Because of my background of being allowed behind the "wizard's curtain" into the inner culture of homosexuals(in my pre-Christian days), I have often gotten into discussions with my beloved Christian friends about the concept of a homosexual agenda.
I am not saying ALL homosexuals are proactively pushing this agenda, but it does indeed exist. If you refuse to believe that a homosexual agenda exists, at least acknowledge conceptually that since homosexuality is a Satan-driven activity, homosexuality is a part of Satan's plan(agenda) to bring down, and separate from God, all of mankind.
Now, back to the actual (and REAL) homosexual agenda...
Remember your high school english class? You know, reading literature (Shakespeare, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, etc.), writing essays, discussing coflict, protaganists, and whatnot?
Well, imagine getting the following questionairre in your high school English class, with no warning, no apparent context, and no parental notice. It was given in Pecatonica High School in Blanchardville, Wisconsin.
1) What do you think caused your heterosexuality?
2) When and how did you decide you were a heterosexual?
3) Is it possible that your heterosexuality is just a phase you may grow out of?
4) Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?
5) Do your parents know that you are straight? Do your friends and/or roommate(s) know? How did they react?
6) Why do you insist on flaunting your heterosexuality? Can't you just be who you are and keep it quiet?
7) Why do heterosexuals feel compelled to seduce others into their lifestyles?
8) A disproportionate majority of child molesters are heterosexual. So you consider it safe to expose children to heterosexual teachers?
9) With all the societal support marriage receives, the divorce rate is spiraling. Why are there so few stable relationships among heterosexuals?
10) Statistics show that lesbians have the lowest incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. Is it really safe for a woman to maintain a heterosexual lifestyle and run the risk of disease and pregnancy?
11) Considering the menace of overpopulation, how could the human race survive if everyone were heterosexual?
12) Would you want your child to be heterosexual, knowing the problems that s/he would face?
The manipulation tactics exhibited here, of taking an argument, prejudice, or stereotype (whether legitimate or illegitimate) used againtoward a "minority" and placing it upon the "majority" is a very effective tactic. I have used it myself. Christians even use it in certain scenarios. It is sometimes used by people with the noblest of intentions, and other times used by people with the most dastardly of intentions.
This questionaire has no place in a high school English class. Anyone can see that they are purposely designed to manipulate the inner monologue of the students.
It is a very effective tactic, and there is certainly a place for its use. A high school English class is not a place to push any agenda, in my opinion. Homosexuality is a "hot topic" sin, so people are more edgy about pushing it or being against it, but the truth of the matter is that it's a sin, just like telling a lie, for example. No matter how you spin it, both homosexuality and telling lies are sins and separate us from God. The difference is, everybody has lied. Not everybody has a problem with homosexuality. Liars don't have to push their "agenda", because everybody recognizes that it's wrong and you shouldn't do it. Homosexuality isn't commonly accepted as a sin in all circles, so they do feel the need to convince others that what they're doing is OK.
I'm glad I never had to face that. I went to high school in Wisconsin, but in a different town. I"m so glad we have home schooled our children. Not that they don't need to know about these things, but that we can teach them in the proper way.
I find it amazing that many people of different beliefs and lifestyles actively pursue their agendas. You name the social call, or moral failing and you have people all over that march, picket, fight, and influence for that cause.
Yet for some reason Christians.... those with true authority, and power, largely remain silent.
I actually thought the questionnaire was thought provoking. It think a few of them highlighted the error in some of the more bigoted/ignorant arguments people make. At the high-school age, I guess I don't see what the big deal is of having someone think through that.
Don't get me wrong, if I was teaching a high school class I wouldn't hand the thing out, but I also don't think I'd be terribly upset if I sat in the class and received it, or if I found out my kid got it in his class.
I cheated.. I was kind of lead by "truthme" on who to invite for my blog. PLEASE though, if you know of others who would like to read what I got on there and be involved in our weekly Bible reading, invite them.
This is ridiculous and I would have been one of the first parents on the doorstep of this school when I found out about it.
That being said, I'd want this brought home to me so that my child and I could talk it over and get answers from The Truth and openly discuss this. This is reality and they will run into these kinds of questions as they begin their adulthood and I want them to have an answer...a biblically sound answer. Thank you for provoking thought on this.
