We need more of this on public display. Less shouting, less cancelling, less intimidation. More listening to & talking with one another, even when we disagree. And continue to disagree.
As we will.
“Justice Thomas is the one justice in the building that literally knows every employee’s name, every one of them. . . . he is a man who cares deeply about the court as an institution, about the people who work there — about people.” – Justice Sotomayor pic.twitter.com/Pz4TKWeFi3
Extremists want to demonize opponents, and de-platform those who think differently instead of allowing all sides to have their say. After which, the citizens will then “vote” with their time, money, and ballot. In political terms, one side will win, and the other lose.
But there will always be another opportunity to persuade and vote your conscience.
That’s how the system works. Do today’s activists want to persuade or overpower?
Constantly demonizing and accusing your opponents (who you probably don’t know) of hate does not a civil society make.
Justice Sotomayor knows the man. And calls him a friend. Though they both have strong ideological commitments, they respect one another enough to listen, talk, and argue about important things. And still care about one another.
My trip to Arches National Park in 2021 mirrored what I believe is the fundamental makeup of God’s world. I don’t believe Heaven and Earth are far apart. As do some. I believe, when Heaven and Earth were created (yes both were created) those parts of God’s beautiful bi-natured world were created equal.
Why do so many Christians think otherwise? And other religious believers as well? Because of faulty theology. As a consequence, humanity, all too often, yearns to transcend the “good” creation that was given to us.
But this won’t end well.
In the ancient story, Adam and Eve stretched forth their hands to grasp for something which was not given to them. So that they might become “like God.”
This is also the idolatry of our time.
I wrote these words two years ago in an extended post that summarized my worldview, (as opposed to an ancient Christian heresy called Gnosticism). Here’s a relevant quote or two.
Isn’t the desire to leave our bodies behind and become a “pure Spirit” similar to the desire that possessed Adam & Eve? Eat this forbidden fruit, they were told, and you will become “like God.” The Gnostic wants to become a being like God. In other words, a pure Spirit.
But this was not given to us by God. God gave us bodiesto be sanctuaries, temples for our spirits. And God’s Spirit.
You won’t find one scripture suggesting our goal is to become “a disembodied spirit.” I just reviewed every occurrence of the words “soul” “spirit” “spirits” or “Spirit” in the New Testament and not once does any passage (over 350 of them) suggest that becoming a disembodied spirit is the believers destiny. You won’t find one.
We bring that idea to the text.
I believe as creatures we should want to become what we were created to be. Nothing more, nothing less.
God didn’t blunder when we were given bodies. The Gnostics and Plato are grasping for something that God did not give us. Is this not like the original couple who grasped for the knowledge they were told would make them like God? I think it is. We were created as embodied souls. That’s what it means to be human and humans we will remain.
Today’s Gender Ideologues have fallen into the same temptation trap. As Christians, and all clear thinkers, we must not follow them. It won’t end well.
My reading of Orthodox Christianity and our scriptures tells me that God intended to dwell at the meeting place of Heaven and Earth. Like Jesus, where God and Man came together. The place, the tabernacle place, where Heaven and Earth meet, where God’s “good” creation overlaps, will become the dwelling place of our God,
“And the Word became flesh and tabernacled, dwelled, among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth”.
John 1:14
This creational communion with God, is the eternal destiny of our bi-natured cosmos. We see this future in the God/Man Jesus. God desires to live both with a heavenly family (angels) and an earthly family (humans) in the middle of the created space where they all dwell lovingly together. That was the plan. From the beginning. Originally it was called Eden, otherwise known as Paradise.
You seek self-importance? Personal fulfillment? And Cosmic unity? Wholeness? It doesn’t get any better than this.
Revelation 21 and 22.1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
Today these signposts to our future tell us the human soul (our invisible nature) was intended to be reconciled with the body (visible nature). If this doesn’t happen, then life will not end well for us.
That’s what I believe. Reconciliation, visible with invisible, is our destiny. Eventually.
Good News indeed.
View the following video with these reflections in mind.
Double Arches, Arches National Park, 2021
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I’m a Classic Christian and regard Gender Ideology as anti-creational to the core. This blog is about “God’s Good Creation.” That’s why I’m writing about Gender Ideology. And “speaking up” as I’m confident Jesus would.
"Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female.'" [Matt 19:4]
If you would like more detail on how my Christian worldview informs my understanding of Sex and today’s Gender Ideology please read the following posts.
This blog has introduced you many times to the splendid reporting of Abigail Shrier. Now I want to introduce my readers to Heather Heying. From her website you’ll find the following credentials:
I am an evolutionary biologist, which means I’m interested in everything from brains to bugs, culture to consciousness. Just about everything most humans think about is evolutionary, except for rocks and quarks and the like. Other descriptions for what kind of scientist I am include animal behaviorist, zoologist, herpetologist, tropical biologist, and evolutionary ecologist. I have conducted research on the evolution of social systems and sexual selection, from frogs to humans. I received my PhD in Biology from the University of Michigan, where I earned the university’s top honor for my dissertation, and have a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. From 2019 – 2021 I was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University.
Impressive.
If you want a relatively brief synopsis of a complicated subject, what Abigail calls the “Transgender Craze,” you need to read their LetterWiki exchange from 2020.
“Why do we chastise teenage girls when they cut themselves, but celebrate them when they find a doctor to do it for them? When a teenage girl cuts herself, or starves herself, we try to help the human being. We do not sanctify the behavior.”
