Voddie Baucham Ministries
Sunday, August 31, 2008
WELCOME TO THE CONTINUING COLLAPSE!
By Bruce Shortt, J.D., Ph.D.
"Doing the Education Research that Illegal Aliens Won't Do Since 1997"
August 2008
If The Continuing Collapse were cleverer when it comes to computer geekery, this "back to school" issue would be draped in black in mourning for the millions of children who are again being institutionalized in the utterly corrupt, anti-Christian, and abusive government school system.
But, rather than curse the darkness and its lack of computer skills, The Continuing Collapse shall again light a small candle in the hope that this year more Christians will come to understand that placing your children under the authority of the malignant government school establishment is gross sin.
THE VIDEO CORNER
Sometimes humor communicates best. So, let us begin with an hilariously funny clip from the British sitcom Yes, Minister. This comedy series revolves around career bureaucrats' efforts to prevent a reform-minded Prime Minister from changing the bureaucrats' beloved status quo.
In this clip, Humphrey, a bureaucrat, responds to the Prime Minister's school choice proposal. This type of discussion could just as well have taken place in Washington, D.C., or in any state capital. In fact, we all know that it does.
The writing and acting in this clip so accurately capture the arrogance of the education establishment that the clip deserves to be circulated far and wide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLDb2V86Ei0
WE FAIL AT EVERYTHING WE TOUCH, SO, OF COURSE, YOU SHOULD GIVE US MORE MONEY TO EXPAND OUR MISSION
By now the readers of The Continuing Collapse should know that the failures who make their parasitic living in the higher levels of the government school establishment have no shame. Have they turned the schools into violent factories of ignorance and bad character? They don't really care because the prime directive of the government schools as an institution is "more money now!", not "improve safety, learning, and character".
Unfortunately for our highly trained education professionals, the corruption and failures of the system are now almost impossible to conceal from most of the public. So, what's a bureaucrat to do if he wants to keep increasing his cash flow?
The latest scheme is to claim that the reason the government school system is sinking like the Titanic is because of the failure of "society". In sum, despite the vast resources squandered on the schools, they do a bad job because they are overwhelmed by forces outside the schools. Consequently, the only solution is to expand vastly both the role and the funding of the government school system.
Here is an account from pajamasmedia of how this latest grab for more power and money is being rolled out:
...Believe it or not, ...[the claim that the schools must have more money and a larger role] more or less sums up the big new marketing campaign the teachers’ unions are using to try to lure you into giving them more money. It’s actually called “Broader, Bolder.” If you’ve ever seen a title that sounded more like a gimmick to sucker people out of their money, you’ve seen more marketing gimmicks than I have.
The argument runs like this: kids do better in school when they’re well fed, healthy, and so forth. Therefore schools should be transformed into social-service centers that will not only teach students, but also provide health care and lots of other services. Schools would be open all day and provide a wide variety of community programs.
This will, of course, cost a ton of money and entail a huge expansion of the government educational bureaucracy. Which has nothing to do with why the unions want it....
Some of the dreamy rhetoric being used to push this idea does suggest that kind of thinking (Randi Weingarten, teacher union president: “Imagine schools that are open all day …”).
But I think the meeting at teacher-union headquarters probably sounded more like this: “School spending has been rising much faster than inflation for over fifty years. Historically, we’ve done a great job getting state legislatures to direct enormous geysers of money into the government school system, especially by hiring too many teachers, which puts lots of money into our pockets. And in the past, when people asked why our results were so lousy, we just told them we needed more money. But now that spending is over $10,000 per student, they’re not swallowing that as much as they used to.
Options?”
“We definitely need to do more to shift the blame for educational failure to something that’s outside of schools’ control.”
“Agreed. But how can we do that in a way that continues to increase our budgets?”
“Well, we’ve always said we can’t be expected to teach kids if they’re poor, or sick, or have anything at all wrong with them, right? So let’s tell them all social services should be brought into schools.”
“Hey! Great idea! That way we can bring social workers, nurses, nutritionists, counselors and tons of other people into the teachers’ union. We’ll start calling ourselves the ‘community school services union.’ We could triple the size of our membership overnight. I can buy that new boat I’ve had my eye on!”...
The really funny thing is, we’ve tried bringing social services into schools before. Fifty years ago, schools didn’t serve breakfast and provide teams of guidance counselors. Providing these and other social services in schools was originally justified on grounds that the kids needed these services to do well in school. How has that worked out?
Well, after all the empirical research that’s been done on schools, there’s no serious evidence that educational outcomes have improved as a result of these services. When the unions were challenged to come up with some evidence, they responded that “teachers know” these policies work.
But if the real purpose of providing these services in schools was to enlarge the government education blob, mission accomplished.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/schools-are-not-social-service-centers/2/
EVEN IN CONNECTICUT SOME OF THE NATIVES ARE GETTING RESTLESS:
MAYOR PROPOSES TO PAY STUDENTS NOT TO ATTEND PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Even in a "Blue State" in which most of the voters are "reality-challenged", the voracious appetite of the government school system is beginning to engender a taxpayers' revolt....
On June 30, the board of education and the town council in Enfield, Conn., convened to hear the results of a citizen cost-cutting committee. Among its other recommendations, the 17 residents recommended replacing some public school teachers with low-cost college interns, restricting the use of school vehicles, and increasing employee contributions to benefit plans.
These may seem modest steps toward fiscal responsibility -- but they are emblematic of a significant change in this very blue state: growing disenchantment with the price of government, especially of public education.....Seventeen years ago, the state enacted an income tax with promises to cut other taxes. Instead, real-estate assessments soared, creating a massive income transfer from the private to the public sector, fueled in part by a state cost-sharing formula that uses taxes on residents in the suburbs to subsidize urban schools. Helping to soak up all that money were binding arbitration laws, skewed to give teacher unions an advantage in collective bargaining negotiations.
The result is that the average teacher salary is now the highest in the nation -- $57,750 excluding benefits, according to the latest survey of the American Federation of Teachers. Meanwhile, the American Legislative Exchange Council reports that Connecticut is one of the 10 states with the heaviest property-tax burdens...
Now taxpayers find themselves caught between falling real estate values and ever increasing property taxes. And for what? The National Assessment of Educational Progress puts eighth-grade proficiency figures in the state at 37% for reading, 35% for math, 33% for science and 53% for writing...
But at the local level, there are nearly as many Republican chief executives as Democrats, and both parties outside the big cities are relatively conservative on fiscal issues. This is leading to more than just budget defeats...
There are other ideas in the air. In Chester, First Selectman (Mayor) Tom Marsh proposes to pay students not to attend public school.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944926645165231.html
"EFFORT-BASED GRADING"
A couple months ago The Continuing Collapse began informing you about our highly trained education professionals' latest "genius idea" for "leaving no child behind" --- making the lowest score on school work at least a "50" (a "60" in more progressive school districts).
Now, the highly trained education professionals in Dallas have established a new "gold standard" in the race to see who can demonstrate the most "grading compassion". Introducing the latest effort by the education establishment to conceal their abject failure, "Effort-Based Grading":
The Dallas Independent School District is faced with the fact that 80% of their incoming freshmen fail to score above 40% in the Iowa Test of Educational Development in reading.
Instead of fixing the problem by teaching those kids to read at the eighth-grade level, they decided on the solution that first springs to mind when you’re a public school administrator: you alter the grading so that the student performance (while unimproved) looks better on paper. They’re switching to what they call “effort-based grading”.
To wit:
–Scores that lower a kid’s GPA aren’t recorded; only scores that improve it count.
–There are no grade penalties for late turn-ins of work, and the teachers must give the students a chance to make up the work with no grade reductions.
–An average grade of fifty is the lowest the teachers are allowed to record for a student in a six-week period, regardless of actual student performance.
http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2008/08/stop-planet-i-want-off.html
REALLY SPECIAL EDUCATION
Speaking of compassion, our highly trained education professionals have a special place in the hearts for "special education" students:
Five-year-old Christyn Date speaks in broken phrases and garbled words, fighting through a speech disability.
So when her mother saw that the tiny girl had tied a long hair scarf around her doll Shiloh's waist and she asked her why, Christyn said simply, "Shiloh's bad."
The mother realized Christyn was playing out on her doll what a Queens kindergarten aide had done to her. It was her way of communicating her distress to her parents, said the girl's mom, Marissa Chunisingh.
Before Christyn had started tying up her dolls, someone from her school, PS 123 in Ozone Park, told Chunisingh that a school aide had restrained the special-ed kindergartner by binding her to a cafeteria bench with her own sweater.
But that wasn't the worst of it. Chunisingh was told that the girl was strapped down after she was found locked in a classroom by herself - screaming at the top of her lungs.
Apparently, the staff did not notice that the girl had been missing from an assembly for 15 minutes, left behind.
She was later strapped to the bench so someone could keep track of her, the mother said...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08172008/news/regionalnews/teach_aide_tied_up_tyke_124800.htm
CHILDREN WOULD BE SAFER HANGING OUT IN TAVERNS THAN ATTENDING CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS....
Only a year after banning all negative messages about homosexuality in public schools throughout the state, the California Legislature now is ordering school children to celebrate "gay" lifestyle choices.
