Category: Uncategorized

The Gods of Revolution

Why should we have a Constitution and why should our elected leaders swear an oath to abide by it? The easy answer is that the leaders who work in government need rules to govern our republic and they must say out loud that they will abide by those rules. Interestingly, we the citizens who are not elected must put our faith in those whom we elect. But who among us really understands what that faith can and cannot do?

I put faith in the process and not in the elected officials. Process is the rules…Just like a football or baseball game, teams compete and fans pray that their team’s talent along with a little luck can win the game. Rules keep the outcome fair. Yet, politics is another game altogether! The rules are very hard to follow. The DNC and the RNC give off the impression of fairness, but their ultimate goal is the acquisition of power and so the representation of we the people seems to take a back seat. These political “teams” involve many power brokers that offer little transparency to the voters. It is this lack of transparency that removes fairness from the process. Faith therefore is fleeting because personalities have been deemed more important than the rules.

Neptune

These personalities believe themselves to be as gods. Just like the many gods who were worshipped in ancient times, these personalities consider themselves “gifted” with their own abilities of transformation. Unfortunately for we the people the transformation is not always part of a shared vision. It is as if the ancient war of the gods has returned to modern times as a revolution without a clear cause. How will the war end?

Governing bodies that use loose rules tend to usurp power for their own benefit. It doesn’t matter if the body being governed is a State or your own body. If the practice being used becomes unhealthy then there is a problem. Those being governed know the problem exists but are limited to interventions…It’s easy to see then how the power addiction turns into chaos (war).

Our Judeo-Christian God has the best process from which to draw faith. That which is real and objective, ie those things He created, hold the Truth. Therefore through God all things are possible. Once a person or government is driven by hubris, greed or power their ego thwarts the humility necessary to reveal Truth and to then turn chaos into mature and rational human behavior and actions for the betterment of others.

Be vigilant and pray for our country as well as an honest peace in the world.

When Feelings Don’t Lie

Since the time of Aristotle and no doubt even before, human kind has contemplated our existence. Every individual’s life experience is unique yet we all are conceived, born into existence, live, die and “feel” along that journey.

Where do “feelings” come from? This question is definitely hard to answer. I believe it’s more important to ask what feelings are grounded in. Plato developed more understanding around the latter question. Each individual has their own body/soul linkage…neither are independent from the other because one needs the other to form the basis of the human capacity to feel whether it’s the tangible aspects or the emotional aspects. Yet the body will one day decompose so humans are left with one more question, “What then?”. In this post I will focus only on those feelings that happen while we are alive.

Let’s start with the notion of “world view” which is different for everyone because we all have various family, religious, educational, cultural and geographic situations. This is our immediate experience, our “grounding”. Is the experience (aka grounding) “normal”? Heavens no! There are too many variables to account for. The grounding is the individual’s acceptance of their earthly experiences. It’s all relative to the order that is necessary for procreation of the human race without which we would not exist. This order is actually that which is normal. Societies are meant to thrive by bringing forth life within a structured familiarity (i.e. world view).

Our “world view” experience can expand with the help of modern technology. Travel, communication and media connect us with even more variety, but is this experience “grounding”? Heavens no again! These technological advances are a marvelous tangible distraction, but they do very little to advance our metaphysical sensibilities. The human soul was already a package deal from conception…Life on this planet is a distraction from the soul’s real purpose which is a oneness with God’s love for us. Ultimately He created us and wants us to live our physical lives graciously with each other before returning to Him in the metaphysical world.

As I have pointed out in my previous blogs (see https://shrewview.com/2019/04/03/a-religion-for-our-time/), order is based in the Male Principle (MP). Feelings that are grounded in the MP are orderly and cause no emotional distress. On the other hand, feelings that are grounded in the Female Principle (FP) are chaotic and cause much emotional distress…our metaphysical selves are always trying to balance these two Principles while we live in the physical world. Our feelings are expressions of this dual energy. Hence, our physical capacity to exist in this duality may or may not “fit” into the physical order of earthly circumstances. We see extremely ugly expressions of these dualistic feelings revealed as depression, anxiety, addiction, self harm or harm to others. The oneness with this ugly energy is our satan, our evil. There is no grounding, only physical and metaphysical unrest.

