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Politics and Theology from Reuel K. Sample

The Sexual Alliance in Our Schools

KnoxNews.com broke an interesting story. Seems that the ACLU is suing the Knoxville and Nashville school districts because the schools have filters on their internet that block access to gay and lesbian information sites. The suit also claims that while informational sites are banned, what are not banned are sites that disagree with the homosexual/transgender lifestyle.

The suit is brought on behalf of students and a Knoxville school librarian. The librarian, Karyn Storts-Brinks, is the faculty advisor for the Fulton High School Gay-Straight Alliance. In her interview with KnoxNews.com she says:

…some students might be questioning their sexuality, some might already be confident in their sexuality and some might be getting harassed, and they need access to legitimate educational LGBT sites for information and support. (KnoxNews.com)

Thank you, ACLU. Not for leading another charge against traditional moral values, but for bringing this story to the forefront. I had no idea that there were such things as Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in our high schools and middle schools. I wonder how many parents know that at school-sanctioned meetings their teen can discuss sexual identities with other students and outside guests. There are a multitude of problems here, but let me focus on three:

1. Once again, parents are taken out of the loop in how their kids are raised. According to the Gay-Straight Alliance handbook, parents are the key, just not necessarily a student’s own parent:

First, you have to find a committed and enlightened parent. Start with your group or circle of friends: does anyone have an enlightened, supportive, committed parent?

If you can’t find a supportive parent among your group’s parents, contact a PFLAG chapter, a Unitarian church, a GLSEN chapter, or the ACLU chapter in your area, and ask if anyone there knows of a parent in your school district who is supportive. (Make It Real)

In other words, if a student’s own parents are not in agreement with the homosexual or transgender lifestyle, go out and find a parent who is. It is the duty of the parent to raise their children, and to address these issues, not the school’s. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

2. The Gay-Straight Alliance maintains that they do not promote alternative lifestyles, just provide a “safe-zone” for its discussion:

Mission Statement

Gay-Straight Alliance Network is a youth leadership organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to each other and community resources. Through peer support, leadership development, and training, GSA Network supports young people in starting, strengthening, and sustaining GSAs and builds the capacity of GSAs to:

1. create safe environments in schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other oppressions,
2. educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues, and
3. fight discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools. (Gay-Straight Alliance Mission Statement)

On its surface, GSAs seem designed to create an atmosphere of open discussion. However, they have teamed up with an organization called Frameline to produce a series of “free LGBT themed movies to GSAs” throughout California. Frameline definitely has an agenda:

Founded in 1977, Frameline’s mission is to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and further its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts. (Frameline)

GSAs are not neutral in these discussions. They are actively promoting a lifestyle that is in full opposition to the values of many school parents.

3. Any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage is out of bounds according to Scripture. “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (Hebrews 13:4) Homosexual practices receive an even stronger condemnation:

“…Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

Teenagers are sexually stirred up, but that does not mean that they have to be sexually active. Clubs like the Gay-Straight Alliance promote a sexual lifestyle that teenagers are not ready for, and are sinful no matter what the age.

If you are a parent with a child going into middle or high school, you should be worried. You should be angry. You should be saddened. The question is, what now?

Political Thoughts, Theology , , ,

The Church Damned

The cat is out of the bag. The community is well aware that the church is failing in her mission.

A block get together over the weekend confirmed it. In discussing things like health care, child care, homosexuality, and single parenting the group asked “Where is the church?” Except for my wife and me, this group does not go to church. They are socially liberal, fiscally conservative, family-oriented folks. They really do not harbor any ill-will against Christianity per se, but they do have some specific questions of the church:

1. Why are you focusing on always obtaining more land, building more structures, and increasing the number of programs for your church members when people in the community in which you are doing these things are hurting?

2. Why do you focus on two sins only – abortion and homosexuality – while allowing corrupt politicians, unethical businessmen, gossiping women, and unfaithful husbands to sit on your boards and committees?

3. Why have you not provided an alternative to the culture we see around us, instead of focusing on the latest music or media trends?

Church leaders, pastors, elders, board members – do you hear what they are saying? They know that the church is called to have a unique position in our society. They know that you are to help the poor and needy, to hold all your members to the same standard, to love unconditionally, and to help people through service and discipline live according the standards of Scripture. They see you as doing none of that. They see you as places of judgment, of double-standard, of corporate land-grabbing. The really sad thing is that they do not want to see you that way. They want you to be more effective, they want you to have some sort of influence – not as a political movement, but as a first responder out of love. Because they see you as just another institution, they will not come.

Much like the fabled emperor, the only one who does not realize that she is walking around naked is the church. The community surrounding the church can see right through the façade of ballpark sanctuaries and immaculate soccer fields – they see that the church has really nothing to offer. If that isn’t damning – what is?

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A Better Way for Health Care

The Honorable Robert Corker
United States Senate
800 Market Street, Suite 121
Knoxville, TN 37902

Dear Senator Corker:
According to an article published by the Associated Press on May 18, 2009 (“What to tax to pay for health care?“), the Congress is considering taxing health insurance benefits. Additionally, tax savings items like flexible health accounts will also be things of the past as the federal government looks for ways to fund a universal health system.

Senator, I am a small business owner. While I do not currently have employees, I still provide health insurance for my family. I use a Health Savings Account in conjunction with a health insurance plan that provides for catastrophic coverage. Visits my family makes to the doctor, as well as prescription costs, come out of that HSA. The money I put into the HSA reduces my overall tax liability. This and other tax reductions are essential to small business owners like myself as we are responsible for the full amount of social security, federal, state, and local taxes.

