Freedom Forum FAQ's

Forum (Articles)

Offer

Partners

Rules

Tips

FAQ

Begin!

Donate

     This article was started by Dave Leach R-IA Bible Lover-musician-grandpa (talk) 19:20, 19 March 2025 (UTC) To help finish it:

---

(1) click "edit" in the left sidebar to see the codes used in this article. (2) type four dashes (to create a horizontal line) after the point with which you will interact. Hit "enter" to start a new line. (3) Type four tildes to "sign" your name. (4) Comment, criticize, clarify, amplify, like, rate, argue, write a poem, etc. To vote, change your previous coment, add a section with a heading that appears in the Table of Contents, start a new article, use colors, write in Greek, post a picture, etc. find suggestions and codes at Begin! (5) Use "enter" to double space between paragraphs. When finished, type another four dashes on the next line down, then scroll down and click "show preview", and if that looks good, "save changes".

---

FAQ’s that came up this week - March 14-21, 2025

What will you do that isn’t already done at the John Birch meetings I attend?

First, meetings originating locally are more responsive to local developments than meetings focused on material from a national office.

Second, we are probably more open to folks who disagree, if they will do so respectfully and within our rules, so that we can (1) more perfectly understand our opposition, and (2) practice our reasoning skills. Not that stupidity is a nice thing to "tolerate" or be "polite" too, but in a forum where many are free to expose it and it is easier to see if anyone is fooled by it, stupidity is less a threat and having it there to expose can be beneficial. See 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 for the benefits to be expected "if ALL" verbally participate.

Third, we are focused on action, mostly political action. Not just entertainment. We are bored with “clickbait” accusations that stand us up with the Pharisee thanking God for not being like that sinner over there. We want information that equips us to shine a light in darkness. Rarely do meetings (1) urge audiences to act, and also (2) coordinate action so audiences will act together, and also (3) select action approved by the group after thoughtful discussion and study. We want meetings like that.

But in no way do I want to deprecate the John Birch Society. That God-given group merits credit for making Republicans "conservative" as the word is defined today. For example, I remember in about 1987-1990 when an editor of their magazine came to Iowa several times to help launch the home school movement, to neutralize media opposition, and to make legislators comfortable with the idea. His explanations of "Why Johnny Can't Read" and "Why Johnny STILL Can't Read" were so clear. That movement gave us Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a home school graduate, daughter of parents who subscribed to my Prayer & Action News which covered those organizational meetings. And now 35 years later, that thinking has matured into vouchers which allow parents to spend the state money previously allocated to public schools, to any school of the parent's choice!

God bless the John Birch Society! What other blessings do we take for granted today, which we would not have but for them?

With the number of irons I already have in the fire, I cannot do or attend one. more. thing. I am already engaged--up to my eyeballs--and in leadership roles in several of the things, so that is more taxing than just being an attendee. I have been prayerful about where to focus and what to cut back on, so I do justice to a few things, rather than a half-good job on too many things.

If you are right, that attending our meetings will REDUCE what you are able to accomplish, then my whole project is wrong and surely contrary to God's Will.

But according to God, "In a multitude of counselors, purpose are established." Proverbs 15:22. Shouldn’t we presume that the best counselors are the busiest? Yet is not their individual, uncoordinated action that guarantees success, but the interaction of their brainpower, talents, contacts, and resources. Does God make sense?

It depends on what happens at meetings. Can you imagine, with me, meetings where we "Bear…one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2? Can you see the potential, where someone else at the meeting knows the person you need to reach, or has just the skill you need on your team? Most meetings don’t focus on everyone learning the talents, resources, etc of everyone else so those connections can be made. Let’s fill that void. Let’s build a team.

By attending meetings in which that happens - and the key is making sure that happens - you get help from many others, enough help to actually succeed. Along with educating many others about the needs you document.

1 Corinthians 14 has the Bible’s most detail about the format of meetings. Seven verses urge “all” to verbally participate. God’s advice is not just for “church”. America is great to the extent its laws, rights, and relationships align better with Bible principles than with principles of the Koran, or the Satanic Bible, or voodoo dolls. American culture is much more a 1 Corinthians 14 team open to the wisdom of every member than it is a marauding gang of terrorists created by other religions.

Imagine a physical body whose members are not connected to each other, each member doing its own work but not coordinated with, not supporting, any other member. Isn’t that a great metaphor of each of us doing our separate missions, uncoordinated?

Ephesians 4:16 articulates God's opposite vision: "He makes the whole body fit together and unites it through the support of every joint. As each and every part does its job [coordinated with, in support of, the whole rest of the body in order to accomplish what was impossible for the parts acting alone], he makes the body grow [Gr: "increase"; in context, not in size but in what is accomplished] so that it builds itself up in love."

The Bible is full of advice to work together with others so that your talents and capacities can complement each other, the way members of a body make the whole body move in ways none of its individual members could. A few like verses:

Hebrews 10:24

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:”

1 Peter 4:10

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Mark 10:45

“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

If you want people to come to a meeting you have to have a famous guest speaker; preferably nationally known.

Although connections between leaders, experts, and crowds are essential to keeping voters informed, without which there can be no Freedom, there are five serious problems with making this the exclusive method of attracting crowds. Or even the primary way.

First, why it is wrong for me: if that is all I accomplish, my efforts can only duplicate what others do all the time, better, because others have a better following and better contacts. At our March 14 launch, even with three stellar guest speakers, the whole turnout was only 12 besides the three speakers. I asked State Representative Eddie Andrews, one of them, the minimum number of people who should show up before a lawmaker would feel his time was well spent. He said 15. Which we had, only by counting the speakers. Others are able to get dozens and scores to show up. If that is the only reason to draw people together, I have nothing to contribute.

