College

Is college necessary?

Growing up as a child in suburbia in the late '80's through the '90's, college was never a question. It was presupposed that everyone would go to college. In this presupposition it was assumed that higher education was the answer to a high paying job. It was also assumed that if you did not go to college that you had very low aspirations and that you were not normal (end result=peer pressure to send your child to college). But why am I using the past tense, for this is still true today.

Did you know about half of all college students fail to graduate with a degree? I wonder how they survive. What are they doing now? I for one am in the US Navy. I went to school at the behest of my parents, but for only three semesters. I did not have enough savings to pay for college, did not want to take out a loan for college, and was not interested in college at the time. I should not have been there without clear direction of what I intended to accomplish by going to college. Without clear direction it is a waste of time. I tried to redeem some of the time by holding Bible studies on campus to some avail. I also debated and was exposed to several types of individuals: "christian" cultists, cult-like Christians, atheists, pagans, wiccans, and new agers. I in turn exposed them to Biblical Christianity. May God's Word not return void. Now that I am in the Navy I am getting my degree paid for by the Navy. Through Thomas Edison State College I will get many credits for my Military training as well as transfer credits for my time in college. It is a distance learning degree and will cost me only the price of the books. For me college is not necessary to have a productive career. I am only one example of the proof that college is not necessary. I will summarize some more examples:

My brother-in-law started working full-time when he was 16 yrs. He is now a traveling campus preacher. He gets support from churches to spread the gospel on campuses across the nation and works during "off" times to supplement the gifts. He has no lack or "want" for which God does not provide. He is not a college graduate. His current vocation is what he wants to do. Not many in the private sector can say the same about their employment.

An acquaintance of mine owns his own construction business. As I told a young friend of mine: "Start working while you are young. Pick up a trade, learn it. Spend those "four years" learning your job while making contacts in the field you are working in. By the time college graduates are looking for a job, you will be applying for a business loan to support starting your own business. When the graduates are promoted to floor manager in some corporate entity, you will promote yourself to "CEO" of your own small business." That is what this acquaintance of mine did.

I know of a young man who straight out of high school started a franchise Subway. At 19 yrs old he owned his own business...If i am not mistaken, he is now attending college and is able to afford it.

Have you ever considered not going to college?

Now break the shackles of "common" persuasion and make up your own mind. If you want to go to college and you have a purpose to go there (id est to be a lawyer, doctor, engineer, et cetera), then by all means go to college. I must ask, however "What do you expect out college?". Do you think it is healthy for young, developing minds to be intellectually and morally assaulted? In our day and age education has been replaced by indoctrination into secular humanism (see also Thought Reform 101). And morality...Send young people hundreds of miles away from their God given guides: parents and you can imagine the results (see The Dorm-Key Ritual).

Also remember to stay out of debt and owe no man anything (Ro. 13:8). "Impossible," you say. Not impossible if you know where to look: cheap education. Seriously check out this link. If you are interested in this manual Dr. Gary North wrote, I can sell copies for $97.00 to anyone interested (it is in the purchase agreement that you can resell but it must be for $97). Email me at msdavis1984@gmail.com

Are there any alternatives to college?

College alternatives to traditional styles are online degrees or correspondence course degrees from fully accredited universities. There are also apprenticeship programs for trades (carpentry, plumbing, etc). Additionally you can start working right away for a job that trains their employees and offers degree programs (paying for a degree in their employees' field of work). That is sort of what I am doing. I went to college for three semesters but stopped because I ran out of money and I joined the Navy; the Navy is paying for my degree and my degree is related to my job field.

Draft edited, post in its 'finished' form.

Pets, Children, and Followers of God

After this day's work I get home and eat dinner and feed the dog and then...

Chase her all over the neighborhood because she ran...

She is a good dog. Problem is she is a dog. There is no reasoning with her. There is no way to get through to her that I don't want her to run away. She is selfish and willful. Much like a child 5 yrs old or younger. Training is important, conditioning is key, expectations are crucial. Above all is heart. Not the heart attitude of the one being trained but the one who is doing the training.

