Run

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- 2 Timothy 2:22

But what does GOD say?

A core absurdity exists in every aspect of life without Christ.

No matter what comfort or reassurance is imagined in lies, wealth, approval, denial, opinion, religion, influence, imagination, games, tomorrow's lottery results, deceit, sect,  political party, promises, popularity poll, expectation, astrology, uniform, bank or investment commitment, fashion, fad or today's lucky numbers, Leadership, Followship or Fellowship, wishbones, condescension, lust, material success, proven results, latest forecast, power or self re-enforcing fantasies about control: at the end of the day Jesus Christ was not a liar.


Only God is God; only God Jehovah is I AM; only Jesus Christ is His Living Son and no matter what is proclaimed or published or communicated or settled in court, no one approaches God except through Jesus.

Which disciple would I have been?

Or, of all the 12 original disciples during Christ's walk on earth, which one am I most like?
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It's more fun criticizing and finding faults with others than it is tackling shortcomings about my own faith.

Which sin is worse?

Let's say there's two men who're next door neighbors. One man is a fall-down drunk, the other sneaks a peek at online porn and lingerie catalogs. Which man's sins are worst?


Without Christ's forgiveness, which man's sin disqualifies him from eternal life?

Dear Lord

Thank you for loving sinners so much your son was willing to die in their place. I meant our place.

I meant my place.

Race Results

"They [the driver and his throttleman] sustained injuries incompatible with life."

Wouldn't it be simpler to say "Both men died from their injuries"?

Or has dying become optional here in the 21st century, so long as we exercise enough, eat enough of the right foods, breath the right air, avoid the wrong chemicals, drink the right fluids, avoid the wrong fluids, get the right inoculations, avoid the wrong inoculations, take enough of the right supplements, live the right lifestyle, get the right health care insurance, do exactly what the right doctors say and not make any mistakes?

No wonder people think in terms of "preventable deaths."

King criticizer, Self publicizer

I wonder how many folks who find fault with others, who demean their brothers for no other purpose than to exalt themselves, voice their criticisms from the comfort (and safety) of central-heated living rooms, lounges or corner-office studies.

Then I wondered how many others criticize and find fault looking down from the cross ...

... waiting for the spear.
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Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

- Matthew 26: 33-34

Are all religions the same? Really?

Joseph Smith wrote his own sacred book and called his followers Mormons.

Mohamed wrote his own sacred book, called the religion he created Islam and its followers Muslims.

Confucius wrote texts which may or may not be attributable to him, and the question of whether Confucianism is a religion or not remains wide open to debate.

L. Ron Hubbard wrote his own sacred book and his new religion was called Scientology

Bahá'u'lláh wrote his own sacred book and called his new religion Bahá'í. Its followers are called by the same name

Sun Myung Moon co-wrote his own sacred book. His new religion is the "Unification Church" and its members are called Moonies.


How is Christianity different?

For starters, Jesus Christ wrote no book, named no new religion after himself and called his disciples friends.

Having Faith ... and meaning it

Christian Pastor Faces Execution in Iran for Refusing to Renounce His Faith

- from The Daily Mail U.K.

A man who converted from Islam to Christianity is facing the death penalty in Iran for refusing to return to his former religion.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, of the Church of Iran, faces hanging after refusing a court order to renounce his Christian faith.

If the execution goes ahead it would be the first Christian to be officially executed in Iran for religious reasons in 20 years.

The pastor had defied a request by the Gilan provincial court, in the Iranian city of Rasht, to repent ahead of today's hearing.

He said: 'Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?'

-full story here

So how's Mans' Plan Workin' for You?

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Selfishness Pays ... with interest [improved & super-updated]

"We deserve ours ... and all you other people can get in line behind us and wait till we're done."

The US is the greatest country on earth, right? The rest of the world is jealous, and that's why they hate Americans. Americans enjoy the highest standard of living and are the wealthiest people in the world, right?

Wrong ... in fact, the US isn't even close.

