Random Notes 3
R.J. Rushdoony
1. This is a problem that comes up regularly, in various publications, to me in person, or by telephone calls. It is the matter of the growing and disrespectful casualness of dress on the part of church-goers. It marks an unconcern for the dignity and holiness of worship. One pastor had a couple who would dress for worship as though for the beach yet insisted on the utmost formality at their wedding! Their idea apparently was that sneakers and shorts are good enough for God, but their wedding called for formal attire by everyone! This disrespect for God's House now marks Catholics and Protestants alike. And few women now worship with their heads covered with a hat or mantilla. Please, don't waste time telling me that St. Paul did not mean what he said; some people also deny that the Bible condemns homosexuality! If you are casual about God and His House, don't be surprised if He is casual about you. I have never liked going to church made into a fashion parade, but there is a sensible alternative to shorts and a halter! The last pastor to mention this problem to me remarked facetiously that perhaps the solution was taking a valium pill before facing the congregation!
2. The following letter, dated October 12, 1991, just reached me; it is better than most such letters, and it is signed, unlike most. It reads:
Let me make a practical suggestion. As a young man, and even into middle years, I had a practice regularly of writing a letter of gratitude to men whose lives and writings had influenced my life. I kept no record nor copy of such letters and made it clear I wanted no answer: I was simply expressing gratitude. Twenty or so years ago I was startled to find one of these men, a truly great man, at my door. His offices were in Washington, D.C., and I was here in California. We spent a few hours together, and he began by telling me that my letter was framed and in his office and a frequent source of encouragement. Here was a man who had been a counsellor to heads of state, a writer of some excellent books, and a person of considerable note, and also a strong Christian. No one had ever written to him before to express gratitude for his work. It still distresses me to think that we are so ungrateful a generation. Try writing a letter of appreciation to your parents, a former teacher, a pastor, a parishioner, anyone great or small, anyone to whom you should be grateful. I heard from one man only, but I believe the Lord has blessed me for what I did.
3. We are often a very generous people with advice and misplaced attention. Some years ago, I had a woman attending services who, at the door, always had the same comment. It became embarrassing because others had trouble avoiding laughter. Her stock comment was this: "That sermon was exactly what my husband needs; I wish he had been here to hear you." Since then, her husband and children have all made her happy by saying "yes" to Jesus, without changing their lifestyle, except that her husband has aged and no longer can chase girls! I wonder, wherever she goes to church, whom she has in mind as needing each Sunday morning sermon!
4. In 1987, at Oxford, I met a then professor of neuro-surgery, Dr. Raju Abraham. He encouraged me in an interest we both share, folk proverbs. He said their rapid disappearance is a problem. Many people suffer from problems due to a lack of common sense knowledge such as proverbs, once taught by mothers and schools, gave to a person. Instead of a physical problem, they suffer from a lack of moral sense. He uses proverbs to sum up many of his patients' problems. I know this is true. I have often used them myself. I recall the shock of a young man, in deep trouble because of his evil companions, when I quoted, as I have to many, an old folk proverb, "He who lies down with dogs will rise up with fleas."
Now, I have something to ask of you, I do not have time to answer my mail, but I will be very grateful if you jot down some of the favorite proverbs your parents or grandparents used with you, and then mail them to me. I am, slowly, writing a book on proverbial wisdom, and if time permits, Dr. Abraham will be a co-author.
5. Recently, a television evangelist destroyed his worldwide ministry when he was caught, for a second time, with a prostitute. This man's preaching was radically antinomian; having no belief in God's law, his behavior was logical. Expecting also a rapture soon, there was no long-term thinking on his part. All this adds up to something rather close to existentialism, living for the moment and with no law other than your own biological fancies.
