The U.S. Constitution (USC) Sucks, The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) is Better: Part 5 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Family Sections


Article III.

Section 2.

Neither the united States in Congress assembled, nor any State, shall have power to raise up a king over men, nor to exert kingly authority over them or their house, for it is not right to esteem one flesh above another, or that one man shall think himself above another, but every man alone shall bear rule in his own house; and as that which is governed by law is also preserved by law, whereas that which breaks a law, and abides not by law, but seeks to become a law unto itself, cannot be preserved by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment, every man shall have power to set his house in order, having his children and house in subjection to him alone with all gravity, even as unto a king, according to the bounds and conditions of his law, that this shall be a land of liberty, and that every man shall enjoy his rights and privileges alike, and that every man shall set in order his family, and that every man shall bear his part.

Section 4.

Neither Congress, nor any State, shall abridge, or regulate in any way, a woman’s right to give birth at home, with our without assistance.

Section 5.

No State, nor any of its agents, shall issue or keep certificates of live birth, except in cases in which the child’s mother has died giving birth and the child has no living relative, for only the father and mother of a child, or the father alone if the child’s mother has died giving birth, or the mother alone if the father is dead or otherwise absent, or some other living relative if the child’s parents are dead or otherwise absent, shall have power to issue certificates of live birth, and to keep the same, except in the case in which the child’s mother has died giving birth and the child has no living relative, and such certificates shall be as equally valid and effective and binding, in the eyes of the law, as those which are issued by any State or its agents.

Section 6.

In order that the people may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law, and in all things that are expedient to understand—of things both in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and perplexities of nations, and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—and that all the people may study and learn, and become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues and people; the right and duty of parents to teach their children at home shall not be abridged, nor regulated in any way, neither by any State, nor by Congress, nor by any other branch of government, that children may be brought up in, and taught, truth and words of wisdom out of the best books, by their parents, and that the people may organize themselves and prepare every needful thing, and that every home may be established as a house of learning; but parents shall also have the privilege of performing this duty by sending their children to a school.

Section 7.

Neither Congress, nor any State, shall assign a number to the name or person of any of the inhabitants of Confederacy lands.

As explained in my previous post, the NAC creates a new (really an old) jurisdiction by re-introducing (restoring) the ancient concept of manus, so that a married man now has his own law:

Article III. Section 3.

No State shall have power to divorce men who exercise their right to marry wives with manus, from their wives, nor shall the right and power of such men to issue a writ of divorcement, on their own authority, be abridged or regulated in any way, and such writs shall be binding and valid and final and unalterable decrees in the eyes of the law, so that the law shall view a wife so divorced as loosed from the law of her husband.

This makes the man a legislator.  All government has three branches: legislative, executive and judicial.  The national government established by the USC has these three branches which are separated, but the new jurisdiction created by the NAC restores the ancient concept of men as kings.

The NAC’s Article III. Section 2.

From the dictionary, a king is “a male monarch of a major territorial unit; especially :  one whose position is hereditary and who rules for life.”  Under the NAC, men become minor kings, or male monarchs of a minor territorial unit, namely, over their house and family.  As kings, they have both legislative, executive and judicial powers.  Thus, Section 2 says, “every man alone shall bear rule in his own house,” and “every man shall have power to set his house in order,” and “every man shall set in order his family,” which clauses embody executive and judicial powers, while the clause, “according to the bounds and conditions of his law” shows that he also has legislative power.

This is yet another restoration, for from the very beginning men were made kings.  But as the NAC puts restraints on all levels of government, even the fundamental level of a man’s house law is said to have “bounds and conditions,” thus allowing an interaction between the fundamental law of a man and the laws of society in general.  This is important, for tyrants can appear anywhere, but all men are re-empowered by the NAC, as men were from the beginning, to reign over their house and family, and over their children in particular, to judge them, and to make laws for them, and to set them in order, using his executive power, being endowed with those masculine powers and strengths that actually allow him to subdue and subject whatsoever is around him.  As I stated in a previous comment concerning rebellion, this duty to deal with rebellion falls principally upon fathers, and should fathers become emasculated to the point where they can no longer subject their children (as it is today under the USC), society must crumble into a mob of criminals.

The NAC, then, deals with criminality at the fundamental level, by re-empowering the men, and fathers in particular, so that everyone that leaves his or her father’s house will have learned to respect the laws of society, having already been made subject to their father’s law.  Under the USC, criminality is fostered, for fathers are emasculated, creating rebellion and dissent in their house, and it is the police state which then has the responsibility of dealing with these now rebellious adults who do not respect any authority, at all.

Just as I stated in the first post of this series, concerning the super-armed citizens becoming a sort of unofficial police force, even so the men and fathers of society, under the NAC, are likewise empowered to police their own, even as kings.  There are very valid reasons why God has endowed men with all that they have been given, meaning all the incredible physical strength and prowess and mental powers.  These things are needed, in order for them to set their families in order and deal with whatsoever obstacles come their way.  It is to the benefit of society as a whole that such powers are returned to men, therefore, the NAC restores them.

