I am angry at Republicans!
I am so angry that they have not done what I want them to, when I want them to, how I want them to, and where I want them to on at least two or three issues, that I am seeing red.
Republicans have not yet closed the borders.
Republicans have not yet become perfect.
Republicans have not yet...well, I can't think of what else they haven't done, but I know they haven't done it, because TV newscasters on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and even some on FOX have told me so.
Because Rebuplicans have not done all the things I have wanted them to do, I am not going to vote at all!
Now I know what you are thinking:
Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting yourself.
Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting ME.
Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting Republicans.
Joe, you must not realize that by not voting, Democrats will win and you are hurting your country.
You must think I am dumber than dumb.
OF COURSE I KNOW ALL OF THAT.
BUT I DON'T CARE!!
I am mad, and that's all that counts.
See? It's all about ME.
It's not about America. It's not about unity. It's not about doing what's right. It's not about being a good citizen.
IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!!
(Editor's note: If you are a Republican or a staunch conservative, and you do not plan to vote, and/or vote for what's right as opposed to what makes you mad, you are lower than the lowest liberal. You are a fobbing , elf-skinned, flap-dragon. You are a gorbellied, folly-fallen, giglet.*
SOOO......
GET OVER IT!
GET READY!
GET OUT THERE AND VOTE! [When the time comes]
End of Editor's note)
*Don't get excited...these are all perfectly good Shakespearian terms. Read him...you might like him.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
TIME FOR CHANGE?
I have some gripes and I am now going to express them.
1. My taxes are much too low.
I have a need to pay more to my loving government.
2. Our country's deficit has been dropping much too fast...way ahead of schedule.
I think we need to take steps to get it back up again.
3. Gas prices have come down too much.
If the Europeans can pay $5.00 per gallon, I should get to, too.
4. We have had too few terrorist attacks in the last four years.
We are entitled to at least one per year so we can lose a few thousand innocent civilians.
5. The stock market has been doing far too well.
People who invest their money in the stock market (of whom I am not one), have a right to lose more of their hard earned money and do not deserve to have money set aside for retirement.
6. Medical care is much too immediate.
I should be able to wait at least six months for some of the heart treatments I need periodically. Why, the way it is now, I actually get to see the doctor the very day I go to his office. I should only be able to make an appointment to see the receptionist three weeks from now so that I can actually see the doctor in about six weeks.
7. Wal-mart has a lot of nerve, providing my generic drugs for only $4.00 for a month's supply.
Why I've been complaining about the high cost of medicine for so long, I won't know how to behave if my prescriptions are actually reasonably priced.
Last week I got a three months supply for only $12.00. I used to get to pay $36.00 for the same period of time.
What to do?
8. We are having far to much success in Iraq and Afganistan.
(What? No one told you? The infrastructure is in better shape than it has been in ten years, the government is making strides daily toward being able to take over their own country and the civil war that was supposed to be happening has just failed to take hold...disgraceful!)
Since within three years of an early pull-out from Iraq we will be fighting terrorists on our own soil in our own country, instead of having to go overseas to do it, a pre-mature withdrawal of troops is essential.
9. I am absolutely furious that my home's value, which was supposed to go down because of the bursting of the housing bubble, actually has gone up in the last three months.
Just for that, I am keeping my house and absolutely refuse to even put it on the market.
10. President Bush has refused to be wishy-washy on almost any issue at all.
I think we need a man who can test the wind daily to see where he stands on an issue.
Maybe a good mugwump would fill the bill.
(A mugwump is a polititian who sits on the fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other. He flies backward, because he doesn't care where he's going, only want to see where he's been.)
11. The general economy is too robust.
We deserve to be able to slow it down.
12. Unemployment is just too low.
Why, I can remember the Jimmy Carter days when unemployment was double digit.
13. The same goes for inflation!
Why can't we return to the days of 12% or maybe even 18% inflation?
14. And speaking of polititians, we need to get rid of these polititians who, when they discover a felon in their own ranks, force them to resign.
What we really need is for party leaders to endorse having members of Congress have actual sex with pages (instead of just writing to them) and then give them standing ovations.
We need strong men serving in Congress who don't mind leaving a woman in a car to drown.
We need more members of Congress who can't remember the story they told last time about their war escapades and so change the story every time they tell it.
For all of the reasons listed above, and for many I am just too depressed to mention here, I intend to vote DEMOCRATIC in the up-coming mid-term elections.
N O T !
1. My taxes are much too low.
I have a need to pay more to my loving government.
2. Our country's deficit has been dropping much too fast...way ahead of schedule.
I think we need to take steps to get it back up again.
3. Gas prices have come down too much.
If the Europeans can pay $5.00 per gallon, I should get to, too.
4. We have had too few terrorist attacks in the last four years.
We are entitled to at least one per year so we can lose a few thousand innocent civilians.
5. The stock market has been doing far too well.
People who invest their money in the stock market (of whom I am not one), have a right to lose more of their hard earned money and do not deserve to have money set aside for retirement.
6. Medical care is much too immediate.
I should be able to wait at least six months for some of the heart treatments I need periodically. Why, the way it is now, I actually get to see the doctor the very day I go to his office. I should only be able to make an appointment to see the receptionist three weeks from now so that I can actually see the doctor in about six weeks.
7. Wal-mart has a lot of nerve, providing my generic drugs for only $4.00 for a month's supply.
Why I've been complaining about the high cost of medicine for so long, I won't know how to behave if my prescriptions are actually reasonably priced.
Last week I got a three months supply for only $12.00. I used to get to pay $36.00 for the same period of time.
What to do?
8. We are having far to much success in Iraq and Afganistan.
(What? No one told you? The infrastructure is in better shape than it has been in ten years, the government is making strides daily toward being able to take over their own country and the civil war that was supposed to be happening has just failed to take hold...disgraceful!)
Since within three years of an early pull-out from Iraq we will be fighting terrorists on our own soil in our own country, instead of having to go overseas to do it, a pre-mature withdrawal of troops is essential.
9. I am absolutely furious that my home's value, which was supposed to go down because of the bursting of the housing bubble, actually has gone up in the last three months.
Just for that, I am keeping my house and absolutely refuse to even put it on the market.
10. President Bush has refused to be wishy-washy on almost any issue at all.
I think we need a man who can test the wind daily to see where he stands on an issue.
Maybe a good mugwump would fill the bill.
(A mugwump is a polititian who sits on the fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other. He flies backward, because he doesn't care where he's going, only want to see where he's been.)
11. The general economy is too robust.
We deserve to be able to slow it down.
12. Unemployment is just too low.
Why, I can remember the Jimmy Carter days when unemployment was double digit.
13. The same goes for inflation!
Why can't we return to the days of 12% or maybe even 18% inflation?
14. And speaking of polititians, we need to get rid of these polititians who, when they discover a felon in their own ranks, force them to resign.
What we really need is for party leaders to endorse having members of Congress have actual sex with pages (instead of just writing to them) and then give them standing ovations.
We need strong men serving in Congress who don't mind leaving a woman in a car to drown.
We need more members of Congress who can't remember the story they told last time about their war escapades and so change the story every time they tell it.
For all of the reasons listed above, and for many I am just too depressed to mention here, I intend to vote DEMOCRATIC in the up-coming mid-term elections.
N O T !
Monday, October 09, 2006
REVELATION
One of my favorite sayings is: Everything you need to know about God is found in the Word of God; nothing you need to know about God is NOT found in the Word of God and anything you THINK you know about God that is not in the Word of God, you just made up.
What does this mean?
What it means is that the Word of God; i.e.: The Bible; is the entire revelation of God’s character, His love for his creation and His plan for its redemption.
He left nothing about Himself out.
There is no further revelation about Him needed.
In the Bible we find every iota of information about God that we need to discover who He is and what He is about.
We also discover why He created mankind, how mankind has historically responded to Him and what happened to disrupt what was to have been a fellowship of love between Him and His highest creation: human beings.
The Bible reveals the price of mankind’s disobedience to God and tells us that there is a high price to be paid for that disobedience, a price so high that no man could pay it.
Scripture shows us God’s plan to pay the price Himself, on mankind’s behalf so that humans could once again enjoy fellowship with Him.
Throughout history there have been people who have had "experiences" that they claimed brought them some "new" revelation from God.
For instance, after a fall on the ice, Mary Baker Eddy had a vision from God that healed her and brought her revelation about the nature of existence; that pain and sickness are illusions; Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God and was conceived when Mary "Perceived" the "spiritual idea" of Christ.
Joseph Smith had "visions" during his youth that "revealed" to him that all Christian churches, denominations, and sects were wrong and that he should set them straight, and that a "messenger" named Moroni pointed him toward some burried gold plates containing many "new" revelations about God (written, by the way, in a convoluted form of "King James" English - presumabley because God could not speak 19th century English), etc.
After being attacked by ruffians and struck in the face with a large stone, which left her disfigured and traumatized, Ellen Harmonn (later to become Ellen White) began having visions from God in which she was levitated high above the earth and "revealed" that the door of salvation had been closed to sinner on October 22 1843. She is credited with solidifying the scattered Millerites and Adventists into one denomination know as Seventh-Day Adventists.
Sun Myung Moon had a "vision" in which Jesus told him that He (Jesus) had not fulfilled His mission on earth and that Moon was the only one alive who could accomplish the mission.
I could go on, but what I want you to see is that each of these had totally different "visions" from God, each of which named them as his "chosen" one to share new "revelations" with the world.
Can they all be right?
Can one be right?
Which one?
Who gets to choose?
You?
Me?
No.
If we want the total revelation of God, we need only to turn to the collection of 66 writings by 40 authors, written over centuries, which harmonize with each other, are ALL about the same person, and that leaves absolutely nothing about God unsaid.
We call it The Bible.
Its Old Testament is all about God’s nature and the coming Savior.
Its New Testament is all about God’s acting out His plan for redemption in Christ, its accomplishment and Christ’s soon return.
You should read it…it’s great!
No further revelation needed.
Period.
What does this mean?
What it means is that the Word of God; i.e.: The Bible; is the entire revelation of God’s character, His love for his creation and His plan for its redemption.
He left nothing about Himself out.
There is no further revelation about Him needed.
In the Bible we find every iota of information about God that we need to discover who He is and what He is about.
We also discover why He created mankind, how mankind has historically responded to Him and what happened to disrupt what was to have been a fellowship of love between Him and His highest creation: human beings.
The Bible reveals the price of mankind’s disobedience to God and tells us that there is a high price to be paid for that disobedience, a price so high that no man could pay it.
Scripture shows us God’s plan to pay the price Himself, on mankind’s behalf so that humans could once again enjoy fellowship with Him.
Throughout history there have been people who have had "experiences" that they claimed brought them some "new" revelation from God.
For instance, after a fall on the ice, Mary Baker Eddy had a vision from God that healed her and brought her revelation about the nature of existence; that pain and sickness are illusions; Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God and was conceived when Mary "Perceived" the "spiritual idea" of Christ.
Joseph Smith had "visions" during his youth that "revealed" to him that all Christian churches, denominations, and sects were wrong and that he should set them straight, and that a "messenger" named Moroni pointed him toward some burried gold plates containing many "new" revelations about God (written, by the way, in a convoluted form of "King James" English - presumabley because God could not speak 19th century English), etc.
After being attacked by ruffians and struck in the face with a large stone, which left her disfigured and traumatized, Ellen Harmonn (later to become Ellen White) began having visions from God in which she was levitated high above the earth and "revealed" that the door of salvation had been closed to sinner on October 22 1843. She is credited with solidifying the scattered Millerites and Adventists into one denomination know as Seventh-Day Adventists.
Sun Myung Moon had a "vision" in which Jesus told him that He (Jesus) had not fulfilled His mission on earth and that Moon was the only one alive who could accomplish the mission.
I could go on, but what I want you to see is that each of these had totally different "visions" from God, each of which named them as his "chosen" one to share new "revelations" with the world.
Can they all be right?
Can one be right?
Which one?
Who gets to choose?
You?
Me?
No.
If we want the total revelation of God, we need only to turn to the collection of 66 writings by 40 authors, written over centuries, which harmonize with each other, are ALL about the same person, and that leaves absolutely nothing about God unsaid.
We call it The Bible.
Its Old Testament is all about God’s nature and the coming Savior.
Its New Testament is all about God’s acting out His plan for redemption in Christ, its accomplishment and Christ’s soon return.
You should read it…it’s great!
No further revelation needed.
Period.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
SUNDAY PRAISE
Lord I Lift Your Name On High
by Rick Founds
http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis/songbook/lordlift.html
Lord, I lift Your name on high.
Lord, I love to sing Your praises.
I'm so glad You're in my life.
I'm so glad You came to save us.
You came from Heaven to earth to show the way,
From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay;
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky;
Lord, I lift Your name on high.
by Rick Founds
http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis/songbook/lordlift.html
Lord, I lift Your name on high.
Lord, I love to sing Your praises.
I'm so glad You're in my life.
I'm so glad You came to save us.
You came from Heaven to earth to show the way,
From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay;
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky;
Lord, I lift Your name on high.
Friday, October 06, 2006
A Normal Quiz
Do you know what that graph represents?
As a Psychology/Sociology major in college, I had to deal with this type of graph extensively.
The "standard normal distribution" is the normal distribution with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one (the green curves in the plots to the right). It is often called the bell curve because the graph of its probability resembles a bell.
