The God Who is …Where? by John Fischer

The God Who is …Where? by John Fischer

The Scientific Age

Uploaded by  on Oct 3, 2011

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Episode VII – The Age of Non Reason

Dr. Schaeffer’s sweeping epic on the rise and decline of Western thought and Culture

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I love the works of Francis Schaeffer and I have been on the internet reading several blogs that talk about Schaeffer’s work and the work below   by John Fischer was really helpful. Schaeffer’s film series “How should we then live?  Wikipedia notes, “According to Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live traces Western history from Ancient Rome until the time of writing (1976) along three lines: the philosophic, scientific, and religious.[3] He also makes extensive references to art and architecture as a means of showing how these movements reflected changing patterns of thought through time. Schaeffer’s central premise is: when we base society on the Bible, on the infinite-personal God who is there and has spoken,[4] this provides an absolute by which we can conduct our lives and by which we can judge society.  Here are some posts I have done on this series: Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” , episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”, episode 8 “The Age of Fragmentation”, episode 7 “The Age of Non-Reason” , episode 6 “The Scientific Age” ,  episode 5 “The Revolutionary Age” , episode 4 “The Reformation”,  episode 3 “The Renaissance”, episode 2 “The Middle Ages,”, and  episode 1 “The Roman Age,” .

In the film series “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?” the arguments are presented  against abortion (Episode 1),  infanticide (Episode 2),   euthanasia (Episode 3), and then there is a discussion of the Christian versus Humanist worldview concerning the issue of “the basis for human dignity” in Episode 4 and then in the last episode a close look at the truth claims of the Bible.

Francis Schaeffer

The God Who Is… Where?

A         Comparison of Two Book Titles and the Thirty Years that Separate Them

by John Fischer

I have always         considered myself fortunate to have been in the formative years of my         life when Francis Schaeffer was having his greatest impact on evangelical         Christianity. His visits to Wheaton College, two of which I witnessed         as a student there during the last half of the sixties, became the watermarks         of my college experience. It was during those visits that Schaeffer presented         the material that was to later become his most comprehensive philosophical         work, The God Who Is There.

Almost 30 years later, in an issue of Christianity Today that celebrated         Schaeffer’s influence in an article by Michael Hamilton, I noticed a coincidental         ad for a book by Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church,         titled,The God You’re Looking For. The similarity of these titles made         their key differences stand out. Something about these two titles speaks         volumes about the way thinking has changed over the years that separate         their respective releases.

The God Who Is There Francis Schaeffer spoke to a generation that cared enough about the concept         of God to despair over its loss. In Schaeffer’s analysis, drug use, pornography,         existentialism and even madness were not merely sin and debauchery for         the fun of it, they were the logical conclusions of philosophical ideas         that had been crossing the ocean from Europe for decades and surfacing         in the works of American artists, writers and film makers. Piece by piece,         the old ways of thinking were being stripped away by philosophers and         theologians until God was nothing but a memory. And yet a memory was more         than nothing, and it was that memory of God and propositional truth that         Schaeffer was always seeking to retrieve.

Francis Schaeffer spoke to young people from families that still prayed         to God, in a nation that still pledged its allegiance under Him. Many         of these students made the long trek to L’Abri, Switzerland, to find if         there was any validity to their childhood beliefs about God and the meaning         of human existence. So when Schaeffer gave credibility to both, and even         a historical context as to why they had doubted God in the first place,         many were persuaded to believe.

Thirty years ago, it was enough to prove the existence of God and the         reliability of the scriptures. Belief would follow the evidence. The God         Who Is There assumes that people care enough to do something about God         should it prove to be a rational thing to believe in him.

Reading Schaeffer again today makes one long for such a mind-set. It also         makes despair seem almost attractive when compared to the moral relativism         and self-absorption that characterizes most of western culture in the         nineties. Would that people cared enough today to actually despair. Would         that truth meant enough for people to lament its absence. Would that proving         the rationality of the existence of God would assume the embracing of         that God as its logical consequence.

The God You’re Looking For We now live in a generation that lies beyond the rational boundaries of         Schaeffer’s day–even beyond despair. Hope is fantasy. Truth is whatever         anyone wants to make it. God is a concept to be used only when useful.         Religion is a preference. There is nothing beyond self to appeal to; only         the subjective desires and felt needs of human existence are left. The         God Who is There is about as relevant to today’s thought processes as         Francis Schaeffer’s knickers. Not that the truth is no longer true, it         is just that the postmodern mind does not possess the thought-forms necessary         to grasp truth as absolute. Announce the God “who is there”         today, and people will want to know which God you are talking about. On         which channel? Representing which ethnic group? Which religion? And if         he is “there”, just where is he? Is he out on video? And before         anything else, people would want to know what this God could do for them,         for whether God is or is not there, the operative question is, what can         belief in God do for me?

In this context, The God You’re Looking For is a fitting title. There         is simply no other way to address a postmodern mind except by way of the         expressed needs, longings and desires of people. And the churches who         are adopting this approach are currently finding much success. But in         doing so, are we not now facing a new dilemma for ministry?

Schaeffer himself has stated that each generation of the church “has         the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms,         considering the language and thought-forms of that setting.” [Escape         from Reason, p.94] But what if the language and thought-forms of a generation         are inept at holding the kind of belief systems necessary to sustain a         relationship with God over the long haul? Then we will have to teach people         to think in thought-forms that are foreign to them‹that are outside their         cultural experience. To some degree then, in teaching people how to follow         God, we must now teach them how to think all over again.

For instance, we keep hearing how the postmodern mind cannot grasp the         idea of absolutes. Well then, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure         out that the postmodern mind is incapable of grasping the idea of God.         Something has to give here: either the postmodern mind, or the God we         preach, and I don’t think God is very interested in making too many adjustments         in his nature or his character in deference to our inadequate minds. People,         in order to grow in their understanding and relationship with God, are         going to have to somehow graduate from a God they once met on one level,         to a God who demands they stretch their minds in order to meet him in         ways they have never thought of before.

Actually, this process is not unlike one common to all believers. We all         begin a relationship with God on a subjective level through our own personal         salvation. But our growth (or sanctification) is the process of discovering         that God does not exist for us; we exist for him. “True worshipers         will worship the Father in Spirit and truth (John 4:23)”–speaking         not of my truth, but of his truth to which I adjust myself and my thought         processes. New believers have come to God because he has met their need;         mature believers come to God regardless of their need. They come because         he is God and he is worthy of their worship and allegiance.

The Current Task If I am right about this, then the current task that faces the church         is a difficult one that poses some rather ticklish questions. Having convinced         people to embrace a God who is relevant and contemporary, will Christians         still love God when they find he can also be irrelevant and old and sometimes         difficult to follow? What do we do when the God who is there is not the         God anyone wants? Do we still preach him? Will we be tempted to continue         giving people a God they are looking for when the God who is there no         longer holds their interest?

One can readily see how addressing this generation with the truth about         God is a more formidable task than it was thirty years ago. If people         no longer have the thought-forms to grasp absolute truth, then we have         to teach and challenge them until God forms in them a new mind. “Do         not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed         by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2)” takes on new significance         in this regard. It will take a new mind to even believe.

In reality, both these titles are true and necessary. The God You’re Looking         For is a good way to start people thinking about God today, but at some         point, the God you are looking for has to become The God Who Is There–the         God who was there all along, and the God who will be there forever. He         is the absolute we will all eventually bump into, regardless of our ability         or inability to conceive of him. This is the God who deserves our praise         whether or not he fits our description or meets our needs. Somewhere in         me, I hear God saying to us all today, “If you are looking for God,         I am the God you get, because I am that I am.”

May we not shrink from telling the whole truth.

©1999 John Fischer, all rights reserved For more information and other articles by John Fischer visit http://www.fischtank.com.

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Mistrust of government is at the heart of what the founders tried to do!!!!

Recently I wrote about President Obama’s speech on the founding fathers given at Ohio State and today I am doing it again.

When I was became interested in public policy, I thought Jimmy Carter was the epitome of a bad President. But as I began to learn economics, I realized that Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson also were terrible and belong in the Hall of Fame of bad Presidents.

