Warp and Woof

Giving Students a Chance

mark — Tue, 31 May 2022 11:13:37 +0000

He gave me a chance.

I’ve been giving students a chance, ever since.

Find out why knowing a student’s abilities matters so much: watch our Truth in Two (full text below).

Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (webs ite). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).

Picture Credit: Josh Collingwood, SnappyGoat

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I scored 126^th out of 126 students. When I was a junior in high school our class took a test for possible college level English curriculum in our senior year. Having been told the results, I sat sobbing on my bedroom floor. For some reason, grammatical prowess in my mother tongue eluded me. Syntax seemed like “sin tax” to me.

And grammar was the first of three levels in the senior curriculum. I had to pass out of one level to get to the next two: essay writing then free writing. I had been behind the door when grammar was taught in middle school. Somewhere, somehow, I missed lessons on prepositional phrases, split infinitives, and hanging gerunds. I tried and tried to pass through to the next level. No amount of tutelage helped. I languished in the wasteland of grammatical incoherence.

But the thing was, I could write. I knew instinctively what sounded right. I heard the words even if I didn’t understand how they fit together. And Roy Honeywell knew it.

Roy Honeywell had been my junior English teacher. He knew what I could do. “I would like to read a paper from someone in the class whose writing could be an example to others. He shall remain nameless,” Mr. Honeywell intoned as he read my papers during eleventh grade not once, not twice, but three times.

Now Roy Honeywell was the dual-credit, college-prep teacher in my senior year. He agonized with me as he tried to fill my grammatical knowledge gaps. I took and failed test after test. We were a month into the senior year. Everyone else had matriculated to levels two and three. I was the only one who could not pass the grammar section of the program.

The overwhelming feelings of failure touch me even today. I can feel now, what I felt then. The emotional slough I wallowed in then is the swamp I see before me every day.

But the feeling of clandestine secrecy from what happened next lies just beyond the swamp. Roy Honeywell knew what I could do. He knew I could write. So, one day he came to my desk and told me that I did not have to pass the grammar exam. I could proceed to level two.

“This is just between me and you,” he stated in firm, hushed tones. “You show me that you can write like I know you can, and the grammatical understanding will follow. I have faith in you.” And he walked away.

I did not know what would happen next, but he did. After scoring 126 out of 126, it was not long before my writing scores ranked at the top of the class. I knew I was doing well when Mr. Honeywell began to anonymously read my papers before the class again. I will never forget when he cast a quick, smiling glance in my direction before he began to read my writing.

“I have faith in you.” The words still inspire me today. Roy Honeywell gave me a chance. I have been giving students, like you, a chance, ever since. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally grateful for second chances.

mark — Tue, 24 May 2022 09:45:50 +0000

The public reading by a child

hushed the voices of everyone that day.

Find out why Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address matters for Memorial Day (full text follows).

Picture Credit: Josh Collingwood, SnappyGoat

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She began to read aloud. We stood, my daughter and I, inside the Lincoln Memorial in 1999. Etched to the right of the president’s statue, Chelsea read from Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. The boisterous noise of others around subsided to silence as this twelve-year-old recited the heart-rending words from a leader whose nation had been wounded by The Civil War. Perhaps the audience was suddenly quiet out of respect for a young woman’s voice emboldened to repeat a historical text. But I would like to think that the words themselves brought solemnity to the monument. America, torn by internal strife, reflected the soul of Abraham Lincoln.

Upon the occasion of his reelection, Lincoln chose to be generous with those who opposed him. In part he said,

“Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange . . . but let us judge not, that we be not judged.”

Lincoln, speaking of “the providence of God” and “His appointed time” intoned,

“The Almighty has His own purposes.”

Divine judgment against the sin of slavery was clearly marked as Lincoln woefully acknowledged,

“He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came.”

President Lincoln repented,

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.”

Most importantly, Lincoln offered reconciliation, as he concluded,

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

Recalling Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address reminds us of what is most important on Memorial Day Weekend: national reconciliation. For all those who have paid with their lives to secure our freedoms, we should seek to “bind up our nation’s wounds. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, personally grateful to live in the United States of America.

Before Rejecting an Argument

mark — Tue, 17 May 2022 10:15:16 +0000

Do you get mad and yell?

Or do you ask questions?

Watch our Truth in Two, finding out how to counter another point of view (full text below).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, SnappyGoat

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From time to time, I want to teach in these videos what I teach in classes. I believe it’s important for people to hear how universal truth applies in the public square. The ten principles I recite here are taught at a public university. But the principles can and could be applied in any communication. Here are my ten principles to consider when rejecting an argument or another point of view.

(1) Have you acknowledged your own assumptions, preconceptions, starting points, sources of and claims for truth?

(2) Have you recognized your own reasoning is susceptible to error, falsehood, bias, and that you, and those who agree with you, are not the final arbiters of truth?

(3) Have you heard, read, and watched the best sources of the other point of view, honestly listening to understand?

(4) Have you interpreted what you hear *not* through spokespersons sympathetic to your own point of view?

(5) Have you appreciated the best arguments from the other person’s perspective, unfiltered by your own prejudice or prior commitments?

(6) Have you compared and contrasted the best arguments from the other point of view with your best arguments?

(7) Have you asked questions which may illuminate truth or error?

(8) Have you tested the credibility and verifiability of your own point of view with the same vigor with which you have tested other perspectives?

(9) Have you rejected intellectual discrimination by those parties who ignore evidence, exclude by silence, or rely on unverified sources of information?

(10) Have you sought a simple, understandable explanation of your point of view which could be made clear to anyone?

You could be communicating with your spouse, boss, friend, or an online questioner. These ten questions could be a real help toward hearing another point of view. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.

Suicide Prevention

mark — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 10:17:33 +0000

I told her, “Get out of bed every morning

and put one foot in front of the other.”

Find out how words saved a life; watch our Truth in Two (full text below).

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A student emailed me asking if we could meet via Zoom. I vividly remember that night and conversation. Our online chat was unlike any other virtual meeting I have ever had. The young woman was visibly shaken. She recounted any number of negative experiences, including the loss of her job because she stood up against discrimination in the workplace.

She was so distraught about her life that she considered ending it.

I had listened to her for the first half hour and saw the darkness that enveloped her. In the second half of our hour meeting, I began to speak of hope. I explained that my Christian faith gave me hope. I told her stories about my family and workplace injustices done to me. But I pleaded with her not to give up. I said,

“Get out of bed every morning, thinking, ‘I just need to put one foot in front of the other.”

She spent the last 30 minutes of our conversation in tears.

Honestly, I did not know what would happen. I prayed for my student over the coming weeks. We kept in contact and she finished the semester. But I wondered about her future.

Fast forward two years. This spring I received an email out of the blue from that student. In part, this is what she said,

I’m reaching out to you because I wanted to thank you. I graduated this past December. I owe a great deal of that to you. You inspired me in such a way that no one else has. Your stories pushed me to finish and not give up. I came very close to giving up. Your words inspired me. I am applying to graduate school next year and I owe that to you.

A teacher does not always know what impact his words will have on a student. Sometimes, those words may just save a life. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of The Comenius Institute, personally thankful for the life-giving hope of Jesus.

Jesus Triumphed Over Death

mark — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 09:29:28 +0000

Jesus nailed sin and death on the cross

Triumphing over our enemies on the cross.

Watch our Truth in Two to discover why (full text below).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat

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Clint Eastwood is an iconic Hollywood actor and director. When I reviewed one of Clint’s most popular films, Gran Torino, I said, “We need to learn that getting justice may only be won by giving ourselves.” In short, true victory is achieved through sacrifice.

Eastwood’s symbolic gesture of a cross-like pose at the end of Gran Torino has been used repeatedly since Jesus sacrificed Himself on the Cross for human sin. The importance of the cross is more than a symbol to be worn around a person’s neck. Jesus’ death was a finished work. We remember Jesus dying on the cross because that is where He defeated both sin and death.

My favorite passage of Scripture about the cross comes from Colossians 2:14-15. It reads, “God cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them at the cross.

In the Roman world of Paul’s day, a defeated enemy was paraded in front of a crowd of people. The people would showed their distain for the defeated foe by throwing garage and human waste on the prisoners, a final sign of defeat. In the same way, Jesus’ death was an announcement to all supernatural and natural authorities: I have conquered death.

What is Eastwood’s symbolic gesture? You will need to see the end of the movie. But if you want the basis for the movie’s ending, you will need to read about Jesus’ crucifixion, the voluntary gift of His death that defeated death, at the Cross. A symbolic gesture, arises out of a factual event – Jesus’ sacrifice for the world’s sin.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.

My review of Gran Torino

Gran Torino

Tradition & Resurrection

mark — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:56:24 +0000

Why should we pass on what we know

to the next generation?