And the NAC doesn’t mince words, either, using the phrase “even as unto a king” to describe the subjection that children are supposed to have to their fathers.  But kings over men are expressly prohibited.  And even kingly authority over men is prohibited.

Now, certainly we Americans can claim we have no king over men, but there can be no doubt that kingly authority is being exerted over them and their house.  Currently men can be hauled off to jail for a great many things if they seek to set in order their house.  And the State is increasingly interested and seeking to control all aspects of a family and house, so that the State becomes the parent or father.  The NAC does away entirely with these tyrannical power grabs, but without leaving a vacuum.  No, in the absence of false State “fatherly” powers, the real fathers are given back the powers the State stole from them in the first place.  So, the NAC shows itself superior, yet again, to the USC.

The NAC’s Article III. Sections 4-6.

The State’s stolen “fatherly” powers, inappropriately called by people, “the nanny State,” currently reach (or try to reach) into all levels and areas  of the family.  Without going into a lengthy discussion on the topic, the first two sentences of the entry of Communism from the New World Encyclopedia are instructive:

Communism refers to a theory for revolutionary change and political and socioeconomic organization based on common control of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. While communism or Marxism-Leninism, as it is known, champions economic justice, it views social revolution and the violent overthrow of the existing social order as essential components in the process.

So, the State seeks, in a very great many instances, to control everything it can, including the family itself, by these stolen masculine powers.  Children, then, are not viewed as belonging to parents (“private ownership”), but to “society,” which the above entry calls “common control” (meaning the State.)  Those children are fodder for the State organism.  They represent both future taxpayers and future soldiers.  Thus, knowledge about the children of America, and about Americans in general, is needed by the State, in order to plan for the future.  Specifically, it needs to know how many people are in America, and how many are men and how many are women and what their ages are, and when they were born and so on and so forth.  This information is vital to the growth of every State that wishes to control all things.

The NAC combats the tyranny of central control of all things by restoration, restoring to parents their private rights over their children, and also by prohibition, prohibiting the State from knowing much of anything, and also by disclosure, causing the State to disclose all its business to the people.  In other words, it essentially says to the State, “I know what evil is in your hearts and what you are planning in secret places, and it ain’t gonna work.”  It supplies to the people a set of tools that completely undermine such tendencies toward consolidation of State power.

The State wants to know how many births there are in this country, and how many are boys and how many are boys.  The NAC says, “Women have the right to home birth, even without an assistant, and you, State, can’t regulate this.”  This keeps the State completely in the dark concerning these numbers, for there are a great many home births in this country, but if there is no assistant, there is no one to report to the State these numbers.  The State, then cannot get an accurate handle on births, because of Section 4 of Article III.

“But,” says the State, “many people go to hospitals, therefore, there we will get the rest of the numbers, so we can have some accurate projections for our secret plans.”  But Section 5 stops the agents of the State from keeping birth certificates, except in rare cases, as stated in the Section, therefore the State is once again left in the dark.  As it should be.

“Ah, but when the children go to school, then we will know the numbers!” says the State.  Well, not really, because parents have a right to homeschool their kids, per Section 6, and that also can’t be regulated, so it sucks to be you, State, but the NAC has stopped you yet again.

What ends up happening, then, is the State is left with inaccurate numbers and a lot of guesswork.  But what about the enumeration that is supposed to occur every 10 years?  Surely that is where the State will gets its handle on the numbers, right?  The U.S. Census Bureau to the rescue!  Unfortunately for the State, the NAC says this:

The Number of Representatives in the House shall ever be no less than Four Hundred Ninety. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct, but as all population enumerations pose a danger to the lives, liberty and property of the people, all such enumerations shall consist solely of the whole number of inhabitants, and of the number of said inhabitants which are Indians not taxed, and of the number of non-Indians not taxed which are males aged twenty years or older, and in no case shall names, or sexes, or ages, or citizenship statuses, or any other data be gathered in the enumeration. At all times, regardless of enumeration, each State shall have at Least one Representative.

Yet again, the State is stopped in its march towards centralization of power and war, by taking away its power to actually know anything much about the people.  (And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I did have Monty Python’s Holy Hand Grenade scene from their Holy Grail movie in mind when I wrote the above paragraph of the NAC: )

“Ah, but what about driver’s licenses?” you might ask.  “Everyone uses a car to drive around, right?  That is how they’ll get the numbers!”  Well, as explained in the previous post, the State can’t license the right to travel under the NAC, either, so driver’s licenses are out, too.

The NAC’s Article III. Sections 7.

Now, Section 7 stops the State from assigning a number to people.  So, if the State tries to use the records of the previous national government, or some other means that the NAC hasn’t thought of, to get around all these restrictions, they still can’t attach a number to a name or person.  It is really hard to keep track of a population if you can’t put a unique number to each person.  So, I wish any State that tries to do so the best of luck.