See those little numbers along the bottom? There is a zero in the middle. That represents the point on the graph that is where the most of whatever you are measuring (people, ideas, IQs, pros, cons, etc.) falls.
Let's say you are measuring human characteristics. The further you go to the right or left, the fewer people demonstrate that characteristic.
It is important to realize that the curve measures quantitative results, not qualitative.
In our country, the majority of people work for somebody else.
On the graph, they would be plotted between the -1 and the +1, on the green line, or some such position.
The fortune 500 CEOs would fall close to the +3 mark and the homeless would fall close to the -3 mark...approximately.
Remember, "normal" is a quantitative term...it's about numbers compraed to the "norm."
Homosexuality is not normal behavior.
Homosexuals would fall in either the +2 or -2 section of the graph, depending on how one arranged the numbers.
Murder is not normal behavior.
Murderers would fall close to the +3 or -3 section of the graph.
Pollsters use these types of graphs to determine where the issue they'r polling fall in relation the the "norm."
There are many other uses for this type of graph, but for the purposes of this post, that is enough to know.
Would you consider a member of NAMBLA to be a "normal" person?
They would have you believe they are.
But they would fall in the +4 or -4 section of the graph. Definately NOT normal.
By the way, NAMBLA stands for: North American Man/Boy Love Association.
Keeping all of that in mind, here is a quiz for you (each question is multiple choice and has two answers):
1. What Congress person wants to be Speaker of the House and gladly associates with and actively supports NAMBLA?
a. Nancy Pelosi
b. Mark Foley
c. Democrat
d. Republican
2. What member of Congress drove a car into a body of water, escaped, and left the other occupant in the car to die, did not report the incident until the next day and escaped all responsibility for the act?
a. Ted Kennedy
b. Mark Foley
c. Democrat
d. Republican
3. What Lawmaker had actual sexual relations with a young male page, was censured by his comrades, allowed to continue "serving" and held an important chairmanship in his party?
a. Gerry Studds
b. Mark Foley
c. Democrat
d. Republican
4. What leader engaged in actual sexual abborant behavior with an intern, had several extra-marital affairs, was accused of rape by at least two women, was implicated in the deaths of several people who had opposed him and is now seen by his party as "one of our best ever...?"
a. William Jefferson Clinton
b. Mark Foley
c. Democrat
d. Republican
That's probably enough.
Answer in the comments section, if you like.
Here's the thing.
Mark Foley is a sleezeball...a beslubbering, clay-brained, clotpole who should not be in office. Guess what...he isn't!
He is NOT a "normal" Republican.
He would fall in the -4 or + 4 part of the graph, if we were measuring conservatives.
The correct answers to the above quiz, if graphed, would fall very near the "0" on the bell curve if we were measuring liberals.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Ignorance vs Stupidity
I'm ignorant.
I know nothing about nuclear fusion.
I am absolutely unknowledgeable about the grocery business.
I am ignorant.
Ignorance is not a bad thing.
We are all ignorant about something or somethings.
I don't mind being ignorant, since nobody knows all there is to know about everything ('though some would lead you to believe that they do).
What I hate is STUPIDITY.
STUPIDITY is constantly ignoring the facts, acting like the facts have no significance or being unable to draw a correct conclusion from a given set of facts.
Let's say we have 30 students in a second grade class.
In the class there are 3 black students, 2 oriental students and 3 Hispanic students. The rest are White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant or Catholics (OK, maybe a couple are atheistic...but those could be black, oriental, Hispanic or white).
Anyway...the teacher decides it is time for the class to learn to add.
She (or he) stands at the board and writes "2 + 2 = 4"
She then goes around the room and asks each student, "How much is two-plus-two?"
Each student answers, after which she then has the whole class repeat the equation several times as a group.
Question: Which of the children in the class did NOT have the opportunity to learn how much two-plus-two equals?
If you are a member of some groups, you would say that children of certain race or ethnicity did not have the same opportunity to learn as some of the others in the class.
STUPID!
(For those of you who studied new math in a public school, that means they all had exactly the same opportunity to learn the equation.)
Headline in yesterday's local fish wrapper: FOLEY ADMITS HE IS GAY!
STUPID!
Now I believe gayness to be neither hereditary nor a "choice." I believe it is a learned behavior pattern resulting from a variety of influences. And, like some other learned behaviors, I consider it to be sin.
Nevertheless, the headline is STUPID, because it is not related to the issue of writing emails and instant messages to pages (except in the most obtuse sense of the word "related.")
Several "talking heads" on TV have somehow connected the obnoxious behavior of one man to the political group of which he is (or was) a part.
Using that logic, since Ted Kennedy committed involuntary manslaughter, all members of his political party are likewise guilty of manslaughter (or at the very least covering up his).
STUPID!
I can't help but wonder how Barney Frank feels about Foley being gay. Does he consider that a plus for Foley or a minus?
What about a member of a certain political party who was caught having sex with pages? Shouldn't he have been treated with even MORE contempt than Foley, since he ACTED on his yearnings instead of just writing them?
How about a certain President who enjoyed having a certain intern kneel beneath his desk and engage in behavior that would have at least embarrassed most normal people and would have enraged others?
Did the fact that she was consenting diminish the significance of the event?
Was that a less immoral act than writing evi thoughts to a page?
STUPID!
My frustration is that there are certain people who, by virtue of their pre-dispositions and biases, will not be able to see the hypocrasy in this.
STUPID!
I guess some people just don't mind being STUPID.
I know nothing about nuclear fusion.
I am absolutely unknowledgeable about the grocery business.
I am ignorant.
Ignorance is not a bad thing.
We are all ignorant about something or somethings.
I don't mind being ignorant, since nobody knows all there is to know about everything ('though some would lead you to believe that they do).
What I hate is STUPIDITY.
STUPIDITY is constantly ignoring the facts, acting like the facts have no significance or being unable to draw a correct conclusion from a given set of facts.
Let's say we have 30 students in a second grade class.
In the class there are 3 black students, 2 oriental students and 3 Hispanic students. The rest are White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant or Catholics (OK, maybe a couple are atheistic...but those could be black, oriental, Hispanic or white).
Anyway...the teacher decides it is time for the class to learn to add.
She (or he) stands at the board and writes "2 + 2 = 4"
She then goes around the room and asks each student, "How much is two-plus-two?"
Each student answers, after which she then has the whole class repeat the equation several times as a group.
Question: Which of the children in the class did NOT have the opportunity to learn how much two-plus-two equals?
If you are a member of some groups, you would say that children of certain race or ethnicity did not have the same opportunity to learn as some of the others in the class.
STUPID!
(For those of you who studied new math in a public school, that means they all had exactly the same opportunity to learn the equation.)
Headline in yesterday's local fish wrapper: FOLEY ADMITS HE IS GAY!
STUPID!
Now I believe gayness to be neither hereditary nor a "choice." I believe it is a learned behavior pattern resulting from a variety of influences. And, like some other learned behaviors, I consider it to be sin.
Nevertheless, the headline is STUPID, because it is not related to the issue of writing emails and instant messages to pages (except in the most obtuse sense of the word "related.")
Several "talking heads" on TV have somehow connected the obnoxious behavior of one man to the political group of which he is (or was) a part.
Using that logic, since Ted Kennedy committed involuntary manslaughter, all members of his political party are likewise guilty of manslaughter (or at the very least covering up his).
STUPID!
I can't help but wonder how Barney Frank feels about Foley being gay. Does he consider that a plus for Foley or a minus?
What about a member of a certain political party who was caught having sex with pages? Shouldn't he have been treated with even MORE contempt than Foley, since he ACTED on his yearnings instead of just writing them?
How about a certain President who enjoyed having a certain intern kneel beneath his desk and engage in behavior that would have at least embarrassed most normal people and would have enraged others?
Did the fact that she was consenting diminish the significance of the event?
Was that a less immoral act than writing evi thoughts to a page?
STUPID!
My frustration is that there are certain people who, by virtue of their pre-dispositions and biases, will not be able to see the hypocrasy in this.
STUPID!
I guess some people just don't mind being STUPID.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Saturday, September 30, 2006
This Is WORTH Clicking On
I know...it's a cheap post...but it is WORTH it!
http://www.kids4truth.com/watchmaker/watch.html
If the link does not work...copy it and paste it in your address box.
http://www.kids4truth.com/watchmaker/watch.html
If the link does not work...copy it and paste it in your address box.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
I'll Clear It Up for You
I know you're just confused.
So...
I'll clear it up for you.
Whatever you've been told.
Whatever you may think.
This is the way it is:
History will tell whether or not he was right,
but right or wrong
GET THIS STRAIGHT
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH
is
NOT
the
E N E M Y!
The
TERRORISTS
are
the
E N E M Y!!
And if you think otherwise,
you are
(whether deliberately or not)
on their side!
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
On Being Christian
In the September 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine there is an interview of Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building, the best selling novel in the Middle East.
According to National Geographic, Dr. Al Aswany is a dentist and a self-described expert on the American way of life.
The interviewer, Karen M. Kostyal, quotes Dr. Al Aswany as saying, "...I was born Muslim, so I am Muslim. If I had been born Christian, I would have been Christian.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who think this way. Their reasoning is: I am not Muslim, I am not Buddhist, I am not a follower of Confucius, nor am I Hare Krishna, and I am not an atheist, so I must be a Christian.
That demonstrates a total intellectual ignorance of what a Christian is.
I am surprised that a man so brilliant and revered as Dr. Al Aswany is so unaware.
One does not become a Christian either by being "born a Christian," or by proclamation. (If one proclaims oneself a space scientist, that does not make him a space scientist.)
A Christian is a follower of Christ.
But more than that.
A Christian is a person who has recognized the sovereign God as perfect and as one who cannot even look upon imperfection, let alone blatant sin.
A Christian is one who has then recognized that he/she is therefore a sinner, along with everyone ever born, and has no hope of being in God's presence, never mind living eternally in Heaven.
He/she further recognizes that that sinful state earns eternal death, separation from God for eternity in a place we call "Hell," from which there is no escape, and where there is eternal torment like a blazing furnace forever...a place where Heaven can be seen, but not reached, and where he/she is eternally alone (not partying with his/her friends, as some purport).
A Christian is a sinner who has confessed that Jesus is Lord (technically the second person of the Godhead, which we call the Trinity, hence: Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and who believes that God has raised Him from the dead.
A Christian has placed his/her trust in the fact that Jesus went to the cross of Calvary willingly, and there fulfilled all of the requirements of God's moral Law on his/her behalf, leaving no sin-debt to be paid.
One cannot assume the Christianity of his/her parents, but must enter into a relationship with God in a personal way.
All of this information is found in God's Word, both the Living Word (Christ) and the written Word, The Bible.
There is no further revelation either required or appropriate.
Christianity is very narrow.
Jesus, Himself, told us that the life-path that leads to eternal destruction is very wide and lots of people are on it.
He further said that the path to eternal life is very narrow and few people find it.
Christianity is not about behavior, it is about being given an eternal relationship with God through faith in Christ.
If one is focused on Jesus, behavior will take care of itself.
I am astonished that a person as brilliant as Mr. Al Aswany has never learned this about what a Christian is.
It is my prayer that he will read this post and come to accept the claims of Christ on his life and become a Christian, not based on where he was born, but when he was born again.
I will pray to this end.
But I will not hold my breath.
According to National Geographic, Dr. Al Aswany is a dentist and a self-described expert on the American way of life.
The interviewer, Karen M. Kostyal, quotes Dr. Al Aswany as saying, "...I was born Muslim, so I am Muslim. If I had been born Christian, I would have been Christian.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who think this way. Their reasoning is: I am not Muslim, I am not Buddhist, I am not a follower of Confucius, nor am I Hare Krishna, and I am not an atheist, so I must be a Christian.
That demonstrates a total intellectual ignorance of what a Christian is.
I am surprised that a man so brilliant and revered as Dr. Al Aswany is so unaware.
One does not become a Christian either by being "born a Christian," or by proclamation. (If one proclaims oneself a space scientist, that does not make him a space scientist.)
A Christian is a follower of Christ.
But more than that.
A Christian is a person who has recognized the sovereign God as perfect and as one who cannot even look upon imperfection, let alone blatant sin.
A Christian is one who has then recognized that he/she is therefore a sinner, along with everyone ever born, and has no hope of being in God's presence, never mind living eternally in Heaven.
He/she further recognizes that that sinful state earns eternal death, separation from God for eternity in a place we call "Hell," from which there is no escape, and where there is eternal torment like a blazing furnace forever...a place where Heaven can be seen, but not reached, and where he/she is eternally alone (not partying with his/her friends, as some purport).
A Christian is a sinner who has confessed that Jesus is Lord (technically the second person of the Godhead, which we call the Trinity, hence: Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and who believes that God has raised Him from the dead.
A Christian has placed his/her trust in the fact that Jesus went to the cross of Calvary willingly, and there fulfilled all of the requirements of God's moral Law on his/her behalf, leaving no sin-debt to be paid.
One cannot assume the Christianity of his/her parents, but must enter into a relationship with God in a personal way.
All of this information is found in God's Word, both the Living Word (Christ) and the written Word, The Bible.
There is no further revelation either required or appropriate.
Christianity is very narrow.
Jesus, Himself, told us that the life-path that leads to eternal destruction is very wide and lots of people are on it.
He further said that the path to eternal life is very narrow and few people find it.
Christianity is not about behavior, it is about being given an eternal relationship with God through faith in Christ.
