Some fevered greens have sought to swallow the reductio. "Fine," they say, "man is no different from the animals. Every life is on the same level." And then they go on to urge us to save the whales, like we were in charge of them or something. The uniqueness of man can be denied, but it cannot be made to disappear.
The apex of glorifying God it's enjoying him with the heart. But this is an empty emotionalism where that joy is not awakened and sustained by true views of God for who he really is. That is mainly what the mind is for.
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
In 1911 he [Benjamin Warfield] gave an address to students with this exhortation: "Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. 'What!', is the appropriate response, 'than ten hours over your books, on your knees?'" Both-and. Not either-or. That is the vision I'm encouraging in this book.
They say that what they are doing is constitutional. But it is not. They say that what they are doing is legal. But it is not. They say that what they are doing is lawful. They lie. They say that they have the authority to do these things. They do not. They say that we have to honor their decisions. We do not. God “frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;” (Is. 44:25) In short form — and I know I will need to develop this further — Romans 13 does not apply. We do not have to dutifully honor illegal laws. We are not under the authority of the lie. [...] I am talking about your conscience, and not about judgments of prudence. I might give a mugger my wallet without conceding his right to it, and I have no obligation to tell him about the five hundred dollars in my boot. I might hand over something to the government for the same reasons that I would hand over stuff to the pirates who had captured my ship. Get the principle down first. They are lawless, and they lie about it.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
In our desire to make the pain of economic contraction go away, we have forgotten that freedom involves risk. If government is obliged to cure all hardships, then no one is really free in the first place. Take away the freedom to fail and you have obliterated the freedom to succeed.
