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Engaging Your Child’s Unbelief

Posted on November 12, 2024 | by Jennifer Bright | Leave a Comment

By Jared Christophel

Growing up on a farm, I knew that leading a horse to water wouldn’t make him drink, but being a father to teens drove the point home, especially when my oldest stopped taking communion. My children have grown spiritually in fits and starts. The times when they have been having spiritual fits were also when they were least approachable. My attempts to engage their faith struggles from an intellectual standpoint would not generally result in any fruit but would usually seem to increase their frustration.

Wisdom for Engaging Your Child’s Unbelief

What follows is the wisdom I have learned in engaging unbelief in my children.

I recall distinct moments growing up when I acquired a sense of what it meant to believe in God. One of those times was as a child watching Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade. Harrison Ford closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and told himself he believed before stepping over the edge into the apparent void, only to step securely onto an invisible bridge. I’m not saying these were theologically correct moments, but they nonetheless informed my idea of what it meant to believe. Squeeze your eyes harder, and you can, by your own willpower, increase your faith.

Without going down a philosophical rabbit hole of what it means to believe something, we can at least state that Christ’s claims about belief indeed require a mental assent to and trust in that which we cannot see, much like Harrison Ford’s bridge.

[21] And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. [22] And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Matthew 21:21–22 (ESV)

Entering college, I understood belief as something I needed for salvation, but that is where it stopped. It was an intellectual decision, and as such, it was just like any philosophical debate I could ruminate on as long as I came down on the side of “yes, I believe.”

And wrestle with belief I did. One Sunday, my pastor in college said during a sermon, “If you want to believe, obey.” I don’t remember the specific theological reasoning, but I remember thinking how irrational that sounded. It seemed the philosophical equivalent of the tail wagging the dog. However, it stuck with me, and over time, with Christ’s sanctifying work in me, I have found it to be true. I think it goes something like this:

Word of God — Photo by Sixteen Miles Out.

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). If you want an increase in your faith, increase your hearing of the word of Christ. Set Him always before you, meditating and memorizing His word. You are what you behold. Your faith will increase not by your own eye-squeezing willpower but because of the grace flowing from our Lord through His word and through His spirit. Here enters the idea of the spiritual disciplines.

Out of the Overflow of the Heart, the Mouth Speaks

Many Christian leaders have championed disciplines over the centuries, but one of my favorites is Dallas Willard. One of his illustrations was of boys playing backyard baseball and emulating their favorite MLB player. As much as they wanted to hit the ball like Jose Canseco (ok, I’m old), it wouldn’t happen by closing their eyes tighter and wishing. It took 10,000 hours of practice. We might wear the bracelets that say WWJD, but our faith remains nascent (nonetheless sufficient) unless we are active disciples of Christ.

I’m trying to illustrate that how we perceive what it means to believe matters deeply when we try to address the “little faith” of our children. In my attempts to engage what I perceived to be intellectual struggles, I was generally met with intellectual repudiation, no matter how logical my words were. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. What I failed to realize, of course, is that my child’s struggle was a heart issue.

Engaging a teenager’s heart can be messy, but realizing the core problem at least helps to narrow the father’s focus. You are what you behold. It isn’t as simple as instructing them to spend two hours a day in the Word and to put down the FIST (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok) that keeps punching them in the face. Because without faith, all obedience is worthless (Romans 14:23, Hebrews 11:6).

Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
…my child’s struggle was a heart issue.

The Little Faith Must Want It

The “little faith” must want it. Encourage their heart that as long as that ember of belief engendered by the Spirit has sparked the fire, they can and will grow. Encourage them that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step and that they don’t need to have all the answers (you never will).

In the case of my 18-year-old teenager, I encouraged her to engage her struggles but to follow the path of discipleship that had been set out by centuries of Christians. You are what you behold. In the end, Christ commanded us to take and eat, not take and understand.

Our role as fathers in shepherding our children through unbelief will differ depending on the age and stage of each child. We must be aware of the power of dopaminergic screens and set appropriate boundaries. Our children are in a “battle of beholding.” Until a certain age, we must keep watch at the gate.

I would be remiss if I left out one crucial part of engaging our children’s unbelief. The Catholic social scientist Arthur Brooks has noted that the number one factor relating to a child maintaining the faith of their family is the adherence of the father to the faith. As you know by now, our children see right through us.

Do you want that faith? Do you want your children to believe? Walk the walk. Don’t just close your eyes like Harrison Ford. Spend time in His Word. Go into your room and close the door to pray. Pray without ceasing (or at least three times a day). Spend time with fellow believers. Do good works. Meditate on His word. Memorize scripture. Read a book on spiritual disciplines. And cry out to our Heavenly Father, “Increase my faith!”

Read other blogs in the “Raising Boys to Become Men” series here.

Jared Christophel graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in Chemistry, and the University of Virginia with a Doctor of Medicine. He practiced Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Virginia for 10 years where he was awarded tenure. While in Charlottesville, he served on the board of Regents School of Charlottesville for six years. In 2020, Dr. Christophel left the academic world to join a private practice in Hampton, Virginia. Jared is married to Rebecca, a native of Yorktown, VA. Jared and Rebecca met on a medical missions trip in Peru, and he continues to serve on medical missions trips with ten trips to Kenya in as many years. They have four children who attend Summit Christian Academy at both the Grammar and Upper School. Dr. Christophel attends Peninsula Community Chapel.

Relating Science to Faith

Posted on October 22, 2024 | by Jennifer Bright | Leave a Comment

By Jonathan Bartlett

Originally published in the Classical Conversations blog.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 KJV

The question of how science relates to faith is one that seems to baffle many people, but this need not be so. This is a foundational issue, because the approach that a person has to this question will also influence how they think of faith in a wide variety of situations. Most people take one of three main approaches to the relationship of science and faith.

Approach 1: Science and Faith Cover Different Topics

One approach that is popular among theologians is to separate science and faith with a great wall preventing any entanglements between the two. This view was popularized by Steven Jay Gould, who used the acronym NOMA, which stands for “non-overlapping magisteria,” to describe it. In this view, science and faith cannot conflict, because they cover two different subjects, which do not overlap at any point. Science covers the objective, evidence-based principles and facts, and faith covers value-oriented ideas and ultimate meanings. This is also often called the fact/value split.

This view is endorsed by a wide variety of organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The stated goal of this approach is to clearly demarcate the lines between faith and science so that neither one crosses into the other. It also takes into account the differences in methodology, and assumed differences in content. For instance, science, in large part, uses the inductive method for determining truth, while faith is about trust and hope. Philosophers have long pointed out that science is unable to deal with questions of value and morality on its own, so NOMA simply implements the converse as well—if science cannot reach morality, then neither will faith be allowed to reach facts.

Of course, in reality, this split really does not work. Christianity does make claims that relate to the natural world. God has revealed Himself in history, and this has affected nature and history. Therefore, evidence, facts, science, and faith all come together. In addition, scientists are always trying to expand the scope of what science covers—and they should do this.

