Resolutions: Study God’s Word

I’ve been convinced and convicted recently regarding my lack of discipline.  I don’t need (or want) to be legalistic, but honestly, my lack of discipline has not produced any good results.  Being more disciplined would produce better results – duh!  So how do I get to where I want to be from where I am as far as my productive habits (individual disciplines) go?  I think that a major part of what I was up against before was that I was trying to fit so many things into my schedule all at once, not in terms of having more things to do than hours in the day, but in terms of adding all of the new goals at once, like a traffic jam of to-do’s commuting into my schedule.  Having failed to fit everything in that way, I’ve backed off a bit.  I’m trying something different, adding just one thing at once, in order of priority.

Why in order of priority, instead of in order of ease or simplicity or fun?  Frankly, because if I admission into my schedule is based on how fun something is, I’ll only do the things that I want to do, and not the things I need to do.  If I add things based on how simple or easy they are to accomplish, I’ll only do the easy stuff, not the hard stuff.  Nothing worth doing comes easily, right?  So I am adding things in order of priority – and starting to sound like another annoying self help or motivational writer (seriously, they drive me up the wall).

So the way that I have decided to determine what disciplines get top priority is by who it serves, or who that discipline with bring me closer to.  So here’s the order that someone smarter than me came up with:  J.O.Y.; or Jesus, Others, You.  I believe that this idea is fitting with the Greatest Commandment: “… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:38-39).  Loving God comes first, loving people comes second, and the command is finished with “as yourself” – a reminder to love and serve other people AT LEAST as much as you love and serve yourself.

Since loving God comes first, getting to know God is very important (might be kind of awkward to love someone I don’t know).  On top of that, as a Christian, no matter what I do, I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ, which means that I represent Him to the people around me.  In order to effectively represent Him, I need to know Him very well.  I’m going to keep this short and just simply say that the chief and primary way of getting to know God better is by reading the Bible.  Not everyone buys that, but I do, and here is not the time or place to defend why I believe that – or this won’t be a short post.

So my first resolution is to be a tireless student of God’s Word.  This is not a New Year’s Resolution, partly because it’s November.  I’ll have a few more resolutions by the time 1-1-2013 comes around, but I mean for this to last the rest of my life, not just for 2013.  I also mean for all of the resolutions I settle on to last beyond just 2013.  I know it’s a rabbit trail, but I hate New Year’s Resolutions because people don’t keep them.

Read the Bible for a Change, by Ray Lubeck

Wrapped up in that resolution to be a tireless student of God’s Word are (for me) four other long term commitments, three of which I’m borrowing from Ray Lubeck’s Read the Bible for a Change:

1. To read through the entire Bible at least once a year, but preferably twice.
2. To steward and hone the intellectual and spiritual gifts God has given me (especially the ones that enable me to study and better understand God’s Word).
3. To seek knowledge to enable better understanding of God’s Word.
4. To honestly examine my heart and attitude, and pray for God to create in me a clean heart so that His Word can be heard in my heart.

Here’s my thinking in those mini-resolutions:  they are quality assurance for the main resolution.  For most Christians, you don’t have to think very hard for personal experiences where people have misused the Bible and it caused harm to someone – perhaps even you personally.  This is one of many reasons critics of Christians say that we’re nothing but a bunch of self righteous hypocrites.

Anyway… Those are my thoughts on my first, and most important resolution.  One more time, even though I will probably have my little list of resolutions done and start incorporating them into my daily life by around the New Year, I don’t see these as New Year’s Resolutions for any other reason than their timing.  However I would still strongly encourage anyone reading this to give yourself an honest self examination of your own self discipline, and to consider what changes you might need to make.  If you are someone who is into New Year’s Resolutions, now is the time to start thinking about them.

Related articles

• A Confession… And a Resolution… (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)
• What is a Spiritual Discipline, Anyway? (buddyhowarddotme.wordpress.com)

Headline Highlights: Week of August 18th, 2012

 

Newspaper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I link these articles here because I believe the issues are important for Christians to be mindful of and to carefully weigh out.  Some articles are of a controversial nature, and their inclusion here does not necessarily express my agreement with either the political or theological views of the source.  I simply find these articles worth discussing and bringing to the attention of my fellow believers (or worth reminding about).

Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Romans 12:18: If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

As Christians, we absolutely MUST remember these verses as we weigh out our positions on moral-civil issues and then seek to enact and support laws, policies and practices in society that reflect our positions.  It is not the people who disagree with us that we “fight” against, but the devil behind them (whether or not they are aware of it).  Because the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors, we must extend a Christian grace even to those with whom we disagree.  When we fail to extend such a grace, we fail as credible ambassadors of Christ.

Issue 1:  Inciting Bible Study:

Desiring God: All Scripture Is Breathed Out by God, Continue in It:  This is an excellent message on the authority of Scripture, and also has some tie-in with the Issue 2, below.

Desiring God: The Shelf Life on Preaching the Gospel to Yourself:

John 5 shows the folly of fixing on the Scriptures while ignoring the God of grace. Jesus crossed paths with a troop who liked to think of themselves as soaked in the Scriptures, but they were getting them all wrong, taking them in through the wrong grid. What an epic tragedy: They had God himself in the flesh, standing in their very midst, and they missed him because their Bible reading was going awry with self at the center.

Jesus says to them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). The lesson for us is to never disconnect our searching of the Scriptures from a conscious awareness and pursuit of Jesus as our Savior, Lord, and Treasure. The gospel of Jesus is the core, culmination, and meaning of the Scriptures. No matter how passionate the study, regular Bible intake that is not in accord with the truth of the gospel becomes zeal without knowledge.

Displace the gospel from the center, and studiousness with the Scriptures soon becomes a massive self-salvation project.

Issue 2:  Degrading Church Leadership:  There are two primary dimensions in which I see this happening on the macro scale, one is the egalitarian view that allows women to become the heads of a church body, and one is the condoning of open sexual immorality by church leaders.  The condoning of open sin is the simpler issue to handle, it just shouldn’t happen.  But the egalitarianism vs. complementarianism issue needs a more careful address than that (the TGC video linked below does an excellent job).  First, it is important to clarify that complementarianism is not the “traditional” approach to headship and submission that egalitarians and feminists characterize it as.  Complementarianism is the historically traditional approach, but egalitarians and feminists will most often approach the issue in a way that only casts it in light of the abuses and wrongs done under it – much like characterizing all of Christianity by the abuses, wrongs, and brutality that happened during the Crusades.  It is also helpful to distinguish between men from boys and women from girls (basically, distinguish adults from children, for both genders).

In the marriage and theological (teaching) dimensions of life, men have explicit  biblical headship over everyone (women and children).  Also in the marriage and theological dimension, women have headship over children.  The 5th commandment is to honor your father and mother (Exodus 20:12), and Timothy had learned his faith from his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5).  It’s not explicitly stated, but I think that it’s safe to pull out the principle that if a godly woman is old enough to be a mother or grandmother to a young man, that she can rebuke him if there is a biblically valid reason, even though she has no explicit headship over him.  Frankly, if you’re a physically mature male, but morally and theologically immature, then you’re still a boy, and you have no headship whatsoever, over anyone.  Mark Driscoll would call you – and I would agree with him – a boy who can shave (thank you, Pastor Mark, for that very helpful term).

I have no particular objection to women having headship over men in an administrative or civic capacity, until her administrative or civic authority bleeds over into a theological issue, then her headship runs out.  I have no objection to my wife being in charge of my to-do list (mainly because if I’m in charge of it, nothing will get done), but I speak for my house on theological issues – even if my wife disagrees with me (which she very rarely does, and when she does disagree, it’s discussed in private).

Associated Baptist Press: Baptist Women Pastors Reach Milestone:

The Gospel Coalition: Why is TGC Complementarian?

The Gospel Coalition: To my Egalitarian Friends and What’s Wrong With Patriarchy?

Christianity Today: Are Women Happy At Church? Nearly 75% Say Yes, Yet Feel Guilty:

Barna Group: Christian Women Today, Part 1 of 4:

Christianity Today: Canada’s Largest Protestant Church Elects Openly Gay Leader:  Homosexuality is not some especially depraved sin or brand of sexual immorality, it is just another type of sexual immorality.  The biblical inconsistency of churches like this one is demonstrated in their (sinful) condoning of open homosexuality, but their (correct) disdain for open adultery.

Issue 3:  Intolerance of Orthodox Christianity:

Christianity Today: Family Research Council Points to Southern Poverty Law Center in Sparking Shooter’s Reaction:

Some good news: Christianity Today:  InterVarsity Re-Instated As New York University Decides Leadership Policy Is “Common Sense, Not Discrimination”

Issue 4: Voting by Faith:  What is the role of our faith in our vote?  I have said before that morality can come from nearly any religion, even though salvation only comes from one.  Even though I do not agree with the theology of either of our main presidential candidates (or vice presidential candidates, for that matter), there is one with whom I share more ideas about morality than the other.

