Category: Common Sense

How do we Avoid Breaking the Ninth Commandment in a World Ruled by Lies?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long~ Psalm 25:4-5 NIV

 There was a time in the not-so-distant-past when facts mattered and feelings were considered immaterial to most discussions. Those days are in the rear-view. Few people care about facts anymore. Even in the very rare cases where logic and reason are allowed entrance onto the debate stage, the facts nearly always take a backseat to whatever emotion is driving the aforementioned argument.

 Feelings have become the god we worship.                        

 This truth is most clearly revealed in the whole transgender bathroom debate. The kerfuffle over who gets to pee where is not really about fairness; if it were, we would be done discussing it already. Nor is it about men dressed convincingly as women using women’s bathrooms.

 Like it or not, that sort of thing has been going on for as long as there have been bathrooms in public places and most folks have been none the wiser. Contrary what the LBGTQ community would have the world believe, conservatives do not routinely do “parts” checks or demand to see birth certificates at the entrance to public toilets.

 The real issue at hand is a small minority of men who do not routinely dress as women who claim there are times when they suddenly “feel” like women and should therefore be treated like women. These men are demanding the right to enter women’s restrooms whenever that feeling happens to strike them. According their supporters the “needs” of men caught in deception outweigh the rights of everyone else.

 The notion that men ought to be permitted to use any restroom they wish based on something that simply cannot be proven (feelings) is clearly absurd and obviously rife with potential for abuse. However, the brave few left clinging to reason are losing this debate. Not because the truth isn’t evident or because the facts aren’t compelling; but rather because the debate is being framed around feelings rather than facts or common sense (Isaiah 59:14).

 Sadly, the proclivity to allow feelings to drive every argument is not restricted to men who wish to have access to women’s bathrooms. Now we are expected to use the any pronouns a person chooses and Feelings rule the day in all sorts of different situations and it seems everybody is hopping on the feelings bandwagon.

 Decisions are made, marriages dissolved, political opinions shaped, and votes cast. Not based on promises made, facts examined or the painstaking vetting of views, but rather on the basis of how we feel about those things. Commitment, character of the individual and reason all take a backseat to feelings.

 Feeling statements are oftentimes cleverly disguised as “I don’t think” declarations. Usually an “I don’t think” declaration will follow the delivery of an irrefutable, but unpleasant fact or the teaching of an exceptionally clear but hard Bible passage. The hearer will scrunch-up their brow, take a deep breath and state, in a very serious tone “I don’t think a loving God would ______________” or “I don’t think _______________ is actually true”. “I don’t think” declarations rarely involve any deep thought; rather they reveal the hearers’ feelings about the fact stated.

 When facts are ignored or dismissed as irrelevant, society quickly devolves into the messy muddle described in the book of Judges: in those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes~ Judges 21:25. The only discernible difference between our time and theirs is that we do have a king, we are led by king feelings and feelings are proving to be more tyrannical and terrifying than any human leader.

 The American public and even those in the Church have been conditioned over the course of several decades to buy the lie that a hurt feeling is every bit as serious as a broken bone and perception is reality. The truth is that hurt feelings do hurt.

Sometimes they hurt a lot.

 However, a hurt feeling only causes permanent damage if someone allows the hurt to take root and grow into bitterness (Hebrews 12:15). Perceptions are essentially just feelings with a fancy title and should never be treated as facts and it’s a dangerous form of lunacy to kowtow to anything as capricious as a feeling. Therefore, Christians should be very careful in this area. It’s critical we remember that we are breaking the ninth commandment and the heart of God every single time we concede that a man is a woman or a woman is a man (Exodus 20:16). It’s critical Christians be kind and compassionate to EVERYONE (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:12).

However.

It’s just as critical God’s people be true to what’s real and true (1st Thessalonians 5:22).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Happens When we Take Offense-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense~ Proverbs 19:11 NIV

It’s official.

 America has morphed into a bunch of whiners, wimps and politically correct crybabies.

 College students at Harvard University have reported feeling “ threatened” by the possibility of the presence of students whose views on abortion might differ from their own. Students were not actually exposed to opposing ideas on the topic. Nonetheless, the mere notion they might be exposed to a view they didn’t agree with was simply more than they could endure.

 These attitudes are not limited to the young. Full-grown adult and committed atheist, Patrick Greene is suing the senior Pastor of Abundant Life Fellowship in Corpus Christi, Texas. Mr. Greene asserts that a 230-foot cross being erected on church property is “offensive” and “tacky as he__ __”, and should therefore be removed. Greene is also suing two city officials for attending the groundbreaking ceremony for the cross as private citizens.

