What are words?

Lately I have gotten to know a friend who has absent-mindedly taught me an invaluable lesson. He has taught me that words mean something. Every single word that you speak, you should mean. We’ve all heard the saying “think before you speak” but hear this…”think before you *don’t* speak”. If someone is something…tell them. If a girl is beautiful, tell her. If a guy is thoughtful, tell him. If you love someone, make *sure* you tell them. Don’t let days go by without telling people what you feel. This has really struck me because this “new” friend of mine is an extremely intelligent and honest person. He was struck by my words…words I said and meant…but didn’t truly stop to think about. Because of him, I watch my words now…make sure I mean every one of them. And truly…what *are* words if we really don’t mean them when we say them? If you meant them…stick to them, don’t let them just die away. Don’t go back on your words, mean every one. Take time to stop and think about what you are saying…do you mean it?

What Are Words by Chris Medina

Anywhere you are, I am near
Anywhere you go, I'll be there
Anytime you whisper my name, you'll see
How every single promise I keep
Cuz what kind of guy would I be
If I was to leave when you need me most

Chorus:

What are words
If you really don't mean them
When you say them
What are words
If they're only for good times
Then they don't
When it's love
Yeah, you say them out loud
Those words, They never go away
They live on, even when we're gone

And I know an angel was sent just for me
And I know I'm meant to be where I am
And I'm gonna be
Standing right beside her tonight
And I'm gonna be by your side
I would never leave when she needs me most

Anywhere you are, I am near
Anywhere you go, I'll be there
And I'm gonna be here forever more
Every single promise I keep
Cuz what kind of guy would I be
If I was to leave when you need me most

I'm forever keeping my angel close

A Buried Hymn

We Give Thee But Thine Own

We give Thee but Thine own,
Whate'er the gift may be:
All that we have is Thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from Thee.

May we Thy bounties thus
As stewards true receive,
And gladly, as Thou blessest us,
To Thee our firstfruits give.

To comfort and to bless,
To find a balm for woe,
To tend the lone and fatherless
Is our great task below.

And we believe Thy word,
Though dim our faith may be:
Whatever task we do, O Lord,
We do it unto Thee. Amen.

Thoughts from sitting in evening church

Ok, so I have these disgusting and rather hideous shoes, but they are by *far* my most comfortable shoes! Too often I have slipped them on at home and found myself out in public with them on because I had completely forgotten about them. But they are just so weird looking! When this happens, I am reminded of the Christian life: it is a hard life to live. One of my friends came to me the other day crying "Why is the Christian life so hard! It's too hard!". Yes, it's hard..just like my shoes are unfashionable and unappealing, but it is *so* worth it (like the comfort gained)! What great peace and love is gained by true Christians...the salvation attained is far greater than a life of "fun". That turns to dust...despair and lifelessness. How can we not choose the "ugly shoes" with the unbelievable comfort and joy? What shoes are you wearing?

Worldview notes from today

Sarah Bacon

Worldview class

Week 26

Notes on the book read aloud:

The 60’s were not buried for two reasons: 1) it really was an epical and foundational change, those kinds of things don’t get buried that easily; and 2) the worldview before the 60’s didn’t make sense now that they were compared to after the 60’s happened. It was a dramatic change in the narrative. But it was a gradual build up, not a sudden change in the 60’s. During the 90’s and even now, it is a slow climb and build up, back to the ultimate climax. The 80’s were when the conservatives were so sure they had won, but fundamental cultural changes like the 60’s don’t just leave like that, they stay in hibernation but then come back and that is exactly what is happening right now. The 60’s were a time of counter-culture, but considered to be the culture since it was an upside down world. Since we are re-living the 60’s, our definitions are backwards – Christianity is the counter-culture and their counter-culture worldview is considered the culture. In a backwards/upside down world like that, good is bad, bad is good…beautiful is ugly, and ugly is beautiful.

New Age Psychology = Collective Consciousness

You are your own divine. We rise up spiritual awareness and collective consciousness to further its psychological and spiritual evolution. Reality is whatever you make it to be. “Mind over matter” is their slogan repeatedly. Their call was a call to expand and develop your mind.

New Age Sociology = Non-Traditional Home, Church, and State

This is psychology but on a bigger scale. They are just applying the psychology to the culture, not just the individual. Their end goal is to demolish the remaining Biblical standards (especially the family standards), and to abolish the church, home, and state. They advocate pluralism and believe that all religions end up at the same point. You erase all distinctions and roles.

