The Language of faith!

Most would agree that what you say and how you say it makes a big difference in your life.  I say what comes out of your mouth  is who you are (Matthew 12:34).  Our words save us or condemn us.  The Bible tells us; “From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied.  The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. “  (Proverbs 18:20-21)  And Jesus taught us; “A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.” (Matthew 15:11)    What you say and how you say it is who you are.

Far too many Christians live their lives as spiritual children.  They are born again and still remain babies – they babble or speak baby talk.  They don’t know the language of faith.  Others,  learn a stilted, immature mixed language of faith and worldly- wishful thinking.    The Bible tells us this isn’t good; “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-14) Why are we unskilled in the ’word of righteousness?’  Why is there so much baby talk among Christians and so little of His Word spoken among ourselves  and into our own lives?  These are important questions to ask ourselves.  For now let me just observe that mature speech comes from practice and growing in our faith.

What is this language of faith and the power of it? Jesus tells us; “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)  He goes on:  “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”  (John 14:12-14) Notice, we have to believe and we have to use our mouth and ask using the language of faith!

So what is faith?  The Bible tells us plainly; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1) For; “. . .  by it the elders obtained a good testimony.” (v. 2)  Is there a good testimony in what you hope for?  Is your faith based on what you believe about God and His Word over what you see with your eyes?   I think a major shortfall in many a Christian’s life deals with our hopes and expectations.  Our hopes never exceed our expectations.  We desire things in proportion to our abilities, our station in life and WHAT WE WANT FROM THE WORLD!  We save for what we want because we expect our paycheck will eventually cover cost.  We hope for the big house, the fancy car, the prestigious career and the tropical vacations because somehow we expect that good people deserve good lives.  Somehow desiring what God wants always comes second to what we want.  There is  no possibility for faith in a soul that places God in second place.  Idolatry empties out the power of our lives.

The apostle James nails our problem  with faith;  “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You desire but do not have,. . . . You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”  (James 4:1-3)  If you find your faith journey going around in circles it’s because you’ve got one foot firmly planted in the world.  You can’t speak any word of faith into your own life or anyone else’s.  Like a baby you can’t stand on your own two feet unless you’re hanging onto something or someone  in the world.  We’ve got the wrong priorities – spiritually immature priorities and the earning power for a full-grown worldly adult.  And we wonder why we have no authority over our life.  We’re hanging on to the temporary and seen things of the world and not relying the unseen but eternal Word of God!  This is your problem, my problem and our problem.  It blocks our spiritual maturity and renders our speech ineffective.  We have no power because we do not speak from His authority but rather out of our own wants, anxieties, fears and yes – lusts.

Listen to what Jesus tells us about speaking with authority; “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”  (John 14:10) And what are the words that Jesus speaks ; “I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.  And I know that His command leads to eternal life. So I speak exactly what the Father has told Me to say.”  (John 12:49,50)  I we claim to be disciples of Jesus we should emulate His teachings!  What stops us?

The healing of the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda is a case in point.  Jesus discerned that the real problem was one of choice;  “Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’” (John 5:5,6)  For thirty-eight years the poor man chose to try to get well by his own strength; “The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’” (v. 7)  It didn’t work.  Then he made a different choice – to take Jesus at His Word; “Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.”  (v. 8,9)  No more talk of being dunked in a pool.  Well you might say; ‘If Jesus said that to me now in Person, I would be healed of my ailments too!’  That’s no excuse.  Unlike the poor paralytic, us, Born Again Christians have His Holy Spirit speaking to us 24/7 – why aren’t we listening and choosing His Word over our own strength and worldly thinking?!!!

The solution is as simple and effective as it is frightening.  It is  frightening because it puts the responsibility for falling short right on us – right here, right now.  We must choose to speak on His authority, by His Word and do His Works.  That’s right it’s our decision to exercise what God has given to us freely.  God told Cain at the beginning; “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”  (Genesis 4:7)    Jesus gave His disciples the same authority He gives us; “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”  (Luke 10:19)  And Jesus saw our problem all too well; “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  (Matthew 26:41)  All too often we choose to live life following our flesh rather than the Holy Spirit.  We give in to anxiety, fear and lust because it’s easier, safer and feels better because we’re not responsible.  Going with the world’s flow is better than standing firm on His Word.  AND WE CHOOSE it because it takes the pressure off us.