"If signed into law, AB 2567 will mean an official day commemorating homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality in California government schools," said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families:
"This will harm children as young as kindergarten," he said. "Every May 22, AB 2567 will positively portray to children homosexual experimentation, homosexual 'marriages,' sex-change operations, and anything else that's 'in the closet.' Gov. Schwarzenegger should say no to this very inappropriate bill, which has nothing to do with academic excellence."...
"With public schools becoming sexual indoctrination centers, homeschooling and church schools are no longer parental options, they're parental imperatives," he said.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71729
I'LL BET YOU THOUGHT I WAS KIDDING WHEN I SAID CHILDREN WOULD BE SAFER IN TAVERNS THAN IN CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS...
"WE ARE GOING TO RAPE YOU"
Seventh-grade boys at Sunnyvale Middle School feared going to first-period PE class. They knew what might await them: Vicious sexual attacks by older eighth-grade students.
Throughout much of last school year, a pack of eighth-graders repeatedly threatened to sexually attack the younger students before and after class.
"They would say, 'I'm going to get you on Monday,' " recalled a 13-year-old seventh-grader, who told The Dallas Morning News that he witnessed the attacks almost daily. " 'We are going to rape you.' "
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071908dnmetsunnyfolo.46cd8ae.html
ANOTHER GENIUS IDEA FROM THE SWELL FOLKS WHO BROUGHT YOU WHOLE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION, RAIN FOREST MATH, AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION HISTORY
Offered up to $1,000 for scoring well on Advanced Placement exams, students at 31 New York City high schools took 345 more of the tests this year than last. But the number who passed declined slightly, raising questions about the effectiveness of increasingly popular pay-for-performance programs in schools here and across the country....
“I’m just dumbfounded that they can regard this as an achievement or as a great improvement or as something worth spending the money on,” said Sol Stern, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, who had expressed cautious support for the Advanced Placement program when it was announced last fall. “I’m surprised that that kind of money, that kind of incentives, doesn’t produce better results. It sort of undercuts the argument that the problem is the question of motivation.”
The organizers and underwriters of the program said they were encouraged by the increase in test-takers and student survey results. They said they never expected to see significant change in the first year, noting that the program was announced after the school year was under way and students had signed up for Advanced Placement classes....
“We’ve gotten off the ground, and we never thought that this was going to be a quick-fix incentive solution,” said Edward Rodriguez, executive director of the program, known as Reach, for Rewarding Achievement. “We’ve learned a great deal about our schools and are figuring out other ways we can support them.”
While cash-incentive programs are expanding rapidly in schools nationwide — most of them financed by philanthropists — measurable evidence of their effectiveness is scarce...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/education/20cash.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
This "incentive" program will never die as long as there is money to waste.
IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN: THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE DOESN'T WANT GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST TERRORISTS IN EMPLOYMENT.
Majority Democrats in the California Assembly have rejected two amendments that would have allowed schools to fire any employee discovered to be part of an extremist terror network and require users of school facilities to affirm they are not terrorists....
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71503
Education special interests have also objected to criminal background checks and fingerprinting for school employees. Why am I not surprised...
AN AWARD WINNING PUBLIC SCHOOL MATH TEACHER TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT EDUCRAT CLAIMS ABOUT YET ANOTHER "INNOVATION" IN TEACHING:
"The problem is, they're lying!" ...
...In its drive to be the best, please affluent parents and close the achievement gap on standardized tests, the county is accelerating too many students in math, at the expense of the curriculum -- and the students.
The average accelerated math student "thinks he's fine. His parents think he's fine. The school system says he's fine. But he's not fine!" Walstein declares on one occasion. On another, Walstein is even less diplomatic. " 'We have the best courses and there's no achievement gap and everything is wonderful,' " he says, parroting the message he believes county administrators are trying to project.
"The problem is, they're lying!" ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902646.html?sid=ST2008073101667&pos=
AFTER TEXAS SAT SCORES ARE REPORTED TO HAVE DECLINED, MORE JACKASSERY FROM TEXAS' TOP EDUCRAT:
"Today's data proves that Texas students are headed in the right direction," [Robert] Scott said in a written statement.
Apparently Scott must think that his audience was educated in Texas government schools:
More Texas students took the SAT college-entrance exam this year, but scores fell and continued to trail national averages, according to figures released Tuesday.
The College Board, which administers the SAT, reported that national scores remained flat from 2007 to 2008, while scores in Texas dropped four points in reading and two points each in math and writing.
Statewide, students lagged the furthest behind in reading and writing, averaging scores of 488 and 480, respectively. Students nationwide performed 14 points higher in each subject. The maximum score per subject is 800 points.
In math, Texas students scored 505, with their peers nationwide averaging 515.
State Education Commissioner Robert Scott pointed out that students who took a more rigorous schedule, including at least three years of math and science, fared better than those who took an easier course load. Under a new state law, this year's sophomore class must take four years of math and science to graduate with the standard diploma.
"Today's data proves that Texas students are headed in the right direction," Scott said in a written statement.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5966413.html
AND NOW FOR A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT: MINORITY HOMESCHOOLING IS GROWING
Hubert Rowry's memories of his public school education still haunt him.
As a black student growing up in Beaumont and Austin, Rowry, now 33, says he often felt isolated and ignored in school. White teachers seemed to give white students more attention than to black students, and that affected his learning and self-esteem, said the Cypress resident.
"So many things happened to me in terms of racism from teachers, principals and other students," Rowry said. "I decided I'm not going to subject my kids to that."
His three children, ages 8, 6 and 3, have never been in a traditional classroom. He and his wife, Chelsea, home school them.
Once seen by many blacks as something only whites do, home schooling has steadily gained momentum in the black community in the past eight years and is expected to continue to grow, say home school experts.
"Ten years ago, there were not that many people of color home schooling," said Brian Ray, president of National Home Education Research Institute in Salem, Ore.
General dissatisfaction with public schools and increased awareness about home schooling are motivating blacks to change course, experts said.
Concerns about children missing associating with other students and the loss of a spouse's income, however, keep many blacks who are interested in home schooling from taking the leap.
An estimated 220,000 black students were home schooled in 2007, according to the institute. In comparison, 84,000 were home schooled in 1999, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Studies show that home-schooled students do just as well or better than their public school peers. For example, they typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests, according to the research institute.
Blacks are home schooling for many of the same reasons whites do, Ray said. They want what they consider a safer learning environment or they want to teach their own values and beliefs. They also want to try different teaching approaches and build stronger family relationships...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/5964005.html
THE CULTURE CORNER
Clips of Franco Corelli. The greatest Calaf ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TColIyZLpGE&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg-59NoES2o&feature=related
REMEMBER:
1. Feel free to circulate The Continuing Collapse.
2. If you aren't hearing about at least some these government school problems from your pastor, why is he your pastor?
3. FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm – but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” T.S. Eliot
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Did McCain Make a Prolife Pick?
Voddie Baucham wrote a VERY good article about the choice McCain made for his running mate.
"Why I am a Keeper at Home!"
I found this tract on this blog. Pass this on to all the women you know.
A message to ladies, on the importance of being a keeper at home. Written by a pastor's wife, mother, and grandmother.
1. My God Demands It!
Titus 2:3-5 3. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
To blaspheme means to be evil spoken of, to speak reproachfully, or to speak against.
The bible says that the aged women are to teach the younger women to be keepers at home. Hey, grandma, just because your children are grown does not mean that you can get a job and start your career. God wants you to be an example to the young women.
God does not say that it is ok to work outside of the home as long as you have your house clean, meals cooked or children raised.
Ladies, we should not go against what God says, just so we can have bigger house, newer car, or nicer clothes.
Notice that God did not say to be a keeper of the home, but a kepper at home.
1 Timothy 5:14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Someday, we will stand before God and give an account of how we obeyed God's Word. I want to obey God's Word. That's why I am a keeper at home.
2. My Groom Deserves It!
Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
God saw that it was not good that Adam be alone. According to Genesis 2:21 and 22, God took a rib from Adam's side and made the first woman and brought her unto him.
Ladies, we are a gift from God to our husbands. God gave me to my husband for a help meet for him, not to be a boss on some job.
Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Ladies, my groom deserves a keeper at home.
3. My Growing Children Desperately Need It!
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
One of the saddest things of our day is that mother's have left the home and given their children over to someone else to train and raise.
Our children are swiftly going away from God. Nurseries, day cares, and schools are teaching against Jesus. Listen om, no one loves your child more than you. God gave you the gift of a child, and it is your responsibility to train them up for God and to protect them.
I heard a preacher say, the best way to train up a chils is by example. Our little girls need to be shown a godly momma. The greatest memories your children will ever have will be a family where mom was a keeper at home.
(What kind of example are you setting?)
4. My Generation Degrades it!
This generation makes fun of mothers that stay at home. They say she is not important if she does not have a career. It does not matter what the world says, it only matters what God says. Ladies, I want to please God. I want a better relationship with my husband, I want to train up my children to love God, that's why I am a keeper at home!
Free copies of this tract can be obtained by writing.
Victory in JESUS Tract Ministry
Victory Baptist Church
309 11th Ave
Dayton, TN 37321
A message to ladies, on the importance of being a keeper at home. Written by a pastor's wife, mother, and grandmother.
1. My God Demands It!
Titus 2:3-5 3. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
To blaspheme means to be evil spoken of, to speak reproachfully, or to speak against.
The bible says that the aged women are to teach the younger women to be keepers at home. Hey, grandma, just because your children are grown does not mean that you can get a job and start your career. God wants you to be an example to the young women.
God does not say that it is ok to work outside of the home as long as you have your house clean, meals cooked or children raised.
Ladies, we should not go against what God says, just so we can have bigger house, newer car, or nicer clothes.
Notice that God did not say to be a keeper of the home, but a kepper at home.
1 Timothy 5:14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Someday, we will stand before God and give an account of how we obeyed God's Word. I want to obey God's Word. That's why I am a keeper at home.
2. My Groom Deserves It!
Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
God saw that it was not good that Adam be alone. According to Genesis 2:21 and 22, God took a rib from Adam's side and made the first woman and brought her unto him.
Ladies, we are a gift from God to our husbands. God gave me to my husband for a help meet for him, not to be a boss on some job.
Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Ladies, my groom deserves a keeper at home.
3. My Growing Children Desperately Need It!
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
One of the saddest things of our day is that mother's have left the home and given their children over to someone else to train and raise.
Our children are swiftly going away from God. Nurseries, day cares, and schools are teaching against Jesus. Listen om, no one loves your child more than you. God gave you the gift of a child, and it is your responsibility to train them up for God and to protect them.
I heard a preacher say, the best way to train up a chils is by example. Our little girls need to be shown a godly momma. The greatest memories your children will ever have will be a family where mom was a keeper at home.
(What kind of example are you setting?)
4. My Generation Degrades it!
This generation makes fun of mothers that stay at home. They say she is not important if she does not have a career. It does not matter what the world says, it only matters what God says. Ladies, I want to please God. I want a better relationship with my husband, I want to train up my children to love God, that's why I am a keeper at home!
Free copies of this tract can be obtained by writing.
Victory in JESUS Tract Ministry
Victory Baptist Church
309 11th Ave
Dayton, TN 37321
Friday, August 29, 2008
What Happened to Our First Amendment Rights in Denver
WorldNet Daily has an article about some young ladies who had permission to peacefully protest during the Democratic convention and their subsequent arrest.
ONLY Women Can Be Mothers
I found this very well written article on Vision Forum. All young women, married and single should read it.
The Rise and Fall and Rise of Motherhood in America
May 9, 2008
Only women can be mothers. Have we forgotten this fundamental?
Only a woman can carry in her body an eternal being which bears the very image of God. Only she is the recipient of the miracle of life. Only a woman can conceive and nurture this life using her own flesh and blood, and then deliver a living soul into the world. God has bestowed upon her alone a genuine miracle — the creation of life, and the fusing of an eternal soul with mortal flesh. This fact alone establishes the glory of motherhood.
Despite the most creative plans of humanist scientists and lawmakers to redefine the sexes, no man will ever conceive and give birth to a child. The fruitful womb is a holy gift given by God to women alone. This is one reason why the office of wife and mother is the highest calling to which a woman can aspire.
This is the reason why nations that fear the Lord esteem and protect mothers. They glory in the distinctions between men and women, and attempt to build cultures in which motherhood is honored and protected.
In his famous commentary on early American life, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville explained:
Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have either the duty or the right to perform the same offices, but they show an equal regard for both their respective parts; and though their lot is different, they consider both of them as beings of equal value. They do not give to the courage of woman the same form or the same direction as to that of man, but they never doubt her courage; and if they hold that man and his partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and understanding in the same manner, they at least believe the understanding of the one to be as sound as that of the other, and her intellect to be as clear. Thus, then, while they have allowed the social inferiority of woman to continue, they have done all they could to raise her morally and intellectually to the level of man; and in this respect they appear to me to have excellently understood the true principle of democratic improvement.
De Tocqueville contrasted the American understanding of women, with European sentiments:
There are people in Europe who, confounding together the different characteristics of the sexes, would make man and woman into beings not only equal but alike. They could give to both the same functions, impose on both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would mix them in all things — their occupations, their pleasures, their business. It may readily be conceived that by thus attempting to make one sex equal to the other, both are degraded, and from so preposterous a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and disorderly women.
The War on Motherhood
America’s glory was her women. de Tocqueville believed this when he wrote:
As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen woman occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.
But this birthright would be exchanged during the last century for a mess of pottage. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the 20th century has been the war on motherhood and biblical patriarchy. Feminists, Marxists, and liberal theologians have made it their aim to target the institution of the family and divest it from its biblical structure and priorities. The results are androgyny, a radical decline in birthrate, abortion, fatherless families, and social confusion.
Incredibly, the biggest story of the 20th century never made headline news [i]. Somehow we missed it. It was the mass exodus of women from the home, and the consequent decline of motherhood. For the first time in recorded history of the West, more mothers left their homes than stayed in them. By leaving the home, the experience and reality of childhood, family life and femininity were fundamentally redefined, and the results have been so bad that if this one trend is not reversed, our grandchildren may live in a world where the both the true culture of Christian family life and the historic definition of marriage are the stuff of fairy tales.
Many “isms” have influenced these trends-evolutionism, feminism, statism, eugenicism, Marxism, and more. But in the end, the philosophical gap between the presuppositions of the Atheists, eugenicists, and Marxists of the early 20th century, and the presuppositions of the professing Church in the 21st century, have narrowed dramatically. The goals of the state and the goals of the mainstream church have so merged, that the biblical family with its emphasis on male headship, generational succession, and prolific motherhood are a threat to the social order of both institutions.
Less than one hundred years ago, the architects of the atheistic communist Soviet state anticipated the death of the Christian family. They explained the need for destroying the Christian family with its emphasis on motherhood, and replacing it with a vision for a “new family.” Lenin wrote:
We must now say proudly and without any exaggeration that part from Soviet Russia, there is not a country in the world where women enjoy full equality and where women are not placed in the humiliating position felt particularly in day-to-day family life. This is one of our first and most important tasks...Housework is the most unproductive, the most barbarous and the most arduous work a woman can do. It is exceptionally petty and does not include anything that would in any way promote the development of the woman...The building of socialism will begin only when we have achieved the complete equality of women and when we undertake the new work together with women who have been emancipated from that petty stultifying, unproductive work...We are setting up model institutions, dining-rooms and nurseries, that will emancipate women from housework...These institutions that liberate women from their position as household slaves are springing up where it is in any way possible...Our task is to make politics available to every working woman.
In his 1920 International Working Women's Day Speech, Lenin emphasized:
The chief thing is to get women to take part in socially productive labor, to liberate them from 'domestic slavery,' to free them from their stupefying [idiotic] and humiliating subjugation to the eternal drudgery of the kitchen and the nursery. This struggle will be a long one, and it demands a radical reconstruction, both of social technique and of morale. But it will end in the complete triumph of Communism.
Lenin’s comrade Trotsky played a key role in communicating the Marxist vision of what he called the “new family.” Lenin and Trotsky believed in the overthrow of Christianity by destroying the biblical family. They sought to build a new state, free from historic Christian presuppositions concerning the family. This meant denigrating the biblical notion of male headship and hierarchy within the family. It meant eliminating any sense that there should be a division of labor between man and wife. This required delivering women from the burdens of childbirth and childcare. It meant adopting tools like birth control as guarantors that women could be free to remain in the workforce. Trotsky said this:
Socialization of family housekeeping and public education of children are unthinkable without a marked improvement in our economics as a whole. We need more socialist economic forms. Only under such conditions can we free the family from the functions and cares that now oppress and disintegrate it. Washing must be done by a public laundry, catering by a public restaurant, sewing by a public workshop. Children must be educated by good public teachers who have a real vocation for the work. Then the bond between husband and wife would be freed from everything external and accidental, and the one would cease to absorb the life of the other. Genuine equality would at last be established...
The most disturbing part of quotes like those above is how similar they sound in sentiment and spirit to voices today from individuals who claim to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. Even more disturbing is how many of the anti-family social reforms are presuppositions of modern Christians in America. Presuppositions which have been fully accepted.
How America’s Conscience Was Seared Toward Motherhood
But motherhood is not easily defeated. It was here from the beginning and it has always carried the Church and civilization forward. Motherhood not only perpetuates civilization, it defines it.
At first Jamestown was a bachelor society struggling for survival. But she became a civilization when the women arrived. Plymouth, on the other hand, began as a civilization-families of faith committed to fruitfulness and multiplication for the glory of God, an impossibility without motherhood.
Motherhood is not easily defeated because God has placed reminders of its importance in the very bodies of the women He created. To defeat motherhood, the enemies of the biblical family must do more than make it a social inconvenience, they must teach women to despise themselves by viewing their own wombs as the enemy of self-fulfillment. This means minimizing the glorious gift of life which is only given to womankind. It means redefining what it means to be a woman.
But even this is not enough. To defeat motherhood the enemies of the biblical family must sear the conscience of an entire generation of women. This is done through the doctrines of social emancipation from the home, sexual liberation, birth control, and abortion — all four of which cause a woman to war against her created nature. Instead of being the blessed guardian of domesticity for society, she is taught that contentment can only be found by acting, dressing, and competing with men. Instead of being an object of respect, protection, and virtue, she sells herself cheaply, thus devaluing her womanhood. Instead of glorying in a fruitful womb she cuts off the very seed of life. Sometimes she even kills the life.
Years of playing the part of a man hardens a woman. It trains women to find identity in the corporation, not the home. It teaches them to be uncomfortable around children and large families---the mere presence of which is a reminder of the antithesis between God’s design for womankind and the norms of post-Christian societies.
