All posts by Wintery Knight

https://winteryknight.com/

What specific policies did Never Trump activists and Evangelicals for Biden want?

I’m trying to decide from Biden’s actual governing what policies  Biden-support groups – Never Trump writers, pious Democrat pastors, and Evangelicals for Biden, etc. – wanted. I remember these people were anxious during the election to tell everyone how concerned they were about Trump’s past sins, and his manner of speaking.

Here’s an article from The Federalist about their boy Biden:

Last week, legal accountability group Judicial Watch dropped a bombshell: a nearly 600-page report proving the U.S. government has been buying and trafficking “fresh” aborted baby body parts. These body parts, purchased by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to “humanize” mice and test biologic drugs in scientific experiments, came from babies up to 24-weeks-old gestation, just weeks from being born.

I’m pretty sure I remember one of those Never Trump people talking about how much they wanted the government to purchase sliced off parts of 24-week-old unborn babies. Maybe it was David French or Russell Moore or John Piper or Tim Keller? Or someone else… Anyway, did you know that 22-week-old unborn babies can survive outside the womb? Those were pretty developed unborn children. I can understand atheist abortion rights activists wanting policies like this. But I’m curious why Never Trump “conservatives” wanted it. Maybe they’re not conservative? And why did pious evangelicals for Biden want it? Maybe they’re neither pious nor evangelical.

Here’s another article from Daily Wire about more Biden policies:

President Joe Biden on Tuesday filed an appeal seeking to force doctors and hospitals to perform potentially harmful transgender-related procedures and surgeries even if they hold objections.

As outlined by BECKET Law’s Luke Goodrich, a court in January struck down the administration’s move to punish doctors who don’t perform transgender-related procedures for supposed “sex discrimination.” Biden on Tuesday officially appealed the ruling.

I’m pretty sure I remember one of those Never Trump people talking about how much they wanted to get their biological sex re-assigned for free by a Christian doctor. Maybe it was David French or Russell Moore or John Piper or Tim Keller? Or someone else… Anyway, did you know that Trump had opposed all these LGBT policies, and protected the conscience rights of Christian doctors? I knew that, because I was more concerned about policy than about virtue signaling my superior morals to people at church.

I noticed that Life News – a pro-life web site – is pretty upset about Biden’s policies so far.

They write:

Joe Biden is rapidly becoming the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history as he takes multiple actions to expand abortions and force taxpayers to subsidize them.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration released a rule that will force taxpayers to fund the abortion industry through the Title X family planning program.

The rule, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will end a pro-life regulation that President Donald Trump put in place to ensure Title X grants are not used to subsidize the killing of unborn babies in abortions.

Pro-life groups like Susan B. Anthony List and National Right to Life considered Trump to be the most pro-life president ever. I even wrote about all the specific actions, policies and nominations he did to help the pro-life cause. That’s the kind of article that our pious pastors and conservative leaders should have written, if they were serious about getting results instead of virtue-signaling. When it comes to politics, you have to look at the actions taken by the candidates – what did they achieve? – not their words.

Catholic teachers march in favor of gay rights and perverted sex education
Catholic teachers march in favor of gay rights and perverted sex education

Why Christian men supported a bad candidate

So why do we have so many “conservative” Never Trump people and “pious” evangelical pastors and leaders supporting policies like these Biden policies? These people aren’t stupid. They know perfectly well what Biden said he was going to do. They shouldn’t be surprised at what he’s doing. It’s the job of organizations like the Southern Baptist ERLC to know what policies affect religious liberty. It’s their job to know what policies affect the rights of unborn children. It’s their job to know what policies affect the conscience rights of Christian medical professionals. So what happened?

Well, I know a few Never Trump men, so let me tell you what happened to them. They are married to women who don’t know very much about law and policy. Those women often have non-STEM degrees, no private sector experience, and if they work at all, they work as teachers – especially of very young children. They’re not used to speaking about policy to adults, other than other teachers of small children in the faculty lounge. Teachers talk about how people look, how they talk, how mean they are. They talk about teacher pay, being nice to illegal immigrants, and making the government provide free stuff for irresponsible people. They are terrified of standing up to bad behaviors like having babies out of wedlock or same-sex marriage. They don’t like to make moral judgments – they’re “compassionate”. And they worry a lot about how they are perceived by non-Christians. They don’t want to be seen as “mean”.

So, at least for the men I know, what happened is that these low-information wives – who are all active in their churches with essential oils and self-help books and feelings-based Bible study guides – all convinced their “conservative” evangelical husbands to support Biden’s policies, because of Trump’s “mean” appearance and words. And the strong, tough “conservative” evangelical men went along with it. They wanted a peaceful home, available sex, and not sleeping on the couch more than they wanted conservative policies.

