post by Casey.
At times it feels sort of exhausting to share and there really are so few people who make their way to this blog and so it sometimes feels ridiculous to even share at all. But then when I think about not sharing…I just don’t have it in me not to say…something.
It reminds me of when Jacob and I first started having the conversation about possibly having the kids baptized - when the kids were born we didn’t have any solid beliefs and chose not to baptize them because it didn’t feel like it meant anything to us.
10yrs later I walked into the office of my kids’ little Christian school and asked the secretary (Hi, Barb - she’s not actually reading this and I doubt she even knows I have a blog;) what steps we’d have to take to get the kids baptized - IF we decided to go forward with that. Barb proceeded to share with me that she had been praying for this. Barb had been praying, behind our backs;), that we would someday want to baptize the kids. Although, her praying for us is the most important part of this…the little part where she simply spoke the words to me…that she said out loud that she’d been praying for us…that affected me most deeply. I don’t know exactly why but to this day, just knowing that she was out there thinking and praying for my babies…it changed something for me. I went home and said to Jacob that I felt like I really wanted to do it:).
When I start to think that it’s not worth speaking on something I care about…I think about the times where I’ve been changed because of someone speaking up. I think of the time Barb told me about her prayers for Homer, Theo, Rocky, Ike, Mae + Evan…and then I think…it’s worth it. It’s always worth it because I do believe that what I have to say (what anyone has to say) will reach the right person at the right time and in the mean time…I’m planting little seeds.
Below I’m going to share what I’ve been listening to in regards to the recent Nashville School Shooting. I wish I could articulate how I feel about these things but these podcasts do a much better job than I ever could - I also included some quotes from the episodes that resonated with me.
You may notice they all lean or are conservative and that’s simply because that’s how I feel and that is absolutely what I believe - this coming from someone who felt very much the opposite just 2yrs ago.
I don’t believe that this is a gun issue but a moral/spiritual one.
What happened to those innocent children…those babies…is horrific. I’m actually comforted by the fact that I know the individual that killed those 3children and 3adults is now most certainly in hell, where she will spend eternity paying for what she’s done.
I pray for those children and those families and I pray that tragedies like this will lead more people to God.
“…we have a moral decay that is overtaking America. We have a destruction of family issue that is overtaking America. We have an issue of not authentically caring for children, even if we have a family structure…are we legitimately committed to our children or are our children our side hussle while we go out and pursue as much money as humanely possible.”
“…we have a spiritual problem that is leading to chaos and violence and disorder and a lack of respect and a lack of gratitude. We all see ourselves as tremendous victims. When you see yourself as a victim and you think the world owes you something you start going about getting what the world owes you by any means necessary. You become angry. And so when I look at this woman who did the shooting and I think about how - these are connected, even tho this woman is white, it’s all connected…- the whole messaging to the trans gender community is America hates you and the Christian values that America has is the reason you’re unhappy. If America, if the culture just saw you as normal, you would be so much happier and your life would be so much better…”
“…if you saw yourself as an image bearer of God and not whatever your sexuality or gender…if you saw yourself as an image bearer of God, then you would be a step closer towards happiness. Then you would be a step closer towards contentment with how God made you. But if you let the world define who you are and what your primary identity is, if you let the world define that rather than letting God define it, you’re gonna have a lot of unhappiness. You’re gonna start to build up a lot of anger and that anger and unhappiness can spill out into the kind of tragedy we had here in Nashville yesterday…”
“…I see this going on with young people that are gay or transgender or whatever they want to call themselves. They’re being fed a steady diet of: America owes you something. You’re a victim. You should be angry. The world has mistreated you. You’re not an image bearer of God. You’re black. You’re gay. You’re lesbian. You’re bisexual. You’re transgender. You’re minor attracted person…”
“…as a believer…our message should always be: you have a spiritual problem that only Jesus Christ can fix. There are not political solutions to spiritual problems. That hole in your heart can only be filled through a relationship and an understanding of God and his order and his design for you.”
“…when I look at the Nashville shooting, and any of these school shootings. The way to eliminate it is a society and a culture that’s more obedient to God. Because when we were more obedient to God than we were right now, there were less school shootings. Guns have been around in America from its inception. This kind of random violence, this kind of mass slaughtering of innocence…that’s a new phenomenon that’s been brought on - in my opinion - by the constant messaging from atheists. That every single one of you is a victim - except for the white man - everybody else, you’re a victim. This country has mistreated you, you’re owed something, you should be angry, you should go out and demand, you should go out and get in peoples faces…”
“…it’s good to pray for our families, for our children, for our loved ones, for our teachers, and just for our culture because the culture is sick. Because the people are sick. Those are some of the main things that came to mind yesterday. This morning, having seen the bodycam footage of the officers who responded, I was just reminded of the heroism of so many police officers. They don’t know what types of things they’re going to encounter in a given day. Seeing that video - it was night and day in terms of their response and the response of Uvalde, 2 similar types of incidents. I thank god for those brave men.”
- Delano Squires
“…everyone says: we need more common sense gun laws. We need common sense gun control. But the conversation never goes further than that. Now what I would respect someone saying is: we need to repeal the 2nd amendment so that access to firearm ownership is no longer a right but a privilege that is enjoyed by a subset of the population that the government gets to determine. Now hear me, I didn’t say I would agree with that. I would say I would respect that because that is an actual position and I always respect positions delivered in stark, unambiguous nonufamistic language more so than empty platitudes. And the majority of what we get in the political discourse, whether from journalists at MSNBC, and CNN, and NY Times…from athletes and even from many politicians, is just common sense gun control. But when you ask them what it is that they want, either they can’t articulate it or the things that they articulate are already in place or the things they articulate would not have prevented the most recent event that they’re responding to. I would much rather prefer people say exactly what they mean.”
- Delano Squires
“…schools, churches and other institutions that house vulnerable populations…majority women or children or elderly should be the first places that we harden and that’s what we would do if we really cared as much as we say we do.”
- Delano Squires
“…it is a targeted terrorism towards Christian’s, that is made permissible by…the dismissal of that aspect of the story. The open and unabashed anti-Christian sentiment that is like one of the only acceptable forms of bigotry in Hollywood and the mainstream and politics. Like if this happened at a synagogue, if this happened at a mosque, if this happened at pulse night club…no one would question whether or not the type of people in that particular building were being targeted because of their belief system…no one would questions that. But when it happens at a Christian school, when it happened at a church in Texas a few years ago…apparently, the Christian aspect of it should just be overlooked. And that if Christian’s bring this up, it’s a victim complex. You’re thinking about this too hard. This is nothing to do with that. Why does it have nothing to do with that when other scenarios with every other kind of group it’s immediately assumed it has to do with that - it’s immediately assumed that it had to do with the identity or the religion or the skin color of the people inside the building that was targeted.”
“…I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care that that person carried pain. Guess what, news flash, we all carry pain. We all had hard childhoods in some way. We were all made fun of. We were all bullied. We were all rejected. We all have felt different. We were all pushed to the side. We’ve all been confused. We’ve all had a hard time, okay?! No, I do not relate to this person shooting up a school. Maybe let’s toughen up a little bit and deal with normal human difficulty and trials without murdering 9yos.“
“…we’ve demolished the family. We continue to ostracize any normalcy, we continue to degrade any idea of objective morality and we’re surprised when things like this happen. We’ve always had guns, we have not always had this value system. We have not always had these depraved set of principles that we have today that is all about me, me, me. Our young people are crying out for what every human since the beginning of time has cried out for…which is purpose. Which is meaning. Which is a call to something higher. So when the progressive left says you can join our revolution, you can latch onto social justice, you can identify in this way. You can join this oppressed group, then you will have meaning, then you will have identity, then you will have something deeper, then you will have some kind of pseudo spirituality. Some kind of militant religion. Of course these lost agnostic, atheistic young people are going to cling to that.”
“…I’m not saying that we can not have conversations ever about any kind of legislation - I’m not saying that. I’m not one of those people. I’m just saying if we continue to ignore the heart of the issue, what underlies all of this, the raging culture war that is actually down stream from a theological war, a spiritual battle that’s going on…we will continue to see these things happen. We will.”
