Smart Kids, Slow Kids, and Academic Ability

“…Adults do not have the option of concealing the truth. Kids know, no matter what. When children of widely differing academic abilities are mixed in classes, their differences are highlighted, not obscured. If the teacher calls on the children equally, then the deficits of the slower children are put on display for all their classmates to see. If the teacher calls only on the brighter children who know the answers, the kids quickly figure out what is going on. Children understand that academic ability varies and know the intellectual pecking order in every classroom. The slower children will get labeled whether or not they are grouped. It will be hurtful to them, to varying degrees. Educators do not have the option of preventing that hurt. What educators can do is put the relationship of performance in the classroom and merit as a person into perspective. People who are academically gifted can be fickle, humorless, dishonest, and cowardly. People who are not academically gifted can be steadfast, funny, honest, and brave. Merit as a person and academic ability are different things"

-Charles Murray, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Education-Bringing-Americas-Schools/dp/0307405397/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338982916&sr=1-1

If I Answered All of Your Intellectual Objections, Would You Believe?

“A friend expressed dozens of objections to the point I was making about God; whenever I shot one down, he just deployed another. Recognizing that he was merely laying down a smoke barrage, I asked ‘Suppose we took a few weeks and I answered every one of your objections to your complete intellectual satisfaction. Would you then believe?’ He answered, ‘No’—and that ‘No’ was a moment of illumination, for he realized for the first time that his real problem with God was not in his mind, but in his will.”

-J. Budziszewski, The Revenge of Conscience

Your Biggest Problem

"What Is Your Biggest Problem?

When we rightly identify the source of our problem, we are on our way to a solution that celebrates the grace of Christ. But we must first acknowledge that the problem is us! It is inside us, deep in the recesses of our hearts. How do you react to this news? Are you shocked?

Disappointed? Offended? Angry? It’s certainly not what we want to hear. When I am impatient with my children, the last thing I want to admit is that it is my fault. I want to blame my child and justify my sin! But if we don’t face our own sins, we will never get to the real solution. We will minimize the redeeming love of Father, Son, and Spirit or bypass it completely. This is deadly.

There is nothing more serious!

The Bible says that my real problem is not psychological (low self-esteem or unmet needs), social (bad relationships and influences), historical (my past), or physiological (my body). They are significant influences, but my real problem is spiritual (my straying heart and my need for Christ). I have replaced Christ with something else, and as a consequence, my heart is hopeless and powerless. Its responses reflect its bondage to whatever it is serving instead of Christ. Ultimately, my real problem is a worship disorder."

-Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane, How People Change

Christianity, Memorial Day, and Patriotism

For the last three Memorial Days, Kevin DeYoung has posted this, and for the last three Memorial Days I have reposted it.

"Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was instituted to honor Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. After World War I, the purpose of the day was expanded to include all men and women who died in U.S. military service. Today, Memorial Day is mainly thought of as the unofficial start of summer-a long weekend with a car race, playoff basketball, and brats and burgers on the grill.

It is always tricky to know how the church should or shouldn’t celebrate patriotic holidays. Certainly, some churches blend church and state in such a way that the kingdom of God morphs into a doctrinally-thin, spiritually nebulous civil religion. But even with this dangers, there are a number of good reasons why Christians should give thanks for Memorial Day.

1. Being a soldier is not a sub-Christian activity. In Luke 3, John the Baptist warns the people to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. The crowds respond favorably to his message and ask him, “What then shall we do?” John tells the rich man to share his tunics, the tax collectors to collect only what belongs to them, and the soldiers to stop their extortion. If ever there was a time to tell the soldiers that true repentance meant resigning from the army, surely this was the time. And yet, John does not tell them that they must give up soldier-work to bear fruit, only that they need to be honest soldiers. The Centurion is even held up by Jesus as the best example of faith he’s seen in Israel (Luke 7:9). Military service, when executed with integrity and in the Spirit of God, is a suitable vocation for the people of God.

2. The life of a soldier can demonstrate the highest Christian virtues. While it’s true that our movies sometimes go too far in glamorizing war, this is only the case because there have been many heroics acts in the history of war suitable for our admiration. Soldiers in battle are called on to show courage, daring, service, shrewdness, endurance, hard work, faith, and obedience. These virtues fall into the “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just” category that deserve our praise (Philippians 4:8).

3. Military service is one of the most common metaphors in the New Testament to describe the Christian life. We are to fight the good fight, put on the armor of God, and serve as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. When we remember the sacrifice, single-minded dedication, and discipline involved in the life of a soldier, we are calling to mind what we are supposed to be like as Christians in service to Christ.

4. Love of country can be a good thing. As Christians we have dual citizenship. Our first and ultimate allegiance must always be to Christ whose heavenly dwelling is our eternal home. But we are also citizens of an earthly country. We will stand before God not as individuals wiped clean of all earthly nationality, but as people with distinct languages, cultural affinities, and homelands. It is not wrong to love our distinct language, culture, or nationality. Whenever I’m at a ball game I still get choked up during the singing of the National Anthem. I think this is good. Love for God does not mean we love nothing else on earth, but rather that we learn to love the things on earth in the right way and with the right proportions and priorities. Love of country is a good thing, and it is right to honor those who defend the principles that make our country good.

