Timothy's Thoughts

A s you are aware, in the aftermath of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure / Planned Parenthood debacle, Karen Handel submitted her letter of resignation . The text leaves us with as many questions as it does answers. Did she leave because she felt she was no longer valued as an employee? Does the offer of severance pay imply that Nancy Brinker requested that she resign? Did she leave because Susan G. Komen for the Cure allowed it to be manipulated by the Democrats while Karen Handel is a card carrying Republican? I’m sure we could brainstorm motivation all day and still not know anything. What I do know is that Karen Handel looks like the hero in this mess. It is certain that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization has made a bad decision by reinstating abortion provide Planned Parenthood . It is certain that Karen Handel left the organization because of that decision. For that, she should be applauded. My prayer is that others in that organization will follow her example and ca...

A ll stories are retold, over and over, but some are better than others. One of my favorites is that of a boy who begins in a position of weakness and ignorance. A person of wisdom comes along and instructs the boy in how to develop strength and wisdom. The mentor dies, leaving the boy to wonder how he can possibly go on without his teacher to guide him. Meanwhile, the enemy begins his attack. Seeing that all is lost if no one counters the attack, the boy rises up out of his grief and leads his men into battle. We see this story in so many different places and yet it never grows old. Star Wars followed this plot very literally. We also see it in The Neverending Story . The book Holes follows this plot, somewhat, though that book is as much about the character finding an appreciation for his family name. I think this plot was more popular when I was a kid than it is now. That could explain why I like it so much. Maybe I’m trying to relive my childhood. Maybe it’s just a guy thing....

G irl Power movies or stories are “about a female character who starts off without any acceptance—be it social, intellectual, physical, economic, romantic or political—and spends the rest of the movie gaining it.” [1] It would seem that we don’t have boy power stories. Girl Power stories often make the claim that girls, at least the girl in the story, can do whatever the boys can do, only better because she can do it with makeup on. I don’t imagine there would be much interest in a story that showed a boy doing girl stuff. This is partly because guys already believe they could do the girl stuff, if they really wanted to, so they don’t need a story to tell them they can. The male counterpart to the Girl Power story is the Coming of Age story. Remember Karate Kid ? Of course we remember great lines like “wax on, wax off”, but when we look at the journey of the character, it is not one of gaining acceptance but gaining strength. In a Girl Power story, the female character already...

G od, is he male or female? If you read the Bible, all references to God are in the masculine form. Some have argued that this has more to do with the male chauvinism the time when it was written than an indication of what God is. Some people have attempted to rewrite the Bible in gender-neutral form. Some have even decided that God is a woman, as the author of The Shack did. The argument of some people is that since there is only one God, it doesn’t make sense to say whether he is male or female. And they have a point, if we look at gender as merely the two parts of the reproductive puzzle. Before we decide whether God is male or female, let’s consider what it means to be male or female. Forget about the reproductive organs and the differences in appearance for a moment. Forget about the typically stronger nature of the male and the nurturing nature of the female. Let’s imagine that we have two beings that are blank slates. Essentially, they are equal in every way. Imagine that we...

M any of you have heard by now heard about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization first indicating that they would no longer be providing Planned Parenthood with grants and then reversing their decision and offering an apology. The apparent reason for Susan G. Komen for the Cure cutting funding was that Planned Parenthood is under investigation. It should also be noted that Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide mammograms, which is a very important service in the fight against breast cancer. So, abortions or no abortions, it makes sense that Susan G. Komen for the Cure would spend their money elsewhere. So why then did they first say that Planned Parenthood would not be funded and now they are saying it is a mistake. The answer seems clear. This is an abortion issue, not a breast cancer issue. Susan G. Komen for the Cure was receiving a lot of flak about supporting the primary abortion provide Planned Parenthood . The policy that cut funding to organizations that don’t prov...

A ngels have wings. Some do anyway. We all know what they look like because we’ve seen so many pictures of angels. They always have these big wings sticking out of from their shoulders that are covered with feathers. How different that is from the image of the seraphims we see in Isaiah 6:2. They have six wings. Two are to cover their face. Two are to cover their feet. Two are for flying. Perhaps all could be used for flying, if they weren’t in the presence of God. What I really find interesting is that the word used for this six winged creature is also used for a venomous serpent. It is sometimes translated as dragon. How very different that seems than a beautiful woman with dove’s wings strapped to her back. I suspect that these creatures look more like a flying reptile than they do the images of angels we see. But some angels have the appearance of men. I don’t know that these have the ability to fly. Why would they need to climb Jacob’s ladder if they could fly? I suspect they ...

W hat is Christian Fiction ? There is a genre called Christian Fiction and it has several sub-genres, including romance, historical, women’s fiction, speculative fiction, etc. so it seems like it would be easy to define what is and is not Christian Fiction . Some people (including Christians) avoid Christian Fiction because of certain beliefs they have about the books in the genre, but Christian Fiction isn’t easy to define. But I can understand the reluctance of some people because most of what I see in Christian Fiction these days are either women’s fiction (including romance) or super dark stories about the end of the world. This is very different from the Christian Fiction of yesteryear that included such classic novels as The Pilgrim’s Progress , The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , Not My Will , and In His Steps . In part, the change may be because traditional Christian publishers and authors were more interested in the message than the money. Modern publishers of Christia...