But women are not the only ones with seared consciences. Men have them too. Consider that fifty years ago a man would have winced to think of female soldiers heading into combat while stay-at-home dads are left behind changing diapers. Today’s man has a seared conscience. He no longer thinks of himself as a protector of motherhood, and a defender of womankind. He comforts himself by repeating the mantras of modern feminism, and by assuring himself of how reasonable and enlightened he is — how different he is from his intolerant and oppressive fathers. But in his heart, modern man knows that he has lost something. He has lost his manhood.
To be a man, you must care about women. And you must care about them in the right way. You must care about them as creatures worthy of protection, honor, and love. This means genuinely appreciating them for their uniqueness as women. It means recognizing the preciousness of femininity over glamour, of homemaking over careerism, and of mature motherhood over perpetual youth. But when women are reduced to soldiers, sexual objects, and social competitors, it is not merely the women who lose the identity given to them by the Creator, but the men as well. This is why the attack on motherhood has produced a nation of eunuchs---socially and spiritually impotent men who have little capacity to lead, let alone love women as God intended man to love woman--as mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters.
Motherhood Will Triumph
There is an important reason why motherhood will not be defeated — The Church is her guardian. As long as she perseveres — and persevere she will — motherhood will prevail.
The Church is the ultimate vanguard of that which is most precious and most holy. She holds the oracles of God which dare to proclaim to a selfish, self-centered nation: “Children are a blessing and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” Psalm 127:3.
The Church stands at the very gates of the city, willing to receive the railing complaints of feminists, atheists, and the legions arrayed against the biblical family, and she reminds the people of God: “Let the older women teach the young to love their children, to guide the homes.” Titus 2:3-5.
It is this very love of the life of children, this passion for femininity and motherhood which may be God’s instrument of blessing on America in the days to come. As the birth rate continues to plummet, divorce rates rise, and family life in America dissipates to the point of extinction, life-loving families will not only have an important message to share, but thy will have an army of children to help them share it.
The Question:
Teacher: Susie what do you want to be when you grow up?
Susie: I want to be a doctor.
Teacher: How wonderful! And what about you Julie?
Julie: I want to be a soldier.
Teacher: How commendable! And what about you Hannah?
Hannah: When I grow up I want to be a wife and mother!
Teacher: [dead silence]...
After years of society belittling the calling of motherhood, something wonderful is happening — something wonderfully counter-cultural! In the midst of the anti-life, anti-motherhood philosophies which pervade the culture, there is a new generation of young ladies emerging whose priorities are not determined by the world’s expectations of them. They have grown up in homes where fathers shepherd them, where children are not merely welcome, but where they are deeply loved. Some of these women have been home educated, which means that many of them have grown up around babies and their mothers. They have learned to see motherhood as a joy and a high calling, because their parents see it that way.
And when asked about their future, these girls know their own minds. These are the future mothers of the Church. Young women who are not afraid to say that the goal of all of their education and training is to equip them to pursue the highest calling of womanhood, the office of wife and mother.
The Cost of Motherhood
Once a lady went to visit her friend. During the visit the children of the friend entered the room and began to play with each other. As the lady and her friend visited, the lady turned to her friend and said eagerly and yet with evidently no thought of the meaning of her words: “Oh, I’d give my life to have such children.” The mother replied with a subdued earnestness whose quiet told of the depth of experience out of which her words came: “That’s exactly what it costs.”
There is a cost of motherhood. And the price is no small sum. And if you are not willing to pay this price, no amount of encouragement about the joys of motherhood will satisfy.
But the price of motherhood is not fundamentally different from the price of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. In fact, Christian mothers see their duty as mothers flowing from their calling to Jesus Christ. And what is this cost?
Christian motherhood means dedicating your entire life in service of others. It means standing beside your husband, following him, and investing in the lives of children whom you hope will both survive you and surpass you. It means forgoing present satisfaction for eternal rewards. It means investing in the lives of others who may never fully appreciate your sacrifice or comprehend the depth of your love. And it means doing all these things, not because you will receive the praise of man — for you will not — but because God made you to be a woman and a mother, and there is great contentment in that biblical calling.
In other words, Motherhood requires vision. It requires living by faith and not by sight.
These are some of the reasons why Motherhood is both the most biblically noble and the most socially unappreciated role to which a young woman can aspire. There are many people who ask the question: Does my life matter? But a mother that fears the Lord need never ask such a question. Upon her faithful obedience hinges the future of the church and the hope of the nation.
In 1950, the great Scottish American preacher Peter Marshall stood before the United States Senate and he explained it this way:
The modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge — that of being a godly woman. The very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other kind of women — beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career woman, talented women, divorced women, but so seldom do we hear of a godly woman — or of a godly man either, for that matter.
I believe women come nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realm of morals to be old-fashioned than to be ultramodern. The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails, who have lost all their illusions and their faith. The world has enough women who know how to be smart.
It needs women who are willing to be simple. The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. The world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right that socially correct.
As we approach America’s national Mother’s Day celebration, lets remember that we are fighting for the Lord, and it is He who prioritizes motherhood and home as the highest calling and domain of womanhood “that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Titus 2:5.
May the Lord fill our churches with faithful mothers.
The Rise and Fall and Rise of Motherhood in America
May 9, 2008
Only women can be mothers. Have we forgotten this fundamental?
Only a woman can carry in her body an eternal being which bears the very image of God. Only she is the recipient of the miracle of life. Only a woman can conceive and nurture this life using her own flesh and blood, and then deliver a living soul into the world. God has bestowed upon her alone a genuine miracle — the creation of life, and the fusing of an eternal soul with mortal flesh. This fact alone establishes the glory of motherhood.
Despite the most creative plans of humanist scientists and lawmakers to redefine the sexes, no man will ever conceive and give birth to a child. The fruitful womb is a holy gift given by God to women alone. This is one reason why the office of wife and mother is the highest calling to which a woman can aspire.
This is the reason why nations that fear the Lord esteem and protect mothers. They glory in the distinctions between men and women, and attempt to build cultures in which motherhood is honored and protected.
In his famous commentary on early American life, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville explained:
Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have either the duty or the right to perform the same offices, but they show an equal regard for both their respective parts; and though their lot is different, they consider both of them as beings of equal value. They do not give to the courage of woman the same form or the same direction as to that of man, but they never doubt her courage; and if they hold that man and his partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and understanding in the same manner, they at least believe the understanding of the one to be as sound as that of the other, and her intellect to be as clear. Thus, then, while they have allowed the social inferiority of woman to continue, they have done all they could to raise her morally and intellectually to the level of man; and in this respect they appear to me to have excellently understood the true principle of democratic improvement.
De Tocqueville contrasted the American understanding of women, with European sentiments:
There are people in Europe who, confounding together the different characteristics of the sexes, would make man and woman into beings not only equal but alike. They could give to both the same functions, impose on both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would mix them in all things — their occupations, their pleasures, their business. It may readily be conceived that by thus attempting to make one sex equal to the other, both are degraded, and from so preposterous a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and disorderly women.
The War on Motherhood
America’s glory was her women. de Tocqueville believed this when he wrote:
As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen woman occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.
But this birthright would be exchanged during the last century for a mess of pottage. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the 20th century has been the war on motherhood and biblical patriarchy. Feminists, Marxists, and liberal theologians have made it their aim to target the institution of the family and divest it from its biblical structure and priorities. The results are androgyny, a radical decline in birthrate, abortion, fatherless families, and social confusion.
Incredibly, the biggest story of the 20th century never made headline news [i]. Somehow we missed it. It was the mass exodus of women from the home, and the consequent decline of motherhood. For the first time in recorded history of the West, more mothers left their homes than stayed in them. By leaving the home, the experience and reality of childhood, family life and femininity were fundamentally redefined, and the results have been so bad that if this one trend is not reversed, our grandchildren may live in a world where the both the true culture of Christian family life and the historic definition of marriage are the stuff of fairy tales.
Many “isms” have influenced these trends-evolutionism, feminism, statism, eugenicism, Marxism, and more. But in the end, the philosophical gap between the presuppositions of the Atheists, eugenicists, and Marxists of the early 20th century, and the presuppositions of the professing Church in the 21st century, have narrowed dramatically. The goals of the state and the goals of the mainstream church have so merged, that the biblical family with its emphasis on male headship, generational succession, and prolific motherhood are a threat to the social order of both institutions.
Less than one hundred years ago, the architects of the atheistic communist Soviet state anticipated the death of the Christian family. They explained the need for destroying the Christian family with its emphasis on motherhood, and replacing it with a vision for a “new family.” Lenin wrote:
We must now say proudly and without any exaggeration that part from Soviet Russia, there is not a country in the world where women enjoy full equality and where women are not placed in the humiliating position felt particularly in day-to-day family life. This is one of our first and most important tasks...Housework is the most unproductive, the most barbarous and the most arduous work a woman can do. It is exceptionally petty and does not include anything that would in any way promote the development of the woman...The building of socialism will begin only when we have achieved the complete equality of women and when we undertake the new work together with women who have been emancipated from that petty stultifying, unproductive work...We are setting up model institutions, dining-rooms and nurseries, that will emancipate women from housework...These institutions that liberate women from their position as household slaves are springing up where it is in any way possible...Our task is to make politics available to every working woman.