6. Speaking of proverbs, here are some old American proverbs about the church, the first of which is very cynical:
7. Speaking of die-hards, Burke Davis, who a few years ago wrote a biography of Robert E. Lee, had this comment from MacHyman, author of the comedy No Time For Sergeants: "Every time I read a book about that war, I have the far-off hope that maybe this time, just this one time, we will win it."
8. One of the neglected stories of that war is the life of Claiborne R. Mason, Stonewall Jackson's very remarkable engineer. He was illiterate, except for tracing his name, but he made a fortune as an engineer. With a tiny pocket rule, he could estimate the required amount of earth-moving in any situation. On one occasion, Jackson summoned him to a staff meeting. Mason sent word that he was cooking turnip greens for his supper and would come when they were cooked and eaten. Other men would have been arrested for such behavior, but not Mason. Jackson waited. When Mason arrived, he was asked how long it would take to build a long bridge across the Chickahominy. Mason answered, "General, give me two hundred men, and I'll have you over in twenty-four hours." Mason kept his word, to the hour.
9. Lamarckian thinking holds that evolution occurs through the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Both Darwinian and Lamarckian ideas are held with religious intensity and faith. According to Stanley Rothman and S. Robert Lichter, in Roots of Radicalism (1982), Paul Kammerer "Committed suicide after his 'proof' of the Lamarckian argument was invalidated." (p. 119).
10. Some time ago, a newsletter publisher told me that when he met subscribers at conferences many told him how intelligent and fair-minded he was. Then, when they disagreed with him, they called him unfair and "authoritarian. " I was amused yesterday, on receiving a note asking to be dropped from our mailing list (by a person who has never sent us a penny), to have the same charges levelled against us in virtually the same words! The substance of it was common in the mail we receive, but now the wording was an echo of what I had been told. On sober reflection, I realized sadly that this letter (and others like it) reflected the growing totalitarianism of even church people. Agree with me or else! Right now, a book heavily promoted among church people is revealing in this respect. It is against sin, against Marxism, humanism, the sexual revolution, etc., but only vague and general about Christianity so that there is nothing there for anyone to disagree with - or even agree with - because it is so general. No one will grow reading it, but then not many people want growth, only agreement. Affirm my position, or else!
On an average, I read and index some 250 books a year; I take some 30 or more periodicals; all our staff, here and abroad, read more or less similarly. Most of what I read, I do not agree with, but I learn from people whom I strongly disgree with; my own position is developed thereby, or I learn of some areas that need strengthening.
Some "Christian" periodicals deserve Nobel prizes for dullness: they work to avoid upsetting anyone! I can understand why most church people do not read the Bible from cover to cover faithfully and regularly! They would be offended by much in it - unless they dismiss it as belonging to another dispensation.
11. A good many years ago, I read L. Finkelstein's carefully documented two-volume study of the Pharisees, the fathers of modern Judaism. It was obvious that in one respect they were the finest people of their day; yet our Lord attacked them as the worst. A clue to the reason why they were the worst was their hypocrisy: they were "whited sepulchers." There was, however, another aspect to Phariseeism: their haughty and critical spirit. They opened their mouths only to criticize from the vantage of their supposed superiority. Our Lord refers to both these sins of Phariseeism in Matthew 23:15, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." The Pharisees were routinely critical and hostile: they never praised our Lord honestly, in spite of His all miracles, but were constantly critical.
The churches today are full of such Pharisees; nothing pleases them except to criticize, and they delight in that, whatever their mock concern. The better the pastor, the sharper their criticism. No man should be better than they are! We hear from such Pharisees also. From year to year, they neither support us nor ever write a letter of encouragement. But let one writer say something they disagree with, and we promptly get a many-paged letter! Such people, whatever their verbal profession, are not true believers.
Surprise your pastor next Sunday. Take such verses as Psalm 100:4 seriously: "Enter into his courts with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." Go to church in this spirit, and you will please God and the pastor. And let a little of that thanksgiving come our way! Or are you one of those perpetual critics whom our Lord describes as "twofold more the child of hell"?
12. My wife, Dorothy Barbara Ross Rushdoony, is a very wise woman. She commented at breakfast on why so many people now oppose capital punishment. Her comment was this: "First we must accept the justice of God's punishment for our sins (the death penalty assumed by Jesus Christ), before we can mete out justice to others or accept it for ourselves." The death penalty rests on a theological fact.
1. This is a problem that comes up regularly, in various publications, to me in person, or by telephone calls. It is the matter of the growing and disrespectful casualness of dress on the part of church-goers. It marks an unconcern for the dignity and holiness of worship. One pastor had a couple who would dress for worship as though for the beach yet insisted on the utmost formality at their wedding! Their idea apparently was that sneakers and shorts are good enough for God, but their wedding called for formal attire by everyone! This disrespect for God's House now marks Catholics and Protestants alike. And few women now worship with their heads covered with a hat or mantilla. Please, don't waste time telling me that St. Paul did not mean what he said; some people also deny that the Bible condemns homosexuality! If you are casual about God and His House, don't be surprised if He is casual about you. I have never liked going to church made into a fashion parade, but there is a sensible alternative to shorts and a halter! The last pastor to mention this problem to me remarked facetiously that perhaps the solution was taking a valium pill before facing the congregation!
2. The following letter, dated October 12, 1991, just reached me; it is better than most such letters, and it is signed, unlike most. It reads:
Dear Dr. Rushdoony:Now in the August, 1991, issue of the Chalcedon Report, I described some of the clergy as "Dumb Dogs, That Cannot Bark." Mr. A.C., must a critique go only one way? If you " enjoy Chalcedon immensely," how often have you told us so, or supported us? How many faithful pastors have you encouraged? Remember, congregations call a pastor, so they must want what they have. Do you tithe? Do you give to faithful ministries? Never before in U.S. history have people professing to believe the Bible from cover to cover, and to be born again, been as high a percentage of the population, and Christianity less influential in public affairs. Obviously, something is wrong in most pulpits and pews.
Your editorial in the October issue of "Chalcedon" will probably go unchallenged. Dissent is unpopular and the Biblical recommendation that timely confrontation is superior to peaceful error is seldom accepted.
A couple of years ago, at a meeting in Tampa, I asked who you felt was at fault for the sad state of affairs in our nation. Your response was Leadership and laymen on a 50-50 basis. I know Paul felt a great responsibility for bringing about the maturity of the Christians in the churches he started. His Biblical letters are mainly directed toward that end. Israel's leaders in the Old Testament were held responsible for the spiritual state of the nation. I believe God still holds Leadership responsible for the state of Christianty in our nation.
I agree with you - pettiness is wrong. However, having said that, let me say, sir, that there is much wrong with church Leadership and it is hardly fair to chastise the sheep when the shepherd is derelict. Pettiness among preachers is rampant. Strife, discord, ambition, and pride often replace harmony, peace and humility. Many words are spoken and written, but you must search long and hard to find genuine self-sacrifice.
I enjoy "Chalcedon" immensely. It is a lively and truthful publication. Nevertheless, it is one thing to write or preach the truth but a far more difficult thing to live it. Leadership in the Christian community is an awesome and difficult responsibility. Those who aspire to it must realize they are to be held to a higher standard, and that the demands of ministry are a terrible inconvenience.
With all the people who have converted to Christianity in our country during the past 40 years the morals of our nation have still deteriorated, you may rail at the pettiness of people all you want, but I believe the lack of a spirit of genuine servanthood among Christian leaders is the culprit.
A.W. Tozer, a long time ago, decried the pride and arrogance that infects many leaders. He said if you don't believe it exists go and find an errant preacher and try to correct him - hard to do, probably even in your own case.
Sincerely,
A.C.
Let me make a practical suggestion. As a young man, and even into middle years, I had a practice regularly of writing a letter of gratitude to men whose lives and writings had influenced my life. I kept no record nor copy of such letters and made it clear I wanted no answer: I was simply expressing gratitude. Twenty or so years ago I was startled to find one of these men, a truly great man, at my door. His offices were in Washington, D.C., and I was here in California. We spent a few hours together, and he began by telling me that my letter was framed and in his office and a frequent source of encouragement. Here was a man who had been a counsellor to heads of state, a writer of some excellent books, and a person of considerable note, and also a strong Christian. No one had ever written to him before to express gratitude for his work. It still distresses me to think that we are so ungrateful a generation. Try writing a letter of appreciation to your parents, a former teacher, a pastor, a parishioner, anyone great or small, anyone to whom you should be grateful. I heard from one man only, but I believe the Lord has blessed me for what I did.
3. We are often a very generous people with advice and misplaced attention. Some years ago, I had a woman attending services who, at the door, always had the same comment. It became embarrassing because others had trouble avoiding laughter. Her stock comment was this: "That sermon was exactly what my husband needs; I wish he had been here to hear you." Since then, her husband and children have all made her happy by saying "yes" to Jesus, without changing their lifestyle, except that her husband has aged and no longer can chase girls! I wonder, wherever she goes to church, whom she has in mind as needing each Sunday morning sermon!
4. In 1987, at Oxford, I met a then professor of neuro-surgery, Dr. Raju Abraham. He encouraged me in an interest we both share, folk proverbs. He said their rapid disappearance is a problem. Many people suffer from problems due to a lack of common sense knowledge such as proverbs, once taught by mothers and schools, gave to a person. Instead of a physical problem, they suffer from a lack of moral sense. He uses proverbs to sum up many of his patients' problems. I know this is true. I have often used them myself. I recall the shock of a young man, in deep trouble because of his evil companions, when I quoted, as I have to many, an old folk proverb, "He who lies down with dogs will rise up with fleas."
Now, I have something to ask of you, I do not have time to answer my mail, but I will be very grateful if you jot down some of the favorite proverbs your parents or grandparents used with you, and then mail them to me. I am, slowly, writing a book on proverbial wisdom, and if time permits, Dr. Abraham will be a co-author.
5. Recently, a television evangelist destroyed his worldwide ministry when he was caught, for a second time, with a prostitute. This man's preaching was radically antinomian; having no belief in God's law, his behavior was logical. Expecting also a rapture soon, there was no long-term thinking on his part. All this adds up to something rather close to existentialism, living for the moment and with no law other than your own biological fancies.
6. Speaking of proverbs, here are some old American proverbs about the church, the first of which is very cynical:
The nearer to church, the farther from God. Bring yourself to church, not your Sunday clothes. If you go to church for an evil purpose, you go to God's house on the devil's errand. New churches and new bars are well patronized. A church debt is the devil's salary. Let the devil get into the church and he'll mount the altar.I like the one about church debt especially. Here are some American proverbs about religion:
A man without religion is a horse without a bridle. Religion is the best armor but the worst cloak. A woman without religion is a flower without perfume The danger past and God is forgotten.What folk proverbs did was to sum up the experience and wisdom of a people. Some proverbs expressed also their cynicism. At any rate, all nations have had their proverbial wisdom, and an important part of all teaching in the past, in school and home, was in the form of proverbs. My wife Dorothy's family migrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania in the colonial era, but her mother would still use proverbs of Gaelic origin; Dorothy did not know what the words meant, but the meaning was clear!
7. Speaking of die-hards, Burke Davis, who a few years ago wrote a biography of Robert E. Lee, had this comment from MacHyman, author of the comedy No Time For Sergeants: "Every time I read a book about that war, I have the far-off hope that maybe this time, just this one time, we will win it."
