Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Culture Shifts, Life issues, tagged abortion, cohabitation, conscience, health care mandate, HHS, Planned Parenthood, promiscuity on January 15, 2013| 1 Comment »
I’m perplexed. Can you help?
When I speak up against abortion and for the rights of unborn children and the well-being of women, I’m told: “What happens in the privacy of a bedroom is none of your business.”
Well, if that’s true, then why should I be forced to pay for what happens there?
Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Faith & Practice, Identity, Life issues, Parenting & Education, Sexy or holy?, Vocation, tagged conscience, deception, feminism, ideology, Jesus Christ, new life, satan, sensuality, sexual rights, worldview on November 13, 2012| 2 Comments »
We are baptized, not in the water of sexuality, but in the water of pure Word and Holy Spirit. We are called, not to ways of weak flesh, but to holy and noble purpose. We are encouraged, not to glorify self, but to glorify Jesus Christ who makes us children of God.
Baptism “is an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism cleanses and raises us to new life. Our Baptism sets us apart from the world and our own fickle desires.
So here is why I’m so deeply disappointed following the election. Far too many of my fellow Christian sisters let their sensuality have its way. They voted in favor of “my body, my choice” rather than in remembrance of their baptism. They feared they might be denied something, something that should rightfully be theirs.
Back to the Garden we go. God appealed to Eve’s whole being, her true identity as His wondrous creation. But, Satan appealed to her pride and desires, taunting with the apple of “my rights” and “my control.” Today – right here and right now, God appeals to the whole being and true identity of His daughters in Christ. But, Satan (until he’s banished to hell) lingers around, tantalizing our desires. Whispering sweet nothings in our ears.
Admittedly, I can’t say how many baptized women were influenced by the childish ad of the Obama campaign. You know the one I’m talking about. Actress Lena Dunham appears on a video making an appeal to young women to imagine their first time voting for Obama as being akin to losing their virginity. References in the ad were explicit and low standard.
The sexual innuendo of the ad was unmistakable: “Your first time shouldn’t be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy,” says actress Dunham. “It should be with a guy . . . who really cares about and understands women.” Then, on behalf of the sitting president of the United States, Dunham makes her political appeal. She says, you want to do it with “a guy who cares whether you get birth control. The consequences are huge. You want to do it with the guy who brought the troops out of Iraq . . ..”
Actress Dunham quickly references “gay marriage,” then says, “It’s also super-uncool to be out and about and someone says, ‘did you vote?’ and [you] reply, ‘No, I didn’t feel – I wasn’t ready.’” The ad wraps up when Dunham describes her first time voting as “amazing.” It was like crossing that “line in the sand” to vote for Barack Obama. “Before I was a girl; now I was a woman.”
This campaign ad was endorsed by the President of the United States. The father of two daughters. The man who, true to his vocation, should protect and defend the virtue of every American woman.
But, how many baptized American women – more or less youthful – voted for the man who appealed to their pride? Sexual rights? Desire for control? Did any of us think about the irony of it all? Modern feminists abhor Biblical patriarchy, yet here are women asking “Big Daddy” – a patriarchal government – to provide their birth control pills, abortion-causing drugs, and sterilization procedures at no cost. Why?
Is it because they are deceived by a wrong identity? Or because they have forgotten their baptism in the Word of holiness and purity? Or because they are captive to pride and sensuality? Or, because they live in fear?
Trusting our baptism, we need not fear the known or the unknown. Baptism in the waters of new life encourages us to virtue. Self-restraint. Trust in our Creator and Redeemer instead of our own weak flesh.
Baptism gives us new identity in Christ. We are not sensual beings, but holy beings. We are not captive to sin, but redeemed from sin. We are not left in the despair of wrong choices, but set free to start new. To see our life from God’s perspective. All this… because we have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Do we believe it?
Amen. God said it. It is so.
Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Citizenship, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Identity, Life issues, Parenting & Education, tagged children, church & state, conscience, pants on fire, sanctity of life, sex education, worldview on September 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Open forum here. Your thoughtful answers to my question are coveted.
What civilization would sexualize daughters and then provide free sterilization services?
People with opposing worldviews bemoan the fact that we are sexualizing American girls. One group worries about the sexualization of girls but promotes more sex education as the answer. The other group promotes abstinence but uses sex education to do it.
Is there a connection between sexualizing children — completely inundating them in school and culture with a steady stream of information on sex, sexuality and sensuousness — and a national health care mandate that covers contraception and sterilization for girls as young as twelve?
Is something foul afoot? Does a power or principality despise new life?
A CNSNews reporter asked former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a critical question: “One of the services that health care plans have to offer free of charge (under the HHS mandate) are sterilizations . . . do you agree with the federal government mandating . . .”
Congresswoman Pelosi cut the reporter off, saying, “You know what, I told you before, let’s go to church and talk about our religion. Right here we’re talking about public policy as it affects women . . .”
Government-sponsored free sterilization services should set the pants of Biblical thinkers and people of faith on fire. It should set the pants of every parent on fire.
Under the HHS mandate, every health plan except those held by houses of worship (what about the church-run school or organization?) conceivably must not only cover contraceptives, but sterilization for children as young as twelve. But, it gets even more serious. Many states require parental consent for the sterilization of a minor, but as CNSNews reported, some don’t. In Oregon, for example, girls as young as fifteen can now undergo sterilization procedures without their parents or legal guardians knowing a thing. All they have to do is sign a consent form. (Source: www.breakpoint.org 9/6/12 and CNSNews.com 8/10/12)
On my library shelf is a book by Edwin Black entitled War Against the Weak. He states, “I find it abhorrent that a 15-year-old girl who’s not old enough to consent to sexual activity, who’s not old enough to consent to buying a beer, who’s not old enough to drive herself to the hospital could possibly be considered old enough and mature enough to give informed consent for her own sterilization . . .” Black is a student of history. He has done his homework and connected the dots between population control, abortion, sterilization, and eugenics. By the way, the subtitle to Black’s book is “Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race.” Some of my fellow Lutherans and other believers on the Lord Jesus Christ have studied under men like Paul Popenoe, once a leader of California’s eugenics movement. Here, I think, is a topic for another blog.
What civilization would sexualize its daughters and then provide easy access to abortion and free sterilization services?
What does this say about the sanctity of human life? About our identity and purpose? About being male or female? About marriage? About the act of sex? About family and society?
Have Christians, too, been deceived? Are we unintentionally dehumanizing sons and daughters by putting them in the same category as animals: “After all, we’re afraid they’re going to do it anyway”?
Have we enabled the divorce of sex from procreation?
Have we bought the lie that we are “sexual from birth” rather than the truth of God who tells us, “I have called you by name, you are Mine . . . You are set apart to be holy, even as I am holy”?
How do you answer?
Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Citizenship, Faith & Practice, Life issues, Parenting & Education, Vocation, tagged Christian failure, conscience, faith, religious liberty, sensuality, unlimited government on February 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »
No. Neither are those of the Southern Baptist Convention. Or the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Or other church bodies which are speaking up in defense of religious liberty.
But, President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius must think differently. Following the firestorm ignited by his policy forcing religious organizations to pay for “contraceptives” and sterilizations, the President offered a compromise. “Quite frankly,” said Bill Donahue of the Catholic League, “he’s adding insult to injury. He must think the Catholics are stupid.”
The president is playing word games which fail to mask his assault on core convictions regarding the sanctity of human life held dear for decades by many Christians. Catholics, Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod Lutherans believe aborting a child by way of so-called “contraceptive” pills such as Ella or “Plan B” is a sin. The government said, “So what? You’ll do as we say.”
Mr. Obama and Ms. Sebelius have blatantly disregarded individual conscience and faith by forcing religious organizations to pay for “preventative services for women.” HHS, you see, has included unintended pregnancy as “a condition for which safe and effective prevention and treatment” need to be more widely available. (This sets the stage for mandated coverage of abortion as the treatment when prevention fails.)
In effect, Mr. Obama and Ms. Sebelius see pregnancy not only as a burden, but as an obstacle – or disease – that must be overcome. To commemorate the 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, Mr. Obama was unashamedly transparent. He said legalized abortion is indispensable “to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”
I believe Mr. Obama is being honest in a most sobering way. He is taking a stand against life and liberty. He is friend to Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions, but foe to the church that seeks to protect and rescue human life in Jesus’ name. More important than the sanctity of human life to this administration is the sanctity of personal liberation.
So, here’s what I think. Catholics, Southern Baptists, Missouri Synod Lutherans, Rick Warren, and other conservative believers are not stupid. But, we are enablers.
I think this government is doing what it is doing because we Christians have enabled the culture to deteriorate. We let ourselves come under the influence of nonbelieving neighbors in the land. We went to the university and mingled with those who followed Darwin, Lenin, Sanger and Kinsey. We set aside God’s Word on all matters of life to follow after human opinion. We believed ourselves wise enough to separate good from evil.
