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Saturday, October 25, 2014

Are You Judging Me, Dolly Parton?

This falls into the "Surprise: Another entertainer endorses homosexuality!" category. However, since Drudge put it out there, and since Dolly Parton is a popular fixture in the "Bible Belt," I feel the need to address her remarks.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not surprised. There are many, in the south and all over the rest of America, who are--at least seemingly--much more spiritually mature than Ms. Parton who have taken the wide path when it comes to homosexuality.Though the 68-year-old Ms. Parton uses a tactic that is common these days when it comes to defending sin, hers is not an approach that I've often dealt with.

In a Q&A with billboard.com, Parton was asked about her theme-park Dollywood being a large draw for the LGBT community as well as church groups, and why she has such a large gay following. On Dollywood, she replied, "But as far as the Christians, if people want to pass judgment, they're already sinning."

On her large following in the homosexual community Parton added, "They know that I completely love and accept them, as I do all people. I've struggled enough in my life to be appreciated and understood. I've had to go against all kinds of people through the years just to be myself. I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are, and to love who they love. I don't think we should be judgmental."

Clearly Ms. Parton has a problem with those who wish to "judge" when it comes to homosexuality. Have you noticed how often people who want to excuse immorality--whether their own, or others--use a "Don't judge me!" attitude? Like I said, this is a common retort when it comes to those who wish to excuse the sin of homosexuality, abortion, divorce, or any other sin that has become widely accepted in our culture. This is especially true of sins in the sexual realm.

Of course, the reference is to Jesus' words at the beginning of Matthew chapter 7, where He declares "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." If one ignores the rest of Scripture, including the rest of Matthew 7, then one might come to the same conclusion as Ms. Parton and those like her. As most with even a cursory knowledge of Scripture are aware, a verse or two out of context can be taken to mean almost anything.

Jesus was not instructing us against making moral judgments. Just a few verses past "Do not judge," Jesus warns us to "Watch out for false prophets" and instructs us that we will recognize them by their "fruit." And, of course, when someone concludes that another is "sinning" by "passing judgment," they are themselves making a moral judgment.

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Desperate Georgia Democrats Look to Ferguson Fiction (Updated at the end.)

In a shameful but predictable effort to scare black Georgians into voting for Democrats, yesterday the Georgia Democrat Party sent out the following flier:






What makes this effort even more shameful and embarrassing--if today's Democrats are capable of shame and embarrassment--is that the liberal meme on the events in Ferguson, Missouri seems to be nothing but pure fiction. Just hours prior to the posting of this piece, a Washington Post headline noted, "Evidence supports officer’s account of shooting in Ferguson." 

The piece reveals that "more than a half-dozen unnamed black witnesses have provided testimony to a St. Louis County grand jury that largely supports [officer] Wilson’s account of events of Aug. 9, according to several people familiar with the investigation who spoke with The Washington Post."

In addition to the eye-witness testimony, much of the physical evidence also supports officer Wilson's account of the shooting. Blood splatter and shell casings inside the officer's SUV indicate there was indeed a struggle at the vehicle with Michael Brown. What's more, the official autopsy, along with independent analysis by other forensic experts, indicate that Brown was at close range when first shot and did not have his hands raised during the shooting.

Of course, this matters little to a political party desperate to hold on to power. After all, if liberals can't win in the political realm, all is lost. On virtually every issue before Americans today, modern liberals are on the wrong side of the truth in the battles waged in the moral and scientific arenas. Thus, as the above flier demonstrates, they have put almost all of their energy and efforts into a sophisticated propaganda machine that they hope will deceive just enough of the American electorate. 

Additionally, perhaps the biggest lie of the flier above is the seemingly intact, upper/middle-class, nuclear family in the last photo. This is not what the fruit of liberalism has produced in America, and this is especially the case for black Americans. In post-slavery America, nothing has been more devastating to black Americans than liberalism. It has resulted in un-paralleled poverty, dependence, joblessness, out-of-wedlock births, deaths (abortion), and the like. All of America would do well to remember this every time they vote. 

