Rex M Rogers - Discerning What Is Best

Discerning What Is Best
with Dr. Rex M. Rogers

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 17 April 2023

In recent years, the end of marriage was predicted and even promoted, but is this the case and is it the best? What is the state of the union for marriage in America?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #81 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Whether you’re married, have been married, or have never been married, you’ve probably thought about it and interacted with couples who are married.

Aside from making a personal decision about one’s spiritual condition and Christian faith, I’d suggest that the most meaningful and significant decision any of us make is to get married and to whom.

In recent years, some predicted the end of marriage as we know it. Some even promoted the end of marriage.

And the trends seemed to suggest this might happen.

“The U.S. marriage rate reached a historic low in 2018, according to federal data spanning more than a century.”

“Both marriage and divorce rates in the United States declined from 2009 to 2019 but rates vary from state to state. In 2019, there were 16.3 new marriages for every 1,000 women age 15 and over in the United States, down from 17.6 in 2009. At the same time, the U.S. divorce rate fell from 9.7 new divorces per 1,000 women age 15 and over in 2009 to 7.6 in 2019…In 2019: Wyoming's marriage rate was among the highest in the nation. Delaware's marriage rate was among the lowest.”

“The 2020 national marriage rate fell to 5.1 per 1,000 people, its lowest level in 121 years.”

Then, post-COVID, “the rate of marriage increased in nearly every state in 2021 and went up 18% overall…That marked the biggest year-to-year jump since the end of World War II.”

“Getting married is a public demonstration of love and lifelong commitment between two people. For Christians, there is an extra dimension – marriage is part of a pattern of life established by God when he created humanity. He recognized that it was better for the first man, Adam, if he had a partner, Eve. Christians believe marriage is a partnership of love…Jesus acknowledged this in the Bible book, Matthew, when he said, ‘for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. They are no longer two but one...Like many people, Christians also believe a marriage is the best place to bring up children…Christians believe that the binding partnership of marriage is a powerful symbol of the relationship between Christ and the Church.”

Sarah and I are approaching our 49^th Anniversary. Hard to believe, as the quick passage of time always is. I remember our halcyon dating days, of course. I remember getting married the summer following our graduation from college. We were in love, certainly, but looking at it from the perspective of 40-something years, I think, we had no idea what real love and commitment is, as we do now.

This makes me think of the providence of God. He directed us together. He gave this unbelievable woman to me, the one who for fun I call Good Wife, capital letters on both words, when I write about her on social media. If anyone has the gift of hospitality detailed in Scripture, Good Wife is one of them. Clearly, as they say, I “married up.” How but for the grace of God was I blessed with a woman like this?

I know a few friends from college days, couples who married as did post-graduation. But a few of those marriages didn’t make it. This is grievous indeed because, though praise God I have not experienced divorce, I know if hurts all involved, sometimes for a lifetime. It is said that it “takes two to tango,” and I suppose there are circumstances wherein this applies. But I’ve lived long enough to know that sometimes divorce “happens to you.” It comes because the other spouse walks awry.

But marriages that last for the right reasons are wonders to behold, and experience. My parents were married for 66 years until Dad went to heaven. I don’t think they were ever apart more than 3 days in that timeframe, and they were blessed beyond measure, which meant my sister and I were blessed beyond measure.

It’s generally sad to read about so-called Hollywood marriages that are about convenience or short-term attraction or status but not about love and commitment.

And it’s sad to read about celebrities who go through 5-6 marriages and often even more partners during their lives, only to reach their older years living alone. Sometimes they claim they want it this way and are happy to be alone. Maybe, if they’ve had bad experiences with others and are burned out by their own fame. But just as often it is not that. They are alone, facing the sunset of their lives without the deep, trusted, reinforcing companionship born of years of walking side by side through the trials and triumphs of life together.

I think of this when I see former NFL great quarterback Joe “Broadway” Namath, a man who in his prime was known the company of women around him, yet now he is, you guessed it, alone.

I thought of this when I watched Burt Reynolds negotiate his ending days, a hunk, the man every woman supposedly wanted to be with, or at least he seem to think so, and who lived at times with starlets, yet ended his life alone.

I think of this when I remember Gloria Steinem, the 1970s feminist credited with inventing the phrase “reproductive freedom” and who maintained she did not need men, who then later in life at 66 years of age got married. Sad to say for Ms. Steinem, the gentleman passed away just three years later.

God looked at Adam in the Garden of Eden and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Likely the Lord knew that men would make a mess of things in the world if they were left to their own devices. But it was more than that.

God designed marriage as a practical and enjoyable relationship bespeaking the Trinity itself. The Trinity is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not three Gods but one Sovereign God of the universe in three persons.

Marriage is two persons who become one. That unity is a gift from God that fills the longing in each human being’s heart for love, unreserved commitment, and support. There is nothing else like it on earth.

Now I know that God does not call everyone to be married, so this podcast is not intended to somehow question or cast aspersion on the single person.. God made it clear in Scripture that the ultimate relationship a human being can and should experience is with God himself, and this is available to every person, married or single. So, the single person can live a fulfilled and complete life in God’s will and calling.

I cannot begin to imagine my life without Sarah in it. I consider myself not lucky, because I don’t believe in luck, but blessed in the providence of God, and this without having talked about our four children and spouses and ten grandchildren.

I’ve chosen not to list contemporary challenges and threats to marriage, but they are legion, ever present in media, social media, and culture, unremitting, unscrupulous, certainly unbiblical, and now incessantly promoted.

Satan is the Father of lies and division, evident in his first interaction with Eve in the Garden of Eden, evident today in the onslaught of his minions upon marriage. Only the Lord can place a hedge around us to protect against such sinful destruction.

Good marriages are gold. Good marriages are a gift of God. Good marriages are possible because of the lives of the good spouse God gave you. Celebrate him or her today.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 13 April 2023

It seems Transgenderism is having its historical cultural moment, but what really is this about and how should Christians respond?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #80 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Transgenderism or Trans ideology, the “T” in LGBTQ+, is experiencing something of a historical moment. While trans activists claim trans people are marginalized victims, trans ideology is now the dominant view in public education, media, social media, entertainment, athletics, government, even the Pentagon and the White House.

Now trans ideology is taking hold of corporate marketing in America.

“America clearly is in the throes of a cultural campaign for transgender rights, privileges, and immunities. It is a multi-faceted movement at once entertaining and dangerous.”

“It is not only major corporations, including Nike, Proctor & Gamble, and Anheuser Busch that have jumped aboard the transgender bandwagon.

Universities and now, the federal government and the judiciary are all in.”

“The transgender glorification movement truly has transitioned into high gear.”

“The cultural shift, especially in corporate marketing, has been nothing short of seismic. Where once Jack Daniels whiskey was presented as a sophisticated spirit, with ads depicting entertainment icon Frank Sinatra, the Tennessee-made alcoholic beverage now is branded by drag queens, in a timid genuflect to the LGBTQ+ movement.”

Other companies on the bandwagon include Ulta Beauty, Olay, Tik Tok, Instacart, Tampax, Nike, Kate Spade, Crest, and many more.

“One of the strangest kowtows to the LGBTQ+ campaign has been Hershey’s chocolate. During WWII, Hershey’s was one of a number of products that became closely identified with the American armed forces, especially the Army GI.

Eight decades later, the universally recognized brown Hershey’s milk chocolate candy bar wrapper markets itself as a “HER-SHE’s” treat and advertises yet another biological male transgendered to female.”

“Last week, female swimmer Riley Gaines was violently assaultedat San Francisco State University for daring to speak about the unfairness of male athletes competing against females.”

This goes way beyond trans boys or men accessing restrooms designated for females.

Recently, the highest profile trans marketing is Anheuser-Busch featuring a biological man, Dylan Mulvaney, who identifies as a woman on their Bud Light cans. Supposedly, Mulvaney is celebrating "365 days of girlhood" This resulted in both backlash from Country Music stars and the general public evidenced by pictures of Bud Light stacked unsold in stores, and resulted in the usual charges of bigotry and intolerance from the Left aimed at these musicians, the public, and conservatives.

Kid Rock shot up a case of Bud Light with a rifle. Ted Nugent called the partnership with Mulvaney the "epitome of cultural deprivation."

Meanwhile, you have to wonder what corporations are hoping to accomplish. Not market share, for sure. The number of adults in America described as transgender is totals less than 1%. And Anhueser-Busch has lost some $5 billion in value since the Bud Light can debacle.

“Disney experienced this last year, as it offered up a number of entertainment releases with woke messaging, which were routinely avoided by audiences, leading to losses. There was the gay rom-com movie “Bros” that basically defined a woke motion picture release, and it was not even supported by the gay community, becoming one of the biggest bombs of 2022.”