New Age Law = Self-Law

They focus on the inner truth. Everyone makes their own law. Each man does what is right in his own eyes. Anything but self-law is restricting you from uncovering your spiritual awakening. Because of this, the church needs to be taken down, since the church sets out a clear, Biblical standard of laws. You need to set your own law and standards because you are god and you are ultimately good and incapable of doing evil.

New Age Politics = New Age Order

They see our political system as restrictive and limiting: perversion and crime are still perversion and crime. Until politics and the state advocates Cosmic Humanism, they will oppose and attempt to take down our modern politics. They seek to once again erase all distinctions…man and woman, state and nation, human and God.

New Age Economics = Universal Enlightened Production

Spiritually enlightened people are not bound by the limitations of modern economics which is all about rules, laws, and distinctions. They don’t address or discuss economics simply because economics only restricts you from unleashing your inner sense and being. Following your feelings and believe in yourself leads the enlightened to prosperity by the power of positive thinking. So their only rule is that there can be no rules…which happens to be a contradiction.

New Age History = Evolutionary Godhood

History is a record of how humans are ever increasing into their godness. It’s a record of how we develop and discover ourselves. Their goal would be a fully enlightened people and Utopia. Christians are looked on as the anchor that holds back enlightenment, so that must be gotten rid of. You are called to find your potential and calling apart from religion (which is not possible).

True love is not in Cosmic Humanism…god is everything they say, even the impersonal. But the impersonal cannot love, only people can love. But to them, everything is relative; everyone does whatever they want and it is deemed fine. If you enter into this, there is no right or wrong because you are just doing what you feel is right within you. Our destiny is in our own hands and is up to us. The counter to all this is that sin has its season, but then it turns to a life of destruction and unhappiness. 

Quote today from class...good thought!

"We, as Christians, are called to be thermostats, not thermometers."

With God’s help we can be the salt of the world; we can make a difference and be an example to both believers and non-believers; we can demonstrate the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives; we can change the atmosphere where we find ourselves. It is not hard to be like thermometer. However as Christians we are called to become like a thermostat and make a positive difference in community where we are. In our Christian life, we have to identify ourselves. Are we a thermometer? Or are we a thermostat? One tells the conditions surrounding it while the other makes a difference in those conditions in the environment which it is located. It is hard to become a thermostat and influence the people around you but it is easy to tell what kind of people are there in your surrounding and conform to their norm. It is easier to conform just to be accepted in the society rather than to do what is what right and influence them. Christians like us are not meant to conform to the world because God called us to make a difference in the world.

Scripture says: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Thought of the day

Thought for the day: Emotions and feelings are okay, as long as they are fueled and driven by your head and with logic and reason as well as a solid Biblical worldview and not just the fluctuation of the heart. 


"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9

The last Christendom notes and more Worldview notes

Sarah Bacon

History of Christendom

Week 25

The American founders, from the earliest Pilgrims and Puritans all the way through to the patriots of the revolutionary age, believed that their task was to take the great legacy of Christendom and plant it in a new land, where it might flourish, unencumbered by the political machinations that had somehow begun to strangle that vision in the motherlands. As a result, the American experiment in liberty was one of decentralization and covenantal connection, where the ideas of chivalry reigned and where the distinction in the culture was so pronounced that visitors from Europe could hardly believe that these settlers were actually transplanted from the mother country.

The colonists came and set up, making their independent rules apart from a tyrannical ruler. They were all Calvinists so it could be said that John Calvin was the grandfather of America. The way they lived and settled was all due to their worldview. Population went from 102 down to 53. They came over in 1620, but by 1625 they had a printing press and had printed the Ainsworth Psalter. In 1635 the Boston Latin School was established. A year later, Harvard College was set up and started along with 14 publishers and 9 libraries.

There is a connection between liberty and well-read, also slavery and illiteracy/ignorance. If you read well, you will be intelligent and educated so you will not tolerate being held down and oppressed. Educated people are easy to lead but difficult to fool; they understand how essential unity is. Knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are key to liberty. Smart thinkers press for reformation and true freedom with a future hope.

