Memorial Day

Courtesy of Student News Daily

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Persevero,

"The Gods of the Copybook Headings"

"During the 19th century, students were required to learn and memorize important truths by writing them down as axioms in copy books. In "The Gods in the Copybook Headings," Kipling reveals the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of those who view progress as a constant evolutionary process of finding new trendy philosphies by which to live. In the final analysis, the historic truths of Christianity will vanquish the platitudes of modernity."

Douglas W. Phillips, Poems for Patriarchs

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As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
~
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
~
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
~
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch.
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch.
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market-Place Who promised these beautiful things.
~
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes should cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
~
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."
~
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing collective Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
~
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four -
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
~
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man -
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began: -
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the fire;
~
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.

Rudyard Kipling

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Persevero,

Basic Christianity - Chapter 6 "The Consequences of Sin"

In the last chapter of John Stott's Basic Christianity, we examined the reality, nature, and universality of human sin. In chapter 6, we will look at yet aspect of sin: it's consequences. Stott remarks, "We should like to leave this distasteful subject and pass on immediately to the good news of Christ's salvation, but we are not yet ready to do so. We need to grasp what the results of sin are before we can appreciate what God has done for us..."

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Is sin really such a serious thing? It's devastating consquences can be best understood when its effects are seen on God, on ourselves and on our fellow men.

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I. Alienation from God. "... the most terrible result of sin is that it cuts us off from God." Man is different from other creatures in that he was made in the image and God; he was given a soul, and is thus capable of knowing God and having a personal relationship with Him. Yet this God is a righteous Being, infinte in His moral perfection. Scripture lays much significance on this truth (Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 33:14; 57:15; Habakkuk 1:13; 1 Timothy 6:15-16; Hebrews 12:29; 1 John 1:5-6)

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Further, all those men of God in the Bible who caught a glimpse of God's glory shrank from the spectacle in an overpowering consciousness of their own sinfulness. Consider Moses, when God appeared to him in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-6); Job, to whom God spoke "out of the whirlwind" (Job 42:5-6); Isaiah, who had a vision of God as the King of Israel, surrounded by worshipping angels who sang of his glory and holiness (Isaiah 6:1-5); Ezekiel, who had a vision of God enthroned and enveloped in the brightness of fire and of the rainbow (Ezekiel 1:26-28); Saul of Tarsus, who, as he rode to Damascus, encountered the risen Jesus Christ, and was struck to the ground and blinded by a brilliant light that shone brighter than the noonday sun (Acts 9:1-9); the aged John, exiled on Patmos, who saw a vision of the risen and glorified Christ, whose "eyes were like a flaming fire" and whose "face was like the sun shining in full strength" (Revelation 1:9-17). ~

"If that curtain which veils the unspeakable majesty of God could be drawn aside but for a moment," says Stott, "we too should not be able to bear the sight. As it is, we only dimly perceive how pure and brilliant must be the glory of Almighty God. However, we know enough to realize that sinful man while still in his sins can never approach this holy God. A great chasm yawns between God in His righteousness and man in his sin. 'What partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? asks Paul... Sin inevitably brings separation, and this separation is 'death', spiritual death the severence of a person from the person of God, the only source of true life. 'The wages of sin is death.'" 

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Another thing to consider is this: if a person deliberately rejects Jesus Christ - who is the only one through whom we may find eternal life - he will spend eternity in hell. Hell is real: dreadfully and grimly real. Let no man say otherwise. Jesus Himself spoke of it. He called it the 'outer darkness' because it is just that: infinite and eternal separation from God, who is light. In the Bible, Hell is also called 'the second death' and 'the lake of fire', terms which describe symbolically the forfeiture of eternal life and the horrifying thirst of the soul which are "involved in irrevocable banishment from God's presence". 

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Until our sins are forgiven, we have no communion with the Almighty. We are 'lost' or 'dead' in the trespasses and sins we have committed. (Ephesians 2:1) We are exiles. Augustine spoke rightly when he said, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee."

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II. Bondage to Self. Sin not only estranges; it brings into captivity. It separates us from God and also enslaves us. Stott says, "We need now to consider the 'inwardness of sin'. It is more than an unfortuante outward act or habit; it is a deep-seated inward corruption. In fact, the sins we commit are merely outward and visible manifestations of this inward and invisible malady, the symptoms of a moral disease."

