Did anyone happen to notice that The Today Show hosted two interviews with young women this morning? One was with Miley Cyrus and another with Elizabeth Smart. I don’t know that these two videos require much commentary. I simply found them to be a fascinating juxtaposition. In fact, I would say that the wisdom of Solomon is in this juxtaposition (Prov. 11:3; 12:15; 21:2; 26:12; 28:11). Sometimes on accident popular culture offers us something worth pondering, and I think this may be such an instance. You can watch both interviews below.
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Sweet Lorraine
I promise you’ll be glad you took the time to watch this video all the way through. I’m not going to spoil the story by describing it to you. You just need to watch it for yourself. Thank you Dane Ortlund for highlighting it. What a story. What a song. What a life. Download “Sweet Lorraine” here.
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Transgender Teen Named Homecoming Queen
It’s amazing that stories like the one above are becoming more and more commonplace. The report is about a young man in California who was recently chosen by his classmates to be the homecoming queen. The boy identifies as transgender—which means that he is biologically male but wishes to identify as a female.
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A beautiful video about generosity
Thanks to @22Words for sharing this. Really well done.
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The Mindset List
The annual “Mindset List” from Beloit College has been released in time for the new school year. If you are unfamiliar with this annual treat, here’s an explanation from the school’s website: Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. Prepared by Beloit’s former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief and Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride, the list was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references. It quickly became an internationally monitored catalog of the changing worldview of each new college…
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Okay to change a child’s sex but not his gender?
James Kushiner asks an insightful question that exposes the moral confusion of our day. In essence he asks why it should be legal to change a child’s sex but not his gender. The question is provoked by the recent bill signed into law by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The law prohibits any attempt to change a child’s “gender expression.” That means that if a parent has a young boy who likes to put on dresses and wear make-up, New Jersey law prohibits licensed counselors from helping that boy. Counselors must approve and support whatever gender that child chooses regardless of the child’s sex. This law reveals the rising social…
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Gay marriage as litmus test for acceptance in elite society
R. R. Reno offers some insight on why gay marriage has become the litmus test for acceptance in elite society. He writes: Same sex marriage has become the issue of our time… How did this come to pass? There’s no easy answer, which is not surprising. Same sex marriage is the issue because lots of different interests, concerns, and trends converge on it. The first thing to say is that the gay rights movement has been largely an upper middle class project. Thurgood Marshall attended Lincoln University, an all-black college in southeastern Pennsylvania, and then Howard University Law School. Gay activist Larry Kramer went to Yale. Judge Vaughn Walker went…
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Christ-haunted Atheists
Flannery O’Connor once wrote, “I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted.” Apparently her observation holds true even for Southern atheists. Several weeks ago, The New York Times did a feature on an atheist from my hometown of DeRidder, Louisiana. His name is Jerry DeWitt, and he’s a Pentecostal preacher turned activist atheist. This is actually DeWitt’s second appearance in the paper of record, and you can read about his falling away in the Times article from last year. But this latest article covers DeWitt’s attempt to give birth to an atheist “church.” He is trying to cobble together…
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A Christian vision for gender non-conforming boys
Slate.com has an article about a youth camp for gender non-conforming boys. It’s a retreat for prepubescent young men who behave in ways that are feminine. The camp provides a place for parents and children to feel “protected” as these young boys act out in ways that they wouldn’t normally do in public. The article pictures boys wearing dresses, parading down runways, and putting on makeup—all of it with their smiling parents looking on in approval.
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The damning euphemism called “selective reduction”
The video above features a woman named Amy Richards telling her story about “selective reduction” (HT: @drmoore). If you are unfamiliar with the term, it’s a euphemism for killing one or more unborn babies when there are multiples in a womb. In Richards’ case, she found out that she was pregnant with triplets. In the video above, she describes her fateful decision to have two of her triplets killed. In a 2004 Op-Ed for The New York Times, she describes why she refused to allow all of her children to live: