The God of Life

The Twisted Culture of Death: How Clowns Have Been Made The Terror Scapegoat

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Angela Chininin Buele

As a kid, I really enjoyed Halloween.  Obviously, the candy and dressing up as my current favorite character or animal were favorite traditions.  I even tested the waters of scary movies, but I couldn’t – and still can’t, or won’t – do it.

As a parent now, I wonder how the whole Halloween thing ever became widely accepted.  I mean, we spend all year teaching our kids not to walk along streets in the dark, wandering into unknown neighborhoods, taking candy from strangers.  And then, for one night, should we tell them all of that is OK.  I never thought of this as a contradiction when I was a kid, but that’s what stands out to me as a concern now.

Now, you might like to know that our kids dress up almost every day, so they get in more than their fair share of play.  And as for our porch light on October 31st, sometimes it’s on and sometimes it’s off.  Sometimes we have a bowl of candy, and once we might have had boxes of raisins.  Did you judge me just then?  Easy, now.  We don’t have a hard and fast rule against Halloween, nor do we lean into the current practices.  In fact, I’ve actually had an idea bouncing around inside my head lately about something different for our family to do this year.  I won’t bore you with the details here, but you should know that there are Christians thinking about how to meet new people during this time of year to bless them.

I guess I never thought that the cloud of terrorism would be identified as an issue surrounding the observance of Halloween.  I mean, people have been making lots and lots of money for decades on horror and gore of all kinds.  Schools have, thankfully, banned such grotesque costumes.  But the truth remains:  The skeletons, the witches, the chainsaws, and the severed body parts are all part of the celebration of death.  But, apparently this year, it’s the clown that is the real bad guy.

People have recently been dressing up and acting like the character from the 1990 movie It, and Stephen King has made a public statement trying to get them to stop.  The author who has profited from this writing for over 20 years now seems to want people to not be terrified by his work of horror.  It seems a bit audacious that he would act as a figure leading away from terror and toward security.   This seems more than a little shady to me.  And, in the meantime, poor Ronald McDonald has had to suspend public appearances because of the scary clown sightings.

The story is quite similar at Planned Parenthood.  They have been making money by dismembering unborn babies and piecing them back together for decades.  Last year, their staff members were shown to have discussed the profits and procedures behind distributing these body parts.  Then, Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the nation, presented itself as a victim, a philanthropic organization invested in saving women’s lives, and misrepresented by the videos released by The Center for Medical Progress.  Planned Parenthood can’t be proud of what they do in rhetoric and yet act as if they were victimized in the revelation of their practices.  The culture of death and darkness will be defeated.  You just have to turn on the Light.

Key Question: Are you drawn to enjoy the darkness or the light?

Unshakable Truth:  “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”  (John 8:12).

This verse comes at the end of the story of the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus saved her from the bloodthirsty crowd, ready to stone her for her sins.  Then, he set her free to “go and sin no more.”  There is hope, forgiveness, mercy, a warm embrace ready for those who turn from the celebration of death to the love of life.  You are welcome in the light.

The Real Choice:  Will you come into the light?

From Equal Rights to Sole Responsibility: Lies Men and Women Have Believed About Children

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Angela Chininin Buele

1.  The lie of neutrality

There is no neutrality when it comes to abortion.  If you are pro-life, you know abortion kills a human being, and you want to see the practice ended.  If you are pro-choice you may or may not know that abortion kills a human being, but you have decided that women are in the unique position to end the life of their child at any point before the rest of the world sees her face and officially records her presence on the earth.  If you have ever thought you were “pro-choice, but personally against abortion,” you have been mistaken.  You cannot be personally against people dying but politically driven to make sure other people have the right to kill them.

2.  The lie of peace

Women might be told that an abortion will make them feel so much better.  But the truth is that many women feel pain, fear, regret, and loneliness during and after and abortion.  There is no promise of peace.  There is no post-abortion counseling offered at the abortion clinic.  The goal there is to end life without offering anything to fill the void left.

