The Truth

God, Sex, and Tyranny

2015-07-26T16:56:00.001-04:00

In a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court, same-sex marriage was legalized in all 50 states. This has been a controversial topic for a long time in the United States, and in today's world, where billions of people have access to share their opinions at the push of a button, tensions are set to fly for some time on such a divided subject.

We live in a culture where "immediate gratification" is ingrained into our minds as the normal, and the right to "the pursuit of happiness" that our founding fathers sought through liberty and independence has been simplified to a right to "happiness" for all people. A legitimate argument may be made against the modification of the founding fathers visionary declaration, but this course of action, in today's progressive and liberal movement, causes many "trendies" to simply steer a complex discussion in a direction that allows them to confuse the real issues, ignore the troubling facts, and allows them to shout "bigot", "racist", "sexist", or "homophobe" in efforts to devalue the opinions of those who oppose popular culture, undoubtedly for fear of being demonized themselves.

Let the "progressive hipster" remember that happiness should not be the lone focus of progress, nor is it even the most important component of progress. It should be considered by all, that our right as American citizens is to the pursuit of happiness not happiness itself, and remembered by all that the happiness of one often comes at the expense of another, and therefore, the idea that all have a right to happiness is an unsustainable goal. As the old saying goes, "you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time".

Furthermore, let us all remember that to correctly address this specific topic of same-sex marriage in the debate forum, it is vital to recognize that there are actually three main "veins" running through this discussion - which are separate issues - and we would be wise men and women to address them independently.

1.) Firstly, the Religious vein - Sin.

One of the most prominent reasons our nation is divided on the topic of homosexuality is rooted in the fact that 77% of people in the US claim Christianity as their religion. This would lead to the obvious conclusion that many people believe that morality is set by a higher form (God), and not by culture, current societal acceptances, or even subjectively set by self. This also means that the majority of people in the US believe that God defined marriage upon creation of man and woman, and not man-made laws that are subject to change with culture shifts. By this statistic, it is also safe to assume that "sin" which is defined as "transgression of a divine law" - is not recognized by all people, but only those who believe in a divine power.

I cannot speak for all people of all religions on the matter, so I will speak on the religious vein only for myself as a Christ follower, and I speak hoping that my brothers and sisters in Christ would take the words that follow to sincere thought and prayer.

There are really two sub-topics, or separate stances, to take from the religious viewpoint - Sin and marriage.

Marriage
If laws are passed which allow the euthanizing of the elderly, sick, or feeble, and are deemed "acceptable" or "right" by society, I will still disagree with those laws because I believe it to be murder, which is defined by God in His Word as sin. If the laws are passed which state that theft of objects with a value of less than $5.00 are "ok" or "permissible" and not a crime, I will still refrain from stealing, as I believe it is also wrong and seen in the sight of God as sin. God fearing individuals believe that morality is written on the heart of man, and just as sin and morality are defined by God in His Word, I personally believe that Gods definition of man and wife in matrimony is the ultimate and natural definition of marriage.

If 77% of Americans claim Christianity, and assumedly believe the Word of God, then they also believe that He defines marriage in His word thoroughly. Let us not forget that God placed significant importance on the unity between man and woman, clearly shown in the fact that the very first thing God declared after the creation of woman was for man and woman to procreate and fill the Earth (Genesis 1:28). And the importance of this unity is stressed again immediately after woman is created, when the establishment of marriage is documented (Genesis 2:24). In fact, since the dawn of social structure, marriage between man and woman has been recognized as the foundational block of progress and stability by all civilizations.

I am not terribly interested in the argument over the definition of marriage according to society's current state of mind. The States could have just as easily changed the terms and law of civil unions to give the same legal rights as "traditional marriage", but it would seem that they are more interested in redefining it for other purposes, to be expounded on in the #3 vein.

Sin
The second part of the religious argument is the more important part for those who believe in a Holy, Just, and Righteous God...sin.
I believe that Christ followers (Christ-ians), who follow the Holy Bible as Gods Word to mankind, all agree that homosexuality, like other specific things, are declared in God's Word to be sin. I address the issue of sin in a previous post ("Don't Judge Me"), but this is the concern that the religious person should focus on, and with humility and love. I would stress to my fellow brothers and sisters in this literature is simply this...that we all remember that we are all sinners (Rom 3:23), and only through Gods power and the gift God presented to ALL mankind - the power of the blood of Jesus Christ - is the spirit cleansed of the stain of sin, and are we freed from the payment for our sin debt (Rom 6:23).

It is not because we earn it through our works (Eph 2:8-9)...not because we are self-righteous (Rom 3:22)...not because we deserved it, and certainly not because we are more important to God than anyone else (John 3:16). We are living in a fallen world and to a Holy and Perfectly Just God, a sin is a sin is a sin.
What I mean is that homosexuality is as detestable to a Holy and Pure God as is the lie your best friend told his boss last week, or the lust in the heart that your brother expressed over the girl that was by the pool (to which Jesus said is the same as adultery - Matthew 5:27-28), or the theft your co-worker committed when she took those office supplies from the storeroom home for her child's school project, or the idolatry that people commit when they put the love of money, or cars, or houses, or boats, or children, or anything else as their idol of worship in their lives over the Creator and Giver of Life. We (Christ followers) must remember that in Gods eyes, your spirit is either stained by sin, or it is not, and it matters not the sin that stained you. There are no levels of sin. A sin is a sin is a sin. The scriptures do not place more importance on one particular sin; therefore, we must not either.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” —1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV)

My point here is this...we must not address this current issue any differently than we address liars, thieves, adulterers, murderers, fornicators, idolaters, etc. We must refrain from judging any specific sins of our brothers and sisters in Christ according to our personal feelings about them, dislike of them, or tolerance/acceptance of them, and we must not judge hypocritically, superficially, harshly and unforgivingly, untruly, or self-righteously. Jesus warned His disciples about hypocritical and self-righteous judgment (Matthew 7:1-5; John 8:1-11), and Paul also made a similar point (Romans 2:3).

According to Jesus, we are to rightly judge (John 7:24) fellow believers, and this type of judgment is strongly encouraged. We are to be “as wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16), and wisdom demands that we be discerning (Proverbs 10:13). And when we have discerned rightly, we are to speak the truth, with love being the motivating factor (Ephesians 4:15). We are called to judge those who have chosen to follow Christ, but we cannot hold those outside the church to standards that they have never agreed to. Paul writes about this to the folks in the church at Corinth when he says to them (1 Cor 5:12-13) "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” There are a vast array of articles for the Christian on judgment, and talking to others about sin in love, with scriptural references that I encourage all Christ followers to read.

Above all else, we must remember our great commission - present the gospel to everyone as it was presented by the disciples in the days and months following Jesus's ascension to heaven - That Jesus Christ came into the world to pay for all sin for ANYONE who repents and trusts in Him, that He died on a cross as the only sinless man in history, and rose on the third day defeating sin. God is in the business of performing the impossible, and transforms lives...we should be in the business of moving our flesh out of the way so He can work through the Spirit within us.

I believe the greatest deception that the evil one has ever conceived on Earth is fooling the world into believing that God = religion. Religion is full of flawed, broken people. Hypocrites, liars, adulterers, and the list goes on and on, but God is NOT religious. Those who don't recognize God, sin, or the spirit within the body, only see us (believers) as the flawed image that man-made religion has taken on over time, and with that comes all the presuppositions that they have developed, and rightly so because we do ourselves no service by "fitting the mold" most days.

When we wrongly judge other Christians' sins, we not only feed this stereotype, and this inaccurate image of Gods purpose for our should-be intentions, but we do the opportunity to share the gospel with those who watch our actions a disservice. Just as the person who first shared the gospel with you and me, when we didn't care about God and loved living in sin, we are commanded to share the truth of the gospel and the power of Jesus Christ to transform souls and lives. We would do well to remember what Jesus said, and the importance He placed on the following command, as we approach anyone who does not know the love of God.

"Love thy neighbor as thyself" - Mark 12:31

Always remember that we are only seen righteous in Gods sight because of Christ (Rom 3:22). Not because of our doing. When we cast wrong judgment on other's sin, we appear self-righteous and hypocritical, and rightly so. And if we are honest with ourselves, it is only because the Spirit constantly cleanses our sins that we are free. If Christ was not cleansing us daily, sometimes moment by moment, then we would be no more righteous in Gods sight than anyone else in the world because we would still be seen as a sinner in Gods Holy sight.

We must remember that God will be the ultimate and final judge of each person, for He is worthy to do so. He commands us to obey Him, follow Him, and to share the gospel in truth, grace, and love, to all people. Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit is the One who convicts, and changes men and women's hearts. He alone has the power to reveal truth, provide freedom from sin, heal hearts, and He goes before us and follows behind us to oversee our efforts to share the news of Jesus Christ.

One of the main roadblocks we all face when sharing the gospel is when others don't recognize "sin" as real (and why would they want to?). There is a mindset in today's world is that society/culture determines right and wrong, and people determine their own morality. Therefore, fervent prayer for God to soften their hearts, draw them to Him, and show them the reality of sin in their lives will be the only spiritual connection many of us will have to them, so let us pray that God shows them that sin affects their "life/spirit" and that He loves them, and let us remember to "rightly" judge sin, and to help lead others to the One who can forgive sin and transform hearts.

2.) Secondly, the vein of Homosexuality:

Society has become a culture of "political correctness" and "subjective morality", lending itself to a carefree attitude towards "sin". Therefore, let us move the conversation into the secular, natural world view for the discussion of the second vein - homosexuality.

There is a vast array of serious issues that those who don't condone homosexuality have a right to be concerned about, not as believers in God, but as U.S. citizens, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, as and part of the human race.

Agenda
There has been a radical change in the minds of America about homosexuality in the last 30 years, but if you think it is by accident or through natural means, you would be wrong. In 1987, Marshall Kirk and Erastes Pill wrote "The Overhauling of Straight America", which outlined a deceptive and strategic marketing plan to change Americas view of homosexuals, including plans for portraying gays as victims, making gays look good, making the victimizers look bad, and how to psychologically manipulate the populous through the media. It exposes a dishonest side of the homosexual agenda and was a catalyst in the changing view of America. Every American should take time to read this document for themselves, as it has undoubtedly directly affected you in the last 20 years.

"And when we say talk about homosexuality, we mean just that. In the early stages of any campaign to reach straight America, the masses should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself. Instead, the imagery of sex should be downplayed and gay rights should be reduced to an abstract social question as much as possible. First let the camel get his nose inside the tent--only later his unsightly derriere!"

"While public opinion is one primary source of mainstream values, religious authority is the other. When conservative churches condemn gays, there are only two things we can do to confound the homophobia of true believers. First, we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections of our own about conservative interpretations of biblical teachings, and exposing hatred and inconsistency. Second, we can undermine the moral authority of homophobic churches by portraying them as antiquated backwaters, badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology. Against the mighty pull of institutional Religion one must set the mightier draw of Science & Public Opinion (the shield and sword of that accursed "secular humanism"). Such an unholy alliance has worked well against churches before, on such topics as divorce and abortion. With enough open talk about the prevalence and acceptability of homosexuality, that alliance can work again here."

"These images should be combined with those of their gay victims by a method propagandists call the "bracket technique." For example, for a few seconds an unctuous beady-eyed Southern preacher is seen pounding the pulpit in rage about "those sick, abominable creatures." While his tirade continues over the soundtrack, the picture switches to pathetic photos of gays who look decent, harmless, and likable; and then we cut back to the poisonous face of the preacher, and so forth. The contrast speaks for itself. The effect is devastating."

Directly on the heals of the previously mentioned literature, Marshall Kirk teamed up with Hunter Madsen (a researcher in neuropsychiatry, a doctorate in Politics, and an expert on public persuasion tactics and social marketing) and released a book in 1989 titled "After the Ball - How America will conquer its fear and hatred of Gays in the 90s", which immediately became a beacon for the then-emerging homosexual movement. This book expounded greatly on the deceptive strategies from Marshall's previous publication, and with the influence of Madsen's expertise, laid out an even deeper plan.

"The trick is to get the bigot into the position of feeling a conflicting twinge of shame, along with his reward, whenever his homohatred surfaces, so that his reward will be diluted or spoiled. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, all making use of repeated exposure to pictorial images or verbal statements that are incompatible with his self-image as a well-liked person, one who fits in with the rest of the crowd. Thus, propagandistic advertisement can depict homophobic and homohating bigots as crude loudmouths and assholes--people who say not only 'faggot' but 'nigger,' 'kike,' and other shameful epithets--who are 'not Christian.'"

"When he sees someone like himself being disapproved of and disliked by ordinary Joes, Direct Emotional Modeling ensures that he will feel just what they feel --and transfer it to himself."

"Note that the bigot need not actually be made to believe that he is such a heinous creature, that others will now despise him, and that he has been the immoral agent of suffering. It would be impossible to make him believe any such thing. Rather, our effect is achieved without reference to facts, logic, or proof."

"We mean conversion of the average American's emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media."

"In Conversion, the bigot, who holds a very negative stereotypic picture, is repeatedly exposed to literal picture/label pairs, in magazines, and on billboards and TV, of gay- explicitly labeled as such!--who not only don't look like his picture of a homosexual, but are carefully selected to look either like the bigot and his friends, or like any one of his other stereotypes of all-right guys-- the kind of people he already likes and ` admires. This image must, of necessity, be carefully tailored to be free of absolutely every element of the widely held stereotypes of how 'faggots' look, dress, and sound. He--or she--must not be too well or fashionably dressed; must not be too handsome--that is, mustn't look like a model--or well groomed. The image must be that of an icon of normality"

"it makes no difference that the ads are lies;"

There is no doubt that not all in the LGBT community are on board with the outlined agenda and plans of Mr. Kirk and Mr. Madsen, but this does not negate the influence their publications have had on a large majority of the LGBT community, and on the American view of the homosexual. The deceptive psychological tactics they promote are being implemented throughout the world on daily basis. Americans have a right to be concerned about being lied to, manipulated, and deceived.

