The Era of Reprobate Minds

There are so many passages of Scripture describing the last days which seem to be exact descriptions of our culture today that it's hard not to wonder if we are the last generation before Christ's return. The passage quoted below from Romans 1:28-32 is especially apt. 

28 "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." (Romans 1:28-32)

What stands out to me lately is the "debased" (ESV) or "reprobate" (KJV) mind in verse 28. The original Greek word translated as "reprobate" here is ἀδόκιμος, which is also translated as "not approved, rejected, unfit, not as it ought to be." 

Only a debased, unfit mind celebrates the violent murder and dismemberment of innocent unborn children in the name of "women's rights". Only an unfit mind will spend millions to save a tree and ~4 million a year through Medicaid in the USA alone to kill healthy children in the womb.

Only a mind completely set apart from the God of righteousness celebrates all forms of sexual immorality, including pedophilia, despite the consequences of such lifestyles recorded throughout history. 

Only a defunct brain will deny fundamental scientific truth found in every cell of the human body to bully people into believing that gender is a construct of the mind. Only a greedy and depraved mind will systematically abuse children through medical organizations (AMA, APA, AAP) by insisting children should be chemically and surgically mutilated to match whatever gender their underdeveloped minds like best on any given day, even when appropriate counseling and the natural maturation process almost always correct any mismatches between the mind and the body (except when such minds are continually manipulated by others to deliberately make them continue perceiving themselves wrongly). 

Only a reprobate mind exalts tolerance of evil over the most common sense universal moral laws which have sustained and preserved cultures throughout history. 

Only a corrupted mind is so consumed with self while denying the sanctity of human life enough to commit a mass shooting. 

Only an unfit mind gets offended by what is true, holy, and just and insists others must not speak of, much less hold, Judeo-Christian values all in the name of "tolerance".

Our culture's epic level of insanity should come as no surprise. God foretold all of this 2000 years ago.

Homosexuality and the Sin of Sodom

In her book entitled, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield notes that homosexuality is only a symptom of the condition of one's heart, reflecting where someone has been. It is not the root problem itself, and in fact, the sin of Sodom (which is often assumed to be homosexuality based on the narrative of Sodom's judgment by God in Genesis 19) is not as offensive to God as those of His chosen people, the Israelites.

The root sins of both Sodom and Jerusalem are actually very similar, but Jerusalem's is more offensive and more dangerous because unlike the Sodomites, the Jewish people had seen the power of God on display and had been the recipients His mercy and other spiritual blessings.They knew God's power and mercy, so they knew better, yet they forsook Him anyway, whereas Sodom had not received the spiritual blessings bestowed upon the nation of Israel.

"And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day." (Matthew 11:23, NIV)

Ezekiel 16 clarifies the sin of Sodom as being something to which we call all relate, for while we may not all struggle with homosexuality, we are all tempted by the same root sins that were merely manifested as homosexuality and violence in the Sodom account. God references the sin and judgment of Sodom to reveal the greater sin of the Jewish people.

48 "As surely as I live," declares the Sovereign Lord, "your sister Sodomn and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.49 Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant,overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did destable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.."  (Ezekiel 16:48-50, NIV)

Rosaria Butterfield summarizes the fundamental "sins of Sodom" described in Ezekiel 16:48-50 as follows:

1. Pride, which puffs up and provides a false sense of independence (when we should be completely dependent upon God) and entitlement, is the root of all other sins.
2. Materialism/Excess:  Focusing on acquiring increased wealth, being entertainment driven, refusing to live below your means, and having an overabundance of idleness will lead us away from God's standard.  Rosaria explains that we develop an acquired taste for God’s standard as we discipline our minds, hands, time, and money. Rosaria writes, "Undisciplined tastes will always lead to egregious sin, slowly and almost imperceptibly.
3. Lack of Mercy: The first 52 verses of Ezekiel 16 describe the sins and subsequent judgment of Sodom, Jerusalem, and Samaria, but five of the last 11 verses explicity speak of God's mercy, restoration, and atonement as these nations acknowledge their sin while experiencing the consequences of those sins. God offers hope and compassion despite the long list of ways they have repeatedly betrayed their holy God. God calls us to be merciful to others just as we have received His mercy. The call to offer mercy, compassion, and charity is both for our own good and for the good of the community.
4.  Lack of Discretion or Modesty