It seems that everyone these days is “demanding an apology” from someone for something. At this writing various Muslim groups are demanding apologies from the makers of Lego, Chick-fil-A restaurants, Clint Eastwood and a bunch of cities in Texas. Bernie Sanders is demanding an apology from Hillary Clinton and Hillary Clinton is demanding one from Bernie Sanders.

Everyone thinks Trump should apologize for something he said or did. 

Sadly, Christian people are not immune from the madness engulfing the greater culture. Wounded Christians were out in droves this past week. They were diligently monitoring and scolding others for what they believed to be “insensitive” and “callous” April Fools day jokes.

 It’s not just silly hoaxes that God’s people find offensive these days. It is not unusual for Christians to leave or cease supporting their local church financially because they’ve determined that the Pastor’s preaching is not “sensitive” enough. Lifelong alliances and friendships are frequently tossed aside because one person hurt another’s feelings and they refuse to forgive or even discuss the subject with the other party. Discussions of doctrinal particulars are frequently forbidden at Bible studies because the subject of doctrine is considered too divisive.

Many  Pastors and Bible study leaders have simply given up teaching and preaching about “harsh” subjects such as abortion, homosexuality, adultery and divorce out of fear of offending or driving away church members. The doctrinal illiteracy that has infiltrated churches as a result of this silliness has caused many Bible studies to become little more than pools of collective ignorance.

Some Churches have scrapped doctrinal declarations of faith altogether. Embracing “Who We Are” statements in their place. These statements avoid making any pronouncements that might be considered unequivocal or offensive. One church in Seattle dropped all references to the Bible in their Who We Are Statement and instead chose to quote Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

Seriously.

 Many Christians admit to isolating themselves from other believers, because they have been hurt or felt offended by the words, actions or the “sensed” motives of others. Some have stopped attending weekly services altogether because they felt ignored or were offended by a Pastor or staff member. 

 This is simply not what Jesus envisioned for His people when He prayed that we would be one (John 17:11).

I fear we have lost our way and become a lot like the young adults we all love to mock on college campuses: a bunch of oversensitive, easily wounded, crybabies.

 This nonsense has eternal consequences. Church is no longer a place people go to find truth or get answers to life’s toughest questions. As a result unbelievers are often left to figure out life and eternity on their own. Typically,with less than spectacular results. It is noble to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others but not at the expense of tackling heaven and hell issues.

 We can stop the madness by making a habit of stepping back and praying for wisdom when we feel offended or hurt by others. We must understand that contrary to popular belief, our perceptions are not always reality.  We need the Holy Spirit, not our emotions to show us what is true in these situations. Even when our perceptions are correct and people have behaved in a way that is insensitive or callous, forgiveness, not offendedness is the God-honoring, life-giving answer.

 

 

 

 

The Worst Kind of Abuse

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’  The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded~ Matthew 18:26-28

 There was a time in the not-so-distant past when the whole issue of abuse was murky and poorly understood. Abuse was far from uncommon but rarely discussed. As a result, the majority of abuse victims lived lives of secret desperation and intense shame. Few attempted to share the pain and torment they experienced at the hands of others. Victims courageous enough to share their experiences were routinely shamed and sometimes even blamed for the abuse they suffered.

 Mercifully, human civilization has evolved in recent years. Sadly, abuse is still all too common. However, due to extensive public awareness campaigns the causes of abuse are better understood and the signs more frequently recognized. Behaviors and speech once accepted as “normal” are now recognized as abusive and no longer tolerated by the non-Neanderthal majority. Victims are generally treated with compassion and understanding, and help is available for those who struggle with abusive behaviors.

 That said, there is still one arena where abuse frequently occurs and is seldom recognized for what it is, it’s the abuse of grace.

 Grace is a term so rich in meaning that it is difficult to define. Grace is most typically understood to be undeserved favor or approval. However, there is much more to the mystery of grace than simply favor or acceptance. Grace is closely related to love and can also be defined as kindness, mercy and the willingness to overlook the iniquities or mistakes of others. 2nd Corinthians 12:9 gives readers an intriguing example of grace; there grace is defined as super-natural empowerment to handle particularly challenging situations.

 Personally I prefer to think of grace as a do-over or an undeserved second chance. We could all use a little bit of grace at one time or another.

