Month: June 2015

Self-Love And Confusion in the 21st Century

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self-love-65693_1280

One of the biggest deceptions in our society is that self-love is a thing, much less THE thing.

With the rapid rise in wealth since the Second World War, large periods of peace in many places (always excluding the Middle East) and technological advances that have revolutionised society, the old ideas of responsibilities, commitment and so on have crumbled. There is a consensus that my life is to be the best life, as  measured by my desires.

The widespread availability of motor vehicles since the War meant that the general mobility of people has exploded beyond what our grandparents might have imagined. Where previous generations often were born, married, raised children and died in the one community, now people move house regularly. Fly In Fly Out and Drive In Drive Out workers are the new norm, meaning that families no longer  need to be near the bread-winner’s work place.

The communications revolution of recent years means that you can communicate with anyone any time right around the world. Not only that, people can portray any personality they choose online as they hide behind their screens.

The sexual revolution of the 1960’s and 70’s brought reliable contraception and the divorce of sexuality from pregnancy and thence from marriage.

All of these changes in half a century, plus many others that could be mentioned, have brought people in the Western cultures to an understanding that their self-actualisation, their own pleasure and personal satisfaction, are the most important things about life.

Society, inasmuch it has any role in anybody’s life, is there to facilitate my happiness.

If I want to use illicit drugs or go on a drinking binge then that’s fine as long as nobody gets hurt. Somebody will be there to overcome the health effects or the psychiatric issues later.

If I want to engage in high risk sexual activity then somebody will pick up the tab later for my anti-HIV medication.

If I want to walk out on my relationships then somebody will be there to pay for the care of my children.

The rhetoric of the same sex marriage campaign echoes this. If two people are happy then why get in the way of love?

If some white guy wants to live as a black woman then who are we to judge?

Collectively we have become confused about who we are and why we are here. Self-love is not the highest love, nor is the right to happiness a real right. Marriage is not about romantic love for that matter.

Christians are told we love because Christ first loved us. Because of that love we are to live lives of joyful service of God and the world, laying down our lives, dying to what we want to become what God wants us to be.

Our culture has got this so wrong. Self-love does not lead to better people- it just makes self-centred people.

When a whole nation of self-centred people all jostle for their “rights” then the nation is divided and chaos ensues.

We are in a mess now of our own making. Don’t blame the politicians, the judges, the media, the corporations. We’ve bought into the lie that it’s all about me. And the chaos- that’s ll about me too.

Gay Sharia

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They keep insisting that recognising gay “marriage” won’t affect anybody else, but the facts are different.

Bill Muehlenberg writes:

More Islamic and Homosexual Sharia

In an earlier piece I noted the frightening similarities between the Islamic war on faith, family and freedom, and the homosexual war on faith, family and freedom. The attempt to push Islamic sharia law throughout the West is destroying democracy and liberty, but so too is the attempt to force everyone to embrace and promote the militant homosexual agenda.

Thus it is now not even worth bothering to differentiate between the two, since both are totalitarian movements designed to crush all opposition and silence all critics. So here I will simply offer more examples of Islamic sharia in action and homosexual sharia in action.

shariaLet me start with the ugly Big Brother activism of the homosexual lobby. They and their buddies in the courts and the media are doing a great job of smashing freedom and destroying genuine debate. Let me begin with a Christian bakery forced to close down because homosexual militants sued them in court for not making them a cake.

Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer sued Aaron and Melissa Klein of Sweet Cakes Bakery, forcing it to close its doors and won damages which will bankrupt the family. The Bowman-Cryers claimed they felt “mentally raped” in a list of 88 symptoms of emotional distress at being refused a cake. Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer were awarded $135,000 for damages.

A similar case occurred in Iowa where another Christian business was forced to close down by the hate-brigade:

The owners of a Christian family run business is being forced to shut their doors after being charged with discrimination against a homosexual couple. Betty Odgaard and her husband, Richard, have been the owners of Görtz Haus Gallery since 2002, when they purchased a 77-year-old stone church and transformed it into a bistro, flower shop, art gallery and wedding venue. On August 3, 2013, a homosexual couple from Des Moines asked to rent Görtz Haus for their wedding, and because of their Mennonite faith, the Odgaards told the couple they couldn’t host their wedding.
The couple immediately filed a discrimination complaint through the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, and knowing their business was going to be in trouble, the Odgaards ended their wedding business in order to avoid the probability of another complaint and the associated fines and penalties. After leaving the wedding business, Görtz Haus struggled to survive, but the Odgaards felt they had no choice. The risks were simply too great.

And consider this appalling case of homofascism from Boston:

On March 30, a major Harvard-affiliated hospital in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), expelled a well-respected urologist from its medical staff because he voiced concerns about the unhealthy nature of homosexual behavior and objected to the hospital’s aggressive promotion of “gay pride” activities.
Dr. Paul Church has been a urologist on the BIDMC staff in Boston for nearly 30 years. He is a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. He has done research on diagnosing prostate and bladder cancer, and has been a frequent volunteer for medical mission projects in Mexico and Africa. He has also spoken before educational and civic groups on the subject of high-risk sexual behaviors.

