Some great links from this week.
15 Grammar Mistakes That Can Make You Look Silly [infographic]
Apple’s iPad Announcement Measured in Tweets
Readers’ Poll: The Best Monkees Songs of All Time
The Issue Is Not Birth Control– It’s Government Coercion
A Bucket List For The End Of The World (Infographic)
Listening to Christians discuss politics will sometimes lead one to believe that if we just had a Christian President and Congress everything would be alright. While it would certainly help, it takes more than that. A prime example can be found in the Old Testament account of King Josiah.
Josiah was one of only three kings throughout Old Testament history who was truly a godly man and leader. Yet for most of his 31 year reign, the people remained ungodly, continuing to worship idols and practice pagan rituals. There was improvement prior to Josiah’s death, but not enough to lift God’s wrath.
While Josiah was considered one of the best leaders God’s people ever had, the people were mostly unchanged. In this election year, we must remember that electing a godly President is not the sum answer. It will take more than that to change our country and move it back toward God. It will take each one of us committing to living godly lives every day.
Interesting portrayal here of the current political power’s view of the constitution and the value of the dollar. At first glance you might say it is party biased, but take a closer look. JFK is in the middle, George W is on the left. They aren’t clapping, however. What are your thoughts?
Acts 4:32-34 One commentary I read on this verse mentions the elimination of poverty among the people. It used to be that way. Not in my lifetime. That people took care of other people, not zero poverty. In fact, Jesus said the poor will always be with us. But a major change took place early in the last century – the advent of government welfare. Now even among Christians the mind-set is, “I might give to your cause, but what’s mine is mine.”
Some have blamed FDR since he began the government welfare program, but I have to wonder if the reason the program was deemed necessary was not just because of the depression but perhaps people had already started becoming selfish. I don’t know. I’m glad to say that was before my time.
The issue we have now is we have become accustomed to being taken care of by the government and taking ownership when we are blessed with possessions. Can we ever get back to the mind-set of the early Christians described in the book of Acts?
In Christian circles, you often hear the phrase “scripture taken out of context.” It refers to people picking out certain scriptures for interpretation without considering other verses on the topic or the circumstances at hand.
Similar deceptions happen elsewhere like in news media. Just this week I realized I had been deceived by a news story occurring close to home. Right after the particular incident occurred, a local station aired a video clip of police officers beating up an assailant who had been thrown from his car during a high-speed chase and was lying unconscious on the ground.
My husband and I agreed the officers were out of line and should be punished. This week the officers were acquitted of any wrong doing, and upon reading the headline, I thought, how on earth could anyone say they did not use unnecessary force. It wasn’t until this morning when a popular radio show took the time to air the whole story that I understood what really happened, and that the officers did the right thing.
Unfortunately I have come to expect to be deceived by mainstream national media, but the local media in Alabama? Why did they choose to show only the part of the video that made the situation look like a previous event in Los Angeles? Why not show the assailant running over another policeman and speeding through high traffic areas endangering many others? Why did they take media out of context to deceive the public? Just one more example that we should seek all the facts before passing judgement. Fortunately the court did that in this case.
Image via Wikipedia
Two good articles here and here on Mormons and Christianity and the dangers of Christians sided up too closely with the likes a Glenn Beck.
Perhaps years of poor discipleship and watered down preaching have gotten us to this point. Our churches are full of people (members) who don’t know what they believe. Combine that with a society that preaches tolerance at every turn, and well…
I first heard of Star Parker several years ago after she wrote “Uncle Sam’s Plantation.” I was delighted to learn she is running for Congress this year. Her assessment of America’s current move toward socialism makes frighteningly good sense. “There are two Americas — a poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.”
Unfortunately, it seems more and more Americans are willing to compromise their morals and even self-worth to take the easy way out and be cared for by the government. All the while our “freedom” translates to slavery, and we slowly become slaves of the government.
