Around the Web and Blogosphere (8/12/09)

My son Andrew and I have been working on a new blog, What They Said, that posts various quotes from men of the past. It has been interesting as we try and verify the quotes we find and in the process sometimes find it difficult to find the source. We are attempting to make sure the quotes we give are not simply lore but actual quotes from verified sources. We have also found that when it comes to quotes from our founding fathers on God or the Bible many try and discredit the quotes. Either they say they do not exist, at times they appear correct, or they reinterpret them by their anti-God worldviews so as to have them say what they do not. Enjoy.



HSLDA has released a study on homeschooling as it relates to academics: New Nationwide Study Confirms Homeschool Academic Achievement. While it is good to see that homeschooling does not as a whole provide a sub-standard education we as believers need to be careful that we are not diverted from the true reason to homeschool which is because God requires us to. If our primary purpose is to have children that have the best education then we may be dissuaded from homeschooling if some other system shows itself or persecution arises. However, if our primary purpose for homeschooling is because we are called to do so by God, and the government is not, we will be able to persevere when times get tough. So while it is good to see the statistics that HSLDA has shown let this not be the ground we plant our flag in but let that ground be the only solid and unchanging ground that is in the very word of God. As Christian parents we are called to raise godly seed (Prov 22:6, Eph 6:4 among others) not academic geniuses. If your child is academically gifted by God then thank Him but our primary purpose in child raising is to raise children that glorify God with a godly character. So again let us stand firm in God’s word and His commands as the reason why we homeschool. Voddie Baucham also writes on the study by HSLDA: Home Education: the Strength of our Weakest Argument.



Gary DeMar in his blog post: What Our Founders Understood About Human Nature looks at how the founding fathers held to the depravity of man. This is an outlook our governing officials and even the church need to have as it is when we truly understand the heart of man we then understand the reason for and limits of government.



The video below from The Voice of the Martyrs was posted by James McDonald at Family Reformation. Watch this and realize the freedoms we do have but are slowly loosing. Are we ready to stand firm in our faith when the time comes? Well that time has come now as while we are nowhere close to the sufferings of Sarah in the video it is now that we prepare for what may come later. Let us be prepared to be victorious as Sarah was.