If one is focused on Jesus, behavior will take care of itself.
I am astonished that a person as brilliant as Mr. Al Aswany has never learned this about what a Christian is.
It is my prayer that he will read this post and come to accept the claims of Christ on his life and become a Christian, not based on where he was born, but when he was born again.
I will pray to this end.
But I will not hold my breath.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
E Pluribus Unum
The United States of America has had, and still has, several mottos.
How many of you knew that?
In 1782, Congress approved "E Pluribus Unum" as the motto to be engraved on the first Great Seal of America.
It was originally proposed by Pierre Eugene DuSimitiere, who was a "Swiss-American," even though there was no such thing as a hyphenated American in those days.
"E" is actually Latin for "out of," or "from."
"Pluribus" is Latin for "many."
"Unum" means "one."
So the motto means: "From among many, one."
How often have you heard the United States of America referred to as "a melting pot."
This is where the idea comes from.
Regrettably, we have spent the last twenty or so years turning this around.
A melting pot is a large metal container in which one places two or more elements which are heated until they melt together making one substance, no part of which bears any resemblance to the original elements placed in the pot.
For instance, if one puts candle wax in a pot with food coloring, the result is a candle, not two separate hunks of wax and color.
That is what we are supposed to be, as a nation.
We are not to be Mexicans, Italians, Frenchmen, Irishmen, Iranians, Latvians, Ugandans and others, all living in their diverse cultures in one country, rather we are supposed to be an amalgamation of different cultures into one great culture called "Americans."
When my ancestors migrated to this country, some from Russia, they did not form a Russian neighborhood, with Russian culture, Russian language, Russian schools, etc.
No, they learned the English language, moved south, set up shops and learned how to melt and meld into a unified society.
My Irish ancestors, likewise moved south, set up shops and learned how to melt and meld into a unified society.
One of the ways they melded was through inter-marriage...with each other!
Otherwise, I would not be here.
Some might have preferred this.
But I digress.
"E Pluribus Unum" has, by design, 13 letters in it, representing the original 13 colonies.
Did you know that congress also approved three other mottos, which remain to this day?
They are: "Annuit Coeptis," which means, "God Favors Our Beginning," "Novus Ordo Seclorum," which means, "A New Order of the Ages," and "In God We Trust," which means, "In God We Trust."
The latter was adopted by Congress in 1956 under Title 36, Subtitle I, Part A, Chapter 3, Section 302 of the Congressional Record.
It is the law of the land.
See, that we are to be a united nation, not a nation of diverse cultures, is the reason we call ourselves "The United States of America.
The first job of our government, including Senators like John McAinus and Lindsay Graham-Cracker, is to take steps to insure that we are UNITED.
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect state of cultural diversity..." is NOT a part of our Constitution's preamble.
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." IS.
How many of you knew that?
In 1782, Congress approved "E Pluribus Unum" as the motto to be engraved on the first Great Seal of America.
It was originally proposed by Pierre Eugene DuSimitiere, who was a "Swiss-American," even though there was no such thing as a hyphenated American in those days.
"E" is actually Latin for "out of," or "from."
"Pluribus" is Latin for "many."
"Unum" means "one."
So the motto means: "From among many, one."
How often have you heard the United States of America referred to as "a melting pot."
This is where the idea comes from.
Regrettably, we have spent the last twenty or so years turning this around.
A melting pot is a large metal container in which one places two or more elements which are heated until they melt together making one substance, no part of which bears any resemblance to the original elements placed in the pot.
For instance, if one puts candle wax in a pot with food coloring, the result is a candle, not two separate hunks of wax and color.
That is what we are supposed to be, as a nation.
We are not to be Mexicans, Italians, Frenchmen, Irishmen, Iranians, Latvians, Ugandans and others, all living in their diverse cultures in one country, rather we are supposed to be an amalgamation of different cultures into one great culture called "Americans."
When my ancestors migrated to this country, some from Russia, they did not form a Russian neighborhood, with Russian culture, Russian language, Russian schools, etc.
No, they learned the English language, moved south, set up shops and learned how to melt and meld into a unified society.
My Irish ancestors, likewise moved south, set up shops and learned how to melt and meld into a unified society.
One of the ways they melded was through inter-marriage...with each other!
Otherwise, I would not be here.
Some might have preferred this.
But I digress.
"E Pluribus Unum" has, by design, 13 letters in it, representing the original 13 colonies.
Did you know that congress also approved three other mottos, which remain to this day?
They are: "Annuit Coeptis," which means, "God Favors Our Beginning," "Novus Ordo Seclorum," which means, "A New Order of the Ages," and "In God We Trust," which means, "In God We Trust."
The latter was adopted by Congress in 1956 under Title 36, Subtitle I, Part A, Chapter 3, Section 302 of the Congressional Record.
It is the law of the land.
See, that we are to be a united nation, not a nation of diverse cultures, is the reason we call ourselves "The United States of America.
The first job of our government, including Senators like John McAinus and Lindsay Graham-Cracker, is to take steps to insure that we are UNITED.
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect state of cultural diversity..." is NOT a part of our Constitution's preamble.
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." IS.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Peaceful Islam and the Pope
The Pope made a speech.
According to Reuters:
"In that speech, the Pope appeared to endorse a Christian view, contested by most Muslims, that the early Muslims spread their religion by violence. Islamic fury erupted on Thursday and has cast doubt on a visit the Pope plans to Turkey in November."
I actually read the entire text of the speech, which was pretty boring.
He quoted erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus in 1391.
Here is the part of the quote that has caused so much trouble: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".
Islam was offended.
To prove how wrong the Pope was, they staged violent protests, bombed three churches, demanded an apology and threatened to get even.
Now I know, in my own mind, absolutely, positively, without any doubt, by Islam's own behavior, with 100% certainty that Manuel II Paleologus, quoted by the Pope, was right.
According to Reuters:
"In that speech, the Pope appeared to endorse a Christian view, contested by most Muslims, that the early Muslims spread their religion by violence. Islamic fury erupted on Thursday and has cast doubt on a visit the Pope plans to Turkey in November."
I actually read the entire text of the speech, which was pretty boring.
He quoted erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus in 1391.
Here is the part of the quote that has caused so much trouble: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".
Islam was offended.
To prove how wrong the Pope was, they staged violent protests, bombed three churches, demanded an apology and threatened to get even.
Now I know, in my own mind, absolutely, positively, without any doubt, by Islam's own behavior, with 100% certainty that Manuel II Paleologus, quoted by the Pope, was right.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Grrrrreat!
Subject: Mother of the Year
In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs.
Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.
The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine.
The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression.
The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.
After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother.
The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment.
Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of adifferent species.
The only orphans that could be found quickly, were a litter of weaner pigs.
The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger.
Would they become cubs or porkchops??
Take a look!!
In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs.
Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.
The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine.
The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression.
The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.
After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother.
The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment.
Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of adifferent species.
The only orphans that could be found quickly, were a litter of weaner pigs.
The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger.
Would they become cubs or porkchops??
Take a look!!
Monday, September 11, 2006
REMEMBER
When you say 9/11, everybody knows that you are referencing a day in history.
We all know that two airplanes flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
We all know that one airplane flew into the Pentagon.
And we all know that one plane crashed trying to hit another target, but we're not certain what that target was.
What was 9/11, really?
Today, the major media treat 9/11 as though it was some kind of natural disaster, like hurricane Katrina.
Let me point out that, despite early estimates that thousands of people had died in Katrina, the actual numbers were very, very low.
One word you almost NEVER hear on ABC,CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and the others is the word, "terrorists."
But 9/11 was a vicious, unprovoked act of agression against The United States of America, not by another sovereign nation (that would have made things easy), but by a diverse group of men who aligned themselves with a world-wide ring of self-proclaimed followers of "Allah," whose avowed goal in life is to distroy our nation.
It was an act of war.
By terrorists.
If we are not diligent, it will happen again, because these people have not changed their goal.
Thankfully, so far, we have been diligent.
I have heard Democratractors proclaim that we are not safer today than we were before 9/11.
That must be because of all of the subsequent attacts we have suffered since then.
Or maybe it is because we have caught so many terrorists BEFORE they could perpitrate their dastardly deeds.
They conclude that the fact that they were caught makes us less safe.
Wierd thinking. Very wierd.
How much better it would be if we would unite against these radical Islamofacists.
United we can accomplish much.
Divided we will be overcome.
Unity requires a concious effort to put aside self-agrandisement, self-centeredness, self-ambition and selfishness, and to work together to accomplish a mutually beneficial task, in this case, the defeat of these terrorists.
We could sit down with them, find out what they want, give it to them and hope they will go away.
But what we will find out is that what they want is for anyone who subscribes to the American way of life to be dead.
Are we willing to give them that?
I'm not.
And now I would like to remember on of our citizens, who did nothing to the terrorists, but who died in the attack on America at the World Trade Center.
I know nothing about him, but I don't need to.
He was an American, and he did not deserve to die that day.
We all know that two airplanes flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
We all know that one airplane flew into the Pentagon.
And we all know that one plane crashed trying to hit another target, but we're not certain what that target was.
What was 9/11, really?
Today, the major media treat 9/11 as though it was some kind of natural disaster, like hurricane Katrina.
Let me point out that, despite early estimates that thousands of people had died in Katrina, the actual numbers were very, very low.
One word you almost NEVER hear on ABC,CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and the others is the word, "terrorists."
But 9/11 was a vicious, unprovoked act of agression against The United States of America, not by another sovereign nation (that would have made things easy), but by a diverse group of men who aligned themselves with a world-wide ring of self-proclaimed followers of "Allah," whose avowed goal in life is to distroy our nation.
It was an act of war.
By terrorists.
If we are not diligent, it will happen again, because these people have not changed their goal.
Thankfully, so far, we have been diligent.
I have heard Democratractors proclaim that we are not safer today than we were before 9/11.
That must be because of all of the subsequent attacts we have suffered since then.
Or maybe it is because we have caught so many terrorists BEFORE they could perpitrate their dastardly deeds.
They conclude that the fact that they were caught makes us less safe.
Wierd thinking. Very wierd.
How much better it would be if we would unite against these radical Islamofacists.
United we can accomplish much.
Divided we will be overcome.
Unity requires a concious effort to put aside self-agrandisement, self-centeredness, self-ambition and selfishness, and to work together to accomplish a mutually beneficial task, in this case, the defeat of these terrorists.
We could sit down with them, find out what they want, give it to them and hope they will go away.
But what we will find out is that what they want is for anyone who subscribes to the American way of life to be dead.
Are we willing to give them that?
I'm not.
And now I would like to remember on of our citizens, who did nothing to the terrorists, but who died in the attack on America at the World Trade Center.
I know nothing about him, but I don't need to.
He was an American, and he did not deserve to die that day.
Ernest James, age 40.
Place killed: World Trade Center.
Place killed: World Trade Center.
Resident of New York, N.Y. (USA).
May God grant that we never allow such a thing to happen again.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Who IS This Guy?
Who is William Jefferson Clinton?
ABC has been promoting a mini-series set to run Sunday and Monday night of this week.
It is about the things that led up to 9/11.
It is not complementary of either the Clinton or the Bush administration.
Because there were more Clinton years leading up to 9/11 than Bush years, naturally there is (purportedly - I have not seen the film...few have, not even Clinton) more about Clinton's failure to "connect the dots" than Bush's.
Seemingly intent on preserving his legacy (whatever that is), William Jefferson Clinton assembled a group of Democrat congresspersons to write ABC insinuating that if they don't edit the program in accordance with their perspective, the broadcast licenses of ABC's chain of stations might be in jeapordy.
HOW DARE HE?
What on earth makes him think he has ANY, I mean ANY right to tell ABC or any other media group to edit, change or pull "The Pathway to Nine Eleven," the ABC mini-series?
I mean even if every word of it was false, he still has no right to demand such a thing.
Yet, he threatens ABC with the withholding of their broadcast license, and by implication, threatened the license of every other broadcaster with respect to their licenses.
Who is he, anyway?
I'll tell you who he is. He is a citizen. Just like me.
He used to be President, but he is not President any more.
As much as I deplore the way ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and even FOX news handle stories with unabashed bias, it is absolutely despicable that he would dare even THINK that it is alright for him to do such a thing.
If he wants to write a letter to them expressing his disapproval of this or that, as I do from time to time, that's A-OK.
But to threaten them?
Beyond the pale!
Way beyond.
It makes me think those accusations against WJ when he was governor of Arkansas and while he was preparing his run for the presidency were true after all.
I saw him on one of the morning talk shows today.
When asked why he pressured ABC to make the changes, his answer was "I don't want there to be any lies in that film."
Newsflash!
Films lie all the time...even so-called "docu-dramas."
The Michael Moore film, "Fahrenheit 911," lied about George Bush.
Nobody tried to have it quashed.
Lot's of talk shows commented negatively about it. But nobody called Michael Moore and threatened him with anything if he did not edit it or pull it.
NOBODY!
I will tell you this: This is the most egregious afront to the First Amendment in over 100 years.
If you can't understand that, you have NO idea what America is about. NONE.
If you are benefiting from the rights of citizenship in this country, with First Amendment rights given to the likes of the ACLU, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda and other anti-Americans, and you cannot see how evil and dangerous this action is, you just don't understand American citizenship.
But then, William Jefferson Clinton is an evil man.
So are those who sided with him to try to interrupt the artistic license of ABC with regard to making "The Pathway to Nine Eleven."