In his 1920 International Working Women's Day Speech, Lenin emphasized:
The chief thing is to get women to take part in socially productive labor, to liberate them from 'domestic slavery,' to free them from their stupefying [idiotic] and humiliating subjugation to the eternal drudgery of the kitchen and the nursery. This struggle will be a long one, and it demands a radical reconstruction, both of social technique and of morale. But it will end in the complete triumph of Communism.
Lenin’s comrade Trotsky played a key role in communicating the Marxist vision of what he called the “new family.” Lenin and Trotsky believed in the overthrow of Christianity by destroying the biblical family. They sought to build a new state, free from historic Christian presuppositions concerning the family. This meant denigrating the biblical notion of male headship and hierarchy within the family. It meant eliminating any sense that there should be a division of labor between man and wife. This required delivering women from the burdens of childbirth and childcare. It meant adopting tools like birth control as guarantors that women could be free to remain in the workforce. Trotsky said this:
Socialization of family housekeeping and public education of children are unthinkable without a marked improvement in our economics as a whole. We need more socialist economic forms. Only under such conditions can we free the family from the functions and cares that now oppress and disintegrate it. Washing must be done by a public laundry, catering by a public restaurant, sewing by a public workshop. Children must be educated by good public teachers who have a real vocation for the work. Then the bond between husband and wife would be freed from everything external and accidental, and the one would cease to absorb the life of the other. Genuine equality would at last be established...
The most disturbing part of quotes like those above is how similar they sound in sentiment and spirit to voices today from individuals who claim to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. Even more disturbing is how many of the anti-family social reforms are presuppositions of modern Christians in America. Presuppositions which have been fully accepted.
How America’s Conscience Was Seared Toward Motherhood
But motherhood is not easily defeated. It was here from the beginning and it has always carried the Church and civilization forward. Motherhood not only perpetuates civilization, it defines it.
At first Jamestown was a bachelor society struggling for survival. But she became a civilization when the women arrived. Plymouth, on the other hand, began as a civilization-families of faith committed to fruitfulness and multiplication for the glory of God, an impossibility without motherhood.
Motherhood is not easily defeated because God has placed reminders of its importance in the very bodies of the women He created. To defeat motherhood, the enemies of the biblical family must do more than make it a social inconvenience, they must teach women to despise themselves by viewing their own wombs as the enemy of self-fulfillment. This means minimizing the glorious gift of life which is only given to womankind. It means redefining what it means to be a woman.
But even this is not enough. To defeat motherhood the enemies of the biblical family must sear the conscience of an entire generation of women. This is done through the doctrines of social emancipation from the home, sexual liberation, birth control, and abortion — all four of which cause a woman to war against her created nature. Instead of being the blessed guardian of domesticity for society, she is taught that contentment can only be found by acting, dressing, and competing with men. Instead of being an object of respect, protection, and virtue, she sells herself cheaply, thus devaluing her womanhood. Instead of glorying in a fruitful womb she cuts off the very seed of life. Sometimes she even kills the life.
Years of playing the part of a man hardens a woman. It trains women to find identity in the corporation, not the home. It teaches them to be uncomfortable around children and large families---the mere presence of which is a reminder of the antithesis between God’s design for womankind and the norms of post-Christian societies.
But women are not the only ones with seared consciences. Men have them too. Consider that fifty years ago a man would have winced to think of female soldiers heading into combat while stay-at-home dads are left behind changing diapers. Today’s man has a seared conscience. He no longer thinks of himself as a protector of motherhood, and a defender of womankind. He comforts himself by repeating the mantras of modern feminism, and by assuring himself of how reasonable and enlightened he is — how different he is from his intolerant and oppressive fathers. But in his heart, modern man knows that he has lost something. He has lost his manhood.
To be a man, you must care about women. And you must care about them in the right way. You must care about them as creatures worthy of protection, honor, and love. This means genuinely appreciating them for their uniqueness as women. It means recognizing the preciousness of femininity over glamour, of homemaking over careerism, and of mature motherhood over perpetual youth. But when women are reduced to soldiers, sexual objects, and social competitors, it is not merely the women who lose the identity given to them by the Creator, but the men as well. This is why the attack on motherhood has produced a nation of eunuchs---socially and spiritually impotent men who have little capacity to lead, let alone love women as God intended man to love woman--as mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters.
Motherhood Will Triumph
There is an important reason why motherhood will not be defeated — The Church is her guardian. As long as she perseveres — and persevere she will — motherhood will prevail.
The Church is the ultimate vanguard of that which is most precious and most holy. She holds the oracles of God which dare to proclaim to a selfish, self-centered nation: “Children are a blessing and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” Psalm 127:3.
The Church stands at the very gates of the city, willing to receive the railing complaints of feminists, atheists, and the legions arrayed against the biblical family, and she reminds the people of God: “Let the older women teach the young to love their children, to guide the homes.” Titus 2:3-5.
It is this very love of the life of children, this passion for femininity and motherhood which may be God’s instrument of blessing on America in the days to come. As the birth rate continues to plummet, divorce rates rise, and family life in America dissipates to the point of extinction, life-loving families will not only have an important message to share, but thy will have an army of children to help them share it.
The Question:
Teacher: Susie what do you want to be when you grow up?
Susie: I want to be a doctor.
Teacher: How wonderful! And what about you Julie?
Julie: I want to be a soldier.
Teacher: How commendable! And what about you Hannah?
Hannah: When I grow up I want to be a wife and mother!
Teacher: [dead silence]...
After years of society belittling the calling of motherhood, something wonderful is happening — something wonderfully counter-cultural! In the midst of the anti-life, anti-motherhood philosophies which pervade the culture, there is a new generation of young ladies emerging whose priorities are not determined by the world’s expectations of them. They have grown up in homes where fathers shepherd them, where children are not merely welcome, but where they are deeply loved. Some of these women have been home educated, which means that many of them have grown up around babies and their mothers. They have learned to see motherhood as a joy and a high calling, because their parents see it that way.
And when asked about their future, these girls know their own minds. These are the future mothers of the Church. Young women who are not afraid to say that the goal of all of their education and training is to equip them to pursue the highest calling of womanhood, the office of wife and mother.
The Cost of Motherhood
Once a lady went to visit her friend. During the visit the children of the friend entered the room and began to play with each other. As the lady and her friend visited, the lady turned to her friend and said eagerly and yet with evidently no thought of the meaning of her words: “Oh, I’d give my life to have such children.” The mother replied with a subdued earnestness whose quiet told of the depth of experience out of which her words came: “That’s exactly what it costs.”
There is a cost of motherhood. And the price is no small sum. And if you are not willing to pay this price, no amount of encouragement about the joys of motherhood will satisfy.
But the price of motherhood is not fundamentally different from the price of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. In fact, Christian mothers see their duty as mothers flowing from their calling to Jesus Christ. And what is this cost?
Christian motherhood means dedicating your entire life in service of others. It means standing beside your husband, following him, and investing in the lives of children whom you hope will both survive you and surpass you. It means forgoing present satisfaction for eternal rewards. It means investing in the lives of others who may never fully appreciate your sacrifice or comprehend the depth of your love. And it means doing all these things, not because you will receive the praise of man — for you will not — but because God made you to be a woman and a mother, and there is great contentment in that biblical calling.
In other words, Motherhood requires vision. It requires living by faith and not by sight.
These are some of the reasons why Motherhood is both the most biblically noble and the most socially unappreciated role to which a young woman can aspire. There are many people who ask the question: Does my life matter? But a mother that fears the Lord need never ask such a question. Upon her faithful obedience hinges the future of the church and the hope of the nation.
In 1950, the great Scottish American preacher Peter Marshall stood before the United States Senate and he explained it this way:
The modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge — that of being a godly woman. The very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other kind of women — beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career woman, talented women, divorced women, but so seldom do we hear of a godly woman — or of a godly man either, for that matter.
I believe women come nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realm of morals to be old-fashioned than to be ultramodern. The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails, who have lost all their illusions and their faith. The world has enough women who know how to be smart.
It needs women who are willing to be simple. The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. The world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right that socially correct.
As we approach America’s national Mother’s Day celebration, lets remember that we are fighting for the Lord, and it is He who prioritizes motherhood and home as the highest calling and domain of womanhood “that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Titus 2:5.
May the Lord fill our churches with faithful mothers.
Should Christians Support a Woman for the Office of Civil Magistrate?
Now that both parties have chosen their running mates, there is something for Christians to consider. Should a woman be selected as a vice presidential running mate? An essay was written by William Einwechter (Th.M.). It is very informative. It gives us some scriptural foundation on our decision making. We must prayfully consider who we will support, using God's standards.
Here are couple of more articles related to this very topic:
Woe to my people
John McCain picks mother of five and member of 'feminists for life' as VP Candidate
Here are couple of more articles related to this very topic:
Woe to my people
John McCain picks mother of five and member of 'feminists for life' as VP Candidate
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
What I love about my family
The greatest dadI love my family very much. The things I love about my dad is that he is so funny, and he is so full of wisdom on history, math, computers, the Bible and so much more. He loves to spend time with us as a family. I love my dad for all the things he has taught me like, fishing, how to tell the good and the bad in all things, he has taught me how to draw, he has taught me to use my imagination and most of all he has taught me you can do just about any thing if you set your mind to, and most of all because he loves the Lord and his family.