5. This may be controversial to some, but I believe the facts of history will demonstrate that on the whole, the United States military has been a force for good in the world. Obviously, as a military power, we have blundered at times, both individually and corporately. But on the whole, the men and women of our armed services have fought and are fighting for causes that promote freedom, defend the rights of human beings, and reject tyranny. War is still hell and a tragic result of the fall. Praise God for his promise to one day end all human conflict. But in a world where people are evil by nature and leaders are not always reasonable and countries do not always have good intentions, war is sometimes the way to peace-at least the best peace we can hope for between peoples and nations this side of heaven.

So thank God for a day to remember God’s common grace to America and his special grace in enlisting us, poor weak soldiers that we are, in service to Christ our Captain and conquering King."

And finally, a favorite quote of mine from Thomas Sowell on patriotism:

“Despite a tendency in some intellectual circles to see the nation as just a subordinate part of the world at large—some acting, or even describing themselves as citizens of the world—patriotism is, in one sense, little more than a recognition of the basic fact that one’s own material well-being, personal freedom, and sheer physical survival depend on the particular institutions, traditions, and policies of the particular nation in which one lives. There is no comparable world government, and without the concrete institutions of government, there is nothing to be a citizen of or to have enforceable rights, however lofty or poetic it may sound to be a citizen of the world. When one’s fate is clearly recognized as depending on the surrounding national framework—the institutions, traditions, and norms of one’s country—then the preservation of that framework cannot be a matter of indifference while each individual pursues purely individual interests. Patriotism is recognition of a shared fate, and the shared responsibilities that come with it. …Conditions may become so repugnant in one country that it makes sense to move to another country. But there is no such thing as moving to “the world.” One may of course live in a country parasitically, accepting all the benefits for which others have sacrificed—both in the past and in the present—while rejecting any notion of being obliged to do the same. But once that attitude becomes general, the country becomes defenseless against forces of either internal disintegration or external aggression. In short, patriotism and national honor cannot be reduced to simply psychological quirks, to which intellectuals can consider themselves superior, without risking dire consequences, of which France in 1940 was a classic example. It was considered chic in some circles in France of the 1930s to say “Rather Hitler than Blum.” But that was before they experienced living under Hitler or dying after dehumanization in Hitler’s concentration camps.”

-Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society

Kevin DeYoung

 

 

Thomas Sowell

Compromise, Politics, and the Lesser of Two Evils

"Many...people have voted year after year, and after little change seems to occur they wonder if their vote really matters or whether politics is really part of the answer.

I wrote this book  to address that frustration. I also wrote it to address the nagging concern that  citizens and public officials sometimes have: whether it's moral or effective to achieve a partial good in politics and public policy when the ideal is not possible.  

It's often claimed that it's "moral compromise" to aim for anything less than the perfect. I've heard that objection repeatedly during the past twenty-four years that I've been involved in public policy through the courts and legislation. By showing that it is both moral and effective to achieve political and legal reform through the momentum created by incremental changes, I hope to encourage citizens and activists to persevere in politics and public policy. 

Our high expectations sometimes lead us to think that an "all or nothing" approach must govern politics. But in the fact of the institutional constraints, competing interests, and real obstacles that prevent any political reform, I contend that there is no moral compromise when we make the aim of politics not the perfect good, but the greatest good possible.

By showing that it is both moral and effective to achieve political and legal reform through the momentum created by incremental changes, I hope to encourage citizens and activists to persevere in politics and public policy. The frustration that comes from high expectations that aren't realized might be tempered more deeply by looking into the obstacles that block political and legal change.

First, political change usually comes slowly in a democracy. One of the main reason is that political power is diffused through the three branches of government--legislative, judicial, executive. And in the United States, the power is further diffused in our federal system between the national government and the fifty states. This separation of powers was intentional--to prevent the consolidation of power in one person or branch that could result in tyranny. The upside is that tyranny is prevented; the downside is that the three branches of government often move slowly or piecemeal. 

Second, in a representative democracy--a republic--politics inherently involves a clash of contending interests. This is the result of free people in a free society deciding how to live together. Other obstacles include public opinion, legal constraints, procedural hurdles, opposing parties, money, human vices and weakness, among others.

But progress can be made. 

To persevere in pursuing political reform, it's important to understand and contend with these obstacles, as citizens and voters, and find some way to identify effective solutions to the particular obstacles.  

In light of the clash of interests and competing obstacles in politics that block progress and change, it is possible to advance partial changes when complete change is not possible. And such a strategy can be both moral and effective. It is moral when a legislator aims to achieve a partial good or limit an unjust law or condition but is prevented by countervailing forces beyond his or her control. It's always good to decrease and lessen an evil when we cannot completely end it due to forces beyond our control. That's not cooperation or complicity or compromise."

--Clarke Forsythe, Politics for the Greatest Good: The Case for Prudence in the Public Square (2009 A.D.) 

    

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Cheap Grace

"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like a cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sins, and the consolation of religion are thrown away at cut prices...Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (1937 A.D.)

Loving Me Despite How I Am

“God’s grace is intended to change people. There is something wrong with you. From God’s point of view, [I] not only need someone else to be killed in [my] place in order to be forgiven, [I] need to be transformed to be fit to live with...God does not accept me just as I am, he loves me despite how I am. He loves me just as Jesus is. He loves me enough to devote my life to renewing me into the image of Jesus.”

-David Powlison, Seeing with New Eyes