That is exactly why we need to teach our kids to think for themselves. Think for themselves and be strong voices for right. We can't remove evil from our society, but we can shine our lights for those that are searching for the truth.
Wow. I think we all agree we'll only see more of this.
This absolutely behooves us as believers to be have scripture written on our hearts. Why? So that we can endure when suffering various trials. Knowing that the testing of our faith produces perseverance, we must let perseverance have its perfect result, so that we can be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Christ, perfect us for your glory now as we see suffering coming.
Yes, totally! My mom can bring me if it's alright if one of you can take me home afterwards? I know its pretty far, but just let me know if you're up for that or not. I love your girls! :)
I fear when my child gets into school, college etc.... I pray that Lydia will stand up for her own and be able to shine her christianity all around. She is already pretty strong willed so I will nurture that for good and for her to use it to her advantage for standing for the truth.
I have experienced this kind of reasoning in sexual abuse training (to help those victimized in it, not doing it).
My difficulty with it involves its presuppositions-- that we all have some type of "-sexual" attached to ourselves and that we must be "sexual" creatures.
I was not "born" heteroseuxal, bisexual, or homosexual. I was born a human being, and I choose whether I will engage in sexuality, and I have chosen, for many excellent reasons, heterosexuality.
But, that's the difference between the world that is so saturated with sexuality that it has made it one of its gods, and Christianity, which teaches that sexuality can be enjoyed in its proper sphere but is by no means a mandate.
and trials I've had to endure even just over the past month or so. Someone else who has been an encouragement to me has been your family! It's been such a blessing getting to know you all over the past year and feeling so welcome in your home the times I've stayed there! Thank you for being an encouragement to me, as well.
Recently I was talking to a co-worker about our schedules and her potentially going back to school. This is a person who didn't have the best upbringing. She has 3 kids and a part time job. Their dad is a deadbeat and really doesn't help much. I've invited her to church and plan to keep trying. Anyway, as we were talking one day I told her how I was going to school a few years ago and left school to get married. I'd intended to finish, but we really need for me to work, so it just never worked out. She told me that if I had finished I probably wouldn't be working there, and she would never have met me. Wow! I try to live as an encouragement. That day she encouraged me letting me know that I was appreciated. I'd been looking for better jobs and none ever panned out. That day I felt like I knew why God had me working as a cashier at Walmart.
I've been reading all of these and they are just so encouraging! Over the summer, my dad had a blood clot in his brain and we were fairly sure that he wouldn't make it. My whole family was at Vanderbilt (my mom, my 11 siblings, all 4 sons-in-law and 3 grandkids). None of us live in Nashville and we were all there for several days. At first we drove back and forth to my parents house in Bowling Green. My aunt, who lives in Florida, called a hotel and got a couple of rooms so that we would have room to sleep when we needed to. Some of us still stayed at the hospital, but it was nice to know that we had a place and didn't have to worry about it. My uncle David was also at the hospital every day and he wouldn't let us leave to get food, even though it was his brother who was seemingly on his deathbed, he made sure that there was food there if any of us were hungry. The last night, before the tables turned, Uncle David bought enough pizzas to feed everyone in the waiting room. You should have seen how much brighter that Neuro ICU waiting room was that night! Before the pizza came, David and the other men in our family prayed (aloud) in the waiting room for my dad and the other families there. It was encouraging to me. The next morning the doctors were surprised to see that my dad was getting better. The blood clot extended from his right jugular vein up around and through his brain. He did end up having a stroke and he is still recovering, but at the time no one saw how he would make it through that night.
The baby is doing well, I'm still really struggling with the blood sugars. We are at 34 weeks and need prayers for controlled blood sugars and a small baby! :)
I ran across your post and read all of these stories - wow, how encouraging.
I remember when I lived in Illinois - I was about 21 or 22. I moved there with a friend from FC but other than her I didn't have any friends. About a year after I moved there, the friend I moved there for moved to a different state. I stayed in IL and befriended a girl a little older than me at church. She knew how homesick I was and how much I missed my family. A couple of weeks after my birthday we went to her mom's house to supposedly help her mom move a table. When we got there, a LOT of women from church were there for a surprise party for me. It touched me so much and I think about the kindness of those women often.
There are many people who have gone out of their way for me in the course of my life. Now I wish I had written them all down - it feels good to think about those times and to remember to be an encouragement to others.
