Sunday, May 30, 2004
Well I have set my date for Baptism
So now I have to come up with a new name. Maybe I can call myself "The Nonlifer" or maybe I should just go with my URL "Free Thinking LDS". Either way I will still remain just as militant. What a conflict, I will be an Excatholic Mormon with Jewish tendencies. This should be interesting.
Saturday, May 29, 2004
You just have to love out of state Wal-Marts
Why can't we get this kind of stuff right off the shelf at our California Wal-Marts? Damn Hippies trying to take away all of our fun!
Friday, May 28, 2004
Oh boy, we have a new look.
I found this template online at Blogger-Templates.Blogspot.Com. This is a great site with real creative pieces of work. If you can edit HTML they are pretty easy to customize to you own needs. I have been busy all morning modifying code so I have not had time to read any news yet. But once I do, I'm sure I will be compelled to comment on something.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Interesting info about observence of the Sabbath(Shabbat).
I was doing for me what I consider light reading, when I came upon this article.
The New Testament never commands or even recommends that Gentile believers observe the Sabbath after the Jewish fashion. In Acts 15 we read how the issue of what should be expected of Gentile believers was resolved. Some of the Jewish believers thought Gentile believers should become full converts to Judaism, but the final determination in Acts 15:28 boils down to basic morality. Absent are all special covenant signs such as special days, circumcision and dietary laws. The apostle Paul specifically tells us not to make an issue of Sabbaths and special days. (Colossians 2:16, Galatians 4:10, 11) The Christian custom of gathering together on the first day of the week is based on the fact that the Lord was raised from the dead on that day. This is a tradition however, and not a commandment. It should not be construed as the Christian Sabbath. There is no Christian Sabbath except in the sense that every day is now a Sabbath rest based on the fact the work of Christ for salvation is already done. In the light of the Scriptures cited above, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday would be out of keeping with the Torah of Grace. Neither is it appropriate to discourage Sunday worship (or worship on any other day, for that matter).
Originally, Sabbath worship was not a matter of going anyplace or doing anything other than setting the day aside by refraining from work to enjoy God. The synagogue was established relatively late in Biblical history, so that Jews could pray together and hear the Torah and the prophets read. The Bible itself contains no specific commandments or directions regarding this. It arose to fill a need, not to fill a commandment. By New Testament times, synagogues were common, and Jewish believers naturally carried this very useful institution with them as they discipled non-Jews to live for the Messiah.
David Brown
AMF International
http://www.amfi.org
The New Testament never commands or even recommends that Gentile believers observe the Sabbath after the Jewish fashion. In Acts 15 we read how the issue of what should be expected of Gentile believers was resolved. Some of the Jewish believers thought Gentile believers should become full converts to Judaism, but the final determination in Acts 15:28 boils down to basic morality. Absent are all special covenant signs such as special days, circumcision and dietary laws. The apostle Paul specifically tells us not to make an issue of Sabbaths and special days. (Colossians 2:16, Galatians 4:10, 11) The Christian custom of gathering together on the first day of the week is based on the fact that the Lord was raised from the dead on that day. This is a tradition however, and not a commandment. It should not be construed as the Christian Sabbath. There is no Christian Sabbath except in the sense that every day is now a Sabbath rest based on the fact the work of Christ for salvation is already done. In the light of the Scriptures cited above, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday would be out of keeping with the Torah of Grace. Neither is it appropriate to discourage Sunday worship (or worship on any other day, for that matter).
Originally, Sabbath worship was not a matter of going anyplace or doing anything other than setting the day aside by refraining from work to enjoy God. The synagogue was established relatively late in Biblical history, so that Jews could pray together and hear the Torah and the prophets read. The Bible itself contains no specific commandments or directions regarding this. It arose to fill a need, not to fill a commandment. By New Testament times, synagogues were common, and Jewish believers naturally carried this very useful institution with them as they discipled non-Jews to live for the Messiah.
David Brown
AMF International
http://www.amfi.org
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
A quote for the Liberals out there
Palms
2:10 Now therefore, O ye kings, be wise; be admonished, ye judges of the earth.
2:11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
Keep the qoute above in mind. Your time for honoring yourself is comming to an end.
2:10 Now therefore, O ye kings, be wise; be admonished, ye judges of the earth.
2:11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
Keep the qoute above in mind. Your time for honoring yourself is comming to an end.
Last time I checked Al you lost the election.
I guess the (insane)folks at moveon.org thought that it's been too long since our good buddy Al Gore had made a fool of himself in public. So they trotted him out in front of a friendly audience of fellow "demoncrats"(worthless, smelly hippies) at New York University to have him rant and rave about the DNC's latest talking points like he is some all knowing individual with a real purpose in life. The best part about this speech was the fact that he started screaming and yelling thus showing his true insanity and the "demoncrats" visceral hatred towards anyone good and conservative. But of course no one in the main stream media picked this up. So I guess it is up to the blogesphere and talk radio to bring the truth to the American people.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Israel and her right to exist.
Lately I have been marveling over the amount of anti-Semitic trash that permeates our mainstream media. I find it quite sad that there are so many mindless drones that eat it all up as truth. Jews have a right to exist in there ancestral homeland. In fact if we want to bring secular science into it, the oldest archeological findings in the holy land have all been Jewish. So whenever I here someone say that the land was stolen from the Palestinians it makes me cringe. How can people(Jews) who lived in the area steal it from people who were primarily Nomads? The common misconception that is frequently taught is that the Jews didn't come to Israel until Moses(Moshe) led them there. This is 100% false. The Jews who escaped from Egypt were originally from Israel. They were a group who went searching for new areas to cultivate due to a bad drought that Israel was suffering from.
Genesis
12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
12:4 So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. 12:5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came. 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.
12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your seed.”
He built an altar there to the LORD, who appeared to him. 12:8 He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 12:9 Abram traveled, going on still toward the South.
12:10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
The last time I checked the land of Canaan encompassed all of the disputed territories. Also keep in mind the Arabs in this land at that time were Nomadic. Everything I have written here is all public domain info. It's all out there if your willing to look. The problems that we are having today are because most people(liberals especially) don't want to take the time to look up the information for themselves. They would rather just turn on the tube and watch all the pretty colors.
Genesis
12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
12:4 So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. 12:5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came. 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.
12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your seed.”
He built an altar there to the LORD, who appeared to him. 12:8 He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 12:9 Abram traveled, going on still toward the South.
12:10 There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
The last time I checked the land of Canaan encompassed all of the disputed territories. Also keep in mind the Arabs in this land at that time were Nomadic. Everything I have written here is all public domain info. It's all out there if your willing to look. The problems that we are having today are because most people(liberals especially) don't want to take the time to look up the information for themselves. They would rather just turn on the tube and watch all the pretty colors.
Good online streaming music
For any one who wants to listen to inspirational music at work or home try the link above for KLOVE.
No sleep equals no creativity
So instead of witty(or insane) commentary how about one of my favorite bible study writings. Since this talk is from a Messianic Jewish site here is a quick translation lesson for those not familiar with the proper Hebrew names for:
Our Father In Heaven(God)= Yahweh
Jesus Christ = Yahushua or Yeshua
Husbands, Love Your Wives
Recognizing my own continuing need for improvement in this area, I sought the various scriptures that speak of the role of husbands in scripture. I have learned that having a loving and scriptural husband-wife relationship is probably the single most influential factor in raising righteous children. It is for the sake of the children that I share these things.
Woman - A Gift to be Cherished
From the beginning, Yahweh knew that it was not good that the man should be alone:
Genesis 2:18 And Yahweh Elohim said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
With that, He created a beautiful and wonderful gift and brought her to Adam:
Genesis 2:21 And Yahweh Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which Yahweh Elohim had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
If we men can just grasp the great gift that we have been given, it will go a long way toward understanding how Yahweh desires us to relate to our wives. It doesn't take the average man much time to understand and appreciate the wonderful, beautiful characteristics that Yahweh has created woman with. Truly, He created woman to be beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside.
Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of Yahweh.
If we find a wife, we have obtained favor from Yahweh. We have been blessed with a gift from above. We need to appreciate the gift Yahweh gave us. To not appreciate is to not be thankful to Yahweh. Notice that nothing yet is spoken of a perfect wife without fault. The fact that we have a wife is a blessing in and of itself. Yahweh's desire is that we enjoy our wives and be blessed with what He has given:
Ecclesiastes 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
Proverbs 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
In the Torah/Word of Yahweh, we see Yahweh's desire for this:
Deuteronomy 24:5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.
It is our duty to 'cheer up' our wives and rejoice with the blessing Yahweh has given. We need to not take this duty lightly, but realize that to fail in this area is to sin against Yahweh. It is Yahweh's will for us to rejoice and live joyfully with the woman Yahweh has given us.
Giving Honor
An area often neglected, we are expected to give honor to our wives. Too often, a man's wife is the object of dishonor in the form of jokes, loud public rebukes and complaint sessions between men and men. It is time that we give our wives the honor that they should receive:
1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
We need to acknowledge that while our wives are the weaker vessel, we are heirs together with them of the grace of life:
1 Corinthians 12:22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but Elohim hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
Interestingly, the duty to honor our wives is somehow tied into the effectiveness of our prayers. This is not a new concept at all, it is also found in the book of Malachi:
Malachi 2:13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Yahweh hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a righteous seed (Heb. Seed of Elohim). Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16 For Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith Yahweh of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
So, we see that if we will not honor and deal kindly with the wife Yahweh has given us, Yahweh will not receive our offerings. Prayer is also considered to be an offering:
Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Revelation 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before Elohim out of the angel's hand.
