesus to them.  Life is sacred, because we are created in God’s image and He loves each of us as if there were only one of us.  Marriage is a gift from God and is between one man and one woman.  My faith in a loving Creator gives rise to my entire worldview.

Unfortunately, many Americans no longer hold to the Christian faith, and so no longer maintain a worldview that treasures life, values marriage, or understands the significance of inter-generational communities, especially parents, to the formation of young people, the importance of performing civic duties, and the necessity of a limited government to the liberty of the individual.  Look again at the list above.  Need I say more?

There must be a way to return America to its moral foundation—the government is even now attempting to do so.  However, requiring positive moral conduct through federal legislation is ineffective and unwise.  All legislation must have the consent of the governed, or it is both unconstitutional and imprudent.  Our founders recognized that it is of the essence of government to tend toward tyranny, which is why they granted as little power to the federal government as possible.  Patrick Henry acknowledged that “the Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government, lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”  Law can never create morality. 

Where, then, can we find hope?  Look to the fundamental assumptions that shape your own worldview.  Righteousness comes only through faith.  Only Jesus, not the law, can mediate between God and man.  It is not the government’s place to legislate issues of virtue; that is what the government of England attempted to do, and that is what the first Pilgrims fled.  Indeed, our founders knew that “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”  We see this sentiment echoed in our own Constitution.  The First Amendment forbids the government from imposing a certain religion on the people or limiting freedom thereof; the Ninth Amendment recognizes that the people may be granted certain rights not specifically listed in the Constitution; and in the Tenth Amendment all powers not explicitly granted to the Federal Government are reserved to the states and to the people.  Thomas Jefferson wrote that “the legitimate powers of the government reach actions only, and not opinions.”  Upon a thorough examination of the Constitution, one will notice that nowhere is the government granted the power to dictate morals.  The government stays out.

 

To build a moral society, we have to start from the bottom, with natural law as found in the Bible, and build up.  If you were to build a house, you would first lay the foundation; you wouldn’t start with the roof and work your way down.  Likewise, we cannot create a moral nation starting with the government and working our way down with legislation.  The foundation is already given to us in the Bible; we only have to build upon it.  Upon this set of assumptions, individuals must build their worldview.  Then, it is upon the individual—upon the collective worldviews of the individuals—that government is formed.  It is our duty, the duty of the Christian citizen, to build upon that foundation through education and evangelization.  America is a great nation; but every other great nation throughout history has come to an end through moral decay and internal struggles.  Let us learn from history, so that America does not meet the same fate.

The Liberty Formula ~ As Government Expands, Liberty Contracts

I don’t like math… but sometimes you just can’t get away from it.  There’s a very simple mathematical formula at work in today’s America, one that we need to recognize and work to reverse.  In the words of Ronald Reagan, “As government expands, liberty contracts.”  Our country’s founders sought to provide as much liberty to the people as possible without creating anarchy.  When it was signed in 1787, the United States Constitution granted more freedom—and more responsibility—to the American people than had ever been given to a nation before.  Early Americans had suffered under tyrannical governments; they had felt the wrath of kings who tried to impose a certain religion on their subjects; they had borne high taxes and tight regulations.  They sought to protect our infant nation from such an outrage.  Our government is a Democratic-Republic, a self-government, reliant on the personal responsibility, accountability, and morality of citizens to restrain the government and preserve individual liberty.  Ronald Reagan joked that “The most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”  Thomas Jefferson put it best: “When the people fear the government there is tyranny; when the government fears the people there is liberty.”  Keep that formula in mind: as government expands, liberty contracts.  American liberty depends on two closely related factors: citizens must care to learn how the government works so that they can cast educated votes and otherwise participate in the political process, and the government must remain small so that the people’s voice is heard and tyranny is avoided.  Those two things are, well, let’s just say they’re not as prevalent as our founders intended; thus, American liberty is… dying.

