Indiana government removes child from home for lack of trans acceptance

How will gay marriage affect your marriage? That’s what LGBT activists said, when they were arguing for greater acceptance of LGBT causes. At work, you now have to sit through LGBT indoctrination. At school, your child is taught that your Judeo-Christian values and Bible-based theology are wrong. And at home, you’d better affirm the secular left’s religion, OR ELSE.

Here’s the story from Christian Post:

An Indiana Catholic couple whose child was removed from their home following disagreements over their son expressing a desire to identify as the opposite sex are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case.

Parents Mary and Jeremy Cox follow the Bible’s teachings on human sexuality, ascribing to the belief that God designs humans as male and female. Because of their religious beliefs and adherence to biological reality, they could not abide using feminine pronouns to identify their son, who demanded to be called by a female name after he told his parents in 2019 that he identified as a girl.

In 2021, the Indiana Department of Child Services initiated an investigation into the parents following a report that they weren’t affirming their son’s chosen identity as a girl. The boy was eventually removed from his parents’ care and placed in a home that affirmed his self-declared gender identity.

The parents are appealing to the Supreme Court:

According to the law firm Becket, the parents have filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking the justices to hear the case, stating that “this Court should grant this petition and affirm its precedents on the right of fit parents to custody of their children.”

In the petition, the attorneys argue that if the Supreme Court does not intervene, other states might use a statute similar to Indiana’s to justify removing a child from the home if their parents adhere to biological reality and refuse to affirm their child’s self-declared gender identity.

The attorneys highlighted that the state “found the parents fit but still removed the child over an ideological dispute: a disagreement over gender identity.”

Becket is a pretty good law firm, so they have a chance. And they’d better win, or this will affect everyone in every state.

But my point about this is… what message does this send to the kinds of people who are still interested in marriage and children? We know that the secular left has given up on marriage and children. You can look at the marriage rates and rates of reproduction in blue states, and clearly see that there is a huge decline in marriage and child-bearing. The only people still having lots of kids are the religious people. So what message does this send to them?

I think that the secular left is dominated by feelings-based “don’t judge” “compassion” people. These people are narcissistic – they adopt policies based on how it makes them feel, and how it makes them look to others. They don’t care about what incentives they are creating for others, or about how children are affected. Their ambition is to destroy traditional morality in order to appease the self-centered adults, whose approval they crave. They don’t know how to lead on moral and spiritual issues – not if that leading causes other people to think they are “mean”.

So, how do conservative, religious people see a case like this? The message it sends to them is, don’t get married, don’t have children. And men especially get this message. The main reason that men get married is to gain the leadership of a home, in order to pass on their values and worldview. Take that away, and men disengage from marriage and parenting. It even happens with men who are already married. The minute that leftist wives, public school teachers  or family courts overrule a father, the father stops wasting time on leading his home, and withdraws.

I understand that people will want to blame and shame men for declining to participate in marriage and parenting. But we don’t care. If you want to reduce men to slaves who just protect and provide, but don’t lead on moral and spiritual issues, then we’ll decline your offer to marry and have children. You can blame and shame all you want, but if you allow the “don’t judge” compassion crowd in the (taxpayer-funded!) schools and courts to overrule men, then you will cause men to decline to participate in marriage and parenting. Good men have other valuable things to do, like serve God directly in ministry. We have a choice.

 

Does the Bible teach Christians to expect happiness or suffering?

Is God your cosmic butler? Do you just ring a bell to summon him so that he can give you whatever you want? Let’s see what the Bible teaches in the book of 1 Peter. Peter is writing to all the Christians who are spread out all over the place, trying to survive in a world that doesn’t care much about things that they think are meaningful.

Pay attention to these verses:

1 Peter 1: 3-7:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,

who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Suffering is normal and expected.

1 Peter 2:6-8:

 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”

and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

Rejection by “those who do not believe” is normal and expected.

1 Peter 2:18-24:

18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.

19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.

20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 “He committed no sin,
    and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

When people attack you personally for being a Christian, you don’t retaliate against them.

1 Peter 3:14-18:

14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”

15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

Jesus sets the example for Christians of being willing to suffer for obedience to God.

1 Peter 4:1-5:

1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.

As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.

But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

The normal Christian life involves some non-Christians heaping abuse on you, precisely because you don’t participate in their sins, or celebrate their sins. For example, attending or participating in a same-sex marriage ceremony.

