2011 A.D.:  The Kids' Artwork On the Refrigerator

  Doesn't almost every family refrigerator - at least in the US - have pictures that the Grade School age children have drawn for us to admire?  Sometimes though, the artist is cherished more than the artwork, though that fact is kept a well gaurded secret.

  But, there are some interesting things that can be learned by looking at this relationship between the young artists, their art, and the artist's parents.

  Sometimes, a first grader may come home with a picture that they have drawn (and which they are very proud of) and they will tell you that it's for you, and it's supposed to go on the refrigerator.  Then they will ask the dreaded question:  "Do you see what it is a picture of?"

  That can be a rough one, because though it is believed by some that art reflects life, first grade art does not always reflect it as faithfully as other types of art.  First grade art can be a bit 'interpretive', or perhaps 'nebulous', even 'mystical' are better terms.

  A clever parent may say:  "Yes.  I see what it is.  But now tell me so I can see if I'm right."  Some form of that gambit is employed often by parents eager to admire their children's efforts, and encourage the young artist, yet puzzled by the identity of some - perhaps all - of the subject matter that the art addresses.

  When that is succussful, the child may explain that it is you that they have drawn.  "Is that what you guessed?"  And the correct reply is something like: "Yes.  Yes it is!   It looks just like me.  You did wonderfully!"

  But, as they beam with pleasure that their art is so well received, you may be left looking at the picture and trying to decide how it could be interpreted to be a likeness of you.

  So, really what we have in this situation is an investigation that is somewhat similar to the arguments for and against the obviousness of intelligent design in nature.  But in a different context.

  If there is anything that looks at all like a big circle with stuff drawn inside of it, our analytical brain will start with the assumption that this is our head.....possibly.  Those lines drawn inside of the circle are not there by accident we know.  They have been purposely placed there, each line having a function.  After all, our children are nearly all incredibly gifted.....they are just young still, and not quite developed in the motor skills department, and still needing to learn some of the finer points of drawing the human form.

  So, by applying our adult intelligence, we can decide to just believe that the two somewhat circular features near the top of the inside of the bigger circle are probably our eyes.  One is much larger than the other, maybe.  One closer to the outside edge of our face maybe.  But on the whole, we can buy into the idea that someone (our little someone) meant them to be eyes.  That allows us to see how the warped and leaning triangle in the middle must surely correspond to our nose.  Not a nose that we would wish upon ourselves necessarily, but fundamentally a nose-like shape in approximately the right place within the big circle which is our head; we find ourselves quite satisfied in the belief that we know which features are the eyes and the nose in this portrait of ourselves, and we might even find them preciously rendered. 

  So, the garrish streak of red crayon below the nose is now easily recognized as our red lips, thus accounting for all of the major features of the face.  The drawing makes sense to us now, after a little bit of ferreting out the details.  And maybe we're proud of it, too.  We post it on the refrigerator, and everyone is happy. 

  Let's suppose that we show our child's work to a visiting neighbor - an adult neighbor.  Let's also suppose they were so unkind and obtuse as to stare at our child's picture skeptically for a while and then say "That looks like the scribblings of a dying drunken blind man.  Do you honestly think that it contains any hint of having been intelligently designed?"  Wouldn't we be taken aback by that?

  We would probably begin to regard that neighbor as a soul abandoned moron who had not the slightest inkling of the artistic ability that should be expected of the beginning child artist.  We would possibly find their lack of even the most basic skills of discernment to be an affront to all that is right and good in the world.  Who are they to suggest that your child seemed incapable of intelligent design due to a few structural non-conformities being evident in your child's effort to reproduce your face?

  How could any parent not think in their heart of hearts: "How rude do you have to be to say something that stupid and insensitive, neighbor?  There are signs of intelligent design all over and throughout that picture.  A lot of obvious and undeniable artistic elements denoting a very special and gifted artist....given their age."

  How could you not ask this neighbor if their even older child was still struggling with the bed wetting thing?  Ask nicely, I mean.

  But isn't it funny that we can quickly and easily spot evidence of intelligent design in our children's art work, yet many people won't acknowledge the majestic and unimaginably diverse legion of skilled, crafty, and miraculously well designed features that are to be found in every living thing around us, and within our own physiology as well?

  God is the creator of all things .....not random chance.  Not evolution.  God with Jesus there beside Him to see it all made.  But for those people who were once taught that evolution did it all, but who may now be willing to admit that random chance could not by any means have created all that is to be seen in nature's living creatures....for them, I guess that admitting to the obviousness of intelligent design in nature is at the very least a good first step.  Without naming God as that 'intelligent designer' that still cheats God out of the praise He deserves for having done it all, but .....admitting to intelligent design is a step in the right direction. 

  Once that step is taken by all reasonable men and women, we will be at least one step closer to seeing that it was God Almighty, our Holy heavenly Father, who has done so very many wonderous things in the course of providing mankind a home.  And we can quit teaching our children that baseless evolution garbage in our schools.  How deeply we Christians must lack true faith if we send our own dear and loved children to school so that they can be taught to scoff at the existence of our own dear Father.  But I've been guilty, with step children, of doing it.  They wanted to go where there friends went, for one thing.  The real heart of the problem is just that evolution is taught at all.  It's a failed hypothesis. 

  It doesn't paint a pretty picture, does it? (pun intended!) 

  Imagine if concerned Christian parents by the many dozens scheduled a meeting with their local school administrators and just explained, at length but courteously, how very much they resented having to fund a public school system that did so very much to undermine and disparage your children's belief in their Holy Father.  That would be a whole lot of meetings that those administrators would have to sit through.  I think they would get so tired of them that they would feel well supported and fully justified in joining your side of the fight against the continued teaching of Charles Darwin's hogwash. 

  If they said it would be culturally insensitive to teach God, you can remind them that 'Christian' is a type of culture, and that Christian sensitivities were being bashed mercilessly by teaching evolution and not God.  If the administrators pointed out that non-Christians attend the school too, you can tell them that people from nations where false gods are worshipped are quite welcome to enjoy the knowledge of Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit right along with the Christian children in school, with no requirement to convert.   And, since it was a Christian nation that they fled their old land to come to, they should be willing to accept that.  But, if not, why would it be wrong for them to build a Muslim school, a Hindu school, a Confucian school if they wish.  Give them vouchers, in fact, if they wish to do that.  But when the 'public' is largely Christian, the 'public' schools should be too.

  If someone argues that public schools shoud be comfortable for everyone, then point out that teaching evolution in public schools makes them quite incompatible with the Christian faith, and quite uncomfortable for Christian children because of that.  And maybe tell them that continuing on that course is a purposeful affront to the bulk of the tax paying Christian public - the Christian public which largely supports the schools. 

  And just keep electing Christian politicians. 

  Babylon finally fell.  New Babylon can also.  Assyria finally fell.  Rome finally fell.  If you read the gospels you will notice that demons being cast out of people almost always scream and make a lot of racket and try to harm the person that they reside in as they are cast out.  It's just the nature of demons.  It doesn't mean you shouldn't cast them out anyway.  And this is a very good time to work at destroyinbg a few of America's more prominent demonic strong holds.  Can anyone argue that a public school system which teaches Christian children that God is a myth and Jesus just a gifted teacher - Christianity as just another optional belief - is not such a stronghold?

  Is it about time that we help them 'get the picture' from the Christian perspective?  It was a Christian nation that drew men from every land to feast on the decidedly superior fruits of the one true and Holy Father, and His son Jesus, granted to us unworthy American Christians.  If a Christian land drew people from every corner of the globe, don't they deserve to find a Christian land when they get here?