“At Princeton’s James Madison Program, the old-fashioned values survive, at least with a few of their professors. In an open letter posted yesterday at the Ivy League institution to “our students and all students,” fifteen instructors from various Ivy League schools warned the next generation about the “tyranny of public opinion,” and the “easy, lazy way” of coping with it:
At many colleges and universities what John Stuart Mill called “the tyranny of public opinion” does more than merely discourage students from dissenting from prevailing views on moral, political, and other types of questions. It leads them to suppose that dominant views are so obviously correct that only a bigot or a crank could question them.
Since no one wants to be, or be thought of, as a bigot or a crank, the easy, lazy way to proceed is simply by falling into line with campus orthodoxies.
Don’t do that. Think for yourself.
The signatories — including luminaries such as Robert P. George and former Vatican ambassador Mary Ann Glendon — warn especially about those who label people with heterodox opinions as “bigots.” That’s usually a case of projection, and the sign of weak minds aggregating social power rather than intelligence:
Merriam-Webster’s first definition of the word “bigot” is a person “who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices.” The only people who need fear open-minded inquiry and robust debate are the actual bigots, including those on campuses or in the broader society who seek to protect the hegemony of their opinions by claiming that to question those opinions is itself bigotry.”
————————-
“Hillary Clinton’s case isn’t interesting enough to the public to justify releasing the FBI’s files on her, the bureau said this week in rejecting an open-records request by a lawyer seeking to have the former secretary of state punished for perjury.
Ty Clevenger has been trying to get Mrs. Clinton and her personal attorneys disbarred for their handling of her official emails during her time as secretary of state. He’s met with resistance among lawyers, and now his request for information from the FBI’s files has been shot down.
“You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject,” FBI records management section chief David M. Hardy told Mr. Clevenger in a letter Monday.
“It is incumbent upon the requester to provide documentation regarding the public’s interest in the operations and activities of the government before records can be processed pursuant to the FOIA,” Mr. Hardy wrote.”
————————–
“Mr. Clevenger said he thought it would have been clear why Mrs. Clinton’s case was of public interest, but he sent documentation anyway, pointing to a request by members of Congress for an investigation into whether Mrs. Clinton perjured herself in testimony to Capitol Hill.
“I’m just stunned. This is exactly what I would have expected had Mrs. Clinton won the election, but she didn’t. It looks like the Obama administration is still running the FBI,” Mr. Clevenger told The Washington Times.
“How can a story receive national news coverage and not be a matter of public interest? If this is the new standard, then there’s no such thing as a public interest exception,” he said.”
“There can be no justification for the violence perpetrated on Sunday by a group of leftist protesters who attacked supporters of President Trump and others Sunday during an otherwise peaceful “rally against hate” in Berkeley.
Whether they are described as “black bloc” or anarchists — the nomenclature isn’t important — the masked, black-clad protesters are criminals, not the vanguard of a righteous resistance to fascism. They also are traitors to the thousands of peaceful demonstrators who gathered in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Park to counter a “No to Marxism in America” rally — a non-event that drew a relatively small contingent of right-wingers after its organizer, fearing violence, had urged supporters to stay home.
The Associated Press reported that groups of hooded, black-clad protesters kicked and punched at least four men until police or other counter-protesters intervened. Some threatened to break the cameras of anyone who filmed them, including journalists.
This is thuggery, not activism. And it has become too familiar a phenomenon in Berkeley, belying its reputation as a citadel of free speech. In February, for example, 150 black-clad agitators caused $100,000 worth of damage when they smashed through the city protesting a planned UC Berkeley speech by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. The speech was canceled.”
While Obama is to blame because he made the decision, you know the lobbyists for Boeing were egging him on because they stand to make billions off the deal. Which of course will be paid with the billions Obama gave Iran.
“The Obama administration likely hid information about Iran illicitly ferrying militants into Syria on commercial aircraft in order to promote the landmark nuclear deal and foster multi-billion dollar business deals with Tehran’s state-controlled airline sector, according to lawmakers and other sources familiar with the matter.
The Washington Free Beacon first disclosed last week that congressional leaders are calling for an investigation into Iran for using its state-controlled air carrier, Iran Air, to ferry militant fighters into Syria, where they are taking up arms in defense of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
Photographs provided to Congress show Iran using Iran Air to ferry these soldiers between 2016 and 2017, in part when the Obama administration removed sanctions on Iran Air and promoted multi-billion dollars sales between the carrier and aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which is seeking to provide Iran Air with a fleet of new planes that many suspect will be used to carry terrorist fighters and weapons into regional hotspots.
This behavior violates international laws governing the nuclear deal and has now led lawmakers and others to accuse the Obama administration of downplaying Iran’s illicit activity in order to promote the nuclear deal and ensure Tehran receives a new commercial fleet.
