America’s Traditional Enemies Readily Understand the Source of America’s Greatness—Many Americans Cannot! Why?

On May 23, 2015May 23, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Holidays, Judeo-Christian Culture2 Comments

The People’s Republic of China is officially atheist and communist. Yet their Academy of Social Sciences recently testified:

We were asked to look into what accounted for the preeminence of the West all over the world. At first we thought it was because you had more powerful guns then we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on your economic system. But in the past 20 years we have realized the heart of your culture is your religion, Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to Democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this. The Christian Post May 22, 2015

In a recent speech, critical of the United States, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin asserted that there can be no benefit to society when good and evil are treated equally.

What is going on here? Russian and Chinese leaders have come to actually admire the source of America’s strength, which of course comes from God. Our traditional enemies have admired the cultural strengths that far too many American have learned to ridicule. America is increasingly championing evil.

Many of our uncommonly wise Founders anticipated the current condition. Founder and early President John Adams expressed the concern clearly and forcefully:

“Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand…The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure, than they have it now, they may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. June 21, 1776

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” October 11, 1798 (Address to the military)

Founder and first President George Washington issued a prophetic proclamation during his first Inaugural Address:

“…there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” April 30, 1789

Seventy years later, President Abraham Lincoln sternly warned of the consequences of forgetting or abandoning God:

“We have been recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown; but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” March 30, 1863

In our time, the situation has become far more serious. Freedom is incredibly fragile and can be lost at any time. President Ronald Reagan proclaimed:

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” Annual meeting of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce (30 March 1961)

This time of year, we often hear the slogan Freedom is not free. It’s been paid for in blood. The blood of Jesus (Y’shua) was shed to give us spiritual freedom from the curse of sin. Throughout many wars, hundreds of thousands of our military warriors have shed their blood and given their lives to protect our freedom from outside encroachment by the armies of other nations.

But it is up to us to fight for and protect freedom from internal decay and collapse. Freedom is not a natural condition. The Garden of Eden was the only place where freedom was natural. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, pride has caused men or groups of men to seek power at the expense of the personal freedom of others.

Throughout history and in all cultures power has always tended to concentrate. The U.S. Constitution was the founder’s air tight box designed to contain the Federal government. Today, both major political parties are increasingly ignoring the Constitution; the U.S. Supreme Court long ago abandoned its primary obligation as the guarantor of the Constitution. The results have been tragic.

Listen to the stern, uncompromising admonition, of the great orator, Senator Daniel Webster (late nineteenth century):

Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.

If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

Freedom is a gift from God; it is not a grant from government. It is not natural and must be protected or it will dissipate and the fire of freedom, which George Washington called a “sacred fire,” will be extinguished. The trickle of lost freedom that began over 50 years ago has become a raging torrent today. Founder Samuel Adams, cousin of John Adams, had little patience with people unwilling to fight for freedom:

“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our country men.”

A generation later, Senator Daniel Webster added, “God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.” Ultimately,

only Judeo-Christian believers can understand that freedom is a gift from God;
only believers can learn to treasure that gift.
Only believers can understand that freedom not jealously guarded and aggressively protected will be lost.

In view of the tragic collapse of the American culture, the obvious question becomes, “Where are all the believers?”

Believers have always had a cultural impact far beyond their actual numbers. Regretfully, many believers today don’t fully understand the concept of freedom. To varying degrees, believers have bought in to the ungodly cultural compromises.

The second, equally obvious question becomes, “Where are all the pastors, rabbis, and church/synagogue leaders who must embed the concept of God-given freedom in the souls of believers?

What do YOU think? What should be changed or pursued differently within the body of believers?

On May 20, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Freedom, God's Love, Judeo-Christian CultureLeave a comment

“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our country men.” Samuel Adams

I Will NOT Render Unto Caesar That Which is God’s!

On May 7, 2015May 7, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn Abortion, American Culture, Baby Boomers, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Homemaker, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love, Marriage2 Comments

The traditional family and institution of marriage are under relentless and ferocious attack. Together they are the bedrock of American culture. Yet most believers are unable to articulate, advocate, and defend them. Nor are they able to cast an informed vote.

