More Than Dates and Dead People

I’m barreling my way through an amazing little book called, More Than Dates and Dead People: Recovering a Christian View of History. It is by Stephen Mansfield with a foreword by George Grant. I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Grant this week, and couldn’t help but hear his voice in my head as I read the foreword. It was a little eery but very effective.
This little book is about why history is – or should be – so vitally important to Christians and how humanists manage to make it seem so boring and meaningless. It’s quick, humorous and has the sort of logic that makes you want to smack your own forehead and say, “Of course. I knew that!” Yes, I get that feeling a lot when I read good books and listen to good sermons or lectures. Does everyone, or is it just me?
Here is an excerpt I couldn’t resist passing along. It’s a little long, but hey, I took the time to type it just for you so have a heart and read it. If you have followed the debate on education lately it will be well worth your time. Don’t worry: it has nothing to do with homeschooling, Christian schools, public schools, etc. It is about the definition and nature of religion and education, and I would love to hear what you all think. I think he is right on.

What is religion?
When we think of religion, we normally think of churches, synagogues, mosques, symbols, priests, rituals, or denominations. These are all aspects of what we might call “formal religion,” and this kind of religion does have a powerful impact upon human life.
But there is another, less formal kind of religion that really explains what men deem important – what they are willing to give their lives for or what occupies their thoughts, their checkbooks, or their calendars. Someone has suggested that this kind of religion is best described as “ultimate concern.” A man’s ultimate concern is what dominates his thoughts and passions, what he regards with unconditional seriousness, and what he is willing to suffer or die for. This is his religion, his god, his faith – regardless of what he says he believes…

What is education?
…When one generation teaches another, the older generation transmits to the next generation what it thinks is of ultimate importance for life. The older generation must have first answered the question, “What are the things our children need to know to live successfully?” Clearly, the answer to this question is a matter of faith, and that is why we can say that education is the transmission of religion to the next generation.
Consider this. A Christian will almost certainly say that for a school to really help its students to live a “successful life,” it must teach salvation in Jesus Christ, a right fear of the Lord, and the study of all of reality as a creation of God. A humanist will say that a successful life requires self-respect and self-actualization, a complete freedom from the oppression of religion, and the full achievement of human potential. Schools, the humanist will insist, should impart these values. A Marxist, however, will say that the state should be the focus of all education, and that schools exist to shape students into useful workers and loyal supporters of world socialism.
Now, each of the above – the Christian, the humanist, and the Marxist – expect schools to transmit their values to the next generation. And they are each right, in a sense, because education is the transmission of what those doing the teaching think is of ultimate importance. Put another way, education is the transmission of religion from one generation to the next – in other words, “religion transferred.”

Can’t…stop…laughing

This is better than Cute Overload. I missed a lot because I laughed til my mascara ran into my eyes, and I was rubbing my eyeballs raw trying to see what I was missing. In spite of this, I still managed to laugh myself sick. It was great.

Two legged dog
Monkey teasing tigers
Crazy animals – don’t miss the cat and the ceiling fan, but you might want to stop after the cats and dogs. Let’s just say that monkeys can be pretty disgusting!
Smart animals
Duck feeding fish

HT to Knitting, Horses and my Family

Kid Comedy

Thanks for the helpful stories on what your children have eaten. I feel better.
Speaking of the things kids eat, I overheard this in the van yesterday:

“Did you know Aunt Alaura (my 12yo sister) thinks it’s gross to squish a tiny spider? I did it and she squealed because she thought it was so disgusting!”

“Alaura was grossed out by that? Didn’t she eat a big stick bug last year?”

“Yes, with cheese on it!”

That’s my funny for the week. Can you top it? Add your link!

The tender mercies of the wicked

Proverbs 12:10 tells us that the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
Here is a good example:
Doctors are selectively reducing triplets to twins in order to reduce the chances of losing the entire pregnancy. Doctors and parents alike seem to think that this is sad but somewhat necessary.
Abortion is never the right answer, but in this case even their own numbers condemn them. Think about this: the article states that normally 25% of triplet pregnancies will end in miscarriage. If one baby is killed on purpose, the remaining twins have a 93% chance of survival.
Sounds good, right?
Out of 100 triplet pregnancies (that’s 300 babies), 75 babies would likely die of natural causes.
With selective reduction (doesn’t that euphemism just make your stomach churn?) 100 babies will be killed. Thanks to the sacrifice of those 100, only 14 more will die spontaneously. That’s 114 infant deaths due to the aid of these concerned doctors and parents.
The tender mercies of the wicked result in 50% more deaths.

