Adam Smith and Edmund Burke are the most significant figures of the founding in the conservative movement of America. Their similarities and differences in the early 19th century formed the basis for the traditional moral values group and the libertarian group comprised in the conservative movement. These two sides of the conservative movement have lasted to this day, with the addition of the econ [...]
Michael Dowd, a minister and author of the book Thank God for Evolution!: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, writes the following in his recently published article “Thank God for the New Atheists”: “Let the story of evolution be told in ways that engender familial love and gratitude, that we are related to everything—not just monkeys, but jellyfish and [...]
Today’s major political parties do not understand true conservative principles. Part of the cause for this is contemporary politicians do not know what the basis for the conservative movement is, or was, at the start of American history. Few resources and teachers today know what the history of the conservative movement is—how it got to where it is today. We can make sense of the conservativ [...]
Many Americans, unfortunately, maybe even most Americans, know more about Mel Gibson’s meltdown or Lindsay Lohan’s trial, than they do about the 2500 page healthcare bill or Elena Kagan’s judicial philosophy. The drama of the personal affairs of the rich and famous act as a screen to cover up so much more that is going on in our nation and our world. We should be much more inform [...]
Isabel Paterson writes in her book The God of the Machine, “Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.” ((Isabel Paterson, “The Humanitarian with the Guillotine” in The God of the Machine (1943), 235.)) Thomas Sow [...]
President Barack Obama has ventured into the realm of Biblical politics, while he encourages us to read our Bibles, he has expressed concern that biblical application to every area of life isn’t feasible or practical. As he sees it, the Defense Department couldn’t function because it would supposedly be in violation of the Sermon on the Mount. The Pharisee’s used this same techni [...]
When hostilities ended with England in 1782, some people wanted to establish a monarchy with George Washington as king. Washington intervened; putting an end to an idea that he strongly believed was wrong for the country. Just like the Roman farmer Cincinnatus, who centuries before served his country without question and without ambition, Washington longed to return to his beloved Mount Vernon, bu [...]
Whose version of Christianity should we follow? President Obama points out several different passages, which taken out of context and applied to situations that they weren’t given for, seem incongruous and unattainable. The New Testament is very clear that there are a number of issues that have changed sine the Old Testament. Unfortunately many Christians (and non-Christians) have fallen int [...]
“[T]he English students at Harvard University once insisted on the Boston telephone book being placed on the reading list alongside the works of Shakespeare as . . . there is no greater merit in the one than the other. Good and evil are, therefore, totally relative to the society in which these values are held and the attempt by one society . . . to impose their values on others is ‘cultural imper [...]
In spite of some nostalgic features of the past, there is so much more that we would never want to return to. In today’s show, Gary looks at specific areas that are much improved today over even just a hundred years ago. God has placed us in the present, and has given us the tools we need in order to make changes in our society for the better. [...]
An engaged electorate is a beautiful thing to behold. For a generation or two, hard working, industrious, and long-suffering Americans had neglected politics. After 1925, Evangelical Christians did not connect their religious beliefs with the social sphere. They did not have a biblical worldview of culture and politics. I don’t mean they didn’t vote. I suspect that they believed that if they did t [...]
John Newton went to sea at the age of 11 and was forced to enlist on a British man-of-war seven years later. He was captured after deserting the intolerable conditions and exchanged to the crew of a slave ship. He began reading a book he found on board— Imitation of Christ—which began to sow the seeds of conversion. Newton eventually gave his life to Christ during a storm which threatened the ship [...]
It is pretty typical for people to look back with nostalgia on the “good old days” of their youth, or even some idealized time before they were born. These fond thoughts often overlook the negative aspects of the past however, the lack of modern technologies and conveniences, less advanced medical procedures, and, longer and harder work days. The book of Ecclesiastes indicates that the [...]
In order to understand the book of Revelation you have to read it against the backdrop of the Old Testament, and you also have to understand the subject matter and the timing as to when these events were to take place. The book of Revelation isn’t describing events in the distant future, it’s describing events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Declaring [...]
Ripping a verse out of context in the book of Revelation is standard fare for a lot of Christians. They look at events in the world around us, then go to the Bible and pull out a prophecy that they can make fit and call it fulfillment of Bible prophecy. In order to accurately interpret the book of Revelation, you must know the rest of the Bible well, and most people lack this Bible knowledge. [...]
Gary receives a lot of emails, some with valid questions and theories, and some completely off base. One such email talks about images the emailer sees in the fault lines in the Gulf of Mexico that supposedly link with Bible prophecy. This is similar to people who see the Gospel in the stars or a secret code hidden in the Bible. [...]
I was asked the following question by a Facebook friend: “How do you argue against gay marriage when pro-gay marriage activists say that gay [sic] marriage is forbidden in the Old Testament, but so is [eating] shellfish. They try to say that along with gay marriage that other stuff like shellfish is also forbidden. How do we as Christians respond? Arguments like the “shellfish game” fill the inter [...]
Benedict Arnold;s treasonous acts against America during the War of Independence should not be viewed any less harshly, but his second wife, Peggy, probably was not the innocent woman she claimed to be. Peggy Arnold may have been providing secrets to the British even before her husband decided to become a turncoat. Socialite Peggy Shippen was 18 and from a wealthy Philadelphia family when she marr [...]
Gary reviews the parallels between the classic film The Magnificent Seven and today’s political arena. Politicians have a lot in common with the bandits in the movie, apart from the Western setting. Are there seven amongst modern men willing to face such villains? [...]
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is go [...]