It was on Satursday evening, May 27th, 1989...and it was UNFORGETTABLE. I was in the midst of finding a place to live for the summer and went from house to house asking families if they had a spare room that my "business partner" and I could rent for the summer. After approximately 150 homes and not a single kind acceptance to two strangers a kind woman told me to come back later as she would speak to her husband (who was away from the house) about the possibility of at least keeping us for the night. My friend and I went to Dairy Queen, ate a dinner, and came back "unsuccessful" at finding another place to stay. Rather than spending the night in my friend's car, the husband and wife graciously kept us in their home. That night my "roommate" went to bed while I stayed up with this family. I had never seen a family studying the Bible before and such intrigued me even though my past including laughing (in my heart) at "Bible Thumpers". After the children went to bed I stood over the shoulder of my kind host as he was preparing himself for "church service" the following morning. You see, I was in the home of a gospel preacher. Little did I realize that his preparation was for my friend and I the following morning. While in the midst of his preparation he asked if my roommate and I would join them in worshipping God. Out of gratitude for his family's kindness to me I - on behalf of my sleeping friend - agreed to "worship" with them before going to our first business meeting of the summer. The next morning - in a tank-top shirt and very short shorts (I was sweetly asked if I had anything more 'appropriate to wear') - I walked out of the home, across a parking lot, and into the church building where a small congregation of people listened as a Bible study was conducted. I had never in my life gone to a church service and heart God's word studied (I did not even know who Jesus Christ was!). After that study came the worship service...including the sermon... UNFORGETTABLE. The sermon was called "Truly Holy People". As the sermon was concluding I learned that I - Mitch Davis - was living in sin. No, this preacher did not mention me by name...but it was clear as day that I was guilty of living in sin and faced God's wrath. After the worship service concluded - and my spirit broken for learning the truth of my condemned condition - I went to the 'altar' ('coincidentally' I worked at the Assembly of God with an autistic child while his mother worshipped God) and prayed to God to forive me of my sins. The preacher came to me and asked if there was anything he could do to be of help to me. I told him I was convicted of my sins and wanted them to be forgiven. He explained the simply gospel of Jesus to me and I was baptized into Christ that very hour.
You know the rest of the story, as this preacher and his lovely wife went on grounding me in the faith while raising their two special children...one of whom married Frederic Gray. UN
When I was a young, new Christian at the age of 17 I faced a lot of struggles. At home and at school I was virtually the ONLY serving Christian. The only time that I saw Christians was during the assembly- which made these times really crucial. One older sister came up to me one day and said, "You are such an encouragment to me. I really see Jesus living in you. He shines through your spirit." WOW!! Did I ever need that kind of recognition. I needed to know I was on the right track. I'll never forget her for that.
It was SO great to see you last night!! We'll have to do it again next time we come to Seminole. :) Your girls are the best! Spencer and I have been repeating some of those new words we learned last night. LOL! We had a good time, and we'll let you know before we come next time.
Also the lesson you delivered was really good. I needed some of those reminders.
When I had my first child, we were living in Beaumont, TX and I had no family living near me. The women there totally took care of me. I had a c-section, and they brought food to me for two weeks straight, they came and sat with Tessa so I could sleep, one dear sister took all of our laundry home with her, washed it and ironed it. This was no small feat, considering we lived in an apartment on the third floor up, the farthest in the back.
That outpouring of service has always stayed with me. I try very hard to make sure I take food to a new mom, and do what I can to help her in those early weeks and "pay it forward."
By the way, I just read your article on Edwin's blog. I really enjoyed it! I think it has a lot of wisdom and I need so much to apply listening more to my family. It was very well written!
And thank you for your kind words on my blog. *You* were encouraging to me that day.
I was directed to a few blogs a few weeks ago. I then began to click on all of the friends on each person's blogs and making a list of those I found interesting. Your thoughts on love and on the Kingdom of Christ were uplifting, as well as your desire to share encouragement (as noted in your current post)
Hmmm, I'm not sure if we'll be able to make it since we are planning on celebrating our first anniversary, which is the 14th. How long will you be in the area? Any chance we could grab you guys for dinner either before or after those dates?
I totally can second that comment!! It's always so good to see you and your three girls! Lisbeth was elated in the car on the way home, too. She really misses you!
