The Line I Drew was Crossed

 So, many of you know and are familiar with my past involvement with a movement known as Abolish Human Abortion (whom I will refer to as AHA from here on out). If you don't, let me give a brief little recap.
  A few years back, I want to say about 2012ish, I became acquainted with AHA through Abby Johnson's facebook page. She was very adamant about vilifying this movement and would trash talk them any chance she could. As were and are many other career pro-lifers, but I digress. I don't just like to write off  people groups by someone else's opinion of them so I went and checked out AHA for myself. I ended up siding with them over Abby and she ended banning me from her page for simple posting scripture on a comment thread. That's when I knew that I had done the right thing. Fast forward a few months and my husband gets interested and we began to explore the idea of starting an abolitionist society in our hometown.  So, we do. My husband goes to our church session and they give us the thumbs up. We start The Abolitionist Society of Riverside. During this time there is heavy debate and division between the Babies Are Murdered Here guys and AHA. We decide not to pick sides and go about our business. I did defend AHA at some points with those who sided with BAMH. My husband was even mistreated by one of the BAMH guys by attempting to bring unity, and that was disheartening, but we pressed on. We went to Planned Parenthood several times, none of which we regret.  Sean ministered outside of other clinics, too. We went to expose the evil of abortion at the high school we attended. Did the same at the University. None of which we regret. Fast forward again to when Sean gets back from Afghanistan. Everything is good, we talk about going out to schools and clinics again, but something was definitely different. It's not that Sean didn't want to be an abolitionist, it's just he started to notice things that I wasn't. Little by little, he began to persuade me to distance myself from AHA. As it turns out, he had been speaking with Jeff Durbin from Apologia Church and John Barros from St. Andrew's (Sproul's church) about the importance of being under our church and sent out by our church. Now, we had the approval of our church but were not operating on behalf of our church. We knew that this was at odds with AHA because whether they admit it or not, they are very anti-Church in the sense that they don't believe in a structured church form of government/eldership, and we knew that this would ultimately be what would separate us from AHA. So, that was that.
 Now that you know a little bit of the backstory, I'll continue with the purpose of this blog update. In the last year and a half or so, Sean completely disassociated himself with AHA. He is still an abolitionist of human abortion, as am I. He never made it public, neither is he obligated to. I, on the other hand remained on the fense. I know that many in the movement mean well, they can be overly zealous at times, and many times way off in their approaches but I saw passed a lot of that. Their cause is a great cause and one I firmly believe in. However, I did draw a line, that I stand firmly behind, that when/if they crossed it, would be cause for me to completely dissociate myself and not look back. That line was crossed this weekend when they decided to conduct a "church repent exhortation" in front of a biblically sound and active church against abortion, KNOWING that their intentions were not welcome. This is what I was afraid of and do not wish to be linked with. This IS a direct attack on the church in way of complete disrespect and disregard of a bible believing churches leadership.  I have an incredibly high view of the church despite her shortcomings and despite her imperfection. I affirm that Elders of a church were put in those position BY GOD, and will be accountable to God for how they lead. AHA spits on that notion, and I cannot and WILL NOT be a part of that. I do not condemn any and every AHA adherent, quite the contrary, I love and pray for them, and I pray that God would show those that are in error, the error of their ways. So there you have it. My last and final word about the Abolish Human Abortion movement.

P.S I have deleted and unfollwed (or hid) many of my AHA friends from Facebook, some of which I deleted with a heavy heart, but I just can't stand the division that many were very adamant about communicating and condoning.

With all this said... Please pray for me. Pray that God would always be the center of why I do and say what I say.  Love you all and God Bless! - Yours truly, Brenda

Let the Children Come...

    It's been a while since I've written anything, mostly because I haven't really felt the urge to write about anything lately. I mean, I know last month the SCOTUS decided they could “redefine” marriage, but better Christians than I have written and re-written about it, so I'll leave it at that.

Just recently, though, my little sister did become engaged and decided on a very short engagement, so that's new, fun, and exciting news for my family. Naturally, the occasion has been bringing up some discussion and even a little bit of comparing here and there. Which brings me to what I really want to write about. Children at weddings!!!