The following is my opinion.
It is right, but it is my opinion.
I will now exercise my First Amendment right to freedom of expression by stating my opinion.
William Jefferson Clinton is worse than the most aggressive Mafia boss.
He is a low-down, stinking, anti-American skunk.
He is actually MUCH lower than that, but I can't use such vulgar words on this blog.
Mr. Clinton, I challenge you to get together with some of your Congressional cronies and threaten me with something for having stated my opinion about you in a public forum, the blogosphere.
Maybe you could threaten to have my driver's license confiscated.
Well, why not just repeat some of your Arkansas tricks and hire someone to hire someone who can find somebody to have me snuffed.
After all, who would that surprise?
Not only would it not surprise anybody, your supporters would actually agree that it should be done.
So, goodbye cruel world!
I won't be around to bug you much longer!
William Jefferson Clinton will see to that.
Who IS this guy, anyway?
ABC has been promoting a mini-series set to run Sunday and Monday night of this week.
It is about the things that led up to 9/11.
It is not complementary of either the Clinton or the Bush administration.
Because there were more Clinton years leading up to 9/11 than Bush years, naturally there is (purportedly - I have not seen the film...few have, not even Clinton) more about Clinton's failure to "connect the dots" than Bush's.
Seemingly intent on preserving his legacy (whatever that is), William Jefferson Clinton assembled a group of Democrat congresspersons to write ABC insinuating that if they don't edit the program in accordance with their perspective, the broadcast licenses of ABC's chain of stations might be in jeapordy.
HOW DARE HE?
What on earth makes him think he has ANY, I mean ANY right to tell ABC or any other media group to edit, change or pull "The Pathway to Nine Eleven," the ABC mini-series?
I mean even if every word of it was false, he still has no right to demand such a thing.
Yet, he threatens ABC with the withholding of their broadcast license, and by implication, threatened the license of every other broadcaster with respect to their licenses.
Who is he, anyway?
I'll tell you who he is. He is a citizen. Just like me.
He used to be President, but he is not President any more.
As much as I deplore the way ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and even FOX news handle stories with unabashed bias, it is absolutely despicable that he would dare even THINK that it is alright for him to do such a thing.
If he wants to write a letter to them expressing his disapproval of this or that, as I do from time to time, that's A-OK.
But to threaten them?
Beyond the pale!
Way beyond.
It makes me think those accusations against WJ when he was governor of Arkansas and while he was preparing his run for the presidency were true after all.
I saw him on one of the morning talk shows today.
When asked why he pressured ABC to make the changes, his answer was "I don't want there to be any lies in that film."
Newsflash!
Films lie all the time...even so-called "docu-dramas."
The Michael Moore film, "Fahrenheit 911," lied about George Bush.
Nobody tried to have it quashed.
Lot's of talk shows commented negatively about it. But nobody called Michael Moore and threatened him with anything if he did not edit it or pull it.
NOBODY!
I will tell you this: This is the most egregious afront to the First Amendment in over 100 years.
If you can't understand that, you have NO idea what America is about. NONE.
If you are benefiting from the rights of citizenship in this country, with First Amendment rights given to the likes of the ACLU, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda and other anti-Americans, and you cannot see how evil and dangerous this action is, you just don't understand American citizenship.
But then, William Jefferson Clinton is an evil man.
So are those who sided with him to try to interrupt the artistic license of ABC with regard to making "The Pathway to Nine Eleven."
The following is my opinion.
It is right, but it is my opinion.
I will now exercise my First Amendment right to freedom of expression by stating my opinion.
William Jefferson Clinton is worse than the most aggressive Mafia boss.
He is a low-down, stinking, anti-American skunk.
He is actually MUCH lower than that, but I can't use such vulgar words on this blog.
Mr. Clinton, I challenge you to get together with some of your Congressional cronies and threaten me with something for having stated my opinion about you in a public forum, the blogosphere.
Maybe you could threaten to have my driver's license confiscated.
Well, why not just repeat some of your Arkansas tricks and hire someone to hire someone who can find somebody to have me snuffed.
After all, who would that surprise?
Not only would it not surprise anybody, your supporters would actually agree that it should be done.
So, goodbye cruel world!
I won't be around to bug you much longer!
William Jefferson Clinton will see to that.
Who IS this guy, anyway?
Thursday, September 07, 2006
About Aboutness
I've noticed that much of the time people read a story and think it is about the characters and events in the story.
Most often, though, the story is OF the characters and events, but it is ABOUT something altogether different.
For example, there is the story OF the Fox and the Grapes. It's one of Aesop's Fables. (How do you do that AE thing in Blogger?)
Here it is.
"One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: 'I am sure they are sour.'"
How many of you think this is a story ABOUT a fox trying to get some grapes?
You are wrong.
It is a story OF a fox trying to get some grapes, but is is a story ABOUT covetousness...wanting something you cannot have, and since you cannot have it, thinking of it as something awful.
How do I know that?
Well, in addition to being able to draw the correct conclusion from given information, I also have Aesop's rendering of its meaning:
"It is easy to despise what you cannot get."
Many readers thought my last post was about church members being dense, or evolution or science.
It used those examples, but it was ABOUT getting the right answers to our questions from the right source.
Take the Biblical story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego.
How many of you think this is about three guys who disobey a king, get thrown in a furnace and survive because of their great faithfulness to God.
WRONG!
It is a story OF three guys who disobey a king, get thrown in a furnace and survive, but it is ABOUT God's faithfulness and His great mercy and grace to be with us and to save us in the midsts of our circumstances.
How about David and Goliath?
Is it about a shepherd boy who was brave and faithful to God? Is the part about him using Goliaths sword to decapitate him there to show us that David knew how to get ahead?
No.
It is a story that teaches us that when we are on God's side, He will be faithful to carry us through.
It is so very important to be able to figure out what a story or parable is really about, rather than just its characters and what happened to them.
We have, for the most part, forgotten about what we used to call the "moral" of a story...the lesson it is really designed to teach. We tend take to the story our own biases and philosophies.
Every story in God's Word is designed to teach us something about His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption.
If you miss that, you may get the Biblical story right, but you will miss what it is about.
Most often, though, the story is OF the characters and events, but it is ABOUT something altogether different.
For example, there is the story OF the Fox and the Grapes. It's one of Aesop's Fables. (How do you do that AE thing in Blogger?)
Here it is.
"One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: 'I am sure they are sour.'"
How many of you think this is a story ABOUT a fox trying to get some grapes?
You are wrong.
It is a story OF a fox trying to get some grapes, but is is a story ABOUT covetousness...wanting something you cannot have, and since you cannot have it, thinking of it as something awful.
How do I know that?
Well, in addition to being able to draw the correct conclusion from given information, I also have Aesop's rendering of its meaning:
"It is easy to despise what you cannot get."
Many readers thought my last post was about church members being dense, or evolution or science.
It used those examples, but it was ABOUT getting the right answers to our questions from the right source.
Take the Biblical story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego.
How many of you think this is about three guys who disobey a king, get thrown in a furnace and survive because of their great faithfulness to God.
WRONG!
It is a story OF three guys who disobey a king, get thrown in a furnace and survive, but it is ABOUT God's faithfulness and His great mercy and grace to be with us and to save us in the midsts of our circumstances.
How about David and Goliath?
Is it about a shepherd boy who was brave and faithful to God? Is the part about him using Goliaths sword to decapitate him there to show us that David knew how to get ahead?
No.
It is a story that teaches us that when we are on God's side, He will be faithful to carry us through.
It is so very important to be able to figure out what a story or parable is really about, rather than just its characters and what happened to them.
We have, for the most part, forgotten about what we used to call the "moral" of a story...the lesson it is really designed to teach. We tend take to the story our own biases and philosophies.
Every story in God's Word is designed to teach us something about His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption.
If you miss that, you may get the Biblical story right, but you will miss what it is about.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Whence That Idea?
It's one of my favorite questions.
"Where did you get that idea?"
The other day a church member came to me and said, "I believe God has told Hortie and me that it is OK that we are living together outside of marraige."
"Where did you get that idea?" I asked.
"It just seems to me that a forgiving God, who wants us to live in love, would not be upset by it. After all, marriage is just a formality."
"Well guess what?" I answered, "It doesn't matter what it seems to you. What matters is what it seems to God. And He has already told us what it seems to Him."
His response, "You are so legalistic!"
Many of the things we believe, we just sort of determine by the "It seems to me" method.
Other ideas we get from those who taught us.
Evolution is one of those ideas.
We are taught that, since two things look alike, or have certain characteristics, they must therefore have the same biological "ancestors."
Since we were taught that, we believe it.
Since we believe it, because we were taught it, it must be true.
But just because we were taught it, doesn't mean it's right.
Science taught me that atoms were made of a neutron, a proton and an electron.
They were wrong!
Atoms are made of much more than that.
Science taught me that they knew the mass of the universe and therefore its size its content.
Then they sent up the Hubble Space Telescope and, surprise, it is more massive than we thought and had things in it we never dreamed of.
Now Isaiah has always taught that God's right hand spans the universe.
Since the universe is bigger than we thought, God's right hand must be bigger than we thought. Therefore God, himself, is bigger than we ever imagined!
What a mighty God we serve!
Something I have noticed about "scientific" writing these days. It is full of words like "could," "might," "may," "should," "may have," and the like.
Personally, I don't think those are very scientific terms
They represent a change in the very meaning of science.
Science has always required such things as observability and repeatability.
That is no longer the case.
So, we must now ask scientists, "Where did you get that idea?"
Many of them got their ideas from other scientists and pseudo-scientists, many of whom had or have a particular agenda.
For instance, the concept of evolution, as espoused by Charles Darwin in his book, "The Origin of the Species," is based on conclusions he drew after visiting the Galapagos islands. In other words, he thought them up.
He was considered very controversial at first. But as he continued to teach his theory, a few scientists believed it, taught it to their students, some of whom then taught it to theirs and slowly the theory of natural selection and evolution became "mainstream" science.
Whether it was observable or repeatable became irrelevant. What became important was unity of scientific theory, right or wrong.
The same thing happens in theology.
One person espouses a particular theology, teaches it to his followers, who teach it to theirs and before long a "new" sect, cult or even "mainstream" denomination or faith is established.
Some even "discover" new "scriptures" or have new revelations about God.
"After all," they ask, "Can't God continue to give revelation to stuff?"
Well, God is sovereign, and can do whatever He wants.
Thing is, we don't need any new scriptures.
He has already given us all we need to know.
See, everything we need to know about God is found in the Word of God; nothing we need to know about God is not found in the Word of God; and everything we think we know about God that is not in the Word of God, we just made up.
There is nothing that needs to be added to our understanding of God's character, His nature, His love of His creation or His plan for its redemption.
The very reason that what we have as The Bible was canonized was that it was complete and its various books, as inspired to various authors, agreed with each other and needed no further revelation.
When people come up with outlandish or non-scriptural theologies, we must ask the question, "Where did you get that idea?"
The answer is always the same: they got those ideas from someone was taught that idea by someone who was taught that idea by someone who imagined that the idea was "revealed" to them.
Additionally, any, and I mean any, theological bent that does not recognize Jesus as God, Himself (not just "a god," or "a prophet of God"), manifested as The Son, and The Holy Spirit as God, the revealer and magnifier of Jesus, is a bent that has failed to learn what Scripture has to teach.
We would be better served by getting our ideas from the source, God, Himself, as revealed in His Word, not in part, but in whole.
"Where did you get that idea?"
The other day a church member came to me and said, "I believe God has told Hortie and me that it is OK that we are living together outside of marraige."
"Where did you get that idea?" I asked.
"It just seems to me that a forgiving God, who wants us to live in love, would not be upset by it. After all, marriage is just a formality."
"Well guess what?" I answered, "It doesn't matter what it seems to you. What matters is what it seems to God. And He has already told us what it seems to Him."
His response, "You are so legalistic!"
Many of the things we believe, we just sort of determine by the "It seems to me" method.
Other ideas we get from those who taught us.
Evolution is one of those ideas.
We are taught that, since two things look alike, or have certain characteristics, they must therefore have the same biological "ancestors."
Since we were taught that, we believe it.
Since we believe it, because we were taught it, it must be true.
But just because we were taught it, doesn't mean it's right.
Science taught me that atoms were made of a neutron, a proton and an electron.
They were wrong!
Atoms are made of much more than that.
Science taught me that they knew the mass of the universe and therefore its size its content.
Then they sent up the Hubble Space Telescope and, surprise, it is more massive than we thought and had things in it we never dreamed of.
Now Isaiah has always taught that God's right hand spans the universe.
Since the universe is bigger than we thought, God's right hand must be bigger than we thought. Therefore God, himself, is bigger than we ever imagined!
What a mighty God we serve!
Something I have noticed about "scientific" writing these days. It is full of words like "could," "might," "may," "should," "may have," and the like.
Personally, I don't think those are very scientific terms
They represent a change in the very meaning of science.
Science has always required such things as observability and repeatability.
That is no longer the case.
So, we must now ask scientists, "Where did you get that idea?"
Many of them got their ideas from other scientists and pseudo-scientists, many of whom had or have a particular agenda.
For instance, the concept of evolution, as espoused by Charles Darwin in his book, "The Origin of the Species," is based on conclusions he drew after visiting the Galapagos islands. In other words, he thought them up.
