Hi Julie,
'PROGRESSIVE' ISSUES: I agree with a lot of what you're saying. There is a cultural shift. The Democrats are a huge umbrella covering a whole bunch of issues. But you're exaggerating the extend to which those issues are dominating everything. And while the Wedding Cake case went to the Supreme Court - how was it resolved? That's what is important.
ABORTION: Convenience? Maybe. But read the links I supplied. There are coutnries where it is ILLEGAL - nationwide - and yet it is 4 TIMES more common than in the USA. And the EU has HALF your abortion rates! Why?!?
CLIMATE & BIBLE: YOU KEEP IGNORING THIS QUESTION! Why did Genesis contadict itself then? The main emphasis? "Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
He's saying never again will he 'uncreate' the world and return it to the watery chaos of pre-creation. Now let's read your favourite section.
"And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.”"
CLIMATE CHANGE WILL ERADICATE NONE OF THESE!
FIRST - in case you hadn't noticed it - climate change is an increase in heat, not a flood.
SECOND - NONE OF THESE HAVE TO CEASE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE TO BE TRUE! Some of their parameters will cease - like growing grain will be down 25% by 2050. But ceased? No. Nothing like Joseph's famine when the WHOLE KNOWN WORLD ran out of ALL grain for 7 years?
You have either just avoided this inconvenient biblical truth - or just cannot comprehend any of this.
If YOU'RE the one asserting any of these have to be contradicted for climate change, YOU'RE the one who has to prove it!
"he states will stay the same (cold, hot, seed time, etc) while the earth remains." He didn't say that the way YOU mean it - he said he would not UNCREATE the world AGAIN the way he did in the flood. Read the text! IF he literally meant those words in the FULL extent of those words as YOU are misreading it - then Genesis contradicts itself! "Seedtime will never fail" - except the 3 times it fails in Genesis alone - and one of those lasting 7 years across the whole known world!
TRUMP is an awful danger to democracy. He and his Project 2025 are both trying to undermine the competency and impartiality of the public service - especially the DOJ. Dozens of psychiatrists have diagnosed him as having Malignant Personality Disorder. And former staff from his office are BEGGING you not to vote for him! People who worked with and for him! He asked his advisers why police couldn't just shoot protesters in the legs. He wanted to build a MOAT at the Mexican border and fill it with alligators and reptiles. A moat! In the desert, across 2000 miles. Really? I doubt your entire military budget for a DECADE could get that thing built! The guy just isn't smart enough for the office, let alone stable. Yet he describes himself to his worshipping MAGA followers as a "very stable genius" - and in other moments he has trouble forming sentences!
BACK TO NOAH: Then you say you don't believe
"global warming such as that the climate would drastically change to the point where God's promise is not true. Disasters happen, droughts, bad crops happen, etc. But it will never change to the extant that the weather will not produce all the seasons and seed times as a whole."
I agree! That's what climatologist Katharyn Hayhoe and I have been trying to say all along? EG: How is a 25% reduction in crops by 2050 any worse than Joseph's famine?
Also - what is God's promise to us about this period between Jesus Resurrection and his Return? Have you READ Revelation? Can't see any scorching sun events in there? Crop issues? Droughts? 4 Horsemen? The thing is - Revelation describes these as judgements from God. But what is the means of delivery? We read in Romans that God often hands us over to the consequences of our own actions.
"God would not want transgenders period"
Oh wow! Yeah - ban anyone 'different'. There's the love of Christ for you! Hey - how about those black people as well? They're a bit different!
Look - I know God made us male and female. I know he does not approve of any sexual behaviour outside of marriage. But does God love gay people? YES! And they can be Christian if they decide to be celibate. And some LOVE the church for loving them - as they've had issues with different relationships and abandonment. Sometimes abandonment in childhood - having trauma from an absent father - is part of why they ended up in the gay community seeking male love etc. Now, what I'm about to say is quite controversial. I'm NOT talking about 'gay conversion therapy.' But I know some gay people that have even noticed their sexuality swinging back to heterosexual wiring after some years of living as a celibate Christian and having counselling for their abandonment issues.
