NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

Calvinism – Devil Doesn’t Believe It!

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Sinners are born sullied not senseless.

The Devil Thinks Calvinism
Is A Great Idea!

And why not? One of his tricks is to make people think they can’t get saved, so anything that encourages doubt works right into his hands.

But, even though he thinks Calvinism is a good idea he doesn’t believe it.

In case you’re not familiar with the tenets of Calvinism it is a philosophical concept – nothing theological about it, although some would argue otherwise – that says God selected certain people to be saved and consigned everyone else to hell. His choices were made in eternity past and are fixed. No appeals allowed.

Yes, if you are a thinking person the logical inference is any individual not chosen for salvation IS chosen for hell. Offensive thought, hey? Calvinists think so too and have responded with long drawn out discussions designed to camouflage the reality. They even came up with a term for it, “double election.”

Google it and read for yourself. One post admits to the offense and suggests ways to soften it, without admitting any error, of course. I won’t take time to explore it here.

But, getting back to my original thought, the Devil doesn’t buy it. Not only does he focus on EVERY person – not just the elect or non-elect – he also works to blind them all to the truth of the Gospel – a condition Calvinists suggest is already existing and is curable only by a special, mystical, enabling by God.

Instead, however, the Bible says the following: [Read more…] about Calvinism – Devil Doesn’t Believe It!

Comment Savvy – Be Nice!

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Because many websites are designed to elicit responses, people feel quite free to say what they think and many brave souls do. But after reading through various comments it is obvious that the skills for communicating respectfully, rather than down or slightingly, are not apparent.

And to make it worse, some, in an expression of contempt, will sprinkle their remarks with all kinds of unwanted language, usually aimed at other people. More like a diatribe than a dialogue.

Feeding this tendency is the fact that we don’t see the other parties and will probably never meet them so why worry about the rage our comments provoke. Let it rip. Say what you really think. Fire off a response with no regard for the person at the other end.

And if anyone doesn’t like it, who cares! Haven’t we fought for the right to speak freely.

Yes, the first amendment protects the right to speak freely but those who wrote that principle into law were well experienced in making and responding to arguments respectfully. They sometimes spoke heatedly in the process of carving out constitutional rights but they remained focused on the issue not the respondents.

And they made the assumption that we, the constituents, would understand that insulting, hateful, dismissive, contradictory, vindictive and threatening remarks aimed at individuals were not fundamentals of free speech.

We have proven them wrong on that account and that is why recent laws have been written to curb our vicious free speaking tendencies.

Yes, it is a great privilege not only to think but also to share our thoughts but remember the following rules before and as you write. [Read more…] about Comment Savvy – Be Nice!

“Holy Spirit Experience” Explored

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The Holy Spirit receives so much attention these days it sometimes seems He is talked about more than Jesus. A few might think that is OK but I’m not so sure.

If everyone said the same things that would make it easier to accept but they don’t. Very different things are being said and that begs multiple questions.

Why is the Holy Spirit so prominent and how do we explain the divergent, sometimes contradictory, interpretations?

Outside of Jesus, He is the most common topic among Christians and the differing opinions not only confuse they sometimes cause conflict. One person’s ideas are often countered, not with “different” ideas, but with opposing ideas offered in a fractious manner. How do we understand this phenomena?

The one thing most Christians agree on is the Holy Spirit’s place in the Trinity. He is the third person of the Godhead and that, of course, means He is God. He has all the attributes of personality and divinity.

But, that also means we should be careful what we say about Him. Our teaching should be shaped in carefully worded statements all of which are substantiated by biblical reference. Spontaneous gushings, though sincere, may be ill informed.

A Word About Experience

That brings us to a very important topic, “Experience.”

People often base their ideas about the Holy Spirit on a personal experience they believe He caused. The experience becomes the guiding principle for everything they say or believe afterward. It is so paramount in their thinking that the experience is imposed on the Bible rather than the other way around.