After considering and summarizing Rosaria's insights referenced above, I considered how those core sins are obviously at the root of many of the social/political issues evangelical conservatives speak out against today, such as abortion, gay marriage, pay-for-play, media deception to serve political interests, IRS targeting of conservatives, illegal spying, refusing to apply the rule of law to the Clinton scandals, entitlement mentality, socialism, transgender ideology and the child abuse inherent in medical group advocacy of chemical and surgical gender transition. But then I had to consider that Christians also manifest these same core sins with behaviors that do not seem as appalling to the church community, yet they are just as repulsive to God (and even more so) than those of unbelievers, even radical pro-abortion, atheistic, progressive lesbians like Rosaria was before Christ completely transformed her heart, mind, and life.

Consider the following sampling of behaviors, actions, or choices in light of the four core sins of Sodom:

• Taking advantage of meal deals, coupon programs, or loop holes in a way never intended by the business provider
• Overstating tax deductions when filing income taxes
• Refusing to engage in your community because you require copious amounts of "downtime"
• Excluding neighbors, classmates, or other acquaintances from a social function you are hosting because you do not want to associate with or be seen with people who are different from you or who are not as classy or affluent as you would prefer
• Skimping on your tithe to the church by redirecting that money to a charitable organization where your name or business will be promoted as a result
• Reading Fifty Shades of Grey or viewing pornography for pleasure or simply out of curiosity or peer pressure
• Virtue signaling on social media with demands for large government funding of programs and entitlements for illegal immigrants or refugees while refusing to welcome strangers into your own home
• Gossiping about or even slandering those who are different from you, who have inadvertently offended you, or who you envy 
• Claiming to be a victim entitled to special treatment instead of taking personal responsibility and asking God to give you resilience or help you overcome 
• Bearing false witness to accomplish an earthly goal while justifying your deception with the false notion that the ends justifies the means.
• Committing gluttony at every church potluck in the name of "spiritual fellowship" or in the privacy of your own home for "comfort" 
• Softening and distorting the gospel to win more "converts" without sharing the truth that Christianity involves suffering, sacrifice, and full surrender of one's entire life to Christ, giving these so called "converts" false hope that a simple prayer offered with questionable sincerity is all that is required for salvation and sanctification
• Posting pictures of yourself in a skimpy outfit on social media to show off your new toned body following a rigorous diet/exercise program
• Spending far more time and money on your outward appearance, vacations, entertainment, or on acquiring expensive material possessions than you invest in God's kingdom
• Church and ministry leaders focusing more on being relevant and entertaining than on delivering truth and compassion
• Church and ministry leaders spending more time and money on externals (facilities, audio/visual equipment, coffee and doughnuts) than on meeting physical and spiritual needs
• Rejecting accountability
• Refusing to make Bible study and prayer daily priorities because you are "too busy" with lesser things
• Relying on Ted Talks, business tools and metrics, secular advisers, financial resources, and other worldly means for knowledge on building healthy marriages, families, ministries, and businesses instead of relying fully on God and His word for wisdom and guidance
• Brushing off or concealing legitimate sexism or abuse with the dangerously deceptive mantra, "Boys will be boys"
• Laughing at crude or defamatory comments
• Refusing to stand up and pray for those who are being persecuted for Christ's sake

When we Christians speak out against gay marriage, abortion, greed/entitlement centered socialism, or any of the other secular progressive issues listed above, do we first acknowledge our own behaviors which are rooted in the same sins of pride, materialism, lack of mercy, and/or immodesty?

Are we humble enough to realize that we are only able to overcome our sin struggles as God's word in us becomes bigger than ourselves?

Are we seeking to win converts to our opinions or political preferences, or are we seeking to introduce the lost to the only hope of the world, Christ our Savior?

Are we seeking to condemn the world (John 3:17) or to show the lost the unconditional love of Christ? Without receiving God's love, no one can truly love God or others according to God's perfect standard, and without love, there is only death. (1 John 4:8, 1 John 3:14)

After her radical conversion from atheism, lesbianism, and radical leftism to becoming a fully devoted Bible believing, faithful follower of Christ, Rosaria wrote, “My sexuality wasn’t sinful because it was lesbian per say but because it wasn’t Christ controlled." 

