Bedtime Doxology

Most everyone is familiar with what has come to be known simply as the Doxology, or “The Old 100th” (so named because of it’s placing in the Genevan Psalter of 1551):

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

It is a favorite in our house and, along with the Lord’s Prayer and a verse or two of “Jesus Love Me,” has been memorized by Samuel. Maggie is quickly learning it too, praise God!

Yesterday, I decided that it is time to take it to the next level and expand our family’s musical repertoire. What better way to do that, I thought, than to expand upon a song Samuel knows by heart and loves.

Thus, I chose “All People That On Earth Do Dwell,” which is sung in the same meter as “The Old 100th.” Thus,

All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice.

The Lord, ye know, is God indeed;
Without our aid He did us make;
We are His folk, He doth us feed,
And for His sheep He doth us take.

O enter then His gates with praise;
Approach with joy His courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless His Name always,
For it is seemly so to do.

For why? the Lord our God is good;
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.

To Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
The God Whom Heaven and earth adore,
From men and from the angel host
Be praise and glory evermore.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Note that I added the Doxology onto the end (and that it is really interchangeable with the next to last verse).

The plan of memorization? For approximately five days (the first being last night and the second was tonight) we will sing the first verse and the last, reciting the first ahead of time to familiarize Samuel with the words we are about to sing. By including the familiar last verse, Samuel (and Maggie when she is feeling like it) can happily participate even when the other verses are less familiar.

After four or five days, we will expand to include the second verse. Then, we will probably do the second, third, and last, occassionally including the first. And so on.

Within a month, we should have the song largely memorized. Only two nights in, and it is a joy!

A Hodgepodge of Random Thoughts

• It seems to me that, in a major way the real villain of Great Expectations is Mrs. Joe, and not [only] Miss Havisham, Estella, or Orlick. And the real victim, though an enabling one, is Joe Gargery. Though a big man, physically, he is among that pathetic class of people C.S. Lewis once called “men without chests.” He has been effectively neutered as the head of the house by Mrs. Joe; but he enabled his situation by handing his wife the clippers.
• Heck, I’m not given to liberal psychobabble about victimhood. Joe is as much of a villain as his wife. And as covenant head of his household, he bears responsibility before God for both his and Mrs. Joe’s sin. He’s guilty. She’s guilty. He’s responsible.
• John Wayne’s great movie character “McLintock” risked the same fate as Joe for a time, too, but he finally woke up and took back the reigns of his household. Katherine thought she was happier with a cowering husband; but discovered she was truly happiest when the head of the house finally acted as such.
• Here’s a philosophic truth: If a tree falls in the woods, and you aren’t there, you won’t hear it.
• Here’s a biblical truth: The chicken came before the egg. Genesis 1:20-23. Case closed. What’s all the hub-bub?
• Some time ago I visited a church with family. As I was leaving my parked car, I regretfully realized I had forgotten to bring my Bible. No matter. It turns out I didn’t need it. Not because the church provided Bibles in the pews — it didn’t, and there weren’t any. There wasn’t one spot in the course of their liturgy (though they would deny their service was liturgical; they forgot they practiced a liturgy, i.e, order of worship, in their “non-liturgy,” no matter how random or disordered they make it from week to week), where a Bible was needed. I believe the pastor recited one or two verses, though it wasn’t clear what they had to do with his “sermon” and he certainly didn’t provide any exegesis of the passages and their context.
  All I can say is, thank God that “churches” like these didn’t lead the Reformation. Spare us, O God, from the fuzzy evangelicalism that has replaced your Holy Word at the center of worship with a mushy sentimentalism that would make Michael Bolton proud, and in the process has created a generation of “men without chests.”
• The New York Yankees are neck and neck with the Cleveland Indians and a few other teams for the AL Wild Card. My prediction: the Yanks miss the playoffs for the first time since 1994. Their pitching — or lack thereof — will sink them.
• And you wonder why I was so ticked the Yanks broke the bank — and what was left of their farm system — to land Randy Johnson? The Yanks may be on the verge of late ’80s-early ’90s descent into mediocrity. Though having A-Rod means the floor will never be so deep as it was then.
• What profiteth a man if he saves his money from all worldly travel expenses, but loses the memories and special moments that just a little more money spent would have boughteth him with those he purportedly loves?
• It is tempting to think that we are being wise stewards of the gifts God has given us when we refuse to spend it on certain things. But what we may be instead is selfish. And yet we boast that we “never spend money on that.” And once again, we lie exposed in our selfish pride. But all that is to repeat myself.

Interesting Reads from Recent Weeks

• Beautiful Unrealism by George Will
  The glorious hope of minor league baseball players
• Feeding on Sin by Jeffery Ventrella
  “The entertainment problem is production, not consumption”
• Attack of the Nannies by John Leo
  “Do-gooders are all around us now, trying to ban everything from kids’ games to ketchup.”
• After Roe v. Wade, Then What? by Larry Elder
  “If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, what happens?”
• The Call to Personal Repentance, Even in the Midst of Slander by R.C. Sproul, Jr.
  “Slander to the Left of Me, Snares to the Right, Here I Am, Stuck in the Middle with You”
• Fashioning a Response to Immodest Clothing by Rebecca Hagelin
• Compassion over Cathedrals by Marvin Olasky
• Cultures aren’t Equal by Michael Barone
• Situational Libertarianism by Charles Krauthammer

Reminisces on Five Years at CHBC

It has now been nine months since Bonnie and I resigned our membership at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. This followed five wonderful years growing and being a part of the body there. Both of us were baptized there in September 1999, and it was all “further up and further in,” as C.S. Lewis would put it, from there.

Wild America on DVD

This is a must have — and I must have it. I grew up watching Marty Stouffer’s “Wild America.” Well, here is the website, and the opportunity to purchase all 12 seasons — 120 half-hour shows — plus two new specials.

Pizza Night in Daddy’s Movie Theater

Tonight, Bonnie, Samuel, Maggie and I had “pizza night” in “Daddy’s Movie Theater,” as we sat down to eat in front of our twelve-year-old, 27-inch television set to watch the movie “Wild America” on VHS from our 15-year-old video player (patience, we’ll enter the 21st Century soon enough — trust me!). “Wild America,” of course, stars a mid-teen Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who looks almost exactly like my little brother Andrew did at about the same age.

Bonnie prepared a delicious Freschetta pizza with fresh vegetables from our garden, which went perfect with my Boddington’s Pub Ale.

As we were getting everything set and as Samuel and Maggie were waiting in their booster seats with their trays in the living room, we overheard Samuel telling his sister, “Let’s get ready to pray so we can watch the movie and have popcorn.” (Samuel was so excited that I promised him popcorn.) I, of course, took the opportunity to encourage Samuel by saying something to the effect of, “You can go ahead and pray with Maggie right now if you want, Samuel.”

Samuel praying over the meal is nothing new — just ask any of Bonnie’s girlfriends from the MRC. But for whatever reason, he has resisted doing so for the past few months. This time, however, he promptly said, “Okay, Maggie, let’s pray,” grabbed his sister’s little hand, bowed his head down to the tray, and prayed:

Our Dear Father,
Thank you for today and for my little sister Maggie.
Thank you for my parents.
And thank you for our pizza and popcorn,
because we are going to eat it.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(What kind of three-year-old says “my parents,” anyway?!)

That’s not just cute. That’s what it is all about. Praise God, for He is good. :)

Revolution in Kilts

I just completed a fantastic trilogy of historical fiction from Douglas Bond. The “Crown and Covenant” series follows a fictional Scottish Covenanter family in the 17th Century embroiled in very real, historical events as the faithful Presbyterians endure harsh persecution from the English crown and the Church of England. Recommended especially for boys “ages 10 to 14,” the writing is so good I recommend it for all men ages 6 to 96. And all men with children should read it out loud to their families. (Buy full set at Overstock.com and save big time)

What is most endearing about Duncan’s War, King’s Arrow, and Rebel’s Keep is the way, throughout the series, that Bond invites you into the M’Kethe’s family worship as they wrestle with what the Bible has to say concerning the Lord’s will during trying times: Under what circumstances should you take up arms, and to what point do you endure persecution? If you make an ill-advised vow, do you keep it, or should you break it for the greater good? Is it right to deceive — even lie to your enemies — and is to do so a violation of the Ninth Commandment? (Hint: the answer is akin to the difference between killing and murder in relation to the Sixth Commandment)

None of these or other issues are handled in wooden or queer fashion, but rather feature careful, even passionate exegesis of Scripture, bringing many passages to bear on the pros and cons of certain actions being considered by the M’Kethe clan.

I won’t divulge any more, except to say this: To truly understand the causes and reasons for the American War for Independence, you really need to understand the history of the Scottish Covenanters. To the English, after all, the American Revolution was “The Presbyterian Rebellion.” Many of the difficulties the American colonists faced from the crown were presaged by what happened in Scotland and to the English Puritan Roundheads a hundred years before.

As Marvin Olasky ably revealed in his excellent history, Fighting for Liberty and Virtue: Political and Cultural Wars in Eighteenth Century America, you are seriously mistaken if you think that the protest against the Stamp Act, for instance, was primarily an economic concern. But perhaps more on that some other day. Better yet, buy it for yourself (or, you can read it in full online, here). You’ll gain a newfound appreciation for why the colonists and the Continental Army were willing to persevere under the overwhelming odds that David McCullough describes so well in his latest bestseller, 1776.

Correction re: “Augustine’s Maxim”

In response to my earlier post on rebutting common Roman Catholic arguments against Sola Scriptura, I received an email from a friend pointing out the following:

I noticed your reference to Augustine. I think that is a common but incorrect attribution. Check this link.

Thanks Tadd for the correction. I can’t tell you how many books and articles I’ve seen incorrectly attribute the saying — “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity” — to Augustine. It is wise counsel regardless, but it is good to have the record set straight.

The Crisis in Civic Education = A Crisis for Freedom

What follows is the text of my speech delivered on Friday, July 29, 2005 in the Jefferson Room at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., as part of the Bill of Rights Institute’s 2005 Founders Circle Symposium and Celebration. As many as 42 of our highest dollar donors attended this two-day program, held at George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the National Archives. I spoke in my capacity as the Director of Donor Relations for the Bill of Rights Institute:

One of the most popular, effective, and — I would argue — important educational resources that the Bill of Rights Institute provides to teachers and their students is called, “Bill of Rights in the News.”

Every two weeks during the school year, our education team develops lesson plans that tie news headlines with the words of America’s Founding documents, and delivers them via email and our website to more than 11,000 teachers nationwide.

This eLesson is not the topic of my talk today — it will be a small portion of what Vicki will discuss later. But what I do want to focus on today are the reasons that “Bill of Rights in the News” and our many other educational programs and instructional materials are so very important to what we do.

You see, “Bill of Rights in the News” is important because, increasingly, the news headlines have been distressing for those of us who love freedom and the Constitution. And it is important because it is vital to the Bill of Rights Institute’s efforts to reverse a crisis in civic education that has been growing more severe for several decades.

In fact, I would argue that the increasing presence of bad news related to the Bill of Rights has closely followed the inability — or perhaps wanton neglect — of our educational system to transmit knowledge and appreciation of America’s legacy of freedom to generations of young people going through the schools.

In other words, I believe there is a cause-effect relationship between what is taught in the classroom and the amount of freedom you and I and our children will enjoy — and therefore what was taught in the classroom yesterday has evident ramifications on the political and civil state we find ourselves in today.

So when Civics and History lessons have long sought to de-emphasize the Constitution, we should not be surprised when politicians and bureaucrats begin to ignore constitutional restraints.

And when law students learn to look at America’s Founding Fathers with disdain, it is almost to be expected that when they later wear the robes of Justice that they will ignore the original intent of the Constitution and instead look to foreign laws or play word games in order to suit their personal preferences on any given issue.

So you see, when students ask teachers and parents “Why do I have to learn this? What does it matter to me?” — as I often did growing up — that should be an easy answer for us, esp. when it comes to American history and civics!

One of America’s greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan, passed away just over 13 months ago, as you well know. Listen to what he had to say way back in 1964 when he first emerged on the national political scene. He said:

I think it’s time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers.

The schools of the 1960s were already churning out students who did not know, nor care, about the Constitution and our Founding principles, and Reagan recognized it.

The situation has grown worse since.

Studies show that young people today know very little about America’s Founders and the constitutional principles they established.

In June 2005, an independent national evaluation firm, Evaluation Solutions, released a comprehensive report on student knowledge in Kansas of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The results are disturbing, to say the least: Kansas’s graduating high school seniors lack basic knowledge of the Constitution and Bill of Rights — even when surveyed on questions pulled from 6th and 8th grade curricula:

• More than 75 percent are unaware of James Madison’s historical status as the “Father of the Constitution.”
• Less than half (43 percent) understand how the Constitution divided power between state and national governments.
• Nearly four out of five are ignorant of John Locke’s influence on America’s Founding and how he believed that all people possess the natural rights of life, liberty, and property.

Sadly, Kansas provides a snapshot of what is going on nationally. This survey mirrors the results of national tests.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, three out of four students are painfully unaware of American history, including the major themes and events that have marked us out as a people.

One question on the study asks students to name the document that contains the basic rules used to run our national government. Only 27 percent selected the Constitution as the correct answer.

A more recent study, published by the Knight Foundation, surveyed more than 100,000 students about their knowledge of and attitudes toward the First Amendment, which is meant to protect our freedoms of religion, speech, press, and assembly.

The conclusion? Many students do not understand what the bedrock of the Bill of Rights protects.

For example, more than one in three high school students said the First Amendment goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Half are in favor of government control of newspaper stories.

This ignorance leads to a lack of appreciation for America’s heritage and all that we stand for.

A recent study out of Stanford, for example — conducted by Dr. William Damon, an academic advisor to the Bill of Rights Institute — measured the civic attitudes of high schoolers.

Typical responses to his questions were similar to that of one Midwestern boy, who claimed, “Being American is not very special.” Said another: “I don’t find being an American citizen very important.”

How did this happen?

The answer is at least three-fold: 1) unprepared teachers; 2) inadequate and biased textbooks; and, 3) the radical multiculturalist agenda that has infected school curricula.

1) Teachers Lack Necessary Knowledge:

• Less than 20 percent of high school American History and Civics teachers have even a minor in History, much less an undergraduate degree.
• Many teachers hold degrees in Secondary Education with a concentration in Social Studies — an interdisciplinary study of history, economics, geography, political science, and sociology that leaves teachers with knowledge a mile wide and an inch deep.
• Other teachers are teaching entirely outside their field — perhaps holding a degree in Physical Education, since approximately 25 percent of high school Social Studies teachers are coaches.

Research tells us that teacher knowledge of subject content is the most important factor affecting student learning. Common sense tells us that you cannot teach what you do not know.

Another reason for the crisis in civic ed is:

2) Poor Textbooks — see Fact Sheet — I’ll read from the summary statement:

Textbooks used in America’s History and Civics classes have been found to be only 69 percent accurate overall. They failed a bias test with a 60 percent mark, and received a “D” in historical soundness. Most notably, the texts featured very little discussion of the Western intellectual and political traditions that informed the Founders and that served as precedence to our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Further, many of the books substituted their own interpretations of passages of the Constitution with little or no reference to what the Founders, especially The Federalist, had to say on the issue.

You’ll see on the fact sheet we included numerous examples of the rampant bias, errors and omissions that mark leading textbooks.

As bad as these examples are, the most serious problem may be that the textbooks are simply boring. They fail to tell the powerful and exciting story of our American experiment; they have become a hodge-podge of topics that do not connect. They miss the point.

3) Multiculturalism:

Finally, for four decades, the educational “philosophy” in our country has been driven by radical multiculturalism and the effort to “de-exceptionalize America.”

This is an approach to teaching American History and Civics that is based on the premise that the United States is “just another country,” no better than any other.

In other words, a radical nation that terrorizes others and brutalizes its own citizens is no worse than America is — the radicals, according to the de-exceptionalists, are simply different.

De-exceptionalism has come to dominate American universities and colleges, and has trickled down to the middle and high school levels. For instance, the mission statement for a set of highly-influential national Social Studies standards reads, in part: “Students should be helped to construct a pluralist perspective based on diversity and … a global perspective.”

In fact, far too often, academia denounces patriotism and love of country as a vice.

For example, the University of Chicago’s Martha Nussbaum condemns “patriotic pride” as “morally dangerous.” And Princeton’s Amy Gutmann argues that it is “repugnant for American students to learn that they are, above all, citizens of the United States.”

Worse, many of today’s students learn that they are morally superior if they identify with “humanity” and abandon their commitment to America. Richard Sennett of New York University teaches that this denial of American identity is “a positive phenomenon.”

Multiculturalism, then, has been embraced as the highest value. Meanwhile, we are ignoring the common principles that should unite us.

I’m all for teaching the history and virtues of all cultures — but not at the expense of the common heritage that we all share as Americans. For too long, American History and Civics lessons in our schools have disparaged and neglected America’s Founding principles — with horrible ramifications, as we are increasingly seeing in the news and that we expose in our own “Bill of Rights in the News” lessons.

As Abraham Lincoln once wrote, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation, will become the philosophy of government in the next.”

Assaults on the Constitution and our freedoms do not happen in a vacuum, as Ronald Reagan would remind us. They happened because too many Americans are unaware, as he put it, of “the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers.”

I’ll close with a quote from the “Father of the Constitution,” James Madison, who said:

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

In this truth, we find our hope. And it is upon this truth that the Bill of Rights Institute operates. As Vicki is about to show, the Bill of Rights Institute has made great strides in our first few years in our mission to advance the knowledge of America’s Founding — we can be encouraged in this and in the knowledge that our country’s best days may not be behind us, but are yet to come.

Thank you.