The reaction to my letter to Nicola Sturgeon has been very revealing. Especially from the Establishment. The Ultimate April Fool – An Open Letter to Nicola Sturgeon
(I wrote a summery article about all of this on the Christian Today website as well – you can get that here Gender Politics and the Gospel
Firstly the Media did not really get the point.
They largely bought the spin from the First Minister’s press release and the various LGBT groups which all went along the lines of ‘more rights for gay and transgender people’. Nobody questioned, analyzed or seriously thought about it. As Goebbels pointed out, the bigger the lie, the more people are likely to believe it. I was quoted in virtually every newspaper as the sole token voice of opposition. Some papers just made things up – i.e. ‘the moderator of the Free Church reacted with fury’ – which made me react with mild frustration!
The BBC were a classic example of how this is spun. They sent up a film crew to do a short interview (just after a wedding I had done at St Peters). I was asked five questions of which 12 seconds was used in a piece lasting over two minutes that was entirely sympathetic to the government’s position. The narrative that the liberal media use is clear – this is about poor weak vulnerable people and if you have a heart at all you will want to care for and help them. Anyone who opposes this is some kind of out of touch religious bigot. There is nor can be no other position.
Then the political leaders were more like sheep than leaders.
When is a debate not a debate?
When it is organized by LGBT groups such as the Equality Network and Stonewall.
All the party leaders (with the exception of David Coburn of UKIP) were there and there was no dissent, no questioning, no attempt to discuss the questions involved. Perhaps that is not surprising when four out of the six party leaders are gay – a fact which incidentally does away with the ‘victim’ card that is constantly being played in order to guilt people into accepting the latest government LGBT initiative, re-education campaign, or splash of government cash. There are of course politicians who do not agree but just as with SSM they regard the whole issue as a sideshow that does not really affect them or the majority of people, and it is certainly not worth their committing political suicide by daring to question the powers that be. Anyone who has experienced the mob rule that the liberal elites employ to anyone who dares to break ranks knows exactly what I am talking about. Chairman Mao’s Red Brigades could have learned a thing or two from them!
What about the church leaders?
I expected the media and politicians to follow the party line. They are after all dominated by the socially liberal lobby, and those who are not part of it just can’t be bothered with the hassle and hate that comes from daring to stand up to it. But it has been really disappointing to be left virtually on my own in speaking out on this issue. The Church of Scotland as usual were silent. The Catholic bishops are reluctant to speak out, especially on sexual issues because of the troubles they have had. – although I was glad of the following from one Catholic blogger – http://www.scotscatholic.org/blog/2016/04/04/We-need-to-stand-against-ludicrous-and-whimsical-gender-pledge.aspx and amused to receive a message on Sunday morning from another saying that they were going to pray for me at Mass! I am hopeful that the Catholic bishops at least will step up to the mark. And I was not aware of anything from anyone else. I suspect that most are just seeking to survive – or maybe they said things but they were just not publicized.
At a personal level it was great to get so many messages from ordinary people (Christian and non-Christian) who were thankful for what was said, but where are the church leaders? The ones who are supposed to shepherd the flock and care for the weak, the poor and the vulnerable? I find it depressing that the church leaders are either too scared, or too slow to speak out – although I suspect that far too many are just part of the liberal political establishment anyway and actually would not agree with the stance I am taking.
As a result it has been far too easy for the media, atheist secularists and LGBT groups to attempt to silence what little opposition there is by mocking and marginalizing. Those who are proposing this know that they can follow the usual pattern – make a proposal, suggest that anyone who does not support it is an uncaring bigot who doesn’t care for, or understand transsexuals, have a ‘consultation’ (whose result is pre-determined) and then put it into legislation and proudly declare this to be yet another example of ‘progressive Scotland’ leading the world into a tolerant, equal Nirvana. Never mind the reality. It looks good in the media and even better on the CV.
It is trans issues that are the next big challenge.