What areas in our lives are not Christ controlled?  Until every area of our lives are surrendered to Christ's lordship, we cannot judge the homosexual's sin as being any worse than our own, but we can offer them hospitality, compassion, and God's uncompromising truth with humility, impartiality, and love.

Feminism Dogma in Higher Education Gone Mad: STEM Syllabi Deemed Sexist Because Women Cannot Think Logically Based on Facts

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.

Real compassion speaks the truth in love

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ"  Ephesians 4:15

I have an ethics question for thoughtful readers:

Suppose my child develops the form of blindness like 20 million other people around the world which is curable with cataract surgery. After seeing the world clearly up until now, however, she doesn't realize her vision is fading. Her impeccable memory fills in the holes for her, so that even though she is legally blind, she identifies better as a seeing person. Corrective lenses are insufficient, and when she wears them, the kids at school bully her. When my daughter turns 16, she wants to get her driver's license. She insists that no matter what doctors say about her, she is a seeing person, so she demands that she be permitted to drive. It's too inconvenient to find other means of transportation, and the kids will tease her unmercifully if she can't drive like they can. She just wants to fit in.

So, what is the more compassionate response?

1. Assume she knows herself better than anyone else, even though it is obvious that she is blind. Let her drive so as not to hurt her feelings even though she will be putting everyone else on the road, including herself, at great risk.
2. Refuse her a driver's license while insisting that her sight is NOT NORMAL. Convince her that she can't see and needs to get professional help. Refer her to a skilled cataract surgeon. If our family happened to be too poor to pay for the surgery, foot the bill or put her in touch with a non-profit faith-based ministry who will provide the counseling and surgery at greatly reduced cost so that her sight could be fully restored.

If that sounds too far fetched, assume she is addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, but she refuses the first step of any AA program which is to admit she has a problem. "I am not an alcoholic," or  "I can quit using drugs anytime I choose," she insists. She cannot see herself as she really is, so what is the more compassionate response?

1. Assume she knows herself better than anyone else, even though it is obvious that she has a problem that will destroy her if she does not get help.  Enable her addiction by ignoring it or giving her special privileges, like all-you-can-drink passes to the nearby bar or insider info on the best drug deals. Let her use your car as often as she likes, for surely she is fine if she says she is.  Who are we to judge?
   

   For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. Psalm 109:2

2. Insist she has a problem and lovingly guide her to resources that can help her.  Protect her from anything that enables her addiction and stand by her, supporting her, as she gets professional help.

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8: 31b-32)

Just as there are plenty of resources for those struggling with physical impairment, substance abuse, or psychological issues like body dysmorphic disorder manifesting itself in eating disorder, there are similar non-profit organizations available offering loving, supportive counseling and psychotherapy for those struggling with gender dysmorphic disorder (now called "gender dysphoria" to sound less like a disorder and more like euphoria). These treatments offer lasting recovery, unlike gender reassignment surgeries which only make the problem worse and lead to 20x higher risk of suicide). Often these ministries are led by those who have been fully healed from the same condition themselves, for they can offer the best encouragement and understanding. Generous donors and volunteers make it possible for these treatments at be offered at low to no cost to those who want to be healed.

Prince died. The media lied. Perverts spied. Women and children cried. Target is now fried.

This blog post title and the meme below sum up the past week in America. RIP Prince and personal privacy/modesty. My kids literally cried when I told them we could not shop at Target anymore because of legitimate concerns over their safety.  Their tears weren't so much over the toys they could no longer purchase there as over their much too early exposure to the utter depravity and stronghold of evil in the world.

