God, the Rainbow and the LGBT Community. 24 December 2016.

Last night, our local news station, THV11, published a story entitled "Kentucky ark builder wants to take rainbow back", from an article written by Scott Wartman of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Apparently Ken Ham, the president of Answers in Genesis and builder of a life-sized Noah's Ark replica in Kentucky thinks Christians need to "take the rainbow back". He believes that the rainbow should symbolize God's covenant with Noah, not "freedom, love, pride of the LGBT movement". "Sadly, people ignore what God intended the rainbow to represent and proudly wave rainbow-colored flags in defiance of God's command and design for marriage", said Ken Ham.  I found this to be an interesting debate, and wanted to write a little about it - from a historical background, a Biblical background, and a scientific background.

First, let's talk about the easiest way to examine this topic: the scientific view. Light is made up of a spectrum of 7 colors. I’m sure we all remember our old friend Roy G. Biv who taught us the colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. If you remember from science class, when white light hit a prism you could easily notice the colors coming out the other side. In a rainbow, raindrops will act as a prism. Light hits a rainbow, which reflects off the side and exits the raindrop broken into a visible spectrum of colors. The angle for each color is different, so you will observe a circular rim formed across the sky or a “rainbow”.

I'm sure many of you remember the story of Noah's Ark. It is one we are taught from even the earliest of Sunday school classes. The story occurs in Genesis chapters 6 through 9. Basically, Noah is warned that there will be a flood coming and he is told to build the Ark. God gives him the exact dimensions and he builds the Ark from “gopher” wood. Some believe it is build from “qanim”, however. Noah takes his wife, his three sons and their wives on the Ark as well as two of every living thing, and seven pairs of every “clean” creature and bird along with food for their voyage. Whether or not you believe this is a worldwide flood or a local flood depends on your interpretation of Genesis, but the Biblical story says that the floodgates of heaven opened and it rained for 40 days and water covered the highest mountains, flooding the world. Eventually, the waters subsided and God made a covenant with Noah by using a rainbow after the storm as a reminder that he would never destroy the Earth again with water. Genesis 9:17 says, "So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

To be historically accurate, it is important that we mention the epic of Gilgamesh. The Pentateuch, or first five scrolls of the Old Testament, are believed to have been written, at the earliest, around 1400 BCE. The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia, dates back to 2100 BCE. To be historically accurate, this means this tale came 700 years before our Christian story of Noah and the flood. What is interesting about this, is that the Epic of Gilgamesh also has a flood story, which is quite similar. Tablet 11 recounts this flood. The dimensions are given, a family goes onboard along with all the “animals of the field” and then a flood comes. After the flood is where things get interesting. A rainbow is given as a promise that the goddess Ishtar will never forget the great flood. “Then Ishtar arrived. She lifted up the necklace of great jewels that her father, Anu, had created to please her and said, "Heavenly gods, as surely as this jewelled necklace hangs upon my neck, I will never forget these days of the great flood. Let all of the gods except Enlil come to the offering. Enlil may not come, for without reason he brought forth the flood that destroyed my people.”

You may not know this man, but you know what he is carrying.  This is Gilbert Baker, the man behind the pride flag. On June 25th, 1978 at San Francisco Pride, the first rainbow flags were raised. The original 8 colored flag had different meanings for each color. Hot pink stood for sexuality, red stood for life, orange stood for healing, yellow stood for sunlight, green stood for nature, turquoise stood for magic and art, blue stood for serenity and harmony, and violet stood for spirit.  The rainbow flag is now commonly used by the LGBT community.

Now, what does all this mean?  Numerous things.  First of all, from a historical perspective, the Epic of Gilgamesh was written before the Christian account of Noah's flood in the Old Testament by 700 years.  So, if anything, the Sumerians have more claim to the rainbow than we Christians do.  Second, nobody can really claim ownership of a rainbow.  It is a scientific phenomenon that means different things to different people.  The idea of "taking back the rainbow" is a silly one, as nobody can own a rainbow.  It stems from the "Christian Persecution Complex" that some people suffer from:  a believe that Christians are persecuted in America, which is factual inaccurate and without any basis in logic or rational thought.  Since I was a kid, I've attended church on Sundays, prayed before meals, read my Bible, and worshipped as I saw fit and no one has ever stopped me.  The notion that we are persecuted is just loony.  Third, if the LGBT community wants to use the rainbow, that's just fine.  If Ken Ham wants to light his ark with a rainbow, that's fine.  Whoever wants to use the rainbow: use it.  It's a beautiful symbol that has existed since there has been rain in the sky as early as 4.4 billion years ago.

Arguments like this are silly in nature, but it is often important to look at the facts.  And when we look at the facts we truly can see how silly these arguments are.  I hope people can move forward and focus less on things like this on more on the needs of their fellow man.  That is the true nature of the Bible, not worrying about who owns the rainbow, but worrying about loving, supporting and helping others.

Donald Trump's Position Changes - Updated 28 November 2016.

Since being declared President-Elect, Donald Trump has changed position on many of his campaign promises and platforms. In this post I will be tracking his position changes and updating it as he changes on more issues.  Some changes occurred on the campaign trail, many occurred after being declared President-Elect.  It is interesting to note how many positions he has changed since being declared President-Elect.