Find out in our Truth in Two (full text and footnotes below)

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat

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When I was a boy my sister and I had to find our easter eggs and easter baskets. I hated every minute of that tradition. My sister, loved it. To this day, a look of glee comes over her face as she contemplates finding hidden treasure.

You, your family, your friends could have an Easter tradition. Maybe you enjoy Easter egg hunts. Or maybe someone cooks a big meal for your whole family to enjoy. Perhaps you look forward to spring with reminders of little chicks and bunnies. Or, perchance, you can’t wait for the yearly sale of marshmallow “Peeps.”

Some traditions are just rituals. They may not be right or wrong, good or bad. But there are some traditions that arise out of truth claims. The apostle Paul used the word “tradition” to explain truths given in Scripture. In our English Bible translations, a person was to “hold on” to a “received” (1) truth and that teaching was “passed on” (2). These words and phrases come from the Greek word for “tradition,” paradosis – something passed down through generations. “Tradition” meant the transfer of important information to be kept intact from one person to another. The word “tradition” comes from a root word meaning the content and its communication are fused. The truth was inseparable from the truth telling.

1 Corinthians 15:3, for instance, records the key content of the Christian belief system which Paul had both received and passed on: Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection. But verse one says the Corinthians themselves had also received this information. The Gospel which Paul preached to them was where they had taken their stand. (3)

So I am telling the truth about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. We Christians say, “He is risen!” and I can hear my brothers and sisters in the The Faith respond, “He is risen indeed.” For Truth in Two this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of The Comenius Institute, personally accepting the truth-tradition of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection given to me.

AFTERWORD

FOOTNOTES ⁽¹⁾ 1 Co 11:23; 15:1, 3; Gal 1:9, 12; Col 2:6; Phil 4:9; 1 Thess 2:13; 4:1; 2 Thess 3:6.

⁽²⁾ Oral transmission of religious instruction is meant. Fee NICNT First Corinthians, p. 499, n.29; p. 548.

References to “received,” “passed on,” “hold to,” “teaching,” and “tradition” all come from the same root word making the meaning of this word multidimensional: content and its communication are fused.

⁽³⁾ “On which you had taken your stand” might be better understood as “in which”; the difference being not so much a change in location but our submissiveness to the Truth. See Romans 15:2 for the same construction.

A Fire in My Bones

mark — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 09:32:37 +0000

There are many uses of “fire” in the Bible.

None are more personal.

Find out why by watching or reading our Truth in Two (full text below).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat

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Blaise Pascal was a famous French philosopher and mathematician of the 17^th century. But today he is most famous for his writings entitled Pensées meaning “thoughts.” Pensées were Pascal’s theological writings collected after his death at the young age of 39. His conversion to Christianity was so abrupt, so transformational that Pascal devoted his final eight years to a focus on God’s work in the world. Blaise Pascal was so changed by his conversion that he wrote the word “fire” on a parchment and sewed it inside his coat, reminding him of the all-consuming fire of his internal transformation.

The word “fire” is a prominent biblical word. When God invited Moses and Israel’s elders to experience Him on Mount Sinai, Exodus 24:17 says “the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire.” “Offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire,” says the writer of Hebrews in chapter 12. Because God alone is God, Scripture often repeats the truth of Deuteronomy 4:24, “Your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Placing our worship on anything else is considered idolatry, the trigger for God’s jealousy.

And so, in the context of worshipping false ideas, God says in Jeremiah 23:29, “Is not my word like fire?” God’s Truth consumes falsehood. How does that experience of “fire” translate into our lives? One of the great lines of Jeremiah 20 verse 9 has always motivated me. The prophet declares that he must speak God’s Word because, [Quote] “There is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” [End Quote]

I identify with Pascal’s “fire.” I feel it every day. It is the unquenchable fire of God’s Spirit who lives in me. The Word of God is a fire in my bones, and I cannot hold it in.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth, with light, from the fire of God’s Truth.

Temper Your Expectations

mark — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 23:34:29 +0000

What we think is bad . . .

. . . may not be so bad.

Find out why by watching our Truth in Two (full text below).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat

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Every day students come to my class, they know we will be investigating the etymology of a word. An etymology means the development of a word’s history.

A word’s meaning grows over time. Consider the word “temper.” Now if someone is angry, we might say, “Cool your jets!” and by that we mean “Control your temper!” But if we say “bring the heat to temper the metal” that would be closer to the original meaning. The word “temper” originally meant to bring metal to a suitable, useable state. Picture a blacksmith heating a horseshoe to make it pliable so he can fashion it for a horse’s hoof.