Some suggest this move to woke-ize their image and products is all about the companies' Corporate Equality Index score, a ranking overseen by a major LGBT+ lobbying group, the Human Rights Campaign.

“'Workforce Protections', 'Inclusive Benefits', 'Supporting and Inclusive Culture', and 'Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsible Citizenship' are all used to determine how a company compares on the all-important ranking…The CEI falls under umbrella entity ESG, stood for 'Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance', and its 'ethical investing' movement, which funds ideological projects including those that phase out fossil fuels, promote unionization, and maintain racial and gender equality hiring quotas.”

"While being Transgender has become the latest trend, gender clinics and stakeholders who profit from transitioning young people want to normalize transitioning, so they use people like Dylan as a pawn in their game and lobby companies to be more 'inclusive,’…The more we see trans people everywhere, the more likely kids will want to become like them."

But while this may be Trans Ideology’s big moment, since the entire movement is based upon lies, its seeming success is not without consequences.

Being a “she matters. Without a ‘she’ and a ‘he’, we wouldn’t be we. They wouldn’t be they. You and I wouldn’t be. Period. We live in a culture that is increasingly more hopeless and meaningless because of the determination to be genderless. Our DNA determines our sex/gender, but anytime we deny God’s design for humanity, disaster always follows.”

“We’re not avatars living in some make-believe world. We’re all bound by the same scientific and moral laws. This is reality. Tragically, many have no use for what it actually is. They want to conjure up a surreality untethered from facts and consequences.”

Allow me to pause and say there is such a thing as gender dysphoria, meaning there are people who struggle with who they are biologically. This is real, and it is usually painful. Those who struggle with gender dysphoria need help, “acceptance and affirmation,” to use the trans ideology phrase, not for transitioning by denying their God-given sexuality, but acceptance and affirmation of them as human beings made in God’s image, persons who need our loving care pointing them to the Sovereign Creator God who makes no mistakes.

So nowhere in this podcast am I subtly suggesting people struggling with gender dysphoria should be ridiculed, rejected, much less hated or abused.

But I am also saying that these individuals with genuine difficulties represent a very small percentage of the population. Many more people embracing trans and other non-binary postures are involved in choices rooted in hearts blinded by sin.

Simply because people choose to willfully deny God’s definition of sexuality does not mean the rest of the population must accommodate their every predilection.

“When you deny what you really are, you deform your mind, you warp your personality and instincts, you disguise and mutilate your actual nature, and thus it becomes virtually impossible to live a normal life…But you will always find yourself challenged when around normal people because you know you are denying your own normality. Men are men and women are women, and if they try to be what they are not, they are going to have some serious issues. It is inevitable.”

Increasingly of late, we’re seeing transgender mass shooters, most recently Aubrey Hale in the tragic killing of Christian school students and personnel in Nashville.

This does not mean all trans people will become shooters, but neither does it mean we should ignore this development.

Aubrey Hale’s “fact-denial caused (he/)her to become so psychologically unstable and morally obtuse that he/)she wanted to (die and take others along.) And, quite frankly, it is totally the fault of the transgender ideological movement. They encourage people to be what they are not, to reject their own nature, and to live totally opposite what they truly are. Leftist transgender ideology is completely, and forever, to blame for every one of these people who get screwed up and filled with hate against those who are trying to help them be what God made them to be and wants them to be. And they end up crying for help but finding no answers. Because the Left, by denying God and true nature, has no answers.”

What trans identifying people need is not transition to a gender that is not their biological sex.

What they need is spiritual transformation of their heart. They need, like all of us, the truth of Scripture: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

The Lord promised, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezek. 36:26).

Not physical transition but spiritual transformation is what transgender people need to secure lasting peace.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 10 April 2023

Have you ever been caught off-guard by a new meaning for a long recognized word in the English language?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #79 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Words are how human beings communicate. A gift from God, the power to speak using words, sets human beings apart from animals. But if words do not possess established, recognized shared meanings, they can be manipulated and therefore people can be manipulated.

Words are hijacked, which is to say, unilaterally repurposed at the expense of normality, reality, and truth, so a given group can control the narrative.

In the postmodern 21^st Century landscape in which we live, confusion reigns supreme. And confusion creates division.

Division, which then leads to power, is the goal of the secular progressive left. A way to do this is to distort language, turn discourse upside down or make it impossible by constantly redefining words.

In the 1990s, President Clinton famously defended his conduct with Monica Lewinski by stating "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

“Language provides an avenue to express shared meaning so humans can relate to one another. On college campuses, social media, and in the courts, this shared meaning is being destroyed. Through linguistic activism, (the secular progressive Left has) begun a full-scale war on language, playing by their own set of constantly shifting rules.

