Recommended Music

  • "Christ Has Risen" Matt Maher
  • "Oh Help My Unbelief" Indelible Grace
  • "Rococo" by Arcade Fire
  • "The High Road" by Broken Bells
  • "Thistled Spring" Horse Feathers

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Congress' Failure


A trillion dollars is A LOT of money. Here is a photo of what it looks like. Look closely. In the left hand corner of the squared drawing, you'll see a human being. Also notice that each stack of money on a pallet is double stacked. 1 pallet is a 100,000 million dollars. Each stack contain the bill with Franklin's smiling face.
America's Congress has decided to write a check for 1.75 trillion dollars. That is not all. The fiscal year in 2010, the fresh president plans on asking the feds to write a 3.4 Trillion dollar hot-check to recover the national deficit.The president states in his stimulus proposal that roughly 18% of this 1.75 T money will be spent...what about the rest? When we create money, average American citizens have to pay for it...ludicrous! 816 Billion of that 1.75 trillion is for government bailouts. AIG, an insurance company failure, just received 180 billion dollars. And where did that check that we will have to pay for go? It went for adding bonuses to AIG executives. Because AIG was not contracted to use a cross-cut sanction bail-out check, they were not required to spend it in a particular way. So, instead of mending the insurance drop-outs and company failures, this organization stole our money. This is Congress' fault, particularly Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd. He admitted to knowing about the bonuses; he said nothing during the house debate to pass the proposal.

This isn't a stimulus package...its a minute band aid. We all know that paying our way and not encouraging social and fiscal responsibility will get us nothing. Congress gave away our money, now they are attacking AIG, among other companies, for doing something that Congress knew they'd do! The feeble-minded, contradictory senate used this bill as a legislative cover-up. It's American taxpayer theft. Tim Geithner, Obama's secretary of the treasury, says he didn't know about the bail-out language in the proposal...funny, the language went to his office for a 12 hour review.
Rather than make an effort about our troubled economy, our president seems to take light of the situation by making a comedy appearance on Jay Jeno. I for sure won't be joining in on the laughs.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Driscoll Shares the Gospel on CNN

Divine Plan

I have been thinking recently about my life and what God is doing in my current life.
Much has happened since I really just sat down and meditated on God and His divine purpose for me. I have considered much; I have thought deeply. I am starting to feel a yearning. I am starting to feel a peace. For such a long time, I have been worried. I have a fear of failure. My college graduation is near, and I had some anxiety about my future. Where will I go? What will I do? I have wanted to go to law school for quite a while. After much prayer, I have felt the need not to apply for this fall semester. I rather feel the need to journey through patience. I have never taken time to listen. God is not this lonely old man sitting in the clouds kicking and screaming wanting us to listen to Him, but He does want us to response to His words. While many try to prove that God's divine plan is a farce, God will still prevail. People have tried to prove God is fake and strike Christianity as a lie. Interestingly enough after all of those who have tried to counteract my faith have passed from this world, God is still here.
I feel God is leading me towards His plan in this way:
  1. I need to lay down my idols. An idol is anything I love more than God. Idols are not necessary living things. Idols can be concrete things like work, school, relationships, pride, golf, camping, hanging out with friends, control over everything, and comfort.
  2. To find a temporary job before law school that utilizes serving someone besides myself.
  3. Love those that are less desirable.
  4. Strike out disobeidance.
  5. Habitually study scripture.

God's plan may not be exactly like that. Likely, much more will I have to improve on. But I know I have to change these listed things. God is sovereign and in control. Nothing catches Him off-guard. I pray for patience to receive His divine purpose.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

