Palin for President?

Unsurprised, we find the liberal press condemning Sarah Palin because she needs to be home taking care of her Down Syndrome child and her other 4 children. The issue of having an unwed, pregnant 17 year old is also being brought up by the media as if this is a bad thing.

Just because the liberal press would never say such things if the candidate were a liberal does not mean they are wrong. Let us not make the same mistake they make.

I like Palin's conservative positions. She seems quite pleasant. But I have concerns.

The Bible makes it clear that women are to raise their children and be home-makers. That does not mean they cannot work outside the home necessarily, but it does mean this is their first priority. I question whether that is the case with Mrs. Palin.

Two Scriptures that I will let speak for themselves, add your own commentary:

Isa 3:12 As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths."

Titus 2:4-5 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Few Say it Better than Dougwils.com

One more thing. An issue that will be discussed among some conservative Christians is the propriety of electing a woman. Evangelical Christians are overwhelmingly hostile to feminism, and so what is with that? I have argued before from Isaiah 3:12 -- "children are their oppressors, and women rule over them" -- that feminism is one of the things Scripture uses as an indicator of God's judgment on a culture. I still believe that, and also believe that we are in fact under this particular judgment in our culture. But as a biblical absolutist, and not a simple traditionalist, I also want to make room for the occasional Deborah. Life is funny, and you should remember that in the Bible Deborah was the dame who upstaged a fellow named Barak. Kinda spooky when you think about it.

I have seen the enemy, and it is us

I have a history of being in two fields where the truth is not always so popular. Education and the church. In education, you will be popular with the students and by far the majority of parents if everyone gets an A.

In the church, you are popular with many people in the pew if everyone hits the heaven jackpot. (but there are many seeking somewhere where they can hear the truth)

In Politics today, we don't hear anyone being courageous, standing up and saying, "We dug ourselves into this hole for 50 years and we will not soon be out of it unless we change our ways."

Now that would be change I would believe in.

The Bible calls it "Itching ears." Tell people what they want to hear, not what they need.
Don't tell people that they are on their way to hell, that their child is average or worse yet, lazy. Don't tell people that what they are doing is wrong, that their situation is their own fault due to their foolishness, laziness, and poor decision-making.

2 Timothy 4:1-4 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Some of you didn't even take the time to read the verse I just posted. Let me tell you the truth, there is more in those four verses than anything entertaining I might say. Selah

Make no mistake, the truth is what's at stake.

The norm in colleges now is for a Prof's tenure and job to depend in part upon student evaluations. So I ask you, if you want to keep your job, can you fail kids who can't even write a complete sentence? No, because he is able to fill in the bubble that rates you "Bad teacher." Does this not 'force your hand' to pass every student and just make your class fun so that you get a positive evaluation in the end?

Aren't student evaluations foolish? Shouldn't the proof be in the finished product? Shouldn't University's be able to have peer evaluations based on sound educationial pedagogy?

I had a pastor tell me yesterday, "I used to preach stuff like, 'you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.' But people don't want to hear that- they need help with their marriage and with raising teen-agers."

I would submit the time has come where men will not endure sound doctrine.

Please Don't Confuse the Argument with Facts

When the subject of Politics is raging as it is today, I wanted to waste some breath and actually try to interject some common sense into two things that I am hearing.

#1 Minimum Wage- Minimum wage was never meant to support entire families. It is for teenagers and retired folks who want something to do to make some extra spending money. Think with me here for a moment. If you raise minimum wage, what is an empolyer at the Hardware store going to do with his new government imposed extra expense of $10,000?

News flash: Prices are going to go up. He certainly can't afford to eat the expense considering that taxes are always rising. So the expense is passed on to the employee whose new found wealth will still only buy the same amount of goods.

Common Sense: You cannot smoke pot thru high school, go to college and drop out with $30,000 worth of school loans and then expect to have your cable, cigaretts, leased vehicle and beer money making $8 an hour.

#2 The government bailing out the housing market to the tune of billions.

Banks loaned money they knew was not going to get back to them. People borrowed money they knew they could never in their wildest dreams pay back (unless minimum wage went up...) and now politicians are calling on the government(translation: people who don't work for minimum wage and actually have worked hard to get where they are) to bail everyone out.

Common sense: In this respect, I believe in evolution. The strong survive. Banks with common sense fiscal policy and people who know how much they can afford for housing are going to make it and should NEVER be punished for the foolishness of others.

The inmates are running the asylum.

God & Politics

Isaiah 40:15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

Politics are on everyone’s mind these days. While I never talk about politics in the pulpit, I believe the church should take stands on issues of morality and sin. The church should deal with issues as they are dealt with in Scripture - rather than endorsing candidates and holding campaign rallies in your building.
But, I would say two things about America and politics:

1. Spiritual decline always brings about moral decline.
2. Christian government cannot solve America’s problems.

A decline in worship of the true and living God who is holy, righteous, good and just will bring about immorality and unrighteousness which will destroy a nation. Psalm 115 makes this very clear. Read it. Verse 8 comments on what happens to a people who exchange the worship of the true God for idols. “Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.” We become like the gods that we worship. America is becoming like what we worship.

Josiah was a great OT king. He tried to shake up everything in the nation that was unholy and remove all idolatry. And while the nation followed suit, (because he demanded it) their hearts were never changed; and they passed on their hard hearts to their children. Only one generation later, God abandons them and uses pagan Babylon to punish them. Repentance is needed in people and the pew, not just preachers and presidents.