The Resurgence: Politics and the Kingdom of God:  The last two sentences summarize the whole article, and make a strong case for balanced thought and careful discernment.

Those who act as though politics are the primary way God has determined to bring about the kingdom of God will inevitably downplay the significance of the church as God’s agent through which the Spirit works in the world. On the other hand, those who avoid all political or cultural involvement as inherently evil will miss or downplay the social and cultural ramifications of the gospel of Jesus.

The All of Life series from which this article comes is also a worthwhile read, though it doesn’t focus entirely on Christian political engagement.

Associated Baptist Press: Analyst says Romney plays religion card:

Pew Research Center: Religion & Politics 2012:

Christianity Today: President Obama’s Faith Council Focuses On Human Trafficking:

http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/579-christian-women-today-part-1-of-4-what-women-think-of-faith-leadership-and-their-role-in-the-church

Related articles

• Headline Highlights: Week of August 10th, 2012 (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)

 

Called to God – Blessed for no Other Reason

Exodus 19:3-6 with notes from the Reformation Study Bible and Faithlife Study Bible.

The Exodus narrative continues as Israel arrives at Mount Sinai, and God prepares the people to receive the Law (Exodus 20:1-23:19).  God’s sovereignty and power have already been demonstrated substantially to Israel by what He did to get them out of Egypt and bring them safely to Sinai – He even says, “I carried you on eagles’ wings.”  While He clearly doesn’t mean that they had traveled to Sinai in luxury, they traveled under his divine protection.  Now, after reminding them about the things they’d seen and how they’d arrived at Sinai, God says, “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all people…”  Not unlike Jesus words in John 14:15 that if we love Him we will obey His commands.  Unfortunately, we are not unlike Israel will show themselves to be, because we also repeatedly show by our actions that we do not love God.  Fortunately for us, His love does not depend on our merit, but on His sovereign will.  Over and over again, God calls us back to Himself in a way that we cannot refuse, who can possibly refuse being released from slavery to sin?  Who can resist being kept safe in the hands of a completely sovereign God?

If we authentically love Jesus for what He has accomplished on our account, we will keep his commandments, we will obey God, and we will hear His voice (first and foremost through Scripture).  But we cannot authentically love as God loves, obey His commands, or hear His voice if we are not faithful students of Scripture.  Fortunately when Jesus said that if we love Him we’ll obey Him, He followed up with the promise of a Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16).  Speaking of how the Holy Spirit helps us to understand Scripture, Joel Beeke says, “Knowledge is the soil in which the Holy Spirit sows the seed of understanding.”  Not only does the Holy Spirit help us to understand God’s expectations in the first place, but He helps us to meet them, because we are so much like Israel in that we have absolutely no power within ourselves to meet those expectations.

Israel’s covenantal obligation to God was to obey Him, and God’s promised reward for obedience was that Israel would remain under the Abrahamic blessing and become God’s “treasured possession” (v. 5).  Because we live in the Church age, that same covenantal blessings is extended to us, not because of any merit on our part, but because after God has called us to Himself, He gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us to obey Him and then receive His blessing.  We don’t receive that blessing because we deserve it, and we don’t receive it only for the benefit of the Holy Spirit’s help, but because God called us in the first place.  Going back to when God called Abraham (Genesis 12), God could have just as easily called Abraham’s father Terah, or his brother Haran.  But God, in His own sovereign pleasure, picked Abram to call out of his homeland, and to bless.  God picked Isaac, rather than Ishmael, to carry on his father’s blessing.  God picked Jacob, rather than Esau, to carry his grandfather’s blessing.  And on down the line until the nation of Israel is called to God out of Egypt, and out of all the rest of the world that God had made and that belongs to Him anyway.

We are blessed, as Israel was, for no other reason than that God called us out of the world, and out of our slavery to sin.  Why Israel and not the rest of the world?  Why the Church and not the rest of the world?  We don’t know.  But we do know that God’s thoughts and ways are not ours, and that His are higher than ours (Isaiah 55).

Related articles

• A Family Reunion, and a Father-in-law’s Advice (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)
• Deliverance, Remembrance, Complacence (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)
• My God can beat your god (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)

Related books

• Chosen by God (R.C. Sproul)

Headline Highlights: Week of August 10th, 2012

Highlights are back, but being reduced to a once-a-week frequency to help balance other responsibilities.  Enjoy.

