I’m glad to hear that DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) which defines marriage as between a man and a woman will continue to have good representation by Paul Clement against Obama and his so-called Department of Justice who are trying to kill DOMA in the courts --even though elected federal legislators passed the law --along with many states.
I am sorry to hear about the political pressure causing Paul Clement's law firm to cave. Clement said he believed attorneys should defend to the finish the cases they accept and not yield to political pressure --as King and Spalding yielded to the gay activists. So he left them.
If ever we needed a defense of marriage and an emphasis on it by gov’t, it is now –with the bloated entitlements necessitated by all the baby daddies of every race failing to marry and support their baby-mamas and babies.
What we don’t need is more men and women turning to their own sex for comfort –guaranteeing confused and sexually experimental (and thus promiscuous and disease-risked) children. We don’t need polygamous men either, who put their families on food stamps --because most men can’t afford more than one wife and her children. With gay marriage will come legalized polygamy and a proliferation of both.
We need to once again teach and role model to children that sex is for the married couples –that boys and girls are different from each other so they may grow up to get married and become mommies and daddies. And we need to chaperone and limit dating access of our teens still at home –and TV broadcasters should voluntarily clean up their garbage --with a little help of public pressure on, and responsibility of, sponsors.
Fact: college freshmen girls come to college free of STD’s –and over 90 percent leave college with HPV infection because there is no deterrent to sexual activity of students on campus which permit copulating in the dorms --and look the other way at binge drinking and sex at frat parties, etc.
Smart parents still look for campuses that have curfews, dorm deans and frat house moms and rules which operate in loco parentis (In place of parents.) Some of the Christian schools still do have a voluntary atmosphere of morality in dorms and disallow any drinking. There is positive peer pressure at least in Christian colleges --in spite of the unchaperoned freedoms most all college kids have these days.
Of course, gay sex for the men, especially, is high risk sex fraught with STD's --thus, a public health hazard whether or not they marry.
A recent UCLA study was reported in the Blade on April 18, finding that the health of older homosexuals was worse than that of their straight counterparts --and that half of older gay and bisexual men lived alone and lacked either partners or children to help care for them.
"The gay culture tends to be youth-driven," the researcher, Steven P. Wallace, said. I have said that before myself --and listened to gays deny it. I likened the gay youth preference to that of promiscuous straights --the inability of shallow, youth and beauty-oriented folks to maintain loving fidelity with mates into old age. I have said that the preference for homosexuality IS either gender identity disorder or arrested development (arrested during the same-sex hero identification and worship of youngsters) --failure to move on to more mature interests and goals.
Our economy cannot withstand such an immoral culture which not only raises boys who sleep around and won't support their kids --but blurs the distinction between the sexes.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The Capitol Building as a Church! Amazing American History!
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring --by Bach --amazing commercial with all wood marimba in the woods
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Blog excerpt: About The National Day of Prayer --1st Thursday in May
Blogger: This truth does not disparage the people who pray and do good things, it disparages prayer for the fact that it does nothing. Can you see that distinction?
I see the distinction. It is lack of faith that says “prayer does nothing.” The Bible says “The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Some say, “Prayer changes YOU.” Or me, as the case may be. That when we pray, WE are reminded of our goals as Christians, we are changed in our hearts.
I believe that prayer is like “going on line” with our Creator’s great, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Spirit/Mind. We enter into HIs awesome presence.
Jesus said to petition God in Jesus’ name and we would see answers to our prayers. I believe the resurrected man –He knows much that we do not –and claimed that if we had seen Him, we had seen the Father –that He and the Father were One.
My husband noted that if he would ask God to give him an opportunity to witness for Christ to someone that day, he would get a natural (rather than contrived, awkward) opportunity to share his faith with someone. That has happened for me as well.
By praying for others, we are more mindful of others and meeting their needs.
