• My New Daisy Twitter Account – Because Twitter Locked Down My Original Account YET AGAIN

My New Daisy Twitter Account – Because Twitter Locked Down My Original Account YET AGAIN

My new Daisy account, located here (the handle is @Flower2Ms)

Unfortunately, Twitter says they have temporarily locked down my original Twitter account, “@MsDaisyFlower” (located here).

They locked it down about a week ago. I am tired of waiting for them to rectify this situation.

I have used their “Help” contact form to contact them, and I e-mailed them, seeking redress, but my account still remains locked.

• Posts from Roll to Disbelieve Blog Regarding Christians Who Deconvert or Deconstruct

Posts from Roll to Disbelieve Blog Regarding Christians Who Deconvert or Deconstruct

This may be a post I amend in the future if I see more posts on the Roll to Disbelieve about Christian deconversion or deconstruction.

As Joshua Harris and Marty Sampson – two “Christian celebrities” have recently announced they are “done” with the faith or are “deconstructing,” I thought I’d feature some links about them.

I don’t agree 100% with all views expressed on the Roll to Disbelieve blog, but I do think the author, Captain Cassidy, does a pretty good job of explaining how and why Christians act the way they do about people who question or leave the faith.

Presenting: several posts from the Roll to Disbelieve blog:

Hillsong Songwriter Marty Sampson Has Left the Jesus Building

Snippets:

...The Vast Disappointments Served Up by Christianity.
I sure don’t wonder. None of Christianity lines up with reality. The miracle claims don’t look like actual miracles to anybody but those primed to see them that way. Prayer doesn’t actually do anything in the real world for anybody–which is why Christians must tell people they’re doing it.

• A Common Trait Among Mass Killers: Hatred Toward Women By J. Bosman, K. Taylor and T. Arango

A Common Trait Among Mass Killers: Hatred Toward Women By J. Bosman, K. Taylor and T. Arango

A Common Trait Among Mass Killers: Hatred Toward Women

(same article is available on Web Archive)

By J. Bosman, K. Taylor and T. Arango
Aug. 10, 2019

The man who shot nine people to death last weekend in Dayton, Ohio, seethed at female classmates and threatened them with violence.

The man who massacred 49 people in an Orlando nightclub in 2016 beat his wife while she was pregnant, she told authorities.

The man who killed 26 people in a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., in 2017 had been convicted of domestic violence. His ex-wife said he once told her that he could bury her body where no one would ever find it.

The motivations of men who commit mass shootings are often muddled, complex or unknown. But one common thread that connects many of them — other than access to powerful firearms — is a history of hating women, assaulting wives, girlfriends and female family members, or sharing misogynistic views online, researchers say.

As the nation grapples with last weekend’s mass shootings and debates new red-flag laws and tighter background checks, some gun control advocates say the role of misogyny in these attacks should be considered in efforts to prevent them.

The fact that mass shootings are almost exclusively perpetrated by men is “missing from the national conversation,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Monday. “Why does it have to be, why is it men, dominantly, always?”

• Hillsong Christian Church Song Writer Marty Sampson Says He Has Left the Christian Faith

Hillsong Christian Church Song Writer Marty Sampson Says He Has Left the Christian Faith

Before I get to listing the links to the news story about Christian song writer Marty Sampson saying on his social media that he has now left the Christian faith, I wanted to make a few comments first.

Some of the comments from Christians regarding Sampson leaving the faith are either sad or ignorant.

This is from Ken Ham of Answers In Genesis (who I’ve actually defended on this blog in the past, in another context) said this (link is below):

Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham said Sampson’s rejection of his former beliefs reinforces the need for parents to instruct their children in doctrinal truths at an early age. “This sad situation about this person is a reminder the church & parents need to teach apologetics to counter today’s attacks on God’s Word,” he tweeted.
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I find that a lot of Christians who are still in the “Christian Bubble” do not grasp how and why adult Christians leave the faith, or are considering leaving.

I myself was brought up in the Christian faith and read a lot of Christian apologetics literature from my mid-teens to around my late twenties to early thirties.

And, of course, I also regularly read the Bible, and I spent a few years reading about the history of the Bible, in particular the history of English language Bible translations.

So believe you me, contrary to what Ken Ham believes, a lack of being instructed about the faith from childhood, and hearing defenses of it, and being educated about Christianity, are not at play in why some Christians leave the faith (or may leave it), at least not in my case.

I was steeped in Christianity as a kid and into my adult years, and I did a ton of reading on apologetics, and none of that has changed the fact I’ve been in a faith crisis the last several years.

Farther below, under one of the last links, I have several more comments.

Update August 13, 2019:  
Hillsong worship leader clarifies he hasn’t renounced faith, but it’s on ‘incredibly shaky ground’

Hillsong Songwriter Marty Sampson Says He’s Losing His Christian FaithHillsong worship leader Marty Sampson announces he’s ‘losing’ his faith

Hillsong writer reveals he’s no longer a Christian: ‘I’m genuinely losing my faith’

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter
August 12, 2019

Marty Sampson, a prolific worship music writer known for his work with Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United, Delirious and Young & Free, revealed he is losing his faith and believes Christianity is “just another religion.”

• An Epidemic of Disbelief – What New Research Reveals About Sexual Predators, And Why Police Fail to Catch Them by B. B. Hagerty

An Epidemic of Disbelief – What New Research Reveals About Sexual Predators, And Why Police Fail to Catch Them by B. B. Hagerty

If men were raped at the same number as women are raped by men, I have a sneaking suspicion that rape would be treated a lot more seriously in our nation (and in other nations), and rape kits would not be sitting unopened and untested for years.

Oh, and the conservatives out there, such as the Tucker Carlsons and others, who keep whining that men are supposedly bigger victims in our culture than are women, and ergo, society has no need for feminism – especially in light of information like that presented below – you guys can kindly S.T.F.U. and F.U.

(For the naive Christians out there: click this link if you’d like to know what “STFU” stands for.)

You guys make me embarrassed to be a conservative.

An Epidemic of Disbelief

Snippets:

What new research reveals about sexual predators, and why police fail to catch them

…Spada’s estimate was conservative. Eventually 11,341 untested rape kits were found, some dating back more than 30 years—each one a hermetically sealed testament to the most terrifying minutes of a woman’s life, each one holding evidence that had been swabbed or plucked from the most private parts of her body. And in all likelihood, some microscopic part of her assailant—his DNA, his identity—sat in that kit as well.

Or kits.

• When Women Bring Home a Bigger Slice of the Bacon by J. Lahart and L. S. Laughlin

When Women Bring Home a Bigger Slice of the Bacon by J. Lahart and L. S. Laughlin

Do conservative Christians, especially the gender complementarians and the marriage-obsessed ones, want to notice or accept the societal changes the article below is describing? Why no, no they do not.

Conservative Christians will either ignore the changes, and the ones that notice the changes will complain about these changes and scream and yell about how all of American culture should revert back to a 1950s-era sensibility, where more women got married young and stayed at home.

Well, I’m a conservative, but I’ve accepted the fact that our society has changed, and we’re not going back to the 1950s.

By refusing to accept (or by continuing to tune out) these societal shifts, Christians are not helping people where they are, and they should be helping people where they are rather than shaming them for not being or living a certain way (i.e., married with children living at home).

When Women Bring Home a Bigger Slice of the Bacon

Snippets:

The growing clout of women as drivers of the U.S. economy will radically alter the business and investing landscape in years to come

August 2019
By Justin Lahart and
Lauren Silva Laughlin

Over the past half-century, women have profoundly reshaped the U.S. economy. The changes that are happening now could be just as significant. Investors should take notice.

• Anxiety Looks Different in Men by Andrea Petersen

Anxiety Looks Different in Men by Andrea Petersen 

Anxiety Looks Different in Men

Snippets:

Instead of coming across as nervousness or worry, anxiety in men often appears as anger, muscle aches or alcohol use—leading many men to go undiagnosed

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When a man explodes in anger over something seemingly insignificant, he may appear like just a jerk. But he could be anxious.

Anxiety problems can look different in men. When people think of anxiety, they may picture the excessive worry and avoidance of frightening situations that often plague those who suffer. These afflict men, too.