In Defense

It is not my goal to prove people wrong. The goal of Christian apologetics is not to prove people wrong simply for the sake of it. It is to defend the misunderstood foundations of Christianity.I believe that because of the complexity of God and His sovereignty, it is not possible for man to understand everything. What divides believers from non-believers is this pathetic intolerance of one another. I believe that Christ Jesus did not come to start creating division like we have done even in our own churches. He came to love, humble himself, and share truth. One of the biggest arguments against Christianity is a lack of proof from earthly speculation. Many scientists & theorist have concluded a fatal fallacy saying because Christianity cannot neither be proven nor put in a raw form, therefore it cannot be concluded as a fact.
Here are 10 truths and premises that try to strike down Christianity. Some of these are my responses, and some are principles to remember.
1. Christianity is not based on a earthly element. It's source is an exterior foundation that cannot be put into worldy logic. Why? Because if we understood the foundations of human logic, we would see that the purpose of such thought is to understand things to fit into our brains.
2. Humans can only be so smart (hence IQ tests). We cannot speculate things beyond our own control. It is my belief that the main reason people are atheist or agnostic is a fear of control. If there is a force beyong human logic that can control things that we cannot literally see or completely understand, then humans by social nature tend to not be comfortable with it. I speak on this from experience because I have personally dealt with this on the subject.
3. To doubt somethings existence is to admit that there is a possibility it is real. This isn't something a Christian once said, it is a philosophical law of thought. Before someone can identify as a nonbeliever, he must first acknowledge the very idea, or concept, or possibility of God so he can then deny His existence So...you must acknowledge God before you can deny Him..so in theory you admit that God is real so you can refute Him. David saw the fallacy of this long ago when he said, "Only the fool has said in his heart, 'there is no God.'" (Psalm 14:1).
4. Agnosticism is a broken system as well. "Neither the existence nor the nature of God, nor the ultimate origin of the universe is known or knowable" is the premise . In other words: "I can't know, you can't know, and nobody can know." So because one person cannot understand, noone else can. Leith Samuel wrote in "The Impossibility of Agnosticism", mentions three kinds of agnostics: Dogmatic. "I don't know, you don't know, and no one can know."Here is a person who already has his mind made up. He has the same problem as the atheist above--he must know EVERYTHING in order to say it dogmatically. This person must know everything about everything about everything. Mathmatically, this is impossible. Indifferent. "I don't know, and I don't care." God will never reveal Himself to someone who does not care to know. Basically, life is meaningless. We could kill other people and it mean nothing. Life can be lived anyway because life is nothing. Dissatisfied. "I don't know, but I'd like to know." Here is a person who demonstrates an openness to truth and is willing to change his position if he has sufficient reason to do so. He is also demonstrating what should be true about agnosticism, that is, for one who is searching for truth, agnosticism should be temporary, a path on the way to a less skeptical view of life.
5. Before I was a Christian, I wondered about this Jesus character. Either he was who he said he was or he was a complete lunatic. We cannot doubt Jesus was real. His name, character, and actions (death by crucifixtion) is written all throughout history and not just the Bible.
6. I doubt there are many true non-believers in God; it would be dangerous even from a secular view. It is not humanly possible to be able to conclude there is no God. As I said, humans are only smart to a certain extent. This would mean, that is it possible then, that because there is more knowledge, that there is much more out there than we know? I believe so.
7. If there were many gods, instead of an absolutist god (Judeo-Christian God) then the world would be chaos. Nothing would function. Why? Because all the gods would be fighting for their own solo gratia (single glory alone).
8. Non-believers in God must believe that metaphysics are invalid. They would have to believe that nothing came from nothing. Reality, human cognition, and atomic matter are all created by blind chance. This is could hardly be true. I think it would be rather unsafe to live life based on everything being an accident. An atheist would have to agree that they came from nothing, they live in nothing, and life is about nothing.
9. Human existence on Earth is no accident. It's atmosphere is made of 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide. If any of those levels were to change, life would not exist. To believe this was an accident is completely ludacris.
10. I don't want to argue secular evolutionism. The father of biological evolution, Charles Darwin, reputed his own doctrine. I believe it is almost a waste for people to argue pro-darwinism when the man himself wrote that his theory could not possibly be correct. Despite what many people think, Christians can believe in some of these evolutionary theories (although some are not anti-theist): Cosmic, Stellar and Planetary, Biological, Chemical, Molecular, Prokaryotic, Eukaryotic, Multicellular, and Social Evolution. Ergo?Although many would claim "since you say it is humanly impossible to claim there is a God, it would be humanly impossible to conclude there is." This is a good secular argument but it cannot taken away from the subjectivity of a personal attribute. If I was once not a believer with all the reliance of worldly speculation, then I must have some collective truth to attribute where I am today as a believer in God. I cannot explain my experience with God. I cannot put into form "GOD" because I am human. Noone can put everything into a perspective that is 100% undisputable from a worldly form. Many may say there is just to much ambiguity. But my belief is that if I am wrong, then I would've spent X amount of years of my life believing...but if the folks that disagree with my believes are wrong, I would hate to be in their shoes.
Grace and Peace be with you.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Baseball Season!

Ahh, it's that time of year! The season when the dandelions start blooming and birds start singing is coming near. That day when those who recognize day-light savings time get to set their clocks an hour ahead will soon be here! It is also that time of year when fans get to dust off their old mitts and gloves, unfold their favorite player's jersey, and stretch out a logoed ball cap. Yes my friends, baseball season is near. Now, I am not a sports-geek. Personally, I think professional sports is too often idolized and worshipped. However, I think there is something mitigating about sitting in the stands, having a coke & burger, and watching your favorite player crank one over the park. Maybe it is the time of the year I like. We are so blessed to have this season. So let's put aside our annoyances with ESPN barking about another NY Yankee being charged with steroids and whether Chris Carpenter will have the arm and wits to play for St. Louis. Let us have joy in what God has given us this Saturday, March 7, 2009, and look forward to an another beautiful spring time!


Romans 15:13

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."