Honor your feelings but learn their value. The awareness they bring is for only you to understand because there is a much deeper duality at play…The middle path is not necessarily the safest and each extreme is not always the only choice. You must comprehend the metaphysical Male (order) and Female (chaos) Principles to actuate a balanced life in the physical world. The lie comes when you shun this reality and exist on a merely physical basis…living life becomes chaotic and difficult in a real sense.

Soon humans will be sold a non-physical experience in order to create a more “perfect” concept of “reality”. This experience is not metaphysical even though the Company logo identifies itself as “meta”. This will be corporate cronyism at its finest. Remember what I said previously, societies are meant to thrive by bringing forth life within a structured familiarity. We are not meant to be used and manipulated by others for a social purpose…The Male Principle and the Female Principle will be replaced with radically formulated principles in this new non-physical experience. This artificial “grounding” will give us everything we want and need for a fulfilling yet manipulated life experience. It “feels” wonderful, but it will cost us our God given free will…just what satan wants.

Lies can be easily sold to you if your feelings are not grounded first and foremost in God’s love for you. Removing the familiarity of God from society IS destructive to your soul.

Triple A Consequences

Are you part of a group? By group, I mean a set of people who have something in common. If you are part of a group, is it important that you all think alike and act the same? Are there rules for your group and consequences when someone breaks a rule? What are the benefits of being in your group?

When I was young I belonged to a group of neighborhood friends. The neighborhood was what we had in common. Initially we all went to the same grammar and elementary schools. Some of us went to churches of different religions in the same neighborhood too. We liked to hang out, play games, celebrate happy occasions and sometimes even get in trouble. That was kid stuff!

By middle school some of us went to different schools and so became part of other groups like sports, theater and music groups. Then as teenagers we each had to focus on what life had in store for our individual future development. College, the trades, or work became the focus yet there was always some time somehow to reconnect with that old neighborhood group. Change for our group was inevitable because even though we shared the old neighborhood as a common bond, none of us had the same talent, skill, passion or drive. The only rule was to be kind to each other. The only benefit was that we were friends. The rule and benefit extended to anyone else who wanted to be with us and abide by the same rule of kindness.

Be kind, be friendly. These are the best rules for being in a group…Any more rules can become a clique. I’m not fond of cliques because they tend to be exclusive.

It’s not a stretch to say that some groups are social constructs. The people in the group are socially connected with a common sense of belonging. When this belonging becomes a vehicle for “social change” then it is important to be critical of the group’s goals. Goals are different from rules because goals are the changes being sought. Are the goals inclusive or exclusive? Do the goals uplift all people or deprive some people of their rights?

It is very important for an individual to understand completely why they identify with a particular group before they become engaged with them. This is the ultimate struggle humanity faces! Insidious people often build social systems (ie. constructs) that tend to erode public trust. Once the system is in place, those who identify with it on some level can be swept up by its ideology often without realizing the consequences. What are those consequences? 1) Allegiance to the group, 2) Activism without critical thought, 3) Anger toward everyone outside the group. This triple A rating (Allegiance, Activism, Anger) is a sign of danger to the freedoms we hold dear in the USA. Kindness disappears. It can be an emotional struggle to remove yourself from a socially constructed group.

I think most independent people are smart. They may not engage in many group affiliations. Usually they are committed to reason. They are the ones to discern the dangers of the triple A consequences and vote against them regardless of the propaganda narrative. And if they miss the danger the first time, they will definitely correct it the next time. As the proverb goes: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Don’t get fooled again…Discern the dangers, correct the consequences.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Ecclesiastes 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. I know the verses better through how the Byrds sang them in a song called “To Everything There Is A Season” by Pete Seeger and originally released by the Limeliters in 1962 which happens to be the year I was born. I’m sure you know it:

To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rain, a time of sow
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late

This song has entered my thoughts many times over the last year. Recession in our economy, war in Europe, and sparring leadership in the federal administration have given me an uneasiness. Yet when I am able to focus on my own work, family and community my tensions ease and all seems right in the world. Things change and time changes…It’s how we build wisdom. Life was never meant to be easy, but we can certainly turn lemons into lemonade with a willing mind or even a good biblically inspired verse or song:

To everything turn, turn, turn…

The Fetish With Pronouns

Do you remember Mad Libs? I used to love these one page “stories” in which you fill in the blanks and the story would become sillier with the more interesting noun, pronoun or adjective you would think of…This is how I imagine our world today 🙂

The thing is, back when I was in grade school and Mad Libs were popular, my education was on par with filling out those blanks. For instance, a sentence was a sentence. It had a beginning, middle and end with punctuation and most of all meaning. These days I’m finding that most anyone graduating past the year 2000 or so is forgetting about this grammatically correct way of communicating. I’m not suggesting that my writing skills are perfect, however I’m seeing that the real world is behaving more like a “Mad Lib” every day.

Our mad world today.

For instance, let’s consider pronouns. A pronoun (I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.) is a word that takes the place of a noun, typically replacing one’s name or a thing as referenced in a sentence. The pronoun sometimes is “gendered” which simply means that it identifies with the name of the individual. This last point is important! Why? Because “gender” is grounded in language. Gender is real and necessary. “Language activists” believe that a pronoun is a descriptor which an individual wishes to be referred to in order to indicate their gender identity. No! Gender identity is a personal construct of the imagination. Believing that someone can wish their pronoun into being is a fetish of narcissistic magnitude and goes against language norms. Either an individual has a proper name or they don’t…The pronoun identifies the name.

“Hello. My name is __________ (fill in the blank). I am happy to meet you! We should get together sometime soon to get to know each other better.“

“I just met a new friend named _________ (fill in the blank). He/She (Correct pronoun needed here depending upon the name) is a very kind person.“

The two sentences above are grammatically correct depending upon the inserted name and corresponding pronoun. My name is Bette and it is a female name and therefore uses a female pronoun which would be “She” in the second sentence. If I am emailing someone I have never met before who is named Pat, Chris or Jamie then I might have a problem, but I don’t need their pronoun in order to converse with them directly. I would hope by the time we get to know each other that the he/she or him/her aspect would be known. If Pat, Chris or Jamie have the least bit of self awareness then they would grant me the respect of learning who they are by not getting upset over a pronoun. An email that closes with “Sincerely, Pat he/him” is fine, but only because Pat realizes that he is a man and might be mistaken for a she/her….But this is typically insignificant because people should always be granted the benefit of doubt! I can’t tell you how many times people get my name wrong, even those who have known me for years type Betty. I could never judge them harshly for this oversight because I understand that my name is different. This is the Christian way to behave. Otherwise your behavior is judgmental, egotistical and borders on tyrannical.

Now there are newly created pronouns attempting to be used in the English Language. Here are the examples: xe/xem/xyr, ze/hir/hirs, and ey/em/eir. What are these? Fetishes of a clown world of course. Go ahead and use one as your legal name, but don’t mess with the fundamentals of our English language.*

*My opinion on this subject is my right to express according to the Constitution which governs our country.

God Has Always Had His Own DEI

DEI, also known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, is being forced on our institutions with policies written by the political left. Is this moral and just or is this tyranny in action? I believe it is the latter.

It’s laid out in our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence, natural rights and unalienable rights are given by our Creator, God. What could be more God given than diversity? Human biology, thought and ability to create according to individual abilities are not given by a man, woman or governing authority. However these intrinsic rights can and have been removed by thugs and tyrants in leadership positions.

It is thuggery to demand of another person to change their gender beliefs, religious practices and vocation in order to fit a “manufactured” goal. It is tyranny for a State or person in a government role to force a goal or policy that is not in alignment with our Constitution. We solved this decades ago when we implemented the Constitutional laws and systems that enabled our country to flourish. AND we continually perfect the systems by using Constitutional principles and practices. Only by implementing our God given diversity (aka differences) in ways that use civil debate can we change minds, hearts, laws toward a more perfect union…and I don’t mean labor union!

Equity is not equality. Equity is how something is distributed. Equality is fairness of treatment or opportunity. Because God made individuals diverse as stated in the prior paragraph, equality in His eyes means that He gave each of us life and the opportunity to grow in mind, body (this includes talent) and spirit. He could never have distributed these things to us all with equity therefore equity is a man made term. For humans to impose equity, some people benefit and others suffer regardless of one’s abilities…Only the outcome is important. Isn’t this a forced outcome? Of course it is! Thus more thuggery and tyranny. Equality under the law is a Constitutional right and because it is in our Constitution it cannot be taken away from people.

