Mar 25, 2021 | Parents and Family
We know in this excessively “woke” age we live in that the Bible is terribly regressive, and of course we Neanderthal’s wouldn’t have it any other way. One thing we know that our overly-educated elite refuse to admit, is that there is a biological, psychological, and emotional difference between males and females, men and women. I know, radical. The thing we have to remember about the woke mob is that they are a tiny minority of the population, with a very lot of cultural power and the biggest megaphones. What they don’t have is reality. When human beings insist on denying reality it will eventually rebound back on them, usually in horrific ways. History makes that obvious. The beautiful thing about the Bible, though, is that is corresponds perfectly with reality because the author is the author of reality! (more…)
Feb 21, 2021 | Parents and Family
This will be my final word in writing about the issues introduced on my book page, and discussed on Take 1, and Take 2. I’m kind of proud that I’ve been able to get Calvinists and Arminians to agree about something regarding salvation. In my experience discussing these issues, everyone regardless of their theology agrees with my current critic:
Only the Lord’s work prevails. . . . The Holy Spirit is God. He alone can regenerate hearts. . . . The means of grace are the means of grace, but the Spirit works through them when and where he pleases.
Good Calvinist that I am, I absolutely agree with this. The problem is the implication of the author’s assertion: when and where he pleases. If these words, all of them, were said outside of the current discussion, I wouldn’t even bother commenting on them because I believe they are biblical truth. The problem stems from what came previously, the assertion that nothing we can do in the raising of our children really matters, not ultimately anyway. I dealt with that as the straw man it is, playing God’s sovereignty off of human responsibility as if they are somehow, some way mutually exclusive. They are not, as even a cursory read through the Bible makes clear. (more…)
Feb 20, 2021 | Parents and Family
In my first post I addressed part of this misunderstanding, that “there is absolutely no correlation between faithful (or reasonably faithful) work in this with the outcome of personal faith.” The “work” is a reference to raising our children in the faith. The concern of my critic, and I think this is true for others who agree with him, is that I believe, “If you do X, then Y should result.” And I replied, You’re darn right I do! I want to be perfectly clear in this post as to why I think having a reasonable expectation of results is the biblical position, that whenever you do X, no matter what X is, it is reasonable to expect certain results. It could be raising children in the faith, it could be tending a garden, building a house, practicing to hone your art or craft, building a business, getting a degree, anything X human beings do. Can we be absolutely certain of or Guarantee results, or that we are in control of the results? Of course not! But to say that because of this it follows that we can’t then have a reasonable expectation of the results, or be confident that we can produce results is, well, unreasonable. And unbiblical. (more…)
Feb 12, 2021 | Parents and Family
When we lived in Illinois we had gone to a church for a number of years that was large and typically Evangelical, but not Reformed. That was frustrating for me, a couple years before we left for Florida I started looking for a church that preached the doctrines of grace, as they’re called, and embraced Calvinism. I found such a church, New Covenant Church, and it so happened that the pastor is a fellow Italian-American, Chris Castaldo, who takes great pride in his Italian heritage. We hit it off when he learned of my last name, and he was a good friend while we were there. I was writing the book at the time, and he said he’d love to read it when it was published. It took forever, it seems, but he got the book and read it in only a couple days, and was very kind in his praise. He said he’d like to ask me a few questions, and post that at the church’s blog, and you can find that here.
Aug 27, 2020 | Parents and Family
It’s kind of apparent that we are in a culture war. Make no mistake, conservative Christians didn’t start it, but we can’t escape it. Christianity had a great run in Western civilization as the default view of reality, over 1,500 years! That, of course, is no longer the case. The breakdown started a long time ago, arguably by the 1,600s, and Christianity ever since slowly, imperceptibly at first, lost influence and authority in the West. Even into the mid-20th century there was a thin veneer of christian influence in American culture, but that ended with what we’ve come to call The 60s. With the rise of the sexual revolution, the assault on all things Christian broke out into the open. The deconstructing of the family became job one of the secularists, and sadly many Christians have gone along for the ride. (more…)
Aug 8, 2020 | Parents and Family
I’d been waiting to write a post about our youngest son going off to college, but because of a ridiculous overreaction to a certain virus he’s not going. Instead he’s taking a couple classes online from where he was supposed to go, Florida International University, and a few from the local community college, also online. For someone who’s majoring in music this whole online thing can only go so far. My principle contention still holds, though. He is now in college, will be getting the same vacuous secular drivel as he would if he were there, and his faith will indeed endure and thrive. Having written a book on building an enduring faith in our children, I’ve encountered Christians who think having such confidence is not warranted. As you can guess, I disagree. (more…)
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