During an online game, I asked one of these men I was playing with which policies he considered the most important, as a conservative Christian. His reply? “Teacher pay and universal healthcare”. His wife was a teacher, and I’m pretty sure he got those priorities from her. Keep in mind that universal healthcare means taxpayer-funded abortions and sex-changes. That’s how it works in countries like Canada, that have a true single-payer health care system.

We need to be careful about appointing weak men as conservative, Christian leaders. If they can’t stand up to their own wives, what good are they as leaders?

Courage under fire: Ronald Speirs and Easy Company at the Battle of Foy

I  try to occasionally post something that shows a particularly brave action from some time and place in military history. For example, I previously wrote about Medal of Honor winner Michael Murphy in 2011. Last year, his story was told more widely in the movie “Lone Survivor”, which I recommend to everyone. Today I want to highlight another hero: Ronald Speirs.

It is January 1945 and the famous “Screaming Eagles”, the 101st Airborne division, are about to turn the tide of the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne.

Let’s read about the Battle of Foy courtesy of a scenario description from the wargame “Flames of War”. (Note: LMG = light machine gun, in this case, a .30 caliber machine gun)

Excerpt:

E or ‘Easy’ Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, like the rest of the division, was ordered on to the attack on 9 January 1945 as part of a general offensive to drive back the Germans from Bastogne. In the following days the 506th Regiment, along with the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, cleared the forests around the town of Foy and pushed the Germans out. Their next objective was to take Foy to allow the 11th Armored Division to attack from Foy across the fields northeast towards Noville.

[…]At 0900 hours on 13 January Easy Company attacked along the western edge of Foy, along the road. The new year had brought heavy snow and the it blanketed the ground and had reduced temperatures to well below zero. 2nd Battalion commander, Captain Dick Winters, had two section of LMGs deployed on the edge of the woods facing Foy to give Easy Company covering fire while they crossed the 250 yards of open field between the forest and Foy’s buildings. There were just a few scattered trees and haystacks to give cover. As Easy Company advance the covering fire did its job, limiting the fire on the paratroopers to sporadic rifle shots. The approach on Foy made good pace under the cover of the LMG fire, but about 75 yards out from the edge of the village the skirmish line halted and the paratroopers hunkered down in the snow. Captain Winters stared in disbelief, wondering what was going on.

Lieutenant Dike, who was commanding Easy Company, had been overwhelmed with indecision. It became obvious to Winters that Dike didn’t know what he was doing, or had had a failure of confidence. His immediate impulse was to take command himself, but he noticed Lieutenant Ronald Speirs, a capable platoon commander from D Company, standing nearby. Winters ordered Speirs to take command of Easy Company and get the attack moving again. What Speirs did next amazed many of the paratroopers who witnessed it.

On receiving his orders from Winters, Speirs immediately ran at full speed down to where Dike and his HQ had taken cover behind a haystack and told Dike his orders, ‘I’m here to take over’. After quickly being told of the situation by the NCOs he ran off towards Foy. The men of Easy Company immediately followed. On reaching the outskirt buildings of Foy, Speirs immediately sought to link up with I Company of 3rd Battalion who, despite only having 25 men, were supporting the attack from the other flank of Foy. He set off running again, through the German lines, to find I Company’s commander. After consulting with its commander, Captain Gene Brown, he turned around and dashed back through Foy and the surprised Germans. Through all this the enemy fired on him with machine-guns, rifles and guns, but not a single shot hit its mark.

To be a good military leader, you have to know many things. A knowledge of strategy and tactics, a knowledge of military history, the ability to see the battlefield, knowledge of your opponent, knowledge of weapons, and so on. But surely the greatest of these is courage. As Von Clausewitz says in his famous book “On War”, “War is the province of danger, and therefore courage above all things is the first quality of a warrior.” Nothing inspires troops like a commander who is willing to take on the same risks that he asks his troops to take.

Take a look at this article from the Ivey School of Business journal, which talks about the characteristics of Canadian generals in Afghanistan.

Excerpt:

A leader must be in front of subordinates.  This takes courage.  Leadership from the front encapsulates the adage, never ask a subordinate to do something that you, the leader, wouldn’t do.  In Afghanistan, the leader must not only be in front, but he or she must be seen to be in front.  Subordinates seek this reassurance from their leaders at all levels.  Though they may be tentative, leaders must demonstrate character and moral strength.  Their credibility is inextricably dependent on their ability to do so..  During his frequent visits to Afghanistan, former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Rick Hillier, made a point of visiting troops that were situated in some of the most IED-laden areas of the Canadian sector.  Through his demonstrated courage, he inspired leaders of all levels.  “If the CDS goes there, so can I” was the resulting mindset.  The current CDS, General Walt Natynczyk, has successfully continued this practice.