Presidential Hall of ShameAnd the more I studied economics and public policy, I learned that Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt were two peas in a failed big-government pod and deserve membership in that Hall of Fame.

Or I guess we should call it a Hall of Shame (you can click on the image to see my selections).

Whatever we call it, I’m now at the point where I realize that Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt are the charter members. Why? Well, because they were the first Presidents to reflect the progressive ideology.

More specifically, they shared the ideology of the progressive movement, which saw a powerful and activist central government as a force for good – a radical departure from the views of America’s Founding Fathers, who hoped that the Constitution would protect people by keeping government very small.

Not surprisingly, Barack Obama is in that “progressive” tradition, even to the point of attacking the views of the Founding Fathers in a recent speech at Ohio State University.

I commented on this issue in this Fox News segment.

Dan Mitchell Commenting on Why Citizens Should Distrust Washington

That short clip only scratches the surface.

For more detail, here are some excerpts from a column by Andrew Napolitano. Like me, he isn’t impressed by the President’s statolatry.

It should come as no surprise that President Obama told Ohio State students at graduation ceremonies last week that they should not question authority… And he blasted those who incessantly warn of government tyranny. Yet, mistrust of government is as old as America itself. America was born out of mistrust of government. …Thomas Jefferson…warned that it is the nature of government over time to increase and of liberty to decrease. And that’s why we should not trust government. In the same era, James Madison himself agreed when he wrote, “All men having power should be distrusted to a certain degree.” …The reason Obama likes government and the reason it is “a dangerous fire,” as George Washington warned, and the reason I have been warning against government tyranny in my public work is all the same: The government rejects the natural law because it is an obstacle to its control over us. …Because the tyranny of the majority can be as dangerous to freedom as the tyranny of a madman, all use of governmental power should be challenged and questioned. Government is essentially the negation of liberty.

Napolitano also warns against majoritarianism in his column, which is music to my ears.

Though I’m not sure our battle today is with majoritarianism or the progressive ideology.

Our real challenge is redistributionism. Far too many people think it is okay to use the coercive power of government to obtain unearned benefits. And that’s true whether the benefits are food stamps or bailouts.

Welfare State Wagon CartoonsAnd as we travel farther and farther down this path, it leads to ever-greater levels of dependency and ever-higher levels of taxation. But that simply means more people decide it makes more sense to ride in the wagon rather than pull the wagon.

Somehow, we have to reverse this downward spiral.

Unless we want America to become Greece or France, at which point productive people may be forced to emigrate – assuming there are still some sensible nations left in the world.

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Taking on Ark Times Bloggers on various issues Part T “Abortion is a dirty business” (includes video “Truth and History” and editorial cartoon)

I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control  and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline Republican.The abortion doctor Bernard Nathanson left the abortion business because he realized that unborn babies could feel pain. It is truly a dirty business.On 3-5-13 on the Arkansas Times Blog I posted:I am glad to see more people on this blog are taking the pro-life view. The other day I read these words on here:
“It is a great poverty to kill an unborn child so you may live as you wish.” ~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India
People have to decide if their selfishness is worth taking a life.Is there any consideration of these unborn babies? I have put an editorial cartoon that shows 9/11 and compares it to what is happening to the unborn.

https://thedailyhatch.org/2013/03/05/more-a…

I wanted to pass along a portion of the excellent article “Bernard Nathanson: A Life Transformed by the Truth about Abortion.” (Feb 11, 2011)

LifeNews.com Note: Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and previously served on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. This article previously appeared in Public Discourse:

Within a year after Roe v. Wade, however, Nathanson began to have moral doubts about the cause to which he had been so single-mindedly devoted. In a widely noticed 1974 essay in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, he revealed his growing doubts about the “pro-choice” dogma that abortion was merely the removal of an “undifferentiated mass of cells,” and not the killing of a developing human being. Referring to abortions that he had supervised or performed, he confessed to an “increasing certainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths.”

Still, he was not ready to abandon support for legal abortion. It was, he continued to insist, necessary to prevent the bad consequences of illegal abortions. But he was moving from viewing abortion itself as a legitimate solution to a woman’s personal problem, to seeing it as an evil that should be discouraged, even if for practical reasons it had to be tolerated. Over the next several years, while continuing to perform abortions for what he regarded as legitimate “health” reasons, Nathanson would be moved still further toward the pro-life position by the emergence of new technologies, especially fetoscopy and ultrasound, that made it increasingly difficult, and finally impossible, to deny that abortion is the deliberate killing of a unique human being–a child in the womb.

On 3-5-13 on the Arkansas Times Blog the person going by the username “DeathByInches”  posted:

Don’t you all worry your beautiful minds. Somewhere in this house I have a recipe Ma gave me for my birthday years ago. It’s handwritten in pencil on a yellowing scrap of paper. I assume it came from one of our old whore houses down by the river here in Fort Baptist.

It’s a recipe for a toxic douche designed to kill all those wiggling spermies in hopes of not ever having to have a coat hanger shoved up tender working va-jay-jays and remember….back then coat hangers were made of wood. Splinters! Ack!

I’m still thinking about the old movie Spartacus…..if we all opened abortion clinics in our kitchens ain’t no one could put us all out of business and trying to police the whole state…__________

This reminds me of this editorial cartoon about abortion with Harry Ried in it.

I truly believe that many of the problems we have today in the USA are due to the advancement of humanism in the last few decades in our society. Ronald Reagan appointed the evangelical Dr. C. Everett Koop to the position of Surgeon General in his administration. He partnered with Dr. Francis Schaeffer in making the video below. It is very valuable information for Christians to have.  Actually I have included a video below that includes comments from him on this subject.___________

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 5) TRUTH AND HISTORY

Published on Oct 7, 2012 by

I really appreciated Schaeffer because of his influence on the pro-life movement.

Francis Schaeffer: The Last Great Modern Theologian
Next Wave ^ | December, 1999 | David Hopkins 

Posted on Sun Feb 02 2003 17:58:56 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time) by unspun

Francis Schaeffer:
The Last Great Modern Theologian
(and the reason why I have a goatee!) by David Hopkins
accessdavid@hotmail.com
http://www.monkhouse.org/david
Images taken from www.rationalpi.com/theshelter

Francis Schaeffer Francis Schaeffer

Standing at the melting point

The reader may wonder why I would write an article about the “last great modern theologian” in a publication that so proudly dedicates itself to post-modern thought and inquiry. In truth, we should not be so arrogant about what the modern legacy has left to us.

The contributions of faithful disciples and scholars from previous generations can be of great worth.

I would go so far to say even a book review of Augustine?s The City of God or Aquinas?s Summa Theologica would fit nicely into what we are trying to accomplish at Next-Wave. The goal is to re-communicate the worth of our Christian tradition and experience to a postmodern culture. However, the work of Francis Schaeffer is so recent; it is questionably whether his thoughts even need to be re-communicated to a new culture.

I would like to persuade that Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) stands at the melting point of the modern and postmodern discussion. In some ways, every “modern” theologian after him is increasingly out of date. And any “postmodern” theologian ahead of him was unfortunately out of place in discussing issues of spiritual importance. Why? Schaeffer was deeply concerned with a shift in epistemology (how we know what we know). He observed the shift during the 1960s. While he never labeled it as such, this shift is what we now call postmodernism. (Note: This term was already in existence when discussing art, architecture, philosophy, and literature; theology really didn?t jump into the discussion until postmodern thought proliferated in the 1980s, 3 years after Jean-Francois Lyotard?s The Postmodern Condition.)

Francis Schaeffer is the last of the modern theologians, but not the first of the postmodern theologians. He still strongly argued for rationalism in apologetics. By this, I mean Francis Schaeffer believed one had to be converted to the appropriate set of presuppositions, namely the law of non-contradiction (“A” cannot be “non-A”), first, in order to believe and experience the God of Christianity. The Bible is viewed as a propositional argument from God to His people, which can only be accepted by the correct presuppositional vantage point. Francis Schaeffer also was skeptical of the increase of Platonism in culture (identified with mysticism) and leaned more towards an Aristotelian view of reality (identified with rationalism). These ideas mark a clear modern thought pattern.

