Finding My Faith

2006-05-25T15:07:00.000-05:00

I'm moving over to www.justinmundie.wordpress.com You should update your blogrolls for all 5 of you who read this.

2006-05-24T14:47:00.000-05:00

There's been a discussion going on at kendellball.net about wealth and christianity. Greg said "I still cannot get to a point (and believe me, I’ve tried) where a disciple, a follower of Christ, can walk into a Lexus dealer and put his John Hancock on a piece of paper to purchase a car that costs that much money. Or on a house that costs that much money. Or go on vacations that cost that much money" I've weighed in a couple times on his blog all ready, but I'll post my thoughts on the matter here. I understand Jesus gave us a radical call to discipleship. When the rich young ruler approached Jesus about salvation, Jesus asked him several things. When he gave the correct answers to Jesus's questions, Jesus gave him the clincher... "sell all you have and give it to the poor" Hardcore. Sell EVERYTHING... not just ten percent, as had been previously stated in the law. The guy walked away sad, because he had great wealth. If we just read this passage, it would lead us to believe we must sell everything and give it to the poor to be saved. However, when Jesus met Zaccheus, he didn't require the same thing. Zaccheus only gave away half of what he had. Jesus didn't rebuke him for not giving enough. So why is Mr. Kendall Ball requiring something that Jesus didn't? Sounds awful presumptuous don't you think? Judging people whom he doesn't have a personal relationship with? I have some hands on experience with this type of judgementalism. Since I turned 12, my family has been blessed monitarily. My dad started a business in 1992, and its done fairly well. We live in a nice house but up until recently, drove very modest cars, toyotas, hondas, chryslers, etc. Just recently we've gotten an Acura SUV and my Dad's company car is an Infiniti. According to Prophet KendallBall, we are not good Christians because we live in a house that's too big for his standards, and we drive cars that are too nice for a real disciple to drive. He's making a judgement without knowing a person, knowing how much money my family gives away. I'm not going to condemn any Christian for how they deal with money. I think there is a good way to do it. I think more important that what car you drive is how you give. Who would you think is living a lifestyle more like a disciple; someone who makes 500,000 dollars a year, but lives on a third, saves a third, and gives away a third, but who happens to drive a lexus and live in a 5000 square foot house, or a person who's making 40,000 a year, has 10,000 of credit card debt. Has a 500 dollar a month car payment and a 1000 dollar a month house payment? Sure, they are middle class, but they are stretched to the limit. When you are that stretched, it makes it that much harder to give your first fruits. Of course, prophet Greg Kendall Ball would believe the middle class person to be more spiritual because they don't drive a luxury car. It just makes me upset. Wealth is relative. We all could be giving more away... but pointing fingers at those with more than you is just covetousness masked in spiritual arrogance. how about instead of pointing fingers at those less "spiritual" than us, we use what we have to point to Christ and his love?

2006-05-18T08:04:00.000-05:00

Dear Pat Robertson, Shut the hell up. Love, Justin http://www.wftv.com/news/9235304/detail.html

2006-05-02T11:43:00.000-05:00

What is wrong with our society? I just turned on Maury Povich and it depressed me. It was one of those "who's the father" kinda deals. It makes me wonder how anyone can come from those type of situations and be a halfway emotionally stable human being.

2006-05-02T10:15:00.000-05:00

The illegal immigrant debate is getting out of hand. I don't agree that our borders should be completely open. I'll go ahead and say that from the start. However, the rhetoric that I hear on talk radio, and from my friends, is disturbing to me. Hispanics are people, too. Sure, they are breaking laws to come here. When's the last time you followed every law of this land. Ever sped? didn't come to a complete stop at a stop sign? And you do those things out of sheer convenience. These people, for the most part, are coming over here because they can't feed their families in Mexico. Think about the lengths to which you would go to feed your family. I'd walk through fire to make sure my family's basic needs were met. Love doesn't fail to act because of a law. We need to tone down the hate rhetoric about hispanics. Should they be here illegally? No. Should we have compassion on them. Absolutely.

2006-05-01T20:24:00.000-05:00

Watch this from hannity and colmes This lady is the daughter and spokesperson for the group that made this website. Ugh.