He was considered very controversial at first. But as he continued to teach his theory, a few scientists believed it, taught it to their students, some of whom then taught it to theirs and slowly the theory of natural selection and evolution became "mainstream" science.
Whether it was observable or repeatable became irrelevant. What became important was unity of scientific theory, right or wrong.
The same thing happens in theology.
One person espouses a particular theology, teaches it to his followers, who teach it to theirs and before long a "new" sect, cult or even "mainstream" denomination or faith is established.
Some even "discover" new "scriptures" or have new revelations about God.
"After all," they ask, "Can't God continue to give revelation to stuff?"
Well, God is sovereign, and can do whatever He wants.
Thing is, we don't need any new scriptures.
He has already given us all we need to know.
See, everything we need to know about God is found in the Word of God; nothing we need to know about God is not found in the Word of God; and everything we think we know about God that is not in the Word of God, we just made up.
There is nothing that needs to be added to our understanding of God's character, His nature, His love of His creation or His plan for its redemption.
The very reason that what we have as The Bible was canonized was that it was complete and its various books, as inspired to various authors, agreed with each other and needed no further revelation.
When people come up with outlandish or non-scriptural theologies, we must ask the question, "Where did you get that idea?"
The answer is always the same: they got those ideas from someone was taught that idea by someone who was taught that idea by someone who imagined that the idea was "revealed" to them.
Additionally, any, and I mean any, theological bent that does not recognize Jesus as God, Himself (not just "a god," or "a prophet of God"), manifested as The Son, and The Holy Spirit as God, the revealer and magnifier of Jesus, is a bent that has failed to learn what Scripture has to teach.
We would be better served by getting our ideas from the source, God, Himself, as revealed in His Word, not in part, but in whole.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Unable to Plug the Borders
I was born in Miami, Florida.
I have lived in: Miami; Brazil; Miami; Puerto Rico; Miami; Midwest City, Oklahoma; San Antonio, Texas; Miami; Tacoma, Washington; Miami; Fountainbleau, France; Miami; Westover AFB, Massachusetts; Warner Robins, Georgia; and the Florida cities of: DeLand; Palatka; Miami; St. Augustine; Miami; Naples; Ft. Myers; Punta Gorda; Auburndale; Hialeah (near Miami); Ft. Lauderdale; Punta Gorda (again); Port Charlotte; Ft. Myers (again- in four different homes); and now, Lehigh Acres.
Hurricanes have been a significant part of my life.
There has not been a hurricane in Florida, not one, that has failed to affect my life in some way.
I drove my Studebaker Lark through hurricane Donna (not even knowing I was in a hurricane until I got to my destination (Miami, where else). The road was free of traffic, and though the wind blew, I made good time.
See, here's the thing about hurricanes: they happen and there is absolutely, positively nothing anyone can do about them.
A hurricane will either: a) wreck your home; b) drive a piece of debris into you; c) both of the above or d) neither of the above.
Whatever it does, you are totally helpless to do anything about it.
Two years ago, hurricane Charlie unexpectedly roared up the Peace River into Punta Gorda (where I was not living, but where I had lived and where I had many friends), and virtually flattened the place.
The forecasters had told us that what had to be feared from Charlie was the expected 10 - 12 ft storm surge.
What flattened the city was the wind.
Well boarded-up houses were blown over. Their windows were fine, but the rest of the house was gone.
One elderly man was picked up by the wind from his mobile home and deposited in the shell of another 100 yards away. He broke some ribs but was otherwise OK.
Point is, weathermen, with all of their expensive technology, know as little about hurricanes as I know about the effects of nuclear physics on the former planet, Pluto.
Today, South Florida is being "ravaged" by an illegal alien named, Ernesto.
His flight plan called for him to fly south of Cuba, east of the Yucatan and into the Gulf of Mexico, landing somewhere between Texas and Louisiana.
Instead, Ernesto came to US from Cuba, having been born in the Caribbean and having spent some time on the island of Dominica.
He was not invited, but crossed our borders via Key West.
There was no Border Patrol, customs check or fence to keep him out.
First he packed 45 MPH winds. Then, while he visited Cuba, he suffered a set-back and winds dropped.
As he emerged over the "globally warmed" waters of the Florida straits, he was predicted to gain strength and to rummage across the Everglades wreaking havoc wherever he went.
First he threatened Southwest Florida...no, no, then it was Miami...uh, no, he's going right up the middle of the state. Now a bit to the right. Now a bit to the left. Now a bit to the middle.
(I just love how God's forces of nature can make complete idiots of the "science of weather.")
Today I sit at home, having Voice Tracked my on-air time at the radio station (heard online at http://www.kingdom.fm/), and been told to stay home as Ernesto approached.
Schools are closed, government offices are closed, some businesses are closed, shelters are open and people from the east coast of Florida evacuated to the west coast of Florida. Most of those who run these entities are not from Florida and have little or no long-term experience with hurricanes.
Winds are a resounding twenty (20) or twenty-five (25) miles per hour, and construction workers continue building the house across the street.
See, because you can do nothing to affect a hurricane, there are really only two options when one approaches: 1) head for the Mid-west (where you may be accosted by one of those really big tornadoes) or 2) board up, hunker down and go on with life as usual until you can't any more.
And so, the alien known as Ernesto does what he wants to do.
The day will pass.
God's on His throne.
All is right with the part of the world that knows and loves Him.
I have lived in: Miami; Brazil; Miami; Puerto Rico; Miami; Midwest City, Oklahoma; San Antonio, Texas; Miami; Tacoma, Washington; Miami; Fountainbleau, France; Miami; Westover AFB, Massachusetts; Warner Robins, Georgia; and the Florida cities of: DeLand; Palatka; Miami; St. Augustine; Miami; Naples; Ft. Myers; Punta Gorda; Auburndale; Hialeah (near Miami); Ft. Lauderdale; Punta Gorda (again); Port Charlotte; Ft. Myers (again- in four different homes); and now, Lehigh Acres.
Hurricanes have been a significant part of my life.
There has not been a hurricane in Florida, not one, that has failed to affect my life in some way.
I drove my Studebaker Lark through hurricane Donna (not even knowing I was in a hurricane until I got to my destination (Miami, where else). The road was free of traffic, and though the wind blew, I made good time.
See, here's the thing about hurricanes: they happen and there is absolutely, positively nothing anyone can do about them.
A hurricane will either: a) wreck your home; b) drive a piece of debris into you; c) both of the above or d) neither of the above.
Whatever it does, you are totally helpless to do anything about it.
Two years ago, hurricane Charlie unexpectedly roared up the Peace River into Punta Gorda (where I was not living, but where I had lived and where I had many friends), and virtually flattened the place.
The forecasters had told us that what had to be feared from Charlie was the expected 10 - 12 ft storm surge.
What flattened the city was the wind.
Well boarded-up houses were blown over. Their windows were fine, but the rest of the house was gone.
One elderly man was picked up by the wind from his mobile home and deposited in the shell of another 100 yards away. He broke some ribs but was otherwise OK.
Point is, weathermen, with all of their expensive technology, know as little about hurricanes as I know about the effects of nuclear physics on the former planet, Pluto.
Today, South Florida is being "ravaged" by an illegal alien named, Ernesto.
His flight plan called for him to fly south of Cuba, east of the Yucatan and into the Gulf of Mexico, landing somewhere between Texas and Louisiana.
Instead, Ernesto came to US from Cuba, having been born in the Caribbean and having spent some time on the island of Dominica.
He was not invited, but crossed our borders via Key West.
There was no Border Patrol, customs check or fence to keep him out.
First he packed 45 MPH winds. Then, while he visited Cuba, he suffered a set-back and winds dropped.
As he emerged over the "globally warmed" waters of the Florida straits, he was predicted to gain strength and to rummage across the Everglades wreaking havoc wherever he went.
First he threatened Southwest Florida...no, no, then it was Miami...uh, no, he's going right up the middle of the state. Now a bit to the right. Now a bit to the left. Now a bit to the middle.
(I just love how God's forces of nature can make complete idiots of the "science of weather.")
Today I sit at home, having Voice Tracked my on-air time at the radio station (heard online at http://www.kingdom.fm/), and been told to stay home as Ernesto approached.
Schools are closed, government offices are closed, some businesses are closed, shelters are open and people from the east coast of Florida evacuated to the west coast of Florida. Most of those who run these entities are not from Florida and have little or no long-term experience with hurricanes.
Winds are a resounding twenty (20) or twenty-five (25) miles per hour, and construction workers continue building the house across the street.
See, because you can do nothing to affect a hurricane, there are really only two options when one approaches: 1) head for the Mid-west (where you may be accosted by one of those really big tornadoes) or 2) board up, hunker down and go on with life as usual until you can't any more.
And so, the alien known as Ernesto does what he wants to do.
The day will pass.
God's on His throne.
All is right with the part of the world that knows and loves Him.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Bonnie's Progress
Thanks to all of you who have prayed for Bonnie.
She is now taking insulin shots nightly to control her sugar which went sky high when she got the cortizone shots for her back pain.
Her sugar has stabalized (more or less) and her back pain has lessened.
I am so very happy to see her smile and hear her laugh. She has the world's best laugh.
It still blesses my heart to hear her get tickled at some antics of the dogs or whatever, after all of these years.
God has blessed!
She is now taking insulin shots nightly to control her sugar which went sky high when she got the cortizone shots for her back pain.
Her sugar has stabalized (more or less) and her back pain has lessened.
I am so very happy to see her smile and hear her laugh. She has the world's best laugh.
It still blesses my heart to hear her get tickled at some antics of the dogs or whatever, after all of these years.
God has blessed!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Planes and Other Stuff
I took my first airplane flight when I was a little boy (is that an image, or what?).
My father, an officer in the United States Air Force, was stationed in Brazil and we flew down there to be with him.
We flew in a C-47, the military version of the DC-3.
The DC-3 is sometimes called "The Gooney Bird" because of the tendency of its wing tips to flap when it flies. It is also known as the work horse of the air.
DC-3s are still flying today. The Lee County, Florida Mosquito Control Board uses them to...well, to control mosquitoes.
Anyway, the plane we flew on was designated 4311. Those numbers were emblazoned on its vertical stabilizer (the part of the tail assembly that sticks up), and under one wing.
On one flight, the pilot, a friend of my father's invited me to sit up front and "fly" the plane. What a thrill!
Some years later, as a member of the State Mission Board of the Florida Baptist Convention, I frequently flew from Ft. Myers, Florida to Jacksonville on a Boing 727. Eastern Airlines called them "Whisperjets," because the engines were in the rear and could hardly be heard from the seats toward the front of the plane.
I usually flew the late night, "milk-truck" run. Most of the time there were few passengers on board.
One night, before pulling away from the gate, I struck up a conversation with the pilot, who had ambled back into the passenger compartment to kill time before going over the pre-flight checklist.
After take off, and before we began our decent into Sarasota, the pilot came back and asked me if I would like to visit the flight deck.
You bet I would!
And I did.
For the next ten minutes the Captain showed me everything there was to know about the cockpit of a 727.
Then, with great tact, he told me it was time to go back to my seat as we were ready to begin our decent.
How many of you have ever been invited to the "office" of the commercial aircraft in which you were a passenger?
My guess is somewhere between 0 and 0.3 of you.
Can you imagine such a thing today?
Today, some planes are equipped with double-thick cabin doors with a sliding steel bolt to allow no one into the front who does not belong there.
These precautions are in place for the safety of the pilots and passengers.
They are not there to protect us from little old ladies.
They are not there to protect us from curious little girls.
In the world today, there is a group of people, who are fairly identifiable by their outward appearance, whose purpose is to do harm to citizens by exploding air planes or by hijacking them and flying them into significant buildings.
Those doors are there to help protect us from them.
It is sad that the majority of "their people," who claim to be peace lovers, do not take extrordinary measures to keep these "few" from accomplishing their purposes, but instead, allow them to do their work almost unchallenged.
They have allowed the "few" to make thing tough for everybody.
Personally, I conclude that these fellow countrypersons either condone what the harm-doers are up to, or are too cowered by them to do, or even say, anything negative about them.
I can tell you this, I would rather be inconvenienced by protracted pre-flight security measures, or have my flight delayed by the discovery of a "suspicious" item, even if it turns out to be a can of shaving cream, than to look out and see an office window of a tall building rushing toward my plane.
And if there are six little old ladies, three curious young girls and a couple of men from the afore mentioned identifiable persons group on board when a "suspicious" item is discovered, I would probably not prefer that the little old ladies and young girls be removed from the plane and searched.
That would be the epitome of stupidity.
Surely you are intelligent enough to understand that, aren't you?
My father, an officer in the United States Air Force, was stationed in Brazil and we flew down there to be with him.
We flew in a C-47, the military version of the DC-3.
The DC-3 is sometimes called "The Gooney Bird" because of the tendency of its wing tips to flap when it flies. It is also known as the work horse of the air.
DC-3s are still flying today. The Lee County, Florida Mosquito Control Board uses them to...well, to control mosquitoes.
Anyway, the plane we flew on was designated 4311. Those numbers were emblazoned on its vertical stabilizer (the part of the tail assembly that sticks up), and under one wing.
On one flight, the pilot, a friend of my father's invited me to sit up front and "fly" the plane. What a thrill!
Some years later, as a member of the State Mission Board of the Florida Baptist Convention, I frequently flew from Ft. Myers, Florida to Jacksonville on a Boing 727. Eastern Airlines called them "Whisperjets," because the engines were in the rear and could hardly be heard from the seats toward the front of the plane.