Abortion was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court only because many in the so-called faith community had already condoned it. And, why do you think that might be? Because they had fallen for the lie that abortion is “a tragic but necessary choice.” Behind that lie was another: We are “sexual beings” whose right to be sexual trumps all other rights, even the right to life.
Perhaps we in the faith community ought not be so critical of this government for attacking religious liberty. Perhaps we set ourselves up for the attack by letting people who oppose God shape the thinking of our children. Lenin said that America would never be changed by a Bolshevik-style revolution. Instead, believed Lenin, removal of God and the rule of socialism would be guaranteed if children were separated from their parents and taught to follow after “their sexual instincts.”
A century of Darwin and at least five decades of Sanger and Kinsey have had their way with American children. Those children grew up questioning God and standards of morality. They were taught to be comfortable with their flesh side – their sensuality, but this put them at odds with their Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. For them, the First Commandment is no longer “You shall have no other gods before Me;” rather, it is: “I am my own god” and “it’s my body, my choice.” This becomes crystal clear to me as I hear women defend President Obama’s order that all religious institutions provide contraceptives. They completely miss the fact that individual conscience is being violated and religious liberties stripped away. They focus, instead, on their sexual liberties and the “right” not to be burdened by the procreative miracle of sex. “I’m a working woman,” said one, “who must be guaranteed my reproductive rights.” “This Catholic uproar,” said another woman, “has nothing to do with faith and everything to do with women’s health.”
Do you agree that Christians have enabled such thinking? It is fact that even “good” Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, and other Christian parents have allowed their sons and daughters to be educated by those whose worldview opposes God. Children have been separated from parents and tutored K-12 in “sex education” or “family living” or “human sexuality” classes whose origins are not God but Sanger and Kinsey. Educated in such an environment, children do come to think about the act of sex, marriage, family, and civic responsibilities in ways that open the door to government intervention.
Legalized abortion and now this bold attack on religious liberties and individual conscience are government policies that happen when the people (that’s us) seek after the unholy rather than the holy. After sensuality rather than purity. After self-gratification rather than generational faithfulness.
People of faith are not stupid. But, we are enablers. I’ve always believed that God placed me where I am at this time in history to play a specific role as the woman He created me to be. As that woman, I have a choice. To enable neighbors – and, thus, a culture – to seek after things of God… or self. To raise the standard of behavior for men and children… or to lower it. To live as if I’m on a journey to eternal life with God… or just “here for the moment, so get all I can.”
There are those who want to strip away the right to defend life. Purity. Marriage and family. Ethics. Just law. Freedom of conscience and faith. We can no longer enable them to do so.
Posted in Citizenship, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Life issues, tagged birth control, conscience, nationalized health care, religion on February 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Pliny the Younger was a provincial governor in the Roman Empire. He asked Emperor Trajan if he should execute Christians who refused to burn incense in worship of the emperor. “Pliny, in keeping with the customs of the empire,” writes Wesley J. Smith, “didn’t care about forcing Christians to believe that the emperor was a god. But, in public, they had to behave as if they did.” It wasn’t that Christians were targeted for their faith, but over their refusal to declare themselves part of the reigning social order.
Smith, in writing his article “Free Birth Control vs. Freedom of Religion,” said he thought of Pliny when reading about the specific rules being created to implement nationalized health care. Some of these rules seriously conflict with Christian faith and conscience. Under nationalized health care, religious organizations will be required to provide insurance coverage for practices they believe to be morally wrong. The “free-birth-control” rule will require all employers (with a very narrow exception) to offer their employees health insurance that provides FDA-approved contraception, female sterilization, and other “reproductive” services – free of charge. It will not matter if the employer is a religious organization and will violate its doctrine by providing the insurance. With such a rule, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is imposing a legal duty on faith organizations. What is that duty? To comply with the values of the state whenever engaging in public action or charitable enterprise among the general society.
But, what about “freedom of religion?” More and more, U.S. officials refer to “freedom of worship” rather than “freedom of religion.” They are not the same thing. The former means an individual is free to believe whatever he wants and worship privately without interference. The latter means an individual is free to express their core faith out in society even if not endorsed by the state. Freedom of religion, as defined by the Founding Fathers, allows Christians to maintain a Christian school, hospital, or inner-city mission – true to Biblical teaching and practice — where the general public is served. Freedom of worship would not allow that.
The specific rules of nationalized health care, as directed by HHS, knowingly force religious organizations to pay for medical services to which they are theologically opposed. These rules represent a frontal assault on freedom of religion at an institutional level. This is not a trivial matter. “To date,” writes Wesley J. Smith, “public controversies over ‘conscience’ in health care have mostly involved individuals – e.g. doctors, nurses, pharmacists – whose personal morality or religious conviction conflicted with the provision of certain medical procedures or substances.”