Perhaps we don't realize all that goes on in the spiritual realm, but as mentioned in the "Fathers, turn your hearts" study, Malachi also declares that Yahweh cannot endure the treacherous dealings and neglecting of our wives.
Let's review:
Isaiah 1:13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies -- I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Perhaps our our wives aren't widows, but is it so, spiritually? We see the great concern that Yahweh has for the well being of our wives. He wants to be sure that they are honored and taken care of. We should share that concern fully.
1 Timothy 5:3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
Why is Yahweh so concerned about the widows? Is it only because their physical needs must be met? Are not the spiritual needs just as important, if not far more important? Considering all the scriptures where Yahweh is angry because the widows are neglected, woe to the fathers who neglect the spiritual needs of their wives! All the Sabbaths, calling of assemblies, feast days can be a burden to Him because He cannot endure the neglect. He cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Yahweh is VERY concerned about the well being of our wives, shouldn't we be? If, in Isaiah 1:13-17, Yahweh cannot endure the offerings, Feast Days and Sabbaths of those who are neglecting the physical needs of what used to be another man's wife (the widow), how much more so if we neglect the spiritual needs of our own wives? Consider:
1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Is it just the physical providing that Yahweh is concerned about? Surely, the spiritual is far more important. The first leads to physical death, the latter leads to spiritual death. So, are we worse than an unbeliever? Let it not be!
The Messiah and the Assembly
If we want to raise children of righteousness, we need to realize that our relationship with our wives is a mirror of how the Messiah and the assembly relate to one another:
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Messiah also loved the assembly, and gave himself for it;
Yahushua loved the assembly so much, that He gave Himself for it. He gave His very life and was wounded, tortured and humiliated for the sake of the Assembly. We are to love our wives, even as the Messiah loved the Assembly. This is a tall order! The love that the Messiah has for the assembly is difficult to fathom:
Ephesians 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Master Yahushua Messiah, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Messiah may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Messiah, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of Elohim.
But this is our calling and duty, to love our wives in this way. But what if instead of the Messiah loving us, He was bitter toward us? We know it isn't this way, therefore let us not be this way toward our wives:
Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
How does Messiah deal with us? We have a clear example of how we should deal with our wives. We know how gently, patiently and longsuffering He is with us. Though we aren't perfect, He still pours out his love and blessings on us. Yes, let's be this way with our wives!
Continuing in Ephesians 5:
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious assembly, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
The Messiah's love sanctifies and cleanses the body. In the same way we cleanse, cherish and care for our own bodies, so should we love our wives. We should care for the needs of our wife in the same way we would care for the needs of our body. If we are hungry, we eat. If we are thirsty, we drink. If we are not clean, we cleanse ourselves. We need to have this level of care and concern for our wives. We should take care of the physical and spiritual needs of our wives in this same way. For she is, as Adam said:
Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Continuing in Ephesians:
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Master the assembly: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Messiah and the assembly. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
With the husband and wife relationship being a picture of the Messiah's relationship to the body, let's remember that we demonstrate the Messiah's love for the body to our children with the way we treat our wives. If we want our daughters to grow up being submissive, humble and wonderful blessings to their future husbands, then we need to show them how wonderful it is to be submissive when a husband prefers, honors and respects his submissive and humble wife. We have a real opportunity with our children, to show them the Messiah's love! We can show them His mercy, His care and His concern for us every day in our homes. After all, it is the Messiah's love for us that has compelled us to love Him:
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love Elohim, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love Elohim whom he hath not seen?
But if we can demonstrate the Messiah's love to our children through our love for our wife, our children can truly understand the Messiah's love for us first and then proceed to love Him in return. It is all part of following the Messiah's footsteps and walking as He walked! We could potentially teach the ways of Yahweh to our children a hundred times over and still not have them understand it because we really aren't demonstrating the Messiah's love for them in action and deed. This could potentially result in them forsaking Yahweh later in life! Oh how important it is for us to fulfill this commandment!
When scripture says that we love ourselves when we love our wives, it really means it. Let's discover why.
A "Help"
When we love and honor our wives as we should, it creates the best environment for our wives to fulfill their role as a submissive, faithful helper. Woman was created to be a "help" meet for man. The Hebrew word used for "help" is often used to describe how Yahweh is our divine helper. Yahweh knew that two is better than one:
Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
With a man, a woman and Yahweh, we have a threefold cord that is not quickly broken. When we add our children, and then the assembly, we are invincible! How many husbands and wives (and indeed the entire family!) are prayer teams, praying together, uniting against the adversary? But we need oneness with Yahweh to accomplish anything. Yahushua prayed for this:
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
There is great power in this unity if the unity includes a oneness with Yahweh. Let's strive to attain that oneness! However, we later learn that the unity that Adam and Eve (Chawwah) had with Yahweh was broken in Genesis chapter three:
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which Yahweh Elohim had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath Elohim said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For Elohim doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as elohim, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Here we see that Eve was deceived into eating the fruit that Yahweh had forbidden. Also notice that Adam was 'with her' when all this was going on. Other translations I have checked (even the Septuagint) say that Adam was in the company of Eve at this time. It is true that Adam was not deceived (1Tim 2:14):
1 Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
So Adam apparently failed to protect her and take the lead in this situation. A silent husband who just kind of 'goes along with everything' has wreaked havoc in many a home. In this case, it appears a silent husband created an environment that wrecked the whole world and all of their children. The potential is the same today, husbands! The "silent husband" perhaps thinks that if his wife does something and he just goes along with it, that somehow he is less responsible for what takes place. Adam too, thought he had an excuse:
Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of Yahweh Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh Elohim amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And Yahweh Elohim called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Adam said, "The woman that thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat". Adam's excuse was not effective at all. He was cast out of the garden and sentenced to death just as Yahweh had warned. We too are expected to live according to the word of Yahweh, and not remain silent when a temptation enters our walled city. We must stand and protect our wives, and thus, our children from the enemy and the deception that he brings. We keep ourselves from evil in doing so. Therefore, when we fulfill our roles as husbands, we are only truly helping ourselves in doing so!
The blessings
Let's look at some other reasons why it is beneficial to ourselves that we truly fulfill our roles as husbands. Doing these things will create the best environment for us to have the virtuous wife we all desire. Many men are missing one of the glorious crowns they could have, a virtuous woman:
Prov 12:4 A virtuous woman [is] a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed [is] as rottenness in his bones.
Prov 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price [is] far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Prov 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband [also], and he praiseth her.
Our wives can be safely trusted to do us good and not evil all the days of our lives. We can know that the decisions she makes are the same as our own because we have spent so much time with her in the Word, instructing her and the whole family in the ways of righteousness. Such a woman will have mature judgment, wise counsel and knowledge and understanding. Such a woman would have no major spiritual problems in her life because her husband is so jealous for her spiritual well being. We see that the husband trusts and praises the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. He is also a well known elder at the gates:
Proverbs 31:23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
The husband sits among the elders of the land. He is trusted to make the decisions the elders make, in part, because it is evident that his house is in order, his children (who rise up and call their mother blessed) are in submission and his wife is obviously well cared for.
1 Timothy 3:10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
But let's remember that even if our wives are perfect in character, it is Yahweh that deserves the praise and glory:
Proverbs 19:14 House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from Yahweh.
Having a prudent, virtuous wife can bring about the same characteristics in our children. What a blessing we could have giving our daughters to wise husbands! A wise husband would spot a rebellious daughter pretty quickly. Having children whose marriages are good can save us a lot of heartache in the future.
These are only the beginnings of the great blessings we can receive when we are fulfilling our roles as husbands. We can and should take responsibility for their physical and spiritual well being. We are entrusted to care for them, to love them and truly appreciate them as the blessing from Yahweh they are. If these things convict you, repent before Yahweh and before your whole family and confess your sins. It will go a long way toward the healing you need to improve your home and it will go a long way toward the respect you need to bring about the necessary changes. Husbands, love your wives!
Our Father In Heaven(God)= Yahweh
Jesus Christ = Yahushua or Yeshua
Husbands, Love Your Wives
Recognizing my own continuing need for improvement in this area, I sought the various scriptures that speak of the role of husbands in scripture. I have learned that having a loving and scriptural husband-wife relationship is probably the single most influential factor in raising righteous children. It is for the sake of the children that I share these things.
Woman - A Gift to be Cherished
From the beginning, Yahweh knew that it was not good that the man should be alone:
Genesis 2:18 And Yahweh Elohim said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
With that, He created a beautiful and wonderful gift and brought her to Adam:
Genesis 2:21 And Yahweh Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which Yahweh Elohim had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
If we men can just grasp the great gift that we have been given, it will go a long way toward understanding how Yahweh desires us to relate to our wives. It doesn't take the average man much time to understand and appreciate the wonderful, beautiful characteristics that Yahweh has created woman with. Truly, He created woman to be beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside.
Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of Yahweh.
If we find a wife, we have obtained favor from Yahweh. We have been blessed with a gift from above. We need to appreciate the gift Yahweh gave us. To not appreciate is to not be thankful to Yahweh. Notice that nothing yet is spoken of a perfect wife without fault. The fact that we have a wife is a blessing in and of itself. Yahweh's desire is that we enjoy our wives and be blessed with what He has given:
Ecclesiastes 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
Proverbs 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
In the Torah/Word of Yahweh, we see Yahweh's desire for this:
Deuteronomy 24:5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.