I usually flew the late night, "milk-truck" run. Most of the time there were few passengers on board.
One night, before pulling away from the gate, I struck up a conversation with the pilot, who had ambled back into the passenger compartment to kill time before going over the pre-flight checklist.
After take off, and before we began our decent into Sarasota, the pilot came back and asked me if I would like to visit the flight deck.
You bet I would!
And I did.
For the next ten minutes the Captain showed me everything there was to know about the cockpit of a 727.
Then, with great tact, he told me it was time to go back to my seat as we were ready to begin our decent.
How many of you have ever been invited to the "office" of the commercial aircraft in which you were a passenger?
My guess is somewhere between 0 and 0.3 of you.
Can you imagine such a thing today?
Today, some planes are equipped with double-thick cabin doors with a sliding steel bolt to allow no one into the front who does not belong there.
These precautions are in place for the safety of the pilots and passengers.
They are not there to protect us from little old ladies.
They are not there to protect us from curious little girls.
In the world today, there is a group of people, who are fairly identifiable by their outward appearance, whose purpose is to do harm to citizens by exploding air planes or by hijacking them and flying them into significant buildings.
Those doors are there to help protect us from them.
It is sad that the majority of "their people," who claim to be peace lovers, do not take extrordinary measures to keep these "few" from accomplishing their purposes, but instead, allow them to do their work almost unchallenged.
They have allowed the "few" to make thing tough for everybody.
Personally, I conclude that these fellow countrypersons either condone what the harm-doers are up to, or are too cowered by them to do, or even say, anything negative about them.
I can tell you this, I would rather be inconvenienced by protracted pre-flight security measures, or have my flight delayed by the discovery of a "suspicious" item, even if it turns out to be a can of shaving cream, than to look out and see an office window of a tall building rushing toward my plane.
And if there are six little old ladies, three curious young girls and a couple of men from the afore mentioned identifiable persons group on board when a "suspicious" item is discovered, I would probably not prefer that the little old ladies and young girls be removed from the plane and searched.
That would be the epitome of stupidity.
Surely you are intelligent enough to understand that, aren't you?
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Distracted
I have been distracted lately.
My wife, Bonnie (seen with me in the picture), has had some severe back trouble, caused by a "bulging" disk. In addition, she has type 2 diabetes.
She underwent "Vax-D" treatment for the back, but that proved to be a farce.
So, she went to another doctor who injected her with cortisone or some such thing, which eased the pain somewhat, but sent her blood sugar over 300!
She has been put on insulin injections, which is a stressful idea to me.
I know...she is the one getting them, not me. Nevertheless, my reaction has been to become somewhat stressed over it.
Anyway, this morning her blood sugar was down to about 118, which is good news!
We would appreciate your prayers.
I will get back to my regular blogging, as well as my current series, as soon as I can.
Maybe later today.
My wife, Bonnie (seen with me in the picture), has had some severe back trouble, caused by a "bulging" disk. In addition, she has type 2 diabetes.
She underwent "Vax-D" treatment for the back, but that proved to be a farce.
So, she went to another doctor who injected her with cortisone or some such thing, which eased the pain somewhat, but sent her blood sugar over 300!
She has been put on insulin injections, which is a stressful idea to me.
I know...she is the one getting them, not me. Nevertheless, my reaction has been to become somewhat stressed over it.
Anyway, this morning her blood sugar was down to about 118, which is good news!
We would appreciate your prayers.
I will get back to my regular blogging, as well as my current series, as soon as I can.
Maybe later today.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
This Boiling World
Today, and for the next two posts, I would like to address three issues related to the mess the world is in today.
The first is terrorism, which I have addressed before but will again, the second is the United States’ response to terrorism in general and the third is U.S. leadership.
Terrorists are the major influence in the world’s turmoil today.
One of the purposes of terrorism is to make the general public of a nation afraid to do something they would otherwise do routinely.
It is also designed to eventually wrest control of a nation from its leaders and place that control in the hands of the leaders of the terrorist movement.
There is third purpose, too. That is revenge.
Let’s say a terrorist group perceives that they have been wronged. Let’s further assume that they have no weaponry with which to retaliate.
Their response has been to select some relatively young person, "train" him or her that personal death will bring immediate reward, strap an explosive device to the young person and send him/her into the midst of a civilian population to wreak havoc.
(The world-press has called them "suicide bombers," but since suicide is designed only to kill onesself, and since these peoples' acts are designed to kill innocents, I refer to them as "homicide bombers.")
"Now," they seem to think, "we are even."
There is yet one other motivation for terrorists: hatred of other groups’ philosophies and/or life-styles.
There are "religious" groups who so strongly believe that their way is the right way that anyone who does not follow their way should be destroyed.
(This contrasts with religious life-style groups who think their way is the right way but do not set out to kill or maim others to force them to conform. [If you think the so-called Crusades belie this, you need to do a more stringent analysis of what they were, why they were conducted and what they accomplished. They were not your high school Crusades.]).
On a day that has come to be identified simply as 9/11, a group of the latter type of terrorists took control of at least four aircraft full of people who had no dealings with them whatsoever, innocents, if you will, and flew two of them into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York and one into the Pentagon.
Three thousand people who had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorists were mercilessly and horribly murdered that day.
Some were deep-fried like so many french-fries by ultra-hot jet fuel, including some who survived the initial impact of the planes into the buildings.
Others were burned like an over-done roast beef by the resulting fire while trying to escape the buildings.
Still others were crushed like mashed potatoes under piles of concrete, steel and wood.
There were some who could not face the certainty of their impending horrible death. They chose to leap from windows to the waiting streets below.
Do you remember your high school science? Heat rises. When the upper steel beams and concrete became hot enough to begin melting, the top floors of the buildings began "pancaking" down on one top of the other, getting heavier and heavier and eventually dropping all the way to the sub-floors below.
Imagine being on a lower floor, knowing you needed to get out, but unable to do so and hearing the horrific roar of the floors above you getting closer by the millisecond. And then imagine the ceiling above you, with all of the floors of the stories above stacked on top of it, falling the last eight feet toward you, ready to smash you like a cockroach between it and the floor on which you were standing.
That is what is was like for those who got up that morning to dutifully go to their jobs at the World Trade Center.
Terrorists did that.
They did it to innocent citizens of the United States of America.
They did it without provocation.
They did it because they hate us, our life-style, our National ethic, our philosophy and our religion.
They want you to think that they might do it to you next.
We are not alone, however.
These same people, or at least people of their ilk, have homicide-bombed innocents in Spain, England, Israel and other countries.
They have bombed and killed members of the United States Marine Corps in Lebanon, sailors on a United States battleship and members of the United States Army in Africa, Asia, Europe and around the world.
Missionaries to Africa, South America, The Philippines and other places in the world have been mercilessly murdered while they were in the very act of trying to help those who ultimately killed them. In hospitals in Africa and South America, in schools in South America and the Philippines, in farm-houses in all three and in airplanes, flying from one place of humanitarian service to another.
Just to make sure you know how civilized and righteous they are, some of the terrorists took video of themselves and their victims as they took their large, curved knives and, starting away from the jugular vein, began sawing the head off of their hostage.
As the hostage screamed in pain, they continued sawing around his neck until they severed the jugular. As the horrible screaming increased, they made it to the front of the neck at which point the screaming took on a gurgling sound.
When the head was finally severed, the terrorists proudly held it up for the camera.
Then they loaded the video on their computer uploaded it to the Internet for the world to see.
To graphic?
Well, it is not nearly as graphic as the real thing.
And it is happening.
And it must be stopped.
Terrorists to not sit down with people and discuss the relative merit of what they do.
They have proven that they do not subscribe to, nor do they honor treaties or declarations or agreements of ANY kind EVER.
They will not be reasoned with.
The world, therefore, must either capitulate to terrorists, giving up their way of life, their countries’ infrastructures, and their philosophies or they must rid the world of them.
There are no other choices.
The first is terrorism, which I have addressed before but will again, the second is the United States’ response to terrorism in general and the third is U.S. leadership.
Terrorists are the major influence in the world’s turmoil today.
One of the purposes of terrorism is to make the general public of a nation afraid to do something they would otherwise do routinely.
It is also designed to eventually wrest control of a nation from its leaders and place that control in the hands of the leaders of the terrorist movement.
There is third purpose, too. That is revenge.
Let’s say a terrorist group perceives that they have been wronged. Let’s further assume that they have no weaponry with which to retaliate.
Their response has been to select some relatively young person, "train" him or her that personal death will bring immediate reward, strap an explosive device to the young person and send him/her into the midst of a civilian population to wreak havoc.
(The world-press has called them "suicide bombers," but since suicide is designed only to kill onesself, and since these peoples' acts are designed to kill innocents, I refer to them as "homicide bombers.")
"Now," they seem to think, "we are even."
There is yet one other motivation for terrorists: hatred of other groups’ philosophies and/or life-styles.
There are "religious" groups who so strongly believe that their way is the right way that anyone who does not follow their way should be destroyed.
(This contrasts with religious life-style groups who think their way is the right way but do not set out to kill or maim others to force them to conform. [If you think the so-called Crusades belie this, you need to do a more stringent analysis of what they were, why they were conducted and what they accomplished. They were not your high school Crusades.]).
On a day that has come to be identified simply as 9/11, a group of the latter type of terrorists took control of at least four aircraft full of people who had no dealings with them whatsoever, innocents, if you will, and flew two of them into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York and one into the Pentagon.
Three thousand people who had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorists were mercilessly and horribly murdered that day.
Some were deep-fried like so many french-fries by ultra-hot jet fuel, including some who survived the initial impact of the planes into the buildings.
Others were burned like an over-done roast beef by the resulting fire while trying to escape the buildings.
Still others were crushed like mashed potatoes under piles of concrete, steel and wood.
There were some who could not face the certainty of their impending horrible death. They chose to leap from windows to the waiting streets below.
Do you remember your high school science? Heat rises. When the upper steel beams and concrete became hot enough to begin melting, the top floors of the buildings began "pancaking" down on one top of the other, getting heavier and heavier and eventually dropping all the way to the sub-floors below.
Imagine being on a lower floor, knowing you needed to get out, but unable to do so and hearing the horrific roar of the floors above you getting closer by the millisecond. And then imagine the ceiling above you, with all of the floors of the stories above stacked on top of it, falling the last eight feet toward you, ready to smash you like a cockroach between it and the floor on which you were standing.
That is what is was like for those who got up that morning to dutifully go to their jobs at the World Trade Center.
Terrorists did that.
They did it to innocent citizens of the United States of America.
They did it without provocation.
They did it because they hate us, our life-style, our National ethic, our philosophy and our religion.
They want you to think that they might do it to you next.
We are not alone, however.
These same people, or at least people of their ilk, have homicide-bombed innocents in Spain, England, Israel and other countries.
They have bombed and killed members of the United States Marine Corps in Lebanon, sailors on a United States battleship and members of the United States Army in Africa, Asia, Europe and around the world.
Missionaries to Africa, South America, The Philippines and other places in the world have been mercilessly murdered while they were in the very act of trying to help those who ultimately killed them. In hospitals in Africa and South America, in schools in South America and the Philippines, in farm-houses in all three and in airplanes, flying from one place of humanitarian service to another.
Just to make sure you know how civilized and righteous they are, some of the terrorists took video of themselves and their victims as they took their large, curved knives and, starting away from the jugular vein, began sawing the head off of their hostage.
As the hostage screamed in pain, they continued sawing around his neck until they severed the jugular. As the horrible screaming increased, they made it to the front of the neck at which point the screaming took on a gurgling sound.
When the head was finally severed, the terrorists proudly held it up for the camera.
Then they loaded the video on their computer uploaded it to the Internet for the world to see.
To graphic?
Well, it is not nearly as graphic as the real thing.
And it is happening.
And it must be stopped.
Terrorists to not sit down with people and discuss the relative merit of what they do.
They have proven that they do not subscribe to, nor do they honor treaties or declarations or agreements of ANY kind EVER.
They will not be reasoned with.
The world, therefore, must either capitulate to terrorists, giving up their way of life, their countries’ infrastructures, and their philosophies or they must rid the world of them.
There are no other choices.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Gladiators American Style
I was sent this link.
Trust me...it is WORTH the effort.
http://objflicks.com/GladiatorAmericanStyle.htm
If it does not work, copy it and paste it.
Trust me...it is WORTH the effort.
http://objflicks.com/GladiatorAmericanStyle.htm
If it does not work, copy it and paste it.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
CRAPPY LITTLE COUNTRY
Not long ago, the French Ambassador to england gave a speech in which he said, "...Israel is nothing but a crappy little country..."
Oh?
Well consider these thoughts:
The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year.
Israeli date trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.
Israel the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay claim to the following:
The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.
Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.
The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel.
Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.
The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.
Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S, Russia and China). In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.
Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security.
US officials now look (finally) to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people --as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the U.S. (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).
With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, U.S.
Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U.S.
Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.
Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.
Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.
Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon) at Risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel.
When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day -- and saved three victims from the rubble.
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. (Hundreds of thousands from the former Soviet Union) .
Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."
Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.
Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment.
Every year in U. S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.
Israel's Given Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders.
Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the camera helps doctors diagnose heart¹s mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany.
With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the Clear Light device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct -- all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.
An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave desert.
All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other county on earth. ..........
AND THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND SAYS: "ISRAEL IS NOTHING BUT A CRAPPY LITTLE COUNTRY"
I suppose the French consider themselves examples to the world of what a country ought to be.
