Why I don't Celebrate Earth Day

 I guess you have to understand my roots to understand why I would make such a terrible, and very counter-cultural claim. A few years ago, my father & I happened to be talking on the phone on Earth Day, and he mentioned he was letting his water run all day, and had all the lights on- to make up for the environmentalists trying to save the planet. I laughed. He WAS only half joking!

First of all, as a Christian, I have problems with Earth Day's pagan roots and its post modern present ideology. (that article, BTW, is AMAZING!)

Secondly, it has strong connections to Lenin's birthday, socialist liberal agenda, and even Communism. 

Third, its founder was a cold-hearted murderer. And yet he is still is an honored hero among many liberal leaders. 

I do believe we should be good stewards of this world God has blessed us with! But most environmentalism today is based on fear, money, and a social agenda of control that has NOTHING to do with wanting to help the environment.

Oh, and by the way, most recycling does more harm than good!

Obama 2016 is Coming!

I was watching my computer screen the second Fox News changed the map of OH to blue. The way things were going that night, I was not as hopeful as I had been earlier in the day. Shocked, to say the least, then depressed, then scared- I mean, scared out of my mind for where this country is heading. That is my personality though, to turn to fear automatically. God is delivering me from it slowly. :) I have been listening to this incredibly timely song over & over.

(The video on the story behind the song is also really good.)

 

While I desire God to take away my fear, wisdom will require that concern for our country remains. What happened? What could possibly be the explanaition for the election results? We no longer have the excuse we had 4 years ago of not really knowing the man. I am not as upset that Obama has 4 more years as I am that more than 50% of the people in this country are the kind of people who would vote for him. 

 

Three kinds of people voted for Obama...

1- The people who know exactly who he is and what he's about and completely agree with his worldview, strategies, and goals for (really against) this country. These are smart, well-informed people with a worldview so different from you or I, it's scary. They purposefully want to bankrupt this country, so that we'll be forced into soliacism or something worse. These people make up a VERY small percentage of those who voted for Obama.

2- Then you have those, mostly young, mostly women (although increasingly not so), who voted their immature, pop culture, popularity seeking, feelings. You could also include in this group those who voted for him because he's black, and they're perhaps not so immature as they are just simply racist. One girl on Facebook commented, "There's just something about Romney's face and smirk I don't like. I don't know if I could handle hearing his voice for 4 years either." Obama's good looking, charismatic, sarcastic, and confident- all qualities that Gen Y'ers really take to. These people don't look deeper; they don't even know his policies.

3- Then you have the largest group who are just uneducated and misinformed. Or perhaps I should say mis-educated, because some of them are very "educated" in the worldly sense. They do not know or understand history. They've been educated by the public school system's revisionist history. They know very little of the Constition. And HOW can you vote for a good leader for this country unless you know what they're supposed to be like, which is found in the Constitution? These are the people that think the Democrat party is for helping the poor. This group is also full of poor people who simply don't know, because they've never been taught, that more government involvement in thier lives really will dig their pit deeper and NOT help them out! I, first and foremost, blame the public schools for the mindset of this group. According to exit polling, 6 million "evangelical Christians" voted for Obama. I blame pastors, mostly, for this number, who are so scared to touch politics, that they won't teach what the Bible has to say about government and how a country should be set up. (Most of them don't even know themselves.)

 

But there is something else at work. No society is perfect. God has blessed this country because it was founded on Christian values and on the Bible, but we live in a fallen world. This quote from Alexis de Tocqueville, a French historian who traveled to the US in the 1800's and wrote about our life here, sums up what's happening and what will happen. This is what happened to Rome- not just the fiscal irresponsibility but the moral collapse as well.

 

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (Liberality in bestowing gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.” ― Alexis de Tocqueville

 

I'm sickened and sad for our country. I'm not too good at making predictions, and I hope many of mine are wrong, but one thing I do think will happen is that we'll see a clearer dividing line between Christians and non-Christians. Not in the sense that Christianity will pull away and hate the world, but that those who are nominal Christians will sell out, and those who are real will become so much more commited. More predictions and where to go from here in a later post, perhaps.... (or maybe you could tell me! ;) )

 

 

Oh, and here's a link to the movie if you haven't seen it...



 http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=2SLa-poeHY4&feature=mv_sr

And an interview with the filmmaker...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9L-lK5QBPk

The Choice in November (& is not voting a choice?)

Was trying to find a good comic, but this is all I got. ^^


Thoughts on the debate last night...