 3. The lie of choice

We all make choices, and we make them in order to see certain goals realized in our lives.  We all have important choices to make, but they must all be made in the interest and protection of other people.  If one chooses not to have children, the goal would be not to conceive a child.  Getting pregnant and then taking action not to have children is impossible.  The child already exists.  Now, a decision to not parent the child and instead give her up for adoption is a choice that gives life.  This gift blesses the child and the mother.  They both receive the opportunity to live a full life, to write a happy ending. Shame and deep sadness, mourning and regret are not the first things to be included under the heading The Good Life.  To choose to abort does not prevent a woman from having a child.  It simply ends the growing child’s life.  And it leaves her empty.

4.  The lie of never growing up

Men who want to be boys think they can use women for sex and then leave.  They think they can say things aren’t working out when the woman becomes pregnant.  A man who is not willing to actively father his child negates his own manhood.  He wants authority but is not willing to care for or help others.  He is his own priority.  This attitude –this culture– is unable to bring growth, true flourishing.  It only leads to death.  And this can contribute to the fear and loneliness that drive women to consider abortion.

5.  The lie of equal rights

President Obama’s State of the Union speech in January 2013 sharply confronted deadbeat dads who leave kids fatherless.  This rebuke was warranted as so many children are born into already broken families.  What seemed disjointed about this accusation, however, was that President Obama is very outspoken in his support of abortion rights.  Under the current law, a woman who doesn’t want to give birth to her child, regardless of the father’s willingness to raise the child, is said to have goals and personal rights to abort for any reason.  The law does not protect the child’s right to live, and the law does not give the father the right to protect his child’s right to live.  Only the woman is given sovereignty to kill her child without penalty.  These are not equal rights; they are sovereign rights.  And they can contribute to the problem of fatherlessness by denying fathers the opportunity to  protect their children.

Key Question: Have you believed any of these lies?

Unshakable Truth: “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long” (Psalm 25:5).

Ironically enough, the claim that abortion will help a woman feel better is not more ridiculous than hearing someone claim that becoming a Christian will make life so much easier!  When one follows Jesus, the road leads to the cross.  But when we lay down our lives so that we can be given new life in Christ, the hardest thing (surrender) leads to the very best thing (life in the light).  Here we see that the goal of the cross is to give new life.

The Real Choice: Will you reject the lies that offer death and believe the truth that gives life?

Branding and Shunning: Adult Life Today Can Be Shamefully Similar to High School, or Even Worse

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Angela Chininin Buele

I think we can all admit there are some downright shameful things taking place and being revealed on the campaign trail these days.  It is so sad to know that, in all likelihood, one of two scandalous and untrustworthy people will be elected to the office of President this November.  But I have noticed a trend in the way pundits address this situation.  They are shocked.  Some are shocked that the candidates – both of them – say rude and offensive things.  Others are shocked that investigations into past business dealings – again, of both of them – haven’t led to criminal charges and the end of a campaign (or race).

My question is: Why are we shocked?  This nation has tuned its ears and eyes to the latest buzz of both of these people for decades.  I have seen their family scandals on the evening news since I was a teenager.  From multiple marriages to multiple affairs, the news was full of gossip about both of these people, and yet they were still like brand names because we weren’t counting those sins as fatal flaws back then.  Fast forward 20 years.  Now they both want to be President, and the more we peel back each of these onions, the more pungent the aroma.  While a common reaction is to send the Presidential Sampler Platter back to the kitchen, we have, in fact, gotten what we ordered.  We first branded them, and now we want to shun them.

The cry of the culture at large has been to have a ruler that will let the people do what pleases them.  And when these two have dared to jump on the wagon and do what pleases them, they are called “unfit to serve,” “untrustworthy,” and “disastrous.”  I personally think these terms accurately describe both candidates.  However, we cannot ignore that we have centered our families, our laws and our culture around what “feels right” to us and the rejection of absolute truth.  This is how we end up tangled.  If kids are told that their own respect needs to be earned, but they are unwilling to show respect to earn respect from figures of authority in their community, there is an impasse.  One demands respect while refusing to humbly earn the respect of another person.  From another perspective, a woman is told she can abort her unborn child for any reason without question, but a rape victim who kills her attacker would still have to face some questioning to formally determine that she acted in self-defense and that no criminal charges will be filed in the death of the rapist.  So the rapist is afforded more legal protection than the unborn child who has not ever expressed any intent to harm another person.   What chaos!

