Here is the problem with identity culture. If you can be anything you want, and people are afraid to say the truth then why not be a 6 year old 6 foot 5 inch Chinese woman, when clearly you are not?
society
What Is Wrong With This Picture?
All you need to know about the terminal decline of Western culture is in this news item.
When a society so glorifies sexual licentiousness, the end is not far off.
Only a full-on move of God’s Spirit bringing people back to Him can save us from ourselves.
From the ABC:
Giant pink condom put onto Sydney’s Hyde Park obelisk to remind residents to have safe sex
In a move to promote safe sex, a New South Wales health promotion organisation has put a giant pink condom onto the obelisk at Sydney’s Hyde Park.
The 18-metre tall condom was put onto the heritage-listed structure on Friday night in the lead up to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, to be held next month, by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) health promotion organisation ACON.
The organisation’s chief executive Nicolas Parkhill said the Mardi Gras was a good time to remind people that using condoms was one of the most effective ways to stop transmission of HIV.
“Every year around 80 per cent of HIV transmissions in NSW are among men who have sex with men, so it’s vital that we use opportunities like Mardi Gras to remind gay men about the health benefits of using condoms,” Mr Parkhill said.
“While new drugs are starting to provide other means of protection against HIV, condoms remain central to the fight against the virus because they remain one of the most cheap and effective ways of preventing the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmissible infections.”
He said the giant condom was first put up for World AIDS Day in 2014.
“It was a huge hit … so we thought we’d roll it out again for this year’s Mardi Gras to act as a highly visible safe sex reminder, not just for locals but also for the thousands of international visitors who come to Sydney for Mardi Gras.”
ACON also held a launch for its Stay Safe campaign at Bondi Beach today, as part of efforts to put an end to HIV transmissions in NSW by 2020.
The organisation gave away 1,000 pink inflatable rings, which they called “lifesavers” and described as “condom-like” to the public at the beach.
Established in 1985 as the AIDS Council of NSW, ACON works to end HIV transmission among gay and homosexually active men, and promote the lifelong health of LGBTI people and people with HIV.
It is funded by the NSW Government through the NSW Ministry of Health.
The obelisk was built in 1857 to vent Sydney’s first sewerage system and now provides ventilation for the city’s stormwater system.
The Darkness Falls
In the U.S, where the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the terms are being re-defined to limit the freedoms Americans take for granted.
Recent history shows that we will not be far behind.
The darkness is falling, and christians are being herded into a ghetto. The light will prevail, but christians must be determined to shine the light regardless of the cost.
From lifesitenews.com:
U.S. senator: Individuals don’t have religious freedom, just churches
Freedom Of Religion , Religious Freedom , Tammy Baldwin
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment applies only to churches, not to individuals, a U.S. senator said on national television recently.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI – the nation’s first openly lesbian elected to the U.S. Senate – addressed the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision on June 27 on MSNBC’s Up with Steve Kornacki.
“Should the bakery have to bake the cake for the gay couple getting married?” the host asked. “Where do you come down on that?”
Baldwin responded that the First Amendment gave Americans no right to exercise religion outside the sanctuary of their church, synagogue, or mosque.
Read the full article here
Jennifer LeClaire: Judgment or Awakening? My Response to America’s Great Fall
Judgment or Awakening? My Response to America’s Great Fall
Jennifer LeClaire is now sharing her reflections and revelations through Walking in the Spirit, a new podcast from Charisma. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
When I learned the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage I went into what you might call spiritual shock. I almost felt like someone had died. Someone didn’t, but something did. True liberty and justice for all. I am grieving right now over the false freedom that was birthed out of a false equality movement. I am mourning because true freedom and true equality have been replaced by a counterfeit crusade that truly sets no one free. I am weeping because America has fallen and many in the church are being caught up in the Great Falling Away.
A line in the sand was long ago drawn. Our tyrannical government crossed that line on June 26, 2015. When five Supreme Court justices trampled state rights they knew all too well Christian rights would be trampled along with them. Call it a betrayal of our Constitution. Call it an anti-Christ agenda. Call it an assault on religious freedom. It’s all that and more.
See, crossing this line in the name of equality was a spiritual assault on every believer who calls on the name of Jesus. This isn’t about allowing gays to get married. No, not really. While I stand against gay marriage, it’s not the letter of the law that concerns me most. It the spirit behind the law that truly grieves me. This ruling will open the floodgates to a tsunami of perversion in the land. Pedophiles now want the same rights as same-sex couples. But that’s the topic of another column.
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Of course, we wrestle not against flesh and blood (see Eph. 6:12). Our nemesis here is essentially the spirit of the world (see 1 Cor. 2:12). The church opened the door to the spirit of the world long ago, as is evidenced by the adultery, child molestation, financial improprieties and other scandals running rampant in the body of Christ. Unfortunately, we’ve discovered it’s not so easy to shut the door. High-profile pastors and entire denominations are capitulating to the popular opinion on gay marriage. As Charisma Media founder Steve Strang so aptly wrote, it’s time to stand up and be counted.