Words can now literally be defined with their antonym. We are a hair’s width and an ounce of stupidity away from (George Orwell’s frightening phrases in his book 1984), ‘war is peace, freedom is slavery.’ This isn’t innocent linguistic drift or slang; it is a conscious effort to reshape society.

(For example,) consider “the phrase ‘undocumented immigrant’ in place of ‘illegal alien.’ The rallying cry is that ‘no person is illegal.’ But of course, ‘illegal’ refers to the action and status, not the personhood of the individual, and ‘alien’ is the technical term for a foreign citizen.”

The term ‘illegal immigration’ is no longer politically acceptable because it might reflect negatively upon some poor, misunderstood ‘migrant’ who entered the United States illegally seeking a better life. The (secular progressive Left) now identifies them as ‘undocumented immigrants.’

“By separating gender from sex, linguistic activists tore the very fabric of mutual understanding, and created a new class of victims, and by definition, a new class of offenders. Pronouns, the simplest way to identify another party, are now subject to feelings.” Dozens of nonsensical new pronouns sprang into existence.

“Controlling how people speak is the implicit goal of this movement, which combined with anti-hate-speech activism seeks to empower the Left as the arbiters of morality and to punish those who wrongfully use language—ironically, achieved by abusing language themselves.”

“Racism is no longer based on religion, color, creed but on political orientation, and anyone who challenges the (secular progressive) Left's agenda is branded a ‘racist.’”

“Creating new definitions for existing words helps (the secular) progressive (Left) redefine society into newly created classifications of perceived disenfranchised individuals they promise to protect, while fundamentally changing America.”

Another example: various efforts have been made to remove “husband” and “wife” from federal law, replacing them with gender neutral terms like married couple, spouse, etc. “The current social engineering requires leftists to continually change public perception of reality.”

“Phobia” is now an all-purpose word used to condemn anyone who does not agree with the Left, as in homophobia, transphobia.

The list of hijacked words is now almost endless, including, gay, assault rifle, equity, progressive, pro-choice to replace pro-abortion, Holiday to replace Christmas, and sex, meaning one’s biological physicality at birth, now replaced by the word gender, meaning a changing or fluid condition one feels psychologically or socially.

Same-sex marriage changed the meaning of marriage. Now it’s about something call “marriage equality.”

In many public schools, there are no longer boys or girls but simply “students.”

Global warming is now “climate change”, and since the weather is forever changing, the idea of climate change is impossible to disprove.

Young criminals are now in some localities referred to as “justice-involved youth.”

Tolerance is used to censor opposing views, and any non-leftist views, are ipso facto, hate speech. Justice is now increasingly displaced by “social justice,” something depending not on right or wrong but upon one’s politics.

There’s a “challenge” at the southern border, not a “crisis.” Migrant children are being held in “reception centers” not “cages.” Instead of “border security,” it’s “border safety.”

In fall 2020 during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings, “then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett was criticized for using the term ‘sexual preference,’ in responding to a question about legal protections for the LGBT community during her confirmation hearing? ‘Sexual preference’ was weaponized by the (secular progressive Left) for being a homophobic slur. The correct term is ‘sexual orientation.’ Most alarming in Justice Barrett’s case is after she uttered the term,

Merriam-Webster updated its definition of ‘preference’ to include the word’s usage in certain contexts may be ‘offensive.’”

In spring 2022, during “Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked the Supreme Court nominee: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?” Jackson responded, ‘I’m not a biologist.’”

Science, which used to be defined as conclusions based upon tested evidence gleaned from the natural world, is now something based upon feeling or politics.

Biblical images like the rainbow, meaning God’s “covenant with (humanity), that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Gen. 9:8-16), has now been hijacked as a symbol of the LGBTQ+ movement, adopted in 1978 as its flag.

Diversity now means difference of appearance, not differences in thought, leading to conformity of thought.

Education at one time meant teaching independent, critical thinking, knowledge, and wisdom, but now it means indoctrination in moral relativism, globalism, and historical revisionism.

Freedom once meant personal liberty but now it means rejection of the burden of being, no stress, and economic dependence on government.

Climate change is not about environmental stewardship and conservation of resources but really is about redistribution of wealth, replacement of free enterprise capitalism by socialism, and minimizing humanity.