[…]All leaders need courage. It is the lynchpin of effective leadership.  No one respects a wimp who will buy in to any idea no matter how inane it might be.  Courage is having the strength of character to persist and hold on to ideas in the face of opposition.  Here, I’m not restricting my treatment of courage as it relates to fear.  It’s also about strength of character and devotion to causes and ideas.

As Christians, we have a leader who led by example. We all need to learn to not be so concerned with looking out for ourselves and our happiness first, but to instead be willing to take risks and sacrifice ourselves to do the right thing. We Christians should all be courageous, because we are led by a courageous leader.

That doesn’t necessarily mean going halfway across the world, it can mean reaching out to someone right there next to you who needs your help and support. Maybe that person has been running on an empty tank for a long time, but still trying to do the right thing. You never know when the opportunity to do something amazing will arise, but you won’t take it if you keep thinking of how you might get hurt. You have to reconcile yourself that you are not here to avoid every possible kind of suffering. It doesn’t mean that you take unnecessary risks, but it does mean not letting fear stop you from doing the right thing.

Now get out there and take that attack on in.

Equip yourself for conversations with Muslims with a new #apologetics course

My family is half Muslim. I’ve often noticed that Christians who attend church don’t really learn a lot about how to talk to Muslims. They’re sort of in their own silo, and not interested in having these conversations with outsiders. Although you might get lucky and find a Muslim who wants to hear about Christianity, a much better approach would be to ask a Muslim questions that show that you know something about what they believe.

When I was working for a Fortune 100 company, a Muslim co-worker asked me if I had looked at any of the other religions. He was an Indian-born Muslim who had married a Hindu wife, then gone atheist in response to their families rejecting them. I mentioned that my mother’s side was all Muslim, and my father’s side was all Hindu. He asked me whether I knew what the difference was between Sunni and Shia Muslims. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but my answer was close enough to correct that he was delighted. We had a good conversation after that.

With that in mind, I wanted to recommend to you a resource from a staff apologist who works for Women in Apologetics. You might remember her from my previous posts linking to her work. She is the one who dumped sharing her testimony in favor of making an evidential case for her worldview, and the one who also likes to have conversations with people about spiritual things. And it turns out that she knows quite a lot about Islam, from her experiences as well as from her studies.

Here is part of her biography:

I have been privileged to serve in member care, discipleship, counseling, missions, college ministry, women’s ministry, and music ministry. I’ve traveled to nearly thirty countries, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Burundi, Peru, Uganda, India, Thailand, Greece, Turkey, Italy, the Philippines, and throughout Central America. My relationships with people of other cultures have solidified my faith, broadened my perspective, and enriched my life immensely.

What I like about this is that she chose Islam for her area of interest based on her compassion for Muslims living in these countries. But it’s a controversial topic, not one that is designed to attract popularity. Clearly, her ambition is to make a difference for God and for Muslims who need God, not to make a name for herself by appealing to people looking for entertainment. I get so discouraged by the top books that Christian women are reading. I would like to see the careful use of reason and evidence a normal part of the Christian woman’s life.

She has a new 20-part course starting June 7th that will equip you to have conversations with Muslims. Registration is open now.

Here’s the description:

Led by WIA’s Islam Ministry Specialist, Laura Powell, Islam Foundations is a 10-week course that will equip Christians to have productive conversations with Muslims by preparing them to understand the similarities and differences between the two worldviews, respond to the most common objections to Christianity made by Muslims, and raise thoughtful objections to Islam, out of love and compassion for God’s image-bearers.

Each week features two lessons. Here are the weekly topics:

  • Week 1: Introduction & Barriers to Understanding
  • Week 2: The Islamic Dilemma & Building Bridges
  • Week 3: The Deity of Jesus & The Death of Jesus
  • Week 4: The Resurrection of Jesus & Muhammad’s Life and Teachings
  • Week 5: Violence According to the Prophet of Islam & Slavery, Supremacy, and Spiritual Slipups
  • Week 6: The Death of Muhammad & The Miraculous Qu’ran – Perfect Preservation
  • Week 7: The Miraculous Qu’ran – Four More Evidences & The Three Stages of Jihad
  • Week 8: Violence in the Old Testament & Violence in Church History
  • Week 9: Trinity or Tawhid & Was Muhammad Prophesied in the Bible
  • Week 10: Women in Islam & A Christian Response

She’s also bringing in other experts and interviewing them about their experiences discussing worldviews with Muslims.

Here’s the trailer for the course:

And the speaker will be answering questions about Islam this evening live on Youtube at 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern.

If you know any women who are interested in learning apologetics, this would be a good thing to show them.

I’ve had a good impression of her organization “Women in Apologetics”. They seem to favor an evidence-based approach that strikes me as very good for men like me who like engineering and evidence and problem-solving. What I want is to be equipped for adventures. Give me some good material that will wow my Muslim or atheist co-workers. Apologetics conversations make my pulse race. It’s fun to be called by God and to be a good ambassador.