I would say that persecution is coming except that it’s already here. Bakeries, bed and breakfasts, pizza shops and farmers are being sued for refusing to accommodate gay weddings. Public officials are being fired for standing for the truth and military chaplains are being told they cannot pray in the name of Jesus. As the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
So what is my response to America’s great fall? Will we see a great judgment as so many are saying in this hour?
Read the full article here
Self-Love And Confusion in the 21st Century
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.
Poly- Marriages- Bad For Children But Will Anybody Listen?
From Lifesitenews.com
MARRIAGEMon May 25, 2015 – 5:33 pm EST
Polyamory isn’t good for children: my story
(thePublicDiscourse) – Recently, I had a discussion about marriage with someone who calls herself a “Darwinian gay feminist.” I asked her, “Is there any principled reason that marriage should be limited to only two people? There is now such a thing as a ‘throuple’—a three-way relationship. Should they have a right to marry?” She replied, “A union between three consenting adults? I see nothing wrong with it. The same goes for incest. It’s none of my business.”
I take it that she was serious in her response. Given that she believes marriage should be redefined to include same-sex couples, I suppose that makes sense. If marriage is just an emotional and loving union focused on satisfying the desires of adults, then including three or more members in this union is only logical. But her position seems to discount the fact that there might be more than just consenting adults involved. What about children who are raised by three- or four-person groups?
This isn’t just a hypothetical question. Last April, the New York Post published a story with this headline: “Married lesbian ‘throuple’ expecting first child.” The youngest member of the throuple and the biological mother, Kitten, said, “The three of us have always wanted kids and wanted to grow our family.” This might be their desire, but is this right for children? Is being raised by a throuple good for children?
I am particularly sensitive to this question, because my own childhood gave me a glimpse of what it is like to be raised in such a household.
Let me explain.
My Story
I grew up in a household living with not only my mother and father, but also my half-brother and his mother. My father had two kids: one with my mom (me) and one with another woman (my half-brother, who was three months older than I). When my mother was not there, I would see my father and my half-brother’s mother kiss and cuddle. When my half-brother’s mom wasn’t there, I would see my mother and my father kiss and cuddle. Although I was very young, these images still remain with me.
My mother and the mother of my half-brother were best friends. When they were in their late teenage years, they came from Guatemala together to the United States and developed a bond on their journey. My half-brother and I got along very well, but having the same father yet different moms in the household was confusing and troubling. It was confusing and troubling for me because I was never the center of my father’s attention, especially when he would mistreat my mom and when he would show affection to my half-brother’s mom. I hated seeing my father show affection to another woman who was not my mom.
When I was six years old, my father broke off ties with all of us and started a new family with a third woman. It was at this point that my half-brother’s mother and my mother went their separate ways. From that point onward, my mother raised me by herself.
Read the full article here
The New Established Religion: You Must Bow
From Life Site News:
There’s a new established religion nowadays: Christians can’t bow to it
Just this month, we watched a family-owned pizzeria close its doors after its owners received hate mail and death threats from around the country. Their offense? Giving the wrong answer to a question about whether they’d cater a gay wedding. Keep in mind that the restaurant had never actually turned down a gay customer. They were hammered for holding the wrong beliefs about a hypothetical scenario!
Major corporations are getting into the bullying act, as well. At least two state governments have now backed down or modified religious freedom legislation in response to pressure from companies like Walmart and Salesforce. Keep that in mind next time you think about shopping at Walmart.
And this culture-wide search-and-destroy mission is only accelerating. As Princeton’s Robby George writes in First Things, activists for the new sexual orthodoxy are “giddy with success and urged on by a compliant and even gleeful media.”
The message is clear: not only should Christians remain silent about gay marriage if we know what’s good for us, but we must be made to agree with and even celebrate what Scripture calls sin. As Ana Marie Cox recently said of Christians on MSNBC, “you’re going to have to force [them] to do things they don’t want to do.”
But gay columnist Frank Bruni recently took it to the next level in the New York Times, writing that it’s time Christians get with the program and “take homosexuality off the sin list.” The lived experience of same-sex couples ought to trump what he calls the “scattered passages of ancient texts” condemning his lifestyle. Wow.
As for freedom of religion, Bruni suggests a new definition: “freeing . . . religious people from prejudices that they . . . can indeed jettison, much as they’ve jettisoned other aspects of their faith’s history, rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity.”
Yes, he actually wrote “rightly bowing.”
I’m reminded of a scene from C. S. Lewis’ “The Last Battle,” in which Shift the Ape explains to the poor creatures of Narnia why they’re being shipped off to the Calormene salt mines.