Newspaper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I link these articles here because I believe the issues are important for Christians to be mindful of and to carefully weigh out.  Some articles are of a controversial nature, and their inclusion here does not necessarily express my agreement with either the political or theological views of the source.  I simply find these articles worth discussing and bringing to the attention of my fellow believers (or worth reminding about).

Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Romans 12:18: If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

As Christians, we absolutely MUST remember these verses as we weigh out our positions on moral-civil issues and then seek to enact and support laws, policies and practices in society that reflect our positions.  It is not the people who disagree with us that we “fight” against, but the devil behind them (whether or not they are aware of it).  Because the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors, we must extend a Christian grace even to those with whom we disagree.  When we fail to extend such a grace, we fail as credible ambassadors of Christ.

Issue 1: A Trending Lack of Discernment:  “Knowledge is the soil in which the Holy Spirit sows the seed of understanding” (modified from this article).  There is a tragic illiteracy of Scripture among modern Western Christians, and that illiteracy and lack of knowledge is growing into a possibly more tragic lack of understanding of, and discernment between, false teachings or sound doctrine.  This lack of discernment also plays into how we will (or won’t) respond to the other two issues in this Highlights post.

Ligonier: Where East Meets West; Desiring God: Fight the Poverty of Attention and Do We Ignore the Bible.

Issue 2:  Religious Liberty vs. “Discrimination” based on Homosexuality (or other sin issue):  Chick-fil-A aside, “tolerance” vs. Religious Liberty and Christian Morals remains a prevalent issue in current events.  Conservative Christians are castigated by the political (and religious) left because of a firm belief that homosexuality is outside of God’s design and morally wrong.  The hypocrisy in some Christian groups is that they lack of grace towards this particular sexual sin, while silently condoning or not actively fighting other sexual sin within their congregation.  The hypocrisy of the far left is their “tolerance” of everyone but Conservative Christians, and it is particularly ironic with regards to this issue because they are “tolerant” of Conservative Muslims, who are violently anti-homosexual (in nations where Sharia law is in place and enforce, homosexuality is a capital crime punished by death).

World Magazine: Philosophical Differences and Vanderbilt Squeeze:
Excerpt from Philosophical Differences: “A sharp-eyed reader [of the average anti-discrimination policy] will grasp both the central issue and the embedded fallacy. The issue: An institution (such as a Christian college) that refuses hiring on the basis of homosexual practice is thereby discriminatory. The fallacy: If a non-discrimination policy includes religion in its list of protected categories, then any institution religiously opposed to hiring a [person practicing a lifestyle contrary to the institution’s beliefs] is itself discriminated against…”

Desiring God: Not Your Mother’s Kind of Tolerance and No One is More Tolerant Than God:

A strongly recommended book for this discussion: D.A. Carson, Intolerance of Tolerance.

Issue 3:  Systemic Academic Antagonism of Christianity:  This issue is more of the same lack of “tolerance” for Christians, but in a more narrow scope than the above issue.  I also have personal experience on the untolerated end  of this particular issue, which I may write about later.

World Magazine: Soaping the Slippery Slope, Into Exile, Good Deeds Punished, and Vanderbilt Squeeze:

On a brighter note… Christianity Today: Missouri Students Can Now Opt Out of School Assignments on Religious Grounds:

Related articles

• Headline Highlights: 2012, July 31st  (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)
• Headline Highlights: 2012, July 30th (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)
• Headline Highlights: 2012, July 28th (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)

A Family Reunion, and a Father-in-law’s Advice

 

Gavel & Stryker (Photo credit: KeithBurtis)

Exodus 18 with notes from the Reformation Study Bible.

Apparently Moses had sent his wife and boys back home while he was dealing with Pharaoh and getting Israel out of Egypt.  Now that Israel is on its way to Sinai, and news has reached Jethro (Moses’ Father-in-law), Jethro brings Moses’ family back to him.  In Exodus 18:1-12 there is a lot going on, there’s a family reunion, a time of story telling and testimony that is centered on God (compare that to the non-God-centered story telling in Genesis 47:7-10) .  Since Jethro is a priest of Midian, and Midian is a descendant of Abraham (Genesis 25:2), it is possible that Jethro also followed Yahweh, although we don’t know this for certain.  So this story telling time might serve as either a strengthening of Jethro’s faith, or a conversion from a pagan faith to following Yahweh.