Also - would you welcome a transgender person to your church? Please - while doing some housework or gardening or going on a walk - Julie I'd love to hear your perspective on this podcast. The host is a keen Christian man who I've worked with in Australia, who now lives in the USA. I miss seeing him - as John Dickson "currently holds the Jean Kvamme Distinguished Chair at Wheaton College, Illinois, where he is also Distinguished Scholar in Public Christianity."
Undeceptions Episode 69: Is there a Christian way to think about and engage with trans gender people? John engages with this complex topic.
undeceptions.com
CHURCH & STATE: Read Romans. He spends the whole book explaining that the law does not save. Now I know that's the Mosaic Law - but I fear many today think that if we just enacted the Old Testament law in our lands - we are doing God's work. But really? We are saved by grace for good works, but told to live compassionately with unbelievers. Not to lock them up for being unbelievers. In other words - the New Testament sees Christians living alongside other people of other faiths or no faiths - loving and serving them.
Christian Nationalism - or should I say - Mosaic Nationalism - was an Old Testament thing to show us how worldly governance systems are not going to save us. It taught us that we're too sinful to obey the laws ourselves and be 'good enough'. A thousand years of animal sacrifice and blood pouring out of the temple did not pay for sin. Only Jesus, and faith in Jesus, saves.
So what of government? Should we have government enact the 10 commandments and ban other religions and practices? No!
Our tools are preaching, prayer, service and suffering. What New Testament verses can you point to that say we are going to form government? What are Paul's commands for the constitution? When does this happen? No! His focus is the gospel. Indeed - in Romans 13 he said:
"6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."
Just THINK about what Pau's Roman taxes went to paying for! Building more temples to Jupiter - or Caesar himself! Yet Paul sees ANY kind of law and order as better than chaos. He said not only to pay the taxes but to honour those who govern! Now tell me what laws Rome had on sexuality and bathrooms?
Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world”, and Paul said we are to judge matters in the church - but who are we to judge outside the church? That’s up to God. Paul also didn’t want anyone to be compelled, but fully settled in their own mind.
That means Christians can fight for counter intuitive things like freedom of religion in a society. I should defend a Muslim’s right to worship as much as my own. This is my favourite Christian podcast - simply one of the best in the world. And this is a great episode.
Undeceptions Episode 122: How does Jesus engage with the political powers of the world? What does this mean for Christians in power?
undeceptions.com
This is not 'woke'. This is the gospel of Jesus that sometimes asks us to love others - even if they're outside our comfort zone. Because God loved them first. That's the God we serve - and having typed those last few sentences - I need to confront something uncomfortable in my own personal life today!
I honestly hope all this helps Julie B. I agree that NO party is perfect - and indeed - voting is a process one does holding one's nose. I do NOT think voting for Trump or even the Republican Party is a "Christian" thing to do. Indeed, even if the whole world were Christian - I still think we would have major differences in how we thought we should run things - and there would be political parties.
My vibe? Vote for the party that is going to do "less harm". That's it! And the Democrats are not the ones talking about building concentration camps for vulnerable immigrants, massively expanding polluting fossil fuel industries in the face of climate change, pollution deaths and costs, ecological areas ruined, and propping up Petro-Dictators! Remember - fossil fuel pollution is SO BAD you pay for it once in your electricity bill or at the petrol pump, and then the same amount again in EXTRA health costs and insurance costs because of all the people sick from it.
The sane, compassionate and indeed - PATRIOTIC thing to do this election is vote Democrat. Voting Republican will increase abortion, increase pollution, increase health costs, increase civil strife, prolong Petro-Dicators in the world - and most of all - increase the risk of nuclear war! Trump is weirdly obsessed with Putin - and kept calling him even when voted out of government. He's admitted as much himself. If Trump got back in Putin might feel so overconfident he crosses some red line in Europe!
You're worried about climate change contradicting Noah's promises? Tell me - have you seen this 4 minute breakdown of the latest science on nuclear war?
The latest science on nuclear war shows it would be unimaginably worse than we all imagine. 360 million people would die in the first hour - but in the years after? 4 minutes of youtube breaking down the latest science. I pray that EVERY politician on the planet could this presentation - maybe every 6 months - as part of their workplace compliance training!
Here is 11 minutes from Kurzgesagt “In a nutshell” - another very popular youtube channel - with such quality summary videos that they have 23 million subscribers.