Linkety, Link, Link

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• An Attempted Shell Game with God: Classifying Scriptural Issues of Practice as Non-Scriptural -- "What has happened today is that scriptural issues have been shoved over into the non-scriptural category to give liberty to do what people want in scriptural issues.  This is actually sinning."
• Burial Mound Found on Kindergarten Playground Was Used for 2,000 Years -- "Thirty sets of human remains from the mound in southwest France show locals buried their dead in the same spot from the Stone Age to the Iron Age."
• Can broad and narrow complementarians coexist in the SBC? -- "Contains and comments on Tom Schreiner’s Twitter thread on complementarianism."
• “Echo In the Canyon”: Laurel Canyon in the 60s -- "Ask fans to name some of music’s most legendary locations, and you’ll likely get answers such as Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis, Seattle, New York, and New Jersey."
• Free Trade: A Key to a Rising Standard of Living -- "Finally, and much more important than the utilitarian arguments for free trade, we should always keep in mind that trade involves the exercise of fundamental, natural, God-given rights. Such rights include the right to private property, the right to do what one wants with his own money, economic liberty, freedom of travel, liberty of contract, and freedom of association."
• Head of CBF partner ministry supports full inclusion of gays -- "I have come to the conclusion that God created humanity with various sexual identities and orientations."
• How The Left Is Normalizing Pedophilia Right In Front Of Our Eyes -- "Leftism is an active threat to our children. This is why we cannot compromise with it or seek common ground."
• Indigenous - the Word the Left Stole -- "Everyone who has an ancestry attached to Australia has so because their forebears came here – no one sprung up out of the ground."
• Media Reports on Transgender Athletes All Seem to be Missing One Thing -- "Story after story celebrates the record-smashing successes of transgender athletes in a range of women’s sporting events...but they don’t include anything from the female athletes these biological men are dominating, or even indicate the reporters have made an effort to talk to them."
• Supreme Court upholds Indiana law on fetal remains, avoids major abortion ruling for now -- "We reiterate that, in challenging this provision, respondents have never argued that Indiana’s law imposes an undue burden on a woman’s right to obtain an abortion."
• Texas asserts sovereign immunity against Congress -- "Congress doesn’t get to do oversight over states — period. Nor can they compel action by state officers."
• The Debate Grows Over What Religious Freedom Means -- "Congress passed the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act 25 years ago on an almost unanimous basis. Since then, the advocacy of religious freedom has become highly contentious and more partisan."
• The End is Nigh! Extinction and Evangelism -- "Did you hear the news? In 12 years time the world could come to an end."
• Theater cancels Kristy Swanson and Dean Cain’s pro-Trump performance over ‘threats of violence’: ‘We are appalled’ -- "...the Mead Theater notified the producers of FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers that they would no longer participate in the production due to concerns over “threats of violence”."
• What Does Job 31:13-15 Tell Us About the Unborn? -- "The treatment of persons as non-persons is something for which we will give an account."
• When is Bad Preaching a Separating Issue? -- "...not all independent Baptist churches are careful in the preaching and teaching of the Word.  Sadly, many of them too often commit the wicked sin of wresting the Scriptures, taking them out of context in their sermons..."
• Why Should Anyone Take Your Political Opinions Seriously? -- "Fewer and fewer people are willing and able to make arguments in favor of their assertions, though, and I suspect this has much to do with the growing popularity of the default religion of our age, the Cult of the Self."
• Worship at Sinai -- "God reveals himself and calls his people to worship."

The Sovereignty of God

We often write and speak of the sovereignty of God. Most dictionaries define “sovereignty” as something like “the quality or state of having supreme power or authority.” It is a word we use to describe an attribute of God, that he is all powerful over all. Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou? (Job 9:12) Nevertheless, the word itself is not found in the Bible I use, the King James Version. Words that express this same truth include “Almighty” and “dominion.” What may not be expressed in one word that we commonly use is expressed in many words. Below are Bible verses that express the truth in various ways.

God is sovereign over life and death (and hell). 

• See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. Deuteronomy 32:39
• And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died. 1 Samuel 25:38
• And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth... John 11:43-44
• I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:18

God is sovereign over pregnancies, births, the senses, and even disabilities of mankind.

• When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Genesis 29:31
• And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Exodus 4:11
• For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works... Psalm 139:13-14
• But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Isaiah 64:8

God is sovereign in his purpose, his pleasure, his counsel.

• I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Job 42:2
• But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Psalm 115:3
• and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Daniel 4:35
• in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: Ephesians 1:11 

God is sovereign over man’s actions.

• And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. Exodus 7:3
• ...Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. 1 Samuel 2:25
• There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Proverbs 19:21
• Man’s goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way? Proverbs 20:24
• Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: John 19:11

God is sovereign in the affairs of nations.

• For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. Psalm 75:6-7
• The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Proverbs 21:1
• Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. Isaiah 41:2
• At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; Jeremiah 18:7 

God is sovereign over his creation, such as the plant, insect, and animal kingdoms.

• And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. Exodus 23:28
• And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. 2 Kings 17:25 
• My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: Daniel 6:22
• And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. Mark 11:21

God is sovereign over his creation, such as inanimate objects, the elements, and the weather.

• He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. Psalm 78:16
• Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread. Psalm 105:16
• When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Jeremiah 10:13
• ...the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Nahum 1:3 
• ...Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! Matthew 8:26-27 

God is sovereign over circumstances and coincidences.

• And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. Ruth 2:3
• And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. 1 Kings 22:34
• So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?...Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. Ezra 6:6,10
• The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Proverbs 16:33
• Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Matthew 10:29

God is sovereign over salvation, including events of the crucifixion.

• Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin... Isaiah 53:10
• No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. John 10:18
• Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Acts 2:23
• For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Acts 4:27-28

The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all. Psalm 103:19

Who Moved David?

Who moved David to number Israel?

God did. 2 Samuel 24:1 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.[i]

Satan did. 1 Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

The sentence in 2 Samuel 24:1 attributes directly to God the things that come under his sovereign control. Men will use whatever expressions necessary to soothe their own consciences and support their own beliefs. “God caused it” on the one hand, or “God permitted it” on the other. Even the stout predestinarian Baptist John Gill equivocates in his commentary, writing, “he moved David against them; not the Lord, but Satan, as may be supplied from 1 Chronicles 21:1.” Nevertheless, in whatever ways one wishes to speculate, the statements are still that both “God moved David” and “Satan provoked David” to number Israel.

God’s anger was kindled against the nation Israel for some sin or sins committed, which are not here named. The sin in 2 Samuel 24 verse 1 is not a reference to the numbering, which takes place only after the kindling of God’s righteous anger. Here God does not expose Israel’s “secret sin,” to tell us what it is, but rather judges them with a sin that is public, obvious, and alarming prior to its execution. Matthew Henry writes, “It is certain that it was a sin, and a great sin; but where the evil of it lay is not so certain.” We can be sure that David’s purpose in numbering the people was sinful, if we accept the Bible as written.[ii] Joab immediately recognized it as a wrong (v. 3; 1 Chronicles 21:3). David quickly grasped that after the fact and freely admitted it was wrong (v. 10).

The situation of both God and Satan inciting David to number Israel finds a close parallel in the book of Job, in the first two chapters.[iii] Even though Satan was the immediate cause for Job’s suffering, we find Job saying, “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away” and “shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” These statements of Job are followed by biblical commentary: “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” and “In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Even in the conclusion the inspired author wrote “Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him…” (Job 42:11).[iv]

God’s authority, sovereignty, and providence extends over the affairs of men and the actions of Satan. The word can speak of God, Satan, and man performing the same act. We intuitively perceive that there is a “reasonable” explanation, but (if we are honest) are frequently flummoxed floundering to find it. These acts of God, men, and devils are intricately interwoven, sometimes cryptically concealed and otherwise mysteriously moved. May we accept that there are puzzling aspects of this incident of the numbering of Israel that we are not able to understand fully in our present state of existence. It is better to live with the enigma than to twist the Bible to make its plain statements incomprehensible. Though there is sin and sorrow in this world, God will accomplish his purpose (Isaiah 14:24) and work together good for his people (Romans 8:28). We can know that assuredly.

---

[i] Summary of 2 Samuel 24: Israel sinned. God was angry. God and Satan moved David to number Israel. David sinned in numbering Israel. God judged Israel. David fell on the mercies of God. God revealed the way of relief and then withdrew his hand of judgement when the relief was applied.