Multiple senior Obama administration officials, including former secretary of state John Kerry, traveled the globe to promote trade with Iranian companies, including Iran Air, at the same time Iran was found to be ferrying militants into Syria. Lawmakers and others suspect the Obama administration either hid or downplayed this information in order to preserve the nuclear deal.
“The Obama administration lifted sanctions against Iran Air as a political concession during nuclear negotiations with Iran, not because of any change in its activity,” Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), one of the lawmakers calling for an investigation into Iran’s use of commercial aircraft for military purposes, told the Free Beacon.
“Using social media and public flight tracking websites, any person with a computer can document Iranian military transports to Syria on commercial jets,” Roskam said. “The Obama administration undoubtedly knew Iranian airliners were being used to fuel Assad’s atrocities in Syria, but the administration officials who were globetrotting as Tehran’s chamber of commerce trying to shore up the nuclear deal didn’t care.”
As with Little Bush (9/11 and Katrina) and Obama (the Great Recession), an outside event has now happened that will drastically affect and drive all budget, spending and tax discussions in Washington for a long period of time. As an example, there were significant changes in Medicaid which were adopted in 2005 in order to “pay” for Katrina aid. The damage caused by Harvey is going to dwarf the damage caused by Katrina.
We are not out of the woods yet, and more victims may still be found. However, at this point it looks like a miracle that the loss of life wasn’t greater.
Again, Russell Moore proved to be a hero. He was a leading force behind this. My son was pleased to see his pastor (Matt Chandler) as a signer. Twice, Moore has taken courageous stands. It is important for Christian leaders to stand against perversion even as it was important in 2015 and early 2016 for Christian leaders to stand against Trump.
From an e-mail
Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money. But we never hear about welfare or food stamps running out of money? What’s interesting is the first group “worked for” their money, but the second didn’t.
Think about it…..
Following up on yesterday’s comments and Six and me being surprised at a message by an ELCA pastor, the ELCA Bishop in our area (with whom I’m actually a personal friend), posted this on Facebook this morning. While I agree with him about Ann Coulter and her opinion about Harvey, that sentence gives some background for the rest of the post:
“Between Ann Coulter’s ludicrous suggestion that Harvey is somehow divine retribution for Houston having had a lesbian woman serve previously as mayor; and the spiritually-conceited narrow-mindednesss in the so-called Nashville Statement, I offer these words on behalf of this corner of Christ’s church entrusted to our stewardship in solidarity with our LGBTQIA siblings:
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America affirms that “God loves human life so much that “the Word became flesh” (John 1.14). We know, therefore, that God’s love embraces us totally, including our sexuality…In response to God’s love for us, we seek life-giving relationships with others and create social structures and practices that support such relationships.” – Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust, as adopted by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, 2009.
Red, yellow, black, brown, white and rainbow-hued, precious are we all in God’s sight.
No exceptions. None.”
Linda, My son had also read the statement by the ELCA “pastor”. He said he was afraid God was going to send down a bolt of lightning to burn up his iPad while the heretical ELCA statement was being displayed.
@2:57 Donna, I think the writer there is off base. For one thing, he says:
“Christian theology generally asserts that repentance is the key that unlocks the door of conversion. The Nashville Statement, however, attempts to convert the culture while ignoring failing to repent of its own failures on these very issues.”
But as I read it, the Statement is meant for clarification for Christians, not to influence the culture at large. Progressive Christians who are involved in the LGBT movement are, of course, not going to be happy with the Statement regardless of its intent, just as they are not happy with Scripture unless the unpleasant parts can be marginalized.
It is sad that we seem to need such a statement. However, as we speak, there are teachers being told they must support sexual immorality and even promote it. There are children being told such things are normal. Churches need to send a clear message. That includes being loving to everyone. Whether such a statement goes anywhere is not in our control. Lots of things we do see to not succeed. Jesus’ mission looked like a failure to everyone.
“Ready for another bombshell in the case of a former IT aide to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)? Turns out that Imran Awan still has an active email account connected to Rep. André Carson (D-IN), even though he’s been banned from the network since the Capital police named him in an investigation concerning stolen equipment and breaching the House IT system.
Luke Rosiak at The Daily Caller reported:
Imran Awan’s still-active email address is linked to the name of a House staffer who specializes in intelligence and homeland security matters for Indiana Democratic Rep. André Carson. Court documents and emails obtained by TheDCNF show Awan used the address 123@mail.house.gov in addition to his standard imran.awan@mail.house.gov account.
He and two of his Pakistani-born brothers, as well as his wife, are at the center of an FBI investigation over their IT work with dozens of Democratic congressional offices. Authorities shut down Awan’s standard email account Feb. 2, and he was arrested by the FBI at Dulles International Airport trying to board a flight to his native Pakistan on July 25.