But the next day is also very interesting.  Because Moses was playing the role of a legal and spiritual mediator to an entire nation, and trying to do so within his human limitations.  He was mediating legally between individuals within the nation, and spiritually between the nation and God.  The two roles individually are far outside the realm of human capacity, but Moses was trying to do them both.  We’re not told if he was succeeding (even temporarily) or if he was failing in the performance of these roles, but from Jethro’s strong reaction, it’s pretty clear that Moses, like many modern jack-of-all-trades pastors, was on a path to burn-out.  He had to delegate his civil role while maintaining his spiritual role.  This is not much different from the apostles delegating the care and feeding of widows in Acts 6 to deacons so that they (the apostles) could focus on teaching the Gospel.

While pastors today still play an important role in making known to us the statutes and laws of God, as Moses did for Israel (Exodus 18:16), our only remaining spiritual mediator is now Jesus Christ himself (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 9:15, 12:24).  We don’t have to wait in line in a spiritual court room.  We read the Bible to hear from God the Father regarding Jesus Christ, we pray to and in the name of Jesus Christ, and the answer (should we have the sensitivity to “hear” it, and the discernment to validate it with Scripture) comes from the Holy Spirit.

See Also:  Timothy Lovegrove on Exodus 18

Related articles

• We can’t get off the hook. (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)
• Deliverance, Remembrance, Complacence (thinkrhema.wordpress.com)

 

Headline Highlights: 2012, July 30th

Newspaper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I link these articles here because I believe the issues are important for Christians to be mindful of and to carefully weigh out.  Some articles are of a controversial nature, and their inclusion here does not necessarily express my agreement with either the political or theological views of the source.  I simply find these articles worth discussing and bringing to the attention of my fellow believers (or worth reminding about).

Desiring God: Why Read the Bible?  If you follow any link from this post, follow this one.  I sincerely wish to inspire this sort of study (more with my other posts than the Highlights).  I also wish that I had come to this sort of attitude towards Bible study much sooner than I did.

The Gospel Coalition: 60 Second Summary: Defining Religious Liberty Down

The Foundry: Business Owners Battle Obamacare for Religious Freedom and Chick-fil-A Latest Example of How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Freedom

CNS News: DOJ to Colorado Family: Give Up Your Religion or Your Business

The practice of faith in and through business – actually, anywhere outside the home and the physical church – is being attacked on two fronts right now.  First, through healthcare “reform” rules; second, gay marriage vs. traditional family values.  There is undoubtedly both a spiritual and a political battle going on here, religious freedom is an absolutely critical issue – both to religious practitioners (of any faith), and to a moral society.  Some Christians may not realize the significance of this – that government might try to restrict us to exercising our faith only within the walls of our homes and churches, for them, I recommend this article from the Resurgence.  I strongly believe that the worst thing a Christian can do is take a head-in-the-sand attitude towards this issue in its current form.  The next worst thing is to limit his or her response to “I’ll pray for my leaders and trust God.”  While it is certainly necessary to pray for our leaders and to trust God, if we stop there, we are either adopting an attitude of pride towards the issue (it’s not worth my time to deal with that), or complacence (showing by our actions that we don’t really care about the outcome).  If you are honest enough to acknowledge your stake in this issue, here is what I suggest:  pray, pray, and pray some more.  Then talk to your pastor, other church leaders, and fellow congregants about what is going on – make people who agree with you aware of the issue, then pray corporately over the issue.  Talk about it when you’re in public, and invite bystanders to join the conversation – maybe next time you’re getting coffee with a Christian friend, ask the person at the next table what they think.  Don’t be shy, but also don’t be rude or confrontational if you find out that they disagree.  If they do disagree, then it’s a golden gospel sharing opportunity, and you can raise the questions about first amendment and religious freedoms as sort of an appologetics technique.  Beyond that, if you can do so in a God-honoring manor, contact your elected representatives (Congress, Senate), as well as your local media, and call on them to report on the issue in an honest way.

Fox: Black Wedding Banned by Baptist Church:  Racism still exists, even within the Church, and it is utterly wrong! I don’t know if lack of spine in this sense is a sin that should disqualify a pastor from ministry, but it would not bother me if the local First Baptist affiliation revoked their endorsement of that church and pastor.  If you are a Christian living an a multi-ethnic community, seek to build a multi-ethnic church; if you are a part of a mono-ethnic congregation in a multi-ethnic  community, seek to change that, and seek to build ministry and outreach partnerships with other congregations of different ethnicities (yes, you might also have to work across denominational lines).