[ii] Numbering of itself was not sinful. God twice commanded Moses to number the Israelites. The first occurred in the second year after they came out of Egypt (Numbers 1:1-3,19). The second occurred near the end of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness (Numbers 26:2-4,63-64). The book “Numbers” even receives its title from these two occurrences. Perhaps David violated the legal instructions concerning number the people (cf. Exodus 30:12-16) or placed his trust in the strength of numbers rather than God (cf. Isaiah 31:1). Perhaps there is some implication of pride in David’s statement “that I may know the number of the people.”

[iii] In both cases leading up to Satan’s troubling of Job, Satan implores God with “put forth thine hand now.” See Job 1:11 and Job 2:5. Yet in both cases it is Satan who directly “puts forth his hand.” See Job 1:12 and Job 2:7.

[iv] “Evil” here is used in the sense of “calamity,” referring to all the things that came upon Job, from the loss of property, to the loss of children, to the loss of health. As in 2 Samuel 24:1, the book of Job attributes directly to God the things that come under his sovereign control.

A motive to fund abortions

Last week I stumbled across an article about The CEO of a “Sugar Daddy Site” offering to pay for abortions – “Because This Is America.”[i]

Brandon Wade is both the founder and CEO of SeekingArrangement, “a site with over 10 million members that connects ‘sugar Babies’ to ‘sugar Daddies or Mommas’ to find ‘mutually beneficial relationships’.” Wade said, “If lawmakers will not step in to help these desperate women, then I will.” A reaction against new abortion restrictions in some states, the idea is that SeekingArrangement will help those seeking abortions by paying for travel to states where abortions are accessible, and then pay for the abortion as well.

The article asserts, “Wade isn’t the first notable sugar daddy to put himself on the frontlines of abortion advocacy — Hugh Hefner championed abortion rights, along with his publication Playboy.” Hugh, indeed.

I am incredulous (not really) that the author never questions why a bunch of “Sugar Daddies” would find it beneficial to fund abortions! Sad indeed.

---

[i] Collins Dictionary says, “A woman’s sugar daddy is a rich older man who gives her money and presents in return for her company, affection, and usually a sexual relationship.”

The hopeless, the helpless; the outcasts

The hopeless, the helpless; the outcasts whom no man careth for; the tossed with tempest and not comforted; the ready to perish; the mourners in Zion; the bereaved widow; the wailing orphan; the sick in body, and still more sick in heart; the racked with hourly pain; the fevered consumptive; the wrestler with death’s last struggle—O what crowds of pitiable objects surround his throne; and all needing a look from his eye, a word from his lips, a smile from his face, a touch from his hand! O could we but see what his grace is, what his grace has, what his grace does; and could we but feel more what it is doing in and for ourselves, we should have more exalted views of the reign of grace now exercised on high by Zion’s enthroned King!

J. C. Philpot (1802 – 1869)

Enough for Me!

Elisha Albright Hoffman (1839-1929) was a prolific songwriter who has many songs and hymns in church hymnals. He never attended music school, but had natural talent that won a great reception for his songs. Many of them are quite well known in evangelical circles, including Are You Washed in the Blood, I Must Tell Jesus, Is Thy Heart Right with God, Is Your All on the Altar, and What A Wonderful Savior. Hoffman wrote the stanzas for Leaning On the Everlasting Arms, and Anthony J. Showalter wrote the music. Hall says over 2000 of his compositions are in print, and that he has assisted in the compilation and editing of at least fifty different songbooks.[i]

Elisha Albright Hoffman – more commonly known as E. A. Hoffman or Rev. E. A. Hoffman – was born May 7, 1839 in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Francis A. and Rebecca Hoffman. His father was a minister of the Evangelical Association. Elisha attended high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and later attended Union Seminary in New Berlin, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and served briefly. In 1868 Elisha was ordained. He worked in publishing in Cleveland, Ohio for the Evangelical Association, pastored the Grace Congregational Church in Cleveland, Ohio, the Congregational Church in Grafton, Ohio, the First Presbyterian Church in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and the Presbyterian Church in Cabery, Illinois.

E. A. Hoffman married first Susan Orwig, and after her death Emma Sayres Smith. He died at age 90, November 25, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois, and is buried there in the Oak Woods Cemetery.