I am learning this lesson with "my" dog. I emphasize "my" because I have hitherto fore not owned the dog that was my wife's. I did not like the dog, very much as she did not like me for marrying her "pet". My wife thought that she had trained her dog sufficiently. I simply present the evidence that Lady, the dog, would not recognize my authority as the head of the house, or in dog terms "the top dog" (authority).

Everything she does is for her own benefit (selfishness). She only obeys when she has been conditioned to a specific response in a specific situation (id est She automatically sits when she is about to receive a treat; you cannot even get her to do anything else except possibly to lay down but that is the extent of her obedience.)

There being an unresolved issue, my strategy has been to be mean to her. This wasn't intentional. It was just the dominant dog, me, trying to show her who was in charge. It wasn't working. I decided to change my plan of attack since I didn't like being mean. I started being nice to her by giving her treats and even giving her some of my scraps from the table which she thoroughly loves. So on the basis of our tenuous friendship I would attempt to show her that she needed to listen to me. It hasn't started working yet. I need more tools: as in books on training. I don't know enough to accomplish my goal. When I attempted my training session with her she soon lost interest in obeying commands. But as soon as we were ready to go back in the house she readily sat down when I told her to do so. This action disproves the notion that she didn't understand what I wanted her to do when I said, "Sit" (willfulness).

Overall this has been a learning experience for me. I know that young children are very similar in mentality to this example that we have been observing. I have seen these authority issues, selfishness issues, and willfulness issues ( exempli gratia in my own childhood growing up). I also know that as children get older and their intellectual faculties develop it can become easier to work with a child through reasoning. Again training is important (this shows what is acceptable behavior), conditioning is key (this establishes acceptable behavior as the status quo), expectations are crucial (this shows the why behind the acceptable behavior). And again above all is heart (the attitude of the one administering the training is the premier character trait that will be passed on to the child in this whole experience).

To end with a thought provoking question: Do these negative qualities reflect the nature of your relationship to God: authority issues, selfishness, and willfulness?

Coram Deo.

Life

Ah well, I haven't posted in a few days. I'm getting ready for work right now so I'll post when I get back. For a quick recap of my "weekend": I work seven days straight with two days off. I am on rotating shift work with this cycle being broken only by a Training Week (630am-430pm) of four days in length with an accompanying four day weekend. I came off of the "Mids" shift (1130pm-730am) on Wed morning, staying late (1230pm) to take the DANTES administered ACT to raise my score from last year (and because it was >365 days ago Navy is paying for it). Just in case you were wondering: Days shift of which Day 1 starts this morning (Saturday) is 730am-330pm and Swings shift is 330pm-1130pm. So in order in the cycle: Days, T-Week, Swings, and Mids; three 7-day work weeks one 4 day work week and 10 days of "weekend". This is my cycle...I'm now used to it having been there for 8 months now with slightly <2 years to go.

Ciao.

Geneva Bible

If you want a taste of the Geneva Bible updated with modern spelling, et cetera you can download a pdf of Romans.

If you are wondering "Why use a version I've never heard of/Why use an older version/Is it better?" then read Marshall Foster’s “History and Impact of the Geneva Bible”.

If you are now interested in buying your own copy you can pre-order your own copy through Vision Forum.

I will order one pretty soon I think. Just determining if I want to spend the money on it right now. I currently own a KJV Greek-Hebrew Key-Word study Bible as well as an ESV New Reformation Study Bible.

Originals and/or facsimiles can also be purchased but are expensive from what I've seen and I'm not personally interested in going backwards in style of English, just too much work for a casual read.

Visit WWW.GREATSITE.COM to buy an original Geneva Bible, or facsimile:

1. A First Edition / First Printing of the 1560 Geneva Bible
2. Contains ALL 80 Books of the Geneva Bible, not just 66
3. Is printed in a much larger text that is MUCH easier to read
4. Is available in both a lower-cost hardcover bonded leather, AND a more expensive "heirloom-quality" hand-tooled top grain calf edition. It also comes with a FREE genuine Geneva Bible leaf and FREE FED EX AIR Shipping on every purchase.

