God at Harvard?

From the beginning Harvard was dominated by followers of God.  Check out the following from the first student manual:

Laws and Statutes for Students of Harvard College
Harvard College Lawes of 1642 (from New England's First Fruits)
1. When any Schollar is able to Read Tully or such like classicall Latine Author ex tempore, and make and speake true Latin in verse and prose suo (ut aiunt) Marte, and decline perfectly the paradigmes of Nounes and verbes in the Greeke tongue, then may hee bee admitted into the College, nor shall any claime admission before such qualifications.

2. Every one shall consider the mayne End of his life and studyes, to know God and Jesus Christ which is Eternall life. Joh.17.3.

3. Seeing the Lord giveth wisdome, every one shall seriously by prayer in secret, seeke wisdome of him. prov. 2.2,3 etc.

4. Every one shall so exercise himselfe in reading the Scriptures twice a day that they bee ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoreticall observations of Language and Logicke, and in practicall and spirituall truthes as their tutor shall require according to their severall abilities respectively, seeing the Entrance of the word giveth light etc. psal. 119,130.

5. In the publicke Church assembly they shall carefully shunne all gestures that shew any contempt or neglect of Gods ordinances and bee ready to give an account to their tutors of their profiting and to use the helpes of Storing themselves with knowledge, as their tutours shall direct them, and all Sophisters and Bachellors (until themselves make common place) shall publiquely repeate Sermons in the Hall whenver they are called forth.

6. they shall eschew all prophanation of Gods holy name, attributes, word, ordinances, and times of worship, and study with Reverence and love carefully to reteine God and his truth in their minds.

7. they shall honour as their parents, Magistrates, Elders, tutours and aged persons, by beeing silent in their presence (except they bee called on to answer) not gainesaying shewing all those laudable expressions of honour and Reverence in their presence, that are in uses as bowing before them standing uncovered or the like.

8. they shall be slow to speake, and eschew not onely oathes, Lies, and uncertaine Rumours, but likewise all idle, foolish, bitter scoffing, frothy wanton words and offensive gestures.

Harvard College Laws of 1700
(Source: Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana,Volume II)

A Good Reason

The reason for what we have is to give evidence of who He is.  

How interesting that the conversations concerning Christian stewardship  tends to turn to 'how much should I give?' or 'Is the tithe really biblical or just another form of legalism?'  Both of these are good questions in the right context, but God simply sais in scripture it is all His.  So these questions, though good to explore in context of how we live in this fallen and broken world need to be thought about and answered in order to live in peace as His children.  However, 'if the reason for what we have is to give evidence of who he is' that changes things doesn't it?

Shallow People

I am more convinced than ever that what passes as a 'deep' person in our culture would have been seen as 'shallow' in centuries past. In the past week I tried to get away and spend some quality time in renewal and I got several emails, three phone calls and couldn't stop thinking about my 'need' to return what turned out to be inconsequential phone calls. Lord help me become a truly deep soul.

Aslan is on the Move - AGAIN

MAY 16, 2008 WILLIAMSON WEALTH MANAGEMENT WILL, ONCE AGAIN, BE HOSTING CLIENTS, CLIENTS FAMILIES AND FRIENDS TO VIEW

PRINCE CASPIAN

SEE TRAILER HERE

Expelled

When Ben Stein brings his new movie, Expelled, to the big screen in February I will be sponsoring a Night at the Movies in Franklin,  much like I did with Amazing Grace in February of 2006.  For a preview of Expelled go to George Grants blog and view his December 18th entry. The showing of Expelled will be an awareness and support gathering event for New College Franklin, a classical christian college being started in Franklin, TN.

Seating will be limited and I expect a very overwhelming response so let me know so I can put you in the queue. Email me at: tom@wwmonline.com

Expelled the Movie website here.

Also, be thinking of friends and family who you will want to bring to Prince Caspian!