NICOLA STURGEON, FIRST MINISTER
Remember what is being proposed here. People will be able to change their gender without medical or psychological consultation. And this is not just about transgender, people changing from male to female or vice versa. No this is about creating a whole new gender (and why just one? – that is so tri-genderist!). And then it is about imposing this new doctrine on all of Scotland’s children – through the education system. Teachers will be re-educated so that they can be even more LGBT+ friendly and primary school pupils will be told that they can choose their own gender. They can be whoever they want to be. This has not a shred of evidence in science, logic or history. It is a confused mess put forward by people who largely just do not know what they are doing. I came across the following from The Times this weekend. Pinker could hardly be called a friend of religion!
“Stephen Pinker’s The Blank Slate… comprehensively demolishes the notion that a human life is self-authored. We are all biological creatures too and one of the characteristics we inherit is gender.”
The vast majority of people in Scotland know that this pick your own Heinz 57 gender is nonsense. But we no longer have government by the people for the people. We have government by the 1% for the 1%. We have government by lobby and special interest groups. We have an increasingly intrusive and authoritarian state determining what people should eat, wear, drink and think. We have a political class with such hubris that they think they can re-make humanity according to their dictate. In terms of sexual ethics we have moved from SSM to transgender. Now we are moving from transgender to gender fluidity. I have a suspicion as to where we will go next in this never ending path to Nirvana/destruction. And it is the poor, as always, who will suffer the most.
After I did one interview, the journalist said to me ‘off the record’ that this was all very confusing. Indeed it is. Babylon means ‘confusion’. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the author of confusion. He does not lie, deceive or manipulate. The devil is the father of lies and the cause of confusion. There are spiritual forces at work, who delight in seeing people stumble in the darkness. We are meant to challenge these forces. To speak truth. To bring light.
My prayer is that there will be some in the normal media who will have the courage to challenge the narrative imposed upon them and dare to question and speak a different word. And that there will be politicians who do not wait to write their memoirs before speaking out. There are many good people in politics and media but for evil to succeed it is only necessary that good people do nothing. There is nothing inevitable about this. This is not the march of history. This is the walk of lunacy. It is the responsibility of those who have been called to public service, to be the voice of sanity in such a mad world.
As for church leaders, we have a choice.
We can hide in our pietistic holes, wait for the official government consultation and then complain when the deed is done – from the safety of our own keyboards and spiritual sanctuaries; or we can proclaim truth – not for our own sake and protection, but for the sake of our children. Will we betray them as well?
Church leaders are remarkably good at speaking out about world issues, pontificating about peace in other countries and making grandiose statements about issues which they can do very little about and which cost us nothing.
We are experts at virtue signaling. But we could stop this nonsense. Think about it. Why do the liberal elites not (yet) dare to take on the issue of faith schools? It is because they fear the Catholic Church – who have, rightly, been great defenders of their schools. If the rest of us were to take a united stand with the Catholics against this gender fluid nonsense, we would probably defeat it. And even if we did not we would have spoken truth into a corrupt culture.
I note with interest that the Church of Scotland’s pre-election forums are entitled ‘Speaking Out’. What a marvelous idea! But will it actually happen?
Brilliant article. Please keep being the voice of reason on this issue. I have no doubt that many Scots agree with you. You are dead right about this being an issue of speaking for children. The deliberate removal of the right to have a mother and a father,the promotion of gender confusion….all of it will be deeply damaging. The virtue signalling,progressive elites of Scotland are in the process of actually becoming the enemy of the average Scot with their intrusions into peoples lives. It is no coincidence that the architects of this lunacy have constructed “hate speech” laws and “safe spaces” in order to silence opposition. Thankyou for speaking truth to power.
So much wrong with what you write but the bitterness in this statement is clear:
“Perhaps that is not surprising when four out of the six party leaders are gay – a fact which incidentally does away with the ‘victim’ card that is constantly being played in order to guilt people into accepting the latest government LGBT initiative, re-education campaign, or splash of government cash.”
LGBT people are still attacked in our streets. LGBT people still have a higher incidence of mental health problems due to societal pressure on them to conform. LGBT people still have problems access health and social care – older and disabled LGBT suffer hate from their carers. Where is that hate learnt from I wonder?