It is our duty to 'cheer up' our wives and rejoice with the blessing Yahweh has given. We need to not take this duty lightly, but realize that to fail in this area is to sin against Yahweh. It is Yahweh's will for us to rejoice and live joyfully with the woman Yahweh has given us.
Giving Honor
An area often neglected, we are expected to give honor to our wives. Too often, a man's wife is the object of dishonor in the form of jokes, loud public rebukes and complaint sessions between men and men. It is time that we give our wives the honor that they should receive:
1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
We need to acknowledge that while our wives are the weaker vessel, we are heirs together with them of the grace of life:
1 Corinthians 12:22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but Elohim hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
Interestingly, the duty to honor our wives is somehow tied into the effectiveness of our prayers. This is not a new concept at all, it is also found in the book of Malachi:
Malachi 2:13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Yahweh hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a righteous seed (Heb. Seed of Elohim). Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16 For Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith Yahweh of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
So, we see that if we will not honor and deal kindly with the wife Yahweh has given us, Yahweh will not receive our offerings. Prayer is also considered to be an offering:
Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Revelation 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before Elohim out of the angel's hand.
Perhaps we don't realize all that goes on in the spiritual realm, but as mentioned in the "Fathers, turn your hearts" study, Malachi also declares that Yahweh cannot endure the treacherous dealings and neglecting of our wives.
Let's review:
Isaiah 1:13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies -- I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Perhaps our our wives aren't widows, but is it so, spiritually? We see the great concern that Yahweh has for the well being of our wives. He wants to be sure that they are honored and taken care of. We should share that concern fully.
1 Timothy 5:3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
Why is Yahweh so concerned about the widows? Is it only because their physical needs must be met? Are not the spiritual needs just as important, if not far more important? Considering all the scriptures where Yahweh is angry because the widows are neglected, woe to the fathers who neglect the spiritual needs of their wives! All the Sabbaths, calling of assemblies, feast days can be a burden to Him because He cannot endure the neglect. He cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Yahweh is VERY concerned about the well being of our wives, shouldn't we be? If, in Isaiah 1:13-17, Yahweh cannot endure the offerings, Feast Days and Sabbaths of those who are neglecting the physical needs of what used to be another man's wife (the widow), how much more so if we neglect the spiritual needs of our own wives? Consider:
1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Is it just the physical providing that Yahweh is concerned about? Surely, the spiritual is far more important. The first leads to physical death, the latter leads to spiritual death. So, are we worse than an unbeliever? Let it not be!
The Messiah and the Assembly
If we want to raise children of righteousness, we need to realize that our relationship with our wives is a mirror of how the Messiah and the assembly relate to one another:
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Messiah also loved the assembly, and gave himself for it;
Yahushua loved the assembly so much, that He gave Himself for it. He gave His very life and was wounded, tortured and humiliated for the sake of the Assembly. We are to love our wives, even as the Messiah loved the Assembly. This is a tall order! The love that the Messiah has for the assembly is difficult to fathom:
Ephesians 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Master Yahushua Messiah, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Messiah may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Messiah, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of Elohim.
But this is our calling and duty, to love our wives in this way. But what if instead of the Messiah loving us, He was bitter toward us? We know it isn't this way, therefore let us not be this way toward our wives:
Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
How does Messiah deal with us? We have a clear example of how we should deal with our wives. We know how gently, patiently and longsuffering He is with us. Though we aren't perfect, He still pours out his love and blessings on us. Yes, let's be this way with our wives!
Continuing in Ephesians 5:
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious assembly, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
The Messiah's love sanctifies and cleanses the body. In the same way we cleanse, cherish and care for our own bodies, so should we love our wives. We should care for the needs of our wife in the same way we would care for the needs of our body. If we are hungry, we eat. If we are thirsty, we drink. If we are not clean, we cleanse ourselves. We need to have this level of care and concern for our wives. We should take care of the physical and spiritual needs of our wives in this same way. For she is, as Adam said:
Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Continuing in Ephesians:
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Master the assembly: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Messiah and the assembly. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
With the husband and wife relationship being a picture of the Messiah's relationship to the body, let's remember that we demonstrate the Messiah's love for the body to our children with the way we treat our wives. If we want our daughters to grow up being submissive, humble and wonderful blessings to their future husbands, then we need to show them how wonderful it is to be submissive when a husband prefers, honors and respects his submissive and humble wife. We have a real opportunity with our children, to show them the Messiah's love! We can show them His mercy, His care and His concern for us every day in our homes. After all, it is the Messiah's love for us that has compelled us to love Him:
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love Elohim, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love Elohim whom he hath not seen?
But if we can demonstrate the Messiah's love to our children through our love for our wife, our children can truly understand the Messiah's love for us first and then proceed to love Him in return. It is all part of following the Messiah's footsteps and walking as He walked! We could potentially teach the ways of Yahweh to our children a hundred times over and still not have them understand it because we really aren't demonstrating the Messiah's love for them in action and deed. This could potentially result in them forsaking Yahweh later in life! Oh how important it is for us to fulfill this commandment!
When scripture says that we love ourselves when we love our wives, it really means it. Let's discover why.
A "Help"
When we love and honor our wives as we should, it creates the best environment for our wives to fulfill their role as a submissive, faithful helper. Woman was created to be a "help" meet for man. The Hebrew word used for "help" is often used to describe how Yahweh is our divine helper. Yahweh knew that two is better than one:
Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
With a man, a woman and Yahweh, we have a threefold cord that is not quickly broken. When we add our children, and then the assembly, we are invincible! How many husbands and wives (and indeed the entire family!) are prayer teams, praying together, uniting against the adversary? But we need oneness with Yahweh to accomplish anything. Yahushua prayed for this:
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
There is great power in this unity if the unity includes a oneness with Yahweh. Let's strive to attain that oneness! However, we later learn that the unity that Adam and Eve (Chawwah) had with Yahweh was broken in Genesis chapter three:
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which Yahweh Elohim had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath Elohim said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For Elohim doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as elohim, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Here we see that Eve was deceived into eating the fruit that Yahweh had forbidden. Also notice that Adam was 'with her' when all this was going on. Other translations I have checked (even the Septuagint) say that Adam was in the company of Eve at this time. It is true that Adam was not deceived (1Tim 2:14):
1 Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
So Adam apparently failed to protect her and take the lead in this situation. A silent husband who just kind of 'goes along with everything' has wreaked havoc in many a home. In this case, it appears a silent husband created an environment that wrecked the whole world and all of their children. The potential is the same today, husbands! The "silent husband" perhaps thinks that if his wife does something and he just goes along with it, that somehow he is less responsible for what takes place. Adam too, thought he had an excuse:
Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of Yahweh Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh Elohim amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And Yahweh Elohim called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Adam said, "The woman that thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat". Adam's excuse was not effective at all. He was cast out of the garden and sentenced to death just as Yahweh had warned. We too are expected to live according to the word of Yahweh, and not remain silent when a temptation enters our walled city. We must stand and protect our wives, and thus, our children from the enemy and the deception that he brings. We keep ourselves from evil in doing so. Therefore, when we fulfill our roles as husbands, we are only truly helping ourselves in doing so!
The blessings
Let's look at some other reasons why it is beneficial to ourselves that we truly fulfill our roles as husbands. Doing these things will create the best environment for us to have the virtuous wife we all desire. Many men are missing one of the glorious crowns they could have, a virtuous woman:
Prov 12:4 A virtuous woman [is] a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed [is] as rottenness in his bones.
Prov 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price [is] far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Prov 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband [also], and he praiseth her.
Our wives can be safely trusted to do us good and not evil all the days of our lives. We can know that the decisions she makes are the same as our own because we have spent so much time with her in the Word, instructing her and the whole family in the ways of righteousness. Such a woman will have mature judgment, wise counsel and knowledge and understanding. Such a woman would have no major spiritual problems in her life because her husband is so jealous for her spiritual well being. We see that the husband trusts and praises the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. He is also a well known elder at the gates:
Proverbs 31:23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
The husband sits among the elders of the land. He is trusted to make the decisions the elders make, in part, because it is evident that his house is in order, his children (who rise up and call their mother blessed) are in submission and his wife is obviously well cared for.
1 Timothy 3:10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
But let's remember that even if our wives are perfect in character, it is Yahweh that deserves the praise and glory:
Proverbs 19:14 House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from Yahweh.
Having a prudent, virtuous wife can bring about the same characteristics in our children. What a blessing we could have giving our daughters to wise husbands! A wise husband would spot a rebellious daughter pretty quickly. Having children whose marriages are good can save us a lot of heartache in the future.
These are only the beginnings of the great blessings we can receive when we are fulfilling our roles as husbands. We can and should take responsibility for their physical and spiritual well being. We are entrusted to care for them, to love them and truly appreciate them as the blessing from Yahweh they are. If these things convict you, repent before Yahweh and before your whole family and confess your sins. It will go a long way toward the healing you need to improve your home and it will go a long way toward the respect you need to bring about the necessary changes. Husbands, love your wives!
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Another great post from our friends at Right Nation.US
Why Can't I have My Body of Christ and Eat It, Too?
Or, What Makes 48 Democrats and John Kerry Squeal Like Little Piggies!
My parents used to be Democrats. Until the Democrats started taxing the hell out of everybody and throwing the money away on stuff like welfare. Then they voted Republican. But my whole life, they were always Catholics. So am I.
