Friends, I don't generally like to write blog posts on this sort of topic but there comes a time when enough is enough, and if there's anything I can't stand, it's something pretending to be something else in a very bad sort of way. 

How many of you have encountered one of "those signs," which we conservatives like to call "The leftist ten commandments" standing sentinel in someone's front yard? There's one which I pass on my route home every Wednesday evening as I drive through historic Wake Forest. 

        I find it somewhat incongruous that such a preposterous piece of propaganda should stand up in such a beautiful yard in front of such a grand old villa.

        Why do I call it "Preposterous Propaganda?" Simply because it is one thing trying very hard to be another thing for the purpose of making the one thing seem more acceptable, and that, my friends, is simply insupportable.

     For any of you who have not seen this sign, here is an example:

         Look familiar, anyone?

         Before you close this tab in disgust because you think it's another one of those "conservative values versus liberal values," slamming sessions, let me assure you that this isn't that.

         I have absolutely no problem with people posting lists of what they believe in their front yards. It's their property. They can put up a life-sized statue of the flying spaghetti monster for all I care. However, what I do not like is when people try to pass off said beliefs under different titles which can then be used to shame those who believe differently.

          Here's what I mean. Look at that sign again. Aside from the final statement, is there anything explicitly stated which your average, decent, educated adult, conservative or liberal, Christian or non-Christian will disagree with? I don't think so. 

        If we look merely at the words of each statement we'd agree.

        However, the sign is, on the one hand, a big joke, because all of us know that each one of those lines means something very specific and very different from what it actually says.

        Let's take a look at each statement.

        Black lives matter.

Absolutely! There are few people you'll come across who will disagree with that. However, that's not what that line is actually saying, is it? Anyone who has spent any time seriously digging into the "black lives matter," movement will discover that not only is it rife with people don't care a fig for our darker skinned fellow men, but also with those who are actively attempting to exploit them. 

Now, even if we gave people the benefit of the doubt and assumed that they genuinely care for these people, the message they're trying to promote is not that "Black lives Matter," otherwise there would be less talk and more action. 

     I submit to you that this is actually a statement about "Black oppression." Real or conceived, this is what we all think of when someone says the phrase "Black Lives Matter!"

Black Lives Matter = Black People are Oppressed

         Women's rights are human rights

     Okay, sure, absolutely. Women are human, therefore women's rights would fall into the category of human rights. However, what are they actually saying? 

"Women aren't being treated fairly." 

"The world is geared for men to be more successful than women."(Whatever that means)

"We live in an oppressive misogynistic society that crushes women."

       On and on. Proponents of this statement hate the idea of traditional masculinity. They want women to be treated and viewed exactly like men. Okay, it may be a bit unrealistic, but we live in a free country. You are welcome to want that, however, please just say so!

Women's Rights are Human Rights = Women Should be Treated Exactly Like Men

       No human is illegal

This one's funny. Really funny in a horrible sort of way since a lot of people who say this also blatantly support abortion. Ha...ha...ha! Alas, it's a sad day when we advocate for the freedom of people we do not know who sneak into our lands, many times bent on harm, and then turn around and kill our own children. 

    I know I said I wasn't going to talk about the respective morality of each statement, simply it's true meaning, so I'll stop there. We all know what this is talking about. Illegal immigrants. This is a statement made by people who believe the U.S. government should be much less strict with people who sneak across our borders. Some even believe we should have open borders. 

      Alright, they can believe that, but why don't they just say it how it is?

No Human is Illegal = No Human should be banned from America

      Science is real

I don't know about you, but I agree with that statement. Science is absolutely real. You can look it up anywhere. It's one one of the major subjects we all studied as school children. I still have lists of terms floating around in my head from when I took college biology. Science is real, friends, hallelujah!

     Would that it were so simple. I find this statement especially scummy because it is so general that it makes anyone who disagrees with it look really, really dumb. In this context it's usually aimed at people who may have more of a distrust for conventional medicine, and medical doctors, people who believe God created the earth in seven days, people who don't vaccinate.

       None of these are claims challenging the reality of science, they simply challenge the findings of many who claim to study science. Perhaps the only ones with the existential crisis in this situation are the people who coined this loaded statement.

Science is real = Popular Medical Experts are Always Right

     Love is Love

This one is genuinely funny. Half of the amusement comes from the fact that it's such an obvious tautology. This is any statement which is always true. There are no exceptions, no differing terms. The example my symbolic logic teacher gave was the one of the infallible weatherman. Every morning he gets up and tells his listeners, "Today it will either rain, or it will not rain."  

That's what this statement is to a tee. Since this is such a fad, I really ought to post a sign in my yard reading "Christianna is Christianna." Such a profound and meaningful declaration should have every human who drives by swooning at my feet over my depth of wisdom and insight.

The only explanation I can conceive for how such a ridiculous statement ever found its way into even the dumbest minds as a viable argument for anything is that they were trying to prove a point that love is good regardless of the object of affection or who's doing the loving. Of course we know this is in reference to the LGBTQ crowd. That's when we have to ask, "How are you defining love?" I mean, actually. You can't define a word with itself. That gets you nowhere. That's okay, though, I think we all know what is actually being claimed by this statement. 