Despite his modern view, Schaeffer offers us many insights in ministering to any culture of believers. And a thorough study of his work would benefit any believer greatly.
Schaeffer explains How I met Francis Schaeffer When I first came to college, I experienced a massive faith crisis. Raised in a consumer friendly, experience crazed society, I doubted the reasonableness of the Christian system. My understanding of God did not find a home in rationality. I could not give my life to a system, just because someone told me if I say a prayer– God would come down from distant Heaven and have coffee with me (metaphorically speaking, of course).
I needed answers. I read Josh McDowell?s More than a Carpenter and C.S. Lewis?s Mere Christianity. Both of these inspirational works satisfied my craving for common sense soundness? until I became a student of philosophy. Anyone who has studied philosophy knows that “common sense soundness” does not go very far. I needed more. I needed philosophical answers. Sorry, but Lewis and McDowell just do not cut it against thinkers like Nietzsche, Sartre, Schopenhauer, Russell, Husserl, and Heidegger. These philosophic heavy weights are playing different games and speaking a different language. Francis Schaeffer, however, knew the language; and I am convinced he could stand toe to toe with any of them.My campus minister Keith Boone introduced me to the work of Francis Schaeffer. He encouraged me to read the trilogy: The God Who Is There, Escape From Reason, and He Is There And He Is Not Silent. These three books outline the basic premise of any arguments he would develop in later books. Schaeffer was culturally, philosophically, and scripturally informed. He wrote with compassion and fire. I often stayed up late in the night reading and pondering his ideas. Each sentence blowing my mind and causing me to re-evaluate my own hidden agendas for Christianity. He moved me to understand a deeper and truer Gospel than what I had known before.And in my own postmodern superficiality, I will admit, I also liked him because he just looked cool.Francis Schaeffer has the image of an eccentric academic freak. I really resonated with that– call it my personal image goal. Yes, he is the reason why I grew a goatee. (I can hear my friends, who know me too well, laughing out loud.)All of his writings exist to prove a basic, and yet radical point, God is really there. He?s not just a concept or an idea. He really exists. But not only that, God is speaking to us. Schaeffer believed humankind was created with dignity and is still formed in the “image of God.” We all have worth and value which is innate with our standing in the universe. We are not just specks of dust on a larger speck of dust circling the sun. From this point, true restoration can take place in the souls of men and women.Francis Schaeffer wrote to provide intellectual healing to a world in transition. He realized the old models were fading. There are some points we should observe in communicating Schaeffer?s timeless message to postmodernism.Francis Schaeffer was concerned with being relevant to his timeFrancis Schaeffer wrote because he saw the ideas of logical positivism and existentialism being introduced into popular culture in dangerous ways, displacing God from our understanding. Schaeffer noted in his article “How I Have Come to Write My Books” (Inter-Varsity Press 1974): “In my reading of philosophy, I saw that there were innumerable problems that nobody was giving answers for? the Bible, it struck me, dealt with man?s problems in a sweeping, all-encompassing thrust.” Schaeffer knew these philosophic problems affect the everyday life of believers. These ideas have a flow of influence from philosophy to art to music to general culture. Schaeffer wrote to get ahead of the ideas to positively affect general culture, replacing deceptive philosophy with the answers of scripture.Schaeffer?s goal was not to become “modern,” but to minister to the modern person. Likewise, in an ever-changing society, we should be careful not to adopt postmodernism, but instead, give eternal hope to those people lost in the disparity of postmodernism. “Relevancy” has become a popular sell-word for churches nowadays. But this word has to imply more than just using movie clips in a sermon. Relevancy strikes to the heart of how we think and live.Francis Schaeffer addresses the issue of a shift in epistemologyEpistemology may not be everyone?s favorite topic of discussion, but for Schaeffer this issue was of utmost importance. He recognized if our thinking is off, everything else will surely to follow. Schaeffer observed a shift in epistemology which involved a false belief that God is simply a concept or theory. We take an unfortunate existential “leap of faith” which is not rooted in the direct experience of God. We do not see God working in daily life. Schaeffer cited Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) as the initial cause of this trend. According to Schaeffer, Aquinas separated nature from grace in theology. The spiritual world and the earthly world became separated. The earthly world became what was “real” and the spiritual world was the “hypothetical.”Today we still encounter in the consequences of this shift, especially when referring to a secular versus spiritual society. We create a Christian sub-world that was never meant to exist. Instead of being in the world, we live the hypothetical faith world. We fail to realize that everything is spiritual. Everything is bathed in God?s touch and presence. “For you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11, quoted at the beginning of Schaeffer?s The God Who Is There.) Schaeffer hoped to give his readers understanding of a world in direct connection with a God who is really present.

Art and culture mattered to Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer was deeply concerned with how art impacted our thoughts and actions. In the trilogy, Schaeffer displays a thorough knowledge of art history. He shows how art has developed along a theme of separation between nature and grace. Schaeffer also is well versed on the contemporary arts, musicians, and filmmakers. He carefully analyzes these influences. Interesting footnote: He was quite possibly the first theologian to intelligently evaluate the punk revolution in Europe.

Schaeffer wrote passionately about the Christian?s ability to worship God through art. In the day of the great evangelical preachers, when such a strong emphasis was placed on teaching, Schaeffer ideas of art as worship reflected the wisdom of the ancients and were simultaneously revolutionary. Schaeffer?s book How Should We Then Live gives a good overview on his ideas about art.

Among postmodern pilgrims everywhere, the subject of art and worship is a very popular topic of conversation. Francis Schaeffer introduces this idea to a new generation of disciples, an invaluable resource to any community interested in created art with meaning and transcendence.

L?Abri: An example of the “community apologetic”

When Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith moved to Switzerland, they decided to open their house to any believers traveling through. These travelers could come for healing, conversation, instruction, and service. They re-named their home L?Abri, French for “the Shelter.” People from all over came to be part of this transit community. Remember my campus minister Keith Boone?

L?Abri expanded to a number of branches throughout the world. Even today, L?Abri receives people. His wife Edith wrote the book L?Abri telling of this community?s development.

Francis Schaeffer did not just live as a hermit scholar. He worked daily with people, and frequently strangers, sharing with them God?s message of peace at L?Abri. He believed strongly that community is the place where God speaks. Not only that, but community is its own apologetic for the Gospel. People can live together in meaningful relationships, sharing, working together with the Spirit?s power.

What is community? How do we “get” it? Schaeffer?s L?Abri was a Christian response to the hippy communes that sought desperately to have community and meaning. L?Abri can also illustrate our own need to re-define church and the gathering of the saints. L?Abri was not just a Sunday morning institution. We need to carefully evaluate the condition of our own local churches from a programmatic institution to a community of believers.

The lasting impact of “The Last Great Modern Theologian”

In my opinion, Francis Schaeffer is the last of the relevant and the truly great modern theologians. He stood at the melting point between modern and postmodern. While he never addresses postmodernism, Schaeffer?s influence will be long lasting in the postmodern culture we minister in. A culture that looks longingly for heroes and role models, beyond the celebrities and pop stars.

This past summer I worked at a camp in Glen Rose, Texas. On the first day, I met a boy named “Schaeffer.” He wore a Cowboys cap to cover his blonde matted hair and his big grin revealed two missing teeth. As he was making his bunk, trying to smooth out the sheets while standing on the bed (a difficult task no doubt), I commented to his mother about Francis Schaeffer. She smiled and said, “I know about Francis, we named our son after him. Francis really influenced my husband and me, when we first met.” Imagine that? Schaeffer was my favorite camper for that week. Maybe it was his grin, maybe there is just something in a name.

For more information on Francis Schaeffer:

I believe “The Shelter” www.rationalpi/theshelter.com is the best Schaeffer site on the Internet. The site contains weekly quotes, a list of books and articles, biography, photos, and links. The Shelter also has an email list, which I am a part of. If you sign up, every week they send a Schaeffer quote, plus some links on web from all areas of interest.
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DAVID HOPKINS  is program director at the Wesleyan Campus Ministry in the small college town of Commerce, Texas. David attends the university there as an English/Philosophy major.  After completing his undergraduate work, David plans to go to Fuller Theological Seminary.  He eventually hopes to be involved in Church planting and development.  David was raised in the Methodist tradition; however, he currently is part of the Axxess Community at Pantego Bible Church [www.axxess.org].  David Hopkins
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Milton Friedman did not favor free immigration with existing welfare state in USA

Milton Friedman did not favor free immigration with existing welfare state in USA

Milton Friedman – Illegal Immigration – PT 2

Uploaded on Dec 18, 2009

(2 of 2) Professor Friedman fields a question on the dynamics of illegal immigration

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May 8, 2013 at 8:41 am

The Heritage Foundation has issued the following statement in response to Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) comments about our new study on the cost of amnesty.