Until the early 1900s, the United States had a limited government and liberty thrived.  Since the Great Depression, however, the general attitude towards government has changed, resulting in bigger government.  In well-intended efforts to ease the effects of the Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted a set of “New Deal” programs.  He began handing out Federal subsidies to the unemployed and underemployed, introduced Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, established a Federal minimum wage, and artificially created jobs, just for a start.  The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) laid out mandatory guidelines for businesses to help increase employment, maintain wages, and reduce unwanted competition.  The NIRA established about 540 specific codes, all of which actually tended to raise prices and wages, reduce hours, and remove competition and opportunity for innovation. 

Today, we are seeing even bolder federal intervention, and our freedom is declining dramatically.  Government initiatives such as minimum wage laws, rent control, international trade barriers, price supports, health and housing subsidies, and bailouts of corporations cause increased economic disorder and limit individual freedom and opportunity.  Take price controls for instance.  In a free economy, prices are allowed to follow the laws of supply and demand.  When there is a surplus of an item, its price goes down because it is in lower demand; when an item is in scarce supply, demand for that item increases, so its price also increases.  Consumers shop for the lowest price on the products they want or need.  Producers want to charge high prices for their products, but they also want to offer low prices that will compete with other producers and attract buyers.  Each individual, in pursuit of his own best interest, is free to gauge his opportunities and make the choices that will be most beneficial to him.  When the government reaches beyond its natural bounds to impose price controls, the laws of supply and demand lose some of their superiority, and competition in the market is reduced from the perspectives of both the producer and the consumer. 

The minimum wage is another good example of government intervention causing unwanted consequences.  The problems with minimum wage—problems that grow as we increase the minimum wage—are threefold.  First, it reduces job opportunities for unskilled workers.  Most minimum wage jobs are entry-level positions filled by people with limited education and experience; these lower-paying jobs teach such workers essential skills.  The higher the minimum wage, the more it costs employers to hire unskilled workers, so they’ll be much more likely to look for a better equipped worker—to put it bluntly, they’ll hold out for someone who’s worth a higher wage, thus eliminating entry-level positions.  Second, it causes prices to rise.  When it costs a businessman more to hire employees, he has to charge more for his products to make up for it.  Finally, minimum wage laws reduce competition, just like price controls.  When employers are free to offer any wage they please for the position they need to fill, two beneficial things happen.  Potential employees increase their skills to appeal to an employer who will offer them the highest pay, and employers in turn offer higher pay to compete with other employers.  Thus, wages and quality both go up and up and up.  A minimum wage reduces the incentive both for workers to make themselves worth a higher wage and for employers to offer a higher wage.  Minimum wage therefore causes the unemployment rate to stay stagnant or rise, increases prices unnecessarily, and reduces quality by reducing competition.  In spite of all these negative impacts—in the name of reducing income inequality—our president is currently fighting to raise the minimum wage again, to a level higher than history has ever seen it.

We can look at other examples of big government infringing on the liberties of individuals.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, recently passed by Congress and currently being implemented, contains a wagonload of oversteps of the government’s limits.  The obvious ones are the Individual Mandate and the Employer Mandate.  The Individual Mandate requires individuals to obtain health insurance or pay a fee.  It eliminates certain types of health insurance, so many Americans have to forfeit the health plan or doctor they had chosen.  Under the Employer Mandate, which goes into effect in 2015, employers are required to provide health insurance for their full-time employees.  This is increasing the cost of running a business, and causing businesses to cut workers’ hours down to part-time.  Individuals and families also receive subsidies based on their incomes—but there’s a catch.  Because of the way the numbers are crunched, couples are actually penalized for getting married.  If you have two hard working people who aren’t married but simply cohabit, their incomes are counted and subsidized separately.  If they get married, their incomes are combined, so it receives a lower subsidy.  This is being called the Federal Wedding Tax.  That’s not freedom.