Therefore, at least in theory, NOMA blunts both science and faith. However, in practice, most people who claim NOMA actually mean “science deals with whatever it wants to, faith deals with whatever science hasn’t gotten to yet”. For instance, the concept of “free will” would seem to be a question of faith, and yet the National Academy of Sciences, which openly subscribes to NOMA, has published supposedly scientific papers that deal with the question of free will.

The NOMA position even finds its way into many church denominations. While most do not have official positions supporting NOMA, one usually finds very few voices within the church willing to present any explicitly Christian view of science, or any science topic, except for Christ’s resurrection. Instead, the furthest they are willing to go is to express disapproval when scientists attempt to derive ultimate meaning from their theories and observations.

Approach 2: Science and Faith in Conflict

Another approach to science and faith is the “conflict” or “warfare” idea. In this view, science and faith are essentially contradictory ways of viewing the world. A scientific view of the world necessarily puts a person in conflict with religious modes of thinking, and a person of faith necessarily takes a negative view of science and scientific methodology. In this approach, any overlap between positions of science and faith are taken to be purely coincidental.

This approach takes science and faith to be two full, mutually incompatible worldviews. That is, any given question can be answered in a scientific framework, just as it can be answered in a religious framework. Therefore, science and faith “compete” for the answers to each of life’s questions. Note how different this is than NOMA. Under NOMA, science and faith are both given limits to the scope of inquiry. In the “conflict” idea, science and faith are not limited in scope, but form two mutually incompatible ways of addressing the same question.

The interesting thing about the “conflict” idea is that it is usually only held to by atheists and agnostics—it is almost never held to by Christians. It is usually held to by people who have expanded science into a religious position itself. Christians always have room for science, but atheistic materialists (people who think that the physical world is all there is) must expand science to fill their own religious needs. Unfortunately, popular news coverage nearly always assumes the “conflict” approach, and does not realize that Christians don’t find a necessary conflict between the two.

If this approach is so one-sided and non-sensical, why does it keep coming up? The fact is, in nearly every aspect of life, there are tensions between ideas. There are tensions between ideas in various disciplines, or even within a single discipline. None of these tensions means that there is a necessary conflict between two positions—this is simply the natural result of having incomplete knowledge. As long as our knowledge is partial and imperfect, there will always be tensions among the various ideas we hold onto.

This makes it easy for detractors of Christianity to paint faith positions as being anti-science. One needs only to find an issue, no matter how marginal (or tenuous), which may be in conflict with some person’s faith position, and then proclaim, “See—faith and science are irreconcilable!” In addition, in fact, most of these are based more on interpretation of the evidence than anything else.

Approach 3: Faith Seeking Understanding

The best approach I have found for integrating science and faith is the “faith seeking understanding” approach. In this model, faith is the total worldview, and science operates as one of many approaches for finding truth within that worldview. As Christians, we find truth in many places. We turn to history to find the truths of the past. We turn to science to find the truths of nature. We turn to philosophy to find the nature of reason. First and foremost, we turn to the Bible to find the truths that govern the other truths. In such an approach, science is certainly one of the means that we use to find truth.

However, science plays a subservient role—it is a discipline whose results are to be judged and weighed by people of faith, it is not the judge over faith.

It is interesting that the coherence of science itself relies on this model. Science itself relies on, but does not provide, a way to test for truth. While science demands that theories correspond with the preponderance of physical data, there are usually many theories, which have the same or similar correspondence. This comes as a surprise to many—most people assume that there is always only one theory, which is valid for a given set of data. The fact is, in many cases, the test for scientific truth is an aesthetic one. Scientists opt for theories, which are simple, elegant, and concise—in other words, beautiful theories. The only valid justification for this is that we expect this because of the nature of God that faith reveals.

This also means that, as Christians, when we participate in science, we should bring the expectations of Christianity with us. For instance, in my own research, I use as a starting assumption the idea that the genome is a designed system. Using that understanding, I have a better appreciation for what is happening within the genome. Since I believe that it is designed, I can reasonably compare it to other designed systems and make inferences and predictions based on those comparisons.

Teaching Our Children about Science

So how does this help us teach our children about science? We must teach our children, in every subject, to think about how various ideas make sense (or do not) within the context of Christianity. When we find ideas that do not make sense, we should ask ourselves—is this because of a lack of knowledge or a wrong interpretation of the evidence? If our goal is to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ, this must include science.

This does not mean that we should ignore subjects, which we have trouble integrating with our faith. Though future posts will cover this issue in more detail, we simply should attempt to understand such subjects thoroughly, teach ourselves to scrutinize the subjects well, and hold each idea to account under Christ.

You can see this “faith seeking understanding” approach reflected in the curriculum at Classical Conversations. Phil Johnson’s book, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, used in the Challenge B curriculum, is one of the best introductory books not just on creation and evolution, but on the whole notion of academic study in any discipline from a theistic viewpoint. Likewise, the Apologia science curriculum used throughout the Challenge program also points in the same direction.

Check out Classical Converations^® blogs and Homeschool Freedom Action Center blogs.

Raising Boys to Become Men: The Discipline of the Lord

Posted on September 16, 2024 | by Jennifer Bright

By Michael Kuehni

“… bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Eph. 6:4 (ESV)

That’s it! Questions?

It seems so clear and simple, yet as a father of two teen boys, I can confidently say—it’s not. Parenting is often emotionally exhausting and constant. It exposes our sin and frequently humbles us to the point of despair. But praise God; His Word is sufficient to equip us for every good work. When we look at the training and admonition of the Lord, the way He raises up men in Scripture and in our lives, we see that His approach is a perfect balance of grace and discipline. When we remain in that balance as parents, God blesses those efforts, and there is fruit.

However, when grace turns into overindulging or discipline leads to exasperation, we’re out of balance, and our parenting efforts fall short. I will detail both to help us better recognize when we inevitably slip into these extremes. The quicker we recognize it, the quicker we can return to that balanced approach.

Are You a Giving Tree?

In the children’s book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, we read about an apple tree that gives everything it can to support and love a boy from childhood through old age. The tree allows the boy to climb and swing on its branches, then gives its apples to sell, its branches to build a house, and its trunk to build a boat. The tree gives and gives to the point of having only a stump for the boy to sit on when he is old. Throughout his life, the boy takes and takes with the same emotionless disposition.

Some would say it’s a beautiful and loving story. Perhaps. I’d argue that it’s a sad picture of how 20-plus-year-old boys end up living in their parents’ basements, playing video games, and eating Cheetos. If parents give and give without training the mind, boys tend to keep coming back for more handouts, shirking their responsibilities, and living slothful and passive lives.

We see the same when Old Testament fathers like Eli, Samuel, David, and Solomon overindulge their sons. It is good to give gifts to our boys, but when those gifts become expected (often accompanied by a lack of gratitude), that is a sign that our parenting is out of balance. In these moments, I (the more natural ‘training tree’) tend to be the one that raises the point to my wife (the more natural ‘giving tree’) that we need to move back towards a focus on discipline.