You did! I will always remember when you told us the story about you and Zac being up on someone's roof (there were others too). I think you were replacing the shingles. At the end of the day you asked Zac what was he going to do when he got home? Zac answered "What ever my Dad wants me to." And that had an impact on another family that was trying to decide if they were going to homeschool or not. Because of that example they decided to homeschool. We would not have known this story if you had not told us. That impacted us in several ways. First we were / are thankful that you told us. Other wise we would never have known. And knowing lets us know all the more that home schooling is definitely worth it. And knowing that Zac's words helped another family decide to homeschool is wonderful. Through the family deciding to homeschool and then following through with their decision we got to know this family fairly well. They are a terrific family. We are thankful to God that they are a part of our lives.
Sigmund Freud is not someone I think I would hang out with were he and I peers. In fact, it seems that whenever I read something he said, wrote, or taught, I think to myself, "What??! Do people really believe this stuff???"
However, there is one thing he said that is, as the Fonz would say, correctomundo. To paraphrase, he said that every human being has an inense need to be loved. He then said that no form of love even came close to meeting people's needs, except that which is found in the Bible. On that, me and Siggy can agree.
Agape love was given new definition and standards when Jesus lived it for us on earth.
I think one of the greatest challenges, and greatest exhilarations in life, is to model that Christ-oriented agape love in marriage.
Saturday was my anniversary, and I am currently basking in the experiental joy of the interactive agape love.
By "grace-unity" I am referring to the notion that we should overlook doctrinal differences just for the sake of unity. It involves applying Romans 14 to differences on MDR...at least, that is one of the biggest applications of it today. It is a very denominational approach to religion.
What a beautiful bride you have been blessed with! I think your anniversaries have been 'unorthodox' celebrations because it seems apparent y'all are finding the 'celebration' in the everyday joys of your life together. Somehow once a year is not enough to celebrate.
No, I didn't hear any of the speakers advocate tolerance in the MDR controversy, and nothing was overtly stated, but I got the impression from a few of the lessons. And then a few months later, I received the newsletter that Floyd Chappalear puts out, and several of the issues contained some definite "grace-unity" references. I could be wrong, but those were some of my impressions.
Hey! Well, I found out that I do have sleep apnea. I have to wait to hear from my family doctor as far as what treatments are available and whatnot. I'd love to hear anything about your experience/opinions before I go to talk to him. My e-mail address is pooky_m76@yahoo.com. If you get a chance, send me some wisdom from the mind of Freddy G. :)
Isn't it comforting, in the midst of American political anxiety and angst, to know that we are citizens of the Kingdom of Christ?
Ahhh, let my heart sing because the laws of my kingdom will never change every 2-4 years. I find comfort in such consistancy.
May my spirit rejoice in a security that is greater than Social Security. (These days, shouldn't it be called Social INsecurity?)
And while the two main presidential candidates both have qualities that endear people to them, it doesn't get any better than my glorious King!
In a change in thought, consider that in a country where the government exists by the the consent of the governed, let's use our collective responsibility to vote in a way that glorifies God. I have friends that are voting because they want socialized medicine, and others who are voting because tthey want tax cuts. I know that I have my own personal motivations for voting that are self-oriented.
Let's deny ourself in this election and let's vote in a way that will most glorify God. Let's try and honor all that He is, and all that He stands for, in the way that we vote.
I appreciate the way you talk about this topic, which is very emotional for some, in a loving and balanced way. It is discouraging to see brothers and sister quabble over who will lead a country for a few years, when we have something much more critical binding us. I am sorry that God has to see us, His family, tear at each other over such insignificance. Thanks for your loving attitude.
Good points, and I tend to agree with her in a way...there are a few prayer services being held here the night before the election. It's really NOT in our hands, thanks for the reminder!
I spoke with Joel and we would love to get together with you and your family. Once again, our too busy lives intervine and it will have to be into November before we have a free Saturday, but we'll do it soon.
This is Julie Adams and I just wanted you to know that I received an email today thanking me for posting the info about the retreat you had for father/daughters. They said it was fantastic and was so glad they saw the info about it on the joys of the journey website.
Good post! I, too, appreciated your comments on vaccinating children. I didn't state this, but I don't give my boys the flu vaccine. I feel like they need to develop those immunities on their own. I'm not an extreme in either case. I tend to fall towards the middle on this issue. =-)
