With some top-drawer tunes, Paul Stanley producing and Kiss’s management behind them, New England seemed, and felt, poised for stardom. Cue bad luck and trouble

Every time I share my abortion story, people reach out to share theirs, often echoing a similar refrain: “I know God has forgiven me, but I just can’t forgive myself.” There’s an easy theological answer here: You don’t have to. The Bible offers neither an example nor a category for self-forgiveness. Asserting we must forgive ourselves places us in God’s seat—he’s the One against whom we’ve sinned and the only One able to grant forgiveness (Ps. 51:4; Rom. 8:33). But that theological answer, rich and true as it may be, feels like a platitude to a woman grappling with the aftermath of an abortion. Justin Taylor points to the pastoral dimension of the self-forgiveness issue: “Before responding to someone who says he can’t forgive himself, it’d be wise first to discern what the person means by this phrase.” The sin of abortion has some unique dimensions that masquerade as the haunting desire for self-forgiveness, and understanding them might help us come alongside struggling women. 1. Abortion is a distinct self-violation. All sin is a self-violation. God’s law reveals his character and shows us the path of righteousness, which ultimately leads to human flourishing. When we sin against God, we also harm ourselves. And some sin causes more damage than others. The apostle Paul illustrates this point when he describes the specific harm of sexual immorality: “Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18). Other sins may fall into this category of sins against the body—eating disorders and self-harm, perhaps, but especially abortion. Women are created in God’s image to be “life-givers,” a label Susan Hunt applies to women’s unique “redemptive calling” that extends to “every relationship and circumstance.” Though this means far more than having babies, to take the life of your unborn child is undoubtedly an assault on this life-giving nature. Abortion is a sin with many victims, one of which is a woman’s own body. Further, some women choose abortion in ignorance, believing lies about when human life begins. Others are truly victims, succumbing to coerced abortions under the guidance of people who should have protected them. But I and many others knew abortion is sinful and wrong—and we did it anyway. Our sin is ultimately against the Lord and his holy law. But in some sense, we’ve also sinned against ourselves by violating our consciences (Rom. 14:23). A woman who thinks she can’t forgive herself may be reckoning with the reality that sin has fractured her wholeness. In betraying her conscience and sinning against her body, she has violated her own trust, wreaking havoc on body and soul. What she needs, however, isn’t self-forgiveness but the transforming work of Christ by his Spirit. Christ has freed us from sin’s guilt, but its power lingers as we struggle against both persistent temptation and also the damage caused by our past sins. We tend to think of sanctification in terms of sinning less, but the Spirit’s transforming work is also about making us whole. 2. Abortion is sin but also trauma. Our desire for self-forgiveness often has more to do with sin’s residual effects. If I’ve embraced God’s forgiveness but I’m still struggling, we think, that must mean I need to forgive myself. We hope overcoming this hurdle will finally make the shame go away. But while abortion is sin that requires repentance, it’s also trauma that requires healing. I’ve written more about this elsewhere: Forgiveness comes quickly as we look to Christ by faith, but healing takes time. Labeling this as the need to forgive ourselves betrays a desire to circumvent the healing process—and to control it. We’re looking for a quick fix rather than the difficult path of walking through our pain and suffering with Jesus and in community with others. Forgiveness comes quickly as we look to Christ by faith, but healing takes time. A woman who says she can’t forgive herself may also be stuck believing she doesn’t deserve Christ’s healing. Her sin is too great, and she deserves to wallow in its shame for the rest of her life. Consider the bleeding woman whose shame kept her from asking Jesus to be healed (Mark 5:24–34). Instead, she crept up behind him, hoping only to catch the corner of his robe. But Jesus doesn’t allow her to slink away into the shadows. He heals her, but he also sees her, restoring her dignity and affirming her value. Post-abortive women don’t need self-forgiveness; we need healing. And no sin is so great that it puts us out of reach of Christ’s healing wounds (Isa. 53:5) and word (Ps. 107:20). 