That isn’t the way it is supposed to work. But, on the other side of the coin, those who oppose this approach aren’t very helpful. Merely mentioning the word “Experience” sends them into overdrive attempting to deny, not the theological implications, but the possibility that an experience ever occurred.

Dismissing “experiences” out of hand gives no one the right to claim higher intellectual/spiritual ground. [Read more…] about “Holy Spirit Experience” Explored

Young Children And TV Don’t Mix – John Rosemond

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Chapter Review – Television, Computers and Video Games

John definitely saves the best for last in The New Six Point Plan For Raising Happy, Healthy Children.

This final chapter is mostly about TV and John forthrightly says what most people already know but are afraid to admit.

…Watching television inhibits the development of initiative, curiosity, resourcefulness, creativity, motivation, imagination, reasoning and problem-solving abilities, communication skills, social skills, fine and gross motor skills, and eye-hand coordination.

And after saying this he implies other detriments could be named also.

Not a nice picture. No pun intended.

Even though John’s advice does not run parallel with the opinions of his peers he doesn’t shy away from saying what parents need to hear. No hinting or beating around the bush. He knows and readily admits that his advice runs counter to modern ideas about raising kids but while everyone stammers he speaks out.

In spite of his academic achievements, however, what he advises, he learned and proved in the laboratory of family life as a child, a parent and a counselor.

So his advice is qualified by many levels of experience and academic studies.

In this last chapter John focuses on the problems TV causes, particularly in the life of developing preschoolers, and he draws from his own experience to make his point.

His son, Eric, was failing the third grade and as it turned out television was a major contributor to the problem.

Eric was struggling to complete in-class assignments and John and his wife, Willie, were exhausted with pushing and prodding him to finish the tasks at home. The stalemate was broken when Eric’s teacher informed them – only halfway through the year – that Eric would not be promoted to fourth grade.

Up to that point, John had faithfully applied the popular principles of psychology for raising children. Following that meeting, however, things changed.

John’s wife, Willie, had a heart-to-heart with John about changing their parenting ways. They both agreed that they hadn’t turned out badly so maybe their parents weren’t that wrong after all. Together, they devised a new approach which John describes as:

A benevolent dictatorship, the antithesis of the parenting that was popular at the time. We began telling Eric and Amy what we wanted them to do instead of asking, pleading, bargaining, bribing, reasoning, and explaining – i.e., wishing. We embraced a zero-tolerance policy concerning disobedience. If one of them disobeyed, we punished instead of talked.

And probably the most dramatic change they made was the suspension of TV viewing. They didn’t just stop watching TV, they gave theirs away.

The end result was nothing short of remarkable. In John’s words: [Read more…] about Young Children And TV Don’t Mix – John Rosemond

“Toys And Play” by John Rosemond

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Don't buy toys you can't afford your kids to break.

Chapter Review
“Toys And Play”

Parents have been duped into thinking that giving their children “things,” otherwise known as toys, along with little or no responsibility is the right parenting approach to take.

But in The New Six-Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children, John Rosemond challenges this thinking in the chapter on “Toys and Play” and what he says may surprise you.

John tells the story of a couple who, after secretly watching their child play with a large marking pen, morphing it into a rocket ship, an alien and a ray gun in just a matter of minutes, decided to buy him a replica of a space shuttle for Christmas.

In their minds that was the perfect toy.

Toys Should Stimulate

However, three weeks after getting this marvelous toy he was bored.

It had every bell and whistle. All the design features were visible but it was an untouchable. The joy of playing with it was diminished by the fear of breaking it. This toy like many others is more ornamental than practical. No functionality.

Its limited functionality meant it could command only a very short interest span.

The only way an exact replica of a space shuttle can be anything other than an exact replica of a space shuttle is to break it. That could be said about an exact replica of anything.

And most kids are afraid to break these toys, not because they love them so much but because the parents do. They cost a bundle so any breakage draws immediate disapproval. Like exhibits in a museum, they’re nice to look at but impossible to embrace.

For these reasons John suggests that childhood, as it was intended to be, has come perilously close to an end. [Read more…] about “Toys And Play” by John Rosemond