Soul and Spirit | Ain't Complicated

Too Cheap

I saw her face so often yesterday.

As they say, she started to “haunt” me.

She could be my daughter. (I have two children older than she, and three younger.)
Why would she sell herself so cheaply?
What does she know about Jesus and His Gospel?
Who will help her?

So the governor of New York paid $1000 an hour for her “services.” I wouldn’t pay $10. It is just not worth the price.

Even so, she is worth that price. In fact, she sold herself far too cheaply. Even a rate a thousand times what Mr. Spitzer paid would be too little for this young woman. Or any woman.

“Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13).

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).

“Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids” (Proverbs 6:25).

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

“For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life” (Proverbs 6:26).

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:13).

“Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).

May the Lord redeem and renew Kristen or Kirsten or Ashley or whatever Miss Dupre’s name is.

More than one in four U.S. teen girls is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, and the rate is highest among blacks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

An estimated 3.2 million U.S. girls ages 14 and 19 — about 26 percent of that age group — have a sexually transmitted infection such as the human papillomavirus or HPV, chlamydia, genital herpes or trichomoniasis, the CDC said.

Forty-eight percent of black teen-age girls were infected, compared to 20 percent of whites and 20 percent of Mexican American girls. The report did not give data on the broader U.S. Hispanic population.

[…]

About half reported ever having had sex . . . .

And here’s more news (although almost four years old by now!):

About one-third of American teenagers claim they’re “born again” believers, according to data gathered over the past few years by Barna Research Group, the gold standard in data about the U.S. Protestant church, and 88% of teens say they are Christians. About 60% believe that “the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings.” And 56% feel that their religious faith is very important in their life.

Here’s the question about the teen girls in the first article: What percentage of these profess to be Christians?

(And, as a Mennonite, a sub-question: How many of them are Mennonites?)

As one who doesn’t live that way, maybe I should stop identifying myself as a Christian, eh? 🙄 (After all, so many people are giving Christian a bad reputation, a bad connotation, a bad name, etc.)

Oh, for the Christianity 101 comment, read this: God says the human body is for Him to inhabit and not to be used immorally.

In CA: Homeschooling

California to Homeschoolers: ~~Nyet~~ No

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.

“At first, there was a sense of, ‘No way,’ ” said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. “Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation.”

[…]

The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.

[…]

Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by homeschooling parents to California’s compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child’s grade level.

“California courts have held that … parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. “Parents have a legal duty to see to their children’s schooling under the provisions of these laws.”

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.

“A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare,” the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

[…]

Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said the ruling would effectively ban homeschooling in the state.

“California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach their own children at home,” he said in a statement.

“They” have long said that California leads the way for the nation. 😯

If you’re a homeschooling California parent, what are your plans?

A Gold Ring in a Pig’s Nose

I saw a picture today that reminded me of this verse:

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).

The picture featured an attractive woman cozied up to a handsome man.

With no apparent shame on her part.

Too bad.

I’ve seen lots of pictures like that. And far worse.

Too bad.

So how about this next verse?

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

Lady, don’t cozy up to a man who’s not your husband.

Guard your virtue. Protect your reputation. Honor God. (Of course, if you don’t fear the Lord, this post likely means little to you. But the proverb still applies.)

Men, what’s your role in this?

And what type of woman do you praise?

And would you enable or encourage or entice a woman to be “as a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout” with you?

Tired Of Questions

Mr. Obama is.

About his religion

Democrat Barack Obama said he’s tired of questions about his religion.

Here’s a bit more

Barack Obama yesterday lashed out at political enemies who are spreading false rumors that he’s a closet Muslim as he proclaimed, “I pray to Jesus every night.”

“I am a devout Christian,” he told voters in this key state.

“I pray to Jesus every night and try to go to church as much as I can.”

Tired of questions about your ~~faith~~ religion, eh?

In his shoes, I suppose I would be as well.

But when I saw that story, I thought of some verses (though they are about faith in and relationship with Jesus, not about religion).

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

In further looking, I found this verse:

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).

Somebody please pass the word along to Mr. Obama.

Thanks.

Sister-Wives

Here’s a good story for those who shun their denominational names in favor of “only” Christian. 😉

Polygamists hit the Web in search of ‘sister-wives’

Albert Morrison is a religious man. He prays, he reads the Bible and says he has a deep connection with Jesus. It is this devotion that helps explain why Albert and his wife, Sarah, are searching for a second wife.

“David, Abraham, Jacob, Solomon — they all had multiple wives,” he said, referring to the four of the Bible’s most revered prophets. “The Bible never banned polygamy, it glorified it.”

The Morrisons are part of a group of Evangelical Christian polygamists who believe that polygamy, the practice of taking more than one wife, is spiritually and even economically more favorable than monogamy.

I included the Christianity 101 category for this post because I wonder if any readers have any Bible passages that refute the above abomination.

(And what passage does that guy use to show the Bible “glorifying” polygamy?!)

Test Your Movies

The Motion Picture Production Code

A Code to Govern the Making of Talking, Synchronized and Silent Motion Pictures. Formulated and formally adopted by The Association of Motion Picture Producers, Inc. and The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc.

There’s some amazing stuff there.

Those of you that watch “family friendly” or Christian movies, would you have them to watch if the above code were still in force?

(No, it isn’t in force — it’s from 1930.)

Though I don’t watch movies, I’m guessing that even many Christian movies of today would fail the Code test.

So tell me — what has happened to Christianity?

As in the days of Noah, things will get worse — much worse.