One thing I like about the Catholic Church is that there is a doctrine, a set of beliefs that lets you know where Rome stands on things. Some people say you don't have to have a brain to be Catholic because they tell you what to believe, but I enjoy the consistency of it all. You can choose to believe it or choose not to. Love it or leave it, you are free to do either, but for 2000 years the rules have been crystalline clear.
Particularly as regards to abortion.
But if you're a Democratic politician, you're going to rip a page out of the Clintonian Dictionary just to see if the word "NO" is spelled "R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L-I-Z-E."
Reading about the 48 Catholic Democrats who drafted a letter of protest to the Bishop of Washington, DC just brought a sad smile to my face. Seems they just can't figure out why some bishops of the Church are going to deny them Holy Communion when they vote for abortions. Here's a taste of what they wrote...
"We do not believe it is our role to legislate the teachings of the Catholic Church,"... "For any of us to be singled out by any bishop by the refusal of communion or other public criticism because we vote in what we believe are the requirements of the United States Constitution and laws of our country, which we are sworn to uphold, is deeply hurtful."
Wow. Spin. Spin. Spin. See the Spin?
"We do not believe it is our role to legislate the teachings of the Catholic Church, etc...." That's called "Shifting the Focus."
The Church isn't telling these people to turn RCC teaching into American law. She is simply telling them that their support for Abortion is incompatible with Church morality. As such, and by supporting Abortion (which the RCC recognizes as a moral evil), they are placing themselves in a position of grave error.
Or how about another example from Spin City...
..."For many years Catholics were denied public office by voters who feared that they would take direction from the pope," they wrote. "While that type of paranoid anti-Catholicism seems to be a thing of the past, attempts by church leaders today to influence votes by the threat of withholding a sacrament will revive latent anti-Catholic prejudice, which so many of us have worked so hard to overcome."
Gee, the wordsmiths of the Democratic Party must've beamed with pride over that one, but as pretty as it reads it still smells like crap.
"...Attempts by church leaders today to influence votes" is just another way of saying We'd Better Fight a Truth With a Lie, Because They've Got Us Cold On This One.
And it means this because, again, our Democratic friends are shifting the focus from what the Church is saying, to a fabrication of what they want to claim it is saying.
Rome isn't trying to coerce these people into voting against abortion, it's simply saying that if you do vote for abortion, you are at odds with the Church in which you claim membership. And if you support abortion, you are guilty of mortal sin. And if you are guilty of mortal sin, you are supposed to abstain from taking Communion until you have been absolved of said mortal sin. Very simple. Very concise. For 2000 years.
In 1995, JP2 clearly stated that the Church’s teaching on abortion "is unchanged and unchangeable. . . . I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church" (Evangelium Vitae 62).
So. Abortion constitutes a grave moral disorder which no law can ever make licit. And a mortal sin is any sin whose matter is grave and which has been committed willfully with knowledge of the seriousness. Such "grave" matters include murder, for example, or receiving or participating in abortion. (http://www.catholic.com/library/who_can_receive_communion.asp)
Now, to receive communion, the Catholic must be in a state of grace. That is, he/she must not be tainted by the commission of a mortal sin since the time of the last confession.
So, if our Catholic Democratic legislators are actively working to support and pass laws of an illicit nature, and according to the Pope such abortion rights laws are, then they are certainly guilty of participating in abortions by "legitimizing" them and making them accessible and plentiful.
And since they are participating in abortions, then they are suffering in a state of mortal sin. And, so of course, if they are suffering from a state of mortal sin, they cannot be in a state of grace, and so therefore, cannot take Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.
It's interesting to note, however, that in withholding Communion from a John Kerry, for example, the Bishop does him a favor by preventing him from compounding one mortal sin with another, since to take communion outside of a state of grace is, you guessed it, another mortal sin.
Now you might say what a load of convoluted hogwash all this is, or what a bunch of hypocrisy by a Church currently mired in a sex scandal, but the fact remains that our Democratic friends are not in good standing with the Church they call home, and are in fact, working to provide a service that directly contradicts the morals of the RCC.
So, whether you care about what the Catholics believe or not is immaterial.
What you should care about, however, is that these 48 Democrats and John Kerry are more than happy to subordinate their core values in order to enjoy the luxuries of political office. Because I doubt Any person of Any faith of Any integrity would put Country before God, and I think that if these people had other motives for protesting to the Church, besides Career, the contradiction in their actions would be self-evident.
Clearly, if Who you are is not as important as What you are, and if Politics and Church cannot co-exist within the same body, then our 48+1 have a choice to make: Either find another job or keep the one you have.
And if you are going to keep the one you have, then Shut the Hell Up and Quit Bitching About Not Getting Your Communion.
It is bad enough, from a Catholic's point of view, to see other members of the Church supporting Abortion. But it is certainly a pathetic sight to watch them squeal in protest like little piggies when they are called to choose between their Faith and their Job.
Buckwheat Jones | May 21, 04 | 2:30 pm
Or, What Makes 48 Democrats and John Kerry Squeal Like Little Piggies!
My parents used to be Democrats. Until the Democrats started taxing the hell out of everybody and throwing the money away on stuff like welfare. Then they voted Republican. But my whole life, they were always Catholics. So am I.
One thing I like about the Catholic Church is that there is a doctrine, a set of beliefs that lets you know where Rome stands on things. Some people say you don't have to have a brain to be Catholic because they tell you what to believe, but I enjoy the consistency of it all. You can choose to believe it or choose not to. Love it or leave it, you are free to do either, but for 2000 years the rules have been crystalline clear.
Particularly as regards to abortion.
But if you're a Democratic politician, you're going to rip a page out of the Clintonian Dictionary just to see if the word "NO" is spelled "R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L-I-Z-E."
Reading about the 48 Catholic Democrats who drafted a letter of protest to the Bishop of Washington, DC just brought a sad smile to my face. Seems they just can't figure out why some bishops of the Church are going to deny them Holy Communion when they vote for abortions. Here's a taste of what they wrote...
"We do not believe it is our role to legislate the teachings of the Catholic Church,"... "For any of us to be singled out by any bishop by the refusal of communion or other public criticism because we vote in what we believe are the requirements of the United States Constitution and laws of our country, which we are sworn to uphold, is deeply hurtful."
Wow. Spin. Spin. Spin. See the Spin?
"We do not believe it is our role to legislate the teachings of the Catholic Church, etc...." That's called "Shifting the Focus."
The Church isn't telling these people to turn RCC teaching into American law. She is simply telling them that their support for Abortion is incompatible with Church morality. As such, and by supporting Abortion (which the RCC recognizes as a moral evil), they are placing themselves in a position of grave error.
Or how about another example from Spin City...
..."For many years Catholics were denied public office by voters who feared that they would take direction from the pope," they wrote. "While that type of paranoid anti-Catholicism seems to be a thing of the past, attempts by church leaders today to influence votes by the threat of withholding a sacrament will revive latent anti-Catholic prejudice, which so many of us have worked so hard to overcome."
Gee, the wordsmiths of the Democratic Party must've beamed with pride over that one, but as pretty as it reads it still smells like crap.
"...Attempts by church leaders today to influence votes" is just another way of saying We'd Better Fight a Truth With a Lie, Because They've Got Us Cold On This One.
And it means this because, again, our Democratic friends are shifting the focus from what the Church is saying, to a fabrication of what they want to claim it is saying.
Rome isn't trying to coerce these people into voting against abortion, it's simply saying that if you do vote for abortion, you are at odds with the Church in which you claim membership. And if you support abortion, you are guilty of mortal sin. And if you are guilty of mortal sin, you are supposed to abstain from taking Communion until you have been absolved of said mortal sin. Very simple. Very concise. For 2000 years.
In 1995, JP2 clearly stated that the Church’s teaching on abortion "is unchanged and unchangeable. . . . I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church" (Evangelium Vitae 62).
So. Abortion constitutes a grave moral disorder which no law can ever make licit. And a mortal sin is any sin whose matter is grave and which has been committed willfully with knowledge of the seriousness. Such "grave" matters include murder, for example, or receiving or participating in abortion. (http://www.catholic.com/library/who_can_receive_communion.asp)
Now, to receive communion, the Catholic must be in a state of grace. That is, he/she must not be tainted by the commission of a mortal sin since the time of the last confession.
So, if our Catholic Democratic legislators are actively working to support and pass laws of an illicit nature, and according to the Pope such abortion rights laws are, then they are certainly guilty of participating in abortions by "legitimizing" them and making them accessible and plentiful.
And since they are participating in abortions, then they are suffering in a state of mortal sin. And, so of course, if they are suffering from a state of mortal sin, they cannot be in a state of grace, and so therefore, cannot take Holy Communion in the Catholic Church.
It's interesting to note, however, that in withholding Communion from a John Kerry, for example, the Bishop does him a favor by preventing him from compounding one mortal sin with another, since to take communion outside of a state of grace is, you guessed it, another mortal sin.
Now you might say what a load of convoluted hogwash all this is, or what a bunch of hypocrisy by a Church currently mired in a sex scandal, but the fact remains that our Democratic friends are not in good standing with the Church they call home, and are in fact, working to provide a service that directly contradicts the morals of the RCC.
So, whether you care about what the Catholics believe or not is immaterial.
What you should care about, however, is that these 48 Democrats and John Kerry are more than happy to subordinate their core values in order to enjoy the luxuries of political office. Because I doubt Any person of Any faith of Any integrity would put Country before God, and I think that if these people had other motives for protesting to the Church, besides Career, the contradiction in their actions would be self-evident.
