March 2007

Note from Tim: Here's a short piece by an elder of our church, David DeBoor Canfield, making the case that the problem we're confronting in Iraq is not one of military might, but of the heart. Although I'm not sure he's hit the nail on the head in terms of the proper application of the doctrine of sin and depravity in this context, the theme of the bondage of Islam can't be struck often enough as we look eastward. Start with the central thing that Islam does not worship God as a loving Heavenly Father and move on from there. Really, though, the thing I'm far more concerned about as I look at the Mideast is the significant movement among evangelical missionaries to take the scandal out of the Cross by evangelizing Muslims (if it can even be called "evangelism") without calling them to leave their mosque, to be baptized, and to unite themselves to the Bride of Christ, the Christian church. But leaving that to the side, for now, here's David's article:

We hear cries on all sides these days about how the US government has mishandled the war in Iraq: Some critics state that we failed in political ways, perhaps by summarily dismissing all of those connected with the Baathist party in the initial stages of the war. Others castigate us for poor military strategy, or unnecessarily alienating portions of the Iraqi populace. I would suggest rather that our primary failing in Iraq has been of a theological nature: Because of misplaced political correctness, we have set up a situation almost guaranteed to fail...

From the March 18, 2007 New York Times Magazine, an article by Sara Corbett titled, "The Women's War," contained the following statistics:

No matter how you look at it, Iraq is a chaotic war in which an unprecedented number of women have been exposed to high levels of stress. So far, more than 160,000 female soldiers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, as compared with the 7,500 who served in Vietnam and the 41,000 who were dispatched to the gulf war in the early '90s. Today, one in every ten U.S. soldiers in Iraq is female.

As if that isn't horror enough, that a nation filled with professing believers has sent 160,000 of her mothers, wives, and daughters off to war, Corbett adds:

A 2003 report financed by the Department of Defense revealed that nearly one-third of a nationwide sample of female veterans seeking health care through the VA said they experienced rape or attempted rape during their service. Of that group, 37% said they were raped multiple times, and 14% reported they were gang-raped. Perhaps even more tellingly, a small study financed by the VA following the gulf war suggests that rates of both sexual harassment and assault rise during wartime.

The complicity of our nation's educators and mainstream media with feminists has turned us into a nation of idiots. We send our mothers, wives, and sisters off to fight...

-posted by Tim Bayly

So, twice in three days, I was depressed hearing about the influence of a certain cool dude's ear-scratching book telling everyone how wise he is at meeting the culture where it's at, and how unutterably stupid the Church is. Oh, how weary I grow of these Bible-betraying fools and their sycophants. They sell out to the world and call it thinking biblically. They betray the Lord and call it God's new thing. They are cowards and call it tact--sometimes even evangelism! But do they bear one iota of resemblance to the Apostle Paul? No, the thought of them being lashed or stoned is laughable. The world wouldn't bother. Well, God just reminded me that there are still many who have not bowed the knee to Baal. He has promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church and He's always faithful to His promises. How was I reminded? I came across this most excellent comment by one of Mom Taylor's granddaughters under my tribute to Mom on her 90th birthday. May God give us many more mothers like Leslie Taylor. But more, may He fill His Church with Titus 2 women who WILL teach the younger women of the church to be godly women, and therefore godly wives and mothers. If Leslie is the kind of woman evangelical feminists are trying to push into the pulpit, I say "You go, girl!" Here's Leslie's comment:

It is tragic that home economics has largely disappeared because I am convinced that being a mother requires more education and training than any other occupation. One of the most noticeable effects of feminism is how unprepared and clueless many of today's mothers are (and I was one of them). I know that there have always been spoiled children and clueless mothers all throughout history, but what is going on in America today is an epidemic of enormous proportions, and the church is no haven. When Christopher [her husband] and I left the park with the kids yesterday...

Mom Taylor (in blue on left),surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-
grandchildren immediately following her husband, Ken's, funeral almost one year ago.

Note from Tim Bayly: Today is the ninetieth birthday of my dear mother-in-law, Margaret Louise Taylor. It would be hard to overstate the blessing she has been in my life, not only indirectly through her influence on the development of the character of my dear wife, Mary Lee (and through Mary Lee, our daughters, Heather, Michal, and Hannah); but also directly as I've been a part of her extended family for thirty-seven years, now, and have received only good, and never evil, from her hands. A few years ago, thinking about Mom Taylor and my own mother, Mary Louise Bayly, I wrote this article as a tribute to them both. Now I reproduce it here, as a ninetieth birthday tribute to Mom, but also as a reminder to our readers of the true nature of biblical femininity, womanhood, motherhood. * * * Mom Taylor studied for her degree in Home Economics during the late '30s and early '40s, graduating summa cum laude from Oregon State University. After marrying her childhood sweetheart, she gave birth to 10 children in 14 years. Her husband, engaged for most of the years when the family was young as editorial director of a religious publishing house, brought home low wages, so frugality was a necessity and the degree served this young mother and her family well. Food preservation, hygiene, cooking, sewing, and home budgeting were part of the Home Economics curriculum and, along with the liberal arts training which came with every bachelor's degree at the time, these young women graduated with specialized training for their profession of choice -- motherhood. Other women took similarly helpful majors in Elementary Education, Bible, Christian Education (my own mother's major), and Nursing. Then came the frontal assault on housewifery and motherhood carried out largely by a new and powerful aristocracy, the "Information Class." (Footnote 1) During the late '60s and early '70s this assault reached fever pitch and the academy was ground zero. College and university students were assigned propagandistic tracts such as Ibsen's, A Doll's House, and joined the ranks of those determined to liberate the "Noras" of the world. (Footnote 2)   Oxford historian Paul Johnson provides interesting historical details on A Doll's House, noting that both Karl Marx's youngest daughter, Eleanor, and George Bernard Shaw took part in its first private reading in London, Eleanor playing the title role of Nora. Johnson writes, the "clear message" of A Doll's House was that "marriage is not sacrosanct, the husband's authority is open to challenge, [and] self-discovery matters more than anything else." Johnson concludes, "[Ibsen] really started the women's movement." (Footnote 3) The discipline of Home Economics (also known as "household arts") was an early casualty. Traditionally, Home Economics had enjoyed a comfortably apolitical niche in the world of higher education, and the guardians of this discipline had every reason to trust their academic peers would continue to be favorably disposed toward a curriculum so integrally tied to domestic tranquility. It was taken for granted that a dignified and competent wife and mother, devoted to her family, was a desirable constant in American culture. To the feminists, Home Economics was anything but apolitical, so they attacked...

Several verses gave me pause in recent Bible reading:

Nehemiah 1:11 "O Lord, I beseech you, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name...."

True fear of the Lord is joyful rather than craven. His servants delight to fear Him. Imagine the fear of soldiers in pitched battle who hear the approach of bombers. This is the terror of those who do not know God. The fear of God's servants is the fear of those who look up to see markings of their own air force on the approaching bombers. God's children delight to fear Him.

Nehemiah 4:14 "When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: 'Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.'"

Several thoughts spring from this rallying cry by Nehemiah. First, the command to fight: imagine a Christian leader saying, "In the name of God, fight," today. Second, the implicit assumption that (grown) men fight for their wives, daughters and sons. Third, the command to fight for "your houses." For our wives? Maybe. For our children? Probably But for our houses? At the command of God? Pacifism runs up against a powerful foe in this verse.