Scripture says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. [Mark 13:17 KJV] Caesar (the government) can confiscate all of my material possessions as excessive taxes, but:

The institution of Marriage was created by God millennia before man’s creation of the American government. Marriage belongs to God, not Caesar! The government is NOT free to redefine marriage.
The institution of the Family was created by God millennia before man’s creation of the American government. The family belongs to God, not Caesar! The government is NOT free to redefine the family.
Life was created and given by God millennia before man’s creation of the American government. Life belongs to God not Caesar. The government is NOT free to redefine or exterminate life, except for capital punishment as prescribed by God.
Freedom was given by God millennia before man’s creation of the American government. Freedom is an incredible gift from God, not a piece meal grant from Caesar. The government is NOT free to restrict freedom beyond Biblical restrictions that come from God.

Believers should have no problem rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, However, believers must be willing to exert whatever effort is necessary to defend that which is God’s and prohibit takeover by the government. We owe that much to God, to our children, to our grandchildren, and to our great grandchildren.

Otherwise, the iniquity (sins) of the fathers will be visited, “upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” [Numbers 14:18 KJV] and “Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.” [Psalm 109:14 KJV] Are YOU willing to allow your sins of neglect to be passed on to the next three or four generations?

The body of believers has always impacted their surrounding culture to an extent far greater than their numbers. It is unlikely that conservative believers have ever been a majority in the United States. Yet, the culture was largely driven by Judeo-Christian tradition and values for nearly 200 years. Today, our light is dim and we have lost our saltiness. In recent decades, the body of believers has negatively impacted the American culture. It is way past time to turn that negative impact into a lasting positive impact. The Master expects it! We owe it!

Marriage, family, life, and freedom are all extraordinary gifts from God. He would reasonably expect believers to respect, value, treasure, protect and defend those gifts for now and posterity (future generations).

One day, He will ask each believer, “What did YOU do with my gifts?” Will we be excited about sharing our love and protection of His awesome, incomparable gifts? Or will we hang our heads in shame as we feebly attempt to explain that we were so addicted to material and other self-indulgent pursuits that we allowed His precious gifts to be taken from us without a whimper?

America’s founding documents, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States, considered together, were written in their entirety to preserve and guarantee personal freedom in the broadest sense and religious freedom in a special sense. The founding package was and is unique in all of recorded history. It was designed to protect the people and their God-given gifts from a potentially runaway government. Reducing an understanding of the Founders intentions as expressed in those documents to a mere discussion of the First Amendment or even the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments) is a monumental distortion of America’s governing principles.

Today, the founding documents are continually undermined by public ignorance, apathy, and indifference enabling a government that increasingly ignores the Constitution and its strict boundaries.

“There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence. I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men and become the instruments of their own undoing…Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.” Daniel Webster

Are YOU willing to do whatever is necessary to restore and protect our God-endowed “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness?” Or will YOU merely slip back into your materialistic, self-indulgent slumber after reading this statement?

On May 4, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture, LoveLeave a comment

“While most nations trace their origin to barbarians, the foundations of our nation were laid by civilized men, by Christians. … The memory of our fathers should be the watchword of liberty throughout the land; for, imperfect as they were, the world before had not seen their like, nor will it soon, we fear, behold their like again. Such models of moral excellence, such apostles of civil and religious liberty. … To ridicule them is national suicide.” McGuffey’s Eclectic Sixth Reader (1907)

Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment!

On April 30, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn Abortion, American Culture, Education, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love, Marriage2 Comments

How many people do YOU know who are truly merciful?

Once again many groups have responded with bewilderment and a struggle to identify such persons within their circle of relationships. Jesus modeled mercy toward an adulteress about to be stoned. “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” [John. 8:7 NIV] Even at the point of death, Jesus showed mercy toward a thief hanging from an adjacent cross by confirming that, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” [Luke 23:43 NIV]

During the Revolutionary War, the winter of 1777-1778 was particularly brutal. General George Washington and his army were quartered at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The General listened to a very unusual request for mercy. Michael Wittman, a spy, had been sentenced to hang for treason. The night before the scheduled execution, an elderly man, Peter Miller, was given permission to see the commanding officer. In exchange for many previous favors, Miller asked for only one:

“I’ve come to ask you to pardon Michael Wittman.”

Washington was taken aback. “Impossible! Wittman has done all in his power to betray us, even offering to join the British and help destroy us.” He shook his head. “In these times we cannot be lenient with traitors; and for that reason I cannot pardon your friend.”

“Friend? [said Miller] He’s no friend of mine. He is my bitterest enemy. He has persecuted me for years. He has even beaten me and spit in my face, knowing full well that I would not strike back. Michael Wittman is no friend of mine!”

