Christians aren't better, just forgiven

I've encountered those who believe that just because Christians believe in a standard of right and wrong and usually vote based on those standards as well as numerous other reasons that we believe we are better than other people. The truth is we are not. Now there may be some Christians out there that believe that, but they aren't immune to being wrong. When someone first accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior the first thing they must do is admit that they are a sinner. If you do not admit that you are a sinner then how are you going to ask to be forgiven of sin? We are still human beings. Human beings are imperfect. If the only thing keeping you from asking Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior and to forgive you of your sins is that you think christians believe themselves to be perfect and are never wrong and are too stuck up to follow then I'll tell you this, stop looking at us and start looking at the one we follow. He is perfect, we are not. We make mistakes just like everyone else and anyone who claims to be a Christian and believes to be perfect is totally wrong. A pastor of mine once said regarding our church, "If you are perfect you should leave because we'll just bring you down." The only thing that sets us apart from other human beings is the fact that we have asked Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior and forgive us of our sins and He has done just that.

Separation of Church and State

During Christmas we hear many people replacing Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays or Seasons greetings, but why? Many would say the separation of Church and state has trickled down to the department stores and TV shows. After being for quite a while disturbed at the removal of Christmas from the Winter season and replaced with a generic holiday, and after listening to other opinions about the matter I decided to see for myself what the first amendment to the constitution actually said, after all, if it is vague and hard to interperate exactly what the founding fathers meant then it is understandable why people would be reluctant to recognize that this is indeed Christmas time. The first amendment reads as follows, exactly:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

I highlighted some parts for a reason because what I found was that the first amendment was not vague at all. It's written in plain English. The first word I put in red is "congress" and then "make no law". It says congress can make no laws recognizing any religion. I thought to myself, that only applies to congress. Could I be wrong to assume that since it plainly uses the word "congress"? So if it only applies to Congress passing religion into law then it does not apply to teachers displaying merry Christmas on their bulletin boards or the class pledging "one nation under God" in their pledge of allegiance. It does not apply to state governments and state court houses have every right to display the 10 commandments for what ever reason they may decide. It does no apply to the valedictorian of the highschool class thanking God for his/her achievements during the speech at graduation. It does not apply to the highschool football coach who praying before the big game. It doesn't apply to the President who is free to get on TV and pray for his nation. And it certainly does not apply to the sales associate at the mall who is forced to say Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas. As well it shouldn't, because then the next part I highlighted would be in violation, "prohibiting free exercise thereof". It also abridges the freedom of speech protected by this very amendment. And who would be offended by Christmas anyway? 98% of Americans claim to observe Christmas. 1% Observe Hanukkah , 1% claim atheism and less than 1% claim the be Muslim or other. Even though it is not by law America is a Christian nation. I see more clearly what they mean by the term "activist judges" because only someone with an agenda could take this clear, plain English amendment and distort it the way it has been distorted. It's time to leave teachers and state governments alone. They are not congress and them mentioning God is not them passing a law recognizing a religion.

The Roe Effect

A theory has recently come to my attention which is worth noting. Whether or not this theory is true remains to be seen, but it makes sence and is quite interesting. It's called the Roe Effect. Basically the idea is America is becoming more conservative over time because Liberals are more likely to have an abortion than Conservatives. Conservatives are more likely to birth thier babies and since a child's views usually match closely those of the parents, Conservatives are breeding faster. A very interesting concept! In fighting for the right to kill their own children were they also fighting for the right to kill future voters who would vote their way? Were they fighting to become extinct or endangered? It's certainly concept worth thinking about.

Comparing the fight to for a gay marriage ban against racism.

Being racists is stupid because there is no way a person of any race can ever become anything else. That's what they are down to their DNA. And there's nothing wrong with it to begin with. Objecting to the lifestyle of a homosexual is a little different because a homosexual can become not homosexual. Homosexuality describes their actions, not their color or other physical characteristic. It's something they do that is unacceptable. They aren't a new race of people or a new gender. They are normal people of common race or gender who engage in a socially unacceptable behavior. That being said, hating them and thinking less of them and doing harm to them is also unacceptable behavior. This would be bigotry. Disagreeing with them and finding their behavior unacceptable is not. This could be said for any behavior. Disagreeing with someone's behavior does not make you a bigot. I disagree with heterosexuals having mindless, meaningless sex with multiple partners with not even a second thought of the consequences. Am I a bigot against them? No I'm not. But I'm not going to support their actions by giving them special legal treatment either. What happens when these heterosexuals want to marry everyone they've ever slept with? Will they go try to make it legal? Marriage is the foundation of our society. Not just marriage but the family. Mother, father, children. If we start adding Father, Father, children, or Mother, Mother children or even Mother, Mother, Father, Children to it we will be tampering with the foundation of our society. Just as you can't tear up the concrete foundation of your house and put down brick without your house falling in. Redefining marriage as anything, not just for homosexuals, but anything but one man and one woman is asking for problems. We're not even so concerned that it's the homosexuals who want to change it. If it were heterosexuals wanting polygamous marriages we'd still have a problem because it would be an attempt to redefine the foundation of our society. That is the family. I find the attitude of marriage in general to be rather deteriorating anyway. Not just from gays but everyone. The 50% divorce rate was mentioned before. I agree that's a problem. Marriage is a serious thing. It should be one man, One woman and there should be no, "well we'll just try it and if it doesn't work out we can divorce" attitude when it comes to it. It’s one man, one woman for life except in cases of abuse and cheating spouses. It's the attitude of marriage from everyone, not just those who want to let gays married, that has us up in arms. We want to return marriage to the serious, strong, life long, Man/Woman commitment that it should be. We aren't bigoted against homosexuals, we aren't bigoted against polygamists, we're not even bigoted against the man who wants to marry his sheep. We simply hold the institution of marriage in a high regard and consider it a serious and important part of society. The foundation of a family which is the foundation of society.

Moral Issues...

I believe our founding fathers based our country on Christianity. I think if they could look forward in time and see the effect of putting into the constitution that the USA would not respect any religion would actually have on the country they would have been more clear about how they worded it. I think basically what they were trying to say was, America will not create a "Church of America" like England created a "Church of England" because such a church is easily corrupted by politicians. I don't believe they ever ment to restrict our rights as Christians or for moral values to be in dispute because of "seperation of church and state". I believe if you took any one of our founding fathers, brought him forward and time, and told him that gay marriage was in dispute and that it was legal for a mother to kill her baby before it is born he would either faint in shock or get so angry he couldn't speak clearly. This isn't the America they had in mind when they founded our nation.

The future energy source for automobiles.

As an owner and lover of old cars I am not going to be quick to replace my internal combustion engine any time soon. I don't believe I'm alone in this. There are many who depend on them and who can't afford to replace them. There are also many who have fairly new vehicles they've invested a lot of money in. So while technologies like hydrogen fuel cells sound great, I just don't think they'll catch on fast enough. My solution? I think we need to shift towards a synthetic gasoline that will burn in an existing, unaltered gas engine. This is not impossible. The technology already exists. We just need to make it better. If we could make gasoline by synthetic means and make it cheaper, the price at the pump would go down and it would catch on quickly. I even see the potential for cheap high-octane fuel from this. I know I'm a conservative but you can't deny that some day the oil is going to run out and terrorists are going to make it hard to get it from them. Environmentalists are making it difficult to drill in Alaska, which would relieve the burden of foreign oil. This is a way people can keep their cars, for whatever reason they prefer and we can still make gasoline cheaper right here in America.

By the way, here's my old car :
Click Here

It's over

I want to thank John Kerry for conceding to President Bush. While your past comments and actions have invoked alot of anger and personal offence on my part, I am relieved that at the last moment he chose to show an unusual glimmer of character in preventing another 2000 style recount. America is better off for it. Mr. Kerry you ran a tough race and were a worthy opponent. I appreciate your bowing out of this race in such a timely manner when it was clear you were not the winner.

President Bush. I am thrilled that you have been re-elected as President. I'm thankful that your strong leadership and Character will remain standing strong for our nation. Continue the fantastic job you are doing with holding the weight of the world on your shoulders. Hopefully this election will encourage you to know that the majority of us are still behind you. I can't think of anyone else's shoulders I'd rather have my world rest on. Even though I showed Kerry some respect in the last comment (he earned it by conceding) I'm glad it doesn't have to rest on his shoulders. I don't think he could handle the weight. Thank you for being a good president, and a good man. Welcome back to the whitehouse Mr. President. My prayers are with you!

The third and final debate

I'll have to say this about John Kerry. Not only now am I personally offended by his comments but am discusted with him. His stance on homosexuality and abortion are just flat out liberal. Before I go any farther on the matter though I would like to clarify that I do not hate homosexuals. You will get no bashing from this blog. I don't believe anyone calling themsleves a Christian should hate homosexuals or anyone else for that matter. My God does not hate homosexuals and I don't believe we have any business hating anyone that God loves. It's not the person but the actions we do not like. This is the same stance God takes. He loved us enough in our sin to let Jesus die for us. That being said I will get back to Sen. Kerry's remarks. Mistaken remark #1, "we are all God's children". No we're not. It's true that God loves everyone equally, and Jesus died for everyone equally, however, to be called God's child you must have recieved salvation trough the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the Christian definition of a child of God. Mistaken remark #2, "Homosexuality is not a choice" I'm sorry but yes it is, in a way. It may very well be a very difficult choice to deny once you've made it. But it is a choice. In many cases homosexuality is usually the result of some sort of rejection from a respected father figure. Instead of receiving healthy male love from that father figure the homosexual has sexualized the need to for male love much like promiscuous women often do. Through Jesus Christ one can choose to reject it. Kerry said it was "the way God made them" in his speach but God will never put anything in your DNA which will cause you to sin. I'll give you a basis for why I think if you are a homosexual you can make the choice not to be. I know of a man, actually an old friend of my wife's, who was once a homosexual. He even performed in drag shows. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and stopped being homosexual. He then met and married an Ex-lesbian who had a similar experience and now they have several children. They even have a successful ministry for other Homosexuals who would like to know how they can have the same experience. Once you've made the choice to be homosexual it is a hard choice to say no to. But through the blood of Jesus you can choose to not be homosexual. The great thing about being an American is that you do have the choice. Although I support a protection on traditional marriage that does not alter my belief that as an American you have the right as a concenting adult to do anything you choose in private. Saying you don't have the choice to change your lifestyle limits you as an American and a human being. It limits you to the leve of an animal that has no choice but to follow an instinct. Of coarse you have the choice. And as an American you are free to excersize that choice. Remember the power of Christ in your life gives you freedom.

Iraq's non existing nuclear program

First here is the story:
Link to Story

The story, which can be found on many other news sites around the world, claims that Iraq's nuclear equipment that can be used to make nuclear weapons is now missing. How can Iraq's nuclear equipment that can be used to make nuclear weapons be missing if they weren't suppose to have nuclear equipment which can be used to make nuclear weapons? How can stuff that never existed before the war now all of a sudden be missing? Theory? Yes I have one. Is it right? I don't know, but it makes sence. Iraq had this equipment before the war and the UN knew it was there. When we showed up to do our business the UN had to get out. Now mind you Saddam had 6 months to get rid of anything illegal. Durring that 6 months, and while we were there also, Saddam and his people dismantled the stuff and shipped it out. They already said some stuff has turned up in other countries. We do a check now guess what we find? No nuclear programs. They're missing because of Saddam and his followers. But they never existed so I suppose there's nothing to worry about!

Stem Cell Research

After the death of Christopher Reeves the subject of embryonic stem cell research has come up once again. May people believe that because pro-lifers are against it it means we don't care about the people who are ill or injured. This is not true. The information the political left are trying to feed you to get their vote is incorrect. Yes we believe that destroying an embryo for stem cells destroys a human life. But not just that, it destroys a human life in vein because embryonic stem cells do not work! They are known to cause tumors in lab rats and even humans who have been injected with them in other countries where the morality of it is not in question. Both embryos and adults die from this research.
Embryonic stem cells also suffer the same rejection from your body that an implanted organ does. Adult stem cells however show great promise and are not rejected because they come from you. They can be altered to form a wide variety of tissues. If stem cell research is to succeed it will be with Adult stem cells because they work. The political left is really playing up Christopher Reeves's death to promote this subject however do not let them fool you. Even with fully funded embryonic stem cell research Christopher Reeves outcome would have been no different because a cure would not have been found in time, or even worse a cure could have been attempted and he would have died of a tumor on his spinal cord. One person I'm rather disappointed in is Ronald Reagan Jr. The son of former, and now the late president Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan, Jr. supports embryonic stem cell research and is as liberal as they come. For Mr. Reagan I would have this message:

Mr. Reagan. Your father was one of the greatest presidents in American history. His memory is that of an honest and Godly man who led this nation proudly and who loved it more than anything. You however sir dishonor his name. You sir should legally change your name because you go against everything the name Ronald Reagan represents. I'm quite sure your father would not have wanted to live with a cure that costs someone else their life, and like Mr. Reeves this research would not have helped. Your father may have very well been given a brain tumor instead of a cure. Your father's illness was not just the dying away of brain cells but also a break in their connections. New brain cells would not have helped. You sir are a disappointment to the name Ronald Reagan.

Friends please don't let the political left fool you into thinking they are right on this matter. They're lying to you for your vote. An embryo put to death for its stem cells has died in vein because those stem cells will not cure any disease and the adult that receives them will most likely end up with a tumor and die also.

On a lighter, but frustrating note... My out of gas adventure!!

I live about 50 miles from work. My wife gets payed every thursday and I get payed every other thursday which means thursday is a day of few funds until I get payed or get home that evening depending on the week. Well this thursday just so happened to be a week in which I got payed, however I do not get my pay check until I get to work. This left my pockets rather empty until then and unfortunatly so was my gas tank. On my way to work Thursday morning my car, a beautiful 1976 Chevy nova, Ran out of gas. It gets great gas mileage mind you because of it's manual transmission and 250 cubic inch inline 6 cylinder engine and 2.73 rear end, but unfortuantly great mileage only last so long and this morning my limit had been reached. I get out of the car and get my gas can out of the trunk and proceed to walk down the street. I had 1.41 on a pay pal debit card and I intended to use it. I only had about 20 miles to go and it would be a stretch but I could do it. As I walked a man in a truck stopped by me and asked me if I needed help. I gladly accepted and got in his truck. He drove me to the closest gas station (kinda glad for this because it was rather far) and I purchased my $1.40 worth of gas. We get back to my car and I get out of his truck. He reaches in the back of his truck and gets out a gas can of his own. Before I can stop him he is puting the liquid inside in my gas tank. He then makes a comment along the lines of, " This is chain saw gas, it's got oil in it, that one can isn't going to be enough." He also made such comments as, "It''ll probably run better and clean it out". Well the damage had been done so I poor my can in and he's off. I start my car and proceed to work. There's a problem. My car did not like his 2 cycle fuel/oil mix at all. It began bucking and surging and would not accelerate over 40mph. I immediatly blame the oil filled gas and proceed with work in the hopes that it will all burn out. Not too far from work now the car stops again. It won't start. My first thought was that it ran out of gas again. I walk to Walmart, which is not within walking distance and it has a gas station. I call work and have a co-worker bring me my pay check. I cash it there at Walmart and get some more gas in my can. We get back to my car and I put the gas in. There was another problem. It just didn't want to start. With some trying it would, but would not stay running long. I finally got it to move enough to get it to the side of the road and my co-worker drove me to work. After work me and another co worker go back to fix the car. After many trips to a near by auto-zone we managed to clean the burnt oil off of all the spark plugs and replace the fuel filter, which was seriously clogged with oil! We finally got done about 9:00 that night and my car runs great again. Moral of the story? Don't let strangers put 2 cycle mix in your gas tank.

Presidential Elections

The time has come for our country to select a leader once again. We can either keep the one we have, or choose someone else. But that someone else is my concern. It is my opinion that John F. Kerry is not fit to lead our country, and that his running mate, John Edwards is far from qualified to be Vice President, let alone President if something should happen to Kerry. Kerry's own words prove he has no idea what is going on in the world. His record shows him to be wrong a majority of the time. And his attendence record is just horrible. I think after puting his foot in his mouth a few times our allies will not favor him either. He has already belittled the Iraqi prime minister in front of the whole world questioning his honesty which is no way to win allies. No he has said that we need to no defeat terror, but reduce it to an "acceptible nuisance". How few people have to die before terrorist is not a threat but rather an "acceptible nuisance"? What is the number we have to reduce the amount of innocent lives taken to before the pain felt by their families is not pain but rather just an "acceptible nuisance"? Terrorism is not nor will it ever be just an "acceptible nuisance". At what point do we say, "oh well it's just another terrorist. They'll get him?" If it is not completely stopped and if freedom and liberty is not put in its place then terror has the potential to hold the world in fear and agony. Terror threatens freedom. That's twice Mr. Kerry has stuck his foot in his mouth on this campain about Terror and Iraq. No amount of flip flopping will make us forget these ignorant and outragous statements that this man has made. This man isn't fit to lead a boy scout troup let alone the USA. Now about edwards. The man has no experience, has made the same lies and mistaken claims as Kerry and is right behind him in every flip flop there is to make. I fear for our nation if Kerry is somehow elected and then dies. If Edwards were to take office as our president we'd be in serious trouble.

First things First

Even though this isn't my first blog it's the first blog with a specific topic. I am a Christian. What does that mean? It does not just mean I believe there is a God. It does not just mean I go to church. It does not just mean I believe what the bible says. It does not just mean I do what Christians are suppose to do. All that is fine, but it's just religion. It means that I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I have received the gift of Salvation which Christ payed for on the Cross. Anyone who has seen Mel Gibson's new movie can understand how he payed for it. But why? What was the point of such violence? Well it all starts in the beginning. The good old book of Genesis. God made 2 people. Adam and Eve. The world he made was perfect. There was no violence or terrorism. No one ever died, not even the animals. Everyone and every thing was vegetarian even. At least that was the original plan. God had also created angels which are His messengers for the purpose of ministering to us. One of these angels, who was pretty high on the latter of importance, decided he was big stuff. He decided he deserved to be God. God had to kick him out of heaven. See Heaven is perfect, no sin exist in Heaven, so God had to remove the sin from heaven. This angel's name was Lucifer, otherwise known as Satan or the Devil. Lucifer was not thrilled with God's decision to kick him out. He decided in his hatred for God to get back at him. Back on earth Adam and Eve were enjoying the paradise that God had created for them. In that time God had only one rule. To break this rule was a sin. Do not eat of the tree in the center of the garden. That's it, The only sin that existed. Why did God put the tree there with such a command? To give us a choice. God wants us to choose Him and not be mindless followers. Lucifer, taking the form of a serpent decided to trick Eve into eating of this tree. He was successful and in turn she shared the fruit with Adam. This was the beginning of sin. And once sin entered the earth it caused a downward spiral. God had to take away the "no one ever dies" thing for man and beast. Why? It wasn't just for punishment. It was so he could redeem us from sin. See He had a plan for removing our sins from us. That plan was Jesus. Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus came to earth born to a virgin named Mary. His great plan was to come to earth and be born as a man and die in our place to take the punishment for our sins on himself. When he died on the cross he stood in your place. He took your sins upon himself. After 3 days of death in a tomb Jesus rose from the dead and again taught his deciples and eventually ascended into heaven. If God had not taken away the "no one ever dies" thing, this plan could not take place because Jesus would not have been able to die. Not only that, but crucifixion would have never been invented. How do you make this plan count for you? For starters just ask! Go to God in prayer and ask him to be your Lord and to save you. Tell him you Repent of your sins, which means you are willing to reject your sin and turn away. Tell him you believe in Jesus and who he is. This will be the first prayer that God will hear from you! Come to him just as you are. Make no worries about not being good enough, it doesn't matter. Whatever you've done and whatever you're in to it has already been payed for on the cross. There is no surprising God. No one is too bad to be saved. Even Saddam or Osama bin Laden could be saved if they chose to be. Jesus even took the punishment for their sins. This is the beginning of your life with the Lord. There will be ups and downs but the Lord will always be there.

My first blog

Even thought I am skilled in the ways of the modern computer when I first heard the word Blog I was like, So what, it's just a web page?! Then I began reading some and decided to give it a try. I have a set of opinions that I believe are correct and believe this is a good way for me to express them. First you should know that I am a Republican and a Christian. I am a republican because I am a Christian. I can not in good conscience vote for a Democrat if he supports the premature destruction of Life in the womb or the immoral marrying of people of the same sex. I therefore must align myself with the party that most closely, however imperfectly, aligns itself with my own Christian values. That would currently be the Republican party. It just seems to me that the Democratic party leaches on to every issue that is immoral, indecent and incorrect and tries it's hardest to take the wrong side of it. I believe it is my Christian duty to vote for a President, or Governor, or other elected official who will take my Christian beliefs with him to office. It is almost a sin to vote for a man who will counter good Christian morals while in office. It's up to us not to put our country in the hands of the ungodly and that is why I am a republican. Do I believe democrats can't be Christians? Not at all! The Democratic party wasn't always such a depraved haven for liberals as Zell Miller is living proof. I'm not just a bible thumping stiff shirt who hates people who disagree with me. Not at all. This is America. As a friend of mine once said, "You have the right to be wrong." I couldn't agree more. There's much more about me that you will learn over the course of this blog I'm sure. Like the pets I own, the car I drive, my wonderful wife whom I adore!