 Grace is a characteristic most often associated with God and for good reason. God at His very core is a giver of grace. But grace is also something humans can and often do bestow on one another. Anytime an offense is overlooked, a second chance is offered or a transgression forgiven, grace is at the core of that act of kindness or mercy.

 Abuse of grace occurs when one takes the grace given without acknowledging or respecting the cost of the transaction. Forgiveness can be freely given but that does not mean it’s actually free. There is always a heavy price to be paid for any act of forgiveness.

 God, paid the ultimate price when He sacrificed Jesus, allowing humanity to freely receive His forgiveness. People also pay a price when they choose to forgive. When a person forgives, they relinquish the right to seek revenge for the wrongs done to them by the other person. If this sounds easy, it’s likely because you have never actually forgiven anyone or you have never been terribly wronged.

 Grace is also abused when one blithely takes the forgiveness offered without changing their behavior (the Bible calls this change of behavior repenting). God and many people (even non-Christian people) are willing to forgive outrageous offenses if they know the offender is truly sorry. When a forgiven person immediately returns to past behavior without a trace of sorrow or shame, the forgiver (whether it be God or a person) has to assume that the offender was never really sorry for their sin.

 Sadly, the abuse of grace is destroying the church Jesus was sacrificed to build. It’s wrecking havoc on relationships, breaking the heart and testing the patience of God and doing irreparable damage to the witness of Christians everywhere.

 Its time for followers of Christ to recognize that grace is a precious gift and no gift should ever be treated with contempt. We should also remember that the patience of God has historically had limits. It’s never wise to test the heart of God by abusing His kindness.

 

 

 

How Christians Should Not Vote in This Election

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan~ Proverbs 29:2 ESV

 Our country has come to a place the founding fathers never imagined in their darkest of dreams. Unless the political winds shift quickly, this presidential election will likely be the strangest in our history. Bernie Sanders, self-confessed socialist/communist; and Donald Trump, reality television star/wealthy mogul, will be going toe-to-toe for the most powerful job in the world: President of the United States of America.

 Take a moment and let those words sink in. It’s unlikely either outcome will be pretty and neither can happen without the support of Christians.

 Our first option is the Senator who clearly lacks even a rudimentary understanding of how large economies work. Bernie’s fondest wish is to raise the tax rate on EVERYONE. We are told there is no need to worry because Bernie will reallocate all resources collected in a more “objective” and “equitable” fashion. Under his leadership the same government that is incapable of providing adequate medical care for military veterans (a relatively small percentage of the population) will be deciding who gets how much of pretty much everything.

 The alternative will be Trump, a full-grown adult with the temperament of a toddler. Donald was busy this week. He vowed to sue one of his rivals for producing a negative ad consisting entirely of video clips of his past statements. A day later he called the Pope “disgraceful” and said he was “going down” for criticizing his views on immigration. Trump stated repeatedly this week that he believes spiritual leaders do not have the right to criticize or correct what people believe. If that statement does not scare you, you have literally dismissed all rational thought.

 Many Christians intend to or have already voted for one of these two men. Many believe for whatever reason, that it is wrong to choose not to vote for anyone based on Christian principles. They have decided that Christian values should be consigned entirely to the private sphere of life. Those who support this view inevitably quote Luke 20:25 to justify their belief:

 Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s~ Jesus

 Context is key here. Jesus was not telling His followers they should never use biblical standards when considering a political issue or candidate. I suspect Jesus would have thought the idea that anyone should not apply biblical standards to any subject absurd.

 The question at hand in this passage was whether or not Jews were obligated to pay taxes to the Roman government. Period. Jesus was not telling his followers to abandon reason, so they could vote for some yahoo completely lacking in decency or sense just because they promise something the voter wants.

 In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells his followers to love God with their intellect as well as their emotions. For that reason it is critical that Christians contemplate the character and conduct of a candidate when they consider whom to vote for. Anyone who promises to do a good thing that is not achievable or sustainable from a fiscal perspective is either dangerously ignorant or deliberately dishonest. He’s as bad as Trump who proudly tells the press he could shoot someone on the street and people would and should still follow him. Both should be rejected on the basis of character.

 It is critical we remember God promises that ALL people (Christian and non-Christian) will give account for all their choices, including those made in the voting booth (Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13).

 It’s time for Christians to get a firm grip on their feelings and stop wishing for more of the immediate change that helped propel us into this mess. We must accept the fact that the right candidate is not the person who proudly spouts vile, sinful things we sometimes think and shouldn’t. Nor is it the candidate who makes promises he cannot deliver without taking significant resources from the people who actually worked for those resources.