Many say, well that just blames the victim; the poor person that dies of cancer or heart disease or any other disease we fear, didn’t choose to live for Jesus.  This is not what I’m saying.  Everyone is going to die someday (Hebrews 9:27). What I’m saying is don’t let cancer, or the fear of it kill you before your dead.  Disease names are just words, and certainly not God’s Word – don’t let them rule your life.  Here is the Word of God;  “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25,26)  Believe, speak and live that Truth rather than the lying slippery words of disease.  I will die someday but I’m not letting any word of man kill me before my God appointed time.  And even then I won’t stay dead, not because I’m so tough but because God is Who He says He is!

So, how do we turn our lives around.  We simply make the decision in our soul – our mind to listen through our spirit as the Holy  Spirit speaks into us.  When cancer or some other disease says ‘you will die,’ we pay no attention to this dire word from our flesh.  When the Holy Spirit says to our spirit; “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5), live by that Word.  We choose to listen to the Holy Spirit and we choose to walk in His Word, not our flesh fear; “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)   It’s our decision, the responsibility is ours  and when we quake in fear and our flesh says; ‘I can’t do that I don’t have enough faith,’  listen and speak what the Holy Spirit says; “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.” (Philippians 4:13)  The awesome and awful truth is the only person stopping you from living an authentic Christian life is YOU!  That’s awesome because you can choose to change and awful if you choose not to.

Dear brothers and sisters – stop dying of your fears and start living now, today, immediately!

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Trudging or overcoming?

How is it that people can hear the same message and some will benefit by it while others won’t?  Why do some people listlessly ‘trudge’ through life with little joy while others march forward with assurance and energy?  This is an age old problem with eternal consequences! The Bible sheds light on it; “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” (Hebrews 4:1,2) It’s not enough to hear the Good news, or even agree in principle with it; the Gospel must be combined with belief in those that hear it.

The Forerunner commentary says; “The Israelites would not use their faith; they would not step out. They held back because the bottom line was that they did not really believe it. Do we believe what we are hearing from the Word of God? If we do not believe it, we will do nothing. We only do what we believe. Everybody in the world operates by this principle—they do what they believe!” The Israelites after leaving Egypt wouldn’t believe what God said, they preferred idols and lies instead. They balked and complained at every turn. They trudged the desert for forty years (Numbers 14:30-33). They heard the gospel from God through Moses, but didn’t trust it.

They refused to enter the promised land because they believed lies over God’s Word (Numbers 13,14). They knew it was God’s Word, they agreed ‘in principle’ (God was powerful and good) but not ‘in practice’ (but God wasn’t going to save them.) They cried out; “Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3 Paul says; “and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience . . . . “ (Hebrews 4:6) So all but two died trudging in the wilderness because they really didn’t believe for themselves. They didn’t add faith to God’s Word and so disobeyed because they knew better than God. They never realized the ‘profit’ after 40 years of trudging along because they never made the investment of faith by following through on His Word in their actions. Do you believe what you see through your own fearful eyes over God’s promises? Do you believe what someone else says over what God’s Word has in store for you? If you do and still come to church every Sunday you’re trudging with disbelief and a longing for ‘Egypt’ in your heart. There’s no profit in that.

Have you made the investment of faith needed to realize the profit of God’s promises? Or are you living from Sunday to Sunday (like some live from paycheck to paycheck) , thinking you’re just keeping ahead of the sin that piles up on us? John Wesley, put it this way; “But the word which they heard did not profit them – So far from it, that it increased their damnation. It is then only when it is mixed with faith, that it exerts its saving power.”

How do you know if you are a trudger or marcher? Recall that the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the desert as a group. Yet, there were of that two of that generation who marched into the promised land – Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:30) Caleb and Joshua were in the desert for 40 years as well – they marched as the rest trudged. They didn’t just march across the Jordan. They marched the entire time – walking in faith – with the stride of an ‘overcomer!’ How did they do that?

Do you notice that among our assemblies there are some who, no matter what, walk through life with the stride of an ‘overcomer?’ How to they do that? How do they navigate the swamps and wastelands of life, marching joyously while others trod along – groaning with the burdens and bruises of life? We have all trudged along some parts of our way but the good news is we can all march boldly every step of the way? How?