“…let this tragedy not scare you or intimidate you but inspire you to double down in speaking that and representing that and doing that which is right and true. Do not be a part of the delusion thats tearing this country apart. Do not be a part of the lie. Agree with God, publically, privately, and in every area of your life whether it comes to gender, sexuality, the family, true biblical justice, what is right, what is wrong. Teach it to your kids relentlessly. Preach it at your church pastors, relentlessly. Tell it to your friends. Post it on social media. Live it in your daily life. Represent the gospel in all that you think, say, and do. Be a refuge of clarity and courage for the cowards in your life and within your community. That is what Christian’s are called to do today. That is what we have been called to do for thousands and thousands of years. And trust that God is doing something about all of this.”
“Over the past 3yrs I accidentally found myself getting more Christian, like without even intentionally trying…setting out on a mission like: Hey, I wanna become more Christian! It’s just been effortlessly happening for me.”
“If you’re not someone who is willing to do the devils bidding. If you’re not someone who’s willing to propagate evil, then there’s a natural occurrence that happens when you’re in the presence of evil…you polarize to the other extreme. You may not even be consciously aware of it but the presence of evil makes you lean away…therefore, what direction are you leaning towards…that would be the direction of God.”
“…people who have faith in a real higher power, God, they’re not controllable…when you have faith in God, you are not controllable, you’re not…anyone who wants to control you, purposely tries to disconnect you from God because Gods way is freedom. Evil constricts, God frees. God gives us free will…”
“…a life of service is what births true happiness…”
“…I think we live in a world where we’re discouraged from changing our mind. It’s like frowned upon to change your mind. What if we learned to frown upon never changing our mind and give ourselves impeccable permission to change our minds. Because if you never change your mind, guess what, you’re not growing, you’re not learning…you are what’s called: staying stuck…“
“There’s a poll circulating today from the Wall Street Journal and it’s a 25yr poll - meaning they conducted this same poll 25yrs ago. They wanted to see today the percent who say these values are very important to them and they did 5 different categories.
Patriotism went from 70% down to 38%. Religion, what we’re talking about now, 62% back in 1998…today it’s 39%. So your religion has dropped by 50%. Having children 59% down to 30%.
Money’s the kicker here. Went from 31% of people who say this value is very important to them, up to 43%. It’s the only one that improved.
People are less patriotic, less religious, they’re having less children - they care 1/2 as much about having children and then even community involvement is down. So everything across the board is down but making more money is more important. And it connects directly to religion because what you thought once upon a time was, God’s gonna provide for us and so money’s great, our family is very important - what we’re doing right here inside these walls. Me, my wife and kids, we’ll get it figured out and God will provide to us. We’re gonna keep seeking after his will for us…and everything else will work out.
Today people don’t care about their family. They don’t even think they need kids. You talk to the feminist today - they think they don’t need religion, they don’t need God. If you don’t think you need God, you have to provide for yourself.”
- T.J. Moe
“…the fact that so many Americans have a firearm within reach but never commit violence tells you that guns are not the problem. Most people in this country can be trusted with an AR-15, just as we can be trusted with cars and light air crafts and electricity and baseball bats and insecticide and chain saws and pruning sheers and countless other objects that could easily double as weapons.
On some level, all of us understand this. The problem is always the person, not the tool he uses to commit a crime. If you wanted to stop murder you would focus on the people who are committing murder, not the hundreds of millions of their neighbors who are not.“
“…these are 2 worldviews directly opposed to each-other. The transgender/lgbtq, the far left believe that man is God and that there is no God and that they get to decide what you are and…basically, that they’re God. And those of us who are believers, we’re idiots. We’re stupid for thinking that our rights and powers and our identity comes from god…”
“…there’s something about my own childhood that I just want every kid to experience. My childhood was awesome. It was hopeful. It was filled with: you can do anything. We’re not giving that to kids right now. We’re giving them a victims mentality and a mentality that America is the worst place on the planet, when we know that’s just not factually true. We can tell it…I just saw a video earlier this morning, thousands of people running across our southern border. Thousands at one time, running, desperately running across our southern border. And they want you to believe that Americas the land of racism and perfected racism…why are all these people of color running across our border to get in here? Why are people all over the globe breaking their backs to get in here. Why are Africans, black Africans, hoping they can punch their lottery ticket and live here in America? It’s a lie.”
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