I love my mom because she is a good cook, and because she loves babies and children. She has taught me to sew, cook, clean, knit, crochet, love babies and children, iron, garden, read, and to help the elderly. Most of all she has taught me to love God and to love my father.
Alicia is very kind and the things I love about her is that she can make you laugh even if she was not trying to make you laugh, she loves to read with me, play all sorts of things with me, she loves children and babies and they love her. Most of all becuse she is always singing.
I love my brother because he is always making us laugh at dinner and because he always tells us stores of all his adventures. Most of all because he is my only brother and he loves the Lord.
Nicole loves the beach, shells, writing stories and poems , she love astronomy and she loves to make you laugh and she loves animals, and most of all because she loves God.
Lita she is a very silly, cuddly dog who love her family, and loves being outside, she loves rocks, sticks and most of all her blue ball.
I love my family most of all because we all love the Lord and love to help others.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Father-Son Relationships
The Botkin family is creating another DVD. They are a very talented family with much insight into God's role in the family. Go to their site to see the trailer for this new project. I highly recommend their other DVD, "The Return of the Daughters".
Announcing…Posted August 19, 2008, by Anna Sofia
We are proud to announce our family’s latest project: “Father to Son: Manly Conversations That Can Change Culture” — a six-part DVD series on the father-son relationship, coming this Fall.
We’re moving into the post-production process right now. We consider this to be one of the most significant productions our family has ever embarked on. We’d appreciate your help circulating the news about this exciting new series! Please also feel free to send us your marketing ideas. Your prayers, help, support and ideas are always welcome!
Announcing…Posted August 19, 2008, by Anna Sofia
We are proud to announce our family’s latest project: “Father to Son: Manly Conversations That Can Change Culture” — a six-part DVD series on the father-son relationship, coming this Fall.
We’re moving into the post-production process right now. We consider this to be one of the most significant productions our family has ever embarked on. We’d appreciate your help circulating the news about this exciting new series! Please also feel free to send us your marketing ideas. Your prayers, help, support and ideas are always welcome!
12 Things You Should Not Do To Your Husband
(I read this on Doug Philip's blog for August 22nd, 2008)
Gracious ladies, enter here. Vicious man-haters, beware. Camilia Brown is in the house, and her words are health to the homemaker, but hateful to the rapacious feminist. Camilla is part of the league of gracious, responsible lady bloggers, and the following is from an article entitled “12 Things You Should Not Do To Your Husband.” Read at your own risk:
DO NOT treat your husband as one of your children. You are not running the household he is. So no matter how busy you think you are or how many tasks you might have to perform at once you should not address your husband in this way: “Honey come here! Do this! Hold that! Grab this! Deal with this or that!”. Now I am all for asking our husbands for help when he is available to give it, but bossing him around is not becoming to a wife. We must conduct ourselves as his help meet and not treat him as if the reverse were true.
DO NOT act as if you are more spiritual than he is. I honestly have a hard time with women who act as if they are the spiritual leaders of their family; as if they are doing all the spiritual reformation in the family while their husbands are busy with other pursuits and just tag along with regard to spiritual matters. We’ve all heard women say things like: ” Well God told me this is the best for our family so I had to take the decision, because my husband is not there yet... I am praying for him though!” Even if it were true that a woman might be more spiritual than her husband, this attitude is a usurpation of the authority that God has given the family. There is never room for this kind of behavior in a Christian home. Honestly, my thoughts are that women who set themselves up as spiritual gurus in the family and brag of being more spiritual or knowledgeable than anyone else have proved themselves to be the contrary.
DO NOT talk over him and in a gathering DO NOT talk more than he does. If he doesn’t talk much than talk even less. It is just not becoming to women to do all the talking as if they speak for the family.
DO NOT complain about him to others. Don’t make him look foolish in front of anyone and don’t talk about his weaknesses to anyone.
DO NOT compare him with other men. You married an individual with different qualities, different style and vision. He is not like anyone else. He is the man that God has given you the task of loving and serving, and you should consider it an honor to be able to carry out that duty. Note to unmarried ladies: Make a list with the qualities a future husband MUST have to avoid your being totally dissatisfied. If it was not that important before you got married don’t nag him or be dissatisfied about it after you get married.
DO NOT nag him continuously about a matter. Did you hear the expression? DRIP! DRIP! DRIP!? I don’t like it when the children come even close to being drips, so I am sure no husband would appreciate it either.
DO NOT make him feel he doesn’t measure up to your expectations. Encourage, don’t criticize and most important...be content!
DO NOT be afraid to bring to his attention sins that he should deal with or concerns that you might have in regard to his conduct. It is a wife’s duty to encourage her husband in his spiritual growth. While it is not the wife’s duty to assume the role of her husbands conscience, she is the closest to him and can encourage him grow in ways that others cannot. Our husbands must trust that we are help meets to them and that we are honest and sober minded in our reproof.
DO NOT always speak your mind. This doesn’t mean we should not have an opinion, but most of the time it is better to hold our tongues rather than “state the facts”. Choose your words carefully in soberness, patience, and love. This does not mean that it is wrong to be open with your husband about your concerns or being honest when he asks our opinion. There is a greater respect and trust that your husband will show toward your opinion when you find this balance.
DO NOT seek out parallel lives with him. Become acquainted with whatever job he does and get involved if possible; even if by just listening to him talk about it. Don’t think about your husband’s pursuits in terms of: HIS career, HIS hobbies, HIS this or HIS that. I hear women say: “well he is busy with his pursuits and I with the children”. Yes we have different roles but we work together towards the same goal: to Glorify God in every area of our lives. You can’t be a proper help meet for your husband if you are not involved in everything he is doing whether you are interested or not.
DO NOT become too busy to listen to him or do things for him. When you start to have lots of children it can become really easy to do this, but remember you are made to be a help meet for him.
DO NOT let your appearance go because you have married him now. Make yourself pretty for him. Yes he loves you no matter what, but you made sure that you showed him that you care enough to look nice for him before you were married, you should care more, not less, after he actually becomes your husband. It is not a matter of keeping his affections, but rather continuing to give him all that we have to offer. 5 minutes a day is all it takes.
I have made my share of mistakes and still do. Many of them are listed above. I am still a work in progress, so please don’t take this to mean that I think I have arrived. I thought listing a few resolutions and observations, may be helpful to someone else.
Thank you, Camilia, for your courage and bold insights.
Posted by Doug Phillips on August 22, 2008 Permalink
Gracious ladies, enter here. Vicious man-haters, beware. Camilia Brown is in the house, and her words are health to the homemaker, but hateful to the rapacious feminist. Camilla is part of the league of gracious, responsible lady bloggers, and the following is from an article entitled “12 Things You Should Not Do To Your Husband.” Read at your own risk:
DO NOT treat your husband as one of your children. You are not running the household he is. So no matter how busy you think you are or how many tasks you might have to perform at once you should not address your husband in this way: “Honey come here! Do this! Hold that! Grab this! Deal with this or that!”. Now I am all for asking our husbands for help when he is available to give it, but bossing him around is not becoming to a wife. We must conduct ourselves as his help meet and not treat him as if the reverse were true.
DO NOT act as if you are more spiritual than he is. I honestly have a hard time with women who act as if they are the spiritual leaders of their family; as if they are doing all the spiritual reformation in the family while their husbands are busy with other pursuits and just tag along with regard to spiritual matters. We’ve all heard women say things like: ” Well God told me this is the best for our family so I had to take the decision, because my husband is not there yet... I am praying for him though!” Even if it were true that a woman might be more spiritual than her husband, this attitude is a usurpation of the authority that God has given the family. There is never room for this kind of behavior in a Christian home. Honestly, my thoughts are that women who set themselves up as spiritual gurus in the family and brag of being more spiritual or knowledgeable than anyone else have proved themselves to be the contrary.
DO NOT talk over him and in a gathering DO NOT talk more than he does. If he doesn’t talk much than talk even less. It is just not becoming to women to do all the talking as if they speak for the family.
DO NOT complain about him to others. Don’t make him look foolish in front of anyone and don’t talk about his weaknesses to anyone.
DO NOT compare him with other men. You married an individual with different qualities, different style and vision. He is not like anyone else. He is the man that God has given you the task of loving and serving, and you should consider it an honor to be able to carry out that duty. Note to unmarried ladies: Make a list with the qualities a future husband MUST have to avoid your being totally dissatisfied. If it was not that important before you got married don’t nag him or be dissatisfied about it after you get married.
DO NOT nag him continuously about a matter. Did you hear the expression? DRIP! DRIP! DRIP!? I don’t like it when the children come even close to being drips, so I am sure no husband would appreciate it either.
DO NOT make him feel he doesn’t measure up to your expectations. Encourage, don’t criticize and most important...be content!
DO NOT be afraid to bring to his attention sins that he should deal with or concerns that you might have in regard to his conduct. It is a wife’s duty to encourage her husband in his spiritual growth. While it is not the wife’s duty to assume the role of her husbands conscience, she is the closest to him and can encourage him grow in ways that others cannot. Our husbands must trust that we are help meets to them and that we are honest and sober minded in our reproof.
DO NOT always speak your mind. This doesn’t mean we should not have an opinion, but most of the time it is better to hold our tongues rather than “state the facts”. Choose your words carefully in soberness, patience, and love. This does not mean that it is wrong to be open with your husband about your concerns or being honest when he asks our opinion. There is a greater respect and trust that your husband will show toward your opinion when you find this balance.
