Monday, December 02, 2013

Using The Holidays To Redefine The American Family

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With Thanksgiving Day just behind us and Christmas Day just ahead, there are those who seem intent to take the joy and good will of the season, and politicize it to push yet another political or cultural agenda.

Michelle Obama asked people across the country to discuss the great opportunity that Obamacare provides while sharing Thanksgiving dinner with family or friends. She suggested you ask your family and friends specifically when they are going to sign up.

But it was the New York Times, The Washington Post and ABC who choose to use these special days to feature bizarre and immoral behavior as normal, acceptable and becoming more and more common.

The NYT featured---glorified--- what they call the growing diversity of the American family.

The Washington Post featured an article that seeks to normalize and affirm the push toward using "preferred pronouns" when addressing students---particularly those who are confused about their own gender. Rather than "he" or "she," the Post article seems to attempt to elevate the growing use of non-gender personal pronouns like "ze," "they," "sie," "e," "ou" and "ve."

And ABC's Nick Watt told their audience---in great detail, with numerous examples, that there is a growing number of "couples" living in "open" relationships where both husband and wife sleep around with the other's permission, supposedly without jealousy. And "marriages" become groupings, rather than couples.

These people are advocating polyamorus relationships and ABC is giving them a national voice to do so.

ABC quotes one of the advocates saying it is actually very helpful in their relationship.

Is any of this worthy of mention?

Why should I care?

If you have children or grandchildren you better be aware, because they are---or soon will be. We need to care because the attempt to redefine marriage and family is more than a passing cultural fad happening somewhere else.


Michelle Obama's email said: “As you spend time with loved ones this holiday season, be sure to talk with them about what health care reform can mean to them.”

The first lady called on supporters to serve up a huge helping of pro-ObamaCare propaganda to their families as they sit down for their holiday feasts.

She and the President were trying to politicize Thanksgiving dinner---a time when we traditionally give thanks to God for our blessings. Obamacare is not seen by a majority of Americans as a blessing.

But it is the all-out frontal attack on marriage and family by major news organizations that bother me much more than the Obama's trying to push their failing socialized medicine plan over our Thanksgiving table.

The New York Times seems to be celebrating rather than reporting the increasing diverse nature of the family. Rather than an indication that something is very wrong in our culture, the Times seems to elevate the multi-layered, blended family or broken family as something to strive for. And mock the idea of a traditional family.

The Times says, "The typical American family, if it ever lived anywhere but on Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving canvass, has become as multi-layered and full of surprises as a holiday turducten---the all-American seasonal portmanteau of de-boned turkey, duck and chicken."

The Times quotes Rob Fee, a San Francisco businessman, describing marriage and family as a heavy "weight." They quote the late comedian George Burns saying, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close knit family in another city."

The reason a traditional family is a heavy "weight," they explain, is because according to the Department of Agriculture, it costs the average middle-class family $241,080 to raise a child to age 18. If you throw in college and maybe graduate school or other assistance---probably a million dollars.

If their premise is merely money, you don't have to look far to discover the cost of broken, particularly fatherless homes to the American economy.

Look at this from the National Fatherhood Initiative. You can see documented proof of the enormous cost to the public created by fatherless families.

So it apparently is not about money, although they suggest it is.

Perhaps it has more to do with the Creator. He designed the most effective model at Creation...one man married to one woman for life, creating children from that union.

Look at this:
Psalm 127:3-5

New International Version (NIV)

Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.

Kids are a blessing, not a budget line item. Traditional marriage and family has and does exist off the canvass of Norman Rockwell, and when this model fails, that should not create a rush to throw it out.

I believe the New York Times article is intentionally more interested it advancing "diversity" and a multi-layered Thanksgiving table than they are in a wholesome and productive culture.

Is it rebellion toward God that precludes us from recognizing the most successful model for marriage and family?

And speaking of traditional marriage and family.

In the spirit of remaking America and its biblically based institutions of marriage and family, Associated Press out-did themselves in what seems to be the spirit of the season for some.

The Washington Post is carrying their article which seems to advocate a new normal in gender identification.

The story says:

On high school and college campuses and in certain political and social media circles, the growing visibility of a small, but semantically committed cadre of young people who, like Crownover, [mentioned earlier in the story] and is a direct outgrowth of the campaigns for gender-neutral bathrooms and housing self-identify as “genderqueer” — neither male nor female but an androgynous hybrid or rejection of both — is challenging anew the limits of Western comprehension and the English language.

Though still in search of mainstream acceptance, students and staff members who describe themselves in terms such as agender, bigender, third gender or gender-fluid are requesting — and sometimes finding — linguistic recognition.

Inviting students to state their preferred gender pronouns, known as PGPs for short, and encouraging classmates to use unfamiliar ones such as “ze,’’’sie,” ‘’e,” ‘’ou” and “ve” has become an accepted back-to-school practice for professors, dorm advisers, club sponsors, workshop leaders and health care providers at several schools.

This movement is happening on a number of campuses and is the direct outgrowth of the campaign for gender-neutral bathrooms and housing that becoming common on many college campuses.

Genny Beemyn is the director of the Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is deeply involved in this national movement. She says:

“Certainly we see students who are transitioning, particularly female to male, but the vast majority of students who identify under the trans umbrella identify in some way outside the binary, and that’s really causing a shift on college campuses.”

Beemyn says, “Having role models and examples allows people to say ‘Yes, what I am feeling is legitimate'.”

Legitimizing gender confusion, by finding others who affirm the confusion as normal.

Romans 1 defines these times, including ABC's contribution to this time of cultural confusion, delusion and rebellion.

The Christian Post posted an article this weekend reporting on the latest attempt to advance polyamory. They call it, "Spreading the gospel of polyamory."

The Post says, "This week, ABC Nightline featured a married couple with their own TV show – not about duck hunting or crazy stunts, but about their "open" love-life, where both husband and wife sleep around, supposedly without jealousy."

"They're spreading the gospel of polyamory, hoping to speed up societal acceptance of this kind of set-up," ABC's Nick Watt explained. "Most marriages in America do end in divorce, so maybe adding other lovers to the mix could improve the odds," so the segment opened to introduce the idea of polyamory.

I strongly recommend you read this article in order to be informed.

There is a segment of our culture that is truly lost, acting out of rebellion toward the Creator and ignorance of His Truth. These actions are being celebrated in various ways by the media, but it is in the classroom that these social experimentations are most advocated.

Parents be informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Pro-Active. Be Blessed.

While all biblical Christians must be informed, this is a time to focus on the Truth of God's Word.