3. Abortion’s victims can’t extend forgiveness. Several years ago, I attended a retreat for post-abortive men and women. The few days I spent tucked away in the woods with a group of strangers were both sweet and odd. With a schedule crafted to facilitate a fast-tracked experience of forgiveness and healing, group leaders led us through various exercises meant to unleash the shame and sorrow we’d hidden for years. One stands out in my memory. The speaker uncovered a table filled with teddy bears wrapped in handmade blankets. There was one bear each, and we were to spend the afternoon with the one we chose—to talk to it, hug it, and name it. Though the speaker was clear that this wasn’t some reincarnation of our aborted baby, the exercise nonetheless provided an outlet for many participants to unleash years of pent-up grief as they held in their hands a symbol of what they’d forfeited. There may be a place for these retreats, though I’ve found my own healing to come in fits and starts through the ordinary ministry of Word and sacrament, the faithful love of my husband and church community, and the help of a good therapist. But I think this exercise exposes another aspect of our self-forgiveness pursuit. “There are two—and only two—biblical categories of forgiveness,” John Beeson writes. “Others’ forgiveness and God’s forgiveness. Horizontal and vertical. . . . It’s not enough to ask forgiveness from God; we must also ask forgiveness from those we’ve injured.” How is a post-abortive woman supposed to seek this forgiveness? In the absence of a living victim, she turns inward. It’s as if the baby she aborted has become a part of herself, and she’s pleading to be absolved. King David had blood on his hands, and yet he declared to the Lord, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Ps. 51:4). God would be justified in bringing judgment, but instead he justifies us, declaring us righteous in his Son (Ps. 51:4; Rom. 8:33). Sometimes, horizontal forgiveness isn’t possible, but the absolution we seek is. It’s just not found within us. The Answer You Seek Is Outside of You The Protestant reformer Philip Melanchthon often wrote to Martin Luther about his struggles to believe the gospel. “I woke this morning wondering if I trust Christ enough,” he wrote in one letter. Exasperated, Luther responded, “Melanchthon! Go sin bravely! Then go to the cross and bravely confess it! The whole gospel is outside of us.” Rod Rosenbladt tells this story to illustrate the “alien nature of the gospel”—“Christ’s death was outside of me and for me.” He writes, “Luther’s frustrated counsel was not an invitation to serve sin, but an attempt to shock Melanchthon into realizing that his only true righteousness was external to him.” No sin is so great that it puts us out of reach of Christ’s healing wounds and word. Perhaps post-abortive women need such a shock. Our sin is great, but Christ’s blood is greater. We stand accused by an Enemy who seeks to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8). He accuses us day and night (Rev. 12:10), even tempting our hearts to turn against us. Yet “whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything” (1 John 3:20). We don’t need to forgive ourselves. God’s forgiveness is sufficient; he has removed our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103:12). As we continue to struggle with our sins’ residual effects, God’s Spirit assures us we belong to him (Rom. 8:16). And he walks with us through the path of healing until the day we’ll experience true and complete wholeness as we stand face-to-face with our Savior (1 John 3:2).

