The following blog post is from August 31st of 2009. The negative depictions of our society have continued to spiral downward but the positive signs have strengthened so that the strained discourse of the citizens employed by both trends would have been predictable. The situation in our nation is worse but we are more aware of it now.
There is a joke that some Presbyterians like to share with one another, to laugh a little bit at themselves, and it goes like this: Ministers from various denominations were meeting in an auditorium to discuss some matters of interest when a fire broke out in the hall. A Baptist minister jumped up and yelled "Fire!" A Methodist minister jumped up and shouted "Water!" followed by a Presbyterian minister who stood up and yelled "Order!"
The Westminster Assembly was a gathering of well over 100 ministers and some laymen that met from 1643 to 1649. This assembly produced the Westminster Confession and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms. These Standards eventually were adopted by Presbyterians. The effort was arduous and meticulous and it resulted in a work of exemplary precision. We are not a society that values these type of works anymore. We like to envision the United States Constitution in our own words. We apparently have a tendency to pass legislation without even bothering to read it beforehand.
Our political elections are but appearances, sound bites and media manipulations. Our corporations craft ethics codes and then, all too often, promptly ignore them. Our educational system seems intent on crafting its own brand of tolerance and building self-esteem rather than retention of facts and analytical thinking. Our Higher Education has become hamstrung by diversity, being politically correct and striving for any statistic that will improve its U. S. News & World Report "College Rating." Our families increasingly consider manual dexterity on the latest hand held gizmo and navigation of Facebook to be preparation for future scientists, doctors and lawyers. Many schools are foregoing teaching cursive writing, for the future is the keyboard. One can sit in Sunday School classes for 20 years without hearing the words Pelagianism, Arminianism or even justification.
On the bright side...yes...there is a bright side; we have learned about our own Constitution in the last eight years and we had a crash (no pun intended) course in economics in the last twelve months. We have seen just how ill-prepared a President can be and how arrogant the Congress can be, and should pay quite a bit more attention in the next election. Many are turning off the television and tuning in the radio where the spoken word is the medium rather than pixels.
The new radicals on campus are the conservatives. Authors like Michele Malkin and Mark Levin sit atop best seller lists while national political leaders such as Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin are sprouting up. As for the Christian church, we still need a return to preaching Christ and we need fathers again assuming their role of Sunday School teachers with their own families, but the fuel of faith is a high grade and should God ignite it, our pews will fill with people desiring to know Him, our pulpits could not be restrained from preaching Christ and fathers once again would relish catechizing their children.
There is a joke that some Presbyterians like to share with one another, to laugh a little bit at themselves, and it goes like this: Ministers from various denominations were meeting in an auditorium to discuss some matters of interest when a fire broke out in the hall. A Baptist minister jumped up and yelled "Fire!" A Methodist minister jumped up and shouted "Water!" followed by a Presbyterian minister who stood up and yelled "Order!"
The Westminster Assembly was a gathering of well over 100 ministers and some laymen that met from 1643 to 1649. This assembly produced the Westminster Confession and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms. These Standards eventually were adopted by Presbyterians. The effort was arduous and meticulous and it resulted in a work of exemplary precision. We are not a society that values these type of works anymore. We like to envision the United States Constitution in our own words. We apparently have a tendency to pass legislation without even bothering to read it beforehand.
Our political elections are but appearances, sound bites and media manipulations. Our corporations craft ethics codes and then, all too often, promptly ignore them. Our educational system seems intent on crafting its own brand of tolerance and building self-esteem rather than retention of facts and analytical thinking. Our Higher Education has become hamstrung by diversity, being politically correct and striving for any statistic that will improve its U. S. News & World Report "College Rating." Our families increasingly consider manual dexterity on the latest hand held gizmo and navigation of Facebook to be preparation for future scientists, doctors and lawyers. Many schools are foregoing teaching cursive writing, for the future is the keyboard. One can sit in Sunday School classes for 20 years without hearing the words Pelagianism, Arminianism or even justification.
On the bright side...yes...there is a bright side; we have learned about our own Constitution in the last eight years and we had a crash (no pun intended) course in economics in the last twelve months. We have seen just how ill-prepared a President can be and how arrogant the Congress can be, and should pay quite a bit more attention in the next election. Many are turning off the television and tuning in the radio where the spoken word is the medium rather than pixels.
The new radicals on campus are the conservatives. Authors like Michele Malkin and Mark Levin sit atop best seller lists while national political leaders such as Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin are sprouting up. As for the Christian church, we still need a return to preaching Christ and we need fathers again assuming their role of Sunday School teachers with their own families, but the fuel of faith is a high grade and should God ignite it, our pews will fill with people desiring to know Him, our pulpits could not be restrained from preaching Christ and fathers once again would relish catechizing their children.
