Human Developmental Stages and Decision Making

Personality Theory is a field of study in Psychology.  If you do post-graduate work toward earning a master’s degree or a doctorate in Psychology, many universities will require you to complete at least one course in Personality Theory.  Among the many personality theorists included, the course will almost always cover the theories of Sigmund Freud. 

Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler are regarded as the founding fathers of psychology, and their ideas are foundational to the psychoanalytic school of psychology.  There are still many psychologists and psychiatrists who adhere to the psychoanalytic school or accept some of its assumptions as valid. 

Erik Erikson is sometimes regarded as “Freudian.”  He was trained in Vienna, Austria at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute.  Both Erikson and Freud believed that the human personality develops over time in stages.  Freud wrote about five developmental stages, and Erikson proposed that there were eight.  Various others have written on the subject.  There are a great many articles available to you on the Internet if you use a search phrase like “human development” or “stages of development.” 

You will find that most developmental theorists do not regard the personality to be fully developed until late adolescence or adulthood.  Erikson in particular seems to have seen personality development as a lifelong process.[1] 

Today, the educational system in many places in the United States is encouraging very young children to make decisions about their gender identity.  In many cases the public schools are doing so without the knowledge or consent of the child’s parents. 

Some medical treatment providers are treating young children medically to “affirm” their gender identity if they decide, (or coached into believing), that they want to change the gender they were born with.  If you consider the prevailing human personality developmental theories, the decision to receive the treatment is being made before the child’s personality is fully formed. 

This is a Christian blog, and there are religious reasons why we believe what is happening to our children is wrong, and that it should be stopped.  However, we recognize that not everyone shares those beliefs, and that some people oppose what they perceive to be attempts to impose religious values on the general population.  Rather than raising moral issues about gender reassignment,  we ask that widely recognized ideas about human development be taken into consideration. 

Young children and adolescents are not sufficiently developed psychologically to make life-altering decisions about gender identity, or to request and consent to undergo gender reassignment counseling or medical treatment.  It is a parent’s responsibility to provide guidance until the child is an adult and can make their own decisions. 

Furthermore, the public schools are underperforming in the basic fundamental tasks of educating our children.  If they cannot teach our children to be proficient in reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, civics, business, geography, and so forth, then I think it is arrogant for them try to guide their students in sensitive areas like gender identity.  Opinion poll results are mixed regarding Americans’ approval of public school performance.  Polling can be manipulated according to the biases of those conducting the polls.  Gallop is a trusted source, and Gallop opinion polling from the years 2000 through 2022 consistently shows that over half of those polled were “dissatisfied” with school performance.[2]  Personally, I will not be satisfied until our children attain grade-level or above proficiency in the traditional, basic subjects, and until we are in the top three countries in academic achievement internationally. 

To add insult to injury, many school systems are disregarding the rights of parents.  While a child is in school, the school has certain duties that make it necessary for the school to act as a prudent parent would to ensure good order and discipline on campus and to safeguard children from injury.  The duty of schools to act as a surrogate parent ends there.

Curriculum must be decided in cooperation with the public.  Parents have the right to opt their children out of subjects that conflict with their core values or sincerely held religious beliefs.  Parents who have attempted to do so, however, have been kept from exercising that right.  Additionally, those parents have been branded haters, bigots, racists, and even terrorists.  Consequently, we demand that parental rights regarding the education of their children be codified by law.

Here is the bottom line.  The recognized stages of human personality development show that our public schools must not indoctrinate our children on issues regarding gender identity.  The appropriate responsibility of the schools is to protect children while they are on campus from ridicule and bullying about any issue – a task at which they fail miserably. 

Permanent, life-altering medical decisions about medical gender reassignment must be made by the individual recipient after they reach a legally recognized age of adulthood.  It is the responsibility of the child’s parents to guide children on issues like gender identity, not the schools. 

Simply put, it is self-evident that people should not be encouraged or allowed to make adult decisions, or take on adult responsibilities, until they are adults.  (What a concept.)  It is not something new or different.  We cannot legally drive a car until we are 16 years old.  We must reach a legally mandated age before we can buy alcoholic beverages or cigarettes.  We cannot vote or serve in the military until we are old enough. 

