What you believe does matter.

I’ve heard a lot of stuff lately about Islam being a peaceful and coexistent religion, how they just want to live their lives like everybody else, how they’ll leave us alone if we leave them alone, etc, ad nausium. But history reveals a much darker, more sinister side to the religion that has become suddenly so fashionable.

When Muslims are the minority, they do tolerate; but look out when they get strong enough—they go a conquering. It’s part of their religion. That’s what they believe. The entire world must be converted to believe in Allah or face his wrath at their hand. So much for tolerance.

Islam seeks to assume all roles in society, including that of government. Some say we should never go to a Christian theocracy in this country; they value their personal freedom, they say. But which would you rather have? A Christian theocracy, with its tenets of love, respect, and dignity of the individual, law and order but personal freedom, being no one’s slave, and the list goes on; or an Islamarchy, with the absolute rule of the clerics, no personal freedom, everyone forced to believe the same thing, and I’m just warming up? Something to think about

I don’t have anything against the Muslims themselves; they are good people, just trapped in a bad religious system. For more information about the true dangers of Islam, go to www.perilofislam.com.

Be courteous and polite.

I’m starting to learn a very difficult lesson: be courteous and polite to people, even when you’re sure they’re wrong. After all, wouldn’t you want others to treat you with the same respect?

I’m Back

The trip was a resounding success, as I knew it would be. The kids are growing up fast! Ben’s 14, and he’s the oldest of the six. I still remember holding him as a baby! My, how time flies! Anyway, they always enjoy visits with Mom-mom, Pop-pop, and some aunt or uncle. On this trip I was that uncle.

On Thursday evening we went to see an Easter play at the church they attend. My brother-in-law played the part of the grandfather, even though he’s, like, 43? Guess they thought he was good for the part on account of his graying hair or something. The play was written by a member of that church.

Well, anyway, I had a great time!

Family

I’m going to Pennsylvania tomorrow. Going to see my nephews and nieces. I’m so excited! Pennsylvania is several hours away from Virginia, so we’ll be staying up there most of the week. We’ll be getting back on Friday.

It’s been a long time. Couple of years since I last saw them, perhaps? Well, something like that. Anywho, I’ll be away from the computer during that time. I’ll post again soon.

Welcome, Netscape Users

This page is now Netscape-friendly. Enjoy!

Pornography is Dead Wrong

I should know. I’ve tried it. It’s not the glamorous show that it’s been purported to be. Portayals of males and females in states of partial or complete immodesty and of acts which should be kept secret only appeal to our “baser instincts.” Why is this bad? Because we were made in God’s image, and He doesn’t wish for us to take the image of our Creator and misuse it to satisfy the flesh.

There are many scriptures that apply, but just a few examples are: “...thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife...” (Exodus 20:17); “...whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28); “...God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature...” (Romans 1:24,25); “...not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater...” (1 Corinthians 5:11); and “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:” (Colossians 3:5).

Like I’ve said, I’ve viewed pornography myself. But I won’t do it again, because I see its damaging effects. God has delivered me from it, but the scars remain. Sin does have its price.

Absolute Truth

Two philosophers are having a discussion one day, and it goes something like this:

Philosopher 1:

Actually, it doesn’t matter what you believe. What matters is that it makes sense to you. Besides, there’s no such thing as absolute truth anyway, because everything’s relative.

Philosopher 2:

Is that true?

Philosopher 1:

Absolutely.

Think about it.

Are you saved?

Many of you have been living the outward life of a Christian for years, but you might not actually be saved. The Holy Spirit might not be living inside of you, producing His fruit for you to bear. What am I talking about? I’m talking about behavior and attitudes produced by the Spirit of God.

For instance, you could be the most moral person in the country, but if you hate your brother, God says in I John that you do not love Him. You could go to Church every Sunday and give more than your share in offerings, and even do deeds of kindness to strangers; but if you’re trusting that to win entrance into Heaven, you are denying Jesus, and you haven’t been born again. Or if you’re living just like the world and have no compunction against your behavior, chances are really good that you have never been saved.

You may have prayed to Jesus to save you. And I can’t be the one to convict you if you did it insincerely; only God can do that. Examine yourselves; are you in the Faith?

It’s true, whether or not it’s believed.

Truth is not defined by personal opinion. To say that truth is relative to the individual is to deny the very existence of it. But in fact truth comes from a solid basis in objective, observable facts. And facts can be verified by others who view the same information. It is the existence of facts and imperical analysis that makes scientific study possible. If nothing at all were unltimately true, we could never know anything, and so if relativism were true, how would you know it?

Guess I haven’t learned yet.

Last night at work I got soundly reprimanded by the restaurant owner. It seems I was getting a little heated because there were dishes that needed to be loaded and a dish rack was in the way of unloading the previous load. The co-worker I was dealing with did not speak very good English, and I was getting frustated trying to communicate with him. (He’s from Ecuador.) Anyhow, Filippo—that’s the owner—got angry at me, and rightly so, because I wasn’t behaving in the right way. I apologized, and the night was pretty tense after that, but I’m not fired.