Washington was puzzled. “And you still wish me to pardon him?” “I do. I ask it of you as a great personal favor.” “Why?’ “I ask it because Jesus did as much for me.”

Washington turned away and walked into the next room. Soon he returned with a paper on which was written the pardon of Michael Wittman. “My dear friend,” he said to Peter, placing the paper in the old man’s hand. “I thank you for this.”

We often hear the phrase, “That’s not fair.” Did you know that fairness is not a Scriptural concept? Perhaps it is partially because fairness like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. There is no commonly held standard or definition of fairness. Instead, two prominent elements of the character of God are judgment and mercy. Scripture tells us that in situations where judgment and mercy are in opposition, mercy wins. If mercy is such an important and powerful principle, why are many people missing out?

Are YOU truly merciful?

Are YOU more merciful than you were five or ten years ago?

If not, why are you not growing or maturing in such a vitally important godly character trait?

What do YOU think?

“Mercy triumphs over judgment!” [James 2:13/Proverbs 21:13 NIV]

Are YOU truly forgiving? Why not?

On April 29, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn Abortion, American Culture, Baby Boomers, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Homemaker, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love, Marriage2 Comments

How many people do YOU know who are truly forgiving? When confronted, many groups responded as before with puzzled looks as individuals struggled to identify even one such person within his/her circle of relationships.

In 2006, the Pennsylvania Amish, regarded by many as a bit strange because of their apparent “old fashioned” lifestyle, gave the world an extraordinary lesson in forgiveness. A gunman from a religious home invaded a small Amish schoolhouse shooting ten young girls. Five girls died from the wounds.

At the end of the rampage, the gunman committed suicide. His suicide left behind a widow and his two young children. Despite the horrendous nature of the tragedy, the leaders of the Amish church appeared at the gunman’s home within hours to comfort the gunman’s family and offer their help to the widow in any way she wished. Later the Amish people attended the gunman’s funeral; his widow was invited to attend the Amish funerals. The experience evoked numerous other stories of extraordinary forgiveness.

Many people, including those with a strong faith in God, were astonished at the quickness, generosity, and extent of the Amish people’s forgiveness of the gunman who committed such an unspeakable atrocity. Why did it happen?

Forgiveness is soulfully embedded in the Amish culture. After all, the model prayer, often called The Lord’s Prayer, says in part, “…Forgive us our debts (trespasses), as we also have forgiven our debtors (those who trespass against us)…” [Matthew 6:12 NIV] The passage immediately following the prayer indicates that, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” [Matthew 6:14-15 NIV]

It is the only part of the prayer that is immediately reinforced. It is as if the Lord is saying even if you miss everything else be sure to get the forgiveness thing right. If forgiveness is so important, are many of the rest of us in our Judeo-Christian culture missing something? Those seemingly strange Pennsylvania folks who insist on horse-and-buggy transportation and avoiding modern technology have given the rest of us a truly powerful lesson in forgiveness. What do YOU think? Does YOUR life match their forgiveness? Why not?

On April 1, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn Abortion, American Culture, Baby Boomers, Education, Entertainment, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Homemaker, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love, Marriage, Science10 Comments

“…the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” I Corinthians 3:19 NIV

The Family is Rock Solid!

On March 13, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Homemaker, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love7 Comments

The family is rock solid. Don’t miss out! The traditional family is one of the most awesome, breathtaking, and vitally important of all of God’s magnificent creations! Here’s why:

God’s plan stabilizes and provides coherence to the family.

The stabilized family builds stability and coherence into the national culture.

A stable culture assures continuity of values across future generations.

God’s plan facilitates the growth of the God-ordained marriage partnership and family.

Married people are happier.

Married people are healthier.

Family is life’s boot camp for children, instilling virtues and guiding growth.

True family-centered families—as opposed to career-centered family arrangements reduce crime.

True family-centered families—as opposed to career-centered family arrangements reduce drug abuse.

A loving family experience facilitates interpersonal relationships outside the family, enhancing the richness of career, hobby, volunteer, and recreational experiences.

God’s plan enables family members to practice humility, forgiveness, mercy, longsuffering, and a servant’s spirit in a loving, nonthreatening environment.

The positive character embedded in family members—parents and children—is carried to the outside community throughout life.

Family members learn to overcome pride by serving other family members

The family is an incubator for building God-ordained intellectual, emotional, and spiritual views and values (character development).