Vote for common sense.  Vote for candidates who will protect our children from the radical, left-wing people who are running our schools.  Remember it is our tax money that is paying for all this insanity.  Therefore, we all bear some degree of responsibility for it.

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[1] https://www.verywellmind.com/erik-eriksons-stages-of-psychosocial-development-2795740 

[2] https://news.gallup.com/poll/1612/education.aspx

 

 

True Wisdom

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written:

“I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERSTANDING, I WILL CONFOUND.” (Isaiah 29:14)

Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.  For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;  but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,  but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind. 

For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,  and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no human may boast before God.  But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God,  and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,  so that, just as it is written: 

“LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:24) 

(1Corinthians 1:18-31 NASB) *

 

*  https://biblehub.com/nasb_/1_corinthians/1.htm

 

New and Improved

The saying, “Never give a sucker an even break,” is most commonly attributed to the comic actor, W.C. Fields.  Confidence men sometimes call a sucker a “mark” – the target of a scheme to defraud or deceive. 

Some people want something for nothing.  Others are into shortcuts.  People who want to get rich quick or who want things for “free” often find that they have been cheated or defrauded in one way or another. 

Legitimate businesses “create demand” for “new and improved” products by convincing consumers that they need them.  They convince people they will be “in with the in crowd,” or one of the elite, if they buy the very latest version of smart phone or computerized gaming device.  It all boils down to the line Danny DiVito’s character says in the movie Romancing the Stone, “He made ya think ya need it – ya sap.” 

Now let’s look at the latest rifle cartridge du jour … the 6.5 Creedmore (aka 6.5mm Creedmore or 6.5x48mm); made available commercially by Hornady in 2007. It was developed for long range target shooting, but it has also become a popular hunting cartridge. 

The 6.5mm bullet has excellent ballistic characteristics that result in flat trajectories and good retention of velocity and impact energy, especially at long distances.  Its wind resistance is better than some other bullets as well.  To spare you the details of sectional density and ballistics coefficient, 6.5mm is streamlined. 

There!  Fundamental fairness has been served.  Now we can get to the meat of the matter.  The fact is that before the 6.5 Creedmore was introduced, rifles had already been chambered for at least ten 6.5mm cartridges that I know of, and there are probably more.  Why then do we need another one? 

Most hunters need one or two versatile big game rifles that they can use on deer or antelope, but can also dependably and humanely kill larger animals like elk and moose; using heavier loads.  There’s already a plethora of calibers that will do the job, and there is no need, in my opinion, to add more.  Examples include the 270 Winchester, 280 Remington, 280 Ackley Improved, 30-06 Springfield, and 7mm Remington Magnum.  In a cartridge with a shorter case, you can choose a 308 Winchester or pick from a raft of Winchester Short Magnums.

If the hunter might have an opportunity to hunt large bears or other dangerous game, they should consider the 300 Winchester Magnum.  Forgive me if I left out your favorite. 

When I sold guns in retail stores, customers would ask for a recommendation about which caliber rifle to buy.  If there was a possibility that they might hunt larger big game animals, I would tell them to buy the most powerful rifle that they could shoot accurately.  You see, the more powerful the rifle the harder it kicks, which makes it more difficult to shoot well.  The 300 Win Mag has over 10 ft. lbs. of recoil per square inch more (recoil) than a 270 Winchester or 280 Remington.  If you can’t deal with that it is no disgrace, but you might want to consider a 7mm Remington Magnum, 280 Ackley Improved, or a 30-06 Springfield over the 300 Win Mag.  I don’t care how macho you want your friends to think you are, even seasoned hunters have a hard time shooting 20 rounds of 300 Winchester Magnums accurately at one continuous sitting.  True, the 300 Win Mag is a favorite among our military snipers, but they use heavier rifles that absorb some of the recoil.  Trust me, if you aren’t used to it you won’t like carrying a heavy sniper-type rifle all day, every day for seven days in the heat, cold, rain, or snow while looking for an elk.  But, I digress. 

