morality

The Christian Bares of Trillium Lake?

Laid bare: a lake, a mountain, and other handiwork of the Creator

Yesterday we had a family outing to Trillium Lake. (It was a birthday thing.)

Summer Bare Country
Summer Bare Country

This morning early I thought back on the other vistas of God’s creation which awaited us there. And I wondered…

  • How many of those nude legs belong to women worship team members?
  • How many of those barely covered breasts have the heart of a female Sunday School teacher beating behind them?
  • How many Christian male eyeballs tracked back for one more discreet look?
  • How many Christian men wrestled with wistful wishes, treacheous thoughts, and deadly desires?
  • How much ache in the Creator’s heart?
  • Will His heart have any revulsion in church services today?

You could read that as me looking down my nose on fellow Christians or fellow fallen humans. You could accuse me of being a Puritanical prude. You could charge me with contemptuous condemnation. You could slam me for sanctimonious something-or-other. And you’d be wrong.

I’m not blind to the beauty of forbidden fruit, OK? But in my other-world moments I look beyond eyeball-grabbing displays and feel compassion. Read it all

When You Have to Go in a National Park

Be sure to pick a single-occupancy restroom or outhouse.

Secretary of the Interior cheers gender-free bathrooms in national barks

June 27 tweet by Secretary of the Interior

So yesterday (apparently) the President decreed that national parks no longer honor the single-gender bathroom concept. (Gender-specific restrooms — what an antiquated concept in this great society. 😯 )

Apparently whatever the sign may say is no guarantee what you will find inside. So beware of using multiple-capacity restrooms. The spectators therein may be more “sexually varied” than you bargained for. Read it all

Some Bestiality OK With Canada Supreme Court

Sickly legalizes some sick sex acts with animals

Canada's Supreme Court approves limited bestialitySo Canada’s highest court has just ruled that some sex acts between humans and animals are legal.

Despite all the acceleration of the normalization of perversion in the last few years, this still has to at least kinda shock the sensibilities.

Some folks (including the dissenting judge) expressing dismay at and condemnation of the 7-1 ruling seem to be exercised primarily by the animal abuse angle.

The human morality slippery slope is a bigger issue to me. The pursuit of certain “rights” is definitely leading to what’s morally wrong being rebranded as right. Even a leftist should find that repugnant.

Well, here are two excerpts from the story: Read it all

Choice: Women’s Bodies

What are the limits to the "choice" logic of Roe v Wade?
My Body My Choice anti-Dobbs protest placard

On this day, millions without natural affection (and millions of others) celebrate: enough Supreme Court “justices” figured out a woman can do what she wants with her body.

As a result of Roe v Wade, a girl or a woman in the United States may legally…

  • Sell one of her kidneys for research, transplant, or knick-knack.
  • Accept pay in exchange for welcoming a man into her body.
  • Destroy an embryo (or kill a fetus or slice up a baby) within her.

It’s her body, after all. Read it all

Are You Sloppy With the Facts?

Do not treat facts, feelings, and opinions as if they were interchangeable.

Facts do not flex and will not stretch. Not for your preferences or your convenience. Not for your interpretation, your slant, or your opinion. Not even for your feelings. And certainly not for your agenda.

If you “adjust” facts with any of those, you no longer have facts.

If you want facts to remain facts, you have to stick to the facts.

I get very exercised when people present their interpretations, surmisings, and opinions as facts. So the following really clicked for me:

a joel belz quote about facts and opinion

Facts first, then opinions. With God, facts and opinion are one and the same. There’s no slippage between the two in His marvelous, omniscient mind.

But with us mortals, there’s a whole spectrum ranging from what the Bible tells us is true, to what we think may or may not be the case, to what we know we don’t know. There’s nothing wrong with speculations along the middle of that spectrum. But things get dangerous when folks can no longer discern which category they’re thinking in—when they start treating facts and opinions as if they were interchangeable. If we want people to pay attention to our opinions, we should start by being careful with our facts. If you’re sloppy with your facts, why should anybody trust your opinions?

Four pre-election cautions

Sloppy with the facts — that’s just such a great way to put it.

So is this: “treating facts and opinions as if they were interchangeable.”

And I am so blessed at this realization: in the mind of God there is no slippage between facts and opinion. That is so amazing!

When anyone reports to me what happened or what was said, I want him to be faithful to the facts. I want to trust the accuracy of his report. I hate mistrusting others.

No corrupt communication
Don’t say anything corrupted!

For myself, I hereby renew my commitment to truth, accuracy, and faithfulness. I throw my lot with the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. I reject the ways of the deceiver and father of lies whose seduction of Eve went so “well.”

Plagiarism in Our Auditorium

I don't understand Christians using others' work without attribution.

Do you know how odd it is to hear the Sunday School teacher…and realize that nobody else realizes they are hearing your thoughts? I do.

Have you ever grown suspicious of a visiting minister’s phrasing…and later learned from Google that he was reading straight out of another’s book? I have.

I don’t mind public speakers reading or otherwise using material that isn’t their own. Provided they do it in moderation and with attribution.

But it’s a breach of integrity, ethics, and public trust to do so without letting the audience know they are doing so! Read it all

Above all, love God!