The result of these sections

The NAC’s family sections firmly establish the family as the fundamental unit of society and the father as the fundamental governmental unit.  The NAC, then, fulfills the imperative of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, “to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.”  The USC, in contrast, is silent on all these topics, and under it, all we have seen is “the violent overthrow of the existing social order” (the family unit and its government.)  Under the USC, the family has been broken apart and re-defined and its government has been fully disMANtled.  Women empowered by the strong arm of the State, as well as the State (for the State empowers no one without strings attached), now “govern” the family, which allows children to grow up in rebellion, following in the footsteps of their rebellious mothers, all with State sanction and approval, (for the destruction of the family is one of the not-so-secret plans), and emasculated fathers and husbands, unable to deal with the State’s strong arm, are beginning to become wise to the situation and are “opting out.”  But State deception has men completely fooled and so the angst and frustration these men feel is directed at the usurping women, and not at the State which falsely empowers them with stolen masculine rights and authority.  Men must wake up and see the deception around them.  They must recognize that women are not to blame, for they are simply following after their natures, as they always have.  It is the false empowerment of the State that is the primary cause of the situation.  The State must be emasculated and the stolen powers returned to their rightful owners: the men.  But this is impossible under the USC.  So the USC must go and in its place the NAC will restore both the family and its original and legitimate government.

Now, for those who take issue with the NAC over the establishment, or re-establishment of men over their families, as kings, it must be understood that from the beginning, from the very first family, and onward, the fundamental governmental unit has always been, and ever shall be, the king over his kingdom.  Not a democracy, not a confederacy, not a republic, or anything else.  All these other forms of government were later inventions.    The first and best form of government has always been the just king:

Therefore, if it were possible that you could have just men to be your kings, who would establish the laws of God, and judge this people according to his commandments, yea, if ye could have men for your kings who would do even as my father Benjamin did for this people—I say unto you, if this could always be the case then it would be expedient that ye should always have kings to rule over you.  (Mosiah 29:13)

I will not expound this principle in this post.  Suffice it to say that for the fundamental unit of society, which is the family, the father-king is the original and best form of family government, and, in point of fact, the only divinely approved form for that unit.  The NAC, then, abolishes one form of government, (the national government under the USC), and replaces it with a multitude of father-kings, which is a restoration, for from the beginning the world was filled up with father-kingdoms.  At the same time, the NAC prohibits the later invention of “king over men” and also the even later invention of “kingly authority over men,” while allowing the States to continue functioning as democratic republics on the macro level and as a Confederacy between States.  The NAC allows these because they do not interfere with the rights of the fundamental units and governments, whereas “king over men” and governments which exert “kingly authority over men” do interfere.  Thus, every part of the NAC supports that principle of freedom which maintains rights and privileges.

A story

Once upon a time, there was a land of many kings, which bordered a forest infested with ogres.  The forest also contained a unique specimen of antelope, whose antlers only grew on the right side of their heads.  In ancient times the kings discovered that if they ate these animals, they became endowed with mighty strength, and so it became a practice among them to corral all the various types of this specific specimen of antelope in a certain place in the forest and from time to time the kings would feast on them to renew their strength.  The ogres, for their part, craved human flesh and would attack the kings when the urge struck them, but the kings would ever be victorious due to their greater strength.  In these wars, here and there a king would fall, while ogres would die in droves.

Now ogres were always very stupid, but one day a new type of smart ogre was born, and when he came of age, he said to his fellows, “Listen to me and I will deliver all the humans into our hands.  Behold, it is unwise to attack the humans in their strength.  They must first be weakened.”

“How?” asked his brother.

“Behold, the antelope is the source of the kings’ strength.  We will steal the antelope and men will become weak,” replied the wise ogre.

“But they will know they are missing and will attack us and slay us and take the animals back,” said another.

The smart ogre continued, “They will not know, for they are not numbered, and so we will wait until dark, and when their watch is sleeping, we will take but one antelope, a small one, even the smallest we can find, and we will bring it back and raise it among us as our own.  They will think it has run off and, being insignificant, not worth the effort to retrieve it.  Thus, they will begin to become weak.  We will wait an entire year…”

“A whole year?” exclaimed a stupid ogre.

“Yes, a whole year, and in that year’s time they will begin to forget they ever had it.  None of us will attack them during this time, but we will wait a year and then we will steal another small antelope from them, of the same kind, and we will breed the two we have, to make more for us.”

“But what for?” asked a bewildered ogre.

The cunning ogre continued, “Once we have bred a sufficient number to sustain a population, we will feast upon our antelopes as the humans do.  This will make us stronger.”

“Antelope tastes gross!” exclaimed an ogre.

“It is an acquired taste,” continued the genius ogre, “and we will grow to like it.  Using this same strategy, each year we will take one more small antelope, and breed, and feast, and wait for man to forget all about the animals we will have stolen, and we will afflict him with peace, so that he doesn’t even realize how weak he has become and how strong we have become, and he will no longer see the need for the antelope.  And thus, when we have stolen everything, and feasted, we will attack anew and feast on sweet human flesh!”