The family aligned with God’s plan ultimately leaves the greatest of all possible legacies.

The family aligned with God’s plan is the married couple’s gift back to God.

The family aligned with God’s plan inspires frequent, comfortable, and nonthreatening opportunities for faith sharing.

The driving passion for the family visualized in God’s plan is the aggregate of:

Gratitude for the Lord’s personally expressed infinite love.
Desire to express that gratitude by serving Him and others as a way of life.
Desire to be a conduit of His love to succeeding generations by embedding His love and character in the next generation’s children.

Anything that erodes family culture absolutely and irretrievably undermines national culture, at first weakening it and ultimately annihilating it. No culture has ever survived the breakdown of the family. Ours won’t either. It’s up to YOU to save America and the family. What do you think?

On March 4, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture4 Comments

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” [Prov. 14:34 NIV]

Evolution Blows Away Like a House of Cards in a Hurricane!

On March 3, 2015March 3, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Freedom, God's Love, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love2 Comments

Darwin knew a living cell as only a blob of green protoplasm. However, in recent decades since the discovery of DNA, knowledge of cell structure has exploded at an exponential pace. A cell is like a micro-city. It has power plants (mitochondria), manufacturing plants (ribosomes), a central library or database (DNA), an “Interstate” highway system (microtubules), a distribution center (Golgi Complex), a fleet of trucks (vesicles), and provisions for water and wastewater treatment. Your body has 50-100 trillion of these micro-cities.

Each of your cells houses a DNA database that contains at least 3 gigabytes of information (think Encyclopedia Britannica) coded in a language that uses a four-letter alphabet (nitrogen bases). Each of 100,000 different proteins in the body is itself a massive molecule created from a language using a twenty-letter alphabet (amino acids). Proteins contain from 50 to 36,000 amino acids in a precisely programmed sequence. A single cell contains about 9,000 of these amazingly complex molecules in addition to the DNA.

To manufacture just one protein, the information coded in a very specific DNA location must be transcribed (like old-fashioned short hand) from coded information to information in a useful form (RNA). The information in the more useful form must be translated from a 4-letter alphabet language into different 20-letter alphabet language, similar to translating English into Chinese. Only then can the actual manufacture of the protein begin.

Even the DNA of a single-celled bacterium contains an amount of coded information in the megabyte range. Remember when computers had a memory measured in megabytes? We were amazed at even those computer capabilities at the time.

Did all this arise by time and chance alone? No way! Absolutely not! Simply imagining astronomical amounts of time cannot come anywhere close to explaining the creation of life.

Today, Charles Darwin would likely doubt, if not repudiate, his own theory. Toward the end of his life, he observed:

I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them. Charles Darwin

Praise God from whom ALL things flow!

On February 27, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture3 Comments

“Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.'” [Psalms 14:1 NLT]

Two Opposing Worldviews Cannot Coexist

On February 25, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Freedom, God's Love, Judeo-Christian Culture14 Comments

The most important of all life’s decisions is the acceptance or denial of the existence of God and recognition of His active presence in the life of anyone accepting Him. It is a critical decision, because in addition to eternal consequences, the choice becomes the driving force of the present life. The unbeliever tends to live for the benefit of self, within few moral/ethical constraints. The believer matures by learning the importance of serving others, adhering to God’s moral standards as an expression of love, and knowing that focusing on the needs of others inspires the richest possible life experience. God’s moral standards require continuing progress along the lifelong journey to maturity, a journey where an individual should become substantially more humble, forgiving, merciful, and longsuffering, while developing a servant’s spirit.

In contrast, mankind’s own evolution-rooted standards incites a drive toward the opposing view, including selfishness, scorn, vengeance, impatience, and a demanding spirit. Although there are more polite terms for these seemingly negative values, they are all provoked by an unhealthy form of pride. The contrast between the evolutionist/secular view and the Christian view could not be greater. Consider the Table 6.1 comparison between the two views.