If the Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr returned today, his vocabulary would not fit today’s landscape. In fact, many of his goals, like attaining a colorblind society, are now considered racist. Yes, like Abraham Lincoln, in our Orwellian society, Martin Luther King, Jr. is now a racist.

Witness this quote from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Aug. 28, 1963, wherein he expresses optimism and patriotism, concepts now rejected by the secular progressive Left:

“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Scripture reminds us God’s Word is truth. It never changes, and we must live “on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). We are, in turn, to engage in “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). To do this, in an age of prevarication and division, we must remember: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Our spiritual and perhaps our social/political well-being depends on it.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 04 April 2023

It doesn’t take much reflection to realize a lot has changed in the past 50 years besides iPhones and the Internet. If you are older, have you noted the extensive changes in American culture?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #78 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Recently, I’ve been trying to get my arms around the moral freefall so widely apparent in American culture. At the risk of sounding like an old fogy, I must say that the American culture in which I grew up, indeed lived into my middle adult years, is either in serious trouble or gone, depending upon how you want to assess certain measures. The point is, it’s really different now and I’m not sure younger people realize or recognize it.

I’m not suggesting that in days gone by, things were all as they should be, that we experienced no problems and no failures “back when.” Indeed, we had plenty of personal and cultural sins, among them racism, or men treating women in inappropriate ways the MeToo Movement finally and rightly pointed out. What I’m saying now is that moral shifts have taken place in American culture during my lifetime that are as wide, deep, and threatening as a 9.0 earthquake.

When I was in grade school, teachers read a few verses of Scripture each morning before we said the “Pledge of Allegiance” together and started our day. I was in 8^th Grade before I learned what homosexuality is and that was from a “Birds and the Bees” conversation with my Dad, not via the street, public school, or television. In high school, I did come to understand racism and civil rights, because I heard Martin Luther King. Jr’s incredible “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (1963), and I watched the social protests of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. When I was in high school, I never saw or barely heard of drugs.

Throughout my public school elementary, middle school, and high school experience, I was blessed with teachers who knew their subjects and who taught, teachers who were, with the exception of a couple I could name, moral, decent, caring, professional people, teachers who were permitted and who wanted to teach “reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic,” history, biology, language, and critical thinking.

They did not spend – I should say waste – time on sex education or promote LGBTQ special rights, look upon every occurrence as evidence of failed diversity, equity, or inclusion. They did not re-vision American history as a dark and desperate story of white privilege, cultural relativism or systemic racism. While we learned about conservation and environmental stewardship, teachers did not instill students with fears about climate change or promote socialist, anti-free enterprise, anti-humanity ideologies about saving the world.

Consequently, I was educated, not indoctrinated.

I was taught to respect the fact that men and women from this country in which I was born had on several occasions given the last full measure of sacrifice so that I could enjoy life and liberty. I was taught that patriotism focused on a set of ideals, of aspirations about human freedom, not just blind loyalty to a country or ideology.

I was taught to think, not shrink in fear of micro-aggressions or perceived oppressions. I was not taught “tolerance” in the current sense of the term, meaning a promotion of one demography at the expense of others. Rather, I was taught to “love your neighbor,” to understand that each person a free citizen of his/her country, equal before the law, innocent until proven guilty, free to pursue opportunities without class consciousness and to succeed or fail based upon our own work ethic, commitment, and the merit of our ideas.

I was never taught by parents, preachers, or teachers that there is no such thing as truth, something that is now the prevailing acceptable idea across American culture, and this false idea is reaping devastating effects.

I was taught that boys should become men, and that one aspect of this maturity was a recognition that men should respect and protect girls and women. I was taught that real men were respectable, responsible, and reliable, that real women were capable, considerate, and caring. I had role models of both sexes who were honest, hard-working, and courageous.

Honestly, I did not understand abortion until I got into college, and while I was in college the Supreme Court of the United States handed down Roe v. Wade (1973).

Though I had watched male comedians dress as women for the sake of comedy when I was young, I did not know what a transvestite is, much less what transgenderism is.

And when I say I did not know what these things were, I mean well into and college age, because these things were not part of or morally endorsed by everyday culture. Trans ideology was not taught in school, as it is today, not available on the Internet, as it is today, not presented in acceptable forms on television, as it is today, and not “accepted and affirmed,” as the recommended wording goes, by preachers or churches or Christian families.

Getting hammered, when I was in high school, meant some kids drank too many beers Friday night. We were just beginning to hear about marijuana, and later uppers and downers, LSD, and other spinoffs of the “Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll” of the 60s Counterculture. But when I was in high school, this was all “out there” somewhere, not commonly available in our town. let alone hard drugs like heroin or cocaine, and later—actually now---opioids and fentanyl.