And so the ogres put their plan into effect, and became very successful at stealing the antelope.  From time to time a king here or there would notice that the antelope were missing and that the now peaceful ogres were ten feet taller than they used to be, and would sound an alarm that the kings were now weak and in danger, but because it was a time of peace, no one paid any attention.

One day, however, a wife of a king had a chance meeting in the forest with the cunning ogre, and as they talked she began to complain about all the work she did while her husband did nothing but boss her and the children around, and how she would love to give him a taste of his own medicine and rule over him!  The ogre agreed how unfair and unequal it all was and offered to set things right.  Later that night the wise ogre called another ogre meeting and said, “The plans have changed slightly.  Instead of attacking the humans from the forest, and have to deal with their strongholds, we will attack them from within their cities and lands.”  And he unfolded to them the new plan.

The next day all the ogres walked into the human cities, denouncing human inequality, and declaring that the gores, as impartial and unbiased entities, could set human affairs in order better than the humans themselves, and so the ogres ought to be put in charge.  Not everyone was convinced at first, but soon the majority agreed that the plan seemed fair and the ogres began to rule over the humans.  In time, their reach invaded all areas of human life and the kings soon realized that they were no longer kings, but servants and slaves to the ogres.  Anytime one of their wives or children complained to the ogres about them, the ogres would side with the wives and children and lock the king away, to be devoured secretly by the ogres.  In this way, the ogres had a steady supply of sweet human flesh to feast upon from time to time, without a single ogre casualty.

The women and children did not care what happened to their kings, for the ogres let them have their way, something the kings never did, but, despite the new freedoms offered by the ogres, neither the women, nor the children, were happy.  In fact, happiness was at an all time low, for everyone, (except the ogres).  The women resented the fact that their previously mighty king-husbands, who used to slay ogres for breakfast, were now pushed around by both ogres, women and children.  The children resented the fact that their previously mighty king-fathers, who used to have stuffed ogre trophies in their dens, were now made the servant of all.  The women and children all secretly desired that their husbands and fathers could and would return to their former strength and authority, but they had become addicted to power and had grown accustomed to the lifestyle afforded by the ogres, in which they could do whatever they wanted, like spoiled brats, and so none voiced these secret desires, but all continued on living out their lives in unhappiness, and blaming the former kings for all their misery.

The men, on the other hand, were also miserable, and put the blame on their wives and upon women, in general, for the women had changed from their former submissive state to a contentious one, in which the ogres were used to threaten the kings into submitting to the women and children.

About the time of the secret great feast, which was when the cunning ogre had planned to throw off the façade and eat up not only most of the men, but also many of the women and children, something new came into the cities of men.  It was an idea from the past, concerning the antelopes.  It spoke about how in the distant past men were mighty kings because of the antelope and how the ogres had stolen the animals, etc., exposing the whole affair exactly as it had actually happened.  It also put forth a plan whereby men could go into the forest, find the antelope, feast upon it, and return to the cities re-empowered, to throw down the rule of the ogres and re-enthrone themselves as kings of their wives and children.  It even had a map showing exactly where the ogres were keeping all the antelope.  Just a short journey to the spot and all the oppressions and unhappiness would end in an instant.

Most men, at first, upon hearing of this new thing, were skeptical.  “It cannot be that easy,” was everyone’s thought.  “How could feasting on an antelope fix the situation?”  But those who believed the plan persisted until everyone was convinced of its truth: the antelope was the key.  An army of men was gathered, forming a majority, all convinced, and they went to the spot on the map.  Sure enough, the antelope were there.  But would these animals give the men their former strength?  The men feasted, hoping the plan would work, then returned to the cities to fight the ogres.  In the ensuing battle, here and there a king fell, but the ogres were killed in droves, as before, only this time the ogres were made almost entirely extinct, the few remaining stragglers fleeing back into the forest.  Having re-established their kingdoms, the kings ordered the antelopes moved into each city, where they could be properly guarded and protected and numbered, never again to be lost to ogres.

Final words

Once again, more sections of the NAC show its superiority to the USC.  Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

Punishment


The goal of punishment is to inflict something unpleasant on a person – whether physical [e.g., corporal striking, physical confinement, monetary penalties] or emotional [e.g., shaming, time-outs, or making a public example] – for the purpose of discouraging the repeat of a certain behavior.

As with all things satanic, the focus is on the external – i.e., how to control behavior – rather than on the internal – i.e., how to affect the right-brain-heart.  Heart-level change does not result from punishment.  Worthiness will not result from the struggle to conform one’s behavior to this or that standard.

Any church that bases itself on the works of men will place its focus on the outside being “good” – assuming that a “good” inside will, of necessity, follow.  However, God says that it is our hearts that matter most, and it is often the sins that we can’t see that are the most dangerous.