Senator Rubio’s family story is a testament to the American Dream. His parents’ ability to scrimp and save and sacrifice for their children is something in which we all take pride. The story of the Rubios, in fact, makes the point we make with our study. They represent the immigration model that worked for America for centuries and one we need to get back to.

Senator Rubio’s parents came here in 1956, almost a decade before the introduction of the Great Society programs that laid the foundation of the modern welfare state. Over the following four and a half decades, our government has added layer upon layer of government involvement in our lives, creating a dependency that undermines self-respect and self-reliance.

That dependency has been devastating to our society; it has shattered communities, families, and individuals. It is now threatening the American Dream. This is true for all—native and immigrant alike, lawful or unlawful. We do not blame immigrants for being entrapped by that system; we blame the people who created that system. We especially blame people who now seek to expand it.

This is why Heritage has been leading the fight on the need to recreate upward mobility for low-income and middle-income Americans. The current welfare and entitlement systems lower opportunity and make it all but impossible for people to climb the ladder of success.

Heritage has worked with Senator Rubio on numerous issues, and we admire him. He is right: Our study is “an argument for welfare reform and entitlement reform.” He cannot pretend, however, that this already herculean task will be made easier after we have added millions of new people to a failing entitlement system. The time to fix it is now. We are ready to work with him and any man and woman of either party who realizes the urgency of our plight.

As Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, once said:

It is one thing to have free immigration to jobs. It is another thing to have free immigration to welfare. You cannot have both. If you have a welfare state, if you have a state in which a resident is promised certain minimum level of income or a minimum subsistence regardless of whether he works or not produces it or not. Well then it really is an impossibility.

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Petra

I saw Petra in concert in North Little Rock in the 1980’s. Here is the link for the bio.

Classic Petra – 2011 – DVD Documentary

Uploaded on Sep 17, 2011

The videos published here are for pure enjoyment, these videos are very inferior quality to the quality of the original DVD, please let us bless and buy the original DVD. This video is only here on youtube to advertise the job. there’s the address for the official store. God bless:

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Petra Bio – ChristianMusic.com
The Petra Albums * Petra’s Lyrics

petra

Petra

God Fixation is the latest project from a band that has stood the test of time in Christian music. Produced again by master-crafters John and Dino Elefante, along with Petra founder Bob Hartman, the album releases slightly more than one year after the successful Petra Praise 2: We Need Jesus, which launched a popular title cut as the theme song for Calvary Chapel’s Harvest Crusades.

The new album’s title, named after one of its songs, expresses a statement that Petra lead singer John Schlitt says rings through to the heart of where the band stands. “It says that we are fanatics over Jesus,” Schlitt says. “We are hooked on Him. In these times where that isn’t necessarily the cool thing to say or the cool way to say it. I don’t know any other way to put it. When we realize who Jesus really is, our eyes become fixated on him, and it changes our whole way of living.”

Petra is Christian music’s top selling group, with more than six million albums sold, two of those projects having been certified gold. It has earned three Grammy Awards, nine Dove Awards and more than two dozen CCM Christian Reader’s Poll Awards. And after 26 years of music ministry, God speaks through Petra the same way He did at the band’s inception, according to Schlitt: “That Jesus Christ is Lord, and He has a plan for your life. Why try it without Him?” Hartman, who retired from touring in 1995 and now spends his time as the band’s executive producer and songwriter, founded Petra in 1973. In addition to Schlitt, Petra includes drummer, Louie Weaver and guitarist/keyboard player, Kevin Brandow, guitarist Pete Orta and bassist, Lonnie Chapin. Schlitt and Weaver have been with the band for 12 and 16 years, respectively, while the other three members joined in 1997.

Despite numerous membership changes in the band’s lineup across more than a quarter of a century, Petra has maintained an uncompromising stance in its music and point of view. “We knew where we were suppose to go and we’ve kept in that direction,” says Schlitt. “We’ve always tried very hard to not be so staunch in our musical style that we were only going to do it one way and if people didn’t like it, tough. We’ve tried to be very open to what musical styles are popular at the time. Our music is a tool to get across the messages we believe in.”

Until just two years ago, Petra was an “older band” that might not have connected as well with younger audiences as it does today. Then came the addition of Brandow, Orta and Chapin, which Schlitt sees as the unfolding of God’s plan for Petra in the late 1990’s and beyond. “It added some fresh blood to Petra, and kind of a new mindset. And with Louie and myself, there’s a certain maturity here – so it’s almost the better of two worlds. I think anybody that’s seen us live can see that we’re very entertaining to the younger generation.” The evolution in band membership illustrates the power of the Lord’s ministry. Notes Schlitt, “Ministry has lasted longer than any band Petra has put together. The Christian band has changed for the ministry, whereas if it was another scenario if the ministry changed for the Christian band – then you’d start depending on man, and you’d start depending on yourself, and there will come a time when you’d fail. God never fails; He knows what He wants to do.”

VISITOR COMMENTS

When I first got into PETRA I liked to listen to AC DC, Pink Floyd, and stuff like that. I remember thinking to myself, why don’t they have any christian artists like that? Someone told me about PETRA so I blindly bought their THIS MEANS WAR! album. When I got it and listened to the first track, I knew God had answered my prayer.

Paul

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Petra, they are really neat! My dad says he grew up listening to them. I like their song “Beyond Belief” best. I also like them because I can turn the volume up really loud & my mom goes crazy! But I mostly like them for the words. Tamara

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I grew up with Petra ever since I was adopted from Colombia. I love Petra, they inspire me and they also helped me in my bad times. My mom and my brother enjoy them. I always have to listen to their music almost everyday. I don’t know why but there old song the original “This Means War” song is the best! It hypes me up! Their newer songs are the best too! So if you are checking out other christian bands, then check out Petra, you’ll like them forever and you will become a long time fan, like me! ~~Big Petra Fan, Angelina!!~~

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To all the members of Petra, I just want to let you know that you guys are great. God uses you to get to us the teenagers in a very special but new way. P.S. I have 3 of your CDs and hope to have more.
BY: A friend you do not know.

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I OWE MY LIFE TO CHRIST JESUS, BUT I OWE MY NEW LIFE TO PETRA. I WAS SAVED AT THERE CONCERT IN ANIHEM CA IN OCT OF 1997. SINCE THEN MY LIFE HAS BEEN SO FULL. I MET A WONDERFUL CHRISTIAN MAN WE MARRIED AND NOW HAVE A WONDERFUL DAUGHTER SAVANNAH. PETRA REACHED DOWN INTO MY SOUL AND PULLED ME FROM MY DEPRESSED, AND CHRISTLESS WAY OF LIFE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL MINISTRY. I CAN NOT WAIT TELL THE NEXT CONCERT. I PROMISE TO BRING 20 PEOPLE WITH ME. GOD BLESS YOU ALL FOR THE THINGS YOU DO FOR US AND THE LORD.

LISA

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I have to say that Petra is my favorite group. Their music has touched my heart for years. I am 43 years old and my young daughters 12 and 10 love their music as well. Thank you, Petra, for staying true to your calling. Thank you, God, for the anointing you have placed on them. Keep them true to what you called them out to be. In Jesus’ name, Darlene

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I think that it is great that Petra has used their talents for the Lord and I think that they are the greatest christian rock band…and I don’t even really like rock music, but everytime I hear them, I turn the radio up and jam to it! I was at their concert that they played in Augusta, GA at the greenjackets game and I loved it!

Now I am going to their concert in Sandersville, GA for 2 reasons…1) because I absolutely love their music 2) my dad’s band (Safe Haven) is opening for them.

