Post 177--Millennials and Political Correctness

Again, someone else's article with my comments attached. It seems that Scott Masson of Toronto does not wish to accord the transgender population their full recognition.  I feel very sorry for that group and do not think their condition was part of what God intended when He created humanity. At the same time, they are here and not be their own decision or choice. By birth, would be my opinion. As such, they do not have a lot of choice in the matter. I know a couple of them and know they suffer because of their condition.  It is my firm opinion that they must be given their full human rights same as I do, even though I do not think their condition is desirable and should not be considered standard.  So, it seems I disagree with Masson on this aspect.  

What interests and concerns me in Masson article below is that millennials seem to have lost the traditional freedoms and rights that families have enjoyed for centuries in our Western civilization. They are, in fact, quite prepared to trample on them and force their opinion on everyone else, even to the extent of disregarding the rights of families and of breaking them up when they hold opinions contrary to those of millennials. The sense of social justice, according to Masson, has gone completely topsy-turvey. That to me is a serious issue and does not bode well for the future of freedom and democracy. So, have a listen and see where you find yourself.

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A new survey was released in the US last month, and it showed just how far society has moved on the issue of gender confusion. The poll focussed on “millennials” – generally people under 30 – and it found almost half of them would be OK with the notion that the government should take children away from parents if those parents refuse to affirm those children’s gender identities. Scott Masson is an Associate Professor of English at Tyndale University College in Toronto. He says the survey shows that traditional views of family are starting to change, especially in a certain segment of society. “It says that those that are most animated by issues that we would call ‘social justice’ are in favour of breaking into the family and its historic freedoms in order to justify the ends of what they would call ‘social justice’.”

He says the survey shows that respondents don’t have “any notion of what we would call ‘sphere sovereignty’.” Masson says the poll’s focus on millenials shows the impact that political correctness has had in the education system over the past 30 years. “I’ve been living with that in the university system ever since the 1980’s, and certainly it’s the case that millennials (have) experienced nothing but that. They’re not used to freedom of expression. If they find a view that they don’t like, they’re gonna have no tolerance for it.” He says that demographic is not bothered by the loss of liberty that we’ve seen in recent legislation in Canada, because “they never really thought those liberties really ought to exist as long as social injustice was being done.”

Post 134--A Rose by Any Other Name

Remember the cold I suffered last week? Well, it ain’t over yet. It still has me down and out, something that has hardly ever happened to me. I get one about once a year; it comes and goes quickly and I’m my old self again. Not this time. But I don’t want you to think I’m slacking off. So, another postponement of the third prostitution post and, instead, an easy one that will not take a lot of stamina on my part.

I utilize two prepared documents laying on my desk and I will use some of each. They both report on various situations of persecution. When we think of persecution, we often think of Muslim persecution of Christians and others. Well, that will be one side today. The other side, however, may well surprise you…but let me keep you in suspense for a few more moments.  Just remember Shakespeare’s adage above.  Persecution may come in very different forms and from very different quarters, but it’s still persecution. So, though today’s info will not take much stamina from my reduced stock, it does weigh heavily in me and carrying such burdens takes another form of stamina.

First, a few items of Christians under Muslim persecution—a few from what could take up innumerable tomes, believe  me. These are reported by BarnabasAid, a UK ministry to persecuted Christians all over the world.

Aasia Bibi languishes on death row in Pakistan for years on basis of totally false accusations of blasphemy, a tool used frequently by Pakistani Muslims to take revenge for personal reasons.  Check out her name on the Internet!  In that same country, “Christian girls and women are kidnapped by Muslim men, raped, forcibly converted to Islam and forcibly married to Muslims. Of course that happens in many Muslim countries. Another Pakistani situation is that of bonded Christian laborers in brick kilns. They cannot escape the grueling work for substandard pay. Their cruel bosses trick and exploit them, keeping them in permanent debt. Some Christian children are even held as slaves.

21 brave Christian migrant workers in Libya refused to deny Christ. They will killed by ISIS militants. If I were more computer savvy, I would reproduce a picture of all of them on their knees in orange outfits with masked militants standing behind them, poised to kill them momentarily. 

Ugandan pastor, Umar Mulinde, is a convert from Islam. Muslims three acid in his face. He was terribly burned and lost one eye, but he continues to evangelize and preach boldly.

Nissar Hussain and his wife, from Bradford in the UK, are condemned as apostates. They and their children are persecuted for following Christ. Their home was burned to the ground. Their car was attacked. Nissar was beaten up and hospitalized. Falsely accused to the police, he was detained in a cell for many hours. The same thing happened to his wife. Rejected by church, law enforcement, and society, they continue to follow Christ. They can no longer live in Bradford. Yes, in the UK—and this is by no means the only incident in that country.