 The right man or woman is the person with enough humility to admit that the problems we have are too big for one person to fix alone. A true leader will be courageous enough to remind us that we all bear some responsibility for the mess we’re in, rather than tell us what our itching ears long to hear (2nd Timothy 4:3-4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Reasons it Would be Stupid to Waste a Christian Vote on Trump

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit~ Matthew 7:18 NASB

 Regular readers of this blog may have noticed I rarely delve into political issues. I have many political opinions and I certainly don’t have a problem sharing those opinions. However, one of my principal objectives in life is to keep the main thing the main thing, whatever that thing may be. In the case of this blog the main thing is Jesus, not my insignificant little political opinions.

 That said, ultimately all of life is spiritual, and there are times when the spiritual and political intersect. Such is the case with the 2016 presidential election. 2016 is without question the strangest political primary I have ever personally witnessed—possibly the strangest on record.

 Experience is a dirty word. Being loathed by anyone even loosely linked to “the establishment” is ballyhooed as a badge of honor. As a result the outsiders are now the insiders and every political analyst on the planet is face palming right now. It’s been a wild ride and we have yet to cast a single vote.

 Then there’s the Trump thing. The candidate who began as a punch line has become the odds-on favorite. Trump is leading in nearly every poll and his endorsements are piling up. Some Trump enthusiasts make a strange kind of sense. It came as no shock to this blogger that Charlie Sheen, Jesse Ventura, Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman and Tila Tequila all threw their support to Donald Trump. Like attracts like. I get it.

 Other endorsements make far less sense. Mega-Church Pastor Robert Jeffress, Willie Robertson and Jerry Falwell Jr. are respected, intelligent Christians who have all formally or informally endorsed The Donald.

 I have come to believe that many in the Christian community have lost their way this political season. We could very well find ourselves choosing between a geriatric communist and a loudmouthed reality television star this November. That scenario will not happen without evangelical votes. It’s not my business to tell anyone how to vote. That said, I feel an obligation to share why I believe Christians would be wise to reconsider a Trump vote.

 Trump doesn’t even pretend to be a nice person-

 Trump is a bully. He mocks the handicapped and criticizes women he views as unattractive. If you want to see a display of classic mean-girl maneuvers, take a peek at the ABC interview where Trump tells the reporter “nobody likes Ted Cruz” because “he’s a nasty guy.” Trump regularly shreds anyone who opposes him. Imagine what his level of spite and pettiness will do for democracy and civil discourse.

 He acts like a toddler-

 Maturity and willingness to tackle tough situations are the foundation of strong leadership. Trump skipped out on a debate because he didn’t like (felt intimidated by?) one of moderators. Need I say more?

 Trump thinks way too much of himself –

 Trump’s promise to single handily make America great again encapsulates his pride. The Bible is clear that arrogance, pride and absence of humility are dangerous traps, especially for leaders. Pride blinds folks to the obvious and opens them to deception. Trump’s ego is so out of control that he is doomed to be a victim of deception.    

 

The press wants him to win-

 Two acrimonious divorces, innumerable flip-flops, four bankruptcies and a tongue he is clearly unwilling to control. Trump is the definition of a target-rich environment. Every other candidate has been scrutinized to the point of absurdity (Rubio’s finances, Carson’s books, Cruz’s citizenship, etc.). Yet none of Trump’s issues have been discussed in any detail. I understand how irrational and crazy-town this sounds, but I believe that many in the media want Trump to win. If he secures the nomination it will be easy to discredit him; at that point it will be too late for conservatives to choose another candidate.

 He’s playing us-

 Trump freely admits that he is not, nor has he ever been, a spiritual man. But out of nowhere he’s dropping God bombs and lugging around a Bible the size of a smart car. He’s quoting “two Corinthians” really badly, and swearing up and down that when he’s elected, “everybody will say Merry Christmas”. Trump obviously believes evangelicals are stupid and easily fooled. God help us all if his theory is correct.

 He is either a deceiver or he has no idea what he believes –

 He was for partial-birth abortion; now he’s pro-life. He was pro-immigration, now he wants to build a wall. He was for single-payer insurance; now he’s not. Trump’s flip-flopping is more than mere political evolution, as some have suggested. It’s indicative of a man who will say anything to get elected.

