A national women's march was held today to promote or protest something.....I'm not quite sure what that something was exactly (see the previous post), but I did notice people carrying signs and wearing T-shirts with quotes extolling the strength of women. I'm all for strong women - physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, etc.
Then I considered that I'm a lot stronger now than I was back in 20s and early 30s as a competitive runner. How can that be given how much older I am now and how our muscles begin to atrophy over the age of 40?
So what makes a woman stronger?
Physically, my strength gains were the result of suffering, loss, and a lot of hard work. Two major car wrecks during my 20s, which left the EMTs telling me my survival was nothing short of miraculous, did some serious damage to my spine, but I did not realize it at the time. Spinal discs usually have to be at least 90% compressed before pain signals a problem, so I kept running extensively. Then two pregnancies that involved carrying average sized babies on narrow hips and crisis deliveries that nearly took the lives of my children finished off the disc compression. I was left with severe and chronic back pain and scar tissue throughout my body. My running days were over, and my back, knees, and ankles were a mess, never to be the same again.
Both males and females grow stronger the same way. They must put in lots of time, effort, and discipline as they push back against resistance to break down their current muscles and then build them back stronger than before. Part of my rehabilitation involved resistance training. With paint relief as a powerful motivator, I strengthened my body and escaped the chronic pain that had tormented me for the previous seven years. Before long, I could do 20-30 pull-ups without an assist or a break and plyo-, clap-, and one-armed push-ups, none of which I could do before the wrecks during the prime of my youth.
Academically, I faced a different kind of resistance because of my gender. In engineering school, men outnumbered women six to one. I remember struggling in the courses that require exceptional visual-spatial intelligence, partly because I did not play with Legos, building blocks, or other toys that build this type of intelligence as a child as most boys do. I encountered professors and students who stereotyped me as being
unsuited for engineering because I was female, but back then, women
received no special breaks because of their gender. They had to
work as hard (or harder) than all the guys. When I met resistance, I pushed back, and I grew stronger as a result. I graduated at the top of my engineering class. Since I was given no favors by professors or administrators fearful of law suits, I graduated with confidence knowing that I had competed against all the other students on equal grounds.
Professionally, I do not have the stereotypical engineer's personality. I remember lots of surprised comments by male executives who had met me outside of work hours and assumed I worked in sales or communications. I enjoyed the opportunity and challenge of proving myself to them. It was an amusing game for me that also made me stronger.
Emotionally and spiritually, I have grown stronger by taking risks. Giving up a career to stay home with one's children (and in my case I even homeschooled them for a few years) feels like a total loss of identity for many and was a risk I assumed would end my career in a fast paced technical field forever, but when our strength comes from within and is based on who we are instead of what we do, taking those risks only makes us stronger. I am back at work today part-time in a consultant role that provides more flexibility and enjoyment than any high ladder job title I may have attained had I never left. My faith was strengthened with each step I took outside of my comfort zone to follow His leading.
Building spiritual strength also requires us to open ourselves to the truth of our own fallen condition, allowing God to show us the depths of our sin.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
This awareness should then humble us and break us, like the physical breaking down of muscle tissue during resistance training, and bring us to repentance where God can then restore and rebuild us stronger than before. King David expressed his personal experience with this process in Psalm 51.
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge....
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
I reference this spiritual metaphor to emphasize a key point. Our strength does not come from our government, employers, coworkers, professors, spouse, children, family or friends. Our strength comes from the Lord, and the processes used to strengthen us involve resistance, hard work, patience, sometimes pain and suffering, risks, and faith.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)
The strength God gives is placed within us and flows out from the soul. We do not suddenly become stronger because we force others to declare, "You are a woman, so you are strong" and insist that they bow to all our other demands as well.
Gender quotas do not make us stronger. We certainly don't develop professional muscles by loafing within legally imposed gender protections which enable us to do everything wrong or nothing at all on the job or in the classroom without getting fired or expelled. If you are a woman with Latino (or other minority ethnicity) descent who is involved in the occult (or any belief system except Christianity) and identifies as LGBTQ, then there is virtually nothing you could do to get fired, while white males are dismissed without notice simply because their employer found someone else they liked better who might shake things up a bit. We grow stronger and more confident by competing on equal grounds, not by receiving preferential treatment. EEO laws may help get protected classes in the door, but they do not help them grow professionally, for there is little to no incentive to work, much less improve
We don't become stronger by demanding government funded birth control. We become stronger by taking personal responsibility for our own bodies and finding the courage and self-control to say no to activities that will naturally result in unwanted pregnancy or by managing birth control ourselves, whether we use free methods like natural family planning or purchase birth control products at a price less than the cost of each sign those women carried at the Inauguration 2017 women's march.
Should a woman still end of up in crisis pregnancy situation, then she will become stronger by accepting and even celebrating that life while resisting the public pressure and demeaning lies (such as "you are too weak or poor to care for baby, and you have no other options") of the abortion clinic workers and carrying that child to term. I know hundreds of women who have made that choice to birth their children in less than ideal conditions (some of whom were rape victims) and against the pressure of their family and loved ones, yet not one regrets her decision to bring that child into the world alive. They are among the strongest women I know.
We become stronger each time we stand up for truth and righteousness in a culture that despises both and persecutes all who disagree with the new social order.
We grow stronger each time we risk hearing our children tell us they hate us to discipline them out of pure love and with eyes fixed on their long term gain.
We are strengthened each time we refrain from saying what we feel like saying out of a desire to build others up instead of tearing them down.
We are strengthened with each battle we fight - whether against cancer or other illness, financial hardship, natural disaster, injustice, betrayal by those closest to us, or death of our dearest loved ones.
We are strengthened with each risk taken to benefit another, each sacrifice made to serve our families, each word of ridicule cast upon us because we did not cave to peer pressure, and each humble prayer offered on our knees in confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and authentic praise.
We are strong because we have faced resistance and overcome, not because we manipulated all of society into removing each and every obstacle in our path.
We are strong because He who is in us is greater than anyone who is in the world, and by Him, we have and will continue to overcome. (1 John 4:4)
It couldn't be foul
comments Trump made over a decade ago because they didn't seem to mind
when Bill Clinton was actually DOING the very same things Trump
merely mentioned and worse while still in office.
It couldn't be Trump's foul
mouth because Lena Dunham, feminist spokesperson who sexually abused
her sister and regularly abuses the public by showing off her privates,
says FAR worse to bring out the most carnal nature of both men and women.
It couldn't
be a march for women's basic human rights because they celebrate the
fact that at least 32,000,000 women have been denied the right to live
in an excruciating, barbaric manner through abortion.
It couldn't be
concerns over financial support for moms because the plan Ivanka put
forth benefits all mothers in the workplace and those working hard to
raise respectable children at home.
It couldn't be suppression of women
because they have voiced their support for Islamic extremists who bind and hide
their wives in burkas and do not allow them to go out into public,
speak out, receive proper education, or live in any way as they please
so they can focus only on bowing down to their oppressive masters whose
militias take women as sex slaves during their violent conquests.
It
couldn't be a march for gay rights because they oppose those who want to
to wipe out ISIS - the group that inspired the killing of 49 members of
the gay community in just one attack in Orlando.
It couldn't be a march
for tolerance because they have little to no tolerance for white males,
Christians, or conservatives who are persecuted on a regular basis by
groups they support here in America.
What exactly has them so upset,
and what will this march accomplish? I appreciate the efforts to keep
it peaceful, though, so kudos for that.
A week after the 2016 presidential election, news networks and liberals are still scratching their heads wondering what went wrong. There has been no shortage of op-ed pieces written on this matter, so instead of offering up more opinions as to why Hillary Clinton lost, perhaps it would help to present an outsider's perspective of the progressive liberal agenda as a mirror to help progressives see what outsiders' see.
From a pragmatic perspective, the progressive narrative dominating modern American culture does not seem compassionate, logical, or hopeful. Instead of presenting a dream for a better future, progressive ideals place America on a destructive trajectory. The progressive playbook looks more like a toxic pile of insulting labels and paradoxical talking points than any reasonable or helpful plan for positive change, so those outside of progressive herds refused to support such dismal plans with their votes. An outsider's observations of the progressives' rule book for playing the social change game, with all its many contradictions, are listed below.
The Paradoxical Progressive Playbook
An Outsider's Perspective
Truth is relative and tolerance is encouraged, except with regard to progressive platforms. To join the progressive club, you must hold all views in common with the progressive elites. Comments, questions, or suggestions that oppose the progressive talking points will not be tolerated under any circumstance. The marketplace of ideas now only has room for our ideas. Progressives value diversity as long as everyone thinks like we do. Freedom of speech is applauded during progressive protest events, but any speech that differs in content from ours must be silenced immediately. Use force when necessary.
Even though wealthy Americans and business owners create jobs, build the economy, support their communities, and give generously to charity, they are a menace to society and must be punished. Exceptions exist for wealthy businessmen who financially support our cause and collude with progressive minded politicians like Michael Froman, a former Citibank executive, did when he purchased the right to appoint Obama’s cabinet members. As for the others who do not advance our new social order, we don’t need the jobs they create anyway since we can choose to not work and live off entitlements or to work for the government or globalist billionaires as community organizers, protestors, lobbyists, and politicians.
Facts never matter to us. We are ruled by our feelings, even when our feelings lie to us. No matter how well people support their arguments with facts, if what they say makes us feel uncomfortable or compromises the validity of our worldview, they are wrong. Remember that there is no right or wrong, but we are always right, and they are always wrong.
Progressives are free spirits. We think outside-of-the-box. We will not let conservatives tell us what to do with our bodies! We support socialized health care because the government can make better decisions about our healthcare and our bodies than we can, except with regard to abortion. We just need to make sure progressive elites maintain control of our national healthcare syste because they are so interested in fanticide and euthanasia, they will tell us to abort anyway, especially if we're poor, black, or some other "weed". (Also note Alan Guttmacher's work regarding Planned Parenthood, abortion, and euthanasia.)
"It means the release and cultivation of the better racial elements in
our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual
extirpation of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the
blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization." - Margaret Sanger, 8 April 1923 New York Times article
To manage conflict, shut-down all conversations involving opposing worldviews. Preferred progressive methods for ending uncomfortable conversations include:
Make broad sweeping statements to categorize and insult entire groups of people even if the person holding the opposing viewpoint does not characterize that group as a whole.
Use elementary school style bullying as needed.
Complain that your feelings art hurt and start the water works.
Protest, riot, and commit acts of violence that will attract the media and provide free press for the progressive platform.