The Daily Caller found that email “sent via Gmail fills in the name of the account-holder of 123 as Nathan Bennett.” The publication discovered Bennett’s LinkedIn profile, which states that “his individual legislative portfolio covers ‘national security and foreign affairs’ and includes work on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.”
Bennett works as chief of staff for Carson, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee and House Homeland Security Committee. He also holds the position of “ranking member of the House intelligence subcommittee on emerging threats, which oversees the Office of the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and information-sharing programs.”
Carson also employed Awan. The Daily Caller continued:
Bennett, who is Carson’s deputy chief of staff, told TheDCNF he has no control over the 123 address. “However this happened, it was not with my consent or control,” he said in an email. “For the record, I do not, nor have I ever, had control of the 123@mail.house.gov email account or any other account connected with Imran Awan or his family.” That could not be confirmed by the House’s chief administrative officer (CAO) because spokesman Dan Weiser has said “the CAO will not comment on matters pertaining to this ongoing investigation.”
Bennett’s response raises questions about whether Awan was misusing Carson’s office, access or staffers.”
Aj @6:53: It’s amazing how much effort is being exercised to protect Hillary. They are resisting a court order to produce and release her e-mails that weren’t released by the State Dept, because it would take too much time and effort. They are saying that they won’t comply with the order because they want to protect Hillary’s privacy. They need to understand, like the judge does, that government e-mails are the property of the people, and an individual’s privacy is not a condition that can be used to block their release. That was the total intent of the Freedom of Information laws – to prevent government officials hiding behind any excuse to not disclose government documents.
Linda, that word solidarity (“…with our LGBTQIA siblings”) in that ELCA bishop’s statement is sadly telling. The pastor of the ELCA church I mentioned yesterday pretty radically stands apart from his synod when he defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.
I got to thinking last night after our conversation about that, and I wondered how such statements (like what you quoted above about what the ELCA affirms regarding sexuality) might affect my friends’ pastor’s ministry. Has he ever considered leaving the ELCA synod? Is he staying despite error in his synod’s affirmations, practices, etc. so that his congregants continue to receive orthodox preaching on law and gospel?
My husband grew up ALC (American Lutheran Church, one of the synods that eventually merged into the ELCA), and when we were engaged, him planning to become a member of my synod (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, now commonly known as WELS), my pastor asked him a series of doctrinal questions to see what his beliefs were, and how closely they aligned to WELS beliefs. (To determine whether he’d need to take instruction classes before becoming a member.)
As it happened, the doctrines that my then-husband-to-be had been taught were virtually the same as Wisc. Synod beliefs, so he could become a member immediately. One thing I recall from that meeting was that the pastor said that whereas in our synod, there is no difference in the doctrines preached from one WELS church to another, there could be very wide differences between, say, one ALC church and another, depending on the pastor.
So that leads me to believe that there wasn’t much consistency from one church to another within the same synod of some Lutheran bodies, and maybe some of those congregations that are now part of the ELCA might be expressing very different views from what the synod now proclaims as their stance?
I wonder how much pressure pastors like my friends’ are under to conform to the “preaching” of the synod? How much trouble might he get in for not, say, “creat[ing] social structures and practices that support such [LGBTQIA] relationships”?
My wife and I are off to San Diego for an Anniversary vacation. I made sure I went to the restroom at Love Field in Dallas since I figured there might me ladies in the Men’s Room in California.
The damages caused by Organized Perversion can not be confined to “consenting adults”. We now have parents and doctors giving male hormones to little girls and female hormones to little boys. This is gross child abuse deserving of the most severe punishment. If the church will not stand against such an abomination, it is not good for much.
Yikes that Merritt piece DJ linked is terrible! (Not saying DJ agrees with it). The comments under the tweet are bad, too. It and they cast Christians–Bible believing ones–in the same old boilerplate terms the homosexual movement has used for years. And Merritt doesn’t even realize he’s making arguments against *Scripture.* It also looks like the article is a warmed over version of something he published 5 or so years ago, fwiw.
I didn’t (don’t) agree with Merritt and also found his lack of biblical arguments interesting – he seemed to be lumping it all under ‘those fundamentalists’ label
Hi DJ. How do you mean “the biblical view of marriage simply cannot be pigeonholed into that kind of throwback category”? I missed what that’s in reference to.
Just parenthetically, Merritt says (also parenthetically, but still) that Christians have issued various statements in recent years that “oddly” bear the name of the location in which they were written. Maybe he hasn’t heard of…
The Nicene Creed
The Westminster Confession
The Helvetic Confessions
The Heidelberg Catechism
The Chalcedonian Creed
The Canons of Dort
The London Confession of Faith
Solar, it seemed to me (but I did mostly scan the piece) that he was suggesting that only(or primarily, at least) so-called “fundamentalists” who have a penchant for marginalizing themselves at every turn would fall into the category that signed the document (supporting biblical standards of marriage), though they may have been “well intentioned.”