Key Question: Where do you draw the line of truth – from yourself, from those around you, or from the Word of God?

Unshakable Truth:  All throughout the book of Judges we see the people of God – foolish as they were – crying out for a king to rule over them, being mistreated by the kings, and repenting and returning to the Lord.

The masses have cried out for an earthly king, and they have suffered under the reign of their ruler.  We must pray for the Lord to grant us repentant hearts, that we might turn from our idols of autonomy and to the unmatched care of the Lord.

The Real Choice: Will you bow before the King of Kings and offer yourself to Him to see His perfect will realized?

Don’t Rush to Judgment, But Don’t Rush to Apathy Either

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Angela Chininin Buele

How often are we rightly told not to rush to judgment?  I know I need to be told this a lot.  I need to be told not to assign motive (usually of malice or mockery) to the words or actions of others.  I need to be warned not to assign consequences to the child who is the obvious “usual suspect” in a sibling squabble before I have heard all sides of the story.  I also need to be reminded that giving an internet review that raves in either extreme after just one or two encounters with the service of an establishment might show more emotion than discernment.

There are times when judgment is required to determine if John Doe is a thief.  We must use information to make such a judgment.  In an ideal situation, we would have complete and accurate information for this process.  This side of eternity, however, we don’t always have that much information or time.  If you are looking for a babysitter for your young children, and one candidate seems to be a little too eager to show physical affection, you would be wise to avoid hiring the person on the spot.  There is too much on the line to take such a risk. Now, to call John Doe a sexual molester based on perception alone is a different matter.  More data is needed.

Taking steps to protect your family and yourself against theft or sexual abuse necessarily assume that it has been judged that theft and sexual abuse are not morally good.

We are told quite plainly now, Don’t judge me or anyone else.  I think where this little quip goes most terribly wrong is that it fails to differentiate between determining that John Doe is a thief and judging that theft is not morally good.  This has taken us to a Zero Tolerance Judgment principle for which only some judgments qualify while others don’t.  For example, it is not socially acceptable to state that homosexuality is immoral, but it is acceptable to say that people who don’t affirm homosexuality are immoral.  Both are judgments.  It is also not socially acceptable to pass laws that would require pregnant women to view an ultrasound of their child before aborting, but it is socially acceptable to require elementary school children to be taught how to engage in sexual expression.

Proper judgment requires discernment, applied wisdom, and understanding.  The road of evading such judgment leads to ­­the darkness of apathy.  If the goal is for each person to do whatever feels good to him or her, there is no obvious place to draw moral boundaries. People are forced to eventually check out and not get upset with anything or try to change the way things are because whatever feels right is what is right.  Nobody cares.  You see, what seems to escape most of us is that you have to care about something to judge it.  You have to want to see your loved one safe so you evaluate the situations and surroundings that affect them to help advise and offer assistance.  Apathy is the lack of concern.  When you lack concern, you will not love or care for anyone.  There is no sacrificial rescue option when you are going down the apathetic, just-looking-out-for-yourself path.

Key Question: Why can’t there be a happy middle between absolute truth and total anarchy?

Unshakable Truth:  “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart’” ( 1 Samuel 16:7).

Time and time again foolish people choose foolish kings.  They choose leaders because of the way they look, the way they talk, the way they dress, the jobs they’ve had, the people they know, the campaign promises they make, or their profound passion to see the competitor NOT get elected.  Samuel’s job was to override the feel good choice for king – the one people would like and want; the easy choice, and trust the Lord’s right discernment of the heart of man.  So it’s God’s place to see and judge the heart, but His people are to carry out appropriate actions to point others away from the peril of darkness and toward Light.

The Real Choice: The stove is hot, the friend is drunk, and the gun is loaded.  Do you give unsolicited advice to see someone dodge disaster or do you keep calm and carry on, figuring that others are in charge of their own matters?

Love Across the Fence

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Angela Chininin Buele

You Can’t Cry Out For The Unborn Without Crying Out For Abortionists

I attended two peaceful prayer vigils last year at a nearby Planned Parenthood facility where abortions are performed.  I wanted to hand our flowers to those gathered to pray because, well, I like purposeful visual demonstrations.  I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so I looked out in my yard and decided that my Black Eyed Susan bush was just the plant to serve as bright spot on a stormy August day.  And they were.  I handed them out to upwards of 100 people throughout the crowd in attendance that day.