    OK, so I'll start by explaining that, not too long ago, a Facebook friend of mine surveyed his Facebook friends on a status, asking if children should be invited to his wedding. The answers were an overwhelming “nay,” and yes, even I joined in and agreed that children could be disruptive and should perhaps be left out of the ceremony part, if anything. As people kept responding, more and more were in agreement with the “nays”. That was until a women commented in the affirmative, for children attending. This wouldn't have been a big deal for me, really, except her comment was the only one that contained any sort of scripture or biblical content to support her argument in favor of allowing children to attend. With that, I decided to comment again and take back what I said and stand by the only person who was not looking at children as though they were a burden to accommodate.

    This brief Facebook encounter provoked a lot of thought in me. After a while, I turned to my husband and began to talk about this specific topic with him. Almost immediately, he agreed that children, not only should, but must be a part of the celebration of marriage. See, the thing is, wedding celebrations in our society have been so distorted as to make people believe that they have to have this elaborate celebration and the money spent should be spent on things “more important” then accommodating children, and the idea that “weddings are just not for children.” Do not think, for a second, that this line of thinking has not crept into the church. I think it's worth noting that our society also kills it's children at a rate of about 3,500 children a day, so taking notes from society as to how we should treat children when it comes to special occasions like weddings, is not something I'd advise.

    Now, you don't have to take my word for it, just Google: Reasons to Invite Children to Weddings. What you will find is, maybe two articles, with reasons to do so, and as you scroll, you will see article after article discouraging the invitation of children, and all with reasons that basically make children being children out to be burdens that people shouldn't have to bare on important occasions like the celebration of two people joining their lives in holy matrimony. So, why exactly are we upset, at all, that society has this distorted view of marriage (hence SCOTUS ruling) and how to celebrate it, when we are willingly deciding to exclude the rising generation from witnessing what it's like to make a covenant before God and showing them the real importance of this covenant. Forget for a moment that every child may still get to witness at least one wedding in his or her lifetime, that is not the point. The point is, do we really believe that children are a blessing like the bible tells us, or do we believe like the world, that they are a burden and/or wasted space or “headcount”?

    My inclination, at first, was to be the understanding mother of three that thought, “Oh, it's alright, parents could find a sitter so that everyone enjoys the wedding in peace!” Then I realized how wrong, and honestly, how unbiblical it was for me to think that. After changing my mind and thinking about it more, I also realized that it's actually quite offensive for someone to say, “We would really love for you guys to come to our wedding... but not your kids!” Now, this may just be my opinion, and that's ok, I'm not going be dogmatic about it, but I do think that those types of invitations come across a little rude. To say to parents that their children are not welcome is no different then saying, “We love you, but we don't love your children!” And while that could actually be the case, it is no less hurtful, after all children are, by nature, an extension of their parents, so naturally, if children are excluded, parents could, and likely will feel excluded also.

    Now, I know that I may be coming across as “judgy,” maybe “overreacting” a little, or even seem a little “dogmatic”. The truth is, though I know I shouldn't take it personal, I still do, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. See, I do believe that children are a blessing, and not just my own children. The bible calls them an inheritance from the Lord. A gift. To look at them as anything else would be an affront to God. And sure, there is and will be Christians that love children and still decide against having them at their wedding, and that's ok. But Christians be mindful of parents, don't just carelessly think, “Well, if they are truly our friends and want to share this moment with us, they'll understand!” Yes, they are your friend, and they will understand, but you are their friend too, do you understand how you may be making them feel? After all having a wedding does not give any of us a license to disregard our brothers and sisters.

    I don't say any of this to stir up animosity or bitterness, I say all this because I really wish more Christians would realize how important it is to integrate children into our adult lives, because they will be adults one day, whether we are parents or not. I know this is very cliché but in instances like this, it never hurts to ask, “what would Jesus do?” And actually, I personally like, “What DID Jesus do?” better...

Note: The artist of this painting,"Dance of Grace," Mark Keathley, did an amazing job and I believe he has amazing talent. I love the message he is trying to portray with this work of art and it really fits this topic very well, I believe. However, in trying to keep to the second commandment, I did intentionally blur out the face of the 'depicted' Jesus. I mean no offense by doing so, I am simply keeping to my convictions.

Call Me Old Fashion, if you will...

I was reading another blog not to long ago that had the subject title, "Is It Time for Christians to Celebrate Pre-Marital Sex?" In it the author talked about how archaic the biblical view of sex is and how the modern church ought to translate it into modern society, rather then it being the other way around. In other words, we need to think up a new sexual ethic for Christians. Needless to say, I was applaud that a "christian" (emphasis on the little c) would even suggests that sin should be celebrated. Now, I know abstinence before marriage is not a popular approach to the subject, not even in many churches... But the fact of the matter is... It's the only biblical approach. What was particularly disturbing to me about the article was the comments people were leaving... A great majority were completely on board. 
There was a small portion that did catch my unbiased attention... The author, Tony Jones, says in the article that:

"Human beings are sexual beings. There’s no way around it. And the fact that, in the West, the age of marriage has been steadily creeping upward means that our bodies are ready for sex long before we’re walking down the aisle. In the U.S., men get married at 29 and women at 27, on average. And we reach puberty a good decade-and-a-half before that."

Because this was more of a  factual statement (the only one that existed in the article, in my honest opinion), And the only portion I actually agreed with, I thought it was worth a bit more attention. So I began listening to sermons my Dr. Voddie Baucham and read several comments left on a Facebook thread posted by The American Vision on this specific blog article. One person said something that really stuck. They said,  "Perhaps the problem is we're not encouraging our kids to honor marriage, and rather than waiting until nearly 30 to get married so they can have a "fairy tale" (i.e. EXPENSIVE) wedding, we should be more willing to encourage our kids to marry at 19, 20, 22, and marry more simply." This person was on to something. I mean really, that is a great solution to the problem, and... what's so wrong with getting married young anyway?
I know from experience what it is like to get married at such a young age... I became engaged at 18 and was married at 19. So technically, I can relate. But you know, every time I tell people that, they get wide eyed or say something like "wow, that's really young." As a matter of fact, before I was married a lady at a church I frequented tried talking me out of getting married so young.  Her reasons; Well, she thought I should get to know him more as a boyfriend since we were strictly friends for the passed two and a half years and the majority of our dating experience, which was only a little over 4 months, was mostly parcel. She argued that being a couple is so much different then just being friends... I didn't listen to her, obviously. My husband and I ended up marrying 10 months later and have been married ever since. 
Today when we talk to people about our daughters and what we expect from them when they get older, there seems to be that overwhelming pressure that we should save up money for their college education. Nobody ever mentions that we should probably put some money aside to help them out with there wedding... Why not? What is so taboo about marriage?!?!?! The answer to Mr. Jones question should be quite clear... It became so to me.
My conclusion, as a parent and a Christian, is that we should train our sons to be honorable, respectable, hard working, Godly men and husbands from the very get go. And our daughters should be trained from their youth to be good  Godly wives and mothers. This is the answer. Lets teach our children to be great spouses and encourage them to marry young if the temptation for sex is that great. After all 1 Corinthians 7 does tell us that "if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion." 
                Yours Truely, Brenda

The Winds of Change

Well, it's been a while since my last blog post... A long while... Lets just say that it's a good thing that I'm not trying to make a career out of blogging, haha!

Anyway, in that time, I have acquired quite a bit of change. For starters, I went through my third pregnancy and had another baby, A BOY!!! Yup, God finally granted us the blessings of having a little boy, and we are thrilled; Especially the girls. 

If that isn't enough change for you, here's more, almost two months ago, my husband left on a 400 day deployment with his Army unit (it may take less time). So right about now, I think that's all the change I can handle. Needless to say it's been a tough few months. Aubrey, daddy's little girl, has championed the time that Papa has been gone, so far; up until a few days ago, when missing him finally started to kick in. She's who I call, my Drama Queen. If you knew her, you'd know that that is no understatement, so that's a lot to handle in and of itself. Ady Maeve has surprised me. I thought for sure, as much of a mama's girl as she is, that Papa being gone wouldn't really affect her as much. I realize now that though she is closest to me, she is most like him, relates most to him, and now it seems as though she is the one that misses him most. Of the kids, that is, because we all know Mama misses him the most ;-) 

So Anyway, with that said, I know there are many, many, women (and men) out there who have had spouses deployed oversees, and I don't want to offend any of you. Every military spouses experience is different because all of our personalities are different. So please, please, please, don't take offense whenever it seems as though I'm not handling my husbands deployment as well as maybe you handled your loved ones deployment. It is a tough spot to be in, and I'd rather people help me deal with it then criticize me for not dealing with it differently. The truth is, I MISS MY HUSBAND, he's my best friend, and has been since long before we even dated. I feel like such a baby because I've seen and heard of so many wives who have gone through this and neither of them seemed as weak as I feel at times. Anyway, my blog isn't popular, like, at all, but if your a military spouse, and happen to see this, I could use a little wisdom and encouragement. Who knows, maybe another person going through all the separation anxiety of a deployment can benefit off of it too! 

Till next time (and knowing me, who knows when that'll be lol!). As always, Yours Truely, Brenda!

Success...

So I haven't blogged in some time, and the blog ideas just kept piling up so I figured, might as well start one now, and since 2013 marks my 10 year anniversary of graduating high school, I thought, "why not start there?" So here it goes...

Just a couple of weeks back, news got out on Facebook that a date and location had been set for my 10th year high school reunion. I was excited, after all, high school did not treat me bad, and I actually liked it. I believe I was part of one of Norte Vista High School's most athletic/spirited classes, class of 2003 (Though I'm sure that's debatable). That's not to say that I wasn't glad to graduate, because I was. Very glad as a matter of fact. Anyhow, my husband... not so excited! Honestly, he agreed to go just so I wouldn't go by myself since he didn't have the guts to ask me to our senior prom. 
Days later the new season of Duck Dynasty was premiering, and to my delight, and my husbands dismay, the first portion of the episode is all about Willy's high school reunion and he expresses how much he's looking forward to it because it is a great opportunity to show off your successes. That Got me thinking; What exactly counts as "success," and do I consider myself successful? 
I think it's pretty clear to us what the definition of success is. Dictionary.com defines it as: a. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals. b.the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. After giving it some thought I came to the realization that the measuring rod for  "success" is a very subjective one, it's not a "one size fits all" concept. 
If you were to have asked me 10 years ago, "where would I see myself in 10 years," I would not have said married with 2 children. Success to me, then, meant becoming a fire fighter, being an independent women, having a degree of some sort, and maybe being engaged. Today, with all honesty and sincerity, I could proudly say that I'm so happy that my life did not stay that course. Today, I don't have a degree. I don't have a thriving career, nor do I desire one; I'm married, and have been for coming up on 8 years now, and... I have two of the most beautiful, smart, wild, but loving little girls. My successes do not have a high GPA or six digit paycheck stub attached to them. My successes involve the daily raising, rearing, and education of my children. They involve the daily effort to become a better wife and follower to my husband, and if your a wife, you know how hard that can be. 
But you see, in today's society, that isn't enough. Being a stay at home wife and mom isn't regarded as a high accomplishment. To many, a stay at home wife is just glorified nanny that makes no money off of caring for her own children... Thankfully, I can care less what society thinks of my accomplishments. I've worked hard to be where I am at today. No matter how superior one may feel over me, those accomplishments cannot be taken away from me, and it doesn't make anybody better than me, nor do my successes or accomplishments make me better than anyone else. 
If I could give the younger generation any advise, I would say, follow your dreams, even if those dreams don't land you a nice house or an expensive sports car within 10 years. And contrary to popular belief, college is NOT for everybody, and if you need to go to college, do it in the most efficient way possible, at your own pace, remembering that degrees are only worth the paper they are written on.Yes I said it, and its the sad truth. Measure success according to your own subjective goals while holding on to the objective truth that all men are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among them are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. So protect, respect, and live life,and Defend and fight for your liberty to pursue what brings you happiness.
                                                                            Yours Truely -Brenda

The three most important people in my life!!! Love them!