Just because a leader is identifiable with a group, does not mean similar people are free from the hate that society pours upon them. Racism still exists, even within government institutions, in the US despite there being a black president.
In a justice society, a society that cares, the government gives funds to help those who are marginalised, abused, hated and disregarded by the rest of society. Large proportions of LGBT people still fall into the category. Why is that a bad thing?
On, and religions get lots of money from the state as well. Humanists and Secularists don’t. So if you really want to tot up who gets what money and why I would welcome that. Could start with the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office.
“This has not a shred of evidence in science, logic or history.”
I keep trying to tell you about people like the Hijra in India. In existence since antiquity. Just because they don’t fit your narrative does not mean they do not exist. Many Native American and First Nations peoples recognised the existence of more than two genders, such as the Zuñi male-bodied Ła’mana, the Lakota male-bodied winkte and the Mohave male-bodied alyhaa and female-bodied hwamee. Such people were previously referred to as berdache but are now referred to as Two-Spirit, and their spouses would not necessarily have been regarded as gender-different.In Mexico, the Zapotec culture includes a third gender in the form of the Muxe.
Among the ancient Middle Eastern Akkadian people, a salzikrum was a person who appeared biologically female but had distinct male traits. Salzikrum is a compound word meaning male daughter. According to the Code of Hammurabi, salzikrūm had inheritance rights like that of priestesses; they inherited from their fathers, unlike regular daughters. A salzikrum’s father could also stipulate that she inherit a certain amount.
Mahu is a traditional status in Polynesian cultures. Also, in Fa’asamoa traditions, the Samoan culture allows a specific role for male to female transgender individuals as Fa’afafine.
You claim a knowledge of history. One wonders if you think only history that confirms your world view is the real history. I know you disagree with it, I know you dont want it to be in existence but you have to accept, surely, that third genders and transgenderism are not something new?
Douglas, Douglas, Douglas….what can we do with you? You just cut and paste from Wiki without acknowledging your source and then complain about my lack of knowledge of history! It very much looks like you just trawl the internet looking for those things that agree with you and lo and behold you will find them. You can find ‘facts’ that prove any point of view you want to have. Not exactly an honest or rational way to behave though. You just cut and pasted without acknowledgement as though it was something you actually knew about!
The fact is that the human race has been screwed up since the Fall – and yes there are exceptions etc. But we are not gender fluid and gender is not just a social construct. I wonder if you think that there are three genders of four? Or how many? What do you think of Stephen Pinker being cited in The Times this week – “Stephen Pinker’s The Blank Slate… comprehensively demolishes the notion that a human life is self-authored. We are all biological creatures too and one of the characteristics we inherit is gender.”
And the rest of your post is not up to your usual standard. You claim to see bitterness where there is none. Is your argument so weak that you have to attribute (falsely) motives that I do not have. Yes – some LGBT people are still attacked in the streets – so are some Christians, disabled, black, women, men, children, French, gypsies, white, etc. We can all join the victim culture and we can all demand government money and re-education. Imagine if four of the six party leaders were evangelical Christians – what would you be saying?
I love this bit “in a justice society, a society that cares, the government gives funds to help those who are marginalised, abused, hated and disregarded by the rest of society.” – well for years I have been part of that group and so have many evangelical Christians. We are one of the few groups that can be and are openly mocked on national media (no one would dare do that to LGBT!) so by your standard we should be getting government money!
I’m not aware of any money that the Free Church gets from the State. Where is this lots of money?
It seems to me that you are being very selective in your ‘facts’ – its almost as if your mind has been made up and you just trawl the internet looking for supporting evidence. Maybe time for a rethink?
So are you just questioning the facts or the source of the facts that I used? Let me know and I will go do the research and present that list of peoples again using original sources, demonstrating your belief that this is some kind of recent phenomena is wrong. Using the Fall to get away from really acknowledging the existence of third gendered people isnt going to win arguments with those of us who dont agree with you.
