Throughout history, every civilization has wrestled with two fundamental questions: What is ultimate reality? and What is the place of the individual within the community? The way a people answers these questions shapes its laws, art, economics, education, and destiny. When we place civilizations along two axes: biblical vs. non-biblical (rooted in transcendent moral order…
“Meditate on it day and night” (Psalm 1) – this is a reference to continual thinking, processing and discussion over a lifetime as you dig deeper into the symbolism and ambiguities of Scripture in light of the bigger picture of life. This means that any one part of Scripture, taken as a single entity, can…
How do I recognize and evaluate my own assumptions? This is a question which I believe has always been important but is becoming important in a new way now. Having worked in education now for so many years, the importance of critical thinking has continued to receive more attention. However, critical thinking in public conversation…
Every few weeks I happen upon an interesting article and then waste a few minutes looking through the comments to see what people have to say about the content. Sometimes this is slightly enlightening but it often just reinforces my belief that people have a long way to go in their ability to understand truth…
I’ve been writing on the value of time, energy and financial resources in the last few entries. So, how does this translate into a practical model for my personal daily investment of resources? First, remember that our goal as followers of Jesus is to use all our resources for His glory – never just a…
This is my 14th year teaching Humanities at ECA and, unfortunately, it will be my last for a while… It has been one of my favorite subjects to teach and I will definitely miss this interaction with my students as we observe and respond to art in its various forms and also create art together….
Finances are the third resource after time and energy. Some may consider money to be the most important or even the only resource, but they are mistaken. Money is actually the least valuable in the sense that it is the most easily renewed. When all your money is spent, a simple investment of time and…
Time is definitely the hardest thing to manage because no mater how many times I try to reorganize my time, it actually changes very little. There are always demands on our time that seem impossible to minimize no matter how little value we place on them. And in talking to retired people, they seem to…
An evaluation of resources: I plan to discuss, in the next 4 or 5 posts, the concept of what some might call ‘stewardship’ but really it is just using well what each of us have at our disposal. Stewardship concepts that deal only with finances are sorely missing out on the true richness of the…
Now, what happens when government is given too much power? Generally speaking, there appear to be 3 main types of government in modern societies with some variations. The most oppressive may be the dictatorship. This type of government depends almost entirely on one man who has come into power either through inheritance, popularity, or force….
What are the responsibilities of government in a balanced model? Remember that we need a balance between the family, the church and the government. Each group is integral to the whole and serves a distinct function while supporting the other groups. The primary role of representational government is that of protecting the rights of the…
It is an interesting time to look at the role of government because of what is happening in the US under the Obama administration. I don’t really want to take political sides, just look at the tendencies of different perspectives and their effect on society as a whole. There are 2 pervading views in a…