And if this "hidden" agenda is not enough to give us alarm, we can turn our attention to the issues that are visibly evident. There have been a variety of studies and tests done in the last 30 years, and the results present real concerns that should matter to everyone who values the lives of human beings, progress in society, the well-being and development of children (our future), and progress of the human species. It seems that the current progressive culture would rather focus on the "immediate (yet often) temporary happiness" and "political correctness" than to address the troubling facts head on, and honestly, one can understand why. Those who oppose this progressive movement are negatively labeled by the media, despite the fact that those (religious or not) who don't condone homosexuality have justified cause to be concerned about these serious issues associated with the homosexual lifestyle.

Health and Well Being
To start, there are serious health risks associated with the homosexual lifestyle that includes but is not limited to the individuals themselves.

- Homosexuals make up approximately 2% of the population in the US, yet according to the CDC, they account for nearly 58% of the cases of HIV in the US, and in 2010, gay and bisexual men accounted for 63% of estimated new HIV infections in the United States and 78% of infections among all newly infected men. From 2008 to 2010, new HIV infections increased 22% among young (aged 13-24) gay and bisexual men and 12% among gay and bisexual men overall.

- The HIV and AIDS diseases are a direct link to the fact that the median age of death of homosexuals is 42 (only 9% live past age 65). This drops to 39 if the cause of death is AIDS. The median age of death of a married heterosexual man is 75.
- The median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65). The median age of death of a married heterosexual woman is 79

- According to the CDC, 75% of all primary and secondary syphilis cases were among homosexual males.
- Gay and bisexual men are at increased risk for certain other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including Hepatitis A, B and C, which are contagious liver diseases. Approximately 10% of new Hepatitis A and 20% of all new Hepatitis B infections in the United States are among men who have sex with men.
- Studies have also shown that, when compared with the general population, gay and bisexual men, lesbian, and transgender individuals are more likely to:
-- Use alcohol and drugs
-- Have higher rates of substance abuse
-- Are less likely to abstain from alcohol and drug use
-- Are more likely to continue heavy drinking into later life.
- There is a notable issue of promiscuity, which is undoubtedly a key contributor to STD's, which is referenced in the Journal of Sex Research:

"In their study of the sexual profiles of 2,583 older homosexuals published in Journal of Sex Research, Paul Van de Ven et al. found that "the modal range for number of sexual partners ever [of homosexuals] was 101–500." In addition, 10.2 percent to 15.7 percent had between 501 and 1000 partners. A further 10.2 percent to 15.7 percent reported having had more than 1000 lifetime sexual partners. Paul Van de Ven et al., "A Comparative Demographic and Sexual Profile of Older Homosexually Active Men," Journal of Sex Research 34 (1997): 354.

- More than 60% of gay men without HIV, and more than 90% of gay men with HIV have human papillomavirus infection in their anal canals, as well as being significantly more at risk for intestinal or anorectal infection/trauma.

Effects on Children
Even more troubling than the risk that the homosexual lifestyle poses to the individual themselves, or to those who could possibly contract one of the many diseases that are more prevalent in the homosexual community, is the effects that this lifestyle has on children involved.

The American College of Pediatrics released this statement after the SCOTUS decision:

“Dr. Michelle Cretella, President of the American College of Pediatricians in response to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision today stated, 'This is a tragic day for America’s children. The SCOTUS has just undermined the single greatest pro-child institution in the history of mankind: the natural family. Just as it did in the joint Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton decisions, the SCOTUS has elevated and enshrined the wants of adults over the needs of children.’Although it is disappointing only 4 of the 9 justices heeded the scientific findings in the College Brief, the College will continue to proclaim the important unique contributions of both mothers and fathers to the optimal nurturing of all children.”

(For a wealth of information and data, you can visit their website page on Same Sex Marriage.)

In January of this year, several adults who were raised by gay parents spoke out in the 5th circuit Federal Court against "Gay Marriage", and all four argued that "redefining marriage to include homosexual couples will likely lead to the exploitation and abuse of countless children for political and personal gain". The information they presented was a firsthand look at the effects of their experiences with homosexual parenting, and the testimonies from these individuals was riveting.

“While I do not believe all gays would be de facto bad parents, I know that the gay community has never in my lifetime put children first as anything other than a piece of property, a past mistake or a political tool to be dressed up and taken out as part of a dog-and-pony show to impress the well-meaning,” - B.N. Klein

A study published in Social Science Research in 2012, by Mark Regnerus, (The New Family Structures Study) shows that children raised by same-sex parents are more likely to be on welfare, unemployed, molested, and five times more likely to commit suicide and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

The study also showed:

- Children of gay parents are more likely to commit adultery in their own relationships.
- Children of lesbian mothers are an astonishing 11 times more likely to have been "touched sexually by a parent or other adult caregiver" in childhood (but not necessarily by the homosexual parent)
- Are nearly 4 times as likely to have been "physically forced" to have sex against their will (at some time in their life, not necessarily in childhood).

The large majority of people have a soft spot in their heart for the innocence and purity of a child, quite possibly because young children remind us of what is good in the world. In fact, children have been used as "leverage" or "stage props" in political campaigns and speeches by many politicians, from President Obama to Adolph Hitler and beyond. Their well-being and development is brought to the front lines of debate anytime it benefits the larger agenda of the political bureaucrats. In fact, the development of children has been a topic in the US for some time in many different discussions, mainly because the majority largely agrees that it is their development which ultimately shapes the future of humanity.

Fatherless homes have been shown to be a major contributor to poverty, maternal and child health, incarceration, crime, teen pregnancy, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, education, and childhood obesity. Yet Americans are asked to condone an environment that is notoriously promiscuous, where the average relationship is less than two years, even in a time in the world where civil unions are acknowledged among homosexuals in a large portion of the world and same-sex marriage is legal in 20 countries (including the U.S.), and even in "committed relationships", partners are admittedly still not monogamous. It would seem that in the name of "personal happiness", Americans are asked to deny the statistics that show that children benefit the most from households where a mother and father are present.

What does this culture of ignoring the facts for "self-gratification" teach our children, whom will be making the decisions of our future, if they can somehow escape the statistics and beat the odds? If the decision makers truly care about the development of the children, why are Americans asked to ignore the data on the instability of the household of the homosexual parent, and to ignore the data of the effects that the homosexual parent has on the child, all for the sake of political correctness and happiness?

"I wasn’t surrounded by average heterosexual couples,” she says in her court brief. “Dad’s partners slept and ate in our home, and they took me along to meeting places in the LGBT communities. I was exposed to overt sexual activities like sodomy, nudity, pornography, group sex, sadomasochism and the ilk.” -
“There was no guarantee that any of my Dad’s partners would be around for long, and yet I often had to obey them,” she said. “My rights and innocence were violated.” - Dawn Stefanowicz

“Now we are normalizing a family structure where a child will always be deprived daily of one gender influence and the relationship with at least one natural parent,” she explains, “Our cultural narrative becomes one that, in essence, tells children that they have no right to the natural family structure or their biological parents, but that children simply exist for the satisfaction of adult desires.”- Katy Faust

Why are we, as fathers and mothers and human beings, asked to ignore the fact that the traditional family unit is being attacked, even though it has been shown to be a root of stability in our children's development? Not even all homosexuals promote homosexual parenting. The openly-gay former couple Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana spoke out against homosexual partners as parents and almost "broke the internet".

Many people, when presented with these troubling facts, will resort to the smear tactic of shouting "homophobe" or "bigot", and then present the argument that "people cant help that they are born gay". I would agree if that were actually the case. But, while the progressive cultural shift would have people believe that sexual preference is genetic, they ignore the statistics that show that sexual preference is not genetic. In fact, there have been eight major studies of identical twins done in Australia, the U.S., and Scandinavia during the last 20 years, and they all arrive at the same conclusion - people are not born gay.

These folks must also ignore the testimonies of men and women who have left the homosexual or transgender lifestyle to lead heterosexual lives, start foundations to aid others, and to be advocates against the homosexual lifestyle. The argument can be made, when examining the data, that during the most critical sexual developmental stages of the youth, the homosexual environment promotes confusion and unhealthy sexual choices, and puts children at higher sexual risks.

There are real concerns about homosexuality that many people have, including but not limited to religious people. For the religious people, these concerns are separate from the concern for the soul of a person, although this is - in the mind and heart of the believer in God - the most important of the concerns. If the standard in this country is set that religious beliefs cannot and should not be forced onto others, with which I completely agree, then the same standard must apply in all other areas. Yet in schools across the country, homosexuality, transgenderism, and bisexuality are being introduced into the curriculum and taught as "natural". In fact, on Jan. 1, 2012 the California Department of Education started implementing a new law that requires all children in the state’s public schools to study the “role and contributions” of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans” to the “development of California and the United States of America.”

"This law, according to the pro-family group SaveCalifornia.com, will require the schools to promote “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans as role models” and mandate that “children as young as kindergarten must be taught to admire persons who engage in homosexuality.”

Not only does this create more confusion among young people trying to find their identity in a culture that constantly changes the standards, but it demonstrates the extreme hypocrisy of a society that demands that Christians not force their views on others, and then forces views onto children through the educational system which the state controls.

There are some questions that everyone should ask themselves and continue to ask until an answer is found. Are Americans not supposed to care about the health and well-being of others and the proper development of our children? Why does the mainstream media not report on these issues? Why are people who genuinely care about others and speak about these things demonized in today's society?

3.) Finally, the vein of Authority.

This decision by the SCOTUS brings another prominent issue to the discussion - the issues of who rules over the people.

This should be a top priority for every American citizen in today's world, especially in a system such as the U.S. because one change of law dominos through the judicial system and affects others, and possibly even more concerning, is that the government counts on this domino effect to pass further legislation that was previously thwarted.

Our country was settled by people looking for religious freedom. Our independence was won by men who laid down their lives for liberty and freedom from governmental oppression. This great nation was established by brilliantly minded men who were way ahead of their time, and who constructed the documents that would guide and govern our land for centuries. Our Constitutional Republic was deliberately constructed with governing bodies that split the decision making powers, in an attempt to regulate tyranny and prevent future oppression of the people. No one body should have all the power, and up until now, no one body has. In fact, we have operated under the principle of judicial review since the Marbury v. Madison case in 1803.
Let us see what our great founding fathers said about this:

James Madison -
“The powers properly belonging to one of the departments ought not to be directly and completely administered by either of the other departments. It is equally evident, that none of them ought to possess, directly or indirectly, an overruling influence over the others, in the administration of their respective powers. It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.
The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

John Adams -
“A question arises whether all the powers of government, legislative, executive, and judicial, shall be left in this body? I think a people cannot be long free, nor ever happy, whose government is in one Assembly.”

Thomas Jefferson -
“[N]othing in the Constitution has given [the judiciary] a right to decide for the Executive, more than to the executive to decide for them. Both magistracies are equally independent in the sphere of action assigned to them… the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional, and what are not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action, but for the Legislature Camp; Executive also, in their spheres, would make the judiciary a despotic branch.”

Alexander Hamilton -
“[A] limited Constitution … can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing … To deny this would be to affirm … that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”

And let us be clear here - the decision to legalize same-sex marriage was not solely about same-sex marriage. It was, however, about individual religious freedom, the imposition of the State’s will against faith, and the redefining and encroachment of the First Amendment.

It has been said that "experience is the best teacher", so let us actually be mindful of this advice, and see what experience has taught Canada - a Country 10 years ahead of us on the same-sex decision. Canadian, internationally recognized speaker and author, child of same-sex parenting, and member of the Testimonial Committee of the International Children’s Rights Institute, Dawn Stefanowicz, wrote a warning to Americans. In this warning, she expressed how legalized same-sex marriage erodes fundamental rights, creates an Orwellian culture of control, negatively impacts children, and what to expect after this SCOTUS decision.

Her warning should chill every red-blooded American to their core.

"In Canada, freedoms of speech, press, religion, and association have suffered greatly due to government pressure. The debate over same-sex marriage that is taking place in the United States could not legally exist in Canada today. Because of legal restrictions on speech, if you say or write anything considered “homophobic” (including, by definition, anything questioning same-sex marriage), you could face discipline, termination of employment, or prosecution by the government."

"It is not just politically incorrect in Canada to say so; you can be saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, fined, and forced to take sensitivity training."

"the government will be free to regulate your speech, your writing, your associations, and whether or not you may express your conscience. Americans also need to understand that the endgame for some in the LGBT rights movement involves centralized state power—and the end of First Amendment freedoms."

And right in line with her warning, and Canada's lead - Canada’s gay marriage law, Bill C-38, included a provision to erase the term “natural parent” and replace it across the board with gender-neutral “legal parent” in federal law. Now all children only have “legal parents,” as defined by the state." - two dozen Democrats are sponsoring a House bill in America to eliminate words 'husband' and 'wife' from federal law.

In the United States, a country that cherishes the freedoms that our ancestors fought and died for, let us never become so complacent or indoctrinated into the "politically correct" mentality that we forget how and why we came to be the United States, lest we fall back into the oppression we once longed to escape and lose the liberty and freedom that our once-oppressed ancestors were willing to die for and to free their children from.

Less than a week after the ruling, a 70 million dollar law suit was filed in the Eastern District of Michigan by a gay man who says that a specific version of the Bible "that refers to homosexuality as a sin violates his constitutional rights and has caused him emotional distress".

In a society where "tolerance" seems to mean "tolerance (as long as you agree with me)", and a "politically correct" culture that is shifting towards granting anyone who complains loud enough what they ask for, it seems quite logical to think that when a church, organization, or person exercises their First Amendment rights, this ruling will most likely mean that they will be penalized for it monetarily, or at the least, demonized in the public's eye, and their business or name smeared for simply standing on their rights. In fact, shutting down churches that oppose the homosexual agenda, or at the least revoking their 501(c)3 tax status, has already been proposed.

“They have discovered in the Fourteenth Amendment,” Justice Scalia wrote of the majority, “a ‘fundamental right’ overlooked by every person alive at the time of ratification, and almost everyone else in the time since.”

This decision by the court to "find a right" (according to Justice Scalia) in the 14th amendment that was never seen before now in our nations history, also opens the door for much more. Using the same tactics used by “gay” rights activists, pedophiles have begun to seek similar status arguing their desire for children is a sexual orientation, no different than heterosexual or homosexuals.

This decision also opens the door for polygamy to be legalized, and the real concerns with this type of society, which have been addressed in detail in other sources, are easy to find. In fact, it is already being filed for in Montana.

“In the course of its opinion, the majority compares traditional marriage laws to laws that denied equal treatment for African-Americans and women. The implications of this analogy will be exploited by those who are determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent.” - Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

The fact that at least 2 members of the Court’s majority opinion were under a legal duty to recuse and refrain from voting calls into question the validity of this decision according to some state officials. In the United States, where checks and balances have ruled, the ability for 9 men to be the supreme and final authority over all, is the larger concern that every American who values life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should take very seriously, lest we lose all of these things at the hand of the corrupt and tyrannical elite. It is exactly what our founding fathers warned against.

“Presidents have understood that the Supreme Court cannot make a law, they cannot make it, the legislature has to make it, the executive branch has to sign it and enforce it,” Huckabee told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “And the notion that the Supreme Court comes up with the ruling and that automatically subjects the two other branches to following it defies everything there is about the three equal branches of government.” - Mike Huckabee

"The ruling 'says that my ruler and the ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court,'" - Justice Antonin Scalia

"Today, the Court doubled down with a 5–4 opinion that undermines not just the definition of marriage, but the very foundations of our representative form of government"
"As we prepare to celebrate next week the 239th anniversary of the birth of our country, our Constitution finds itself under sustained attack from an arrogant judicial elite. Yet the words of Daniel Webster ring as true today as they did over 150 years ago: “Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.” We must hold fast to the miracle that is our Constitution and our republic; we must not submit our constitutional freedoms, and the promise of our nation, to judicial tyranny" - Ted Cruz

This topic has been a polarizing one that has brought discussions of all kinds to the table. It would appear that the decision by the SCOTUS is far from the "end all be all". In fact, some state officials were quick to resist the decision, either by delaying enforcement of the ruling or drafting legislation that would end state agencies’ involvement in issuing marriage licenses. This comes as no surprise to some, and this discussion seems to be far from over.
As a country of diverse people and equally diverse opinions, we are bound to disagree. It is, however, important that we understand the very real and very serious issues that need to be addressed openly and honestly by all parties. It is time we stopped ignoring the facts and start looking at things with a new perspective. A perspective that embraces the complexity of the issues instead of trying to simplify and divert...a perspective that is built and centered around facts, not feelings, and allows us to find the truth of the matters up for discussion amongst the piles of rhetoric, labels, and misinformation.

America is no longer the country it once was. Moral lines are being intentionally blurred, the media is controlling social temperature through propaganda and disinformation, and people are as complacent and accepting of whatever is on the path of least resistance. Only time will tell the final outcome of the ruling, but for now, we would benefit greatly as a nation to address this topic, and all the veins of it, with the appropriate sensitivity, respect, facts, guts, and grace that a United States of patriotic human beings should.

God bless

A Letter to Congress

2013-01-12T22:04:00.001-05:00

There have been many terrible atrocities throughout the history of mankind. The first murder recorded in the Bible was when Adam’s son Cane murdered his brother, Able. Unfortunately, evil has been ingrained in humanity since the beginning of mankind, and will always exist in a broken world such as ours. There will surely always be murder as long as we are a flawed man with wickedness in our hearts, but the issue I would like to discuss, in light of the recent events, is guns, specifically the guns that murder.

First, let me say that I believe that we need to reduce the number of murders, not just in this country, but in the world. I would also like to stand publically and say that I believe Americans should have the right to bear arms. This right was placed in our Constitution by our founding fathers. These men were very intelligent, very experienced, and even more patriotic. This Constitutional right was not established for sport or for hunting, but as a precaution against the dictatorship and tyrannical rule of which they were very familiar. This was very clearly stated by the great Thomas Jefferson.

“The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government” – Thomas Jefferson

Notice that his statement is clear. The right to bear arms is for protection (not sporting or hunting), against tyranny in government (not for fun or animals for food), and also, as a last resort. Resort is defined as “To have recourse” and recourse is defined as “The act or an instance of turning or applying to a person or thing for aid or security”. So, his statement literally means that Americans should retain their right to be armed as a means of security and aid against a tyranny in government. These men knew what a power hungry government was capable of, and they fought very hard to gain their freedom from it. This right is one of the most important rights in the constitution, and one of the foundational blocks of the freedom you and I enjoy today. Without a means to protect our freedom from tyranny, then how long will it be before we lose our right to free speech, free press, freedom of religion, or expression, or freedom in general?

Those who oppose guns will say that less guns equals less crime, but if one examines the facts, one can see that this is simply not the case. In Australia, the government confiscated the guns and crime increased dramatically because the criminals knew they were not in danger, and because they still had access to guns. After the gun confiscation, home invasions rose 89%. In Britain, there are very strict gun laws, and while the homicide rate involving guns is, “by the numbers”, small in comparison to other countries, Britain has the second highest violent crime rate of all the richest nations in the world…higher than South Africa, and much higher than the US. In fact, the only nation with a higher violent crime rate is Australia, obviously attributed to the fact that the law abiding citizens there are no longer able to defend themselves and their families with a firearm against these criminals. Illinois has very strict gun laws, but the gang violence in the state is terrible, and the rate of “homicide by gun” in the state is quite elevated, even with these strict gun laws. In Mexico it is illegal to own a firearm, yet there were more deaths by gun last year in Mexico than in the US.

But the opposite is true of places that require gun ownership. Kennesaw GA passed a law in 1982 that required all citizens to own a firearm. Yet there have been only three murders: two with knives (1984 and 1987) and one with a firearm (1997). After the law went into effect in 1982, crime against persons plummeted 74 percent compared to 1981, and fell another 45 percent in 1983 compared to 1982. When residents of the county were asked about the decrease in crime, they attributed it to the gun ownership law. In fact, when convicted criminals from a local prison were asked about the gun laws in GA, they stated that they were much more reluctant to attack or violate people when they knew that the victim may be armed and ready to defend themselves. The popular liberal belief is that if we take the guns away, then crime will decrease, but this is simply not supported by the facts.

The argument by the “gun grabbers” of America is that the total number of deaths due to guns in America is staggering, and that a reduction in guns is the only option to save lives. Some 11,000 + people lost their lives to guns last year in this country. But with a closer look into the totals, one can clearly see that a majority of the gun deaths are involving gang related shootings between rival gangs. The gang war plays an enormous part in the death total in the US…the very statistic that politicians use to back up their argument for gun control, but we never hear these same politicians focus on the real problem…the criminals themselves. The gangs in this country have never had a problem getting their hands on guns, not matter what the law says, and as long as guns are manufactured for monetary gain, they will find a way into the hands of gangs. So, you see, the numbers don’t tell the whole truth, and stricter gun laws only hurt the people government is supposed to protect. All gun laws will do is take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizen’s and limit their ability to defend themselves with equal force against those who will possess firearms regardless of the laws in place, or against those in power whose agenda may be to enslave the populous.

The issue of guns always becomes a hot topic after a tragedy like Sandy Hook or the theater shooting in Colorado. But, ask yourself this...”If a conceal carry permit holder in the theater in Colorado would have had their gun, and shot the killer saving numerous lives, then what would the conversation be?” Or better yet, “If you were in that theater, would you still be opposed to a licensed gun carrier with a weapon in the seat next to you, with the option of aiming it at the criminal who was threatening your life?” In fact, a gentleman by the name of Guy Bennett spoke out about this very thing. He and His son are licensed conceal carry permit holders. His son and his girlfriend survived the shooting in the theater that night, although his girlfriend was shot. His son was unable to carry his firearm in to the movies that night because it is a gun free zone. Mr. Bennett said, “We need to abolish the defenseless victim zones, I’m tired of explaining to him why his girlfriend was shot and he could not defend himself — a God-given right.” This is from a man whose son was directly in the line of fire.

I bet the parents of the children that were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School would have been thankful for an armed teacher or principal who could have taken action to stop this killer before he took those precious lives that day. A screened and permitted person with a handgun and proper training would have stopped many of deaths on those tragic days in our history. In fact, there are numerous cases each month, which are never reported by the mainstream media, of people who are permitted to carry a firearm stopping robberies, shootings, home invasions, or other crime in general. This is yet more justification that gun laws are not the problem…criminals are the problem, or to be more specific, evil is the real problem.

Criminals don't care about innocent lives, and they never care what the laws are…that is exactly what makes them criminals. They will still find guns no matter what the law says, and they will still harm people with these guns because they are evil, broken, or just don’t care about life. Yet politicians make claims that their gun grabbing agenda is focused on saving innocent people’s lives, and that reducing the death total of innocent people is their supposed agenda that drives their need to regulate firearms. But again, this is simply not supported by the facts. Tobacco killed over 500,000 people last year, yet the manufacturing of tobacco is not stopped or criminalized because the money it generates is massive. When this point is brought up, the response is often, “these people chose to use tobacco” and “this is not an apples to apples comparison with murder”, but second hand smoke killed nearly 50,000 people last year, which could technically be classified as murder since they lost their life at no fault of their own due to someone else’s choice. This is nearly five times the number of deaths caused by guns. But you never see any politicians screaming “shut down tobacco!” because the tobacco industry contributes major money to the government. Ask yourself this, “Are your children more at risk of addiction to tobacco, or subjection to second hand smoke, than they are at risk of being killed by a gun?” According to the facts, they are five times more likely to die from tobacco than by a gun, even if they don’t use tobacco themselves. But there is no anti-tobacco agenda in Washington.

If the death of innocent lives is the real agenda, then why is abortion a political platform topic of disagreement? Approximately 219 women die worldwide each day from an unsafe abortion, and over 3,700 babies are killed each day in the US alone (that’s 1.35+ million per year) from abortions. Yet our government, specifically the Title X Family Planning Program and Medicaid, gives Planned Parenthood over 360+ million dollars each year in support of these mass murders. Where is the outcry for these innocent lives that are taken? If the agenda is truly about saving innocent lives, and these murders are still happening, then one can only assume that it must serve no personal or political gain for the government to take action and stop these things…or possibly that these killers are ignored because it will cause someone to lose votes on Election Day if they address them...or maybe the system is about greed and power and not actually about protecting the innocent lives at all. In fact, our government supplies guns to Mexico and to the Middle East and is indirectly responsible for outrageous numbers of deaths and criminal activity each year, yet no one in the political world is “up in arms” about this. Why not? If it is about saving lives, then why does no one speak up about these murders?

The bottom line is that the agenda is really not about saving innocent lives at all. It is about controlling the population through the spreading of fear, by exploiting the few tragedies that involve a crazed criminal and a gun, to get people to beg for more protection through more law. The real agenda cannot be fulfilled until the people who believe in liberty and freedom are disarmed. Hitler may have said it best in this passage in Hitler’s Table Talk, 1941-1944: Secret Conversations with the English translation copyrighted 1953 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Part Three: 6 February – 7 September 1942:

“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty”- Adolf Hitler

I would say that if we are being honest, no one in their right mind can possibly believe that taking the guns away from law abiding citizens will stop criminals from getting guns. Criminals will always have guns, and we, the law-abiding citizens, will need a way to stop them. The responsibility that lies with the government seems to be to protect people from the criminals without limiting your freedom to own a firearm to protect our family? The real issue here is not guns, it is control. People have always killed one another…if not with guns, then with spears and swords, and if not with swords, then with fists and stones. It’s not guns fault that we choose to kill, it’s ours. I believe that making laws to restrict those individuals who will abide the law from owning a gun - a law that criminals won’t follow anyway – is not a reasonable solution at all. Our focus in this country needs to be directed towards the criminal and not towards the weapon of the criminal. After all, according to the FBI, the most popular weapon of homicide in this country is the baseball bat, not the gun.

The real political issue here is not about lives, or guns, or criminals…it is about control. History shows that very bad things happen when a government confiscates the guns of its citizens. It is an undisputed fact that gun control and gun confiscation has preceded every instance of genocide in the 20th century. So, it’s time for you to establish your true agenda. Are you interested in saving lives? If so, then start by focusing on big tobacco and every abortion clinic in the country. Start focusing on locking the criminals up and keeping them locked up. Start focusing on fixing the corruption in our judicial system and our political arena. If lives are your concern, then attack the gang problem and stiffen the punishment for people who drive drunk. If you are worried about saving lives, focus on these 2+ million lives that are lost each year, and stop acting like the 11,000 lives taken by guns is the most serious problem that the innocent people of this country face. If your agenda is to be politically correct as you follow those in power, who secretly want to control and manipulate, then you better start using your freedom, which is provided to you by men who fight for it with guns, and start praying to whomever you are free to believe in about your upcoming choices. You will be the one that will live with them, you will be held accountable for them, and you will be judged accordingly for them.

