'Fast Food'?

"What are you doing with that?" I ask as my son grabs a distressed old convenience store cup out of the trash on his way out the door.
"Well," he says, "my cats are out of cat food so I'm taking them some."
"Funny," says I, "when I was young we never fed our cats any cat food." (We only gave them milk from our cows.) "Maybe they'd eat more mice if we didn't feed them cat food..."
"These cats sit around and meow at you if you don't give them cat food.  I think they must put msg in it," he says rueful-like.

People occasionally speak about 'the good old days'.  How good the food was, not just good tasting, but good and healthy for you...They often speak as well about how much better things were --back then.
 I have noticed though, it is what a person grows up with that more often trips their trigger.  I don't care for instant potatoes, or instant anything. I had real potatoes and real food when I was growing up.  I know of people who are so used to the fast food approach that is what they like--the other stuff tastes off to them. 

John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Quite a few years ago I taught a children's class in which one of the lessons was on patience and waiting.  For example, we mix up our cookie dough, put it on the pans and into the oven, but we still must wait for it to bake...

Where did we, the nation of America go?  Many are lamenting the demise of what is often termed the greatest country.  America has often been seen as the country that is 'on the go'.  The country of 'If you build it, they will come'.
So was it just yesterday, or last year, or even six years ago that America began slipping down the tube? 
I enjoy history.  I enjoy reading, writing, and the research as well. It seems a strange twist that life continues to funnel these things into my files--information that points to several sources of our current problems.
Horace Mann had many things going for him.  He was raised in poverty, very little education other than being self-taught, yet, amazingly enough he overcame these obstacles, became a lawyer, served in the Masschutes House of Representatives, and Senate, and was appointed Secretary of Education...

In the beginning of this country the early founders believed that an education was a necessity and they sought an education for their children in order that their children could learn to read the Holy Scriptures.  By the time that Horace Mann came on the scene in the early 1800's apparently, education was coming up short.

 We began homeschooling in the 1980's, and our youngest child finished a few years ago in approximately 2008/2009.   When we began homeschooling one of the assignments for my children's history class was that of writing reports.  They would choose a person and do research, write a report, then read their report to the rest of the children.  Some of the reports covered Jamestown leaders i.e. John Smith as well as Plymouth Plantation and their Separatist leaders.  However, by the time our last son was given the assignment we could no longer find (in our local library) information on the Pilgrims, or any of these people.  What happened in the twenty plus years?

Many people back in the day of Horace Mann castigated him not for untiring work in education reform, but the type of reform. There were several issues, and many fought his work, but in the end he had the power and authority of the government behind him.   In some cases he had children marched to the school house in front of guns, and in some parents actually snuck in and 'rescued' their children from the school house.  As is usually the way through bullying he finally had his way. The irony of it all...were parents against education?  Hardly, but this is a key--parents have often felt that their children were their property, not the property of the state.  It was the parent's duty, calling, election to make sure their children were educated, and properly educated.  Not the state, nor the government.

Horace Mann and his ilk are held up as doing good for the welfare of the children and society.  He was the perpetrator of the idea of 'removing religion' from education...just teach them 'principles' of religion he said.  You can't teach principles of Christianity with out Christianity itself and have the principles work.  A good read is John Taylor Gotto's: "The Underground History of American Education". 

This is an eye-opening subject, one that needs investigating.  There needs to be not just a waking up and wringing of the hands, but a look at what made us great because that is what will make us great again.  Amidst the chaos there are too many voices of the ignorance.  It is difficult having studied American History to understand how a person can honestly believe that America was not a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles.  History series such as "Wallbuilders" by David Barton, and "The Silencing of God" by Dave Miller, PHD, document our religious heritage.  But public schools have taken our actual history, and substituted a different version.

What happened to America?  Read these, and watch the videos.  You will come to a greater understanding of how we have went from a nation of over-achievers to a nation of dumber than rocks.  It didn't happen overnight, but it has happened by purpose.

We have become a nation that prefers fast food, a nation of 'give it to me, and give it to me now'.  When sex and pornography became a right and a god, why are we shocked that homosexuality followed along?  When murdering babies became acceptable will we be shocked when killing people of any age for one reason or another is acceptable as well? Birth defect? Age? Health problems?  No one and nothing will be exempt..

You see, when God is no longer the standard for moral decisions; you substitute human wisdom for moral decisions. 

When we forget that Jesus said, John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."...and so many of the other things Jesus said...those principles that should have been taught along with the religion...we've forgotten way, way, way, too much.