And now a totally different scene that at first sight you might not dub “persecution,” but remember that adage…. This time the persecutor is no one less than the US government, and not about religion this time, but about science they don’t like. The following is a long quote:

Picture being an an award-winning scientist -- you've just published your latest findings. And then your government tries to stop you speaking about your research. And when you refuse, you're suspended -- then fired. That's exactly what happened to Jonathan after he discovered a link between bee die-offs and bee-killing pesticides. Now he’s attempting to continue his research in the private sector, and the USDA is STILL harassing him by blacklisting him from USDA-funded research grants and pressuring other scientists to not collaborate with him. It’s time for the USDA to end their attacks on scientific freedom. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is notoriously friendly with giant corporate agribusinesses, and lobbyists for big pesticide companies like Monsanto and Bayer don’t want government researchers looking into the impact of bee-killing pesticides. But rarely have we seen such a blatant and ongoing assault on scientific freedom, even at the USDA. SumOfUs members have donated tens of thousands of dollars to help our friends at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) defend Dr. Lundgren. With our help, Dr. Lundgren has fought back by filing a whistleblower complaint, a scientific integrity complaint, and a federal lawsuit. Dr. Lundgren’s case has gotten enormous press coverage, and he was personally honored with the Joe A. Calloway Award for Civic Courage—a prestigious award for public-interest activism. But the USDA continues to harass Dr. Lundgren, and as long as that continues, it’s sending a chilling effect to researchers everywhere. That’s why we must continue to fight for his right to conduct research freely, without lobbyist interference or government censorship. A rose by any other name….

Post 82—The “Christmas Spirit” at McDonald

Today we are going a bit lighter as well as a bit shorter to give you the time you otherwise may not have to do your final Christmas shopping.  If you wonder how come I have the time to write this post when I probably should be shopping feverishly, well, it’s simple: I don’t. Period. Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I—or, rather, my wife and I-- are cheapskates. Remember: before you judge, if at all, be sure you have all the facts at your command. That fact is that we have decided this year to spend our gift money on persecuted people, including refugees. We see little sense in spending fortunes on gifts no one among our family and friends needs. Writing a few cheques or sending monetary gifts online or by Paypal takes off a lot of pressure—and allows me the time to write this post.

The Denison Forum recently featured a story by one Nick Pitts under the heading “250 Mcdonald's Drive-Thru Customers 'Pay It Forward'.” Since it’s a Christmassy kind of story, it is a fitting  post in this Christmas week. In Pitts’ own words, it goes like this:

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Marisabel Figueroa probably started her shift at the Lakeland, Florida McDonalds where she works expecting that day to be like any other. However, one woman's generosity set off a chain reaction that, several hours later, would leave her saying that she'd "never experienced something like that before." It all started when Torie Keene decided to pay for the order of the car behind her and specifically asked Figueroa to tell the driver Merry Christmas, rather than Happy Holidays, when she delivered the news of the free meal. 

As the cashier described, when the other driver was told that her meal had been paid for, she was so grateful that she decided to do the same for the driver behind her. The pattern continued for almost the entirety of Figueroa's six-hour shift, as some 250 customers decided to "pay it forward." 

"I just kept giving everyone the same message, and they were all so stunned and so happy,” Figueroa explained. “One lady even paid for the meals of the next three cars behind her."

After a local news station picked up the story, Keene contacted Figueroa via Facebook to express her surprise, saying that she was "only trying to brighten someone's day." It seems clear that she did that and more as the story has now made national headlines. 

I don’t know just where Pitts’ story ends and where Denison of the Forum takes over. The next few paragraphs amount to a kind of Biblical application of this apparently true story.

The thing is, most of the people that experienced the gift of a free meal and decided to continue it paid roughly what they expected to pay when they arrived at the drive-thru window. The difference is that, because someone had already covered their debt, their actions from that point forward became voluntary rather than necessary. They were given the freedom not to pay but chose to use that freedom for the betterment of others rather than just themselves. 

It's a living example of the mentality Paul describes in his first letter to the Corinthians when he spends the majority of the Epistle writing on the need to think of others before yourself and to place their rights above your own (1 Corinthians 6-14). He is clear that we are not called to make that choice out of an obligation to them but in order to simply be better representatives of Christ in their lives. As he wrote to the Galatians, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). 

Because of Christ's sacrifice, we have been set free from the burdens of the Law. Will we use that freedom to model the kind of life to which He has called us or will we view his grace as a license for disobedience? How we answer that question speaks volumes about the nature of our relationship with God, and an unbelieving world is watching closely for our response. 

So this Christmas season, let's be intentional about using the freedom that God has granted us for His purposes rather than our own. Our heavenly Father has given us the gift of unhindered access to Himself through Christ and asked us to "pay it forward" by helping others to understand that offer as well. Will you?

The only thing I question in the above few paragraphs is that italicized clause that there was/is no obligation at work here. Presenting ourselves as better representatives of Christ is our obligation. True, it’s also our privilege, but you cannot eliminate the obligation part. And what is the problem with that?  

Maybe this “little” is a reflection of a divide between Lutheran and Calvinist thinking with the former tending towards a negative attitude towards obligation and law while the latter emphasizes that law and grace always go together. 

Perhaps the non-obligatory part is also a reflection of the influence of the general Western antipathy to law that stems way back in our history to the so-called Enlightenment.  The roots of our thought patterns go so deep and long to the point that most of us are not even aware of them; we just act, speak or think along those patterns without any further second thought. 

One of the purposes of this blog is to lay bare for you readers the reasons and roots of our accepted thought patterns or worldview. This obligation thing may be one of those unexamined items in our Western culture. 

I guess I ended up not so short after all nor so light. Next time just read the story without the comments, enjoy it and ponder it for yourself. Maybe even go to Burger King and initiate the same story to see what happens, Christmas or not. Oh, sorry, it was McDonalds, not BK. No matter, for when it's spring, can summer be far way? When you see Big Mac, can BK be far away?