Unless you vote for the wrong party lol

Finally, inclusion is a deceptive term. God does not use deception to convey His inclusive Love for all of us. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could include a person (no matter their ability, beliefs or behavior) in any aspect of society? Think about it…In order to be inclusive in most cases one would need to “discriminate” in order to build that inclusive community. Yet isn’t discrimination wrong or is this only for some people? Our Constitution allows us freedom of association. It doesn’t dictate with whom or for what cause…It’s simply natural to have an affinity for like-minded people as in a political party, religious denomination, alumni, etc. Being inclusive is nice and can make sense in some applications. However we must get real and understand that authentic relationships matter. Unless these relationships are toxic, criminal and against the law then people must be allowed to have their groups without political coercion.

I can still recall a conversation at a leadership workshop in my Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church where my co-facilitator and I were next to present on our agenda the UU understanding of inclusion. One participant related that our group quote, did not need to cover this topic because all UUs already know the meaning of inclusivity in our faith and this topic is a waste of time, end quote. The group skipped this topic and ended the discussion. This was 2011! As of 2015 the denomination hopped on the bandwagon of Trump related “resistance” effectively excluding those of us in the congregation with conservative values such as preserving our country’s borders, reforming the tax system to help employ more people and increase wages, and restraining federal spending ALL OF WHICH ARE NOT RELIGIOUS OF COURSE. But THE LEFT LEANING MAJORITY IN MY FAITH MADE OPEN BORDERS MORAL, ALL CORPORATIONS EVIL, AND FEDERAL SOCIAL SPENDING A VIRTUE. I no longer feel included in this religious community since all the sermons now preach the liberal political ideology. And don’t even get me going about my “whiteness” at church! I’ve expressed my concerns repeatedly only to affirm that inclusion here is nothing but a man made deception and has nothing to do with God’s Love.

Imposing DEI practices on people, groups, companies and organizations is inauthentic and goes against God’s will. He made us diverse, equal in His eyes, and included in His community of Love. Truth!

Courage is a Muscle

Do you enjoy exercising? I don’t lol…But I do it anyway. I always feel better afterwards too. For me it doesn’t take much to keep fit and maintain a healthy weight. Three mornings a week, a combination of stretching, light weights and simple cardio along with limiting sugar, dairy, carb and alcohol consumption seem to be ideal for me. Consistency and moderation are key.

I’ve typically been disciplined in my approach to most everything in my life, but that’s mostly because I have learned through experience what works for me and what doesn’t. Self awareness has helped. Role models which include family members have also helped. The aging process definitely humbled me as well.

Sometimes there are limits to what my body can do. However when I put my mind into any activity, I can definitely surprise myself with improvements. This proves that the human mind has considerable sway over the mind/body connection.

So what is COURAGE? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines courage as mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. The word strength is critical here because use of strength indicates that the mind (mental) and/or soul (moral) has to step up to confront a perceived danger, fear, or difficulty. But strength is a relative term…You must be tested consistently in order to build strength. We know that our reaction to a first test is usually not the same as our reaction to a second test of the same provocation, and as a matter of course the second test could prove a worse result than the first. This is why I say that courage is a muscle.

Courage to expose the truth

A consistent exposure to danger, fear, or difficulty tests your courage muscle. You begin to understand how your ability to overcome the danger, fear or difficulty can be used to improve an outcome just like consistent exercise improves muscle strength. Courage and fear are human characteristics which is why we have an innate “fight or flight” response. But of course fighting is more difficult than fleeing. The leaders among us know this. Which leaders are playing to our fears rather than informing us to help improve our strengths? Which leaders are constantly out in front of an issue to secure our freedoms as opposed to leaders that continually get behind an issue to curb our freedoms?

Right to defend your life and property

Your individual ability to safely provide for your needs in a lawful manner is the American way and is very courageous. Globalists want to control your ability to meet your needs and replace it with their ability to give you what they think you need which is why they will make you fear something like the climate changing. Only you can strengthen your courage muscle…Do it now and tell the globalists off! Keep America free now and forever.

The New Abolitionist

Identifying with a group or a cause can be a fulfilling experience in some ways. You understand that you are not alone with your thoughts and your emotions. Identifying with other people about an issue can even motivate you to act…These emotionally motivated activists are plentiful in our current politicized culture.

When emotions outweigh rational thinking you can be sure that disaster will follow. The social emotional learning (SEL) tools that are being introduced at K through 12 schools are experimental and require that teachers take on a psychologist persona. SEL helps a child identify into a system of compliance that favors groups over individuals.

From kappanonline.org: “Although SEL has been conceptualized in various ways, it can broadly be understood as the processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to manage their emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (Weissberg & Cascarino, 2013). More specifically, Roger Weissberg and colleagues (2015) have identified a set of five core clusters of social and emotional competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.”

Sounds nice doesn’t it? However we must understand what their term “broadly” actually means. In the case of SEL I believe the term applies to a broad form of behavior compliance…Individualism is sacrificed for the collective. This spells disaster for our Constitutional Republic. Universities are creating activist teachers who in turn use SEL to reinforce measures of control on vulnerable students.

Many school teachers have given up on their traditional core clusters of reading, writing, math, history and the scientific method. During the pandemic the latest NAEP test results (2019 through 2021) show disappointing drops in academic performance for 4th and 8th grades across the nation. This is not just because of a pandemic! Teachers were failing their students even before then…No Child Left Behind became Common Core which then became Critical Race Theory. SEL is simply the tool now devised to grow student activists who will champion for a government collective. The World Economic forum makes this clear: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/what-is-collective-governance/

The ideology of collectivism is slavery. This was wrong in Roman times and it was wrong before the Emancipation.

If you use discrimination in an effort to remove discrimination you achieve nothing meaningful. The new abolitionist is one who maintains a firm action of inclusivity based on the character and merit of the individual. Absolutely no group of people can be thought of as monolithic because the new abolitionist creates space for the individual to learn and thrive objectively rather than subjectively.

The new abolitionist has the emotional maturity to position differing opinions as opportunities for deeper understanding. Parents know this. Sadly the teachers unions have identified teachers as the activist group to develop a society of like minded collectivist slaves.

The new abolitionist is faithful to Godly principles and knows that humankind’s imperfections and ego can harm this faithfulness. Idolatry has no place in a heart that serves God.

Our children are too precious to condemn their lives to government control. Yet this is where we are headed. Enough is enough!

Houston, We Have A God Problem

As we mere mortals reach for the stars and the moons and the galaxies, we must first ground ourselves in Truth for it is this Truth that paved our way to the stars, moons and galaxies.

God’s creation is an orderly approach to what then become the creations of men and women. Notice that there is nothing humankind can create that isn’t from an existing element which only God could create. In nature, only elements up to atomic number 94 exist; to go further, it is necessary to synthesise new elements in the laboratory. All synthetic elements are unstable, but they decay at widely varying rates: the half-lives of their longest-lived isotopes range from microseconds to millions of years.* Scientific methods are human made. We should not consider ourselves as God because only His creations, including you and me, are infinite.

Alternatively, the human mind is much more than a creation of God. Human kind can use the mind to imagine and act out a multitude of scenarios. The mind is chaotic and requires proper guidance. But who’s guidance? I believe it must be guidance by God. Hence the formation of the Torah, the Bible and other religious books and systems. ‘In the beginning was the Word’ means ‘at the beginning of everything, there was the entity we know as God, who embodied, and created, the rational principle on which everything is founded’. Divinely inspired Truth is the fundamental basis of human thought which lead to the natural rights ensconced in the U.S. Constitution. This is what makes us a free people in America.

Beware the man made “systems” that remove God’s meaning and purpose. Secular is non religious yet was never meant to be non God. Religion is a man made system for being with and relating to God as science is a man made system for being with and organizing God’s creation on earth. Likewise government is a man made system for organizing a community of humans. Humans are a creation of God which He saw as good. However humans have the capability of committing acts both good and bad which is why God also created boundaries by handing down The Word through prophets and articles like the 10 Commandments. This is where secularists and atheists always get stuck…The “separation” of church and state is not a clause in the Constitution. Instead the Constitution guarantees no establishment of one religion for the state or states https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/885/establishment-clause-separation-of-church-and-state … Belief in God and the individual’s practice of religion was sacrosanct.

Fix reason in her place…

We have taken this freedom for granted. We can witness this in the human chaos that is all around us. The frailty of the human spirit is reflected in the blatant rejection (“revolution”) of the boundaries of scientific methods, man’s laws and the constitutional limits all of which have been traditionalized in our secular world. This rejection has conditioned many people to believe in human made false gods such as climate change, critical race theory and party politics…Modern day golden idols shining as stars and moons and galaxies for those who worship them and attempt to control others through them. Man’s misuse of the military industrial complex is an unfortunate outcome of this Godless control.

Ground yourself by getting real with God. Place importance in objective truths. If your faith in God is weak then you are vulnerable to the evils, the false gods, the golden idols of our material world. You don’t need to follow a church or a preacher, but you do need to educate yourself with The Word by following a kind and humble path with similar seekers. God is Love, Light and the Way.

*from Wikipedia

Testing for Substance

We all do this…Put an idea (policy or theory) out to people around us to gage the response and then take a new action accordingly. Those new actions can have a variety of intentions affecting culture, race, politics, history or anything really. They can even affect an individual’s life.

When an idea isn’t well received this doesn’t necessarily mean that it fails. In fact, hubris can actually cause an unfettered attachment to it, especially if the idea hasn’t been thoroughly tested for positives and negatives. People in positions of power can often display this type of hubris, making them assert their rejected idea more forcefully. Also, they might even “leak” bogus information to media platforms in order to distract from their efforts or inject soft science in order to bolster agreement among under-educated advocates.

Positive and negative feedback can come in many forms: polls, surveys, votes, debates, public comments, letters to the editor, social media posts, etc. But what happens when an idea (policy or theory) is pushed without any thought to the feedback? What happens when an idea has been developed to the point of its implementation and its negative consequences are allowed to run amuck?

Enter the whistle blower. These people typically are those who have first hand knowledge of the people implementing the idea because they are either working with them or for them. Because of their insider knowledge and their job being on the line, many whistle blowers are not protected from retribution. Sometimes whistle blower information will reach the public too late and few people might believe the information to be true…An investigation, usually by trusted reporters, is then critical.

But whom do you trust with investigative power? There is no easy answer to this especially if you haven’t been practicing your own discernment skills. Discernment and intuition are God given attributes meant to offset an overzealous trust. Otherwise you can be easily lead down a path of harm physically, economically and/or psychologically. Vulnerable people are often the victims of a power hungry person or group and the ideas that they profess. This is why it’s important to have a logical test for the substance of an idea.

Know the history!

The following are a few current ideas that I believe needed testing for substance before being enacted…Spend trillions of taxpayer dollars to “end” inflation; Allow children to choose their gender; Curb fossil fuel production before green energy alternatives are fool proof and ready for mass use; Feed a war machine against Putin rather than encouraging diplomacy. Each of these ideas has the capability of harming thousands of people.

Here is my test for substance:

1) Remove personalities and name calling from the equation. This allows you to focus on the idea.

2) What are the sources of the idea’s information? Gathering the hard data and original source articles can be instrumental for getting to a logical conclusion.

3) Is there any history of past examples? If so, what were the outcomes? History often repeats itself.

4) Do the values of the idea align with the welfare of each individual involved with the outcome? “Inclusive” can sometimes be exclusive. Seldom does an idea that is designed for a group benefit all the individuals involved. If this is the case, can the idea be remedied to be more beneficial?

5) Is there sufficient debate and compromise happening in the process? Diversity of opinion is more important than tunnel vision.

6) Remove the politics and lobbying. The correct decision should not be heavily influenced by outside pressures.

7) Is there a way to correct any negative effects after the idea has been implemented? Make sure this corrective process is in writing and easily available.

8) Trust your intuition and stop the process if you believe that any of the above steps have been compromised. Ask relevant questions to draw out the deceptive practices of others.

These are your powers. Use them, hone them and teach them. Truth is available, but only if you test for substance. Don’t allow yourself to be told what to believe or that your testing has no merit. God has blessed you to do this work.