So telling the truth about the health risks of homosexuality will now get you fired. So much for tolerance, acceptance, inclusion and diversity. So much for medical and scientific truth. Now the only thing that matters is if you don’t hurt the feelings of a homosexual. Truth can be damned as the militants and their agenda get preferential treatment.

Read the rest here

Reflection on 2 Samuel 1:1-27

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Scripture
Oh how the mighty heroes have fallen! Stripped of their weapons, they lie dead.

Observation
After the death of Saul in a battle against the Philistines, David returns from his own victory over the Amalekites.

A man who escapes from captivity in Saul’s camp comes to David’s camp with the news of Saul’s death. He is an Amalekite who, as he tells the story, killed Saul who had requested him to put him out of his misery.

David and his men are devastated by the news. David has the Amalekite put to the sword for killing the Lord’s anointed man.

David then composes a song of lament for Saul and Jonathan.

Application
David had been on the run from Saul for years. He had been anointed by Samuel to be the king and was seen by the people as the natural successor to Saul.

It would have been entirely natural for David to delight in the news of Saul’s death.

Yet David mourns the man who had repeatedly tried to kill him. Despite their enmity, David recognises Saul as the Lord’s anointed one and is convinced that it is wrong to go against him.

There is a principle here about our attitudes to fallen leaders, or those with whom we have a disagreement. Regardless of their sins and failings, they are still the Lord’s anointed.

Too many christians derive pleasure from the faliings of leaders. Rather than rejoicing when people fall, we should mourn the fall of someone who was called by the Lord for a role of leadership.

This is not to suggest that pastors are above criticism, disciplinary action or even legal consequences for their actions. But when it happens we should mourn as David mourned.

Prayer
Father, too many pastors and leaders fall into sin and betray their calling. Help me Lord t mourn when this happens and not to cheer the downfall of another. Amen.

Not only killing the climate, we’re killing ourselves

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That escalated quickly. We’ve gone from “we’re gonna fry the planet” to “we’re gonna be extinct.”

I suppose if you leave God right out of the picture and believe that life is totally random, then there is no hope for anybody
(literally).

Secular eschatology gone wild.

From the ABC:

Humans could be among the victims of sixth ‘mass extinction’, scientists warn

Postedabout 4 hours ago

People walk over a pedestrian crossing in Tokyo, Japan.PHOTO: The report’s authors said evidence suggested “we are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event”.(Cougar Studio: Flickr)
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The world is embarking on its sixth mass extinction with animals disappearing about 100 times faster than they used to, scientists warn, and humans could be among the first victims of the next extinction event.

Not since the age of the dinosaurs ended 66 million years ago has the planet been losing species at this rapid a rate, a study led by experts at Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley said.

The study “shows without any significant doubt that we are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event,” co-author and Stanford University professor of biology Paul Ehrlich said.

And the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances on Friday and described by its authors as “conservative”, said humans were likely to be among the species lost.

“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on,” lead author Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico said.

Full article here

Reflection on 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

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2 Cotinthians

Scripture

For God says, “At just the right time I heard you. On the day of salvation I helped you.” Indeed the right time is now. Today is the day of salvation.

Observation

Paul urges his readers not to ignore the gift of grace. Now is the hour of salvation.

Paul works to avoid causing people to stumble or to find fault with him. He has faced hardships of every kind.

Paul proves his faith by letting the Holy Spirit fill him with love, understanding and purity. He serves God regardless of the response of people.

Therefore, because Paul overflows with love to the Corinthians, he asks them to open their hearts to him.

Application

There are times when serving God is welcomed by the people around us. At other times our work for the Lord is despised and mocked- even by other christians.

How should we respond? Like Paul we must keep our eyes on Jesus. We know that His love never fails. Even if the world rejects us, still Christ’s love sustains us. It is His approval that matters, not the world’s.

Prayer

Father, help me to stand firm in you when fmaily and friends despise me for your sake. Amen.

Coal’s Death A Little Exaggerated

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The ABC’s Four Corners (again) joyfully announced the death of coal the other night wheeling out a bunch of anti-coal advocates to agree with one another. It seems that coal might be a little like Mark Twain- great news for mining regions and for Australia generally. And of course the campaigners always show their total ignorance of the subject in the fact that coal is essential to steel making- so there is coal even in wind turbines!

 

Mining representatives Brendan Pearson and Michael Roche respond to the ABC’s latest documentary claiming the world is shunning “dirty” coal:

 

‘‘The end of coal’’ was the tag­line for a Four Corners’ “analysis” of the coal sector [on Monday]. It was Episode 14 of Series 3 of the Four Corners’ critique of the mining industry….

Facts were in short supply, wishful thinking was not. A trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, which funds activist groups and co-funded the development of an Australian anti-coal strategy in 2011, was wheeled out as an objective observer…

First, it is claimed that coal is a dying energy source and its use is being phased out. Not so. According to the BP Review, over the decade to the end of 2014, coal use grew by 968 million tonnes of oil equivalent. That is 4 times faster than renewables, 2.8 times faster than oil and 50 per cent faster than gas. That’s hardly justification for a requiem.