Even the AP style guide on religion advises journalists to steer clear of it.
“‘Fundamentalist'” is described as a pejorative term; the style guide advises against its use unless people specifically use it to describe themselves”
… Romans 1 indicates that as unbelievers we “suppress the truth” (Rom. 1:18) and have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Rom. 1:25). Such suppression and idolatrous substitution of lies for truth turn us into fools, though we claim “to be wise” (Rom. 1:22). In short, our rejection of God’s words in general revelation distorts our view of God and of reality. Such warping rebellion marks a point of no return morally and intellectually.
That being the case, God comes to us graciously and discloses to us forgiveness in the Son of God. His Word is a redemptive Word, and by faith in Jesus Christ—the Protagonist of Scripture—our eyes are opened to the truths and truthfulness of Scripture. Such understanding is entirely a gift. It is not a production of our wills or our minds. It simply cannot be. …
_______________________________________________________
… From a biblical perspective, there is nothing controversial in the Nashville Statement, as it affirms sexual norms that have been taught by the Church for the last two millennia, including marriage being the union of one man and one woman.
From the perspective of LGBT activists and their allies, the statement has been branded “an affront to God’s creative design,” a theology that “breeds death. …
… That reaction shouldn’t surprise us at all, although it is tragic and painful to read. Nor should part of Jen Hatmaker’s response surprise us, given her abandonment of evangelical Christian values.
She tweeted, “If the fruit of doctrine regularly & consistently creates shame, self-harm, suicide, & broken hearts, families, & churches, we shld listen.” …
For Hatmaker, however, the reverse is true, as she tweeted, “The fruit of the ‘Nashville Statement’ is suffering, rejection, shame, and despair,” adding, “The timing is callous beyond words.”
The timing? What was she talking about?
As USA Today explains, “Christian author Jen Hatmaker of Austin, Texas, who came out in favor of same-sex marriage and whose books have been removed from the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Stores because of that philosophy, called the timing of the statement callous because of the Aug. 12 Unite the Right white supremacists’ rally in Charlottesville, Va., and protester Heather Heyer’s death.”
This is utterly baffling and indicates, sadly, how far left Hatmaker has shifted.
What connection do neo-Nazis, the KKK, and White Supremacists have with an evangelical statement on biblical sexuality? Absolutely none. …
… The very sad fall of Jen Hatmaker, for whom we pray, is a striking illustration of the power of spiritual deception. Once you embrace the first lie, it’s much easier to embrace the other lies, which get bigger and uglier by the day.
May God awaken those deceived by LGBT theology, and may He strengthen those who are taking a stand for biblical truth.
__________________________________________
I think tomorrow we will visit the Midway and the zoo. This is an interesting place. We ate seafood at Ironside in Little Italy. The young people in the restaurant worked really hard and had great attitudes.
I was nearly killed by a falling pole at the SD zoo, long time ago.
And I had a day with a guy once who took me to the Coronado for lunch but he was wearing sandals and they wouldn’t let him in, so we went to a store where he bought some socks to wear under the sandals. Tacky, but we got in. 🙂 3 dates and that was over with
Wandering Views 
This should be required reading for all incoming college students.
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/29/princeton-profs-warn-students-watch-real-bigots/
“At Princeton’s James Madison Program, the old-fashioned values survive, at least with a few of their professors. In an open letter posted yesterday at the Ivy League institution to “our students and all students,” fifteen instructors from various Ivy League schools warned the next generation about the “tyranny of public opinion,” and the “easy, lazy way” of coping with it:
At many colleges and universities what John Stuart Mill called “the tyranny of public opinion” does more than merely discourage students from dissenting from prevailing views on moral, political, and other types of questions. It leads them to suppose that dominant views are so obviously correct that only a bigot or a crank could question them.
Since no one wants to be, or be thought of, as a bigot or a crank, the easy, lazy way to proceed is simply by falling into line with campus orthodoxies.
Don’t do that. Think for yourself.
The signatories — including luminaries such as Robert P. George and former Vatican ambassador Mary Ann Glendon — warn especially about those who label people with heterodox opinions as “bigots.” That’s usually a case of projection, and the sign of weak minds aggregating social power rather than intelligence:
Merriam-Webster’s first definition of the word “bigot” is a person “who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices.” The only people who need fear open-minded inquiry and robust debate are the actual bigots, including those on campuses or in the broader society who seek to protect the hegemony of their opinions by claiming that to question those opinions is itself bigotry.”
