Honor Your Parents

By David Feddes

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your
God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12)

Once upon a time there was a little old man. His eyes blinked and his hands
trembled; when he ate he clattered the silverware, missed his mouth with the spoon as
often as not, and dribbled a bit of his food on the tablecloth. Now he lived with his
married son, having nowhere else to live, and his son's wife was a modern young
woman who knew that in-laws should not be tolerated in a woman's house.
"I can't have this," she said. "It interferes with a woman's right to happiness."
So she and her husband took the little old man gently but firmly by the arm and
led him to the corner of the kitchen. There they set him on a stool and gave him his
food, what there was of it, in an earthenware bowl. From then on he always ate in the
corner, blinking at the table with wistful eyes.
One day his hand trembled more than usual, and the earthenware bowl fell and
broke.
"If you are a pig," said the daughter-in-law, "you must eat out of a trough." So
they made him a little wooden trough, and he got his meals in that.
These people had a four-year-old son of whom they were very fond. One
suppertime, the young man noticed his boy playing intently with some bits of wood and
asked what he was doing.
"I'm making a trough," he said, smiling up for approval, "to feed you and Mamma
out of when I get big."
The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and didn't say anything.
Then they cried a little. Then they went to the corner and took the little old man by the
arm and led him back to the table. They sat him on a comfortable chair and gave him
his food on a plate, and from then on nobody ever scolded when he clattered or spilled
or broke things.
That's one of Grimm's fairy tales, as retold by Joy Davidman. It's a not-very-
subtle way of saying: honor your parents, or your children will dishonor you. That's
much the same point as God makes in the fifth of the Ten Commandments. "Honor your
father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving
you" (Exodus 20:12).

Generation Gap
The way adult children treat elderly parents is one part of this, the final phase of
the relationship, but it all begins when you're a little child. At that point, you're
dependent on your parents for almost everything, and you're under whatever authority
they bring to bear on you. Then, as you grow and become a teenager, you become
more independent. Even if you're still dependent on your parents for food and clothes
and a roof over your head, you become a lot less dependent on them in the way you
think. Your attitude toward their authority often goes through an enormous change. A
four-year-old tends to think mom and dad are always right, but if you're a fourteen-year-
old, you're more likely to think your parents are always wrong.

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 Those teenage years can be a tough time for kids to relate to their parents, and
it's often tough on parents as well. Do you know the advice Mark Twain once gave to
parents? "When a child turns 13, put him in a barrel, nail down the lid, and feed him
through a knothole. When he turns 16, plug the knothole." Okay, so the relationship
between teens and parents isn't quite that bad—but sometimes it's close!
The relationship between children and parents has never been problem-free, but
our society makes it even tougher because there is such a strong emphasis on the
individual and far less on family bonds. In a cross-cultural survey, people in different
countries were asked to complete the sentence, "I love my mother but ..." –how would
you finish that sentence? In Western countries, most took this as a cue to offer some
criticism of their mother. In South-East Asia, most people filled in the blank very
differently. The answer was usually something along the line of "I love my mother but... I
can never repay all that she has done for me."
Let’s take a hard look at why honoring our parents is so important and so difficult,
especially in our society. What's happening when teenagers feel more drawn to MTV
than to their parents' ideas? What's going on when senior citizens in good health would
rather live near a golf course in the Sun Belt than be near their children and
grandchildren? And what about inconvenient seniors in failing health who are given, not
a trough in a corner, but an assigned spot in a nursing home? We need to think about
why the generation gap often seems so wide, and what it will take to bridge the gap.

Serious Commandment
Before we get into that any further, though, I want to say something right up front.
In the Ten Commandments, the command to honor our parents is the fifth
commandment, not the first. The first four commandments deal with how we ought to
honor God. God comes first. Children honor their parents most truly, and parents most
deserve that honor, when the whole family seeks to honor God together. Family experts
often talk about quality time. Well, there's no better "quality time" than when a family
takes time to be together with each other and with God. That's quality time.
Jesus said the whole law could be summarized in two basic principles: love God
above all, and love your neighbor as yourself. In the Ten Commandments, the first four
deal with loving God, and the remaining six deal with loving our neighbor. The fifth
commandment, then, is the first one that deals directly with our relationship to others.
Respect for others and love for others begins at home.
The fifth commandment plainly says that our attitude toward our parents has a
powerful impact on our future. If children honor their parents, and if parents act in a way
that deserves such honor, the future is bright. On the other hand, if children "diss" their
parents, if they disrespect and dishonor them, the future is bleak.
To see how serious all of this is, consider this: In the earliest days of God's
people, the Israelites, God commanded the death penalty for rebellious children. At that
point in their history, the Israelites were a motley, chaotic bunch of former slaves. They
could never become a great civilization, with healthy families, strong communities, and
a thriving faith, if rejection of parental authority became widespread. Dishonor of parents
was a cancer, deadly for the whole community, and it had to be cut away.
Now, this didn't mean that a five-year-old could be killed the moment he did
something his parents told him not to. The law applied to a defiant delinquent of more
responsible age, someone who was incorrigible, a habitual drunkard or troublemaker,
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who despised his parents and refused all their advice and warnings. And even in a
situation like that, the parents had no authority simply to kill their own child, as in many
other cultures of that time. The death penalty could be imposed only after a hearing by
the governing authorities of the whole community (see Deuteronomy 21:12-21). Still, it
was a hard law for a hard situation. We live at a later stage of God's revelation, but the
harshness of this penalty from an earlier stage shows just how serious it is to despise
and dishonor our parents.

Affirming Authority
With that as background, let's consider what the command to honor our parents
means for us in our current situation.
First of all, this command affirms authority. The command is to honor. Honor is
not an especially sentimental word. Honor is a word that has to do with recognizing
authority. Love and affection are very important in the home, of course, but there is also
to be a definite structure of authority.
Authority isn't very popular these days, however. Since the 1960's, especially, it's
been thought almost a moral obligation to question authority, not to honor it. Whether it's
government, church, or parents, we tend to resent authority, and to think that the only
opinion that really matters is our own. In certain times and cultures, people may have
been too quick to knuckle under to authority, even when authority figures were
dreadfully wrong, but that's hardly our problem. These days, the situation is more like
what someone described this way: "In our school system, the teachers are afraid of the
principal, the principal is afraid of the school board, the school board is afraid of the
parents, the parents are afraid of the kids, and the kids aren't afraid of anybody."
That may be an exaggeration, but regard for authority is at an all time low, and
many people think that's the way it should be. Parents and teachers often feel unfit to
exercise authority over children. The modern way has been to view children as basically
good and noble. The parents' job is to be as permissive and affirming as possible and
not to impose anything on their children. Likewise, school teachers are to enhance
children's self-esteem and assist children in clarifying their own values without imposing
anything on them.
But when this happens, parents and teachers are abandoning their rightful
authority. They ought to be giving authoritative moral guidance to children. Kids need to
know that their instincts aren't always good, that many of their desires are destructive
and many of their values are selfish and immoral. Among other things, authority means
saying, "I know more about right living than you do. So I am going to teach you, and I
expect you to listen." The fifth commandment expects parents to exercise their proper
authority. God wouldn't command children to honor their parents if he hadn't given
parents authority in the first place.
When parents lose their nerve and abandon their authority, or when kids reject
the authority of good parents, what happens? Are the children then free from all
authority? Not at all. They just submit to different authorities.

Competing Authorities
If you're a teenager, and you stop trying to please your parents, does that mean
you're now strong and independent and making your own choices? Not quite. Often it
just means you're more eager to please your peers than your parents. You want to fit
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the standards of your age group and your friends. You want to buy their kind of shoes,
wear their kind of clothes, have their hairstyle and earrings and whatever else fits the
"look" of kids your age. You want to use their words, listen to their kind of music, and do
the kind of things the kids around you are doing.
Sometimes this is fairly harmless, but at other times it can lead to serious
damage. When somebody offers you a cigarette or a "forty" of liquor or a joint of
marijuana or a snort of crack, do you think they have your well-being in mind? But it's
tempting to go along if that's what it takes to fit in. If the kids in your school or
neighborhood talk like there's something wrong with you if you're still a virgin or if your
date is putting pressure on you to go all the way, is it because they're concerned about
your future happiness? But it's hard not to go along unless you have parents who taught
you to know better.
And you know the really sick joke in all this? Just when you think you're doing
what you and your friends want instead of what adults want, just when you think your
generation is showing that it's really free from the control of grownups, the fact is that
you're doing the will of certain adults who hide behind the scenes and know how to pull
your strings like a puppet. Behind most of the fads in clothes, shoes, hairstyles, and so
forth, are shrewd marketers who target each new generation. They try to widen the
generation gap so that kids will do what adult peddlers want instead of what adult
parents want.
Take MTV. It's a channel owned and managed by adults. Its main purpose is to
make money for adults who own stock in the huge corporation that has MTV as one of
its many holdings. Before MTV got off the ground, a bunch of researchers planned very
carefully how they could hook kids, get ratings, and sell lots of records and other stuff.
MTV executives call it "the most researched channel in history." MTV studied what kids
are like, not for the purpose of helping them become better and happier, but simply to
manipulate the kids into buying what companies are selling. Bob Pittman, one of the
main forces behind the scenes, said, "At MTV, we don't shoot for the 14-year-olds—we
own them."
Much of the youth culture these days is actually ruled by adults whose only
interest in the youth is exploiting them and using them to make money. For every group
of kids drooling over a pornographic magazine, there's a sleazy adult millionaire like
Hugh Hefner or Bob Guccione chuckling all the way to the bank. For every movie or TV
show that shows a steamy sex scene and gives kids the feeling that this is what love is
all about, there's a Hollywood studio and a corporate sponsor who are counting their
millions, even as teens get pregnant, catch diseases, and lose all respect for sex, love,
and marriage.
For every kid that smokes a cigarette because other kids think it's cool, there's an
advertising executive and a tobacco company gloating over the millions that Joe Camel
is generating in the youth market. For every kid that takes drugs or booze from another
kid, there's an adult drug dealer or an adult brewing company executive who just got
richer. For every kid buying the albums of a messed up singer like Kurt Cobain or
Madonna or Axl Rose or Michael Jackson, there's a record company executive
somewhere lining his pockets.
These adults are in the game of making money off kids, and they know what
buttons to push. They know that rebellion, anger, sex, violence, and peer pressure have
an especially powerful pull for confused teenagers, and these adults skillfully manipulate
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these things to make money. Meanwhile, parents who simply want to help kids get past
these problems and obsessions and grow to maturity seem to be out of touch.
If you're a teenager, you need to know what's happening here. The question isn't
whether you follow the lead of adults. The real question is, which adults? The ones who
put a dollar value on your soul, or the ones who gave you birth and love you and want to
help you become wise and strong and good? Honor your father and your mother, and
you'll be much more able to resist manipulators.
And as for you parents: Don't run from your calling to exercise authority. Don't be
afraid to impress your convictions on your children. If you don't want to influence your
kids, you're about the only one who doesn't. Drug dealers, pornographers, record
companies, cigarette sellers, breweries, Hollywood producers—they're doing all in their
power to influence your kids. Surely, you can do better than that crowd.

Respecting Elders
In an age that is so negative about authority, the fifth commandment calls us to
honor authority. What's more, in an age that glorifies youth and despises old age, the
fifth commandment calls us to respect our elders. When your motto is "don't trust
anybody over 30," what do you do when you turn 30? One problem when we don't
respect older people is that we never really grow up ourselves. More and more people
get stuck in perpetual adolescence. They're in their thirties or forties, and they're still
afraid of responsibility, they still prefer sexual experimentation to lifelong commitment,
and they spend a ridiculous amount of money and effort trying not to look their age,
getting facelifts, liposuction, hair dyes, and all the rest.
In contrast to all this, the Bible says, "Gray hair is a crown of splendor" (Proverbs
16:31). There's something splendid about old age. Being young has certain advantages,
but so does being old. In God's design, there's something special about each phase of
life. Kids have enormous energy and enthusiasm, while older people have great
experience and wisdom. The Bible says, "The glory of young men is their strength, gray
hair the splendor of the old" (Proverbs 20:29).
Part of honoring our parents is recognizing the wisdom that comes with age.
Mark Twain once described his own teenage years and his attitude toward his father
this way: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand
to have him around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he
had learned in seven years."
A lot of us can identify with that. When we go through those years of developing
our own identity, when we're first learning to really think for ourselves, we may think our
parents are really out of it, that they just don't get it, that they are downright ignorant.
But once we've made it through that stage, there's often a renewed respect for our
parents' wisdom.
In saying all this, I'm not trying to claim that all parents are perfect, or that getting
older automatically makes you wiser. There are abusive and incompetent parents, and
there are people who, instead of getting older and wiser, just get older. When God calls
us to honor parents and aged people, he also calls parents and grandparents to be the
kind of people who deserve that kind of honor. In Ephesians 6 the Bible says, "Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right," and then it adds, "Fathers, do not
exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the
Lord" (Ephesians 6:1,4).
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Bridging the Generation Gap
Where a generation gap exists, where children and parents are distant from each
other, both need to be reconciled to the Lord and to his will for them. Then they can be
reconciled to each other. The fifth commandment shows us that people committed to
God will also be committed to their family.
Too often our own individual desires come first, and family comes in a distant
second. When that happens, the generation gap becomes a huge canyon. If
grandparents prefer a golf course in the sun to the company of their children and
grandchildren, they shouldn't be too shocked if they eventually find themselves in a
nursing home where they seldom see their children or grandchildren. I'm not saying
seniors should never enjoy themselves in a warmer climate, nor am I saying that it's
always evil for an elderly person in need of special care to be in a nursing home. But I
am saying that too often family ties are viewed more as a burden then a blessing. We
need to put relationships before personal pleasure and convenience. We need to ask
how we can best love our dear ones before we ask how we can enjoy ourselves. Only
mutual love and honor can bridge the generation gap.
Where these bonds of love and honor exist, based on a common faith in Jesus
Christ, family members can support each other, and each generation can be proud of
the other. Proverbs 17:6 puts it this way: "Children's children are a crown to the aged,
and parents are the pride of their children." Let's pray that God will make that more and
more a reality for us.

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.

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Thriving  Children  

David Feddes
 Thriving  children  
1.  Thriving children honor and obey their
parents.
2.  Thriving children have parents who
are worth honoring and obeying.
Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your
parents in everything, for this pleases
the Lord [literally: “is pleasing in the
Lord.”] 21 Fathers, do not provoke your
children, lest they become discouraged.
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your
parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 “Honor your father and mother” (this
is the first commandment with a
promise), 3 “that it may go well with you
and that you may live long in the land.”
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children
to anger, but bring them up in the
discipline and instruction of the Lord.
 Prosper  or  perish?  
•  Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and
do not forsake your mother's teaching. (1:8)!
•  My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep
my commands in your heart, for they will
prolong your life many years and bring you
prosperity. (Proverbs 3:1-2)
•  The eye that mocks a father, that scorns
obedience to a mother, will be pecked out by
the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the
vultures. (Proverbs 30:17)!
 Weak  father,  worthless  sons  
•  Now the sons of Eli were worthless men.
They did not know the Lord. (1 Sam 2:12)
•  They would not listen to the voice of their
father, for it was the will of the Lord to put
them to death. (1 Samuel 2:23-25)
•  I am about to punish Eli’s house forever, for
the iniquity that he knew, because his sons
were blaspheming God, and he did not
restrain them. (1 Samuel 3:13)
 Growing  up  under  Eli  
The boy ministered to the Lord in the
presence of Eli the priest. (1 Samuel 2:11)
Now the young man Samuel continued to
grow both in stature and in favor with the
Lord and also with man. (1 Sam 2:26)
Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the
word of the Lord had not yet been revealed
to him… Then Eli perceived that the Lord
was calling the young man. (1 Sam 3:7-8)
 Why  obey  parents?  
•  “This is pleasing in the Lord.” You are
picturing how the Son obeys the Father.
•  “This is right.” You are keeping one of God’s
Ten Commandments.
•  “That it may go well with you.” Your parents
want what’s best for you. Obeying them helps
you thrive materially, relationally, spiritually.
•  You will be shaped by adults—it’s only a
question of which adults. Your parents love
you most and know you best.
Perfect  son,  imperfect  parents  
And he said to them, “Why were you looking
for me? Did you not know that I must be in
my Father's house?” And they did not
understand the saying that he spoke to
them.  And he went down with them and
came to Nazareth and was submissive to
them. And his mother treasured up all these
things in her heart. And Jesus increased in
wisdom and in stature and in favor with God
and man. (Luke 2:49-52)
 Thriving  children  
1.  Thriving children honor and obey their
parents.
2.  Thriving children have parents who
are worth honoring and obeying, who
do not needlessly provoke them but
bring them up in God’s glad way.
 Focusing  on  fathers  
Col 3:21 and Eph 6:4 tell children to obey
“parents” and to honor “father and mother.”
Yet “fathers” in particular are the focus of
the command to bring up children and not
provoke them. Why focus on fathers?
ü  The father has the main responsibility for
his children and will answer to the Lord.
ü  The father has the greatest power to
provoke and discourage children.
 Loving  discipline  
•  Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from
him. (Proverbs 22:15)
•  Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but
he who loves him is diligent to discipline
him. (Proverbs 13:24)
•  Do not withhold discipline from a child; if
you strike him with a rod, he will not die.  
If you strike him with the rod, you will save
his soul from Sheol. (Proverbs 23:13-14)
 Getting  a  good  crop  
Does he who plows for sowing plow
continually? Does he continually open and
harrow his ground? When he has leveled its
surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,
and put in wheat in rows and barley in its
proper place? …
Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod. (Isaiah 28:24-27)
 Correction  vs.  cruelty  
•  Disciplining: fair, loving, limited
•  Damaging: bullying, bodily injury
•  Scolding: rebuking, correcting, private
•  Screaming: raging, exploding, insulting,
public humiliation
•  Directing: teaching and example
•  Dominating: rigid control, forcing kids to
fit the same mold
 Be  careful  
•  Punish direct disobedience or defiance, not
goofy stunts or careless spills.
•  Spanking is more appropriate when kids
are quite young and respond best to quick,
physical consequences.
•  Parents who grew up under abusive
parents might be wise not to spank but to
find other forms of discipline.
•  Fairness does not always mean treating all
children the same. Each child is different.
 Be  consistent  
•  Punishment fits the crime: Children know
what to expect if they do something wrong.
Consequences consistently fit the offense
and don’t vary with a parent’s mood.
•  Walk the talk: Parents must consistently do
what they order their children to do, and
avoid what they tell their children to avoid.
•  Parents agree: Father and mother are
consistent with each other. If one says no,
kids can’t get the other one to say yes.
 Be  understanding  
•  He who answers before listening--that is his
folly and his shame. (Proverbs 18:13)
•  The first to present his case seems right, till
another comes forward and questions him.
(18:17)
•  A man of knowledge uses words with
restraint, and a man of understanding is
even tempered. (17:27)
•  A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise
man keeps himself under control. (29:11)
 Be  compassionate  
•  As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who
fear him. For he knows our frame; he
remembers that we are dust. (Ps 103:13-14)
•  Be alert to your child’s maturity level, limits,
abilities, moods, tiredness, challenges, fears.
•  The main calling of a Christian parent is to
display God’s grace and love to children, to
show compassion and forgiveness. Admit your
own need of grace, and treat kids with grace.
 Be  teachable  
•  Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
(26:12)
•  He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he
who walks in wisdom is kept safe (28:26).
•  The fear of the LORD teaches a man
wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
(15:33)
 Be  involved  
•  Bring them up in the discipline and
instruction of the Lord. (Eph 6:4)
•  You shall teach them diligently to your
children, and shall talk of them when you
sit in your house, and when you walk by
the way, and when you lie down, and
when you rise. (Deut 6:7)
 Be  godly  
•  We dealt with each of you as a father deals
with his own children, encouraging,
comforting, and urging you to live lives
worthy of God. (1 Thess 2:11-12)
•  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23)
•  If godly fruit thrives in you, faith will not be
forced upon your children in a way that
provokes them. They will find it delicious.
 Parenthood  pictures  the  
Fatherhood  of  God  
•  You are my beloved Son; with you I am well
pleased. (Mark 1:11)
•  The Father loves the Son and shows him all
that he himself is doing. (John 5:20)
•  Our Father who art in heaven. (Matthew 6:9)
•  If you then, who are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father who is in heaven give good
things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11)
 Children’s  attitude  to  parents  
pictures  attitude  to  the  Father  
•  I do nothing on my own authority, but speak
just as the Father taught me. (John 8:28)
•  I do as the father has commanded me, so
that the world may know that I love the
Father. (John 14:31)
•  Although he was a son, he learned
obedience through what he suffered.
(Hebrews 5:8)
Beyond  Family  Values  

David Feddes
 Nice,  normal  sinners  
•  If you love those who love you, what
credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love
those who love them. And if you do good
to those who are good to you, what credit
is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that.
(Luke 6:32-33)
•  If you greet only your brothers, what are
you doing more than others? Do not
even pagans do that? (Matt 5:46-47)
 Hating  family  and  life  
If anyone comes to me and does not hate
his own father and mother and wife and
children and brothers and sisters, yes,
and even his own life, he cannot be my
disciple. Whoever does not bear his own
cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple. (Luke 14:26-27)
 Worse  than  unbelievers  
Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your
mother…”  But you say, ‘If a man tells his father
or his mother, “Whatever you would have
gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to
God)— then you no longer permit him to do
anything for his father or mother, thus making
void the word of God by your tradition that you
have handed down.” (Mark 7:10-13)
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and
especially for his immediate family, he has
denied the faith and is worse than an
unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8).
 Hating  family  and  life  
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his
own father and mother and wife and children
and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his
own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever
does not bear his own cross and come after
me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26-27)
•  Nobody matters more than the General.
•  Nothing matters more than the banquet.
 Love  and  mercy  like  God’s  
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those
who mistreat you… If you love those who love
you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners'
love those who love them. And if you do good to
those who are good to you, what credit is that to
you? Even 'sinners' do that… But love your
enemies, do good to them… Then your reward
will be great, and you will be sons of the Most
High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and
wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful (Luke 6:27-36).
 Help  your  enemies  
If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey
going astray, you shall bring it back to him.
If you see the donkey of one who hates you
lying down under its burden, you shall
refrain from leaving him with it; you shall
rescue it with him. (Exodus 23:4-5)
 Sensible  self-­‐interest  
Honor your father and your mother, that your
days may be long in the land that the LORD
your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12)
Husbands should love their wives as their
own bodies. He who loves his wife loves
himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh,
but nourishes and cherishes it… let each one
of you love his wife as himself. (Ephesians
5:28-33)
 Suicidal  stupidity  
•  “without natural affection” (2 Tim 3:3)
•  Blind to the fact that their happiness
depends on strong, stable relationships.
•  Traditional values provide network for richer,
more secure life, and enable our genes,
ideas, and culture to live on after us.
•  Extreme individualism follows immediate
impulse and ruins relationships needed for
a comfortable, happy life.
•  Such individualism isn’t just sinful; it is
stupid, sick, and suicidal.
 God’s  grace-­‐based  love  
•  Does God love only those who love him, help
only those those who deserve it, and give
only to those who will repay him?
•  God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked
(Luke 6:35). He causes his sun to rise on
the evil and the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and the unrighteous (Matt 5:45).
•  God shows his love for us in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us… while
we were enemies (Romans 5:8,10).
 Beyond  pagan  hospitality  
When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not
invite your friends, your brothers or relatives,
or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may
invite you back and so you will be repaid. But
when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the
crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be
blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you
will be repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous (Luke 14:12-14).
 Values  religion  
•  If you ask, “What’s in it for me?” it makes
sense to love those who love you, to follow
traditional values, and be involved with a
religion that helps maintain these things.
•  If the family that prays together, stays
together, you’ll pray—to maintain family.
•  If honesty is the best policy for business
success, you’ll be honest, and embrace
religion that stresses honesty.
•  Values religion is not the religion of Jesus.
 Beyond  family  values  
How are you different from pagans?
Deny yourself and carry your cross like
your Savior.
•  Deny self in relating to God.
•  Deny self in relating to others
•  Finding true self
Love freely like your Father loves the evil
and the helpless.
Beyond Family Values
David Feddes

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those
who love them.” (Luke 6:32)

When people talk constantly about “family values,” it means we’ve got a serious
problem. If the family was okay, we wouldn’t be talking about family so much. The family
is in trouble. Even Christian families are in trouble. One sad commentary on Christianity
in North America is that the most popular religious broadcasts are the ones that deal
almost entirely with family issues. I’m not knocking these programs. Some of them are
excellent and much needed. But Christians are in serious trouble when we’ve reached
the point where we feel that our greatest need is stronger families. After all, there’s
nothing distinctly Christian about loving your family members and treating them well.
Jesus says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’
love those who love them” (Luke 6:32). “And if you greet only your brothers, what are
you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:46-47)
But in many churches today, pastors would be overjoyed if only their members
would live like decent pagans. If only we could get teens to love their parents enough
not to rebel against them, if only we could get husbands to love their wives enough not
to leave them, if only we could get parents to love their children enough not to abuse
them—if only we could convince church people to love those who love them, many
church leaders would be dancing for joy. According to Jesus, though, if you love those
who love you, if you focus on your family and you’re kind to those who are close to you,
you’re not doing anything heroic. You’re not doing anything especially Christian. You’re
just doing what any common-sense sinner or pagan would do.
There are people from every religion, and some with no religion, who have strong
families. There are people who are crooked and cruel to some people but are still loyal
and loving to their family. Even a professional killer can be a good family man. As Jesus
put it, “Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.” So let me say it again: When the top
item on the Christian agenda is to focus on the family, something is wrong. It means
that many who claim to follow Jesus find it hard even to behave as well as many who
don’t follow Jesus. Many of us are so messed up that we need psychological
suggestions and common sense tips before we can even match the family values of so-
called “sinners” and “pagans” who ignore the Bible.
What’s more, a strong focus on the family can lead Christians who do manage to
have a decent family life to become quite pleased with themselves. They love those
who love them, and that’s good enough. They think that Christianity is synonymous with
“traditional family values,” and they direct all their energy and concern to those in their
family circle. But Jesus expects more from his disciples. He says: Don’t just love your
family. Love your enemies.

Love Your Enemies

The Lord Jesus calls us to something much more radical than traditional morality.
Christ calls us to far more than family values. He embraces us in the love of God, and
then he calls us to love the way God loves. God loved the world even when the world

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hated him, even when we were God’s enemies (Romans 5:10). Christ died to pay for
our sins even though we could never pay him back. When you put your faith in Christ,
that’s the kind of unselfish love you believe in. And that’s the kind of love Jesus expects
you to have toward others. Don’t love only those who already love you. Don’t treat
others the way they treat you. Treat them the way you’d want to be treated. Love them
the way God loves you. In Luke 6, Jesus says,
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to
him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your
tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you,
do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you [Jesus continues], what credit is that to
you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who
are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend
to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even
‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do
good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then
your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is
kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”
(Luke 6:27-36).
How many churchgoers want to hear that kind of message? A lot of people tend to think
that Christianity is all about having a happy marriage, raising happy, well-adjusted kids,
and lobbying the government to make the rest of society into nice, family-oriented
people like us. But according to Jesus, Christian love goes far beyond family values.

Common-Sense Love
For that matter, you don’t even need to be a follower of Jesus to embrace
traditional family values. Loving family members is just common sense, not a uniquely
Christian virtue. That’s what makes our situation so tragic and so embarrassing. Family
ties are stronger in a nation like Japan, where only a small percentage of the people are
Christian, than in North America, where more than 80% of us claim to believe that Jesus
is the Son of God. In Nigeria, too, millions of people say they are Christians, but many
don’t have healthy families, let alone love enemies from different tribes or religions.
Jesus tells Christians to go beyond others in love, not fall short of common-sense
love. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, and we don’t even know how to love our
parents and spouses and children. Too many church people don’t even qualify as good
pagans, let alone good Christians.
When I say we need more than family values, I’m not saying we should overlook
or neglect our families. Christianity is more than loving those who love us, but it certainly
isn’t less. For example, suppose there’s a brand of religion which teaches people to
neglect the basic needs of their family members in order to increase their religious
donations. That would violate the commands of God himself. Jesus was once in a
discussion with people who were doing just that. Jesus said,
“Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God
said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or
mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father or

2
 mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift
devoted to God,’ he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of
God for the sake of your tradition (Matthew 15:3-6).
It is never right to neglect the needs of our loved ones, even if we claim to have the
highest religious motivations. So it is certainly wrong to violate our bond to them for any
other reason. When you don’t help aged parents in need, when you abandon a husband
or wife who no longer excites you, when you neglect your children to pursue your
career, you’re not only violating God’s Word; you’re not even living up to the standards
of a decent non-Christian.
If a man dies, Christian relatives ought to help his widow and orphans. But in
some societies there are churchgoers who don’t help widows. Instead, the dead man’s
relatives seize all his property and leave the widow and children with nothing. The Bible
says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). What must God think of people who
fail to help their own widowed sister-in-law and their own orphaned nieces and
nephews? How angry must God be when greedy relatives invade a grief-stricken family
and take what little they have? The Bible says, “If anyone does not provide for his
relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse
than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).
When Jesus teaches more than family values, he isn’t saying that family values
don’t matter. He calls his followers to be more, not less, than unbelievers.

Sensible Self-Interest
Even if you do manage to love those who love you, you’re not doing anything
uniquely Christian. Even a self-centered person may do that. After all, to love your
family is in many ways just loving an extension of yourself. Husband and wife are so
much one unit that any man “who loves his wife loves himself” (Ephesians 5:28), and
anyone who hurts his wife hurts himself. He’s not just being sinful; he’s being stupid;
he’s hurting his own self-interest. In general, the happier you make your spouse, the
happier your spouse will make you. Husband and wife help meet each other’s economic
needs, emotional needs, and sexual appetites. It doesn’t take someone of deep faith to
see that. It’s common sense.
The same is true of the relationship between children and parents. Parents
naturally have a bond to their children. Even when there seems to be nothing spiritual or
moral about it, there are the bonds of biology and natural affection that even many
animals have for their offspring. It’s not just unholy, but horribly unnatural, when parents
abort their babies or abuse their children. Christianity aside, it’s just plain normal for
people to want to propagate themselves and raise children who are like them. It’s
natural to feel affection for those who have your blood running through their veins, your
features imprinted on their faces, your heritage carried on in their lives.
So even if you’re self-centered, it makes sense to love the people close to you
and to treat well those who treat you well. That’s true of family relationships, and it’s
also true of friendships and business relationships. You’d be crazy not to be nice to the
friends you enjoy being with. It’s more fun to have people who share your interests than
to have no one. Again, that’s not Christianity. It’s common sense. Likewise, you’d be a
fool not to give the best of treatment to people with whom you have long-term business

3
relationships. “I scratch your back, you scratch mine.” That’s not lofty religion; it’s good
business.
Throughout history people of every religion and no religion at all have generally
realized that it makes sense to love those who love you, to treat your friends well, to
conduct your business in such a way that people want to deal with you, to get along with
your neighbors, and to be loyal to your government. All this is really just part of sensible
self-interest. Only an utter fool destroys his ties with those who are in a position to make
his life more pleasant. “No man is an island.” You are most likely to prosper when those
closest to you prosper. You are most likely to get ahead when the people and
institutions you depend on feel they can depend on you. Anyone with enough sense to
see this will cultivate good relationships with those who can do him good in return. All of
this is so obvious that Jesus took it almost for granted that most people would behave
accordingly, simply out of self-interest, if for no other reason.
If that is so, then why the breakdown of families and the decay of traditional
values in so many places? It’s because we’ve become so mindless that we don’t even
know how to look out for ourselves. We don’t see how much of our own happiness
depends on strong, stable relationships with others. Traditional values provide the
context in which we can enjoy a richer, more secure life, and in which our genes and
our ideas and our culture can continue to live even after we’re gone. But many have
been infected by an extreme individualism, which bases everything on the impulse of
the moment and ignores the wider network of relationships we need to enjoy a happy
life. This individualism isn’t just sinful. It is stupid and sick and suicidal. When you do
anything which destroys your family and your society, you are also destroying yourself.
Even if you’re self-centered and your main concern is, “What’s in it for me?” it
generally makes sense to love those who love you. It makes sense to favor some sort of
traditional values. And it makes sense to be involved in a religion which helps to
maintain these things. If there’s evidence that “the family which prays together, stays
together,” then you’ll pray together. If it seems that “honesty is the best policy” to enjoy
long-term success in your business, you’ll embrace a religion which encourages
honesty and enhances your reputation.

God’s Kind of Love

But a religion that focuses only on traditional values is not the religion of Jesus.
Traditional values say to love those who love you, build relationships with those who are
close to you, and be helpful to those who help you. It’s good for you, and besides, you
owe it to them. But as for your enemy? Someone who threatens your vital interests?
Hate him and fight back. He’s not doing anything for you. You owe him nothing.
Jesus, however, takes us beyond traditional values. He says, “You have heard
that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). People in Jesus’
time knew that God’s law said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), but
somehow they got the notion that God’s law approved of hating enemies. What did
God’s law in the Old Testament really say? “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey
going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you
lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it
with him.” (Exodus 23:4-5) In short, don’t hate your enemy; help him.

4
 Jesus takes what has already been said in the Old Testament and makes it even
clearer. Jesus calls us to love those who have nothing to offer us but trouble. He calls
us to love others just for the sake of loving them, not because they can do anything for
us. He calls us to give for the sake of giving, not because the person will give something
back. He tells us not to focus on ourselves, not to focus on our family and friends and
society as extensions of ourselves, but to focus on people just because they’re people,
to be kind to them with no strings attached.
This takes us far beyond ordinary family values and into the extraordinary values
of the family of God. It takes us beyond the earthly rewards of ordinary human
relationships and into the heavenly rewards of a relationship with God.
Jesus says that God’s children are to be different from all other people—not just
different from foolish, nasty degenerates who neglect their own families and destroy
their own communities, but different also from the respectable champions of family
values. The child of God isn’t just a solid, sensible person who knows enough to nurture
the relationships that make him happy and help him to get ahead in life. The child of
God is a person who loves the way God loves.
And how does God love? Does he love only those who love him? Does he give
only to those who can pay him back? Is he kind only to those who deserve it? No, says
Jesus, God “is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35). “He causes his sun to
rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”
(Matthew 5:45).
God’s love goes even beyond this. The Son of God himself laid aside the glory of
heaven to live on earth and bring salvation to wicked, ungrateful people. Jesus didn’t
come because we deserve it. He didn’t come because he needs us. He came and died
for us just because God loves this world and its people.
Those who believe in Christ will begin to love with that same love and to give with
that unselfish spirit. Jesus gave us a lot more than he will ever get back from us. And
when we become children of God through faith in him, we are called to act in the same
way. Be kind to people not because they deserve it, not because it will pay off for you,
but simply because they need your kindness.
Anyone with the sense to embrace traditional values knows that it generally pays
to treat our families well and to offer our business associates nothing but the best. We
go all out when we put on a family dinner or go out for a business lunch. But Jesus
takes us beyond this. He says:
“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or
relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you
will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the
lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will
be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:12-14).
Christ calls us to live by the family values of heaven’s family, and to seek the rewards
not of earth but of heaven.

How Are You Different?

Jesus asks each of us how we are different from anyone else. “If you love those
who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them” (Luke
6:32). “What are you doing more than others?” (Matthew 5:47). What is there in your life

5
that marks you as a child of your Father in heaven and not just another earthling? Are
you really any different from the world around you?
The way of the world is to defend yourself; the way of Christ is to deny yourself.
The way of the world is to hate your enemies; the way of Christ is to love your enemies.
The way of the world is to get everything you can; the way of Christ is to give everything
you can. The way of the world is to look out for yourself; the way of Christ is to look out
for others. The way of the world is self-esteem; the way of Christ is God-esteem. The
way of the world is to expect repayment here and now; the way of Christ is to seek
treasure in heaven. Are you following the way of the world or the way of Christ?
You can follow the way of Christ only if you die to yourself and live to God. This
brings us to the heart of what it means to trust in Jesus and follow him. What takes the
Christian beyond family values? What makes the Christian way of life different from all
others? To put it as briefly as possible, self-denial.
Self-denial begins in the way you relate to God. You don’t base your relationship
to God on any of your own qualifications. Jesus blesses the poor in spirit who come to
God with empty hands. He blesses those who mourn over their sin and brokenness. He
blesses the meek, who humble themselves before the holiness of God. He blesses
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, trusting in God alone to fill them
(Matthew 5:3-6). The followers of man-made religions think that their standing with God
depends on their own goodness. But the Christian is different. You are right with God
when you deny your own merit and base your confidence only on Christ. As you are
caught up in the death and resurrection of Christ, you die to self and live to God. You
deny your own will and seek to follow God’s will.
Once you belong to Jesus, self-denial also shapes the way you relate to others.
The old self, supported by traditional values, tells you to love your friends and hate your
enemies. But you deny yourself: you love your enemies and pray for them. When
someone hurts you, the old self tells you to hurt them back. But you deny yourself: you
choose not to seek revenge or to fight back, even if that means more suffering. The old
self tells you to protect your own interests. But you deny yourself: you don’t demand
your own rights, but instead you look out for the interests of others. The old self tells you
to give only to those who pay you back. But you deny yourself: you give to anyone in
need, without expecting repayment.
And in denying yourself, you find yourself and your true identity. You realize who
you are: You are a child of your Father in heaven. You are a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You really are different from unbelievers. You’re not just concerned about
yourself and your family. You are a person who shines with the love of God himself.

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.

6
What’s Right With the Government?
By David Feddes

Humorist Mark Twain said, “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the
legislature is in session.”
Old-time comedian Will Rogers cracked, “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the
government and report the facts.”
P. J. O’Rourke joked, “Giving money and power to government is like giving
whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
Many of us enjoy anti-government jokes, and even some politicians enjoy them.
Ronald Reagan once said, “Government’s view of the economy can be summarized in a
few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops
moving, subsidize it.”
There’s an old saying, “Don’t beat a dead horse.” I came across an Internet item
which says:
When you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.
However, we in the government often try other strategies. These include:
• Change riders.
• Buy a stronger whip.
• Say things like, "This is the way we have always ridden this horse."
• Increase the standards to ride a dead horse.
• Appoint a blue-ribbon panel to study the horse.
• Create a training program to increase our riding ability.
• Compare the state of dead horses in today's environment.
• Pass legislation declaring, "This horse is not dead."
• Blame the horse's parents.
• Provide additional funding to increase the horse's performance.
• Declare, "No horse is too dead to beat."
• Declare the horse is "better, faster, and cheaper" dead.
• Say this horse was procured with aliveness as an independent variable.
• Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the farm where it was born.
• Promote the horse to a supervisory position.
It can be fun to joke about government, but many people aren’t in a joking mood about
their government. They get disgusted and just plain mad. They don’t respect politicians
and bureaucrats. They don’t trust courts and police.
Now of course people in power aren’t perfect; they have many faults. And even if
they’re honest, they have limits; even when they want to help, there are many things
they can’t do. That’s why the Bible says, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men,
who cannot save” (Psalm 146:3). So it can be healthy not to count on government too
much or have too high an opinion of it.
But it’s not healthy to have too low an opinion of government. If you were asked,
“What’s wrong with the government?” you could probably give a long list of problems.
But what if you were asked, “What’s right with the government?” That’s what we’re
going to focus on here: what’s right with the government. In Romans 13, the Bible says:
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no
authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have

1
 been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is
rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring
judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for
those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?
Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do
you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for
nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the
wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only
because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

Established by God?
It might not be hard to accept what the Bible says here if only our government
were perfect. But what if it's not? The writer of these words, St. Paul, says twice that the
authorities have been established by God. In an election it seems that authorities are
established by money, campaign promises, debating skill, and slamming their
opponents, so is it really true to say they are established by God? The voters may have
chosen them, but did God choose them?
Three times Paul calls the authorities God's servants. Politicians are called many
things—some of them unrepeatable—but "God's servant" isn’t usually one of them. Paul
says that the authorities promote good and punish wrong. Didn't he know about unjust
laws? Didn't he know about police brutality? If government is supposed to punish
wrongdoers, what about criminals who are caught red-handed but go free on a legal
technicality?
Well, just in case you think that Paul wrote Romans 13 at a time when
government was all that it ought to be, just in case you think his words don't apply to
imperfect governments, let’s look at the situation Paul lived in. Paul didn't live under a
perfect government. He lived under the Roman emperors.
We may not always like the way candidates conduct themselves during elections,
but in the Roman Empire, there were no elections. We may think our government
doesn't do enough for working people, but back then, slavery was common. We may
think government should protect unborn babies from abortion, but Rome’s government
didn’t even protect babies who had already been born; many unwanted babies were left
outside to die. We may think our government uses public funds for some questionable
projects, but what about the government-sponsored games of Paul’s day, where
gladiators fought to the death to entertain others? We may not be fond of tax audits and
revenue officials, but in Paul's day the tax collectors were notorious for lining their own
pockets with a share of the money they collected. We may not like the character of our
leaders today, but at the time Paul was writing, Nero was emperor of Rome, and not
long before, Caligula had been emperor. I don't want to get into all the sickening details,
but Caligula and Nero were sexual perverts and cold-blooded murderers.
St. Paul knew the darker side of government through personal experience. He
was publicly whipped without a trial (Acts 16:22-24). He once sat in prison for more than
two years without ever being convicted on any formal charge. Felix the governor kept
him there in the hopes that Paul would give him a bribe, and also as a favor to Paul's
opponents (Acts 24:26). Later on, Paul spent even more time in prison and was
ultimately beheaded, simply because he happened to be a Christian at a time when

2
Nero wanted Christians dead. So it's safe to say that when Paul wrote Romans 13, he
was under no illusions. He could have come up with a very long list of what was wrong
with the government.
But instead the Lord moved Paul to remind the Romans and all of us what's right
with government. He writes, "The authorities that exist have been established by God."
That statement is astonishing, almost unbelievable—but it's the key to understanding
what's right with the government even when there's a great deal wrong with it. When
we're tempted to lose all respect for government, we need to look at it again in the light
of God's power and plan.
When Paul wrote the book of Romans, he was addressing people who had
recently become Christians. These new Christians had a new ruler, King Jesus, and
they may have been tempted to think that as followers of this perfect Lord, they could
reject their earthly rulers, especially those who weren't Christians. But Paul set the
record straight. He made it clear that these earthly authorities, even with all their faults,
even if they didn't acknowledge God at all, were still put in place by God to serve his
purposes. The Romans didn't need to be reminded of what's wrong with government,
and neither do we. We know all about it, and it makes us angry. That's when we need to
realize what's right with government: that despite their flaws, people who have authority
have received it from God.

Preventing Hell on Earth

What good are authority structures? Why does God establish them at all? One of
the main reasons is to keep evil in check and to impose order on a society that might
otherwise be chaos. Government is not capable of turning a bad society into a good
one. But it can help prevent a bad situation from getting worse.
When Paul wrote Romans 13, the Roman government was far from ideal, to say
the least, but things were far worse in many of the barbarian regions outside the empire.
At least under Roman law people couldn't kill and plunder each other as they pleased.
Also, the empire had a system of money, roads, and communication, which brought
increased order and prosperity to a situation that might otherwise have been complete
disorder.
The only thing worse than a bad government is no government at all. Police
brutality is bad; anarchy is worse. Life without government isn't freedom; it's chaos.
We've seen this in various countries where bad governments have been toppled, only to
give way to anarchy where various factions keep destroying property, killing each other,
and leaving the country worse off than ever. Perhaps the most important job of any
government is simply to keep people from destroying each other, protecting the weak
from the strong, and maintaining some kind of stability. Even if a government isn't
providing heaven on earth, at least it may be preventing hell on earth. So what's right
with the government? It's there! That may not sound like much, but it's a lot better than
having no government at all.