Our founders intended for the government to have very little impact on the lives of private citizens.  Individuals, private corporations, and the free market were supposed to bear most of the responsibility, because they can do things most efficiently and productively.  In a famous conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev, the last premier of the Soviet Union, and Margaret Thatcher, then British prime minister, a perplexed Gorbachev purportedly asked Thatcher who saw to it that the British people got fed.  “No one,” she answered, “the price system does that.”  Our government today is trending towards Gorbachev’s line of thinking, that the government has to micromanage everything.  And when it tries to, things go downhill; but Americans are forgetting that.  Thomas Jefferson warned that “a government large enough to give you everything you need is a government large enough to take everything you have.”  We The People need to take this nation back.  As John F. Kennedy admonished, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country!”

Changing Times ~ The Fourth Amendment and Freedom from Government Intrusion

America, the land of the free. The Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, religion, press, and expression in the first amendment, personal weapons in the second, and freedom from an unjust trial or cruel and unusual punishment in the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th. The common theme is protection of private citizens from unfair treatment by an overbearing government. The fourth amendment reads “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.” Our founders penned this intending to forever protect our natural and God-given right to privacy, a fundamental of liberty. It’s interesting to compare what it meant then with what it should mean now; the essence of privacy hasn’t changed, but technology has added myriad means of compromise.

In colonial America, the British government held the colonies in a tight grip and squeezed every penny they could out of them. Resentment drove certain production and trade underground, which in turn provoked the king of England to use further oppressive tactics to satisfy his greed. Writs of assistance were general search warrants that allowed soldiers virtually unrestrained search and seizure of property in homes and workplaces, and the people were powerless to legally resist. The warrants did not expire until the issuing king himself expired!

The 4th amendment was the Founders' remedy.  It requires that search warrants be obtained that specifically detail the place to be searched, and the evidence or goods to be sought and seized.  This eliminated the incredibly invasive and unpredictable searches and seizures.  Restrained by this amendment, the government would have to mind its own business.  But how could our Founders have anticipated the technology that has forever changed the very idea of privacy itself and therefore complicated the application of the 4^th amendment in recent history?

Contrary, I am certain, to our founders’ intentions, the federal government now operates with bold disregard for the fourth amendment. The National Security Agency, NSA, was created to protect national security and prevent terrorist attacks by scanning messages and communications for suspicious keywords, phrases, patterns, or connections.  Now, the agency possesses a complete record of every phone call, and receives copies of all electronic communications. 

In the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, people traveled to each other’s homes regularly for business or friendly visits.  Early Americans would have been appalled if the government had listened in on private conversations; but today, the government is doing just that.  The telephone was invented in 1876, and began to be commercialized in 1878; if you think about it, all it did was extend the distance of private conversations—enhance your ability to talk with someone as though they were sitting right there in your living room.  Though it isn’t actually listening in on conversations—at least not to our knowledge—the NSA now possesses a complete record of who we are calling, and how often.  This is every bit as intrusive as a writ of assistance from the king. 

Sometimes the best communications medium was mail – long carried by horseback or coach, and then rail. Letters were often sealed with wax and signet to prove authority and authenticity and protect privacy. It was difficult to access the contents of such a letter undetected. Today, much of this “snail mail” has been supplanted by email, or electronically transmitted mail, which travels by cable and fiber-optic networks. The NSA has installed “splitters” at many of the telecommunication network junctions in the United States for the sole purpose of intercepting and copying data.  These devices forward one copy to our intended recipient and the other to the NSA.  To our founders it would have been an abomination that the government would pilfer our private correspondence this way.

The fourth amendment was intended to and for a time did significantly reduce government interference in the lives of private citizens. While technology can be a valuable tool, it should not dictate changes in values, and we need to take steps to honor and restore the spirit of the 4^th Amendment by being aware and vigilant to protect our personal privacy in this elusive but burgeoning new dimension of personal communication options. 

Works Cited

"How the NSA's Domestic Spying Program Works" Electronic Frontier Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 14  Oct. 2013. <https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/how-it-works>.

"NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls." USATODAY.com. N.p., 11 May 2006. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm>.