I guess sometimes you learn and get to use that knowledge too!

An Encouraging Note

♬Be not dismayed, whate’er betide, God will take care of you.♬

Have a wonderful day.

Respect and Trust

As I’ve said before, respect is required if a marriage is to succeed. That said, though, it is not up to the individual to require respect from another. Trust is very important, too, but if trust is broken, it must be earned again unless the person doing the trusting voluntarily decides to trust again. This is a very important distinction to make, and I regret not having learned this lesson sooner—on the supply side, trust is given, and respect is given; but on the receiving end they should not be expected, but worked for instead.

And to the one I’ve offended: if you give me a chance, I promise to earn your trust and respect; and I’ll work very hard to do so. I know I haven’t been trustworthy and respectable in the past, but I want to make it up to you.

Don’t listen to me...

Don’t listen to me when I talk about how to save a marriage. Why do I say that? Because I’m divorced, and so I haven’t gotten a chance to try what I’m advocating and see it work for me. Now you wouldn’t put a water pump on your car off of a car that you knew had overheated, would you? So why take marriage advice from a divorcee? Obviously I’m not qualified to share ideas about how husbands and wives should behave toward each other—my marriage was a complete failure. All I can tell you is what hasn’t worked.

But there is someone who can tell you: God. He invented marriage, and He knows how it should work. Study the Bible, and take what you read personally. If we think the Word of God only applies to others, it cannot change us. And I include myself in that.

A thought

There’s a lot of controversy today about whether the Bible should be taken seriously... Just consider this: Ephesians 5:25b-27a reads, “...even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing...” When you get into the shower, do you let the water only wash part of you? Do you stand there watching the water fall and wonder what it all means? Do you pick and choose which drops are hitting your body? Of course not! We all just let the water freely flow over us, washing away all the dirt on our skin. But isn’t this exactly what some of us do with the Bible? Think about it.

He had everything going for Him...

This means He is God, and always was God. He had all the power, prestige, happiness, worship, authority, true pleasure, etc. that He would ever need, not “Ladies, Booze, Cash, Cars” as Anonymous just wrote. If indeed it is possible for the Son of God to be even more glorified by doing the will of the Father, then this is exactly what occurred when Jesus came and lived and suffered and died and rose again and ascended. If you are an unbeliever, you might not understand this yet.

“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB) Whoever you are, I understand your being confused about my wording. May God bless you.

The Stars

“The skies look so cluttered,”

To myself I muttered

One star-spangled night.

“They’re so close together

In this kind of weather;

My, my, what a sight!”

 

But wouldn’t you know,

If you were to go

From one star to another,

In all of your days,

There’s way too much space

To traverse, so why bother?

Happy New Year

As we make our resolutions this New Year, let’s resolve to listen to God and obey Him, even if we don’t understand why. Happy 2005, one and all!

Merry Christmas!

Most people don’t know all the symbols of Christmas that point to Christ himself as the Reason why this culture of ours celebrates the holiday. Take for example the holly, as described in “The Holly and the Ivy,” or the ever-popular Candy Cane we all love so much at Christmas. You can read the story about its symbolism at this site. Or take the word “Xmas”, the abreviation of “Christmas.” I’ve heard many well-meaning Christians say that Xmas is a bold attempt to X the name of Christ out of the name of Christmas. But in their ingorance of Greek they misunderstand. You see, the Greek letter Chi (Χ), which lookes like X, is the first letter of Χριστος, the Greek word for Christ, Jesus’ title, which means the same as the Hebrew title “Messiah”, meaning “anointed.” Merry “Χmas”!

God is Light

The thing which we have heard from old,

And seen, and held in hand,

Of that sure Word of Life foretold

That evermore shall stand:

That Word declare we unto you,

And manifest it be;

So with the Godhead we commune

Together joyfully.

The message is that God is Light;

In Him no darkness dwells.

If we are walking in His sight,

He shades of night dispels.

So if in darkness we are yet,

The truth we do not tell

To say the Father we have met

And in the Son do dwell.

The blood of Jesus Christ the Son

All sin will cleanse away,

As we’ve been promised, everyone,

When to the Lord we pray;

And saying not, “We have no sin,”

Ourselves thus to deceive,

But telling all our fault to Him,

To trust Him and believe.

Based on I John ch. 1

God is good.

A friend of mine in Lynchburg called me up this past Friday. Seems the restaurant he works at is really busy on weekends, so I got to work there in the kitchen, washing dishes, prep’ing food, just general all-round helping out on an informal sort of basis. But I did such I good job that they want me to do the same next weekend. This could end up being a regular thing—and if I do well at this, perhaps it’ll be easier to get other employment later on.