I think Romans 14 helps us on the matter of wearing masks, though I am not saying that those who believe we should wear masks are weak in faith.

Remember in Romans 14 the strong believed they could eat foods that were unclean according to the OT (Lev. 11 & Deut. 14), and they also believed that the sabbath and special feast days were no longer mandatory.
The weak thought one should refrain from eating food deemed unclean in the OT and also believed the sabbath and other feasts should be observed.
Paul clearly agrees with the strong theologically. No food is unclean now that the new covenant has arrived and Christ has come (Rom. 14:14, 20). The feast and sabbath days are no longer required (Rom. 14:5–6).
Still, when with the weak, they should refrain from eating unclean foods out of love for their brothers and sisters who think differently.
Notice this: the conscience of the strong gave them freedom to eat. They were convinced before God (and they were right!) that they were free to eat. It was part of their freedom in Christ!
But Paul says: your personal freedom isn’t what should determine your actions when you are with the weak. What is more important is sacrificial love, the same kind of love Christ displayed in giving his life for us.
The same principles are at stake when believers are gathered. You may believe masks are worthless and even a government imposition.
My point in this post isn’t to adjudicate the issue of wearing masks. Let’s stipulate, for the sake of argument, that those who say masks don’t do any good are correct (remember this is just for the sake of argument—I am not getting into whether the masks are helpful or not).
Even if the masks don’t help, some believers think they are necessary. They feel that is safer to wear masks. They believe masks protect them from the virus.
Even if you disagree, you should wear the mask out of love for your brother and sister. Paul teaches we are to sacrifice our freedom for the sake of others, to show love for others.
What if you say, but not wearing a mask is a matter of conscience and conviction? But the strong in Romans 14 had the conviction that they were free to eat unclean food. The freedom to eat was a matter of conscience.
Paul says, when you are with the weak, don’t live by your conscience, but theirs! Love them by wearing the mask, even if you think it is silly and stupid.
And notice what else Paul says to the strong (Rom. 14:3). Don’t mock or ridicule the weak. Don’t make fun of those who are more conservative than you are. We love our brothers and sisters by doing what they desire in a situation like this.
The way of the cross, the way of love, is to wear a mask if others want us to do so. And if that’s the hardest sacrifice, we have to make for our brothers and sisters, well it isn’t very hard!

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I’ll address every nonsense argument and lie used to defend the suicidal gender ideology Thats in vogue today:

3:45 - “So what if you don’t have gametes?”

It’s called a birth defect. You’re still male or female.


~5:00 *nonsense trying to say the sexes of seahorses could be swapped coz male carry the eggs*

male doesn’t produce eggs, he produces the sperm. He’s still the male. If I impregnated a chick then carried the amniotic sac in a backpack ‘til the baby was done I’ll still be male🤦‍♂️

5:10 - we could say there’s 4 sexes of fruit fly cause there’s 3 producers of different sized sperm

No. They’re still producing sperm. They’re males. This is idiotic. Is this whole video like this? (Probably. 99% likely. Abandon hope.)

~6:10 - hermaphroditism and sequential hermaphroditism exists therefore....

No. Some animals being hermaphrodites, which is meaningless w/o the existence of binary sex to contrast it to, still doesn’t make gender ideology or transgenderism valid.

Intersex ≠ transgenderism 🙄

6:20 - bilateral gynandromorphism is a disorder in some species (not in humans). Has nothing to do w/ “gender” or transgenderism.

Ova-testes in humans are also a disorder, usually found in those w/ the karyotype disorders that you ppl also try to appropriate (extra X’s/Y’s).
This is a piece I've been thinking about for a long time. One of the most dominant policy ideas in Washington is that policy should, always and everywhere, move parents into paid labor. But what if that's wrong?

My reporting here convinced me that there's no large effect in either direction on labor force participation from child allowances. Canada has a bigger one than either Romney or Biden are considering, and more labor force participation among women.

But what if that wasn't true?

Forcing parents into low-wage, often exploitative, jobs by threatening them and their children with poverty may be counted as a success by some policymakers, but it’s a sign of a society that doesn’t value the most essential forms of labor.

The problem is in the very language we use. If I left my job as a New York Times columnist to care for my 2-year-old son, I’d be described as leaving the labor force. But as much as I adore him, there is no doubt I’d be working harder. I wouldn't have stopped working!

I tried to render conservative objections here fairly. I appreciate that @swinshi talked with me, and I'm sorry I couldn't include everything he said. I'll say I believe I used his strongest arguments, not more speculative ones, in the piece.

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1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.