And I believe my use of wikipedia is well known on this blog. Although I would be intrigued to know if you think wikipedia is part of the global conspiracy against you. The Kama Sutra was written before Christ yet makes reference to a 3rd sex. Was this done to, in some way, spite you in your arguments over 2000 years later?
Not everyone agrees with Pinker. Biologist H. Allen Orr argued that Pinker’s work often lacks scientific rigor (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/02/27/darwinian-storytelling).
Actually I dont mind how many genders there are. As with all social constructs, some will be popular and others will not. Some will be used and then die out and others will remain.
Yes everyone is attacked in the street. No one is special. No one is targeted. One white male victim means all victims are covered. Join the crowds at a Trump rally if you really think that some people are never more likely to be a victim than others because of who they are and what they represent and that government has no role in protecting vulnerable people.
I dont know or care about the religious preferences of party leaders. Its what they do that matters. If they then all said that God says no to SSM then I would continue to campaign for it and I would campaign for a secular state even more. I wouldnt claim a victimhood because I am a straight, white, educated male. Not the usual target for the elite Christians. Others would be more concerned about how an Evangelical Christian would seek to run their lives.
“well for years I have been part of that group” – really? You are scared to leave your house for fear of being assaulted due to your Christianity? I’ve used my internet fact finding skills and I cannot find info on Christians being assaulted in Scotland for being Christian. Do you have the stats? (I assume it must happen but it doesnt come up in community safety discussions and I’d be interested to know why. Is it not being reported?).
“We are one of the few groups that can be and are openly mocked on national media” – yes. And as a person married to an active Christian I will confess (ha!) to wincing more than once when watching some shows. The good you, my wife and other Christians do is lost on a lot of people. That said, your determination to reach into non-believers lives does make you a reciprocal target. Those who are LGBT cannot be expected to sit meekly as you question their rights and equality. They dont share your belief yet you are very focussed on them when then would like nothing more than to never hear about you or from you again. Elsewhere in society that could be called bullying.
I said religions get money from the Scottish Government. No word games remember.
And my post may not have been up to my usual standard but my last post was ignored awaiting moderation (now being ignored in public on facebook) so I did this quickly on a tablet.
Douglas – I am questioning everything – including your cut and pasting others and posting it as your own words without acknowledgement. And yes I do question everything. Highly recommended. Please don’t just trawl the internet for ‘facts’ that just agree with your position.
God help us if we live in a world where people say there are many genders but can’t say how many or what they are?! Do you realise how insane that is?
You don’t care about the religious preferences of party leaders. Sorry I don’t believe that. The humanists and secularists go mad at any bible believing Christian being involved in politics – especially if they don’t agree to keep their faith closeted.
You can’t find info on Christians being assaulted for their faith on the internet? So it must not exist…because if it ain’t on the internet it ain’t real. Perhaps we should start a research programme, funded by government money, to give you the facts and figures you want. I know plenty people who have been abused (some physically) for their faith. I remember at school being beaten up for being a ‘bible basher’. Strange that Stonewall and the Humanists don’t look for those kind of stories….?
Strangely also it is not us who are focused on LGBT….it is the other way round. In the desperate search to claim victimhood they have to find a villain. What better than religion?
I think there is very little money gets given to religion from the Scottish government – not a fraction of what gets given to LGBT groups….
Two things.
1. I was being genuine about the stats. That why I put it in brackets. It has never come up in community safety meetings I have been to, locally or nationally. Thats why I asked if it was being reported.
2. “Strangely also it is not us who are focused on LGBT….it is the other way round. In the desperate search to claim victimhood they have to find a villain. What better than religion?”
Um. Ok. Here is a challenge for you then. Can you go a month without writing about LGBT issues? You think LGBT people seek you out to disagree with you only because you believe in the bible. Lets do a test. Dont write about people and then see if those people either continue to make direct contact with you to disagree with you or ignore you as you dont matter to them when they dont matter to you. This is a reciprocal thing. I had never heard of you until The Times asked me about your stabbing quotes. I dont post on this site on topics that have no interest or impact on me. Try it. See if you are the victim of unprompted communications. Oh, and if religion didnt want equality for LGBT then there wouldnt be an opportunity for elite Christians to complain about being made out to be a villian.