8. One of the neglected stories of that war is the life of Claiborne R. Mason, Stonewall Jackson's very remarkable engineer. He was illiterate, except for tracing his name, but he made a fortune as an engineer. With a tiny pocket rule, he could estimate the required amount of earth-moving in any situation. On one occasion, Jackson summoned him to a staff meeting. Mason sent word that he was cooking turnip greens for his supper and would come when they were cooked and eaten. Other men would have been arrested for such behavior, but not Mason. Jackson waited. When Mason arrived, he was asked how long it would take to build a long bridge across the Chickahominy. Mason answered, "General, give me two hundred men, and I'll have you over in twenty-four hours." Mason kept his word, to the hour.
9. Lamarckian thinking holds that evolution occurs through the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Both Darwinian and Lamarckian ideas are held with religious intensity and faith. According to Stanley Rothman and S. Robert Lichter, in Roots of Radicalism (1982), Paul Kammerer "Committed suicide after his 'proof' of the Lamarckian argument was invalidated." (p. 119).
10. Some time ago, a newsletter publisher told me that when he met subscribers at conferences many told him how intelligent and fair-minded he was. Then, when they disagreed with him, they called him unfair and "authoritarian. " I was amused yesterday, on receiving a note asking to be dropped from our mailing list (by a person who has never sent us a penny), to have the same charges levelled against us in virtually the same words! The substance of it was common in the mail we receive, but now the wording was an echo of what I had been told. On sober reflection, I realized sadly that this letter (and others like it) reflected the growing totalitarianism of even church people. Agree with me or else! Right now, a book heavily promoted among church people is revealing in this respect. It is against sin, against Marxism, humanism, the sexual revolution, etc., but only vague and general about Christianity so that there is nothing there for anyone to disagree with - or even agree with - because it is so general. No one will grow reading it, but then not many people want growth, only agreement. Affirm my position, or else!
On an average, I read and index some 250 books a year; I take some 30 or more periodicals; all our staff, here and abroad, read more or less similarly. Most of what I read, I do not agree with, but I learn from people whom I strongly disgree with; my own position is developed thereby, or I learn of some areas that need strengthening.
Some "Christian" periodicals deserve Nobel prizes for dullness: they work to avoid upsetting anyone! I can understand why most church people do not read the Bible from cover to cover faithfully and regularly! They would be offended by much in it - unless they dismiss it as belonging to another dispensation.
11. A good many years ago, I read L. Finkelstein's carefully documented two-volume study of the Pharisees, the fathers of modern Judaism. It was obvious that in one respect they were the finest people of their day; yet our Lord attacked them as the worst. A clue to the reason why they were the worst was their hypocrisy: they were "whited sepulchers." There was, however, another aspect to Phariseeism: their haughty and critical spirit. They opened their mouths only to criticize from the vantage of their supposed superiority. Our Lord refers to both these sins of Phariseeism in Matthew 23:15, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." The Pharisees were routinely critical and hostile: they never praised our Lord honestly, in spite of His all miracles, but were constantly critical.
The churches today are full of such Pharisees; nothing pleases them except to criticize, and they delight in that, whatever their mock concern. The better the pastor, the sharper their criticism. No man should be better than they are! We hear from such Pharisees also. From year to year, they neither support us nor ever write a letter of encouragement. But let one writer say something they disagree with, and we promptly get a many-paged letter! Such people, whatever their verbal profession, are not true believers.
Surprise your pastor next Sunday. Take such verses as Psalm 100:4 seriously: "Enter into his courts with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." Go to church in this spirit, and you will please God and the pastor. And let a little of that thanksgiving come our way! Or are you one of those perpetual critics whom our Lord describes as "twofold more the child of hell"?
12. My wife, Dorothy Barbara Ross Rushdoony, is a very wise woman. She commented at breakfast on why so many people now oppose capital punishment. Her comment was this: "First we must accept the justice of God's punishment for our sins (the death penalty assumed by Jesus Christ), before we can mete out justice to others or accept it for ourselves." The death penalty rests on a theological fact.