Then in October, my mums were in full bloom so they were cut to be handed out at another prayer vigil.  This event, though held on a perfectly sunny fall day, drew a much smaller crowd.  Because the number of flowers I had brought far outnumbered those gathered, I decided to recruit a few friends to insert the flowers between the black metal fence that had always been there and the new vinyl mesh fence that had been attached sometime after the August vigil.  I remembered that when people hold vigils outside of places where somebody has died, they like to leave flowers and other gifts.  So, the right thing to do seemed to use the leftover flowers for that purpose there, at the clinic.  I didn’t actually touch the fence because I pushed the flowers through by holding the stem, and it rested between the two.  You can see my restless heart trying to find a way to not technically trespass their property and still put the flowers there to remember the dead.  I honestly did not expect that flowers in the fence would get any reaction, let alone an angry response.  Well, I learned my lesson.  The volunteer escorts sent over to the fence first silently removed the flowers.  My friends and I replaced the flowers that had been removed.  I wish it had all ended there as a quiet “agree to disagree” sort of matter, but it didn’t.

When the Planned Parenthood volunteers saw we were continuing to place the flowers between the two fences, their demeanor changed.  Threats were issued and profanity was slung quite heatedly by the volunteers.  If I could reach back and put a calming hand on the shoulder of the me of that moment, I would have wanted to fall to my knees and beg the Lord to give them eyes to see the seething rage sparked within themselves by the sight of fuchsia mums.  Unfortunately, as it is always true that where words abound so also does sin, I argued, I defied, and I even tried to record a video of the incident to post it on social media.  This was wrong because this showed that I was using people to reveal the ugliness of the abortion industry instead of loving people and begging the Lord to change their hearts.  Let me say again that this was a completely unloving response, and the memory of this event has been used constantly to redirect my heart to see the people on the other side of the fence as neighbors instead of enemies.  This has not always been easy.  Yet it continues to prove to be critical in the way the Lord is emptying my heart of anger and frustration against them and filling me with sadness and compassion for those who fight for the right to end the lives of the unborn.

Key Question:  Pro-Lifer, are you treating those behind the fence with less compassion than you have for the unborn?

Unshakable Truth: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed  thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector,  standing far off,  would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14).

I have read this passage multiple times in my life, but it wasn’t until I juxtaposed it to my view of passionate pro-choicers that I realized the devastating truth: I have been the self-righteous Pharisee more often than I have been the broken tax collector.  As a follower of Christ, this is a very big problem.  So I am compelled to stand here now and call foul on myself.  I have exalted myself in my ambition to see all unborn children protected from abortion.  And, in exchange, I have stoked fires of anger and disdain against other human beings – human beings who were once unborn children and who have souls that, before God, are equal in value to my own.

All I can possibly say is, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

The Real Choice:  If the tears aren’t being shed for those we know will perish embracing death, we dare not say we are ambassadors of the love of the One True God – the God of Life.

Divorcing the Truth from the Lies: Speaking Plainly about Pain and Loss

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Victor & Angela Chininin Buele

There is no winner in a divorce.  It does not matter if you walk away feeling victorious or relieved.  It does not matter if you profited from the legal division of assets.  It does not matter if you say it was an amicable arrangement. Something went wrong. The promise of the marriage was broken.  Faithfulness was betrayed.  It does not matter what kind of self-justifying arguments may prop up one’s own banner. There will be regret, disappointment, and/or sadness when what was hoped for on the wedding day is given up as a lost cause. There is much to grieve.  There will be loneliness.  And divorce is ultimately impossibly hard to walk through alone because the union is not really over.  It is shattered.  But it is not over.  Birthday parties, weekend plans, graduation parties, monthly bills will bring back memories and also will necessitate interaction with the former spouse for as long as they both shall live.

You actually don’t even have to divorce someone to know the pain of a broken marriage.  When parents divorce, the children mourn the loss of the bond they once witnessed.  They miss the love between the people who love them most tenderly.  Because the nature of divorce is division, this tends to put great pressure (real or perceived) on children to split their previously fused paternal affections into two separate portions.  This is both exhausting and discouraging for kids.  We personally know this battle as our families have been affected by divorce.  This profound impact still has consequences for us today.

