Posts filed under Culture War
Ready, Set, Vote!
The United States of America is an anomaly. An historic anomaly.
Our Constitutional Republic is unique in human history. The average citizen's opportunity and ability to both access and impact public policy at all levels, local to federal, is historically unprecedented. Our freedoms to picket and protest and petition and even personally pester our elected officials is unheard of in the vast majority of the world. We are a blessed people!
Remember
"When you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Deuteronomy 6:11-12).
We have a tendency to forget.
It's our nature. Our fallen, sinful nature. To forget.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
By now, the picture of a bloodied Donald Trump surrounded by secret service agents with his fist held in the air has been viewed innumerable times around the world. No doubt, it will come to define the former President's legacy. It certainly does speak volumes of his fighting spirit.
God Bless America
Our Nation is about to celebrate her 248th Birthday!
Hating the United States of America seems to be replacing baseball as our national pastime these days. Sadly, this is becoming more and more so even among some Christians. While it's one thing to despise all sin, including our own and our national sins, it's entirely another thing to view our Nation as something to be denounced or abhorred or destroyed.
A Nation’s Heroes
"Pay your obligations to everyone . . . respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor" (Rom 13:7).
Do you ever wonder who we will think of as our Nation's heroes in fifty years? Or 100 years?
It seems to me we are running low on true heroes these days. We are tearing down statues and monuments to the past with fierce swiftness. And whatever you might think of the men or women memorialized in statues and monuments, you must ask, "Is it good for a Nation to demolish its past or seek to erase its national memory?"
A Baby is a Baby is a Baby
In summary, the theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the People of Alabama encompasses the following: 1. God made every person in His image; 2. each person therefore has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate; and 3. human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself. Section 36.06 recognizes that this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human life - that even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing His glory.
Know When to Hold ‘em
The Super Bowl last month set several records. Here's one - "an historic 67.8 million people gambled $23.1 billion on the game's outcome - 44% higher than the previous record of $16 billion placed by 50.4 million people, set just last year, according to a survey from the American Gaming Association." (https://washingtonstand.com/news/recordbreaking-super-bowl-bets-prod-tony-perkins-ralph-nader-to-tackle-gambling) People are literally able to bet on anything and everything now. Every baseball pitch. What color shirt Taylor Swift will wear to the game. It's the very definition of insanity.
We are a Nation of Addicts. Sex. Drugs. Money. Online status / likes.
We are seeking desperately to soothe our lonely, deeply troubled souls.
American Addicts
"For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved" (2 Peter 2:19).
Several months ago, we were all saddened to hear of the death of famous actor Matthew Perry. His acting skills and comedic brilliance were legendary in Hollywood. Perry battled various addictions for most of his adult life. For the last few years, he considered himself, and was considered by medical communities and therapists, to be "sober."
But was he?
A Pro-Life Awakening
If the last 18 months have shown us anything in regards to the so-called pro-life movement, it is that it was only mostly pro-life. The Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe has flayed and fractured the Pro-Life Army. We now pitch our tents in various camps:
- Camp Heartbeat - We should outlaw abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
- Camp Gestation - We should outlaw abortion after certain gestational phases, such as 12-13 weeks.
- Camp Exception - We should outlaw abortion except in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother.
- Camp Compromise - We should find a middle ground to unite and/or appease both political parties so we can stop bickering about abortion.
- Camp Personhood - We should legally declare the unborn a person, thus granting him or her all the legal protections afforded under our Constitution, including the right to life.
- Camp Abolition - We should abolish abortion and prosecute any and all found guilty in a court of law of being intentionally involved in an abortion.
There’s No Crying In Baseball!
The famous line in the movie A League of Their Own (1992), uttered by the coach (played by Tom Hanks) of an all-girls baseball team was, "There's no crying in baseball!"
One can only imagine how politically incorrect such a line would be considered, at least by some, in today's wacky American society. The rebuke of the outward expression of female emotion via crying assumes some things to be true, doesn't it?
- Baseball, as played throughout history by men, is not a sport where emotions may be acceptably expressed by crying.
- If women are going to play baseball, a man's sport, then they must conform to the rules, spoken or unspoken.
- Men and women are different (and the coach's insensitivity to it only bolsters the fact).