Current Position Change Count:  20

Trump on Climate Change

Original: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: When asked if he’d pull out of the climate change accords, Trump said, “I’m looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it.” (Source)

Trump on the Clinton Foundation

Original: “the most corrupt enterprise in political history.” - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: The Clinton Foundation has done “good work.” -Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on the Deportation Force

Original: "You're going to have a deportation force." (Source)

Now: "Donald Trump is not planning on that." - Paul Ryan (Source)

Trump on the Electoral College

Original: "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” - Donald Trump (Source)

Original: Trump tweeted that the Electoral College is “actually genius” because it “brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play.” -Donald Trump (Source)

Now: “rather do the popular vote,” and that he was “never a fan of the Electoral College.” - Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on the Iran Deal

Original: "Donald Trump says he'd tear up the "disastrous" nuclear deal with Iran and "renegotiate"." (Source)

Now: "Key Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares today offered clarification on the president-elect’s plans for the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, confirming that he intends to “review” the deal, but has no intention of trying to unilaterally rip it up." (Source)

Trump on the Middle Class

Original: "Trump has declared his desire to “save the middle class.” (Source)

Now: "Trump said in an August interview that he’d exempt small businesses from the (overtime) rule." (Source)

Trump on the Muslim Ban

Original: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "The Muslim ban is something that in some form has morphed into extreme vetting from certain areas of the world." - Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on Obamacare

Original: "We will repeal and replace disastrous Obamacare." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "Mr Trump is going to look at "amending" the Affordable Care Act, rather than completely repealing it, he told the Wall Street Journal." (Source)

Trump on Outsourcing

Original: At the South Carolina Freedom Summit, Donald Trump said that he would impose a hefty 35 percent tariff on American multinational corporations like Ford Motor Company, in order to stop outsourcing to China and elsewhere. (Source)

Now: “Trump abandons campaign promise to penalize outsourcing, offers tax breaks instead” (Source)

Trump on Imprisoning Hillary Clinton

Original: "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there has never been so many lies, so much deception." (Source)

Now: "I think when the President-elect, who's also the head of your party, tells you before he's even inaugurated that he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone, and content" to fellow Republicans." - Trump aide Kellyanne Conway: No plan to pursue charges against Clinton (Source)

Now:  "I don’t want to hurt them, I don’t want to hurt them. They’re, they’re good people. I don’t want to hurt them." - Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on Same-Sex Marriage

Original: "If I’m elected I would be very strong in putting certain judges on the bench that maybe could change things, but they have a long way to go. I disagree with the court in that it should have been a states’ rights issue.” - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "It–It’s irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done. It’s done. It–you have–these cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been styled. And-I’m–I’m fine with that." - Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on Taxing The Rich

Original: Wants to tax the rich more - “"It’s [Trump tax plan] going to cost me a fortune, which is actually true.” - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: President-elect Trump caught on video appealing to patrons who represent a sampling of the wealthiest denizens of the five boroughs. “We’ll get your taxes down,” Trump appealed, “don’t worry about it.” (Source)

Trump on the Border Wall

Original: "It's going to be a big, fat, beautiful wall!" - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "But Trump also appeared to back off from commiting to build a solid wall, telling CBS' "60 Minutes" the barrier might look more like a fence in spots." (Source)

Trump on Torture

Original: "I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: ’Torture is not going to make the kind of a difference that a lot of people are thinking.” (Source)

Trump on President Obama

Original: “I think he’s the worst president, maybe, in the history of our country.” (Source)

Original: “Obama Has Been The Worst President Ever” (Source)

Now: Trump “liked him a lot.” (Source)

Trump on Syrian Refugees

Original: "I hate the concept of it, but on a humanitarian basis, you have to [take in refugees]." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "If I win, they're going back." - Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on Transgender Bathrooms

Then: "You know, there's a big move to create new bathrooms. Problem with that is for transgender, that would be—first of all, I think that would be discriminatory in a certain way. That would be unbelievably expensive for businesses in the country. Leave it the way it is." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "I'm going with the state [Transgender people should use the restroom of their biological sex]. The state, they know what's going on, they see what's happening and generally speaking I'm with the state on things like this. I've spoken with your governor, I've spoken with a lot of people and I'm going with the state." - Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on Military Spending

Original: "We have-- even in the military-- I'm gonna build a military that's gonna be much stronger than it is right now. It's gonna be so strong, nobody's gonna mess with us. But you know what? We can do it for a lot less." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "As soon as I take office, I will ask Congress to fully eliminate the defense sequester and will submit a new budget to rebuild our military. This will increase certainty in the defense community as to funding, and will allow military leaders to plan for our future defense needs." - Donald Trump (Source)

Trump on "Draining The Swamp"

Original: "It is time to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: Trump's transition effort and public lists of his possible Cabinet appointees include plenty of lobbyists. (Source)

Now: Transition team and potential cabinet includes over twenty Wall Street elites, industry insiders, and lobbyists. (Source)

Trump on the Minimum Wage

Original: "But, taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world." - Donald Trump (Source)

Now: "I'll say raise the minimum wage to $15." - Donald Trump (Source)