Desiring God: How to Watch the Olympic Games and How Does Physical Exercise Relate to Sanctification?:  I don’t have any particular comments here, I just found these topics interesting, what do you think?

Headline Highlights: 2012, July 28th

I link these articles here because I believe the issues are important for Christians to be mindful of and to carefully weigh out.  Some articles are of a controversial nature, and their inclusion here does not necessarily express my agreement with either the political or theological views of the source.  I simply find these articles worth discussing and bringing to the attention of my fellow believers (or worth reminding about).

Washington Times: Chick-fil-A versus Chicago Values:  I love hyperbole.  Apparently tongues run faster than brains in Chicago.  Among other things, this article points out the inconsistency and incoherence of “tolerance” as defined by modern liberals.  Tolerance from the Christian perspective is well put in the Christian cliche, “love the sinner, hate the sin.”  No sinful behavior from anyone lets us off the hook from our obligation to love, evangelize, and forgive.  But loving, evangelizing, and forgiving do not amount to tolerance for continued sinning so that grace may abound (Romans 6:1-14).  In the case of homosexuality and other sexual sins, they run so deep that people become nearly defined by them, the solution is not simple, no matter how much heterosexual and sexually pure Christians might want it to be.  See also: Highlights 201207027 and Right of Refusal vs Loving Your Neighbor.

Life News: First Plaintiff Beats Obama HHS-Abortion Mandate in Court:  Take note of the common thread between this and the Chick-fil-A issue, political opposition against Christian views expressed and exercised outside the Church and home.  In the case of the contraceptive mandate, it is past the point  of oppositional rhetoric, and has reached the point of law.  To me, this thread is a write-your-representative level issue, because the First Amendment promises that the government will not restrict the exercise of religion.  But Evangelical Christendom demands action and a God-glorifying lifestyle outside the home.  A law like this is exactly what the First Amendment protects religious practices against.  Attitudes like those in Chicago (and elsewhere) towards Chick-fil-A are also the type of attitudes that bring laws like this into fruition.  See also: The Foundry: Religious Freedom Is Not Just for Churches.

The Foundry: Louisiana Teachers Union Threatens to Sue Voucher Schools:  Soap box warning.  Call me paranoid, but I know I am not the only one who thinks this way…  There are several different political and moral worldviews that hold values utterly contradictory to those of traditionally evangelical Christians, and those political and moral worldviews account for a probable majority among public school teachers.  The result is that Johnny and Suzy go to Sunday School once a week and learn that God made the world, deserves to be obeyed, and loves them; then they go to public school five days a week and learn that the world just spontaneously showed up, there are no rules because there is no god, and if there was a god who made rules then he wouldn’t be loving.  Christian private schools open up the opportunity to change that balance, and charter schools and voucher schools open that same opportunity to less economically endowed Christian families.  But because of an over-literal understanding of Separation of Church and State, anti-evangelical and anti-capitalist thinking demands that charter or voucher schools cease to exist.  Ironically, and hypocritically, they demand a state monopoly on education and curriculum.  How should carefully thoughtful Christians respond?  There are three basic responses:  homeschooling, where (usually) the child is insulated and “protected” from all non-christian thinking, and probably from important social development; private Christian schooling, where the child learns better social skills, but is again insulated and “protected” against non-christian thinking; or heavily parent involved public schooling, where the child learns from a young age how to be in the world but not of it, and experiences “normal” social development.  Admittedly, I have presented the choices in such a way to make it clear where I come down on this issue, but I’ll also mention that my own educational experience was a mix of these three options, depending on which academic year we’re talking about.  I’ll also say that I learned more about the world outside the Church when I joined the Marine Corps, and that I was probably not as prepared for it as I could have been if my educational experience had been different.  I would liken that experience to being dropped in the middle of a river at flood-stage without knowing how to swim.  Fortunately, in my case, there were spiritual and moral lifeguards present.

Anyway, as it pertains to school choice, and method of education, I don’t see any glaring reasons for Christians to take one position or another.  Economically, educational choice is a critical issue that needs to be moved forward.  But for Christians, those who come down hard and dogmatically on one educational choice are probably not making that choice in a carefully thoughtful manner.

Related articles

• Nation of Islam can open a restaurant in Chicago, but not Chick-fil-A? (legalinsurrection.com)
• Evangelist Billy Graham defends Chick-fil-A (religion.blogs.cnn.com)