Emperor's New Clothes

"I myself am convinced that the theory of evolution, especially the extent to which it's applied, will be one of the great jokes in the history books of the future. Posterity will marvel that so very flimsy and dubious an hypothesis could be accepted with the incredible credulity that it has." -Malcolm Muggeridge

Homer and the Dark Age of Greece

By 1200 BC, the Mycenaean realm had diminished, primarily due to Dorian invasion. The Dorians did not have the artistic abilities of the Mycenaean people, nor did they record any written information. As a result, we have little knowledge of that era in history, which we now call the Greek Dark Age. However, the Dorians preserved the stories of Mycenae through poetic sagas, which were extensive poetic tales of legend, myth, and battle. These sagas were recited by professional poets called bards, who were often hired by the richer class to entertain at parties. One particularly famous bard, Homer, wrote the two popular poems, The Iliad, and The Odyssey.

Homer lived around 900 BC and is believed to have been blind. Both of his poems focused on the time period of the Trojan War; the Iliad telling of the ten-year battle for Helen of the fair cheeks and the Odyssey of the war leader Odysseus and his adventures home from the war. Homer’s poems became a primary means of education in ancient Greece as well as ancient Rome. A man was not considered educated unless he knew Homer’s poems by heart.

But today there is conflict on the subject of Homer. Was it truly him who wrote the poems? Some believe that they might be a collection of works from various poets, combined into one story, although no one is absolutely positive. Was he actually blind? Truthfully, we do not know for sure. Whatever the case may be, Homer’s poems have been inspiration for poets, story-tellers, play-writers and authors ever since they were first told.

In 800BC, the art of writing returned to Greece. The country began to flourish and the culture became vivid once more as Greece entered the Archaic Period, soon to be followed by the Classical and Hellenistic periods. At the turn of each period, the arts and styles changed, but throughout the history of Greece, Homer’s poems were not forgotten, and they are still preserved to this day.

-Grayce, South Carolina

Religious Neutrality for the State

Should the state be religiously neutral? This is a topic disagreed upon quite often. The view I hold is that the state should be religiously neutral. Why, you ask? We as Christians need to guard ourselves from heresies, which come in all different shapes and sizes. By letting the state become associated with religion, we would be letting the state be associated with the Church as well and that is opening a door for all kinds of ideas to come through and possibly corrupt the Church. More descriptive reasons will gladly be explained in the following paragraphs.
The first of my reasons is that man is sinful and can become corrupt. There could be a strong Christian man appointed as head of state, but once his term is done, someone else needs to be elected or appointed. It would be nice if the next man was a Christian as well, but that might not happen, and it might turn out a Muslim is appointed. He then might change what is taught in the schools, or change laws to the disadvantage of churches. Some Christians have their children in public schools, and those children would then be taught heresies and they would have to shield themselves from those teachings. The public school systems in fact already have some of these teachings going on.
To add to the above, come Christians say that there should be praying in schools. This might look like a good idea on the surface, but once you dig in, it truly is not. For example, the teacher of a class could be an atheist, and when it comes time every day to say a “prayer”, the “prayer” might really just be a conversation with your soul or mind.
And also if man is sinful, he can be led astray. You might have someone appointed as head of state and when he is appointed, he claims to be a Christian. But we all know that fame and wealth have potential to corrupt men, and the head of state might end up leading everybody astray. This would not be good for the Church either.
In his Defense*, Justin gives an interesting example of a person expressing a reason for the state to be religiously neutral. In this example, Lucius is protesting the order of execution given by a man named Urbicius, for another Christian by the name of Ptolemy. This is what he said, “Why punish this man, who is not an adulterer, fornicator, murderer, thief, robber, or offender in any way, but merely confesses the name Christian?” In a more understandable sense, Lucius is saying that it is not any of Urbicius’ business that this man claims to be a Christian, and that Urbicius should only be concerned with crimes such as murder, thievery, fornication, and so forth. One of the reasons Lucius might think this is to protect Christians from persecution if a sinful leader (such as Urbicius) comes into power. This proves my point earlier that there is almost always the possibility that a sinful leader will come into power.
Though state and religion should not be associated, it doesn’t mean that they are not called to rule justly. Deuteronomy 16:18 says this, “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.” (ESV) This verse is obviously calling rulers to judge with righteousness. It also does not mean that we as Christians should not submit to the authority placed over us. Romans 13:1-2 says this, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” This clearly states that we should submit to the government, and do what they say, unless of course they want us to renounce our faith.
To wrap things up, we can say these few things. Man is sinful and can become corrupt, and that can lead to heretical teaching in schools, corrupt leaders and Christian persecution. So then why should the state be in charge of religious duties as well? If there are Christian rulers, they should certainly encourage Christianity and Godly living, but the state should not interfere with religious activities. I will close with two verses, Psalms 2:10, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.”, and Psalms 94:20, “Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?” (ESV)