DO NOT seek out parallel lives with him. Become acquainted with whatever job he does and get involved if possible; even if by just listening to him talk about it. Don’t think about your husband’s pursuits in terms of: HIS career, HIS hobbies, HIS this or HIS that. I hear women say: “well he is busy with his pursuits and I with the children”. Yes we have different roles but we work together towards the same goal: to Glorify God in every area of our lives. You can’t be a proper help meet for your husband if you are not involved in everything he is doing whether you are interested or not.
DO NOT become too busy to listen to him or do things for him. When you start to have lots of children it can become really easy to do this, but remember you are made to be a help meet for him.
DO NOT let your appearance go because you have married him now. Make yourself pretty for him. Yes he loves you no matter what, but you made sure that you showed him that you care enough to look nice for him before you were married, you should care more, not less, after he actually becomes your husband. It is not a matter of keeping his affections, but rather continuing to give him all that we have to offer. 5 minutes a day is all it takes.
I have made my share of mistakes and still do. Many of them are listed above. I am still a work in progress, so please don’t take this to mean that I think I have arrived. I thought listing a few resolutions and observations, may be helpful to someone else.
Thank you, Camilia, for your courage and bold insights.
Posted by Doug Phillips on August 22, 2008 Permalink
Children are a Blessing from the Lord
Watch this youtube video to see why children are a heritage from the Lord. (this video was submitted to Vision Forum, it is a keeper)
Protect our children
We MUST be in prayer for our nation as we go to the polls this fall. Here is one very big reason.
Camping
We just returned last night from five days of camping. We had a WONDERFUL time. We went with another family so that just multiplied our enjoyment. We had wonderful times around the campfire at night. We visited a mission, a museum, spent time at the beach, (we went to Lake Roosevelt in North eastern Washington) and went fishing. We ate wonderful meals, saw lots of wild life, took a nap or two and just enjoyed each others company. Here are a few photos of our experience.
Here is our campsite
Here are some wild turkeys that were close to our campsite
A couple of fawns we caught sight of at the museum in Colville, Washington, we also saw a buck and doe close to our campsite and heard them calling to each other during the night
An eagle's nest with parents and babies, we heard them squawking, we also would see many of them flying around looking for food
Hannah, Ralph and Alicia in front of a painting of Kettle Falls (the falls no longer exist because of Grand Coulee Dam)
The mission at Kettle Falls, Washington
An old smith shop (notice the giant bellows)
Alicia beside a wagon
Ralph on the porch of a homesteaders home
Bedroom and diningroom in the homesteaders home (notice there is a parents bed, child's bed and a little cradle, this was for a family of at least four, there was also a loft with a bed)
The kitchen in the homesteaders home
Here we are standing in front of a teepee
Alicia and Hannah by Lake Roosevelt
Here we are fishing on Lake Roosevelt
Here is another "angle" of those fishing
Three lovely ladies watch the "big" people fish
Hannah, the fisher woman (she is the only one to catch a fish)
Sunset at Lake Roosevelt, Washington
Our last night around the camp fire
Budget Blues? American Vison wants to help you save thousands
Today at The American VisioneNewsletter: August 20, 2008
We hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading this issue of Today at The American Vision. You can expect your next issue on August 21st. See you then.
Written and designed by The American Vision in Powder Springs, Georgia. Today at The American Vision is a free weekday email publication supported by ministry donations. Thank you for your support.
by Dr. Richard A. Jones
Whether in good economic times or “bad,” many American parents stubbornly saddle themselves with a needless and frequently counterproductive financial burden. Fortunately, it’s a burden with potential to be significantly minimized and that homeschoolers can shrink drastically. American Vision wants to help.
This dollar drain on families is the ransom that Darwin-based, Darwin-dedicated, 100% “politically correct” U. S. colleges and universities extort annually from habit-blinded parents. For $25K per year for four years or more, the schools sell a shoddy product that no longer commands the respect it once enjoyed either here or by prospective students overseas. That one tenth of a million dollar sheepskin in impressive Latin script does not bring surefire job guarantees much less honoring Bible edicts saying that true education calls for enrichment of minds and souls. Thus, AV is here to remind you that for about one tenth the cost, your self-disciplined teenager (your goal in the formative years—right?) who sees college as more than a “13th grade, fun & games, no-more-curfews” street party, could have learned as much and more at home, online— working part time and/or interning—while advancing in love of learning, perseverance, critical thinking intellectual growth, and in adult-quality responsibility traits. Life is such that even a small town holds within it all this “real-life” potential. Don’t let anyone kid you otherwise.
What prompted me to rethink all this (and what most institutes of higher learning think of as their “dirty little secret”) was last week’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “For Most People, College is a Waste of Time,” by influential scholar Charles Murray. “Most people” is a lot of people and a lot of money, and I think Murray is on to something here even more than he knew. His thesis is this: Rather than persisting in the myth that the four-year BA degree is the last word in academics plus a sound gauge for measuring job qualifications, a much better way to test job competence is the CPA exam model used to validate public accountants. It’s a very tough test and no BA is required. If you “pass” you not only pass, it’s likely you’ll be a good job candidate and employee.
Murray, interestingly, noted that outside the realms of medicine, science, engineering, etc., two-thirds of all BA degrees come from studies in other fields and that potential job competence there (why not in law as well?) could in theory be effectively measured using nationally recognized “certification” tests with no BA required. Initially, I’d guess that the testing agencies ought to be competitive, for-profit, private and that test-takers would apply based on the related job field. The Underwriter's Laboratory approach is similar. UL either grants or withholds their “seal of approval” based on a product’s reliability. Similarly, as with cost-conscious appliance purchasers, a passing score on an intensive, CPA-caliber “certification” test (plus the applicant’s actual score) would give employers key information.
What I wish Murray had also stressed is that our famous American spirit of entrepreneurship has been deliberately stolen from government dumbed-down (and feminized) U.S.boys. Real national economic viability depends not just on truly educated people but on how many of them can turn a key component of a nation’s wealth—natural resources—into consumer products. Which is, by definition, what most entrepreneurs do. The myth that the U.S. has shifted to a “post-industrial” “service” economy whereby we take in each other’s laundry and get all our durable goods from overseas, masks all sorts of unsound, even evil agendas. We need more homegrown Edisons, Fords and yes, even Rockefellers, to turn ideas, sweat and natural resources into worker-employing businesses yielding a standard of living for all that honors God and advances His kingdom. It happens that the homeschooling environment offers the best path for entrepreneurial resurgence as I’ll explain, but others of you can add and adapt based on the homeschool model.
While homeschooled girls are being shepherded in the direction of their natural bent, which is to become Bible-class moms, wives and helpmeets, boys need to be nurtured to think vocationally and—especially—that they should seek to become self-employed. Also to be emphasized is the exciting prospect that they might one day establish an inter-generational family business. The adage is a good one that says if you can turn your avocation (hobby) into your vocation, your prospects for lifelong job contentment are wonderfully enhanced. And, who doesn’t want that? This process of parental pre-vocation encouragement and guidance for sons depends on continuous assessment of natural gifts and interests. These discoveries are advanced every way possible consistent with the rule that what’s done has to be done to God’s glory – even the fun parts.
“False starts” are acceptable during this ten-year quest because between the ages of 5 and 15 most “missteps” won’t be fatal and time is on your side. But, hopefully, by age 15, depending, he has shunned computer-game type impulses and is moving in an adult direction. In fact, he may, by himself or with family, already be creating modest products or services for sale. As this process proceeds he can be thought of as an apprentice. The next logical step would be to try and link him up with a master in the field; exactly the approach used by forward-looking business-people-to-be over the centuries—with world changing results. If online studies or career-allied courses at a local community college work out to further the profession of choice, or even conclude with a BA, then fine. The goal is to see the apprentice become, first, a journeyman and finally a master.
It’s likely Murray’s national certification proposal in hundreds of professions is a long way off. But the principle is there for us to use. As the home-discipled boy’s career direction takes shape, both he and his parents can be contacting, directly and indirectly, experts in the field. You discover their “check list” of practical/theoretical tasks and solutions that a newcomer must work towards achieving if he is to gain “master” status, and most important, to become an entrepreneur of note. It’s clear that out there in the world of knowledge and experience these collective bits of professional wisdom are available for preparatory self-study and practice application. When mastered, the boy has not only “self-certified” himself, he’s head and shoulders above others who only have a BA or who, at age 23, arrive one day at someone’s office, bright eyed and bushy tailed saying; “Here I am and I’m ready to learn.” Our truly educated homeschooled lad is already light years ahead and is probably well on his way to starting his own business.
A young friend—not homeschooled and not much “into religion”— treasured a lifelong dream to produce a specific product. He discovered after one year that college wouldn’t help. Ten years later he was a BA-free millionaire and ended up hiring his dad. Not the perfect ending to my story, but except for a God-dedicated aspect, it would come close.
Dr. Richard A. Jones - contact: dickjones1517@sbcglobal.net.
Are you interested in leaving a comment on the American Vision blog related to this article? Click here to type in your comment directly into the blog.
We hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading this issue of Today at The American Vision. You can expect your next issue on August 21st. See you then.