Standard of Living
1. Norway
2. Sweden
3. Canada
4. Belgium
5. Australia
6. United States
7. Iceland
8. Netherlands
9. Japan
10. Finland
-source

Snoozing in The American Dream Land
-U.S. students scored lower on science/literacy than their peers in 16 of the other 29 OECD jurisdictions and 6 of the 27 non-OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] jurisdictions - source

-The US ranks #21 in Litericy (behind Armenia and Barbados)

-The US is the world's largest debtor nation.
"In recent years, the US trade deficit has reached roughly 6% of the GDP, a level former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker calls unsustainable." -wiki

-Every US citizen owes the federal government $$30,378.80 (babies and children are citizens, so figure about $79,000 per taxpayer). "Poor" countries like China and India are lending money to the US to service its debt)
(Update: As of August 5, 2011 everybody you know owes Uncle Sam $46,838.47)

Check out the National Debt Clock here.

-The second most expensive item in the US budget (after Defense spending) is paying interest on the national debt ... more than $1 billion per day in 2006. (NASA's annual budget is just $15 billion ... that's just two weeks of interest)

-Though accounting for only 5 percent of the world's population, Americans consume 26 percent of the world's energy -more energy info here

-The US ranks #45 in both Life Expectancy and Suicide Rates

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I'm not crossing the line into politics, but look at today's headlines.

I hope it's not s sign of things to come that OPEC and other global oil suppliers, worried about the shrinking value of the dollar, might start asking to be paid in currencies other than dollars. Or that Great Britain is mussing with the idea of "constructive accommodation" with Islamic Shariah law.

Meanwhile Congress borrows another $168 billion to stimulate the world's greatest consumers into spending themselves even further into debt.

Don't get me wrong: Americans enjoy tremendous political freedom and have greater economic opportunity than any country in the world. Still I wonder if the US is the greatest country on earth ... or maybe just the most selfish.

I guess we'll find out when the bills come due.

Posted by joe hall at 9:27 AM

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Bail Me Out, I'm Sinking!

Digging the Hole Deeper

The Coast Guard, by law, mandates a required minimum equipment list for boats to have onboard at all times. Safety-associated things like life vests, signal flares and fire extinguishers.

But bilge pumps? Wouldn't you think some kind of pump that's designed to keep your boat afloat in case it starts sinking would make the list? Shouldn't a bilge pump be life-saving priority numero uno?

Nope, and for a very simple and revealing reason:

"There is no more efficient bailing device than a scared sailor with a bucket."

-- -- --

America's financial market is in danger of sinking. The credit crisis is so severe that the proposed "bail-out" is considered an emergency action ... not to save the big shots on Wall Street, but the little guy on Main Street.

Here's the catch: by heaping another $700 billion burden on top of the budget, the national debt will approach $11 trillion (that's eleven thousand billions) to be repaid by taxpayers. So where is this extry $700 billion in bail-outs gonna come from?

Our government will borrow the money it needs to save our finance and credit markets from other countries. So our $11 trillion debt figure doesn't include interest. You know, like you pay on your charge cards every month for carrying an outstanding balance after buying all the things we're entitled to as Americans.

$11 trillion dollars of debt is outstanding indeed. So let's not call it a "bail out" or even a "rescue."

"Digging the debt hole deeper" better describes what happens when countries, like people, live beyond their means by spending money they don't have and keep borrowing on credit to spend even more.

Rather than stop spending, and start bailing.

-- -- --

You can calculate the share to be plucked from your purse or wallet by dividing 11 trillion dollars by about 60 million people ... that's a rough estimate of the number of citizens actually paying taxes in the US.

But you might wanna sit down first.

Posted by joe hall at 6:37 AM

"Owe is me!"

"I don't think God knows what I'm going through"

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”

- Hebrews 13:5

When Love meant telling a story

Ever wondered why Jesus so often used parables ... riddles ... to illustrate and explain his point?

Christ himself provided the answer in Matthew 13:10-17.

The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied,

"The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

This is why I speak to them in parables:

Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand."

But why did Christ bother explaining himself in the first place?

Being God, why didn't the Messiah simply put his hands on his hips and angrily inform the multitudes, "Why? Because I said so."

I believe Christ went the extra step and told parables to the crowds because he loved the people who'd taken the time and trouble to seek him out and hear his message, and because he wanted each and every person to believe and place their faith in him.

Through their choice, and not through his threats or commands.