One Reason Why a Facebook Break was Necessary

   Hello all, it’s been a little while since my last blog post and I’m thinking it’s time for another one. Much has happened since my last post including and most importantly, the 2012 Presidential election. I also, within the last week and a half, decided that I needed a break and have deactivated my Facebook account. Shocker I know, but honestly I really needed it… There’s quite a bit that lead to this break but the final straw was facebook itself, or rather, the ignorance of some of the people on it. So, this post is basically going to serve as ventilation for me concerning this topic. I’m sure you can come up with a list of your own about the things Facebook users say that annoy you and I may very possibly be on that list so keep in mind that this is just MY perspective of things, this is MY opinion, this is NOT some dogma of mine so please don’t treat it as such. I apologize in advance if you find yourself offended at what I’m about to say, but as you know, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I think I’m in the right place to state mine.

   With the setting of the election just beyond the horizon, I have to admit my heart is still a bit afflicted.  You see, I didn't think that it could be some sort of “end all” to our nation’s calamities, but I have to admit that I was hoping  we would cease from going the wrong direction. I’m sure by my tone you have guessed that I did not vote for Barack Obama. If so, you’re right. But I don’t want my post to be about why I didn't.  I do, however, want to talk about those who did vote for him, particularly those on my Facebook. You see I found a growing yet disturbing trend among those that I personally know who voted for him. Not only were some of them annoyingly obnoxious about it, posting meme’s and what not on their news feed, but they were also very ignorant about the subject of politics all together, and that’s not all; they all, for the most part, couldn't even give a clear and concise reason why they voted for him. If you ask me, nothing can be more dangerous to a nation then the ignorance of its people. When I asked my relatives why they voted for Mr. Obama, most did not respond, and the one that did tried to avoid reason by simply stating, “…because I wanted to and I have the right to.” She’s right, she does have that right, but that answer was more than unsatisfactory; it was frightening.  You see, Adolf Hitler was voted into office by people just like her, he was voted into office by people who had been brainwashed by the government education system and/or society as a whole. Adolf Hitler was voted into office by those who could not think for themselves, and sadly I’m seeing that same trend in America today.

   I don’t, nor will I ever claim to be the sharpest tool in the shed, or the brightest bulb in the tanning bed (< That one’s for you ladies), but if there is one thing I know, it’s that we should never abandon or ignore our history, because when we do, history tends to repeat itself. A friend of a Facebook friend of mine (emphasis added) directed a quote toward me by Stephen Hawking that says “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.” I couldn't help but chuckle at how ironic it was that the quote, considering the context in which she used it, actually, more accurately described her and all who were opposing me on the topic of “separation of Church and State,” the religious background of forefathers and the influence of the enlightenment on our nation. Anyway, I stopped myself from going further in that conversation because I realized then that what students, including these Facebook friends, are receiving in government run schools and secular colleges today is really, in a nutshell, the illusion of knowledge. How it is that much of today’s youth have similar, if not exactly the same views on social political views? How is it that the majority of young Americans that voted, voted for a man with a failing track record, who by the way, was a bigger spender then the man the liberals blame for our bad economy? Because they are being taught what to think, not how to think! Hitler stated “He who controls the youth controls the future.” All it takes is a little observation to realize what is truly happening.  Government schools, like any other government program, will ALWAYS favor the government, and is it really necessary to mention the grip that the liberal media has on today’s society, not to mention it's youth? Revisionism at its finest has the coming generation believing that morals and/or religious convictions have no place in government or politics, which is ultimately what has lead to “my heart still being a bit afflicted,” and ultimately was the final straw before deciding that I needed a break from all the chaos and wickedness brought about by the young and ignorant.  I think Mike Huckabee stated it best when he said “…our country has slipped into a deeper state of dependence on government than I wanted to believe… It's also increasingly apparent to me that our real problems are not political, but spiritual."
   This is all but a season though, and I can confidently say that I am and will be alright, because my God is still God. Although my country and it's citizens may fail me, He will never leave me nor will he ever forsake me. Thanks for reading, Yours truely -Brenda

On November 6, 2012 I voted my conscience, my principles and religious values, and I voted for love of  country and it true history.

The False Freedom of Subjective Truth

Hello fellow readers... Today I wanted to share an article my husband wrote a while back on Examiner.com. It sort of goes hand in hand with last weeks blog post but this deals a little more with the secular worldview of subjectivism rather then the biblical responsibilities of the Christian. I really hope you enjoy it if you haven't already read it. Your's Truely, Brenda! 

The False Freedom of Subjective Truth 

Philosophy as a whole has been on a constant state of decline. Many have abandoned embracing truth as truth and believe there is no absolute truth to be found at all. This is known as subjectivism. Subjectivism is a philosophy which teaches that there are no moral absolutes in our world and that truth is subjective to the individual. It stresses the subjective self rather than objective knowledge. To put Subjectivism in modern, eloquent speech, “There are different strokes for different folks”. This philosophy has immense moral implications that must be examined.

According to the Christian world view, mankind is entirely sinful upon conception. From the fall of Adam, man has been captive to what the Bible calls sin. Throughout history there have been many philosophies that have greatly increased sinful actions or what the secular world would call immoral acts. C.S. Lewis exclaims that, “Correct thinking will not make good men of bad ones; but a purely theoretical error may remove ordinary checks to evil and deprive good intentions of their natural support”. This error is subjectivism. To say that there are no moral absolutes is a danger to the entire human race and a tangible threat to the modern church. When there is no longer a standard by which we judge all moral action, chaos will reign supreme. Suppose a man chose to convince you the ocean was pink by placing a gun to your head. Would he then be morally wrong in deciding that this is how he will handle your doubt? Not at all if morality is subjective. It is completely arbitrary. You are then perfectly groundless to accuse him of anything. C.S. Lewis once said that, “Unless the measuring rod is independent of the things measured, we can do no measuring.” In other words, unless there is some objective standard by which we judge morality, then we are groundless to assume anything is morally wrong. The word “immoral” becomes altogether meaningless.

One of the major reasons many individuals hold to such a philosophy is because they want to break away from traditional biblical morality. The Bible, for many, is yesterday’s news and should be done away with. Unfortunately for them, they cannot escape the traditional morality they seek to throw out. C.S. Lewis has this to say about the subjectivist:

“He usually has at the back of his mind the notion that if he throws over traditional judgement of value, he will find something else, something more "real" or "solid" on which to base a new scheme of values. He will say, for example, "We must abandon irrational taboos and base our values on the good of the community" - as if the maxim "Thou shalt promote the good of the community' were anything more than a polysyllabic variant of 'Do as you would be done by' which has itself no other basis than the old universal value judgement that he claims to be rejecting. Or he will endeavor to base his values on biology and tell us that we must act thus and thus for the preservation of our species. Apparently he does not anticipate the question, 'Why should the species be preserved?' He takes it for granted that it should, because he is really relying on traditional judgements of value. If he were starting, as he pretends, with a clean slate, he could never reach this principle. Sometimes he tries to do so by falling back on "instinct." "We have an instinct to preserve our species", he may say. But have we? And if we have, who told us that we must obey our instincts? And why should we obey this instinct in the teeth of many others which conflict with the preservation of the species? The reformer knows that some instincts are to be obeyed more than others only because he is judging instincts by a standard, and the standard is, once more, the traditional morality which he claims to be superseding. The instincts themselves obviously cannot furnish us with grounds for grading the instincts in a hierarchy. If you do not bring a knowledge of their comparative respectability to your study of them, you can never derive it from them.”

As individuals attempt to separate themselves from biblical principles, the abstract principles of the truth cry out from within their own heart. The scriptures are very clear on this issue. For example, in Romans 2:14, Paul says that, “When the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves showing the work of the law written in their heart, their conscience also bearing witness..”. According to scripture, the moral law of God is written on the heart of every human being. Philosophy has tried its best to steer away from this and suppress what they already know in their heart as true. Much like in wrestling, an individual must suppress his opponent, but in doing so, he must remain in contact with his opponent at all times. Therefore one can only pretend to have escaped what they consider “religious bondage” all the while the Law of God is being made known to them through their conscience.

What does this mean for the Christian? The moment the Christian Church no longer embraces objective truth, the foundation of the Church is swept from beneath it. Christianity is made up of creeds, confessions, and doctrines all professing an absolute truth. The Church is to be on its guard against such philosophies as Subjectivism. As John Calvin put it, “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth was attacked, and yet remain silent”. As the secular world continues to try and liberate itself from moral standards, the Christian must remain vigilant to preserve objective truth for as it is written, “The truth will set you free”.