Pro Rege Papers

A few posts ago, I discussed and refuted an argument put forth by an evolutionist who said that the belief in God was “anathema to the foundation of our culture.” In case I didn’t hammer home my point hard enough, I will include a few more of the many, many facts for those who still doubt Christianity’s influence.

In “A Common Misconception,” I pointed out the part of the scientific influence of Christianity.
Many of the scientific concepts we take for granted came from people who believed in creation. On the positive side, creation and a belief in the true God and Bible provide the impetus for the further exploration of the wonderful universe. God commanded us to fill the earth, (Gen. 1:18) and part of peopling the earth is exploring it. On the other hand, if everything is a random event, came about by chance, and has no order, why should we try to figure it out? One interesting thing (I don’t know if its true) is that science was once called a form of worshipping God.

Specifically, Christianity is the impetus for science, because all other religions either say that this world is a delusion, or they just say that you should keep to yourself inside the confines of ancient traditions and machinery. This was a big part of the struggle of the missionaries to Christianize and civilize other peoples. (Although I don’t think they should have tried to make all other peoples English)

I thought it interesting when I first read that phrase that the author used the term “anathema,” which came into wide use in the Roman Catholic Church, for the pope’s curse on someone, something, or an entire community. I’m not saying that the Romanists are actually Christians but all the same, it is interesting.

Christianity is the basis of morals and charity, if there is no God, then you’re not accountable to him for your actions. Yes, you might say that the law is that you don’t violate anyone else’s person or hurt their feelings; but this still leaves leeway for other sins, and doesn’t provide for charity. Nietsche said that charity and compassion are weaknesses. In a Christian based society, like ours, a conscience is cultivated and kept relatively intact by the dictates of a society that still has the trappings of Christian values. Europe is fast losing these. But in a completely secular or barbaric society, the conscience is quickly weakened and eventually almost disappears. This evidenced in the extreme by the kids who torched the churches down South recently. After being caught and asked why they did it, they answered, “For the fun of it.” You see, they were being taught that there are no morals or standards by their college professors etc. This breeds a kind of nihilism that in turn breeds crime, and depression. By the way, how did the conscience evolve?

I could go on, but I’ll stop here right now. I hope you see the importance of Christianity to our culture.

The deterioration of public education in this country is well known. Students are getting low scores and suffer from a lack of motivation, enrollment is shifting from public to private and home schools, and grade inflation is on a runaway train, etc. Most people say that we need to pour more money into the system. But what the students are learning, who they’re learning it from, and why they’re learning it is far more important than whether or not they have a brand new laptop to study on.

Here’s an example of what students learned in 1924 without the massive government programs we have today. This is part of a preparatory booklet to prepare an 8th grader for the test he would have to take to get into high school.

Arithmetic: A wall 77 ft. long, 6½ ft. high, and 14 inches thick is built of bricks costing $9.00 per M. What was the entire cost of the bricks if 22 bricks were sufficient to make a cubic foot of wall?

Geography: What waters would a ship pass through in going from Duluth to Buffalo? With what would the boat be apt to be loaded? What, probably, would it be loaded with on a return trip?

Grammar. Define five of the following terms: antecedent, tense, object, conjugation, auxiliary verb, expletive, and reflexive pronoun.

Physiology: (a) Beginning with food in the mouth, trace the course of digestion, naming the juices with which the food is mixed and the results. (b) What is the reason that spitting on the street is dangerous to the health of a community?

Spelling and Orthography: Select the proper prefix and place before each word in the following list (up, under, out, fore, over): Spread, balance, hold, sight, ground, shine, current, brush, roar, burst.

Writing: Give five movements to develop accuracy in pen­manship. Tell what you seek to do in using each movement.

History: (a) What colonies were founded in America because of religious reasons? By whom was each founded? (b) Give the cause, time, and result of each of the wars in which the United States has been involved.

Civil Government: Name three township, three county, and three state officers and state what office each person holds. Why do so many men dislike holding township offices?

Music: Draw a staff. Place on it the scale in half notes in the keys of G, D, and F. Write the scale that has a sharp on the fifth line and another sharp on the third space.