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)…

The name of the article, The Revenge of Conscience, brought to mind Romans 2:14-15 which talks about the struggle of conscience for those who do not acknowlege God but nonetheless have His law written on their hearts.

They told me to beg…

Blogads brings in a bit of cash to help me rationalize away the time I spend on my blog.
If you enjoy my blog, could you help me rationalize even better by taking my Blog Reader Project survey?
It’s quick and easy and you’ll be my best friend. I’ll even eat chocolate with you – just tell me what time you’ll be indulging and I’ll set my watch. Synchronized chocolate eating: how better to seal a friendship over the miles?

BTW, if you’re watching the ads in my sidebar, you’ll see that I’m tinkering with an ad for Vision Forum. Their new Ballantyne books will be available any day now, so watch for these ads to pop up all over the web!

It never happened

Words that I never want to hear again:
“Mom!” in a voice of shrieking horror. “The baby just ate – “
Never mind. I can’t even type the words. I’ll just keep repeating to myself, “It never happened. It never happened.”
Does anyone want to try to make me feel better by sharing stories of what your baby ate? Don’t worry. I won’t think worse of you, because it won’t be worse than what mine ate it didn’t happen.

mmm…chocolate. And other stuff.

I just have to brag up my dad-in-law. Last week I received an unexpected package for Mother’s Day.
Can anyone guess what was in it? Would you be able to guess if I mentioned that my father-in-law knows me rather well?

It’s a chocolate fan

The Leaning Tower of Chocolate:

Look, it’s my masterpiece:What’s that? Only 12 large dark chocolate bars in the photos? Who told you there was supposed to be 14?

Cell Phone vs. Bible

I recently reconsidered my priorities and moved many items out of my purse to make room for a small Bible. Right on cue, Hubby gave me a lovely little Bible for Mother’s Day. It is compact but the text is a nice comfortable size, and it has a snap flap to help protect it in the uncivilized inner regions of my purse.
Considering that I only recently found room in my purse for a Bible while my phone’s right to ride with me was undisputed for 3 years, I found the following just a wee bit convicting:

What would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?

• What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
• What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
• What if we flipped through it several times a day?
• What if we used it to receive text messages?
• What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
• What if we used it as we traveled?
• What if we used it in case of an emergency?

HT to Innside Innkeeping

Pet stuff: dogs and a lost gerbil

There are portraits of the 3 remaining boy pups over at our Golden Retriever Pups blog. Girls will follow soon. Are they precious or what?

We took the 4 girl pups out to meet a prospective buyer today and learned that 75% of young pups get carsick if the ride lasts over 18 minutes.
We also learned that a disposable diaper makes a good carsick bib for a pup: just open the diaper and fasten one leg around the pup’s neck (as if the pup’s head were a leg facing into the diaper). Leave the other leg open, and let the diaper drape open under the pup’s chin to catch the vomit. This looks very effective and ensures that the pup will be the only one who doesn’t puke.

And hypothetically speaking, does anyone think I should be concerned if a probably-pregnant gerbil is loose in the house? I wasn’t too concerned about a single loose gerbil until I realized that her babies are ~1 month old. That means she could very well have a new litter in the next week or two.
On the bright side, they are cuter than mice and are technically domestic. If something small and rodential is going to peek out at me from under the oven, I’d much rather see a fat little gerbil nose than eeeeek!

I did it!

I finished the Old Testament this morning.
This means I have read the entire Bible since July. Four of our daughters finished ahead of me, which is reason for me to rejoice. They are filling their heads with vast quantities of scripture at an age where I only learned a few memory verses.
I have to admit that I’ve been so tired the last few days (and many days in the last few months) that I remember very little of certain portions, but I am giving him the firstfruits of my time each morning and I take comfort that God’s Word will not return void to Him (Is. 55:11).
Now I’ll start again in the Old Testament. This time I intend to stop and read the books of the prophets as I come to the portion of Israel’s history during which they ministered. For example, when I read of the reign of Hezekiah I will stop and skip ahead to the prophets who were his contemporaries. This will take a bit of research and planning on my part, but I really want to read the prophets inside their historical context this time.