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Many times in the New Testament, we are described as 'slaves'. We may resent it, but it is the truth. Jesus emphatically stated that anyone who commits sin "is a slave to sin." Several times in his Epistles, the Apostle Paul describes the humiliating servitude into which sin brings us (Romans 6:17; Ephesians 2:3; Titus 3:3).

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We are in bondage - a deep, dark bondage from which we cannot free ourselves. We may have high ideals; we may want to live a good life. But we are chained down to our self-centeredness. We cannot do anything of ourselves. As Studdert Kennedy wrote,

"It is not finished, Lord,

There is not one thing done,

There is no battle of my life

That I have really won.

And now I come to tell Thee

How I fought to fail,

My human, all to human, tale

Of weakness and futility."

   ~  

"It is no use," Stott observes, "giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them. Let God go on saying 'Thou shalt not', yet we shall to the end of time. A lecture will not solve our problem; we need a Saviour. The education of the mind is not enough without a change of the heart."

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III. Conflict with Others. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus summarizes the duty of man in these words: "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

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Stott says, "It is important to observe that the first commandment concerns our duty to God, and not our duty to our neighbor. We are to love God first; and then we are to love our neighbor next, as ourselves. So God's order is that we put Him first, others next, self last. Sin is the reversal of that order. It is to put ourselves first, our neighbor next, and God somewhere in the background." Archbishop William Temple describes it this way:

"I am the center of the world I see; where the horizon is depends on where I stand... Education may make my self-centerdness less disasterous by widening by horizon of interest; so far it is like climbing a tower, which widens the horizon for physical vision, while leaving me still the center and standard of reference."

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Imagine how many quarrels and arguments might be avoided if only this self-centeredness were eliminated. We find it easier to be stubborn and fight than to listen and submit. We would rather strike back than turn the other cheek. James puts it well when he asks, "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?" (James 4:1). Man is a self-centered creature, and this self-centeredness continually leads him into conflict with others. 

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In conclusion, Stott says, "What man needs is a radical change of nature, what Professor H.M. Gwatkin has called 'a change from self to unself'. Man cannot work it within himself. He cannot operate on himself. Again, he needs a Saviour." Jesus Christ is that Saviour. It is in Him that we must put our faith. But "faith is born of need. We shall never put our trust in Christ until we have first despaired of ourselves."

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Persevero,

Bringing a Lawsuit Against a Law You Haven't Read

"Arizona has enacted a new law cracking down on illegal immigrants in response to a dramatic rise in violence along the Arizona-Mexico border. The new law authorizes law enforcement officers to arrest anyone reasonably suspected of being an illegal immigrant. Under the new law, state and local law enforcement officers are authorized to determine during lawful stops the immigration status of people for whom there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are in the country illegally. Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard requiring that before someone is arrested or detained there must be reasonable belief that the person has been, is or is about to be engaged in criminal activity."

Student News Daily

On Sunday, May 9 on NBC's "Meet the Press", Attorney General Eric Holder called for a federal lawsuit against Arizona's recently passed illegal immigration law (a law which is supported by 60% of Arizona voters). Then, on Thursday, May 13, Holder "told...the House Judiciary Committee the following about his knowledge of Arizona's recently passed immigration law-enforcement measure:

'...I've glanced at it. I have not read it.'

'...I have not been briefed yet.'

'... I've only made, made the comments that I've made on the basis of things that I've been able to glean by reading newspaper accounts, obviously, looking at television, talking to people who are on the review panel, on the review team that are looking at the law.'"

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I'm going to bed. Wake me up when it's over. We have way too many morons in high places. 

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"Holder Profiles Arizona -- Isn't that really what the Attorney General is doing?

He hasn't read the Arizona immigration law, even though reading the law is the basic duty of any lawyer (let alone the U.S. Attorney General) who is called on to assess a legal situation.

Thus, he hasn't got reasonable suspicion that Arizonans are violating the Constitution, even though reasonable suspicion is the basic investigative standard we expect law-enforcement to satisfy before officials harass Americans with stepped up scrutiny.

And we know he has a bias because he told us, unabashedly, that he thinks Americans are "cowards" on matters of race.

Think about it this way: If a police officer, without taking elementary investigative steps to inform himself about the facts of a situation, and thus without reasonable suspicion, simply assumed a person must be guilty of wrongdoing based on the police officer's avowed prejudice, what would Eric Holder call it?"

Andy McCarthy @ nationalreview.com

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Watch this video of the Attorney General admitting that he hasn't read Arizona's law (first 1:30)

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Persevero,