Clearly, if Who you are is not as important as What you are, and if Politics and Church cannot co-exist within the same body, then our 48+1 have a choice to make: Either find another job or keep the one you have.
And if you are going to keep the one you have, then Shut the Hell Up and Quit Bitching About Not Getting Your Communion.
It is bad enough, from a Catholic's point of view, to see other members of the Church supporting Abortion. But it is certainly a pathetic sight to watch them squeal in protest like little piggies when they are called to choose between their Faith and their Job.
Buckwheat Jones | May 21, 04 | 2:30 pm
Thursday, May 20, 2004
WorldNetDaily: Hero's story told on Net
This story was too important not to post!
OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOM
Hero's story told on Net
Column hailing Marine's deeds in war makes round
A column hailing a U.S. warrior in Iraq is making its way around the Internet, as the writer hopes to publicize heroic deeds of U.S. military personnel to counter the media coverage of the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal.
Capt. Brian Chontosh, receives Navy Cross.
"Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot Reservists and naked Iraqis," begins Bob Lonsberry's May 7 column.
"Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.
"Meet Brian Chontosh."
Lonsberry, a talk-radio host in Salt Lake City, Utah, goes on to tell the heroic story of Chontosh, a captain in the Marines, who recently received the Navy Cross for his bravery in combat.
The columnist decries the media for failing to report the brave actions of U.S. fighters:
The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.
Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.
We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.
But we don't hear about the heroes.
Lonsberry relays the story of Chontosh as platoon leader guiding his men into Baghdad a year ago. The unit came under heavy fire "ambush city," as Lonsberry puts it.
Chontosh ordered his humvee to drive directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them, leading his men in a counter-assault.
Writes Lonsberry:
Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.
At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.
When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.
Lonsberry's account of Chontosh's valor has been posted on sites other than his own as his desire to get at least one Marine's story out strikes a chord on the Net.
"I was just doing my job; I did the same thing every other Marine would have done," said Chontosh upon receiving his medal two weeks ago. "It was just a passion and love for my Marines."
OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOM
Hero's story told on Net
Column hailing Marine's deeds in war makes round
A column hailing a U.S. warrior in Iraq is making its way around the Internet, as the writer hopes to publicize heroic deeds of U.S. military personnel to counter the media coverage of the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal.
Capt. Brian Chontosh, receives Navy Cross.
"Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot Reservists and naked Iraqis," begins Bob Lonsberry's May 7 column.
"Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.
"Meet Brian Chontosh."
Lonsberry, a talk-radio host in Salt Lake City, Utah, goes on to tell the heroic story of Chontosh, a captain in the Marines, who recently received the Navy Cross for his bravery in combat.
The columnist decries the media for failing to report the brave actions of U.S. fighters:
The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.
Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.
We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.
But we don't hear about the heroes.
Lonsberry relays the story of Chontosh as platoon leader guiding his men into Baghdad a year ago. The unit came under heavy fire "ambush city," as Lonsberry puts it.
Chontosh ordered his humvee to drive directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them, leading his men in a counter-assault.
Writes Lonsberry:
Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.
At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.
When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.
Lonsberry's account of Chontosh's valor has been posted on sites other than his own as his desire to get at least one Marine's story out strikes a chord on the Net.
"I was just doing my job; I did the same thing every other Marine would have done," said Chontosh upon receiving his medal two weeks ago. "It was just a passion and love for my Marines."
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
The practice of hiring stupid people
I often wonder what part of the employee hiring pool does my employer find people from. I would love to think that they search deep into it to find the best that is out there. But, I soon wake up to realize that they have been skimming the scum off the top and picking what doesn't smell too bad. Case in point, if you offer a service that requires a certain type billing to make work. Why would you setup the service and the not setup the billing for it. To make matters worse why would you then defend your error. Maybe I'm getting old or something, but I remember a time when people were encouraged to do things correctly. Oh well, I am now going to get a Pespi and try to forget about this.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
IMAO BLOG
This blog is a must read. I cannot recommend it enough. Below is a sample of the isanity that is Frank.
Guns
Guns are the greatest invention of mankind, bar none. They are the final triumph of the intellect over the brawn, the final equalizer of man, and they look pretty durn cool. There are many dangerous things out there – criminals, psychos, baboons, wild boars, Kennedys, etc. – and one is a fool not to defend themselves. Hell, I’d say a woman living alone without a gun is clinically insane. And the second amendment is the only amendment we really need; everyone will always respect your rights if you have a gun pointed at them. Thus, anyone against guns is either evil or stupid or both and is deserving of a punch’n. Now, some people may think I would have softened my stance on firearms after I was shot by a chimpanzee, but I’m not going to selfishly turn against a fundamental right because of one accident (and, to be clear, the accident was the chimp getting hold of a loaded gun; he shot me on purpose and I appropriately sought vengeance). So on guns, put me down as fer it.
Drug Legalization
I share enough beliefs with libertarians that I should at least be for legalization of marijuana, and I really can’t come up with a principled argument against it, but I just hate hippies too goddamn much for marijuana to be legalized. What makes them mad makes me happy. I just have to go with my gut on an issue like this, so I’m ‘gainst it.
Circumference of the Earth
They say the circumference of the earth is 24,830 miles, but I took out a tape measure and got only 24,827 miles. It was a brand name tape measure, so I know that wasn’t the problem. Now, I don’t know what the scam is and who is making money off that three miles difference, but I’ll look into it.
Income Tax
As soon as I get a time machine, I’m going back to 1913 and find everyone who was going to vote for the income tax. I’d patiently explain to them how quickly the income tax would grow out of control and give government the power to bloat like never before. I’d tell them the horrors of the IRS, the intrusiveness of the government keeping track of your income and your spending, and how wrong it is for the taxman to have a shot at your paycheck before you can even feed your family. Finally, I’d then begin to beat them savagely with all my might. I’d continue until my limbs were too tired for me to move at all. Then I’d get some rest, go to the spa, do some ki breathing, have a nice meal, and, once I felt all my energy had returned, begin yet another session of beatings. I’d continue that process a number of times. Then I’d get into my time machine once more and go back to the point where I first tired out and fill in beating for my earlier self. I’d then rest while he was beating and beat while he was resting such that, to those bastards who are responsible for the income tax, it would appear to them that they were being beaten by me continuously for a week on end. The income tax: I’m ‘gainst it.
Religion
Me, myself, I’m pretty damn Catholic. I believe in all that unbelievable crap and I don’t like people saying bad things about the pope. I think the pope kicks ass. I know a lot of people can’t help themselves but spout off about how the pope is behind all that’s wrong in the world and what not, but I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care if he just broke into your house yesterday and stole all your DVD’s; you somehow deserved it. If the pope is currently robbing a liquor store, you can be sure I’m outside keeping the engine running in the getaway car. Hey, I have a religion I ain’t going to half-ass it. Now, I bet you have some great argument about why the pope is bad and why the Church is horrible, and my response to that, as always, is, “La la la la! Not listening!”
Even if you don’t want to go all the way and be Catholic, I think a belief in God is a cool thing. Me, it helps me be humble. Yeah, I know, I’m not that humble; but I’d be completely intolerable without religion. I might have even ended up as some loudmouth idiotarian. Plus, it’s nice to have God as that ace up your sleeve for the time you find yourself having to jump out of a plane without a parachute. On the other hand, I would like to say I know a number of atheists who are good, moral people even without a belief in God and I don’t think they’re going to hell or anything. God thinks they’re going to hell, though, and His opinion counts more.
So on religion, I’m fer it.
Monkeys
I don’t like monkeys.
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
To start off, I don’t know much about the Middle East. I don’t know who is an arab and who is technically not an arab, how much killing the Koran actually condones, or even what continent the Middle East is on. I mean, it’s wedged right in there between Europe, Africa, and Asia, so which one is it? What I do know is that it’s really hard to sympathize with the Palestinians. Maybe if once I read off the AP “Today, a group of Palestinian thugs grabbed a man they thought to be plotting a suicide bombing of an Israeli daycare and beat him severely for eight hours straight. France has already denounced it as one of the worst acts of violence they have ever witnessed.” then I’d be like, “Hey, those Palestinians are pretty cool. Maybe the Israelis should be nicer to them.” Instead I’m always hearing things like “A bomb has gone off in a crowded marketplace in Israel. Reports are still sketchy on the dead and injured, but we already have video of the Palestinians celebrating by jumping up and down and screeching like deranged howler monkeys.” and I’m like, “I hate the Palestinians. Why haven’t the Israelis killed them all yet? Don’t they have some sort of Zionist conspiracy to deal with these ‘people?’”
Obviously, those Palestinians cannot be reasoned with like adults, so I say Israel should treat them like children. They should force all the Palestinians to sit in the corner for a couple hours thinking about why what they have been supporting is wrong. After that, they must all write one hundred word essays on why murder is bad. All answers will then be graded on a bell curve. The top five percent of scorers will be leaders of the new government, the middle ninety percent will be sent back to their business, and the bottom five percent immediately executed. Finally, in celebration of the new government, Arafat will be shot out of a cannon.