Right.
Oh?
Well consider these thoughts:
The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year.
Israeli date trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.
Israel the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay claim to the following:
The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.
Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.
The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel.
Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.
The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.
Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S, Russia and China). In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.
Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security.
US officials now look (finally) to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people --as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the U.S. (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).
With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, U.S.
Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U.S.
Outside the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.
Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.
Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.
Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon) at Risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel.
When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day -- and saved three victims from the rubble.
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. (Hundreds of thousands from the former Soviet Union) .
Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."
Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.
Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment.
Every year in U. S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.
Israel's Given Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders.
Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the camera helps doctors diagnose heart¹s mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany.
With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the Clear Light device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct -- all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.
An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave desert.
All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other county on earth. ..........
AND THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND SAYS: "ISRAEL IS NOTHING BUT A CRAPPY LITTLE COUNTRY"
I suppose the French consider themselves examples to the world of what a country ought to be.
Right.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
It's A Miracle?
This always gets me into trouble.
But that's OK. I'm used to it.
We're talking about MIRACLES.
At least I am.
First I want to be very clear.
GOD DOES PROVIDE MIRACLES.
Notice I did not say that God performs miracles.
That gives the impression that He is some kind of magic genie or stage performer who seeks to entertain or placate the crowd.
Indeed, there were times in Jesus' ministry when people surrounded Him for the very purpose of watching Him "perform" His miracles.
Let me define my terms.
A miracle is something God does that does NOT occur in the natural world He created (which is itself a miracle).
If miracles were commonplace, they would not be miracles.
A miracle is an exceptional event.
Miracles did not happen often in Scripture, and they did not happen to very many people.
I'll have more to say about that later.
Let's take Jesus' first ministry miracle of turning water into wine.
See, if you just let water sit there, it will always be water, and it will always deteriorate in quality over time.
That's the natural state of the fallen world.
But Jesus took that very water and turned into fine wine.
That flew in the face of all of God's laws of physics, chemistry and life-experience.
It was a miracle!
We must be careful not to call "miraculous" that which is normal.
For instance, (Here comes the part where I get into trouble), child-birth is wonderful, marvelous and beyond our total understanding. But child-birth is NOT miraculous as an event.
In fact, child-birth as we know it, with its pain (which women always brag about being able to suffer better than men), frequent complications and even deaths, is a result of the fall of man (read Genesis).
Who knows what it would have been like had Eve not succumbed to the serpent's prodding, but it is what it is because of sin.
The human body is a marvelous thing. It is God designed, but it is NOT like He originally made it.
With the fall of mankind came illness, death and the aches and pains of life.
I know a person who went to a "healing" service. He was "healed" of his issue. A short time later, the very same issue was present.
Now, either God is not very good in the healing business, or something else was going on here.
God is VERY good at the healing business.
In Scripture, our absolute authority on things concerning God, He healed totally, completely and permanently.
The blind man was healed immediately and completely.
Jairus' daughter was healed immediately and completely.
The leper was healed immediately and completely.
Somehow we've gotten the idea that God's healing requires: a lot of people praying; someone being "knocked over in the Spirit;" some time, and that it may or may not be permanent.
God, being sovereign, heals when He wants, where He wants, to whom He wants and how He wants.
Either that or He is not God.
Most healing is the result of the natural processes that God has ordained as part of the human body from the beginning.
Just because something cannot be explained in terms of our everyday experience does not make it a miracle.
If a cancerous tumor goes away after we have prayed, is it a miracle?
Well, it may well be.
But it may be the result of bodily processes that we don't understand.
Some cancers go into remission spontaneously.
Nobody knows why.
Now, God can be glorified in every healing and every remission whether they are miracles or not, but let's not fall into the trap of attributing to a miracle everything that happens that is to our benefit.
My mother was told in 1957 that she had five years, tops, to live.
She died 49 years later.
Was that a miracle?
Well, for all of those 49 she lived every day in pain.
She had emphysema, asthma, only part of one kidney, an enlarged heart and the beginning of Alzheimer's Disease.
Was that a miracle?
Does God get the glory for those 49 years we could sit and talk with her and remember the good things of the past and all of that?
You betcha!
But was that a miracle?
God parted the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to cross over.
They did not cross over in the muddy bed of the sea.
They did not cross over in some tornadic wind.
They crossed over on DRY LAND.
The Egyptians, thinking they could do that, too, tried to cross over on that same dry land and were drowned.
That whole episode was a miracle.
When we metaphorically attribute everything good that happens to a miracle we risk diminishing the real miracles that God chooses to employ, and thus diminish our very concept of who God is.
Let's consider all of the miracles of the Bible (no, I'm not going to list them all...don't worry).
There are up to a couple of hundred miracles actually listed (depending on which events you consider miracles) and we are told that there were hundreds more that, if written down, would fill many books.
Great!
Now let's compare the total number of miracles with the entire population(s) that existed during the times in which we have miracles recorded.
At any given time there were a few million Jews, give-or-take.
To find the ratio of miracles to people, express the number of miracles you find and divide it by the total population(s). You will get a very small percentage.
The Biblical model is that God intervenes miraculously only when it is of importance to the purpose of His Kingdom's work.
The sad (and even damnable) thing is that there are people whose imaginations have so overtaken reality that they believe they have some special gift with which to fling around God's blessing of miracles like they were so much confetti at a New Years Day parade, making a mockery of God's real miracles.
Are there people with "the gift of healing?"
Perhaps. But I guarantee you, on the basis of the Word of God, that they had best not be showmen who treat God like He was some carnival side show.
Do miracles happen?
Yes, they do.
Are they commonplace?
No.
If they were, they would not be miracles.
If God were to effect a miracle in your life today, would you love Him more? Would you have more faith than you did before the miracle took place?
Then you are living by sight and not by faith.
If your attitude is, "I will love God if He does for me what I want Him to do," then you are not His.
The person of faith says, "With or without a miracle, I will love and serve the Lord because He is worthy."
Then, when God DOES choose to do a miracle, the "Praise God!s" and the "Glory"s will bring all of the attention to Him. People will respond by seeing that which they can tell is real and will respond to the Gospel of God's redeeming grace in Christ Jesus.
And that is the greatest miracle of all!
"...But when He saved my soul,
Cleansed and made me whole,
It took a miracle of love and grace"
But that's OK. I'm used to it.
We're talking about MIRACLES.
At least I am.
First I want to be very clear.
GOD DOES PROVIDE MIRACLES.
Notice I did not say that God performs miracles.
That gives the impression that He is some kind of magic genie or stage performer who seeks to entertain or placate the crowd.
Indeed, there were times in Jesus' ministry when people surrounded Him for the very purpose of watching Him "perform" His miracles.
Let me define my terms.
A miracle is something God does that does NOT occur in the natural world He created (which is itself a miracle).
If miracles were commonplace, they would not be miracles.
A miracle is an exceptional event.
Miracles did not happen often in Scripture, and they did not happen to very many people.
I'll have more to say about that later.
Let's take Jesus' first ministry miracle of turning water into wine.
See, if you just let water sit there, it will always be water, and it will always deteriorate in quality over time.
That's the natural state of the fallen world.
But Jesus took that very water and turned into fine wine.
That flew in the face of all of God's laws of physics, chemistry and life-experience.
It was a miracle!
We must be careful not to call "miraculous" that which is normal.
For instance, (Here comes the part where I get into trouble), child-birth is wonderful, marvelous and beyond our total understanding. But child-birth is NOT miraculous as an event.
In fact, child-birth as we know it, with its pain (which women always brag about being able to suffer better than men), frequent complications and even deaths, is a result of the fall of man (read Genesis).
Who knows what it would have been like had Eve not succumbed to the serpent's prodding, but it is what it is because of sin.
The human body is a marvelous thing. It is God designed, but it is NOT like He originally made it.
With the fall of mankind came illness, death and the aches and pains of life.
I know a person who went to a "healing" service. He was "healed" of his issue. A short time later, the very same issue was present.
Now, either God is not very good in the healing business, or something else was going on here.
God is VERY good at the healing business.
In Scripture, our absolute authority on things concerning God, He healed totally, completely and permanently.
The blind man was healed immediately and completely.
Jairus' daughter was healed immediately and completely.
The leper was healed immediately and completely.
Somehow we've gotten the idea that God's healing requires: a lot of people praying; someone being "knocked over in the Spirit;" some time, and that it may or may not be permanent.
God, being sovereign, heals when He wants, where He wants, to whom He wants and how He wants.
Either that or He is not God.
Most healing is the result of the natural processes that God has ordained as part of the human body from the beginning.
Just because something cannot be explained in terms of our everyday experience does not make it a miracle.
If a cancerous tumor goes away after we have prayed, is it a miracle?
Well, it may well be.
But it may be the result of bodily processes that we don't understand.
Some cancers go into remission spontaneously.
Nobody knows why.
Now, God can be glorified in every healing and every remission whether they are miracles or not, but let's not fall into the trap of attributing to a miracle everything that happens that is to our benefit.
My mother was told in 1957 that she had five years, tops, to live.
She died 49 years later.
Was that a miracle?
Well, for all of those 49 she lived every day in pain.
She had emphysema, asthma, only part of one kidney, an enlarged heart and the beginning of Alzheimer's Disease.
Was that a miracle?
Does God get the glory for those 49 years we could sit and talk with her and remember the good things of the past and all of that?
You betcha!
But was that a miracle?
God parted the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to cross over.
They did not cross over in the muddy bed of the sea.
They did not cross over in some tornadic wind.
They crossed over on DRY LAND.
The Egyptians, thinking they could do that, too, tried to cross over on that same dry land and were drowned.
That whole episode was a miracle.
When we metaphorically attribute everything good that happens to a miracle we risk diminishing the real miracles that God chooses to employ, and thus diminish our very concept of who God is.
Let's consider all of the miracles of the Bible (no, I'm not going to list them all...don't worry).
There are up to a couple of hundred miracles actually listed (depending on which events you consider miracles) and we are told that there were hundreds more that, if written down, would fill many books.
Great!
Now let's compare the total number of miracles with the entire population(s) that existed during the times in which we have miracles recorded.
At any given time there were a few million Jews, give-or-take.
To find the ratio of miracles to people, express the number of miracles you find and divide it by the total population(s). You will get a very small percentage.
The Biblical model is that God intervenes miraculously only when it is of importance to the purpose of His Kingdom's work.
The sad (and even damnable) thing is that there are people whose imaginations have so overtaken reality that they believe they have some special gift with which to fling around God's blessing of miracles like they were so much confetti at a New Years Day parade, making a mockery of God's real miracles.
Are there people with "the gift of healing?"
Perhaps. But I guarantee you, on the basis of the Word of God, that they had best not be showmen who treat God like He was some carnival side show.
Do miracles happen?
Yes, they do.
Are they commonplace?
No.
If they were, they would not be miracles.
If God were to effect a miracle in your life today, would you love Him more? Would you have more faith than you did before the miracle took place?
Then you are living by sight and not by faith.
If your attitude is, "I will love God if He does for me what I want Him to do," then you are not His.
The person of faith says, "With or without a miracle, I will love and serve the Lord because He is worthy."
Then, when God DOES choose to do a miracle, the "Praise God!s" and the "Glory"s will bring all of the attention to Him. People will respond by seeing that which they can tell is real and will respond to the Gospel of God's redeeming grace in Christ Jesus.
And that is the greatest miracle of all!
"...But when He saved my soul,
Cleansed and made me whole,
It took a miracle of love and grace"
Saturday, August 05, 2006
What "Saved?"
When I was doing my undergraduate work at Stetson University in Deland, Florida, I used to like to walk down town for breakfast (to a restaurant where I could get two eggs, two sausage links, grits, toast and jelly with a cup of coffee for $.69).
On the walk I passed a billboard that proclaimed in HUGE letters,
As was my wont in those days, I got offended on God's behalf, not realizing that He is perfectly capable of being offended for Himself and does not need my help.
Then I got to thinking about it.
Green Stamps, if you are too young to remember, were "given" out at grocery stores and gas stations in proportion to how much you spent.
You were supposed to lick them (ugh!) and stick them in little booklets, which you could then take to the Green Stamp store and turn them in for merchandise.
Three and a half books of Green Stamps would get you a small lamp. With a hundred books of Green Stamps you could buy a chair or sofa or such.
Now, how could the Green Stamp stores (the most prolific of which were the S & H Green Stamps) give you merchandise in exchange for these little books of stamps?
The answer was that the retailers (grocers and gas stations) charged just a little bit more for product, then paid the Green Stamp store the difference between the normal retail and the "Green Stamps included" price of the goods.
So, when you went down to turn in your Green Stamps, you were receiving product, the price of which had already been paid?
WOW!
It was called, "redeeming your Green Stamps."
Not only that, but the stores were called "redemption stores."
WOW! WOW!
I finally realized that this is exactly what Christ has done for us at Calvary. He has paid the price ahead of time!
See, because I was born in sin (and so were you), am a totally depraved being (as are you), and owed a sin-debt to a perfectly Holy God that I could not pay (neither can you), I needed someone to pay my debt for me (and so do you).
That person is Jesus, who is the Son of God and one with God.
He is not a created being, He is the Creator being (John 1:1 ff).
He is not an angel with brother and sister angels who argued with each other, He is the Second Person of the incomprehensible Trinity.
He is not an "ethereal spirit being, " He is God Incarnate. God with skin on, if you will.
