Before I use the quote, I need to give some background on the NZ education system for those who have not suffered under it.
NZ has always had a “secular” education system. By secular, the Victorians meant non denominational: the British settlers included quite strongly Catholic Irish, Presbyterian Scots (the Wee Frees settled Dunedin, where I live) and the Anglicanism of both the English and the (by now evangelized) Maori. I need not remind you that NZ neither has a constitution nor a bill of rights: it was probably the purest Westminster Parliamentary system that exists: one house, all the power: the only moderating influence is our system of proportional representation (MMP: which I have always opposed).
But there was seen a need for some teaching in the Christian religion. So a ‘Bible in schools’, which teaches a watered down version of the gospel, and is generally run by volunteers from local churches who are trained in this. Including accepting other’s beliefs.
But this still hurts people’s feelings. So, the liberals are, as usual, using that most evil of bodies, the Human Rights Commission. to shut this down.
Religion will now be taught outside school hours for St Heliers School pupils who choose to attend.
The change followed two complaints to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and one official complaint to the school from parents in the past two months.
The Christian-based lessons discriminated against non-Christian families and should not be part of a secular school programme, the parents argued.
St Heliers School issued an email to all parents yesterday advising of the change.
The Board of Trustees said there was a number of reasons for the move.
They included an increased workload on teachers, the country’s increasingly diverse population and the concern of some parents that children who opted out of the religious classes may feel discriminated against.
A survey of all St Heliers School families showed 68 percent of respondents supported continuing the classes, 19 percent did not, and the remaining 13 percent were neutral.
This ain’t democracy: a clear two-thirds of families want this. However, out of fear of litigation, the classes are now after school hours. I have enough problems with the (lack of) education in our school system: when I compare my reading list and textbooks with those that my sons have the dumbing down is obvious. We are training people to be hard-working, compliant, neat, and unthinking.
And my sons (in an all male school) have feminist teachers who see their role as making male supporters of their ideology. The secularists now see this as not freedom of religion, but uniformity of atheistic and progressive thought. And we wonder why people lie to get their children into church schools.
And this fits into today’s passage. Paul is writing from prison (and this passage is probably the best evidence that he wrote Hebrews) and the rulers he is writing about are pagans: the debauched Roman elite who imprisoned him and were actively antichristian. And he calls them accountable.
17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing — for that would be harmful to you.
18. Pray for us; we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19. I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you very soon.
20. Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21. make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
22. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been set free; and if he comes in time, he will be with me when I see you. 24. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings. 25. Grace be with all of you.
Now, we are told to obey our leaders. Which is difficult, not easy. Because we are seeing the fading of the republic, and the resurrection of tyranny: we have a panopticon state where everything is watched to the point where even our phones are used to spy on us, with the cameras switched on remotely: the police are becoming more militarized, and no sensible person trusts them.
But we are to pray for and submit to our leaders, for they are accountable for the people. They cannot discharge this role into any quasi-judicial body. They will be held to account: for every degradation of society, for every child killed, for every massacre their troops perform, every unjust execution pour encourager les autres and every attempt to shut the preaching of the gospel up.
They cannot hide behind any organ of the state: be it the committee for public safety or the human rights commission. Parliament is sovereign: Both the chekists and the Hate crimes tribunals should be disestablished, dissolved. If this does not happen, our of some fear of terrorism, or to protect the children while leading them to damnation, or any other excuse, each parliament, each congress, will be held to account.
Let speech ring freely, and those who speak the truth will win: errors will be exposed, and people can then choose who to serve: the God who will save them, or their desires and pleasures, which will enslave them. If the rulers have a light burden on the people, they will prosper, for most of the time a just weight, a fair law court, and security of borders (and property) is all that is required for a market to work.
For those who lead, there are some things to look for.
- Are people leaving? Or immigrating? When Muldoon ran NZ as a personal fiefdom, the joke was “will the last person to leave NZ turn off the lights”. If you are in the USA, there is emigration from the Northeast, with high taxes, to less regulated (and warmer) states in the South.
- Are people able to speak freely? A noisy, rude, unmanageable population is a good thing. Or are people being silent out of fear?
- How many pages of regulations are there? When you audit, do you find that busy and good units are not meeting paperwork standards (this happens: when you are turning over 60 people through a 15 bed unit a month you simply do not bother asking every person what tribe they come from, which is in the regulations).
- Are people opting out?
- Are your police trusted or hated?
- Do you need security in your own country? Is your palace (the White House is a palace: ignore terminology) a fortress?
- How big is your secret service? How much do you spy on the people you serve?
- How small is the group you select parliamentarians, senior public servants, and senior military officers from?
For the word of God is living and active. We who do not lead have enough problems: we all need to pray that our conscience will be kept clear.
But any country, where, with a clear conscience, you break three or four regulations a day, and these are counted as felonies, is a tyranny. Leaders and rulers who accept this will be held to account. Their issue, today and every day, is to reform, simplify, and let people be.
Pingback: Tutka and peak liberalism. | Dark Brightness