Random Ninja Attacks
Nothing ruins a quiet stroll through the countryside quite like being jumped by a group of ninjas. It’s a common complaint, and the problem is only getting worse. Yet, the solutions offered are just more of the same. Build taller fences they say, but we all know how adept ninjas are at climbing. They propose putting more townspeople on ninja watch, but the whole point of a ninja is to sneak by unseen. Sometimes hiring wandering ronin to attack the ninjas’ headquarters has worked as a temporary solution, but the ninjas always regroup and the ronin are expensive and not always trustworthy. Frankly, how good could a samurai be if his master is dead? I say the only real solution is to make the death touch available to the people. When the common man is able to cause someone’s heart to explode by striking certain pressure points, then they will be able to defend themselves from vicious ninjas. There are many who oppose this, but, when the death touch is outlawed, only outlaws will use the death touch. And that leaves no one safe.
Big Government
Government is evil. It’s a necessary evil, but it’s still evil. Its job is to be big and powerful and push people around. It’s sorry thing we need it, but, hey, them’s the breaks. So, the idea is to be as careful as possible when applying it. You should be as hesitant to use the government to achieve something as you would be burning down an orphanage to achieve something. But people don’t get it, always whining to government to fix every problem instead of getting off their own duffs even though government can often make things worse. Look at this way, the government is like Godzilla: it’s most adept as smashing and breaking things, but if it tries to help an individual person, it’s more likely to crush him accidentally than anything else. So that’s why I’m ‘gainst big government.
Slave Reparations
Slavery in America was a horrible crime against humanity, and the governments support of it is more than inexcusable. I say, rather than that forty acres and a mule crap, give every surviving former slave $10 million dollars so he or she can get a condo and a porsche. And, since slavery was such a horrible thing, I think there should also be some reparations for the children of slaves who were never slaves themselves. They should all get free residence in a nursing home, if any are still alive. As for all other descendants, they can get an "I sought reparations for slavery and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" t-shirt for the apologetic price of just $12.00. Act now, because these reparations won't last forever!
I’m just kidding ya. I’m ‘gainst reparations. T-shirts are full price.
The Value of Pi
The value of being able to relate the diameter of a circle to its circumference is priceless in my opinion. Frankly, I find it profane for someone to try and put a number to it. But, if one must, why make it one that is admittedly “irrational”? Why not instead make it 3. Accordingly, make two plus two equal 3.832869142… I never found adding two and two very important, anyway.
Affirmative Action
Whose dumb idea was this? The solution to racism is to ingrain racism into our laws and hiring practices? Some may say you should fight fire with fire, but, if my house were ablaze and the firemen showed up with flamethrowers, I'd be like, "Hey! Don't fight fire with fire!" That why I'm 'gainst affirmative action.
Immigration
I’ve never been able to be too opposed to immigration since any rational person would want to become an American. Living in inferior countries must really suck, but I found out that, by far, most people in the world don’t live in America. That’s horrible, and I feel real sorry for those people. The only problem is that our stupid entitlements make every person here costly, and, if you just open up the floodgates, we could suddenly become saturated with Communists or something. But, overall, I’m fer immigration, because, in a perfect world, everyone will be an American.
Gravity
About everything we do relies on gravity, but the only evidence we have it is circumstantial. No matter how many times you let go an object and observe it fall to the ground, that doesn’t prove anything. What we need is an explanation, but all scientist can do is make things up like “gravitons.” Now, don’t take me wrong, I’m not saying that gravity doesn’t exist. All I am saying is that if you’re one day beaned in the head by a bird who fell from the sky since he was knocked unconscious by an apple falling upwards, don’t act too surprised.
As i said at the beginning, this blog is a must read. No matter how bad my day is I'm always laughing after I read some of his work.
Guns
Guns are the greatest invention of mankind, bar none. They are the final triumph of the intellect over the brawn, the final equalizer of man, and they look pretty durn cool. There are many dangerous things out there – criminals, psychos, baboons, wild boars, Kennedys, etc. – and one is a fool not to defend themselves. Hell, I’d say a woman living alone without a gun is clinically insane. And the second amendment is the only amendment we really need; everyone will always respect your rights if you have a gun pointed at them. Thus, anyone against guns is either evil or stupid or both and is deserving of a punch’n. Now, some people may think I would have softened my stance on firearms after I was shot by a chimpanzee, but I’m not going to selfishly turn against a fundamental right because of one accident (and, to be clear, the accident was the chimp getting hold of a loaded gun; he shot me on purpose and I appropriately sought vengeance). So on guns, put me down as fer it.
Drug Legalization
I share enough beliefs with libertarians that I should at least be for legalization of marijuana, and I really can’t come up with a principled argument against it, but I just hate hippies too goddamn much for marijuana to be legalized. What makes them mad makes me happy. I just have to go with my gut on an issue like this, so I’m ‘gainst it.
Circumference of the Earth
They say the circumference of the earth is 24,830 miles, but I took out a tape measure and got only 24,827 miles. It was a brand name tape measure, so I know that wasn’t the problem. Now, I don’t know what the scam is and who is making money off that three miles difference, but I’ll look into it.
Income Tax
As soon as I get a time machine, I’m going back to 1913 and find everyone who was going to vote for the income tax. I’d patiently explain to them how quickly the income tax would grow out of control and give government the power to bloat like never before. I’d tell them the horrors of the IRS, the intrusiveness of the government keeping track of your income and your spending, and how wrong it is for the taxman to have a shot at your paycheck before you can even feed your family. Finally, I’d then begin to beat them savagely with all my might. I’d continue until my limbs were too tired for me to move at all. Then I’d get some rest, go to the spa, do some ki breathing, have a nice meal, and, once I felt all my energy had returned, begin yet another session of beatings. I’d continue that process a number of times. Then I’d get into my time machine once more and go back to the point where I first tired out and fill in beating for my earlier self. I’d then rest while he was beating and beat while he was resting such that, to those bastards who are responsible for the income tax, it would appear to them that they were being beaten by me continuously for a week on end. The income tax: I’m ‘gainst it.
Religion
Me, myself, I’m pretty damn Catholic. I believe in all that unbelievable crap and I don’t like people saying bad things about the pope. I think the pope kicks ass. I know a lot of people can’t help themselves but spout off about how the pope is behind all that’s wrong in the world and what not, but I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care if he just broke into your house yesterday and stole all your DVD’s; you somehow deserved it. If the pope is currently robbing a liquor store, you can be sure I’m outside keeping the engine running in the getaway car. Hey, I have a religion I ain’t going to half-ass it. Now, I bet you have some great argument about why the pope is bad and why the Church is horrible, and my response to that, as always, is, “La la la la! Not listening!”
Even if you don’t want to go all the way and be Catholic, I think a belief in God is a cool thing. Me, it helps me be humble. Yeah, I know, I’m not that humble; but I’d be completely intolerable without religion. I might have even ended up as some loudmouth idiotarian. Plus, it’s nice to have God as that ace up your sleeve for the time you find yourself having to jump out of a plane without a parachute. On the other hand, I would like to say I know a number of atheists who are good, moral people even without a belief in God and I don’t think they’re going to hell or anything. God thinks they’re going to hell, though, and His opinion counts more.
So on religion, I’m fer it.
Monkeys
I don’t like monkeys.
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
To start off, I don’t know much about the Middle East. I don’t know who is an arab and who is technically not an arab, how much killing the Koran actually condones, or even what continent the Middle East is on. I mean, it’s wedged right in there between Europe, Africa, and Asia, so which one is it? What I do know is that it’s really hard to sympathize with the Palestinians. Maybe if once I read off the AP “Today, a group of Palestinian thugs grabbed a man they thought to be plotting a suicide bombing of an Israeli daycare and beat him severely for eight hours straight. France has already denounced it as one of the worst acts of violence they have ever witnessed.” then I’d be like, “Hey, those Palestinians are pretty cool. Maybe the Israelis should be nicer to them.” Instead I’m always hearing things like “A bomb has gone off in a crowded marketplace in Israel. Reports are still sketchy on the dead and injured, but we already have video of the Palestinians celebrating by jumping up and down and screeching like deranged howler monkeys.” and I’m like, “I hate the Palestinians. Why haven’t the Israelis killed them all yet? Don’t they have some sort of Zionist conspiracy to deal with these ‘people?’”
Obviously, those Palestinians cannot be reasoned with like adults, so I say Israel should treat them like children. They should force all the Palestinians to sit in the corner for a couple hours thinking about why what they have been supporting is wrong. After that, they must all write one hundred word essays on why murder is bad. All answers will then be graded on a bell curve. The top five percent of scorers will be leaders of the new government, the middle ninety percent will be sent back to their business, and the bottom five percent immediately executed. Finally, in celebration of the new government, Arafat will be shot out of a cannon.
Random Ninja Attacks
Nothing ruins a quiet stroll through the countryside quite like being jumped by a group of ninjas. It’s a common complaint, and the problem is only getting worse. Yet, the solutions offered are just more of the same. Build taller fences they say, but we all know how adept ninjas are at climbing. They propose putting more townspeople on ninja watch, but the whole point of a ninja is to sneak by unseen. Sometimes hiring wandering ronin to attack the ninjas’ headquarters has worked as a temporary solution, but the ninjas always regroup and the ronin are expensive and not always trustworthy. Frankly, how good could a samurai be if his master is dead? I say the only real solution is to make the death touch available to the people. When the common man is able to cause someone’s heart to explode by striking certain pressure points, then they will be able to defend themselves from vicious ninjas. There are many who oppose this, but, when the death touch is outlawed, only outlaws will use the death touch. And that leaves no one safe.