I also believe there is POWER in prayer for healing and resolving conflict, etc. God can speak to our spirits/to our minds filling us with HIS thinking, and HIS love , and HIS power to forgive and do right. He can give us thoughts and motivations and the emotional aspects for good. The Bible says that wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in Christ’s name, He is in their midst. Sometimes, the Spirit of God is present in such a way that “mountains are moved” as Jesus said. Who knows how often prayer has healed the sick, averted tragedy, protected us on the highway?
Nevertheless, we are mortal in this life –and we shall all experience death, sorrow, tragedy–but Christ did, also! The worst kind of death! So because He suffered for us, and rose from the grave, we have this confidence that His promise is true when the resurrected Jewish Christ says (not in quote order) , “Because I live, you will live also. You believe in God; believe also in me. I go to prepare a place for you –that where I am, you may be also. Let not your heart be troubled.” “Behold I am with you always.”
As for the National Day of Prayer coming up --I don't know if Obama has declared it or not. The court said He could. I believe he has ignored the founder of the day, Shirley Dobson and not had White House observance of the day like former presidents.
If ever a nation needed the intervention of the Almighty to save us, it is the United States who has been raised to great heights --and now the heights refer only to the price of gas, our rates of divorce, shacking up and unwed births, our deficit spending and debt ceiling!
Much to pray about! --America needs to fall on its knees in repentance and petition God for help and mercy.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
NARTH'S Dr. Nicolosi on Home -Schooling, Homosexuality, etc.
The Compassionate Answer
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi is Executive Director of the National Association tot the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and Clinical Director of Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, California. An expert in "reparative therapy," a treatment for homosexuality, he was interviewed by Lesley Payne.
What do you believe are the factors that contribute to homosexuality?
Nicolosi: To understand the cause of homosexuality, we have to begin by understanding that homosexuality is really a symptom, a result, of a gender-identity disorder. In other words, the boy did not sufficiently develop a masculine identification or the girl did not develop a sufficient feminine identification. This seems to hold out for the vast majority or homosexuals. With regard to formation of a masculine identification, in order for the boy to develop a solid sense of his own masculinity, he needs to first establish a bonding or an identification with the father. The father-son relationship is absolutely critical in the boy's sense of his own masculinity. We have to remember that boys and girls are first identified with the mother in their earlier years, but the boy has to dis-identify with his mother and make the bonding identification connection with the father.
We're talking about 2 1/2 years old. This is what they call the gender-identity phase. It's the time when children begin to realize that the world is divided between males and females and that he or she is pressured into identifying with one or the other. If the father is cold, distant, aloof, detached or critical, that doesn't happen properly.
Can parents prevent a child from becoming a homosexual?
The concern I have developed over the whole question of preventing homosexuality in children comes from the years of clinical work with homosexual men who desire to change. So, essentially, I'm working backwards, dealing with adults and understanding the critical events in their childhood that con-tributed to their homosexuality. So. prevention is really guarding against those particular factors that create the homosexual adult.
To begin, I would say that I think home-schooled children have a particular vulnerability for a number of reasons. The primary reason, especially for the boy (and I'll be focusing primarily on boys), is that it isolates him from his peers. I think that's a very important factor in the development of his masculine identification and his heterosexual development. In fact, I'm working right now with a number of parents who are concerned about symptoms what we call pre-homosexual symptoms or gender-identity confusion and a number of these parents are home-schooling these children. The problem that they all complain about is that their son does not have access to boys his age and can-not participate in the kinds of ordinary activ-ities of boys, like sports and sleepovers and just getting together and playing. I think that's a critical factor.
From my work with adult homosexuals, what we see repeatedly in their childhood is the fact that they were isolated from other boys. They did not have close male friends. That's a very important factor. Parents who home-school will often complain that they have to chauffeur their kid all over town just so he can play with a boy for a couple of hours.
They have to make appointments and drive and it's a lot of work, whereas going to school, there's already a built-in social net-work. . I think that the burden of responsibility, unfortunately, falls on the parents of chil-dren who are home-schooling to provide opportunities tot their children to have peer interactions. That's very important. I'm not saying that home-schooling produces homosexuals. I am saying that parents who home-school have an additional burden of being concerned about these issues.
