"YOU ARE SPECIAL!"

“YOU ARE SPECIAL”




Please! No more speeches that tell people – and especially young people – that “You are not special!” Not only because the statement is not true, but also because it is the last message our society needs to hear. All around us we continually see the assault on the dignity of human life. The Aurora theater, the Sikh killings in Wisconsin are only the latest episodes of humanity being treated as cheap and readily disposable. The same unnerving phenomenon has been with us ever since the advent of abortion. The trashing of human life made its ugly presence dramatically felt on 9-11, in the Oklahoma bombing, and in the disgraceful treatment of the poor and elderly in the aftermath of Katrina. Media, movies, and violent video games encourage the assault on human dignity. Rape, torture, and mass killings like those in the “Dark Night Rises” make for top box office entertainment today. Is it any wonder that the Boston Herald headline yesterday (Aug. 14th, 2012) reports on the fear which lurks on the streets of our cities today?

So no more speeches which tell people – and especially young people – that “You are not special!” I don’t care how literary the speech may be, or how artfully written – and the “Commencement” speech at Wellesley High last June was one such speech. Truly a literary gem, a work of literary art worthy of being studied and emulated in a course on writing. Yet its message is unfortunate, the last message people need to hear whether in Aurora, Oak Creek Wisconsin, or anywhere in America for that matter.

All the more so since the message is not true. Biblical teaching makes that quite clear. Each and every person has inestimable value as a child of God made in His image. (Gen. 1:26-27) How special each person is as His child, as flesh of His flesh, life from His life, heart of His heart. Even further, the human soul made in His image knows no limit. There is no limit to how high that soul can reach or how far that soul can go with the help of our Father on a journey to excellence in the service of Love.

But how would a public high school in America today know any of this; or, for that matter, how would our secular society, when they exclude from the public forum any word from God – especially any word that addresses the issue of human dignity? The result? A graduating class of American youth get to hear a three typed page message hammering home the reasons why they are not special; and even more tragic, a message like that all-pervasive in media and movies today – one that presents a vision of life and a view of people totally divorced from the context of the Gospel and God’s Word. Sad to say, though unfortunate and tragic, that commencement speech and the media messages like it are an all too common “sign of our times” – not to be surprised then when the news reports stories where “life is not special”, where human life is trashed, cheapened, or in the case of abortion and mass killings, readily disposable.

There are so many better purposes that a graduation speech can and should serve rather than subjecting and pummeling a graduating class of promising teens to three pages of “put down” rhetoric. Why not instead make the case for why you are special based on the core Gospel concept of Christian dignity – the infinite worth and value of each and every human being made in God’s image. Go even further, and cite how that worth was ratified and validated by the suffering and death of Jesus, by the price He paid to bring humanity back home to the heart of their Father.

You want to say something worthwhile to a graduating class of high school seniors? Tell them who they are in the eyes of God. Tell them that Jesus died with their names upon His lips. Tell them that as a child of God made in His image their “…immortal soul is beyond all price. There is no trouble too great, no humiliation too deep, no suffering too severe, no love too strong, no labor too hard, no expense too large, but that it is worth it, if it is spent in the effort to save a human soul…” in any and every sense that a human soul can be and needs to be saved.

- Douglas P. Michaud, Ph.D.C.
See our Ministry Website at www.trinitycor ministries777.net

An Updated Version of My Last Chick-fil-A Blog

An Updated Version of My Last Chick-fil-A Blog

Especially in the light of that dreadful bullying incident in Arizona, I’ve updated my blog on Chick-fil-A, dated August 1^st, 2012

Scathing Responses To Dan Kathy and “Chick Fil A”???

Incredible!

From ABC News.com/Politics:

Mayor Menino wrote a scathing letter to Cathy last Friday urging him to keep his restaurant out of Boston.

“I was angry to learn on the heels of your prejudiced statements about your search for a site to locate in Boston,” Menino wrote. “There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.”

Menino clarified his remarks on Thursday, noting that while he use the “bully pulpit” to discourage Chick-fil-A from coming to Boston, he would not deny the restaurant the necessary city permits to open in the city.

Days after Menino’s harshly-worded letter Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel levied his own criticism at the restaurant, saying he does not believe Cathy’s comments “reflects who we are as a city.”

“Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago values,” Emanuel said Wednesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “And if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.”

San Francisco became the third city to turn a cold shoulder on Chick-fil-A when Mayor Edwin Lee tweeted his distaste for the company’s anti-gay stance on Thursday.

“Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn’t share San Francisco’s values & strong commitment to equality for everyone,” Lee tweeted, adding in a subsequent tweet, “Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer.”

My Response:

I’m incredulous… Mayor Menino and other U.S mayors wanting to ban “Chick-fil-A” from their cities?! And all because its founder, Dan Cathy, wants to believe as Jesus did that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a  woman?! (Mt. 19:4-6)

Is this crazy or what? Thankfully Mayor Bloomberg from Yankee Country (NYC) had the intelligence to sound off about the issue with a position statement that still respects the parameters of common sense, and more importantly, the Bill of Rights protected by the Constitution of the United States.

Honestly, what are those others mayors thinking? Personally, I was embarrassed to be represented by some liberal politician who makes Boston sound like some sort of Police State. Mayor Bloomberg is right when he says that “You can’t have a test for what the owners’ personal views are before you decide to give a permit to do something in the city. You really don’t want to ask political beliefs or religious beliefs before you issue a permit. That’s just not government’s job.”

Exactly right!!! And God help us if we move even one step in the direction of the other mayors’ directives. Especially disturbing is the allegations by Mayor Menino of discrimination and prejudice directed at Dan Kathy for thinking differently from the powerful Liberal Left lobby in this country. God forbid. I mean what is this country coming to?

                And I’m sorry – shame on the people who constantly tell me not to speak my beliefs for fear that they might offend others, the people who remain silent in an effort to be kind and compassionate toward others. I am kind and compassionate. Dan Cathy is too. But he, as well as myself, do not intend to remain silent when we constantly see the scathing anger and intolerance directed at the bedrock values upon which this country is founded. Can’t anyone see the anger and intolerance toward Christian values and teaching reflected in the words of these of these U.S. mayors? That’s the real issue here: intolerance toward Judeo-Christian values, and the censorship of any and all speech that disagrees with the Liberal agenda in this country.

Be silent in an effort to be kind? Bullcrap! I’m going to say “Merry Christmas!”, not “Happy Holidays!”, and tell those offended people to be kind and tolerant toward me and to respect my freedom of speech protected by our Constitution. And don’t give me that hogwash that because I want to believe in Jesus and His teaching, I’m prejudiced, or that I’m discriminating and want to treat certain people as less than equal. Not so!

And should I be “banned in Boston” when I say “Merry Christmas”? Or if I refuse to say “Winter Tree” instead of “Christmas Tree”? If so, then that is discrimination – to deny access or full participation in society based on race, color, or CREED!

God forbid that Chick-fil-A, or some other business should publically say, “Jesus is Lord!” in Boston. God help them. Perhaps we could set aside one of the islands in Boston Harbor as a prison where we could put such people – and all political dissidents, or more specifically, all who dare to think differently from the Liberal Left in this country.

I really do have a message for all these people who accuse others of “hate”, “prejudice”, and “discrimination” simply and solely because they believe differently than the Liberal agenda in this country:

“Grin and bear it!”, as they say.  And thank the God that you may or may not believe in that you are free to dissent from the majority consensus in this country.

“Grin and bear it!” And thank this God that the majority rule in this country gives you that freedom to dissent, that they don’t instead try to incriminate you and put you into prison for believing differently.

“Grin and bear it!” Even get down on your knees and thank this God that you’re not in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, or Indonesia – never mind Syria! When you are there don’t ever act offended, insulted, or discriminated against when the majority around you gives “Praise to Allah!” You’d be in for one “hell of a shock” at what will happen to you.

 Forgive my rant, but all this is so maddening. I can remember the story in a Catholic high school near by where a non-believer would take down the cross off the wall while he was teaching, and not allow one in his homeroom – in a Catholic school mind you! The administration of the school allowed such behavior in the name of tolerance and so as not to give offense. Hello?! Where was the teacher’s mandate to be tolerant and understanding toward the mission statement of the school that paid him: to make Christ known! There it is in a nutshell - intolerance surrounding us everywhere today permitted, condoned, and countenanced in the name of tolerance and compassion – it is all so absurd, and it has to stop, or the cherished biblical values of our country’s founding documents will soon fade from the public forum, and our country as we have known it will soon cease to exist.