Despite more well known songs, my favorite is Enough for Me. It was first published in 1878 in Spiritual Songs for Gospel Meetings and the Sunday School (E. A. Hoffman, J. H. Tenney, Cleveland, OH: Barker & Smellie, 1878, 72–73). The tune is sometimes titled Boise. It is a simple 7s.6s. pattern hymn with a repetition, extolling God’s love, grace, blood, salvation, and the knowledge he gives us of these as ENOUGH! It apparently was popular in older times; it can be found in a number of older songbooks. I know it from learning it in Favorite Songs and Hymns: a Complete Church Hymnal (Homer F. Morris, Virgil O. Stamps, J. R. Baxter Jr., W. W. Combs, Dallas, TX: Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Co., 1939).

1. O love surpassing knowledge!

O grace so full and free!

I know that Jesus saves me,

And that’s enough for me!

And that’s enough for me!

And that’s enough for me!

I know that Jesus saves me,

And that’s enough for me!

2. O wonderful salvation!

From sin He makes me free!

I feel the sweet assurance,

And that’s enough for me!

And that’s enough for me!

And that’s enough for me!

I feel the sweet assurance,

And that’s enough for me!

3. O blood of Christ so precious,

Poured out on Calvary!

I feel its cleansing power,

And that’s enough for me!

And that’s enough for me!

And that’s enough for me!

I feel its cleansing power,

And that’s enough for me!

---

[i] Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers, J. H. Hall. New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1914

The Cincinnati Enquirer, Tuesday, November 26, 1929, p. 5, col. 3

Your job is serious business

On Tuesday, June 11th, I sent the following letter to Travis Clardy, Representative for District 11 (Cherokee, Nacogdoches, & Rusk Counties) in the Texas State House of Representatives.

Dear Representative Clardy,

This is a response to your reported comments in the Tuesday, June 11, 2019, Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel newspaper (“Clardy: 86th Legislature a success”). Within the overall upbeat report, you made this derogatory remark about the bathroom bill from the 2017 Legislative session: “We didn’t get sidetracked this time talking about a lot of stuff that nobody cared about.” You clearly had the bathroom bill in mind, since, according to the Sentinel, you followed that flippantly with “We didn’t spend time talking about bathrooms unless there was somebody visiting the capitol who said, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’”

As someone who has consistently supported you in the past, I take umbrage at your assessment that “nobody cared about” the bathroom bill. Perhaps you and your colleagues did not care. Perhaps many of your constituents do not care. Apparently, the Senate cared. Seemingly, the governor did as well. Other of your constituents care.

The bathroom bill is not one of my highest priorities. It can probably best be resolved, when practical, by those responsible providing public facilities for individual/single use so that gender will not matter. Yet it is not practical that this will be done anytime soon because for many it will be cost prohibitive. People who are truly confused about their gender likely present little threat in public restrooms. Nevertheless, accommodation for the so-called “transgender” provides cover for those who wish to enter deceptively into restrooms and dressing facilities of the opposite sex. Who can be sure in every case whether the bathroom visitor is transgender or simply up to no good? Someone should care! You should care.

I can easily live without your voting for a bathroom bill. (I suspect, though, that Speaker Straus did not allow a vote on the issue so none of you would be on record.) I cannot quite as easily live with your ambivalence toward the issue, which creates in me an ambivalence toward casting future votes for Travis Clardy for House of Representatives District 11.

Thanks for listening. Have a good day.