————————-
You can read the whole letter here.
https://jmp.princeton.edu/announcements/some-thoughts-and-advice-our-students-and-all-students
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What a load of…….
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/29/fbi-lack-public-interest-emails-justifies-withhold/
“Hillary Clinton’s case isn’t interesting enough to the public to justify releasing the FBI’s files on her, the bureau said this week in rejecting an open-records request by a lawyer seeking to have the former secretary of state punished for perjury.
Ty Clevenger has been trying to get Mrs. Clinton and her personal attorneys disbarred for their handling of her official emails during her time as secretary of state. He’s met with resistance among lawyers, and now his request for information from the FBI’s files has been shot down.
“You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject,” FBI records management section chief David M. Hardy told Mr. Clevenger in a letter Monday.
“It is incumbent upon the requester to provide documentation regarding the public’s interest in the operations and activities of the government before records can be processed pursuant to the FOIA,” Mr. Hardy wrote.”
————————–
“Mr. Clevenger said he thought it would have been clear why Mrs. Clinton’s case was of public interest, but he sent documentation anyway, pointing to a request by members of Congress for an investigation into whether Mrs. Clinton perjured herself in testimony to Capitol Hill.
“I’m just stunned. This is exactly what I would have expected had Mrs. Clinton won the election, but she didn’t. It looks like the Obama administration is still running the FBI,” Mr. Clevenger told The Washington Times.
“How can a story receive national news coverage and not be a matter of public interest? If this is the new standard, then there’s no such thing as a public interest exception,” he said.”
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So they’re conceding that Trump was correct in his statement of the same about Charlottesville?
Of course not. But he was.
I guess they deserve a golf clap for finally stating the obvious.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-berkeley-violence-20170829-story.html
“There can be no justification for the violence perpetrated on Sunday by a group of leftist protesters who attacked supporters of President Trump and others Sunday during an otherwise peaceful “rally against hate” in Berkeley.
Whether they are described as “black bloc” or anarchists — the nomenclature isn’t important — the masked, black-clad protesters are criminals, not the vanguard of a righteous resistance to fascism. They also are traitors to the thousands of peaceful demonstrators who gathered in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Park to counter a “No to Marxism in America” rally — a non-event that drew a relatively small contingent of right-wingers after its organizer, fearing violence, had urged supporters to stay home.
The Associated Press reported that groups of hooded, black-clad protesters kicked and punched at least four men until police or other counter-protesters intervened. Some threatened to break the cameras of anyone who filmed them, including journalists.
This is thuggery, not activism. And it has become too familiar a phenomenon in Berkeley, belying its reputation as a citadel of free speech. In February, for example, 150 black-clad agitators caused $100,000 worth of damage when they smashed through the city protesting a planned UC Berkeley speech by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. The speech was canceled.”
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While Obama is to blame because he made the decision, you know the lobbyists for Boeing were egging him on because they stand to make billions off the deal. Which of course will be paid with the billions Obama gave Iran.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-admin-hid-intel-iranian-militants-syria-push-nuclear-deal/
“The Obama administration likely hid information about Iran illicitly ferrying militants into Syria on commercial aircraft in order to promote the landmark nuclear deal and foster multi-billion dollar business deals with Tehran’s state-controlled airline sector, according to lawmakers and other sources familiar with the matter.
The Washington Free Beacon first disclosed last week that congressional leaders are calling for an investigation into Iran for using its state-controlled air carrier, Iran Air, to ferry militant fighters into Syria, where they are taking up arms in defense of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
Photographs provided to Congress show Iran using Iran Air to ferry these soldiers between 2016 and 2017, in part when the Obama administration removed sanctions on Iran Air and promoted multi-billion dollars sales between the carrier and aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which is seeking to provide Iran Air with a fleet of new planes that many suspect will be used to carry terrorist fighters and weapons into regional hotspots.
This behavior violates international laws governing the nuclear deal and has now led lawmakers and others to accuse the Obama administration of downplaying Iran’s illicit activity in order to promote the nuclear deal and ensure Tehran receives a new commercial fleet.
Multiple senior Obama administration officials, including former secretary of state John Kerry, traveled the globe to promote trade with Iranian companies, including Iran Air, at the same time Iran was found to be ferrying militants into Syria. Lawmakers and others suspect the Obama administration either hid or downplayed this information in order to preserve the nuclear deal.
“The Obama administration lifted sanctions against Iran Air as a political concession during nuclear negotiations with Iran, not because of any change in its activity,” Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), one of the lawmakers calling for an investigation into Iran’s use of commercial aircraft for military purposes, told the Free Beacon.
“Using social media and public flight tracking websites, any person with a computer can document Iranian military transports to Syria on commercial jets,” Roskam said. “The Obama administration undoubtedly knew Iranian airliners were being used to fuel Assad’s atrocities in Syria, but the administration officials who were globetrotting as Tehran’s chamber of commerce trying to shore up the nuclear deal didn’t care.”