Second, investors are not walking away from coal… One of the anti-coal movement’s own groups, Bankwatch, has complained that global financing for coal mining rose to $US66 billion in 2014, up from $US55bn in 2013 and a 360 per cent increase from 2005.

The third claim is that renewable energy is capable of replacing fossil fuels, including coal. Not likely. In 2014, if the world had relied on renewable energy like wind, solar and biomass for primary energy, then the world would have had just 9 days of heat, light and artificial horsepower….

The campaigners also claim that major consuming nations are turning away from coal. But the International Energy Agency predicts that China will add 450 gigawatts of coal fired power over the next 25 years. That’s 40 per cent larger than the entire US coal fleet….

Energy starved India is also expanding its coal use and is expected to become the world’s largest coal importer in the next decade…

In forecasting the end of coal, the campaign narrative also skips lightly around the fact that coal is used in the production of 70 per cent of the production of the world’s steel. Given that there is 225 tonnes of coal in every offshore wind turbine, it is hard to see how coal is doomed in a world with strong growth in renewable energy. 

Reflection on 1 Samuel 18:1-16

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Scripture
But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was so successful at leading his troops into battle.

Observation
Soon after David kills Goliath, he meets Saul’s son Jonathan. There is an immediate bond between the two and they make a covenant friendship.

Saul has David join his forces, and David does all that Saul asks of him. Saul makes David commander over all the army.

On their way home from the victory over the Philistines, some women meet them in the street with tambourines and cymbals, extolling Saul for killing thousands and David for killing tens of thousands. Consequently Saul becomes jealous of David.

The very next day Saul is overwhelmed by a tormenting spirit. On at least two occasions, Saul tries to kill David with a spear.

Application
Jealousy of someone on our own side, even a friend, is a very debilitating thing. For Saul this resulted in a tormenting spirit that drove him mad.

David was a man of great faithfulness, and Saul had nothing to fear from him. Instead of being jealous, Saul could have harnessed David’s talent and popularity to build up the nation. Instead he gave in to fear and jealousy.

We must be very wary of thoughts of jealousy, envy, coveting the gifts or abilities of others. This is a big gateway for through which satan can get in and ruin lives, churches and even whole nations.

Prayer
Father God, please protect my heart from jealousy. Let me always have a pure heart before you. Amen.

The Solar Power Plant That Runs on Natural Gas

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So, get this, environmentalists worked everyone up into a lather about global warming- now on pause for over 18 years- and the need to use renewables- which are green, safe and just dandy (don’t mind that the “free” energy costs three times as much as the “dirty” stuff”).

So in California they built a you-beaut solar thermal plant which fries birds by the thousand and which actually needs natural gas to keep it running smoothly- for up to 4 hours a day they burn those awful fossil fuels to keep the turbine spinning.

That my friends, is why no rational person should ever vote Greens or pay any attention to an “expert” with the word sustainable in his/her job description.

From WUWT:

Solar Fossil Fueled Fantasies

 / 2 hours ago June 15, 2015
 

Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach.

Sometimes when I’m reading about renewable technologies, I just break out laughing at the madness that the war on carbon has wrought. Consider the Ivanpah solar tower electric power plant. It covers five square miles in Southern California with mirrors which are all focusing the sun on a central tower. The concentrated sunlight boils water that is used to run a steam turbine to generate electricity.

 
 

ivanpah solar power plant

 

Sounds like at a minimum it would be ecologically neutral … but unfortunately, the Law of Unintended Consequences never sleeps, and the Ivanpah tower has turned out to be a death trap for birds, killing hundreds and hundreds every year:

“After several studies, the conclusion for why birds are drawn to the searing beams of the solar field goes like this: Insects are attracted to the bright light of the reflecting mirrors, much as moths are lured to a porch light. Small birds — insect eaters such as finches, swallows and warblers — go after the bugs. In turn, predators such as hawks and falcons pursue the smaller birds.

But once the birds enter the focal field of the mirrors, called the “solar flux,” injury or death can occur in a few seconds. The reflected light from the mirrors is 800 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Either the birds are incinerated in flight; their feathers are singed, causing them to fall to their deaths; or they are too injured to fly and are killed on the ground by predators, according to a report by the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory.”

– David Danelski, Solar: Ivanpah Solar Described as Deadly Trap for Wildlife,” Riverside-Press Enterprise, April 8, 2014.

But of course, that’s not what made me laugh. That’s a tragedy which unfortunately will be mostly ignored by those good-hearted environmentally conscious folks suffering from chronic carbophobia.

The next oddity about Ivanpah is that despite being powered by light, it is light-years away from being economically viable. Like the old sailors say, “The wind is free … but everything else costs money”.

But being totally uneconomical doesn’t matter, because despite costing $2.2 billion to build, Google is a major shareholder, so at least they could afford to foot the bills for their high-priced bird-burner …

Read the rest here