And He went to the cross to pay my sin debt (yours, too).
That is why I can call myself "saved." Christ has redeemed me!
One day, when I was a teenager, God's Holy Spirit (the Third Person of that afore mentioned Trinity), stirred my heart, exposed my sin-soaked condition, and revealed Christ's redemptive work to me through the hearing of the Gospel.
I believed what I heard and a total change in me took place deep in the inner reaches of my being (soul).
So now, when I remember that billboard, I think:
On the walk I passed a billboard that proclaimed in HUGE letters,
"JESUS SAVES!"
I liked that.
One day I saw, with some dismay, that someone had taken spray paint and written right under "Jesus Saves" the words,
One day I saw, with some dismay, that someone had taken spray paint and written right under "Jesus Saves" the words,
"GREEN STAMPS!"
As was my wont in those days, I got offended on God's behalf, not realizing that He is perfectly capable of being offended for Himself and does not need my help.
Then I got to thinking about it.
Green Stamps, if you are too young to remember, were "given" out at grocery stores and gas stations in proportion to how much you spent.
You were supposed to lick them (ugh!) and stick them in little booklets, which you could then take to the Green Stamp store and turn them in for merchandise.
Three and a half books of Green Stamps would get you a small lamp. With a hundred books of Green Stamps you could buy a chair or sofa or such.
Now, how could the Green Stamp stores (the most prolific of which were the S & H Green Stamps) give you merchandise in exchange for these little books of stamps?
The answer was that the retailers (grocers and gas stations) charged just a little bit more for product, then paid the Green Stamp store the difference between the normal retail and the "Green Stamps included" price of the goods.
So, when you went down to turn in your Green Stamps, you were receiving product, the price of which had already been paid?
WOW!
It was called, "redeeming your Green Stamps."
Not only that, but the stores were called "redemption stores."
WOW! WOW!
I finally realized that this is exactly what Christ has done for us at Calvary. He has paid the price ahead of time!
See, because I was born in sin (and so were you), am a totally depraved being (as are you), and owed a sin-debt to a perfectly Holy God that I could not pay (neither can you), I needed someone to pay my debt for me (and so do you).
That person is Jesus, who is the Son of God and one with God.
He is not a created being, He is the Creator being (John 1:1 ff).
He is not an angel with brother and sister angels who argued with each other, He is the Second Person of the incomprehensible Trinity.
He is not an "ethereal spirit being, " He is God Incarnate. God with skin on, if you will.
And He went to the cross to pay my sin debt (yours, too).
That is why I can call myself "saved." Christ has redeemed me!
One day, when I was a teenager, God's Holy Spirit (the Third Person of that afore mentioned Trinity), stirred my heart, exposed my sin-soaked condition, and revealed Christ's redemptive work to me through the hearing of the Gospel.
I believed what I heard and a total change in me took place deep in the inner reaches of my being (soul).
So now, when I remember that billboard, I think:
"JESUS SAVES!"
not Green Stamps,
ME!
Redeemed how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am
Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.
I think of my blessed Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long.
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.
I know I shall see in His beauty
The King, in whose law I delight.
Who lovingly guardeth my foot-steps
And giveth me songs in the night.
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am!
(Words: Fanny J. Crosby)
So the next time you see a billboard that says,
Redeemed how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am
Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.
I think of my blessed Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long.
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.
I know I shall see in His beauty
The King, in whose law I delight.
Who lovingly guardeth my foot-steps
And giveth me songs in the night.
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am!
(Words: Fanny J. Crosby)
So the next time you see a billboard that says,
JESUS SAVES
on which someone has scrawled
GREEN STAMPS,
remember His
REDEMPTION.
He did it for you!
He did it for you!
Thursday, August 03, 2006
The Terrors of Terrorism
"Terrorism"
It's a word that strikes terror into the hearts of men (as well as women and children).
The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize people.
That means to make them terrified of going about their daily routines without looking over their shoulders in terror that some terrifying event is about to take place.
Like some teenager walking into the store at which you are shopping, pushing a button and blowing up the whole place and other terrible acts like that.
There are terribly many terrorists in the world today.
Terrorists like to form groups called, "Terrorist Groups."
A couple of the world's Terrorist Groups are: Hamas, Hizbalah (also called Hezbalah, Hezballah, Hezbolah, Hizbollah and Hezbos).
Al Qaeda is also a Terrorist Group.
Like Hizbalah (also called Hezbalah, Hezballah, Hezbolah, Hizbollah and Hezbos), Al Qaeda likes to go around blowing up buildings, only they specialize in really big ones.
The thing about Terrorist Groups is that they do not think like you and I think (unless, of course, you are one of them, then they think exactly as you think).
Most of us, if we had a problem on a local, national or international scale would sit down, talk about it and come to some kind of resolution to it.
Terrorist Groups, though, don't sit down with folks to talk.
They send other folks to represent them, usually folks who are young, full of zeal and wear funny belts with plastic explosives and dynamite attached to them.
Then, when the first person opens his/her mouth to speak, the representative blows everybody up, thus simplifying the round-table protocall and hastening the end of the meeting.
Some countries are controlled by terrorists.
In those countries, if you do something the terrorists don't like, they shoot you, or chop off your head, or cut off your fingers or apply electric shock to inappropriate portions of your person. Or they strap explosives on you and parade you out to the middle of the town square and detonate the exposives.
That is not a good thing to have happen to you.
Pizza Hut is a fine place to have pizza. You can go in to one of their restaurants and eat pizza or you can stay home and order pizza. They will bring it to you.
Terrorists took a lesson from Pizza Hut and decided that if you would not come to them, they would come to you.
So they did.
Witness the Marine Baracks in Lebanon, the Twin Towers in New York and almost daily in the streets of Israel.
Boom! There go a bunch of American Marines.
Crash! Down come a couple of towers with 3,000 people in them.
Bang! A few dozen civilians killed in a market place or restaurant (though probably not a Pizza Hut...yet).
Terrorists also like to hide behind "innocent" women and children, then dare you to come after them.
Isn't that terrible?
I used to hide behind my Moma when tough guys came around.
That's what lily-livered, yellow-bellied sap-sucker cowards do when they're too chicken to fight fairly. Trust me. I know.
Now let me be clear. I am 100% in favor of any individual terrorist who has a genuine rebirth experience into the Family of God through Jesus Christ being assimilated into the fellowship with full honors.
As to all of the others, I think they should be treated with exactly the same mercy they have demonstrated toward their victims.
I think the full force of the military might of The United States of America should be used to wipe their sorry axis off the map.
More than a few years ago, the British lost a war with the colonies because they insisted on fighting according to some imagined "rules of war," whereby they lined up in front of the enemy, fired their weapons and then went to the back of the ranks to reload while the "new front" readied to fire their weapons.
It was all very neat and orderly. A civilized way to wage war.
The Colonists, however, taking a page from the Indians (now known as Native Americans, though I don't know why. I was born in America and thus am a Native American, though I am really Irish-American with a mix of Russian-American and maybe some mongrel-American blood mixed in), hid behind trees and rocks an stuff and were all over the place.
The poor British were confused and couldn't keep up.
In those crazy heavy uniforms, it is hard to see how they expected to keep up with anybody.
Maybe that's why they never participated in either the Boston Marathon or the Boston Tea Party.
I digress.
Lately, the United States has become all bothered by the so-called "rules of war," although nobody seems to agree on what those are.
Terrorists, on the other hand (where you'll find five more fingers, unless you have offened some terrorist), do not recognize rules of war.
Like the bully I used to hide from, they like to make their own rules.
If we insist on following those inane "rules of war" when we fight these terrorist guys, we are going to suffer the same fate we inflicted on our former enemies (now our staunchest allies...funny how those things work), ie: we will be out flanked, out manuvered, and just plain outed.
I say, let's beat them at their own game, rip them to shreds and thus bring peace to the world.
After all, paradoxically, the only way to peace is by defeating those who would disrupt it. There is no other way.
If we don't, then we might as well lay down our arms (or just let them cut them off) and say to the terrorists, "Come on over, boys. We have a nice country where there are already buildings and super-highways. You can enslave our women, train our children to crave 72 virgins and even enjoy a sun that handily comes up in the East."
Personally, I think it would be terrible to let the terrorists terrorize us into capitulation, oblivion or any other malevolent state of being.
So, let's support our troops, write our congressmen and tell them to do the same, stop buying tickets to entertainment written, directed or acted in by traitorous anit-Americans, tell our President to get on with the job of defeating the terrorists (our enemies...do you get that? Enemies) and restore some sort of order to the world.
Order free of terrorists.
Would that be so terrible?
It's a word that strikes terror into the hearts of men (as well as women and children).
The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize people.
That means to make them terrified of going about their daily routines without looking over their shoulders in terror that some terrifying event is about to take place.
Like some teenager walking into the store at which you are shopping, pushing a button and blowing up the whole place and other terrible acts like that.
There are terribly many terrorists in the world today.
Terrorists like to form groups called, "Terrorist Groups."
A couple of the world's Terrorist Groups are: Hamas, Hizbalah (also called Hezbalah, Hezballah, Hezbolah, Hizbollah and Hezbos).
Al Qaeda is also a Terrorist Group.
Like Hizbalah (also called Hezbalah, Hezballah, Hezbolah, Hizbollah and Hezbos), Al Qaeda likes to go around blowing up buildings, only they specialize in really big ones.
The thing about Terrorist Groups is that they do not think like you and I think (unless, of course, you are one of them, then they think exactly as you think).
Most of us, if we had a problem on a local, national or international scale would sit down, talk about it and come to some kind of resolution to it.
Terrorist Groups, though, don't sit down with folks to talk.
They send other folks to represent them, usually folks who are young, full of zeal and wear funny belts with plastic explosives and dynamite attached to them.
Then, when the first person opens his/her mouth to speak, the representative blows everybody up, thus simplifying the round-table protocall and hastening the end of the meeting.
Some countries are controlled by terrorists.
In those countries, if you do something the terrorists don't like, they shoot you, or chop off your head, or cut off your fingers or apply electric shock to inappropriate portions of your person. Or they strap explosives on you and parade you out to the middle of the town square and detonate the exposives.
That is not a good thing to have happen to you.
Pizza Hut is a fine place to have pizza. You can go in to one of their restaurants and eat pizza or you can stay home and order pizza. They will bring it to you.
Terrorists took a lesson from Pizza Hut and decided that if you would not come to them, they would come to you.
So they did.
Witness the Marine Baracks in Lebanon, the Twin Towers in New York and almost daily in the streets of Israel.
Boom! There go a bunch of American Marines.
Crash! Down come a couple of towers with 3,000 people in them.
Bang! A few dozen civilians killed in a market place or restaurant (though probably not a Pizza Hut...yet).
Terrorists also like to hide behind "innocent" women and children, then dare you to come after them.
Isn't that terrible?
I used to hide behind my Moma when tough guys came around.
That's what lily-livered, yellow-bellied sap-sucker cowards do when they're too chicken to fight fairly. Trust me. I know.
Now let me be clear. I am 100% in favor of any individual terrorist who has a genuine rebirth experience into the Family of God through Jesus Christ being assimilated into the fellowship with full honors.
As to all of the others, I think they should be treated with exactly the same mercy they have demonstrated toward their victims.
I think the full force of the military might of The United States of America should be used to wipe their sorry axis off the map.
More than a few years ago, the British lost a war with the colonies because they insisted on fighting according to some imagined "rules of war," whereby they lined up in front of the enemy, fired their weapons and then went to the back of the ranks to reload while the "new front" readied to fire their weapons.
It was all very neat and orderly. A civilized way to wage war.
The Colonists, however, taking a page from the Indians (now known as Native Americans, though I don't know why. I was born in America and thus am a Native American, though I am really Irish-American with a mix of Russian-American and maybe some mongrel-American blood mixed in), hid behind trees and rocks an stuff and were all over the place.
The poor British were confused and couldn't keep up.
In those crazy heavy uniforms, it is hard to see how they expected to keep up with anybody.
Maybe that's why they never participated in either the Boston Marathon or the Boston Tea Party.
I digress.
Lately, the United States has become all bothered by the so-called "rules of war," although nobody seems to agree on what those are.
Terrorists, on the other hand (where you'll find five more fingers, unless you have offened some terrorist), do not recognize rules of war.
Like the bully I used to hide from, they like to make their own rules.
If we insist on following those inane "rules of war" when we fight these terrorist guys, we are going to suffer the same fate we inflicted on our former enemies (now our staunchest allies...funny how those things work), ie: we will be out flanked, out manuvered, and just plain outed.
I say, let's beat them at their own game, rip them to shreds and thus bring peace to the world.
After all, paradoxically, the only way to peace is by defeating those who would disrupt it. There is no other way.
If we don't, then we might as well lay down our arms (or just let them cut them off) and say to the terrorists, "Come on over, boys. We have a nice country where there are already buildings and super-highways. You can enslave our women, train our children to crave 72 virgins and even enjoy a sun that handily comes up in the East."
Personally, I think it would be terrible to let the terrorists terrorize us into capitulation, oblivion or any other malevolent state of being.
So, let's support our troops, write our congressmen and tell them to do the same, stop buying tickets to entertainment written, directed or acted in by traitorous anit-Americans, tell our President to get on with the job of defeating the terrorists (our enemies...do you get that? Enemies) and restore some sort of order to the world.
Order free of terrorists.
Would that be so terrible?
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