Monday, September 29, 2008

Weight loss...

One of my "friends" from college was on the Today Show today becoming the newest member of the Joy Fit Club. I haven't really talked to her since the year after we graduated, and I only found out about this through Facebook. But, it is very inspiring.

Here is the link to the clip from the show:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26942320#26942320

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Do Unto the Least of These...

The most common mp3s I listen to are my Andy Griffith CDs. One of the tracks is Andy telling "The Christmas Guest" story. THe story reminds that that of this verse:

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40

A few verses later is this:

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. Matthew 25:45

I have realized that I haven't reached out to these much. I am not rude to them, but I do not seek them out or make effort to get to know anyone that is very different from me in terms of socioeconomic status. I see the beggers on the street corners, but those that run the missions in town have recommended that we don't give them money. I have often thought about keeping some sort of non-perishable food in my car, but I haven't done so. With a little one now, I am more cautious as ever. So, know I need to pray and determine what course of action I should take. If you have any ideas how to serve "the least of these" while not putting yourself in any danger, please let me know!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

License to Sin?

Many believe that Christianity teaches that you have a license to sin once you have become a Christian. But, the Bible is very clear that this is not the case.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1-2 (KJV)

These two verses are ones I feel make it clear that we are not given a license to sin. Instead, we are to abstain from sin. This does not mean we will live a perfect, sinless life. We will fall and sin daily, but the sin should not the purposeful. We are not to do something just because we know God will forgive us when we ask it of Him.

What about where the Bible says we are to be sinless?
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 1 John 3:6

In English, it seems that if we sin we are not Christian. But, the problem is the English language and the lack of verb tenses. The sin mentioned in the above verse is that of continual sin - a life of sin. We are to not live a life of sin. We are to daily refrain from sin. If the verse above were saying one sin took away your salvation, then there is a great contradiction in 1 John:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10

These verses make it clear that we will not be perfect. To think that we are is actually a sin.

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Today I finished reading The Face of God by Bill Meyers. This book is very thought provoking. THe main characters are: a Christian trapped in a world of legalism and works, a young man raised in the church who doesn't know what to believe, a Jew by genetics but an atheist by faith, a "mainstream" Muslim, and a fanatical Muslim extremist. A key thought in the story is "thou hast left thy first love" (Revelations 2:4b). I think is the a huge problem in Christianity today. We are caught up in serving God without spending the time to fellowship with God. We are doing so much for Him and the world that we forget about Him. We lean on our own strength and understanding, and not His. I highly recommend this book to anyone who sees hypocrisy in the Church or is confused about the difference between Islam and Christianity.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

My Dislike of Elections...

FIrst, let me say I have no issues with voting. Yes, the lines can be long, but I am willing to wait to exercise my right. I have no problems with the actual voting process.

But what I hate is the length of the election. They seem to start earlier and earlier campaigning for office these days. After about a month or so, they have made their ideas known. The rest of the election is mostly spent tearing apart the opponent(s). Not much new is ever said these days. Instead, it is just a mud fight between candidates. Regardless of the race, both candidates are making half truths about what the other has done.

"He voted against this, but I voted for it."
"No, he isn't for this because he voted against this bill."
"He doesn't understand us"
"He is so much like this person"

It is getting very old. I listen to a local talk radio station a lot. At 3 they have on a local host who is pretty middle of the road. I used to love listening to the conversations about the presidential and congressional races. But, after about 3 months of listening half the time it got old. The same basic things are being said. I still listen sometimes. He is good about playing the ads and sound bites that are just crazy (from both sides). But the comments from the listeners are always the same things over and over again.

I am pretty sure that 90% (or more) of Americans already know who they are going to vote for. What is said between now and the election probably isn't going to change anyone's mind. The undecideds are probably undecided because they haven't thought too much about it yet. So, all that is happening is only causing the two sides of the country to fight against each other more. Instead of uniting the country, elections tend to divide us more than anything.

So, here is what I wish would happen:
Public campaigning for an election can only occur 3 months prior to the election. That means if there is a primary, there would be 6 months total of campaigning.
All primaries would be on the same day. The primary system for the presidency is way to long!

Benefits: I bet it would be cheaper! Also, there would be less time to drag your opponent through the mud but still enough time to get important things on the table. Finally, the nation could spend more time working on things together instead of being divided!

Your thoughts?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

New Blog

This is my second blog. My first blog is about my daughter. I want to keep that one about her, our family, and the basics of life. I don't want to get into controversial things there because I know some of the readers of that blog have VERY different views to me. I don't want them to stop reading that blog because of something I say. But, there have been many times I have thought of posts in my head that I wanted to post somewhere. So, I created this blog for those. Politics, religion, and other controversial topics will be the norm here. You may also find posts about my life not directly related to AJU5.

Because I know a lot of the posts will be controversial, I expect readers are going to have different views. Feel free to comment as long as you aren't rude. Also, please refrain from using cuss words, as I want to keep this blog family-friendly. If I feel any comment is rude or uses language I don't approve of, I will delete it. Hopefully I won't have to delete any comments though.

Welcome to the blog!