As a member of government you were sworn in to protect our Constitutional rights against any threat, foreign or domestic. You are a representative who is employed by the people, and who is responsible for the interest of the people. If you choose to promote any gun legislation, which violates our second amendment right to bear arms against tyranny in government, under the false pretense that it is about saving lives – all while you hypocritically look the other way on abortion, drunk driving, and tobacco’s influence on the innocent lives of this country - you will have to live with the consequences which your choice will bring. When you lose your position because you chose to be politically correct, it will be your fault. When your family and friends and neighbors and co-workers fall victim to criminals with guns, you will have to live with the fact that you supported disarming law abiding citizens and you gave the power to the criminal. When the people of this country are forced to rise up against the tyranny of governmental dictatorship, just as our four fathers did, they will hold you, and all those who voted to disregard the very Constitution which allows you your freedom, responsible for your actions. If you choose to promote gun control and/or confiscation on the American people, know that you are disregarding the oath that you took upon receiving the office you hold and committing the crime of treason against this great country and it’s people. And when the country falls into turmoil or civil war because the people are enraged about the choices you have made to take their rights away, you will be held accountable. When innocent lives are lost at the hands of the American Military or the UN officers who come to confiscate guns, their blood will be on your hands. When the country you hold dear to your heart is no longer “the land of the free and home of the brave”, your children will have you to thank, and then they will still have to face the terrible future that the new world holds. Do not think that you are off the people’s radar. Do not think that your vote doesn’t get noticed. Do not think that you are above reproach or your decision will not affect you directly. The United States of America was founded by men who took liberty and freedom seriously, who used guns to go to war with the people who tried to oppress them, and who were prepared to die defending that freedom. Do not think that this country has none of these men and women left. We are the bloodline of the patriots who founded this great nation. We are the descendants of the men who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. You have a choice to make and you are on notice…you will be held accountable by the citizens of this country, by your loved ones, and by God for your choice. Choose wisely.

God bless America and her people

Guns in America

2012-07-25T16:09:00.003-04:00

On Friday of last week, a gunman opened fire in a midnight showing of the movie “The Dark Knight Rises”. Twelve people lost their lives…people who went into that movie theater that night excited to see another Batman blockbuster hit, never expecting in a million years that they would die just minutes later in a gun massacre that made international news. Twelve families and hundreds of loved ones were taken by TOTAL surprise when that call came in and woke them from their sleep, just after midnight. What a terrible, terrible tragedy. And it doesn’t stop there. The total number injured was fifty eight.

Soon after, the buzz of social media began and people start expanding upon each other’s opinions. I ran across this article by Michael Moore, “It's the Guns - But We All Know, It's Not Really the Guns”. In response to the article, I would like to say a few things.

I would like to stand publically and say that I believe Americans should have the right to bear arms. I also believe that we could take better care of each other as a society. Way too many people die every year to gun injuries. I agree with Mr. Moore…there have been many terrible atrocities throughout the history of mankind, and there will surely always be those types of events as long as we are man, but the issue discussed here is guns, specifically the ones that murder. We need to reduce the number of deaths due to guns, not just in this country, but in the world. Period.

He went on to make some good points about the destructive nature of Americans, which I agree with, and to give statistics that supported how the US is way above the normal in gun deaths per year. Here is the summation:

“That means the United States is responsible for over 80 percent of all the gun deaths in the 23 richest countries combined. Considering that the people of those countries, as human beings, are no better or worse than any of us, well, then, why us?”

This is a great question Michael. I will get back to this in a minute.

Mr. Moore also said, about the slogan “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, "I would just alter that slogan slightly to speak the real truth: "Guns don't kill people, Americans kill people."”

Technically, I would say guns don’t kill people Mr. Moore...criminals do. Criminals don’t just use guns because they are legal and easy to get, but they use them because they can have power. I believe that making laws to restrict those individuals who will abide the law from owning and gun - a law that criminals won’t follow anyway - doesn’t seem to be a good solution at all.

I asked myself this...”If someone in that theater would have had a gun in their waistline, and shot the killer in the head after his first 5 shots went off, they could have probably saved many lives...then what would the conversation be?”

I bet the parents of the children that were killed would have been thankful for this armed citizen who took action to stop this movie theater killer before he shot 1000 bullets in the place and killed and wounded 70 people. A good man with a handgun and proper training in that movie theater would have been celebrated if he would have stopped this atrocity. Heck, our country would have placed a crack-dealing, pistol-whipping thug in the limelight if he would have saved lives…but criminals don't usually care about saving lives, and they never care what the laws are. They will still find guns no matter what the law says, and we will need a way to stop them. The responsibility that lies with the government here seems to be to protect you from the wrong type of people collecting firearms in the first place, without limiting your freedom to own a firearm to protect your family?

I am not really sure how I feel about Michael’s conclusion that we Americans are “good killers”. I guess that’s one way of looking at it. I think technology has made the world smaller to humanity, and methods of accomplishing the tasks at hand have changed or “evolved” over the last 100 years. Now when our government needs to use a gun to murder another human being, they can spare a US citizen’s life, and remotely do it instead (insert sarcastic smirk here). I agree, “It is madness”. The real problem is not in how we have advance our killing methods, it is that our governing bodies lack nobility, courage, leadership, righteousness, morals, and values. We shouldn’t be killing anyone at all! What gives us the right?

But in today’s society, the real bush we all beat around is - Who is to blame?

.....the government for not regulating guns?.....the gun manufacturers?.....wal-mart or k-mart for selling bullets?......the bullet manufacturers?..... how about the guy who did the terrible criminal act…James Holmes?.....God?.....The Devil?.....Mankind…..? Any good clear blame in any of those places? Well, to have blame would indicate that someone failed to do their job. So who do we blame?

According to Wikipedia.com, AND I AM AWARE OF THE NATURE OF WIKIPEDIA and the ABILITY TO EDIT, we have had an estimated 10 massacres in this country since 1970. Forty two years total…ten massacres on US soil. That’s an impressive number in my mind, considering the population of people in those forty two years. What alarms me is that eight of the ten massacres have happened since 1991. So, by the numbers, society is clearly killing more in the last 20 years. That’s 80% of the massacres on US soil in the last forty two years has occurred in the last twenty one years. Now back to Mr. Moore's question..... why?

We all have an opinion. I agree with Mr. Moore here too…people have always killed one another…if not with guns, then with spears and swords, and if not with swords, then with fists.

But back to the main point…It’s not guns fault that we choose to kill, it’s ours. We have entirely too much accessibility to guns, and we are not mature enough as a civilization to have “the power to take life” at our disposal. I don’t believe that we respect guns as much as we should, nor do I believe we ever have. The founders of this country had to know how to shoot for survival, and guns have played a huge part of our history, but our ancestors knew something we have forgotten as a culture…the responsibility of owning a gun is great. It is a weapon not an accessory, and it is a matter of life and death.

It is the responsibility of the government to keep us safe, but not dictate over us. The people who qualify to sale firearms should require that anyone that wants a gun should have to wait one year before you can receive a gun of any kind...this way, the people applying can be fully screened. You should have to take classes, tests, and should have serious requirements to show stability. I know there’s a couple billion being wasted somewhere in a government program that meets once a month and never uses real names that could go towards this. It would seem to me that the unstable or criminal types would get noticed through a “process” of a year. This whole idea that you can walk into a pawn shop and walk out with a .40 caliber GLOCK is ridiculous. We have teenagers with regular access to guns, but no access to guidance at all. Stop selling auto and semi-auto weapons, and reserve them for military only. Allow citizens to have a rifle, a shotgun, or handguns, and stop allowing anyone to purchase weapons that are for war.

Again, I will state for the record, I believe we should have the right to own guns to protect our homes.

I think the more important question is “who are we so afraid” that we need 300 million guns in our homes? Maybe we are afraid of our government. Maybe we can see how bad this country is getting. Maybe we just want to be able to sleep at night and know that if someone breaks in and wants to rape our women and kill our children, we have an option that will stop them.

The real issue is not that we are afraid; the real issue is that we should be. This world is slowly declining, getting worse generation by generation. We are complacent, self-entitled, lazy, arrogant, envious, and more self-righteous than we have ever been in history. Maybe we are secretly afraid because we all know we are due justice and judgment for our wicked ways, and we need guns to feel more secure. Who knows, but I think the people who make money off the guns are most likely the real contributors to the problem. They are the ones forcing as many guns into the marketplace, however they can, to profit…if that means paying off government, then they chalk it up as the price of business. It’s always about money and that is a very sad truth. They don’t care what happens to the guns once they get sold, even if it ends up in a pawn shop in Colorado.

I am in favor of being able to own firearms because I think we are going to need them, just as the original settlers needed them. I think a time will soon come when that is all that will protect us from the trouble this country is headed for if we don’t start focusing on the people, and not on the money, and not on disagreeing just because we want to be right.

I will leave you with this thought…..laws that restrict abiding people from defending themselves, which criminals will not follow, are a bad idea. What if our guns get taken away by laws, and the criminals still have theirs? I want the right to protect my family, and I want people who sale guns to be more responsible, the people who make guns to be more responsible, the people who purchase guns to be more responsible, and the people who shoot guns to be held more responsible.

God bless America and her people

Don't Judge Me

2012-05-24T16:24:00.002-04:00

Every 24 hours, 156,000 people die in the U.S.

That is roughly 2 people every second of every day of the year. We all know that death is not bias…it can come to any of us at any given moment. It can strip us down, it can steal away a piece of our soul when we lose loved ones, and if death comes for you today, all that you worked for, strived for, to leave as your legacy, would be gone within 5 generations, forever forgotten to the world of tomorrow. So we should agree that death is a very serious concern to think about. But the number one fear in America is not death…it is public speaking.

I have pondered this and reveled at this for some time, and the conclusion/opinion I have come to is as follows:

We are not afraid of speaking....we are afraid of being judged…

but why?

Let’s first look at how we feel about judgment to establish a base line.

Most of us know in our hearts that“wrongs” should be dealt with justly. We all have a sense ingrained in us that judgment for wrongs is “good”. We (humanity) set up judicial systems toregulate and punish criminals because we all know it to be right to do so. I mean, we all think if someone murders or steals, they should be punished, right? Justice keeps morality relevant among people, and we all know morality matters, whether we argue for it or not.

Most people will tell you that they try to be “good” people, and this is for a real reason…because we know “good” is just, and “bad” deserves justice. Judgment is a part of our soul. It is in our DNA as natural and good. So why is public speaking the number one fear in America and not death? I think this is because judgment from peers is “today”, in the moment, and at the forefront of our lives, but not many of us think about being judged at the time of our death...Which is quite curious really…Is that because we think that when we die, we won’t be judged? Or maybe we think death is a long way off? Death seems a bit distant to most people I guess, but public ridicule can be right now, today, and that scares most folks to death (no pun intended).

This leads me to my next point. I spoke this week about judgment, and sin, with several people who seemed to think that they were better or worse off than other people based on the “amount of sin” and “wrongs” they had done. They spoke as if God has an on-going tally and is keeping up with sins by (metaphorically) placing black marks beside our names in the book of life. The more marks, the worse the judgment. I heard sentences like, “You don’t know all the bad things I have done”, or “God knows who the really bad people are and who have just sinned a small amount”. These people were applying our judicial system to God’s hand of justice, but failing to see one key flaw in their logic…but I will come back to that point in a minute.

The logic behind their perspective supports the following thought then....

- Hitler killed millions of people, not directly with his own hand, but directly enough for him to be held accountable to a judge, so he is a “worse sinner” than someone like a child who has committed only a few minor sins, like telling a small lie –

Now we can agree that most children have told at least one lie, or maybe taken something from someone else-irrespective of its value- but these are considered the, “everybody has done them” sins, so they are less “bad” by our culture’s standards of justice. I hear people all the time say things like, “Everybody has lied at some point” or “everybody has taken a pen or something small at some point or another”…right?

The problem with this logic is simple…who makes the rules? Do you get to make the rules of what’s bad and what’s good? Do I get to make them? Does Hitler make the rules? What do we base our standard on, and are every one's standards set the same? Consider this dilemma further… someone who never lies might consider a lie to be atrocious and unforgivable...a terrible injustice. On the other hand, if you have lied before, or do so on occasion, then you might be one of the ones who says, “well, everybody lies sometimes, that just makes me human”.You see the problem? I mean Hitler had a nation convinced that his rules were the best out there, and that what he was doing was good. Therein lies the problem…we know justice is good, but we need an absolute moral code with a serious set of rules with real justice to regulate all the people with all the varying moral ethics.

You see, our culture has slowly molded our humanity, and that has caused a recession in our view of sin. Now, we judge sins like the courts judge crimes. Of course, this is a natural self-righteous response because we want to feel like “better” people than a murdered or a liar or a thief or a “real” sinner. But when we make our own moral rules based on our standards of morality, which are much too low to promote a perfect world, we will always favor ourselves and will be skewed by what our culture tells us is OK, and not OK.

The world tells us that some sins are of lighter “value” than others because culture has grown to accept certain sins as “normal”. It has become natural to think of sin as having "levels" so we can allocate the proper judgment to the crime.

Now back to Hitler… The above assessment of sin, based on our moral standards, means that someone like Hitler is a worse person than my 9 year old daughter, whose only sin might be telling a few lies....but this is simply NOT true. The Bible says sin is sin, and a holy and righteous God cannot look upon sin, so in his eyes, we are all the same....we are all EQUALLY guilty...PERIOD. Sinners...PERIOD. There are no "better" sinners than others...there are only sinners who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and are willingto turn from sin and follow Jesus, and sinners who refuse God’s grace and choose to continue to live life for themselves and for their sin.

We need to remember that ALL of humanity is broken in God’s eyes because “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” - Romans 3:23. The term ALL literally means “all created humanity” here, and HAVE SINNEDin the sentence notes that you either have, or have not…there is only one or the other. It doesn’t matter how many sins, how bad of sin, how hurtful, how petty….sin is sin and even one sin is enough for a perfect, holy, and righteous God to be required in His perfection to judge you perfectly for your crime against Him. One sin = criminal, and criminal means justice. He must judge sin this way because He is perfect and holy, and a “good” judge must judge sin with a standard of perfect morality. “For the wages of sin is death…”– Roman 6:23

But, the important thing is that there is hope, and God has provided a way for ALL the sinners to be forgiven.“…but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” – Roman 6:23.

He sent His son, Jesus, the only sinless soul ever, to carry all the judgment for all the sin of all time on His shoulders. God literally became a man, and was murdered as a sinless man for crimes He never committed, to take the judgment for our sins, so that we might have a way to become clean in His sight.

The bottom line about sin is simple….One sin makes a sinner…but God loves All of us sinners, and killed His son for ALL, and laid His wrath for ALL the sins of ALL humanity on His Son's shoulders that we might ALL have redemption from this sin that we are born into...the choice is ours, the gift is HIS.

- “For God so loved THE WORLD (this means ALL THE PEOPLE OF ALL TIME) that He sent His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER (this means anyone, everyone, and ALL, no matter your crimes, who chose to believe) believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” – John 3:16

It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, how “bad” you think you are, or what you think you are worthy of, God will forgive you. If you make the conscious decision that you want to turn from sin, deep inside your heart, and truly repent, and you ask Jesus to come into your heart and reveal the truth to you, He will show Himself to you, and what you will soon know is truly miraculous.... Please give special attention to that word “miraculous”, because I do not use it lightly.

May God bless us all for we are ALL in need of a savior and He came to show us He loves us and to offer salvation to those who want it.

God bless

Where's Tebow's Fair Assessment?

2011-10-21T14:55:00.002-04:00

I consistently hear media professionals talk about Tim Tebow as a main topic in the daily news, and frankly I am tired of hearing these people try to negatively affect Tim’s reputation with every breath. We all know that many athletes are very different people behind closed doors. Tiger Woods, one of the most popular athletes in the world, was a sex addict and committed adultery with many, many women. Michael Vick was a part of a dog fighting network that included and affected many people in the state of Georgia. And these are just two examples, yet, both of these high profile figures, were accepted back to the sport, at least by the majority, because of what they could possibly offer to the sport. Tiger has not been the same since the events that came out in the news, and his debacle could have very well been the one event in Tiger’s life that he can’t come back from. Michael Vick served jail time for the illegal actions he took part in, and was given a second chance, which included a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles that exceeded 100 million dollars. That made him the first professional football player to sign two, 100+ million dollar contracts in his career. This was for an athlete who was literally hated a mere three years earlier, by just about everyone, for his disregard and cruelty to animals.

But, Tebow gets treated very harshly by the media and he has never done the “wrong” that many other high-profile athletes have. In my opinion, many of the media representatives never gave Tim a “first chance”, much less a second chance. The question begs…why not? Tebow’s personality and character appear to have him in a class all on his own in the world of the “role model professional athlete”. He had one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive, college careers in the history of college football. It would appear, through interviews and reports that everyone who meets him gravitates towards him because of his positive energy, willingness to go out of his way to help others, and his enthusiasm for life. He is a phenomenal athlete, a tremendous leader, and has an unmatchable determination and passion for the sport. And, above all these qualities, one should stand out more than the rest…He is not afraid to “live”, and to “BE”, who he claims to be, both on and off the field, and his willingness to share his personal life with the outside world is, in my opinion, totally undervalued, courageous, and thoroughly impressive.

Yet the media consistently uses his faith, and his willingness to pull the veil back and let the world see who he is, as a negative. So why does he choose to do this?...Because he believes in the great news of salvation through Jesus Christ and he wants to share that news with everyone in hopes that they too can find God. Of course, he knows that this servitude does not come without ridicule and persecution, and he has had more than his fair share of that. Yet the most puzzling thing to me is why the media refuses to present him as what he is…a true role model and an exceptional football player. He exemplifies everything an athlete in his position should be. His place in the sports world, and the person he is, allows him remarkable opportunities to meet people and gain relationships, to make a positive impact on society, and all-the-while, he remains true to himself, his beliefs, and his character. But instead of boasting about what a remarkable person, leader, and influence he is, the media wants to tear him down piece by piece because he openly lives his beliefs, and because he doesn’t deliver his passes like Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees.

During the Superbowl last year, Tebow and his Mother aired a commercial against abortion, and the media went crazy. They said that Tebow is too “in your face” with his beliefs, that he shouldn’t have done the commercial. But I ask you, if you are pro life, why should you not use your position, whatever it is, to promote life to others? In the United States alone, there are 4,000 abortions every day! That is 1,460,000 aborted children per year, or 14,600,000 over the last ten years. I think Tim had an opportunity to make a serious statement about what he believes about abortion in this country, and he took advantage of the platform given to him by us and the media. And I am sure, because of that commercial, at least one child’s life was saved from abortion. If this is true, in my mind, as I am sure Tim would agree, the commercial was well worth it. The media never took the stance that the message was positive, the follow through was courageous, and the intentions were as noble as any. The media just insists that Tebow is too pushy because he “wears his religion on his sleeve”. Would the media call Joe Gibbs a pushy, religious, negative influence because he prays before every race with his team, and believes in God openly (he even wrote a book called “The Gameplan for Life” which was all about living with the Bible as your “playbook for life”).

Why does the mainstream media try so hard to paint Tebow in a negative light? The media doesn’t show how Tebow is the first one at work, or the last one to leave. It doesn’t focus on his outreach to people or how he is involved in the community. The media doesn’t focus on how selfless, humble, and real Tebow is, but instead, the media says he “pushes” his religious beliefs on people, but these media personnel are the very people who go out and follow Tim around, broadcasting everything, and this has created a love-hate image for Tebow across the nation…people either love him, or they hate him. In fact, this week, the Broncos will start Tebow in Miami against the 0-5 Dolphins, and when the announcement was made, the Dolphins sold 20,000 more tickets to the game. I have never, not one time, heard anyone say, “I didn’t like meeting Tim…He was just too pushy with the whole religion thing”. I have heard the media spin the Tebow discussion negatively into a racial topic, a religious topic, a film study of “bad mechanics”, and some have even called him fake or a phony. Listen, just because you might not have the guts to be who you want to be in front of people doesn’t mean that he should be ridiculed for his courage. And above all else, all the guy does is push his team to be the best they can be and give 130% every time his feet touch the field, he lives to serve others and God, and tries hard to be the very thing we all say we “want” our role models to be. If he were cursing and nasty, and treated people poorly, we would complain that he is a role model who should “act right”, yet he is doing this very thing and taking flack for it.

Maybe people don’t want to see Tim succeed because they are scared of what his success will mean to the sports world. Maybe they don’t like him because they have some spirituality issues of their own that need to be dealt with. Maybe they just don’t like to see running college quarterbacks succeed in the NFL because they don’t want it to become the standard, although, I would argue that Tebow is hardly comparable to any other running QB in college football history. There are plenty of other NFL athletes that live Christian lives, and share the Gospels of the New Testament openly, but they don’t present the hype that Tebow does, or get the attention that the media gives to Tebow, so they are not shown as being “religious” in the public forum. Rob Parker, who always seems to make every argument about race, said, on ESPN’s First Take, that it is not fair that Tebow “gets a shot”, when a lot of other black, running quarterbacks never got their shot. I ask this to Mr. Parker… did those guys win a National Championship, a Heisman Trophy, the hearts of the state they live in and millions of people around the world, and the respect of anyone who is honest with themselves? I sincerely doubt it. I say Tebow has earned the right to play on Sunday because he has accomplished the highest achievements at every stage so far, he has great leadership abilities, and his attitude and work ethic make everyone around him better.

Instead of putting Tim where he belongs, on a pedestal before the nation as an example of the type of role model our children should be looking up to, he is labeled as an over-the-top, pushy Christian who is “over rated” because his mechanics don’t follow suit. But, there have been many quarterbacks to play this game at a high level that didn’t have the “proto-typical form”… Phillip Rivers, Steve Young, and Rich Gannon are just a few that come to mind, yet for Tebow, it appears that it is impossible for a QB in the current NFL to have a non-traditional form, and still have a chance to win. And no one seems to emphasizes the fact that the “it factor” matters. This game is not about throwing the ball perfectly every time, or shaving .04 seconds off your delivery time. This league is about keeping the play alive, and getting first downs, and Tebow can definitely provide opportunities during the game to give his team a chance to move down the field and possibly score. The media argues that football is the ultimate team sport, yet Tebow gets all the pressures placed solely on his shoulders because some people just want him to fail. Denver even traded away their best wide receiver and are looking to trade their second receiver away, so what does Tim have to work with…it doesn’t really matter…he will do his best and probably succeed in the process regardless of who tries to put a roadblock in his path.

The bottom line is this – Tebow is a great human being who earned his way to a starting job in the NFL, who can play hard, get first downs, encourage and ignite his teammates (and every fan in the stadium, home or away), and who can win games if given the opportunity (and a few decent players around him). I say Tebow “wearing his beliefs on his sleeve” is a positive, not a negative. I say Tebow letting us see who he is off the field is a positive, not a negative. Personally, I pray for Tebow to succeed. I have the highest hopes for him and his NFL career, and I would like to see other NFL athletes, who believe in the Lord, step up and take a stand for Tim’s openness, and for God, and stop being so afraid of being judged by people whose opinions really don’t matter at the end of the day anyway.

Think about it this way…someone believed in Tebow so much, that that person went out of their way, through a series of negotiations, to make it possible to draft this guy before anyone else could get him in the FIRST round. Josh McDaniel, who is basically a quarterback coach and offense guru, saw something amazing in him, and he did what he had to do to make sure that Tim was a Bronco at the end of the day. This was not by chance, or luck, it was because Tebow had earned it. And I say that until Tebow fails consistently, even when talent does show up in Denver to help his cause, people will continue to negate the credit due to him, degrade him and persecute him with hopes of his failure, and then if he does fail, they will ultimately all say how bad they feel for him because he is such a great person. Maybe if the media would speak positively about him, help to build his image positively for all those children out there with Tebow posters on their wall and the number 15 on their jerseys, and focus on what he has done and is doing, then he might have a fair shot at an honest assessment by the people. He is not perfect by any means, as I am sure he would tell you, but his effort to live according to the Good Book, his willingness to help and love for others, his desire to be a positive force in a negative world, and his passion and dedication to the sport should be praised at the highest level.

My opinion…the world better get their forks ready…the crow is almost cooked and ready for eatin’

College Football Will Crumble

2011-08-18T09:22:00.003-04:00

In recent news, an FBS (previously Div-1A) college football program has made headlines because of allegations of numerous violations against NCAA rules. According to sources at Yahoo! Sports (Charles Robinson), mega-booster Nevin Shapiro, now serving 20 years in federal prison, claims he treated players to sex parties (including purchasing prostitutes for up to 39 players and/or recruits), nightclub outings, cars, use of yachts, and many other gifts. Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports , in over 100 hours of video interview footage over the last 11 months, that he provided improper benefits to 72 football players and other athletes at Miami from 2002 to 2010, and that up to seven former coaches and organization heads all the way up the chain, were aware of these gifts, and may have received gifts themselves. This is yet another example that college sports is spiraling out of control. The TRUTH, that no one seems to want to admit, is that the system is failing because the human element of greed is tearing the system down piece by piece.

There are many people who are of the opinion that the college athlete should get some sort of compensation for the games, since they actually play the games that generate so much of the revenue for the school. Some athletes feel that since they are generating millions for the schools, they are due some of the revenues. While I agree that a small compensation, be it cost of attendance (which would vary from a couple of thousand per athlete to five thousand plus at larger schools) or something similar, is deserved to the athlete to allow them to do what most other 18-22 year old students do, it needs to be regulated across the board to be evenly distributed to avoid influencing recruit's decisions on which school they will attend. This solution would benefit all athletes evenly, and for most, would definitely improve the overall experience of their college years in general. But, these players should not be able to take kickbacks and incentives which are not regulated across the board, if you want the sport's integrity to remain in tact. The irony is that the players who are getting these "gifts" are usually the players in "high demand", and these "high demand" players are usually the very players that go on to the NFL. So, in essence, they get incentives to go to a specific school, they get a scholarship which pays for their school because of their natural athletic ability (along with the "gifts"), and then they get paid big money after school to continue to play the game that they love. But when the program gets caught and penalized for the few that cheat, the entire program suffers. In other words, the majority pays a high penalty for the choices of few. Can these players, who feel that they deserve the "superstar status" not wait four years until the NFL? Must they risk their program's future, their teammates future, and the integrity of the game they supposedly love?

The paying of players by outside sources, or in an unregulated manner, will totally diminish the very game that we love so much. The schools who have the most financial backing from powerful boosters would ultimately recruit all the best players, and in the end, this would crumble the college football system to the ground. A few select schools would control all the best players, would consistently appear in the championship games, and would earn more money from those appearances for their school, while the smaller football programs (the "Cinderella stories" we all love so much), would be no more. This is not the way to improve the college football game or fix this terrible problem of cheating.The question which still remains, that needs to be asked is this - do we really think that paying a student athlete, who is one of the "rule breakers", a 100-300 dollar-a-week incentive is going to stop those players from choosing to accept cars, boats, mortgage payments for their family, trips, etc? In my opinion, the kids who choose to break rules for personal benefit will not be satisfied with a few extra dollars, especially when the alternative is so appealing, and as long as their chance of getting caught is minimal and the reward outweighs the consequence, they will continue to break the rules.

So, how much do the players actually deserve? I ask you to consider this - There are roughly 120 NCAA Div 1 FBS schools (formerly Div-1A). Each team gives out 85 scholarships to student athletes in the football program alone. That is 10,200 players who are playing football and attending a major University with a full ride. That means their room and board, their meals, their books, and many other school costs are all taken care of for them. While I agree that the students should definitely not be at a monetary disadvantage in comparison to other students, because they are regulated by the NCAA and are not allowed employment to earn for themselves, football is not their full-time job, and they cannot be treated as professional athletes.

There are 32 teams in the NFL, and the draft consists of 7 rounds. So there are 224 players from this 10,200 pool of college football players, that will be taken by a team in the NFL during the draft. Not all the players that are drafted will make it at the professional level, and will ultimately be cut by the team before opening day. Roughly 150-160 players will make the cut, and will remain in the NFL for the season, earning a salary and the benefits of the player's union. That means that there are roughly 10,000 players (which is a conservative estimate that 200 players will end up in the NFL) will never make a career out of football. That means that less than .02 percent of the college football athletes will make a career out of football. I would love to know how much of this .02 percent that makes it to the NFL actually received incentives and kickbacks in college. Is it not enough that these players get an education from a well known University, which most would not have been admitted to without the scholarship, for basically free. We must not undervalue this fact. This is an amazing opportunity! These players should not be paid as professionals, or be able to take kickbacks and incentives which are not regulated across the board, if you want the sport's integrity to remain in tact. This is not the way to improve the college football game or fix this terrible problem.

The ridiculous amount of money that the sport generates creates big revenue for the schools, but it does not mean they should not follow the rules established by the NCAA to regulate the league. The NCAA needs to streamline their rules to consist of the rules that, when broken, change the landscape of the college game. It needs to have strict penalties for anyone who breaks these rules, and it needs to place accountability on the adults AND the players. But as it stands, the slap on the wrist for breaking rules consistently does little to change the efforts by those who regulate and monitor these athletes, and they continue to ignore what is apparent to many of those people close to the programs. It is far from a perfect system, and it would seem that there is absolutely no accountability by anyone, but it appears that the focus has shifted and the most important point is being missed...these "student-athletes" need to be students first, and athletes second. They need to realize that they are a part of something special, and will reap benefits from their time in college for many years to come. The Coaches, Presidents, and all the powers that be need to assume some responsibility for educating these kids, and stop worrying more about their pockets and less about the integrity of the education program, which ultimately creates the very boosters that will back their system in the future.

Many people feel that the athletes themselves are to blame, while others blame the adults/coaches that run these programs. I believe that all parties involved, the players, the coaches, the presidents, the boosters, and everyone in between who had knowledge of what was happening or even suspected this was happening, is to blame. Coaches turn the other cheek because they want the best players money can buy, ultimately giving a strong impression that they care more about the win-loss record, which will further their career, and the presidents ignore as much as they can get away with because they want to win games which ultimately will bring in more money for their conference and their school. The Coach who looks the other way is just as at fault as the poverty-raised inner city kid, who willingly chooses to break the rules. And when these Coaches fail to regulate, monitor, and invest a serious interest in the guidelines and integrity by which their program is run, the NCAA must act swiftly and firmly in dealing with them. There must be fines, suspended, and even banned form the game to make a statement to all the others in the league...If they don't assume responsibility for the education of these kids, they should not be allowed to be in the position to run the programs in the future.But no matter where the blame lies in your opinion, the obvious point here is that there is blame resulting from a serious problem.

The greed exhibited by these many programs is terrible, and totally corrupts the game we all love, and is heading to an end that will turn the college game into the NFL, where everyone plays for their next dollar, and not for the love of the game. College Athletes need to play because they love the game, for the pride that comes with the win, for their love of the school, and they need to appreciate the scholarship and the chance at a quality education for what it is...a magnificent opportunity that their athletic gifts have provided for them. Coaches need to recruit people who will help them win within the regulations set by the NCAA, and someone needs to be held accountable when outside sources are allowed to get involved and manipulate that recruiting process to benefit their interest.

If this problem of corruption and rule breaking is not addressed with a firm disciplinary hand, and in a manner with the utmost importance, the system will fail and the thousands of kids who are able to get these scholarships and attend quality Universities will dwindle away. As long as there is greed, there will be people who succumb to it, and the kids are ultimately the ones who suffer. Coaches who break rules and assist this madness, even those who get fined, fired, or prosecuted, usually move on to different programs, and eventually the public forgets about the lack of responsibility and the terrible decision making that the coaches exhibit during their tenure. When will we stop allowing these types of people to head up our children's programs? When will their integrity be more valuable than their win-loss record? We have a serious problem on our hands, and if it is not addressed with the utmost importance, more and more of these tragedies will surface and have to be dealt with.

Someday I hope that all athletes that participate in a college sport will get compensated in some form for their time at the school, whether it be from cost of attendance, a career in the NFL or other professional sport, or any other great job that their education and participation in their alumni gets them, but allowing the schools to regulate who gets paid and how much is a terrible idea. This is a solution that would need to be regulated by an organization that has no vested interest in "who goes where". When will we wake up and realize that the whole system is terribly flawed. More and more in the recent years, we are seeing just how much goes on behind the scenes, yet we keep on allowing the very people who look the other way to hold our children's futures in their hands. There are a lot of schools who are breaking the rules to benefit themselves, and ultimately it costs the players, the schools, and the integrity. When will enough be enough? What will it take for us to realize that there needs to be a change by ALL parties in the system?

Are You Sure, or Are You Certain

2011-06-23T13:42:00.000-04:00

Do you believe that if you died today, that you would go to Heaven? What about Hell?.......Why do you believe that?

It seems that a lot of people who answer, “go to heaven”, have no real answer as to why they think so. Ask yourself this question then, “How did you hear about Heaven or Hell?” When was the first time you heard of it, and have you investigated that source to see what else it can tell you about these places. If you truly believe that you will make it in the wonderful kingdom of God, the most magnificent place in creation, why do you believe so? Isn’t it worth investigating?

I often have conversations with people who don’t have a particular belief in God. They say, “I believe in God, but I don’t follow a religion per say”, and that’s pretty much where they leave it. They try to live more “right” than the next, always judging themselves against the world’s standards, and thinking they have enough of it figured out. They ask me how anyone can believe in something that cannot be seen, and I tell them, “I can see Him perfectly”. They ask me how I know, and I tell them, “Because He showed me”. If you think you want more out of life, then I say, “Find God”.

Don’t take my word for it. There is no way that I can lead you to believe in God, but I will tell you to try this…read up on all the world religions, the major ones anyway, in alphabetical order sorted by name. See which one strikes a nerve with you. Maybe you can relate to most of them, because they have a hope of the afterlife. But why do humans hope for the afterlife so dearly, I mean, if you truly just die and are gone…if your soul just evaporates into thin air, then why does that particular idea seem so wrong? You may be able to relate to many of the world’s religions, but which one sounds like truth? An absolute truth that sounds like nothing else you’ve ever heard? Not something that makes you want to “live right”, but something that you can say, “I am absolutely certain…without doubt, that there is”. What religions, the said pathways to God, make you feel this way inside?

You see, there are many false Gods of many believers of different cultures, but there is only one true God. I mean, there has to be one that made all things...right? One who rules and created all others. Ask yourself this question…Which God is a living God, and which one’s are dead…in other words, who beat death and lives today...Who has the keys to the afterlife? I think this is a reasonably important topic in the life of a person seeking the afterlife and eternity. And, because life is so short in comparison to eternity, it should be of uttermost importance that we find this truth sooner than later. We never know when we are going to pass along. Do you believe if you died today you would just be gone, or to rephrase the question, does that idea sound right to you? What do you truly believe and why?

I can tell you first hand that I have heard the Truth…an absolute that cannot be described by me, only shown by Him. I can tell you that I have experienced, physically, mentally, and emotionally, the Creator, and He has changed me. I have been reborn in a very real and physical way, only because I sought the answers and God was waiting on me, waiting to show me the truth. I can hear his voice, and see Him in my life, and He has shown me miracles and wonders that I never thought possible. There is no doubt in me, because I have experienced Him. He has made life have real value, and I no longer have to carry the burden of my failures alone. He carries them with me, and He accepts me anyway. His is a true love, which we cannot understand, and that is the reason He sent us grace, in the form of Jesus Christ, the Savior.

I know Jesus, I know His voice, and for anyone to tell me that He does not exists, is both hard-hearted and foolish. It would be wiser for them to look into my eyes when I speak of Him, and to hear the truth in my voice. They have failed to see the importance of the relationship I have entered into. For the truth I know is verifiable by anyone who truly seeks God first. It is not my duty to reveal truth, but to witness my life to them to promote their search.

May the light in my eye shine brightly. May I have many an opportunity to share, with passion, what I have experienced with God. May my efforts be directed toward the kingdom of God always and forever. I sincerely pray that everyone would search their hearts, and then push forward without fear towards the answer, for this is knowledge, and it will truly set you free.

He is waiting on you to open the door, and He will do the rest...

RACISM : Will It Ever Die?

2010-08-19T21:15:00.001-04:00

I was looking through some articles on internet pertaining to the start up of the NFL season, and the debacle that has flared up again over Brett Favre's return to the game he can't leave. I came across an article written by Jason Whitlock (Fox Sports) titled Is There a Racial Double-standard for Favre? ( article is here) Now the issue of Favre is NOT the focus of my column today. The question in the title of his article came to him from a Los Angeles reader named Gary Taylor which read as follows:

“Would Brett be getting this kind of love if he was a black QB? Hell no!. The media would have called him everything, including the so-called N-word. Your thoughts, JW? I hope he loses every game he plays in. How disrespectful can Minnesota be to the other two QBs on the team.”

This comment is exactly what keeps racism alive! Michael Vick is a Black QB and he received more than fair treatment, and he committed a Federal Crime. Pacman Jones is a Black athlete who had been arrested about 13 times, and still was given opportunities...and I could list about 30 other Black men who have been in high profile situations and have been treated more than fairly.

Jason went on to write that the same day he received an email from his high school, best friend, Willie that read:

“I hate to say this, but if Favre was black, would he be a bad teammate?”

Again, I say...What the HECK does it matter what color he is. His team wants him back because he is a three time MVP, holds almost every single record for a QB in the NFL, and is approaching 70,000 career passing yards. He also had one of the best statistical seasons of his entire 19 year career last year, and led his team to the NFC championship game. Had it not been for 6 fumbles, and an interception, they would have made it to the Superbowl. So you really think the team cares what color his skin is? He could be purple for all they care...they just want the best chance to win.Again I say...DUMB, racist question from someone looking to keep racism alive.

I have to say that Jason did an OUTSTANDING job handling the question. He was objective and put it out there straight forward. I enjoyed the article...but the bigger issue that struck me is this...Will racism ever die?

Ask yourself this question...Had slavery never existed int he first place, what would the world be like?

There would still have been people who disliked other people for one reason or another. And, unfortunately, physical appearance is a major cause of dislike in this country weather it's based on the color of your skin, your smell, your look, your car, your house, or your body type. Sometimes, an overweight person may resent a slender person. A short person may dislike taller people for the same reasons, hence the Napoleon complex. People who are considered "non-attractive", may dislike an "attractive" person...ignorant people may dislike smart people. Maybe its from envy, or maybe they are just mad at the world...who knows.You get the idea.

The bottom line is that our society says that it wants racism to be gone, but they hold onto it for every single reason that they should be doing away with it all together. Everything seems to boil down to Black and White. Don't get me wrong...there are still some truly racists people in the world. There are plenty of opinions on the subject, as I am sure you know, but it seems that the people claiming racial oppression are the very one's being the racist.

I am white...and I have never owned anyone, regardless of their color. I know a ton of racist black guys who have never been a slave, or been forced to do anything against their will for that matter, but they are still mad at me because my great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather may or may not have owned a slave. Personally, I am not racist in the slightest way. I have many friends of all sorts of races, and I love them all. I dislike ignorance without bias based on color. If you are an idiot, White,Black,Chinese or whatever, who judges someone based on the color of their skin, you are a racist, but that doesn't mean that all those who share their skin color are to be categorized together. All white people don't belong to the KKK, all black people are not members of the Black Panthers, and all Muslims are not terrorists.

True racists exist and they always will, but until we can let go of the past and move forward as a society, racism as a culture will never go away. There are so many people who hold onto the days of their ancestors. They have been taught by their parents, and their grandparents, that these "people of another color" are bad and to be treated poorly. They are less human in some absurd way. They don't realize that their very teaching is what keeps racism alive. Their hatred filters down, generation to generation, and keeps the fire burning. The fact is, society is full of all sorts of people, and in the grand scheme of the population, there are a minimal number of true racists in the mix, comparatively speaking...the message in this is that a few burning embers should not a fire make.

How can we, as a country or society, ever get past the boundaries of racism, when we still treat it as if it is a part of our every day lives? It is the excuse that racist people won't let go of because they need it. How else can they explain why they are in poverty? Why they can't get a job? Why they are always in jail? Everything goes back to racism. I don't have a job, and haven't had one in almost two years, but I can tell you it doesn't have a thing to do with racism, or because we have a Black President. It is because of the economic state of our country. I see people as people, not as colors, and if everyone else would do the same, racism would be so minimal that it would only be noticed by a select few, and could be ignored with purpose.

WAKE UP WORLD. Stop making it about Black and White, and start taking responsibility for your actions. If you think you are a victim, then you will be. If you think you are oppressed because of slavery from 145 years ago, then you are a slave to your own ignorance. In today's world, the opportunities are limitless, and if you are in poverty, jobless, have 6 kids, on welfare, discriminated against, or WHATEVER, quit using your race or your family tree as an excuse...REGARDLESS OF YOUR COLOR.

White, Black, Arabian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, or Sasquatch...get educated, try to make your life better, and get off the pity party. As long as you take the issue back to racism, racism will still be here. It is entirely in our hands. We control whether it exists, so if you say you want it gone, then you have to take the first steps to eliminate it by teaching your children to love people for who they are on the inside. You have to accept that life is yours for the taking, and stop letting life's circumstances force you into "excuse mode".

Weather or not a person is black or white shouldn't matter how he/she gets treated, but until we decide to start treating people like people instead of colors, it WILL matter. The question then, is this...if we don't change our attitudes, what will change racism in our culture? If we don't stop making it about race, how will racism die?

Think about it.

To Believe or Not To Believe

2010-08-14T11:18:00.000-04:00

I run into people all the time that say they believe in a God, but don't practice any specific organized religion. I ask them how that works, and they always look at me with confusion. "How what works?" they say. I ask them who this God they believe in is? What is he like? What is he capable of? What does he expect? What happens if you don't at least try to fulfill his expectations, much less actually fulfilling them? Does he get angry?

By the time we get to this part, they always say the same thing..."well, I'm not sure, but I guess I think that if you are a good person, and live a good life, you go to heaven. If you are a bad person, you go to hell". My next question is also always the same. "So you believe int he Bible then?". There is a conglomeration of responses to this question, depending on the person, but most people say, in no specific terms, that they do not believe in the Bible.

"How then do you know about Heaven and Hell?"...their frustration starts to rear it's head. "How do you know what living good or bad is...Isn't that just subjective to your own personal interpretation?"...they start to look around and avoiding eye contact. Most will stop the conversation there, but a few, those who really like the competitive nature in a battle of wits, will continue with certainty that they have it figured out.

The point is that if you say you believe in God, shouldn't you act like it? Without Jesus Christ, we would have no idea what God was like, or what he actually wants from us. Jesus showed us what that burning sensation to do good, to love, and to be kind that is in each and every one of us is all about. It is not enough to live a good life and hope that you did just enough to get into Heaven. If we take what the Bible tells us about Heaven and Hell, we should take he whole Bible as the truth. We should consider that if we are not living for God, we are living for the Devil.

How do those people, who say they believe there is a God but don't believe in a religion, know God at all? They are living life with no idea of what it will take to get to the everlasting life of eternity. They are dooming themselves without even blinking an eye or lifting a finger. We do more to research the TV we will soon buy, than we research the chance to get to Heaven and avoid Hell. Those who say that living good is enough, are fooling themselves into beleiving that they can live selfishly there entire lives, and never do anything for God, but that HE will do for them.

So many people say, "well I prayed about it for months, but God never helped me".....what a joke. If you do nothing for God, how can you constantly expect him to do for you?

If you want to hold onto those material desires and selfish ways, then you better lower your expectations of God. If you say you believe in Him, you better learn to act like it. If Heaven and Hell are real, then isn't it worth some research into yourself, your heart, your mind, and your soul to figure out if you are doing all you can to get to Heaven, and not just enough to slip in?

One day, and I believe this day is on our doorstep if you look at the state of natural disasters that are occuring everyday, Jesus will come back to this place. The Heavens will open to the sounds of trumpets. Jesus and his saints will be visible to everyone, and we will all KNOW, not trust, not hope, not wish...but KNOW that he is the truth, and at that moment, how will you feel knowing that you lived for you, and it cost you eternity? How will you feel at that moment when souls all around you are raising to the sky in joy, and you are standing on the ground watching? Will you be happy about those drunken parties, those flirty moments with that coworker, all those times you could have chosen to forgive instead of holding that grudge? What will matter at that moment?

If you say you believe, then believe and act accordingly. If you say you believe, and continue to live for you, then you are willingly giving up your right to God's love, grace, and eternal life. Who said life will continue until you are old and gray and you will go to heaven because you didn't kill, steal, or whatever? Nobody...it is our own delusion. We try to convince ourselves that we have it all figured out, but we better be sure of the actual truth. Look around you. In the last 10 years there has been droughts, famines, floods, recessions, loss of crops on the country-wide level, blizzards, volcanic activity, wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and much much more.

What if the world came to an end in three days? Where would your future lie?

The signs are very clear to anyone who is willing to open their eyes...

Sign that we are at the end of times

Satan is all around us

Do yourself the favor of figuring out if you truly believe, and then ask yourself what that means. How important is God in your life, and how can you expect so much from Him and never give Him any glory, praise, worship, recognition, or validity in your life.

The time is nearer than we think, and at that moment when it comes to fruition, it will be too late to change your mind.

Just my $.02

Where Did Respect Go?

2010-08-06T11:37:00.000-04:00

I can remember a day when people had respect for other people, and it wasn't that long ago. What happened to human beings just giving a darn about other human beings? When did our nation become so down right self-centered that we all feel like we are owed something?

The other day, I was at the grocery store and I couldn't help but to notice all the people in the parking lot, zooming around looking for a parking place and talking on their cell phones, not paying a bit of attention to the pedestrians walking around them.I watched as a little old lady, who couldn't have been less than 85 years old, wait at the crosswalk for a good 5 minutes, before the traffic lightened up enough for her to pass. I bet 15 cars passed by her and not one of them stopped to let her cross.

It was 95 degrees outside, and she was standing there in the blazing sun, hoping that someone would have the courtesy to stop and let her go into the store. She didn't flip anyone off, or rant and rave and the cars that were mere inches from running her over as they payed no attention to the crosswalk at all. She just waited patiently for her opening to come. What happened to the days when people gave a darn about the elders in our world? What is so hard about stopping your car, sitting for 20 seconds in the air conditioned convenience of the cushy front seat, while this little old lady made her way out of the heat? NOTHING...yet it seems that in today's world, people think the world revolves around them.

I had the pleasure of participating in the funeral of a long time family friend who passed away this week. I volunteered to be a Paul Bearer for the family. This very special lady was my neighbor growing up, and her family has always been like a second family to me so I was happy to help in any way I could. We attended the service, and then afterward, we got in our procession to head to the burial grounds. One car after another lined up with their hazard lights on as we followed the family car and the hearse across town.

I could not help but to notice how many people pulled over on the side of the road and stopped, showing their respects, as we passed by them. It was a short procession, so the wait for the oncoming traffic was as minimal as any funeral service I have ever been to. I also couldn't help but notice the overwhelming number of cars who didn't stop...didn't slow down, or pause at all. They just blasted right by all those who did stop as if they were angry for having to go around them. Not only did a huge number of on-comers not show respect for the death, but a ton of cars actually passed by our procession traveling the same direction, as we slowly went about our business. Are you kidding me? You pass a funeral procession as if they are holding you up? In my mind, your wife better be laying in the back seat with child about to bust, or there better be a major emergency for you to show that kind of disrespect for any family that has just lost a loved one.

As we inched our way through stop lights and intersections, I couldn't help but feel myself getting more angry at the thought of this kind of disrespect. I noticed in my rear view mirror that the outside lane of traffic was coming up beside us at a normal everyday pace, and so I did what anyone else should do in that same circumstance...I PULLED OVER INTO THEIR LANE AND MADE THEM SLOW DOWN AND RESPECT THE DEAD ! I hope those few cars that were planning to pass us got furious when I broke their speed down and locked them into a traffic jam behind us. I hope they had to sit there and pay attention to what was going on. More important, I hope they learned a lesson about respect, so next time, they will stay behind the procession and deal with the extra 10 minutes added to their useless lives.

I hope you all learn a lesson from my experience too. If you see someone trying to inch by a funeral, or if you are on the opposite side of the road and cars are honking at you because you stopped and they need to get by...pull your car sideways so they CANNOT pass, and make a statement for respect. Our country needs it, our youth needs to see it, and the dead and their families deserve it. If your mom, dad, sister, brother, or son or daughter had just left this God forsaken world, would that extra 5 minutes out of your day actually matter? Slow down and show some respect...if we don't respect others, who will respect us.

Our Country Needs Help

2010-07-22T08:24:00.001-04:00

This country is one of the most amazing places in the world. It was founded 234 years ago (an important statistic considering that the average age of any civilization throughout history has been 200 years) by amazing men who wanted a better place for their children to grow up. Men who were self-aware, well-thought, spiritually rooted, and very educated. Men who had not only their minds, but their hearts, totally in tune with the pulse of the majority. These men knew what didn't work in government from experience, not from assumption, and they had seen the repercussions of taking the power away from the people, and allowing the government to make decisions for the people, without consideration for the very citizens they were put in to support.

Our country has slipped away from the very ideals that these men had in mind when they wrote the Constitution, one carefully-considered letter at a time. Our current government constantly neglects the very fundamentals established in the Declaration of Independence. They consistently show us that they have a new agenda, which is no longer based on the principals that America was founded on. These new agendas in the political world have nothing to do with the American citizen, and everything to do with self-gain for the political officials themselves.

We need to take our country back before it's too late. We have become a lazy and complacent society, quick to accept whatever is fed to us, and not to question those who are in power. We should all take time to read The Declaration again...to remember that the very men who founded this great country had decided that what their current government was doing was NOT acceptable. Men who decided that it was time to do something about it, and that it is our God-given right to have a say-so in the decisions that directly affect our lives, our families, our children's future, and our well-being. When will we realize that it is our right, and our responsibility, to question this runaway democracy, BEFORE it becomes a dictatorship? When will we realize that if we don't get active, our country will slip completely away from us, and then it will be too late?

Lessons Of Life

2010-07-18T18:03:00.000-04:00

A very wise, and extremely rich and well-known business man, once said "The man who goes to bed as smart as he was when he woke up, is doing himself a great injustice".

Life is about a lot of things. We have work, jobs, family, friends, hobbies, responsibilities, and the list goes on and on. In every one of the ventures we take part in each day, there are valuable lessons to be learned. The great thing about identifying the lessons in each day, is that it helps us become better than we were the day before. If you want to succeed in life, whatever your personal definition of success might be, it almost always a guarantee that if you learn from your mistakes, from the world around you, and from the experiences you face, you will undoubtedly come out of it more enlightened. Enlightenment can help you with every single aspect of life.

When you wake up in the morning, make it an obligation to yourself to learn something new from the day. You don't have to go out looking for a lesson...they will come to you. Look at the experience of life in a single day, and realize that it offers some of the most valuable lessons of all. When you fail, learn, and move on. When you succeed, examine what you did to make it a success, and use that knowledge for tomorrows challenges. When given an opportunity, don't just take the easy road because of fear. Fear prevents us from so much that life has to offer. After all, the road less traveled is usually harder, but it often times, it is the most rewarding also.

Learning that life is not a set of daily activities, subject to the world's discretion. Life is about new experiences, new lessons, and new possibilities to gain from those things around us, which will make us better human beings. Life is not a constant...it is always in motion. It is either moving in the positive, or moving in the negative. Make your life what you want it to be by pushing it into the positive every chance you get. Take the lessons life offers constantly, and learn from them...move forward, and experience what life has to offer.

The Great Thing About The Truth

2010-07-15T13:34:00.000-04:00

If a child is born blind, and has never seen the world, how would you describe colors to him/her? Having never seen the color blue, how would you describe the sky? It would be very difficult for the child to understand. Even thought the child doesn't understand the idea of color, it doesn't mean that color doesn't exist.

If you told the child that the sun, which is vital to their survival, rose in the East and set int he West, it would be up to that child to decide if they believed your statement or not. If the child cares to know the truth, they could ask other family members, whom they trust, and find out if it actually does rise and set as they have been told. Or, the child could decide that since they would never see the sun, it doesn't matter whether it rises in the East and sets in the West at all. Does this mean that the sun's consistent movement from East to West is not true? No...it just means that the child has a choice of whether or not to believe what is told to them.

We are a lot like this child. We have a choice to ask around, investigate, and put forth effort to know if what we are told is true. Some people choose to live in what they believe because they don't want to do the work of finding out the truth. Some people choose to live in their current beliefs because to know different would mean they would have to change their lives, and being the selfish creatures that we are, we want to keep doing it our way. Whether we choose to research the truth, or not....whether we choose to believe what we are told, or not...does not change the fact that the truth is the truth. That's the great thing about the truth...it is, no matter who chooses to believe it or not.

Don't we owe it to ourselves to at least try to gain the knowledge, and the power that comes from that knowledge, in order to gain the truth. Is it better to live in our own false reality, and deal with the consequences of that reality, or better to gain the freedom of the truth and live according to it, so that the consequence becomes a reward?

Isn't it at least worth the effort of trying to find out to avoid the consequence? Who knows, you may be surprised at what the actual truth is once you decide to start looking into it for yourself.

An End In Sight

2010-07-13T10:03:00.000-04:00

Technology has made life fast and easy in most cases. We have cell phones that do everything for us from our calenders to our photographs. They receive email on the go, text message, allow us to touch the internet at any time of the day and update our status on pages like Myspace and Facebook, so that the people we are not text messaging or calling can know what we are doing. And most phones have unlimited calling so we can talk until our batteries run dead. These are not all bad things. Parents want to get in touch with their children, wives need their husbands, sons and daughters need their parents, whenever and wherever they may be. Cell technology has opened our world up for boundless communication, with of course the exception of the service of the area you may be roaming through at the time.

Think with me for a moment at the way our country has changed technologically for a moment. In the last 100 years, we have seen 1000's of inventions that have improved our life...the microwave, the television, the space satellite, the air conditioner, the copy machine, the personal computer...these are just a few minor ones of history. In fact, Penicillin was found between 1928-1938 and could be argued as one of the better discoveries in the last 100 years. Without it, we may not be here to enjoy all the technology at our fingertips.

Out of all the discoveries of the last century, the microchip has got to be the single most influential discovery. It powers everything in our technological world. Smaller that a dime, it is quite literally the brains, the heart, and the nervous system of every digital device on the planet. It allows all things in our technological world to work. Since its introduction in the 1970's there have been more medical, mathematical, and scientific breakthroughs than in any other period of time. With tens of billions of chips running everything from Jumbo jets to stereos, many scholars now rank the microchip as one of humankind's greatest achievements.

I heard something the other month that got me thinking about these advancements of our country over the last 100 years. It said that what we have learned in the last 100 years will allow us to advance 1000 times more in the next 100 years. To think we could advance that much more is mind-boggling. Computer chips installed in every baby born, which will monitor everything about the person until death? Artificial Intelligence that can make life easier or faster for us?

Did anyone see The Matrix? How much easier do we need life to be? Maybe the brains of our society can figure out how to clone the DNA of animals to reproduce them genetically...but does that mean they should? Who will ask the questions that will stop them from putting chips in you to monitor every move and transaction you make. They will know what kind of shampoo you buy at the store, how much you spend in a day, where you go, what you do, and who you do it with. This data will allow them to market to you specifically, strategical plan, and develop a system to actively steer your decisions, and this will ultimately take away our God given right of choice.

Wake up people! Technology can be great, but lets find a cure for diseases like Cancer and Aids. Lets find a fuel source that doesn't make us dependent on oil from countries that are made up of a majority of people who hate our guts. Lets use technology to benefit mankind and the ecosystems of our world, and stop using it to control purchasing habits and make the all-mighty dollar. Where are the people making the decisions around here? We can land a man on the face o the moon in the 60's, we can clone a sheep in the late 1990's, but we can't come up with a way to make our pollution less, and our rain forests remain preserved and abundant? Where are our priorities at people? What good will all this technology, and the ease of life it creates for us, be if our planet is in such bad shape we can't enjoy any of it? How lazy are we that we need more than we have today?

There is a weapon, which is already in existence, called an EMP. It stands for Electro-Magnetic Pulse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse). What would happen if a few of these were targeted at our major power hubs across the nation? What about if the development of these weapons evolves into a weapon with a massive blast radius. Instead of a 50 mile radius, what if it were 500 miles. Three or four bombs could effectively shut down our country. We would go from what we know today, to horse and buggy and candlelight in a matter of minutes.

Who says that the technology of today is here to stay?

Think about it...

Over-paid Egos and Over-valued People

2010-07-10T12:16:00.002-04:00

It seems that society has a real strong understanding of the type of role models that they want to follow. The only problem is that these role models are not worthy of the admiration they are receiving. People think that financial success, and fame in the public eye, means they can do what they want, and it is not without good reason. From pro athletes to millionaire heirs and heiresses, the culture we live in puts people on the highest pedestal possible with no real substantial basis, and these same people get away with breaking the rules time and time again.

The list of professional athletes which get into trouble is astounding, and then within months, they are placed right back onto the pedestals from which they fell. I have been so excited lately for the NFL, which has acquired a no-nonsense Commissioner who has "been laying the smack down" on these rule breakers. Michael Vick is the first example that comes to the minds of everyone who pays attention tot he sports world and rule breaking. He was the ring leader of a dog-fighting network, and he faced jail time because of it.

And the trend of justice almost started to snowball. A while back a rare case occurred where an athlete accidentally shot himself in the leg in a night club, and it ended in a sentence of three years in prison, for a charge of carrying a non-registered, concealed weapon on his person. This is a no-no in the state of New York, and the lack of responsibility on the athlete's part cost him three years of his life, millions of dollars in salary, and since he was in the prime of his potential, possibly his career in the NFL.

But what about the others who have not been convicted? Are they just innocent victims of the media's distortion of the facts? Big Ben's rape accusation of a young girl is not the first of the decade. He was deemed innocent, but the city of Pittsburgh got a sour taste in their mouth, and they all but banished him form the city until a public apology and a "sincere" repentance got him a second chance. But what about the other rape accusation of the last ten years in which the athlete was not found guilty?

Kobe Bryant went through the same thing years ago, and yet the public has all but forgotten about it. I guess if the legal system says you are innocent of one crime, the other moral crimes you commit don't count against your character. This man cheated on his wife. That's called adultery in my America.And while this may not be a crime worthy of punishment according to man's laws, it is one of the sacred TEN COMMANDMENTS. Apparently, as long as there is no jail time associated with the crime, we don't care to acknowledge it as wrong.

Tiger Woods, possibly the greatest golfing phenom to this point in history, also committed adultery. Although, he has a reason...he is a sex addict. I can't tell you if Tiger has a chemical imbalance or not, but I can tell you that you show me a man who doesn't love sex, and I will show you a woman in a man's clothes. I understand that people have diseases, addictions, imbalances, and problems with will power. But, our society simply accepted his reasons and it's back to the way it was because, "we can't imagine golf without the greatest golfer of all time". The sport took a major ratings hit, and the public tuned out. All I'm saying is that could it not be possible that the Networks and Tiger decided to send him off for a vacation at a sex addiction clinic, come up with an excuse worthy of pity (like a disease), and then get back to business? We as a society just swallow whatever pill the media feeds us, and then call it truth. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

The question is, "do you think the people in high places are capable of doing whatever it takes for greed?"

Personally, I think that question has been answered so many times, it is harder for us to ignore the truth than it would be to accept the truth. Greed, fame, fortune, and success run the world, and the common man has no real understanding of the lengths these guys will go to to make the all mighty dollar.

I'm all for second chances, but once you get that chance, you better darn well use it wisely. Vick is still hanging out with thugs, Woods is still hiding something serious, and Bryant is winning so it doesn't matter to anyone right now. Paris Hilton goes to jail but a nervous breakdown gets her a pardon? What the heck is going on when no one stands up and calls this what it is...BULL. If i went to prison, would I get the same treatment? I doubt it.

O.J.Simpson got away with murdering two people. They had tapes from 911 calls where he was literally beating down the door to get to Nicole time and time agian, and n one opened their eyes to the fact that this man has problems. A decade later, he finally gets his due and gets sentenced to prison for armed robbery. God is always just.

Wake up people, and at least take it upon yourself to realize that your knowledge of the greed out there is limited, and that anything is possible in the world we live in today. As long as we put these people on the highest of pedestals, and worship them as great people, they will continue to abuse and distort, hide and lie, and they will continue to do what they can get away with. When will we start to take responsibility for who we admire, and start to change the country we live in for our sakes?

Control - Reality or Illusion?

2010-07-09T10:05:00.002-04:00

I have come to the realization over the last few years, that I need to gain some sort of control back in my life. I had looked down every alley, opened every door, rambled through the cabinets, and dusted off the memories files away in my mind searching for the control that I had lost. After a few weeks of searching every avenue possible, I came to an astounding conclusion…Control is an illusion. Man’s need for control, from the earliest days of men, has caused him to conjure up the idea that he could buy, learn, train, prepare, retain, detain, or delay in order to gain control over his situation. We need control to feel better about our individual situations. It makes us feel like the unexpected is not a reality. If we can control life, we can control destiny, and this control leads to security and comfort. The reality I found is this…we can control three things in our lives.

First, we can control what we take into our bodies. There are four categories of bodily consumption. What you see, what you eat, what you hear, what touches you. You can eat healthy, or you can choose to ignore the quality of food you consume. Most likely, no one will ever stuff a Big Mac or donuts into your mouth. What you eat is purely your choice...a decision that is totally in your hands. Even though we have control in this area, it is not without its exceptions. Did you know that a food manufacturer can grind up a cow hooves, cartilage, intestines, etc. and make a hamburger patty out of it, and our FDA allows them to stamp this patty with a 100% Beef label because it all came from a cow’s body. Very little beef we purchase from fast food establishments is actual meat/muscle tissue by majority.

The air around you touches your body internally and externally. Unfortunately, unless you live in a controlled vacuum, you are forced to breathe the air around you daily. This air is not as pure as it could be, due to pollutants; therefore we are forced to breathe it as it is available to us. We can choose to live in less polluted cities, or at elevations where smog is not as present, but it is still our option to care about what we breathe. Our society has become one of acceptance when it comes to this. There are plenty of Green organizations that are fighting to clean up the air of our planet, but the fight is a tough one when the numbers of people who are active against the quality of air, which has developed over the last 50 years, are so few.

The third issue of control falls in the category of what we see. Our society has based its structure on the visual. The colors and designs of everything in our world have come to matter to an extreme sense. Cars are sleeker, clothes are sexier, tanned bodies are better than pale ones, women and men need to look like movie stars in order to gain the successes of the world. This concept of the visual appeal trickles down to the even smallest areas of life. When you go into a convenience store to purchase a drink, you make a choice based on several things. What flavor does your mouth tell you to buy, what color of liquid appeals to you, which is the most cost effective for your situation, and believe it or not, which bottle shape do you like the most. Coke has changed the shape of the plastic bottle of their product several times in the last 15 years in hopes to find the most effective style to appeal to the public. We can’t change what shows up in front of our eyes, but we do have control in one way…we can choose to learn to see the forest instead of focusing on the tree.

What we hear affects us as much as what we see, if not more. At the conception of music, it was very limited in comparison to today’s selection. We have Country, Rap, Hip-Hop, Gospel, Bluegrass, Blues, Jazz, and on and on and on. Each musical style has been influenced by another style, and artistic expression has taken music to an all-time boundless entity. We also hear other people on a daily basis. The words others use, the dialects we hear, the terms and phrases, and the audible attitudes around us, all affect us even when we are unaware of it. Have you ever started a new relationship with someone and noticed that after a few months of being around them, you started to use phrases that that person uses on a regular basis. Have you noticed that when a northerner moves to the south, they eventually lose their northern draw and pick up a southern one. What we hear is out of our control. Unless you are unfortunate enough to be deemed deaf, our ears work regardless of the circumstance. We hear a lot in a single day, but what we listen to is a different story. The definition of listening is “to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear”. It also means “to pay attention; heed; obey”. But to truly understand how to listen, I think it takes and understanding of the three separate definitions combined. The third definition gives us a little more insight into the passion and soul of listening…”to wait attentively for a sound”. Attentively is the most important attribute of listening in my personal opinion. We can choose to listen to the things that are truth. We can choose to listen to things that educate us, and make us more aware of the truths around us. If we can learn to see the forest instead of the trees, we can learn to hear the truth in the world.

The second area we have control is in the area of what we say. We are the only ones who can speak the words we speak. No one can make you say anything you don't want to say, with the possible exception of holding you at gunpoint. But, for us to choose to speak or not to speak, and to choose what words we use when speaking, is completely our God given right as humans. Our founding Fathers knew this when they gave us as Americans the Freedom of Speech. But just because you have the right to speak, doesn't always mean that you should. The one thing that will always be true, is that once you say it, there is no taking it back. You can apologize for the wrong choice, but the words are out there forever. We have control over what we say, and we need to treat this liberty with respect. Society has gotten very loose in the area of verbal communication. America thinks that freedom of speech means that you can say whatever you want without consequence. When you exercise your right to it, you still have to face the consequences of the words. The point is that we do have control over the words we use, and that is powerful in itself. And with power comes responsibility. America, exercise your responsibility and choose wisely.

The third and final area of control is in how we treat others. We can chose to harbor ill will, or we can forgive. We can do for others, or we can expect others to do for us. We can hold onto the thread of self-entitlement that we have gotten accustomed to, or we can willingly do for those who do not do for us in return. We have a choice to curse that driver for cutting us off on the way to work, or we can choose to try to understand that they may just not have seen us. They may be running late for work and this may be their last warning and they may be facing termination. They may be in the middle of tragic circumstance, or a terrible family situation, and they may be in a state of mind that is not lending itself to the drive ahead of them. We can chose to try to walk in others shoes, and understand from their perspective, or we can chose to see the situation from our own perspective and maintain a selfishness that causes our quality of life to deteriorate daily.

We have control over these few things in our life, and it is our luxury to be able to exercise this control for our benefit. I know that I can become complacent in society and accept what it tells me, shows me, or decides for me. But I don’t want to be a circumstance of trend, or society's choices. I choose to look at my life and ask myself if I think that I have to look a certain way, or if I care about what I allow into my body. I have the choice to hear the world, or listen to the truth. I have a choice and a responsibility to live inside my own box, outside my own box, or to live in the confines of the control of the world we live in. We have such little actual control, isn't it our responsibility to take that small amount of control and use it to our absolute advantage? I think so...

Interesting Facts about where we are as a Country

2010-07-08T13:18:00.003-04:00

Take a look at this statement, unofficially accredited to Alexander Tytler, and decide what you think about our Political situation, and the state of our country...

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship, and then a monarchy.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
• From bondage to spiritual faith;
• From spiritual faith to great courage;
• From courage to liberty;
• From liberty to abundance;
• From abundance to complacency;
• From complacency to apathy;
• From apathy to dependence;
• From dependence back into bondage.