Written and designed by The American Vision in Powder Springs, Georgia. Today at The American Vision is a free weekday email publication supported by ministry donations. Thank you for your support.
by Dr. Richard A. Jones
Whether in good economic times or “bad,” many American parents stubbornly saddle themselves with a needless and frequently counterproductive financial burden. Fortunately, it’s a burden with potential to be significantly minimized and that homeschoolers can shrink drastically. American Vision wants to help.
This dollar drain on families is the ransom that Darwin-based, Darwin-dedicated, 100% “politically correct” U. S. colleges and universities extort annually from habit-blinded parents. For $25K per year for four years or more, the schools sell a shoddy product that no longer commands the respect it once enjoyed either here or by prospective students overseas. That one tenth of a million dollar sheepskin in impressive Latin script does not bring surefire job guarantees much less honoring Bible edicts saying that true education calls for enrichment of minds and souls. Thus, AV is here to remind you that for about one tenth the cost, your self-disciplined teenager (your goal in the formative years—right?) who sees college as more than a “13th grade, fun & games, no-more-curfews” street party, could have learned as much and more at home, online— working part time and/or interning—while advancing in love of learning, perseverance, critical thinking intellectual growth, and in adult-quality responsibility traits. Life is such that even a small town holds within it all this “real-life” potential. Don’t let anyone kid you otherwise.
What prompted me to rethink all this (and what most institutes of higher learning think of as their “dirty little secret”) was last week’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “For Most People, College is a Waste of Time,” by influential scholar Charles Murray. “Most people” is a lot of people and a lot of money, and I think Murray is on to something here even more than he knew. His thesis is this: Rather than persisting in the myth that the four-year BA degree is the last word in academics plus a sound gauge for measuring job qualifications, a much better way to test job competence is the CPA exam model used to validate public accountants. It’s a very tough test and no BA is required. If you “pass” you not only pass, it’s likely you’ll be a good job candidate and employee.
Murray, interestingly, noted that outside the realms of medicine, science, engineering, etc., two-thirds of all BA degrees come from studies in other fields and that potential job competence there (why not in law as well?) could in theory be effectively measured using nationally recognized “certification” tests with no BA required. Initially, I’d guess that the testing agencies ought to be competitive, for-profit, private and that test-takers would apply based on the related job field. The Underwriter's Laboratory approach is similar. UL either grants or withholds their “seal of approval” based on a product’s reliability. Similarly, as with cost-conscious appliance purchasers, a passing score on an intensive, CPA-caliber “certification” test (plus the applicant’s actual score) would give employers key information.
What I wish Murray had also stressed is that our famous American spirit of entrepreneurship has been deliberately stolen from government dumbed-down (and feminized) U.S.boys. Real national economic viability depends not just on truly educated people but on how many of them can turn a key component of a nation’s wealth—natural resources—into consumer products. Which is, by definition, what most entrepreneurs do. The myth that the U.S. has shifted to a “post-industrial” “service” economy whereby we take in each other’s laundry and get all our durable goods from overseas, masks all sorts of unsound, even evil agendas. We need more homegrown Edisons, Fords and yes, even Rockefellers, to turn ideas, sweat and natural resources into worker-employing businesses yielding a standard of living for all that honors God and advances His kingdom. It happens that the homeschooling environment offers the best path for entrepreneurial resurgence as I’ll explain, but others of you can add and adapt based on the homeschool model.
While homeschooled girls are being shepherded in the direction of their natural bent, which is to become Bible-class moms, wives and helpmeets, boys need to be nurtured to think vocationally and—especially—that they should seek to become self-employed. Also to be emphasized is the exciting prospect that they might one day establish an inter-generational family business. The adage is a good one that says if you can turn your avocation (hobby) into your vocation, your prospects for lifelong job contentment are wonderfully enhanced. And, who doesn’t want that? This process of parental pre-vocation encouragement and guidance for sons depends on continuous assessment of natural gifts and interests. These discoveries are advanced every way possible consistent with the rule that what’s done has to be done to God’s glory – even the fun parts.
“False starts” are acceptable during this ten-year quest because between the ages of 5 and 15 most “missteps” won’t be fatal and time is on your side. But, hopefully, by age 15, depending, he has shunned computer-game type impulses and is moving in an adult direction. In fact, he may, by himself or with family, already be creating modest products or services for sale. As this process proceeds he can be thought of as an apprentice. The next logical step would be to try and link him up with a master in the field; exactly the approach used by forward-looking business-people-to-be over the centuries—with world changing results. If online studies or career-allied courses at a local community college work out to further the profession of choice, or even conclude with a BA, then fine. The goal is to see the apprentice become, first, a journeyman and finally a master.
It’s likely Murray’s national certification proposal in hundreds of professions is a long way off. But the principle is there for us to use. As the home-discipled boy’s career direction takes shape, both he and his parents can be contacting, directly and indirectly, experts in the field. You discover their “check list” of practical/theoretical tasks and solutions that a newcomer must work towards achieving if he is to gain “master” status, and most important, to become an entrepreneur of note. It’s clear that out there in the world of knowledge and experience these collective bits of professional wisdom are available for preparatory self-study and practice application. When mastered, the boy has not only “self-certified” himself, he’s head and shoulders above others who only have a BA or who, at age 23, arrive one day at someone’s office, bright eyed and bushy tailed saying; “Here I am and I’m ready to learn.” Our truly educated homeschooled lad is already light years ahead and is probably well on his way to starting his own business.
A young friend—not homeschooled and not much “into religion”— treasured a lifelong dream to produce a specific product. He discovered after one year that college wouldn’t help. Ten years later he was a BA-free millionaire and ended up hiring his dad. Not the perfect ending to my story, but except for a God-dedicated aspect, it would come close.
Dr. Richard A. Jones - contact: dickjones1517@sbcglobal.net.
Are you interested in leaving a comment on the American Vision blog related to this article? Click here to type in your comment directly into the blog.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
The best dog ever!
Our dog LitaWe have a dog named Angelita Noel(Lita for short). Lita does the funniest things. My Brother found a ball that she really likes to play with , if we take it away she starts whining and whining until we give it to her! She is the best dog ever!
Getting ready for camping
We will be going camping next week and we have been doing a lot to get ready. So far we have:set up our tent in the back yard; dad, Alicia and I have all ready slept in the tent. It was fun. Dad and mom have bought Alicia and I cots to sleep on. We already have all our meals planned and now we just have to put every thing together and go camping.
Daddy and Christopher working on the poles
Daddy and Christopher putting in the stakes
Mommy, observing Daddy and Christopher putting on the final touches
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
How Do We Keep Our Children Innocent?
Our children are not safe anywhere, not even the public library. I have not gone to our public library since we moved here, three years ago. I have either bought books or done without. This is only one example of what is happening at our libraries. I know about a year or so ago there was someone looking at pornography at the library, right where children were passing by. Everyone knows what it is like to take children to the supermarket, big box store or even book stores. Everywhere you look there is filth and vulgarity, lies and exploitation. I wouldn't dare take them to the beach or a swimming pool, they would get an eye full there. Of course, they would see almost as much just driving down the road or going to the mall. So I ask you, where can we go where our children will not be exposed to blatant sin? Where can we take them where they will not be exposed to people who like to expose themselves? Where can we go where they can retain their innocence?
Why Girls Should Read Boys Literature
There is a wonderful article by Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin about the necessity for young ladies to read literature for boys. When you are finished reading their article check out their blog. These two young ladies are VERY inspiring. My daughters and I thoroughly enjoy their books and dvds.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
National Education
Here is a spoof on the department of education in Great Britain, but it could be here in the United States too. Just click on the post title and it will take you to a YouTube video.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Our Daughter's 4th Anniversay
Today is our Daughter and Son-in-law's 4th anniversary. Time sure flies. Congratulations, Nicole and Lee!! We love you both. 
Lee & Nicole August 7th, 2004
All our children 2004
The Happy Couple just last week
Blueberries!
On Tuesday we went to a blueberry orchard and picked a lot of blueberries. We got almost 20 pounds of blueberries. Another family who went with us got 22 pounds! After we picked berries we had lunch at a picnic table there. We had fun picking blueberries!
All our berries
Hannah picking berries
Me picking berries
All our berriesTuesday, August 5, 2008
Anniversay day!
Daddy being silly and mommy laughing
The present Alicia and I made for Dad and momON Saturday it was Dad and Mom's anniversary. Alicia and I made a family breakfast . All of us had coffee, scrambled eggs and toast. For dad and mom's present Alicia and I made them a paper elephant for them, then at night Dad and mom went out for dinner. While they where gone we stayed home with Chris and our older sister and her husband came over. It was a very good and happy day especially for Dad and mom.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
This Week's Sewing Accomplishments
Hannah in her new apron
Alicia wearing her new apron and new blouse
Sewing an apron and wearing a new blouseThis week we were able to complete six blouses and three aprons.
Fresh BroccoliOur 28th Wedding Anniversary
WOW!! Who would have dreamed that we would make it to this day? We were both so young and inexperienced in life, but God has brought us to today. We have been through a lot, endured much hardship, but had many more joys then sorrows. God has blessed us with 4 terrific children and one son-in-law. All of our children love and serve God, what more could we ask for. I thank God for Ralph and his never ending love he has had for me over these past 28 years. He is the most wonderful husband in the world, in my opinion!!! God has blessed me more than I deserve and much more than I could ever have imagined. I am looking forward to the next 28 years and beyond with great expectancy, because we NEVER know what God has in store for us.
Today on our 28th Anniversary!!
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