We the People
When we think about living under an elected government, we have special
reason to thank God for it. When we're feeling angry about our politicians and police, it
doesn't hurt to remind ourselves that even at it's worst, a freely elected system of

3
government is better than most. Even if we're disappointed with the government, it's
downright foolish to say that any change would be good, that the situation couldn't get
any worse than it is. Is that so? Look at some other parts of the world, and you'll see
that it can get a lot worse. Let’s keep seeking to improve our society, but let's not be so
foolish or ungrateful that we don't appreciate the freedom and stability that we enjoy.
I read about a shareholders' meeting where the chief executive officer of the
corporation began his report by droning on and on with complaints about the
government and all its taxes. Finally a woman who held stock in the company got tired
of listening and stood up. "I'm glad I live in a free country. I enjoy paying taxes to
support my government. Now please stop complaining and get to the point. Tell us how
the company did." It's easy to complain about what's wrong with our leaders, but
sometimes it's better to remember what's right with them. Besides, let's face it: in our
system we usually get the leaders we deserve. When we don't like what's happening,
we often like to blame a few people at the top—but who put them there? We did. "We
the people." If we don't like our leaders, we not only have the freedom of speech to
voice our complaints, but we also have free elections to vote our convictions and pick
somebody else.
I suspect that a big reason some of us can't see what's right with the government
is that we expect too much of it and then become bitter when it doesn’t meet our
excessive expectations. Our anger isn't just due to the well-publicized sins of our
leaders. If we're honest, the thing that bothers us most is the fact that things haven't
been going as well for us as we'd like, and we need somebody to blame. So if corporate
earnings are down, we blame the government. If people are out of work, we blame the
government. If our families are falling apart, we blame the government. If our
educational system isn't what we want, we blame the government. If health care isn't
what we want, we blame the government. Surely our lives would be better if only the
government would get its act together! We demand that the government get even more
involved in education, child care, banking and finance, medicine, research and
development, and whatever else we'd like improved—all without raising taxes, of
course—and then we complain when we end up with a monstrous bureaucracy and a
huge budget deficit. We make an idol out of government, and then, when our idol
doesn't perform all the miracles we expected, we're upset.
But how can any government be expected to make a perfect society out of
imperfect people? Even if our government were doing its job perfectly (which it never
will), marriages would still fall apart, parents would still abuse their children, people
would keep on using drugs and alcohol, many would still get AIDS, students would still
not pay attention to their teachers, some companies would still go bankrupt, and many
people would still lose their jobs. That's because much of what happens in society is
simply beyond the control of government.
To be great, a nation needs more than a government which upholds individual
rights; it also needs citizens who uphold their responsibilities. Ultimately, a nation is only
as good as the sum total of its citizens, no matter what the government does. As C. S.
Lewis said, no rearrangement of bad eggs can make a good omelette. As long as
people are sinful and resources are limited, there are going to be problems that no
government can solve. Government can encourage good things and punish crimes, but
it can't make a perfect society out of imperfect people, and God never intended it to.

4
Politics and Faith
Another thing government can't do, and shouldn't try to do, is to create faith in
God. The Bible says God establishes the authorities; it doesn't say the authorities
establish God. The Lord has not assigned government the task of spreading faith in
him. The government's task is to defend the rights of people in relation to each other,
not to make people right with God.
Some of the saddest chapters in history have been written when political power
is used to force a particular religion on people. Political force can't change human hearts
or lead them to God, and every time it tries, the results are disastrous. Religious
persecution can produce hatred and bitterness, but it has never yet produced a
transformed life. Even things like government-sponsored prayers often do more harm
than good. These prayers are seldom directed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Instead, they usually end up invoking some vague higher power, addressing the
prayers "to whom it may concern." That's not genuine prayer; it borders on blasphemy.
Government can't create faith, and it shouldn't try. There is something very much
right with the government when it stays away from promoting faith or trying to enforce all
the commands of God. Instead of trying to get the government to do the work of the
church, we Christians should celebrate the freedom of religion that we enjoy under our
political system.
The fact that God has established the governing authorities for an important but
very limited purpose helps to set us free from the trap of expecting from the government
more than it can deliver. Sometimes in the middle of an election campaign, the
candidates give the impression that if they are elected, all will be sweetness and light,
but if their opponents are elected, we face nothing but disaster. If we know the Bible, we
know better. The government may be established by God, but that doesn't mean it is
God. God himself is on the throne of the universe, and our destiny is in his hands, not in
the hands of any political party.
We aren't doing ourselves any favors when we expect a government solution to
every problem. Even if everything were right with the government, that wouldn't make
everything right with us. Many of our most serious problems are personal, not political.
Sometimes it's helpful to stop asking what's wrong with the government and instead
deal with what's wrong with us. A healthy relationship with Jesus and a new perspective
on life will help us far more than any politician or judge ever could.
This means that the most important decision you face is not what candidates you
should vote for, but who is going to be the Lord of your life. Jesus Christ can do for you
and your family many things that the government can never do. The Bible says, "It is
better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes" (Psalm 118:9). Your happiness
doesn't depend on whether the right people are running the government for the next few
years. Your ultimate happiness depends on whether Jesus is running your life.
Politicians come and go, but the Kingdom of God lasts forever.

A Healthy Attitude
Once we know the Lord, we can also relate to the government in a healthier way
because we recognize what's right with the government: God has established it for an
important purpose. So we submit to the government and obey its laws (unless, of

5
course, a particular law is in direct conflict with God's law). We submit not just because
we're scared of being punished, but because it's right and pleasing to God. As the Bible
puts it, "Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of
possible punishment, but also because of conscience."
In a country with free elections and free speech, we do more than submit, of
course. Some of us run for political office and win. All of us have a hand in choosing
who will represent us as leaders. All of us have a voice in holding them accountable to
what God expects of government. In other words, we ourselves have a role to play as
governing authorities.
As a Christian, I want to use this power wisely. I don't want government to force
people to follow Jesus; that's not the government's job. This doesn't mean, however,
that Christian people should stay out of politics, or that our beliefs about right and wrong
should have nothing to do with the way we vote. The Bible teaches us the value of
every human life, and it's the task of government to protect the lives and defend the
basic rights of all people. That's why Christians urged the government to abolish
slavery; that's why Christians pressured the government to affirm civil rights; that why
many Christians today want the government to protect unborn children by putting a stop
to abortion. It's not a matter of forcing religion on people; it is simply protecting
vulnerable people from being exploited or destroyed by others. We start by recognizing
what's right with the government, and then we do what we can to make it better yet.
But even when the people in power fall short of perfection, they serve an
important purpose and need our support. Romans 13 says, "They are God's servants
who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe
taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then
honor." God wants Christians to pay their taxes in full, to pay them willingly. Is that so
hard in a nation with such freedoms and privileges? When you lie on your tax forms—
maybe some cash income that you can get away without reporting—you may fool the
government, but you're not fooling the God who established it.
Taxes aren't the only thing we owe. Our leaders need our respect and moral
support. It's a lot easier to criticize and mock politicians than it is to be one. The same is
true of law enforcement; it's difficult and dangerous. Most of these men and women
don't deserve ridicule; we owe them respect and honor.
There's another way we can support our leaders, according to the Bible, perhaps
the most important of all, and that is to pray for them. Please do that right now.

Prayer: Father in heaven, thank you for the rights and freedoms that we enjoy. Thank
you for the people who take up the challenge of becoming involved in government. Give
wisdom and a passion for justice to all our leaders at every level. Give courage and a
sense of fairness to soldiers and police offices and courts. Help us as citizens to
influence government in a positive way as we have opportunity. Amen.

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.

6
The Moving Wall
By David Feddes

Let me tell you about an unusual wall. This wall was built to mark a boundary
between two different areas, and it served a useful purpose. But then the wall began to
do strange things, and it is still doing them. This wall won't stay in the same place; it
keeps moving. And it won't remain the same height; it keeps getting higher. It may
sound crazy that a wall would do such a thing. But that's exactly what the wall between
church and state has been doing: it keeps moving, and it keeps getting higher.
This wall of separation was first built in the name of religious freedom. The basic
idea was that the nation’s government must not support or oppose any particular church
or interfere with the free exercise of religion. It's not the church's job to run the
government, and it's not the government's job to run the church. And so there may be
wisdom in having some sort of wall or boundary between the responsibilities of
government and the responsibilities of religious institutions.
The trouble is, the wall keeps moving. Government keeps moving the wall
outward to include more territory for itself. Government keeps getting bigger and bigger,
and it keeps taking on more and more responsibilities in almost every area of life.
What's more, as the wall moves, it keeps getting higher. Originally the wall of
separation was supposed to prevent the government from persecuting any religion and
from establishing any religious institution as the country's official religion. But lately the
wall has grown higher and harder to climb over, so that it now prevents religious and
moral influence from entering any sphere of life in which the government is involved.
As the government keeps moving the wall and making it higher, the inevitable
result is that as the role of government grows, the role of religion shrinks. What's the
government involved in these days? One thing it's doing is what governments
throughout history have always done: making and enforcing laws to protect the general
welfare. Laws against murder, stealing, pollution, and so forth are vital to the public
good. But government has grown far beyond such things.

Growing Government
One area where the wall keeps moving is in government aid to the poor. What
used to be a primary task of the church has largely been taken over by the government.
As the government has moved the wall, is has also made it as high as possible. If a
church runs a program for the poor and accepts government funds, it had better stick
with material aid and not talk about God. Those who use government funds for a
program must try to look and sound like they’re atheists. The wall keeps moving and it
keeps getting higher.
Government is also taking over more and more health care, and this involvement
of government in medicine has consequences. Hospitals that are run by religious
organizations have to be careful not to promote their faith if their hospital is receiving
government grants. Clinics which treat addictions often use programs that emphasize
God and spirituality, and such programs are far more effective than treatment programs
which ignore God, but how can clinics mention God and still get public funds?
Another aspect of the government's involvement in health care is the abortion
question. Many states and provinces aren't merely pro-choice; they're pro-abortion.

1
They don't merely permit abortions; they pay for them with taxpayer money. It's not just
a matter of allowing individuals to choose abortion. It's a matter of all taxpayers being
forced to help pay for abortion, even if we find abortion horrifying. Government doesn't
just ignore religious convictions; it tramples on them.
Some in government would also like to use federal money to pay for researchers
to experiment on human embryos and then destroy them. Many Christian citizens view
such research as defying God and destroying humans, but those who don’t mind
destroying embryos think that faith has no business interfering with government-
sponsored research. The wall keeps moving, and it keeps getting higher.
What else is the government involved in? Well, it regulates electronic
communication, both in radio and television. Canada has laws regarding "balance" in
broadcasting and has used these laws to exclude religious groups from owning and
operating their own station promoting their own faith. The government won't permit a
particular church to run its own network, but the government itself is involved in public
broadcasting. Canadian officials have fined opponents of homosexuality and ruled that
quoting Bible verses against homosexuality may be hate speech. The wall keeps
moving, and it keeps getting higher.
Another area of government involvement is building codes and zoning laws. If a
community tries to ban pornography, a court might overrule the community in the name
of free expression. But if a person is building a new house, inspectors can require not
only safe construction but also light fixtures in closets that don’t need them, electrical
outlets in places where they won’t be used, and a host of other requirements at
needless expense. Porn is a protected freedom; building a house the way you want it is
not a protected freedom. Sometimes government laws prevent building churches in
certain areas of town or prohibit large gatherings of people who might want to worship
as a house church. As always, when church and state collide, the church must give way
to the government's regulation. The wall keeps moving, and it keeps getting higher.
And there's more, much more. Government provides funding for the arts. If a
church were to apply for a government grant to pay for a splendid new stained glass
window by a Christian artist, separation of church and state would prevent such funding.
But government money has supported some of the most disgusting, immoral, and anti-
Christian art exhibits imaginable. The wall keeps moving, and it keeps getting higher.
When it is suggested that the government shouldn't be funding such projects,
some artists howl censorship. But it's not censorship at all. The artists can say and do
anything they want, but that's not enough to suit them. They don’t just want the
government to permit their filth; they want government to pay for it. Besides the
controversy surrounding outrageous exhibits that received government funding, a more
basic question is whether government should be involved in the arts in the first place.
The wall keeps moving, and it keeps getting higher.
Another place government has taken over at the expense of religion is the public
education system. It's illegal to have public prayers in the classroom or at a football
game or at a graduation ceremony. After all, these are government schools, and state
and church must remain separate. If you're a teacher, you'd better not pray in your
public school classroom. You'd better not quote from the Bible. On the other hand, you
may distribute condoms to kids, even if they come from a religious tradition that
declares sex outside of marriage to be immoral.

2
 I know a teenage girl who took a driver’s education class at a public school
where the instructor devoted part of his class time to saying how proud he was of his
lesbian sister. It must be hard to slip an advertisement for homosexuality into a class on
how to drive a car, but he found a way to do it. If he had used his public school
classroom to boast of someone’s love for Christ, he would have been in trouble. But
praising lesbianism was fine. The wall keeps moving, and it keeps getting higher.
Government budgets keep growing, and as budgets grow, the wall keeps
moving. The government not only concerns itself with basic legislation and law
enforcement, but it's also deeply involved in banking and commerce, in welfare, in
mandatory saving for retirement, in health care, in radio and television, in zoning and
city planning, in the arts, in education, and who knows what else. The fact is that
government is bigger than ever, and it's involved in more territory than ever. Wherever
government goes, meaningful references to God are eliminated. The church has to stay
out of everything the government is involved in, and since the government is involved in
almost everything, the public role of faith is reduced to almost nothing. The wall keeps
moving, and it keeps getting higher.

God and Caesar

You may be wondering whether I have any business talking about these things.
After all, I'm a minister. Aren't ministers supposed to talk about things that are "private"
and "personal" and "spiritual" and stay out of public affairs? Shouldn't I be offering a few
inspirational ideas that help people feel closer to God? Shouldn't I be talking about the
Bible instead of talking about politics?
Well, I often do talk about receiving eternal life in Jesus and getting close to God,
but it's exactly because I teach the Bible that I have to talk about other things as well.
The Bible says, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it" (Psalm 24:1). Everything!
Biblical religion isn't just a warm feeling or a personal belief or a private relationship with
God. It affects every part of our lives. If government keeps expanding its scope and
keeps insisting on banning religious or moral influence from everything government
touches, then it is on a collision course with God’s authority. At the heart of the Christian
faith is the confession, "Jesus is Lord." Jesus doesn’t just claim a private little spot in
our hearts; he lays claim to every part of our lives. God is too great to be confined to
those few areas of life that government stays out of.
The idea of a wall of separation between church and state has been used to
drive Christian faith and biblical principles from any area in which government is
involved. And since government is becoming involved in almost everything, faith is
allowed to affect almost nothing. Faith is treated as a private feeling that should be kept
in a small corner. Before we sit back and accept this, and before we beg the
government do even more for us, we need to think harder about the proper role of
government and the limits of government.
Jesus was once asked whether it was right to pay taxes to the government. He
replied, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" (Matthew 22:21).
Jesus didn't attack all government or say we shouldn't pay taxes. Government has its
rightful place in God's plan for humanity. So don't become an anti-government fanatic.
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's."

3
 But also be sure to give God what is God's. Give government its due, but don't
give it everything. Don't let the moving wall make you think that government has the
right and responsibility to take charge of every area of life. And don't let the height of the
wall make you think that government is one part of life where God doesn't belong or
where his will doesn't matter. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but above all make sure
to give God what is God's. Give the Lord your highest love and loyalty. Give him
obedience in every aspect of life. When governing authorities promote things that are
not in line with God's will, obey God, not man. And where government takes upon itself
responsibilities that God hasn't given it at all, work to limit the size and power of
government. Caesar is not God.
Government can go wrong in at least two ways. One is by taking action in an
area that rightfully belongs to government but taking the wrong action. For example, it is
right for a government to have a military and a police force, but it can go terribly wrong
by using the military and police to bully and even butcher those who have committed no
crime. When government does evil in areas of legitimate authority, the wall is too high,
shutting out a moral sense that rulers are under a higher law and must answer to God
himself for how they have used their power.
But there's a second way government can go wrong—not by doing evil in a
rightful area of responsibility, but by trying to do good in areas that don't belong under
government control at all. For example, the Bible clearly gives parents the responsibility
for training and educating children. And yet education has become a multi-billion dollar
government industry, all in the name of doing good for children. When the government
tries to do good in areas that belong to some other institution, such as church or family,
the wall has moved too much.
It can be hard to know exactly how God's will applies to a government's
legitimate areas of responsibility, and it can be even harder to know whether the
government should be involved in a certain area at all. Let's zero in on children and
education.

Education Problems
Here's the question. If government-run schools have a problem, is it that the
government is using its good and rightful authority in education to do some bad things?
Or is it that the government shouldn't control education in the first place?
There's no doubt that government educators are doing some bad things. They
teach subjects as though God is not even in the picture. They exclude prayer and Bible
reading from the daily instruction of children. Indeed, they not only neglect the Bible but
sometimes they blatantly contradict it. Listen to a manual for teachers of first grade
students in government schools. The manual says, "Classes should include references
to lesbian/gay people in all curricular areas... Challenging sexual myths can begin on
the first day of school." That's in a manual for teaching first graders!
Nowadays it's okay for teachers to promote what is completely at odds with
Christian teaching. But if you're a teacher and you tell your students that the Bible says,
"God created man in his own image, male and female he created them," or say the
Bible prohibits sex outside of marriage, you could get into big trouble for pushing a
religious viewpoint.

4
 A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union says that religion can do
anything it pleases, except when it involves public funds. He says, "Watering at the
public trough means you have to accept public water standards." Very cute—but what
does he mean by "public water standards"? No religion, of course: conduct classes as
though God does not exist and as though Jesus never lived. That's an odd approach to
"public water standards," given the fact that in North America more than 90% of the
people believe in God, and more than 80% say that Jesus is God or the Son of God. In
a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," where only a tiny
minority are agnostic or atheist, what gives the government the right to operate schools
that exclude God?
If the government is going to run schools, a case could be made that those
schools should encourage religion, since most citizens are at least somewhat religious.
But rather than saying government-operated schools should promote religion, I'd like to
raise the question whether the government should run schools at all. Maybe the main
problem with public schools isn't just a mistake here or there in how government does
its job in education; maybe the problem is that education isn't the government's job at
all. It is the responsibility of parents. Education rightfully belongs in homes headed by
the parents or in schools controlled by parents. Nowhere does the Bible give
government the task of training and educating children.
Right now the only way many of us can educate our children in a Christian school
or through home schooling is if we first pay taxes for the public school and then dig
deeper into our pockets to pay for our children to get the schooling we really want for
them. A great many parents do exactly that, and the number is growing every year. But
what about those who don't have money to spare once they've paid all their taxes for
public education? They may have little choice but to send their children to the public
school.
A popular slogan among some in the public education monopoly is, "We oppose
using public funds for private schools." That sounds sensible enough—until we
remember that public funds are really private funds which the government has taken
from private citizens by means of taxes. When the government sets out to "help
families," it takes the private funds that belong to us, declares them to be public funds,
and then tells us exactly what we can and can't do with that money. You may wonder
why taxpayer money should support religious education. But since so many taxpayers
are religious, maybe a better question is why does taxpayer money currently support
atheist education?

Whose Children Are They?

What's happened in the public schools will happen if government gets involved in
daycare. Obviously, if the government provides funding for day care, it has to get the
money from somewhere. This means another tax increase, leaving government in
control of more money and parents and grandparents in control of even less. The only
way they'll see any of that money again is if they send their children to daycare which
fits government standards and excludes religion.
Beware when politicians talk about helping families. What usually happens is that
the money which once belonged to families ends up in the hands of the government
through increased taxes. Then, in the name of separation of church and state, the

5
government won't give any of this money back to families who want to educate children
in Christian truth and Christian morality. In other words, Caesar takes more and more of
your money, and he won't allow you to benefit from it unless you do things his way.
You'll never see your tax dollars for education again unless you send your children to
Caesar's school. When Caesar offers to help, he also takes charge.
It's time to ask ourselves: Should we be giving our children to Caesar or to
Jesus? To the government or to God? And should decisions concerning their welfare be
controlled by politicians or by parents? If you're a Christian, the answer is clear: Your
kids belong to you, and they belong to God. They are not children of the government.
So if you're at all able, send your children to a school that teaches "the earth is
the Lord's, and everything in it," or teach them yourself at home. If Christian schooling
or home schooling isn't a possibility in your situation, and you feel you have absolutely
no choice but the public school, then be involved in your children's education. Don't let
that moving, growing wall keep you out of your child's learning. Don't let it keep the Lord
out of your child's thinking. Stay on top of what your kids are learning. Show them what
the Bible says about it. And don't be afraid to cause a stir when you see the teaching of
anti-Christian values at their school. Your children are yours, not the government's.
Make your parental influence count wherever you can.
Meanwhile, before it's too late, we as citizens need to resist any trend which
stifles our ability to live out our faith. Let's beware of that moving, growing wall. Let's
watch out for anything that makes us more and more children of the government, and
less and less children of God who are free to follow where he leads. We need to keep
asking: Is the government involved in areas it should stay out of entirely? And if it does
have a certain level of involvement in things like day care, education, welfare, health
care, economic development, and so forth, does government funding have to mean
government control? Does freedom of religion have to mean freedom from religion?
If the wall between church and state needs to form a boundary of sorts, does it
really have to keep moving, constantly giving more territory to the government? And
does it have to keep getting higher, separating public policy from the convictions of the
huge majority of people who claim to believe in God? That's not even democratic, let
alone Christian.
The government must not be allowed to take over the rightful authority of the
family and the church. Let's not think that faith is limited to our private opinions and
feelings. Biblical religion is at work where the rubber hits the road. The earth is the
Lord’s and everything in it. Jesus is Lord of all. That's why we need the freedom to put
our faith into practice, to live every part of life the way Jesus wants us to, and to train
our children to do the same. So give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is
God's.

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.

6
 E P I S O D E 4

T h e

REFORMATION
I. The Reformation as a Reaction Against Medieval Religious
Distortions of the Biblical and Early Christian Church’s Teaching
A. Illustration from Luther.
B. Luther—German; Zwingli—Zürich; Thomas Cromwell—England; Calvin—Geneva.
C. Biblical view of salvation (grace only) and its effect on certain aspects of church construction.
D. Real meaning of destruction of artwork in Reformation.
E. The Reformation rejected.
1. Medieval distortion of Church’s having made its authority equal to the authority of the Bible.
2. Medieval distortion of Church’s having added human works to the finished work of Christ
for salvation.
3. Medieval distortion introduced by Aquinas: mixture of biblical thinking and pagan thought.
F. Summary of humanistic influence in church.
1. Illustrated by Raphael’s School of Athens and Disputà.
2. Illustrated by Michelangelo's making pagan prophetesses equal to Old Testament
prophets in Sistine Chapel.
G. For William Farel and the other Reformers it was the Scriptures only.
1. Erasmian Christian humanism rejected by Farel.
2. Bible gives needed answers not only as to how to be right with God, but concerning the
meaning of life and what is right and what is wrong, and concerning mankind and nature.
3. The people of the Reformation did not have humanism’s problem, because the Bible gives a
unity between God—as the ultimate universal—and the individual things.
4. The Reformation was no golden age, but it did aspire to depend on the Bible in all of life.

II. The Reformation and the Arts

A. German Reformation music tradition peaks in Bach.
B. Significance of Cranach’s and Luther’s friendship.
C. Dürer’s identification with Luther evidenced in his diary; significance of his work.
D. Rembrandt’s paintings show that he understood that his sins had sent Christ to the cross, and that
Christ is the Lord of all of life.

— P A G E 13 —
E. Point is not to romanticize Reformation art but refute view that reformation was either hostile to art
and culture, or did not produce art and culture.
F. Wittenberg Gesangbuch, Geneva Psalter, and revival of congregational singing.

III. Comparison of Renaissance and Reformation.

Both sought freedom. In the South license resulted from lack of absolutes; in the North freedom lasted
through absolutes.

Questions
1. Can you clearly differentiate between the key ideas of the Renaissance and the Reformation,
respectively?
2. “The Reformation is simply the last gasp of medieval Christianity. Once exhausted, the truly modern
and humane force of the Renaissance dominated the West.” Comment.
3. “As a man thinketh, so is he”—the renewed emphasis upon the Bible’s teaching in the Reformation
had practical results. If some of these results are no longer common among us, how far may this
be attributed to a de-emphasis upon biblical teaching today?

Key Events and Persons

Erasmus: c. 1466-1536
Dürer: 1471-1528
Lucas Cranach: 1472-1553
Martin Luther: 1483-1546
Farel: 1489-1565
Johann Walther: 1496-1570
Calvin: 1509-1564
Erasmus’ Greek New Testament: 1516
Luther’s 95 Thesis: 1517
Reform at Zürich: 1523
Wittenberg Gesangbuch: 1524
England breaks with Rome: 1534
Calvin’s Institutes: 1536
Geneva Psalter: 1562
Rembrandt: 1606-1669
Raising of the Cross: 1633
Bach: 1685-1750

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Further Study
As with the Renaissance, make sure to follow up the artwork and music mentioned. Different publishers
and record companies have many alternate versions of works of the artists and composers mentioned.

A.G. Dickens, Reformation and Society in Sixteenth-Century Europe (1966);

The Counter Reformation (1969).
J.Huizinga, Erasmus and the Age of Reformation (1957).
B.Moeller, Imperial Cities and the Reformation (1972).
E.W. Monter, Calvin’s Geneva (1967).
F.Wendel, Calvin: The Origins and Development of His Religious Thought (1963).
D.Ziegler, ed., Great Debates of the Reformation (1969).

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