Big Government
Government is evil. It’s a necessary evil, but it’s still evil. Its job is to be big and powerful and push people around. It’s sorry thing we need it, but, hey, them’s the breaks. So, the idea is to be as careful as possible when applying it. You should be as hesitant to use the government to achieve something as you would be burning down an orphanage to achieve something. But people don’t get it, always whining to government to fix every problem instead of getting off their own duffs even though government can often make things worse. Look at this way, the government is like Godzilla: it’s most adept as smashing and breaking things, but if it tries to help an individual person, it’s more likely to crush him accidentally than anything else. So that’s why I’m ‘gainst big government.
Slave Reparations
Slavery in America was a horrible crime against humanity, and the governments support of it is more than inexcusable. I say, rather than that forty acres and a mule crap, give every surviving former slave $10 million dollars so he or she can get a condo and a porsche. And, since slavery was such a horrible thing, I think there should also be some reparations for the children of slaves who were never slaves themselves. They should all get free residence in a nursing home, if any are still alive. As for all other descendants, they can get an "I sought reparations for slavery and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" t-shirt for the apologetic price of just $12.00. Act now, because these reparations won't last forever!
I’m just kidding ya. I’m ‘gainst reparations. T-shirts are full price.
The Value of Pi
The value of being able to relate the diameter of a circle to its circumference is priceless in my opinion. Frankly, I find it profane for someone to try and put a number to it. But, if one must, why make it one that is admittedly “irrational”? Why not instead make it 3. Accordingly, make two plus two equal 3.832869142… I never found adding two and two very important, anyway.
Affirmative Action
Whose dumb idea was this? The solution to racism is to ingrain racism into our laws and hiring practices? Some may say you should fight fire with fire, but, if my house were ablaze and the firemen showed up with flamethrowers, I'd be like, "Hey! Don't fight fire with fire!" That why I'm 'gainst affirmative action.
Immigration
I’ve never been able to be too opposed to immigration since any rational person would want to become an American. Living in inferior countries must really suck, but I found out that, by far, most people in the world don’t live in America. That’s horrible, and I feel real sorry for those people. The only problem is that our stupid entitlements make every person here costly, and, if you just open up the floodgates, we could suddenly become saturated with Communists or something. But, overall, I’m fer immigration, because, in a perfect world, everyone will be an American.
Gravity
About everything we do relies on gravity, but the only evidence we have it is circumstantial. No matter how many times you let go an object and observe it fall to the ground, that doesn’t prove anything. What we need is an explanation, but all scientist can do is make things up like “gravitons.” Now, don’t take me wrong, I’m not saying that gravity doesn’t exist. All I am saying is that if you’re one day beaned in the head by a bird who fell from the sky since he was knocked unconscious by an apple falling upwards, don’t act too surprised.
As i said at the beginning, this blog is a must read. No matter how bad my day is I'm always laughing after I read some of his work.
King Arthur Featurette
I just had to post this. It looks like it should be a good movie. click on the title link to see the quicktime mov.
Now who out there thought that doughnuts and pastries were good for you?
Apparently the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest is lobbying the Federal Government to ban the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil(which is found in a lot of pastries, cookies, crackers and deep-fried foods). Now according to CSPI "Removing partially hydrogenated vegetable oil from the food supply could save between 11,000 and 30,000 lives each year". Now since I am a lover of all the foods that they have listed as bad, I of course have an issue with this. No one(with a brain) who eats any of the foods in their so called "bad" group really thinks it's good for them. In fact I'm pretty confident in saying most people understand that it is junk food. I am a firm believer that snacks like the ones CSPI are trying to modify pose no threat to your health if you consume them in moderation. I my self stay pretty active and I don't over due it when it comes to my strange almost scary love for blueberry filled powered sugar covered doughnuts. In fact my doctor at my last physical said I was just fine. So in closing, you can choose to believe that pastries and such are evil and will kill you like the CSPI or you can stay active and enjoy the occasional snack and in turn truly enjoy Life.
Updates to the site.
Added some various links to the side bar. I have broken them down into 3 categories. First one is News, Second is Blogs I Read, and Third is Religion. Have exploring them, there is a lot of great info there.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Nick Berg
I have been trying to think of an eloquent way of describing my feelings in regards to a comparison between how we humiliated the prisoners at the Abu Ghriab facility and the Traditional Islamic execution of Mr Berg. After a bit of thought I realized that if I were to write anything it would turn into something very ugly. So I am posting an article from the Weekly Standard instead.
Two Wrongs
Abu Ghraib and Nicholas Berg should give us a moment of moral clarity about Iraq, who we're fighting against, and what we're fighting for.
by Terry Eastland
05/17/2004 12:00:00 AM
LET'S STIPULATE that the abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad were as serious as the pictures suggest. But America now has images of a different kind to absorb.
In a video posted on the website of Muntada Al-Ansar, a militant group with links to al Qaeda, you see a young man sitting on the floor. He is wearing what appears to be an orange jumpsuit, something a prisoner might wear. Behind him stand five men clad in black who are wearing head scarves and black ski masks.
The young man is an American, as you learn when he reads this statement: "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne. I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in . . . Philadelphia."
The video then shows Berg sitting in a chair in front of his captors. One reads a statement in Arabic. He claims that they offered to swap Berg for several detainees at Abu Ghraib but that American officials declined. He urges revenge by Muslims for the abuses of Iraqi detainees.
"We tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls," says the man reading the statement. "You will not receive anything from us but coffin after coffin slaughtered in this way."
"This way" is about to be demonstrated: The men shout "Allahu akbar," which means "God is greatest," before pulling Berg to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. You see the hacking start. You hear screaming. You see the butchery completed as the five men hold up his bloody head, delighted with their deed.
This is, or should be, a moment for clarity in thinking about the war on terrorism. "There is," President Bush said last Wednesday, "no justification for the brutal execution of Nicholas Berg--no justification whatsoever." Of course there is no justification, for there can be no justification of murder.
The obvious apparently must be stated: Berg, who went to Iraq with the hope of winning a contract to help rebuild the country, had nothing to do with the abuses at Abu Ghraib. But even if he had, those who stood over him in the video had no jurisdiction.
INDEED, they had no public authority at all. They committed murder in a most savage way, showing no human feeling. And it made no difference that they believed they were doing the will of Allah. Plenty of Muslims will tell you that the killers of Berg were wrong in their understanding of Islam. Murder is murder and can't be excused by religion or ideology.
There are people who are failing to make necessary distinctions between the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the murder of Nicholas Berg. Responding to the latter, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he condemned "all killings of innocent civilians in Iraq [just] as he condemns all abuse of prisoners." Both are to be condemned, yet not without observing that those who abused prisoners are subject to laws that respect human rights, while the murderers of Berg aspire to a world in which there are no such laws and no regard for human rights.
For more than two weeks, the nation has been shamed by the disgusting pictures from Abu Ghraib. But the barbaric killing of Nicholas Berg is a jolting reminder of the kind of people who declared war on the United States and who now, in Iraq, aim to prevent the development of a free society. Their intention, as President Bush pointed out, is "to shake our will" to complete the mission in Iraq. May the story of the gruesome murder of Nick Berg have the opposite effect.
Terry Eastland is publisher of The Weekly Standard. This column first appeared in the Dallas Morning News.
I would like to end this post with something I use as my email auto signiture.
Article VI: I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.
Two Wrongs
Abu Ghraib and Nicholas Berg should give us a moment of moral clarity about Iraq, who we're fighting against, and what we're fighting for.
by Terry Eastland
05/17/2004 12:00:00 AM
LET'S STIPULATE that the abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad were as serious as the pictures suggest. But America now has images of a different kind to absorb.
In a video posted on the website of Muntada Al-Ansar, a militant group with links to al Qaeda, you see a young man sitting on the floor. He is wearing what appears to be an orange jumpsuit, something a prisoner might wear. Behind him stand five men clad in black who are wearing head scarves and black ski masks.
The young man is an American, as you learn when he reads this statement: "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne. I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in . . . Philadelphia."
The video then shows Berg sitting in a chair in front of his captors. One reads a statement in Arabic. He claims that they offered to swap Berg for several detainees at Abu Ghraib but that American officials declined. He urges revenge by Muslims for the abuses of Iraqi detainees.
"We tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls," says the man reading the statement. "You will not receive anything from us but coffin after coffin slaughtered in this way."
"This way" is about to be demonstrated: The men shout "Allahu akbar," which means "God is greatest," before pulling Berg to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. You see the hacking start. You hear screaming. You see the butchery completed as the five men hold up his bloody head, delighted with their deed.
This is, or should be, a moment for clarity in thinking about the war on terrorism. "There is," President Bush said last Wednesday, "no justification for the brutal execution of Nicholas Berg--no justification whatsoever." Of course there is no justification, for there can be no justification of murder.
The obvious apparently must be stated: Berg, who went to Iraq with the hope of winning a contract to help rebuild the country, had nothing to do with the abuses at Abu Ghraib. But even if he had, those who stood over him in the video had no jurisdiction.
INDEED, they had no public authority at all. They committed murder in a most savage way, showing no human feeling. And it made no difference that they believed they were doing the will of Allah. Plenty of Muslims will tell you that the killers of Berg were wrong in their understanding of Islam. Murder is murder and can't be excused by religion or ideology.
There are people who are failing to make necessary distinctions between the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the murder of Nicholas Berg. Responding to the latter, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he condemned "all killings of innocent civilians in Iraq [just] as he condemns all abuse of prisoners." Both are to be condemned, yet not without observing that those who abused prisoners are subject to laws that respect human rights, while the murderers of Berg aspire to a world in which there are no such laws and no regard for human rights.
For more than two weeks, the nation has been shamed by the disgusting pictures from Abu Ghraib. But the barbaric killing of Nicholas Berg is a jolting reminder of the kind of people who declared war on the United States and who now, in Iraq, aim to prevent the development of a free society. Their intention, as President Bush pointed out, is "to shake our will" to complete the mission in Iraq. May the story of the gruesome murder of Nick Berg have the opposite effect.
Terry Eastland is publisher of The Weekly Standard. This column first appeared in the Dallas Morning News.
I would like to end this post with something I use as my email auto signiture.
Article VI: I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.
I thought judges exist to interpret laws not write them.
It figures that the high courts of the state that has given us such political dynamos such as Ted(I'm not a drunk)Kennedy and John(What's my opinion on this subject today)Kerry has now given us the deviant and not publicly support institution of "same sex" marriage. In a state where 2 out of 3 people do not support it and nationwide that gap jumps up to 3 out of 4 we have Hippy judges (that are next to impossible to remove) telling us the voting public that they don't care what we think. Keep in mind that this is not a partisan issue. Support against this attack on our normal way of life comes from both sides of the political fence. The deviants who are pushing this on us love to scream tolerance when they themselves are extremely intolerant. These militant gays don't understand that there lifestyle is currently tolerated by the majority of Americans. What is not tolerated is the ramming of a lifestyle which is not normal down our throats. Now I know I am going to catch some flack for saying that but it is true. Normal is defined by Websters as "a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle b : conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern". So if vast majority of people in this country and in the world are Heterosexual then the only logical and correct description of the homosexual lifestyle is to say that it is not normal. I cannot stress the importance of stay vigilant to this kind of attack. If we are to survive as a Nation or as a people we must maintain a lifestyle that is based on the fundamental concepts given to us in the Bible. As it has been and always should be marriage is only between a man and a woman.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Ok it's Friday and it's almost time to leave work.
I need to get out of the dumpy mood. I know I will update everyone on what is happening with the Hippy teachers. Apparently the offenders have been pulled from their classrooms and now Rick Roberts will be appearing on the HANNITY AND COLMES show tonight to report on this. Finally Nick Berg might get some real national coverage.
As my world turns.
This past week I find myself feeling distant from the normal activities in my life. I find myself torn between the wonderful life I have and this burning urge to sign up for military service in The Marine Corp Reserves(always been partial to the Marines, after all they are the nations 911 force). Coming from a Law Enforcement environment that seemed to surround me when I was growing up. I have always felt an urge to serve in the Armed Forces but I never really acted on it. Maybe it was the fact that I fell in love with my wife and I married young. Or the fact that we started having kids right away, I don't know. But lately it has really been bothering me that I never enlisted. This is probably going to be a big surprise to my wife since I gave her the URL to my blog today, and she will be hearing this for the first time. To my wife: Don't worry I am not going to run off and enlist. But It is bothering me that I am not doing enough to help out in this (Justified and righteous)war. I try to stay vocal and defend our military and our commander and chief. It just doesn't feel like enough. Oh well I am now just rambling. Maybe I will post something more pertinent later.
Work
This is very strange. It is 2:07 pm and nothing weird has happened today. Well I guess that fact that nothing wrong has happened could be considered the weird thing.
Update regarding the Hippy teacher
The following is an statement from the Rick Roberts Show who broke the story 1st.
"BREAKING NEWS ON THE RICK ROBERTS SHOW
"If they won't show the video of Nick Berg on TV, how dare they show it to unsuspecting students in Grossmont High Schools!" - Rick Roberts
YOU HEARD IT FIRST ON THE RICK ROBERTS SHOW
This morning Rick Roberts took a call from a very upset Mom named Carol. Carol told all of San Diego that her 16 year old daughter was shown the video of Nick Berg's decapitation in her photography class at El Capitan High School! And if that wasn't bad enough, Carol said the Photography teacher at El Capitan said "Well, that's what we get for going to war" to her students after they saw the video. No parents or students were told that this was going to happen.
After Carol's call, The Rick Roberts Show took a call from Phil. Phil was a very upset dad whose son was in his History class at Grossmont High School when the teacher walked into the room and showed a still picture of Nick Berg's head being held up by the terrorist that had just murdered him. Phil told Rick and his audience that the teacher said "Hey! Look what I have for you!" The teacher then proceeded to play the audio of Nick Berg's beheading to his classroom full of 17 and 18 year old students. No parents or students were told that this was going to happen.
The Rick Roberts Show contacted The Grossmont Union School District Superintendent Dr. Terry Ryan and told him of the outrageous behavior of these 2 teachers. Dr. Ryan, much to his credit, came on the air with Rick and broke the news that both teachers are under investigation and if the events happened as stated that the School District will not stand for this. Dr. Ryan said " I didn't even watch the video. I don't want any student being forced to watch it!"
We at The Rick Roberts Show are very proud of the immediate action that Dr. Ryan displayed on the show. The two teachers have been taken out of their classrooms pending the full investigation. Internet access at one of the schools has been suspended.
Unfortunately, we believe these two teachers are only the tip of the iceberg. We have heard of 2 other schools that may have played the video or showed still pictures of Nick's brutal death. When we confirm the school names, we will let you know on Monday's show."
You better believe I will be listening on Monday.
"BREAKING NEWS ON THE RICK ROBERTS SHOW
"If they won't show the video of Nick Berg on TV, how dare they show it to unsuspecting students in Grossmont High Schools!" - Rick Roberts
YOU HEARD IT FIRST ON THE RICK ROBERTS SHOW
This morning Rick Roberts took a call from a very upset Mom named Carol. Carol told all of San Diego that her 16 year old daughter was shown the video of Nick Berg's decapitation in her photography class at El Capitan High School! And if that wasn't bad enough, Carol said the Photography teacher at El Capitan said "Well, that's what we get for going to war" to her students after they saw the video. No parents or students were told that this was going to happen.
After Carol's call, The Rick Roberts Show took a call from Phil. Phil was a very upset dad whose son was in his History class at Grossmont High School when the teacher walked into the room and showed a still picture of Nick Berg's head being held up by the terrorist that had just murdered him. Phil told Rick and his audience that the teacher said "Hey! Look what I have for you!" The teacher then proceeded to play the audio of Nick Berg's beheading to his classroom full of 17 and 18 year old students. No parents or students were told that this was going to happen.
The Rick Roberts Show contacted The Grossmont Union School District Superintendent Dr. Terry Ryan and told him of the outrageous behavior of these 2 teachers. Dr. Ryan, much to his credit, came on the air with Rick and broke the news that both teachers are under investigation and if the events happened as stated that the School District will not stand for this. Dr. Ryan said " I didn't even watch the video. I don't want any student being forced to watch it!"
We at The Rick Roberts Show are very proud of the immediate action that Dr. Ryan displayed on the show. The two teachers have been taken out of their classrooms pending the full investigation. Internet access at one of the schools has been suspended.
Unfortunately, we believe these two teachers are only the tip of the iceberg. We have heard of 2 other schools that may have played the video or showed still pictures of Nick's brutal death. When we confirm the school names, we will let you know on Monday's show."
You better believe I will be listening on Monday.
What the heck happened to our schools!
This morning on the way to "The Job" I was listening to the Rick Roberts Show. One of the callers was a woman from the Santee or Lakeside area who's daughter had to report her English teacher to school authorities. This "Hippy"(that is the name I give to all liberals) decided to show the Nick Berg Traditional Islamic execution to her class. Afterward she preached to them that is the reason why we should not go to war. Now needless to say I was a bit irate when I heard this. First of all she is an English teacher, and the last time I checked world current events was not part of that curriculum. Second the classroom is no place for her own (sick, debase, warped, and treasonous) political opinions to be voiced. These are, are kids that are being subject to this forced liberal indoctrination. I for one am glad that my kids are being home schooled.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Ok I lied.
This is truly my last post of the day. Just in case you have never seen this guys site, try this blog out.
http://www.imao.us/
This has got to be one of the funniest blogs I have ever read(and I go there on a daily basis).
http://www.imao.us/
This has got to be one of the funniest blogs I have ever read(and I go there on a daily basis).
One more post for the day
Well my work day is done, dinner is in my belly, the kids are all bathed, and I am back from picking up a dozen Atkins unfriendly doughnuts. I love doughnuts. Everyone of them is filled with its own sugary piece of heaven. Yes they could make you fat(only if your a lazy non exercising couch potato). But if your willing to take the risk, the pay off of taste is worth it. Anyways my day is now done. Hopefully tomorrow I will be in a real spunky mood to comment on the blathering idiots being trotted out by the liberal elite media to bash our fighting men and woman in Iraq(yes I'm talking about you Ted "I left my date at the bottom of a river in my car" Kennedy).
The start of something new.
Well I've been threatening to start my own blog for awhile now and after reading an article on Yahoo news about blogspot.com I finally broke down and did it. To give you some history, my original idea for my blog was going to be attached to a website I have been working on for about a year. But after seeing how easy it was to create and maintain it through this option I chose the easy way out(I can be lazy like that once in awhile). In the future I will be ranting and raving about current events, the weirdness which is my family, and the absolute comedy which is otherwise known as my job. Well I'm done for now. Until next time.
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