 I do not know what the Christian community sees in Donald Trump. It’s possible that the Church has been worshipping at the altar of worldly success for so long that we have forgotten what God’s definition of success is. It could be that we have given up on getting a godly leader, so now we are willing to settle for any leader we see as tough. It’s possible that some of us have lost our ability to think biblically about secular issues.

 Whatever the reason, the time has come for the people of God to get on their knees and pray like crazy for this country and the people in it. It’s time for those who call themselves Christians to think about life and politics from a spiritual perspective rather than a worldly one. If we refuse, we will get the leader we deserve, and if that happens we will have plenty of time to repent of our foolishness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Christians Need to Stop Blaming the Culture

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths ~ 2nd Timothy 4:3-4

 Dr. Everett Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, posted a blog to his University’s website that rapidly went viral. It was written in response to a student who approached the university president following a chapel service. The student claimed he felt “victimized” after hearing a homily based on 1st Corinthians 13. Apparently the message led him to the conclusion that he “was not loving enough” and he didn’t like it.

 I have to confess that I was literally dumbstruck by the notion that anyone anywhere could possibly feel offended or feel victimized by a sermon based on 1st Corinthians 13.

 1st Corinthians 13 is a section of Scripture that could easily make a list of the top ten least offensive passages in the entire Bible. Sometimes called the “love chapter”, 1st Corinthians 13 is so innocuous and exquisitely written that Methodists, Buddhists, Baptists, Agnostics, Catholics and perhaps even a few Atheists have had it read at their weddings. It is often quoted in speeches and at civic events where a “safe” and “inoffensive” Bible verse is deemed suitable for the situation. Every Christian speaker in the universe knows that 1st Corinthians 13 is one of the “go to” passages of the Bible guaranteed to appeal to the masses and not offend the feelings of even the most spiritually immature hearer.

 Seriously folks, we have come to dark and gloomy place indeed when someone old enough to attend college demands a “trigger warning” and feels “unsafe” after hearing a homily on the love chapter.

 One of the saddest aspects of this whole crazy story is that we have become so desensitized to this sort of nonsense that all the wrong things in this situation shock us. It was not the absurdity of someone old enough to vote FEELING victimized by WORDS in a sermon that made national news. It was the college president proclaiming in a public forum that this sort of thinking is infantile and unacceptable that made the evening news and got everyone talking.

 The next step in the progression of this type of thinking is an even more fanatical form of fascism than we are currently dealing with. The list of things that are verboten to say or even believe grows longer every day. It is now racist to say all lives matter. It is sexist to even suggest there are fundamental differences between boys and girls. It is narrow-minded and biased to say that there is only one way to God. It is homophobic to say a man dressed as a woman ought to stay out of women’s bathrooms. It is judgmental to state that certain life choices are better than others. It is bigoted to say some religious beliefs are more likely to lead to violence than others.

 We have morphed into a culture of offense and turned hard but truthful words into hate speech. It is all too easy for believers to sit back and blame the insanity on a culture that has moved away from God, but that is oversimplifying a very complex issue.

 The student at Oklahoma Wesleyan University very likely grew up in a Christian home and probably attended a Christian church (non-Christians rarely attend Christian colleges). That tells me that the pastor who preached the sermon in question either has some mad oration skills—on the level of the Apostle Paul preaching to the heathen masses at Athens—or that student has never experienced spiritual conviction or heard a sermon that did what sermons are supposed to do (that is, reveal sin and cause people to feel bad about it). If my suspicions are correct, it’s a sad indictment of contemporary preaching trends, how Christian parents are training their kids and the quality and content of the youth and children’s programs in many churches.

 The Bible clearly states that judgment should always begin with the household of God (1st Peter 4:17). Too many of us are too quick to leave churches or tune out speakers who aren’t “encouraging enough” or who preach on topics that make us feel guilty about stuff we really ought to feel guilty about. We will be successful at preserving our culture when—and only when—we are also willing to hear truth when it’s spoken and obey the truth when we hear it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What We Have to do to Solve the Syrian Refugee Crisis

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you~ Proverbs 3:21-22a NIV

 The terrorist attacks that began last week in Paris did more than simply prove once and for all that the Middle East is not at all like Vegas. What happens there does not stay there. Their problems eventually become our problems.

