THOSE BERENSTAIN BEARS

Those Berenstain Bears. They've sold over 260 million books in 23 languages and they're so famous that they became not one, but two animated TV series for kids on CBS, the other on PBS. The Berenstain Bears series has been awarded the Ludington Award from the Educational Paperback Association for their contribution to children's literature, the Drexel Citation from Drexel University, several Philadelphia Literary Children's Roundtable Honors, and many other state reading association awards.

Those bears made their creators, Stan and Jan Berestain multi-bazillionaires. Not too shabby for a couple who met on their first day of drawing class at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1941. Let the good times roll!

THE BERENSTAIN BEAR FORMULA

The stories of the endearing Bear family follow a formula according to Paul Farhi: "The action usually starts when the kids face a problem. They turn to Papa, who offers a 'solution' that only makes the problem—or the kids' fears about it—even worse. Enter Mama, who eventually sets everyone straight."

Charles Krauthammer, although not a fan of the Bears, said that his four-year old son can't get enough of the Berenstain clan. "The books are filled with appealing color pictures and funny characters," one mother says, and another gushes about the Bears, "We really enjoyed this book. My 8 year old read it to me. It is a good introductory science book. I found that it introduced a lot of natural science vocabulary. My son loves The Bears and this was a good book. I would recommend it for grades 1st and below"

Could there be a better way to introduce a child ("1st grade and below) to the joy of reading than the Berenstain Bears? Even the name has an appealing alliterative ring to it.

But not so fast, Francis. There's a Bear book called,"A Nature Walk through Bear Country," and in that story, the Berestain Bears come to the reader bearing (pun intended) a cup of hemlock ripe for the drinking. A naive parent, wanting to encourage the child to read, innocently purchases "A Nature Walk through Bear Country," thinking that this little story will introduce her budding genius to the world of science and build the little darling's vocabulary prowess But what she doesn't know is that she's moving a Trojan Horse into her home and the words of one catchy sentence in the book are poised in the belly of the book to invade the mind of her child.

As she reads the story to her little boy, she comes to the sentence tucked away in the Trojan Horse, and once she reads it, the Trojan equine is in: "Nature is all there is, was, or ever will be." There it is, poison from the pen of Stan and Jan. Whether the young mother knows it or not, she and the Bears have her son that matter is eternal; it is all there is, was or will be. Most likely, she reads on, giving what she's just read little or no thought.

What she may not know is that the sentence is close to the one which astronomer Carl Sagan (1934-1996) made iconic in his 1980 PBS series, The Cosmos, the series considered the ground-breaking series of scientific documentaries. The Cosmos was the vehicle that Carl Sagan used to burn his famous sentence into our brains. He thought it was such an important statement that he began every episode with: "The universe is all there is, was, and ever will be."

 




Sagan believed that the universe is eternal; for him to have admited otherwise would have rocked his socks because such an admission would mean that Someone outside of space and time created it. Yet Sagan saw what we all see; he saw the universe, that it's running down, he saw that the world and he himself are passing away, decaying, which means it all had a beginning at some point. But yet, he still said, "The universe is all there is, was, and ever will be." It is his untestable assumption, his presupposition taken by faith from which he begins to think about the universe. But enough of Sagan.

BIGGER FISH: THE DEFAULT SETTING

We have bigger fish to fry. The problem is that the Sagan Slogan is the default setting of the world system; it permeates the culture and is passed on by the educational systems from kindergarten to grad school. For our culture, Sagan's slogan is an assumed, unquestionable, and undiscussable given. Send your kid to a state or private university, and all the knowledge the professors transmit to him will be from that foundation.

But there are other Trojan Horses transmitting the sentence: books, magazines, journals, music, movies, and TV programs march into our minds from that one-sentence starting point: "The Universe is all there is, was, or ever will be." Many are the teachers who are dedicating their lives to its propagation and to the ridicule and scorn of those who believe otherwise. Speakers who disagree with Sagan's Slogan won't be invited to speak at commencement exercises or come to the campus to give lectures.

THE ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 4 AND ALL ELECTIONS TO COME

I hope my candidates win on Tuesday November 4th and in all other elections to come, but I know, I absolutely know. they won't; what I hope and what I know are two different things. But I do know this: no matter who wins, even if my hallowed candidates somehow win, Harvard and Yale, the Ivy League, the schools of the Pac 10, and the Big XII will continue playing football and turning out their product of an educated man or woman who may not have come to their groves of academe` believing the Sagan Sloan, but they will by the time they're through with them. The world system will have done its inexorable work.



If my candidates do emerge victorious on November 4, there will be no change in the content of movies or television programs, except maybe to get worse and more blatant in their espousal of the Sagan slogan. It doesn't matter which candidates win--the world system will go on giving its awards and accolades to the story tellers who produce the dramas, the comedies, and the books that adhere  to the motto of The Cosmos.

On November 5th, the day after the election, nothing will change and we who defy the slogan will continue to be marginalized, ridiculed, scorned, denied promotions, and forced into sensitivity sessions, world without end, amen. Even if I win on that one day of the electoral process, I'll lose the other 364 days of the year. What a pessimist I am, but I've read II Tim. 3:13, so I can't help it; I must be a realist. But yet, what an optimist I am and I'm an optimist because I hear something.

I HEAR LAUGHTER AND SCORN AND THERE'S SOMEONE THERE

But do you hear it? It's there. It's divine laughter: "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger . . ." (Ps. 2:2). Do you hear the psalmist's scorn: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God."" (Ps. 14:1) Let's paraphrase that verse: "The fool says in his heart, 'The universe is all that is, was or ever will be.' " Do you hear Paul?--"Professing himself to be  be wise, Sagan became a fool." (Paraphrase of Romans 1:22)

I hear the laughter when the Bible says that Jesus Christ is returning and bringing with Him His rod of iron (Ps. 2). This world needs taking over, and He's God's anointed Person to do it, in spite of what all political parties say about their hallowed candidates.

I am the pessamist/realist/optimist. And in the meantime, I want to keep on evangelizing and making disciples, which I enjoy, because I hear the laughter. 

___________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak, available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582

There is hardly a more common error than that of taking the man who has one talent, for a genius.
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99"There is

There is hardly a more common error than that of taking the man who has one talent, for a genius.
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99

There is hardly a more common error than that of taking the man who has one talent, for a genius.
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/helps_arthur.html#mpzMv1GyXYdlOVbq.99

 

ROBERT REDFORD, PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE

When I was in the cozy confines of a middle school Civics class, we studied how politicians use something called "Glittering Generalities" (GG) to grab votes. It's not only those running for office who use such the GG, but also advertisers who want our money in exchange for their product. As I learned back then, "GGs use words that glitter and sparkle, while only stating generalities. That is, they give us a general, or vague sense of what they are trying to sell; they just look good. Glittering generalities are used for their emotional value, not their logical value."

MOUNTAIN SPRING WATER

Let's look at a GG: "Pure, fresh, mountain spring water. Bottled especially for you in Iceland from only our purest mountain springs.” We note the words that glitter in the ad--"pure," "fresh," "mountain spring," "Iceland," and "purest mountain springs." (I get thirsty just reading it.)

Then I realize that I'm in the mental clutches of a GG. That statement, the brainchild of some advertising agency, doesn't tell me why the Icelandic waters are any better than the waters from the mountain springs in Colorado, nor does it tell me just how "pure" pure is. They leave "fresh" vague. And I ask, how do they know who I am? They must know me because they bottle their fresh and pure Icelandic water "especially for me." How does their bottling process work so that it's "especially for me?" After such questions,  I'm not thirsty, and I've saved my money.

COKE

Let's look at a well-know slogan for Coca-Cola: "Things go better with Coke." Now, there's a GG staring us right in the face. What "things" "go better" with Coke? Just how does drinking a "Coke-Cola," as we say in Dixie, make things "go better?" But the GG has us; we order a Coke and fries.