LL Brown Publishing to buy a Facsimile of the 1599 edition.

Quoted from A Puritan's Mind.

That is all.

Covenant Children

Nix baptismal regeneration. Nix the idea that children are just simply heathen being raised inside the church. The question is, what is the state of the soul of Covenant Children. Why do children leave the faith of their parents? The trend in the Reformed denominations is that the children raised in these circles go astray. Today we have several ministries responding to this crisis. Focus on the Family, Vision Forum, and No Greater Joy ministries place great emphasis on the family and their role in bringing up children in the way they should go. Baptists in general place great emphasis on the family unit and personal piety. What are the Reformed Presbyterians doing wrong?

It is a world and life view issue that needs to be dealt with. Reformed Christian parents believe in the sovereignty of God. But how does this belief affect the way they live and think? I like the quote "Pray as if it all depends upon God, but live as if it all depends upon you". Now I may have slightly misquoted Mr Unknown Source but the idea is there. Now this quote as I understand it is not trying to pervade autonomy of man. But in light of the truth that God is sovereign and works through man, we must take action and if consistent with the Law-Word of God our actions are guided by God. We cannot sit idly by and allow our children to casually meander down the expressway to hell. Understanding that God turns the heart, we must do all we can do to steer our children towards God and a God-ward outlook. For in doing this God may use these actions to draw them unto himself. There will be more to follow on this subject, especially since I have my first baby on the way. Most of my current knowledge of children is based upon the Bible, my parents, other parents, observation, experience in aiding my parents with younger siblings and books that I have read. Very soon I shall add to the litany of sources: personal experience with my own children.

The reason I am cringing at this moment is that I am saddened by reports I hear of young men whom I once called "friend". One particular young man was raised in a reformed church (OPC, in fact), by parents who love the LORD, and was taught "critical thinking" through his homeschooling experience. His parents did not see the folly in sending him to a school halfway across the country with no one to be his taskmaster. This is an amended version of a conversation I had with a Christian friend about our old friend:

my Christian friend: you talk to [old friend's first name] recently?
groceryguy19: no
groceryguy19: how is he?
my Christian friend: i dont talk to him any more
groceryguy19: oh
my Christian friend: hes wasting his computer talents...thinking he has a future being in a band
my Christian friend: and hes a heavy stoner
groceryguy19: [old friend's first name] who?
my Christian friend: [old friend's full name]
groceryguy19: aw...thats a shame
my Christian friend: yeaah
groceryguy19: thats why kids shouldn't leave their parents for college...
my Christian friend: yeah....
groceryguy19: for this reason shall a man leave father and mother
groceryguy19: to cleave unto his wife

It pains me to hear this. Even if this were not true about my old friend it serves as an anecdote about what really goes on with covenant children who go astray.

Another young man whom I considered to be a good friend for a long time even after we fell out of contact is another example of "something missing" in the life of covenant children. He is also a rock band type and is certainly living it up. He apparently drinks alcohol to oblivion and cusses with no reticence or reservation.

Is that "something missing" God? I don't know. By all appearances the answer is yes. But God's election is sure and if they are of the elect God will one day call them from out of their sinful wickedness back into the light of his glorious grace. They will rejoin the covenant community of God but this time as heirs and not as followers of Jesus who were part of the multitudes hungry for the bread he would feed them with.

I hope and pray that they would seek God in sincerity and humility; and that God would show his love towards them and cleanse them with the blood of his son Jesus Christ our Lord whose blood was shed for the remission of sin. Amen.

First one is always a test...

At least for me that is the case and probably for many others. My goal in establishing this blog is first for my growth as a writer. I will try to write as often as possible. Secondly I will attempt to write on a topic that really piques people's interests and that few others really seem to want to talk about: religion. Lastly though certainly not last in importance I will do all I that do unto the Glory of God. My personal creed: Coram Deo.