Second, even if I had contacts enabling me to host meetings of dozens and scores, I am unsatisfied with the turnout that guest speakers achieve. It should be hundreds. Even presidential candidates only drew hundreds, before Trump. It should have been thousands.

Thousands will show up for a wedding or a Quinceañera but only dozens will show up for Freedom. My prayer, my Matthew 21:21 “mountain”, is no lower than to break that Apathy Barrier. I believe that barrier is sustained by passive audiences who don’t know very much about each other, who do not gather to help each other, but only to learn from someone to whom they have little additional access.

And when people show up, what a waste when it is just to protest and scream, as at too many “town halls”. Or to be trapped by “gotcha” questions, as at too many press conferences. It should be to reason about what needs are real, to learn what we can do, to clarify our “mission field” and then go out to “minister”, together.

Third, what a waste of brainpower! A crowd of 100 where one speaker does almost all the talking utilizes only 1% of its potential brainpower! Yes, Freedom requires venues where crowds listen to experts, but where are the venues where the other 99% of brainpower can go to work?

The opportunity is limited for “the people in the room” to learn about each other’s abilities, interests, and contacts. Which cuts short the ability of people to help each other. When the brainpower of interest is that of the guest speaker and not much of anyone else, and the activity of interest is being entertained and not much how to work better, this does result in some increased help for the speaker, contributions and volunteering, but too slight so far as I can tell. And near zero “bearing of one another’s burdens” for anyone else in the group. Which creates the fourth reason:

Fourth, people who are very busy in their service won’t come because it takes precious time from their service and leaves them accomplishing less. The reason for a forum is so that the busiest people, the most active servers, will help each other, multiplying through resources, talents, contacts, allowing each busy server to accomplish far more by coming to the forum than they could alone.

Fifth, well, the best lists have either 3, 5, 7, 10, or 12 bullet points, so I promise I will keep trying to think of a #5 and come back to fix this.

Aren’t you a tad over-optimistic about how well you can get a roomful of people to work together, or even talk to each other about anything useful, rather than break down into a bunch of arguing over their disagreements?

Indeed, the whole vision of this Freedom Forum is to tap the brainpower of everyone in the room. Never mind Republicans unable to reason with Democrats; it’s like the 4th of July to get them reasoning with each other where they disagree. The main problem is that every single Republican that I have ever met is a human. And even God couldn’t write rules enough to keep humans in line in less than 1200 pages.

So I will admit from the outset: there is no guarantee that the majestic vision of rooms operating on 100% of their brainpower will ever be seen in our lifetime. The extent to which you see that will largely depend on you. How interested are you in helping keep the meetings you join operating efficiently?

Notice I didn’t ask “do you know HOW to bring meetings up to this level?” I don’t know because the vision I have is of something I have only briefly glimpsed, through bits of history, relationships, and Bible verses, patched together with common sense and imagination.

Bible verses, like “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” Or Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 9 But avoid [abstract controversial topics that don’t relate to anything you are ready to do].

Believe me, I’ve had my personal doubts. But God seems to think it’s possible. God seems to think humans are able to study each other’s concerns with willingness to help, as what is helpful becomes clear. So, in the hope that God is not over-optimistic, I’ll keep aiming at this Matthew 21:21 “mountain”, because Freedom’s survival appears to depend on it jumping in the lake.

But make no mistake: there is nothing automatic about human relationships! Way too many of us fail to make work what should be the very easiest of relationships to maintain: marriage, with whom we have chosen as what we thought would be the easiest to love of anyone on the planet, and with whom God has blessed us the opportunity for ultimate physical pleasure, besides the doubling of talents and finances that comes from sharing housing, food, and all the rest. As soundly as we have botched this most rewarding of relationships that could not be more in our own interests to maintain, we should expect much greater difficulty making relationships work which aren't even, usually, for our own benefit at all, but for the benefit of people we don’t even know.

Yet love, defined in John 15:13 as sacrificing for others, draws many of us to try to manage these most difficult of relationships - politics. And who knows, how much the relationship skills we acquire through this mind- and heart-stretching service will bless us in the relationships personally affecting us?

Aren’t you quoting the Bible excessively for a political group? Don’t you know you can’t mix politics and religion? Don’t you know you can’t legislate morality? Not all Republicans believe in God, you know.

Actually you can’t legislate anything but morality, as anyone knows who listens to floor debate in a legislature. Every important law is someone’s idea of what is moral in that situation. And I only aim to “mix politics and religion” the way America’s Founders did. Because politics without religion thinks immorality, corruption, even violence doesn’t matter, while religion without politics is silent about the abominations threatening Freedom.

Freedom of speech is wonderful. It allows us to present evidence without going to jail, yet doesn’t make anyone believe us when we get it wrong. It protects truth, without forcing anyone to listen to it, or to become smart.

So I know when I say something that is true, and especially when that truth is from the Bible, it will go over a lot of heads of people who hate truth, hate God, and even hate love as we read in Psalm 109:4-5. But 60% of Americans believe the Bible is the Word of God, and many of our issues wouldn’t even exist were there no Bible verses about it, so for that believing majority it is wrong to censor ourselves to please the unbelieving minority who won’t be pleased until we actually lie.

It is important to end this self-censorship not only so we can give the public the real reasons for our positions, but also to encourage lawmakers to push back against courts which are forcing our culture to treat our religion of Freedom equally with religions of terror before American law, in violation of our Constitution.

For articles about the assault on our Constitution by courts requiring our culture to equalize the Religion of Heaven with religions of Hell, see my series of articles at Substack.com.