Source: DefendMyPrivacy.org

RIP Prince and Privacy

I don't usually buy into boycotting hype. Even though I have very strong Christian convictions and Target has been making extremely liberal, anti-Christian statements for years, I value free speech and will not boycott a business simply because I don't like their speech. However, Target's new bathroom policy is a public safety nightmare and sheer madness.  As I will point out in the links and statements below, there is a time to speak out against both evil and falsehood.  Target's new free access bathroom policy basically states that in the name of "inclusivity" men may enter the women's restrooms, and women may enter the men's, and if patrons using the facilities at the time don't like it, Target employees will (according to this video) give them a tongue lashing until they submit or leave.  This policy puts the safety of women and children at risk for the benefit of NO ONE except pedophiles, rapists, and peeping perverts.  So I canceled my Target Red card and wrote letters to multiple Target reps (surely in vain though it made me feel better) that read something like this:

Whatever shred of common sense or moral decency Target ever had was just flushed down the toilet with their new restroom policy. Target, are you seriously willing to put the majority of your customers at risk of being violated, abused, or traumatized because you (falsely) believe this policy will make <1% of your customers feel more comfortable, when there are few to no transgendered people who would ever want to put all these women and innocent children in harm's way? You aren't helping trans folks at all with this policy, but you are certainly helping perverts ruin the lives of women and children. Are you really so ANTI-WOMAN, and ANTI-CHILD that you would knowingly throw these women and children into the hands of pedophiles, rapists, perverts, and immature, undisciplined boys (whose evil desires have been ignited and fueled by pornography - an industry your policy will supplement) who will be lurking in these restrooms, pretending to be transgender, armed with their cameras and their wicked desires? Why do you insist on promoting pedophilia when you could just let your single "family restroom" also serve as an option for those who don't feel comfortable using the restroom that matches their biology? Perhaps you should read this blog post from one of your former customers to bring clarity to your minds and to better understand your customer base.

Over 200,000 peopled signed a pledge to boycott Target the first day after Target's announcement.  The next day the petition had almost half a million signatures.  #BoycottTarget was the top trending topic on Facebook.  Target does not care. They responded to the backlash by further clarifying their desire to be "inclusive".  People have supposedly already been victimized within Target facilities as a result just as voyeurism has occurred whenever college campuses have enacted similar bathroom openness rules.  Why do so many lives have to be ruined before people wake up to the risks involved here?  I guess it will take more victims and more lawsuits before they change course.  Target's statement immediately followed a national controversy over North Carolina's bathroom [clarification] bill, HB2, which was passed during an emergency session to counter a Charlotte ordinance pushed by a registered sex offender and pedophile which allowed transgenders (or anyone claiming to be transgender, such as pedophiles or peepers) to use whichever restroom they chose.

What infuriates me the most is the way the media has completely lied about HB2, using erroneous talking points from the Human Rights Campaign (an extreme activist lobby group suing the state of NC with much to gain if they win this lawsuit while much could be lost forever for women and children) who are telling these lies to help their case. Almost every mainstream media outlet is publishing the same false propaganda with the attitude of bullying anyone who opposes the notion of men being allowed in women's restrooms.  Despite the media's pressure tactics, the majority of Americans still oppose these open access bathroom policies because deep in their gut somewhere, they know it is dangerous.  But the media persists.  Such slander stirs up emotions among the "sheeple" who don't care about the truth at all but enjoy those warm fuzzies that come with taking a stand for a cause, however misguided and corrupt that cause might be.   For those  who actually care about the truth, be sure to read HB2 and the context behind the bill, the Charlotte ordinance. Google Chad Sevearance, the registered sex offender who organized the effort to push for this controversial Charlotte ordinance. A link to the NC bill in PDF format is found at the end of the 2nd paragraph in this article:  http://townhall.com/.../six-reasons-north-carolina-got-it...

³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3)

Bruce Springsteen and other progressive artists have cancelled concerts in North Carolina because of the controversial, yet common sense "keep things the way they have always been" HB2.  Speaking of which, this retort to Bruce Springsteen and his band by Michael Brown (published on April 10, 2016 ) is on point.  Obama, who is either getting his information from inaccurate sources or supports pedophilia, pornography and rape, apologized to London for North Carolina's seemingly intolerant bill

This post is the best written evaluation of this issue I have found to date, but don't worry, it isn't primarily about bathroom wars but about the bigger picture. Hayward's insight is accurate, but frightening. When we cave under all the bullying fueled by deceitful propaganda and remain silent, we surrender to totalitarianism. I get a lot of criticism for things I share, but I want my kids to always know that their mama refused to bow down to evil and would not surrender their freedom or hers, no matter what it cost her.