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As with Little Bush (9/11 and Katrina) and Obama (the Great Recession), an outside event has now happened that will drastically affect and drive all budget, spending and tax discussions in Washington for a long period of time. As an example, there were significant changes in Medicaid which were adopted in 2005 in order to “pay” for Katrina aid. The damage caused by Harvey is going to dwarf the damage caused by Katrina.
We are not out of the woods yet, and more victims may still be found. However, at this point it looks like a miracle that the loss of life wasn’t greater.
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Chas gave us the big news yesterday: The Nashville Statement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/08/30/evangelical-leaders-release-nashville-statement-on-sexuality-rejecting-gay-marriage/?utm_term=.ed8d74608dfe
Again, Russell Moore proved to be a hero. He was a leading force behind this. My son was pleased to see his pastor (Matt Chandler) as a signer. Twice, Moore has taken courageous stands. It is important for Christian leaders to stand against perversion even as it was important in 2015 and early 2016 for Christian leaders to stand against Trump.
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From an e-mail
Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money. But we never hear about welfare or food stamps running out of money? What’s interesting is the first group “worked for” their money, but the second didn’t.
Think about it…..
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Following up on yesterday’s comments and Six and me being surprised at a message by an ELCA pastor, the ELCA Bishop in our area (with whom I’m actually a personal friend), posted this on Facebook this morning. While I agree with him about Ann Coulter and her opinion about Harvey, that sentence gives some background for the rest of the post:
“Between Ann Coulter’s ludicrous suggestion that Harvey is somehow divine retribution for Houston having had a lesbian woman serve previously as mayor; and the spiritually-conceited narrow-mindednesss in the so-called Nashville Statement, I offer these words on behalf of this corner of Christ’s church entrusted to our stewardship in solidarity with our LGBTQIA siblings:
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America affirms that “God loves human life so much that “the Word became flesh” (John 1.14). We know, therefore, that God’s love embraces us totally, including our sexuality…In response to God’s love for us, we seek life-giving relationships with others and create social structures and practices that support such relationships.” – Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust, as adopted by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, 2009.
Red, yellow, black, brown, white and rainbow-hued, precious are we all in God’s sight.
No exceptions. None.”
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Linda, My son had also read the statement by the ELCA “pastor”. He said he was afraid God was going to send down a bolt of lightning to burn up his iPad while the heretical ELCA statement was being displayed.
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For an opposing view … Thoughts?
https://twitter.com/JonathanMerritt/status/902941803913072642
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Here’s John Piper with the actual text of the Nashville Statement.
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/precious-clarity-on-human-sexuality
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And Mere Orthodoxy probably makes the most coherent case I’ve read so far for *not* signing the statement. I disagree with him, but ….
https://mereorthodoxy.com/nashville-statement/
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And then there’s Rod Dreher, who again nails it like a pro. :–)
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/why-nashville-statement-needed-evangelical-christianity/
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@2:57 Donna, I think the writer there is off base. For one thing, he says:
“Christian theology generally asserts that repentance is the key that unlocks the door of conversion. The Nashville Statement, however, attempts to convert the culture while ignoring failing to repent of its own failures on these very issues.”
But as I read it, the Statement is meant for clarification for Christians, not to influence the culture at large. Progressive Christians who are involved in the LGBT movement are, of course, not going to be happy with the Statement regardless of its intent, just as they are not happy with Scripture unless the unpleasant parts can be marginalized.
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I also disagree with that writer. It is not difficult to see why he would hate the statement.
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It is sad that we seem to need such a statement. However, as we speak, there are teachers being told they must support sexual immorality and even promote it. There are children being told such things are normal. Churches need to send a clear message. That includes being loving to everyone. Whether such a statement goes anywhere is not in our control. Lots of things we do see to not succeed. Jesus’ mission looked like a failure to everyone.
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Nice.
And the media will continue to ignore it……..
http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/08/former-it-aide-imran-awan-still-has-active-house-email-account/
“Ready for another bombshell in the case of a former IT aide to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)? Turns out that Imran Awan still has an active email account connected to Rep. André Carson (D-IN), even though he’s been banned from the network since the Capital police named him in an investigation concerning stolen equipment and breaching the House IT system.
Luke Rosiak at The Daily Caller reported:
Imran Awan’s still-active email address is linked to the name of a House staffer who specializes in intelligence and homeland security matters for Indiana Democratic Rep. André Carson. Court documents and emails obtained by TheDCNF show Awan used the address 123@mail.house.gov in addition to his standard imran.awan@mail.house.gov account.