While most of America’s attention this week has been focused on major national political headlines, a newly enshrined law in California has passed under the radar. But its significance for Christian parents everywhere shouldn’t be ignored. On Monday, California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 1955—a first-in-nation bill that bans California school districts from requiring staff to disclose to parents if their child starts using different pronouns or identifying as a different gender. The bill passed the Democrat-dominated state legislature in June (by a 60–15 vote), but only after a heated floor debate that nearly came to blows. Described by the California Family Council as “a bill that creates a government-imposed wall of secrecy between parents and their children,” AB 1955 directly rebuffs conservative school boards across the state that had established policies requiring schools to disclose students’ gender identities to their parents or guardians, regardless of the students’ consent. LGBT+ advocates decry these as “forced outing” policies, arguing they prevent kids from determining how and when they come out to their parents, thus “[putting] them at risk of violence or homelessness.” AB 1955 was crafted by assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) to explicitly outlaw such policies, which he said “violate the trust and safety of the students in their classrooms.” Ward is the vice chair of the powerful LGBTQ Caucus in the California legislature, which positioned AB 1955 as their number one priority bill and framed it in terms of “protecting LGBTQ+ students from forced outings and supporting families in working on family acceptance on their own terms.” The bill’s official name, the SAFETY Act (Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth), positions the bill as being about safety for LGBT+ young people. But “safety” in what sense? Kids Safer with Activists Than with Parents? I’m a California resident and a parent of three young children. Part of what’s so disturbing to me about laws like AB 1955 is the assumption the state is the “safer place” and more trustworthy protector of children than their own families. Are politicians and public educators really better positioned than parents to walk with kids through massive, theologically loaded questions about gender and sexuality? I ascribe to the principle of subsidiarity, which conceives the nuclear family as the foundation of society and construes local, state, and national governments as helpful to the extent they support the family rather than undermine its authority or sideline it. As one writer put it, “Under subsidiarity, government is by no means prohibited from providing aid; it is simply kept in its lane.” When the state undermines parental authority and seeks to facilitate secret-keeping between children and their parents, as in AB 1955, it’s not staying in its lane. Public schools shouldn’t be places where parents fear that their children will be “lost” to values and visions at odds with how they’ve raised their kids. But sadly, these fears are increasingly warranted. Are politicians and public educators really better positioned than parents to walk with kids through massive, theologically loaded questions about gender and sexuality? My wife and I are fortunate enough to be able to send our kids to a theologically orthodox, private Christian school. But in a state that’s by far the most expensive in the nation to live in, relatively few families can afford this option. I worry for Christian parents here who have no option other than sending their kids to public schools where, thanks to laws like AB 1955, they’re at risk of being kept in the dark about some of the most important developments in their children’s lives. Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) was one of the most outspoken opponents of AB 1955. After Newsom signed it into law, Essayli said the move “defied parents’ constitutional and God-given right to raise their children,” adding that the law “codifies the government’s authority to keep secrets from parents” and “endangers children by excluding parents from important matters impacting their child’s health and welfare at school.” Jonathan Keller, president of the California Family Council, agreed, calling the signing of AB 1955 “a direct assault on the safety of children and the rights of their parents.” Unsafe Practice of Parent-Exclusionary ‘Gender-Affirming’ Care Not all public schools in California are equally activist-oriented on LGBT+ issues and “gender-affirming” care. And many public school teachers are faithful Christians who are required to enforce policies they didn’t have a part in creating. But many other school administrators and teachers do promote progressive gender ideology and actively seek to subvert parents and conservative communities on issues of gender identity and sexual orientation. Books like Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage have chronicled the extent to which “gender affirmation” policies are widespread in public schools and deliberately subvert parental authority. As one parent told The Gospel Coalition in a harrowing account of her teen daughter’s decision to identify as a boy, the progressive public school was a major accelerant of her daughter’s gender transition. Her daughter was invited (possibly recruited) to the school’s Genders & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) club and, at every step in her gender identification transition, was “applauded and congratulated” at school. The mother finally realized she “cannot protect [her] child at school” and opted to escape the cult and homeschool her daughter instead. Not only are young people applauded and encouraged to experiment with sexuality and gender identity in public schools, but they’re also often referred by those schools to gender-affirming therapists and local LGBT+ centers offering youth programs as “safe spaces,” all without informing the people most invested in the children’s ultimate safety and flourishing: their parents. These “safe spaces,” however, are anything but safe. It’s not safe for vulnerable adolescents to have their