Defy The Age – Encouragement, Examples and Opportunities

Previously, I wrote of the importance and context of standing as a defiant Salt and Light where you have been placed. I would now like to share some encouragement, examples and opportunities on how you can help (some with upcoming deadlines, please see below under “Opportunities”)…

Encouragement

These are Jesus’ standing orders for us…

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””
Matthew 28:18-20

Orders are not without their challenges, especially when they are for an army who are to occupy freshly conquered lands. It can certainly be daunting to be the Salt and Light that you are. But be encouraged, our fears are not new. It’s just a matter of perspective. Here’s at an ancient fear which is much like what we all share…

“Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.””
Numbers 13:30-33

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
The spies were not exaggerating. Their fears were real. But what they lacked was a greater fear or respect for God. They also didn’t recognise that the fear was on both sides. Rahab, a local of that land had this to say which gave some real perspective on the situation…
“She said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, for dread from you has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land melt in terror before you. For we heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. Our hearts melted when we heard these things, and no man had any breath in him because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.”
Joshua 2:9-11
Yes, the challenges are real but never forget that He who helps you is more real.
“Men of faith, rise up and sing
Of the great and glorious King
You are strong when you feel weak
In your brokenness complete”
“Rise up, women of the truth
Stand and sing to broken hearts
Who can know the healing pow’r
Of our awesome King of love”
“Rise up, church with broken wings
Fill this place with songs again
Of our God who reigns on high
By His grace again we’ll fly”
Extracted lyrics of “Shout to the North” by Delirious

Examples

Your sphere of influence includes the use of online tools. And they are most certainly needed.
Exhibit A: my wife was looking up some fairly routine things in an online “women’s magazine”  when she came across an article which vigorously complained that men were leading the anti-abortion debate.
Of course, it’d have been problematic if I alone commented on it – that would have only proved their point, even if it was a dubious point (and why the task of influence involves all of us, especially the ladies in this case). So my wife answered the challenge by commenting on the article. Here’s some of it…

Kathleen McLane
But until that mass of cells can actually exist on its own, it really is not a viable human being. Only the potential. Forcing a woman to be nothing more than but an incubator is also wrong.

Diana 
“Exist on its own.” – To be consistent with this line of logic, a baby is not human until almost a year old as until then, they are STILL completely dependent on someone else. The mother should have the right to end his or her life after birth too.
To carry on with this line of reasoning, one would have to say that intensive care units should not exist as these ‘mass of cells’ cannot exist on their own.
Dependence cannot be a criteria that determines humanity.

I then weighed in with undercover videos demonstrating how Planned Parenthood is selling baby body parts. To which the commentator replied…

Kathleen McLane
And you sir are buying into a twisted & biased video that was doctored to fit someone’s cause. Unless you have walked in the shoes of a woman that finds herself in need of an abortion, than you know little to actually weigh in on the issue. Abortion has existed since the dawn of humankind, it will not end bcs you have removed the safeguards that abortion deserves. Removing its protected status will only return us to a time of back-alley abortions and 1,000’s of women dying needlessly. Your kind are truly the heartless ones in this issue.

Pretty scorching words even if they lack substance. Of course, I pointed that out. So that plus the undercover videos are now a permanent part of the article giving truth an opportunity to shine. This is the importance of getting involved – the general readership of this article now has a chance to think about this issue properly, some perhaps for the first time. You can read it all here (disclaimer: unfortunately the standard for “women’s magazines” leave much to be desired and if the above isn’t hint enough, there are unedifying aspects to this website – you’ve been warned).

Exhibit B: on marriage (from here, this time from someone who was able to discuss issues in a civil manner)…

DoughRemy
Kevin, the term “same-sex marriage” is here to stay. You might as well get used to it.

Kevin
Hi DoughRemy. Re: “same-sex marriage” and your recommendation to “get used to it”. If by that you mean such a combination of words may be sequenced, sure. I just referenced it after all. If by that you mean the mere existence of such a sequence of words makes for anything more than that, then no. Thanks for your thoughts as always.

DoughRemy
Kevin, the words “same-sex marriage” would probably be a lot more meaningful to you if you were gay. Can you understand why they might be meaningful to me?

I guess there are some things that some of us will just never “get.” I, for example, have been watching movies about opposite-sex relationships ever since I was a child, and I have honestly never understood what’s going on in them at the level you probably do. I don’t get those little stirrings of vicarious pleasure and desire. When “he” looks longingly into “her” eyes, I don’t see what he sees there.

Is it possible that you will just never “get it” about same-sex marriage? If so, that’s okay. But please don’t suggest the term is meaningless. It’s only meaningless to you and to many others whose biological promptings are so different from ours. Your way of loving and marrying isn’t the only way there is.

Kevin
Thanks again for your thoughts DoughRemy.

It has been implied that marriage is just an issue between two people and that a change in the gender variables is not a complicated thing. Oh, but it is. Marriage is far more fundamental and complicated than just the biology and the two people involved. Children are deeply impacted by the quality of the marriage (or otherwise) under which they grow up.

Love is like food. You need it to survive but in order to thrive, you need a balanced diet. So it is with love – a balanced parenting environment where the complimentary differences of a child’s biological mother’s and father’s love should be our aim for these the most vulnerable of our society, our children. This is a core reason why Australia apologised to those impacted by the Stolen Generation and Forced Adoptions. Enforcing in law that which we apologised for would reverse all the good that did.

It’s important to understand what you’re really asking for here. Insistence that it is intolerance when one states that gender matters in marriage is equally insistence that it is intolerance to say that the number, the age, the consent and the species of those involve in marriage matter.