Trudging or marching

The key, we heard in last week’s lesson and scripture. Moses asked God to walk with Him; “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” (Exodus 33:13) He knew he couldn’t march forward without God’s grace. Moses knew that God’s grace was far better than anyone’s experience or capabilities. And what was God’s reply; “And He said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” (v. 14) Moses believed in God’s Word in principle and action – he made the investment so he could lead His people forward. Moses had faith.

What is this faith like? To understand, let’s look as an everyday example. Most everybody trusts the bank. We put money into our savings account or checking account or RRSPs and we expect some return on the deposits, called interest. We don’t earn interest –it is the profit provided by making the investment. It’s the reward we get for having faith in our financial system. That faith is so ingrained in us that we act on it as a matter of course. Is this the kind of faith you have in God? – ingrained and completely trusting? That’s the faith that Moses, Caleb and Joshua had. This is the kind of faith that is necessary to please God; “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6,7)

When we make an investment of faith and believe whole heartedly that God will come through, we profit through our spiritual decision to trust and our action in accordance. It may take time. Just like we don’t need to check our bank balance every minute we don’t need to ask God why haven’t you fixed this yet. We trust and rest content in our belief. Our faith grows stronger. How does that work? When we do physical exercise to increase our strength and endurance it isn’t the exercise and physical exertion that makes us stronger. Rather this tears our muscles and breaks them down making us weaker. It is the rest period that is built into every proper exercise program that provides time for our muscles to heal. When muscles heal they get stronger. Spiritually, the rest that God promised provides the healing and restoration to our spiritual ‘muscles’ that strengthen our faith and provide an even greater capacity for marching forward in faith. This too is a wonderful dividend of profit when we mix the Word with faith.

Constant anxiety, depression or fear weakens faith. Without entering into God’s rest when we go through trials or even daily life we falter in our Christian walk. The daily disappointments, breakdowns and catastrophes of life tear all of us down and make us weaker – non-believer and believer alike. God’s promised rest to the faithful – builds up, restores and strengthens the believer making the lifelong journey of overcoming possible. Have you experienced that rest? Do you experience it every day? Rest in His Word. Stand on His Promises. Trust Him. It’s that simple.

In Christ we are upheld; “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) Keep your eye on Jesus, believe His Word over what your eye may see or fear, and walk accordingly. Increase your stride and march forward with confidence in Him.

And there is the difference between an untrusting trudger and an overcoming marcher -not only is the destination glorious but so is the journey. The joy is not just in the arrival but also in every step that brings us closer to God – the Joy of the Lord comes from His presence in our lives! Every step in Joy makes you richer instead of poorer.

Stop trudging and start marching – your eternal life, now and in heaven, depends on it.
Amen!

 

‘Flexitarianism’ – not just a Vegan issue

What are ‘flexitarians?’  Angela Lashbrook writing for the Atlantic defines the term as; 

. . .  people who are interested in vegetarianism but still eat meat. Under Wrenn’s [a sociologist at Monmouth University] critical eye, flexitarians are an example of what she calls “free riders”: passive participants of a social movement who benefit from the work core members put into the cause. While permitting free-rider participation in a movement may extend its longevity, she contends, it ultimately weakens it by diluting a social movement’s message and making it more difficult for a movement to mobilize resources. An influx of free riders, . . . , “maintain[s] the illusion of mass support, [while] real power is reserved for core members.”

Ultimately a social movement that becomes ‘flexitarian’ in nature is weakened;

Wrenn finds that many organizations behind social movements loosen the expectations they have of their followers, allowing people to identify with the cause without actually changing their behavior. But this relaxed approach, she argues, jeopardizes the movement as a whole.

A Sociologist Finds Vegans Are Too Open to ‘Free Riders’, The Atlantic, Aug. ANGELA LASHBROOK, AUG 30, 2018

Mainstream Christianity is also flexitarian.  The corporate church embraced flexitarianism in order to counter its shrinking numbers only to weaken its ministry and message;

. . .   mainstream Christianity became less about truly believing in God and supernatural events like the incarnation and resurrection; it became more about the rites and rituals of Christianity-flavored morality: a convenient, comfortable, quaint system of personal and societal uplift. Thankfully, and predictably, this sort of toothless, “nice,” good-citizen Christianity is on the decline.

