The Kentucky Board of Education has voted to take the first step in redefining how America dates its time.
The board has voted to include a new secular system of dating the calendar. They want to add to the traditional B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (Anto Domini, “The year of our Lord”) a secularized, B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era).
This new secular system of time dating will appear in the curriculum and other materials used by Kentucky educators. This new system is already being included in new versions of text books being used across the country.
This new method will, of course, replace the birth of Christ as the dividing point in history. It would change 2006 from A.D. to C.E. (Common Era).
Dr. Jedidah Morse, one of our Founding Fathers said, “To the kindly influence of Christianity, we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoy. In proportion, as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion will the people of the nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom.”
Although I am not a Catholic, I took time this past week to read a portion of Pope Benedict XVI Good Friday’s prayer.
He said, “We have lost our sense of sin! Today a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inure apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan, a mindless desire for transgression, a dishonest and frivolous freedom, exalting impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights of sophistication. Surely God is deeply pained by the attack on the family. Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family. There is a move to reinvent mankind, to modify the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God. But to take God’s place, without being God, is insane arrogance, a risky and dangerous venture.”
Another book on display, “The Secrets of Judas,” is described as “The story of the misunderstood disciple and his last gospel.”
The so-called “Judas gospel” hasn’t been lost. It has been around since at least 180 A.D. when the Christian church denounced its authenticity and clearly pointed out that Judas didn’t even write it.
Then there was the “Jesus Papers.” This book is described as “exposing the greatest cover-up in history.” The publisher asks the question; “What if everything we have been told about the origins of Christianity is a lie?” And, “What if there is incontrovertible truth that Jesus Christ survived the crucifixion?”
Personally, I believe He did survive the ordeal. He not only was seen alive by a large number of people three days after the crucifixion, but there are millions of people living today who claim to believe that He is still alive, that they have met Him and actually know Him personally.
I would be one of them.
Included in the Costco display was a book I had not seen before; “The Secret Supper.” It was to the left of the book, “Misquoting Jesus,” described as, “The story behind who changed the Bible and why.”
And finally, the big one. “The American Theocracy, the Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money.” This, I suppose, would be a “break-through” book, exposing for all time that what people of faith really want is a theocracy, where we elect a national bishop, pastor, priest, or whatever, instead of a President. That way, we could be just like Iran.
Having spent my life as a pastor, I’ve not seen many local churches that couldn’t agree on the color of the new carpet in their church building, much less on a single individual who would spiritually preside over our country.
The folks who write these books really don’t understand.
The uniting force of Christianity is indeed central leadership and it is an individual, but He is not human and He isn’t running for office.
Anyone close to Christianity doesn’t believe this stuff. And therein is the problem.
As people are pressed by the uncertainties of life, they are looking for truth and meaning. Something to hold to – something and someone to believe in.
Christianity and God’s Word has stood the test of time and has been attacked by greater thinkers than this most recent group.
But after the books are gone and Ron Howard and Tom Hank’s movie version of Brown’s “DaVinci Code” is stuck on a shelf somewhere, does anyone care about those sincere, seeking people who were misled by this most recent attack on Christianity?
Hopefully, we people of faith will care enough to reach out to them with a well-prepared and prayerful loving expression of truth Christianity.
_________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
For the past 50 years or more, the persistent drumbeat of secularism has taken its toll on the youth of America as they were educated in American colleges and universities.
Polls are now showing that the tide is turning.
To be sure, the vast majority of professors continue to be liberal to extreme liberal and they are continuing to lead America’s sons and daughters away from traditional values and patriotism.
However, polls are showing a change in the way college students are looking at political and social issues.
The most recent poll I have seen is one taken at Harvard that finds 7 out of 10 U.S. students are now looking at political issues through a moral lens. Abortion, same-sex marriage, and stem cell research are among the most important issues to them.
The poll also shows that religion is “important” to 70 percent of them and that it plays an important role in their lives.
Both Republican and Democratic students expressed concern about the moral direction of our country.
Twenty-five percent of the students said they have become more spiritual since going to college.
Denying same-sex couples the right to marry is discriminatory and violates basic principles of equality.
It is discriminatory to deny the marriage of one man and three women? Was it discriminatory to deny Mary Letourneau the right to marry her 13 year-old lover? As a society we have placed restrictions on who an individual can marry – without exceptions. You cannot marry a child, you cannot marry a blood relative, you cannot marry someone who is already married, you cannot marry someone of the same sex, and as a society, we reject the practice of polygamy. These restrictions apply to everyone equally – men and women.
It makes no sense that same-sex advocates suggest they would oppose one standard of marriage – male and female – and yet assert another – that marriage should remain limited to two people. Many of the same groups that advocate for same-sex marriage also suggest group marriage is equally acceptable.
All individuals have value and should be treated with dignity. But same-sex marriage advocates do not have the right to redefine marriage for the entire society. This debate isn’t about equality or discrimination; it’s about changing marriage into something it has never been before.
Same sex couples have the freedom to commit, and they are not being denied the “right” to marry. Their relationship is simply different than marriage.
The mass demonstrators against an immigration reform law that hasn’t even been approved, much less voted into law, is telling in several ways.
First, it says something about our own immigration laws and policies. And our will to enforce those laws.
But mostly, it speaks loudly about America.
How great is a country where the Dixie Chicks can stand up in a foreign country and trash the President of the United States, Moussaoui can have a fair trial, people can believe anything they want to believe or believe nothing at all with their freedom protected under the law. People can curse this country, burn our flag and give speeches on campuses inciting people to act against the government and society and yet be protected by our laws.