You have to look at the variables. One of the things we see over and over in the history of homosexual men is the tendency to feel left out of the other boys, to always feel that they were not included, that they were not good enough. This is a fundamental theme in the lives of homosexuals.
What are the signs of the pre-homosexual condition?
One of the signs of the pre-homosexual condition is characterized by a confusion of gender identity, which is to say the boy will exhibit certain behaviors like what we call the "sissy-boy syndrome," which is UCLA psychology researcher Richard Green's term--he wrote a book by that name. Basically--and other researchers have supported this--this is a boy who shies away from physical activity, tends to stay with girls. tends to stay close to his mother, grandmother or sisters. When he's very young he will actually say he doesn't want to be a boy and that he wants to be a girl. They will sometimes engage in dress-up or playing with makeup. Now, we have to warn parents that a certain amount of this is kind of normal curiosity. So we don't have to panic as soon as we see the slightest sign. But we have to look at an over-all picture of a boy who systematically either ignores, denies or minimizes his masculinity.
Typically, these boys stay home more. they stay in the kitchen more, they like theater, acting and music, they're into fantasy--fantasy is a very big part of their life, and they tend to identify with female characters on television. Like, usually in the Disney productions, they tend to identify with Sleeping Beauty or the mermaid or whatever the feminine character is....
If people were to ask me what is the one characteristic that identifies the pre-homosexual boy, I would say it's a boy who is not connected to his father, who avoids his father, who minimizes his father, who does not really go out and seek out his father's attention.
My experience with home-schoolers is that the fathers are more involved with their kids than typical families and the fathers are what I would consider more masculine, where they are clearly the head of the family and they go to Catholic men 's meetings, etc.
Let me say this generally speaking, more conservative and orthodox people--not only Catholics, but any religion politically, religiously and socially conservative people--tend to be more clear about gender difference. This is to say, the men are the men and the women are the women. Whereas, the more politically/socially/religiously liberal people tend to blur gender distinctions.
Furthermore, the decision to home-school, which is a major decision, is usually made by parents who are more concerned. Home-schooling is such an unpopular decision that, for the decision to be made, it usually means that the mother and father are very committed to the children. Already, that tells me that this is going to be a father who is more involved in his children's lives.
In a large family is there a different dynamic? In some home-schooling families I know there are five boys or nine boys.
When we're talking about the important variables [which] determine a boy's masculine identification, one of the important factors is a relationship with his older brother. If he has a loving, supportive, encouraging, positive relationship with his older brother, that's a very good sign. Whereas, if it's a feared, hostile relationship with the older brother, then that is not a good sign. If the younger boy shies away from his older brothers or feels intimidated by them or is constantly being beaten up by his older brothers, that's also another important variable. Freud said 90 years ago that if a homosexual has an older brother, it's a feared, hostile relationship with the older brother, and I have seen this to be true time and time again.
Many people have a family member or neighbor who is homosexual. What do you tell the kids about that? I don't want my kids to be un-Christian, but I don't want them to think it's normal.
Basically, we should educate our children to see that the homosexual is a person with a problem. We have to respect this person. We don't want to contribute to their unhappiness by rejecting them or making them feel bad about themselves. We have to always be Christian and tolerant of the person. But while we are loving to the person, it does not mean we have to accept or approve of their homosexuality. Tell the kids that homosexuality is really a psychological problem and that many of them, if they really work hard at it, can overcome their homosexuality, get married and have families. This is basically what we want to teach our kids.
What treatment do you recommend for a "pre-homosexual" condition?
Number one, what you do is you let the child know very specifically that effeminate behavior is unacceptable. That seems very obvious, but you would be surprised how many parents don't like their sons sissy behavior but do not comment on it, because they're either intimidated or they're fearful, or they don't want to hurt the boy's feelings, or they hope it's just a phase that will go away. The child interprets their silence as approval. This is one of the big discoveries that Richard Green found, that parents will not correct an effeminate boy.