The Dying Away of Cultural Christianity, September 23, 2017 by: Brett McCracken

This is a real problem for corporatized Christianity but not for the true church.   Rather the winnowing of numbers brings a focus and clarity to followers of Jesus Christ;

Ed Stelzer sees this decline of nominal Christianity as a good thing in America:

Even in the shadow of the decline of cultural and nominal religion, the future of vibrant Christianity in America is all around us.

The future of Christianity in America is not extinction but clarification that a devout faith is what will last.

Christianity in America isn’t dying, cultural Christianity is. I am glad to see it go.

Christianity Isn’t Dying, Cultural Christianity Is: Talking about the Future of Christianity in USA Today. Oct. 19, 2012

What is true Christianity?  It isn’t taught in mainstream Christian churches so don’t look there for help.  Start reading the Bible for yourself and see what the early church was all about.

This resource presents an instructive contrast between dying cultural Christianity and the living faith of the true Church;

Biblical Christianity means being joined to Jesus Christ through faith in what He did for us at the cross, then allowing Him to live His life through us, so that others might know Him and see His love. (That love may include sharing His warnings as well as His promises with those in need.) The established Church, like Old Testament Israel, has always tended to drift away from its devotion to God and become just other institutions, subject to the same human impulses and painful consequences as the rest of the world. Please don’t blame human evils on a “straw-man” or a convenient cultural distortion of Christianity. Consider some of the differences between Biblical faith and today’s cultural deviations.

Biblical versus Cultural Christianity

How is the ‘hanky code’ beneficial to student well-being?

School boards have been voicing concerns about the repeal of the 2015 sexualized Health and Physical Education curriculum.  The Toronto Star earlier this summer reported;

The public school board in the Parry Sound and North Bay area became the 22nd in the province to raise concerns about the Progressive Conservative government’s plan to have teachers use the two-decade old curriculum this fall as it holds consultations across the province before making reforms.

“The ease with which our children can access information online makes it enormously challenging for parents and educators and it is critical that we provide guidance to our children so that they remain safe and informed,” board chair David Thompson said in a statement.

The statement added that the board “remains committed to teaching that promotes inclusion and diversity.”

22 school boards have now raised concerns about Ontario’s sex-ed changes

By KRISTIN RUSHOWY Queen’s Park Bureau Tues., July 31, 2018

School boards should be concerned about the ease with which children can access information.  It is critical that school boards  provide guidance to our children so that they remain safe and informed.  No one would disagree.  So I checked what one large local school board in my area provides pubic access to and I was shocked!

After a few simple clicks on the school board’s public website I found this resource:

If you don’t believe that a school board would be the first step in a few simple keystrokes and clicks to this material – see for your self.

•  Access the school board
•  select   “Programs and Initiatives” from the main menu
  • pick Student Well-Being on the drop down menu
  • select LGBTQ+ from the menu that opens up
  • click on Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans Youth Line
  • select “Get Support” from the main menu
    • • select “Links and Resources” from the drop down menu
      • scroll  down to “Sexual Health and More”
        • choose the link: You Need Help: Here Is A Worksheet To Help You Talk To Partners About Sex  https://www.autostraddle.com/you-need-help-here-is-a-worksheet-to-help-you-talk-to-partners-about-sex-237385/

    And then you have your resource that the school board provided access to . . .

    

    If I can access this material from a school board site any kid can.  It’s all about sex in any and every way!  And as the resource tells young people it is a ‘jumping off point!’  A sober and shocked parent can only wonder what situations these resources are encouraging students to jump into.

    I would ask this  school board or any other school board providing access to this kind of material – How is the ‘hanky code‘  and worksheets based on it beneficial to student well-being?!!!

    I hope to get some answers by way of comments.

Where is it going

A friend asked me to sum up my thoughts on the openly rebellious push-back against our duly elected provincial government by responding to the following comment:

“Jordan Peterson stated in an interview a few months ago that he fully expects the education system will fully collapse in about three years due to its left-wing, destructive direction it has taken. Any thoughts on that? ”

I have since asked my friend to provide the reference for this statement by Jordan Peterson and he will dig it up so I can review what Jordan Peterson said in full context.

