Gender confusion

[Falco Knotwise]

Related:

Valerie Kloosterman, a physician's assistant, was fired after seeking a religious exemption from referring patients for transgender care and using their personal pronouns.

https://www.thecentersquare.com/michiga ... 4fe65.html

Dr. Johnson Varkey, a professor of biology for over 20 years at Philips College, was fired for stating that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes.

https://nypost.com/2023/06/27/professor ... romosomes/

A fire chief lost his job for attending a leadership conference at a Church.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... pQsnhL4ipq

[temporal1]

Except that, as Christians, we believe what the New Testament teaches us, including about certain things that are very grave sins.

And somehow I don't think our government would accept me for very long as a schoolteacher or school board member
if I spoke honestly and freely about how serious I think clear sins in the New Testament are.

And yes, these things are the unvarnished truth. Heaven and hell are very real, and there is nothing more important than understanding that truth. Yet the "public square" has been decayed to something that promotes... what, exactly? Some kind of American civic religion? And just what does America stand for, anyway? As far as I can tell, America's core values are going deeply into debt so that we can buy lots of bombs to bomb other people in other places.

Is that really something anyone should want to proudly stand up for?

Josh,
When you wrote you don’t believe “our government would accept (you)” .. i don’t read into your words that you aren’t “very good” or competent. i don’t know if you are or are not. i would guess you are (above average).

But i know there are plenty who are incompetent, not all teachers read well, etc.
Due to understandable teacher shortages, some are worried about lowered standards for teaching positions.

Unions may take credit for much of the incompetent problem. imho
Not just in schools. Unions are known to protect+defend the incompetent, and even corrupt, returning them to active employment, sometimes again+again. In the least, it causes morale problems for the competent and dedicated.

[temporal1]

Falco:
.. Not sure if that last sentence was intended to characterize sex change operations or not, however, that these practices do seem to "transform the healing profession into a technocracy" to achieve purposes that were once considered beyond the medical profession does seem to be a valid point.

Not to ignore: Technocracy, AT MAGNIFICENT PROFIT to big pharma providers, protected+guaranteed by gov policy.

Search SCOTT NEWGENT in this topic for his first-person ADULT experience, sharing “a word to the wise” on minor exposure.

All of my adult life i’ve been frustrated at how “we pawns on the bottom” argue endlessly over morality - while amoral profiteers control the strings, morality is NEVER an issue for them. Only for its power to DIVIDE the masses.

It’s sickening. Whether over abortion, elective surgeries for minors, war, it’s all the same.
Pawns duking it out on the ground, profiteers protecting their profits, smugly removed from the fray.

Literally, people go to the death fighting these ugly battles. True Believers.

They don't argue morality any more because it can't be won.
If taken on its own ground - rational thought with respect to moral issues - Christianity has won all the moral arguments.

So they don't argue moral points rationally anymore, they just dismiss it all as a relic of ancient past.
"Nobody believes that anymore. You can't prove that with science!"

An appeal to rights and an undefined freedom, therefore, is supposed to put an end to all thought on the matter.

Works for all politicians and corporate power mongers alike.

Roger Scruton: How Socialism got Repackaged into Human Rights / 10min

Description:
Sir Roger Scruton made these remarks while delivering an address to the Institute of Public Affairs, Australia’s premier free market think tank. To learn more about the work of the IPA, visit www.ipa.org.au.

Sir Roger Vernon Scruton is an English philosopher and writer who specialises in aesthetics and political philosophy,
particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views.

In recent years he taught courses in Buckingham University, Oxford University and University of St. Andrews.

In this clip, he talks about human rights and socialism. Complete videos edited with permission:
• Roger Scruton: Li...

Trillions:
Did anyone doubt the intent for the equivalent of “no restraint spending”?
viewtopic.php?t=4096

t1,
Trillions is nothing. The U.S. debt is on track to hit quadrillions within my lifetime.

i dwell in the past.

[Josh]

When you wrote you don’t believe “our government would accept (you)” .. i don’t read into your words that you aren’t “very good” or competent. i don’t know if you are or are not. i would guess you are (above average).

What I mean is that there are certain things I simply would not do because my belief in Jesus means I must follow him and his teachings no matter what.

At a prior employer, I had a frank discussion once that I am OK with not telling customers certain things, but I will not directly lie to them, nor will I do anything that I feel is being deliberately deceitful on my own part. I said I am just an employee, so I'm not here to dictate what other people do, but I won't do those things, and that in my religious belief, intentionally telling a lie would have immediate and severe spiritual consequences and thus I would rather lose a job, be demoted, etc. than do so.

