In this season of graduation speeches, I thought it would be good to revisit three important words which we rarely hear in public use, and whose original meanings are therefore fast disappearing. I will start with tolerance, defined as a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, beliefs, practices, racial or ethnic origins, etc., differ from one's own. Notice that tolerance requires me to give others the right to believe and to say what they want, though I am not...
This year's extraordinary election is less than two months away. Like most Americans, I am not pleased with the choices we have before us. With all of the negative generalities coming from both sides, I decided to try to put on paper specifically what concerns me. I really am not looking to start an argument or to defend any candidate--please consider this to be a personal interim report, subject to change as more information becomes available in the coming weeks. Concerns I have about...
Before reluctantly tackling this issue, let me stipulate three things. As a follower of Christ, I try to love and understand everyone, while also upholding the Truth. I believe that homosexual activity is wrong—for those who engage in it, I believe that it is a form of bondage, like having an affair or being addicted to drugs, and is much less than God intended for us. We should therefore not encourage it and should protect our children from it. And, let me be clear that I am a sinner saved by...
As Thanksgiving approaches I am focused on two aspects of this special day which are not always on the table with the turkey, mashed potatoes, pies and other delicious dishes. The first is Gratitude. I don’t see it much. Many of us appear to be worried, slightly angry, or downright upset about one or several issues in our personal or corporate lives. As I watched the recent demonstrations on elite university campuses, I had to ask, Do those young people have any gratitude at all for the...
Note: I apologize for the unusual length of this post. I tried to divide it into two or three parts, but I found that the key concepts work closely together and cannot be easily separated. I hope that you find the content and conclusions worth the read. We are in a constant battle with secularists who proclaim that neither God’s rules for living nor His provision for our redemption is important or relevant for modern life. This spiritual war continues, and the recent Supreme Court ruling on...
I was rummaging around in the future and found this Boy Scouts of America policy document, distributed in 2023. It was written for the large group of gay Boy Scout leaders who began entering the movement after the national organization ended its ban on gay leaders in 2017 . I believe you will find the following excerpts to be interesting. The Gay Boy Scout Leader’s Manual August, 2023 Edition Provided by the Gay Action Group (GAG) of the Boy Scouts of America Selected Excerpts: Introduction...
Last Saturday we made our usual afternoon trip to the local Y to work out. Outside the front door was a large inflatable bunny and a sign inviting us to the Eggsplosion Egg Hunt, which we had apparently just missed. Some young children were leaving with their parents, having their pictures taken with the inflatable bunny. Inside at the front desk was a second sign, and throughout the building there were others. Lots of information was on the signs, including an invitation to the Bunny Buffet...
If you wonder what militant Islamists intend for Europe and the U.S., look no further than the public schools in Birmingham, England. Almost unreported here is the attempted takeover of eighteen state schools by those wishing to push the Islamist agenda, including Sharia Law, threats of violence, sacking teachers who disagree, Muslim-centric curricula, and gender separation--all in English state schools. Please take a moment and read two recent articles in The Telegraph and The Mail, extracts...
I’m beginning a series on common sense truths which are real, and which therefore have negative consequences when we ignore them or try to pretend that they don’t exist. The following is written with two assumptions in mind: The vast majority of women and men in the military do their jobs extremely well. Individual tours of duty can be very positive. In any large population of people, there are the ten percent at each end of the bell curve who significantly over- or under- perform everyone...
One guaranteed way to win an argument is to insure that your opponent never has any input into the debate. The secular lock-out of religious input into the public square has been gaining strength for decades, but now the pace of this discrimination is rapidly increasing. I have written previously on Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1836 observation that America’s unique strength was how Judeo-Christian faith and values were woven deeply and inexorably into the multi-faceted quilt of our society. ...
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