That being said Jordan Peterson has much to say about the failure of public education that needs to be heard:

What follows is my response to my friend’s question – Take 3 and multiply by the number of kids in the entire system per year then you will arrive at the number of children that will  be affected by this sad state of affairs – should Jordan Peterson’s prediction be accurate.

I don’t think that we are watching anything collapse.  We are in the middle of a war and the educational system is just one front.  Right now, deeply entrenched ideological groups have almost hijacked our social governance – the current push back that Doug Ford is contending with shows how serious the situation is.

• While other churches are silent,one mainline church is openly opposing ‘rule of law’ – https://scrapbookwithtony.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/when-clerics-call-for-rebellion/
• Unions are pushing forward regardless of the government  –  https://scrapbookwithtony.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/opposition-to-legitimate-authority/
• We have a deep state operating in Ontario – https://scrapbookwithtony.wordpress.com/2018/07/21/a-deep-state-in-canada/
• And the media works to silence any serious talk about what’s going on – https://scrapbookwithtony.wordpress.com/2018/08/06/how-to-silence-deep-state-talk/

I would say the education system has already collapsed – and few see it and those that do, fewer still will admit it.  It’s time to recover lost ground by defending what we have (support our government) and  find safety for our children in alternative modes of schooling if all else fails.

Share these links and my response if you think they will help address this terrible collapse of a once great educational system and prevent the collapse of our democratic institutions of governance.

Professional Judgement

Teachers are being told by their union bosses that they can exercise their ‘professional judgement’ and engage in extra-curricular social engineering if they feel their students could be at risk. The Globe and Mail reports;

The head of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation vowed to defend educators who teach aspects of the current sex-education curriculum this fall, standing alongside his elementary-school counterpart after the provincial government said it would be replaced with a version that dates back 20 years.

The updated curriculum, rolled out in 2015, discussed issues such as consent, online safety and gender identity, and union president Harvey Bischof said many teachers feel “trapped” between their obligation to follow the Ministry of Education’s direction and “their ethical imperative to keep students safe.”

“We will defend to the hilt any member who, in the good faith exercise of professional judgement, strays outside the outdated confines of the 1998 curriculum in her or his students’ best interests,” Mr. Bischof told the audience.

His words echoed that of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, which earlier this week promised to “vigorously defend” any educator who faces disciplinary action for using the updated curriculum.

Just what is ‘professional judgement?’ Interestingly one of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation [Union] sites defines the term –  in a document entitled – Understanding Professional Judgement ;

Professional Judgement is defined within this document as:

Judgement that is informed by professional knowledge of curriculum expectations, context, evidence of learning, methods of instruction and assessment, and the criteria and standards that indicate success in student learning. In professional practice, judgement involves a purposeful and systematic thinking process that evolves in terms of accuracy and insight with ongoing reflection and self-correction.

(Growing Success, page 152)

And just to make sure the teachers are not confused about the scope of their ‘professional judgement’ this document goes on to say;

The following ARE NOT a matter of Professional Judgement but ARE examples of Professional Duty and/or Responsibility (this is not an exhaustive list):

• abiding by legislation (Health & Safety, Education Act, Copyright, Human
Rights, etc.) and regulations
• completing duties assigned (if permitted under the Collective Agreement)
• covering the curriculum expectations
• following the assessment/evaluation guidelines and Growing Success policy
• following board policies and procedures

The teachers union clearly states in the document – Understanding Professional Judgement – that abiding by legislation and covering the curriculum expectations  are a Professional Duty not a matter of Professional Judgement!

What happens when the Ontario government exercises its mandate and repeals the 2015 sexualized Health and Physical Education curriculum?  The Globe and Mail reports;

The government has indicated that consultations on a new curriculum – part of wider health and physical-education studies – will begin in September. With a little more than two weeks left till school starts, school boards say they are still waiting for direction from the Ministry of Education on what to teach.

Todd Smith, the government’s House Leader, said that the Ford government has been clear with teachers that they are expected to teach the 1998 sex-ed curriculum. Mr. Smith would not say what consequences there would be, if any, for teachers who choose to use the newer curriculum in classrooms.

“We fully expect our teachers to be professionals and to teach the same curriculum that was taught in 2014,” Mr. Smith told reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday morning.