The evolutionist/secular humanist view appears to provide a path to a strained conclusion that God does not exist, evoking the post-modern conclusions that there is no objective truth and therefore no overarching values that apply to all people. Essentially, man becomes his/her own god, scorning religion and depending on the authority only of self, evoking decisions rendered primarily for the benefit of self. The absence of values anchored to incontrovertible virtues prompts severe criticism of the traditional Judeo-Christian American culture. One casualty of the loss of a stable culture is the replacement of commonly held values with extreme tolerance, which is indistinguishable from indifference. The absence of moral responsibilities combined with the perception that life is absolute and absolutely short elevates a prideful and extreme pursuit of wealth. With the public distracted by materialism, the self-proclaimed elite are able to pursue, virtually unhindered, their perception of a utopia that they believe can only be achieved by total government control of all people, except the elite themselves. Note the tendency of the U.S. Congress to exempt themselves from many pieces of legislation.

The Judeo-Christian view is that God is the Creator of all things and all life. He is personally interested in every individual. Since God is truth, objective truth is derived from Him and the study of His Creation. As such, the Christian depends on the authority of God, rather than self, recognizing that American exceptionalism arose from Judeo-Christian tradition. That tradition produced the best quality-of-life and the highest standard-of-living in the world. There is no other explanation. A Christian values faith and love above all else, keeping a healthy and balanced perspective of materialistic pursuits. He/she recognizes that God provided moral limitations for the benefit of people not to control them. Moral limitations are a safe harbor leading to reduced stress, the full richness of the human experience, stable families and a cohesive culture that is readily sustained from generation to generation. God has already created paradise in the Garden of Eden and in Heaven. Mankind’s own failures have caused the problems in between. The Christian’s life focus is on serving others and maturing by growing in godly character. Finally, the Christian seeks wisdom, noting that the Holy Bible and the clergy are reliable points of reference, not government leaders.

Despite the extreme and life-changing importance attached to the choice of a world view, many people drift toward a view without serious consideration of the alternatives. Although the choice is the most influential driving force of life, many people simply yield to cultural pressure institutionalized in the public education system, moving gradually toward an evolutionist/secular view. Even many people claiming to hold the Christian view do so on a somewhat shallow level bending to the winds of cultural decline as a matter of practical living. God’s view is clear, but often misunderstood, because modern Christians tend to limit God’s Word, the Bible, by depending on detailed analysis to mine a new nugget of wisdom (zoom in). However, God’s view is holistic (zoom out). Rather than viewing God’s Word from the “bottom up,” Christians must learn, insofar as possible to also appreciate in a pervasive way, the wholeness of God’s Word, as He views it.

Biblical and Evolutionary Worldviews Cannot Coexist

On February 13, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Entertainment, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian CultureLeave a comment

Evolution, also known as scientific naturalism, is a faith system that underlies secular humanism. According to The Humanist Manifesto 2000, “The unique message of humanism on the current world scene is its commitment to scientific naturalism.” In 1961, the Unites States Supreme Court declared, “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are…Secular Humanism, and others.” MacArthur observes that,

Religion is exactly the right word to describe naturalism. The entire philosophy is built on a faith-based premise. Its basic presupposition—a rejection of everything supernatural—requires a giant leap of faith…The notion that natural evolutionary processes can account for the origin of all living species has never been and never will be established as fact. Nor is it “scientific” in any true sense of the word. Science deals with what can be observed and reproduced by experimentation. The origin of life can neither be observed nor reproduced in any laboratory. By definition, then, true science can give us no knowledge whatsoever about where we came from or how we got here. Belief in evolutionary theory is a matter of sheer faith. And dogmatic belief in any naturalistic theory is not more “scientific” than any other kind of religious faith.

Even Charles Darwin remarked, “I was a young man with unformed ideas…to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.” A century later, Whittaker Chambers added, “Humanism is not new. It is, in fact, man’s second oldest faith. It’s promise was whispered in the first days of the Creation under the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: “Ye shall be as gods.”

Consider the practical implications of the two opposing worldviews expressed in Figure. The dichotomy of the two worldviews is clear. The evolution dominated worldview isolates the individual as a temporary, purposeless, and insignificant fragment of the universe dedicated to self-centered survival, a self-indulgent life and promotion of self-interests. It is a view that evokes all the characteristics on the left side of the Figure. Civilization eventually dissolves into chaos, which is soon overtaken by totalitarianism, personal freedom is lost and the individual is controlled by others. Ultimately he/she dies—that is the end—there is nothing more.

In contrast, the Judeo-Christian worldview recognizes the uniqueness of a person made in the image of God and assigned the dual purpose of loving Him and loving others. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[Matthew 22:37; Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV]This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18 NIV]All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:40 NIV] The Judeo-Christian worldview considers life as sacred to be honored and protected. The focus is on self-sacrifice, giving, and meeting the needs of others. Culture (civilization) is strengthened and personal freedom is maximized and guaranteed by a limited representational government. Ultimately, his/her eternal life is the supreme joy of being forever in the presence of the Creator.