"When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control." 

(Dr. Theodore Dalrymple made these points in a 2005 interview when he described political correctness as “communism writ small.”)  The full article can be found here: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/04/23/bathroom-wars-humiliate-normal-majority/

Please note that out of the five remaining candidates for POTUS, only ONE has enough common sense to oppose the crazy notion of letting men use women's restrooms. We only have ONE sane person left, and his is losing the primary.  Not only does Ted Cruz oppose putting every woman and child in danger, he even asked a very sensible question, “Have we gone stark-raving mad?” Yes, Ted, we have.

Trump made himself out to be an idiot (again) when he made the follow statement, "You leave it the way it is....There have been very few complaints the way it is.”  (Source)  HB2 does just that, Mr. Trump.  It leaves it the way it is and has been since 1972 while nullifying a Charlotte ordinance that was pushed by a registered sex offender/pedophile with the goal of changing "the way it is" from something no one complained about to something that puts every decent person who needs to use the restroom or shower while away from home in great danger. If Trump considers the National Enquirer to be a legitimate news source, then is it any wonder he is not fact checking the extremist lobby groups' accusations?  Imagine how this fickle, egocentric man, who changes his platform with every passing shadow and who has zero regard for the truth or human decency, will run our country if elected!

As we look at our country from a rational perspective, we can't help but ask, "Why does everything seem so outrageous and dangerous?"  Is it because the God-hating, totalitarian, social engineering strategy set in motion decades ago to remove freedom, capitalism, morality, decency, rational thought, courage, integrity, individuality, thoughtful rhetoric, respectful exchange of different ideas, and strength is moving along just as planned?  It does seem that the unthinking sheep are following their lying lunatic leaders right over the cliff.

"To make progressives appear sane, all the world must be driven mad; to make them appear noble, all the world must be humiliated by them and their fellow progressives."  (John Hayward)

Radical liberalism and the rise of victimhood

A UNC student's op-ed in the News and Observer is getting some attention in the blogosphere and giving UNC even more bad press, although the deans probably applaud the piece.  She writes about what it is like for her personally, as a "conventionally attractive" student who identifies as female, to carry the great burden that sexism has placed upon her.  The examples she describes seem mostly trivial or imagined, but her editorial does allude to a bigger problem in America, and it isn't sexism. Her real problem is radical liberalism which is ushering in the new victimhood culture.  While many may think her problems are insignificant, this new liberalism has twisted the previous liberalism of merit into a radical, illogical, dangerous ideology that has gone off the deep end with a millstone tied around its neck. (Matthew 18:6) 

This new liberalism is like an illegal recreational drug. Both numb the brain's ability to think logically.  Both turn the focus inward instead of outward.  Both make the user feel temporarily high by conjuring wild, feel-good hallucinations in which the user becomes the center of the universe, free of all blame or responsibility, high and exalted, so much so that everyone must bow to the user's demands while walking on egg shells so as not to offend. When the buzz fades, more toxic thoughts or chemicals are required to keep reality or common sense from crashing into the consumer's narcissistic world.  

UNC isn't the only school spitting out such paranoia.  Her comments are merely an example of what our culture of postmodernism and extreme liberalism has produced. Instead of grounding herself in the absolute truth that shows her what great value and potential she has regardless of what anyone else says or thinks, she plays the victim, consumed with herself, blaming others for her obsession with thigh gaps, acne, and whatever she assumes others are thinking about her, when they probably aren't even noticing her at all. 

To the author of this editorial and to the countless people she represents, it's not your gender, physical appearance, age, or race  by which most people are judging you or by which you should concern yourself.  Those traits bestowed at birth are ultimately out of your control. It's your words, actions, and attitudes, which you can control, that most affect how others will respond to you. You get to choose what you will assume, but you cannot decide for yourself what is true.  You also get to choose how you will respond to the reactions of others.  Will you rejoice in how you were uniquely created, or will you let the fickle opinions of others define your worth and make you feel uncomfortable?  (Miss Dodge, if you don't want guys looking at your body, why did you write a piece drawing attention to your body by describing your legs, eyes, face, belly, chest, and rear in such detail?   Your words in this op-ed make you sound like the one most obsessed with your feminine body, not sexist males.)