The external metrics of “worthiness” are never an issue with the Lord for there is no one worthy.  It is those with hard-hearts who are obsessed with worthiness.  You can do all the church service and works of man until you have wasted your strength and you will still be unworthy to receive anything from God – an unprofitable servant.  Nothing in the gospel is based upon our merits.  We are to rely solely on the merits of Christ.  He is the only worthy one among us.

Further, it is only by entering into a covenant relationship with Him that the nature [or heart] of a person can be sanctified.  It will not come after a life-long process of struggling to sanctify our behavior.

Punishment belongs to God:

The word of God, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword – is the only thing that may execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people.  Truly we say that to the Lord alone belongeth judgment:  “For it is mine and I will repay.”

The inflicting of punishment is reserved by God the Father.  The only punishment which can be justly inflicted is the removal of a soul to hell [rather hell on this earth for a time or to outer darkness for eternity].  This punishment belongs to the Father alone because it is based on the hardness/softness of the right-brain-heart, which no man can ascertain.

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. [1 Samuel 16:7]

Humans are not to judge:

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: [Luke 6:37]

This is the principle on which the atonement of Jesus Christ forgives sin.  Sin is not forgiven and punishment withheld because God effectively beat it out of Jesus.  Justice is not satisfied by the punishment of an innocent.

[The Compassionate Empathy Model of the Atonement and How the atonement of Jesus Christ solves the “victim” problem]

The gospel teaches us that Christ can satisfy the demands of justice on the behalf of those who repent and believe in Him.  In other words, Jesus satisfies those seeking justice [judging/condemning] thereby putting an end to their demands.  He can remove all accusers as demonstrated in John 8: 10-11.

The visual imagery of Jesus being:

filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; [Mosiah 15:9]

is that for a person to obtain or “get to” justice — they would first have to go through Jesus.  And He is there to present His atonement as evidence in your behalf so that justice will pause from making its demands long enough for Christ to make his own demands of mercy.

Where there is no condemnation [meaning we do not accuse or judge], there can be no punishment:

where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; [2 Nephi 9:25]

Thus, saints who have been commanded not to judge, accuse, or condemn are thereby prohibited from punishing other people.

Further, even assuming that a temporal punishment [rather inflicted by circumstance or by the State] is just and comes from God, gives a person,

a great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God. [Mosiah 4:17-18]

Problems with human punishment, in general:

When humans inflict punishment on others, it encourages them to hide their feelings rather than express them honestly and truthfully.  This can begin in childhood and can have a myriad of negative consequences well into adulthood — negatively affecting a person’s relationship with spouses, children, and friends.

When parents punish, children are not taught appropriate ways to deal with anger, instead they learn that expressions of anger will result in a spanking or time-out.  They are taught that crying will result in being given “something to cry about”.  They are taught that happy is the only acceptable emotion.

Punishment increases deceitful behavior in children.  Afraid to own up to mistakes — children learn to become secretive, lie, and hide their errors.   In addition, no motive to obey [other than by threat of punishment] has been generated — when the threat of punishment is removed, true desires and character will be manifest.

In criminal punishment, offenders are judged as the ultimate source of their socially deviant behavior — and then they are deemed deserving of punishment on the grounds that they could have overcome their environmental and biological circumstances, but simply chose not to do so.  Thus, incarcerations and executions are valued over rehabilitation, retribution to victims, and deterrence.

Those in favor of punishment [rather a parent-to-child or the State-to-criminal] will refer especially to the “rod” verses in the Old Testament:

He that spareth his rod hateth his son [Proverbs 13:24]

As though this evidences that physical punishment is mandated by scripture, if not at least permitted.

Many may even feel that a child’s salvation depends on a parent punishing them. Punishment is considered the method of paying for their sin and removing their guilt.

However, the message of the gospel is that all sins, including those of children, have already been suffered for by Christ.  If the message that Christ has taken the burden of sin for us all [especially little children] tells us anything at all, it tells us that as saints — we are:

to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; [Isaiah 61:1-2]

Spanking, in particular:

Spanking is a bit of a controversial topic among parents.  Like the decision to homeschool, I have found that most will retort with:  “Well, I was spanked and I turned out fine.”  Not only does that assume that a person is capable of diagnosing their self as “fine” — but it ignores the very real fact many people who were spanked did not turn out “fine”.  Many of them are still, as adults, dealing with the results of their well-intentioned parents’ choice to punish.  Being “fine” in spite of something is not evidence that the thing is proper or necessary.

Further, the practice of spanking on the buttocks comes from the Victorian era — not from biblical times as is often assumed.  Spanking began under domestic discipline [a husband spanking his wife for not properly obeying him] and the history of the practice is sexual — both of which were enough reason for my family to refrain from spanking our children.

Besides, the physical punishment today rarely looks like the literal interpretation of the “rod” verses in the Old Testament.  The rod or shebet [which Proverbs tells us we are not to spare] was an implement that could kill a grown adult when being used to punish.  To be biblically-spanking [using the “rod” according to the original meaning] I would have to strike my children on the back with a shepherd’s staff large enough that I could conceivably kill them with it.