    Why can't people just out and say it, though, seriously?

Love is Love = Love is Sexual Attraction

      Kindness is everything

Okay, I definitely don't agree with that there is so much more to life than kindness. However, this might be the most honest statement in the mix. Notice, however, I say the most honest. Even this one isn't true. If kindness were everything to people who believe all these things they wouldn't be so spiteful and mean to everyone who disagrees with them. It makes me so mad how these people can talk about kindness, and then turn around and be some of the nastiest, spiteful, exclusive individuals I've ever met. 

    Sure, I've met some nasty Christians, and they make me unhappy too, but at least most of them don't have signs in their front yards claiming that kindness is everything. I just wish these people would tell the truth. As long as I stroke their feathers these people will be very nice to me. 

    The moment I suggest that homosexuality is wrong, that the man should be the head of the household, that vaccines might not be as safe or as helpful as they are purported to be, suddenly these nice people will tear me to pieces. I will not be spared, there will be no mercy. They will trample the pearls I cast to them and then turn and rend me asunder.

Kindness is Everything = Being Nice to Everyone We Agree With is Everything

Because I wanted, just for a moment, to see with my own eyes the truth of those black signs with their colorful lettering I put something together this morning on a photo editing site. Sometimes I just love technology!

            I know, the format's not exactly right, but I'm rather proud of the result seeing that this was the first attempt, created on the fly.

           It comes down to this. If I drove by that house in historic Wake Forest and saw the sign I just created, I would most definitely snort at it, but it would not gall me the way the first one does. Yes, you do have a right to string out lies and loaded statements in your front yard, but it sinks to an entirely lower level than does just blatantly claiming your beliefs that I lose all respect for you in a way that I wouldn't otherwise.

          And that's my spiel for the day. What do you all think of my translation? Is it accurate? I hope that if any of my more honest liberal readers see this they might reconsider putting out the first sign with their garden gnomes next spring. As for the less honest ones, well, I don't know what to do about you. I know better than to even ask you to be merciful to me. I know no mercy or grace will be extended.

        As for me, I think I'll just abstain from putting inflammatory statements in my front yard. I prefer to live out my Saviour's love and greatness in my life as I serve the people around me. I prefer to keep only His praise upon my lips. It's easy to put out insulting messages for people who are just driving by. People whom I'll never have to meet or interact with. I'd rather learn to love the people who think differently from me, to heap burning coals upon their heads(in the contextual sense, of course), to bring a smile to their faces rather than an eye-roll. 

          In one of the latest statements handed down from my predecessors, the company policy reads like this: "We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord..."

         No, you'll never see that on a sign in my front yard, but you won't need to...

                . . . if you know me even a little bit!

    Until next time, I remain faithfully yours,

                   ~ Christianna

 

 

         I've never had a tooth pulled, so I have little license to say that getting my brother to take a picture with me was like that, but I can say it took some cajoling on my part. Me and my brothers are all a bundle of odd pieces. Parts that don't fit into society really, or with each other sometime. We're unconventional, and most of the time we're okay with that.

         Of course sometimes this leads to clashes especially between those of us with more similar personalities: two iron wills which refuse to defer to the other.

          Timothy and I are very much alike in temperament. We both state our opinions unequivocally, and without apology. We have a bit of contempt for anyone who cannot present a sound logical argument for what he believes, and we both will fight to the death for something we believe and neither concede nor back down until we have either crushed our opponent or become martyrs in the process. 

           These are all things we've gotten better at over the years and become more gracious, but still when we get in the same room with each other, it often ends in a hefty argument, with both of us walking away fully convinced that the other is incontrovertibly wrong.

           I guess, though, at the end of the day, I think we both have a bit of respect for the other because of it. I know I hold my older brother in a good deal of respect, though I was never in awe of him. He made me too angry sometimes for all that. 

        Now, though, I'm about to watch my brother take wedding vows. Tomorrow he will join hands for life with a wonderful young lady who is to be my sister, and walk through life with her for as long as they both shall live.

       I guess, I know now, that my brother will make a good husband. I know from experience that when Timothy says something he never recants unless he can be shown logically through much argument, and much good luck on the part of the opponent, that he is wrong. I've only seen him change his mind a few times in all my years of knowing him. I can count those times on the fingers of a single hand.

         Timothy's staunch refusal to back down from anything is what makes him dependable, hard-working, stubbornly persistent, and successful in pretty much everything he attempts. 

        Now, as he embarks on this wonderful new journey with a woman who is far less implacable than I, I'm excited for all those qualities about him that used to drive me up a wall.

        I know that the forever vows they will make tomorrow will be said with purpose and intention, not just because it's the thing that one does. I know that there will be honor, respect, and love.

       So here's to my brother and his fiance! 

              I'll raise a glass to them both and wish them happiness as they embark on this grand new adventure that is marriage. A beautiful forever.

            ~ Christianna