Friday, March 4, 2011

College: a necessity?



Apprenticeships and trade schools have for centuries aided the skilled workers of the world by training people in specific tasks. Universities and Colleges have honed the minds and shaped men and women alike to take roles in various fields. But are these necessary? The immediate answer is "Yes, because the authoritative certifying agencies demand it for various fields." We don't mind a shade-tree mechanic working on our old van, but we don't want a "shade-tree" heart surgeon working on our Mom!
But what happened to fathers and grandfathers training sons, and mothers and grandmothers training daughters? Not to mention uncles and aunts, etc, etc. There are many fields that could be trained for right from the home.
One of the reasons this is not happening in America today the way it did in times past is that the Deuteronomy Six commands are not being practiced. Notice: Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Deu 6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: Deu 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Now clearly, what is being pressed here is the teaching of the Law to the household. It is an all day, every moment thing. Teach with the mouth, teach with the life. But this could not be accomplished if the children were not with them when they sat in the house, when they walked by the way and when they laid down and rose up.
With the present cultural mode of operation the family is placed in an environment that almost demands that the children go one way, dad goes another and mom goes yet another. Therefore there is little fellowship for learning godliness from the father and mother, much less a skill or trade.
We have opted for short family devotionals to replace the "walking by the way" and we have placed a Television set to replace the "sitting in thine house".
What a challenge we face in training our children. What a challenge we face in determining that we will break the mold and move toward a more sound center.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sovereignty or Not

From an old post of Phil Johnson dated in 2008:

The Arminian Problem in Simple Terms
by Phil Johnson
12-22-08


If God knows the future with certainty, then the future is (by definition) already predetermined. If tomorrow is predetermined and you don't want to acknowledge that the plan was decreed by God, you have only two choices:


1. Some being other than God determines the future and is therefore more sovereign than He. That is a kind of idolatry.

2. Some impersonal force does the determining without reason or coherence. That is a kind of fatalism.

So anyone who denies that God preordained whatsoever comes to pass but wants to avoid both fatalism and idolatry is logically compelled to deny God's omniscience.

That of course, is precisely the rationale that has led so many to embrace Open Theism.

The more sensible option—and the biblical one—would be to abandon Arminian presuppositions and acknowledge that God declared the end from the beginning, and that He works all things according to the counsel of His own will.

For more of Phil, see his link on the right side of this page labeled Spurgeon web page!