Your repeated use of "identifies as" shows an extreme allegiance to political correctness which stems from fear. Even though the science is clear that gender is hard-coded into one's DNA and obvious at birth (or by the 12th week of pregnancy via ultrasound), fear mongering makes it socially unacceptable to refer to people as simply male or female.  A good postmodern liberal will always precede a gender assignment with the phrase "identifies as" so as not to offend the radical establishment that is controlling you.  I see all these people in our culture "identifying" as this gender or that, without regard to their actual gender from birth, and then feeling despair when neither feels righ in the long run.  Suicide is common following gender reassignment surgery because it does not satisfy the true longings of the heart.  The gender confused need wise counsel and loving support, not expensive surgery which only changes the outward appearance, not the sacred, hurting soul inside.

Others may be comfortable with their God given gender but hate their race or skin color, so they take  great effort to study a different ethnicity, dye their skin and hair, and change their mannerisms so they can "identify" as a different race while living a lie.  It's all a vain attempt to push back imposed guilt or prejudice. 

Some refuse to identify with their God given body frame and go to dangerous extremes to change it, only to see their bones protrude and their stomachs puff out like a starving child's from a third world country, never able to shrink into the circumference with which they long to identify. Emotions crumble and deadly eating disorders consume them as they pursue something out of reach having lost touch with what is true and right.

Then there are those who refuse to accept the family into which they were born so they disown them. Perhaps they accept their family but refuse to accept that they were not born into the great wealth to which they feel entitled (again we see that liberalism is all about feelings, not facts), so instead of working hard, seeking educational opportunities and job training resources within their reach as the man in the video below did, they steal, commit crimes, or abuse the welfare system to get what they think should define them.  (I realize overcoming generational poverty is complicated and not as easy as some often make it seem, but it is by no means impossible as shown below.)

Posted by Mike Steele on Sunday, August 30, 2015 - PLEASE WATCH

The victimization mindset presented in  Dodge's op-ed is an opiate for the discontented because it gives temporary (albeit false) hope that life will improve "if only others would do or stop doing _______" and promises that the grass is always greener on the other side. With a spherical world, however, there is no end to the other side, just an endless spinning.  As yearnings go unsatisfied, bitterness grows. Radical liberalism is a short lived LSD trip for those who refuse to accept oneself because it teaches that others are to blame for whatever negative feelings the "victim" experiences. It places a cheap band-aid over the emotions, when a heart transplant is what is truly needed to heal the soul.  Yes, we should encourage respectful behavior toward all people, but to demand a life without insult or offense in this fallen world is to resign oneself to a life of disappointment and bitterness.

The following truths have been concealed too long in our culture.  Each of us has been "fearfully and wonderfully made; [Creator God's] works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139:14)  We were each designed uniquely and beautifully for a perfect purpose. (Jeremiah 29:11, Micah 6:8) What others think about us does not and should not matter.   No man's words, stares, or evil intent can penetrate or mar an identity rooted in the eternal.  Lasting joy will not come until we seek God's pleasure, not man's approval or our own selfish desires.   (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

God defines us and gives us infinite worth by creating us in his image and by sacrificing His one and only Son through a brutal death on the cross in our place. Until we accept who were are and whose we are and own it, taking responsibility for how we think, what we believe and assume, and how we behave, we will continue to cry "victim" and wallow in our own self made misery. Until we starting looking outward beyond ourselves, giving to others instead of accusing them and taking from them, we will never be content. And ultimately, until we find our identity in Christ and through Him who "created us in His image, both male and female" (Genesis 1:27), we will never experience lasting peace.  God is calling each of us into a personal relationship with Him. Only He can fill that God shaped void in the heart of mankind.

To those who who are still searching, I pray you will know that He wants to give you peace that transcends all understanding. (Philippians 4:7)  Open your heart to Him.  The Lord of the Universe, maker of Heaven and earth who is perfect in love, mercy, grace, and righteous wants to make you His child.  In Him you will find your true identity, perfect peace, joy, purpose, contentment, and infinite love.

"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12)