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
Fearing Death – Not
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23: 4
Comment: Last week, we touched briefly on fear of death, relative to the verse from Ecclesiastes (12:13) that deals with fearing God. In the above verse from the familiar 23rd Psalm, King David is in the wilderness, purportedly in a shadowy Judean valley between Jericho and Jerusalem. He sees death as a journey through a similar valley – and the shadow he refers to is not a reflection of death but is death itself, and like all men he must walk through it. But David knows that his journey is not to a dead end. He knows that when he gets beyond the shadow of death (i.e., when he dies), the God Who loves him is waiting for him. So he is comforted by his thoughts of God as he continues his journey through that shadowy valley.
We all have a fear of any physical pains associated with dying. It’s not exactly a walk in the park, although many people do die “peacefully,” at least as their obituaries say. For nonbelievers (the unsaved), typically the biggest fear associated with death is the fear of no longer being – the fear of permanent nonexistence.
But believers in Jesus know there’s more – much, much more. And once we get through that shadowy valley, it’s all joy from then on.
Quote of the week
Recruitment, Not Education
“Across every one of these examples [lesson plans from ethnic study curricula] you will find the same playbook: divide Americans against one another – Black versus white, men versus women, citizen versus immigrant. All the while undermining confidence in American history, in American institutions, and in American sovereignty.”
Marissa Streit, director of PragerU
Comment: The late Andrew Breitbart famously said, “Politics is downstream from culture.” But that statement, while true, may not have gone far enough – because, according to Ms. Streit: culture, in turn, is downstream from education. And if you look at the young socialists being turned out by our education system today, you know she’s right.
Take, for example, The Zinn Education project, authored by Howard Zinn, which has been around a while. Zinn was a political science and history professor at Boston U. and Spelman College. His People’s History of the United States, which emphasizes the country’s flaws and downplays or omits many of its successes, is the platform for the Project and is used as an American history text in many school systems today.
Even more insidious are versions of the so-called ethnic study curricula, now used in 26 states. These curricula generally paint America as a villain, promote Marxist ideology, sow seeds of division, and teach that America’s capitalist system exploits the poor – all this to children as young as kindergarten. Most of the claims made are patently false.
Supposedly, it was Osama bin Laden who said that those in the West may have all the watches, but we (Islamists) have all the time. There’s no doubt that the Marxist/socialist movement has worked with that kind of patience in the West, especially in America. As Ms. Streit points out, the progressive/socialist left did not capture American culture by winning elections. They did so “by writing the textbooks, producing the content, training the teachers, and patiently reshaping the story America tells about herself.” And the teachers’ unions have cheered this on.
All of this is happening as the most recent Nation’s Report Card shows that more than two thirds of 4th and 8th graders are below proficiency levels in reading and math. Students are absorbing ideological misinformation instead of accurate civics knowledge and traditional skills that will lead to career readiness.
It’s past time to fight back, but better late than never – starting in the home at the dinner table and moving to the school boards and classrooms. The prevailing socialist-leaning education-industrial complex needs to be dismantled, and at a speed several times faster than it took to build it. Again quoting Ms. Streit: “The next 250 years of American freedom and prosperity will be determined not by who wins the next election, but by who shapes the next generation.”
What would be the Bible’s position on this? In general, the Bible cautions us not to resist the “governing authorities” because they have been placed there by God – saying, for example: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (Romans 13:3). On the other hand, Acts 5:29 says: “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” This was in reference to where the command of the religious authorities in Jerusalem not to preach the Gospel of Jesus conflicted with the command of God to carry the Gospel “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
In our present situation, the education-industrial complex is not a governing authority, and even if it were (by a stretch), the teachings they want to foist on our children (and on our culture) conflict with many of God’s truths. Indeed, the present education-industrial complex is actually “a terror to good conduct” by promoting bad conduct – and needs to be vigorously opposed.
Statistic of the week
Separation of Church and State
According to Newsmax Big Data, 75% of Republicans in a recent survey reported a positive view of religion’s role in daily life, while 7% reported a negative view and 18% were “neutral” or “unclear.” Among Democrats, 38% reported a positive view, 37% were negative, and 25% were “neutral” or “unclear.”
Comment: As you’d expect, most of the Americans who are religious or look favorably upon religion as a positive force in our society are Republican or lean Republican. Also, of the 38% who are Democrat or lean Democrat and see religion as a positive force, most are likely to be so-called classical liberals (think FDR, HST, JFK, or LBJ).
But it’s that 37% of Democrats (likely progressives and socialists) and the 7% of Republicans (at least some Libertarians) who are making most of the anti-Christian (and anti-Semitic) noise in this country right now – the tail wagging the dog. That’s only about a third of the total adult population – but it’s a growing sentiment, especially among young people who embrace socialism.
For socialism to advance, particularly in the US, a big obstacle is the Christian God. The fact is, nearly three quarters of adult Americans say the Bible should have little (21%) or no (48%) effect on US laws, while the other 28%, mostly evangelicals, say the opposite – that where the Bible and the will of the people are in conflict, the Bible should have more influence. The 21% group, many of whom are likely practicing Christians, say the will of the people should prevail because of separation of church and state. Separation of church and state is ostensibly the basic issue here.
As informed people know, the phrase “separation of church and state” appears neither in the Constitution nor in the Declaration of Independence. The phrase did appear in a letter written to a colleague by Thomas Jefferson – and the reference was to protecting the church from the government, not the other way around.
The problem arises when today’s progressives and socialists cry THEOCRACY! at virtually any public display of religiosity – for example, if someone posts the Ten Commandments or displays a Kresh or even a Star of David in a public place – or if government officials publicly ask for prayer in difficult situations. Ordinary Americans and government officials have done these things for a great many years, but no one started complaining until the era of moral relativism began in the 1960s.
The bottom line is that this country has stood for freedom of religion and the expression of it since the beginning. It has never been a theocracy like Iran, for example – not even close – and never will be. Understand that socialism is the real enemy of America and needs to be eradicated – starting with accurate history in the schools.
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.