Which do you prefer? Is it the frantic and frenzied high-stress short-term hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain ending in annihilation (death)? Or is it the orderly, joyful satisfaction of meeting the needs of others, sharing life in a network of many others holding similar views, relishing the ultimate joy of sharing eternity with God and others in a place called Heaven? The choice should be an easy one, don’t you agree?

There is no evolutionist that perfectly fits the left side of the Figure. Similarly, there is no Christian that perfectly fits the right side. Nevertheless, a person’s wholly or partially adopted worldview will tend to drive him/her either toward the left or the right. Life is not static; the absence of movement is not possible. There will be “growth” in one direction or the other. In recent decades, growing cultural pressure has resulted in a general drift to the left of both the background American culture and also the Judeo-Christian culture, although the believers’ culture tends to be a few steps “behind” the background culture.

Jews and Christians have collectively displayed a growing character weakness primarily because they must live within a culture saturated with the fruit of evolutionary thinking. However, they are only available to a gathering of other believers in the churches and synagogues a few hours each week for what tends to be primarily a one-dimensional, spoon-fed intellectual education, i.e. listening to the teacher/preacher/rabbi in an atmosphere devoid of real personal experience. Believers often lack the soul-deep tools for resisting the nearly overwhelming cultural pressure. Consequently, a series of very slight compromises causes a sort of devolution (evolution in reverse) of moral sensitivities. The aggregate result of thousands of very slight compromises, by many people, is the leftward drift of the Judeo-Christian culture. The remedies will be in upcoming blogs. Meanwhile, what do YOU think?

On February 7, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Family, Freedom, Government, Judeo-Christian CultureLeave a comment

“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Abraham Lincoln

On February 6, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian CultureLeave a comment

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?” Thomas Jefferson [Engraved on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial]

Public Apathy Enables Rise of Statism Said President Ronald Reagan!

On February 6, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture2 Comments

At Reunion Arena in Dallas, 1984, President Ronald Reagan stated: “Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience. … Without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure. … America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.”

In 1961, Ronald Reagan stated: “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. … James Madison in 1788 … said … ‘There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.’ … What can we do about this? … We can write to our congressmen and our senators. … Say right now that we want no further encroachment on these individual liberties and freedoms. … We do not want socialized medicine. … If you don’t, this program I promise you will pass … and behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known … until, one day … we will awake to find that we have socialism. And … you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”

Excerpts courtesy of Bill Federer

Happiness Arises from Good Health and Growing Interpersonal Relationships

On February 5, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love2 Comments

The Declaration of Independence stipulates that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” [emphasis added] Since these rights have been established and given by God, they are self-evident, requiring no further explanation or support. Such rights are unalienable, meaning that they cannot be abridged or infringed upon in any way by government. However, “we may do something ourselves to forfeit the unalienable rights endowed by the Creator, but no one else can TAKE those rights from us without being subject to God’s justice.” An example of forfeiture may be committing a crime that requires incarceration. Now that our right to the pursuit of happiness is locked in exactly what is it?

Happiness is often equated with momentary or short-term excitement. “My favorite team won the Super Bowl!” “I got an ‘A’ in chemistry!” “She said ‘YES!’” There is no doubt about it; everyone enjoys that type of feel-good excitement. But it is based on emotion; it does not last. No one can live on a perpetual emotional high.

In contrast, a lifetime of long-term happiness has deeper spiritual roots that provide the support to withstand life’s challenges and hardships as well as celebrate the victories. That dimension of happiness reflects an inner joy anchored in a robust faith in God. Ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden for disobeying God, every life has experienced occasional or sometimes long-term suffering. But a robust faith provides a clear vision of the light at the end of the tunnel and an appreciation of the character building opportunities associated with the hardships. The inner joy may be severely challenged but remains secure despite the pain.

