Posted on 04/24/2007 7:49:39 AM PDT by NorCoGOP
The tragic incident at Virginia Tech that resulted in a madman taking more than 30 innocent lives has sparked a number of questions. Through the answers we have learned about the background of the gunman, the history of his firearm purchases, the emotions of students and families, and the heroic efforts of many involved. However, the deeper questions and overall trend patterns have been avoided. Escalation of violence and a number of other social ills began rising in a pivotal era and continue to grow today.
In 1961 a U.S. Supreme Court case ignored 300 years of legal precedent and began an assault on Christianity, by banning prayer and later other elements of Christian study from public schools. The religion of secular humanism was protected and allowed, but Christ, prayer, the posting of the Ten Commandments and other Christian documents were hidden from view.
Historic writings such as George Washington's Farewell Address (which contain specific references and warnings to America tying our success as a nation to our commitment to Christ), his divine protection from certain death in the French and Indian War, and various other religiously oriented writings by the founding fathers were all but eliminated from elementary through high school grades.
According to David Barton, perhaps the nation's leading historian (www.wallbuilders.com), there was an immediate increase in societal problems, including violent crime, divorce, unwed pregnancies, dropping test scores at all academic levels, etc. But like the elephant in the closet that nobody talks about, this has been judiciously avoided in conversation about the Virginia Tech massacre.
The United States was clearly founded around Christianity, and every aspect of our society (including our public education system) revolved around it. George Washington once stated, "you do well to wish to learn our arts and way of life, and above all the religion of Jesus Christ." Thomas Jefferson said, "I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens."
In 1650 the first bill involving public school legislation in Connecticut specified that public education must include the study of Christianity. (Old Deluder Satan Act -- 1650) The Northwest Ordinance, which provided the criteria by which states could be admitted into the Union, stated in article three that public schools were required to teach religion and morality. This was a mandate as criteria for statehood.
Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, founder of Pennsylvania Hospital, and the father of public education in the United States, wrote a book titled "A Defense of the Use of the Bible in Schools." In it, he advocated the Bible be the preferred textbook in all public schools, providing 15 different arguments for its use. The evidence connecting Christianity and all life in America and education goes on and on. However, this history was ignored in 1961, and we are now reaping the consequences.
The shooter at Virginia Tech was a madman. However, he had also been raised on a solid diet of secular humanism which teaches no moral absolutes. "If it feels good, do it," is one of the many mantras he ingested. Consequently he did what felt good, and innocent people died as a result. Today, we cannot condemn his actions unless we judge what we fed him as a society. What we sow, we also reap. And we will continue to have a bloody harvest until we return to what we know worked to make America great as a nation in the generations before us; the culture, training, and absolute morality of the Christian faith and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Steven Grant is senior pastor of Destiny Christian Center in Greeley
The Earl Warren Supreme Court.
According to David Barton, perhaps the nation's leading historianWow. Credibility shot right there. Barton had to disavow numerous quotations used to support his view that America was founded as a "Christian nation" when he could not confirm they were real. He pretty much admitted he started with a premise and set out to prove it. That's called "cooking the books" in chemistry, and isn't much more acceptable where history is concerned.
Some of the stretches being made to use the VT killings to make political/sociological points are truly amazing.
-Eric
Anyone believing this had anything to do with any Bible ban must not be paying attention. Cho’s mental illness was long noted and his parents had been praying for him for decades.
It is one thing to decry the loss of religion in the public domain quite another to attribute all evil to it.
By the same token, sedulous application of the bible 2 years ago in the tsunami area would have prevented it. In any large enough group certain [statistical] proportion of it would crack every year. You cannot [or cannot quite] predict who, but you can pretty well predict how many. Now, the higher the level of stress in that group [other things being equal], the higher the proportion of those snapping under it. One could argue that as the life becomes more stressful, such “snappings” would increase, unless much more emphasis is put on the training in coping mechanisms. Now, returning to the starting point, bibling is not a coping mechanism.