Douglas, here’s a challenge for you as well. Can the Scottish secular society go a whole month without writing about religion or indeed about LGBT issues?! Strangely enough it is our atheistic secularist humanists who are using the LGBT issue as a club with which to bash Christians in particular. It is the shibboleth issue for our culture.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
David, I have to commend above all else your stamina in being continually the only voice speaking out against the madness of our current times. I have no doubt that your strength comes through the Holy Spirit and what you are saying should be an inspiration to us all. Your article references Ephesians 6 where Paul warns us that it is not flesh and blood we are battling against but “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” I have often wondered what this battle will look like and how these spiritual forces will manifest themselves. I think we now know. One thing is for sure, we have a real fight on our hands. But with voices like yours speaking out I am sure that others will follow and as Elisha said to the young man of God before the battle with the Syrians we too will be able to say, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” (2 Kings 6:16)
Mr McLellan, seems clearly rattled, and addresses few, if any, of the points David has raised, taken as a whole in all his post over the weeks, and I see little “debate” in it, but many propositions and assumptions. It is interesting that he referrs to religions in support..I wonder how many of the practices or beliefs of those particular pagan religions he would support.
He has philosophial pre-assumptions, that are not sociologically, pysiologically, or psychologically, based on evidence, and seems to support, the advancement of unsupported social engineering, which judges in childrens cases (below) have always emphasised (till now anyway) was not part of their remit.
There doesn’t seem to be any mention of gender fluidity, such as giving children the freedom of choice between 25 different genders. I recall not so long ago in High Court chlidren’s cases, Judges would pronounce judgement on the basis that children needed to be “protected against themselves.” Can you imagine parents telling their children that today Even the idea of parents knowing better than their children is anathema. Whilst that still might be clear in cases such as the footballer Adam Johnson,it has been submerged in other areas of child rearing or education.
In the West we are living in an era of “proserous ease”, of those who rule, who govern. and while we are to pray for them, I’m frequently drawn to Romans chapter 1 where we are “given over” (v 24) by God “to the sinful desires of our hearts”, as part of His present judgement. Keller and others confirm that as a correct interpretation
This is not a call to passivity but to direct prayer. And again following, Romans 1 be a case of “ichabod” in large parts of the West.
We are to speak the truth, and hold to the truth and preach the truth of the doctrine of humanity in a society of “confusion marketing” in all its spheres. Not many are doing so.
But it is not so simple . At lunch yesterday, Christian friends in professions had not heard of “gender fluidity”.
Where are the true shepherd, who are wakeful and watchful, not hirlings? In today’s parlance, who are not “horizon scanning”
Thanking God for giving Scotland at least one prophetic voice – yours, David. I pray constantly that you will be upheld and enabled to continue speaking truth to a lost society. Also that the “Christian leaders” who have been silent will be shamed into backing you up.
Lucid, encouraging and as pastoral as prophetic well done David, keep it up brother, no one said being a prophetic voice in times of change would be easy. Grace and peace
“The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the author of confusion. He does not lie, deceive or manipulate. The devil is the father of lies and the cause of confusion. There are spiritual forces at work, who delight in seeing people stumble in the darkness. ”
This sums up my journey with gender identity struggles. But I remain confused as to how to express myself in the letters I am writing to party leaders and my local msp and candidate. I’ve been drafting since Saturday…
Victim culture? Yes, i was shown photos at the weekend of some vandals’ attempt to set fire to a Catholic church in Glasgow. When it was reported to the police they did not seem to care.
Seriously disturbed by the direction this nation is going in. Election coming up and finding it impossible to vote for any of the mainstream parties. Thank you for speaking for the majority. Was a CoS elder for many years, but became totally disillusioned with their compromise instead of conviction, and not in the least surprised by their silence.