God Bless you, Petra. keep up the good and hard work!

all my love in the name of Jesus,
Brytt, 18, North Augusta, SC

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Petra is awesome – their Praise Songs record was my first real intro to praise music and contemporary Christian music- I didnt know Christian music could sound like that –it was and is one of my favorite cd’s !!! I hope to see them when they come to our area Petra- keep rockin’ amd praisin’ God Bless !!!!!

a Virginia Fan

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Well, I have to say, I’ve liked them for some time now. The very first tape I got of theirs was ‘Praise 11’. They really know how to make you just scream ‘Halelujah!’ I really want to see them but they never seem to be anywhere close by for me. My youngest daughter just loves the music. Infact one of our teachers at our school/church is a christian singer. Her and her husband have tapes out and preform different places around here. She also is in charge of the Jr. choir in which my daughter is part of. A couple weeks ago they sang “I will call upon the Lord” in church. They did it in a round too. They also have done “Lord I lift Your name on High”. Of course while they were singing it you wanted it to rock just a bit more but there are alot of elderly people at the church that, well, may not appreciate it that way.

Oh and one of my all time favorites is “Its our turn now!” that they (Petra) team up with Carmen. I love the video of that one.

Thanx and God Bless. Lori Corso from Kenosha, Wisconsin

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I have been a Petra fan since “NOT OF THIS WORLD” I believe that Bob Hartman is a good song writer and has contributed a geat deal to the Christian Music industry. I like the old and the new stuff .KEEP UP THE GOD WORK !!!!! Thanks, PHILLIP

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Petra is one of my husand’s and my favorite group. They really touch are souls and hearts. When we listen to them we can feel the holy spirit around us. We like it when they play fast songs and slow to really worship our Lord. Petra is really awesome. W e would like to see them in concert. I think they will put on a really good concert. My husband is the one who started to listen to them and then he got me to listen to them.

We like all of their songs, they really hit us, and make us realize that there is a Lord of all and he is our master. And talk to him about your problems or anything you want . Petra always says put God first and we have done that and we thank you for it .

Thank you, David & Cochran from Southern California

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I just want to say to everyone that the awesome group PETRA has really inspired me and touches my life everyday. I got into their music like about twelve years ago. My brother would always listen to them since he was young and he got me into them. I love their type of music because every song that they write and play, it touches me all the time. So who’s ever wanting to know which band plays awesome, It’s PETRA.

Well that’s about It. Petra Fan,

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My favorite Christian music artist of all time is Keith Green.

May 7, 2013 – 7:22 am

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Amy Grant

May 6, 2013 – 8:55 am

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Don Francisco

May 8, 2013 – 7:45 am

Don Francisco – He’s Alive Adam Where Are You w/ASl & Lyrics – Don Francisco Gotta Tell Somebody Don Francisco In South Africa – “Jehoshaphat” I Could Never Promise You w/ASL – Don Francisco Dolly Parton – He´s alive (Full song) I saw Don Francisco in concert in Memphis in the late 70′s with my good […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Dallas Holm

May 8, 2013 – 12:05 am

RISE AGAIN – DALLAS HOLM Dallas Holm Harvest Interview 2008 Come unto Jesus   My friend David Rogers invited to a concert at First Assembly of God church in Memphis in the late 1970′s and we got to hear Dallas Holm sing and David Wilkerson speak. Here is some info on Dallas Holm from his website: […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

 

 
May 9, 2013 – 1:52 am Categories: Current Events | Post a comment

Open letter to President Obama (Part 315)

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

Class warfare just divides the country, and it hits hard working couples, and I am glad Chuck Norris pointed that out.

I never thought I’d be quoting Chuck Norris about Obama’s tax policy, but he has a nice rant that includes a collection of the President’s more offensive statements.

Sort of akin to the list I put together in this post (which also includes some preposterous statements by Secretary of State Clinton).

Here is the key part of Norris’ recent Townhall column.

Obama claims to support free enterprise, self-reliance and individual initiative, but his actions say otherwise. He has forced on America a federal takeover of health care, increased oppressive regulation of private business and sustained massive government spending, and he has expanded our nation’s welfare rolls by 32 percent. He even attacks corporations while accepting campaign funds from the same ventures he condemns. (Ironically, Obama has accepted nearly $120,000 from Bain Capital executives, is the top recipient of funds from BP, has investments in Chinese companies and through a Cayman Islands trust, and staffed his own Cabinet with wealthy CEOs.) In 2008, Obama famously told Joe the Plumber of his plans to confiscate money from small businesses: “It’s not that I want to punish your success; I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you — that they’ve got a chance at success, too. … I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” In 2010, he arrogantly remarked, “I do think at a certain point, you’ve made enough money.” In July, Obama attacked business again, saying, “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” (As I explained in an earlier column, that “somebody” to whom Obama referred was in fact the federal government.) In other acts of class warfare, the president embraced the anarchist Occupy movement, pitted labor unions that heavily fund his campaign against the private sector and blatantly condemned capitalism. Meanwhile, Obama likes to say his tax increases would affect only “millionaires” and “billionaires,” but the actual hikes would hit couples with incomes of $250,000 or higher.

The final point about disingenuous use of the English language seems trivial, but shouldn’t. We’re so used to politicians lying that we give them a pass for medium-level dishonesty.

Anyhow, the Chuck Norris column is a good companion to my video on class warfare.

Five Key Reasons to Reject Class-Warfare Tax Policy

Uploaded by on Jun 15, 2009

President Obama and other politicians are advocating higher taxes, with a particular emphasis on class-warfare taxes targeting the so-called rich. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video explains why fiscal policy based on hate and envy is fundamentally misguided. For more information please visit our web page: http://www.freedomandprosperity.org.

_________

Last but not least, allow me to call your attention to my effort to give the President a remedial lesson about class warfare and the Laffer Curve.

___________

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

May 9, 2013 – 1:47 am Categories: President Obama | Post a comment

Dear Senator Pryor, why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? (“Thirsty Thursday”, Open letter to Senator Pryor)

Dear Senator Pryor,

Why not pass the Balanced  Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion).

On my blog www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, I did not see any of them in the recent debt deal that Congress adopted. Now I am trying another approach. Every week from now on I will send you an email explaining different reasons why we need the Balanced Budget Amendment. It will appear on my blog on “Thirsty Thursday” because the government is always thirsty for more money to spend.

Balanced Budget Suddenly Looks More Appealing: Edward Glaeser

By Edward Glaeser Aug 1, 2011 7:00 PM CT 8 Comments

Q

About Edward Glaeser

Edward Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard, is the author of “Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier.”

More about Edward Glaeser

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) — Under the current political compromise the U.S. debt ceiling will eventually be raised by $2.1 to $2.4 trillion dollars says Bloomberg Government analyst Scott Anchin. The cuts will only lower the nation’s debt to GDP ratio to 76.2% by 2020 says Bloomberg Government analyst Christopher Payne. (Source: Bloomberg)

We have stared hard into the abyss of a national default, and the close call with financial Armageddon is starting to make a balanced-budget amendment look good.

A stringent restriction on public borrowing, if properly crafted, offers the hope for more fiscal responsibility, less wasteful spending and a slightly less terrifying budgetary process. Yet while a well-crafted amendment looks a little better, there are enormous challenges in creating a sensible measure that balances fiscal restraint with the ability to adapt to new circumstances.

Balanced-budget amendments have been in circulation for decades; Minnesota Representative Harold Knutson proposed a constitutional limit on borrowing back in 1936. In 1982, the Senate approved an amendment requiring that “prior to each fiscal year, the Congress shall adopt a statement of receipts and outlays for that year in which total outlays are no greater than total receipts,” but that proposal died in the House. In 1995, the House passed an amendment requiring that “total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that fiscal year;” it failed in the Senate.

The possibility of a balanced-budget amendment is back, and the case today seems a lot stronger than it did in the 1980s and 1990s. I rarely favor changing the Constitution, which can lead to fits of folly like the 18th Amendment that brought about prohibition. Moreover, Congress can run a balanced budget any time it wants simply by cutting spending and raising taxes.

Broken Process

Throughout most of my life, the debt has seemed manageable and the budgetary process seemed to work, more or less. The robust deficits of the Reagan era were reduced with a bipartisan deal signed by President George H.W. Bush. During the Clinton years, the combination of a centrist Democrat who cared about bond markets and an empowered Republican House led to budget surpluses.