He and two of his Pakistani-born brothers, as well as his wife, are at the center of an FBI investigation over their IT work with dozens of Democratic congressional offices. Authorities shut down Awan’s standard email account Feb. 2, and he was arrested by the FBI at Dulles International Airport trying to board a flight to his native Pakistan on July 25.
The Daily Caller found that email “sent via Gmail fills in the name of the account-holder of 123 as Nathan Bennett.” The publication discovered Bennett’s LinkedIn profile, which states that “his individual legislative portfolio covers ‘national security and foreign affairs’ and includes work on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.”
Bennett works as chief of staff for Carson, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee and House Homeland Security Committee. He also holds the position of “ranking member of the House intelligence subcommittee on emerging threats, which oversees the Office of the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and information-sharing programs.”
Carson also employed Awan. The Daily Caller continued:
Bennett, who is Carson’s deputy chief of staff, told TheDCNF he has no control over the 123 address. “However this happened, it was not with my consent or control,” he said in an email. “For the record, I do not, nor have I ever, had control of the 123@mail.house.gov email account or any other account connected with Imran Awan or his family.” That could not be confirmed by the House’s chief administrative officer (CAO) because spokesman Dan Weiser has said “the CAO will not comment on matters pertaining to this ongoing investigation.”
Bennett’s response raises questions about whether Awan was misusing Carson’s office, access or staffers.”
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Aj @6:53: It’s amazing how much effort is being exercised to protect Hillary. They are resisting a court order to produce and release her e-mails that weren’t released by the State Dept, because it would take too much time and effort. They are saying that they won’t comply with the order because they want to protect Hillary’s privacy. They need to understand, like the judge does, that government e-mails are the property of the people, and an individual’s privacy is not a condition that can be used to block their release. That was the total intent of the Freedom of Information laws – to prevent government officials hiding behind any excuse to not disclose government documents.
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Linda, that word solidarity (“…with our LGBTQIA siblings”) in that ELCA bishop’s statement is sadly telling. The pastor of the ELCA church I mentioned yesterday pretty radically stands apart from his synod when he defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.
I got to thinking last night after our conversation about that, and I wondered how such statements (like what you quoted above about what the ELCA affirms regarding sexuality) might affect my friends’ pastor’s ministry. Has he ever considered leaving the ELCA synod? Is he staying despite error in his synod’s affirmations, practices, etc. so that his congregants continue to receive orthodox preaching on law and gospel?
My husband grew up ALC (American Lutheran Church, one of the synods that eventually merged into the ELCA), and when we were engaged, him planning to become a member of my synod (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, now commonly known as WELS), my pastor asked him a series of doctrinal questions to see what his beliefs were, and how closely they aligned to WELS beliefs. (To determine whether he’d need to take instruction classes before becoming a member.)
As it happened, the doctrines that my then-husband-to-be had been taught were virtually the same as Wisc. Synod beliefs, so he could become a member immediately. One thing I recall from that meeting was that the pastor said that whereas in our synod, there is no difference in the doctrines preached from one WELS church to another, there could be very wide differences between, say, one ALC church and another, depending on the pastor.
So that leads me to believe that there wasn’t much consistency from one church to another within the same synod of some Lutheran bodies, and maybe some of those congregations that are now part of the ELCA might be expressing very different views from what the synod now proclaims as their stance?
I wonder how much pressure pastors like my friends’ are under to conform to the “preaching” of the synod? How much trouble might he get in for not, say, “creat[ing] social structures and practices that support such [LGBTQIA] relationships”?
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My wife and I are off to San Diego for an Anniversary vacation. I made sure I went to the restroom at Love Field in Dallas since I figured there might me ladies in the Men’s Room in California.
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The damages caused by Organized Perversion can not be confined to “consenting adults”. We now have parents and doctors giving male hormones to little girls and female hormones to little boys. This is gross child abuse deserving of the most severe punishment. If the church will not stand against such an abomination, it is not good for much.
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Have a good vacation, Ricky. And Happy Anniversary! :–)
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Ditto Debra’s, Ricky. She beat me to it. 🙂 Happy Anniversary to you and your wife.
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Yikes that Merritt piece DJ linked is terrible! (Not saying DJ agrees with it). The comments under the tweet are bad, too. It and they cast Christians–Bible believing ones–in the same old boilerplate terms the homosexual movement has used for years. And Merritt doesn’t even realize he’s making arguments against *Scripture.* It also looks like the article is a warmed over version of something he published 5 or so years ago, fwiw.
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I didn’t (don’t) agree with Merritt and also found his lack of biblical arguments interesting – he seemed to be lumping it all under ‘those fundamentalists’ label
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I hardly consider Moore a fundamentalist and the biblical view of marriage simply cannot be pigeonholed into that kind of throwback category.