Apply labels liberally. Popular progress labels include "sexist", "bigot" "racist", "intolerant", "xenophobic", "intolerant", "supremacist", and "nationalist".
People do not kill people. The NRA and guns kill people, so support all efforts to ban guns and bankrupt the NRA. Allowed exceptions include arming terrorists and running guns to drug cartels because the progressive government leaders who made those decisions know far better than we do what is best. If we ban guns and set up more gun-free zones, then we will be safe because terrorists and criminals do not break our laws.We can trust the Democrats in federal government (who let our men die in Benghazi despite repeated pleas for help not just from Ambassador Stephens and even from the Pentagon who had reinforcements ready and waiting to defend them) to protect us, so why would we ever need to protect ourselves?
Progressives support the interests of the LGBTQ community except when terrorists want to shoot them all in a bar in Orlando. In that case, the FBI stopped all investigations surrounding suspected terrorist Omar Matten due to FBI limitations. We would not consider tightening the borders or keeping out the terrorists who have a deeper level of hatred for gays as as long as the nations that fund terror also fund our cause with many millions of dollars.
Even though America was founded on
Christian principles which even Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson (both of whom were not Christians) insisted were vital for democracy’s
survival (we're writing all that out of the revised history
books), even though Christians continue to be the most generous people
on earth with their time and their money, even though faith based
ministries provide more effective world relief and
humanitarian aid than secular or government programs, and even though
Biblical truth and strong Christian faith were what drove William
Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Abraham Lincoln, and U.S. Republicans
to take great risks to free the oppressed, Christianity must be suppressed because it hinders our ultimate goal of suppressing all mankind.
Since so many people have suffered and died in the name of religion, and since Catholics and evangelical Christians oppose our revolutionary ideas, both groups should be punished. To ensure that their influence dies, we will infiltrate their churches with wolves in sheep's clothing who will pretend to be like them but lead them all astray. (Reference "Catholic Spring" in the Podesta emails at WikiLeaks.) Note how many have died under evangelical dictators in the chart below compared to atheists. Oops, evangelicals are note even listed in the top 10, but we do see 15 million killed under a Catholic dictator who was far more corrupt than he was Catholic. Just don't look at how many people were killed by atheists, as our globalist minded financial backers are atheists, and we don't want to portray them as mass murderers. This chart only shows dictators, but while evangelicals and Catholics oppose dictatorships, progressives aren't for dictatorships either...well, not yet anyway, but that is where our agenda ultimately leads. It will be fine, though. While ultimate power ultimately corrupts, these wealthy men who are vying for dictator status are on our side....at least for now. Oh never mind!
So evangelicals are not mass murderers, but they oppose our "Constitutionally protected" right to kill out own children which overrules the child's God given right to life (in our minds anyway), and that’s a problem. Imagine what the world would be like if the 58 million Americans* aborted since 1973 had been allowed to live, love, laugh, learn and give back. We are not like the tyrants in the chart above because we only mass murder innocent people whom Planned Parenthood operatives convince us will make our lives inconvenient.
*53 million from 1973 through 2011 plus approximately 1 million per year since in the U.S. alone
Evangelical beliefs are far more radical than ours, especially in the way they treat women and children. Evangelicals actually teach that children are not an inconvenience but rather, a blessing and a gift from the Lord. They think separation of church and state means the government cannot dictate how they practice their faith, but we will make sure they are forced by law to pay for our abortions. Evangelical and Catholics are barbaric in the way they describe the partial birth procedure. Their medical accuracy and pictures make us feel guilty. (Remember again that anyone who makes you feel uncomfortable is wrong!). The partial birth procedure is nothing more than turning the baby into a breech position (which is harmful for the mother, but losing sleep because of a baby's cries is no picnic either), and delivering the healthy, full-term baby backward, all except the head, and then while the body hangs out of the mother's body, the doctor simply pokes his scissors into the skull and then sucks the brains out. It hurts like the dickens, but the full term healthy and vibrant fetal mass does not suffer forever.
Thanks to the federal government’s progressive move to underwrite college education (which drove tuition prices sky high, but we don't care because unsustainable federal debt will bring down America and that is our end goal), progressive academia, college students, and millennials are now the most indoctrinated educated members of society. They are so indoctrinated educated that they can recite an entire diversity training manual from memory. Some are so versed in social justice warrior skills that they can earn a PhD for a dissertation that labels STEM curricula as sexist on the premise that women cannot think objectively! Post- doctoral research has become so advanced that one astute professor conducted a study that proved that pumpkins are racist! While these educated progressives have no comprehension of basic economics, finance, history, civics, logic, or rhetoric, and cannot recite a single line from the U.S. Constitution, they know that Roe V. Wade gave them the freedom to abort babies. They have no concept of communism or its ill effects. Nearly two-thirds of millennials surveyed agree with Marxist philosophy and 46% think socialism is good while 58% view capitalism unfavorably (view full survey results here), but that's good for our cause because socialism is a prerequisite for world domination, and capitalism works against us since it tends to restore failing economies. They have no concept of the value of human liberty or of the ultimate price paid by countless American patriots to preserve it, so they would gladly trade their freedom, which has infinite worth, for free stuff the government buys with hard working taxpayers' money. They have no concept of limited resources or the implications of oppressive debt loads, but they have lots of ideas for ways to spend other people’s hard earned money. Progressive college students do not know how to handle disappointment as illustrated by the recent rioting, and they cannot deal with real life outside of their safe spaces, but they are expert protestors and have mastered the art of political correctness. They will suit our agenda perfectly.
Even though slavery existed in every ancient civilization and
continued through the Babylonian, Greek, and Roman empires, all through
the Middle Ages, around the Mediterranean region, throughout Arabia and
Africa, and grew during the 10th century German expansion during which so many Slavs were taken as slaves that we derived our generic term “slave” from them), and even though slavery spread to Russia and the entire Baltic sea region and on to Portugal, Europe, Britain,
the West Indies, and the U.S. colonies, white Americans are the only ones to blame for slavery**,
even if white Americans have no genetic connection to slave owners and
even if they are descendants of abolitionists. White Anglo-Saxons did
not start slavery, but they did lead the efforts to abolish it. Even so, we
will punish all whites forever no matter how much they stand up
against racial injustice now.
**Please note that conservative Christians hold to a
Biblical, benevolent patriotism. We seek to manage our resources
wisely, grow our economy, and honor God so that as He pours blessings
upon us, we may be a blessing to other nations. Our patriotism must
never be a selfish, racist, or imperialistic nationalism. It's not about
more for us, but about providing more benefits to the entire world
through wise stewardship of the resources God has given us.
Even though slavery still exists in America for people of all colors and nationalities here in the U.S. and abroad through human trafficking and radical Islam, and even though conservative Christians of all races strive to set them free out of human compassion and in memory of all who have suffered in slavery before them, progressives tend to ignore such injustice going on right now all around us because we are so consumed with injustices of the past. Besides, we rae more likely to stir up the racial division and the violent street drama George Soros wants by rehashing past injustices, making everyone feel guilty, and punishing the majority. Instead of fighting against current slavery and gross injustice in a way that could save and heal countless lives, families, marriages, and cultures, we will accept financial donations from nations who encourage and support human trafficking. We will preserve and expand pornography and lewd entertainment both in pop music culture and in darker corners of the internet, child pornography, and pedophilia in the name of free speech, free love, and free sexual expression, no matter how violent or inhumane, to increase the demand for trafficked victims. Those who fund us profit most when we support sexual slavery, and those of us who choose to indulge in the lusts of the flesh enjoy the easy access, so it’s a win/win.
America is not great and never has been great. Thus, America must be punished, weakened, marginalized and depressed so that the U.S. can no longer bring freedom, hope, healing, and charity to suffering people around the world. The weaker America becomes, the more our wealthy, corrupt sugar daddies can radically transform America into vassal nation with no foundation of morality, no respect for the traditional family or the stability it brings to a nation, no rule of law, no respect for others, and no order at all. In such a helpless estate, America will be poised and ready to become slaves to a corrupt, unaccountable, powerful, tyrannical global government.
We ordinary outsiders whom progressives failed to consider during the 2016 election, are ruled by truth and common sense instead of progressive indoctrination and feelings, so we see the progressive agenda differently than they do. It is an extremely clever strategy, especially as it has infiltrated schools, churches, and the media to totally transform how and what people think, but we wonder if the individuals who buy into
this movement are being duped by their masters, or if they are
deliberately allowing themselves to be used as pawns to dismantle
America and to further the globalists' dream of uniting the entire world
under their authority. Such a notion may seem like a radical right wing conspiracy theory, but after 30 years of observing compounding evidence and perusing recent WikiLeaks and FBI reports, it is almost impossible to refute. This 15 minute video provides a quick summary of all those years of evidence and outlines the globalists' strategy.
The Bible provides God's opinion on globalism in the book of Genesis. God initially created the earth to be one global community under His perfectly loving, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent reign, but the fall of man corrupted that perfect design. The Tower of Babel account in Genesis 11: 1-11 shows man's attempt to unite as one global community, filled with pride and lust for power. In His mercy, God disrupted their plans and spread the people out into unique nations with different languages to prevent them from become slaves to all- powerful, unaccountable, corrupt, global rulers. When Christ returns to judge the earth, He will establish a unified kingdom, but peace, unity, and goodness are only possible under His reign, for only He is completely righteous, all knowing, and perfect in love and grace. Only God Himself can rightly manage that much power in truth and justice. Until he returns, antichrists will come and go. They will deny the truth, reject God, and seek to rule over people as gods. But believers must be discerning and reject false teaching. It should come as no surprise that George Soros and his posse of globalists, coming together under Soros' Open Society Foundation (aka Open Borders Society), are secular humanists who despise God and deceive and destroy that which God created for good.
7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them.11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work. (2 John 2: 7-11)
Our perceptions sure can lie to us, can't they? How many times has
someone misinterpreted your written word or misconstrued your actions?
Perceptions are always skewed by bias and clouded by limited vision and
finite minds, so we must guard against allowing perceptions to shape our
beliefs.
Sadly, the American church is filled with seminary
professors, church leaders, pastors, and lay people who repeatedly fall into this
trap. To attract more followers (and sadly for some, to
bring in more money to pay for Joyce Meyer's jets and the
multi-million dollar homes she buys for her children or to fund the
Osteen's lavish empire), teachers will preach on the feel good
scriptures while omitting the passages that are convicting or
uncomfortable. By presenting half of the truth (ie, "You do not have
because you do not ask") without the "in Jesus name' - or "according to
His will" or without mentioning that those who follow Christ will be
persecuted and suffer for righteousness (yes, suffering is promised
while getting filthy rich and possessing magical healing powers and
kegs of water from the fountain of youth are NOT), they preach a false prosperity gospel that leads people astray.
In this culture, perceptions often lead people to focus on the Bible
verses that speak of God's love while rejecting those that speak of sin
or His standard of holiness.
Christ followers are individually
responsible for examining God's word for themselves so they can know
their Lord's identity fully and distinguish between false teaching and
the whole truth of God, just as the Bereans modeled so faithfully. We
must be very skeptical of any teaching that comes from a leader who does
not place himself or herself under LOTS of Biblical accountability or
who tries to exert too much control, for such a leader will inevitably
corrupt God's word.
Beth Moore described this alarming trend in
the church so well when she wrote, "What we see, hear, and experience
can be so glaringly persuasive that we end up scribbling invisible
addendums and corrections all over Scripture. Like the
half-man/half-goat in Greek mythology, our theology ends up in the shape
of a mythical half-us/half-God. We create our own blend based on the
parts of Scripture that match our perceptions. Fusion becomes the answer
to our confusion."
Such fusion only compounds our confusion and results in delusion. If any changes or white-out were needed for the divinely inspired (2
Peter 3:16), complete, authoritative, always relevant, perfect word of
God, then God would not have inspired this final warning in the last
chapter of Revelation:
“18 I warn everyone who hears the words
of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to
him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from
the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in
the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this
book. (Revelation 22:18-19)
Let us be discerning and faithful stewards of God's word, "wise as serpents and innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16)
Laura Parson, doctorate candidate at the University of North Dakota tried to argue in her dissertation that STEM syllabi are sexist because she believes that women are not biologically capable of thinking logically or
scientifically in terms of static knowledge. See also Joy Pullmann's evaluation of the dissertation in her piece entitled, "Feminist PhD Candidate: Science is Sexist Because It's Not Subjective". My kids attend a tiny, average private K-12 school where seniors are required to present and defend a thesis to graduate. Laura Parson, who should be far more educated as doctoral candidate than our young high schoolers would FLUNK if she submitted this dissertation for her senior thesis
project our kids' school due to lack of any sound reasoning,
logical arguments, or understanding of truth at all. Check out the full paper here for yourself, or view Page 12 below as a sample.
The biggest flaw in her research is far too common in modern
progressive academia. True science is examining, testing and building
knowledge around what we already observe to be true. Science cannot and
was never intended to be used as a way of proving what our opinions
want us to believe is true. Replacing inference with opinion turns any attempt at true science into junk science. Big words with no
logic are like a large mouth disconnected from a face or a head.
Well
no wonder there is so much gender confusion these days. STEM syllabi are sexist in her view because
they require women to use the scientific method and do not allow students to view science as being dynamic. So apparently now feminists believe both moral truth and scientific truth are relative. When will gravity cease to be a law so we can start floating and flying like hippies on an LSD trip?
So, given that I teach students how to think
critically, have excelled in STEM fields, regularly use the scientific
method, and specialize in systematic, logical problem solving as a consultant, the
doctors who cried, "It's a girl" must have been wrong. And my two kids'
births are more miraculous than we ever realized. Wow!
What
gender am I then? I certainly don't want to identify with the modern
day feminists' definition. I don't consider myself to be a piece of meat
as Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, and Lady Gaga suggest. The bacon dress
said it all. I'm not a dog willing to perform dumb tricks to get
people to notice me and throw me a bone or a dog treat as most feminist
celebrities (Lena Dunham especially) suggest with their sudden displays
of nudity or shocking headlines to turn the spotlight back on them. I'm
not interested in bashing men but would prefer to encourage and inspire
them to become their personal best. My husband is the perfect complement to
me. He is strong where I am weak and supports me in using my strengths to build
up the weak.
I don't want any of those degrading legal
protections or special treatments just because I'm a woman. Make me work
as hard as any man to reach the same goals because the struggle is what
makes me stronger and what makes the prize worth having.
I'm so
much more than my body parts. I am also a mind that never stops
thinking, a heart that never stops loving and caring, and a soul that
will never stop living. I was placed on this earth for a perfect
purpose that does not involve sitting on a display shelf expecting natural scientific laws to change as often as my feelings and moods do. My purpose involves making an eternal impact on the lives of others. It also
consists of growing in prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude as I
grow in intimacy with the God who made me and saved me. It is a joyful
purpose which keeps me in awe at God's goodness, mercy, righteousness,
and love.
"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:27-28)
This PhD candidate is majoring in education. Look out world because this woman and those who have been indoctrinated as she has will be molding the next generation to believe that women are idiots and that truth is relative.
Maybe....just maybe...she should not assume that just because the entitlement culture has failed to teach her critical thinking skills, the difference between unchanging truth and ever-changing feelings, or personal responsibility, she should not assume that all women are as she is.
As racism has increasingly become a heated issue again in America, I've been trying to better understand what it means to have white privilege. As I have listened to personal stories and read documentaries, I hope I am now more aware of the verbal slights, false assumptions, and undervaluing that still takes place. I am asking the Lord to make me more aware and to guide me in defending and honoring those who are still being treated unfairly based on race. The sordid crimes committed against black Americans in our nation's history are deplorable, and I am so sorry to learn how much racism is still rooted in the hearts of more than a few Americans. May we each ask the Lord to search our hearts and expose those areas that are still full of pride and prejudice. (Psalm 139:23-24)
I want to be very careful not to minimize what the black community has suffered, for to do so would be unloving indeed. As we search for evidences of white privilege (as defined in contrast to the negative experiences unique to black Americans), however, let us not forget to consider other privileges we experience that others are denied. As with white privilege, some of our other privileges are the direct or indirect result of the oppression of others.
Colonial Oppression of Native Americans Let us consider the oppression of indigenous Americans during the time of early European colonization up until and after The Indian Removal Act of 1830. They were forced to leave the land they had rightly claimed and toiled so diligently to tame, settle, and make fruitful. Then they had to make the treacherous journey along the Trail of Tears to be displaced in a wild, unsettled environment better suited for different crops, animals, and modes of survival. The colonists reaped the benefits of all the natives' labors while the natives had to learn a new way of life in a foreign territory. The white settlers enjoyed colonial privilege while Native Americans paid the price.
(Hardworking taxpayers experience a small sliver of this injustice when they take great risks, make huge sacrifices, and labor tirelessly to provide for their families and local communities only to have over half of their income taken through layers of taxation to pay for wasteful government spending and to provide not only for those in legitimate need, but also for those who refuse to work.)
As illustrated in the legendary artwork of Willard Stone's Trail of Tears Trilogy (pictured below), Native Americans have commemorated and preserved the memory of all they have suffered. Interestingly, they do not merely consider their own sufferings but the sufferings of others as well. Instead of holding onto bitterness, they planted renewed hope as they built new lives for themselves. With fortified faith and unwavering determination, they worked together to heal, renew, rebuild and restore what had been taken from them. Through forgiveness, gratitude to God, wise stewardship, and diligent labor, they prospered once again and became some of the most patriotic citizens in America, with many serving valiantly in the armed forces. They have grown the economy, created and filled jobs, invested in their communities, and contributed large percentages of their hard earned income through taxes to the same government structure that once so severely mistreated them.
The Trail of Tears Trilogy
The first trilogy masterpiece Exodus, was commissioned in 1967 by the Cherokee Historical Society. It is a large walnut sculpture composed of two teardrops, one balancing the other on a base representing the contour of the earth, honoring the Cherokee experience during the tribe's forced removal by the U.S. government from their traditional homelands in the East. In describing the piece, Stone said,"I have tried to capture the tragedy and heavy load of sorrow and heartache being overcome by the Cherokee's courage and determination. I have tried to boil down and bring into focus the heavy load of life the whole mankind carries and put it into an individual mother and child."
The Exodus (walnut)
The 1967, the Cherokee Heritage Society commissioned the second part of the trilogy. Transplantdepicts a Cherokee mother and child after the ordeal of the removal. Stone described this piece as showing that "By faith, enough survived the Trail of Tears to seed the new land. By faith, they will sprout and make it better. For this they give thanks."
Transplant
The final part of the trilogy, Uprooted, was completed in 1980. In Stone's words, this culture represents the Cherokees "pulling away from the
ground they had been living on from the time they were born." It also
represents "any people who are forced from their land because of the
greed or lust of some more powerful race." It is carved in the stump
of a red cedar.
Uprooted (one side)
Uprooted (other side)
During The Great Depression, some Native Americans considered themselves to be the privileged ones because they could survive and thrive by simply living off of the land. Stone's self-portrait in pencil below shows the happy contentment he experienced as an early teenager while stressed-out, big city dwellers in the East were, as Stone commented, "jumping out of windows
or going insane". Growing up in rural Oklahoma after the Indian Removal Act, he enjoyed farming, hunting, fishing, swimming, roping goats,
roasting peanuts, playing games and having house parties. His people were less affected by the financial crisis because they were self-sufficient. While the colonists enjoyed unfair privileges through the oppression of Native Americans, the Cherokee people let the trials make them stronger which gave them the well-deserved privilege of resilience. When Stone's work gained national attention, he had to travel to Manhattan for art related events. He once wrote after spending a
few weeks in New York for art exhibits that he wouldn't trade one acre of
rural Oklahoma for all of Manhattan. Despite the oppression of the Native American people, they found joy, peace and contentment through forgiveness and resilience.
Willard Stone's Pre-Teen Self Portrait
(Note: I could have referenced various forms of racial tensions
following World War II instead, but since I have more personal
experience with Native American people, I used them as my primary
example.)
Other Privileges
While both African Americans and Native Americans have suffered oppression under the hand of white men, privilege comes in many other forms as well.
If you can read, you have literacy privilege unlike 13.9% of the world's population.
If you are living off more than $10 a day, you have more to spend than 80% of the global population, which gives you significant wealth privilege.
If you are NOT currently enslaved for labor or for sex, you have a degree of freedom privilege that 29.8 million people around the world do not.
Every child that is born instead of being aborted in the U.S. has been given what should be themost fundamental human right, life, but since life is now the mother's choice and not the child's, to be allowed to be born and live is now considered a privilege in America. At least 730,322 children (18%)
did not get to experience that privilege last year (down from 22.6% in 2006) because they were murdered in the womb. The abortion rate was 52% in Russia during 2006, so being born in America statistically increases your birth privilege rate by 289%. (These figures do not include the significant number of lives terminated by the morning after pill.)
If you had the freedom to choose your field of study and vocation, you have career privilege not commonly available in communist countries.
If you have the freedom to fully pursue life, liberty, happiness, and prosperity on your own volition, then you have opportunity privileges not generally available in socialist and communist nations.
If you are pregnant, have minority status and/or identify as LGBTQ while employed in the U.S., you have more job security privilege
than white males. Business attorneys consider you to be
untouchable. The odds that your job will be eliminated during a business reorganization are much lower than non-protected classes because
EEO laws are biased in your favor. While white males are easily let go simply because the management found someone they like better,
those with protected classes could be overtly negligent, devalue the company, and fail to meet
basic expectations without ever seeing a pink slip. (This is not to say that EEO laws are not necessary or that they do not have their rightful place in giving certain classes the equal opportunities they deserve. It only shows that the outcomes of such legal manipulation are biased.)
If you were not raised in the south or have somehow managed to avoid developing a Southern accent, then you have linguistic privilege. Southerners must work harder to earn respect and prove their
intellect when conversing with non-southerners because of false assumptions and prejudice against their accent and/or dialect.
If you have not risked your life to protect
Americans and the U.S. Constitution through military or law enforcement service, then you have the privilege of being excluded from negative assumptions and accusations. Far too many people assume veterans have impaired mental
faculties and are unfit to carry a gun
or to receive proper medical care. Others, including the NAACP, accuse the majority of full-time law enforcement employees (over 1.13 million), of being racist, even if they are black (the NAACP calls them "blue, not black"), and make them targets.
The
persecution of Christians is increasingly prevalent on university campuses. The ratio of
Christians hired or
promoted within universities has been falling in all fields of study
but most
dramatically in the humanities, while Christian students are ridiculed by professors and given lower grades if they do not adopt (or pretend to adopt) their professors' secular worldview (as I know all too well through personal experience). Even elite Ivy League universities where
the prized marketplace of ideas once flourished are now censoring speech
and prohibiting class discussion that contradicts the progressive
secular worldview.
This anti-Christian bias in academia has created secular
privilege for non-Christians. This bias has been growing for many decades. C.S.
Lewis was possibly the most well-read,
most gifted teacher on the planet during his lifetime with unmatched
intelligence and communication skills, yet he was ostracized
and denied promotion at Oxford University after his apologetic works
were first published in the 1940s. The documentary, Expelled,
uncovered evidence for this
widespread bullying practices that prejudice against people of faith in academia 8 to 10 years ago The oppression is still increasing today as
described here.
The Special Needs Community
If you have no physical or mental disabilities and no neurological or
cognitive impairments that limit your ability to integrate independently into
traditional daily life settings without accommodation, then the prejudices of
this postmodern culture against the special needs community give you perceived ability privilege.
Far too many people assume that disabilities limit one's value or contribution
to society. After only a brief amount of time spent interacting with the
special needs community, however, decent people should quickly realize that in
many ways, these people have much more to teach us and to contribute
than they ever realized. They have taught me better than anyone else how to enjoy
life fully without the shackles of self-awareness, how to innovate and grow stronger
through trials, the power of a smile to light up a room filled with gloomy
people, and the sacred value of loving without limits. While the culture may
prejudice against them, they have the privilege of displaying the glory of
God.
"Jesus
answered, “It was neither that this man
sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed
in him."(John 9:3)
Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed as a teenager during a diving accident and fervently prayed for healing. But when she visited locations in
Jerusalem where Jesus had healed people, she found herself thanking God for not
healing her because "that 'no' answer has left her depending more on God’s
grace, has given her greater compassion for others, has reduced complaining,
has increased her faith, has given her greater hope of heaven, and has caused
her to love the Lord so much more." (Tim
Challis) Tada came to see her paralysis as a privilege or a gift.
I could go on and on, for all of us likely have some form of privilege directly or indirectly because someone else is being treated differently. Those I have mentioned as being privileged could just as easily point to another person who has a privilege they do not.
How Should We Address Injustice?
There are a lot of different movements and specific methods prescribed by social justice warriors to address these many social injustices. University of North Texas sociologist George Yancey describes the four primary secular models used to address racial issues in his book, Beyond Racial Gridlock. These methods include:
Colorblindness
Anglo-Conformity
Multi-Culturalism
White Responsibility
Each model has advantages and disadvantages which are summarized succinctly in this post by Bruce Ashford, but not one has
brought about the unity and racial reconciliation we desire or
need for a number of different reasons both Yancey and Ashford describe. I am convinced the primary reason these methods have failed is because secular models will NEVER solve spiritual problems.
Prejudice is a symptom
of pride, and pride is the root of all evil. Pride is spiritual, not natural.
"As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always
looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are
looking down, you cannot see something that is above you....
....The other, and less bad, vices come from the devil working on us
through our animal nature. But this [pride] does not come from through
our animal nature at all. It comes direct from Hell. It is purely
spiritual: consequently it is far more subtle and deadly.....For Pride
is a spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or
contentment or even common sense." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 3, Chapter 8)
Comparison is what makes us
proud. When one person compares his plight to another and takes
pleasure in having more or appearing superior to the other, then pride manifests itself as prejudice. If one man finds the other has more
than he
does or if he is being victimized by the prejudice of
another, then pride brews angry competitiveness, enmity, and a
relentless pursuit to overcome the one who is superior in whatever
attribute or possession is being compared.
None of us is perfectly righteous or without some form of prejudice (Romans 3:23). In fact, we each carry so much guilt that we could not possibly carry the blame or the guilt for what we have each done or failed to do individually, much less pay back the guilt for all the wrongs done by our society collectively. Yet, that is what many keep asking us to do. Are we to wallow in guilt for the rest of our lives, enslaved to debts we cannot possibly repay without ever finding the chance to accomplish something worthwhile in life? Yancey's proposed better alternative is an attempt to combine the best aspects of each of the four primary secular models under a Biblical framework such that both individual and collective responsibility are acknowledged and
owned.
"That model will recognize that God’s original creational design
includes and invites unity-in-diversity, just as his plan for the new
heavens and earth involves a resplendent ethnic and cultural
unity-in-diversity. It will refuse to assign blame entirely on minority
or majority group members, but instead will call both to repentance and
entrust both with responsibility." (Bruce Ashford)
While Native Americans may have diverse spiritual beliefs, their careful observation and respect for nature have long drawn them into worship, and we can see how they have modeled much of Yancey's proposed reconciliation model Their willingness to throw off their grudges, forgive their oppressors, accept their new circumstances, express gratitude, and build new lives for themselves is commendable, but such a selfless response defies ordinary human nature, so it must come from God.
"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:32)
Native Americans still preserve their cultural heritage while also seeking unity-in-diversity. We own a bronze of Stone's Boots and Feathers walnut relief sculpture pictured below and display it our home as a symbol of both my husband's heritage and mine (which are quite different) intertwined to create our sacred family and as a reminder of the struggle for unity and the beauty found within a society that values and upholds unity-in-diversity. Boots and Feathers depicts the artist's Native American daughter wearing a native headdress while trying on cowboy boots to illustrate their struggle to maintain their own cultural identity while adapting to the very different culture surrounding them.
Knowledge of the truth, which includes God's
absolute truth and the facts of both our past history and our response to current events, should compel us to confess our sin. Truth MUST then lead to repentance on every side. We cannot undo the sins of the
past, but we can confess and repent. Repentance, by definition, requires us to leave our selfish pride and prejudice and to seek God's will, not our own. The first and biggest step toward humility and away from pride is to acknowledge and confess our pride.
"If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 3, Chapter 8)
Repentance should then lead to change. God's work in our hearts will compel us through love and conviction to defend the oppressed and marginalized, to resist pride, and to continually surrender our will to His.
The Perfect Privilege that Provides Perspective
Let me back up for a moment and emphasize that confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation are not possible by human effort alone. No matter how many times we apologize, no matter what social justice movements we lead, and no matter what reparations we make, we will never fully atone for it all or appease everyone who has ever been treated unjustly. Only someone with perfect wisdom, perfect righteousness and infinite love could avoid all these sins and love completely, fully, and unconditionally. And only that perfect One can bear the weight of all our sins past, present, and future and pay our debts in full. Only the promised Messiah could suffer to such an extent for those who hated and despised him and then extend forgiveness.
But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.(Luke 23:34)
Christ never committed a single sin, yet He was tempted more than any of us. He deserves all our praise, yet He suffered more than anyone on our behalf.
If you've been abused, beaten unmercifully, despised, rejected, tortured, or oppressed, He understands, for He endured all those things too.
If you've been mistreated, disrespected, robbed, ridiculed, slandered, spat upon, or scorned unjustly, then you are sharing in His sufferings, and He can comfort you like no other.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4)
If people flee from you, mistrust you, accuse you, or act repulsed by you because of your race, ethnicity, or heritage, He knows how you feel. He's been there and done that. If your family abandoned you, your friends betrayed you, or your closest friends denied you, be comforted in knowing He suffered the same for you. After the sin debt was paid in full, He rose again, and He will come back to raise up all who have accepted His free gift and welcomed Him in as Lord of their lives.
After two thousand years of experiencing divine encounters, watching prophecies fulfilled exactly, witnessing transformed lives, and receiving matchless grace, inspired teaching, and access to the perfect wisdom, everlasting hope, and life direction found through His inspired word, multitudes around the world still reject Him. Yet His loving compassion never fails. (Lamentations 3:22) He still stands ready to extend forgiveness, personal relationship, everlasting life, and a vast inheritance to all who believe, repent, and follow Him.
Any privileges (white or otherwise) we experience in this earthly life, whether freely given or unjustly taken, are worth nothing compared to the privilege we are all called to share as partakers of His grace.
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ," (Philippians 3: 7-8)
Note the stark difference between the privilege we have in Christ compared to the other privileges listed above. That difference hinges on choice. In the examples listed above, the victim does not choose to be oppressed or disadvantaged. Their suffering is placed upon them by someone else or by circumstances outside of their control. Similarly, the privilege we define as not having to suffer under the same conditions are abuses as someone else, is also not something we choose for ourselves. We can't choose our race, birthplace, gender, DNA, heritage, etc. We can only choose how to respond to oppression or privilege.
The inverse is true with Christ. He chose humility and the life of a
suffering servant. He chose to bear all our sins on the cross while remaining
perfectly sinless Himself.
Love compelled Him to suffer and die to save His oppressors from a debt
they could never repay.
Who can comprehend the depths and heights of such love? We are privileged beyond measure in Christ! Instead of telling us to check our privilege at the door like Harvard students were instructed to do at orientation, Christ instructs us to wear the privilege He won for us on the cross. That privilege is the only way we can pass through the door from this life to eternal life with our God and King who is Lord of all righteousness, mercy and love.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