During those years, it seemed clear that deficits were rarely the real enemy. The big social costs from big government came from wasteful spending, not from financing that spending with taxes today or tomorrow. If you spend $100 million on a bridge to nowhere, it doesn’t much matter if that bridge is paid for with taxes or debt.

The best argument for balanced budgets is that forcing governments to pay for their spending with current taxes will produce less wasteful spending. The past decade has done much to illustrate the allure of spending without taxation in Washington. The rotation of the parties was supposed to cycle gently back and forth between Democratic generosity and Republican thrift, but that model disappeared in the 1980s. Instead, Democratic taxing and spending is succeeded by Republican spending and not taxing.

Political Pandering

And it’s hard to give any government much credit for cutting taxes without cutting spending. That’s not political courage; it’s pandering.

If we were confident that federal spending was delivering great bang for the buck and that the U.S. was going to be much richer in the future, then perhaps high interest payments could be accepted as the cost of a better tomorrow. But there is plenty of federal spending that could be cut, such as agricultural subsidies, new highway construction and subsidies for homebuilding inTexas. Surely, not every dollar of defense procurement is absolutely necessary.

State Beneficiaries

Another reason to favor more federal fiscal restraint is that we could use a better balance between state and federal spending. Over the past 50 years, the federal government has become heavily involved in financing infrastructure, even when those projects overwhelmingly serve in-state users and could be funded with user fees. Why is it so obvious that the federal government has a role in funding rail between Tampa and Orlando, or a big tunnel in Boston?

Washington’s prominence is explained primarily by the federal government’s ability to borrow, and not by any inherent edge it has in infrastructure development. Federalizing expenditures breaks the connection between the projects’ funders and the projects’ users. Any instance when we’re spending other people’s money is an invitation for waste.

States and localities saddled with balanced-budget rules are relatively parsimonious and spend a fair amount of time debating even relatively modest public investments. That’s far more desirable than the federal government’s freedom to distribute billions without imposing taxes on voters.

Responding to Downturns

The current system’s pathologies should leave us open to the possibility of a new budgeting procedure, but the literature on state balanced-budget rules teaches us that the devil is in the details. In many cases, the state rules have weak teeth, and do little. When they do work, they can seriously constrain a state’s ability to respond to downturns.

During the recent collapse, the federal ability to borrow has thrown a lifeline to local governments, leading to greater preservation of important local services, such as education. Although the federal government could benefit from a little less budgetary freedom, the states either need more ability to borrow during downturns or more investment in rainy-day funds.

Any federal balanced-budget amendment should allow the government to spend more than it collects in taxes during wars and recessions, with the understanding that it will spend less during peaceful times of plenty. If the budget is to be balanced, it should be balanced over the business cycle, not year by year.

State of Emergency

But the crafting of such an amendment won’t be easy. The most natural out, perhaps, is to allow Congress to declare an economic emergency, which would temporarily eliminate the budgetary straightjacket. But then what’s to prevent lawmakers from declaring a perpetual state of emergency?

Another worry is that freezing the federal ability to borrow will create more pseudo-borrowing through semi-public entities, such as the mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I dreaded the prospect of default and would love to see a system that ensures the books are regularly balanced except during extreme times. A balanced-budget amendment might make that happen, but it would have to be done right. It would be far better if we could just count on Congress to live within its means, but the fiscal experience of the last decade has made such optimism untenable.

(Edward Glaeser, an economics professor at Harvard University, is a Bloomberg View columnist. He is the author of “Triumph of the City.” The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this article: Edward L. Glaeser at eglaeser@harvard.edu.

To contact the editor responsible for this article: Max Berley at mberley@bloomberg.net.

May 9, 2013 – 1:37 am Categories: spending out of control | Post a comment

Francis Schaeffer: A Mind and Heart for God by Bruce Little

Francis Schaeffer: A Mind and Heart for God by Bruce Little

Episode 8: The Age Of Fragmentation

Published on Jul 24, 2012

Dr. Schaeffer’s sweeping epic on the rise and decline of Western thought and Culture

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I love the works of Francis Schaeffer and I have been on the internet reading several blogs that talk about Schaeffer’s work and the work below by Bruce Little  was really helpful. Schaeffer’s film series “How should we then live?  Wikipedia notes, “According to Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live traces Western history from Ancient Rome until the time of writing (1976) along three lines: the philosophic, scientific, and religious.[3] He also makes extensive references to art and architecture as a means of showing how these movements reflected changing patterns of thought through time. Schaeffer’s central premise is: when we base society on the Bible, on the infinite-personal God who is there and has spoken,[4] this provides an absolute by which we can conduct our lives and by which we can judge society.  Here are some posts I have done on this series: Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” , episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”, episode 8 “The Age of Fragmentation”, episode 7 “The Age of Non-Reason” , episode 6 “The Scientific Age” ,  episode 5 “The Revolutionary Age” , episode 4 “The Reformation”,  episode 3 “The Renaissance”, episode 2 “The Middle Ages,”, and  episode 1 “The Roman Age,” .

In the film series “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?” the arguments are presented  against abortion (Episode 1),  infanticide (Episode 2),   euthanasia (Episode 3), and then there is a discussion of the Christian versus Humanist worldview concerning the issue of “the basis for human dignity” in Episode 4 and then in the last episode a close look at the truth claims of the Bible.

Francis Schaeffer

4/16/12 at 10:29 AM 2 Comments

Francis Schaeffer: A Mind and Heart for God

On January 30, 2012, had Francis A. Schaeffer still been living he would have celebrated his 100th birthday. In recognition of this fact a number of Christian organizations have been paying tribute Schaeffer as one of the great evangelical Christian thinkers of the 20th Century. One of those is the Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, of which I am director.

There is a growing consensus among older evangelicals that Schaeffer must not be forgotten. So, efforts such as this are important as today many under the age of 40 have little awareness of Schaeffer’s impact on the evangelical world. It has been most encouraging to see the 100th anniversary of his life used as an opportunity to reacquaint the evangelical world with the life and ministry of Francis Schaeffer. Happily, there are a good number of evangelical notables who remember and understand the importance of Schaeffer’s legacy, not only as something to be remembered, but to be followed.
Schaeffer was a Christian theologian, philosopher and Presbyterian pastor (maybe a pastor first and foremost) who spent most of his adult life in Switzerland with his wife Edith and their four children. His insightful mind disturbed the evangelical conscience with his penetrating analysis of culture. In the 1960s he taught evangelicals to take seriously the questions brought to the surface by the anti-authority cultural revolution.

One of his major contributions was that he taught Christians the importance of worldview thinking both in living the Christian life and evangelizing the lost. I believe a strong case can be made that Schaeffer’s thinking, passion, and ministry are still able to inform present-day evangelicals on engaging culture and defending the Faith.

In 1948 Schaeffer moved to Switzerland to begin a children’s ministry (Children for Christ) in worn-torn Europe under the Independent Board of Presbyterian Foreign Missions. In time, however, his ministry developed beyond a children’s ministry to university students. Eventually, the Schaeffer’s purchased a chalet in Huemoz where eventually the ministry known as L’Abri (Fr. Shelter) was birthed 1955 (the story of the L’Abri ministry can be found in Edith Schaeffer’s wonderful book, The Tapestry). Truly it was a shelter for many who were thrown into intellectual and spiritual chaos by the anti-establishment forces of the 1960s encouraged by existentialism. In 1960, Time magazine took note of Schaeffer’s ministry in the Swiss mountains and referred to it as a unique ministry to the European intellectual.

Over the years, hundreds (probably thousands) of people came (some for days others for months) to L’Abri where many found Christ as Savior. This was especially true in the 60s and 70s and those of us who lived through those times remember the political and social upheaval as students on both sides of the Atlantic went into a rebellious mode full throttle. Many in evangelicalism merely condemned the senseless destruction (of course, in one sense it needed to be condemned) and ignored the legitimate questions being asked by the students.