mental confusion affirmed at every step but never questioned. It’s not safe for teenagers to make potentially life-altering, body-mutilating decisions without patiently processing it with their parents. These ‘safe spaces’ are anything but safe. It’s not safe for vulnerable adolescents to have their mental confusion affirmed at every step. The U.K.’s recently released Cass Report reinforces what parents already know: it’s not advisable for immature children to medically alter their bodies based on perceived senses of gender dysmorphia. Parents aren’t crazy, cruel, or abusive when they object to their child desiring to change his or her gender identity. Their intuitions to put the brakes on their child’s desire for rapid transformation are correct and loving. What’s cruel is an education system that won’t let parents step in to impose those loving brakes. How Should Christian Parents Respond? Christian parents nationwide should be concerned about this law, because what starts in California often gets replicated eventually in other states. If you care about parental rights and want to make sure public schools can’t withhold vital information from you about your children, get involved by reaching out to your local school board or other elected officials to advocate for parental notification policies and other protections against LGBT+ ideology propagated in schools. While conservative social issues have been recently abandoned on national party platforms, change can still happen on the state level if we care enough to get informed and involved, electing state representatives (and school board members) who will advocate against harmful gender ideology in schools and parental secrecy policies like AB 1955. But as Joe Carter has pointed out, policies and legislative actions to protect parental rights aren’t enough, and indeed might come too late for some families. Parents should be diligent in monitoring the influences shaping our children, which includes schools but also friend groups, online behavior and social networks, agenda-driven entertainment, and more. Parents should develop thick community (through church ideally, and a local web of trusted families) that provides a network of loving accountability, so that even if your child is doing something at school you don’t know about, there are dozens of other trusted, loving eyes on them in all kinds of other spaces. We must also be proactive in helping our kids form healthy, biblical understandings of human anthropology, including age-appropriate conversations about gender and transgender ideology. We should encourage our churches and youth groups to lean into these topics and help students learn—and learn to love—what Scripture and Christian tradition say about gender and sexuality. What happens if we don’t have these conversations first and lay foundations of Christian wisdom in our children? Online influencers, activists, and educators will be more than happy to fill that formational void—seeking not only to compete with your parental authority and influence but even to replace it altogether.

I am absolutely LOVING what USMNT is doing right now

MILWAUKEE—Republican senators confronted the embattled head of the Secret Service on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention here.  “You owe President Trump answers,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., shouted after Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at the RNC.  While Cheatle walked through the Fiserv Forum convention center, Blackburn, along with Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota called on her to give the American people answers after a gunman’s attempt to kill former President Donald Trump nearly succeeded Saturday evening at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.  The American people deserve answers from the Secret Service. pic.twitter.com/PNFF11v00Q— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 18, 2024 Moments before Cheatle briskly walked away from the four senators, they stood around her and asked why Trump was allowed to take the stage at the rally after the Secret Service was alerted to the threat of a shooter 10 minutes earlier, the New York Post reported Wednesday.  “Why would anyone allow the president to go on stage when you know that you’ve got a potential threat … ?,” Blackburn pressed Cheatle, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. “I am going to answer your questions … at the appropriate forum,” Cheatle told the four senators, according to a video of the confrontation. The video shows Secret Service director telling the lawmakers that she needs to leave while the GOP leaders follow and continue asking questions.  “You can keep running, but you cannot hide from us,” Blackburn said, running after Cheatle.  ?FULL VIDEO: Secret Service Director REFUSES to answer to the American people. pic.twitter.com/MPVOke5zhY— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 18, 2024 “It is appalling that the Secret Service director refused to answer our questions,” Blackburn said in a written statement following the interaction.  “This is one of the greatest security failures in the history of the agency,” the Tennessee Republican said. “She can run but she cannot hide. She is a failed leader and she needs to immediately step down from her position.” House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the Secret Service leader Wednesday to appear before lawmakers next week. The post Secret Service Director Flees GOP Senators at RNC appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination Wednesday night, vowing to never forget where he came from as he highlighted his life story and the failures of the Washington political class.  “America’s ruling class wrote the checks; communities like mine paid the price,” Vance, 39, said in accepting the nomination for vice president at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “For decades, that divide between the few, with their power and comfort in Washington, and the rest of us only widened.” Former President Donald Trump announced his choice of Vance as his running mate Monday, the first day of the convention. Together, they plan to take on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, although many Democrats continue to urge Biden to step aside as their nominee. “From Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Recession, from open borders to stagnating wages, the people who govern this country have failed and failed again,” he said. “That is, until President Donald J. Trump came along.” Vance, elected to the Senate in 2022—five decades after Biden was first elected to the Senate—contrasted his youth to Biden’s while also saying Biden has been wrong on most policies and issues in five decades in office. Biden has been the champion of “every major policy initiative to make America weaker and poorer,” Vance said. “When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good American manufacturing jobs to Mexico,” he said of the North American Free Trade Agreement. “When I was a sophomore in high school, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden gave China a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good middle-class jobs. And when I was a senior in high school, Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq.” The Ohio Republican went on to highlight the struggles of Americans, especially in several battleground states in the Nov. 5 presidential election.  “Each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan and other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,” Vance said.  He talked about his life, chronicled in his bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Ellergy,” later made into a movie directed by Ron Howard. He discussed growing up in rural Middletown, Ohio, as his grandmother or “Mamaw” took care of him when his mother had addiction issues. He enlisted in the Marines after 9/11 and later graduated from Yale Law School.  He said the movement is “about single moms like mine, who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up.” “I am proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober,” he said. “I love you, Mom.” The crowd in the convention hall chanted, “JD’s mom, JD’s mom.” Acknowledging that his economic views sometimes clash with those of traditional Republicans, Vance said, “Our disagreements actually make us stronger.”  “My message to my fellow Americans is: Shouldn’t we be governed by a party that is unafraid to debate ideas and come to the best solution?” he said. “That’s the Republican Party of the next four years: united in our love for America, and committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas.” Vance also talked about the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday evening, noting: “Instead of a day of celebration, this could have been a day of heartache and mourning.”  He said Trump’s enemies have told many lies about him, but his toughness was clear after the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.  “They said he was a tyrant. They said he must be stopped at all costs,” Vance said of Trump’s political opponents. “He called for national unity, for calm,” after the shooting, Vance said. “He remembered the victims of the terrible attack, especially the brave Corey Comperatore, who gave his life to protect his family.” The post JD Vance Contrasts Own Biography, Youth With Biden Record appeared first on The Daily Signal.

There is a jarring disconnect between the elite media, especially leftwing Acela Media, and the rest of America. And it is not often that we get such jarring examples of that disconnect as MSNBC’s treatment of the portion of the Republican National Convention devoted to honoring the memories of our brave service members killed during the ISIS-K attack on the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. To their credit, CNN aired the entire video package, as well as the speeches from the loved ones. Coverage across the rest of the dial was mixed, with varying degrees of cutting in and out. But MSNBC plumbed a disgusting low, completely blowing off the segment of the RNC devoted to honoring Gold Star families and, more importantly, the memories of our dead service members. Instead, the assembled panelists devoted their time to fretting over the future of the Biden-Harris ticket. Watch as Joy Reid warns viewers of efforts to throw Kamala Harris off the Democrat ticket along President Joe Biden: MSNBC RNC SPECIAL COVERAGE 7/17/24 9:23 PM JOY REID: What I am hearing and the anger that I am hearing that's coming from them, is that to the point that you are making, given the stakes, and the stakes being democracy itself, the stakes being Project 2025, the stakes being a Trump presidency, which I think everyone agrees that African- Americans would be first in line to suffer, right? And so they understand the stakes- that here is a sense among the people that I have spoken to, including some senior members of that (Congressional Black) Caucus. That given that, there is a sense there is gamesmanship going on inside of this effort to remove President Biden from the ticket, and that that gamesmanship is heavily geared toward also pushing aside Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris. And there is a sense there is a lot of pressure coming from there-- some people are just calling it California at this point. Whether it's donors or whether it is members, whether it is whoever. This sense of huge pressure for the CBC, which has locked arms with President Biden, I think we can agree on that. RACHEL MADDOW: Sure. REID: They have been unwavering. They are sticking with him, you know, Claire McCaskill will tell you, to the very end. They are with him. But the huge pressure is coming without regard to the vice president. This lengthy segment, which I remind you played through the portion of the RNC honoring the Gold Star families and Abbey Gate fallen, preceded a yukfest between Rachel Maddow and DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.  I can’t think of a clearer contrast- and of the juxtaposition between the two Americas: the one where a major political party honors our fallen heroes, and the other where corporate media ignore that memorial and grotesquely disrespect the memory of the fallen in order to cover shadow parlor games.