Because my insurance program does not cover doctor’s visits until I reach my deductible of $5000, I must take an active role in managing my health costs. It means that I question every test that is run, and every procedure that is performed, always asking if these things are truly necessary or are just being performed to satisfy insurance and legal risk analyses. It means that I must take care of myself away from the doctor – watching what I eat, and exercising properly. My doctor is also free to be a doctor, as we both are equally engaged in keeping me healthy. If major health care is needed, I am covered for 100% of the costs after I meet the deductable. All this for less than $200 a month in premium plus whatever I budget to go into my HSA.

It seems that HSAs and similar health insurance programs would be the answer to the cost of health care in this country. The insurance premiums are very low – as my insurance company only covers the cost of catastrophic care. There is a financial incentive to be healthy – as every visit to the doctor requires a check. Doctors can be doctors, instead of seeing every patient as a potential lawsuit and thus ordering expensive tests. Businesses of all sizes would better be able to offer this form of insurance, as well as offering employees assistance in setting up the HSAs. While the deductibles are often high – mine is $5000 – once that is met the costs are usually met IN FULL by the insurance company. The tragic cases of bankruptcy brought on by families struggling to meet health care costs ranging in the hundreds of thousands would be the exception, not the rule that we see today.

I urge you to block any attempt to put the federal government in charge of our health care. We do not need Washington to provide health care; we need you to step out of the way. We need you to put a stop to the lawsuit craziness that drives doctors and insurance companies to order every test, procedures that are costly and often unnecessary, in order to cover risk exposure. We need you to block any tax increase that takes away the ability of small businesses to provide responsible health insurance to our employees. In short, we need you to send a clear message that health insurance is not the responsibility of the federal government.

As always, we appreciate that work that you do. Please know that you are in our prayers.

Sincerely yours,

Reuel K. Sample

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I Don’t Pray To Get God To Love Me

Jimmy Davis has a wonderful article on prayer:

Prayer (or any other spiritual discipline such as Bible reading, fasting, silence, or solitude) is not something we do to make God happy with us. No, the spiritual disciplines are meant to make space for us to hear how happy God is with us because of Jesus. When I pray to get God to love me I am a legalist who works for God to earn the favor of God. Gospel-praying means listening to God say that I already have His favor through Christ and that I can now work with God in the resurrection power His Spirit supplies.

Read the rest of the article here: The Cruciform Life

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The Graduated Scale

Speak to the sons of Israel, saying “If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them…
-Leviticus 4:2

The entire fourth chapter of Leviticus deals with the consequences of unintentional sin. Unintentional sin – an offense unknowingly committed, a line crossed unawares. Intentional sin is dealt with severely, but in the Law of God there is exceptional grace for the unplanned transgression. God has been sinned against, but in His mercy He provides for avenues of atonement that both testify to the nature of human sinfulness and the lengths to which God will go to demonstrate His love for us.

Of interest in this chapter is the graduated scale of sacrifice needed to atone for these sins, a range which is based upon the standing of a member in a community. Going in reverse order, a “common person” is to offer a female goat or lamb without defect. (Lev. 4:27 – 35) A leader of the people would sacrifice a male goat, again without defect. (Lev. 4:22 – 26) If the community as a whole has unintentionally sinned against God, they are to offer a bull of the herd. (Lev. 4:13 – 21) A priest who is found guilty is to offer a bull without defect. (Lev. 4:2 – 20) This graduated scale is based upon the impact of unintentional sin on the community, based on one’s standing in that community. A common person is to offer up a lamb – which will hurt, but not have far reaching consequences. A leader, by offering up a male goat without blemish, is also sacrificing some longer term benefits for his herd. The community as a whole is to offer up a bull, a symbol of strength and power, which will also have long term effects on that herd. A priest who brings guilt upon the people by his transgression is to offer a bull without defect – a sacrifice that will take a long time to overcome. Actions have consequences, and the greater one’s standing in the community, the greater and more far reaching those consequences become.

By the grace of Christ, we no longer have to offer up sacrifices. We still unintentionally, or often intentionally, sin against God’s Law. Here is what we must learn from this passage:

1. We must constantly be guarding our own hearts and ways. Are we daily seeking guidance from the Word of God, participating in His will through our prayers, and walking in His Law in our daily actions? In this lifetime we will never be free from sin, but are we trying our hardest to walk as people of grace? Do we actively go to God in a spirit of repentance, knowing that He will both discipline us in the long or short term, but also knowing that He does so out of love and forgiveness?

2. We must realize the enormous responsibility our political and religious leaders have. Are we praying for them – even if they did not receive our vote? Are we holding them accountable for their transgressions against God? If they repent of their sins, are we extending to them the same kind of grace that God has shown us?

3. As a community, do we understand that by straying from God’s law we have caused Him to withdraw many of His blessings from our nation? Are we willing to sacrifice our pride which demands that we go our own way, instead recognizing that Christ is the King of all nations? Will we work for revival in our churches and communities – praying that God will light an unquenchable fire in the hearts of all people – leaders and followers alike?

Where do we stand with the Law of God? Will we first seek the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness? Or will we continue to sin against the God of all love – whether knowingly or not – and thus bearing the consequences of His wrath.

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