GETTING MORE SERIOUS

Let's get more serious with an advanced definition of GG that I learned in Civics: "Glittering generalities are a form of propaganda that elicit strong emotional responses through the use of vague and hollow, though perceptually meaningful, words and phrases."

Two recent GGs come to mind: "Change we can believe in" is a popular political slogan of current vintage. The problem is that it says a lot without saying anything. "What change?" is an obvious question to ask, as is, "Why should we "believe" in it, whatever it is? But, give credit where credit is due, it was a winner of a GG.

GET OUT YOUR WALLET

One clever approach to a politician's justifying a tax increase is to put a GG into action.  The GG centers around the fact that politician feigns outrage that one group or another must pay its "fair share." The magic of this GG lies in the implication that, somehow, until now, the group in question has not been paying its fair share – an implication that serves to inspire other groups to want to see that group punished through a tax increase on them. This places that group in the minority and helps make them conciliatory for their crime of not paying their "fair share."

But we note that the GG doesn't define "fair share." Is the "fair share" 100%, 75%? Who knows? The GG doesn't tell us. That's left for later when someone or some group decides what the "fair share" is.



"Pay your fair share" sounds good. Fairness is nice thing. Being fair is a good quality. All GGs sound good. It sounds good until you find yourself in the designated group that should pay their fair share as Robert Redford did this year. In August a reporter wrote, "People like Redford claim the way to make America work better is to pass laws forcing people like them to pay more in taxes. Then, the state of New York forces Redford to pay more in taxes. Actor Robert Redford is suing the state of New York for what he says are unfair taxes from the sale of the Sundance Channel; he wants his 1.7 million dollars back."  Somehow, the GG of "Pay your fair share" isn't all sparkly any more when he becomes the person told to do so. Mr. Redford didn't put on his happy face that day.



IT GETS EVEN MORE SERIOUS

We find bad, even dangerous theology when preachers use GGs as witness the following closing of a motivational speech disguised as a Bible study/sermon:

"Scripture says - Let God arise and His enemies will be scattered. When you let God arise in your life. and you go out with this unshakeable confidence, your [sic] waiting for your harvest like that farmer, knowing that it's gonna be better than expected, you know down deep no difficulty can defeat you, no person can keep you from your destiny, every setback is only temporary. Instead of complaining, you are saying "I can't wait to see what God's gonna do." When you let God arise, you might as well get ready, your enemies WILL be scattered- Enemies of sickness, enemies of debt, enemies of depression, enemies of disappointment.

"I'm gonna come out like Job - with twice what I had before. . .  . Friends you have comeback power in your DNA. You've been created to overcome every obstacle, to rise above every challenge. I want you to have this confidence that no matter what comes against you, it cannot defeat you. As long as you're letting God arise, your enemies will be scattered. That same dirt that's trying to bury you can be the dirt God's gonna use to promote you. Learn to shake it off and step up. Remember in the tough times that loss, that disappointment, that injustice is not the end. It's a new beginning. Pull your shoulders back, hold your head up high. Dare to declare, "I'm coming back and I'm coming back better." If you do that, you're gonna come out like Job, with twice what you had before. Those difficulties are gonna give way to new growth, new potential, new talent, new friendships, new opportunities, new vision. You're gonna see God blossom your life in ways you'd never even dream of. Amen?" (Time forbids the listing of all the GGs in the above.)





Then, signing off, the speaker says, "We never like to close our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to make Jesus the LORD of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say -

“LORD Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make You my LORD and Savior.

"Friends if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe that you got born again. Get into a good bible based church. Keep God first place. He's gonna do amazing things in your life."




See the danger of the GGs? The "Bible study" hasn't been about Christ and Him crucified. It's been about the listeners' health and wealth and how the eager hearer can see his illnesses, his debts, his depression, and his disappointments defeated by letting "God arise," the recurring high-sounding GG of the sermon.

