Response to Roger Ebert's Article - Civics:101

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. ~ Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda.

I like Roger Ebert. He is a great movie critic and I have relied on his recommendations to make movie selections. But when it comes to Civics 101, Roger needs to go back to school.

In Ebert's article published in the New Castle Courier Times last week he made several statements that are simply wrong. But it's not his fault; unfortunately we've been taught a skewed and inaccurate view of American history for decades and now many believe this flawed view to be true.

The prayer rally, while unique in recent years was a common occurrence in the first century of the United States. Between 1622 and 1815 there were over 1,200 prayer proclamations made by presidents and governors including George Washington and John Hancock.

Mr. Ebert ridiculed pre-game prayers asking for victory. Every pre-game prayer I've heard or been involved in asked not for victory but for the safety of all players including their opponents. God may not be interested in "the drift of a field goal kick" but it wouldn't surprise me considering the New Testament story of the fish with a coin in his mouth and the Old Testament story of Gideon and his fleece.

Roger stated that this nation "was specifically not a Christian nation." That flies in the face of statements made by dozens of individuals including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, Benjamin Rush, & John Hancock. These individuals, along with several courts and congress itself emphatically stated that the United States was founded on Biblical principles.

Yes, the founding settlers were escaping persecution from nations with state sponsored religions. Which is why they went back to scripture to support revolution against those governments. John Locke wrote The Two Treatises of Government, which quoted scripture over a thousand times to refute the Divine Right of Kings. 100 years later the Founders used Locke's book to create the Declaration of Independence.

If you examine nations, both current and historical, religious freedom and tolerance can only be found in nations founded on Judeo-Christian principles. That's because the founders believed in the free market system and the free exchange of ideas found in scripture. Everyone has an opportunity to share their ideas, products and beliefs; the best ones survive and thrive but the worst ones still have the right to stay in the conversation.

Mr. Ebert also states on more than one occasion that our form of government is a democracy. However, the Constitution guarantees a republican (representative) form of government, not a pure democracy. The Pledge of Allegiance reinforces this concept when we declare, "and to the Republic for which it stands." Many of the founders rejected democracy as one of the worst forms of government. John Adams said, "Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

Roger Ebert has had several challenges in his life, and I appreciate his passion for life. He is more than qualified to critique motion pictures. I just wish he had done his homework in Civics 101.

By the way, in researching the information in this letter, I found that the quote at the top of this letter was never actually made by the Nazi minister of propaganda, Dr. Joseph Goebbels. But it was repeated often enough that most people now believe he said it, which is incredibly ironic.

Don't believe everything you hear or read. Search for and follow the truth wherever it leads. Use original documents as often as possible, if not exclusively. Do your own research. Then teach others.

You can find me on FACEBOOK at my Facebook Page (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504321719). Here's a link to my Flickr.com Page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisferrell/) Thanks for reading!

We Are Called To Reason

Isaiah 1:18 reads: "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

God designed us to use reason to know and establish truth in our culture. And although we enter the 'house of salvation' only by active faith in the risen Christ, God does not require us to check our brains at the door.

   

Peter tells the church, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." We should be prepared to reason with people regarding the truth of our claims about Christ.

The Bereans were applauded for using scripture to determine that what Paul was preaching was true. Later, Paul used reason to present the gospel to the Greek culture on Mars Hill.

The Founders of the United States believed in reason as well. If everyone has freedom of speech and freedom of conscience, they believed we could discuss, debate, and give reasons for what we thought to be true. And they believed that truth would be discovered if we reasoned well.

This is why they established the "free exercise" of religion, even though they were almost exclusively from Christian denominations. They were confident that when people diligently seek religious truth and are free to reason, the truth will always be found.

However, over many years, the North American culture has abandoned the idea of knowable, absolute truth. Many believe absolute truth does not exist, and even if it does - it cannot be known. As a result we have lost the art of reasoning. The meanings of terms like proposition, argument, syllogism, fallacy, and dilemma are unknown to many adults, but years ago they were taught to elementary students.

When reasoning has been lost in a culture, we resort to physical, emotional, political, or economic force to achieve our desired goals. Consequently society suffers.