Barr’s Shrewd Decision, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• Barr’s Shrewd Decision To Speak To CBS; More Of This Please -- ""Barr “clearly wanted his words to be heard by the skeptical or confused more than those who already believe the Russia probe was politically motivated from the beginning.”"
• Being Baptist: An Historical and Doctrinal Survey -- "It is our belief that the church was founded by Jesus during his earthly ministry and is still in the world today just as He promised."
• Bible Study Battle Goes Federal After Christian Couple Threatened with Eviction -- "A Virginia senior living community is facing a federal lawsuit after threatening to evict residents for leading a Bible study in their own apartment."
• Devin Nunes Demands All Underlying Documentation From Mueller’s Investigation; Says ‘It’s All A Fraud’ -- "...we learned that the Mueller team had “selectively edited” the transcript of a voicemail from President Trump’s lawyer...This was discovered because federal prosecutors released the transcript in a court filing."
• Father’s Day at Home and at the Cemetery -- "Dig out those old pictures and get them labeled before everyone forgets who they are!"
• Feel free to hate Briles and Baylor, but make sure to do your homework on the subject -- "As critical as we are to your community and a democracy, we can be a lazy judgmental pack of self-important blowhards."
• Has Preaching Changed since the Early Church? -- "...when I read the sermons of these practitioners of expository preaching, I cannot help but notice that their preaching appears rather alien to what is today thought of as expository."
• Minnesota Police Officer Responding to a Welfare Check Winds Up Mowing Elderly Woman's Lawn -- "She was ok and Matt asked her why her yard is so unkempt. She said she doesn’t have anyone to mow for her. He grabbed her mower and cut the front yard."
• Paradigm Shift: ‘Migrant Rights’ Activists Who Led Caravans Charged With Human Trafficking -- "In February, Mexico’s interior secretary, Olga Sánchez Cordero, said members of Pueblo Sin Fronteras are among those the government has identified in promoting and organizing caravans and suggested that some may be involved in human smuggling."
• Siege of the Alamo Map by Col. A. J. Houston -- "Andrew Jackson Houston...began to research and write on subjects of Texas history. Back in 1938 he compiled all available information about the siege of the Alamo to create this map."
• Texas Governor Greg Abbott Recently Wiped Out Red Light Cameras Throughout The State -- "“I’m about to sign this bill that bans red light cameras in Texas,” he said before putting his signature on the paper."
• The “Blue People” of the Appalachian Mountains -- "Known as the “Blue Fugates”, the eastern-Kentucky family was said to have retained a genetic trait that led to a disease which made their skin color blue."
• U.S. judge denies Democrats’ lawsuit to stop border wall funds -- "While the Constitution bestows upon Members of the House many powers, it does not grant them standing to hale the Executive Branch into court claiming a dilution of Congress’s legislative authority. The Court therefore lacks jurisdiction to hear the House’s claims and will deny its motion."
• Waco church voluntarily cuts ties with BGCT -- "University Baptist Church in Waco announced in mid-May it will allow its building to be used for same-sex weddings...University Baptist did not press the issue with the BGCT but chose instead to “end the formal relationship peacefully.”"

Little gods

1 Kings 18:27-28 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. [emp. mine]

The priests of Baal did not realize how much Elijah belittled their god, since they had such a little concept of god.

Psalm 115:3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

More Tolerance

The past weekend I read I Can Tolerate Anything Except the Outgroup. It’s a little scattered and a bit of a hard read, in my opinion, but it brings out a succinct point about tolerantism. The author, someone named Scott Alexander, unveils this hidden jewel. Beginning with G. K. Chesterton’s The Secret of Father Brown, Alexander points out that you can’t “forgive” something you don’t think is wrong. From there he moves to tolerance, showing that it is not meritorious to tolerate something with which you agree! He gives the following illustration:

The Emperor summons before him Bodhidharma and asks: “Master, I have been tolerant of innumerable gays, lesbians, bisexuals, asexuals, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, transgender people, and Jews. How many Virtue Points have I earned for my meritorious deeds?”

Bodhidharma answers: “None at all.”

The Emperor, somewhat put out, demands to know why.

Bodhidharma asks: “Well, what do you think of gay people?”

The Emperor answers: “What do you think I am, some kind of homophobic bigot? Of course I have nothing against gay people!”

And Bodhidharma answers: “Thus do you gain no merit by tolerating them!”

There is a lot to wade through, some of which I found extraneous and some with which I didn’t agree, but if you follow the rainbow you will find this pot of gold at the end.

But the best thing that could happen to this post is that it makes a lot of people, especially myself, figure out how to be more tolerant. Not in the “of course I’m tolerant, why shouldn’t I be?” sense of the Emperor in Part I. But in the sense of “being tolerant makes me see red, makes me sweat blood, but darn it I am going to be tolerant anyway.”

My point in highlighting this is this: much of what is called tolerance really isn’t, if Alexander is right (and I think he is concerning that). When we look we find many (most?) of those who are preaching tolerance are for tolerating people and ideas with which they already agree, and not anything that “makes them see red.” So is their highest ideal really anything at all?

Roger Williams and Massachusetts Bay

An outline of the issues raised by Williams and uncompromisingly pressed includes the following: (1) He regarded the Church of England as apostate and any kind of fellowship with it as grievous sin. He accordingly renounced communion not only with this church but with all who would not join with him in repudiating it. (2) He denounced the charter of the Massachusetts Company because it falsely represented the king of England as a Christian, and assumed he had the right to give his own subjects the land of the native Indians. He disapproved of “the unchristian oaths swallowed down” by the colonists “at their coming forth from Old England, especially the superstitious Laud’s time and domineering.” He drew up a letter addressed to the king expressing his dissatisfaction with the charter and sought to secure for it the endorsement of prominent colonists. In this letter he is said to have charged King James I with blasphemy for calling Europe “Christendom” and to have applied to the reigning king some of the most opprobrious epithets in the Apocalypse. (3) Equally disquieting was Williams’ opposition to the “citizens’ oath,” which magistrates sought to force upon the colonists in order to be assured of their loyalty. Williams maintained that it was Christ’s sole prerogative to have his office established by oath and that unregenerate men ought not in any case to be invited to perform any religious act. In opposing the oath Williams gained so much popular support that the measure had to be abandoned. (4) In a dispute between the Massachusetts Bay court and the Salem colony regarding the possession of a piece of land (Marblehead) claimed by the latter, the court offered to accede to the claims of Salem on condition that the Salem church makes amends for its insolent conduct in installing Williams as pastor in defiance of the court and ministers. This demand involved the removal of the pastor. Williams regarded this proposal as an outrageous attempt at bribery and had the Salem church send to other Massachusetts churches a denunciation of the proceeding and demand that the churches exclude the magistrates from membership. This act was sharply resented by magistrates and churches, and such pressure was brought to bear upon the Salem church as led a majority to consent to the removal of their pastor. He never entered the chapel again, but held religious services in his own house with his faithful adherents.

The decree of banishment (Oct. 19, 1635, carried into effect Jan., 1636) was grounded on his aggressive and uncompromising hostility to the charter and the theocracy, and was the immediate result of the controversy about the Marblehead land…

“Williams, Roger,” by A. H. Newman, in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Volume XII, Trench—Zwingli, Samuel Macauley Jackson, editor-in-chief, New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1912, pp. 369

Freedom of Speech related links

Some Freedom of Speech related links

• College students support free speech — unless it offends them
• College Students Want Free Speech — Sort Of
• I Can Tolerate Anything Except the Outgroup
• Lukewarm Embrace of Free Speech
• Majority of students favor college bans of ‘hurtful or offensive’ speech
• Student Attitudes Free Speech Survey
• What College Students Really Think About Free Speech

Freedom of Speech or Freedom to Squelch

Our time-honored value of freedom of speech is now regularly offered up on the altar of tolerance. Freedom of speech is often replaced by the freedom to squelch. The first amendment restricts Congress from making a law “abridging the freedom of speech.” We understand that freedom of speech is not absolute, and can exclude that which is blatantly obscene or an incitement to harm others[i] – e.g. the proverbial “shouting fire in a crowded theater”. The framers of our Constitution held freedom of speech in high esteem, a value that promotes and protects the welfare of its citizenry. Behind binding Congress from abridging speech rests the value of individuals giving wide latitude to others to freely speak their minds. The free exchange of ideas is not only a fundamental right, but also a fundamental! Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy, promotes the free exchange of ideas, undergirds effective decision-making, and protects the minority from the majority.

The sway of this value is slowly shrinking – has been for quite some time. Unfortunately, our higher education system is a primary purveyor of vitiating the value of free speech. A recent Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) survey found that 9 in 10 American colleges restrict free speech. Another FIRE survey of the students found general lip-service for the concept of free speech that waned considerably in specific situations. FIRE Director of Communications Nico Perrino said, “This is troubling because it suggests a surface-level understanding of the free speech protections that underlie the First Amendment and an unwillingness to see them applied to the protection of expression some find offensive or objectionable.” The results play out daily in our society.