But, explains Smith, “the free-birth-control rule goes much further than creating a potential conflict between the general law and individual religious beliefs. Rather, the rule targets the right of religious organizations to conduct their public activities consistently with their religious dogma and moral values – except within the narrow confines of an actual church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or monastery.” How narrow might this be? “The group health insurance covering nuns in a Catholic religious order,” writes Smith, “would probably not have to cover contraception. But insurance provided by the same order’s elementary school probably would. Ditto a hospital established by the nuns.”
“Despite much screaming from opponents,” Smith explains, HHS “has refused to broaden the religious exemption in the final rule — forcing religiously founded organizations to violate their parent church’s teachings, a frontal assault on the freedom of faiths to operate institutional outreach organizations consistent with their beliefs. If this rule stands, it won’t end there. If Catholic organizations can be compelled by federal diktat to violate their religious tenets, so can other religious organizations in different contexts.” According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, even if a religious employer does not cover contraceptive services, they are to tell where such services can be obtained. “Thus,” observes Smith, “the Obama administration is attacking even freedom of worship by forcing exempt organizations to tell their employees where and how they can violate church teachings.”
“This birth-control rule,” concludes Smith, “is the latest and most egregious example of government forcing religious organizations to conform their operations to reigning secular moral values. In this sense, faith organizations are being compelled to participate in a metaphorical Caesar worship. As in the Roman Empire, the government will allow religious organizations general freedom of worship, but, increasingly, not freedom of religion. Pliny would approve.”
Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow
at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism and a consultant
for the Patient Rights Council and the Center for Bioethics and Culture.
To read Wesley J. Smith’s article, please visit National Review.
Posted in Relationships, Vocation, tagged " generational, conflict, conscience, consequences, denial, family, hope, Jesus Christ, nation, PC, politically correct, teachable moment, worldview on October 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Sorting through a box of photos, I came upon a few that I thought someone close to me might appreciate. One was a photo of her dad in uniform. He and I have spoken of the high price paid for freedom in this country. He has expressed his disappointment that our nation seems to have forgotten that price of freedom. Before sealing up the envelope with photos, I inserted a brief note to this daughter of an American hero. My note read something like: I am sad that after all your dad endured for his country, he now sees this nation slipping.
Within a few days, she wrote back. I was delighted with the quick response… then stunned by her words. Her note to me read:
In response to your comment about my dad having fought for a nation that is now “slipping,” I find that we have very different political views. My thoughts, beliefs and convictions are strong, as I know yours are for you. For that reason, I am asking that we not engage in any kind of political discussion and refrain from making comments to each other so as not to create discord in our family.
In what way is the word “slipping” divisive? In what way is it “political”? Forget politics. We are morally and ethically “slipping.”
I see it personally — every day. In my vocation of “helper,” I work with people — young and old — who are suffering the consequences of choices that set them on a destructive and painful course. A long time ago I became aware of something so wrong that it could never be called right. 52 million babies — human lives created and redeemed by God — have been aborted in the U.S. alone since the practice was legalized in 1973. How could a nation that kills its own children not slip into a deep abyss?
My conscience would not rest. I was compelled by God’s Word to become involved in Lutherans For Life. I traveled the country, speaking in schools, congregations, and communities. Never intending to do so, I became an advocate for those caught in the muck and mire of a “slipping” society: boys and girls stripped of their innocence, mothers grieving aborted children, and fathers regretful of their passivity or angry because they were unable to lead out of harm’s way. People in other parts of the country weren’t the only ones “slipping.” People here at home were “slipping,” too. For this reason, two other moms and I founded the local caring pregnancy center in our community so that we might help warn against danger, equip for healthy choices, and encourage on the difficult journey of life.
I long for a soul-to-soul visit with this special person in my life who was offended by the word “slipping.” Why? Because dozens of men and women have shared with me their painful stories of “slipping” away from God into unhealthy relationships, false love, and grief. At last count, 24 of my friends, relatives, or acquaintances have told me about their abortions. Most of these women have asked me to “speak up” and to warn others not to “slip” away from God’s good plan into the quicksand of doubt. I’m convinced that the Holy Spirit used those women to nudge me in a direction never before imagined (by me, anyway). In 2002, I started a little mentoring ministry called Titus 2 for Life.
So, I would like very much to explain to this dear person in my life what the word “slipping” means to me. I drafted three letters to her, but my husband cautioned me against sending them. Although I long for a “soul-to-soul” visit with this woman, I hear the wisdom of my husband’s advice. For now, this blog will have to suffice.
Reality tells me that this special person in my life represents so many others — in families and congregations — who don’t want to talk or “engage in any kind of . . . discussion” that would cause “discord.” Oh my! While people are “slipping” away from all that God desires for them, am I to chat about weather and fashions?
Yes, I am stunned. But, not so much that I can’t recognize a teachable moment. God’s Word is divisive. It divides loved ones and strangers. His Word divides because it opposes our sinful nature. His Word opposes worldly opinion. But, faith in God’s Word compels me to use It in every relationship and all circumstances. It’s the only thing I can trust because while I am “slipping,” It cannot.
God came to this troubled earth as the Man, Jesus Christ, because we are all “slipping.” My ancestors, Adam and Eve, chose poorly and, ever since, all human beings have been conceived right onto a slippery slope of sin. The institutions of marriage, church, and state — designed for our protection — are all “slipping” into chaos. The God of order does not want us to live in chaos. And so He offers His Word to us today just as He has to every generation before us. A divisive Word, yes. But, also a healing and hope-filled Word.
I pray that this special person in my life and I will one day speak of these things. But, even if that day never comes, I cannot be stunned into paralysis. On every day that passes until Jesus comes again, people will be “slipping.” This isn’t my opinion. It’s not my politics. It is, rather, a cold, hard fact.
In the face of this cold, hard fact stands a warm and welcoming Savior. He’s the One who stretches out His arms to prevent us from slipping and, when we go ahead and slip, He encircles His arms around us to bring us back onto our feet. He’s the one I really want to talk about with my loved one. He’s the One she and I — and all of us — need in this battle for hearts and minds and souls.
So please, dear God. Protect the heart and mind and soul of this special one in my life. I may be stunned by her words, but she still matters to me. More importantly, she matters to You.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | ||
Ezerwoman's Blog 
Religious Freedom, Government Health Care, & My Church
Posted in Citizenship, Commentaries of others, Faith & Practice, Life issues, tagged civil liberty, conscience, health care, human life, LCMS on February 5, 2012| 1 Comment »
We are deeply distressed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) recent decision to require nearly all private health plans, including those offered by religious employers, to cover contraceptives. This will include controversial birth-control products such as “Ella” and the “morning after pill,” even though the FDA warns that such drugs can cause the death of a baby developing in the womb. The LCMS objects to the use of drugs and procedures that are used to take the lives of unborn children, who are persons in the sign of God from the time of conception, and we are opposed to the HHS’ decision mandating the coverage of such contraceptives.
This HHS action relates to a provision in the “health care reform” legislation (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) signed into law in 2010 . . . The Concordia Health Plan (CHP), the LCMS church workers’ health plan, has been maintained as a “grandfathered” plan. As such, employers and workers participating in CHP would not be subjected to the mandate. However, many religious organizations do not have grandfathered plans and cannot avail themselves of the extremely narrow religious-employer exemption, which only is applicable to religious employers that primarily serve and employ members of their faith.
For centuries, Lutherans have joyfully delivered Christ’s mercy to others and embraced His call to care for the needy within our communities and around the world. In a nation that has allowed more than 54 million legal abortions since 1973, we must consider the marginalization of unborn babies and object to this mandate.
In addition, I encourage the members of the LCMS to join with me in supporting efforts to preserve our essential right to exercise our religious beliefs. This action by HHS will have the effect of forcing many religious organizations to choose between following the letter of the law and operating within the framework of their religious tenets. We add our voice to the long list of those championing for the continued ability to act according to the dictates of their faith, and provide compassionate care and clear Christian witness to society’s most vulnerable, without being discriminated against by government.
The LCMS, a church body of sinners redeemed by the blood of Jesus, has affected the lives of millions of people with care, aid, housing, health care, spiritual care and much more. We have been a force for good in this nation, promoting education, marriage and giving people the tools and assistance to be good citizens. We live and breathe Roman 13:3-7. The governing authorities are “God’s servant for good.” We pray for our President and those in authority . . .
Increasingly we are suffering overzealous government intrusions into what is the realm of traditional and biblical Christian conscience. We believe this is a violation of our First Amendment rights. We will stand, to the best of our ability, with all religious and other concerned citizens, against this erosion of our civil liberty. Come what may, we shall do everything we can, by God’s grace, to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). (February 3, 2012)
Read Full Post »