Rss

  • youtube

Train up a child in the way he should go – Part I

Posted by :Larry G. Johnson On : November 22, 2013
1

Category: Archives, Education, Worldview

My grandmother and I had a lot of conversations. They were usually one-sided with me asking questions but mostly listening to her stories. Of Cherokee ancestry, Sally Pearl (Downey) Hart was born in 1890 in Indian Territory and lived near present-day Ryan on the Red River. She came by wagon with her parents, brothers and sisters to the banks of the Arkansas River across the river from the tiny settlement of Tulsa in 1895. As there was no bridge over the river, the wagon had to be ferried across in order to get to where present-day Owasso is located a few miles north of Tulsa. She and my grandfather met and married in the newly minted state of Oklahoma, and they eventually operated a dairy farm near Owasso.

She told many stories of her early life and family. She was an avid reader and read many stories to me. One of the few books she actually owned was Martin and Osa Johnson’s Four Years in Paradise. I was fascinated as she read to me of their exploration of Africa in the early twentieth century. I still have that book. When […] Continue Reading…


In Defense of Labels

Posted by :Larry G. Johnson On : November 15, 2013
1

Category: Archives, Christianity

Max Lucado is a wonderful and inspiring writer. Few writers can match his ability to bring fresh insights, infuse substance, and bring clarity to both the commonplace and complex things of life. One of his recent website posts was titled Simply ‘Church’.” He posed two questions, “…what would happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their names simply to ‘church’?…if there are no denominations in heaven, why do we have denominations on earth?” His point was that we should not attend a church based on the sign outside, but we should join our hearts to the like-minded hearts of the people on the inside. [Max Lucado]

This is a noble sentiment and reflects the Apostle Paul’s admonition to the Romans, “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Romans 15: 5-6. KJV] In other words, the church should be in unity in thought and message. Matthew Henry stated, “The foundation of Christian love and peace […] Continue Reading…


Common Core Curriculum Standards – The devil is in the details

Posted by :Larry G. Johnson On : November 8, 2013
0

Category: Archives, Education

The Common Core Curriculum State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) was previously examined in “Education in America – Part III – Common Core State Standards – Educational excellence or secular cultural conformity?” [See Archives – August 9, 2013] This article takes a more in-depth look at the concerns about Common Core and the nationalization of education.

Initially, the CCSSI was a state-led effort that established a single set of educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics. In that initiative, states were to voluntarily adopt Common Core standards to unify and strengthen educational standards and expectations. However, the seemingly voluntary adoption of standards by the states has evolved through the power of the federal purse strings into mandated standards under various federal programs.

The nation’s governors and education commissioners, through their representative organizations, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), led the development of the Common Core State Standards which were published in December 2008. However, the federal government under the Obama administration effectively hijacked the program in February 2009 through a $4.35 billion stimulus money “executive earmark” (meaning no-strings-attached) transfer […] Continue Reading…


Marriage – Part V – The Consequences of the Humanist Worldview of Marriage

Posted by :Larry G. Johnson On : November 1, 2013
0

Category: Archives, Marriage

Part V examines the consequences of the decline of traditional marriage in American society as a result of the ascending humanist worldview.

Much of the material for this series has been excerpted from Ye shall be as gods which succinctly frames the opposing Christian and humanist worldviews with regard to human relationships in general and marriage specifically. [Johnson, Chapter 20, American Family – Marriage and Family.]

The family and societal carnage that occurred in America during the twentieth century and thereafter as a result of the domination of the humanist worldview is monumental and recounted in numerous studies and reports. The statistics reflecting the precipitous decline of marriage and the American family are incontrovertible and coincide almost exactly with the emergence of the Boomer generation in the mid-1960s and the rapid and accelerating ascendancy of the humanist worldview. Perhaps the signal statistic highlighting the collapse of marriage and the traditional family is the high level of births to unmarried mothers as reported in 2006: 68 percent of all black children, 45 percent of all Hispanic children, and 25 percent of all white children. [Rector, “The Collapse of Marriage and the Rise of Welfare Dependence.”]

The collapse of the traditional family is […] Continue Reading…


Marriage – Part IV – The Pathologies of the Humanist Worldview of Marriage

Posted by :Larry G. Johnson On : October 25, 2013
0

Category: Archives, Marriage

Traditional marriage is in serious jeopardy in twenty-first century America. In Part IV we will examine the assault on the divine concept of marriage and the resulting pathologies of the humanist worldview of marriage and relationships.

Much of the material for this series has been excerpted from Ye shall be as gods which succinctly frames the opposing Christian and humanist worldviews with regard to human relationships in general and marriage specifically. [Johnson, Chapter 20, American Family – Marriage and Family.]

As a result of the ascending humanistic worldview, the concept of marriage as known and practiced in Western civilization since its inception has been done great damage. In the liberal view, the importance of marriage has been diminished in at least two ways. First, the humanistic worldview is based on exaltation of the individual person. The individual should be encouraged to realize his or her own creative talents and desires and exercise maximum individual autonomy. In such a worldview, marriage is far less important, a mere choice that may or may not be evidenced by a contractual relationship. And humanistic man’s laws are crafted to reflect the reduced status of marriage, e.g., no-fault divorce. […] Continue Reading…