Christianity and Secularism

These days it seems impossible to talk about anything dealing with religion without being laughed at or even sued. This has been on my mind for awhile. How America has changed directions and is the opposite of how it started. The lack of morals and values. The broken families, the divorces, the abuse and all the destructive behavior. Our nation was founded on christian values. Believe it or not the very first thing our first president did right after becoming president was, walk down the street with everyone to the church and pray for our nation. And now you can get sued for offending somebody even though we have the right to pray. We all here talk about the end of the world, well for me as a christian I'm not afraid of the end of the world. In fact sometimes I can't wait, because where I'm going is a lot better than this place. The only reason I don't want the world to end is because of all the unsaved people out there. That I might have the opportunity to share Christ with them. So for all those people who are suing others because somebody prayed in public. I have a question for you. Where are you going when the world ends or when you die? I know where I am going, and if you don't know Christ as your personal Savior, I know where you are going too and it's not a nice place. What is even better, this world is temporary, and when you die that is forever. So go ahead and make fun of all the Christians and keep suing them, we don't need the money. God says " Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves  break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". Matthew 6:19-21. God also says, " do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet the heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they"? Matthew 6:25-26. The constitution protects our freedom of religion, and nobody is forcing you to be apart of any religion, and if they are then they are wrong. So why are people trying to take away my freedom. For all those who are offended and suing people because of it, maybe you need to reevaluate your life and ask yourself, where am I going after I die. I can guarantee if Christianity offends you and you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior, then you are going to hell. And I feel bad for you and am praying for you, because you don't have to go to hell. That is your choice. Heaven is an option. It's as easy as ABC. Accept Jesus into your heart as your personal savior. Believe that he died for you on the cross and rose from the dead to conquer death. Confess your sins. Everyone is a sinner, every living person on the face of this earth. All you have to do is ask God for forgiveness and he promises to forgive you. No matter what you have done. There is nothing to bad that he can't forgive. He has seen it all. Remember it's your decision, and there are lots of people in the same shoes. We are praying for you.

Perspective

Today is a weekend, so the mates I work with are home.  I will not hear them come in today and tell me how bad it is or how many days till the weekend.  A cycle repeated again and again “three days left, if we make it that far.”  As though our lives were intended to be lived like a gerbil on a wheel.  “Keep it spinning that is all we can do”.  But that is not the purpose; that is the purpose without god.  Each day God’s majesty is revealed before our very eyes.  New and beautiful every morning.  Psalm 19:1 the heavens declare the glory of god the skies’ proclaim the work of his hands.  Everything we see and touch is a measure of God in our life.  Do we see it as mundane or appreciate God taking the time to be a part of our lives.  We should take the opportunity this day to see how we can be a part of it.  To find our place in the plan of God and become a part of His created work.  Put aside our pride and our free will, follow Jesus and team up with the maker of the universe.                                By RJ Mack

Forgiveness

I am compelled this day to think about the greatness of God's grace. A God who created the universe and put up with man's rebellion for thousands of years made a place called heaven, and he himself made a way that all who want to can go there. He endured the cross in our place that if we choose we can join him in heaven. Why would he even care or put himself through such an ordeal. Love. And he even made a way that if we choose we don't have to go. Yes heaven is for real, a place of joy and glorious reunion. A place without tears of pain or sin. And yes hell is for real , a place of torment and torture. And it is everyone's choice what to pick. Why do people blame God for hell when we a sinful rebellious people, wanted it. God does not want anyone to go there. That is why he paid the price for us. So don't blame him that because of your pride you cannot just ask for forgiveness and take the free gift he has offered you. We all have sinned, we all have fallen short, and he knows it. And he is waiting there just to forgive and welcome you.                             By RJ Mack

Everything Belongs To God

Colossians 1:16 says, " For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him". So there you have it, everything belongs to God. So why are we so greedy and why do we need so many material things? It's all God's stuff anyways. We are on this earth because He put us here and we have the things we have because He gave them to us. Think of it this way, everything you own, you don't really own, you are just borrowing it while your here. That kind of gives you a different perspective, especially when people ask you if they can borrow something. That is how our mind set should be, everything belongs to God and i'm just borrowing it. Try it. I bet it will make people less greedy, less materialistic and more compassionate when it comes to giving and sharing. Can you imagine a world where everyone was willing to give away their stuff just to help someone in need. There is a lot of people like that, but there is also a lot of people just the opposite of that. It all starts with on person, one act of kindness, the good in people is contagious we just need to spread it around.