 The Syrian refugee crisis is not a new issue, nor is it confined to Syria. Christians, Jews, Yazidis and some Muslims began fleeing Afghanistan and Iraq when ISIS gained a foothold in those countries after the United States military pulled out of Iraq in 2009. The Syrian conflict that began in 2011 enlarged ISIS territory and drastically increased the number of refugees seeking asylum. To date, at least twelve million men, women and children have sought protection from the carnage and genocide in the Middle East.

 The recent terrorist attacks have complicated the situation. Prior to the Paris attacks President Obama agreed to admit ten thousand refugees into the United States. When it was discovered that at least one of terrorists involved in the Paris attack entered France by posing as a Syrian refugee, the U.S. and other countries began rescinding offers of asylum. And now the fate of every Syrian refugee hangs in the balance.

 There are two positions regarding the refugees: some are compassionate, some are cautious. The cautious folks (many of them Christians) feel that allowing anyone from the Middle East into our country for any reason increases the risk of a terrorist attack on American soil. The cautious make the case that the economy is far from recovered, and refugees would put additional pressure on an already stressed system.

 They also point out that our government has an established record of incompetence when it comes to virtually every task imaginable. Most do not believe that the Obama administration should be trusted to adequately examine the backgrounds of thousands of people fleeing a war-torn country with little or no identification. Many coming from this perspective are willing to allow refugees into the country eventually. They just want some guarantees that the emigrants allowed in will be self-supporting and will not be entering under false pretenses to wreak havoc on American citizens.

 The compassionate folks (many of them Christians) believe that America is a big, generous country with many of resources. Therefore America ought to help whoever needs it. They believe that because the process to enter the U.S. takes eighteen to twenty-four months the risk of terrorists entering the country is relatively small.

 These folks point out that many, if not most of the refugees are Christians who face certain death if returned to their country of origin. The compassionate recognize the hard truth that any one of us could find ourselves in the same position as the refugees and ask what we would want done for us if we found ourselves in such a horrific place.

 Both the cautious and the compassionate have valid points. The refugees do need help, the United States should be a part of the solution, and at least some of the refugees likely pose a genuine threat to U.S. citizens. However, both the cautious and the compassionate entirely miss the larger issue.

 They forget that these refugees did not appear out of thin air. Cold-blooded adherents to a bloodthirsty death cult drove these people from their homes because they want to create a country of their own, a country where they make the rules. The religious whack-nuts responsible for the refugee crisis have enslaved countless innocents, beheaded Christians and Jews, thrown homosexuals from buildings, disfigured the faces of women and routinely rape boys and girls as young as eight. These animals cannot be reasoned with because they are, by their very nature, unreasonable beings.

 Finding a solution to the Syrian refugee crisis is going to require more than compassion or caution. It will require action on the part of Western nations, including the United States. The refugees need to be placed in safe zones (preferably in Europe) overseen by the United Nations while Western nations band together to accomplish the only truly humane option for these folks.

 We must annihilate ISIS and give the refugees their countries back. Sending refugees to Europe or bringing them to the U.S. appears to be a compassionate course of action but in actuality it only delays unraveling the real problem, which is the existence of ISIS.

 No one in his or her right mind WANTS our country to fight another war in the Middle East. Wars are expensive and there have been far too many fought on that real estate in recent years. That said, this is not a pointless war; it is a just war and it’s worth the cost. It’s time to act like grown-ups and deal with the reality we have, not the one we wish we had. ISIS and their ilk will not stop unless they are stopped. It is up to Western Nations to put an end to the madness before the poison spreads. What happens in the Middle East does not stay in the Middle East.

 

 

 

 

What Happens when People Decide to Fight Reality?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 Buy the truth and do not sell it— wisdom, instruction and insight as well~ Proverbs 23:23

 I have irrefutable proof that the lunacy of our age is increasing at an alarming rate. 

 The evidence arrived via a news story on the latest issue to vex an Illinois school district. The federal government is threatening to withhold six million dollars in funding from the school district there. It all went south when the district announced the decision to deny a high school boy (who lives as a girl) the ability to shower and change alongside the girls in the girl’s locker room.

 It would be tough to accuse this particular school district of discriminating against anyone but especially this boy. The boy is allowed to wear girls’ clothing. He is called by a female name of his own choosing and he plays basketball on the girls’ team. The boy has been given full access to all of the girl’s restrooms and the school paid for the construction of a private changing room for him, located inside the girls’ locker room.

 The district asserts that the decision to deny the boy further access to the girl’s locker room was made only after they received complaints from students and parents. Evidently a few regressive Neanderthals balked at the notion of permitting a boy (who is still has his boy parts) to shower and change alongside the girls.

