Thank You Note for a Senator

Dear Senator Davis,

I want to give a hearty thank-you for your filibuster of the Texas omnibus pro-life bill, SB 5.

If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to burn my baby to death by saline injection.
If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to slice her out of my body piece by piece by D and C.
If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to crush her skull with forceps to remove her annoying little body from mine.

What kind of knuckle-dragging troglodyte would come between a woman and her right to kill? And what's their problem with Comfort Care? If the unfortunate little soul still happens to be alive after all the burning and dismemberment, she gets put on a steel cookie sheet and covered with a blanket until she has the decency to die. I think that's just precious!!!

But thanks to you, SB 5 failed to pass. Every time I saw your little blond head bobbing up and down and your big 'ol mouth droning on...and on...and on...well, it just made me proud to be a woman. Yes ma'am, way to keep the ultimate child predators safe and legal!!!

When I become a senator, I want to be a minion of the Powers of Darkness, too!
Just.like.you.

Hugs,
Ditzy Chick for Choice

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As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat.
His clothing was as white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool;
His throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued and came out from before Him.
A thousand thousands served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him;
The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. Daniel 7:9-10

Philosophers and Fools

So I had this class back in college. I can't remember the title exactly, but it was something like "Communication Rhetoric." Being at that time only a twenty-year-old, future homeschooling mom, I wasn't familiar with the term 'rhetoric.' But it was a head-banging, frustrating study of modern 'philosophers' who poured all their energy into talking about precisely nothing. If it wasn't required for my major, I would have dropped it. As the only believer in the class, I just couldn't figure out what anyone else found so compelling in all this navel-gazing...

...which brings me to Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner.
Well.
That was painful.

What I have a problem with is not the study of philosophy. That is a worthy pursuit for people who want to understand the course of our culture, who want to love God with all their mind. What I have a problem with is a study of philosophy which is not grounded by Truth.

But first, let me tell you about the other problems I have with Sophie's World. As a novel, it falls flat. The plot is so bizarre, it feels like something from the Twilight Zone. The characters are dislikable. Sophie is bratty, disrespectful, and rabidly feminist. Alberto is supposed to be mysterious, but he's just moody and strange, with a disturbing infatuation for the UN and one-world governments. Sophie's mother, the only authority figure, is daft and out of control of her household.

Alberto takes Sophie on a trip through history, highlighting major philosophers along the way. In fact, the book covers everyone from Democritus to Freud. (Just shoot me now.) He serves up every philosophy with equal respect, as if every philosophy has an equal shot at being Truth. I guess that's what one should expect from a book on philosophy written in a post-modern age.

This is ghastly stuff. And ghastly stuff needs the grounding of God's Word. Sophie's World has the wrong starting point. Don't get me wrong; there are a few bright spots in this history. Socrates gave us the Socratic discussion. Aristotle gave us classifications. The Reformation responded well to the humanist Renaissance. Descartes argued for an innate understanding of a Supreme Being. There's also Kant's Categorical Imperative. (But, um, I think Jesus got that one first.) Then we head downhill again with Hegel, Marx, Darwin, and Freud.

That's the story from the ground.
But from 10,000 feet and a God's-eye-view (thanks to the Scripture), we get another picture.

Man has always wrestled with the questions, "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" But the answers are already there for us. We have the general revelation of Creation and Conscience; we have the special revelation of Scripture and the Holy Spirit. And the real 'lover of Wisdom' will go where the wisdom actually resides. Almost to a man, the philosophers in this book resisted real wisdom: beginning with the fear of the Lord. These men aren't lovers of wisdom; they are fools.

When Darwin tells us we all came from a common ancestor rather than a sovereign Creator, he denies Imago Dei. And we should understand that abortion and euthanasia are just Darwinism taken to its logical conclusion. When Hume says that we should let experience define reality for us, we should respond that the heart is deceptively wicked above all things. When Freud tells us to blame our environment rather than our depravity, we should remember that it was in a perfect Paradise that Adam fell, and the entire human race with him. When a man like Pablo Picasso paints a picture and culture calls it 'art,' we have the hopelessness of nihilism to thank.

How does one arrive at a place of understanding about who we are and why we are here if we don't acknowledge Him who is the First Cause and the Final End? We don't. And they didn't. Centuries of philosophy and they are no closer to Truth.

As ironic as it may sound, I'm more interested in my children learning to love Wisdom because, in the end, I don't care if they can identify a 'fragmented world view' nearly as much as if they can identify a fallen world, corrupted by sin, and redeemed by the Cross.