Schaeffer, on the other hand, listened carefully to their questions and helped them to see how historic Christianity answered those questions consistently within the reality all lived. While it was a time of entrenchment for many in evangelicalism, Schaeffer engaged the young people and the intellectuals (many were existentialists) on their own terms. He showed them that their explanation of the world was inconsistent with and insufficient for the world in which they lived. Then he would show how Christianity answered those questions.

A hallmark of Schaeffer’s apologetic was that it was driven by a deep and abiding love for humanity. He truly empathized with those who were struggling with life in a world that was terribly out of joint. I am told that Schaeffer would spend hours with one person asking questions until the individual had sufficient information to think further on the matter.

To understand Schaeffer’s approach to evangelism and his apologetic thought one must give attention to the three works that reveal the foundation of his understanding of man, reality, and the Bible. These three books serve as the foundation for all his other books, forming a trilogy: The God Who Is There, Escape from Reason, and He Is There and He Is Not Silent. According to Schaeffer all his other books fit into these as “spokes of the wheel into the hub”. In 1982, the works of Francis Schaeffer were edited by Schaeffer and published in a five-volume set in which the books in the trilogy are in the order in which they were written. This order reveals the development of his thinking apologetically and is essential to understanding Schaeffer and his apologetic method.

In these three books, one learns how Schaeffer’s view of man shaped his apologetic approach (which for him was part and parcel of his evangelism). Historic Christianity, according to Schaeffer, was creation centered and central to creation was that God created man in his image. The first apologetic implication of creation was that man had intrinsic worth which meant he was to be treated with respect and love. This truth shaped Schaeffer’s life and ministry as he was motivated and directed by love and compassion for man as a person. Apologetics, he urged, must be “shaped on the basis of love for the person as a person.”

While Schaeffer did not minimize the historic fall recorded in Genesis, he argued that the fall “did not lead to machineness, but to fallen-manness.” There was a greatness to man even though he could also be very cruel. He spoke of man being noble, not because of his achievements, but because of who he was as a creation of God—man was not a zero, to use Schaeffer’s words. Only Christianity, Schaeffer said, could explain both the greatness and the cruelty of man. This truth moved Schaeffer to take all men seriously and to answer the honest questions of fallen man. Furthermore, he argued that the Christian must take care to understand the person by looking carefully at cultural artifacts (especially the arts) to understand the underlying worldviews and presuppositions revealed in them.

The second apologetic implication of creation for Schaeffer was the intelligibility of creation. The categories of the mind of man correspond to the structure of the world as God had created both. The result, Schaeffer argued, was that common ground existed between the Christian and the non-Christian. This is not something man put upon the universe; it is simply the way it is. Man lives in a morally structured, rational universe and no matter how he might try to live against the way the universe is, Schaeffer was sure it would push back at him and create tension for his non-Christian presuppositions. Of course this was not a game for Schaeffer and he urged the Christian always to give the answer as understood in light of historic Christianity and to do so in a loving and compassionate tone.

He was convinced that when speaking to the non-Christian the first truth to present was that of the truth of the real world and the reality of man himself. For Schaeffer, the real point of contact with the modern (and post modern mind) was reality. Regardless what presuppositions a man claims as grounds for his worldview, Schaeffer showed how they can be tested for truthfulness when pressed against the reality in which every person must live.

In 1978 Schaeffer learned that he had lymphoma cancer succumbing to it in May 1984. However, almost until his death he maintained an active speaking schedule. During his life time he carried on a voluminous correspondence with many of the great evangelical minds of the day. Most of this correspondence is in the Francis A. Schaeffer Collection (of which I am director) given by the Francis Schaeffer Foundation which is now under the custodianship of the library at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He wrote 27 books (and many pamphlets), and produced two films with his son Frank. Of the two films, the most well-known is How Should We then Live? which is a companion to the book by the same title. The second film, Whatever Happened to the Human Race with Everett Koop, Schaeffer shows the social and philosophical consequences of abortion. He wrote on responsible stewardship of creation long before others were talking about it. Schaeffer not only could think with the best minds of his day, he lived out his Christianity in very practical ways and urged all in the church to do the same.

The concluding thought is that Schaeffer remains an important apologetic resource for Christians in the 21st century. It goes without saying that the evangelical world owes much to the life and ministry of Francis Schaeffer. Every now and then, God gives His Church a unique voice for His people—Schaeffer was such a voice. It is without fear of contradiction to say that Schaeffer was one of the evangelical giants of the latter half of the 20th century. We will do well to listen, for to do otherwise will deny that which was intended for our profit.

Related posts:

Francis Schaeffer’s wife Edith passes away on Easter weekend 2013 Part 7 (includes pro-life editorial cartoon)

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story Pt.1 – Today’s Christian Videos The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story – Part 3 of 3 Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ Picture of Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith from the […]

The Mark of the Christian by Francis Schaeffer Part 1

  THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN – CLASS 1 – Introduction Published on Mar 7, 2012 This is the introductory class on “The Mark Of A Christian” by Francis Schaeffer. The class was originally taught at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Overland Park, KS by Dan Guinn from FrancisSchaefferStudies.org as part of the adult Sunday School hour […]

Francis Schaeffer’s wife Edith passes away on Easter weekend 2013 Part 6 (includes pro-life editorial cartoon and tribute from son-in-law Ranald Macaulay)

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story Pt.1 – Today’s Christian Videos The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story – Part 3 of 3 Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ Picture of Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith from the […]

Francis Schaeffer’s wife Edith passes away on Easter weekend 2013 Part 5 (includes pro-life editorial cartoon)

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story Pt.1 – Today’s Christian Videos The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story – Part 3 of 3 Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ Picture of Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith from the […]

Francis Schaeffer’s wife Edith passes away on Easter weekend 2013 Part 4 (includes pro-life editorial cartoon)

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story Pt.1 – Today’s Christian Videos The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story – Part 3 of 3 Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ Picture of Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith from the […]

Francis Schaeffer’s wife Edith passes away on Easter weekend 2013 Part 3 (includes pro-life editorial cartoon)

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story Pt.1 – Today’s Christian Videos The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story – Part 3 of 3 Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ Picture of Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith from the […]

“Schaeffer Sundays” Francis Schaeffer’s own words concerning humanist dominated public schools in USA even though country was founded on a Christian base

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” (Episode 2) SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis The 45 minute video above is from the film series created from Francis Schaeffer’s book “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” with Dr. C. Everett Koop. This book  really helped develop my political views concerning […]

“Schaeffer Sundays” Francis Schaeffer’s own words concerning where the Bible-believing Christians been the last few decades

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis The 45 minute video above is from the film series created from Francis Schaeffer’s book “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” with Dr. C. Everett Koop. This book  really helped develop my political views […]

Taking on Ark Times Bloggers on various issues Part E “Moral absolutes and abortion” Francis Schaeffer Quotes part 5(includes the film SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS) (editorial cartoon)

I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control  and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […]

“Schaeffer Sundays” Francis Schaeffer’s own words concerning religious liberals and humanists

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 5) TRUTH AND HISTORY Published on Oct 7, 2012 by AdamMetropolis The 45 minute video above is from the film series created from Francis Schaeffer’s book “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” with Dr. C. Everett Koop. This book  really helped develop my political views concerning abortion, […]

May 9, 2013 – 1:34 am Categories: Francis Schaeffer | Post a comment

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 4) “Bad company corrupts…” In chapter 2 verse 11 the father has to teach his son how to be delivered from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things. You don’t want to be around those kinds of people. From those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, you want to make sure your children aren’t around those kinds of people who delight in doing evil and rejoice in the perversity of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. Don’t let your sons around those kinds of people!

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing sermon on the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture before on my blog.)

PART 4

Today the subject is very simple: BE WISE IN SELECTING YOUR COMPANIONS.

We have been members of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock since 1997 and during that time Dennis Rainey had taught a six grade Sunday School Class that has had a big impact on lots of kids at Fellowship. I actually had the opportunity to be a teacher in the 6th grade when Wilson took this same course and it was a very powerful illustration that demonstrated how bad company corrupts good morals that many students still remember. We taught the course the way that Dennis had written it.  Here are the exact words of Dennis Rainey:

Outside the guidance we continue to have at home, nothing will influence our children as much as the choice of their friends. The Bible speaks pointedly about the power of the people we spend time. Paul wrote: “Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals'” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

The opposite is also true: Good company guards against the development of bad habits. Many parents are so afraid of peer pressure they seldom use “good” peer pressure to their advantage.