 I chose this example not because I wanted to write a screed against transgender people, but rather because it illustrates an increasingly common scenario where someone has chosen to believe something that is demonstrably untrue and then demands that everyone else get on board with their game of make-believe.

 It is simply a fact that a man cannot be trapped inside a female body or vice-versa. Those scenarios make for great movies but are biological impossibilities. A man might wish desperately that he had been born a woman or a woman might wish she had been born a man. I have nothing but compassion for men and women who struggle with those feelings. I have no doubt that those feelings are real and very painful. However, wishing something were true cannot and will not turn a feeling into a fact.

 This issue is not restricted to gender.

Some suppose that identifying strongly with the struggles and customs of a particular race somehow transforms the reality of their ethnic heritage. Others have come to believe that feeling they are in an “unsafe” environment causes them to be in actual mortal danger. Some believe that being exposed to offensive words or ideas is a form of rape. Many wish college education were free and have decided that their wishes can magically alter economic reality. Countless people truly believe that their feelings determine what is real.

 It is typical for children to go through a phase where they believe something to be true that is clearly false (I had a child who insisted she was Piglet from Winnie the Pooh). How a parent chooses to deal with their child’s fantasies behind closed doors is their own business. However, it is clearly wrong for individuals, the media, church leaders, parents, schools or the federal government to force the rest of society to kowtow to the fanciful wishing of a small minority.

We all need to grow up at some point. One aspect of growing-up is facing realities we don’t like. White people cannot really be black. Words, even mean words are not a form of rape (and saying so belittles the horror of rape). Feeling unsafe does not necessarily mean you are in danger. Gender is not “fluid” and money does not appear out of thin air. These are all irrefutable truths that need to be confronted head on.

 Jesus says this about truth:

 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free~ John 8:32

 Jesus wants people to embrace truth, not because He’s a mean killjoy but rather because He knows that embracing truth is the first step toward emotional and spiritual freedom. Jesus wants people everywhere to know and understand the truth about life, God and our own sinful state and how our sinfulness affects our view of reality. Embracing truth (especially uncomfortable truth)  frees sinful people from the self-imposed oppression that is a consequence of living life captive to our feelings.

 The most critical truth in this world is that God made us to be in relationship with Him. Relationship with God gives us the grace, strength and wisdom we need to live life as it really is, not the way we wish it was.

 

 

 

 

 

The Real Root of Our Problems

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

They rejected God’s decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.” 2nd Kings 17:15

 Last week I and millions of other Americans watched in horror as the news of the day unfolded. The story has become depressingly common. Another bloodbath at another school in another sleepy little town where no one ever dreamed anything that awful could happen.

 There were no actual surprises in the details. The killer was another socially stunted loner from a broken home with few friends or ties to his community. Gun hoarding, collecting war memorabilia and hating appear to have been his only hobbies.

 The only aspect of this story more foreseeable than the details of the killer’s life was the reaction from politicians and pundits. The accusations and calls for change commenced before the bodies were counted. The anti-gun guys predictably blamed easy access to guns. The pro-gun guys blamed a lack of armed guards on campus. Politicians insisted that more laws will solve everything and physiologists blamed the breakdown of our mental healthcare system.

 Everybody is talking but no one is asking the one question that really needs to be answered: Why is our society devolving at such a rapid pace?

 A mass shooting is technically defined as a shooting where four or more people are shot or wounded in a single attack. There was not a single reported mass shooting in America in the year 1915; in fact, mass shootings were practically unheard of prior to 1963. As of today, there have been 298 mass shootings this year. For those keeping count, that is more than one shooting a day so far in 2015.

 America is and has always been a country of gun owners. Statistics are unobtainable, but it seems safe to assume that more Americans owned guns in 1915 than in 2015. It’s also patently absurd to argue that it was somehow more difficult to acquire a gun a century ago than it is today.

 It is demonstrably true that our mental healthcare system is in serious trouble. Good counselors are tough to find and even tougher for many folks to afford. An obviously deranged lunatic can only be committed after he or she actually hurts someone. Doctors hand out prescriptions for medications no one truly understands with little follow-up on those taking powerful, mind-altering drugs. All that being said, it’s still fanciful to argue that the mental healthcare available a hundred years ago was somehow superior to the mental healthcare available today.