However, there is also another way to read the shebet that we are not to withhold.  As the staff of a shepherd, it would be used to guide [rather than strike].  As the scepter of a king, it would be

an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

As a measuring rod, it would be the standard works [or the word of God] by which all human behavior ought to be governed by.

Further, the Lord — in addition to proclaiming liberty to captives and opening prisons to those bound:

hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, [Isaiah 9:4]

Moved with compassion:

Because human punishment only teaches a person to obey — rather than why to obey or how to think for themselves — people have become more vulnerable to peer-pressure.  Already geared to be a people-pleaser, a child who is raised through fear of punishments will not have developed the necessary skills to be self-governing and say “no” — and will likely act out of fear of the negative consequences the group can inflict, as they learned in the home.

The punishments that humans inflict will not save a child, nor will it save a criminal.  That work is only wrought by Jesus Christ.  You cannot beat a person into salvation.  A child is not saved by a parent [nor a criminal by the State] who punishes him/her in order to “atone for his sin” or that he may learn how to “be good”.

No one is even saved by “being good” anyway.  A person is saved through a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ — nothing more, nothing less.

Instead of helping people, punishment presents a distorted view of God.  God raises His children with compassion and mercy, not with punishment.  We cannot constantly beg at His throne for mercy and patience — while accusing and condemning our fellow-humans here on earth.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying:  “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying:  “Pay me that thou owest.”

And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”  And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?”  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

By this you may know my disciples:

The unsanctified believer in Christ will always focus on verses intended for others.  In this case, many may refer to Ephesians 6:1

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

and yet ignore the following verse directed towards the parents:

ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

It is not the place of a steward to make the concerns of their stewardship obey them [rather we are talking about husband-wife, parent-child, or State-citizen].  Rather, it is only the steward’s duty to govern:

by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile — Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.

One is only brought up in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” by discipline [meaning the way of disciple-making] — not punishment.

The root of our word for both disciple [and therefore “discipline”] is that of a student or follower.  It is a relational word — just as the Savior spent His time with His disciples, teaching them by word and by deeds.  Discipleship is what we do with others when we

sittest in [our] house, and when [we] walkest by the way, and when [we] liest down, and when [we] risest up. [Deuteronomy 6:7]

with them.

Discipleship is how humans learn by sight.  In our pre-mortal life, we walked by sight — meaning we were discipled.  As we saw, so we did — imitating the beings around us, learning by copying what we saw them do.

Upon entering mortality as children, we bring this capacity to imitate others with us.  We imitate or emulate our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends and associates, the celebrities of the day, etc.  Eventually we assimilate into whatever society we are born into.

Disciplining [in the sense of how to make a disciple] comes as a steward acts as the servant that he or she is.  A servant is one who goes “through the dust” with another.  Only example and repetition will effectively:

Train up a child in the way he should go [Proverbs 22:6]

Using punishment does not discipline [or teach] a person.  When we punish, we act as if human society has no other means of bringing weaker members up to a standard of conduct — except for waiting until a person does something non-sanctioned, and then punishing them [legally or morally] for it.

The family has complete jurisdiction over a person during the entire childhood period.  The whole period up to maturity can be used to it teach a person to be capable of rational conduct in life.

Parents who disciple in the home will teach their children diligently and freely to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands – before the age of eight.  Then shall their children be baptized for the remission of sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.  They will also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.  They will teach their children to read and write, having a language which is pure and undefiled.  They will engage in continual tribal rituals to strengthen the common morphic field that exists among disciples of Jesus Christ.

If you love God sincerely, then you will naturally gravitate to becoming as He is and gathering with others who do too.  You cannot not, by adhering outwardly according to a law or standard, come to love God.  Thinking that our behavior can affect our standing with God is what leads people to falsely conclude that we should punish — because “it’s worth it”.

When we pass from mortal life and realize that all the laws and traditions of human convention no longer exist — then the true nature [state of the right-brain-heart] will manifest and those who have not learned to be as God [even though they still managed obedience] will find themselves removed from God because of their new-found freedom.

Our Father’s kingdom is tribal anarchy because it is for people who already know how to be.  He wants to know what people want to be — not what they can be punished into acting like.

Next Article by Justin:  Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender

Previous Article by Justin:  The conditions of this law

Cheerfully Doing All Things


In the beginning, there was man — and for a time, it was good.  But humanity’s civilization soon fell victim to materialism and covetousness.  Then man made a System in his own likeness — man becoming the architect of his own demise.  But for a time, it was good.

The Cynics were a philosophical group in Greece and Rome around two to three centuries before and after Christ.  They were named, by their critics, after dogs [The Greek kynikos] because of their shameless rejection of conventional manners, mores, and values.  They were a group of indifference towards the normality enforced by Luciferian control systems.  They were known for eating with hands, going naked and having intercourse in public, walking barefoot, sleeping outside, etc.  As dogs, who have a very discerning nature, they could recognize as friends and receive kindly those ready for their teachings and lifestyle – while they would drive away any unfitted or unfriendly.

I share, with the Cynics, a similar understanding of how happiness is attained in mortal life:

  • The goal of life is happiness, or joy – which is to live in harmony with Nature.
  • Happiness depends on freeing yourself from influences such as wealth, fame, materialism, or power – things that have no value in Nature.
  • Suffering is caused by assigning value falsely – striving after the wrong things leads to negative emotions and vicious character traits.

Paleoanarchism, or Anarcho-primitivism, is a critique of the origins and progress of human civilization.  As I studied human history I noticed a common trend, the shift from hunter-gatherer tribes to sedentary agrarian communities gave rise to the social stratification, coercion, and alienation from God, fellow humans, and Nature that have been the main reasons behind every success Satan has had with the human race.  Anarcho-primitivists advocate a return to non-“civilized” ways of life thru deindustrializing society, abolishing the division of labor, and abandoning large-scale organization power into states.

Satan’s first success story with using a mortal to alter conditions on earth was Cain.  Notice that Cain brought forth “of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord,” signifying his lifestyle of sedentary agrarianism.  He was the first to “build a city,” thereby establishing a rule of statism over his posterity.  His family initiated the first secret craft guild societies when they became “instructors of every artificer in brass and iron.”

This continued beyond the deluge in Noah’s time – with the great amalgamating power represented by Nimrod’s Babel.  As any statist, Nimrod was working to concentrate all power and knowledge at the top of his pyramid –archie.  Had the Lord not gone down and encrypted the human language, either Nimrod or someone following in his footsteps, would have succeeded.

Today, were are nearing that point again.  Babylon has brought all nations and people,

“to bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression, supported and urged on and upheld by the influence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the children, and filled the world with confusion, and has been growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity.”

Her “iron yoke” and “strong bands” represent the “very handcuffs, chains, shackles, and fetters of hell.”  The innocent are murdered by this System – and we, as the ones awakened to it – have an “imperitive duty” to “work with great earnestness” – even “that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness.”

Babylon has entrapped us to an unbelievable extent.  There is no way to be truly pure in the world today.  Babylon provides all who suck at her breast a simulated sameness that removes humans from the natural cycles of life.  Our planet has boasted extraordinary longevity because she has been allowed to go thru the cycles of waxing and waning, decay and renewal.  These cycles are necessary for humans too – for the rejuvenation of our cells.  However, we are provided food produced in industrial factories without respect to seasons, water on tap at any time without respect to seasons, housing at the same temperature and amount of light without respect to seasons – but everything comes at a cost.  Urbanization and industrialization of human life has resulted in persistent stress, rampant responsibilities, less sleep, less play, less sunlight, creation of new environmental toxins, new pathogens, and reduced fertility.

We have falsely assigned value to monogamy, body modesty, consumption of things, “cheap” food, allopathic medicine, statism, hierarchies, and public education [Note that in that last link, LDS are half as likely as the general population to homeschool].  These manifestations of the Luciferian control system are intended to entice and derail the energies of the saints – until we come to lose agency and consciousness.  Humans are only truly happy when we embrace that which is designed into our constitution and nature – this means rejection of all things that are the result of convention or earthly –archies.

I believe firmly that if we “cheerfully do all things that lie in our power” – we can then “stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”  In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers gathered in that upper room — they immediately got up, left the room, and went to work.  Likewise, let us not focus on preaching to the choir, but instead focus on creating a little anarchy in the local congregations each of us has been placed into by the Lord [Examples of this can be found here, here, and here].

All things that lie in our power, which can restore humanity’s natural order, include:

 

Previous Article by Justin:  The World I See

Next Article by Justin:  Seeking the Good of Others

See also:  Zo-ma-rah’s Week in Faith October 17, 2010, comments at Tom’s Church Finance – Part III, and D&C 123: 7-15, 17

Anarchy in Education


My wife and I started homeschooling our children nearly from the get-go.  Only our eldest child has ever experienced public school.  She protested, at first, but as the years went by, she came to realize that home school was better than public school.  Any time she gave us grief, the threat (in jest) that was held over her head was that we’d put her back in public school.

At first, we did the best we could with the material we could get our hands on.  I ended up buying a course for $350 that we hardly used, at all.  It contained a lot of patriotic stuff, meaning government propaganda, and me being the anarchist that I am, let’s just say that that didn’t sit too well with me.  We used more stuff from the library and used bookstores than from that course.

Homeschooling also took up a lot of our time, both in preparation and in teaching.  Often, my wife worried that we’d get to a subject in which we weren’t experts and that the children would be taught incorrectly by us.  But the benefit of being able to also teach them character education and remove the false ideas taught in public school outweighed her concerns.  All in all, it was still better than public school.

One of the things I didn’t like about the pre-made course was that it wasn’t sufficient for all of our children, for all of their years of schooling.  I’d have to keep buying material for each child for each year of their lives.  The dollars were going to add up, but the financial sacrifice still seemed worth it.