The speaker has not identified Jesus (He's the Son of God). He hasn't told us what Jesus did on the cross. He hasn't told us anything about the Resurrection. He hasn't told us anything about faith, what it is and the necessity of its meeting the right object, Christ. He leaves "repent" to be defined by the hearer who will wrongly define it as feeling sorry sin; he hasn't defined "sin" either.

Did Paul go into Galatia and deliver such a message, asking the people, "Would you pray with me? Just say, “LORD Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make You my LORD and Savior.” Never. He dialogues with the unbeliever(s) in the forum and in the synagogue, explaining, expounding the gospel. He tells the listener who Jesus is and what He did. Philip sits in the chariot of the Ethiopian official explaining Isaiah 53.

To further complicate things, the speaker promises everyone who prays that prayer, "He's [God is] gonna do amazing things in you[r] life." What are the "amazing things?" The amazing things he's cited in the sermon are "new growth, new potential, new talent, new friendships, new opportunities, and a new vision" along with "the defeat of illnesses, debts, depression, and disappointments" and you're going to come out with "twice as much," just like Job. Did Paul ever promise anyone anything like that at any time?

Could not his listeners become like the noble Bereans and search the Scriptures to see if these outlandish GGs are true? No more than the average U. S. voter questions the GGs during a political campaign.

The bottom line is this: Glittering generalities aren't the truth. They're propaganda.

THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS: THE TEAM THAT DARE NOT SAY ITS NAME

On the rare occasions when anyone asks me for my favorite team in baseball, I answer as I did in high school, "The New York Yankees." Whenever anyone wants to know my favorite professional football team, I admit that my allegiance is to two teams: the Dallas Cowboys and whoever is playing the Washington Redskins.

My preferences aside, the Redskins are the focus of a firestorm of late because their name offends or might offend some, so they say we have to worry about that. It's not that certain factions have gotten into this name game; it's that the Federal Government, with all it has to worry about has weighed in on the subject, thus politicizing sports, like it politicizes everything else. Harry Reid spoke out against the team's nickname from the Senate floor, but he's not the only one.

Now, the current administration, acting through the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is getting seriously involved. Tom Wheeler, chairman of the FCC decries the name, referring in his statement to "the Washington football club," thus refusing to sully his lips with the offending word. What prompted Wheeler's involvement is a petition filed by (who else) a law professor named John Banzhaf III at George Washington University, an institution so rocked by scandal that "US News and World Report" removed it from its list. This law teacher has quite a reputation; they say that he's  never met a lawsuit he doesn't like."

 
 The Professor

In his petition to the FCC, the professor says that "Redskins" is "hate speech," and says that any station consistently using the word should, by law, lose their license. (Somehow, the First Amendment comes to mind.) The professor is no dummy because he knows something many of us don't--the owner of the Washington "team" (I hesitate to say its name for fear of disturbing the gentle reader), Daniel Snyder, owns a radio station dedicated to Washington Redskins news and comments.
The Owner



Ah, ha! There it is! If Banzhaf's suit becomes law, that means the owner of the team won't be able to use the his team's name on the air, and, as the professor said, "He'll have to change the team name or go broke." Thus, a businessman (sports is a business) will be driven from his business because he can't say the name of his business. This sounds weird, doesn't it, but that's the world we live in, a world in which an athletic team dare not say its name.

All this seems so new doesn't it? Or is it? We can thank Harry Truman for the following statement: "The only thing new to you is the history you don't know." The thing is, what the professor wants to do isn't new. The professor is in nefarious historical company because way back when, an official governing body not only tried, but also actually did, what the professor is trying to do.

A doctor way back then, records for history the successful official banning of one word as hate speech. Those who banned the word were members of "the Council," and Luke writes about the censoring in Acts 4:17-18 when the Council declared: "But so that it [the miracle] will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them [Peter and John] to speak no longer to any man in this name.” And when they had summoned them [Peter and John], they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus."

There it is: they banned the word, "Jesus." Censor that one word and the proclamation of the gospel collapses because there's no way to disseminate the good news without saying "Jesus." The courageous disciples said, "No way," and the rest is history.