How did we get to this extreme in the first place? We just wanted to make that hormonal teen happy and content! What we’ve found, however, is that no matter how much we give him, it never seems to be enough.

I’m reminded that our own lack of joy and contentment is never fulfilled by material things. Our real need is Jesus; the same is true for our boys. They need to be lovingly and patiently pointed back to the Gospel over and over.

Are You Exasperating Your Sons?

The other extreme that indicates an unbalanced parenting approach is when our children become overwhelmed by our training.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the
discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:4 (ESV)

The Greek word for anger here is parorgizete, which implies exasperation or frustration. It is when a child feels the training is too much to carry or there isn’t a feasible way to move forward. Moreover, it is also interesting that Paul directs this point to fathers, both here and in Colossians 3:21. Why is that?

I believe that we, as fathers, often forget we’re bringing our children up in the Lord’s training, not our own. Too often, I allow ‘my kingdom’ to be front and center, which leads to a myriad of problems that result in parorgizete. Here are a few:

Over-Sensitivity

Often, my son’s sin can feel like a personal attack. This can drive me to an emotional response, which then triggers the hormonal teen to anger and deflects attention from the original sin. Thus, the training opportunity gets missed.

However, if dads keep God’s kingdom in mind, we will instead see their sin as an affront to Him, which will yield our approach to be calmer and more patient. We will see their sin as an opportunity to help them rather than fight them because we’re in the same battle.

Keep in mind that growing boys will want to have the alpha male, toe-to-toe spar with dad because they see our weakness. It is important to redirect their sin to the true King, who brings the proudest of men to their knees.

Overprotectiveness

Of course, let’s start with this fact: Dads should be protectors.

However, when this denies our sons opportunities to earn trust, training will be stifled. With just our ‘kingdom’ in mind, it’s easy to remain rigid and unchanging because it’s easier to protect what we feel we can control. With God’s kingdom in mind, we remember His protection is all-powerful and infinite. This can enable fathers to take some wise risks that allow their sons to gain more trust and learn from failures.

Overtraining

When we think our son’s future sanctification hinges solely on our training, it’s easy to become overbearing. If we carry such a heavy burden, we will become slaves to teach and train.

Sons will feel overwhelmed.

Their ears will close.

Their desire to learn will diminish.

If boys don’t hear and heed the instructions of their fathers, they may struggle to become Godly men.

Grace Puts Our Parenting Back in Balance

At the end of the day, shifting our efforts towards grace puts our parenting back in balance. For example, I have found that inviting my son out to dinner to meet one-on-one is most effective. Listening, empathizing, clarifying his perspective, and even repenting where personally needed builds trust and open communication more than provoking ever would.

Ultimately, our calling is to model our parenting after our Heavenly Father’s parenting. God’s loving grace and His timely discipline provide the model of balance we need in raising our boys to be Godly men.

Lastly, the reality is that we can’t do this alone. Prayerlessness is a dependency on oneself. After all, if we can tackle this on our own, then there’s no need to ask for help and intervention.

But let’s get real. We know we’re helpless in our flesh. Prayer, at its essence, is admitting this, looking to the Father, and asking Him to do the work for us and through us. Bringing our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord requires our energy to be spent there.

When all is said and done, may the sum of our life be one spent and bathed in prayer.

Read the first installment of the Raising Boys to Become Men series here.

Michael Kuehni currently serves as an elder at Peninsula Community Chapel, Yorktown, Virginia, and as a Colonel in the USAF. He is a Virginia native, a UVA grad, and has an M.A. in Theological Studies from Liberty University. He has been married to his bride, Jamie, for 20 years, and they have three children, 17, 15, and 7. In his spare time he loves meeting with and discipling young men.

“Christian”—What Does it Mean?

Posted on August 5, 2024 | by Sadie Aldaya

By Lauren Gideon

“Christian”—what does it mean? The use of the word “Christian” in modern vernacular is quite perplexing to me. It functions as both an adjective and a noun, but at its inception, it was solely used to describe or rename people. Christianity.com published this piece that speaks to the term’s origin, “Scholars say ‘Christian’ comes from the Greek word christianos, meaning ‘little Christ.'” Stories say the term was used as a jeer, as their enemies would poke fun at them by calling them diminutive versions of their Savior, as in, “Look at those little Christs.”

The adjective is first used in Acts 11:26

“And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.”

The term is used two more times in Scripture:

“And Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.'” Acts 26:28

“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” 1 Peter 4:16

Defining “Christian”

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Christian as:

adjective: Christian

relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings. “the Christian Church”

noun: Christian; plural noun: Christians

a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Christianity. “a born again Christian”

At some point, the term went from describing and renaming just people to other things and ideas.

Why did this happen?

How can inanimate and abstract nouns be “Christian?”

Is this conversation even worth anyone’s time?

How and why we use the word “Christian” matters

How and why we use the word “Christian” matters because our usage has the potential to be ambiguous, misleading, counterproductive, and perhaps tyrannical and abusive. That is assuredly raising eyebrows. If we don’t view everything through the lens of this one adjective, surely I must be a secularist, and my argument will serve to disparage the gospel! Or will it?

I often hear talk about a thing being called “Christian.” You could call anything Christian, whether it pertains to justice, punishment, civil government, individual sovereignty, parental rights, foreign policy, benevolence, responsibility, or even gravity, trigonometry, music, or art. I am not sure what this means when you describe a thing this way. It could mean the idea was communicated by someone who claims to be a Christian. It also could mean that the assigner of this attribute believes the object to be true.

Additionally, “Christian” could mean that the speaker believes the topic should rest within the church’s jurisdiction. This is what I mean when I say the term has the potential to be ambiguous. I am left to wonder, what about this thing is “Christian”; its origin, its jurisdiction, or its nature? If I am unclear about what aspect is being described, there is plenty of room to be misled or to mislead.

If the modifier “Christian” simply means that a thing is true (Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6), any true idea would be a Christian idea. Consequently, any time a truth is spoken, it would be “Christian,” whether it is spoken by an atheist or a pastor. Conversely, any untruth would be an anti-Christian idea, whether it is spoken by an atheist or a pastor.

Since this word is ambiguous, and it is unclear if we are modifying content or context, we frequently miss out on truths from unexpected places and accept lies from places in which we have let our guard down—all because of this “Christian” label.

My last point is that using the name of Christ in the word Christian has the potential to be tyrannical or abusive. Why do I say this? Well, for those who recognize Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this type of adjective is authoritative. It implicates and obligates us if the nature of the idea does flow from Christ and reflects his nature, expectations, and authority. If you choose to label something as “Christian,” you are using the name of Christ to prop up your argument. If you have the grounds to do so, proceed with extreme caution. If you do not have the grounds to do so, could you not be found guilty of using the Lord’s name in vain? Exodus 20:7

Why would anyone take this risk?

We do it all the time!

We are all born into contexts that rub off on us. I think the Holman Christian Standard Bible version says it best when it warns us in Romans 12, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” For some of us, the “age” we were born into was full of religious-sounding power-grabbing language, and it is incumbent upon us not to be pressed into that mold. Furthermore, we must all confess that our culture has not embraced the beauty of flexing our rational faculties. Many of us are not equipped to defend and argue how we should be, so we subconsciously default to authoritative trump cards.

Last, and most dangerous, are those who would purposely leverage the authority of Christ where they shouldn’t because of the pervasive fallen nature that plagues all of humanity. Abigail Adams, in her typical direct manner, said, “Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.” While she may have spoken specifically of males, I think we could agree that this proclivity also affects women.

This is what Augustine (The City of God) so aptly named the lust for dominance, and we all have it— all politicians, pastors, podcasters, Sunday school teachers, lawyers, doctors, plumbers and teachers! So when we speak of that which is Christian or hear someone else leverage that term, it is our obligation to say, “But is it? And why is it?”

There is an alternative

Philippians 4:8 gives us some practical objective adjectives to use instead.

^“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Choose to use objective merit-based adjectives and defend them well. In the classical tradition, we argue for what is true, good, and beautiful, and we can be confident that when we find these things, we will also find Christ! But beware of those who will skip the work of reason to persuade you in other ways.

Let us beg God for discernment in what we hear and what we say.

“Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right.” Charles Spurgeon

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Read Lauren’s other blog contributions.

Lauren Gideon is the Director of Public Relations for Classical Conversations^®. She has been a home educator since her first student was born 18 years ago. She came to Classical Conversations for support when the student count in their home grew beyond what she thought she could navigate on her own. In addition to homeschooling her seven children, she co-leads community classes that unpack our nation’s founding documents and civic responsibility. However, she is happiest at home, preferably outside, with her husband of 18 years, tackling their newest adventure of building a modern homestead.

Raising Boys to Become Men: Ceremonies

Posted on July 31, 2024 | by Jennifer Bright | 7 Comments

By Jonathan Ashmore

Let me first say that no number of rules, or “dad sermons” (as my kids call them), will have much effect in planting the Gospel in our sons’ hearts if we ourselves are not first drinking from the wellspring of Christ.

There are many tools for developing manhood in your son’s life, but let me emphasize the power of one in particular—ceremonies.

Put Away Childish Things

I did not grow up in a family that intentionally put my brothers and me through any official ceremonies to celebrate becoming men. However, I did experience the value of a thriving Boy Scout community.

Looking back, I recall the many lessons instilled in me through tent camping, hiking, backpacking, and cooking over fires in the freezing Michigan winters alongside other boys and young men with their fathers. Together, we watched these fathers and leaders guide, sacrifice, and teach us. In our cohort, we also watched them debate Christian principles and biblical ideas around the campfire. Boy Scouts used ceremonies to mark the growth in leadership as scouts matured from boys to men.

NOTE: All readers should be aware of the significant cultural, ethical, and moral changes the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have implemented throughout the years. Be advised that these shifts are significant rejections of Christian morals and a Christian worldview. In response, Trail Life has provided a better alternative to BSA. For more information, please see this response article to BSA’s recent name change.

Fast-forward to adulthood, and now I have two sons. I want to give them a similar chance to step through different “levels” of maturity. As a young father, I was exposed to the book Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis. Lewis discusses an intentional multi-ceremonial process of escorting your boy into manhood by giving him goals, a masculine vision of godly leadership, an uncompromising code of conduct, and a noble cause. This was precisely what I wanted for my boys.

1 Corinthians 13:11 tells us that children speak and think as children, yet when they become men, they should put away childish things. If this is true, how can we do this aptly and at the appropriate time?

Today’s culture is filled with young men who have not been taught to take responsibility for their actions, inactions, or passivity. Just the other day, I witnessed just such passivity and immaturity. A young man in his early 20s pulled up to the gas pump beside me but stayed in the driver’s seat on his phone. A minute later, an older woman, presumably his mother, pulled into the pump in front of him and proceeded to pay for his gas and pump it for him. Of course, all the while, he sat selfishly on his phone.

Modern society grieves me quite a bit. I am saddened by today’s young men as we are fighting a battle for their souls. As fathers and father figures, it is our job to teach boys to lead courageously, sacrifice boldly, seek truth, and submit to the Lordship of Jesus.

“Our objective as moms and dads is to transform our sons from immature and flighty youngsters into honest, caring men who will be respectful of women, loyal and faithful in marriage, keepers of commitments, strong and decisive leaders, good workers, and men who are secure in their masculinity.” ― James C. Dobson, Bringing Up Boys

Commemorate and Commission with Ceremony

Ceremonies are a way of commemorating clearly to our sons when and how to step from boyhood into manhood. A boy must know what it means to act and speak like a man. He needs to have a picture of how a man walks in faith, how he is exhorted by the word of God, and how to humble himself and give his life for his family and friends. Having a clear vision of manhood helps godly men hold their sons accountable for carrying out that vision.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of including other godly men in the ceremony with your sons. Having other men speak truth to your boy reinforces what we, as parents, are teaching. I have had many opportunities to remind my son that his uncles, grandfathers, youth pastors, and other men in his life are pointing him to the same truth that his father is.

Grasping this, I organized a manhood ceremony with my son when he turned 14. There is no “right age,” but Robert Lewis does suggest a handful of ceremonies at specific ages. Ceremonies in the 11-13 years help point your boy to a vision of manhood, while ceremonies in the mid-to-upper teens help him live out his God-given vision.

Since my oldest son matured physically and spiritually quicker than many, I planned a ceremony for when he turned 14 years old, with the purpose of marking God’s calling on his life. 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 provided the foundation of the ceremony and the commission to him as a young man.

These verses include:

A man’s responsibility toward fellow Christians is to warn the unruly, comfort the fainthearted, help the weak, show patience with all, enforce justice, and pursue what is good.
A man’s responsibility toward God is to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances as he seeks to know God’s will through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Lastly, it reminds men that they are not on a manhood journey alone; God Himself is the One who is sanctifying them and preserving them until Jesus returns.

We root our vision of manhood to our sons in Scripture because it is not “dad’s idea” but truths from God’s word.

Ceremonies Can be Powerful Reminders

God routinely commanded His people to remember His mighty works through ceremonies. Today, such ceremonies are used in the church similarly (e.g., we have powerful reminders today of our redemption in Christ through baptism and communion).

Placing a memorable ceremony in our sons’ lives helps us remind them of the commitment they made to live as godly men. May God give you a vision for your sons that can be firmly cemented in ceremony. May He also use these ceremonies to build them up as men who trust Christ’s finished work and become confident in their responsibility to Him.

The more we allow God’s word to permeate our hearts, the more our sons will see and emulate our behavior. The old saying that “more is caught than taught” is true in my family. Often, the negative aspects of my children’s character are manifestations of my own shortcomings. However, by God’s grace and through His patient work, we can become the kind of fathers our sons should emulate.

Let me say a quick word to fatherless families wondering how to raise boys to be men without a dad in the home. Although an in-home figure is absent, God has likely provided father figures to influence your boys. Neighbors, men at church, uncles, and friends are there to help. You are not alone on this journey, so be bold and ask them for support. And yes, it may take more than one influence to assist with this void, but integrating your boys into a community of men who can show them how godly men live is crucial.

Jonathan Ashmore is the father of two boys, 17 and 11, and two girls, 14 and 10, and has been faithfully married for 21 years. He has a BS in Computational Mathematics from Hillsdale College and is working on a graduate degree in Apologetics and Evangelism from Dallas Theological Seminary. During his 20-year USMC career as a pilot, he and his wife have been passionate about raising godly children and helping families with marriages and child-rearing. There is no higher calling than raising boys and girls to be faithful Christian men and women. Raising strong men who reject passivity and lead courageously following Christ’s example is crucial to a thriving Christian community.

Meltdown: A Reflection

Posted on May 1, 2024 | by Sadie Aldaya

By Paul Bright

The Worst Meltdown in History

Recently, I had the privilege of watching the dramatic miniseries Chernobyl, an interpretation of the events surrounding the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl. The series is a horrifying presentation of the arrogance of man, not in the pursuit of science, but in the self-deception of his own pride at pushing the limits of known quantifiers while placing a false faith in a failsafe that can be readily pushed at any moment if something goes wrong.

The Critical Moment of Explosion and Meltdown

As the personal ambition of men pushed a dangerous test, administered by unqualified persons with incoherent instructions, the moment began when the reactor surged out of control. The nuclear engineers, thinking that the boron control rods could instantly be lowered into the out-of-control mix of xenon gas, radioactive uranium, and superheated water, pushed the failsafe button, AZ-5. All the control rods, which should have instantly stopped the nuclear reaction, caused it to explode. The reason? The boron rods themselves, were defectively made. The result was an explosion of the nuclear core, the ejection of nuclear material and radiation, and death and destruction, which no words in a simple paragraph could describe. Obviously, this article will use “meltdown” metaphorically, not literally.

The Arrogance of Unbounded Liberty

All motives and decisions of life individually and together are driven, it seems, by what is uncritically defined as a yearning for liberty. Assuming that the yearning itself is always good, the human spirit pushes ever closer to the edge of every limiting agent to find its ultimate expression of freedom.

“It is unbounded, uncontrolled, and uncontained. It is radioactive libertinism.”

It is unbounded, uncontrolled, and uncontained. It is radioactive libertinism. Whether this occurs in an individual’s mind, the family unit, in church, or in government and culture, the pursuit of liberty for liberty’s sake is justified, celebrated, and pursued. Slogans abound as eternal testaments to liberty, in Declarations of Independence, in state mottos, on statues, in art, and by echo chamber populists. While simultaneously praising liberty, these depictions are flooded with the vilification of authority. And thus, over time, in the conscience of man, in the family, in the church, and in the government and culture, the building up of heat and friction, hatred, anger, vainglory, and self-centeredness start emitting as radioactive fuel, damaging rather than energizing. The control rods of authority are unnecessary, unneeded, unwanted, and counter the nature of the progress of liberty.

The Deception of Instantaneous Authority

And once the danger of the radioactive liberty is seen, the voice of men start calling for instantaneous solutions to halt the ever-growing, out-of-control trend. Demagogues and autocrats rush down into the mix. They present themselves as the only ones who can stop the destruction, and capitalize on every misfortune and evil deed to expand even more influence and power for themselves. Churches become dominated and ruled, not by those who understand the words of Christ that the greatest of these are the least of all and a slave, but the greatest of these are those who are like the gentiles, ruling and reigning and exalting themselves over others. Because God needs His strong leaders on earth, not an absent king in heaven. Families are no longer examples of sacrifice and voluntary submission for the nurture, admonition, and edification of all, but an extinguishing experience of excision from all relationships that exasperates everyone.

“Families are no longer examples of sacrifice and voluntary submission for the nurture, admonition, and edification of all, but an extinguishing experience of excision from all relationships that exasperates everyone.”

Man replaces general welfare for others with the false righteousness of self-love, self-care, and self-rest under the auspices of self-improvement while at the same time being overly critical about other’s selfishness and never understanding why self-inwardness never satisfies.

The Explosion

But, just like Chernobyl, the authorities operating as independent instantaneous solutions are defective themselves. When Israel wanted a king like all the other nations after centuries of direct salvation by God through judges against the “liberty of man” for idolatry, He warned them how the king would abuse his authority and consolidate riches, power, possessions, and glory for himself at their expense. Everything God said came to pass exactly and repeatedly. The results were a divided kingdom, war, generational animosity, violence, and the final covenantal curse of the discipline of losing their nation. This explosive ejection and meltdown are the inevitable ends for the present course of our country, churches, families, and ourselves.

The radioactive liberty in the heart of man is not squelched, but instead, the authoritarianism accelerates the whole toxic and heated and destructive mix of rebellion. The explosion, ejection, and meltdown happen once the unconstrained pursuit of liberty is pushed to its very edge as a human right. At the same time, the desire for immediate, instantaneous authority slams down into the whole reactor of men’s hearts. Boom!

“The radioactive liberty in the heart of man is not squelched, but instead, the authoritarianism accelerates the whole toxic and heated and destructive mix of rebellion. The explosion, ejection, and meltdown happen once the unconstrained pursuit of liberty is pushed to its very edge as a human right.”

How to Prevent a Meltdown

What can stop the explosion, ejection, and meltdown of all good things that one receives from the image of God in oneself, in families, in churches, and in government? The answer seems easy, but requires an impossible work that one cannot achieve for oneself.

The first answer is not to pursue liberty as the most basic of all human rights. The great lie from the enemy of all is to pursue liberty because it is good and beautiful and true, and the only One who is worthy of all authority is none of those things and should never be trusted, loved, believed, and obeyed. Changing that in the heart of man is not a human work. It cannot be achieved by a desire for self-improvement. It is not natural to humans. To liberate oneself and enslave others is human; to serve others and enslave oneself is divine. Therefore, repent from the idea that the purpose of man is liberty uncontained.

The second answer is to understand that liberty and authority are interrelational and interdependent. The cultural tenet that liberty and authority are mutually exclusive and should only be used as such is a faith in a failsafe that does not exist. Liberty drives invention, imagination, and service towards a progress of edification and unity. Authority regulates the tendency of liberty to go beyond the beneficial into self-determinationism. Liberty challenges the tendency of authority to go beyond the protection of all to willful edicts and aggrandizement. This is what checks and balances should mean.

Finally, the third answer is that the solution itself might be slow. Patience in re-establishing the balance between liberty and authority might take time and effort. Instruction in the nature of liberty and authority in all spheres of the image of God (conscience, family, church, and nation) should be intimately connected with a biblical anthropology and a robust understanding of hamartiology.

The divine work of balance between liberty and authority will happen in one heart, one family, one church, and then one nation.

Paul Bright currently works in the field of Biotechnology. He is a native of Evansville, IN, and an alumnus of Purdue University and The Master’s Seminary. Paul was a Systematic Theology and Ancient Hebrew professor in Samara, Russia. He and his wife, Jennifer, homeschooled their daughter all the way through high school and currently reside in Covington, Louisiana. You can read Paul’s other contributions here.

Good Friday: It is Finished!

Posted on March 27, 2024 | by Jennifer Bright

By Edward Murray

How could that Friday be good?

Let’s be honest: to call the day of Jesus’ crucifixion “good” is counterintuitive and sounds odd to the watching world. How can we call a day marked by suffering and mourning “good”? How can we say that a bloody cross is “good”?

Yet, this day most definitely is good, because it marks the most powerful and momentous weekend in history! This is the weekend that all of history points to – where the world was changed forever!

On this day a couple millennia ago, Jesus paid for our sins and rose from the dead, showing the world that the grave has no hold on him. Moreover, for those who are marked by Christ, his resurrection serves as an eternal receipt, proving that their debt is completely paid.

Without the cross, there is no gospel

You can’t have Christianity without the cross. Sure, Jesus is a great teacher, whom we must learn from and model our lives after, but if we don’t have the cross, we don’t have the gospel. If we don’t have a real resurrection of the eternal Son of God in bodily form, occurring in real-time history, then everything is meaningless.

“You can’t have Christianity without the cross.”

Spanning the gospels, one will find various angles recorded of the cross. Yet, in one account recorded by the apostle John, we see Jesus lifting the battle cry that Good Friday points to: “It is Finished!” Not only is THIS the most relieving statement anyone has made in history, but it’s quite possibly the most powerful sermon ever preached, and only with three words.

“…So they took Jesus, ¹⁷and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. ¹⁹Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” ²²Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written…”

²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” ²⁹A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. ³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:16-30 (ESV)

The Christian’s rest and relief extends into eternity

One of the hardest things I’ve ever accomplished in life was when I earned my master’s degree. Of course, suffering is relative, but academics don’t come naturally to me. I had to work very hard to get to graduation. And I can still recall how I felt the day I walked across the stage to receive my degree and relish knowing it was finished! Whatever relative turmoil and trial any of us have faced in life to arrive at a proverbial finish line, Jesus’ “finishing” takes that temporal rest and relief, multiplies it by infinity, and extends it to eternity!

In our passage, one of the key things to focus on is the apostle’s recording in v. 28: “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst.’”

What does John mean when he says that this scene occurred to ‘fulfill the scripture’?

To answer this question, John alludes to Psalm 22 with Jesus’ reception of sour wine and his garments being divided. However, one of the most significant elements of this passage comes from John’s mention of the hyssop branch (v. 29).

Don’t miss the significance of these elements leading us towards Jesus’ final breath that Friday. With the hyssop branch, John points us to the primary aim of Christ’s mission. It reminds us of the atoning blood sprinkled during Israel’s Passover celebration: God required blood to cover his people, so that their blood wouldn’t be required as the cost for their sins.

In Exodus 12:22, we read about the first Passover. In order to escape the penalty of the final plague, God’s people were to “take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts…” Additionally, this was likely David’s allusion when he confessed, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)

At the Passover, the threat of judgment – a final plague – loomed over all the people, both Egyptians and Israelites. It didn’t matter which people group they belonged to. To escape wrath, the blood of an unblemished lamb was required by hyssop to paint the entrance to one’s house.

By turning to Jesus, you can look to that Friday and say, “It is Finished! It is complete! My debt has been paid, and my sin is atoned for!”

There are only two options:

(1) You pay the penalty of the plague.

or…

(2) A substitute pays the penalty of the plague.

To put this another way, when Jesus received the sour wine with hyssop, the Lord of the universe proclaimed that he finished in real time what the Passover only pictured and typified.

You and I have an eternal debt that we cannot pay. We have sinned before the Holy Eternal Triune God of the universe, but Jesus’ proclamation is that he has finished his work, and the threat of judgment can be spared and atoned for if you look to him as your substitute. By turning to Jesus, you can look to that Friday and say, “It is Finished! It is complete! My debt has been paid, and my sin is atoned for!”

And, keep in mind, Jesus doesn’t say that it is potentially finished, but that it is actually finished! Elaborating on this would take a whole other series, but for now, it can be said that this is a beautiful mystery. Jesus fully atoned for the sins of his people over two thousand years ago, and on that day, when he said, “It IS finished!” he declared this for all who ever have and ever will call on him.

“Believe this, rest in this, and proclaim this!”

The worst day in history was the best day in history

That Friday was good! And this coming Friday, when we look back to his crucifixion, we can mourn the sin of the world and the punishment it deserves, while at the same time proclaiming the goodness of that day.

Dear Christian, remember the truth this week. Believe this, rest in this, and proclaim this! At the cross, Jesus completed the task and proclaimed that it is finished!

And when you’re done remembering Friday, remember that he rose on the third day, which changes everything.

Edward Murray currently serves as Manager of Special Projects and Policy Research for Classical Conversations® and The Homeschool Freedom Action Center. He is a native of Augusta, GA, and an alumnus of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC, where he earned his M.Div. He lives in Newport News, VA, with his wife and three children.

A young man bowing his head down on a church alter at sunset

Behold, How Sinners Disagree

Posted on February 12, 2024 | by Sadie Aldaya

by Paul Bright

The following is a modified and expanded version of Isaac Watt’s Behold, How Sinners Disagree, which was composed for the purpose of discipling our hearts into humility and grace.

Behold! How sinners disagree		
The Publican and Pharisee
One does his righteousness proclaim.
The other owns his guilt and shame.

This one brazen rises near the throne,
Standing proud, sure, and alone
He thanks God to accuse the rest,
And vaunts the duties he did best

That one in humble posture stands
Pierced by holy, divine commands
Liable, he cries out in contrition,
And smites the chest in confession. 

The Lord their different language knows
And different answers He bestows.
The humble soul He with mercy crowns
Whilst on the proud His anger frowns.

Dear Father!  Let me never be
Joined with boasting Pharisee;
Scorn not the crimes of other men
nor from unjust lips my deeds defend.

With fear of God let me quake
And my offenses propitiate!
I have no merits of mine own
But plead the substitution of the Son!

And I go home by price blood-bought
Justly forgiven and faithfully washed
From the Advocate exalted on high
Who humbled Himself once-for-all to die.

Praise to the Father! Praise to the Son!
Praise to the Spirit!  The Three-in-One!
O Praise all the heavens!  Esteem Him Again!
Praise, O My Whole Soul.  Forever and amen!

Paul Bright also contributed the blog “Swamp Fire: A Reflection” which was published on January 24, 2024.

a dark silhouette of the back of a person watching a blazing fire

Swamp Fire: A Reflection

Posted on January 24, 2024 | by Jennifer Bright

By Paul Bright

You Know It’s Hot When the Swamp is On Fire

Driving to a vacation spot this summer for our annual sabbatical at the beach, my wife and I were on Interstate 12 near Stennis at the border between Louisiana and Mississippi. Like much of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, this area is filled with wetlands, bayous, creeks, cricks, rivers, and overgrowth that rivals any dystopian, apocalyptic movie. And it was on fire. A burn ban had been in place for quite some time, but the extended heat of the summer and the lack of rain had turned the vegetation into a tinderbox. The flames had jumped from the westbound lanes, through the median, and onto the eastbound lanes. Thick smoke filled the whole area, making visibility impossible and covering everything with soot and charred smell. In my characteristic deadpan humor, I turned to my wife and said, “You know it’s hot when the swamp is on fire.”

A Quick Laugh and Further Reflection

Only my wife can chuckle at such dry humor. However, the conditions for a fire in a swamp were clear and longstanding due to the combination of neglect, rebellion, and environment. The surprise of driving through a swamp fire was humorous and ironic, in that it illustrates the swamp fire of Western Culture. But what are some of the conditions that lead to the blazing chaos that is burning through our culture, and why are there so few Christians who seem unaware or willing to do anything?

The Putrid Soil of Idealism

Idealism, philosophically defined, is the theory of epistemology that teaches that the mind forms reality. Historically, idealism arose from pursuing rationalism during the Enlightenment in thinkers such as Hegel, Leibnitz, and, to a lesser extent, Kant. In the proponents that followed the Enlightenment, pure subjective idealism became not merely Optimism but also a teaching that the mind does not create the idea but the thing itself. Thus, pure subjective idealism results in the creation of the thing directly. Through the power of the mind, man creates the very thing imagined by thought. The subject creates through noumena (from the Greek word, nous, “mind”). “The duality of the matter and mind,” as Bavinck surmised, has been “denied, and the thing and the representation of the thing, being and thinking, are viewed essentially as one.” ¹

The Voracious Weeds in the Swamp

Pure subjective idealism infected Christianity directly through the charlatans of the Word-Faith movement and continues in a more mass-appealing form in the hucksters peddling the prosperity gospel, where the conjoined sins of self-worship and greed increasingly breed ever-blasphemous pronouncements in the name of Christ. The recent history of Western Christianity is dominated by these popular teraphim (from the ancient Hebrew, “false idols”) that are adored and emulated. There is a headlong rush toward any living savior who can speak of money, fame, and celebrity as a blessing. Their numbers are only limited to how quickly followers can heap on teachers. Their influence is only limited by their opportunity to jump from a smaller idolatrous family to a whole tribe (Judges 17-18). They are weeds, all. Truly, truly, they are cursed directly by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:24-26).

The Impenetrable Undergrowth

Growing unchecked out of this idealism is the regurgitated anthropological teaching that the affections are granted a substance and an epistemological and moral priority. Feelings are given a “soul” with an unyielding, undiminishable, and immutable authority. Feelings are an abiding revelation, a self-originating, self-authenticating, self-interpreting impetus, as base and necessary to existence as breathing air. Thus, feelings are presented as a prius (from Latin, “a prior thing”), not a posterius (from Latin, “a following thing”). Feelings internal and subjective are the ousia (from Greek, “substance”) and hyparchis (from Greek, “abiding presence”) and are, similarly, necessarily detached from phenomena (Greek from phenoo, “I observe”). The new category is aesthemena (Greek from aesthima, “feeling”).

Swamp Undergrowth is Not a Garden

This affectional ratio ad vitam (Latin for ‘meaning for life’) corrupted historic Christian theology by a deceptively disastrous mutation in the skewed recharacterization of God’s love as eros (from Greek, “sensual love”), not agape (from Greek, “love by choice”). Popularized by multiple, respected, well-studied, philosophical, historical, and exegetical preachers and teachers, the apex of Christian virtue became “Glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” Feelings as motive, as drive, as the substance was drunk in, as living water. Passion and pleasure were put forward in man and God as the only true achievement, embodiment, and reciprocation of glory. Anything of will and duty is of works and baseless and useless. Rather than growing a well-tended garden, the result was an entangling, unstable, impenetrable overgrowth of affectional mass. Undergrowth is not beautiful, and it was part of the curse (Genesis 3:18). Man was never designed by God to be led by affections.

The Match Was Thrown

Is it any wonder that the current cultural climate is one where the mind exhibits and engages in pure subjective irrationality from the prius of the feelings? This is why debates based on phenomena and logic are rejected immediately, comprehensively, and violently based on feelings. The person who believes that the mind is an organ of feelings that stimulate the creation of reality is irrationally enslaved. These persons will go to great lengths to subjugate their thoughts and the observable world around them to conform to their feelings. These persons must create from the inside out, from the affections as the source, through the mind as means, to the outside, as the transformative object. These have made themselves as Deity in their feelings, to which any, and eventually all, must prostrate in obedience.

The Fire Consumes and Is Healthy?

However, in order to create, these persons must first destroy. They will destroy all norms, whether individual or societal, amoral or moral, religious or civil. Worse still, this destruction and recreation is repackaged as a necessary mental health crisis for these individuals when the world outside of them does not immediately conform to their idealism. This explains why their verbal and material reactions include radical outbursts of violence and, contradictorily, simultaneously and exclusively, claim themselves to be recipients of violence. You have, in their reality, assaulted their most complete and necessary substance and being.

Where there is Fire, there is Smoke

The pursuit of this idolatry will destroy them internally as well as raze relationships, morals, institutions, and societies. The consequences of idealism are already observed and experienced in the institutions of society through education, government, employment, military, health services, the family, and religion. The planned destruction through idealism is combined with the blatant realignment of the historic political foundation of our country. Marxism, at its roots, views man as tolpa (Russian for “herd”). The target of Marxism has always been and will be the most innocent and vulnerable…children. Familial, ecclesiastical, educational, technological, governmental, and societal fumes will billow from the smoldering miasma of this Idealism and Marxism.

Putting out the Fire Through the Promise of Repentance

The only recourse for change is direct confrontation. Exposure of the insane irrationality comes through the proclamation of the objective revelation written in the Scriptures. There is hope that the convicting work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-11) will shatter the illusion of self-deification. The promises of God to work for regeneration seen in true repentance have never been revoked.

Growing Anew

Corporately, Christians should pursue the position of illuminator and preserver (light and salt) through soberness, prayerfulness, engagement, and, as is customary in the course of Christian history, a willingness to suffer. It behooves Christians to live circumspectly, pure, clean, and with holy wisdom that comes down from the Father of Lights. Also, Christians should actively prune the undergrowth of this idealism and live worshipfully with the rich communities established on the Reformed doctrines of grace, which oppose idealism. Finally, Christian parents need to understand that the current culture fire is specifically designed to disintegrate their God-given position and responsibility as moral teachers and examples in the minds, hearts, and souls of their children in all respects. So, parents must make a choice and act. What will you choose to do?

Paul Bright currently works in the field of Biotechnology. He is a native of Evansville, IN, and an alumnus of Purdue University and The Master’s Seminary. He was a Systematic Theology and Ancient Hebrew professor in Samara, Russia. He and his wife, Jennifer, homeschooled their daughter all the way through high school and currently reside in Covington, Louisiana.

Herman Bavink, Reformed Dogmatics. Vol. 1. (MI: Baker Academic, 2003), p. 216. ↩︎

beautifully jeweled crowns sitting on red cushions

The Perfect Monarchy

Posted on January 10, 2024 | by Jennifer Bright

By Lauren Gideon

As I write this blog on New Year’s Day, I can’t help but take note of the colliding spheres of meaning in our holidays and in our politics. At this moment, firmly nested in between Advent and Epiphany, the entire focus of this season revolves around celebrating the arrival of the Holy Monarchy. Even people, whose consciences are opposed to recognizing December 25 for historical reasons, still revere the significance of the incarnation of the Eternal King.

Where Did Monarchy Come From?

The word “king” first appears in Genesis 14. In this chapter, nine kings are listed in the conflict that transpires. Four kings and their kingdoms wage war on the other five. When Lot and his household are captured, Abram is forced to intervene. At the end of the chapter, we learn about the King of Salem, Melchizedek, who was also a priest of the Most High God. This conflict happened around 1866 BC.

Other historical documents teach us about Namer, the first King in Egypt, who ruled around 3150 BC, and Enmebaragesi, King of Kish, in northern Babylonia, c. 2700 BC.

We have no record of God establishing a monarchy until 1 Samuel 8 (c. 1052 BC).

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah ⁵and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:4-9 ESV)

According to this passage, the people initiated the conversation and requested a king, and their request was an act of rejection. When God calls himself the people’s king, one question was whether he was defining monarchy or leveraging a term already a part of the ancient vocabulary.

God’s granting of their request was an act of revelation and consequence. In Samuel 12:17, Samuel gives the people a sign.

¹⁷ “Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.”

And the people responded with confession,

¹⁹And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”

God Still Gave a King

But this did not stop God from giving the people what they requested. This would begin the parade of Hebrew kings.

What is important to conclude is that just because God established a human monarchy does not change the fact that the request was an act of rejection and a wicked act. There is a sentiment among some Christians that because a human king ruled God’s chosen people and God directed the process of establishing the monarchy, this must mean that the Hebrew monarchy was good. However, the text is very clear about how God frames the event. It is essential to distinguish what God allows from what He calls good.

This confusion has continued throughout time. Much of classical liberalism literature was drafted in the 17th century in opposition to the Divine Rights theory. King James I of England (1603–25), who commissioned and was the namesake of the 1611 English translation of the Bible, was the foremost exponent of the divine right of kings.¹

Sir Robert Filmer wrote an essential piece of literature on the divine rights theory in the early 17th century (published in 1680). A key aspect of his argument was that he claimed, “God Governed Always by Monarchy.”

John Locke and his contemporaries spent their lives untangling this mess, drawing on their observations of history and human nature. Do you know what they discovered? To summarize, they unpacked what scripture had always been saying:

¹⁰ as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God.
¹²All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good,
not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12 ESV)

Paul’s words in Romans directly echo both Psalm 14 and Psalm 53.

None on Earth is Worthy

What scripture teaches us is that none on Earth is worthy. We have no non-wicked option to set up as a king! Additionally, all humanity is equal in merit. Each individual is an image bearer of Christ and possesses a totally depraved nature. Thus, these two questions must always be asked, “Who among us is worthy to rule someone else?” and “Who among us deserves to be ruled by another fallen human?”

In Thomas Jefferson’s first Inaugural Address, he deals with this issue: “Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.”

These age-old questions were addressed at the inception of our nation after centuries of debate and historical case studies. In our nation’s oldest official document, the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson penned these words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”— a direct affront to the divine rights theory!

Disclaimer: Although articulated and directed towards the monarchy, the elephant in the room is that while the young nation could see the injustice of the monarchy, some did not see the obvious egregious direct parallel with the slave trade. (And let’s not join in the hypocrisy by thinking our generation is the first that neither is ruled nor subjugated. There are many mechanisms of control in place based on the false premise that one “knows better” or that we ought to protect people from themselves.)

If we are to live in civility with equals, how is that possible? How can we honor the reality that no human is worthy to rule another human?

The answer to that question and a philosophical cornerstone for our constitutional republic is that “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Our system was one in which we fundamentally confessed humanity’s wickedness and inadequacies and acknowledged the injustice that occurs when one human is subjected to another. With violence, we threw off the shackles and injustice of the British Monarchy, and the United States of America was born.

And here we sit, 247 years later, contemplating and celebrating the advent of the Holy Monarchy, the king born in a stable over 2000 years ago. Is there any chance 21st-century Americans might need to attend to their conflicting thoughts on monarchy?

How Can Christ be King, and Monarchy be Imperfect?

Human monarchies are only imperfect because humans fall short. When God was preparing Adam for Eve, God first paraded all the “not-Eves” in front of Adam.

¹⁸Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” ¹⁹ Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. (Genesis 2:18-20 ESV)

Throughout history, a similar event has been unfolding from the ancient Kings, through the Hebrew kings, to the modern kings; a parade of unworthy counterfeits march across the pages of time. Their shortcomings cultivate an awareness and a yearning for what is missing. We realize that we must suffer through chaos, which is humans’ best attempt at justice, while we eagerly await the good, worthy and just King who is to come. The stage has been set for us now, the same as God did for Adam.

How do we rectify this as thankful Americans? The beauty within the American system is wrapped up in the humility and confession that no one here on earth is worthy and that each individual has dignity and deserves justice as an image bearer of Christ. As long as we embrace, manifest, and teach these principles, we are a living confession to the truth of our human condition and our need for the True King, and we live out the mandate in Micah 6:8 (ESV).

⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

How Can I Embrace the Monarchy That Is?

The advent of the coming of Christ the King is problematic for our human limitations. We know that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit…

Born of the virgin Mary (First Advent)

On the third day, he rose again from the dead.

He ascended to heaven (Ascension)

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From there, he will come to judge the living and the dead (Second Advent)

In all this coming and going and coming again, do we forget that the “Kingdom of Christ is at hand”? That our King stands outside of space and time? That his rule is eternal and that we are eternal souls? Consider this reminder from Colossians 3:15 (ESV).

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.”

For in all these things, there is much to celebrate, and we can sing along with this old song with a new appreciation.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

-Charles Wesley

Lauren Gideon is the Director of Public Relations for Classical Conversations. She co-leads and teaches through an organization committed to raising citizenship IQ on U.S. founding documents. She and her husband homeschool their seven children on their small acreage, where they are enjoying their new adventures in homesteading.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/divine-right-of-kings ↩︎