by

Random Thoughts

No comments yet

Categories: Faith & Christian Life, Insightful Thoughts, News & Current Events

Completely random but insightful thoughts pulled from my IRC chat log today:

On Atheism:

If your ANSWER is atheism then you’re asking the wrong QUESTION.

Minimizing Me & Generalizing You:

I love this attitude. You have faults, so I’m entitled to hate you. But I minimize my own faults, so I’m better than you.

A Christian does something disagreeable and all Christianity is bad. A human does something disagreeable and we overlook the plague that is humanity. Talk about a hypocracy.

Not ALL Christians hate homosexuals, and not ALL who hate homosexuals are Christians.

The Miracle of Humanity:

The greatest miracle of all that needs no evidence to prove is human existence.

Limitations of Logic:

Logic is a creation of human thinking and thus limited by the confines our ability to reason. Read Isaiah 55:8-9 which says God is greater than our limited thought processes. Therefore, God transcends logic itself. So of course He’s illogical. If God was logical he’d be human. Those who demand that God be logical are those who attempt to bring God down to a human level. The fact is, the Creator is and always will be greater than His creation. Being mere humans confined by our limited thought processes, we can only rely upon faith to explain that which cannot be explained by our limited and fallible logic. God created man. Man created logic. Now man wants God to fit within the limited confines of our own fallible creation. How arrogant.

On Prayer:

Those who pray and expect God to always say yes are no better than spoiled, self-centered little toddlers who throw temper tantrums over candy in the grocery store.

Faith as a Personal Matter:

I don’t get the “hate their beliefs” thing. My beliefs are personal, between me and God. Why bother to hate them when they have nothing to do with you? Sounds like you’re choosing to hate something that doesn’t involve you in any way whatsoever. My personal faith has no impact on you. So, you’re choosing to waste your time in the dark abyss of hatred. That’s a shame.

Just as an example, while I believe that homosexuality is immoral and a sin and that marriage is defined as between a man and a woman, I also believe we have way too much interference in our lives from government. I’m happy to apply my beliefs to myself and my family, and happy to have government keep their noses out of my life and your life.

Religion in Public Schools:

I don’t think the issue in schools is truly about creationism vs. evolution. I think it’s about diversity in education. When schools choose which belief system to extol in our children, without regard to the diversity of individual belief systems, the schools are choosing which belief is valid and which is not. Our children would be much better served by learning BOTH sides of the coin. Teach them to respect other beliefs. Teach that. Teach exactly that. Teach both views and in doing so teach the origin and support for both, as seen from the perspective of the adherents. In doing THAT, you teach kids a much more valuable lesson.

I don’t want my daughter learning just evolution or just creation. I want her learning these people believe this, and here’s why they believe it. Those people believe that, and here’s why they believe that. And the most important lesson is, regardless of our own beliefs, we can’t take away someone else’s right to believe differently. No matter how strongly we disagree.

Science takes place in science class. Which is a good reason to bring a faith-based class (as an elective, not a requirement) into public schools. Those students or parents who are so inclined can stretch thier little minds and learn diversity in belief systems.

Religion is a major part of our world and shouldn’t be treated as taboo by schools. How ridiculous is it that a school has no problem handing out condoms to your child, but the mere mention of religion is a cardinal sin?

It’s important for children to learn about diversity in belief systems. Following that premise, of course a religion class should include more than one point of view.

Your fantasy is another’s reality. Remove religion for a minute and insert conservative vs. liberal politics. Each side believes the other is out of touch with reality. So do we teach conservative politics or liberal politics in schools? Or, to teach our children diversity and acceptance of other beliefs, do we teach both?

I think most public school teachers are new age liberal fanatics with zero real world experience who have no business commenting on public or political affairs.

Separation of Church & State:

There is no such thing as separation of church and state. It’s a myth based upon a very poor interpretation of the First Amendment. Read the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. The founding fathers were VERY religious.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In the first two sentences of the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers very clearly wrote of God and their Creator. The Declaration of Independence CLEARLY mentions both God and Creationism. Our founding fathers CLEARLY believed in both.

Faith vs. Science:

People used to ask questions in search of the answers. Now the majority tend to assume the answer and then argue any question that contradicts the assumption.

There are a number of Christians with more questions than answers. Those who spend lifetimes studying and searching for the answers. The journey of searching is often more fulfilling than reaching the conclusion.

I don’t believe a conflict exists between science and faith. Science tells us HOW. Faith tells us WHY. Science has NEVER successfully answered the WHY question.

My Miracle:

My daughter turns 11 this month. How the hell my fucked up wife and my fucked up self could create such an amazing little person can only be explained as a miracle. Surely us two idiots didn’t make a person this awesome.

Popularity Politics:

I think Obama is a lying toad. Thought the same about Clinton. Both had in common an incredible popularity amongst the younger voters. My personal opinion is that any candidate who is that popular is a fraud. The more the crowd likes them, the more full of shit they are.

I think we should raise the voting age to 35. College age kids are just too damn stupid and inexperienced to vote. They live in a fantasy world of idealism.

The Intolerance of Tolerance:

Tolerance is a dirty word. It’s most commonly defined as compromising one’s moral values in submission to peer pressure.

by

The Measure of a Nation

No comments yet

Categories: Insightful Thoughts, News & Current Events

The Dow dropped 143 points at around 1 pm EST, going from 14,555 from 14,699, after a fake tweet said explosions had rocked the White House and the president had been hurt.

Source: http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/04/24/dow-jones-drops-but-recovers-after-fake-ap-tweet/

That right there shows us how fucking retarded the stock market is. And how retarded people are.

Some people measure the health of the nation by the state of the market. I measure the health of the nation by my ability to wake up in the morning and take a nice, easy poop without aggravating my damn hemorrhoids.

by

Life as a Metaphor

No comments yet

Categories: Depression

People do seem to treat life as a metaphor these days. They’re always trying to read between the lines of what I’m saying. They don’t seem to understand that I’m one of the most direct, blunt, even offensive people they’ll ever meet. I say exactly what I mean and mean exactly what I say. There’s nothing between the lines. Nothing that comes out of my mouth is a metaphor.

My wife always tells me I’m too direct with people, that I offend them. I view that as a good thing, and the offense is due to their weakness, not my truthfulness.

by

Evidence of Christianity

No comments yet

Categories: Depression

Christianity is real enough that non-believers must continually attack its believers.
Were Christianity truly nothing, as atheists claim, it wouldn’t be a threat.
The evidence for Christianity lies in the reaction of non-believers to Jesus Christ.
The degree of Christian truth is directly proportionate to the degree of hatred and opposition by the wicked.

by

Judge Rules Maps Illegal in California

No comments yet

Categories: News & Current Events

Once again, California legislators and jurists have proven themselves to be stupidest people on the map. If you really want to make driving safer, rather than banning navigation aids, ban those who are chronically distracted while driving: blondes and asians. Of course, in California, this would mean banning 90% of the population.

Judge rules using smartphone maps while driving illegal

By Matt Peckham, TIME
updated 2:47 PM EDT, Mon April 8, 2013
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/08/tech/mobile/ban-smartphone-map-apps/index.html

(CNN) — It’s weird out there and getting weirder: A California court just ruled that screwing around with your phone’s map app while driving ought to be as illegal as texting or using the device without a handsfree solution.

I’ll get back to that in a moment, but let’s talk briefly about the stuff we do while driving. Some years ago I bought my first car-based GPS, an entry-level Garmin you clipped into one of these windshield holders that attach by plastic cup and a lever you clamp down to really crank the suction.

For years, both here in the U.S. and another two living in the U.K., I used the thing to go everywhere. And, I suspect like most people, I’d often fiddle with it while driving, whether adding new routes or destinations, checking sub-screens for additional info, or just tapping to mute it altogether.

There’s no question that’s a distraction, you know, if we define that word as something “that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else” (thanks New Oxford American Dictionary). Then again, by that definition, eating in the car counts as a distraction.

So does fiddling with the climate control or audio systems, changing CDs, glancing at a piece of paper with a handwritten address or scanning printed route directions. You can make the argument that even stuff along the road, say splashy billboards with clever (or not-so-clever) advertising and political rhetoric are distracting (rubberneck much?).

Really, most things we do in life count as distractions. Sitting here typing this, the music that’s playing in the background is a distraction (listening to Hiromi’s new album, Move, keeps drawing my attention away from writing).

The rain splashing the window on what’s turning out to be a pretty gloomy Monday is a distraction. The cup of coffee I keep reaching for (and having to refill) is definitely a distraction. (Thus, my excuse for taking too long to type this up: music, rain and coffee.)

No, I’m not hurtling down the road in a 2-ton metal hulk on a highway where I’m separated from equally speedy oncoming vehicles by just a few feet. Then again, I often listen to music, most surely have to deal with rain and drink plenty of coffee, all while managing to obey the rules of the road — and, I’d argue anyway, drive defensively.

The only serious accident I’ve had in my life didn’t involve a distraction at all, but a patch of unexpected black ice and a sudden crosswind that sent me fishtailing at 70 m.p.h. off the interstate into an Iowa ditch filled, thankfully, with two feet of snow.

So I’m a little concerned to see (via Techdirt) that a California judge just ruled using a mobile phone to fiddle with a mapping/GPS program qualifies as distracted driving (thus rendering it illegal per state law). The case involved a driver who’d been cited for “driving a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone.”

The driver claimed to be using the phone for mapping purposes and argued that the state’s distracted driving laws shouldn’t have applied (he says he was looking at a map on the phone while holding it in his hand). The court, while admitting the state’s underlying distracted driving strictures themselves might be too broad, ultimately disagreed with the driver, finding that the law clearly forbids using a wireless phone while driving “unless the device is being used in a hands-free manner.”

So much for maps, apps — you name it. Simply holding the phone in your hands, for all intents and purposes, is pretty much a California no-no.

That Garmin I mentioned above? Long gone. I yanked it shortly after picking up my first iPhone in early 2011. Most trips, where I know what I’m doing beforehand, I’ll set it up before I pull out of my garage. But occasionally I’ll reprogram it on the go, when I need to add a destination or change some detail. And yet Michigan’s own distracted driving laws stipulate the following:

“Reading, typing, or sending text message on wireless 2-way communication device prohibited; use of hand-held mobile telephone prohibited; applicability of subsections (1) and (2); exceptions; violation as civil infraction; fine; local ordinances superseded.”

I’m pretty sure typing an address into my phone’s navigation app while driving counts as “texting.” Should it? I suppose it probably should.

What’s the difference between typing an address into a GPS/mapping app and typing/reading SMS messages, really? The latter activity might continue longer if you’re engaged in a conversation, but they’re both the same from a motor-skills standpoint, aren’t they?

What about holding the phone in one hand just to look at your smartphone’s map (say you lack a phone-mounting apparatus) as this person claimed to be doing? Should just looking at your phone while driving be illegal? Should cars come with smartphone-mounting kits? Where ought they be installed? Above the dash only?

And — here’s where it gets really quirky — what’s the difference, really, between glancing down at a phone you’re holding in one hand, and glancing down at one of these GPS/mapping LCD screens that come built-into so many vehicle dashboards these days?

Could some of these issues be remedied through better driver training? Do we need OS-level standards in our mobile computing devices that help govern how we use them in moving vehicles (specifically while driving)?

I’m not sure what the answer ought to be, but state legislatures need to tread very carefully and, to the extent this stuff does warrant legislation, propose laws rooted firmly in the actual research, not some legislator’s unstudied opinions (like this amendment recently introduced by West Virginia to ban a product that’s not even available yet).

by

The ‘Broad Gate’ of the Church

No comments yet

Categories: Faith & Christian Life

In His sermon on the mount Jesus said:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14, AMP).

Until recently I’ve interpreted these two groups of people, the crowd and the few, to be non-believers versus believers. When I now consider these verses from the perspective of fourteen months in leadership of a ministry with which I’ve recently parted ways, I believe this verse not only applies to the non-believers and believers, but also applies very appropriately to the church itself. The majority of those in our churches today, those who identify themselves as Christians, form the crowd mentality. The majority of those who consider themselves to be followers of Christ Jesus are, sadly, those on the broad path to destruction.

Another statement of Jesus, located within the same chapter and only a handful of verses away from the above, supports this interpretation:

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands]” (Matthew 7:21-23, AMP).

A close examination of the above verse reveals that it can only apply to those within the church, those who identify themselves as Christians. These are those who have prophesied in Jesus’ name, who have driven out demons, and who have performed mighty works. Were these individuals operating in the church today, they’d be considered as great men of the church, filled with the Holy Spirit. After all, we don’t see a great deal of these mighty works in the majority of our church services today. Yet, it is to these very people that Jesus says, “Get away from me. I don’t know you.”

It’s not uncommon to be drawn to those who portray themselves as Christians in a desperate attempt to fill the incredible desire we hold for honest, sincere fellowship with those who possess the mind of Christ, those who will love us in spite of ourselves. And the more we seek this fellowship, the more we find ourselves being hurt and even betrayed by those we most desired to trust. Well no wonder, since the majority of those within the church are “Crowd Christians” on the broad path to nowhere.

Jesus made a number of statements in Matthew 24 regarding the latter days, those days we are most undoubtedly in now. For several years now I’ve seen one sign in particular becoming more and more prevalent with each passing day. Over the past few weeks I’ve become acutely are of two other signs displaying themselves loudly in our society.

1. The Increase of Wickedness

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12a, NIV)

One doesn’t need to search far beyond the evening news to see the increase of wickedness in today’s society. Each day we’re inundated with news reports about the rise in Islamic extremism, the legalism of gay marriage, increasing acts of violence perpetrated against even our children in their own schools. Wickedness is for certain on the increase.

2. People Will Grow Cold

“And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity” (Matthew 24:12b, AMP).

It’s interesting that Matthew 24:12 directly ties the decrease of human empathy to the increase of wickedness. People today are becoming more and more emotionally calloused. Even within the church we’re witnessing a growth of spiritual apathy. How often do we ignore those around us in favor of that tiny screen on our iThings? How many of us feel desensitized to human suffering as a result of the massive over-exposure in our 24/7 news cycle? People simply do not care about other people any more. We live in a society that is growing more and more narcissistic with each passing day.

3. False Prophets, Signs, & Wonders

“And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error. For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God’s chosen ones)” (Matthew 24:11, 24, AMP).

The ministry I just left identifies themselves as non-denominational Pentecostal. It’s not uncommon to give an entire Sunday service to a visiting self-identified prophet. I even have a DVD tucked away of myself being prophesied over several months ago. Oddly, during one routine service, the pastor’s wife was sharing a message out of Jeremiah. I was operating the sound room at the time and sending the scripture to the overhead screens as she was reading. Although she never read this next passage, I saw it coming up on the computer and, wouldn’t you know, the Lord used these verses to speak to me as clear as day about that ministry and church:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own minds and not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:16, AMP).

There is no doubt that the deception Jesus has warned us about in such great detail comes not from an enemy without, but from the fellowship within. These false believers and prophets are among us, within our own ranks. As Paul said:

“For such men are false apostles [spurious, counterfeits], deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles (special messengers) of Christ (the Messiah). And it is no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light; So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. [But] their end will correspond with their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15, AMP).

When you enter into the house of God, O faithful Christian, step away from the crowd and seek ye the narrow gate. For only there shall ye find the glorious footprints of Christ Jesus.

by

Procrastination & Conflict Avoidance

No comments yet

Categories: Depression

Depression is a disorder of silent suffering.

These past few weeks I’ve been slipping deeper and deeper from my normal state of relatively functional dysthymia into the abyss of major depression. Despite my intention to wake up at a decent hour and work hard to catch up on a backlog of work, I end up sleeping the day away. I wake up in the late afternoon or early evening, think of the many clients I’ve let down once again, and retreat into the self-delusion of, “Well, it’s okay. I’ll do better tomorrow.” Of course, tomorrow the cycle will repeat itself.

I live alone. I’m self-employed and work from home. This means that I live an extremely isolated lifestyle and am able to hide my condition from nearly everyone in my life. During the few hours that I’m semi-functional, I may respond to a handful of e-mails and talk on the phone with my girlfriend. Yet, although the increased moodiness and sarcasm should tip her off that I’m less me than me ever is, she doesn’t seem to have a clue. Not that it’s her fault. I hide it well and, to be honest, those who haven’t lived this disorder really have no frame of reference with which to recognize the danger signs.

Although I’ve been struggling with work for months now, these past couple weeks have been really bad. I haven’t completed a single project all week long. I wake up, forage for food, watch something on Netflix, and within a couple hours go back to bed. It’s exhausting just to be awake. This morning I took my first shower in three days. After so much time in bed, I had to rest my arm in the middle of shaving because it simply hurt too much to keep my arm raised for so long.

So I have tomorrow and Thursday to get caught up on an overwhelming backlog of work. Friday morning my next Amazon.com promotion goes public which is certain to result in nearly 100 new clients. If I don’t get a grip on this depression before then, I’m going to be even more screwed than I am now. And of course this feeling of being overwhelmed makes it easy to leap into the pool of conflict avoidance. Although in my mind I know that avoiding the backlog won’t make it go away, this knowledge does nothing to alleviate the problem. When I sit down to work, it’s as though there’s a physical barrier in my way. When I sit in my chair and stare at the screen, my body is overtaken by utter exhaustion. It’s all I can do to sit upright.

Depression is just as physical as it is mental.

So what am I going to do about this? I have no idea.

Tomorrow is a new day, right? Yeah. I’ve told myself that lie before.