Hey y'all, I don't know about you, but have you noticed the trend taking place in churches across the nation. The trend I'm speaking of are people bringing their iPads and smart phones to church in place of their Bibles. I don't know where you stand on the issue, but I don't like the trend, NOT because I'm Anti-technology or Old fashioned (maybe just a little), but because I'm Pro Bible. So! Paper or plastic? Meaning what should a believer carry with him to the public gathering of believers, the paper Bible or an Electronic device in place of the paper Bible. Well I choose the paper Bible for some of the following reasons. The reasons given are not original to me.
1. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering shows that the Bible is important to you.
2. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering can be a testimony to your neighbors as they see you carrying it Sunday mornings.
3. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering provides an example to others in the church, including the children. This example is related to point #1. As ministers of the gospel one of chief ways to influence people is by way of example. If they don't see us carrying and using our Bibles, what are we communicating?
4. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering eliminates the temptation of distractions (email, youtube, games).
5. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering encourages the teacher or preacher. With you phone or IPad the preacher has no idea what you're looking at, Acts or Angry birds.
6. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering allows you if needed to be able to give your Bible away to someone in need.
7. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering allows you the opportunity to mark and make notes in your paper bible in ways that you could never do on your Android device.
8. Taking a paper Bible to the public gathering communicates that the Bible is accessible to everyone not just those who can afford the technology.
9. Taking a paper bible the public gathering identifies you as one of "them".
10. Taking a paper bible to the public gathering connects us to a bloodstained history. Read the following concerning William Tyndale, translator and martyr (1494-1536). "Although the Bible was available in the vernacular in much of Europe, the only version of the Scripture tolerated in England was St. Jerome’s Latin translation, which dated back to the 4th century. It was thus a closed book even to most clergymen, but William Tyndale, a dedicated Christian and scholar, was determined to make God’s Word accessible to all men.However, as early as 1408 a council of clergymen had met at Oxford, England, and decided that the common people should not be allowed to have copies of the Bible in their own tongue for personal use. William Tyndale’s work in England was forbidden. Undeterred, Tyndale moved to Germany. Between 1525 and 1535, he translated and printed in English the New Testament and half of the Old Testament. He worked from the Greek and Hebrew original texts, an impressive feat since knowledge of those languages was found only in the highest academic circles. His pocket-sized Bible translations were smuggled into England. The Church attempted to stop these books, ruthlessly seeking them out to confiscate and destroy them. Ultimately, Tyndale was betrayed by a friend. He was arrested in Brussels, Belgium, and condemned as a heretic. In 1536, at the nearby town of Vilvorde, he was brought forth to the place of execution, tied to the stake, strangled by the hangman, and consumed by fire. As he died, he cried at the stake with fervent zeal and a loud voice, “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes.” This miracle God did less than a year later. In August, 1537, King Henry VIII gave his authorization to the Bible generally known as Matthew’s Bible. He decreed that it should be freely sold and read within his realm.Thus Tyndale’s great desire to get the Bible in the hands of the common people was realized. The Reformation followed soon after" (Dr. Jim McGowan).
After reading this brief history of Tyndale, I appreciate my paper Bible all the more. Our paper bibles remind us of the sacrifice made to place the word of God in our hands, in a language that we can understand.
Listen, I appreciate convenience, but convenience is NOT always appropriate. Whenever we stand before God's people to either read or preach from his word may we always be able to say, "please, turn IN your bibles, Not, "please turn ON your Bibles".
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
The Gender Agenda – Coming to a School Near You! (by Julie Roys)
Four years ago, if you had predicted that the end-game of the LGBTQ community was to destroy all gender and sexual boundaries, many would have labeled you an extremist on a witch hunt. I know because I made that prediction. And, in response, I received many angry denials from members of a local high school’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA).
“You seem to believe that the LGBTQ movement wants to spark a gender-reformation. How could one reform a biologically accurate thing? Well, it's not possible...” Another wrote: “The Gay Straight Alliances have done nothing of the sort... They merely have decided... to show that there are so many beautiful people out there that society has not tolerated for the longest of time.”
However, two articles published about a week ago in a suburban Chicago high school newspaper show that’s precisely the LGBTQ movement’s intent. The articles appeared in the Statesman, the tax-payer funded student newspaper of Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, where my husband teaches math.
One article entitled, “How vast is the gender spectrum?” argued that limiting gender to male and female is too restrictive. “Nothing is written in black or white,” the article asserted. “In fact, the world is filled with many gray areas. Nowadays, our gender identity is not restricted to two choices: boy or girl.”
This is a shocking statement given that Genesis – the foundation for two major world religions – states very clearly in black and white that only two genders exist. Genesis 1:27 states, “God created mankind in his own image... male and female he created them.” Other religions affirm this understanding, as well. In fact, it’s been the established societal view since the beginning of human history. But, in one fell swoop, this article declared this age-old, religious understanding obsolete. And, it asserted this falsehood, not as opinion with attribution, but as fact!
A second article in the Statesman further deconstructed traditional and religious sexual mores. When identifying their “sexual orientation,” it encouraged students to think beyond sexual stereotypes – not just heterosexual ones, but homosexual ones too. “I think there are infinite sexual orientations,” a Stevenson student named Cameron said. “There are so many labels. It’s impossible to number them...”
Wow. “Infinite sexual orientations”? In my wildest imagination, I could maybe come up with several dozen, but infinite? And, what about the moral legitimacy of these orientations? Cameron went on to say, “There is nothing wrong with however you are. If you like boys, girls, anyone in between, or none of the above, that’s okay.” Seriously? All these infinite orientations are morally acceptable? Is this what they’re teaching students these days? What if you’re attracted to animals? A family member? The dead? (Yes, it exists. It’s called necrophilia.)
One has to wonder where students get these ideas. Perhaps, it’s from English teachers like William Fritz, also the GSA faculty advisor. In the article on gender spectrum, he says, “The gender of the person you truly are can be different from (your physical features). We are not a one size fits all species.”
One has to wonder how this English teacher came to this epiphany. He offered no evidence to support his claim. In fact, neither article presented any evidence for their wild assertions. They didn’t offer any dissenting opinions either. Instead, they relied solely on LGBTQ activists and their disciples – Mr. Fritz; a staff person with the national GSA; a 17-year-old “gender studies” blogger; and high school students, presumably members of the school’s GSA.
Apparently, LGBTQ activists at public schools are getting bolder – and school administrators are affording them special privilege to proselytize openly. Certainly, if a Christian would try to distribute literature at Stevenson explaining the biblical understanding of gender, the administration would immediately shut him down. Yet, here gay activists are given carte blanche to spread their propaganda right in the school-sponsored newspaper!
One of the people quoted repeatedly in the article on the gender spectrum is teenage blogger Kathryn Tenbarge. “To break free from conforming stereotypes is a very courageous thing to do,” Tenbarge said. “It means you have reached a level of understanding yourself that most people haven’t.” Really? So, those of us with a Judeo-Christian understanding of sexuality are simply unenlightened? The article concludes, “For now, Fritz, (another student) and Tenbarge agree there is nothing to lose from expanding the strict labels and categories our society tries to squeeze everyone into.”
Again, this is just another wild assertion without any basis in fact. With all due respect, how can these self-appointed gender experts know this? To date, the traditional family model has served as the foundation for all Western Civilization. Though many today express disdain for this great civilization, one can’t deny that it’s produced some of the most prosperous and stable societies the world has ever known. But, now we are moving into new territory with unpredictable results. Yet, early indications show that this anything-goes sexuality may have devastating consequences.
One woman whose husband left her for his gay lover, and took their children with him, writes in Public Discourse: “Behind the happy façade of many families headed by same-sex couples, we see relationships that are built from brokenness.... I represent hundreds upon thousands of spouses who have been betrayed and rejected.” This is tragic and certainly will have widespread ramifications for the children raised in these devastated homes. But, this is what results when one’s attractions du jour trump marriage vows.
The author of the article also notes that “Every same-sex family can only exist by manipulating nature.” Unlike traditional marriage, which naturally produces children, same-sex couples must rely on “assisted reproductive technologies such as surrogacy or sperm donation to have children. Such processes exploit men and women for their reproductive potential, treat children as products to be bought and sold, and purposely deny children a relationship with one or both of their biological parents.” Again tragically, it’s children who suffer.
But what about transgendered people? How is expanding the “gender spectrum” working for them? According to a study conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, it’s not going well. The study found that a staggering 41 percent of transgendered people say they’ve attempted suicide. And apparently, permanently changing their sex doesn’t help either.
A 2011 Swedish study found that people who undergo sex-change surgery start experiencing increased mental difficulties about 10 years after surgery. In fact, their suicide mortality then rises to almost 20 times greater than the comparable non-transgender population!
A case in point is a Belgian woman who underwent sex reassignment surgery and then last year chose to be euthanized. Apparently, the self-hatred that drove her to become a man persisted after her sex change. Just like she couldn’t accept herself as a woman, she couldn’t accept herself as a man, either. "(N)one of these operations worked as desired,” Nathan (born Nancy) Verhelst said. “(W)hen I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster. "
According to Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, people with transgender feelings experience psychological distress because they suffer from “body dysmorphic disorder”: just like someone suffering from bulimia wrongly believes she is fat, so a person with transgender feelings wrongly thinks he or she is a sex that doesn’t correspond to reality. McHugh says most of those who elect to have sex-reassignment surgery describe themselves as “satisfied.” However, studies found that “their subsequent psycho-social adjustments were no better than those who didn’t have surgery.” As a result, Johns Hopkins Hospital has stopped doing sex-reassignment surgery. As McHugh puts it, “producing a ‘satisfied’ but still troubled patient seemed an inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal organs.”
Interestingly, McHugh reports that controlled and follow-up studies show that 70-80 percent of children with transgender feelings spontaneously lose those feelings as they mature. School counselors should be challenging these students’ false beliefs about themselves. Instead, McHugh says, diversity counselors function much like “cult leaders,” often encouraging these confused young people to distance themselves from family and anyone who challenges the legitimacy of their feelings.
So, our public high schools, by promoting this unproven gender-bending agenda may actually be hurting those they purport to help. Perhaps, this is because the reality that billions throughout the centuries have affirmed is actually true! We do not construct ourselves; God constructs us. And, when our confusion and brokenness leads us to deny our God-given gender, we only harm ourselves and those closest to us. Instead of encouraging students to pursue whatever feels right to them, maybe administrators and faculty advisors should be urging them to love and accept the person God created them to be?
Unfortunately, students in many of our public schools never hear this common sense, Judeo-Christian view. As these student articles show, it’s simply presumed false or too restrictive. You may think this is happening in only liberal suburban Chicago schools, but it’s everywhere. For example, just last week, the media reported that school administrators in Lincoln, Nebraska – hardly a hotbed of liberalism – instructed teachers to no longer use “gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls.” Instead, they told them to use “gender inclusive” terms like “purple penguins.” Seriously – purple penguins!
Now that this radical, gender-destroying agenda of the LGBTQ community has been revealed, how should we respond? Do Christians retreat and allow the radicals to distort children’s understanding of their dignity, purpose and God-given gender? Do we let high school administrators define our boys and girls as “purple penguins” – and use our taxes to promote propaganda? Or, do we say enough is enough – and begin reasserting our voice in this society gone crazy? Our children’s future is at stake. And, to quote one of my heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
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However, two articles published about a week ago in a suburban Chicago high school newspaper show that’s precisely the LGBTQ movement’s intent. The articles appeared in the Statesman, the tax-payer funded student newspaper of Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, where my husband teaches math.
One article entitled, “How vast is the gender spectrum?” argued that limiting gender to male and female is too restrictive. “Nothing is written in black or white,” the article asserted. “In fact, the world is filled with many gray areas. Nowadays, our gender identity is not restricted to two choices: boy or girl.”
This is a shocking statement given that Genesis – the foundation for two major world religions – states very clearly in black and white that only two genders exist. Genesis 1:27 states, “God created mankind in his own image... male and female he created them.” Other religions affirm this understanding, as well. In fact, it’s been the established societal view since the beginning of human history. But, in one fell swoop, this article declared this age-old, religious understanding obsolete. And, it asserted this falsehood, not as opinion with attribution, but as fact!
A second article in the Statesman further deconstructed traditional and religious sexual mores. When identifying their “sexual orientation,” it encouraged students to think beyond sexual stereotypes – not just heterosexual ones, but homosexual ones too. “I think there are infinite sexual orientations,” a Stevenson student named Cameron said. “There are so many labels. It’s impossible to number them...”
Wow. “Infinite sexual orientations”? In my wildest imagination, I could maybe come up with several dozen, but infinite? And, what about the moral legitimacy of these orientations? Cameron went on to say, “There is nothing wrong with however you are. If you like boys, girls, anyone in between, or none of the above, that’s okay.” Seriously? All these infinite orientations are morally acceptable? Is this what they’re teaching students these days? What if you’re attracted to animals? A family member? The dead? (Yes, it exists. It’s called necrophilia.)
One has to wonder where students get these ideas. Perhaps, it’s from English teachers like William Fritz, also the GSA faculty advisor. In the article on gender spectrum, he says, “The gender of the person you truly are can be different from (your physical features). We are not a one size fits all species.”
One has to wonder how this English teacher came to this epiphany. He offered no evidence to support his claim. In fact, neither article presented any evidence for their wild assertions. They didn’t offer any dissenting opinions either. Instead, they relied solely on LGBTQ activists and their disciples – Mr. Fritz; a staff person with the national GSA; a 17-year-old “gender studies” blogger; and high school students, presumably members of the school’s GSA.
Apparently, LGBTQ activists at public schools are getting bolder – and school administrators are affording them special privilege to proselytize openly. Certainly, if a Christian would try to distribute literature at Stevenson explaining the biblical understanding of gender, the administration would immediately shut him down. Yet, here gay activists are given carte blanche to spread their propaganda right in the school-sponsored newspaper!
One of the people quoted repeatedly in the article on the gender spectrum is teenage blogger Kathryn Tenbarge. “To break free from conforming stereotypes is a very courageous thing to do,” Tenbarge said. “It means you have reached a level of understanding yourself that most people haven’t.” Really? So, those of us with a Judeo-Christian understanding of sexuality are simply unenlightened? The article concludes, “For now, Fritz, (another student) and Tenbarge agree there is nothing to lose from expanding the strict labels and categories our society tries to squeeze everyone into.”
Again, this is just another wild assertion without any basis in fact. With all due respect, how can these self-appointed gender experts know this? To date, the traditional family model has served as the foundation for all Western Civilization. Though many today express disdain for this great civilization, one can’t deny that it’s produced some of the most prosperous and stable societies the world has ever known. But, now we are moving into new territory with unpredictable results. Yet, early indications show that this anything-goes sexuality may have devastating consequences.
One woman whose husband left her for his gay lover, and took their children with him, writes in Public Discourse: “Behind the happy façade of many families headed by same-sex couples, we see relationships that are built from brokenness.... I represent hundreds upon thousands of spouses who have been betrayed and rejected.” This is tragic and certainly will have widespread ramifications for the children raised in these devastated homes. But, this is what results when one’s attractions du jour trump marriage vows.
The author of the article also notes that “Every same-sex family can only exist by manipulating nature.” Unlike traditional marriage, which naturally produces children, same-sex couples must rely on “assisted reproductive technologies such as surrogacy or sperm donation to have children. Such processes exploit men and women for their reproductive potential, treat children as products to be bought and sold, and purposely deny children a relationship with one or both of their biological parents.” Again tragically, it’s children who suffer.
But what about transgendered people? How is expanding the “gender spectrum” working for them? According to a study conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, it’s not going well. The study found that a staggering 41 percent of transgendered people say they’ve attempted suicide. And apparently, permanently changing their sex doesn’t help either.
A 2011 Swedish study found that people who undergo sex-change surgery start experiencing increased mental difficulties about 10 years after surgery. In fact, their suicide mortality then rises to almost 20 times greater than the comparable non-transgender population!
A case in point is a Belgian woman who underwent sex reassignment surgery and then last year chose to be euthanized. Apparently, the self-hatred that drove her to become a man persisted after her sex change. Just like she couldn’t accept herself as a woman, she couldn’t accept herself as a man, either. "(N)one of these operations worked as desired,” Nathan (born Nancy) Verhelst said. “(W)hen I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster. "
According to Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, people with transgender feelings experience psychological distress because they suffer from “body dysmorphic disorder”: just like someone suffering from bulimia wrongly believes she is fat, so a person with transgender feelings wrongly thinks he or she is a sex that doesn’t correspond to reality. McHugh says most of those who elect to have sex-reassignment surgery describe themselves as “satisfied.” However, studies found that “their subsequent psycho-social adjustments were no better than those who didn’t have surgery.” As a result, Johns Hopkins Hospital has stopped doing sex-reassignment surgery. As McHugh puts it, “producing a ‘satisfied’ but still troubled patient seemed an inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal organs.”
Interestingly, McHugh reports that controlled and follow-up studies show that 70-80 percent of children with transgender feelings spontaneously lose those feelings as they mature. School counselors should be challenging these students’ false beliefs about themselves. Instead, McHugh says, diversity counselors function much like “cult leaders,” often encouraging these confused young people to distance themselves from family and anyone who challenges the legitimacy of their feelings.
So, our public high schools, by promoting this unproven gender-bending agenda may actually be hurting those they purport to help. Perhaps, this is because the reality that billions throughout the centuries have affirmed is actually true! We do not construct ourselves; God constructs us. And, when our confusion and brokenness leads us to deny our God-given gender, we only harm ourselves and those closest to us. Instead of encouraging students to pursue whatever feels right to them, maybe administrators and faculty advisors should be urging them to love and accept the person God created them to be?
Unfortunately, students in many of our public schools never hear this common sense, Judeo-Christian view. As these student articles show, it’s simply presumed false or too restrictive. You may think this is happening in only liberal suburban Chicago schools, but it’s everywhere. For example, just last week, the media reported that school administrators in Lincoln, Nebraska – hardly a hotbed of liberalism – instructed teachers to no longer use “gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls.” Instead, they told them to use “gender inclusive” terms like “purple penguins.” Seriously – purple penguins!
Now that this radical, gender-destroying agenda of the LGBTQ community has been revealed, how should we respond? Do Christians retreat and allow the radicals to distort children’s understanding of their dignity, purpose and God-given gender? Do we let high school administrators define our boys and girls as “purple penguins” – and use our taxes to promote propaganda? Or, do we say enough is enough – and begin reasserting our voice in this society gone crazy? Our children’s future is at stake. And, to quote one of my heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Julie Roys is a Christian speaker, blogger, and host of national talk radio show Up for Debate. Follow Julie on Facebook or Twitter.
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