Liberty's Timeless Journey

Liberty is a concept that has been around for a long time.  It is not something that man invented; liberty was conceived in the mind of God before the very dawn of Creation.  Liberty is not something that everyone has, nor has every man in history been blessed with such a privilege, but every person bears a longing for it, inherent to his nature.  Liberty has seen many proverbial ups and downs throughout history, and it seems that America today is in one of those ‘downs.’  My question is one many are pondering: what can we do to restore true liberty to America?  First, I’d like to take a look at the history of liberty, for it is a timeless struggle. 

Travel back with me to approximately 2,000 years before the birth of Christ, and around the world to a beautiful, lush garden in the Middle East called Eden.  Life in that garden was perfect in the fullest sense of the word, and true liberty thrived.  The only two people on earth lived in the garden; they had dominion over the animals and were allowed to eat and enjoy all that God had created – with one condition: that they not touch the fruit of the tree that grew in the middle of the garden.  They obeyed and lived in that glorious, untainted liberty for a length of time – we don’t know exactly how long, but we may guess it was many years.  God’s perfection was spoiled, however, when a serpent came to the woman and convinced her that she could actually have something better than that perfect liberty—that by eating that fruit she could be like God—and she and her husband tasted the forbidden fruit.  They sinned against God, soiling the beauty and perfection of His creation, and from that moment forward, man has been in bondage to sin.

But God didn’t forget his vision of liberty, and generations after that first man and woman he chose a man named Abram through whom he would carry on that design.  He called Abram out of his land—out of bondage to sin—and gave him a new life and a new name: Abraham.  God built the Nation of Israel out of Abraham’s offspring, with the promise that Abraham’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren would become a mighty nation and thrive in God’s plan for liberty.  Soon, however, God’s people were no longer free: they were in captivity in Egypt.  After much suffering under the power-hungry Pharaoh, God called a timid man named Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and into liberty once again.

Israel lived in peace and freedom for many years, under what is today called a Theistic government: it wasn’t a monarchy, or a democracy, or a republic, or a dictatorship.  God, the only wholly just King, was sole ruler of Israel, and spoke through his prophets and judges.  Before long, however, they decided they wanted a king that they could see—they weren’t satisfied to have God ruling directly over them—so God gave Israel a king.  Freedom given by man always results in tyranny, and soon God’s people were in captivity again, sometimes under their own king, and often under the cruel kings of neighboring countries.  Israel fell away from God’s precepts countless times, and each time they were taken into captivity.  They bore the yoke of bondage in Assyria and in Babylon, and the oppression of the Philistines, Persians, Midianites, and others; and God never gave up his plan but liberated them each time.  Throughout all those generations, Israel was captive to sin.

Finally, when the Nation of Israel had long been subject to the tyranny of Rome and the domination of sin, God sent the ultimate Deliverer.  He sent his One and Only Son, who “was sent to heal broken hearts and proclaim liberty to the captives” (Luke 4:18).   Jesus Christ, God’s Son incarnate, took the sins of all humanity upon his shoulders; he brought liberty not only to God’s chosen nation, but also to all of mankind—all one has to do is repent and ask Jesus to free him, and the chains of all manner of evil fall from his wrists and his soul is liberated for eternity!

Still, the struggle for earthly liberty continues.  Travel forward with me to October 31 of the year 1522, when a poor monk nailed a document to the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five theses pointed out fallacies in the philosophy of the church and advocated reform.  Luther spoke up for religious liberty and protested the stiff doctrines, rituals, and ecclesiastical structure of the church.  People began to break away from the strict doctrines of Catholicism, but the church recoiled, tightening its grip on the people.  Thus began the battle for religious freedom that eventually gave birth to the United States of America.  This Protestant Reformation spread from Germany into other countries throughout Europe, reaching England in 1529. 