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Hi DJ. How do you mean “the biblical view of marriage simply cannot be pigeonholed into that kind of throwback category”? I missed what that’s in reference to.
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Just parenthetically, Merritt says (also parenthetically, but still) that Christians have issued various statements in recent years that “oddly” bear the name of the location in which they were written. Maybe he hasn’t heard of…
The Nicene Creed
The Westminster Confession
The Helvetic Confessions
The Heidelberg Catechism
The Chalcedonian Creed
The Canons of Dort
The London Confession of Faith
and on and on and on and……
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Solar, it seemed to me (but I did mostly scan the piece) that he was suggesting that only(or primarily, at least) so-called “fundamentalists” who have a penchant for marginalizing themselves at every turn would fall into the category that signed the document (supporting biblical standards of marriage), though they may have been “well intentioned.”
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‘Fundamentalist’ is a loaded term.
Even the AP style guide on religion advises journalists to steer clear of it.
“‘Fundamentalist'” is described as a pejorative term; the style guide advises against its use unless people specifically use it to describe themselves”
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/05/style-guide-for-religion/371813/
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Ricky, not to worry.
That’s not what it’s all about.
Women don’t go into men’s rest rooms.
Women don’t go into men’s showers.
Too late tor a QoD. Maybe tomorrow.
So be thinking about it.
We have heard much about men becoming women.
Does anyone know of a situation in which a woman becomes a man?
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Men can’t become women either
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… Romans 1 indicates that as unbelievers we “suppress the truth” (Rom. 1:18) and have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Rom. 1:25). Such suppression and idolatrous substitution of lies for truth turn us into fools, though we claim “to be wise” (Rom. 1:22). In short, our rejection of God’s words in general revelation distorts our view of God and of reality. Such warping rebellion marks a point of no return morally and intellectually.
That being the case, God comes to us graciously and discloses to us forgiveness in the Son of God. His Word is a redemptive Word, and by faith in Jesus Christ—the Protagonist of Scripture—our eyes are opened to the truths and truthfulness of Scripture. Such understanding is entirely a gift. It is not a production of our wills or our minds. It simply cannot be. …
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A response to yet another reaction:
Jen Hatmaker’s Irrational Response to a ‘Christian Manifesto’ on Sexuality
http://www.christianpost.com/news/jen-hatmakers-irrational-response-to-a-christian-manifesto-on-sexuality-197353/
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… From a biblical perspective, there is nothing controversial in the Nashville Statement, as it affirms sexual norms that have been taught by the Church for the last two millennia, including marriage being the union of one man and one woman.
From the perspective of LGBT activists and their allies, the statement has been branded “an affront to God’s creative design,” a theology that “breeds death. …
… That reaction shouldn’t surprise us at all, although it is tragic and painful to read. Nor should part of Jen Hatmaker’s response surprise us, given her abandonment of evangelical Christian values.
She tweeted, “If the fruit of doctrine regularly & consistently creates shame, self-harm, suicide, & broken hearts, families, & churches, we shld listen.” …
For Hatmaker, however, the reverse is true, as she tweeted, “The fruit of the ‘Nashville Statement’ is suffering, rejection, shame, and despair,” adding, “The timing is callous beyond words.”
The timing? What was she talking about?
As USA Today explains, “Christian author Jen Hatmaker of Austin, Texas, who came out in favor of same-sex marriage and whose books have been removed from the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Stores because of that philosophy, called the timing of the statement callous because of the Aug. 12 Unite the Right white supremacists’ rally in Charlottesville, Va., and protester Heather Heyer’s death.”
This is utterly baffling and indicates, sadly, how far left Hatmaker has shifted.
What connection do neo-Nazis, the KKK, and White Supremacists have with an evangelical statement on biblical sexuality? Absolutely none. …
… The very sad fall of Jen Hatmaker, for whom we pray, is a striking illustration of the power of spiritual deception. Once you embrace the first lie, it’s much easier to embrace the other lies, which get bigger and uglier by the day.
May God awaken those deceived by LGBT theology, and may He strengthen those who are taking a stand for biblical truth.
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We are here and full of seafood.
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USS Midway
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I think tomorrow we will visit the Midway and the zoo. This is an interesting place. We ate seafood at Ironside in Little Italy. The young people in the restaurant worked really hard and had great attitudes.
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Three cheers for Houston!
https://twitter.com/michaelberrysho/status/902882716802265096
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I was nearly killed by a falling pole at the SD zoo, long time ago.
And I had a day with a guy once who took me to the Coronado for lunch but he was wearing sandals and they wouldn’t let him in, so we went to a store where he bought some socks to wear under the sandals. Tacky, but we got in. 🙂 3 dates and that was over with
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Lots of dog beaches down that way – maybe you can rent a dog
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Little Falwell sinks to new low.
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I like the Nashville thingy.
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