Anyway, the first thing you do is you discourage effeminate behavior. The second thing is you get the mother to perhaps back off, to not be so emotionally tied to the boy. The father has to get much more involved. Any male in the boy's life has to become involved. All significant males in this boy's life have to work together to support and encourage and reinforce his masculine identification. The message has to be: "You're lucky to be a boy. Being a boy is fun. Being a boy is special." You really have to play that up. You have to really make him feel special to be a boy. It may be sexist, but that's what we need to do....
One of the things I find is that when these mothers call me up--and it's usually the mothers who call--they have an intuitive sense that there's something wrong. That's a good starting point. When parents call me because they are concerned, the first thing I do is an evaluation to determine whether the parents' fears are well-founded. If so, then I basically work with the parents. I really don't work with the child. I coach the parents in doing the right thing. If they're motivated, they can turn this around. If the parents are willing to work together as a team, they can produce very good results. And the younger the child, the faster the change. I once worked with the parents of a 3 1/2 year old boy who wanted to be a girl. We were able to bring about a radical change that everybody noticed-- uncles and aunts and everybody--in about three weeks.
For more information contact NARTH at 16633 Ventura Blvd. Suite 1340. Encino, CA 91436, (818) 7894440. Their website is at www.narth.com. NARTH has a list of member psychotherapists throughout the country who treat homosexuality as a disorder.
From San Francisco Faith: The Bay Areas Lay Catholic Newspaper. Vol. 2 No. 7, July-August 1998.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Monday, April 11, 2011
Boy Says Heaven is Real!!! Of Course!
After near-death experience, boy says
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Saturday, April 9, 2011
My Delightful Airplane Seatmate --Luis Resto! Eminem's musical collaborator
Luis Resto and Restaurant's World "Just So You Don't Die Alone"
Pardon the name on this video format! Luis is the fellow playing the keyboard and singing --his brother is the guitarist and they look a bit alike I think.
Luis Resto (cut and paste this into address bar --as it is a streaming site --and changes continually.)• has performed, written & recorded with Patti Smith (reference: "Don't Smoke In Bed", "My Madrigal" and "Pastime Paradise"); backed Ms. Smith in her American Songbook performance at Lincoln Center and at the Bowery Ballroom concerts in New York commemorating the release of Smith’s Twelve album.
• won an Oscar and a Grammy as co-writer of "Lose Yourself", Eminem's smash worldwide hit and the most successful single of his career, spending 12 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 & is now widely regarded as one of the most important songs of the decade.
• co-wrote the title track and six other songs on the 8 Mile soundtrack album (released on October 29 in advance of the film) which quickly became the fifth best-selling album of 2002 with US sales of 3.2 million in it’s first two months of release.
• a veteran and in-demand musician, Luis has recorded with Stevie Nicks, Iggy Pop, Jay Z, Mel Torme, Anita Baker, the Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson) and many others.
• one of the most creative and diversely accomplished musicians currently working in Detroit. He has amassed a voluminous list of credits with relatively little fanfare; as part of the Shady camp, he played/produced/written songs for some twenty-five Top 5 album releases in the first decade of this new century, some fifteen of which reached the coveted Number 1 position.
• most recently Luis has been credited for co-writing Eminem's smash "Not Afraid" and Lil' Wayne's platinum single "Drop the World".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luis saw rotund me coming down the aisle toward my window seat on the plane from Detroit to Charlotte, W. Va., for my uncle's funeral in Savannah last Tuesday--but didn't scowl or blanch!I was worried about narrow seats and not wanting to overlap anyone literally --forced intimacy of these planes but we couldn't get our tickets together for our party of 6. Fortunately for both of us, Luis was trim and fit and didn't take up much space himself, so we were both comfortable! So it wasn't a problem and he was as polite and solicitous as anyone could be! offered to share the drop-down shelf without me mentioning that mine would not sit level having to sit on my front just slightly. But, just so you know, I didn't need any extender to my seatbelt! He stuck my purse under the seat for me --didn't ask. Just a quick-thinking, helpful, energetic gentleman. I'd say "young man" --except for his gray hair --but otherwise, a young man in my book.
And the conversation was --as he said --"thoroughly enjoyable." He used his I-phone to pound out a melody on a keyboard app--and with a composition app he demonstrated layering acc't onto a melody. The young father in front of Luis often turned around to look at me between the seats with a big grin --as he listened to our conversation.
Right away, I learned he was a professional pianist. "O really! I play, too!" (heh heh but not professionally!) though my daughters' professions are music teaching/singing/playing and I've done a lot of church music over the years. And then I said, "Who do you play for?"
He is the keyboardist, arranger, accompaniest, and a composer-- mostly famous for work with rapper Eminem these days! Got an Oscar and Grammy for the best movie song, Lose Yourself, in Eminem's 8 Mile) --which was used on the impressive Super Bowl Chrysler commercial this year. Nominated for a Grammy for Not Afraid. And the above is one of his own songs --which I do prefer to the rap music. I haven't deciphered all the lyrics yet, but it sounds philosophical and I hear Jesus' name as Lord (not cursing) in there somewhere! I understand there is a lot of cursing and bad language and unholy themes in Eminem rap songs --and in most rap. Luis says all that angst comes quite honestly out of Eminem's earlier life experiences.
Luis said it is a challenge for him to set a good example for his 2 kids, one a young teen girl whom he was taking with her girlfriend for a birthday beach trip during spring break. His other --a son --is a college music tech/engineer? grad. He said it's a challenge, making money with Eminem as he does --on music which I will say is not the favorite of concerned parents--which Luis understands. Luis said he does sometimes wonder if what he does for a living is of "any good in the universe." Well, it's certainly good to make a living for one's family.
So I gave him an idea that maybe he and Eminem could do a song like, maybe, "Man Up!" for "all the Baby Daddies" --whose 29% white and 83% black children are being raised without the dads in the homes --"outside marriage" (whatever that means --never married or just single parented by any means?) according to the newsmag article and the 2009 census. Luis loves his 2 kids --and he says Eminem is a dedicated dad also with 2 daughters (one a step daughter) whom he parents with high priority and love.
Luis says Marshal Mathers (Eminem) is a prince among professional musicians --a truly "nice guy" -contrary to his image --and so very nice and good to work with. And that's good to hear. Maybe, being financially secure, I suggested, they might take a shift in message and consider using their fame as a bully pulpit for marriage and parenting for the sake of the children --for whom single parenting/unwed parenting, usually results in gov't dependency and poverty. Luis, himself, has been married 25 years. He is a Catholic by upbringing who occasionally helps in a couple of Detroit area churches with their music. Says their tech/engineer is a believer and a good influence.
Otherwise, we mused about the mysteries of flight --says he marvels that such a heavy piece of metal can stay up in the air -- and I told him I am always comforted and less scared on take-off and landing-- to realize that God gave the secret of flight to the Wright brothers --2 minister's sons --sons of a bishop in the United Brethren in Christ Church. He didn't know that --as most people don't but I do, being raised in that church myself. I said that tells me that flying isn't some vain Tower of Babel exercise on the part of humanity --but as our minister said last Sunday (and I alluded to you, Pastor!) our creativity as humans is a result of our being created in the Image of the Creator. We create --because we are like Him in that aspect. The challenge is to use our creativity for Him --and not for the worship of ourselves --as in humanism or idolatry.
Even though Luis told me his accomplishments --he did so because I asked and really wanted to know. I didn't detect egotism in him at all --but just a man who is comfortable in his own skin --and not feeling any need to impress anyone--certainly not me.
We were just 2 strangers who "hit it off" conversationally --and made the most of our time in flight. I gave him my blog address --and he gave me his email. And he said as he offered his hand upon departure, "Let's keep in touch!" I'd like that.
I hope he doesn't mind me boasting about meeting him and putting his video here --which is one of many. Luis even has a Wikipedia page.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
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