When I was in high school, as I recall, two classmates got pregnant. Both girls attended for a time, then dropped out to have their babies. These new mothers eventually returned to finish their educations. The issue—unexpected and unwanted pregnancy—has been around since the dawn of time, but moral codes and expectations limited the prevalence of the problem. At least this was the case when I was in high school, 1966-1970.

Although the FDA approved the first oral contraceptive in 1960, contraceptives were not available to married women in all states until Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and were not available to unmarried women in all states until Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972).

The pill, as it was called, helped propel the Sexual Liberation Movement of the 1960s toward breaking new boundaries in the 1970s. This movement continues today with LGBTQ demands for normalization. When I was a youth, while this movement was well underway, it had not reached our small town in any identifiable public way. The pill, and other contraceptives developed later, represented the technical or medical side, so to speak, of sexual liberation, but the real rocket fuel to the movement was a significant change in the nation’s public moral consensus – what culture thinks is right and wrong, OK, or up to you and no one else’s business.

American culture’s moral tectonic plates are shifting away from the Judeo-Christian moral consensus that once provided what sociologists of religion called the “sacred canopy” integrating society.

We’re moving from There is a God, He is the source of our liberty and laws, and We are accountable to him to There is no God, liberty and laws are about libertinism, and we are not accountable to anyone.

In Romans 1 (18), Scripture warns about those “who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Our culture has long-since begun "suppressing the truth," so it is becoming irrational, unrealistic, and dysfunctional. Unfortunately, it can get worse; there's more sophisticated insanity yet to come.

During the April 2, 2023, Country Music Awards, co-host Kelsea Ballerini sang while joined on stage by a group of drag queens. She later tweeted, “Thank you to these iconic queens and... CMT for celebrating love, self-expression, and performance." Clearly, she did not invite the drag queens because they enhanced her music. She was making a statement.

Celebrity leftist radicalism is nothing new, but Blue State officials, like Gov. Gavin Newsome, California, intentionally positioning their states in opposition to the rule of law, federal courts, and the legislatures of Red States is new. California bills itself as a sanctuary state for transgender kids or those wanting abortion access. Not just California, but a number of Blue States have adopted laws directly contrary to laws in Red States. This includes laws regarding abortion on demand, transgender youth policy, transgender athlete access to athletic events based on gender identity rather than biological birth sex, classroom discussion of race or sexuality, and more.

This division, this civil-war-like antipathy, was unknown when I was young, but it exists now and is being described as “the great divergence.” Given that the bedrock of all this is not politics but moral worldview, the 2020s are likely to be a time of increased challenges to American social cohesion. American culture is coming apart at the seams.

Pray for E Pluribus Unum.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 27 March 2023

Was there a time in your life when you were more hopeful than you are now? Has the world gone so awry that hope no longer seems possible or reasonable? Is hope hopelessly dead?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #77 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

At the end of “Gond with the Wind,” after years of tragic Civil War, the starring character Scarlett O’Hara, devastated and seemingly defeated by the degradations of the war, said, “Tara. Home. I'll go home…After all, tomorrow is another day."

In “Annie,” Orphan Annie sang, “The sun will come out Tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow There'll be sun! Just thinking about Tomorrow Clears away the cobwebs, And the sorrow 'Til there's none! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya Tomorrow! You're always a day away”

In “Cast Away,” Tom Hanks-as-Chuck Noland, rescued after four years on the deserted island and in the process losing the one he considered the love of his life, wraps the film saying, “And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?”

All these fictional cinematic characters expressed hope, something that made these films powerful, but something that now seems part of a lost past.

Today’s movies, with a few exceptions, are usually not hopeful; they’re dark, deadly, and hopeless.

There was a time, on both sides of the aisle, when being upbeat in politics was considered admirable. Democrat Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey was known as the "Happy Warrior." Republican President Ronald Reagan, the "Gipper," was widely recognized by friend and foe alike for his sunny, forever optimistic persona.

Now, it seems many Democrat and Republican politicians, activists, journalists, academicians, and beaucoup other pundits on social media, are terminally angry, perpetually offended, lacking in humility, at times fearful, or so convinced their view is correct that yours does not deserve hearing. And oh by the way, they’re nasty.

