I was reading some news articles today when I ran across one that sounds like really positive news out of Cuba. It is really a small deal, but it may portend much good to come.
Cubans, for the very first time ever, are now allowed to own their own cell phones.
What's so good about that? Well, besides the possible link between cell phone use and cancer, (what, by the way, isn't linked in some way to cancer?) I do think this is a good sign.
You see, governments are meant to uphold the rights of their citizens. Cuba, for far too long, has been ruled by a government too fearful of what its citizens would do with their own rights to really give them access to them. This is common to all communistic governments in history. Their worldview, founded completely on atheistic humanism, requires the government to bring about a society in which want is eliminated through the use of force. Somehow, these people believe that they can create a Utopia through completely non-Utopian means, and the result has always been disaster, oppression, and mass death.
A Biblical worldview sees government not as a tool for creating some perfect society but as a tool God created to punish evildoers and protect people from them. There is no goal of perfection because the Bible teaches that there can be nothing like that where fallen people dwell. Rather, perfection is only found in God and people only trend toward perfection when God is honored and He makes a difference in peoples' lives. Utopia will occur, but it cannot be ushered in by any human effort - it will only occur when Jesus Christ returns to rule the world as King!
So, I am encouraged when Cubans are allowed to own cell phones. It shows that their leaders are beginning to accept the failure of their system and give back to the people rights and responsibilities that have been denied them.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Saturday, April 05, 2008
So, I posted...
Well, I know it's been a while, but I simply couldn't keep reading about this woman foisting herself and her poor unborn child on the American public, which is apparently ignorant of facts, without saying something.
Maybe, I'll keep it up some more.
Maybe, I'll keep it up some more.
Not a Miracle...
OK, so unless you've been under a rock for the past few days, you've heard of this "man" who is pregnant. She appeared on the Oprah show this week...surprise, surprise. While on the show, she called what has happened to her a miracle.
I take issue with this. This "man" is really a woman, simple and plain. While I agree fully with the overall opinion that the beginning of a new life is a miraculous event, I cannot see a woman getting pregnant, even after she has had much of her femininity removed surgically, as an event any more miraculous than any woman getting pregnant.
The message seems to be - "My gender is what I say/feel it to be, and my gender is no related to my ability to reproduce." Unfortunately, this is completely backward. Obviously, since no real men have ever actually become pregnant, this is not so. The ability to carry a child and bring it into the world is a purely female ability. Thus, if this "man" has that ability, "he" is really a she and her gender is intimately tied to what has happened to her.
The truth is, this sort of mixed-up mindset about sexuality and gender is sad, in the individual case, and horrific, in the general/culture-wide sense. Our culture has become completely crazy! It has for some time claimed that it is OK (within your rights and unquestionably ethical) to have sex with whomever you wish. Now, we see a further shift to the point where you even get to define your own sexuality (your being!) however you want. This is absurd, and it reaches beyond sexuality, as well. You can define your own heritage, race, religion, history... It is as if many people have simply chosen that there can be nothing "real." Everything is "plastic," changeable and even banish-able from who we are.
No wonder we cannot keep out commitments, to spouses, to debtors, to national and international efforts. No wonder our children are increasingly unaware of where they really come from. No wonder our "leaders" increasingly appeal solely to our appetites, which is the part of ourselves that so often rules over the rest. No wonder, even in our churches, young and old alike cannot tell you what they believe and why.
How is this even a news item at all?
I take issue with this. This "man" is really a woman, simple and plain. While I agree fully with the overall opinion that the beginning of a new life is a miraculous event, I cannot see a woman getting pregnant, even after she has had much of her femininity removed surgically, as an event any more miraculous than any woman getting pregnant.
The message seems to be - "My gender is what I say/feel it to be, and my gender is no related to my ability to reproduce." Unfortunately, this is completely backward. Obviously, since no real men have ever actually become pregnant, this is not so. The ability to carry a child and bring it into the world is a purely female ability. Thus, if this "man" has that ability, "he" is really a she and her gender is intimately tied to what has happened to her.
The truth is, this sort of mixed-up mindset about sexuality and gender is sad, in the individual case, and horrific, in the general/culture-wide sense. Our culture has become completely crazy! It has for some time claimed that it is OK (within your rights and unquestionably ethical) to have sex with whomever you wish. Now, we see a further shift to the point where you even get to define your own sexuality (your being!) however you want. This is absurd, and it reaches beyond sexuality, as well. You can define your own heritage, race, religion, history... It is as if many people have simply chosen that there can be nothing "real." Everything is "plastic," changeable and even banish-able from who we are.
No wonder we cannot keep out commitments, to spouses, to debtors, to national and international efforts. No wonder our children are increasingly unaware of where they really come from. No wonder our "leaders" increasingly appeal solely to our appetites, which is the part of ourselves that so often rules over the rest. No wonder, even in our churches, young and old alike cannot tell you what they believe and why.
How is this even a news item at all?
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