Similar to the power of the bond of marriage, the life of an unborn baby naturally brings about a new course of action for both the child and the parents.  There are very real physical, emotional, and social changes brought about by the tiny individual that is bonded so intimately with his or her mother from the very beginning.  Once a new life has begun, any action taken to end this marvelous bond, would result a separation much like the one caused by divorce.  Rejection and loneliness.  Tears.  You may never talk about it again, and you may use busyness and a thousand things to quiet your conscience, but you will always know.

Key Question: Is it possible to undo a mistake?

Unshakable Truth/The Real Choice: “I will not leave you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5b).

There is a real choice set before you.  Will you choose to remain lonely?  Whether divorce or abortion have torn you apart, there is one way to be able to say with confidence that you are not alone.  And that choice has its root in this beautiful promise made by the LORD God to Joshua as he was taking over the leadership of the people of God.  “Just as I was with Moses,” said the LORD to Joshua, “so I will be with you.  I will not leave you or forsake you.”  And He commands this man to be strong and courageous because choosing to be with God requires great trust in His power and love, in His faithfulness to keep His promises.  In God there is real forgiveness and restoration.  In Him, you will not be alone.  Will you choose the way that will lead to further loneliness, or will you turn to God?  We mourn for you.  We mourn with you.  We care for you.  We want you to experience restoration, forgiveness, and true peace (Romans 5:1-5).  Come and welcome to Jesus Christ! as one of the puritans once said.

Pain Quarantine

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Angela Chininin Buele

Why You Can’t Ultimately Be Pro-Life If You Are Unwilling To Suffer With People

We all have our limits, the point where you have to tell someone, “Please, stop!  I do not need to know any more about the rat infestation in your neighbor’s garage.” Or maybe, like me, it’s a matter of what you cannot see or hear.  I am unnerved by watching (or even hearing) violence in movies and also by little kids showing me their loose teeth.  I am a mother, so I will clearly have to come to terms with the latter.

There are certain God-honoring limits we can set regarding the way we interact with members of the opposite sex, people outside of our families, and people we don’t know very well.  These offer a degree of protection (spiritual, as well as physical) and demonstrate wisdom and discernment regarding what is necessary and fruitful.  But there are also ways in which people are increasingly disengaging from communication and relationship when certain taboo topics are broached (i.e. religion, politics, and relational conflict).  These, which are no small matter of neglect, have been problematic in the culture at large for generations.  What seems to be a little more recent of a development in the “liberation through ignorance” department is the refusal to hear bad news.  This could be anything from a new cancer diagnosis to projected rain on someone’s wedding day.  When we are unwilling to hear truth because we don’t like it, not only do we discredit God as Sovereign and Good, but we also dull our minds by denying the growth required through each challenging situation.  The most poignant example of closing oneself off from unpleasant news is when we reject people in their pain and suffering because it causes us too much sadness,  whether it is a five-year-old girl who is battered by cancer treatments before she even begins Kindergarten or a woman who conceived because of rape and is contemplating abortion.  They are people who benefit by our walking the road and sharing the load with them.  Maybe it’s just a few steps, a shared prayer, or a hug, but we can’t love people without being with them in their need.

Key Question: Do you set limits in your relationships and communications with others? Are these walls designed to preserve yourself?  Why is it hard to open up to the pursuit of true edification?

Unshakable Truth: Jesus’ disciples fled when he was arrested.  Jesus sought out the woman caught in adultery, who was facing not arrest but stoning.   Preserving oneself is an investment of dust.  Jesus, on the other hand, surrendered reputation, time, safety, etc., to reach out to the lowest of the low because work in the eternal harvest fields produces an unmatched yield.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Romans 12:15-18 ESV)

The Real Choice: Will you love people by sharing their hurt, or will you love yourself by rejecting a battered brother?

A Labor of Love: The Call to Pray for Pro-choice Mothers

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Angela Chininin Buele
Someone I genuinely love once sported a maternity t-shirt that had two tiny foot prints positioned over the belly and the words “pro-choice” across the chest.  I came across this photo on Facebook so I was able to take a peek into the cross-section of responses posted.  This young woman seemed to have a number of friends who made the kind of conflicted comments that communicated their discomfort with her splashing her “right” to abort on very fabric where her child’s kicks reverberated.  I remember thinking of it as the most heartbreaking veiled threat that a mother could make to the very child her body nurtured.

When my first daughter was born, this friend and I were able to visit briefly, and something she said seemed to betray her own longing for a daughter. I’m not sure she heard me, but I pointed out that she could still have one.

Almost exactly two years later, her daughter was born – prematurely and she is, by the grace of God, developing well.  This precious little girl is a gift from the Lord, who has entrusted her to the care of a mother who made herself the poster-woman for proud pregnant abortion activists.

It pains me to ask:  What happens when this child finds her mother’s maternity pro-choice shirt in a drawer or comes across the picture or hears her mother speak about her passion for the availability of abortion?  I once posed a similar question on social media to find out how people tell their own children that they are pro-choice.  Would you believe that most of the people who responded seemed to think I was either stupid, cruel or both for suggesting that anyone would talk to a child about abortion?  I don’t recall any shame or remorse regarding their pro-choice position, but there was a clear disgust for insinuation that their children be told about that.

So how does that work?  Babies and children are told that they grew big and strong in mommy’s tummy, and adolescents are told that if they get (or get someone) pregnant, there are just some cells to scrape out of the uterus?  Is that really the thought process and plan?  What if they put two and two together?  And how does that culminate on Mother’s Day?  Does the card read, “You alone have the right to choose if a child within your uterus may continue living there.  I’m so glad I made the cut”?  I have to think that even pro-choice mothers would want their children to be confident in their love for them.  Unfortunately, viewing even one child as unwanted and expendable thoroughly undermines the desire to love any other child unconditionally.

Key Question:  How can pro-lifers pray for women who raise children as they advocate for abortion rights?

Unshakable Truth: “Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?…He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.  Praise the Lord!”  Psalm 113:5-6, 9

Joy, the primary byproduct of gratitude, is what is missing in the abortion rights movement.  So we need to pray for the joy of the Lord to fill the hearts of pro-choice women, especially those who are mothers.  We must pray that they will have joy in God’s purpose and timing for bringing life into the womb.  And we must pray for their joy in understanding that all children are unique and delightful gifts, given to bless their mothers and fathers.

The Real Choice: Pro-lifer, will you join me in praying for the mother I mentioned above to be given unending joy by the Lord of Life?

Sex as the Litmus Test For Life

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Angela Chininin Buele

How Feeling Good Has Been Confused for the Reason for Living

Sex used to be commonly understood as the marital rite of passage that it is-a thrilling new secret adventure, entwining a husband and a wife into one heart, mind, and body.  It has been increasingly shoved into the limelight, however, and even been marketed as a civilly protected right.  Any­­ economist can tell you that overstock drives prices down, and so it is now that we have lots and lots of cheap sex all around us.  Not only has this overexposure led to heart-wrenching depravity of how, with whom, and how much; but even the dulling of passion strips this glorious intimacy of its due power.

I am often mocked when I highlight the side effects of the Industrial Revolution. The great thing about starting a “what if” conversation is that it should make both parties think more about what is, what could have been , and how they both might merge in the future.  So, I think that the Industrial Revolution set us on a devastating course of producing cheap products (thus losing the capacity and drive to be dedicated craftsmen), overconsuming and wasting these products (as cheap things break, no one is upset when more stylish, cheap things come out to replace them), and diminishing the values of contentment and stewardship.  There you go.  That’s my opinion, and I’m happy to defend or amend it as any pushback would warrant.

The truth is, advancement in technology has been used in many ways to spread sexual “liberation” to all reaches of the globe at the speed of light.  Clearly, two things are worthy of noting here.  First, sexual immorality was already present around the world long before the internet – or even electricity – was invented.  Also, almost all technology can also be used to the glory of God.  But the clamor of convenience can also deafen the ears – and minds – to the things of God.    As masses try to get more out of exchanges that mean less and less, the false gospel of sex salvation has been developed around two central doctrines: Everyone should celebrate what makes you sexually fulfilled, and no one should keep you from seeking sexual fulfillment.  If he were alive today, Karl Marx would likely be forced to call sex a religion for it sure seems to be the opium of the masses.   And no social stigma or “unwanted” babies will be allowed to kill the buzz.