Although my late wife never suffered any real physical pain, she did endure the progressive loss of physical mobility and mental capacity. Did her suffering have a purpose? Absolutely! Her experience dramatically and permanently changed my life and has had a rapidly expanding rippling effect on everyone with whom I come in contact. I explained to a rather large crowd at her memorial service that she and God gave me one of the greatest gifts I have ever received—the wonderful and glorious gift of tears. As a man, an engineer trained in logic, and the product of a rather stoic family, there was not much room for a manly expression of tears. But the wonderful and glorious gift of tears stirred by seven years of accommodating her progressive loss opened up to me whole new realms of life experience both emotionally and spiritually that were not previously available. I became much more sensitive to the needs of disabled people and virtually everyone else as well. Her experience also contributed greatly to the motivation to write this book.

Happiness is the Result of Virtuous Living

Here’s the deal: Ultimately, happiness is the result of living a virtuous life. How boring is that? Actually, a virtuous life is not boring at all; it is very rich, satisfying, and happy. During George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, he emphasized, “…there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists…an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness…” To President Washington, the link between “goodness and happiness” was plain and inescapable.” Further, Noah Webster found that, “If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad man to make and administer the laws.” A life based on virtues anchored deeply in the soul produces goodness of choices and actions that ignite a happy and joyful spirit within an individual and ultimately across cultures.

On February 2, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian CultureLeave a comment

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” Thomas Paine

Feds Routinely Breach Family Sovereignty!

On February 1, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Family, Freedom, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture13 Comments

A previous blog, “Sovereignty: Free Family v. Controlling State,” discussed the perpetual tension between the sovereign family and the sovereign state. In recent decades, the federal government has been winning that tug-of-war at an accelerating pace that is nothing less than frightening. Here’s how:

The state breaches family sovereignty by:

Encouraging divorce, abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide
Removing children from their family
- Tacitly for ever increasing amounts of “education”
- Physically for an ever-widening list of alleged “abuses”
Dilution/diffusion (ever broadening definition of “family” to include a growing list of “alternative lifestyles”)
Increasing control over personal health, including life and death decisions
Promoting radical feminism and materialism, which undermine and scatter the family
Attacking the traditional amazingly complementary roles of family members
Facilitating a progressively increasing dependence on government
Replacing traditional family values with evolution-rooted post-modern views (no god; no absolute/objective truth; no single universal set of best values)
Promoting multiculturalism over traditional Judeo-Christian culture and values

Adopting a suffocating array of ever increasing over-zealous and over-reaching regulations

All is not lost. God is still in charge. By a huge majority, Americans still claim a faith in God. If they learn the importance of voting for candidates of strong character, we’ll be well on the road to recovering freedom and reducing government intrusion into family life.

The Founders referred to the right to vote as won with blood, precious, important and vital. They also often referred to voting as casting the “sacred vote.” We are called to vote for candidates of strong character, because one of our great purposes in this life is to grow in godly character. Only candidates exhibiting strong character are able to understand the importance of God-given freedom.

What do you think? Are you willing to fight and vote for freedom restoration for your children and grandchildren?

Your Worldview Drives Who You Are, What You Think, the Decisions You Make, and How You Act!

On January 30, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love8 Comments

What Is a Worldview? Why Should I Care?

Everyone has a worldview, whether they know it or not. A worldview is a soul-deep spiritual-level conviction regarding life’s most basic questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? The most basic conviction arises from a personal determination, either by investigation or by tacitly going along with the cultural crowd, regarding the existence or non-existence of God. That conviction becomes the passion that drives the rest of a person’s life.

Consider the difference between an emotional passion and a spiritual passion, which is easily clarified with a sports analogy. Suppose your favorite NFL football team has a great season and makes it all the way to the Super Bowl. For a week or so, before the big game the excitement builds until it becomes hard to think of anything else. Unless you have the means to travel a long distance and pay a very high price for tickets, you probably invite your friends over on the big day and put on a pot of your favorite chili.

An evening of screaming and hollering leaves you nearly voiceless. Win or lose, the game is the topic of water cooler conversation for the next day or so. Then—it’s gone—it’s over—just another statistic in sports history. That is an emotional passion. It is a temporary emotional roller coaster ride. It is great fun, but just does not last.

In contrast, consider the Olympic athlete who intensely trains for four, eight, twelve, or sixteen years enduring considerable pain along the way often sacrificing important aspects of life such as dating or family, in a relentless pursuit of the privilege of competing for one or a small number of Olympic medals. The medals do not have a great deal of tangible value and only a privileged few are ever pictured on the front of a Wheaties cereal box. However, the victories represented by the medals do attach significance and meaning to the life of the competitor, satisfying deep spiritual needs.