Yes, the silence of the Catholic Bishops is disappointing. To some extent this may well be a consequence of the carefully-manufactured denunciation of Cardinal O’Brien. (I don’t mean that he was totally innocent but that there was a bad smell about the way the information was made public.) Archbishop Tartaglia got his fingers burned as a result of some ill-advised words about the death of a homosexual politician. He might be keeping a low profile on such issues as a result.
As far as Catholic schools are concerned the politicians are no longer afraid of the Catholic Church. Their fear or otherwise of the Catholic Church did not stop them legislating to redefine marriage. But the politicians have realised that there is a much better way to neutralise Catholic schools than to campaign for their outright abolition. More subtly, they campaign to make Catholic schools teach things that go against Catholic teaching. Some Catholic schools even co-operate in that by inviting the likes of Stonewall to come and ‘educate’ their pupils. And some of the politicians (eg. the Liberal Democrats) campaign to make them employ non-Catholics (eg. atheists) in senior positions.
But congratulations to David for having the courage to speak out on this issue. And in this day and age it does take courage.
I would probably avoid quoting and agreeing with a man who was involved in the murder of six million jews in your first paragraph….i know the jews are responsible for the death of Jesus….but its been 2000 years prob time to turn the other cheek now….as for free money for christians….churches are exempt from paying tax….unlike other businesses….so i’m guessing thats your free money.
Not quite grasped the point? I was quoting the atheist Goebbels not to praise what he did but to show how his playbook is now being used by the secularists. The Jews are not responsible for the death of Jesus – we all are. And churches are not exempt from paying tax – our employees pay full tax and we pay charitable rates on some others – that is because we are not a business but a charity. Get your facts right…
David thanks again for your faithful prophetic voice. Can I just encourage you that while you may be the most prominent Christian voice speaking out, it is not the only one, though I confess there are not nearly enough. I wouldn’t want you to develop an Elijah complex, brother! I speak bluntly on this issue to my own congregation and wherever else I minister and also write about it on my own blog – http://www.christian cogitations.wordpress.com – but my comments obviously don’t get the ‘air time’ yours do. The Lord keep you and use you to his glory.
Thanks John….much appreciated. I know there are individuals what I was referring to were the official leaders, and bodies of the main denominations….
Thank you for this, for your courage in speaking out, and for the ability God’s given you to articulate your Christian arguments. We continue to pray for you.
Reblogged this on The BLOG of Tony Vance and commented:
Great article
I found this article (from over here across the pond) brave-and sadly it is seen this way in today’s climate. http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/gender-ideology-harms-children
Bluntly, this all makes me glad to be mostly raising my children in Nigeria! Compared to the mind games of the Scottish/Western elites, the pervasive fear of witchcraft and insidious prosperity theology seem not so bad and even the murderous ideology of Boko Haram is less Babeline. Perhaps Scotland needs a Nigerian version of Mary Slessor to come along and bang our traditional chiefs’ heads together and bring Scotland back from the brink of insanity. I tell you it is almost impossible to explain to our Nigerian friends the craziness going on in Scotland around SSM let alone the utterly ridiculous gender fluidity. “You cannot be serious?!”
As one of their own poets has said:
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
An’ ev’n devotion!
The Scottish National Party (SNP) as far as I can see, appear to be following an agenda set out by Cultural Marxism.
In short, this involves cultivating many ‘minority groups,’ who are to replace the working classes or ‘proletariat’ as the means to a Socialist/Communist revolution.
These many splinter groups or rather ‘minority groups’ when taken as a whole become a new entity, by which the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.
They thereby form the vanguard of the Marxist/Communist revolutionary movement.
‘Liberalism and ‘Progressive’ are two deceptive terms used to disguise their true nature; Marxist/Leninism and Communism.
The ‘gender fluidity’ issue is simply a new and novel contrived ‘minority group’. One more to add to the share of the political cake. This is a form of mass marketing, which in my opinion, uses Christianity as a device, by which it represents a target, a target of hate, for the ‘Social Justice Warriors’ through which they reinforce their own ‘victimhood’.