The Robinson Curriculum

Not long after we began homeschooling, I came across an article that mentioned the Robinson Curriculum, an autodidactic program for K-12.  I could use it for all of our children.  It was one single purchase: I needed the course of CD-ROMs, a computer (which I had), a good printer (one-time purchase), the Saxon Math books (one-time purchase), printer paper (cheap) and printer ink (cheap).  With these supplies, all of my children could get an outstanding education with very little parental involvement.  It required about 15 minutes of parent time a day.  The children just taught themselves using the material.  Needless to say, I was intrigued.

After visiting the Robinson Curriculum web site, reading, listening to and watching all the media that is on it, I decided that the Robinson Curriculum would be perfect for our family.  We made the required purchases and haven’t looked back since.

Since starting the course, we’ve noticed that the children are learning to think for themselves, to figure things out for themselves and to take initiative.  As no one is teaching them anymore, they have no one to blame for their ignorance except themselves.  Because each child is different, they learn at their own pace, according to their maturity level and desires for learning.  The mentally quick children with strong desires for learning gobble up the information, the slower ones take longer, but each eventually learns the information and does so without reliance upon a teacher or each other.  If asked, “Who taught you this?” each one could respond, “No one did.  I taught myself.”

The Robinson Curriculum is a complete course, so my wife and I no longer need to worry about teaching subjects that we, ourselves, are weak in.  The children get taught out of books written by experts in those fields.  They literally get taught by the best.

The only thing required of the parents is to get each child to the point where they can read, write and do the arithmetic tables: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  Most parents are capable of teaching their children these things, if they, the parents, already know how to read, write and do simple arithmetic. Once a child knows these fundamentals, they can start the Robinson Curriculum with no further input from the parents.  Parental involvement after that is just to make sure they are engaged in their work (good study habits) and to focus on the one thing parents can excel at: character education.

The Robinson Curriculum allows a parent to incorporate other material, as they see fit, into the course, or to subtract material that is deemed unhelpful or unneeded.  However, the course alone is complete and no modification is necessary, so even without any changes, a child who undergoes the entire curriculum will have an exceptional and well-rounded education.

A Decentralized Course

The Robinson Curriculum is better than other homeschooling courses in that it is based upon truly anarchic principles.  The child alone must teach himself.  There is no reliance upon Mommy or Daddy.  There is no reliance upon other students.  There is no cheating possible.  It instills confidence from the get-go.  Each book that is read in the course must be analyzed by the child and its meaning figured out.  Dictionaries and encyclopedias must be consulted.  It is supremely individualistic in that the child comes to his own conclusion concerning the information coming in, without any interpretation from the parents or teachers.  This makes for highly critical thinking.  And as the course is finished, the child can now be placed into high stress situations, such as the university, without being overwhelmed, without having to hold a parent’s or teacher’s hand, with the ability to learn whatever material is presented.  Why?  Because it no longer depends upon the instructor’s ability to instruct.  The child learns on his own.  Put the information before the child, and he will learn it, because he now knows how to learn.  This is the beauty of the Robinson Curriculum.

Such supremely decentralized teaching can only create superior intellects, as the brain is engaged more than in other courses, which rely upon a teacher telling a student what the meaning of something is, instead of the students figuring it out for themselves.  As long as the material is superior, decentralized, anarchic self-education will always produce greater intellects.  It is my estimation that the Robinson Curriculum contains just such material.

On the sidebar of this blog, under Education, you’ll find a link to the Robinson Curriculum web site.  You can also just click below to go there now:

www.robinsoncurriculum.com

Additionally, I’m including links to Lew Rockwell dot com articles that talk of this course.  I invite all public, private, and home schooling parents to look into the Robinson Curriculum for yourselves.  I especially invite all anarchist parents everywhere who are still raising children to consider this course as the anarchy-based education solution you’ve been looking for.

Why Home Schools Are Superior to Private Schools by Gary North

Destroying Your Child To Save a Buck by Gary North

Quality Time vs. Quality Guilt by Gary North

Must Your Children Run the Collegiate Gauntlet? by Gary North

This Advice Might Save Your Life: Don’t Bring Ayn Rand to a Gun Fight by Greg Perry

The Best One-Shot Investment on Earth by Gary North

America’s Bread and Circuses—Schools and Jails by Greg Perry

Spreading Anarchy through Education

For those who wish a peaceful means of spreading anarchy throughout society, consider the Robinson Curriculum as a powerful tool towards that end.  The wide-spread promotion and use of this course will unplug entire families from state-propaganda machines (public schools).  If there are those who really want to turn the tide against socialistic education (public and private schools), a United Effort could be organized with the express purpose of pooling financial resources and equipping families with the Robinson Curriculum.

Next Anarchism/Anarchy article: If voting could change things, it would be illegal

Previous Anarchism/Anarchy article: Anarchy in action: congregational nullification

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist