A video review of the pro-life movie UNPLANNED
SPOILERS
EDIT: In doing a bit more research, I have since found out that Abby *was* convinced by assisting in an ultrasound-guided abortion, like the movie portrayed.
Originally recorded live on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BlondeRJConte/
This is a blog article for those who believe that the Word of God is completely true and that we are to obey what God says in it. If you are not a Bible-believing Christian, this article isn’t for you. I have not written it to have transgender debates. Thank you.
I live in the pacific northwest.
I love it here. It’s gorgeous, the trees are more numerous than the stars that can be seen in the cloudy sky, and the summers are to die for – light up until 10 pm at night and most days a perfect 75 degrees. I love the lakes, the hiking, and the views. I also love my church, Bible study community, and neighborhood. I love that the Christians are who they say they are, and homeschooling and attending a mega church isn’t cool just because you live in the Bible belt and everyone else is doing it. It’s what you actually believe. Even the Christian youth seem different.
But living in the pacific northwest means that homosexuality is acceptable and rampant. I’ll never forget going on a date with my husband into downtown Seattle, and seeing a homeless woman on the ground with all of her belongings strewn about her, being ignored by a pair of sharply-dressed men holding hands, waiting to cross the street. I wish I had snapped a picture of it. If that doesn’t say Seattle, I don’t know what else does.
This is not my picture, but it almost could have been
In our teeny community a drive from Seattle, we mostly avoid running into this kind of thing, and for a mom of three girls, two in elementary school and one a toddler, that makes me feel relieved, which in turn makes me feel a little bit guilty.
Better to just not look and pretend it’s not happening, right?
But yesterday I was out shopping with the oldest daughter, who is almost eight years old, and we ran into a Taco Bell up north of us in a slightly more urban area. After placing our order and asking for the code for the bathroom – proof you’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto – I was flirted with by the cashier.
Who was very obviously a woman.
Now I can’t tell whether or not she was actually a lesbian, but a lot of the signs were there, and nothing about the exchange left me feeling at all comfortable. I laughed, motioning to my daughter at my side, making a point of saying, “I’m a mom of three, so it’s nice to hear such a compliment. Thank you.” But the serious stare on her face and her insistence on commenting on my physical appearance went a long way to making me want to hightail it out of the restaurant. Still, I wished her a wonderful day, and smiled at her as if she were any other woman, thanking her for her high praise.
My daughter had no idea anything was up, only knowing that someone kept calling her mom “really, really pretty” a couple of times, as well as other chatter that meant nothing to her. We moved on.
But what if she had realized the woman just might be flirtatious with other women? What if something made her vaguely uncomfortable too?
It’s not going to take very long for her to figure this kind of thing out. Because that’s where we live.
I don’t think Christians are supposed to move out of every liberal area and create mini conservative heavens-on-earth in the Bible belt or podunk hick towns out in the middle of nowhere. I don’t think that’s being salt and light. (John 17:14-16) Now, obviously, things can get so bad that it’s just time to protect your own and leave. And that decision – that things have hit So Bad Level – is totally up to you and what God’s telling you. But how are we supposed to evangelize these Christ-apathetic or even Christ-hostile places if we don’t actually live there once in a while?
I actually do homeschool my kids, and I look for lots of ways to protect them, but not when it comes to who she runs into in daily life, and learning to love no matter what.
I see a lot of absolute, throwdown, hogwash nonsense (my years in the south are showing) coming out of the media and the liberal left these days. They have been bullies, pushing their homosexual crazytalk down Christians’ throats, badgering them, twisting them into corners, taking away their businesses and their rights to free speech. Especially here in the pacific northwest.
I, along with many Christians, often press the “angry” button as a Facebook response to these posts. I very often shake my head in total shock and horror and call it “insanity.”
But it’s just so not the first time the church has been up against outright insanity. Back in the time of Nero – who actually was insane – Christians were thrown to lions to be torn to shreds in front of a cheering crowd. Real live people got a rush watching real live people’s limbs ripped apart, blood everywhere, while the beasts gorged on their flesh. All because those people believed in Jesus. Yeah, that’s insanity.
(And I’ve got to stop right here, people, and be real with you. When you exclaim your love for Game of Thrones… you look like a crazed Colosseum-goer. There’s sick stuff on that show. Maybe no one’s really dying, but those are real naked bodies, and they’re being exploited on national television every day. And you’re putting that kind of poisonous lion-eating adrenaline into your bloodstream and created-in-God’s-image soul, desensitizing yourself to that kind of exploitation of women. And if you can get a kick out of a show that glorifies abuse of men, women, and children in that way, then you’re not safe for my kids. Please let me know if you love Game of Thrones so I can never, ever ask you to babysit. We Contes will love the heck out of you, but you’re not going to be left unattended with my daughters.)
In the time of Hitler, Jewish people were gassed en masse, and children tortured in horrendous medical experiments, and many left in prison camps to starve to death all because they weren’t of Caucasian European descent. That’s insanity too.
Wedding bands taken from Holocaust victims
Even now, across the globe from you in your comfy pjs and your Diet Pepper and your takeout hamburger, people in other countries are raped, burned to death, kidnapped, and tortured for converting away from Islam or Hinduism. That’s also insanity.
Or how about the fact that we are murdering our unborn infants by the millions, and that abortion was the leading cause of death WORLDWIDE last year at 41 MILLION infants slaughtered? Utter, utter, depraved insanity.
So why are we surprised and wrathful and icked out by transgenderism? It’s abuse our fellow Americans are doing personally to themselves this time – personally torturing their own bodies in ways that are truly biologically impossible – in yet another attempt to stick up their middle finger at God. They’re not really hurting you, are they, Christian? They’re surgically knifing themselves.
And they suffer and pay for it.
A recent study showed that 41% of all transgender people have attempted suicide. And many, many go through with it. That’s compared to 4.6% of all of the rest of the general population who tries to kill themselves. A documentary I watched tells the graphic details about the sex change operations and how rarely they succeed, how they mess with you in horrific ways, and how so many regret such drastic changes that stunt their future marriages and bodies’ capabilities permanently. There’s even an entire “underground railroad”-like ministry online helping people who are miserable and want to “detransition.” Youtube is full of anonymous people talking about how miserable they were trying to live life as the opposite gender.
These are deeply confused, deeply hurting people. People who don’t feel right in their own skin, people who don’t feel like they even have an identity (which is a horrifying thought), people who notice when the look in your eye changes from, “Have a nice day!” to “Oh no. That’s a man.” And suddenly you can’t keep eye contact and you want to get away as fast as possible.
Many who were abused before puberty by the same sex, resulting in feeling lost and confused when hormones kick in and they know they’ve only ever felt pleasure doing stuff with a man. People who have had abusive parents of both genders, people who are told their emotions and interest in art isn’t “manly enough.” Or their less feely personalities, leadership skills, and faces and bodies aren’t “attractive” or “feminine enough.” People who look at the older generation or the way society treats them, and decide, “I’d rather be the opposite gender than be anything like you.”
When women think that the only way they can succeed in life and protect themselves is to be male.
Almost half of all transgenders in the U.S. are Hispanic or black, and often state it’s because they felt prejudiced against all their lives
And a host of other reasons, countless reasons, that, frankly, you and I will never guess.
Also, regardless of what Gillette has or hasn’t done in the past, an ad like that is aired, and most men are in uproar. When, in reality, if you look closely, the ad’s simply telling men to be decent human beings who try to love and care for others. That maybe “manhood” isn’t about always barbecuing and wrestling in the grass and watching porn on the TV with your friends because boys will be boys. Maybe manhood means being affectionate like John once in a while, writing Psalms like David, caring for small children like Jesus, or weeping with the women when your best friend dies like when he lost Lazarus. It also means slaying your Goliaths like David and averting your eyes so you do not lust like Job and being a wise ruler in your household like Solomon and running a profitable business that protects the poor like Boaz. Let’s not forget the balance here. Masculinity is open to all types and gifts God gives men. Femininity is open to all personalities and love languages God gives women.
Your son writes poetry and cries at other people’s funerals and is diplomatic without feeling the need to fight it out with his fists? It’s not because he was meant to be a woman. It might mean he has a heart like Christ. Your daughter grows up to be a judge and her “serious voice” can make grown men under her shake in their boots and she slays all her own personal dragons in a no-nonsense way? Probably means you were blessed with some amazing biblical Deborah, not that she’s too “butch” to be a lady.
Transgenders can be broken, abused, misunderstood, confused, and lonely people who have assumed they were created wrong because they’ve been told so by a society that has one pigeon-holed way of defining human beings.
Did He mean, “Be all for thy neighbor’s sex change and tell them you’re all approve their gay marriage?” Absolutely not. Let’s not throw out God’s Word here. (Romans 1) That’s sending unbelievers to damnation just the same as if we ran scared and never talked to them in the first place. But He also sat with the woman at the well and told her all about the rich, lifegiving water she was thirsty for before calling out her sexual promiscuity in a kind, subtle, and no-frills way. (John 4)
Be aware that the people you run into in your grocery store probably aren’t the leftist media, ready to bully your kids at the checkout line, wanting to expose your children to weirdness at Taco Bell, and looking for a bomb they can toss into your neighborhood. A lot of them are deeply emotional, sensitive people. They’re just folks who need to hear the gospel and repent of their sin – fear of man, discontentment, ingratitude, bitterness, thinking God is wrong, lack of love, and unbelief – all sins you and I commit daily.
When I see a transgender person, I now see someone with a big “I’m going to try to commit suicide” label plastered on their forehead, because odds are, almost 1 in 2 will. And others admit, in anonymous studies, that they at least think about it daily. How shocking would it be for the adults in our churches to go up to them instead and ask them what they think about Christ? Like, hey, we care about you and your pain and we think you’re worth sharing the gospel with just as much as the people in Timbuktu where we’ve sent missionaries.
If you saw your neighbor standing in his house while it was on fire, even if he wasn’t calling for help, wouldn’t you care enough to either yank him out, or at least call to him from the outside? Wouldn’t you dial 911 and shout for help, doing all you could to protect him? These people are lost, and have no idea the flames are licking so close. If we run scared and angry from the insanity, who do they have left? Your transgender neighbors are dying – by society’s twisted brainwashing, and ultimately their own.
Let’s love and save them, okay?
I happened across an interview with Jennifer Lawrence the other day where she was asked, “Do you believe there’s an afterlife?”
Her answer was, “No. That’s a reaction to innate narcissism. To think that we don’t have to cease to exist.”
This year I’ve done a lot of thinking about what I’m going to call the Uriah Heep Mentality.
Uriah Heep is one of my favorite, creepy villains of all time. Charles Dickens created him to be the thorn in David’s side in David Copperfield.
[Heep’s face] was quite as cadaverous as it had looked in the window, though in the grain of it there was that tinge of red which is sometimes to be observed in the skins
Artwork by Chris Riddell
of red-haired people. It belonged to a red-haired person—a youth of fifteen, as I take it now, but looking much older—whose hair was cropped as close as the closest stubble; who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand, which particularly attracted my attention, as he stood at the pony’s head, rubbing his chin with it, and looking up at us in the chaise.
His hands are always wet, cold, and clammy, like a dead fish, and his catch phrase is calling himself “humble” (or ‘umble) over and over again while being a sycophant to everyone around him.
He’s the type of guy you might feel sorry for except that he overdoes the false humility, and later you find out he’s been sneaking around behind everyone’s back to make sure they come to ruin so that he can own them all in the end. His hypocrisy is deceptively sneaky and takes a suspicious David and a wise Mr. Micawber to figure out the years of ingratiation, lies, and manipulation that went into his scheme.
The sad thing is, I’ve met Christians with Uriah Heep Mentality.
Christians, who, like Jennifer Lawrence pretend to be “so very ‘umble” by saying that God doesn’t love them, God doesn’t want them, they’re worthless, they’re wretched sinners, and they deserve to be trampled upon and have nothing good happen to them their entire lives. Maybe you don’t realize it in the beginning, but you realize it was false humility all along when they show you how they really think.
These Christians can also find themselves the most sensitive at the slightest perceived “attack.” Because how dare others criticize when I am trying so hard and am doing so much better than everyone else. The obsequiousness is often sneaky arrogance disguised under a clammy, skeleton costume.
Don’t get me wrong. Yes, we are wretched sinners. Yes, we do nothing to earn our salvation. Yes, we deserve nothing but hell. Yes, we should bow on our faces before a great and powerful God. (1 Tim. 1:15, Rom. 6:23, 14:11)
He does not choose to leave us there. Uriah Heep Mentality forgets all the other verses that talk about us being inheritors with Christ Jesus, a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor, that the Lord delights over us with singing, that we are bought and redeemed with all of His blood, and that heaven and the kingdom is our inheritance! (Rom. 8:14-17, Heb. 2:7-9, Zeph. 3:17, Is. 44:22, Luke 12:32)
Does the Christ who died to pay for us want us to go around wringing our hands calling curses down upon ourselves and feeling like bruised victims waiting to assume the worst about everyone and everything because crushing ourselves makes us feel better? Maybe this isn’t your motivation, or maybe when you peel back the skeleton costume, you reveal that it is. ❤
It’s actually really super ‘umbling to stop and say, “I’m loved by the King of Kings. I’m His princess or prince. I am made in His image, the greatest part of His creation, His masterpiece. Jesus calls me His brother or sister and His friend. I have His same power in me. Nothing can stop me from receiving God’s love.” (Deut. 10:17, Ps. 86:5, 36:7, John 15:9-17, Rom. 8:37-39, Gen. 1:27, Eph. 1:19-20, 2:10)
Do those things make you squirm? They shouldn’t. They’re taken directly from Scripture. See all those verses above.
Why do they make you squirm? Is it because you’ve been bullied and rejected and downtrodden all your life, and you’re afraid to believe in the Sovereign God’s love for you? Can I recommend Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick for that, just to sit and seep in the beauty and boosting love of the gospel? He would have died just for YOU, Christian. If you had been the only human being on earth. ❤ (Matthew 18:12)
Or is it because you actually believe in a works religion, where you have to keep maiming yourself and brow-beating yourself until you’re “holy enough” that the Lord God will accept you, and it pains you to see other Christians happy and rejoicing in their salvation and inheritance and greatness in Christ? (1 Kings 18:27-29, Phil. 1:14-17, Mt. 23:1-4, Lk 18:10-14, Rom. 14,
Believe. Doing comes after. Believe that it’s nothing of you. That you could never follow all the rules. That you could never be perfect. That you have been lifted up out of that mud that you like to throw yourself into. That your sins are forgiven, and God doesn’t even see them any more. That Christ’s blood is all He sees, and you are hidden in Christ. That He will sanctify those stubborn sins step by step and you don’t have to go on hating yourself to make Him like you better.
Christ would love you even if your sins didn’t change.