Update: It looks like some Atlanta stooges have bought what the Georgia democrats are selling. See here.

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Monday, October 20, 2014

Skimpy School Lunch Outrage Misguided

If you've been on the internet at all the last five days or so, you've almost certainly seen the following:


The photo is of a rather skimpy school lunch taken by 17-year-old Kaytlin Shelton who is a student at Chickasha Public Schools in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Several media outlets have reported on this and much outrage has ensued. This is especially true of those in conservative circles who are eager to blame Michelle Obama and her new school nutrition rules. Yes, the nutrition nonsense pushed by the First Lady is yet another example of the overreach of Big Government, but as soon as I saw this, I knew that several things, besides the lunch, were amiss. 

Primarily, why is a girl, who evidently owns a phone with a camera, unable to afford a decent lunch? Of course, her phone could very well be an Obama phone. I suppose this sorry episode at least gives us more insight into the Obama's: Michelle, it seems, is just not as capable with lunches as is Barack with phones.

Kaytlin took the photo home and showed it to her parents. Her father, Vince Holton concluded, "I can go pay a dollar for a Lunchable and get more food in it." My reply: Great! Why don't you? 

Evidently, the reason Mr. Holton doesn't take it upon himself to provide for his daughter, is that he has bought the liberal lie that it's always someone else's responsibility. “Schools are responsible for children while they’re at school,” he said, adding that, “They’re responsible for feeding the children.”

Further complicating the matter is the fact that young Kaytlin is eating for two. That's right, she's pregnant with a little girl. I have just one question for the Shelton's (and the Holton's): Whose responsibility is it to feed the baby after she's born? 

If the Shelton's (or Holton's) truly need help, that's fine, and I imagine there are plenty of individuals and/or organizations in their area who are ready, willing, and able to provide it--including, though it should be to a very limited extent--government organizations. However, when you become significantly dependent on government for your provision, get ready for more cauliflower and crackers. 

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Liberals Wage War on the Truth

(A version of this appeared earlier here as "The Devil and the Democratic Party." This version also appears on American Thinker.)

When it comes to political “wars,” in spite of the meme perpetuated by most liberals, no one is more hawkish than modern liberals and the political party that they own, the Democrat Party. By and large since the 1960s, their efforts are summed up by one succinct and extremely accurate appellation: a war on the truth.

In the history of our nation, only the pro-slavery Democrats of the 19th century rival the political deception employed by today’s liberals that lead the modern Democrat Party. Support of everything from abortion, to gender perversions, homosexuality, pornography, a redefinition of marriage, wicked climate policies, and an enslaving welfare state have made today’s Democrat Party little more than a modern-day Mephistopheles. Instead of magic to lure their Faustian targets, today’s Democrats employ, among other things, bribery, class warfare, fear, greed, lust, propaganda, scientism, vengeance, and violence.

This is really unsurprising. When your politics regularly conflict with absolute truth, constant deception is required. The evidence is, of course, all around us. This is especially the case given that we are in the midst of another election season. Take note of the political ads run by Democrats. How long before we get to meet the next Julia or Pajama Boy? How many times will we get to hear about, if elected, what Democrats will do in order to give out more goodies from the government? Where will the next fraudulent statistics in the “War on Women” originate?

How much “linguistic limbo” will Democrats perform in order blandly to describe their embracing of the “right” to kill children in the womb? (Or they simply video their abortions and tell us that everything is “super great!”) What deceit will liberals use to explain or embrace the fiscal and medical disaster that is Obamacare? How many times will we get to hear the phrase “marriage equality” (knowing full well that the liberal position on marriage also “discriminates”)?

How far away will Democrats attempt to run from what they really are in order to keep themselves in power? Liberals all over the country are running from Obama and their own party in an attempt to win elections. As most who are following this election season know well, Democrats are going so far as to avoid the label “Democrat” or even admit that they voted for Obama.

In Kansas, Greg Orman is a Democrat running as an Independent. He has shamelessly refused to say with which party he would caucus if elected. “Truth makes the Devil blush,” wrote English historian Thomas Fuller. As liberalism has created a culture that is nearly bereft of shame, today’s Democrats rarely blush, even as they mock their wheelchair-bound opponents. This usually happens only when someone becomes a political liability (as did the Democrat candidate that Orman replaced) and not because some proper moral standard has been violated.

If Orman does win, as the Wall Street Journal notes, he will most certainly owe his election to Washington Democrats. Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes squirmed like Jim Carrey in “Liar Liar” as she attempted to avoid revealing to the Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board whether she voted for Obama in the last presidential election. Mary Landrieu and Michelle Nunn have played similar games as they try to win U.S. Senate seats in conservative states.

Given how far our culture has fallen morally, getting elected in the United States these days is much more challenging when you are accountable to absolute truths. As I noted earlier this year, because their moral bar is so low and easily adjusted to whatever is politically popular, liberals today generally have an easier time “playing politics” than conservatives—especially Christian conservatives.

When asked recently how to break the stalemate in the culture war that divides American conservatives and liberals, Catholic scholar George Weigel replied, “When you have a gnostic philosophy that ignores the very fabric of reality—and it is wed to a coercive state—it’s hard to know where to go.”

Ignoring “the very fabric of reality” is a frequent practice of modern liberals. Liberalism is so far removed from truth and reality that many liberals today can’t even acknowledge explicit evil when confronted with it. Ben Affleck has plenty of company among his fellow leftists when it comes to denying the rotten fruit of Islam. As the recent exchange with fellow liberal Bill Maher illustrated, many American liberals, in the name of the supreme virtue of liberalism—tolerance—will eagerly and angrily deny lesser virtues of their “faith.”

“Tolerance is a virtue of a man without convictions,” wrote G.K. Chesterton. A “man without convictions” who frequently “ignores the very fabric of reality” and who is enthusiastically “wed to a coercive state” is an apt description of modern liberals, but not perfect. In spite of what they themselves might think—lost in their fallacy that is today’s tolerance—liberals are not completely tolerant, and thus not devoid of convictions.

The convictions of modern liberalism are numerous and growing: Abortion, homosexuality, hook-ups, same-sex marriage, gender confusion, man-made global warming, universal healthcare, income redistribution, and whatever is the next perversion or deceit that will strike at the heart of biblical truths.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident” helped launch the American Revolution. If America is to remain, we need a spiritual revolution bringing us back to those truths that were once so “self-evident.”

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Monday, October 13, 2014

"The Porn Myth"

As far as I can tell, Naomi Wolf is no Christian, nor is she even a conservative. In addition, just within the last week she has been heavily criticized for perpetuating some rather "wacko" conspiracy theories. However, she has written something recently that I believe reveals one the more significant and sad truths when it comes to the plague of pornography.

She misses the mark quite a bit, and I may deal with this later, but for now I just want to share some of what she reveals:

The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as “porn-worthy.” Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention...

But does all this sexual imagery in the air mean that sex has been liberated—or is it the case that the relationship between the multi-billion-dollar porn industry, compulsiveness, and sexual appetite has become like the relationship between agribusiness, processed foods, supersize portions, and obesity? If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor-quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up. People are not closer because of porn but further apart; people are not more turned on in their daily lives but less so.

The young women who talk to me on campuses about the effect of pornography on their intimate lives speak of feeling that they can never measure up, that they can never ask for what they want; and that if they do not offer what porn offers, they cannot expect to hold a guy. The young men talk about what it is like to grow up learning about sex from porn, and how it is not helpful to them in trying to figure out how to be with a real woman...

The whole piece is worth reading and is here. Of course, it's somewhat graphic, but not in a vulgar way. Again, I may come back to this later and deal with how Wolf is not completely accurate in her critique of pornography.