I don't think Humphrey or Reagan were clueless Pollyannas. I think they operated with a different worldview than most of the "elites" we endure today. Maybe I sound like an old guy, but I miss the forward-thinking energy you can hear in these statements by political leaders—

--FDR regarding the Depression and later World War II: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

--JFK on landing a person on the moon: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

--MLK Jr on his vision America would realize its founding principles: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

--George H. W. Bush on his lifelong belief in the American people: "I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good."

Like Humphrey and Reagan, these men weren’t silly utopians. They were men who expressed hope based upon their personal values and confidence in America’s transcendent ideals.

People place their hope in many things: themselves, their “inner strength,” other people—who alwaysfail and falter, talent—drive—wealth—education—beauty—success, false gods. But none of these things can ultimately provide hope in the face of hopelessness.

Hope, particularly hope in the future, must come from something outside ourselves, outside our experience. That’s what happened to the colonial era English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes who looked at nature and concluded life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Pretty dark view, and his solution wasn’t much better, a government of absolute power.

Non-Christian worldviews do not provide hope, or if they attempt to do so, they don’t know how to deal with the reality of evil. Sin, living in a fallen world, how do we escape our own sinfulness? We are indeed hopeless…until and unless we place our faith in the Creator God who provided a way out, who provided forgiveness and reconciliation and therefore hope. Christianity resolves the question of good and evil and gives people reason for optimism.

So, when you choose hope based upon the omnipotent Sovereign God, you are not irrational, emotional, or even mystical. Rather, you are rational, reasoning, and reasonable because you are opting for fact over fiction.

Our culture’s pell-mell rush during my lifetime to abandon Judeo-Christian values in favor of the latest humanistic, ideological “Ism” is what’s brought us to this point: elites with no optimism, no real hope.

The only way to get hope and optimism back is to embrace what God told us long ago: “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Christian hope is not like any other kind of hope. Christian hope is not a vain wish for what might be. Christian hope is a trust in what will be. Christian hope is based upon Christ's completed work, so our hope may be confident...not anxious, not arrogant, but confident.

This is very important. We're told by some people that the future is a matter of chance, fate, or luck. Some of these people think God doesn't exist, and some believe God can't do much even if He does exist. People who think like this end up in one of two extremes: hedonism or nihilism.

People faced with a pessimistic, hopeless future seek relief in substance abuse or some other emotional tranquilizer.

Hollywood celebrities—the ones who’ve lived life in full-on self-aggrandizement—who then get all that they’re after—fame and adulation, fortune and excess, libertine but vapid sex, banal success, materialistic things, finally discover what they wanted leaves them empty.

Remember Peggy Lee’s song in 1969? “If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing. Let’s break out the booze and have a ball. If that’s all there is.”

Does this help you understand why celebrities who “have it all” end their lives by their own hand, or they become victims of accidental overdose?

Christian hope is authentic, genuine, and balanced. It's never pessimistic, because Christians know the Creator and Savior.

We know the beginning and the end of the human story, and we know it's all in God's sovereign care. Christian hope is realistically optimistic. We acknowledge the presence of sin in the world—and in our own hearts, but we do not crash in an emotional death spiral, because we know the Lord, the author of hope.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast." For the Christian--hope really is eternal.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 20 March 2023

Sometimes we think superstition is the experience of primitive, ill-educated people in far off lands, but have you noticed that Americans are superstitious too?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #76 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and for that matter many other regions, people believe in something called the Evil Eye. It’s a superstition, but it’s real to those who believe it.

The Evil Eye is the idea that someone can look at you and, whether intentional or not and whether realized or not, cause you discomfort, injury, or bad luck. To purposely “give someone” the evil eye is the height of social ill will.

In the Middle East it is also possible, according to belief in the Evil Eye, to induce evil upon a person unwittingly, simply by calling attention to something good in his or her life. For example, those who believe in the Evil Eye would be horrified to hear you say they have “a lovely child” or are living in “a very attractive home.” Such compliments invite the negative attention of the Evil Eye.

Because people really do believe in the Evil Eye, charms of all shapes and sizes have been developed to ward off the potential and power of its curse. Usually, such charms are made of dark blue glass or some other hard polished material on which a light blue circle is imprinted, which in turn is centered by a dark circle or dot. The design suggests an eye.

I’ve seen these charms in shops in Cairo, Istanbul, cities in Cyprus, Beirut, and other Lebanese cities. I’ve seen people wearing them on the street as necklaces, bracelets, or some other amulet. And I’ve seen them hanging from the rearview mirrors of cars, much like people in the West hang dreamcatchers.

