The case for women in combat

Sorry, I can't make that case. You'll have to look somewhere else.

Here's why opening combat roles to our sisters and daughters is a horrible thing:

WOMEN ARE WEAKER. Really, I don't have to go any further. No doubt some will argue that some women are stronger than some men. Yes, that's right, but note the adjective used twice. "Some." Try this on: NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, and PGA. Or find me an Olympic sport where men and women compete at the same level outside steeple chase or badminton. Even the military has discriminatory athletic standards for men and women. All well and good when your cranking and banking your F-22. A bit different when infantry personnel can't all tote their required packs.

HAMSTRINGING MEN. Forgive the chauvinist pig in me, but it is a natural response for a man to protect a woman. You are asking men to ignore that response when going into combat. The slightest hesitation in a firefight can be life and death. Can men be trained to treat women as men? Yes, probably, but is that really what we want of our men?

NOT ALL WOMEN WANT COMBAT ROLES. Many women have volunteered to serve but never had any desire to see combat. In the past, this was no issue. Political correctness has doomed all that. A man enlists, he's at the whim of the DoD. "But I don't want the front lines!" You're in the wrong line of work, Sonny. Not so our lasses. It used to be considered beyond the pale that we would send our women to the front lines, especially if any men were left standing. Now our women will have no choice. If they do, then we have further discrimination within the ranks.

NOT ALL MEN WANT THEIR DAUGHTERS ELIGIBLE FOR COMBAT. My sons have to sign up for the draft. Does this mean that my daughters will have to sign up also? Not on my watch.

IT WEAKENS OUR MILITARY. As has been stated, this has all come about in the name of political expedience. We are NOT doing this to strengthen our military. Why did the Broncos do the Cirque de Soleil to get Payton Manning? They wanted to win. Why do we have the tanks, planes and ships we have? We want to win any military conflict we face. So please explain to me why on God's little green acre if we have sufficient able-bodied men enlisting for military service would we then open combat positions to women? "Because Helen Reddy wants to" is a dumb reason.

The fundamental fabric of our flag is unraveling at a rate that makes my head spin. With nothing to lose, our president is in a full-court press to make every liberal talking point the law of the land with little regard for the consequences. Sticking our sisters and our daughters into foxholes is just the next step.

Quote of the Day: God's goodness in suffering

"If people want to get into discussion with me about the sovereignty of God, I will tell them front and center that God doesn't like spinal cord injuries. he takes no pleasure in multiple sclerosis or children born with spina bifida. John Piper talks about how God looks at suffering through two lenses. He looks at the isolated incident through a narrow lens and loathes it. His heart loathes it when you go through a divorce. His heart aches when you give birth to that child with multiple disabilities. He hates the isolated lens of suffering. But he delights in the wide-angle lens. He sees the mosaic. He sees how it all fits together into this incredible pattern for not only our good, but the good of all those around us, and for his glory. I'm grateful that God is sovereign. His fingers hold back a deluge of evil in this world. I'm grateful that He only allows to slip through his sovereign fingers that which He's convinced will help our souls and fit us better for eternity."

~ 63-year old Joni Eareckson Tada

who has lived with quadriplegia for 45 years

from a diving accident when she was 17.

From an interview in World Magazine

God's word tells us to give him thanks in all circumstances, and in fact, the very act of giving thanks is God's will for me as a follower of Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This implies an absolute trust in my God and King. Now, if God is not sovereign over all things, isn't it foolish to give him thanks in all my circumstances? It would be like thanking my wife for the grass or for elephants. Neither had anything to do with those things. But I thank my wife for her awesome Oatmeal Scotchie cookies because it was by her hand that they came. For God to tell us to give thanks in all circumstances implies that no thing comes to us apart from his divine goodness--as hard or as easy as those circumstances might be. If he is not sovereign over all, he has no business asking us to give him thanks.

Will I trust him today?

Moms and Guns

This was written by a friend of mine about her experience with guns and evil in the world. You might pass this on to any who have the heebie-jeebies about having guns in their home.

Over 20 years ago, a single young woman was home alone. It was around 1 in the morning. She was awakened by noises coming from her front door. She quickly got up, grabbed her shot gun, and headed for the door. She waited, listening intently, when the door knob shook from the outside, and she heard something being wedged into the crack of the door. She shook with fear, but was more fearful of the person who was trying to break into her home... HER HOME! She became righteously angry, and pumped that shotgun shell into the chamber. It was loud, and she was right by the front door. The noise and the shaking of the door knob abruptly stopped! Her heart had been racing, then she began to hear footsteps pound the pavement. She looked out the window beside the front door, and saw a man running away! She tried to call the police... NO DIAL TONE! The wire had been cut (cell phones were not so prevalent, then). She sat in the living room of her home, trying to breathe again, thanking God that she had purchased that shot gun (and that semi-auto rifle, many years ago, to plink around at targets with friends). The intruder obviously was scared off... by the loud sound of that pump shot gun! 

Thankfully, the woman was not kidnapped, raped, murdered, tortured, or.... who knows what other things could have happened, if the intruder had gotten in! She was safe!

I know this woman... she is now happily married, is a mom to 5 beautiful kids. She loves her family, her friends, her country, and GOD.

This woman is ME! I thank God for His protection, and for the thought in my head to buy those guns to begin with. (And yes, when I first became a mom, I bought into the idea of keeping the idea of guns away from my little son. That didn't last long! He, and his brother, and their sisters are well versed in gun safety, and how to shoot!) 

Thanks for sharing, Jori! 

Hearing check

I came across this in my reading this morning and it stuck in my mind like an American in a European round-a-bout. When we read the Bible, what do we hear? Can we hear? And how well do we hear--and I mean really hear?

"Whoever is of God hears the words of God."

Now, most of us will shrug it off thinking we are aware of God in the cosmos, but Jesus drives it deeper.

"The reason why you do not hear them (the words of God) is that you are not of God." (John 8:47)

Again, how well do you hear? As a former fighter pilot, I have a number of friends who cannot hear certain frequency ranges due to decades around jet engines. They hear nothing in that range. God's giving us a very plain hearing test, and it doesn't require sitting in a sound-proof booth and mashing buttons when you hear an imaginary tone.

Here's the test: open the Bible and read it. You'll fall into one of three categories:

1. You REJECT it. You won't even take the test. You probably don't want to stop back by this blog anymore.

2. You're PERPLEXED. As you read the pages of the Bible, you don't understand what all the falderol is about. It's like reading somebody else's mail. But if you'd like to understand, ask the Author. You might be surprised what he'll show you (see John 3). If you think it's stupid, go back to category #1.

3. You're TICKLED. You hear his voice pretty well (John 10:27).

It all hinges upon God's word. Can we hear it? It's either true or it's not. If it's true, the consequences are enormous. It's like learning of a hidden treasure. Would you not do all within your power to obtain it? If it's false, then Jesus of Nazareth and all of his followers are the foulest individuals for selling millions a bill of goods.

So the question still hangs there. How's your hearing?