Head of Ontario’s secondary-school teachers’ union vows to defend educators teaching new sex-ed curriculum, CAROLINE ALPHONSO EDUCATION REPORTER AUGUST 16, 2018

If any secondary school teacher, who engages in pushing their union’s social engineering agenda forward rather than doing their job as teachers, is called to account for their actions their own union could leave them ‘high and dry’ unless the teachers union  redefines ‘Professional Judgement’ as being a matter solely defined by the union itself.

What does the secondary teachers union say if a teacher is challenged;

Being told how to fulfill your duties and responsibilities might be a
challenge of your Professional Judgement; requiring you to fulfill those
duties and responsibilities is not. . . .

General tips:

• If you believe that your Professional Judgement is being questioned by
the employer or you are unsure of whether or not a situation falls under
the purview of Professional Judgement, please contact your branch
representative and/or local Bargaining Unit leader.

• When dealing with the public, try the following: “I am fulfilling my
responsibilities and duties as outlined by the Ontario College of
Teachers, the Education Act and the board policies and procedures.”

The Elementary Teachers Union defines ‘Professional Judgement’ in a similar manner:

“Professional Judgement” shall be defined as judgement that is informed by professional knowledge of curriculum expectations, context, evidence of learning, methods of instruction and assessment and the criteria and standards that indicate success in student learning. In professional practice, judgement involves a purposeful and systematic thinking process that evolves in terms of accuracy and insight with ongoing reflection and self-correction.”

and clearly tells its members that abiding by government legislation and regulations are not a matter of “Professional Judgement”:

The following are generally considered to be examples of areas where there may be LESS room for the exercise of professional judgement depending upon the circumstances.

Following related legislation and regulations (Education Act, privacy, copyright, human rights, health and safety, etc.).

Teaching the curriculum for the subjects/ courses that have been assigned to you

Both powerful Ontario teachers unions are telling their rank and file to do one thing while their own union guidelines advise against it!

Things can quickly spiral out of control when union bosses get so big that they ignore their own union’s policies and guidelines and advocate for open rebellion.  Not only will our children be casualties of the chaos but so will honest teachers who are just trying hard to do their job.

 

Hysterical future fiction?!!

This morning as I was reading the Ottawa Citizen article; “Ontario families launch human rights challenge against sex-ed curriculum rollback” , I thought I was transported to a nasty nightmare future where you could be accused of crimes and  actions that you haven’t yet committed.

Apparently  people feel that the repeal of the 2015 sexualized curriculum of the previous government will create human rights violations in the future and so is contrary to the human rights code today;

Six families plan to file a case with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in the next week, noting that the old version of the curriculum makes no mention of issues such as gender diversity or the rights of LGBTQ students.

The government’s decision to repeal the modernized curriculum violates the province’s human rights code and should be declared unlawful, their lawyers said.

“That’s going to have a huge impact on, particularly, LGBTQ students,” said Mika Imai, one of the two lawyers shepherding the case through the tribunal process. “We see that as discriminatory and contrary to the code.”

No human rights violations have been committed but the lawyers argue that there will be  so they plan to file a case based on their version of the  future.  I never thought I’d live in a society where lawyers write science fiction and argue on behalf of clients that have yet to have their rights violated.  For a glimpse of where this kind  of human rights science fiction can lead to we only need to go to the movies.

There is a science fiction movie called The Minority Report that deals with a police force in the future that finds and arrests people who they believe will commit crimes in the future.   The futuristic police of the day seek out ‘precrime!’    This plot summary for the science fiction says it all:

In the year 2054 A.D. crime is virtually eliminated from Washington D.C. thanks to an elite law enforcing squad “Precrime”. They use three gifted humans (called “Pre-Cogs”) with special powers to see into the future and predict crimes beforehand. John Anderton heads Precrime and believes the system’s flawlessness steadfastly. However one day the Pre-Cogs predict that Anderton will commit a murder himself in the next 36 hours. Worse, Anderton doesn’t even know the victim. He decides to get to the mystery’s core by finding out the ‘minority report’ which means the prediction of the female Pre-Cog Agatha that “might” tell a different story and prove Anderton innocent.

We do live in interesting times when our government and democratic processes are hijacked by ‘Pre-Cogs’ who know better than the rest of us.  Sadly, some are prone to believe in the science fiction and hysterics.

Hopefully, grown-up reason and common sense will prevail.

What do you think?