“You think freedom means doing what you like,” says Shift. “Well, you’re wrong. That isn’t true freedom. True freedom means doing what I tell you.”
Writing at National Review, Yuval Levin says what we’re witnessing isn’t so much the suppression of free exercise of religion as it is the establishment of a new national religion; the religion of secular liberalism. And dissenters must be forced to worship at its altar and affirm its creed of anything-goes sexuality.
Given the likely outcome of this summer’s Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage, Rod Dreher asks what will it be like to be a Christian in our brave, new society—and what will become of orthodox Christianity now that the price of professing it could be our credibility and livelihoods.
The answer, Dreher says, will depend a great deal on us. Will we hold fast to biblical teaching and refuse, in a manner of speaking, to burn incense to Caesar?
Friends, the fight for religious liberty is far from over. And as John Stonestreet and I have been saying again and again, it’s time for the Church to wake up, to pray, and to publicly defend our religious rights and our brothers and sisters under assault for their beliefs.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” a No Go For Christians
It should go without saying that this over-hyped movie is pornographic, hostile to women and damaging to relationships and therefore christians should avoid it. But many people seem to get sucked in by the spirit of the age so easily.
Please do not see this movie.
From “Eternity”
Fifty Shades of Grey a “no-go” for Christians: sexologist
NEWS | Kaley Payne
Hype over the film version Fifty Shades of Grey, adapted from the wildly popular book series by E. L. James is reaching fever pitch in Australia ahead of the film’s premiere on February 12. But Christian sex therapist and doctor, Patricia Weerakoon is warning Christians to stay away.
“If you’re a Christian, you shouldn’t see this movie,” Patricia toldEternity.
When Fifty Shades of Grey was first released as a novel in 2012, Patricia read it to be able to identify with more and more women turning up in her sex therapy office talking about it.
“I’ve read it superficially, but it was so badly written it was actually painful to go through it – even apart from the sex context,” she said. And while Patricia does not intend to see the movie, she says she knows enough about the content – and the impact of pornography – to feel comfortable advising against it for others.
“Pornography is about intent: an intention to elicit sexual thoughts and feelings. So there’s no question this film is pornography, just as the book before it. It is fantasy sex.”
Full article here
The “Culture War” is Real
Our society is now so far removed from its christian roots that basic Biblical teaching is deemed offensive. I wouldn’t have given “Revolve” to primary school children, but there s far more explicit stuff in “Dolly” and “Girlfriend”.
Victoria is further down the slippery slope than New South Wales but we can’t be far behind. When Bibles in a traditional format where distributed to Year 6 students in Narrabri a few years ago, some parents were outraged.
From the ABC:
Access Ministries under scrutiny after ‘inappropriate and offensive’ material given out at Victorian primary school
Victoria’s Education Department has launched an investigation into what it calls inappropriate and offensive religious material distributed at a primary school.
The ABC understands religious educators handed out material at Torquay College last year that instructed children to seek counselling if they had homosexual feelings.
The material also claims that girls who wear revealing clothes are inviting sexual assault and that masturbation and sex before marriage are sinful.
The so-called Biblezines were given as graduation gifts as part of a program run by the state’s Christian education provider Access Ministries.
Naja Voorhoeve, whose seven-year-old child received the material from an older student, says special religious instruction (SRI) providers should be banned from public schools.
“If the SRI providers were prepared to breach our trust in this matter, you have absolutely no idea about the other things that they’re doing, about instances in other schools where this material might have been handed out,” she said.
“My personal position is that SRI volunteers should not be allowed in schools because their programs cannot be adequately monitored.
“What they do is not part of the curriculum… so they’re basically let in on their own.”
The department says it has launched an investigation into the material and the actions taken by the provider.
“The materials are totally inappropriate and offensive and have no place in our schools,” it said in a statement.
“The department has scope to review the accreditation status of providers once are investigations are complete.”
Access Ministries has been contacted for comment.
Good News From the High Court
I don’t suppose this will deter those people who think they have the right to redefine marriage to the detriment of the nation, but it is very good news.
From the ABC:
High Court throws out ACT’s same-sex marriage laws
Updated
Same-sex couples who wed in the ACT will have their marriages annulled after the High Court ruled against the laws.
A total of 27 couples, including some from interstate, used the law to tie the knot after it came into effect last weekend.
But today the High Court in Canberra unanimously ruled that the laws were inconsistent with the Federal Marriage Act, and were therefore unconstitutional.
The ruling is a victory for the Commonwealth, which had launched the appeal against the laws.
The ACT had argued that its laws could sit beside the federal legislation because it had defined a different type of marriage between same-sex couples.
The High Court delivered its decision early to give certainty to those wanting to use the law, but said it might be some time before a full judgement was released.
New Life Narrabri 