Zero tolerance laws have lead to silly situations where students have been suspended from school for bringing a plastic knife to cut a birthday cake. Why? Because adults refuse to do the difficult work of reasoning.

Apple has removed the app for the Manhattan Declaration from its iTunes store. The Manhattan Declaration uses reason to advance the belief that life is sacred, marriage is sacred, and religious freedom is worth fighting for. Apple calls it 'hate speech' and refuses to engage in or permit reasoned discussion.

Recently, legislators have done what many of us do when we face tough decisions - run. Could things have turned out differently if we had stayed and done the hard work of reasoning and wrestling with difficult decisions? Only if everyone was determined to find the truth.

When reason is suppressed or lost, tensions within a culture begin to rise and eventually boil over as we can see in nations around the world, and as we have witnessed in America in race riots and a Civil War.

When the church fails to reason, it can become legalistic with lists of "do's and don'ts" that ignore the truth and drive people further away from God.

But when reason is used as a compliment to faith we see significant advancements in society. Many of our great explorers pursued science because they believed that all truth was God's truth, and that it was knowable. After all, if there is no truth, or if it cannot be known - why pursue it?

Truth was pursued and reason was used to craft documents like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution; documents that have protected freedom and established justice for individuals here and around the world.

If we value truth, believe that it is knowable, and are willing to do the hard work of reasoning together we can advance the Kingdom of God. We can contribute to our culture in positive ways. We can prevent untold sorrow and suffering.

Centuries ago scripture issued an invitation to people of faith from every generation: "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord.

You can find me on FACEBOOK at my Facebook Page (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504321719). Here's a link to my Flickr.com Page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisferrell/) Thanks for reading!

Revisiting The Warning Sign of Columbine - Eleven Years Later

Published in the New Castle Courier-Times, April 10, 2010

April 20th marks the eleventh anniversary of the warning sign of Columbine. Do you remember the shock following that day of horror? Everyone was seeking answers that at first glance appeared elusive, but could be found in what the Founding Fathers called Natural Law.

Scripture lays the foundation for Natural Law: ". . . since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Rom 1:19-20 (NIV)

C. S. Lewis talked about it in "The Abolition of Man". Lewis maintained that every culture has a basic understanding of right and wrong. His book was a response to an effort by some educators to undermine a belief in Natural Law and to establish a secular understanding of morality.

Lewis believed that Natural Law should be taught to every generation so that these 'first principles' could enlighten the intellect, and restrain the animal nature of a person. Much of what Lewis wrote echoed our Founders.

"I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this divine book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws . . ." Benjamin Rush - signer of the Declaration of Independence.

"Why then, if these books for children must be retained, as they will be, should not the bible regain the place it once held as a school book ? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the sacred book, that is thus early impressed, lasts long; and, probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind." Fischer Ames - suggested the wording for the First Amendment.

"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scripture ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the miseries and evil [that] men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." Noah Webster - the Father of American Scholarship and Education.

Amazingly, in the wake of Columbine, most people ignored the conclusions of the Colorado State Board of Education:

"Finally, we must remember, respect, and unashamedly take pride in the fact that our schools, like our country, found their origin and draw their strength from the faith-based morality that is at the heart of our national character . . . Today our schools have become so fearful of affirming one religion or one value over another that they have banished them all. In doing so they have abdicated their historic role in the moral formation of youth and thereby alienated themselves from our people's deep spiritual sensibilities. To leave this disconnection between society and its schools unaddressed is an open invitation to further divisiveness and decline."

Natural Law is just as real as the laws of physics and we ignore them both at our own peril. The inalienable rights described in the Declaration of Independence are based on a belief in the Laws of Nature and Nature's God. If Natural Law is rejected, then our rights disappear as well. If Natural Law is discarded, rights could be granted or removed at the whim of whoever holds political power.

Ideas have consequences. This nation was birthed because of a common understanding of Natural Law and an acknowledgement of a Creator. If we abandon Natural Law and reject the idea of a Creator, there will be consequences as well. If we fail to teach the laws of Nature and Nature's God, we will continue to experience events like Columbine. But do we really need another warning sign?

You can find me on FACEBOOK at my Facebook Page (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504321719).

Here's a link to my Flickr.com Page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisferrell/)

Thanks for reading!