WELCOME TO BIBLICALTHOUGHT.COM!
The purpose of this website is to interpret and discuss various issues of the day as much as possible through a Biblical lens. The site will be refreshed with new content weekly – specifically, you’ll find a new Bible verse of the week with comment, a quote of the week with or without comment, and a statistic, poll, or data item of the week, again, with or without comment.
As the main content on this site, you will find brief essays, starting with three and, typically, with one new essay a week added. Whether or not you’re a Bible believer, these essays may give you some new insights on a variety of issues.
Verse of the week
Evangelize Wisely
“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (Matthew 7:6)
Comment: Prior to saying the above, Jesus was warning the disciples about hypocrisy in general and those who are hypocrites. Probably, He was referring to such individuals when He mentioned dogs and swine in the next verse – and possibly even Samaritans, who were looked down upon by Israelites.
Remember that the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) commands believers to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” In other words, all believers are to go out in the world they live in and spread the Gospel to win souls for the glory of God. This was not an easy task then, and it is not an easy task now for most people.
Many of us, when we try to evangelize others, are given a polite but clear no, or are even told to “get lost” by some. If we had taken the time to carefully size up such individuals, or try first to cultivate a relationship with them, we might have discovered that some or most of these people might well be the dogs and swine Jesus was referring to. And we could avoid wasting what is holy or has the value of fine pearls on such people.
The more successful evangelists among us rarely go headfirst into an evangelical attempt. For example, like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse workers, be on the alert for people who need help. The help could be material, physical, or emotional, but you should give the help first, so you don’t make it conditional on hearing the Gospel. After you give help, you can do a little probing to determine receptiveness. Keep in mind that your job is only to convey the Gospel to willing listeners. You are planting the seed – showing the one and only path to salvation through Jesus. God will do the rest and make the seed grow, if it is His will.
But if an individual is not receptive or is even hostile, don’t waste your pearls.
Quote of the week
A Better Return on Investment (ROI)
“When the product is losing customers, the rational response is to improve the product. The institutional response is outlaw the competition.”
Jay Rogers, financial expert and political columnist
Comment: Since 2011, Arizona has had a school choice enabling program titled Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA), which is now being challenged by the state’s teachers’ unions. In August, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a petition submitted by the unions to gut the program failed to gather enough valid signatures to put the unions’ version on the November ballot. It wasn’t that the unions didn’t know how many signatures they needed – it was that they used ineligible petition circulators and submitted tens of thousands of duplicate or otherwise invalid signatures.
When the state’s program was started in 2011, it benefitted the neediest children, but by 2022, it was open to all students and now serves over 100,000 students in the state. The unions’ big argument was cost – i.e., the Common Sense Institute estimated that the ESA program would cost the state over $1 billion in fiscal 2026. That figure was not in dispute. What the unions failed to mention (conveniently) was that the state stops paying public schools the formula state aid – which follows students who leave the district for private schooling. So it’s an offset rather than a new cost.
Typically, then, the teachers’ unions keep focusing on how to preserve their monopoly rather than on how better to educate students. Right now, according to Newsmax (8/26), the US average annual investment per public school student is nearly $19,000 – with highs of over $31,000 in New York and DC and lows of over $11,000 in Idaho and Utah. Arizona is at $12,000.
With standardized test scores as low as they are for the nation, we need product improvement to get a better ROI – even from private schooling or homeschooling, if that’s what it takes. Eliminating school choice to appease the unions would be an exercise in futility.
Statistic of the week
Twenty-Five Years of Overspending
In the year 2000, the national debt was $5.6 trillion, about 55% of our gross national product (GDP). That came to about $20,000 per citizen and $53,000 per household. Now, our national debt is $40 trillion, about 123% of GDP, and each citizen’s share is about $116,000. Each household’s share of the debt is about $295,000 (more than the average $264,000 home mortgage). None of this includes the (estimated) nearly $300 trillion of unfunded liabilities – Medicare, Social Security, etc.
Comment: An even more disturbing way to look at this frightening situation is that it has led our younger generations to give up on capitalism and let themselves be lulled by the siren song and unworkable promises of socialism. Understandably, they see themselves inheriting and being overwhelmed by this huge debt and being unable to avert a collapse. So they see socialism as a remedy, without understanding that it would make things much worse – and faster.
And it wasn’t capitalism that got us into this situation. Starting in the 1960s with the Great Society, the problem has been socialistic spending within our capitalist system. We have, and have had for some time, a spending problem. If our feckless Congress and spendthrift executive branch do not bite the bullet and curtail this “disease” as soon as possible, we will only get closer to a point of no return – e.g., when the total debt burden hits double our national income. If we can be (quickly) cured of our spending problem, then only capitalism (with a truly free marketplace) can get us back into balance – not socialism.
Brief Essays Touching Issues of the Day.
Essays included on this website are divided into three basic categories – Spiritual Issues, Cultural Opinions, and Government Issues. There will be some overlapping, of course, but virtually all will relate to one or more Biblical principles that support the points of view expressed.
Versions of most of these articles were previously published in the Wisconsin Christian News from 2019 to 2023, but they have been edited and updated to better reflect current events. We are opening this website with three essays, one in each category – and typically, we will add one new essay a week. The latest title in each caregory will be in red letters.