In the end, I'm looking to raise REAL philosophers, not fools.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools..." Romans 1:18-22
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*For a grounded study of philosophy, I recommend:
The Consequences of Ideas by RC Sproul and
Understanding the Times by David A. Noebel

Plumb

When Rob Bell commented recently that "I have gay friends who are serious followers of Jesus," I wasn't surprised at all. Bell, who masquerades as a Christian pastor, has always pushed the envelope when it comes to Truth, challenging orthodox Christianity on just about every important point. But his choice of words is very telling: 'followers of Jesus."

I hate that term; I really do.

But "Christ-follower" has gained lots of traction in the past few years, mainly among the thirty-something set. And, for a large part, these are actually genuine converts who say this. (Set aside for a moment today's definition, which can be used in the context of 'following' someone on Facebook or Twitter or National Enquirer, meaning we find them interesting and like to keep up with their news--as if the Kardashian gals' latest boob job makes our world go 'round.) More than that, the unfortunate implication of being a follower is that it's optional. And I might opt out as painlessly as I opted in.

I prefer the term 'convert.' Convert implies change; obliteration of a former state; a complete and total transformation of heart, mind, and direction. Think of food entering your body and being converted to energy. Once acted on by the body's metabolic processes, the change is permanent. Today's beet juice is tomorrow's five-mile run. And there is no going back; it's a physical impossibility.

So there is no doubt in my mind that Rob Bell has gay friends who are serious followers of Jesus. What he'll never be able to say, though, is that he has gay friends who are converts. Never.

While I'm never surprised by Bell's religious games, I admit I was a bit taken aback by Pope Francis' May 22, 2013, claim that moral atheists will go to heaven...doh!...because I at least had a modicum of respect for the recent popes (very, very serious doctrinal questions aside) who have been rather staunch supporters of a Biblical morality. Then this latest pontiff makes this really dumb comment. And I am stunned. At least pretend to have some respect for the Gospel, will ya?

" 'I don't believe, Father. I am an atheist.' But do good; we will meet one another there." 

Then the Vatican spin doctors went to work.
But all God's people said, "Holy crap."
Because that is precisely what that was.

The standard does not change. The Bible is not a living, breathing document that bends with the times. And God put it in writing for a reason. So what's our job as believers, as citizens of Heaven who are submitted to this written, unyielding contract with the Truth?

It's simple, really. We point to the Plumb Line.
We listen to exegesis and sermons with a slightly critical ear. We observe behavior, our own and everyone else's, or read books and blogs with a slightly critical eye. And everything we hear or see, we hold up to the perfect Standard. We look carefully at the Level. If it's off plumb, we ditch it. No one gets a free pass. No one.

Warning! This Plumbing business has a cost. I know.
A number of years ago, I held up the Plumb Line. And all hell broke loose. I was a bad friend; I was a legalist; I was judgmental. And despite the fact that lots of time has since passed, I was still surprised when my husband came home from a meeting not long ago to report that there's a certain part of our community who still do not trust me--all because I pointed to Plumb during a crisis. I was shocked really, that this simple act could still be reverberating around me.

I stared at him blankly. Really??? People are talking about me???

He could see it in my eyes. "Noel," he gently interjected, "these women who are gossiping, since when is--"
"--their good opinion worth the earning?" I completed with him. "It's not," I assured him with a sideways smile.
"Right," he affirmed. "You did the right thing. You were the only one being the friend."

More recently, my older children have had to learn that lesson, as well. They have learned that yes-men coddle and validate and lie to each other, saying, "It's okay. God's not mad. He understands when you mess up."
The friend, meanwhile, points to Plumb and says to one he loves, "Beware! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"
And the cost? The evan-jellyfish becomes the new inner circle, and the one who was the real friend rides off into the sunset alone.

Sad. But there's a valuable lesson to be learned here, and one to pass on to our children. We want to surround ourselves with those who will spur us on to love and good deeds. We want friends, and we want our children to have friends, who love Plumb, who live by it, who measure goodness by it. We want to shun fakes, be they pastors or popes or people we know, whose lips desire it but whose hearts disdain it.

Funny thing about living Plumb. It brings blessedness and happiness. Happiness is, after all, what we all want. Rob Bell wants his gay friends to be happy. The pope wants atheists to be happy. We all want our friends, even the prodigals, to be happy. Yet therein lies the contradiction. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, in Studies on the Sermon on the Mount, says:

"Whenever you put happiness before righteousness, you will be doomed to misery. That is the great message of the Bible from beginning to end. They alone are truly happy who are seeking to be righteous.  Put happiness in the place of righteousness, and you will never get it."

Living Plumb is the thing, the only thing, that will bring happiness and blessing. It divides the sages from the fools.

Plumb.
It's the measure of maturity.
It's the stuff of friendship.
It's the sure foundation.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6