A thought on "Separation of Church and State"

From my Constitution class on Coursera.

This weeks lectures were on the First Amendment. I had many thoughts about the whole week, but I wanted to bring one up here.

They were talking about removing prayer from public schools in the 60's (which were only added in the late 40's and 50's) and people's reaction to it. "the Catholic cardinal of New York blasted the justices for crippling the 'very heart of the godly tradition in which America's children have so long been raised.' " I have a problem with that. In the past, parent's raised children, not schools. If you want to raise your children in a godly tradition (as I have chosen to do myself), then don't send them to public schools. Find a private school that teaches in your religion, or teach them yourself as people have done for thousands of years.

The problem is that secular state/government has taken over the role of parent. They've brainwashed everyone into thinking you need a professional trained by the state to educate children. It's just not true. If you can read, write, and do basic math, then you are perfectly capable of passing that along to another human being. With the internet and public libraries, there is no excuse for anyone not to that wants to. If you want your children raised a specific way, then raise them yourself. Don't send them off to a publicly funded institution and expect them to do things your way.

Some good ones from "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill

From Chapter 2, Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion

"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."

On silencing opinions, "If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of trough, produced by its collision with error."

How about those quotes? It's something I've been working on myself. When I see an article that I disagree with, I should read it and try to see their point of view. It may be wrong or right, but I need to really know it to decide.

"Judgement is given to men that they may use it. Because it may be used erroneously, are men to be told that they ought not to use it at all?"

This one made me think of the way we are raising our kids. I think we need to help our kids use their judgement, not judge for them. The only way to become better at making choices is to exercise your judgement. I know most people raise their kids making almost all choices for them until they are adults because they may make bad judgements. Don't you think that is dangerous? Wouldn't it be better for people to let kids make choices when they are younger, when they have the safety net and advice of a trusted adult? 

"James"

James has those lines that have bothered me because they go on about "works" along with faith, instead of faith alone. But, in light of the other recent book I read, I think I can put it into context.

Works alone cannot get you in God's graces. He needs your faith to tell you what works you should be doing. Sometimes all we need is faith and other times we need to add some works to show others our faith and bring them closer to God. And sometimes the works are just the fruit of our faith. It's not one or the other.

There are also some quotes that I find the hardest to obey or use in my life, like this one, "But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." 1:19-20

And this one, "For judgement will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement." 2:13

"And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." 3:18

Are you catching the theme here? These are just one of my weaknesses. I pray daily for help here.

"The Bible Tells Me So..." by Peter Enns

I heard an interview with the author on The Tom Woods show and HAD to have the book! I'm so glad I did. It was an eye opener. There were some chapters that, even though I had plenty more time to read, I just had to put it down and let it roll around inside my head for awhile.

Only one tiny criticism though. There was one part about Israel and a lack of physical evidence to back up some of the stories. In my opinion, a lack of evidence is inconclusive. It doesn't mean those things could not have happened. It just means there is no evidence. I'm more likely to get behind evidence to the contrary to a biblical story, than a lack. Besides, just because I have no pictures of the birthday party, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I'm not going to go into details about this book, but I will give a few of my favorite general quotes. For one, "The Bible - from back to front - is the story of God told from the limited point of view of real people living at a certain place and time." Don't get him wrong. He isn't saying the Bible is a myth or fiction. We cannot ignore what is written there. We cannot pretend that some parts don't exist. And we cannot ignore what we know about history and science.

"But God seems to be in the habit of working through normal channels, and the Gospel writers were normal storytellers of that time and of any time - they offered their perspective. Maybe this isn't a problem to be solved or avoided, but just more evidence of how God rolls."

"Cramming the stories of Israel into a modern mold of history writing not only make the Bible look like utter nonsense; it also obscures what the Bible models for us about our own spiritual journey."

"Some call that unhistorical clothing myth, and that's a perfectly fine word - as long as we remember "myth" doesn't mean "silly things we made up while on acid. Myths were stories that were part of ancient ways of describing ultimate reality,..."

"I want to align my expectations with the Bible as an ancient text and accept the challenge of faith: letting go of how I think things should be and submitting to God. There's an irony: the passionate defense of the Bible as a "history book" among the more conservative wings of Christianity, despite intentions, isn't really an act of submission to God; it is making God submit to us."

Oh gosh, there is so much more and it's so much deeper than these quotes. I'll tell a personal story. When I was in elementary school we had "released time education". It was an hour each week for those that had permission from their parents to go to a trailer off school property and learn about God. You could choose Catholic or Protestant. I went to the Protestant one. It was they only church service I knew when I was a kid. They told bible stories, gave us a little bible, sang songs. To be totally honest about it, I went because it got me out of math lessons once a week.

But as I grew up, those stories didn't cut it anymore. I wanted more. I wanted the deeper meaning behind those stories and there was no one to give me answers, or even point me in the direction of discovery. Church going people that I asked only told me that the stories were history and to be believed without questioning. As a thinking and growing human being, that just wasn't enough. I ended up walking away from God for much of my young life. But then I met my husband and his wonderful mother. I saw their kindness, patience, and love. I saw their relationship with God and wanted to know more about it. I thank God for that every day.

Which leads me to my final quote from the book. "An unsettled faith is a maturing faith. Christians often get the signal from others that if they doubt or struggle in some way with the Bible, their faith is weak." And I think that is where many people walk away. Our free-will and questioning nature, our longing to understand and connect, I believe, is what makes us "in God's image."

"God may be pushing us to experience him more fully, with us kicking and screaming all the way if need be. Feeling unsettled may be God telling us lovingly, but still in his typical attention-getting manner, it's time to grow."

If you're on the fence about God. If you feel something lacking in your relationship. If you don't feel a connection with the Bible or God, read this book. God might be calling you out to play!

Finished "Ruth"

I have no quotes from this story, but I have always loved it. It's short and sweet and so hopeful. Ruth loved her Mother-in-Law so much she went with her when she went back to her native land. It was an ancient land and people did not look kindly on foreigners. It was a huge risk.

She believed that Naomi's God would do good for her and her actions brought her respect from kinsmen and a new husband.

It's just a beautiful story.

Thoughts from my Constitution Class Reading

"Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties." - John Milton

And from my text book Chapter 6, "These cases, however, gradually introduced a new perspective on the value of free speech in a democracy, namely, the belief that truth is best reached by the free trade of ideas." (emphasis mine)

Free speech. The First Amendment to the Constitution. I didn't realize how much the idea of what free speech is has changed over the last 200 years. And dramatically over the last 80 years. One of my thoughts as I read the last line quoted above was, "Of course truth is best reached by the free trade of ideas!" I guess it is a matter of how you view government.

If you believe government is created to guide and protect the people, to control and move the people in better directions, then the free trade of ideas would be very bad. People may sway other people to follow them, or change the way they feel about something the government (in its infinite wisdom) is doing.

If you believe government is created to serve the people, then the free trade of ideas is very good. The people themselves need to bat around new ideas to see if they stand up to criticism. They may be better than what we have now and make us stronger. We could try on some new ideas for a while but find them unhelpful and discard them. But it is up to the people themselves.

And as for John Milton's quote, well, I think people generally don't want this anymore. They may want to know truth, but they don't want to work towards it. They want it handed to them by someone else. It doesn't work that way. Truth and enlightenment should be one of our first goals in life, not something we try to get to if we have time after the dishes, the tv show, or baseball game. Is that just me?

Finished "Hebrews"

This must be one of my favorite books because there is a lot of writing on these pages! Here are a couple of my favorite verses this time around.

"For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near." 10:1 (emphasis mine)

This is the second time in the past couple weeks that I'm reminded of Plato's Cave. I think of the Law and the Bible itself, even this world, as a shadow on the wall of the cave and we're sitting there making up stories about what we think is going on in those shadows. Jesus is the man that goes outside the cave and comes back to tell us what reality is. We think he is insane and ostracize him or we misinterpret the words that he uses and miss the point entirely, or only vaguely understand that we can't see the real picture. I can't wait to see what the reality is with my own two eyes!

"Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" 10:28-29

Here's my interpretation. The Law of Moses was for Israel. The had the law, the kept the temple, they performed the sacrifice, they dealt out the judgement. But Christians are different. God is the law, the people are the church, Jesus/God performed the sacrifice, and THEY deal out the judgement. It is not for us to judge or condemn others for their choices. It is between God and them. Ours to show the love of Christ through our actions. Love them ask Christ loves us, whether they deserve it or not.

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." 13:2

I remember reading about the Greeks doing this all time, like in the Illiad. You just never know if those men that knock on your door or ask for change at the grocery store parking lot may be angels waiting to tell you something very important.

"Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited." 13:9

This I read just this morning and it was so important for me to hear. I'm currently reading another book called "The Bible Tells Me So" by Peter Enns. I'm enjoying it very much and it is helping shed some light on scripture for sure, but sometimes I get wrapped up in things I read and take them as truth to build on before I search them out thoroughly. This verse reminded me to rely on my faith in God, not on man's words. I believe that goes for the Bible as well. God has done well to lead me to Him before I had ever really read the Bible. My Bible has helped me journey closer to Him and strengthen my understanding of Him, but my FAITH in Him is what builds the relationship. Every time I read, I pray that the words will bring me closer to understanding. The words are "food" I should not be consumed by.