It’s sad, for the Evil Eye is nothing but a superstition, and the charms are nothing but powerless talismans.

But from a Christian perspective, we know that there’s no such thing as luck of any kind. The idea of a Sovereign God and luck are mutually exclusive concepts (Isaiah 45:5-7).

While we don’t see many Evil Eye charms in America, you can purchase them online and we do see our own version of lucky artifacts. Sad thing is though: they’re all a waste of time and money.

Yet people persist in believing in luck, “just in case.” Americans embrace a host of good luck charms. Rabbits' feet, lucky coins or bottle caps, special winning shirts-shoes-socks or pre-game rituals, lucky charms, crystals, four leaf clovers, medals, or spices, hex symbols on barns, spirit rocks purchased at the mall.

We are superstitious. Knock on wood. Don't walk under a ladder, step on a crack, or break a mirror. Throw salt over your shoulder. Cross your fingers. Avoid that black cat. Don’t do anything on Friday the 13^th, the fear of which is intriguingly called paraskavedekatriaphobia.

The motivations for most superstition is fear or the desire for luck. But when people turn to superstition the cure can be worse than the disease. Superstition does not displace fear. It only masks it for a time like whistling in the dark.

The Evil Eye, for example, is a form of idolatry, because, like all charms, amulets, talismans, fetishes, juju, voodoo, dzi beads, hamsa hands, or zemi, in the mind and heart of adherents, they act as surrogates to trust in God. People put faith in, even worship, inanimate objects rather than God. This at its most basic is the definition of idolatry.

Christianity has been infected by superstition, too. While Christian leaders and theologians typically condemn faith in “things” rather than faith in God, individuals worldwide use Christian symbols as objects of superstition. Belief in the power of a crucifix (not God or Jesus) reaches back centuries. In Bram Stoker’s warped classic, Dracula, the crucifix is used to ward off vampires, and with that a legend with no end was born.

The crucifix, or simply the cross, are often used not so much as representations of Christ’s substitutionary atonement (a legitimate artistic or religious practice) but as devices vested with mystical protective powers. Some people wear crucifixes or crosses like a presumed force shield, not unlike people wear Evil Eye amulets.

Sometimes our superstition takes on a "Christianized" flavor. People "Say a little prayer" before tackling bigger tasks. Even non-Catholics cross themselves because "It can't hurt." People use the Bible like a talisman, keeping it in cars or touching it for good luck.

Superstition, though, doesn’t align with Christian faith. Superstition is based on ignorance. Christianity is based on knowable truth. Superstition thrives on fear while Christian faith overcomes fear.

The Psalmist David sang, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23).

Timothy said, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).

God, not superstition, casts away fear. He is the Good Shepherd, the Heavenly Father, the Comforter, the Great Physician, the Almighty.

Superstition tries to appease legions of mythical gods (Isaiah 65:11-17). Christians worship the Heavenly Father who brings all things together according to his purposes (Romans 8:28).

Superstition is idolatry, and God said in the book of 1 John, "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols" (5:21).

But in classic syncretistic fashion we don’t get rid of our superstitions. We mix them with our biblical beliefs and in effect create our own new religion. We even use fetishes.

A fetish is an object that supposedly possesses enchanted powers capable of bringing great favor or otherwise protecting its owner from harm.

Yet biblically speaking no material objects are vested with orphic powers. No inanimate thing and no animals alive or dead can supernaturally protect or favor human activity. No idol, icon, or fetish, including voodoo dolls, holds any powers. They’re just human-made objects, crafted with religious symbolism but no more capable of directing human affairs than the Pet Rocks or Mood Rings of my youth.

God said, "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them” (Exodus 20:3-4).

Magic is another foray into superstition, one of those things about which we need to exercise what someone once called "sanctified common sense." In other words, we must define our terms and balance our response.

If by magic we mean the occult, Satan worship, demonism, witchcraft or sorcery, Fate, incantations, seances, crystal balls, or psychic claims upon our lives, than as a Christian we must reject and oppose these things. This kind of magic is devilish, promotes an anti-Christian worldview, and destroys those it touches.

Magic is a generalized term for a host of ungodly surrogates for the biblical story. The magic of the occult is Satan's mimicry of divine miracles and sovereign disposition of human affairs. Demons, witches, and other purveyors of magical falsehood are Satan's marionettes, messengers of sin and darkness.

But remember, the Providence of God puts the lie to superstition, luck, fetishes, and magic. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39).

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

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