(Phil. 1:6, John 10:28-29, Deut 7:7-10, Is. 54:4-8, Hos 14:4-7, 1 Tim. 1:15-16)
Does that feel like heresy?
It’s not. Scripture says so. And if His love was dependent on your sins, then you would have some control over your own salvation. The life on earth is but a breath. You are saved – you have eternity in heaven. His love is everlasting, and it doesn’t disappear in this life-breath when you fail. (Jer. 31:3, Ps. 144:4)
And His love doesn’t lessen AFTER salvation, when you keep messing up. If He loves you when you did nothing to deserve it, why should you somehow change it like a lever later based on the speed or efficiency of your sanctification?
You should want to quit sinning just because you love Him so much that you want to obey Him with all your heart, not because you think you can force your own holiness and bring yourself into better standing with God. We are supposed to strive for holiness, but we don’t do that on our own. We do that leaning on and resting in and being with and enjoying God. Otherwise, we fail. (John 14:15, Mt. 11:28-29, Ps. 37:4, Eph. 1:19-20, Rom. 8:11, Gal. 5:16)
It’s arrogance to assume you can control any part of Him, and that you can affect the Almighty God’s love for you – that you can control it with your own works and life. His love is steady like the sun, and its existence nothing to do with you. It IS and it changes you merely because it is His good pleasure to do so. It will never change, never stop, never lessen, and never disappear. David’s wife Michal was chastised for stopping David from dancing and rejoicing in the Lord in what is the ultimate story of Uriah Heep Mentality. (2 Samuel 6:14-23) It is not narcissistic to rejoice that you are an eternal, spiritual being as well as a physical one, to look forward to eternity and to your glorification in a righteous body, seated up with God in the heavens. His blood has paid for your place there, and He wants you to live like you know it! (Eph. 2:6, Ps. 63:3, Hk. 3:17-18,
BASK in that. Enjoy that. Be happy and rejoice. Put your tiara on your head and dance around in it like you would the sunshine on a summer day. It’s your gift, and instead of shoving the gift away, you can live in the light of that glory.
Photo by ЗДОРОВЬЕ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
God’s love and kindness
will shine upon us
like the sun that rises
in the sky.
On us who live
in the dark shadow
of death
this light will shine
to guide us
into a life of peace.
Luke 1:78-79
It’s time for the list of the top 10 posts of the year!
This was a slower year for me, mostly due to pregnancy and all that comes with that, so I only wrote almost half of the amount of posts of the previous year. In 2015, I wrote 93, and this year I wrote an exact even 50. BUT, even with half the posts, I actually, just barely, got more views and visitors this year than last year, meaning that my posts are bringing in more readers than ever! Hooray for that!
Without further ado, what were the most popular posts of this year? Well, not all of them were even actually published on this blog this year – some have remained super popular from previous years, and have lived on with lives of their own all over the Internet.
Sitting at #1, by far, with no competition, and with around 35 hits A DAY is:
Anime Characters by Myers-Briggs Type (with 7,164 individual views this year!!)
This post is also #1 on any Google search for “anime characters by Myers-Briggs type and continually brings in guests to my blog. Kind of exciting, even if it is very niche. So if you like anime AND personality typing, this is the post for you. Identified by name, show title, and picture, I have anime characters from various shows in neat little groups according to their types. 🙂
The Day I Met Job (with 996 individual views)
This makes me so happy that it’s #2. This is the deeply personal testimony of what God did in my heart and life last year after suffering with secondary infertility. It is also about my best friend and her daughter, an appreciation of my mother-in-law, a nod to a fellow author, and mostly a testimony about a hero of the faith I met last year. Please read the article. I hope my vulnerability and sharing of God’s greatness touches your heart!
An Open Letter to My Pregnant Sister (with 460 views)
Still going strong. This is a writeup I did for baby showers that I first composed for my sister 2 1/2 years ago, and have tweaked a few times since to share with other expectant moms. There must be a need for this, as people continually search for this online and find my site. 🙂
Tied with “My Pregnant Sister” is: Setting up the Romance Ship (with 460 views)
How fun that my breakdown of the smart secret to writing a winning romance story did so well! I thought this one was a bit obvious until I read (and watched) many people miss this key point to setting up their relationship story. Thinking I had nothing to lose, I threw my own theory out there, and it did very well!
Should Married Women Vote Against Their Spouse? (with 349 views)
This one was a hot button when I first posted it a few years ago, and it continues to be something people search for and find through my blog. Read at your own risk… 🙂
Could You Love This Genderless Person? (with 287 views)
Maybe it was just a catchy title, but this was a very niche article about genderbender dramas that I posted. A “genderbender” is when a guy dresses up and pretends to be a girl, or vice versa, and the opposite sex falls for them. I explore this trope and why it means so much to women, and maybe what’s spiritually at the heart of this “forbidden romance” story.
In Memory of Victoria Mercy Conte (with 262 views)
A year and a half after the sudden and tragic passing of my husband’s baby sister, this post, written by *him* not me, still makes the top 10 on my list. Please read my husband’s beautiful, tear-jerker tribute to a lovely life that sits very dear to our hearts.