Sometimes in life we must work with what we have been given, “Tempering our expectations.” What we mean is, “Things may not always go our way” or “We may not get everything we want.” Another phrase we use is, “Make do with what you’ve got.” We may be frustrated by our situation. A poker player might say, “I’ve got to go with the hand I’ve have been dealt.”

Solomon teaches temperance by his proverbial wisdom. For instance, Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.” So, I can say, do not be too quick to label something “good” or “bad.” The end of something may matter more than its beginning.

Here is how we practice Solomon’s wisdom of temperance.

Do not believe that one event is the best or the worst.

Be wary not to put all your eggs in one basket.

Wisdom suggests that our best plans may not work out.

Having a Plan B, is better than just having Plan A.

Preparation is good, expectation, not so much.

Things are not always as they seem.

What you see, isn’t always what you get.

These proverbial statements underline Solomon’s point: temper your expectations.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally trying to temper his expectations with biblical wisdom.

The Importance of Doctrine

mark — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 23:21:42 +0000

Rebar is necessary for strengthening cement.

Doctrine is necessary for strengthening Christian living.

Watch our Truth in Two to find out why (full text below).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat

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Cement, by itself, is not enough. A strong foundation needs rebar. Concrete columns holding up highway overpasses use it. Sidewalk masonry depends on the stability it brings. The “it” is something called “rebar.”

I remember working with cement as a teenager, pouring driveways and house foundations, always making sure that steel rods and wire mesh were embedded in the cement before it dried. You see, cement by itself can crumble under severe compression. Steel rebar – or reinforcing rod – is necessary to withstand the stress and strain of wind for columns and the weight of 18-wheelers on the roads. Materials, such as concrete, that can become brittle in extreme cold or hot environments, need the sustaining concentration of rebar. Concrete structures depend on the strength steel rebar provides.

Rebar illustrates the structure of belief. The steel reinforcement rods for a well lived Christian life are the rebar of biblical doctrine. Paul in the fourth chapter of Ephesians gives the reason for a believer’s structural stability saying we should not be “blown about by every wind of doctrine.” Doctrinal doubt is the concern of James who says the person who doubts is “tossed by the wind.” And Jude says that contending for The Faith necessitates not being “swept along by winds.” The teaching of Scripture supplies the doctrinal core strength for a believer’s life. My belief in the reality of a supernatural world, created and governed by The Personal Eternal Triune Creator, is the poured footer of my foundation, supplied by the rebar of biblical doctrine.

The next time you see a high rise, a skyscraper, a highway overpass, or a business tower, remember rebar. And then remember, that the strength of your beliefs depends on strong doctrine.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally thankful for the foundation supplied by God’s Word, the Bible.

Progressive-Conservative

mark — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 09:49:10 +0000

Is it possible to disagree agreeably?

Watch our Truth in Two to find out if it is possible (full text below).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, RIT

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Denzel Washington is famous for saying,

“It is easy to spot a red car when you’re always thinking of a red car. It is easy to spot reasons to be mad when you’re always thinking of being mad. You become what you constantly think about.”

If you’re always looking for it, you’ll find it. If you think the worst of some person or group, that’s all you’ll see. I am constantly concerned about the one-sidedness of viewpoints.

To my conservative friends I say, go conserve something. If you care to be a true conservator of the great ideas and ideals given us, then be proactive, participate, do good, above all – be kind to those who disagree with you. And to my progressive friends I say, remember the “progress” in progressive. If you care to be a true progressor of future possibilities available to us, then celebrate goodness, growth, improvement, above all – be kind to those who disagree with you.

And let me be very clear. I care deeply for all my friends, no matter your social or political positions. I need my progressive friends to remind me that human concerns still need immediate attention. I need my conservative friends to remind me that human concerns are still rooted in perennial truths.

I encourage everyone hearing my voice to go make a friend with someone who has a very different view of the world than you do. Find out why they hold that view. Read a book together, one from each of your perspectives. Organize a symposium together about a hot-topic and then kindly discuss your differences before the crowd. Practice what I call “the hospitality of ideas” so that people can see an example of civility. Defend the other person in the presence of those with those who agree with you.

And, to Denzel’s point, think about the color blue, so you’re not always seeing red.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally pleased to have many friends who disagree with me.

The pictures herein are of Cornel West and Robert P George. They are progressive-conservative friends.