Our evil desires lure us to sin.  We seek that which will enslave us.  But the solution is redeeming sex, not eliminating it, as many a caricature of Christians might like to infer.  It’s not enough to reclaim it as a prize for our own dominion, but we must surrender it to glory of its Designer.

Key Question: Is all of this talk of sexual liberation actually leading you to deep enslavement?

Unshakable Truth: “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.” Proverbs 26:11

Illicit encounters, images, and conversations, violent attacks and systematic abuse, and the deadening of intellectual and physiological excitement are the vomit one returns to when folly urges he rejection of God’s rightful dominion over the delights of the marriage bed.

The Real Choice:  Are you willing to take a new litmus test and drink the living water to break the cycle of vomit?

Standing in the Diversity Gap: Who Made the List, and Who Got Cut

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Angela Chininin Buele

Animals have PETA, trees get hugged, the earth has lawyers, The Sierra Club works to keep U.S. Navy activity from disrupting ocean wildlife, and the USDA has a task force to address air quality. These organizations all work to preserve resources from careless destruction, and this is an honorable aim. What is less than honorable is the redemption attributed to the attainment of their goals. There is no love offered by any of these groups because their hope for legacy and security is centered around a gift that has been exalted to the status of Giver. This exchange is actually worship because the benefit of the defense these groups offer is never a blessing for –but rather a warning against– humans, except, arguably, in the case of the atmosphere.

Those who are wooed by these causes seek to re-enter the Garden without approaching or acknowledging the Gardener. Value of all things has been reassigned, and the periphery, the backdrop, the landscapes have been given center stage. It’s as if the crown were given reign over the kingdom instead of being passed from the head of one ruler to bestow authority upon the next. When you submit to the creation, there can be no demonstration of grace. It is simple and tragic idolatry.

Of course, the human causes can be skewed as well. Popular Coexist bumper stickers cleverly demonstrate the common symbols for different categories of people (Islam, Wicca, male, female, Judaism, Buddhism, Karma, Toaism, and Christianity). The chorus line arrangement is supposed to demonstrate that living side-by-side we should all be able to get along. At least, some of the graphics and memes lend to that intention. Other representations, however, claim that the unity is, in fact, an eternal bond of shared rightness across the board. This might be referred to as Universalism, which essentially tells everyone they are simultaneously doing good and wasting their time.

With all of this protection and preservation, this unity and affirmation being touted, it is truly heartbreaking to see who doesn’t make the “protected status” list.  The unseen. The unseen are denied safe passage and face certain, violent murder under the guise of security and autonomy while the killings are recorded as victories.  Could we be talking about unseen undocumented immigrants, you might ask.  Or perhaps refugees fleeing imminent danger?  How could this be tolerated – even celebrated? Because, just like all successful historical massacres, blame is assigned to evoke justification, and carnage is hidden so the problem appears to be resolved. What is most shocking, however, is that we are actually looking at the unnamed travelers -living, moving targets- in wombs across the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Where is the camaraderie between human and human? How have the inanimate and the four legged outranked people?

All talk of tolerance and coexistence is meaningless without reconciliation and humility.  True coexistence can only occur when real peace is found, when real reconciliation takes place.  The only place you can find that precious resource is at the foot of the cross, where God and man are reconciled, where salvation is possible because God who became a baby who became a man was unrighteously killed by his fellow men and rose again.  He offers salvation to every last one of us humans. He is making all things new even now.  Will you be reconciled?

There is no more beautifully diverse path than the narrow road of Calvary (Galatians 3:28)

Key Question: Do you want your passions (the causes dearest to your heart) to change the world for your good, or do you want the Passion to change you for the world’s good?

Unshakable Truth: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than that Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen” (Romans 1:22-25).

These words matter because they come from God, and He has true authority over every part of us because He is our Maker.  We have the honor –instead of the obligation– to obey Him because in His love He is a Father and not a cold slave driver. To reject Him in order to throw ourselves down at the feet of creation is grave foolishness.

The Real Choice: Will you prepare to enter into the true Utopia of God’s Kingdom or will you try to establish a throne for yourself in this world before you leave it?