NAME THE BABY! (with 221 views)
I’m legitimately shocked that this made the top 10! Last year I teamed up with lovely author Melanie D. Snitker to do a giveaway and promote each other’s books. Readers named the baby that her main couple was pregnant with, and we got some great responses. I need to do more on this blog with fellow authors next year! In the meantime, check out Melanie’s very successful books on Amazon.
Asian TV for the American Newbie Viewer (with 188 views)
This is a fun list that I kept on my sidebar. Always hearing me talk about anime and kdramas but have no idea what’s safe or good to watch or where to start? Not sure you’d even like Asian TV? I put together a “starter” list of Asian TV for people who don’t like Asian TV, so to speak. These are storylines and shows that I think any American could love without feeling too “eastern” in the storytelling style. Give any of these shows a chance, and let me know if they did not disappoint!
And last but not least: Sarcastically Realistic Movie Descriptions – Name That Movie!
This one also surprises me that it made the list. This was a funny little game I posted on my blog a while ago, and it’s done well recently. Someone must have reposted them. If you’re looking for a comedic way to describe popular movies, as a game for a party you’re hosting, this might be the post for you.
g that I could say about the current election is said even better by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)’s chairman, Mike Farris. Excellent recap of our concerns, needs, prayers, and even hopeful relief in Donald Trump’s election. I urge you to read it carefully.
So what does this mean for issues of concern to homeschooling families and related communities?
1. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and related treaties most likely will not see the light of day.
The person leading the State Department’s transition team is Steven Groves, a long-term ally from the Heritage Foundation. Steve and I were the only two witnesses allowed to testify against the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
This is a strong signal that the State Department will move in a good direction on protecting American sovereignty.
2. We will need to exercise special diligence on judicial appointments.
Historically, Republican appointments for federal judges are good in many sectors of constitutional law. However, GOP-appointed justices have been very unreliable on issues of parental rights and religious freedom.
HSLDA will join with other religious freedom–oriented groups to ensure that these issues are given appropriate consideration in the process of vetting federal judges.
3. We cannot just assume that all will be well on education issues.
Donald Trump has no experience or track record with education policy. There is some very early talk about an effort to actually close the United States Department of Education. That would be a wonderful miracle.
It is fair to expect Trump’s team to take away any federal program that will promote the Common Core. This does not mean that states will automatically stop this program. But the federal financial incentives to do so should be halted.
We can and must insist that the prohibitions on any federal role in homeschooling (which we first won in 1994) will be extended and hopefully put into permanent law.
4. Religious freedom will still be an extremely important issue and cause for concern.
While we can expect the administrative branches of the federal government to be far less of a threat itself to religious freedom, the federal courts are not so easily changed in the short run.
However, many of the threats to religious liberty are at the state level. State agencies are the ones that have prosecuted Christian pharmacists who refuse to sell abortion-causing drugs. The Supreme Court (led by GOP-appointed justices) eviscerated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and limited the ability of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to protect citizens against state agencies which invade our free exercise rights.
There is not a lot that the Trump administration can do to fix these state-based problems originally caused by the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointing good justices is a start, but that is a long-term issue that will require a real change on the Court.
Religious freedom fights will continue to escalate and we cannot relax thinking all is well on this front.
5. The right to life may see some important gains.
It is very possible that Planned Parenthood will no longer receive federal funding. That will be a really big deal, if it comes to pass.
We certainly should see the federal government step back from its role as a worldwide promoter of abortion rights.
6. Mike Pence may become the most influential Vice President in American history.
While Donald Trump clearly understood the hearts of the American public in remarkable ways, his lack of political experience will require him to lean on others for knowledge and wisdom. There is no finer man I have ever worked with in politics than Mike Pence. He is a strong evangelical Christian and an unfailing friend to homeschooling families.
I am committed to praying every single day for Mike Pence, that he will be relied upon in significant ways not only for policy but for wisdom and an example of character.
7. Trump and the GOP majority in Congress have a real chance to deliver.
If the Trump administration becomes known for verbal outbursts and vendettas, the GOP will suffer long-term damage. Worse yet, because of the strong evangelical Christian support for Trump, this community will suffer lasting political consequences through association with a leader for whom character does not matter.
However, if Trump turns a page in his life and becomes the man that many good and godly people hoped he would become, then we have the far better story that people can change and that character still does matter.
But as important as the character issues are, the plain fact is that Trump and the GOP must deliver meaningful change that results in less federal government, less debt, less intrusion into our lives, and greater protections for the freedoms actually listed in the Constitution. The alienation coming from the long-term failure of the GOP to deliver any meaningful reform is at the heart of the reason the electorate rejected every experienced politician, first in the GOP presidential primaries and then on November 8.
In short, if Donald Trump exhibits consistent character and together with the GOP leadership in Congress delivers meaningful change, then the future looks brighter than it has in a long time. But, in the meantime, citizens must be vigilant at all times because the allure of Washington, D.C., can entice the best and the brightest.
8. We need to pray for our president.
Donald Trump will be sworn in as President on January 20. If we are Americans, he will be our president, just as Obama was our president. Our duty to pray for our president is unconditional and does not depend on whether we voted for them or not.
I am praying that Donald Trump will become the man that many believed him to be and that he would come to know Christ in a mature way. (I don’t know his soul, but we can always pray that someone would grow in Christ.)
In conclusion
Pray for our leaders. Hope for the best. Watch and be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Hello, all!
I’m thinking of trying to get with the twenty-first century, and try to use video more with my online presence. I’m looking at a video advertisement idea, as well as I want to leave a video for you on my blog and Facebook page answering questions YOU have for me.
They can be on anything: Christianity, parenting, Asian TV, or, of course, writing and publishing. Please shoot your question my way here in the comments, or, if you want to be anonymous, to dashwoodavenue@gmail.com (and label it “anonymous question”).
Look forward to “seeing” you here later this week!
#30and10 Day 20
Believe it or not, homeschooling was NOT nonexistent in the 50s, it was just relatively rare. However, in small towns, you might see a family or two that adopted the practice ahead of their time. 🙂
Homeschooling has grown by leaps and bounds, however. Just from 2003 to 2012, homeschooling has seen a 61% increase! With the nonsense about gender education now being promoted in my home state of Washington, I expect we’ll see a growth in homeschooling soon.
Day 21
I LOVED the 1950s. That and the Victorian era (at the turn of the 20th century) were my favorite time periods for history, style, literature, etc. I even had a friend make me an authentic, 1950s, red-checkered, swing dress. Since having children, I’m not sure I’ll ever fit back into it like I did when I was 17-18, but I’m saving it for my own daughters some day. 🙂
Me, circa 2006 in my swing dress, with the seamstress Neeva W. on the far left 🙂
There is a giveaway going on! Check out my Facebook page to participate. If you don’t have a Facebook account, you can leave a comment here to play. 🙂
#30and10 Day 10
I heavily researched the clothing, language, and hip words of 1950s South Carolina. At first I was worried the authenticity of it would turn away the kids it was written for, but then someone gave it to their grandmother, who was a teen in the 50s, and she wrote me back saying, “You got the speech down perfectly! it was all the words I said!”
Write your funniest “cool” word you used growing up in the comments below (or on Facebook) to win a paperback copy of Dashwood Avenue. 🙂 Giveaway ends midnight tomorrow night (12:00 AM July 4th)
To buy Dashwood Avenue for Kindle, or any of my other books, go here: http://www.amazon.com/RJ-Conte/e/B00MDY4T0S/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Many of you know I’m fan of Korean (and some Taiwanese) dramas. On the whole, the evidence that South Korea is a primarily Christian nation shows in their TV. The dramas I watch tend to be BBC-type 16-20 episode stories – wholesome, modest and have basic Judaeo-Christian values. Creative, formulaic, and pleasant, they appeal to me much more than our overly sexualized, bad-language-ridden, or just immature American TV. I like live-action Korean dramas much more than anime even. It fits my personality and story style.
However, in the last couple years, I’ve been sorry to see the experimentation Korea – and Taiwan – are taking in gender fluidity. While out and out gay couples aren’t shown – as Korea, thankfully, has not accepted such things yet – I think it’s only a matter of time. 😦
It’s nothing new, really. We did it in the States – for KIDS – in Mulan. Japan’s done plenty of it. Matter of fact, there’s been a transgender individual in almost every Japanese show I’ve seen, which is why I don’t like live-action Japanese TV. Just about every time I watch what would normally be a family-friendly G-rated show, there’s a cross-dresser. They’re inundated with it over there in Japan.
It concerns me that I see it coming to Korea.
Gender-bending shows, like Coffee Prince, You’re Beautiful, Hana Kimi, and the latest, Taiwan’s Bromance, are fan favorites internationally. In all of these shows, heterosexual, beautiful girls dress up like boys and live or work among men due to various reasons. None of the reasons make a lot of sense, and all seem to be very contrived, but thus lies the problem in romantic comedy (rom-com) plots: got to create some unbelievable circumstances to force the couple to be together. In Coffee Prince, she needs a male-only job to make more money for her family. In You’re Beautiful, she has to sing in a male k-pop group in her miscreant brother’s place. In Hana Kimi, she infiltrates a boys’ only school to convince her idol to get back into track and field. And, in Bromance, a fortune teller told her parents she would have bad luck unless she pretended to be a guy until her 26th birthday. All pretty lousy reasons to fake masculinity, if I do say so myself. 😛
Can you tell which one is the female in each?
In almost all of these shows, with the exception of You’re Beautiful where he knows she’s a girl, one of the leading men in the story – Mr. Macho Masculinity himself – falls for our boy-girl not knowing she’s a girl. Mr. Leading Man is staunchly heterosexual, and is surrounded, usually, by a cast of other handsome males whom he has never had feelings for. His affection for the weakling, feminine-faced new guy (our cross-dressing girl) confuses the living daylights out of him. And, at some point, he has to accept “being gay,” or at least looking like it, in order to embrace his deep love for the girly-guy, who must exude some sort of strong feminine pheromone, even though the entire world can’t tell her gender.
Now, if you’re a straight male reading this, you’re cringing. I don’t know a single guy who’d say that his ideal love story involves falling for his best guy friend, whom he didn’t know was female. It insults men on every level. And the guys in the dramas are hurt. They’re hurt when they think they’re becoming gay over their bestie. They hurt when they found out how deeply she’s lied to them. They’re broken down, confused, and hung out to dry. It’s painful to watch. Yet they get back up and keep loving her.
This stuff hits women hard in the warm fuzzies.
And I started to think about why. I’m convinced there’s a much deeper spiritual longing going on here.
As “Occupiedterritories.tumblr” said, in a Coffee Prince exposé,“K-dramas depict love as an overwhelming totality so ecstatic that it transcends just about everything and approaches the realm of the metaphysical. Love transcends not just sexuality (which it embraces and folds into itself) but, more precisely, sexual identity (which it dissolves and makes moot).”
Because our male leads haven’t fallen in love with a woman. They haven’t fallen in love with a man. They’ve fallen in love with a genderless soul: what is assumed to be a person at their deepest core. Many of them swear off sex, because, as heterosexual men, the thought of sex with their “male” lover revolts them. Instead, there is a chasteness to the relationship that is rarely seen on TV (or in real life!) Except for a kiss or two, they bond on a much deeper level – one of friendship, camaraderie, and dedication.
A woman wants to think that, at her least attractive – even looking like a man – that her personality, her friendship, and her soul would be desirable enough to change a man’s sexuality. That he could get past anything to love her. That it’s not really about sex at all. That it’s not about her body at all. In a culture that tells you you have to be a certain cup-size, a woman wants to think that a man will love her if curves and a female reproductive system don’t exist at all. That he loves her deepest soul – a part of who she is that makes her unique, individual, and transcends her physical self.
Every woman’s dream.
Every human being’s dream really.
All of us are looking for a relationship, love, and passion that cannot be attained on earth. Even the hardest, coldest, bad boy needs to feel like he’s loved for who he is – even if that lover is him loving himself. We look for it in many, many places, but, most popularly, in other people.
Human beings are sinful. They’re selfish, physically-oriented, small-minded, and weak. We get sick, we die, we change our minds, we reject, we abuse, and we distort. We’re not telepathic and we see the world only through our own eyes. Our understanding of the spiritual worth of a human soul is limited at best. And, when we find out the ickiest and nastiest about people, it tends to turn us off from that person. People “fall out of love” every day, with divorce rates at its highest in the last decade. Bullying is impossible to avoid in most school and work settings. Finally, more and more, human beings are turning to experimenting sexually, with homosexuality being at its peak in the U.S., with experts guessing at around 10% of the population.
I want to say, firmly, that I stand with the Bible that homosexuality is a sin. It isn’t natural, it isn’t something you’re born with that you can’t choose to avoid, and it is wrong in God’s eyes, Biblically.
The gender-bender premise is dangerous. In an effort to spiritualize love, like we should be doing, we fall short when we take God-created gender out of the equation. Instead of being a squeal-worthy comedy-fest of true heterosexual love succeeding against the greatest of odds, gender-bender shows introduces dangerous new ideas, like:
I have had many guy friends in my life, yet I am one of the most girly people I know – all of my friends will tell you that. I’ve never upset a guy because I was girly. I truly think most think “viva la difference” between us. They like my perspective, and I value theirs. A girl once told me that my husband needed a tomboy girl – one that played basketball with him, didn’t wear makeup or jewelry, and stuck to blues, grays, and masculine clothing. He couldn’t possibly appreciate a pink-loving, girly-girl. Well, turns out, this is the same man who buys me new high heels every year, and likes seeing me in skirts, and long hair dyed pink. He said it would be pretty boring if I was just like him. No matter how you dress, your husband married a woman because he wanted a woman!
God created us to complement eachother. That’s “complement,” like being an opposite matching puzzle piece. I’m not sure if you’ve had close friends of the opposite gender – although you should have one if you’re married! The bond can be strong, coupled with the fact that hormones were created to get in there and add spice to the pot that doesn’t exist with same-sex friendships. It’s so easy to let your relationship with the opposite gender get too close and go too far. Why? Because we’re created to be close like that. We’re created to have ONE spouse, of the opposite gender, who complements, intrigues, attracts, and interests us.
I sure love my girl besties, but none of them will ever compare with the bond I can only achieve with one man. There’s just something about it. God created it.
People want to claim that gender and sexuality matters as much as a pair of shoes. Wear one pair today, toss ‘em and change to something else tomorrow.
But it seems that gender is intrinsic to our personality and soul – much more than human beings would like to admit. Even God identifies SOLELY as a He. Jesus was clearly born male, and He still sits at the right hand of God – male. And God the Father is inherently male. Father = male.
Once I heard someone wonder if we would be genderless in heaven. The concept sat very badly with me. Maybe I don’t have much of an imagination, but I can’t see how I’d still be RJ Conte in heaven without being female. Even if my heavenly body isn’t as physical as this one, I think that, if God is male, I will still be female. God could totally do something miraculous and create new genders or abolish them, but we see no precedence for this in Scripture. We see commands to embrace our maleness if we’re male, and our femininity if we’re female. We see different roles, different strengths, and even occasionally different commands for males and females, husbands and wives. We hear of dead people and angels referred to by gender.
I think we wonder about gender in heaven because there will be no marriage. I personally don’t think that means there won’t be gender. There’s no need for marriage, because intimacy in heaven will be complete. No sexual act with a spouse here on earth will compare to the spiritual – and perhaps physical, mental (telepathy, anyone?), and emotional intimacy we will have with God and other people in heaven. Marriage will seem like a cruder, less effective method of trying to bond with people. What about when you can know them completely in a new form? What about when every moment in God’s presence is pleasurable? Sex will be pointless. Can you imagine being intimate with God?
I think that’s the point of our pitiful attempts to create the perfect love story. It can’t compare to the love of God. He loves our very soul. He inhabits our body. He embraces and partakes with us of our emotions. He knows every single thought we’ve ever thought or will think. He doesn’t care what gender we are – His love is the same. He died for us. He is the ultimate author of passion. He is the ultimate lover. He fills you from the inside out. He defines your true worth.
There is no intimacy like being inhabited by Christ.
There is no intimacy like knowing the God of the universe and being known. Like being died for.
RJ Conte writes about love and the Christian life for young adults. Her latest novel, a romantic suspense, will be released in February on Amazon.com
Growing up, I got so sick of the Hayley Mills’ Pollyanna movie.
Even though Hayley Mills was my favorite actress (Tied with Shirley Temple!), I got way too much of Disney’s Pollyanna, as my younger sister was obsessed with the movie. When it was our week to do the family’s laundry, it was also our week to pick the movie the kids watched while we folded the clothes. There were four of us, so, once a month, on the dot, my sister frequently chose Pollyanna.
Whatever lessons that could be gained from it were lost on me after the forty-fifth time. (I kid, I kid… maybe. 😛 )
I mean, the movie is an ESFJ‘s (my personality type) deepest wish come true. ESFJ girl walks around just loving everyone and spreading cheer and happiness to everyone, and, when she has her first real trial, the entire town shows up to thank her and tell her how she blessed them. Could it get any better for an ESFJ?!
Unfortunately, real life is rarely like this. You can spend your whole life loving people, and maybe one percent cares when you suffer yourself. A good fifty percent may never say thank you for all the care you show. It’s why we shouldn’t ever do things for the humanly recognition! 😉
I remember, one day, when my sister had picked it for the umpteenth time, to groans from my two younger brothers and myself, my dad said, “Hey, guys! This is a good movie!” and actually sat down with us to watch the whole thing. My dad was not one to love kids movies, but he laughed at all the funny parts, exclaimed at all the sad parts, and sat riveted. I’ve never enjoyed the movie more than that day, and it taught me how much a parent can influence their child’s attitude.
Now, looking back on it, I’m not sure all of my dad’s reasons were noble. I think he was a serious Hayley Mills fan, back in the day. That, or the two of them were secret twins. 😀
My Dad
Hayley Mills
You see it, don’t you? 😀
Speaking of dads, though, let’s talk about the unseen character who is really the hero of this beloved story.
I sat down and watched this movie with my little girls this week because we had just finished reading an abridged version of the book. (The sequel is way better than the first, by the way. Pollyanna Grows Up is a hidden gem for a slightly more mature audience.)
But, for the first time, watching this as a parent, I thought about Pollyanna’s poor dad. Hated by his wife’s relatives, a missionary off in a remote country, barely making any money, living on charity where he couldn’t even afford to buy his daughter clothes and a doll… yet happily doing God’s work.
And he was the originator, teacher, and guide for every good thought Pollyanna shared with Harrington Town.
Everything that Pollyanna was and is – everything she did in that town – originated from her dad. He searched the Scriptures for things about God’s love, grace, and joy to bring hope to his congregation. He learned how to bring out good character in people and encourage them on toward love and good deeds. He never complained, but taught his daughter to be thankful in all things.
He may have died young, and, for all we know, never saw fruit in his ministry – single parenting alone – but his daughter, taking what he taught her, went on to bless multitudes of people. His ministry continued.
As a parent, this would give me no greater joy.
Parents, as you do God’s work, day in and day out, saving money for kids’ college funds – instead of buying fun things for yourselves, changing poopy diapers, trying to do devotions with squirmy, disinterested toddlers, taking your children faithfully to church and chatting with them on the drive home, praying before bedtime, and living your life feeling perhaps small, tired, and weak – just be faithful. Know that you are raising future Pollyannas, future Billy Grahams, future John Wesleys, and Martin Luthers.
Your work is amazing. You may not be in the spotlight for it, but you are the unseen hero of all of your children’s stories. May they rise up and call you blessed.
Blonde RJ 