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?

All Freedom Comes From God; Governments Take It Away!

On January 23, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture12 Comments

All freedom comes from God. The truest most perfect freedom existed only in the Garden of Eden. Ever since, the pride of mankind has caused power and authority to concentrate with time, resulting in the progressive loss of freedom. The nearly inescapable end result is tyranny. The loss of freedom has been experienced in all cultures and political systems throughout recorded history. When freedom exists to any extent, it will be lost unless it is fervently and aggressively protected, by the people (YOU). Consider the flow:

“…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” 2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1 KJV

All civilizations begin in a condition of chaos and anarchy with no external control by government or any other authority. Consider what might happen if you went down in a commercial airliner crash and became part of 100 survivors stranded on a remote uncharted island with no means of communication and little chance of rescue.

You and the other survivors initially work together for survival determining how to meet the immediate needs for food and shelter. Soon, however, disagreements break out, tending to escalate with time. At some point, a council of volunteers or elected members forms to draft guidelines for assuring more harmonious living among the survivors.

The guidelines prohibit certain actions and mandate others. But the voluntary guidelines are only partially effective and conflict continues. A mechanism is designed and designated people are given the authority to monitor compliance with the guidelines, seek violators, and punish them in a predetermined fashion. The guidelines have now become the beginnings of enforceable law.

Whoa! What just happened? All freedom…that’s right, all freedom comes from God as the incredible gift of free will, bounded only by certain moral limitations that He applies for harmonious living and to protect you and others from physical, emotional, and spiritual harm. Those limitations are an expression of His infinite and enduring love. Any form of government can only can only limit or deny any particular freedoms. Governments can only wield money and power in an impersonal way; they have no moral authority or ability.

Government continues to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people” as long as the laws passed and regulations adopted conform to or are aligned with Scriptural mandates as indicated by the region in the Figure labeled “Representative Government.” Such laws and regulations protect freedom.

God-given freedom powered by His love and limited by Scriptural boundaries—primarily the prohibitions of the Ten Commandments and moral/ethical limitations on behavior—depend on voluntary restraint. The prohibitions and limitations were given for the benefit of mankind to assure the richness of the human experience.

“From the day of the Declaration…they [the American people] were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their conduct” John Quincy Adams

“Though, when a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.” George Washington

When laws are passed and regulations adopted extend beyond the region designed to protect freedom, then freedom is progressively lost. There is no reliable barrier along the road to tyranny. What do you think?

On January 16, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Family, Freedom, God's Love, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love6 Comments

“God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.”

Daniel Webster

Sovereignty: Free Family v. Controlling State

On January 16, 2015January 16, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Family, God's Love, Government4 Comments

The family is the basic self-governing unit of all civilization. National or cultural cohesiveness and stability depend on the aggregation of cohesive families:

“Marriage makes a small state within the state. That bond breaks all other bonds; that law is found stronger than all later and lesser laws.…the small state founded on the sexes is at once the most voluntary and the most natural of all self-governing states. The Christian view of marriage conceives of the home as self-governing in a manner analogous to an independent state…In this way it is itself a sort of standing reformer of the State; for the State is judged by whether its arrangements bear helpfully or bear hardly on the human fullness and fertility of the free family.”

G.K. Chesterton

By definition, a government controls (rules) or limits freedom of individuals and families for the common “good.” Unless constitutionally limited, a government will grow without bounds, ultimately displacing the family, leading to tyranny. Consequently, there is a perpetual tension between the sovereignty of the free family and the sovereignty of the controlling government, as indicated in the Figure.

Families tend to break down as a result of a constellation of selfish decisions supported, facilitated, and encouraged by the government (divorce, abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, assisted suicide, career before family, allowing “strangers” to raise our children, uncontrolled personal debt, increasing dependence upon government and progressive dilution of the definition of what constitutes a family). While the clergy traditionally fights to preserve the family, the modern American government fights to destroy it.