A careful reading of a good rifle ballistics chart (available for free online) will show you that the 6.5 Creedmore is not as powerful as most of the standard big game cartridges listed above.  Further, some of the streamlined, long-distance projectiles in 6.5mm do not expand dependably after hitting an animal.  Good expansion is extremely important to clean kills and the ethical take of big game animals.  The Creedmore is okay for deer and antelope, but most of the proven, standard cartridges listed above are better.  I strongly urge that the 6.5 Creedmore not be used to take game larger than deer. 

When a new cartridge goes on the market, all the gun writers for the hunting and shooting magazines get onboard.  Articles are written extolling the virtues of the latest offering.  There are always a few dissenters, but they are usually drowned out by the shouts of those in favor.  On TV, the outdoor programs allow us to see for ourselves how accurate the new cartridges are.  At the sporting goods store, the salespeople recommend 6.5 Creedmore; or better yet its more muscular younger brother the 6.5 PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge).  (If you check it out, you may find they have more Creedmores in stock than anything else.) 🙈🙉🙊

Cool, but is it best practice to use the 6.5 Creedmore on big game?  It makes it easier to hit targets accurately at longer ranges, but that must not become a shortcut used instead of the largest factor affecting marksmanship – practice, practice, and more practice.  It is not enough to sight in your hunting rifle at 1.5 inches above the bullseye at 100 yards and expect your shots to strike the target dead center at 200 yards … or about 7 inches low at 300 yards.  To be an ethical hunter you must know where your bullets will impact at those ranges.  Are you a good enough shot to dependably group your rounds in a 6-inch circle at 300 yards?  There is no way to tell unless you set up targets at those ranges and shoot at them. 

Modern, bolt action hunting rifles are more intrinsically accurate than they used to be.  They have better stocks, triggers, scopes, barrels, and bedding systems.  They can give you an edge, but there are no shortcuts to good marksmanship. 

Accurate shooting is a skill that goes away unless it is maintained by regular practice.  In my opinion, most American hunters do not practice enough to be able to shoot even the most accurate rifle/cartridge combination well enough to cover a 5 shot group with a silver dollar at 200 yards.  No rifle or cartridge can compensate for that, and it is, therefore, not ethical for most hunters to attempt to shoot a big game animal at distances over 300 yards.  Consequently, manufacturers must not create the illusion that their products alone can enable hunters to do that.  Good shot placement is as important, or more so, than anything else in the humane take of big game, and there is a lot more to it than buying the latest rifles and cartridges on the market. 

There is nobody who is a stronger supporter of the Second Amendment, hunting, shooting sports, and the firearms industry than I am.  I am not against change or innovation.  But, the “new” also really does need to be “improved.” 

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

(Henry Ford, 1911)

So, why do they do it?  The simple answer is that manufacturers want to sell every hunter one more gun.  The 6.5 Creedmore is no different than the latest model of the iPhone.  In my opinion, all it is really good for is punching holes in paper targets at 1,000 yards.

July 4, 2023

The Flag Goes By

by Henry Holcomb Bennett

Hats off! Along the street there comes
blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off! The flag is passing by!

Blue and crimson and white it shines
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off! The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.

Sea fights and land fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the State;
Weary marches and sinking ships
Cheers of victory on dying lips;

Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land’s swift increase;
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe:

Sign of a nation, great and strong
To ward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honor-all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.

Hats off! Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high;
Hats off! The flag is passing by!

When Does a Human Life Begin?

Please open your heart to God's answer:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

 

 (Psalm 139: 13-16 NLT) *

 

* https://biblehub.com/nlt/psalms/139.htm

 

 

To Trump, or Not to Trump

To be clear, if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee I will vote for him in 2024 … but I would vote for any viable and capable candidate who could defeat the Democrats.  Simply put, a candidate must emerge from the primary election soup who is able to stop President Biden and the radical-liberal cabal that is running things now from destroying the United States and the American way of life. 

President Trump has the unique ability to identify the most important problems facing our country, and he is not afraid to take whatever actions that are needed to fix them.  I agree with most of his ideas and his vision for the country.  However, I have questions about whether he should be the Republican candidate. 

It is still early in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.  A lot can happen before a new president is elected.  Presently, however, the leading Democratic candidate is President Joe Biden.  The Republican frontrunner is Donald Trump.  President Trump has a large and very loyal following among conservative voters.  It appears at this time that he will be able to prevail in the Republican selection process.  The question that troubles me, however, is whether he can gain enough support to win in the general election?  Time will tell, but if the Democrats are not soundly defeated in 2024 I fear for the future of the country. 

Donald Trump has liabilities that might make him unelectable.  These include problems with likability, personal conduct, legal issues, campaign style, and doubts about his ability to govern. 

Like it or not, American politics is a popularity contest.  It is important for candidates to be “likable.”  Donald Trump is an abrasive, egotistical, name-calling, “my-way-or-the-highway” kind of guy.  He is intensely liked by his loyal following, but he turns a lot of other people off. 

As much as I would like to see somebody “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C. a president needs to be able to persuade congress to pass laws that codify his program for the country.  A president can’t do that by alienating the very people he needs for support.  President Obama governed by executive orders.  They are temporary.  When President Trump took office he trashed all of Obama’s executive orders.  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan blocked Donald Trump from getting his agenda through congress, forcing him to govern by executive order as well.  The Biden Administration consigned most of Trump’s executive orders to the rubbish heap, and reenacted most of Obama’s executive orders.  This pendulum is inherently disruptive and destructive, and nothing lasting is accomplished this way.  A president must be able to “play well with others” to achieve permanent change. 

I oppose much of what Lyndon Johnson did during his presidency.  To his credit though, no president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has been able to move legislation through congress the way Johnson did.  Consequently, his Great Society programs changed American government and society in ways that became institutionalized and are still some of the foremost influences on governance today.

We need to elect a conservative president in 2024 who can move his or her agenda through congress and right a badly listing ship of state.  Donald Trump’s agenda could be just as transformative as Lyndon Johnson’s, but he cannot do it alone.  Even if by some miracle America’s voters give her or him Republican control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, our next president must find a way to enlist their support.  Without it, changing things in a way that lasts is not possible. 

President Trump’s personal conduct should not be an issue in the election, but his enemies may try to make it an issue anyway.  Unfortunately filing spurious civil and criminal cases has become a tactic in our political process.  Governor Sarah Palin was forced out of office in Alaska by political opponents who filed legal actions against her until she was no longer able to afford the cost of her defense.  President Trump is so rich that there is no risk of that happening in his case.  However, his opponents can keep him so busy defending himself that they diminish his ability to campaign and govern, especially if his personal conduct provides them with one opportunity after another to do so. 

In 2016, we found Donald Trump’s willingness to speak his mind refreshing.  Most of us were sick to death of the mealymouthed double talk we get from most politicians whose political handlers coach them to avoid controversial statements.  Unfortunately, “The Donald” is prone to spout off recklessly about anything that pops into his little pumpkin head.  His ill-considered remarks may endear him to his loyalists, but they leave him open to attacks from his opponents in politics and the press who use them to characterize him as an extremist, megalomaniac, white supremist, or reincarnated Hitler.  These accusations are not true, but apparently the truth doesn’t matter anymore in politics. 

President Trump’s campaign style is focused on appealing to his base of support.  To win in 2024, the Republican candidate must also work hard to win the support of Independents, disillusioned Democrats, women, minorities, the trade unions, and other groups that often vote for Democrats.  Will Donald Trump be willing to modify his style of campaigning to reach out beyond his base?  If he doesn’t, he can’t win. 

In the 2022 midterm election, the polls seemed to show that a majority of American voters felt that the country was “going in the wrong direction” under the leadership of President Biden and the Democratic majority in both houses of congress.  Nevertheless, the predicted decisive Republican victory did not materialize.  In particular, candidates who were endorsed by Donald Trump or who ran on the Trump agenda did not do as well as expected.  In 2024, the Republicans must persuade a majority of voters (Republican, Independent, and Democratic) to vote for the Republican vision for the country.  Can they do that by nominating a candidate must also  overcome the liabilities we have discussed? 

As I said, if Donald Trump is the Republican candidate in 2024 I will vote for him.  Will others do the same?  Now is the time for you to decide the answer to that question for yourself.

Jesus Saves

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

(Titus 3:3-7 NIV) 

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

(Romans 10:9-10 NIV) 

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Ephesians 2:1-10 NIV) *

 

 

* https://biblehub.com/niv