The Anglican Church vacillated for nearly a century between Protestant sympathies and the strict doctrines of the Catholic Church; the period of unrest and indecisiveness culminated in the birth of the Puritan movement.  The Puritans, named for their desire to ‘purify’ the church of Roman Catholic doctrines, were reformers who sought relief from the overbearing Anglican Church.  These seekers of religious liberty finally received it through the Puritan Migration, when nearly twenty thousand Puritans relocated to the ‘New World’ and founded the colony of Massachusetts and commenced the American search for liberty.

 Between 1620, when the first Puritans arrived in Massachusetts, and the mid-1800s, hundreds of thousands more people left their home countries and settled in America.  America has become a melting pot of nationalities, backgrounds, and ideas, but all of the settlers in the New World had in common a search for religious freedom.  There was only one problem.  Free as the first settlers were from the religious oppression they had suffered in Europe, they inadvertently recreated it by defaulting to establishmentarianism themselves!  As time went on, new colonies were founded by leaders who disagreed with the state denominations.  For instance, Roger Williams and a small group of Baptists fled persecution in Massachusetts and founded the colony of Rhode Island.  Similarly, groups of Puritans, Lutherans, Quakers, and various reformed groups such as the Dutch, French, and German Reformed Churches came to America and founded their own colonies.

The framers of our Constitution recognized the danger posed by government-instituted religion, and sought to restore religious freedom as one of the protections enumerated in the Bill of Rights.  Contrary to many assumptions today, their intent was not to protect the government or the state from religion, but to protect religion from the government.  Even since the ratification of the First Amendment, we have seen countless instances of the government attempting to limit freedom of religious expression.  Common misunderstandings and disputes are embodied in the phrase “wall of separation of church and state,” about which I have already written.  The battle for liberty of conscience, though certainly momentous in the history of America, is only one part of a bigger picture.

In God We Still Trust

America’s national motto is inscribed behind the speaker’s rostrum in the House chamber and above the main door of the Senate chamber; it is engraved on the Washington Monument and stamped on every coin and bill of our currency.  In God We Trust.  Those four simple words represent America’s very foundation.  And yet, in modern America, God is banned from schools, ridiculed in politics, and shunned in the public square.  Worse, many Christians refuse to entangle themselves in politics, which leaves that arena conspicuously devoid of the light of Christ and allows this nation to continue turning its back on the God who made it mighty.  The phrase, “wall of separation between church and state” is being used by the secular world to strip religion from public life, as well as by the religious community to justify disengaging from the worldview battle.  America, once a Christian nation, is straying farther and farther from its foundation on the Rock.  It is imperative to gain insight into the minds of our Founders concerning religion, examine some of the modern misconceptions surrounding this issue, and understand some of God’s instructions to his people.  Christians should be deeply involved in and praying for every aspect of America, especially politics.

Many argue that America’s Founding Fathers were a bunch of atheists, agnostics, and deists who stood resolutely opposed to Christianity.  Though there were a few who fit that description, on the whole nothing could be farther from the truth; the only reason such claims survive is because so few explore the original writings of our Founders, though they were prolific writers.  It’s easy to know their personal beliefs on every issue, including the nature of their faith.  “I …[rely] on the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins,” said Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry declared, “Being a Christian…is a character which I prize far above all this world…can boast.”  Benjamin Rush, Charles Carroll, John Witherspoon, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison… the list continues as America’s first patriots affirmed their trust in God.

Our Founders had very clear intentions for religion in America.  The last thing they wanted to do was create a government that would mandate a particular religion—they had seen religious persecution and its effects in Europe, and sought to protect this infant nation from such sorrows.  The so-called “wall of separation” isn’t found in the Constitution; the phrase was coined by Thomas Jefferson after the ratification of the First Amendment.  In a letter to a group of Baptists who had strongly protested establishing any state religion, he wrote, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, … that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”  The First Amendment was intended to altogether eliminate governmental interference in religious matters; it was not meant to protect the government from religion, but to protect religion from the government!  James Madison explained it best when he said, “The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”

Today, the “wall of separation” fairly describes the conundrum created by the evolution of religious thought in our country.  There are two ways the original meaning is twisted in modern America.  The first is the secular lashing out at the church.  Perhaps our Founders never considered that the religion of atheism would demand equal or superior standing to any form of theistic worldview; many demand freedom from the presence or manifestation of religion, especially Christianity, in public or in any way associated with any agency of government.  The second is the church withdrawing into its shell and refusing to fight back.  Don’t get me wrong—I know there are many Christians out there who are battling valiantly; but there are many more who adamantly believe they are not supposed to fight. 

