Welcome to the Learning Layman

Our journey together will take us from one end of the Bible to the other.  Wise individuals know that the Bible provides lessons on every conceivable subject and is the Word of God handed down to us to use in order to glorify Him and help us to determine how to stay in the center of God’s will.

Please feel free to comment on my posts—the more we learn from each other, the better off we will all be! Some of the most fun I have ever had has been teaching Sunday School with fellow adult learners who brought their insights to the discussion and blessed us all.

I am not a theologian, do not play one on TV, and claim no special knowledge.  I have enjoyed learning from many faith traditions over my life, and look forward to learning more!

My first effort will be to look at the Co-Vid situation through the lens of my life verse,

James 1:2:  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. 

I think it is fair to say that very few of us will look back on the year 2020 with fondness or a special place in our hearts because of the trials presented by Co-Vid 19.  To say the least, the death and economic dislocation this virus has caused has been a serious challenge to us all.

According to James, we are still charged with finding the joy in the midst of these trials.  The Bible was written for times such as these, and James is challenging us to dig deep in our faith to find the joy.

There are days when it is easy to find the joy, others when it is a challenge, and still others when finding the joy seems downright impossible.  Those are times—such as this—when you really have to dig deep to find the joy God provides each of us.  He places obstacles in our path to put us to the test, but always equips to meet those challenges.

The challenges might be financial, they might be medical, they might involve family members going through hard times, they might be difficulties with mental health—or they might be a combination of all of these challenges.

Through it all, God is merciful and gracious—and James is emphatic that we consider it ALL joy—not a little bit, not a lot—but ALL. 

My prayer for you today is that you will always be able to find the joy that God gives us through the power of prayer, through the power of corporate worship that has been interrupted for so many of us in so many places, through the power of the Holy Spirit as He works in your life, and through the assurance of eternal life from the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross.  I also pray that you experience the power of comfort provided through the peace that passes beyond human understanding.

For me, there is joy in the fact that the millions of Americans who were supposed to have died as a result of this virus have not.  While we mourn for those who have died from this disease, we also find joy through the heroes who have treated the sick 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since this virus overtook us. Many of us have also found joy in rediscovering the connections with our loved ones that enforced isolation has brought.  Some of us have spent more time with extended family members during this virus than we have ever enjoyed before. 

My final prayer for you is this:  may the next steps on your journey be less challenging than the last 6 months.  And may you always be on the lookout for the joy in your life that is the reward for meeting the challenges that life provides us on a daily basis. 

God bless you!

Louis

The 4th of July & Celebrating America

We celebrate the birth of freedom on July 4 and the Declaration of Independence, the greatest blessing given to the world since the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Abraham Lincoln referred to America as the "last best hope of Earth." He was right more than 150 years ago and is still right today.

The year 2020 has seen enough turmoil to merit comparisons to the Civil War era, as Americans tear at each other's throats at levels not seen since 1968. Ronald Reagan told us that "freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." In light of recent riots and the anarchy that has paralyzed far too many major American cities over the last month, we would be wise to heed President Reagan's warning.

A perfect storm of unrest has broken loose after millions of Americans fled our normal routines due to the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus. This pandemic disrupted our daily lives to an extent never before seen in American history. Businesses, schools and public facilities shuttered to "flatten the curve," which we have accomplished. The current wave appears to be driven by young people, despite the legacy media's insistence that coronavirus skipped those who were out in the streets en masse for weeks. 

We live in the greatest country in the history of the world, period. So why has anarchy taken root so deep, so fast across American cities?

A wise individual once wrote that 'those who know only their own generation remain forever as children.' I have had the privilege of teaching college students full-time since 2008. Over that time, I have witnessed an erosion of standards that is disturbing. Each year, more students walk into my college classes without ever having written a research paper. Each year, students know less about our history. A simple illustration from 2019: I taught a class 50% comprised of students educated in Missouri schools. During a discussion about the Cold War, I noticed blank looks when I mentioned Harry Truman. I asked how many students knew who Harry Truman was. After a pause, one student offered that "he was a president." When I asked what years he was president, the student had no idea. The one Missouri-educated student who knew Truman was a president was home-schooled. 

So what are they teaching these days? A staple of American classrooms for decades has been Howard Zinn, a Marxist historian who believed that America was uncivilized, inhumane and evil--and wrote his textbooks accordingly.

Zinn also wrote, "If those in charge of our society--politicians, corporate executives and owners of press and television--can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling their streets. We will control ourselves."

The example of the anarchic CHAZ/CHOP experience in Seattle would seem to indicate otherwise, but the young people who have a love affair with socialism do not yet understand that the only place that socialism works is in college classrooms. As for "dominating our ideas," Leftists dictate what is "news" at CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Leftist programs and movies generated by Hollywood denigrate Christians and conservatives and the stampede of corporate America to kneel to the latest species of political correctness keeps them secure in their power temporarily--one step ahead of the Leftists continually demanding new norms to conform to--or else.

Zinn also proclaimed that "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Sound familiar? I love dissent--the Bible tells us that "Iron sharpens iron"--but I hate censorship. When dissent is one-sided, it is no longer dissent, but an echo chamber. The efforts of Twitter and Facebook to impose their Leftist views on the rest of us through "shadow banning" are just two examples of what censorship looks like. "Fake news" has been around since at least the Election of 1800--the claims that the "press" made about John Adams and Thomas Jefferson then were libelous--but its prevalence across so many media platforms today is a force multiplier that We the People continue to ignore at our national peril. Ask Drew Brees what happens to those who dissent from Leftist orthodoxy today.

Not one sane American approves of the death of George Floyd. However, the orgy of rioting, looting and general lawlessness that used his death as a pretext should give us all pause to consider what is driving these efforts. It is sheer madness to believe that "defunding and dismantling" law enforcement is going to make one life better in neighborhoods that are literally shot up every week of the year, but invertebrate politicians across American cities run by the same political party for generations are falling in line with this narrative even as the death tolls mount in their communities. This is the 2020 equivalent of "We have to destroy it in order to save it." The lives of those who will be murdered as a result of such collective insanity should also matter.

If we are going to defund anything, it should be the colleges and universities that indoctrinate, not teach, and which have infantilized a generation of students who no longer critically think, but retreat into an intellectual fetal position or shriek like banshees when confronted with facts that do not fit their favorite narratives.

Harry Truman was fond of saying that "the only thing new under the sun is the history you don't know." 

For those who are ignorant of the meaning of July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence and the birth of liberty that was a direct result of the foundation of the first government on Earth based on universal ideals, you have my sympathy and my prayers. 

For the rest of us who know that we live in the greatest country in the history of the world, Happy Independence Day!

God bless America!