1 Peter 4:12-19:

12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.

16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

18 And,

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Christians who experience shame and/or suffering at the hands of some non-Christians for obeying God, are imitating Christ. They should expect to be vindicated, just as Christ was vindicated through his resurrection.

1 Peter 5:5-6:

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Authentic Christianity involves obeying God’s commandments, and defending God’s truth claims and moral values. It doesn’t mean virtue signaling to Christians, (or non-Christians, which seems very popular these days among pious Christian leaders). Humility means thinking of yourself less, and comparing yourself to others less. Just do your job as a Christian, and don’t think about what it says about you. To anyone. What people think of you doesn’t matter.

Look at 1 Corinthians 4:1-5:

1 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.

My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

Christianity isn’t there for you to use to make yourself happier, or to make other people like you. You’re not supposed to agree with non-Christians so that they like you. That’s missing the entire point of Jesus’ example. Jesus obeys God. Some non-Christians get mad at him. Some non-Christians shame Jesus, and make him suffer, for obeying God. God vindicates Jesus. That’s the plan. You’re supposed to follow that plan, not make up some other compromise and virtue signal plan!

By the way, in no way am I telling Christians to be impractical. You should be as smart as you can, work as hard as you can, and save as much money as you can, in order to make your shame and suffering bearable, without compromising your principles. For example, you could try to make a network of like-minded friends who can support one another when you become a target. You can donate to organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal group that defends Christians from persecution by the secular left.

But just understand that being rejected, and being mistreated, is part of the normal, authentic Christian life. You’re not supposed to agree with non-Christians, or celebrate them, or affirm them, in order to escape feeling shame, and suffering persecution. I don’t know how people can read the Bible and not understand what the life of Jesus means. We’re supposed to follow Jesus.

Twenty questions about the Big Bang answered in less than 20 minutes

My favorite source for evidence related to science these days is the Discovery Institute. Not only do they employ the rock star of science and religion, Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, but they have a bunch more excellent speakers. They publish a lot of books, and many of those are made into audio book versions. One of the guys I like the most is Brian Miller, who contributes to their books and does videos.

He did a recent video talking about the Big Bang cosmology, and its relevance to the question of God’s existence. It’s important for people who prefer the young-Earth interpretation of Genesis to realize that the Big Bang is not compatible with naturalism. It’s actually lethal to naturalism, because it requires a SUPER-natural cause to bring the natural world into being. I have friends who prefer the young Earth interpretation of Genesis who argue with the co-workers and family members from the Big Bang, just to get them started on their spiritual journey.

Anyway, here is the video:

And here are the questions that he answers:

  • What is the big bang theory?
  • Why did scientists initially dispute the big bang?
  • What did scientists believe before the big bang?
  • What models have been proposed to maintain the idea of an eternal universe?
  • Why did scientists come to accept the big bang?
  • Who is Georges Lemaitre?
  • How did the scientific community receive Lemaitre’s idea?
  • How did Edwin Hubble contribute to the big bang theory?
  • What is the most compelling evidence for the big bang?
  • What does the big bang imply about belief in God?
  • Are there current critics of the big bang model?
  • Why is an eternal universe so important to atheists?
  • Why is the big bang theory still being challenged?
  • Did the universe have a beginning?
  • What are the arguments against a beginning to the universe?
  • What is a singularity?
  • Does the universe need a creator?
  • What about the idea of a multiverse?
  • Lawrence Krauss thinks the universe possibly came from “nothing.” How would you respond?
  • What does Lawrence Krauss mean by nothing?

If this is something that you have not looked into, this video is a pretty good primer. He only mentions the expanding universe and the cosmic microwave background radiation as evidences. But there are other good ones, such as the light element abundance predictions (75% hydrogen, 24% helium) and the second law of thermodynamics (entropy) that he could have mentioned.

There are definitely open problems with the Big Bang cosmology, but the main thing that Christians should know is that this evidence is used in formal academic debates by people like William Lane Craig, Stephen C. Meyer, etc. to annihilate atheism. Personally, I would be thrilled if the scientific evidence tilted towards a young Earth. And it very well could, and there are good people working on that problem. But I do think that all Christians should at least be aware that the current “best” cosmological model is lethal to atheism.