The classics are a Christian’s leadership legacy. We are called to read and take it a step further, to think about it conceptually and analytically in a new way. To read well is to read deep and wide. Deep into subjects and wide as in many authors and subjects. To read much of many. We think first presuppositionally and then holistically.

Our culture today:

Modern American culture is all about the least common denominator, making everyone equally dumbed down. One way they can do that is with “No Child Left Behind” which is really No Child Gets Ahead. They are kept as smart as the dumbest of them and so are dragged behind where they ought to be. This is socialism at its best.

Technology is good in its place, but when it gets in the way of good reading then it is a problem and a distraction. We are in a war where substance cannot stand up against the distractions of the moment.

Where we are going in this culture is sad…where there is an erosion of epistemology, a corruption of ontology and a subjugation of theology. Simply put: a decrease of knowledge, a mismanagement of living, and an enslavement of religion.

The worldview effect of the war on Christendom was the end of Parliament’s salutary neglect, the establishment of Parliament as king, the economics came first over the right of freedom, and forced submission to a tyrannical Mahat system.

Worldview notes:

Cosmic Humanism

With Transcendentalism and Romanticism we see that because everyone is “god” then everyone is equal. We see this in the 1800’s with the war for the abolition of slavery. If someone is a slave then they are not equal with the slave-master. The Cosmic Humanist is pantheistic, subjective, and under positive law. The Secular Humanist is deistic, objective, and under natural law. Cosmic Humanists are focused on the inward and looking within. Their epistemology is intuition and mysticism. The humanist’s epistemology is reason and the Christian’s epistemology is revelation.

The ethics of a Cosmic Humanist is relativism…all is opinion and there is also situational ethics, that everyone has their own ethics with each situation. If everyone is God, then everyone should be able to create their own laws or ethics.

Biology for them is that man begins with a spark of divinity and throughout his life he is growing it more and more till he comes to see his goodness and at that point they are at the epitome of their divinity. It is a sudden leap of this revolutionary evolution to where we have the light bulb turned on and we are opened to our godness. We each have our own experience of awakening and our psychologist is our high priest to guide us to this great awakening.

Some class notes

Sarah Bacon
History of Christendom
Week 23

The great Puritan vision of an entirely transformed society, a society that was completely marked by the influence of the gospel, was balanced by a kind of realism. The Puritans recognized that there wasn’t a division between the call to personal holiness and the call to social action. There wasn’t a division between being a Christian and being a politician; those things could be wed together, and both done for the glory of God.

Puritanism was a reforming movement. Central to them was their form of worship. There is always a ripple effect to worldviews: how God is seen ripples to the form of worship which ripples out to a cult which ripples out to shape the culture. Puritanism was not one distinct group/movement and it had great influence upon numerous people and religions. So it could be defined as more of a grassroots movement. It had great influence on different religions including the Separatists (mainly pilgrims), Non-Conformists, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Presbyterians.

Some Myths about Puritans:
1) Puritans hated fun – they were serious about doctrine, Christ, and God’s calling in their life and they actually yielded much joy throughout their lives. They called for merriment rather often. Their serious about doctrine often portrayed them as a boring and lacking in fun type of people.
2) The Puritans were drab and unfashionable – they would only wear black and white to church on Sundays as a formality. They would wear the typical fashion of those days on all the weekdays however.
3) The Puritans hated sports and recreation – there was a book written in 1618 called the Declaration (or Book) of Sports. This was to tell what sports can be done on the Sabbath. The Puritans opposed this and said that other than Sunday it was perfectly fine and highly encouraged to be active in sports, excluding games of chance.
4) The Puritans were greedy workaholics – in fact, they discouraged excessive work for money and said that material gain on earth is worth nothing. They did, however, believe that we all need to wisely use God’s generous gifts.
5) The Puritans hated the arts – they did remove the “bells and smells” from their churches in order to get away from Catholicism and return to a Biblical sense of worship. Their lives were filled with music and craftsmanship.
6) The Puritans were a bunch of irrelevant old people – they were definitely not irrelevant and most were not old. On the contrary it was a very budding movement filled with zealous and energetic youth. Because of this they would be accused of being “young and inexperienced.”
7) The Puritans despised the physical world – they promoted God’s vibrant blessings; God gives us everything and we are to appreciate everything. They knew how to have fun and to give praise and glory to God.
8) Puritans were overly strict, intolerant, and legalistic – they weren’t always tolerating to be sure, but given the times they lived in, it was for good reason. They were greatly hated for their attempt at reformation.