This is rather a poor explanation. So if you are interested please read the following book:
Death of the Family True Stories of the Charlatans Who Deceived The World and Broke the Backbone of Our Society
Christopher J. Green
Available as a free e-book for the first thirty pages.
God Bless you Reverend David Robertson and may the Holy Spirit protect you from all evil.
I just looked in to see if I could begin to understand why the latest Scottish social attitude survey reported that atheists are now in a majority in Scotland. Having read the views of most commenting above I think I can see why!
Would you care to enlighten us? You do realise that the latest social attitudes survey did NOT report that atheists are a majority in Scotland?
Again I am going to ask you to actually tell us what your problem actually is. Who is being intolerant about whom? It seems to me that there is more than a hint of intolerance for your own comments – and snobbery as well! Maybe instead of calling names you could just tell us what is actually wrong with the article….I cannot be responsible for all the comments…
OK, OK. It actually found that 52% of respondents stated that they had no religion. They don’t ask if people identify as atheists. Maybe they should. But my original point stands. Is it any surprise that a majority have no religion? I shall leave you to bask in your intolerance.
Acts 10.15: Ἃ ὁ Θεὸς ἐκαθάρισεν σὺ μὴ κοίνου.
Sarah Wood, do you know the meaning of intolerance? Or in the postmodern mode of the abolishment of definitions you can invent your own to include any disagreement with you. Perhaps you don’t see the plank in your own eye with your selective, and religious worship of your own fluid absolutes of irritated “tolerance.” If you want leave, why do you turn up in the first place to offer vacuous, unoriginal comments, with an overflow of non debate, non engagement?
We shall miss your sparkling wit and amazing repartee, demonstrated in your “throwaway” parting sentence.
But please come back to debate, for that is what is requested.
Thanks for your pompous sarcasm Geoff but I no desire to hang around to debate with you people, particularly after seeing how Douglas was belittled and patronised for expressing his views. I’ve already been called a snob for some reason; I’m not, by the way, but thanks for the gratuitous insult. But I really did only take part to suggest that the attitudes expressed in the article and by most of those commenting are instrumental in the increasing trend of Scots to turn away from religion. I won’t be making any further comments, though I won’t be able to resist having peek to see if you can bear to let me have the last word.
Sarah – I only allow your post here because it shows the kind of thing we have to put up with! I do not appreciate you calling other contributors names. You came on here and instead of providing any rational, any argument, any evidence – you just abuse and name call. It is hardly a good advert for your cause! Douglas was not belittled and patronised. We take Douglas seriously and actually like him! We deal with his arguments. We would deal with yours as well – when you make some! You seem to take great pride in what you call the trend for Scots to turn away from religion. Personally I am glad if people turn away from religion but its what they turn to that interests me. Your hatred, anger and abuse does not appear particularly attractive. What I find is that more and more people are actually turning to Christ – which is why last Sunday I preached in a packed church, full of people of all different ages, nationalities and social backgrounds. You can have as many words as you want (although be warned I won’t publish them here if you continue to be so rude) but you will never have the last word. That belongs to Christ and will come on the day of Judgement. You need to be aware of that and that you will have to give account for every careless word spoken and every bad deed done. Its why he urges you even now to repent and turn to him. Not religion but Christ.
Re percentages: Dr Robertson – you use 1% as the proportion of LGBTI in the general population. My reading based, on, among others, Neil Whitehead on http://www.mygenes.co.nz, suggests that figure is a bit low. His average of 18 studies suggests more like 2.4% made up of 2.9% for males and 1.9% for females and is for LGB. Figures for ex LGB are harder to come by but are very likely to be at least as many as current LGB. Again, read Whitehead for why this makes statistical sense – but it is basically because longitudinal studies (ie ones which follow individuals through their lives) since the early 90’s show that 50% or more of those who identify as L or G or B as teens or 20’s “lapse” from SSA to OSA later in life. And then there is the question of popular perception – which may be as much as 10 times higher! As you say, the current thrust is transgender, with Susie Green claiming that 1% of the general population may be so. Dr Gerard van Aardweg suggested recently that, at most, 0.1% may have some problem with gender dysphoria, while Whitehead’s article on the subject suggests a much lower figure for trans-sexuals of 0.033% (1 in 30,000). All the above percentages refer to estimates relating to the total population.
