Flawed Ideas and Consequences: Learning from History's Lessons

Ideas Matter

Ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims. John Stonestreet

Hitlers Nazism Hitler s Nazism A socially radical doctrine [idea] that became a revolutionary movement. It rejected the rule of law, it emphasized the inequality of people and races, it sought to purge or suppress competing political, religious and social institutions. Brittanica

Ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims. Ideas Matter!

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 2 So Aaron said to them, Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. Exodus 32:1-2

So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Exodus 32:3-6

The Flawed Ideas The Flawed Ideas 1) Israel was practicing the bad ideas learned in Egypt.

The Flawed Ideas The Flawed Ideas 1) Israel was practicing the bad ideas learned in Egypt. 2) Israel thought God could be replicated and replaced.

The Flawed Ideas The Flawed Ideas 1) Israel was practicing the bad ideas learned in Egypt. 2) Israel thought God could be replicated and replaced. 3) Israel thought the worship of a holy God could be merged with pagan practices.

How did God Respond? How did God Respond? He said the people had corrupted themselves. And the Lord said to Moses, Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. Exodus 32:7

What were the future consequences? What were the future consequences?

What were the future consequences? What were the future consequences? 1) For centuries, Israel continued to merge pagan ideas with God s ways.

What were the future consequences? What were the future consequences? 1) For centuries, Israel continued to merge pagan ideas with God s ways. 2) Jeroboam repeated the sin of making and worshipping a golden calf.

What were the future consequences? What were the future consequences? 1) For centuries, Israel continued to merge pagan ideas with God s ways. 2) Jeroboam repeated the sin of making and worshipping a golden calf. So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 1 Kings 12:28-29

These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! Exodus 32:4 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 1 Kings 12:28-29

What are the bad ideas being espoused today? What are the bad ideas being espoused today?

What are the bad ideas being espoused today? What are the bad ideas being espoused today? 1) The complete redefining of men and women.

His Idea: Gender and sexuality is only a social construct based on power leading to oppression and inequality. Dr. Christopher Dummit

Now my big idea is everywhere. It shows up especially in the talking points about trans rights, and policy regarding trans athletes in sports. It is being written into laws that essentially threaten repercussions for anyone who suggests that sex might be a biological reality, Dr. Christopher Dummit

My flawed reasoning, and other scholarship using the same defective thinking, now is being taken up by activists and governments to legislate a new moral code of conduct. Dr. Christopher Dummit

If there is no man or woman as If there is no man or woman as prescribed in scripture prescribed in scripture Then: There can be no biblical instruction for men or women There is no such thing as biblical marriage There can be no biblical instruction to wives or husbands The entire biblical premise of family and community is destroyed

What are the bad ideas being espoused today? What are the bad ideas being espoused today? 1) The complete redefining of men and women. 2) The murder of children masking as reproductive health care and reproductive justice.

What is reproductive healthcare? Healthcare that provides services such as abortion and birth control. What is reproductive justice? Reproductive justice links reproductive rights with the social, political and economic inequalities that affect a woman s ability to access reproductive health care services.

What does this mean? What does this mean? All barriers to reproductive healthcare and justice need to be removed and dismantled.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Yet, the murder of children in the womb is repulsive to God. Psalm 139:13-16

Abortion is the most pervasive and horrific systemic injustice in our culture precisely because it is protected by law.

Ideas have consequences, bad ideas have victims. Ideas matter!