Of course, my employer listened to that, agreed, and then kept expecting me to be deceitful, and I just continued to refuse to do it.

That is what I mean by that my faith informs my behaviour in the public sphere. For some odd reason, Ken has a problem with this, because he thinks this is what Christianity is:

Yes, you right. You wouldn't make a very good teacher or school board member if you feel that your faith compels you to discriminate against others in your role as a public servant. Nor would you make a good teacher or school board member if you feel your faith compels you to use your position as a public employee to proselytize on behalf of one specific religion or strain of Christianity. Again, this is a pretty simple concept to grasp and most people have no trouble with it whatsoever.

Ken couches being a Christian in language like "discriminating against others", which is not actually true, but I do think eventually one has a duty to rescue souls from eternal damnation, and that is far more important than any job, or doing what the state wants.

Indeed, the early Christians were willing to die for that. They often didn't do what the state wanted and many of them were persecuted and martyred. The Roman Empire is long gone, but Jesus and his followers persist to this day. I know which side I will be choosing.

[Ken]

Ken couches being a Christian in language like "discriminating against others", which is not actually true, but I do think eventually one has a duty to rescue souls from eternal damnation, and that is far more important than any job, or doing what the state wants.

I do nothing of the sort. I consider myself Christian and the majority of teachers across this country are Christian. There are vastly more teachers who are Christian in this country than any other faith. And nearly all of them find no conflict whatsoever between their jobs and their faith. To the contrary, for many their faith is what led them to the profession in the first place.

Yes there are a very tiny minority of public school teachers in this country who think their faith gives them a license or mandate to discriminate. Probably a tiny fraction of 1%. And yes, if they are not willing to treat all of their students equally and with respect they do not belong in the profession. Likewise, if they cannot do their job without proselytizing to the captive audience in their care, they also don't belong in the profession. Or at least not in the public schools. There are plenty of private religious schools where they can work. It is as simple as that.

[Josh]

Do you consider (for example) teaching that lying is wrong to be “proselytising”?

[Ken]

Do you consider (for example) teaching that lying is wrong to be “proselytising”?

Where are you going with this? For example?

[Josh]

Do you consider (for example) teaching that lying is wrong to be “proselytising”?

Where are you going with this? For example?

Well, the reason I believe lying is wrong is because of my Christian faith and belief in the Bible.

The world believes lying is OK as long as you don’t get caught.

So which would you expect me to teach?

[Ken]

Do you consider (for example) teaching that lying is wrong to be “proselytising”?

Where are you going with this? For example?

Well, the reason I believe lying is wrong is because of my Christian faith and belief in the Bible.

The world believes lying is OK as long as you don’t get caught.

So which would you expect me to teach?

This is simply not correct on either count.

Most cultures around the world teach essentially the same thing about lying. Namely that lying is unethical or immoral but that it is sometimes necessary to serve a greater good. You can find this in the writings of Plato and Aristotle who were not Christian. Plato spends a great deal of time on the subject. You can find it in eastern religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. And you can find it in Native American beliefs. In fact, pretty much every where you look. Christianity holds no monopoly over teaching on the subject of lying. And no one teaches that "lying is OK as long as you don’t get caught."

You can find the same exact lesson in the Bible as in Plato. For example, Exodus 1 which is the story of the Hebrew midwives who lied to the pharaoh about killing all the male Hebrew babies. Or Joshua 2 which is the story of how Rahab lied to soldiers of Jericho to protect Hebrew spies who were hiding in her house. And this very act of lying was held up as righteous and moral act in the New Testament in James 2:25 so these are not just Old Testament stories.

Christian philosophers and theologians have been arguing this point for millennia, from Augustine to Reinhold Niebuhr. Or, argue alternatively that not all forms of deception constitute lying. So yes, your very own Bible contains examples of lying or deception in service of the greater good. And Christianity does not have a uniform view on the subject.

[Falco Knotwise]

It's classical Christian teaching that the second table of the Commandments is simply a summing up of the natural law, known by reason according to all cultures.

This is why I think the Commandments on the first tablet and especially about worshipping God alone is so important. Not only is it the reason we keep the other commandments (because we are all made by Him, created in His image.) but it makes a big difference who is on the Throne in one's life.

If lying for the greater good is sometimes okay, then it makes a difference what you regard as the greater good.

If you make an idol of a political ideology then you can slander your political opponents with abandon.

Make an idol of freedom and you justify mass murder.