Thanks Nigel.
The Scottish Households survey said that it was 1% homosexual for males…less than that for females.
The transgender figure is actually one in 125,000! That is of course until the start mucking around with confused kids heads.
It is incredible that the standard perception is still one in ten…perhaps that is because of the vast overrepresentation of gays within the media and political community.
I was told by a gay activist around 40 years ago that the figure was 1 in 10. Where the figure originally came from, I don’t know, but it was the perceived “wisdom” at the time and for many years after. It’s echo, as you say, is still around today.
Yes – I was cited it many times as ‘scientific’ research. It came from the Kinsey report (now totally discredited) which was the basis of government policy for many years.
If the mass media started promoting the I am a man stuck in a pumpkins body, I guarantee you within three weeks their would be a face-book page set up inviting others to join the pumpkin parade.
Then would come the Pumpkin Rights brigade.
This could then be added to the long acronym of LGBT which now has an I (what that represents one can only hazard a guess!)
So the new acronym/’initialism’ is LGBTI plus Pumpkin or for ease of speech, BIGTIPL
Add to that the SNP’s marvellous new ‘gender fluidity’ and there we have it The BIGTIPL. (assuming we can squeeze in an extra I – no doubt someone is thinking up a new title as we speak.)
Erm that is until someone adds a new flavour to the mix.
You may think this is discriminatory. I don’t believe it is.
It is an attempt to show you that the underlying motivation for ‘human change’ does not emanate from the human heart, but from the controllers and manipulators of human perception, the mass media.
As George Orwell noted through his Machiavellian character O’Brien in 1984, ‘human beings are infinitely malleable.’
The mass media are not a mirror that reflect society. They manufacture and then reflect the contrived manufactured society. We are not being made in Gods image. We are being made in the image of mass mind manipulators.
Do you think I am anti-Gay? No. I am pro-human.
Despite being heterosexual myself, one of the most wonderful people I ever met in my life was gay. He, tragically committed suicide. For what reasons I know not.
Why did I love him? I loved him as a person. Because he was kind. He was generous. He was humorous. He was loving and he was capable of giving love.
I loved him, not because he was Gay. But because he was a good person. There is a very clear distinction to be made. HIs ‘gayness’ was almost irrelevant.
There are many people who want us to love them, simply because they are Gay or other. Why? Being such does not automatically qualify you as a good person, with a good heart. Does it?
The Scottish National Party (SNP) are endorsing so-called ‘gender fluidity.’
The Mass media ‘mirror’ is being reflected back into society, and we are reading a fiction which is being given mass credibility.
The image makers, are messing around with human minds for their own agenda. I would subscribe to the belief that it is a Cultural Marxist agenda.
The consequences for the mental health of our children, should not be underestimated.
At this moment in time, the SNP, knowing they will be given ‘moral support’ and thus political support from a corrupted mass media, will continue its dangerous experiment with the minds of our children.
How do they benefit? They benefit from the creation and ‘championing’ of the many ‘minority groups’ whom they then cultivate for a political harvest. This is a form of extremely cynical mass marketing of human minds.
Thus is national identity split and fractured and National Homogeneity of purpose. National identity broken. Human identity broken.
The identity confusion and ultimate despair which may result from this will only be seen in the long term.
I can assure you, I will not be attending the Pumpkin Parade.
Doesn’t the bible teach to treat everyone equally? If people in society are treated less equally than others surely the Christian thing to do would be to ensure that those people are afforded the same rights as everyone else?
Where does the Bible teach that? What do you mean by equality? And what are the rights you are talking about? Your post is so full of presuppositions that don’t make any sense unless you tell us what you are talking about.