For years I taught a sixth-grade Sunday school class, and one of the highlights was the “bad apples” demonstration. Surprisingly, most youth today have not heard the old saying, “One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel.”

On a Sunday morning early in the nine-month class, I would bring some apples. I called them my “buddies.” I usually had one beautiful, shiny red apple and a couple others that looked nice but had at least one bruise.

“These two apples with the bruises represent a couple of buddies you should not spend time with in junior high,” I would say. “They have a dark side to them, a compromised area of their lives. This good apple represents you, a good Christian teenager. The good apple sees no problem with the bruised apples. He says to himself, these are my buddies. They wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. They’re not that bad.”

Then I’d put the apples together in a plastic bag and say, “These three apples are going to become close buddies for a few months. I’ll put them in a closet, and we’ll check on them in a few months at the end of the class and see what happens to the good apple.”

In the last class of the year, I would read 1 Corinthians 15:33 and then invite a member of the class to come up and pull the plastic bag out of a paper sack.

It never failed—the two bad buddies had really made an impact on the good apple. The identity of all three apples had been lost; the bag now contained discolored, mushy apple soup. This lesson demonstrated how bad company can corrupt and even consume the best young Christian.

____________

John MacArthur

I remember hearing Dr. Adrian Rogers say that if he had to do it over again he would read from Proverbs every day to his kids. They turned out to be great kids and they were raised right. Nevertheless, if he had to do it over again he thought a more emphasis on Proverbs is the way to go. That is why I am spending so much time in Proverbs with my kids today.

John MacArthur does a great job on Proverbs and here is a portion of his sermon on Proverbs.

There’s a fourth principle and this must be taught as well…and very very important. A father must teach his son…select your companions…select your companions. You get on the offensive. A father has the responsibility to teach his children how to choose their friends. What did the Apostle Paul say? Bad company corrupts…what?…good morals. Bad company corrupts good morals. Your children, believe me, cannot rise above their acquaintances. Rarely does a child have the capability to elevate himself beyond the constituent group in which he functions. You have to select and help him learn to select companions and not let them select him.

Go back to chapter 1 for a moment, I’ll give you an illustration of it. Verse 10, a father would say to his son, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” In other words, don’t get sucked in to the gang. If they say, and they appeal on the basis of excitement and adventure and a thrill, if they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocence without cause, let us swallow them alive like Sheol, even whole as those who go down to the pit.” Let’s kill somebody and we’ll find all kinds of precious wealth and fill our houses with gold, throw in your lot with us and we’ll all have one purse. Here’s the gang appealing to the kid. And the gang comes along and sucks up one other person for their own wicked purposes.

It’s amazing, isn’t it, this kind of action, for one fleeting moment of pleasure wicked men are willing to take a life or inflict life‑long trauma on someone pointless, senseless, gang‑violence, like those members of that gang that shot Stacy Limb last week with a 357 Magnum because they wanted to take the wheels off her car. It’s an unthinkable thing that people will do for a thrill. And they want to suck the innocent and the naive and the unwitting in to that. Think about that little boy a week ago in the news who wouldn’t take dope with his friends in New York City, so they set him on fire. The enticements can be pretty strong. Fathers, we have a tremendous task. You may not live in an inner city ghetto like New York, or East Los Angeles, but I’ll tell you what, there is tremendous peer pressure coming upon your sons to conform to a standard of conduct that is the standard of conduct of the people around them. You must teach them to select their companions and not be selected and then intimidated into that kind of alliance.

The whole appeal here is to the father to fulfill his responsibility. In chapter 2 verse 11 the father has to teach his son how to be delivered from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things. You don’t want to be around those kinds of people. From those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, you want to make sure your children aren’t around those kinds of people who delight in doing evil and rejoice in the perversity of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. Don’t let your sons around those kinds of people. You instruct them how to choose their companions, those who lift them up.

Proverbs 18:24 is kind of an interesting verse just jumping outside of our ten chapter fence a little bit. Proverbs 18:24 at first reading looks a little hard to understand in English, “A man of many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” It’s kind of an interesting verse in the Hebrew. It says a man of many rea comes to ruin, but there is a aheb who sticks closer than a brother. It’s two different words for friend. A man who just wants a lot of acquaintances, who wants to be everybody’s buddy is going to be in trouble. Better you should have a deep friend, an aheb, a loving friend who is loyal and honest and uplifting and holds you accountable, who lifts you up. Better a few of the right kind of friendships than a lot of the wrong kind. Fathers, you have the responsibility to God for the process of your children learning how to choose their companions. This is a father’s duty…son, fear your God, guard your mind, obey your parents, select your companions.

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WHAT DOES THIS VERSE MEAN? (I CORINTHIANS 15:33)

33 Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character.

May 9, 2013 – 1:10 am Categories: Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Comments (1)

Francis Schaeffer’s wife Edith passes away on Easter weekend 2013 Part 16 (includes pro-life editorial cartoon)

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story Pt.1 – Today’s Christian Videos

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story – Part 3 of 3

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE

Published on Oct 6, 2012 by

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Picture of Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith from the 1930′s above. I was sad to read about Edith passing away on Easter weekend in 2013. I wanted to pass along this fine article below.

Wife of Late Pastor, Author, Abortion Opponent Francis Schaeffer Passes Into Eternity

March 30, 2013 | Filed under: Featured,Life & Society,World | By:

Edith Schaeffer, wife of the late Francis Schaeffer, a reknown pastor, author, abortion opponent and founder of the L’Abri conference center in Switzerland passed away today. She was 98.

Schaeffer was born into missionary life in China. She met her husband Francis in the 1930′s at a Christian event in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Later, the two founded the Christian conference center L’Abri in Switzerland, where Edith often tended to meals for the guests. It is stated that she tended a sizable vegetable garden in an effort to have sufficient food for those visiting.

Her husband Francis was a prolific writer and often denounced the secular humanism that he saw permeating society.

“Why has our society changed?” he once asked. “The answer is clear — the consensus of our society no longer rests upon a Christian basis, but upon a humanistic one. Humanism is man putting himself at the center of all things, rather than the creator God.”

Francis also released two films,  How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture and Whatever Happened to the Human Race?, the first of which chronicled the history of the Church from the early Church to current times. The second film addressed the issues of abortion and euthanasia, which Schaeffer strongly opposed.

Francis Schaeffer died in 1984 of lymphoma, and was said to be influential in the lives of many Christian leaders during his time.

The Schaeffer’s son, Frank, wrote a tribute to his mother this morning, which was published in The Huffington Post. Frank, who departed from his parent’s beliefs a number of years ago, had remained in touch with his mother.

“My mother Edith Schaeffer died today. … She has just gone to be with the Lord, as she would put it,” he wrote. “She died at home which was her wish.”

He included in his list of warm memories of his mother “[being] in the garden at dawn weeding and watering her wonderful flowers and vegetables,” “taking impractical detours to look at something lovely” and “praying out loud over meals long — so long — at the table, as she forgot that for the rest of us prayer was mostly a ritual, though for her it was an endless conversation with the eternal.”

Frank also stated that his mother expressed a “horror at the ‘harshness’ … of so many evangelical religious people and the way they treated ‘the lost’ and [would declare], ‘No wonder no one wants to be a Christian if that’s how we treat people!’”

Edith Schaeffer, in addition to caring for her husband and children, and helping run L’Abri, was also a prolific author. Her books included The Hidden Art of Homemaking: Creative Ideas for Enriching Everyday Life, What is a Family and 10 Things Parents Must Teach Their Children.

L’Abri continues to this day, and has expanded to several countries, including in the United States, with facilities in both Massachusetts and Minnesota.

President Obama’s own words put in a pro-life poster:

(Francis did a great job in his film series “How Should we then live?” in looking at how humanism has affected art and culture in the Western World in the last 2000 years. My favorite episodes include his study of the Renaissance, the Revolutionary age, the age of Nonreason, and the age of Fragmentation.)

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May 9, 2013 – 1:04 am Categories: Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Post a comment