Charles I with his Star Chamber was set into motion for the persecution of the Puritans. It was a place where they would be given no trial or hearing whatsoever and condemned to whatever fate the king decided. The Puritans refused to conform just for peace. Even the Parliament was dismissed and/or ignored just so that the Puritans could be persecuted and weeded out.

Puritan Ideals:
Well-ordered home, peaceful, father = shepherd, mother = caretaker, value of education and discipline, family worship, church attendance, active diligence, value of hard work revolving around Sabbath, serious and practical, and self discipline are all characteristics of a Puritan home.

Puritan Fruits:
They had a boom of productivity because they were hard-working. Cultures grew and they saw their destiny in light of God’s will for them. Puritans became the economic leaders in England and America. There was a huge emphasis on community life centered around parish life. Decentralized authority and a building on a series of covenantal relationships like guilds, school, family etc., was key for them. They valued accountability in an unofficial way within a natural boundary of the spheres.
They were future-oriented, looking ahead to how they could influence the generations to come. They were very rooted and grounded. They held a long-term commitment to any and all family members. Home life was the cornerstone and hub for the community.

Personal Piety:
Self-control and stability were great qualities of the Puritans. They balanced theory and practice well, but they were not overly pious to the point of seeking attention for their actions. They balanced the abstract and concrete, having both orthodoxy and orthopraxy. They didn’t just think, they also did…Puritans connected the inner and outer life and had a context for everything.

Education:
Puritans had extremely high expectations for learning and education. They built up libraries, publishing houses, and colleges. They would place the bar for learning too high so that students were continually seeking more education until they could achieve anything. In fact, Puritans were the ones who originally started Harvard.

Literature:
Puritans would study and listen to sermons the way we watch movies. They would saturate themselves completely in them, studying and focusing completely on them. This helped show them how grounded they were…they wouldn’t spend their extra time wasting it on frivolous things, but use it to study the character of God more thoroughly.

The Puritan movement was a very religious movement. Right doctrine was key in their lives and they had strong moral convictions. Continual reform was very normal in their eyes, and it needs to happen regularly because of the Fall.

You are always going to have an infallible god of some type. Puritans were visionary, protesting, and international. Puritans were always a minority which greatly fueled their zeal; to take on the world together even though they were constantly persecuted. It was a full body movement, with no leaders to pick off. If you wanted it to stop you would need to take them all out individually. Scripture was central and the question of authority was key. Education was very important to them, the correct schooling of their children for the future generations. Puritanism was a movement of politics and economics as they believed that God touched upon and ruled all areas of life.

They knew they each had specific rights and duties. They knew they were balanced, not that you “deserved” everything. It was their duty to follow and submit to Christ. It could be argued man has no rights, only God does and if God were to give rights it could only be found in Scripture.

Puritanism was balanced by a vision of realism and idealism.

Worldview notes

Cosmic Humanism:
Everything is spiritual or supernatural. But, if everything is spiritual then material is spiritual; if everything is material then spiritual is material. Being “green” is seen as there is a sense of “godness” in everything. Pantheism is everything is God. Panentheism is God is in everything. We are told to look within for who we really are. Reincarnation is promised and they push a mystic psychology. Horoscopes, tarot cards, and fortune tellers are all part of the mysticism. Animism, Gnosticism, Spiritism, Christian science, but especially Hinduism and Buddhism are all carriers of this Cosmic Humanism. The roots of this movement are thought to have started in the East with India, China, and Japan.

Tech/Show week

HEY...so in case you all were wondering what kind of black hole I've dropped off into...I can tell you it's a wonderful black hole! I've been crazy busy with State S&E and now HPA is starting to pick up into craziness galore (and I love it!). Yesterday we "moved" into CPAC and it's just like coming back to the home you grew up in...lovely. Today we'll be at a church up in Lansing but tomorrow we are back in Charlotte. Thursday is off as well as Good Friday. And then Easter on Sunday followed by the crazzzyyy...SHOW WEEK. I am so so very excited to face that really busy week. If you're interested in coming to see The Wizard of Oz put on by a homeschool professional group (oh yes...we've been compared to Broadway, folks) see this link for tickets: http://hpami.org/ ...the tickets are going fast! We are nearly sold out so get them *fast*. Hope to see you there!