 Stricter laws sound like a reasonable no-hassle solution to our problems. But truth- be-told, there are already plenty of laws governing gun ownership. However, lawbreakers have a vexing habit of simply disregarding the existing laws and because past behavior is always the best predictor of future behavior; it’s fairly safe to assume criminals would simply ignore any new legislation.

 Blaming guns, laws or the mental healthcare system for shootings and other social problems is naïve and misguided. If we continue to blame things rather than people, we will commit societal suicide because we cannot solve problems we refuse to see.

 It is fashionable to blame guns, laws and shoddy healthcare for the problem of gun violence. It’s also intellectually lazy and irrational. If guns, laws or healthcare were the problem, the same problems would have existed a hundred years ago. The real problem lies squarely at the feet of the individuals in our society. Individual people build societies, and our society is generating an increasing number of individuals who have no conscience and who place zero value on human life.

 The problems began when we decided as a society that we could have morality without God or fixed standards of right and wrong. Gun violence is just one symptom of the societal breakdown that was triggered by our makeshift morality and the irrational social engineering that has followed.

 If as individuals we want real and lasting change, it is critical that we stop looking to politicians and pundits to solve our problems. Their well-intended “solutions” limit freedom and do nothing to solve the real problems.  

It’s time we start looking to God.

 

 

 

 

 

Stop Saying That!

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word appropriately spoken~ Proverbs 25:11 CJB

 I have a sweet Christian friend who has experienced more than her fair share of heartache in recent months. It seems as if every new day brings with it a peculiar crisis or trial for her to contend with. Unfortunately, there are no simple solutions to any of her problems. She’s persevering and keeping the faith, but life has not been easy.

 Because I have been challenged by my own set of strange and baffling trials in recent months, she and I spent some quality time commiserating recently. I was struck again by exactly how therapeutic friendship can be. There is something deeply healing about sharing heartache or anxiety with a person who listens without judging and who attempts to figure where you are coming from without you having to explain or defend how you feel.

 Eventually our discussion altered course as we drifted from discussing the particulars of our trials to how we are coping with our individual situations. That led to a rather comical exchange as we shared some of the “supportive” guidance we have received from friends and strangers alike over the course of the last few months. Most of the advice falls under the heading of “stupid stuff people should never say.” However, some of it did inspire me to create a short list of do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when dealing with someone who is undergoing a trial.

 Do…

 Use Bible verses judiciously

 I love the Bible, and like most Christians I also love intertwining Bible verses with encouragement. That said, not every verse in the Bible is uplifting in every situation. Verses that sound like promises can feel like lies to someone who has been waiting for God to come through on a particular issue. This is especially true when the promise is predicated on the righteousness of the person needing help. One can be left wondering exactly how righteous they need to become to get their prayer answered. The right word in the wrong context can increase anxiety rather than alleviate it. When in doubt, stick to inspiring standbys such as Luke 18:27, 1st Peter 5:7 or Jeremiah 29:11.

 Offer to Pray

 Do not give advice on how or what to pray. The last lie a hurting person needs to get sucked into believing is that the root of all their troubles is their failure to pray properly. If you have a secret prayer formula that works every time, do not waste precious time giving instructions, just START PRAYING.

 Do something nice

 Nice gestures need not be big or expensive; in fact, it’s the little things that tend to make the biggest impact. Take your friend out for a slice of pie or a cup of coffee and let them talk freely. Babysit their kids so they can have a little alone time and regroup. Surprise them with a take-and-bake pizza at dinner. Let them know you care with your actions. Both of you will be blessed.

 Don’t …

 Dismiss their anxiety

 It may appear that your friend’s concerns are a bit overblown, but that does not mean they really are. Assume there is information or history you know nothing about that is driving their fear. And for the love of all that is good and decent do not under any circumstances bless your friend with a recitation of Matthew 6:25-34. If your friend happens to be a Christian, you can safely assume that particular passage of Scripture is a constant source of discomfort for them already. If they are not, they will just think you are a nut-job for telling them not to stress about an issue that is clearly worthy of worry. Instead, pray like crazy.

 Tell stories with tragic endings

 Sometimes in an effort to encourage, people will tell stories about a time when they went through a similar situation. Stories can be a great way to connect with and comfort a hurting person, but only if the story has a pleasant ending. Stories that end with “and then I was homeless for six months” or “it took me seven years to repair my credit” or “I spent eight weeks in a mental institution” do nothing do ease fears and are best left untold.

 The tongue holds the power of life and death (Proverbs 21:18). When someone you know is in need of encouragement, speak life. They need that more than any advice you can give.