I also find it curious that those who have for so long pushed the idea of “diversity” when it comes to the way they handle sexuality have changed tack to push their relationships into the mold of marriage. Why? No doubt they are significant relationships – we are not denying that, but they are different relationships in kind. So why try to make them the same by fitting them into “marriage” – where’s the diversity there? That said, a statement by Masha Gessen (Russian and American journalist, author, and activist) at the Sydney Writer’s Festival in 2012 is worth noting, “..fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there. Because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change. It’s going to change and it should change. And again it should not exist.”

You said, “I guess there are some things that some of us will just never “get.”” – perhaps, but one should try. What we need to “get” here is this: Everyone is deserving of love and care. Everyone. And that includes their relationships. That includes your relationship.

A difference in relationship is exactly that, a difference. But that’s all. Those differences do not change the core value that everyone deserves love and care. Your relationship matters, so does marriage and your relationship matters in a way that is different from what marriage is.

Exhibit C: on legalising marijuana (here, with someone who was pretty tenacious and adept at not answering the real core issues).

Opportunities

This is open to all of us. The opportunities are everywhere and are only limited to our dedication and care for those around us and the generations to come. Everyday citizens like you and me have…

  • Called into question a subversive program which inappropriately indoctrinates children on homosexuality and transgenderism. Please note the update at the end of this article which showed how this played out.
  • Defended marriage in Australia against 18 attempts to redefine it since 2004 and gathered more than 22,500 signatures (and counting) urging the federal opposition to allow the people to determine our cultural stance on marriage. Please add your voice here.
  • Pressured the United States government to recognise that ISIS is comitting genocide and mobilising the U.N. into action over this. More needs to be done and you can participate here.
  • Highlight the radical nature of abortion law amendments in Queensland. Please join the over 15,200 people (and counting with more than 5 times the signatures of any other current petition) who have signed the petition here.
  • Speak out through this petition against calls to make Queen Elsa a lesbian for Frozen 2. Unfortunately, this is as true as it is ridiculous.
  • For those participating in the upcoming Australian Federal Election, please carefully consider the Godly perspective on the various policies being presented and prioritise your voting along God’s values.
    You may find the ABC’s Vote Compass of help – you answer questions on where you stand on key election policies and it shows you how closely the major parties are or are not aligned with you on them.

Count The Cost

Risky and costly. These may be said of what is being asked above. However, we must ask ourselves, what are the risks and cost of doing nothing?

My previous article on this subject highlighted men bidding farewell their sweethearts prior to leaving for war. It is as touching as it is sobering as it is not only a call to action but a perspective on that action as the following statement highlights…

It’s “whatever you feel” or “whatever works for you.” Americans have no idea what is right and wrong anymore. I mean we are discussing whether or not men can use women’s bathrooms! Eighteen year-olds today need to find a “safe place” while their grandparents were storming the beaches of Normandy at eighteen.

The above points out but one aspect of how society has declined in just 2 generations. It comes from this article and shows exactly what is at stake should any society (not just American) be allowed to degrade. This is the true cost of doing nothing…

“Liberty does not exist in the absence of morality.” — Edmund Burke
“As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.” – John Paul II

“The United States is no longer the place that the French political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about in his in-depth observations of a young United States in 1835, Democracy in America. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great…”

“The Judeo-Christian family, which created the soil and the civil society by which American independence, liberty and prosperity grew and flourished for millions, has been on a downward spiral for decades. I believe it does stem from America’s loss of its religious observance and loss of Judeo-Christian ethos.

Americans are less religious now and with that has come the breakdown in family stability. Some of the consequences are that they marry later, they divorce more frequently, are incarcerated at ever increasing rates, take antidepressants in alarming numbers, are addicted to pornography, have more children out of wedlock, and have adopted laws that allow women to terminate unborn children.

It is the destruction of the family unit that is the greatest social loss from America losing its religion. The vacuum created without the familial values of love, support, respect, and moral clarity has led to a huge uptick in psychological dysfunction and unhappiness in the U.S. People are just miserable with their own lives and poor life choices, and quite honestly don’t even realise it in most cases

Americans model themselves on music artists who sing/rap about rape, robbery, adultery and murder with mind-numbing language as if it’s perfectly normal. They are addicted to video games where they are literally raping, murdering, and stealing for fun. They watch and venerate people who bare their dysfunctional lives and naked bodies on TV to make money and become celebrities, aspiring themselves to be discovered in the same way on their own social media accounts. They watch steroid-infused wrestlers and American football athletes, with unbridled loyalty and religious fervour, tearing each other apart like animals, which also happens usually to be on the Sabbath.

America prioritises all of these base, reactive pleasures above any form of morality, decorum or thinking. How about trying to instil the virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice or to contemplate what the real meaning of marriage is, which by the way is not just to make you “happy”? How about just trying to be still, quiet or meditative? Or how about having a meal with your family without a screen or a phone at the table?”

My thanks to my readers who alerted me to some of the above.

Image from Internet.

2 Responses to “ Defy The Age – Encouragement, Examples and Opportunities ”

  1. “But until that mass of cells can actually exist on its own, it really is not a viable human being. Only the potential. Forcing a woman to be nothing more than but an incubator is also wrong”.
    So, Kathleen, how much human engineering input is required to take that “mass of cells” and bring a healthy baby into our world? That’s a big fat ZERO. In other words, if you just left it alone and went about your business, lo and behold, in about months, a beautiful baby emerges. Humans don’t have to do anything directly to those cells in order for a living, breathing human to be born into the world. In fact, when just the first two cells come together, a strand of DNA which has never before existed in the history of the human race is formed. That contains all the input data required to make hearts, lungs, eyes, hands, ears, fingers, toes, arms, legs, skin…and everything else. The fact is that even at that stage, there is a viable human being in the womb. Also, women are not “forced” to be an incubator. Women were designed physiologically for the task.

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