I know for myself a similar talk in college changed my outlook. Nothing big, just a few minutes of listening and an invitation to a church meeting (of course with free food). Don’t know if this is now banned behavior on public college campuses, but it helped me.
What a crock.
The Warren Court was responsible for far more than just a Bible ban. I suggest you go back and read some history. The current “Political Correctness” is to blame, and it all began back in the 1960s.
Tell us, why was Cho allowed to stay in Virginia Tech after his multiple violations, his sexual harrassment, and his mental illness — and the Duke lacrosse players were kicked out of school, jailed, their team penalized, and their coach was fired, and there was no evidence for any crime?
“It’s a culture of murder, stupid.”... indeed.
Oh please.
A stretch but if it makes for a good story for the author to fulfil his weekly allowance what the heck.
The Moral Approach
To God’s Existence
MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE in universal ethics, i.e., standards of right and wrong that extend across all geographic and temporal boundaries. The popular idea that murder is always wrong—that there is something unethical about slaughtering guiltless, non-threatening human beings in any country at any period in history—is an example of just such a universal ethic.
The moral approach to God’s existence begins with the question: Why is murder wrong? That is, who or what has the authority to establish such a universal ethical principle? Who or what made murder wrong?
More: http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/CreatorMoral.htm
Those of you who are skeptical of the Bible ban idea should consider this concept, one so important it was included in two different psalms:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.--Psalm 111:9-10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.--Proverbs 9:9-11
It seems to me that there were a lot of wisdom failures that contributed to this mess. So much of what we associate with liberalism is not just liberalism (though it is part of their ideology) it's people buying into ideas that seem to spray out of a fountain of dumb. "Let's disarm the whole campus, that'll be safe."
"Let's make it impossible to suspend or expel a student with severe mental problems, or even call his parents."
"What? We can't make somebody's mental health record available to gun sellers? Do you have any idea how much damage that will do?"
America is polluted by the fountain of dumb, and I think a big part of it is that our nation's governments and institutions have given the Almighty the middle finger, and have no interest in His teachings.
Religion grounds us in values. By bannignit, we encourage the feeding of the sickness of people like Cho Seung-hui.
"Political Correctness" is to blame for a lot of things, but it's quite a bit newer than that. I went to college during the first half of the 1980s, and it was pretty much a non-factor. Most of the liberal and even left-liberal activists were friends of mine. There was little if any of the "demonization of motive" that PC thrives upon today.
-Eric
A comment that will perhaps, draw flames, but it needs to be said. Those of you who are skeptical of the Bible ban idea should consider this concept, one so important it was included in two different psalms:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.--Psalm 111:9-10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.--Proverbs 9:9-11
It seems to me that there were a lot of wisdom failures that contributed to this mess. So much of what we associate with liberalism is not just liberalism (though it is part of their ideology) it's people buying into ideas that seem to spray out of a fountain of dumb.
"Let's disarm the whole campus, that'll be safe."
"Let's make it impossible to suspend or expel a student with severe mental problems, or even call his parents."
"So what if his professor ejected him from a class because she's concerned for her safety? So what if she and her assistant even had a code word arranged in case he went nuts? We can't do anything about it, even if he's obviously screwed up."
"Whatever you do, don't tell his professors in the same department that he's been yanked out of that other class."
"Yes, I know he's playing the same song over and over and writing the lyrics on his wall. And yes, he thinks he's dating a supermodel from outer space. But that doesn't mean we need to do anything about it."
"So what if a court certified him as a danger to himself and others? Out-patient care is fine for that."
"Shouldn't this guy's name be submitted to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System? Oh well, I'll get around to it." [If you want, feel free to insert whatever other stupidity or incompetence prevented Cho's name from being submitted.]
America is polluted by the fountain of dumb, and I think a big part of it is that our nation's governments and institutions have given the Almighty the middle finger, and have no interest in His teachings.
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