Atheists and secularists can attempt to strip every vestige of Judeo-Christian principles from our society and be protected by the laws that were derived from those very principles. Mr. Brown can write the “Da Vinci Code” attempting to undermine the basis of our religious heritage, yet be protected under the laws of that heritage. He should attempt that in a Muslim country. Illegal aliens can march in our streets with their country’s flag pasted over the flag of the United States, chanting slogans against the very country that is affording them those freedoms.
How great is America? It is the greatest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
And what made it great?
John Adams said on June 21, 1776, “Statesman, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.”
On October 11, 1798 he told the United States military, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passion.” These he said, “Would break the strongest cords of our Constitution. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any others.”
And in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1813, he made reference to the consensus that truly has made America great. He wrote, “The general principles on which the Father’s achieved independence were the only principles in which that assembly of young gentlemen could unite. And what were these general principles? I answer, the general principles of Christianity.”
What has made America great are those “general principles of Christianity.”
As these principles are advanced in America, we will continue to enjoy unparalleled freedoms.
Faith and Freedom are inseparable.
____________ Gary Randall President Faith and Freedom
My homosexual marriage will not impact your heterosexual marriage.
Marriage by definition is the union of a man and woman; it is a timeless institution that has transcended every culture and nation. To legally change that definition means same-sex marriage also becomes the social norm or ideal. Redefining marriage would forever alter the meaning of marriage and family for everyone, not just two isolated individuals.
In order to include two-men or two-women in the definition of marriage, all distinctive features of the union of a man and woman must be removed from our concept of marriage and family.
If the legal definition of marriage is changed, our public institutions, including public schools, must remove all gender distinctions related to marriage and family. This means school textbooks and classroom instruction must promote the idea of “unisex” marriage.
Same-sex marriage will prevent public recognition of husband and wife, and mother and father.
This is happening in Massachusetts where marriage certificates now say “Partner A” and “Partner B,” and birth certificates no longer name “mother” and “father,” but “Parent A” and “Parent B.”
Men and woman are not interchangeable.
Source: Allies for Marriage
__________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Love and commitment are the bonding elements between two individuals in a marriage relationship, but marriage isn’t just for adults. It’s also for children, and every child has a birthright to a mom and dad.
Because marriage is rooted in the natural order of procreation, the state has a compelling interest in supporting and encouraging the ideal family unit for the nurturing and development of children.
There are over 10,000 studies that support the idea that children do best when raised with a mother and father in a marriage relationship.
No other area in social science has this level of research support and confirmation.
The lower lip of the media has quivered this past week as they have announced the coming, nearly messianic coming, of The National Geographic special, “The Gospel of Judas.”
The "U.S.A. Today" headline on April 6, said, “Long Lost Gospel of Judas Recasts ‘Traitor.’
Their “promotional” story begins, “With a plot twist worthy of Da Vinci Code, the gospel – 13 papyrus sheets bound in leather and found in a cave in Egypt – purports to relate the last days of Jesus’ life, from the viewpoint of Judas, one of Jesus’ followers. Christians teach that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, but in this gospel, he is the hero, Jesus’ most senior and trusted disciple and the only one who knows Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God.”
The discovery of this ancient, and it appears that it is indeed ancient; manuscript has been hailed by the media as a breakthrough that once again shows the vulnerability of the settled and accepted Christian beliefs.
Katie Couric couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she promoted The National Geographic special on the TODAY show this past week. News anchors have earnestly asked the question, “Is Christianity flawed,” or “has Christianity been wrong?”
Before we leap to the conclusion that we are about to get the unvarnished insider’s account of what really went on inside our Lord’s earthly ministry, we should take a look at what Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon (135-200 A.D.) said about this so-called newly discovered “gospel.” He wrote in the “Refutation of All Heresies” (1.31.1) that some “declare that Cain derived his being from the power above, and acknowledged that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons are related to themselves.” He finished the treatuses by saying the “Cainites” to which he was referring, “produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style as the gospel of Judas.”
Bottom line, the Bishop is saying it is heresy.
During the second and third centuries, there were many agnostic and heretical writings floating around. This is why the Nicene Council established the core tenants of faith. (Click here to read the Nicene Creed in the Faith & Freedom Library). It was a response to such writings as the so-called gospel of Judas.
We can learn two things from this "Gospel of Judas":
The media will take every opportunity to attack or cause some to question the authenticity of the traditional Biblical beliefs of Christianity.
We can also learn from this "Gospel of Judas" and its numerous siblings that the early church fathers – the early church – knew how to separate the wheat from the chaff. And so must we.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
No, and a majority of African Americans find this comparison offensive. Being of a particular race is not like having a homosexual desire.
The more same-sex marriage advocates claim to have a legitimate civil rights battle, the less African Americans and people of color support same-sex marriage.
Marriage is an institution that transcends culture, and predates our Constitution. Our Nation’s Bill of Rights applies only to the individual, not couples.
Source: Allies For Marriage
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Prohibiting same-sex marriage is the same as prohibiting interracial marriage as some states used to do.
Laws banning interracial marriage were designed to keep the races apart, not about changing the definition of marriage. Race has nothing to do with marriage, but gender does.
We prohibit discrimination based on race because it is inherent, involuntary, and unchangeable. Homosexuality does not fit these criteria. No academic institution or any U.S. court has established that homosexuality is given at birth and is a permanent, unchangeable feature of an individual.
For the reasons mentioned above, marriage is not a civil rights issue and a majority of people of color find this comparison offensive. In fact, a Gallup Poll and Washington Post poll in the summer of 2003 – after the Goodridge decision in Massachusetts – showed a 23 percentage point drop (from 58 to 35 percent) in support by African Americans for any form of legalizing same-sex relationships.
Forty-three states have passed laws to reaffirm their commitment to marriage between one man and one woman. This has happened in just the last 10 years! In 1998, the Washington State Legislature voted by a super-majority to preserve authentic marriage by passing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Source: Allies For Marriage ________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
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