In Portland, Oregon, protesters – unable to get their way by stopping the invitation – disrupted the talk of author, scholar and feminism critic Christina Hoff Sommers “with chanting and loud music.” In February 2017, the University of California at Berkeley “canceled a speech by then-Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos due to fires, injuries, and vandalism caused by rioters. A month later at Vermont’s Middlebury College, a discussion featuring academic and writer Charles Murray was shut down mid-speech when a hostile mob drowned out Murray by chanting throughout his talk.”[ii]

At a recent California Democratic presidential candidates’ forum Kamala Harris’s appearance was interrupted by a protester who grabbed her microphone. Not only that, but when “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) took the stage at the California convention and called for national unity...Her comments didn’t go over very well with some people in the audience, who shouted her down by yelling ‘Impeach,’ referring to President Donald Trump.”

Meanwhile in Washington, DC, a Theater cancelled Kristy Swanson and Dean Cain’s pro-Trump performance over ‘threats of violence’. “...the Mead Theater notified the producers of FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers that they would no longer participate in the production due to concerns over ‘threats of violence’.” Though the threats of violence were likely real, there was also concern that the “Theater withdrew the event…in…an attempt to squash the content of FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers and what it reveals about the anti-Trump forces in the government…They just don’t want the truth out there… the theatrical establishment is really afraid of the way we are using Verbatim Theater, which utilizes only the actual words and texts from Strzok and Page…The intolerant left can’t challenge the actual, verbatim text.”

In a mix of abridging freedom of speech and freedom of religion, a Bible Study battle has gone Federal after a Christian couple was threatened with eviction. The Evergreens at Smith Run, a senior community in Fredericksburg, Virginia, seemingly cannot tolerate a Bible study in the living quarters of its residents and have threatened octogenarians Ken and Liv Hauge with eviction if they do not cease and desist!

A common thread in much anti-free speech rhetoric is to claim the opposed speech violates the rights of others/someone. The courts have weighed in on many cases, attempting to distinguish between speech that is controversial and offensive versus speech that is dangerous and harms others. Speech does not violate your or my rights just because we don’t like it. The zenith of free speech is vigorously defending the rights of speech that you don’t like! The nadir is “we support free speech – just not your free speech.”

Other anti-free speech advocates no longer feign intellectual opposition, but use the heckler’s veto of brute force.[iii] If we have the strength of numbers to shout you down or shut you down – we will!

---

[i] Even then, courts do not always agree what constitutes these actions of obscenity or harm.

[ii] In the aftermath, protestors damaged Murray’s car as he tried to leave, and put Professor Allison Stanger in a neck brace after “one of the demonstrators pulled Prof. Stanger’s hair and twisted her neck.” Having not learned their lesson – or having learned the wrong lesson – Middlebury College cancelled a talk by conservative European politician Ryszard Legutko of Poland “for safety purposes.” The correlation in the heckler’s veto seems to not be left-side or right-side political views, but unresolved anger. Hecklers from the right shouted down California attorney general Xavier Becerra at Whittier College in 2017, apparently because of California’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over DACA. Protestors on either side of the ideological spectrum resort to this low when they believe it suits their purpose.

[iii] Another iteration of this tactic features using the power of the purse to bully one with opposing views into submission.

An Old Beggar

Copied from an e-mail, original source unknown:

One day William Gadsby of Manchester heard his wife talking to a man at the door of their house who was pleading his poverty and begging for help. The man said something like this: “A lot of new beggars have come to Manchester, but I am not one of them. I am an old beggar. I have been begging here for years.” This touched Gadsby’s heart. He thought, “Yes, I too am an old beggar. I have been begging as a sinner at mercy’s door for many years, and must continue to do so. I am an old beggar.”

O Glorious Love!

John W. Peterson wrote (or copyrighted) O Glorious Love in 1970.

In stanza one Peterson attributes salvation to Jesus, in the expressions of being found in darkness and given sight, as well as being found in chains and given freedom.

1. In my darkness Jesus found me,

Touched my eyes and made me see.

Broke sin’s chains that long had bound me.

Gave me life and liberty.

Peterson sees this salvation by the friend of sinners as a wonder, “an amazing truth to ponder.”

2. Oh, amazing truth to ponder,

He whom angel hosts attend.

Lord of heaven, God’s Son, what wonder!

He became the sinner’s friend.

The chorus builds on the theme. His love is glorious in salvation, and full reason for the believer to praise him both now and forever!

Chorus:

O glorious love of Christ my Lord divine.

That made Him stoop to save a soul like mine.

Through all my days and then in heaven above,

My song will silence never, I’ll worship Him forever,

And praise Him for His glorious love!

John W. Peterson [i] was born November 1, 1921 in Lindsborg, McPherson County, Kansas, the son of Peter Ephraim Peterson and Mary Adeline Nelson. During World War II, he served as an Army Air Force transport pilot. He married Marie Addis in February 1944. After the war, he attended the Moody Bible Institute. He graduated from the American Conservatory of Music at Chicago in 1953, and then moved to Pennsylvania to work for Singspiration. Peterson would later serve 10 years as its president, before moving to Arizona, founding first Good Life Productions and then later John W. Peterson Music Company.

Peterson is reported to have written over 1000 gospel songs during his musical career, including Heaven Came Down (1961), It Took a Miracle (1948), and Surely Goodness and Mercy (1958). The National Evangelical Film Foundation presented him their Sacred Music Award in 1967. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1986. John W. Peterson succumbed to a battle with cancer on September 20, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona. At the time of his death he had been a member of Scottsdale Bible Church for 34 years. He is buried at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Scottsdale, Maricopa County, Arizona.

Greater details of his life may be found in The Miracle Goes On: An Autobiography (with Richard Engquist, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976)

Two recordings on YouTube:

• CBC Choir - O Glorious Love
• O Glorious Love, duet

---

[i] His Find-A-Grave memorial gives the middle name as “Wright” but the Social Security Applications and Claims Index and World War II Draft Card have “Willard” – at least according to Ancestry.com.

Words, fined and defined

More words and definitions:

• aginer, noun. A person who is against something; one who opposes a proposal, course of action, point of view, etc. Also more generally: a person having a habitually negative attitude; one who opposes any change as a matter of principle. Cf. againster.
• catchlight, noun. A gleam of reflected light in the eye of a subject in a photograph, painting, etc.
• defined, adjective. Determined, fixed, or clearly marked out as to extent, outline, or form.
• fined, verb (used with object). Past tense of fine; to subject to a fine or pecuniary penalty.
• kludgy, adjective. Made or designed in an awkward, makeshift, or haphazard manner; inelegant; not user-friendly.
• lunar day, noun Astronomy. A division of time that is equal to the elapsed time between two consecutive returns of the same terrestrial meridian to the moon.
• palilogy, noun. The (esp. immediate) repetition of a word or phrase, usually for emphasis; (occasionally) an instance of this.
• rigwelted, adjective. Of a sheep: lying on its back and unable to stand up without assistance. Also in extended use (of a person): confined to bed or reduced to inactivity as a result of illness, fatigue, etc.
• scrilla, noun. Money.
• sidereal day, noun Astronomy. The interval between two successive passages of the vernal equinox over the meridian, being about four minutes shorter than a mean solar day.
• sitzmark, noun. An impression made in the snow by a skier falling backwards on his or her backside; an act of falling in this way.
• skinkle, verb intransitive. To glitter, glisten; to sparkle, twinkle.
• solar day, noun Astronomy. The time interval between two successive transits by the sun of the meridian directly opposite that of the observer; the 24-hour interval from one midnight to the following midnight.
• stick-to-itness or stick-to-itiveness, noun. The ability or capacity to see a course of action through to its completion; dogged perseverance.
• titubation, noun. An act of stammering, stuttering, or stumbling over words; hesitancy or uncertainty of speech. Obsolete.

Illinois pro-abortion legislation

Illinois House Bill 2495:

Provides that every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right. Provides that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the law, of this State.

‘Dark day’: Illinois lawmakers pass abortion bill far worse than New York’s

The Illinois Senate just passed SB 25, the Reproductive Health Act, by a vote of 34-20. The bill expands abortions through 9 months and requires insurance companies to provide coverage. The bill has already passed the House and Gov. Pritzker has said he will sign it.

But Illinois’ legislation is inherently worse. According to a previous report by Live Action News’ Cassy Fiano-Chesser, the two bills introduced by Illinois lawmakers would “make the state’s abortion laws even more extreme than New York’s”...The bill also repeals the state’s ban on partial-birth abortion.

“On the House floor, expectant mother Rep. Avery Bourne tearfully pleaded for babies’ lives before the bill passed.”