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PEERS test - 9/20/2008 1:13:50 PM
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Jeffery_G
Posts: 22
Joined: 6/1/2008
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I heard Dan Smithwick recently on a Christian radio talkshow. He claims that through his PEERS worldview test, he has found home-schooled and Christian-schooled students to oftentimes have an "unbiblical worldview". His worldview tests students' opinions on Politics, Education, Economics, Religion, and Social Issues, then makes a judgment of whether or not they have a "Biblical worldview".
Well, I started to look into the test, and it seems like the test is unbiblical moreso than the students' opinions are. Some of the statements on economics sound more like things a TBN prosperity preacher would say, than sound biblical teaching.
Point being, it's Smithwick who has an unbiblical worldview, not necessarily the students.
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RE: PEERS test - 9/21/2008 1:31:51 AM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 707
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From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
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Socialism is the deliberate violation of the commandments concerning theft and covetousness. The fact that so many Christians "feel" it is all right to steal -- if it's by majority vote -- is a red flag. Thinking Christians know otherwise. My favorite book in the area of Christian economics is a detailed expose of Ron Sider's soft-sell socialism, and bears the title Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators. If your kids want to investigate the economic side of the Gospel, you can download this book for free from this web site.
When I read Dan Smithwick's process for developing the PEERS test through the eyes of a doctoral student who just completed a course in quantitative research, it looks valid.
For me, the urgent "bottom line" in PEERS is the graph showing the decline in Christian worldview since 1988. Back then, the median PEERS score for Christian kids in public school was towards the bottom of the "muddled middle." As of 2006, that median had dropped towards the bottom of the secular segment. The median scores for Christian kids in private schools tracked downwards almost as dramatically. Home school kids held their own over this same period, in the segment that indicates Biblical thinking about the whole world, as well as about the state of their souls.
Statistics, when used properly, generate x-ray snapshots of the universe. When we combine the insights generated by Smithwick's research with the finding of Brian Ray's NICHE[1], the cold, hard, data, the facts, confirm the sense of passionate urgency that motivated us to keep our kids off Caesar's altar.
- Go through Door A, and the odds are better than 90% that your kids will follow you to heaven.
- Go through Door B, and the odds are better than 90% that your kids will follow the other team's line of reasoning.
[1] 37% of Christian home school kids agree with the faith of their parents. 57% strongly agree. More than 90% of Christian home school kids want to raise their own children the same way.
_____________________________
The future has never been shaped by majorities but rather by dedicated minorities. And free men do not wait for the future; they create it. RJR
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RE: PEERS test - 9/21/2008 12:47:16 PM
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Jeffery_G
Posts: 22
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Socialism is an unbiblical and secular worldview, to be sure. But we have to remember, capitalism is too. It was developed by the pagan Greeks and Romans, and put into modern form by 19th-century secular humanists and Social Darwinists such as Adam Smith. The so-called "spirit of capitalism" glorifies selfishness and covetousness. Capitalism is about getting your piece of the pie, and spitting on everyone else's.
The most biblical form of economics is neither socialism nor capitalism, but voluntary collectivism. Examples of voluntary collectivism include the Amish and Quaker communities, and the Republic of San Marino.
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RE: PEERS test - 9/21/2008 2:09:22 PM
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Jenny-Fair
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From: WA
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It isn't possible to force 'Voluntary collectivism' on a society, though. So you do have to have another economic model.
_____________________________
Tony: Ziva, did you kill Houdini?
Ziva: It is possible. I do not remember all their names.
My Blog
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RE: PEERS test - 9/22/2008 12:14:42 PM
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goodnsimple
Posts: 40
Joined: 7/28/2008
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of course you can force volentary collectivism on society.
USSR...they had votes... Cuba, they vote too...everyone is just sooooo in tune with each other that they all vote for the same guy. see?
Ha Ha.
It is like the colleges are now requiring volenteer service for admittance. ???!
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RE: PEERS test - 9/25/2008 3:53:55 AM
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dramagal
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"Voluntary collectivism" was tried by both the Jamestown and the Plymouth Plantation settlements. All were supposed to work for the common good and be fed out of the common resources. The problem was, both colonies were failing.
It wasn't until the leaders (notably, William Bradford in Plymouth) instituted private property that the colonies started prospering. When I know that my labor is going to produce my food, I am going to work hard; but if my labor is going to produce food that someone else gets to eat even though he slept all day in the hayloft, I'm not going to work so hard. Simple human nature. Think of a study group or two you may have been in. There's always at least one person trying to get the others to do the work while they slack off - and get an A on the group project.
Fallacy Alert! Capitalism is not just about competition. Indeed, capitalism is more about cooperation than competition. Companies must work with workers and other company suppliers to provide goods and services that customers want. Company produces Blue Size 10 Widgets, but finds from customer research that most people prefer Green or Red Size 15 Widgets. So they work with suppliers and designers to produce what the customers want. Capitalists must be responsive to customers if they want to get their business.
On the other hand, the socialist/communist state-run manufacturer says, "Buy this widget. We don't care if it doesn't work and it's the wrong size. It is all we make. Buy it."
Which system serves the customer better? Capitalism. Which system responds to people better? Capitalism. Capitalism is much more Christian than Communism.
_____________________________
Who let the wild donkey go free? Job 39:5.
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RE: PEERS test - 9/25/2008 6:27:49 AM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 707
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From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
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quote:
Capitalism is much more Christian than Communism.
It took a thousand years of pulpit ministry proclaiming the evil of envy to lay the foundations for the industrial revolution. [1] Envy continues to make progress impossible in primitive cultures. African men will destroy parts of their own fields at night, rather than risk being branded as "witches," since they obviously must have done something underhand to prosper more than their neighbors! This leads to bare subsistence in good times, famine in bad.
Communism is envy made flesh, and destroys people by the millions wherever tried.
Socialism is theft made flesh, since its central commandment reads, "Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote."
(Of course, as the Russians used to say, the stage between socialism and communism is alcoholism.)
As Christians, our economic convictions can be boiled down to a few slogans:
"Thou shalt not steal -- not even from God -- and not even by majority vote."
Tithes provide the resources for financing social needs -- churches, rescue missions, universities, libraries, dame schools for poor children.
A cheerful rejoicing in our neighbor's achievements creates a social atmosphere where it's safe for him to aspire, ad achieve.
[1] Consider the Westminster Shorter Catechism's insights on the tenth commandment?
Q. 80. What is required in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his.
Q. 81. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.
_____________________________
The future has never been shaped by majorities but rather by dedicated minorities. And free men do not wait for the future; they create it. RJR
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