Families and individuals living in a Judeo-Christian based culture seek to put others before self. Although doing so is a lifetime journey, the ongoing effort harmonizes many interpersonal relationships and much of society, even among those who are not adherents to Judeo-Christian tradition.

When a culture such as the United States moves from a faith in God to a faith in evolution-rooted humanism, it migrates from an emphasis on serving others to serving self, producing sharp and dramatic increases in the most selfish decisions of all—those involving life and death.

Choices forbidden for millennia in Judeo-Christian and most other cultures first become legalized, and a short time later endorsed and even facilitated by active government promotion and financial support. The most selfish decisions ever made include divorce, abortion, euthanasia, allowing strangers to raise a married couple’s children, and prematurely side-barring inconvenient relatives in institutions such as nursing homes. In a declining culture, those horrible, heart-wrenching decisions become the new norm. Many so called government-sponsored “entitlement programs” effectively promote wrongdoing (sin) by subsidizing it.

When Self reigns supreme, there is no limit to the evil that can be perpetrated by one person on another. At the national (cultural) level, the evil is readily cloaked in appealing language such as “pro-choice” or “death with dignity.”

No civilization has ever survived the breakdown of the family!

What do you think?

Husbands, Would Your Wife Rather Be Home? Encourage Her!

On January 12, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Homemaker, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love37 Comments

The modern American culture has swerved so far away from the 7-millennium long traditional family-centered culture to the current career-centered culture that young women are virtually forced by cultural pressure to pursue a career as a higher priority than the family. Some have claimed it is possible to have it both ways. The reality is that more and more women are discovering that by definition there can only be one priority. If the priority is career, the family will suffer now and later.

Many women would genuinely prefer to be a homemaker. But those who are brave enough to face the wolfish cultural pressure may be confronted by another barrier closer to home. Today, many married men presumptively expect their wives to have a money-earning job outside the home.

Traditionally—at least up until a few decades ago—men would be embarrassed if their wives worked outside the home. The men were proud of their ability to provide for the material needs and the security of their home. In just a few short decades, their pride succumbed to radical feminist pressures and transitioned to, “Honey, it’s OK to get a job if you want to; either way is OK with me.” The laisse-faire attitude, which was often interpreted by women as uncaring eventually became today’s, “Honey, you MUST have a job to help pay all of the bills.”

Severe cultural pressures and often poor financial planning create formidable barriers for the would-be homemaker. Here’s the rub! Men, if any of you are pressuring your wife to pursue a career, rather than encouraging her to be a homemaker, God has a very direct and stern warning for you. As you read the quote in three translations, remember, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:”

“The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory forever. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.” [Micah 2:9-10 King James Version]
“You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever. Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy.” [Micah 2:9-10 New International Version]
“You throw my people’s women out of the homes they love. You deprive their children of my glory forever. Get up and go! You can’t stay here! Because [the land] is now unclean, it will destroy you with a grievous destruction.” [Mikhah 2:9-10 Complete Jewish Bible]

The clarity of the three scripture translations is inescapable. Regardless of today’s cultural pressures, a husband must not encourage his wife to pursue a job outside the home. Whether or not she actually does is another discussion. However, first consider this:

God views the entirety of history as a continuum from Creation through the coming of the Messiah. He sees a holistic master portrait. That portrait includes a seamless parade of generations, each receiving the baton of civilization from the previous generation and passing it on to the next generation. At least that is His intent.

The woman as wife and mother is the link between generations. She learns from the previous generation, primarily from her mother, gives birth to the next generation, and is primarily responsible for nurturing and raising the next generation to become men and women of strong character, capable of carrying the baton of civilization onward to the following generation. She is ultimately responsible for the cohesiveness of the family and the sustainability of the culture.

The passage in Micah 2:9 indicates that when the homemaker is “cast out,” driven out, or thrown out of the home, to pursue material goals, the missing link forms a disconnect in the flow of generations and the preservation of civilization. The disconnect deprives the children of God’s glory for a very long time—the passage says, “forever.”

Visualize the disconnect as a seamless hand-knit sweater. When a single piece of yarn is broken, a slight tug causes the entire sweater to unravel. Similarly, the entire fabric of America unravels and is rapidly unraveling today when the family link in time is broken. Wow! That’s heavy; think about it for a few moments.

The greatest expression of love between a married man and woman is the birth of a child. New parents often cry out, “It’s a miracle from God!” and so it is. The child remains every bit as much a miracle at ages 2, 5, 10, 16 or beyond. The miracle child is on loan from God throughout the growing years. God has assigned the enormous responsibility to the parents, primarily the mother, to care for and raise His created miracle to become an adult of strong character who will continue to honor God and pass along an improved baton to the following generation. How could anything be a higher priority?

God places very high and challenging expectations on the woman. Her husband’s job is to make her job easy. One day, the parents causing or contributing to a disconnect at the expense of the children will be accountable to God. If that is you, what will you say, when God asks, “What did you do with my miracle?”

Education in Middle Ages Far More Demanding Than Today

On January 8, 2015 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Education, God's Love, Judeo-Christian Culture10 Comments

Higher education during the Middle Ages was no joke. It was intense perhaps at times even brutal. But it developed the wholeness of a person to be humble before God and to be a positive influence on others. For example, before beginning higher education at Oxford University, Richard of Wallingford (1292-1336) was expected to have mastered reading, writing, and speaking Latin. Throughout a three to four year journey to a bachelor of arts degree Richard was required to master the trivium (first three of the seven liberal arts), i.e. grammar, dialectic (logic), and rhetoric. The grammar was a particularly rigorous style of Latin. Dialectic was very advanced logic. Rhetoric included polished oratory, learning to construct arguments and the correct form for writing letters.³⁵ Bachelor’s level, courses taught:

Grammar-how to write
Dialectic-how to think
Rhetoric-how to speak well and persuasively

Graduation required passing an aggressive oral exam and submission of a certificate of good character and morals. The process educated the whole person for the purpose of being a better person and a positive role model for others, goals largely unknown in modern schools, lost in the intellectual overemphasis on a career-building academics.

Becoming a master of the arts required another three years of intense study during which Richard would learn the last four of the seven liberal arts known as the quadrivium, the mathematics component. They included arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. In addition, he would learn the three branches of philosophy—natural philosophy (intellectual), ethics (emotional), and metaphysics (spiritual).³⁶ Far beyond basic calculations, arithmetic of the time included algebra and theoretical mathematics, a broad term that included a study of prime numbers and perfect numbers. Today, the discipline is more often referred to as number theory. Geometry included an in-depth study of the massive works of Euclid. Music had little to do with learning music performance. Instead, students focused on the theory of harmony and an “appreciation of the rhythms of the universe.”³⁷ The study of astronomy was equally rigorous, despite the erroneous notion that the earth was the center of the solar system and all other bodies orbited around the earth. The educational process was extremely rigorous. Nothing about it would support the claim that this was the “Dark Ages.”

Moving forward, the holistic educational process integrated knowledge, morals, and religion continually through the earliest American settlements and the founding of the United States until just the last few decades. Major universities, including most of those known today as Ivy League schools were founded to prepare young people for the ministry. Harvard University proudly proclaimed, “Let every student be plainly instructed and…consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God…” and required students to read the Scriptures twice a day. Yale University proclaimed, “Above all, have an eye to the great end of all your studies, which is to obtain the clearest conceptions of Divine things and to lead you to a saving knowledge of God…” and required all scholars to “…live a religious and blameless life according to the rules of God’s Word…” Princeton University required every student to attend daily morning and evening worship. What do you think?

Happiness in the New Year Depends on Virtuous Living!

On December 30, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Entertainment, God's Love, Holidays, Judeo-Christian CultureLeave a comment

This time of year “Happy New Year” is everywhere. The greeting is repeated so often, it almost seems as if it is on autopilot. The New Year is celebrated with parties, prayers, parades, and football games. But how can we assure happiness in the New Year?

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 perpetually 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, where 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 a book.

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.

Happy New Year to YOU!

Classic Movie: The Ten Commandments-Sephora Compares Biblical/Secular Values for Moses

On December 26, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Entertainment, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love6 Comments

After being banned from Egypt, Moses barely survives a devastating trek across the desert wilderness. He is rescued by a group of shepherd girls, daughters of Jethro, a Midianite priest. Just before their marriage, one of the girls, Sephora [Yvonne De Carlo] profoundly compares traditional and secular values for Moses [Charlton Heston]. Moses has just described an Egyptian woman looking “as beautiful as a jewel.”

Sephora: “A jewel has brilliance, but gives no warmth.

Our hands are not so soft but they can serve.
Our bodies are not so white, but they are strong.
Our lips are not perfumed, but they speak the truth.
Love is not an art to us; it is life to us.
We are not dressed in gold and fine linen; strength and honor are our clothing.
Our tents are not the columned halls of Egypt, but our children play happily before them.
We can offer you little, but we offer all we have.”

Moses: “I have not little, Sephora; I have nothing.”

Sephora: “Nothing from some is more than gold from others.”

The conversation between Sephora (Greek form of Zipporah) and Moses just prior to their wedding is a clear contrast between:

traditional Biblical values, focusing on strong character and serving others (overcoming pride), and
secular values that recognize little significance in character and seeks to serve self (feeding pride and magnifying materialism).

Which would you marry? …the wealthy and materialistic, but shallow and self-centered Egyptian girl or the shepherd girl who understands the importance of virtue and strong character and is committed to a life of loving (serving) others.

Traditional Biblical values emerge from the wholeness of one’s soul as a conduit for God’s enduring love.
Evolution-rooted secular values, failing to recognize the reality of a spirit and limiting emotional considerations to Hedonistic highs/lows, emerge from primarily intellectual utilitarian considerations. The latter is a humanistic deification of man, based on the assumption that evolution has reached its highest current level in the human reasoning.

Which would you choose? “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

What Do Jews Think About Christmas Celebrations?

On December 22, 2014December 25, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Christmas, God's Love, Holidays, Judeo-Christian Culture, LoveLeave a comment

Nearly all Americans (93%) celebrate Christmas. Only an extremely tiny minority would object to the greeting, “Merry Christmas,” a cherry greeting roughly equivalent to, “I love you,” Yet, political correctness, championed by the liberal/progressive movement, has effectively eliminated the Merry Christmas greeting from public life as well as nativity scenes and other symbols of Christmas.

In contrast, consider what three nationally-known Jewish leaders have to say about Christmas celebrations:

Burt Prelutsky, a Jewish columnist for a number of national publications, declares:

I never thought I’d live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word. . . . How is it, one well might ask, that in a Christian nation this is happening? . . . Speaking as a member of a minority group – and one of the smaller ones at that – I say it behooves those of us who don’t accept Jesus Christ as our savior to show some gratitude to those who do, and to start respecting the values and traditions of the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens, just as we keep insisting that they respect ours. Merry Christmas, my friends!

Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Daniel Lapin agrees:

Secular fundamentalism has successfully injected into American culture the notion that the word “Christmas” is deeply offensive. . . . Anti-Christianism is unhealthy for all Americans; but I warn my brethren that it will prove particularly destructive for Jews. . . . Let us all go out of our way to wish our many wonderful Christian friends – a very merry Christmas. Just remember, America’s Bible belt is our safety belt.

Orthodox Jewish radio host and creator of PragerUniversity.com Dennis Prager writes:

As a Jew, and a religious one at that, I want to wish my fellow Americans a Merry Christmas. Not “Happy Holidays.” Merry Christmas…

It doesn’t matter with which religion or ethnic group you identify; Christmas in America is as American as the proverbial apple pie. That is why some of the most famous and beloved Christmas songs were written by guess who? Jews.

White Christmas—Irving Berlin
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer—Johnny Marks
Let It Snow! Let It snow! Let It Snow!—July Styne/Sammy Cahn
Silver Bells—Jay Livingston/Ray Evans
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an Open Fire—Mel Torme/Robert Wells
Sleigh ride-–Mitchell Parish

and many others.

The notion that non-Christians are excluded is absurd.

It never occurred to my Orthodox Jewish family not to enjoy this season. It was a tradition in our home to watch the Christmas Mass from the Vatican every Christmas Eve…Had you visited our home, you would have seen my mother—and my father, my brother and I all wearing our kippot (Jewish skull-caps)—watching Catholics celebrate Christmas…

So when and why did this pernicious nonsense of non-Christians being “excluded” by public celebration of Christmas develop?

It is nothing more than another destructive product of the 1960s and 1970s, when the left came to dominate much of the culture.

There you have it! Say “Merry Christmas” everywhere; say it again and again and again. Say Merry Christmas with love every time. Saying it mechanically, without love betrays the greeting and the Lord.

So—Spread the Deliberate Joy; spread the merriment. After all, love is contagious. And—don’t forget the reason for the season!

Blogging YOU the warmest and merriest Christmas ever!

The first two quotes were abstracted from http://www.wallbuilders.com. The third quote is from wnd.com magazine, Whistleblower, “Of Messiahs False and True,” December 2014.

Big Government is NOT Sustainable

On December 17, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Government, Judeo-Christian Culture2 Comments

Of course much of small government discussion in a recent blog is viewed as irrelevant by people who are skeptical of the Bible and whose life is largely driven by the theory of evolution. Since people are assumed to be merely the highest evolved animal, it appears reasonable for the best and brightest to be given whatever authority is necessary to make decisions for the masses and whatever resources are necessary to execute their authority. Hence, the virtually uncontrolled expansion of big government:

There is never enough power or money to satisfy the ego and pride of people in control.
In the absence of spiritual and emotional influences, decisions tend to be made on a cold practical utilitarian basis, unshackled by the notions of purpose or principle.
Individual freedom is progressively lost as government demands more and more power.

The power continues to concentrate and government grows until it becomes unsustainable Totalitarian power becomes the inevitable endpoint. The relentless drive to achieve uniformity and “fairness” stifles individual creativity. A major problem is that fairness like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. There is simply no universally agreed upon definition or standard of fairness. Nevertheless, the notion of fairness continues to resonate well with many voters. In contrast, the Scriptural standard is an integration of judgment and mercy. When the two concepts are in opposition, mercy wins. “…mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” [James 2:13 KJV]

Big Government is evoked by evolution.

People are controlled by government; power is dispensed by government as “rights” or “benefits.”
The supporting propaganda is generally unrestricted, because many of the promoters have bought into postmodern thinking, which maintains that there is no absolute truth.
Big government advocates tend to promote their views with emotion, because the facts of history lead to the inescapable conclusion that small government is better, and because the emotion obscures the cancerous growth of government and feeds the notion that people can get an endless list of freebies from the government.

When YOU compare small government and big government what conclusions to you draw?

American Exceptionalism Exists! You May Not Know Why.

On December 15, 2014December 15, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, God's Love, Judeo-Christian Culture2 Comments

References to American exceptionalism have recurred with increasing frequency in recent years. Some champion the notion; Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently scoffed at it on several occasions, regarding it as a representation of American arrogance. American exceptionalism arose because a critical mass of Americans looked to God as the source of everything for the first 150 years of United States history.

Because Americans looked to God and loved God they enjoyed His abundant blessings. Americans were blessed with the ability to generate the world’s highest standard-of-living and best quality-of-life. America became the standard of freedom and the envy of people around the globe. People everywhere wanted to become Americans, be like Americans, or copy American styles and fads. America was a leader and a positive role model for the world. Spectacular military successes in two world wars and incomparable economic successes simply reinforced the image of American exceptionalism.

But in recent decades as Americans have increasingly abandoned God His hand of blessing has receded. America’s worldwide reputation for outstanding leadership has been shattered. Leaderless America wanders in a spiritual wilderness, shamelessly and repeatedly elects a government that squanders vast financial and material resources, and has become a worldwide negative role model that regretfully attracts as much attention as did the previous reputation for being a positive role model. People throughout the world still follow America’s downward spiral with as much gusto as they followed America’s upward climb to greatness. America’s influence extends far beyond its shores whether for good or evil.

But without God, Americans are no better than anyone else. American exceptionalism arose not because Americans are exceptional but because God is exceptional. He still is. Does American exceptionalism still exist? You decide. If you lean toward, “no,” know that God is still exceptional. American exceptionalism can again become abundantly visible to the world only to the extent that Americans become once again willing to trust God and to love God. Are YOU willing to become part of it? Individuals of Judeo-Christian tradition and faith-based institutions can no longer be content to rearrange the deck chairs on the rapidly sinking American Titanic.

Homemaker Enjoys The Most Important Career in the Universe!

On December 11, 2014December 20, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn God's Love, Homemaker, Love10 Comments

A Homemaker enjoys the most influential and vital career in the universe. She is responsible for the stability of a culture and the cohesiveness of the family. She is the panoramic link in time, connecting the generations. She links the past to the future, ancestors to descendants. She is primarily responsible for raising the children in a manner that stabilizes their future and transmits critically important values to the next generation. In short, she makes the home the most desirable place in the universe for her family.

When the homemaker leaves the home, love leaves like air out of a flat tire. The home becomes the house, little more than the building where everyone comes to sleep at night.

Consider the fruit of a family-centered family as opposed to a career-centered family:

Builds strong cohesive families when Dad is responsible for standard-of-living and Mom is responsible for quality-of-life
Promotes a partnership between married men and women that grows closer with time
Children reared by those who love them most…Mom and Dad
Low risk monogamous sex provides for pleasure and reproduction
Number and frequency of venereal diseases sharply reduced and largely eliminated
Few abortions, because the unborn child is an expression of the parents’ love
One man; one woman; one lifetime is the stable marriage norm accepted for six millennia
Men and women both desire the stability of marriage
Stable relationships between a man and a woman due to the certainty of the marriage commitment
Infrequent divorce due to love and respect for spouse as well as responsibility for children
Legacy of cultural stability passed on to successive generations
Children experience and enjoy the complementary influences of a mom and a dad
“Alternative lifestyles” viewed as against nature, culturally destructive, and inappropriate especially when children are involved
Children are more stable, less stressed, more secure, and behavior is more predictable and…when necessary…more controllable
Husband and father is vital to the well-being of the family
Preserves and reinforces the sanctity of life and sanctity of marriage
Protects and reinforces the sovereignty of the family
Lifestyle evokes a happier and healthier woman and strong family relationships

What do you think? Have we lost something vitally important in our modern American culture?

The Thanksgiving Miracle of Five Kernels of Corn

On November 22, 2014December 25, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, Government, Holidays, Judeo-Christian Culture7 Comments

Most of us learned about Thanksgiving in school. You know the drill. In 1620, the Pilgrims crossed the ocean blue and experienced a devastatingly harsh winter along the Massachusetts coast. About half of them perished. Spring finally arrived and a friendly Indian named Squanto helped the Pilgrims learn how to obtain food by stomping eels out of the mud and fertilizing corn with dead fish. The following fall, they celebrated an abundant harvest with a feast that became known as the first Thanksgiving. But there is more, much more. The string of miracles is nearly endless:

Many years before, the Separatists, later known as the Pilgrims, reached the breaking point of frustration and disappointment after enduring severe persecution by the Church of England. They “removed” to Leyden, Holland. After nearly a dozen years of severe adversity and personal toughening, it was time to leave. They came to believe the America was their “promised land.” They found their way back to England on the ship, Speedwell, prepared to join the Mayflower for the long difficult voyage to America. At Southhampton, their sponsors forcibly required them to accommodate 80 “strangers” who would later strain the best of interpersonal relationships. The Pilgrims numbers were reduced due to limited capacity on the ships. In July, 1620, they sailed west. In barely three days they had to return to England, because of structural problems with the masts on the Speedwell. Again, their numbers were reduced to stay within the carrying capacity of the Mayflower. God had sifted their numbers repeatedly. Only the hardiest of the hardy remained on the Mayflower for the epic journey.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Pilgrims endured “seven weeks of the hell of an ill-lighted, rolling, pitching, stinking inferno” as well as tormenting by the crew. All manner of sins were brought to the surface, confessed, and forgiven. By the time they reached land, they were a spiritually cleansed and extremely close-knit group. Adversity does that.
Mid-way across the Atlantic, they experienced a life-threatening emergency. The immense cross-beam supporting the main mast was failing. They would likely be lost at sea. After intense prayer, William Brewster had a eureka moment. He recommended using the giant iron printing press screw to support the breaking beam. It worked! Even the skeptical sailors praised God along with the Pilgrims.
Just before landing at Plymouth in Massachusetts, they realized they were under no legal jurisdiction. To maintain order, they wrote and everyone signed the Mayflower Compact. The miracle and genius of the document is that it included many of the same principles later embodied in our founding documents.
Their landing site was protected by Cape Cod. The site was flat, cleared, and had four freshwater streams and even a cache of corn. How could that happen? The area was previously cleared and inhabited by the Patuxet Indians, one of the few tribes known to be extremely hostile. Years before the Pilgrims’ arrival, the tribe was wiped out by a plague. Other tribes avoided the area, fearing presence of evil spirits. It was a miracle site for the Pilgrims.
They finally set foot on land in mid-November, 1620.The first winter was extremely harsh and food was scarce. In January, the thatched roof of the Common House caught fire, a life-threatening emergency, due to their utter dependence on that building. Adversity inspired even more prayer and bound them together even tighter. By Spring, they had lost about half their number. Still the mortality rate was not nearly as high as in Jamestown, Virginia. The miracle was that half did survive.
In their most desperate hour into their camp walked a Christian, English-speaking Indian, a Patuxet no less. Yes, you read it right. He was the Squanto of our school days lessons. He was the only survivor of the plague that killed the rest of his tribe, because he was not there. In 1605, Squanto was one of four Indians taken captive and shipped to England, where they were taught English so they could be questioned. Squanto spent nine years in England. In 1614, he was returned to America by Captain John Smith (Yes, it is the same one you remember from the Pocohontas story hundreds of miles to the South.). But Squanto was quickly captured again, taken to Spain and sold as a slave. He was bought and feed by local friars who taught him the Christian faith. Upon his second return to America, Squanto was devastated to find that his entire tribe had succumbed to a plague. Alone and wandering through the woods, Squanto was discovered by Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags. The wise chief recognized that the Pilgrims had a desperate need and the Squanto desperately needed to be needed. Massasoit sent Squanto, the Christian, English-speaking Indian to the Pilgrims. William Brewster would later call Squanto, “a special instrument sent of God for their good, beyond their expectation.” Squanto effectively became an earthly savior. He taught the Pilgrims how to survive in a harsh, rugged, untamed wilderness.
Following a bountiful harvest, they and about ninety Indians celebrated the feast that became known as the First Thanksgiving. The three-day celebration and the new arrivals from England consumed much of the provisions for the second winter.
By Spring, the food ration for each individual was down to an unimaginable five kernels of corn per day. Nevertheless, they survived again and enjoyed a bountiful harvest after the second summer.
When everyone approached the table for the Second Thanksgiving feast, they found a plate with just five kernels of corn as a reminder of God’s limitless grace even under the harshest of conditions.

Here is a challenge for you. Set this year’s Thanksgiving table with just five kernels of corn on each plate. Before enjoying the rest of the feast, share this story with your family and guests. God’s grace is truly wonderful! Tell everyone, about it, beginning with your family.

Much of this story was abstracted from The Light and the Glory, by Peter Marshall and David Manuel (1977), Fleming H. Revell Company; Old Tappan, New Jersey.

Have You Ever Received a Love Letter from God?

On November 18, 2014December 20, 2014 By Dr. Lloyd StebbinsIn American Culture, God's Love, Judeo-Christian Culture, Love6 Comments

God’s love letter—the Bible—contains everything necessary to assure the richest possible human experience. However, simple intellectual knowledge of the Bible is seldom sufficient to change a life to the extent necessary to experience the full richness of life that God intended. A life-changing experience tends to arise when intellectual knowledge expands to include emotional and spiritual knowledge deeply embedded within the soul. The movement of the wholeness of knowledge from the head to the soul arises from growing interpersonal relationships and frequent, active, and conscious choices to serve the needs of others, sacrificing the desires of self along the way. Knowledge embedded in the soul creates the drive to do right and grow in godly character. Soulful knowledge evokes motivation; head knowledge is merely stored.

However, godly growth—the movement of the fragmented head knowledge to the wholeness of the soul—is inhibited by intense cultural peer pressure. Like everyone else, Jews and Christians are endlessly bombarded by the lures of materialism, self-indulgence, and boundaryless sex, which virtually always come at the expense of others. The lures are so intense and unrelenting that they facilitate compromises in honesty, integrity, and other important character values. The lack of values has become a new norm in the mainstream culture and a persistent temptation within what remains of the Judeo-Christian culture. So many believers have at least tacitly moved from a sense of temptation to the new norm of lost or compromised values that statistically there is no difference in the tragic rates of divorce and abortion between believers and unbelievers, including atheists and agnostics.

No one wakes up in the morning stretching, rubbing the sleep out of his or her eyes thinking, “What a beautiful day; what a great day to go out and sin!” Compromises to values, patterns of poor behavior, and a drift away from God progressively result from extremely small, barely inappropriate, seemingly inconsequential decisions that accumulate over days, weeks, months, and years. The gradual erosion of values is ultimately passed from generation to generation. The end game is that the American culture and the great American experiment in self-rule are in grave jeopardy, because Judeo-Christian believers have become compromised followers, rather than principled leaders. The cultural pressures are so great that believers are unlikely to mature and grow in character without making regular, conscious, deliberate decisions to serve the needs of others, beginning with the family and working outwards. In an expanded sense, the price of spiritual apathy is extremely high here and may cause many people to miss out on eternity with God later.

The Judeo-Christian culture is a subset of the national culture. From the founding of the United States through the first 150 years, the Christian culture and Judeo-Christian tradition dominated the national culture. Regardless of whether or not specific individuals or groups were “believers,” the culture was driven by the national “soul,” which was steeped in Judeo-Christian tradition. But in recent decades major demographic changes along with the steady erosion of morals and traditional standards of behavior have resulted in a shrinking proportion of loving devout believers in the American culture wielding diminishing influence. The United States simply cannot survive continued massive assaults on Christianity, the family, the Constitution, and the free enterprise economic system. Founder John Adams thoughtfully commented:

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.

Several years ago a protestant pastor was heard commenting that, “Christians no longer have a culture.” They have been largely assimilated by the secularized national culture. Similarly, in an interview, the Catholic Pope Benedict was asked to identify the greatest challenge facing the church today. His reply was that the greatest challenge facing the church today is the secularization of the church, a response remarkably similar to the pastor’s comment. What do you think?