Prayer In Schools

I do not see a problem with prayer in school.
Students should be allowed to practice their religious freedoms. Schools should not force prayer on students, but the students should have the right to pray on their own free will without being afraid of getting punished or harassed. Here is how I see it, if you want to pray then pray, if you don't then don't pray. It's as easy as that. From the research I have done I found that prayer is allowed in school as long as you are not interrupting the instructional time. Here is a few things I found. You are allowed to pray and read your bible during meals, recess and like we said, non instructional times. You are allowed to organize events and religious activities like any other non curricular activity. School employees cannot encourage or discourage prayer. This country was founded on religious beliefs. That is one of the reasons our ancestors came to America, for religious freedom. The first amendment says, "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 people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." So there can be no law promoting or prohibiting religion. The whole argument about the separation of church and state comes in to play. The school is not the state, it is an education system not the government. Yes it is funded by the government, which I disagree with, but that is a whole other topic. People are confused about what is the state and what isn't because the government is taking over programs that affect our daily lives. So in conclusion, if you want to pray or exercise your religious beliefs, more power to you, you are protected by the constitution. And for those who don't want to pray, nobody is forcing you to, so don't. And stop harassing those who do.

Welfare

Raising America to depend on the government, another one of those great topics that brings up quite an argument. Welfare was initially started to act as a safety net, but now the program is being abused. People are selling their food stamps to buy alcohol. The government now allows stores to accept food stamps for junk food. If you are really living in poverty you are not going to stop by the corner store to buy a soda and a bag of chips. The program is being abused and as a taxpaying American I disagree with how the government is spending our money on welfare. Ronald Reagan said, " welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence".  Welfare was meant to be a temporary " help " for those in need until they got back on their feet. But now people rely on it as part of their income. The mentality of most people on welfare is wrong, they use it because that's the way they think it's supposed to be. There needs to be more educating and training involved. Case workers need to sit down with welfare recipients and teach them morals, ethics, financial responsibility and motivate them to provide for themselves. That is what they used to do, and it would help a lot if they went back to doing it that way. Welfare has many negative affects on children which I have researched and am going to share with you. First of all it has an affect on the child's development. Prolonged welfare dependence reduces children's IQ level, and a child's earnings in future years. It is proven that children on welfare are more likely to do poorly in school. They are more likely to have behavioral/emotional problems, drop out of school, suffer from physical abuse, engage in early sexual activity, experiment with drugs and be on welfare when they become adults. And plus, we as taxpayers are paying for all this. In 2001, just one year, food stamp spending increased from 39 billion to 75 billion. To me, all this sounds like a double wammy. America gets deeper and deeper in debt every year, and people on welfare become more dependent on the government. It's a downward spiral that just keeps getting worse. We need to correct this issue by slowly weening off welfare while communities, churches, friends and family take it's place. Before I go off on a rant about how to fix the problem, lets find out what the cause is so we can prevent it. Believe it or not, the root of the problem comes from marriage, or should I say, lack there of. Majority of people on welfare are single mothers who are divorced or never got married in the first place. So if we could just keep the father around to support the family, we could have a lot less people on welfare. This in turn would better the child's upbringing and reduce welfare spending. There you go, that's how you prevent our double wammy. Well I guess it's not that easy. First we need to start with morals, ethics, and abstinence. The result of all these is a father who loves and supports his family. These days society teaches us that it is easy and okay to run away from our problems if it's not convenient for us. People think it's okay to divorce your spouse because they see it in hollywood. And society accepts that evil, and it becomes normal. That's why people don't understand why divorce is wrong because they see it as normal. Here is a fact for you. If poor mothers married the father of their children, 3/4 of youth  would no longer be in poverty. We need to reward marital responsibility, not single motherhood. That's how to prevent welfare, now, how do we fix it? Like I said earlier, welfare recipients need to move from government dependence  to family and friends, or your local church. Their are plenty of people in the community willing to help. People on welfare are not going to like this because it means they will have to take responsibility and stop being lazy. They will have to get a job, set goals and be a good example for their children. Now, i'm not saying all people on welfare are lazy. There are some families that are living in poverty  and doing everything they can to feed their children, and I respect them for that. But most people today are just lazy and greedy, and they just want more money for their income. I challenge all of you to help prevent and reverse the affects of welfare. For those on welfare, ask yourself. Do I really need that extra money that the taxpayers are giving me or could I get a job instead? What if I just got help and worked things out with the father? Those who are not on welfare. Lend a helping hand. Inform people of food banks, offer to help babysit, be an example, have high morale standards. Let them know you are there to help if they need it. One person can't change everything, but if we all pitch in, it's a lot easier.

The comfort God gives us

"In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
God tells us life is not always going to be a joy ride. We will go through struggles and it's not going to be easy all the time, but we have hope because Jesus conquered and won. He gives us our strength from day to day. Hard times is what we should want, sounds crazy right? Even though it may not be what we want, it builds character and perseverance. As James puts it, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work,  that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4) Hard times and trials build character and you become a better person in the end. It's like refining gold. Just as gold is put into a furnace we are put through trials and the end result is better than it was to start. So every time life gets hard or you are dealing with a difficult situation, remember two things. 1) God has already conquered the world and 2) hard times produce a better you. Instead of cursing and getting all worked up, slow down, think about what is happening and then praise God for your trials and tribulations for he is molding you and working in your life.