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Tyler Perry Betrays his Faith and his Message

A few days ago, Tyler Perry did what is all too common these days among those who have surrendered themselves to the Hollywood hook-up culture: he proudly and glowingly announced the birth of his child with his long-time on-again, off-again girlfriend, Gelila Bekele, a 28-year-old Ethiopian model.

The 45-year-old Perry, in an interview with EXTRA, said, “We're having a baby. She and I are very excited. I'm happy. I'm really excited about it.” During the interview Perry noted how the pending birth of his son (Perry inadvertently revealed the child’s gender) which “God has allowed” to come into his life—as if the boy just fell from the sky—has already changed his life.

“The greatest gift that I'm being given right now,” Perry declared, “is the opportunity to give the little boy in me everything I never had. So that's what I'm so excited about. This beautiful human being that God has allowed to come into my life, for me to get to know, because they come in their own personalities and who they are, and just shepherd and usher him into whatever the child is supposed to be is what, I'm gonna do.”

Tyler Perry disappoints on so many levels with this news. Perhaps we should not be surprised from an enabler of liberalism, but when Perry burst into the national spotlight about a decade ago, his story and his story-telling seemed to be a refreshing departure from what Hollywood usually presents.

In an interview in 2005, Perry said that “family and faith” were very important to him, adding that “I am a Christian, I am a believer, and I know had I not been a person of faith, I couldn't be here in this place, and I wouldn't be walking the path that I'm on now.” Perry also discussed his efforts of working the themes of faith and family into his films.

Much of Tyler Perry’s story is admirable. He overcame a very rough childhood; he has openly acknowledged being the victim of both physical and sexual abuse. One of the reasons Perry has given for the physical abuse he suffered is that the man who raised him, Emmitt Perry, was not his biological father.

On this, Tyler Perry is probably correct. As I’ve noted before, one of the most dangerous places for a child in America is in a home where the man present is not the biological father (ask Adrian Peterson). Again, this is especially true within the black family. Tyler Perry almost certainly knows this. Yet, his actions have created a scenario where his own child may face such a situation.

After all, how likely is it that Perry and Bekele will marry, commit to one another for life, and give their children both a mom and a dad in the home? I certainly hope this is the case, but Mr. Perry has given no indication that this will happen. Given the culture of Hollywood, it is much more likely that we will soon hear that Perry and Bekele are both in other “relationships.”

As almost any real parent rooted in sound morality knows, marriage and parenting require a great deal of sacrifice and selflessness. And parenting certainly is not about giving the “little boy in you” everything you never had. Career paths and plans may have to be altered, and more time will need to be spent at home. Marriage and parenting are hard work!

Whether we’re talking marriage, money, or monogamy, because of the efforts of the great deceiver, doing the right thing is often difficult. Of course, we all fall short. However, once a Christian recognizes the error of his ways, the proper thing to do is repent, not celebrate. For a highly public figure like Tyler Perry, this repentance should take place somewhat publicly, or at least he should publicly display an attitude of repentance.

This is especially the case given the devastation that out-of-wedlock births have brought to our nation, particularly the black family. It’s one thing to stumble, fall, and then surrender to God and allow Him to pick you back up and place you on that narrow path. It’s quite another to fall and then wallow in the filth with those who say that your faith is a lie and you can do whatever you want as long as it makes you happy.

Tyler Perry spoke at the funeral of Whitney Houston. He also laid hands on and prayed for TD Jakes. He has been open and unapologetic about his faith. He has said that he believes that God has called him to tell his story. This makes it all the more important that he speak and live the truth when it comes to the defining moral issues of our time.

During his 2005 interview, Perry was asked about his reaction to Bill Cosby’s outspoken criticism of the black community. Cosby has been one of the rare bold voices speaking truth when it comes to the breakdown of the black family. Perry noted that “Dr. Cosby and I are saying the exact same things.” Of course, as even most children know, what we say matters little if our actions don’t support our words. In other words, it’s not enough to have fictional tales that reflect the biblical truth on marriage (or any other issue); your personal life should bear such witness as well.

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com