On Education

Deuteronomy 6:1-9:  Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

First, the parents must learn the commandments. Next, the parents must obey them. Then the parents teach sons and grandsons. Daughters are not omitted here, but are covered under the principle of federal headship. Teaching is embedded in life. It is a daily endeavor. Mnemonic devices are not eschewed, though here reference to them is symbolic. One of the benefits of education is prosperity (v. 3).

Fighting Infection

Being exposed to a microbe is clearly not all that is required to become infected. Being ready to receive the infection is the other side. Have you slept well? Have you eaten well? Are your relationships with other people in good condition? Have you done something needful for someone who cannot do for himself?

Psalm 41:1-3 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.”


Excerpt from "Pharmacy and Medical Interventions"

Pragmatism

The Bible is neither impractical nor silent on the practice of medicine. What is truly impractical is a philosophy of pragmatism. What is true is not determined by observing that it serves our purposes over a span of a few years.


Excerpt from "Impractical Pragmatism"

Owe No Man

Rom. 13:8 “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

The debts here are not limited to financial ones, though clearly inclusive of them. The context indicates that we are to “pay” respect to those to whom it is due, honor to those to whom it is due, etc. “Owe no man” is not a moral commandment but, rather, a goal in service to wisdom. The Old Testament sets up rules of the relationship between debtors and creditors. These rules are not rules on how to sin properly, but how to manage indebtedness wisely and fairly.

Chiseling Out a Christian Culture

Culture is religion acted out, not merely an ethically neutral set of tastes in diet, dress, and dance.

If revival starts with the church, one thing we could do from our side would be to inculcate amongst ourselves an understanding of what Christian culture would look like. That way, we would be less apt to follow the pied pipers whose analyses of this or that problem are superficial at best, if not badly wrong. We might be able here and there to work out our salvation chipping away at the monstrous incubus on our land. Ultimately, only God can revive and deliver us, but I believe He expects us to have some knowledge in our head and a chisel in our hand.


Excerpt from a personal letter