The victories or near victories separate the athlete from the vast majority of others who participate in the same sport, from childhood teams all the way to the Olympic team. Winning an Olympic medal is truly a world class achievement. Such an enduring passion and total commitment is a spiritual passion. The championship Super Bowl team may have pursued a spiritual passion as well. But for the fans, the game is merely an emotional passion.

A spiritual passion is the soul-deep conviction that forms a worldview and drives all aspects of life, including the choices made to satisfy the deepest spiritual yearnings for significance and meaning in life. Currently, there is a well-known credit card marketing campaign that uses the tag line, “What’s in your wallet?” The sponsors want their card to be in the deepest most secure part of your wallet, from where it will be used to transact most of your future purchases. Similarly, the worldview that is in your spiritual “wallet” will control most of life’s “transactions.” Consequently, the often taken-for-granted, neglected, or innocently assimilated worldview takes on monumental significance. Ultimately, there are only two worldviews. Either God exists or God does not exist.

Most of the early settlers arriving on the North American shores were seeking religious freedom. Their predetermined worldview confirmed the existence of God and His exclusive role as the only agent capable of completely satisfying all of a person’s spiritual needs. Judeo-Christian tradition formed both the foundation and the driving force of their lives.

Two hundred years later, the same culture became embedded in the culture of the United States of America, codified through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Although not everyone in the fledgling nation was a devout Christian believer, Judeo-Christian tradition so permeated the culture that it had a strong influence on virtually everyone’s sense of right and wrong, moral behavior, personal conduct, and interpersonal relationships. The American culture experienced a unique cohesiveness that successfully resisted the negative influences of other philosophies or belief systems.

As a result, the United States was blessed with remarkably close families and an abundance of prosperity. Unprecedented intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth produced an outstanding quality-of-life resulting in generally good or improving personal health and a rich network of interpersonal relationships, beginning with the family and working outward. Similarly, America has enjoyed the world’s highest standard-of-living, related to accumulated material blessings. Both emerged from a God-centered worldview.

An opposing worldview, championed by pagan religious systems for several millennia, received a credibility boost when Charles Darwin published, The Origin of the Species By Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life in 1859. His concepts became known as the theory of evolution. Unlike passive religious systems, advocates for evolution quickly developed a confrontational relationship with Judeo-Christian tradition, because evolution appeared to provide a naturalistic explanation for every living and non-living thing in the universe. The naturalistic explanation became the basis for denying or marginalizing the existence of God. Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul accurately described the confrontation. To other believers we are the “fragrance of life;” to evolution-driven people, we are the “smell of death.” [2 Corinthians 2:15-16]

The two opposing worldviews rest on the most fundamental question of the ages. Does God exist? The Judeo-Christian worldview says that God of love absolutely does exist and is personally interested in our earthly affairs and our ultimate eternal destination. The Judeo-Christian worldview is supported by nature and God’s revelation of Himself throughout Divinely inspired inerrant Scripture—The Holy Bible.

The evolutionary worldview, championed by Charles Darwin and a host of others purports that all life forms emerged from a combination of extraordinary lengths of time, chance, and necessity (natural physical laws). Although the scientific support for the theory is astonishingly thin, the culture’s blind confidence in science has enabled the theory of evolution to be widely accepted as fact—a “fact” which has had catastrophic effects on the American culture.

People of faith often find themselves caught in the crossfire between the two major worldviews. Most people do not spend hours and hours sitting around discussing the details of the theory of evolution or its impact on society. However, they do emerge from the public school system and many private school systems with an embedded bottom line image of man as simply a highly evolved animal. The schools disallow any discussion of the flaws of evolution or any possible alternatives.

For Christians and others, the mental image of mankind as a product of evolution is sufficient to cast doubt on the Genesis accounts of the beginnings, creating a vulnerability to increasing cultural pressure that is continually reinforced by politicians, news media, all manner of entertainment outlets, neighbors, work associates, and friends. The cultural pressure has been so great that there have been increasing attempts to compromise Scripture to accommodate science.

Whoa! What exactly is being compared? “The Bible is supreme truth, and therefore it is the standard by which scientific theory should be evaluated, not vice versa. Scripture is God’s own eyewitness account of what happened in the beginning.” John MacArthur Why should anyone seek to compromise God’s perfect Word to achieve apparent consistency with the woefully incomplete and imperfect findings of human scientists? What do you think?