Public Education Seems to be Working - Something Really Scary for Holloween

"If we can just tell the lie enough times and get a 'place' where the lie is told to our victims from a very young age - like the US public schools! - yeah, that's the ticket, we can probably blow that undeniable truth that the Founders of America were dead set on creating and sustaining a "Christian Nation" off the map. I thinks it's working!" A conversation overheard of Satan and his minions.

But alas, due to the lack of strong voices in the Christian intellectual camp (that could be an oxymoron), it takes a very well read and integrous man like Michael Medved, a Jewish friend, to tell the truth in the face of lies, lies and more lies. God grant us more friends like this who say, "I want to be like Mike".

Go to Michaels piece at Townhall.com here.

Holy Evolutionary Cow! Creationism and ID are Dangerous! No, No, Sir - God is Dangerous

Good Lord! The Archbishop of Canterbury believes Creationism SHOULD NOT be taught in schools. I guess it is silly to ask when the lunatics began running the asylum? It appears that we have crossed the point in time where Europe has forgotten that the Reformation and formation of Western culture was formed on the ethos that God is Creator and Lord of ALL of life. Now the leaders of the church have, once again, joined with the civic and intellectual authorities to drive religion out of the church.

Heaven Help Us!!! Read the article below to be informed, but make sure your near a window in case you become ill!

Europe circles the wagons against creationism and intelligent design

October 16th, 2007, filed by Tom Heneghan
Europeans are circling the wagons to keep creationism and intelligent design out of their schools. The latest development came on Monday when Sweden announced it wanted to tighten rules governing private religious schools to ensure they do not teach creationism. This is a new twist. Private schools across Europe usually have to follow some kind of national curriculum but can add other elements such as religious views. Creationism is certainly a religious view and a very large majority in Europe says ID is too.

“This is naturally brought about by the fact that different viewpoints are being discussed, for instance about the creation of the world - one based on science and one on religious views,” Swedish Education Minister Jan Bjorklund said while announcing the new policy. “Teaching in school must have a scientific basis.”

The Council of Europe made the headlines two weeks ago with a resolution firmly opposing these views and urging member countries to keep them out of their science classes. It defined ID as a form of creationism. That resolution entitled “The Dangers of Creationism in Education” was based on a long report with an interesting country-by-country list of cases where creationism has become an issue in Europe (see report pages 9-14). This was a non-binding resolution but it expressed the widespread mood of lawmakers who until recently thought creationism and ID were such simplistic U.S. religious views that they would never cross the Atlantic.

The issue has been around in Britain for a while now. Two weeks ago, a professor of science education in Britain made waves by suggesting that creationism should be discussed in science classes to better equip pupils with arguments to confront it.“There are lots of pupils who come to science lessons from families where they very seriously believe the world was created in a few days 6,000 or 10,000 years ago,” said Michael Reiss, who is a professor at London’s Institute of Education, an Anglican priest and an evolutionary biologist. “I want to try and not ridicule those students but to help them understand the scientific way in which we can also understand the universe.”

Britain’s Qualifications and Curriculum Authority issued new guidelines in January of this year saying that creationism and ID belonged in religion classes alongside evolution, not in science class. French education authorities and scientists have been warning against creationism and ID since a lavishly produced Muslim creationist book, Atlas of Creation by the secretive Turkish writer Harun Yahya , mysteriously began appearing in the mail free-of-charge at schools around the country.

Several large churches have also spoken out against putting a religious spin on science. In Germany, the Lutheran Church issued background material in July to confront “this Americanisation of European religious culture.” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England and spiritual leaders of the world’s Anglicans, said last year that creationism was “a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories” and said it should not be taught in British schools.

In several statements and a book over the past year or so, Pope Benedict has clearly been more sympathetic to critics who say scientists go beyond their limits when they say Darwinism proves God does not exist. But he has also made clear the Roman Catholic Church does not support creationism and does not reject the scientific theory of evolution.

It’s fascinating to see this trans-Atlantic divide between Europe and the United States (where, it should be noted, the courts and many scientists also reject these views). Could this mean that creationism and ID are mostly American views that won’t catch on elsewhere?