The Reason for All the Crime & Hate

 While scanning the news this morning, a few headlines caught my attention:

1. Woman Calmly Reassures TV Reporter Amidst Gunfire

2. Doctor in Indiana Disciplined for Performing Abortion on 10-Year-Old

3. Brian Laundrie's Mother Promised Him Shovel and Garbage Bag

4. Body-Cam Footage Shows Ex-Police Officers Laughing at Man's Custody Death

These headlines made me reflect on the diminishing value we seem to place on human life. It appears that we have forgotten the preciousness and sacredness of every life, regardless of race or any other factor.

In today's America, it often feels like we expect crime and violence to be a part of our lives. Some places that were once peaceful and safe are now plagued by crime. I remember growing up in a tranquil Anchorage, Alaska, but when I left eight years ago, fear of crime played a role in my decision. Crime seemed to have spread throughout the city, erasing any sense of safety. This situation is not unique to Anchorage; it's a problem in many parts of the United States.

When we consider the teachings of love and reverence in the Bible, it becomes clear that disregarding them has caused our hearts to grow cold and hardened. We have become prideful and adopted an attitude of self-importance.

Recently, during a Bible study, I came across Proverbs 6:16-19, which highlights seven things the Lord hates. Let's reflect on these in light of our current social issues:

1. Haughty eyes

2. A lying tongue

3. Hands that shed innocent blood

4. A heart that devises wicked plans

5. Feet that run rapidly to evil

6. A false witness who utters lies

7. One who spreads strife among brothers

Now, read the news and see if we are not in a state of rebellion. I remember a time when most people would be ashamed to engage in any of these seven detestable acts.

In the realm of politics, we have witnessed a decline in honor and integrity. Politicians can now openly support the killing of unborn children and endorse sinful lifestyles without significant consequences. It is disheartening to see individuals in public positions with such viewpoints.

Shame and sin exist in every political party. Former and current presidents have applauded individuals living openly sinful lives, praising their "courage." One former president even boasted that he could commit murder on a busy street without losing voters. And sadly, he was proven right. This same individual once mocked a disabled reporter before his supporters.

Our current president has appointed transgender individuals to positions in the White House, and it has become the norm for openly gay and lesbian citizens to run for political office.

What is happening to our society? Should we be surprised? Not if we believe the Bible. Reflecting on the list from Proverbs, I fear we are headed down a troubling path:

"Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper." (Romans 1:24-28, NASB) [my bold italics]

While I'm not focusing on any specific sin in this post, as we are all sinners, I would like to ask any proud member of the LGBTQ community who claims salvation to consider the bolded and italicized portion of the Bible passage.

For the rest of us sinners, how will we face God when the time comes? Will we humbly stand before Him clothed in the blood of Jesus, or will we approach Him with unchecked pride and sin?

Peace

--Free

Maybe You Don't Know About...Margaret Sanger

 This is the woman who established what came to be Planned Parenthood. People today tend to praise her as a person for being in support of birth control and a woman's right of choice. Sounds good, on the surface.

I know people who have used the services of Planned Parenthood. What's ironic is that most of these people are outspoken in their support of things like "Black Lives Matter" and live by the code of being black and proud. They are living in selective ignorance.

When we are taught by the media and mainstream social programming to use words like "reproductive rights" and "my body, my choice", we forget the ugly side of things. Arguing against a person's "rights" and "choice" sounds bossy and totalitarian. But let's look at things a different way.

Killing outside of law and justice is wrong, true, or false?

If a person is allowed to do away with an unwanted fetus, why not allow them to do away with an unwanted 2-year-old? (And let's leave rape and incest out of this one, if it pleases you.)

If we have access to rights, do we have an obligation to responsibility?

If it is your right to choose to terminate a pregnancy, is it your responsibility to practice careful sex?

If you can be frank enough to talk freely about your abortion or random sex activities, can you be frank enough to call abortion what it really is? 

People like to say that we have "evolved" as a society. We are so free with our "evolution" that we have more fun words for sin. Instead of having sex outside of marriage, it sounds much more normal and "okay" to call it "hooking up", "Netflix and chilling", etc.

Sin has been given a free pass today. You aren't allowed to call someone a "slut" or "easy" without being damned for it. These days, society turns the tables on you when you call out sexual sin. They will "cancel you". They will try to shame you for "slut-shaming" instead of admitting that there is such a thing as a slut. If you are acting like a slut, why are you bothered with being called a slut?

If you believe that homosexuality is morally wrong, you can no longer say that. If you do, you could face being charged with "hate speech" or committing a "hate crime". But the gay person isn't going to be charged for committing sodomy.

It is no longer acceptable to just be civil to gay people. For a while, we were told to be "tolerant" (and I was never hostile to gay people) but now we are being forced to be accepting. I will never be accepting of sin, no matter how accepting I am to a person.

By the way, Satan pulled a good one when he managed to equate the moral sin of homosexuality with being of a minority race. If you are a racial minority you will be shamed for "picking on" the LGBTQ community. Do you know how this happens? Money. The LGBTQ community has money - lots of it - lobbyists and power. Lots of power. Politicians and laws tend to flow with the money.

So all this personal "freedom" to sin comes from years of programming and putting things into play, bit by bit. And yet, getting back to Margaret Sanger, most people have no idea what she was actually about.

Sanger wanted to see a decrease in the birth of blacks. She rode hard with eugenicists. She found certain groups "unfit" to have children - not unfit because of abuse but because of economic and educational status. 

These days, Planned Parenthood is trying to distance itself from Sanger. However, they were founded on her principles and ideas. Maybe what they are really doing is trying not to look as awful as they are.

Peace

--Free