• When discussing how to balance the budget, neither candidate talked much about cutting spending! That's so disappointing. Romney said tax cuts add to the deficit. No, actually, they don't. Spending & borrowing adds to the deficit. And the formula Obama talked about ("simple math") completely left out cutting spending as an option. That's not even on his radar screen!
• Evidence that Romney is really a liberal: He wants to lower tax exemptions, He "likes green energy", and "You have to have regulations!"
• Does anyone besides me seriously doubt that Romney will follow his rule of asking, "Is this program important enough to borrow money from China for?" to justify government programs. If we followed that rule, 80% of govt programs would cease. But then again, that's a pretty subjective rule.
• Most laughable quote of the night: "My grandmother was independent precisely because of Social Security & Medicare." (paraphrased) This is not just a case of needsadictionary. This is at the heart of his worldview, and we saw it very clearly here.
• Best argument of the evening: Obama says a voucher option for Medicare would leave seniors at the mercy of the insurance companies. (& yet being @ the mercy of the govt., who has never in its history been able to run anything more efficiently than the private sector, with the exception of the military, is just fine!?) But Romney says, "That's why they have a choice! They can choose to be @ the mercy of whomever they please! May the best product win!" (paraphrased)
• Romney's debating skills are far superior. Obama repeated himself too much, and talked too slowly.

The choice in November....

I definitely used to believe, as many say, that if there is not a candidate that supports most of my views, I should not vote or write one in, or vote for the 3rd party. In '08, I did write in. I don't believe that anymore, and here's why. It's a protest, but it's a wasted protest. What good did it do us last election? We told the Republican party that we didn't want any more moderates running with our lack of votes & votes for 3rd party candidates, but who won the primaries again this year? Another moderate! They are not getting it. Our energies need to be spent CHANGING the way the primary system works. That's foremost. Once someone wins that, our only choice is to throw our vote away or vote for whom we think is best. You may not like it; I certainly don't like it, but you can't change it by throwing your vote away, as that accomplishes nothing. We can change it by supporting people like Ron Paul or Herman Cain in the primaries, and then by working to change the primary process.

If you live a swing state...
Your choice is between running full speed ahead over the cliff or putting on the breaks a little bit. 

If you don't live in a swing state....
Because of our current system, what you do really doesn't matter much.

"I just won't vote"....

If you think it'd be better to just stay out of it and not vote, I'd challenge you to think again. You really don't have a choice, morally. Voting is not just a right, it's a responsibility. If you don't know enough about the candidates and the issues to make an informed decision, then inform yourself! People in my generation seem to think of politics as a hobby. If it's your thing, that's cool, just don't bother us too much about it. If it's not your thing, well you help the planet in different ways. I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who thought that way 200 years ago. And I'd venture to say our country would already be down the tubes by now if they had! 
If you still don't think you'll vote, I'd just ask one thing- drive up to Arlington Cemetery where the soldiers who gave their lives for your freedom are buried, or any other veterans memorial or cemetery, and just spit all over their graves.  That's what you're doing when you choose not to vote. (courtesy of my dad, only he didn't use the word "spit" ;) )

Religious Hostility in America

 

...against Christians. It's happening, folks, not just in New Hampshire and Connecticut, but right here in Texas! This is a new website put up a couple weeks ago, but the Liberty Institute, who represents Christians whose rights are being stifled in the work place, in public schools, in colleges, and even in their own private homes! Some of these cases read like they're taken straight out of the former Soviet Union or North Korea. (Apparently, some folks get really offended if you compare what we endure to what others have endured in countries like those. I am NOT saying that our situation is as terrible as theirs, but if we don't see the connection and where this could lead, we will not stand up when we still can, and we will find ourselves there sooner or later.) 

This is not a game. I believe the first step is becoming aware of what's going on. My generation is FULL of people who have no idea what's going on and, what's worse, think it's inevitable because "separation of church and state is, in the end, a good thing, right?" (holding myself back from that one for now, lol.) 

Here is the link. PLEASE take just a few minutes to read through some of these cases...

Copy and paste if the above link doesn't work for you: http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PG12H03

"I'd be a Liberal"

I was listening to the Joe Paggs radio program the other day. He was talking about how you cannot be a good Christian without believing that your way is correct and other religions are wrong; or a good Jew, or a good Buddhist, or a good Muslim, for that matter. 

A caller called in saying, "Joe, you say you hate people from other religions. Why do you hate people?" It always amazes me how standing on principle automatically translates into standing against people, in many people's minds. Joe went on to explain that he never said he hated anyone, and if he didn't believe his religion were true, he shouldn't believe in it at all. 

The next caller was a Muslim. Right off the bat, Joe asked the Muslim if he believed Islam was right. "Of course I do," he replied (duh!) "And you believe Christianity is wrong?" "Of course!" "If you didn't believe that, you wouldn't be a good Muslim." "No, I'd be a liberal!" 

ROFLOL!!!

What would the world look like without rich people?

Have you ever wondered this? With Obama talking of letting the "Bush tax cuts" expire for those making over $250,000, it has me thinking. Who really needs more than $250,000 a year anyway, right? What are they going to do with all that money? That's more than enough to live off, support a family, and in the words of Obama, "buy a flat screen TV." I have even been guilty of judging those I thought made too much or lived a little too luxuriously.

I think that we are forgetting what the rich do. I can't find the exact statistics, but I remember hearing that the vast majority of the income of churches is given by a very small percent of the congregation. Rich people fund our churches. They help fund our hospitals, universities, and charities. The next time you stroll through a park and think your tax dollars supported the entire building of it, take a look at the name plate on the bench you're sitting on. This is the same reason the dorms on your college campus were named after people, not as much for recognition as for the fact that they gave boo-coos of money to help pay for your education! Why do you think you keep receiving alumni donation letters from your Alma Mater? Because, believe it or not, some actually send those back in with money, and it's not the middle class giving the most. Have you ever been on a missions trip? Who did you make sure to send support letters to? Probably those making over 250 grand a year, huh? They were also probably the ones who sent the most back to you. How many countless missionaries would be doing something different were it not for the rich? Think of the YMCA, the Red Cross, Boy Scouts, homeless shelters, pregnancy centers. These are not kept on their feet by the middle class.

So before you think about stealing money from these people to give it to an organization who can't even deliver mail without going into the red, think about all they do for our society. Really picture our society without that. Do they need a new BMW, 3 vacation houses, or even a flat screen TV? Maybe not, but do you need a college education, a church to attend, or someone to bring you a bottle of water & a blanket after a hurricane rips your home down? Do you need a job that that BMW, 3 vacation homes, and big screen TV helped create? I think so. We need more rich people in this world, not fewer. If we tax them like they have plenty of money to lose, these things that are the fabric of our society will be greatly affected.

"A government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson

Abortion- the core issue is not choice at all

I am a member of some pregnancy/parenting message boards. I wondered into the "off topic" forum, and they were debated abortion! I made this post...

"I am getting physically ill reading this & almost had to stop. I am shaking. I think I am TOO sheltered. lol. I will TRY to be calm, but this is something I feel strongly about.

Abortion is the ending of a life. Just bc a baby is inside of the mother's body does not mean that it is a part of the mother's body. It is its own body. As for when it becomes a human, every line anyone could ever draw on that would be subjective, & they wouldn't be able to explain why. Is having a heart beat more important than being able to breathe air? Why? Is being able to survive w/o mom more important than being able to feel pain? Why? The ONLY objective line you can draw is conception. BC at that point, if left alone, it WILL develop into an adult eventually. And while we're drawing objective lines, if you draw it at birth, why not draw it at age 2, or age 22? Just bc it would die w/o the mother does not make it any less human. So yes, women have the right to choose what happens to their own body, but not to someone else's (the baby's).

If my 13 yr old daughter were raped, we would have the baby & give it up for adoption. It is horrible that she would have to go through that, but you don't commit a worse crime to stop some suffering in your own life. I think that would be a great lesson for my daughter- we don't murder someone just bc we have to have some discomfort (as hard as it would be.) To ask her to live with the guilt & horror of having her little one diced to pieces would be worse for her IMO. I don't understand why adoption is so often overlooked as the solution if u find yourself in an unplanned preg.

(In the case of the mother's life being in danger, that is completely diff, bc if mom dies, baby dies.)

As for the "it's wrong for me, but I can't decide for others" argument, I don't understand. If it's wrong, it's wrong. Would you say that you personally would never kill someone, but if someone else did, that's their business. I don't think you would. & I don't think any of us have a prob w/ the govt stepping in on that. We spend pages telling other moms it's wrong to let LO CIO but won't tell them that if they want to dice LO up just a few months prior. That breaks my heart.

Quote:

what is taken as pain is an instinctual movement.

This makes me want to cry my eyes out. I understand what ur saying; it just breaks my heart.

As for hormonal BC, I don't use it anymore either f/ the reasons others posted, as well as the fact that it's really bad f/ ur body.

"If you believe in a woman's right to choose, you are against the abortion of any female fetus. Bc you have to let her choose whether or not to take her 1st breath." -my pastor

"Everyone who is pro choice is only that way bc they were allowed to live." -someone

That being said, if you've had an abortion, I feel f/ u & don't think u r a horrible person. We all make mistakes. There is forgiveness & healing.

If you are reading this & thinking about having an abortion, please PM me. I will do everything I can to help you. If I can't find you help, I myself will pay your medical bills. I would even adopt ur baby if I had to.

I hope I didn't change the tone of this thread too much. I respect all of you as people, just not the action of abortion. "

People replied & kept on talking about extreme examples like rape and also about when birth control fails. "No woman should be asked to carry around a piece of her rapist for 9 months." They talked about how outlawing abortion wouldn't stop it but would take it to back road dirty clinics. The basis for all their arguments were that they wouldn't get an abortion but it should be available to those who do, bc women should have a choice of what to do with their own bodies, to which I replied...

"The last time I saw a pic of fetus, it didn't look like any woman's body I ever saw."

To get posters off all these tangents and back to the main issue, I made this post...

"We are all really missing the point, & that's why we keep arguing in circles. If we all saw an unborn baby the same way we do one that's born, we wouldn't be arguing any of this. The difference is, we don't. I think we all agree that it's wrong to kill a child (after birth). It doesn't matter if you had the child bc of rape or irresponsibility or you're too poor or it has down's syndrome. It's always wrong, right? None of you would say, "you can't expect a woman who's raped to look at that child ev. day of her life, do you?" No, it's wrong.

So see, it's not about a woman's choice. If it were, you wouldn't have a problem with a woman choosing to kill her born child. It's about when life starts. Even though some of you are saying you believe it starts at 22 weeks & some are saying you believe it starts at implantation, that doesn't really matter, bc you say if someone else wants it to start at a diff time than what you think, that's ok. So what matters is when should life officially begin for everyone? When can I start expecting everyone else not to end their child's life? The answer is "after birth". That is the definite line where we would take our convictions & start applying them to everyone else, right? Therefore, it's not about, "what's wrong for me might be right for someone else.", bc there is a point where we would say it's wrong for everyone- at birth.

So this is where my argument comes in. Say a baby is born at 32 wks. It has a good chance of surviving. But another one is aborted at 33 wks. If we're going by the above, the first one is definitely a human & it's wrong to kill it. The second one it's ok to kill (maybe not for YOU, but it might be ok for someone else, depending on their circumstances.) What I'm saying is, that makes no sense. If it's a human at 32 wks, it's automatically a human at 33, logically. So you might concede the point that at 22 wks should be the new cutoff, bc that's when they can survive outside mom. What about when we get new technology, and they can live at 21 wks? What then? Do we move the line? If we do, we are moving the definition of a human, and that doesn't make sense. What about 20 yrs ago, would the line have been drawn at 30 wks (or whenever most babies survived)? That is what I am saying when I say ANY line you can pick is subjective, even the line of birth, bc babies are born at diff times.

So you have to take it all the way back & say, "ok, when does it go from being nothing to being something?" Sperm are not human. Billions die everyday, and it would be impossible to save them all even if you believed you should & wanted to. Same with eggs. Left alone, they won't become human. U have to DO something w/ those . I think we all agree that sperm & eggs are not humans. As a pp said, they don't contain the complete genetic makeup of a human. A zygote does though. If left to itself & it doesn't naturally die, it will become an adult. It has this in common with a 2-yr-old. That is why life starts at conception." 

The debate goes on, and they are already off topics again. No one could respond to my last post. But hopefully I made some ppl think, probably those who weren't posting. 

Out of curiosity, I started a poll; 82 people answered. Here are the results:

Abortion is always wrong except in extreme circumstances (like a high chance both mom & baby will die)		20%
Abortion is wrong w/ exceptions (rape, danger to mom's health, baby will prob die anyway)		21%
Abortion should be left completely up to each woman (but i don't like the idea of it f/ BC)		34%
People should be able to do whatever they want in terms of abortion.		23%
Abortion is good bc it helps cut down on unwanted kids & overpopulation of the earth.		0%

 It's a scary place we're headed to, folks!