Mycenaean Pottery

By 1450 BC, a group of Greeks, known as the Mycenaean people, had established themselves in the region from Thessaly to southern Peloponnesus. They were feared and respected by neighboring countries because of their aggressive nature and dominating power. However, the Mycenaean people were artistic, and they had a vivid culture. There were many different crafts, including metal working and architecture, but perhaps the most important was pottery.

Mycenaean potters were greatly inspired by the Minoan and west Asian styles. The designs varied from geometric lines and patterns to battle scenes and imaginary beasts. The background of their pottery was light tan and the design was painted on in black, or sometimes red, paint. Occasionally potters were hired by the king and had their workshops on the acropolis, where the vases, pitchers and pots they produced went out to be traded or given as pay to other craftsmen.

In c. 1200 BC, Dorian invaders came in and sacked Mycenae, causing the thriving civilization to end. The town was forgotten, and was believed just to be a legend from Homers Iliad. But, in 1870, an archeologist named Heinrich Schliemann discovered the city. Because the pottery styles were constantly changing and developing, archeologists have a reliable way to date Mycenaean periods chronologically. Thanks to their pottery, we can learn a lot more about the Mycenaean people.

-Grayce, Charleston

Essay Suggestions

My blog administrator had two great quotes on her email:

A best friend is like a four leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for. - John Shedd

Try writing an opinion essay using the 5-paragraph outline (Topic paragraph introduces the major points and tempts the reader to read on, Final paragraph summarizes what has been said and puts a bow around the essay for the reader, and the three middle paragraphs describe your major points, one by one). Send me your results and I'll post them here.

Why I Like Teaching the Students I Do

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."
C. S. Lewis

The Great Pyramid

Have you ever wondered how or why the Great Pyramid was built? Well, the Ancient Egyptians believed in ‘afterlife.’ They believed that in order to exist for all eternity the body would have to be preserved. And Pharaohs were supposed to be the Egyptian god Horus on Earth. But when Cheops (or Khufu) became Pharaoh, he claimed to be the god Ra (also known as Re) on earth. This was big news. Ra was the sun god, “the most powerful god.” Now that Khufu was ‘Ra’ on earth he would need a nice place to stay once he died and went on to the afterlife. He would build a pyramid. But not just any pyramid, of course, he would build a magnificent pyramid, the Great Pyramid. Khufu wasn’t known to be a very nice person, and he taxed the people heavily so that he could build this enormous pyramid.
This huge landmark would take only 20 years to construct, but used 100,000 workers for every 3 months. Carefully, the workers put each block of stone in place. These stone blocks were very heavy, weighing about 2.5 tons each. Every day about 285 stone blocks were set in place. Every year about 100,000 blocks were set in place. When the pyramid was finished, about 2.3 million blocks were in place. The Great Pyramid was the tallest building in the world until 1887 when the Eiffel tower was built. That is the story of the Great Pyramid, one of, if not the most amazing structure ever built.
-Grayce, South Carolina

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was born in 1864, in Diamond Grove, Missouri, on Moses Carver’s farm. George W. Carver and his mother were captured by Confederate soldiers! Thankfully Moses found George, but his mother was never found. He left to pursue his education at age twelve since there were no schools available for blacks. He then moved to Newton County, in southwest Missouri. Later, he attended college at Iowa Agricultural College, where he gained much of his wisdom of nature. As an agricultural chemist, he discovered three-hundred different uses of peanuts, and found hundreds of different uses for soybeans. Remarkably, he made improvements on grease, bleach, buttermilk, instant coffee, and ink! What an incredible scientist. Wouldn’t you have wanted to see his laboratory? Wow!
-Elizabeth, South Carolina

Looking for Writing Help?

Here are some ideas if you would like to study Creative Writing further:

1. Check out the Institute for Excellence in Writing website ( www.excellenceinwriting.com). Andrew Pudewa has assembled an amazing array of materials to continue your training. Note especially his writing with history and his Timed Essay writing materials.

2. Check out Logos School materials and the work of Matt Whitling, (www.logospressonline.com). "Imitation in Writing" gives the students opportunities to write about a variety of subject areas. Whitling's work is also highly recommended.