1 John 2:15 instructs us, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.”  Some Christians argue that this order is violated by those who get involved in politics.  However, in the 17^th chapter of John, Jesus clearly states that Christians are not to be of the world, but are to remain in the world.  We mustn’t be worldly, but we shouldn’t be “other-worldly” either.  Being in the world includes being involved in politics.  Even liberal political commentator Bill Maher acknowledges, “Freedom isn’t free.  It shouldn’t be a bragging point that ‘Oh, I don’t get involved in politics,’ as if that makes you somehow cleaner.  No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic.”  As Americans, it is our duty and privilege to claim responsibility for what goes on in our country.  As American Christians, that duty and privilege is nothing less than sacred.  Someone is going to rule this world; if not the Christians, then the non-Christians—if not the righteous, then the unrighteous.  When we shirk this responsibility as Christians, we leave this world—we leave our beloved nation—to the usurping reign of the enemy.

Ronald Reagan declared “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged; …government should uphold and not undermine those institutions which are custodians of the very values upon which civilization is founded—religion, education, and, above all, family.”  Today, the vibrancy and enthusiasm of authentic Christianity have waned, and our government no longer supports those values; many policies directly contradict Biblical principles.  Public schooling was created so that children could read the Bible for themselves—the first elementary textbook was the New England Primer, which was full of lessons taken straight from Scripture—and yet the government has purged every essence of God’s law from those same schools.  Proverbs 22:7 warns that “The borrower becomes the lender’s slave,” and yet our national debt is well over $17 Trillion dollars.  Murder, adultery, and homosexuality are consistently condemned in the Bible, and yet these things are condoned in America through government-funded abortion, contraceptives for middle school students, and legalized gay marriage.  Our government has literally subsidized the breaking of every single one of the Ten Commandments.  How can the church simply stand by?  If we don’t step up, speak out, and return our nation to even the most fundamental Biblical ideals, these things will go on, and America will continue to crumble.

Romans chapter 13 gives instructions for good citizenship: be subject to authority, pay your taxes, follow the law—government is of God.  In John 17:18, Jesus sends us into the world to be his messengers, his representatives.  Proverbs 29:2 states, “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”  Friends, righteousness is not thriving in our beloved country today!  Now, I personally don’t feel called to be a politician, and I’m not the only one; but you and I can make a difference with our words, votes, and monetary donations to candidates and institutions that are taking a stand for Biblical economic policies and family values.  However we choose to do it, though, we must make it evident that we are still a Christian nation—that America’s motto still rings true.

Imagine a nation where the church and the state—religion and the government—are no longer divorced, but working together for the benefit of the nation as a whole.  Our Founders had unequivocal views on religion, and the Bible contains explicit instructions concerning politics as well.  The two are indivisible. The prayer of our country has long been, “God bless America!”  We must not forget that prayer.  So let us proclaim, in every private home, on every street corner, in every public square, in every voting booth, and from every office of government: “IN GOD WE STILL TRUST!”

Works Cited

Barton, David, Brad Cummings, and Lance Wubbels. The Founders' Bible: The Origin of the Dream of Freedom. “The Duty of Nations.” 807-809. “I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel.” 1731-1736. “The Indispensable Pillars of Freedom.” 811-812. Newbury Park, CA: Shiloh Road, 2012. Print.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists." Library of Congress. Information Bulletin, June 1998. Web. 09 Apr. 2014. <http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html>.

"The New England Primer." Sacred Texts. Ed. J.B. Hare. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.