2006-05-01T12:37:00.000-05:00

Has anyone heard what the southern baptists are saying about homeschooling? They've pretty much put out an ultimatum that you aren't a good christian if you support the public school system. Unbelievable. It makes me wonder how much longer conservative evangelicalism will continue as a force in our country. It seems they are realizing now that they can't control the culture around them through the government, and now that they are withdrawing their kids from public schools, it just seems to be a matter of time before southern baptists are the new mennonites, living together in cities, working only with each other, all driving the same SUVs and wearing long skirts and long hair (for ladies) and no short pants for men. Well, maybe not. But we can be sure that there won't be any brown people. Speaking of southern baptists and brown people, there was a story in the Tennessean recently about Hispanic baptist pastors and how they are making inroads with traditionally catholic hispanics. Apparently though, the white baptists are happy to save them, but want them to go back to mexico if they are illegal. Anyway, I'm sick of the immigration deal. I don't mind hispanic immigration for labor (i'd do the same thing if my family needed food) but it is kinda dangerous because we don't have a record of who's coming here (serial killers, someone carrying polio, etc) I mean, since polio has been iradicated in our country, I didn't get the shot. But its not iradiated in the world, so someone that has it could come across the border, and it would be detrimental to this country. Its a tough deal. I wish I had some answers.

2006-04-26T13:14:00.000-05:00

Why are people insane about the Bible? How can someone in their right mind be so arrogant as to believe they can read a book that has been translated out of a dead language into english, and understand all the mysteries within? What makes a person believe that they are right, and that anyone else who comes to a different conclusion than they is obviously trying to manipulate people to send them to hell? Why are Christians so obsessed with hell? Why can't we get passed this "I know all the answers to get saved" garbage and go out and live like Jesus? I frequent the church of Christ forumon myspace, and I swear, every day I get on there, someone says something that makes me wonder if they've ever read the bible. Well, I know they've read the bible, at least all the passages that explain why MOTCs are going to heaven, but God's gonna send everyone else ot a place of fiery torment for eternity. But, besides the hell passages in the gospels, I pretty much don't think they've ever read about Jesus's life. I feel some sort of responsibility to dialogue with these people in order to plant a seed in them, and also to try and help seekers and thinkings in the c ofc realize that those people are crazy. I love them, and I count them as brothers, but I'm just so frustrated with them and yet I feel a bit of responsibility.

2006-04-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

I am not a good christian. I talk a good game, and I read all the books, and I try to love others, but too often I don't live up to what I preach. I've begun a journey. A journey that hopefully will lead me to being more christlike. Some words I've learned so far on my journey are postmodern, missional, emergent, desconstruction, among others. Some words that I'm re-learning are love, gentleness, kingdom, and eternal life. My old christian self was very much devoted to self. How do I stay saved? What do to improve my relationship with God? Or more notably who and what do I need to avoid to better my relationship with God? Now I'm trying to ask the questions What can I do for others today? How can I love like Jesus? How can I live a kingdom life? I try and pray for God to show me what I can do. But like I said, I haven't been very good at it. I still say things that are judgemental about certain classes of people. I definitely have a problem not thinking of myself as better than others. I struggle realizing that, despite my love for this country, my full allegiance doesn't belong to it. My allegiance must be to Christ and his Kingdom solely. That's a huge struggle. How do I bring justice? How do I motivate myself to look after others before I look after me, but not drain my resources so that I myself live in need of charity? How can I be involved in the political process in this country and further the kingdom, without making a political party or this country or my ideology become my Lord? How can I be a better new kind of Christian?

2006-04-14T13:19:00.000-05:00

2 years ago yesterday, it was snowing in Nashville. Yesterday's high was in the mid eighties. Weird. Carrie and I are headed to Memphis in just a few hours. I think I'm getting a vacuum cleaner and The Secret Message of Jesus. I just bought A Generous Orthodoxy. I've got some reading to do.

2006-04-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

I officially have a major in school. Yes, I know, its been 3 years of random classes, prospective careers, and even thoughts of dropping out, but now I've finally decided what I should have decided years ago. I'm going to be a broadcast meteorologist. *insert applause* I've been obsessed with the weather since I was three years old. Its a passion of mine, and I think that this is what I'm meant to do. In other news, Iran has enriched uranium,gas has skyrocketed, the gospel of judas was released,and leo has officially died on west wing. I guess I'm gonna do a quick summary of those things. Iran: This guy makes Jerry Falwell look like a leftist. He thinks that an islamic messiah is going to come and aid him in destroying America. And now he has nuclear technology. What should the world do in this situation? I don't know. I guess the best things would be finish business in iraq to free up the military for some threats. Sanctions will only hurt the people who are actually on our side in this dilemma. Most Iranians are very pro western democracy, but they are ruled by the mullahs and theocrats who control the military and the police. We've got to get the Iraq mess cleaned up, in order to deal with Iran. Gas is crazy now. I think it's gone up more than 50 cents in the last month. I'm really glad that I bought my new accord when I did, cause I'd be paying out the butt for gas right now (as if I weren't before). Still, short term, the best thing we can do is cut the gas taxes, relax regulations, at least regional regulations. In some places, one city may have a different mix of gasolin than a different city that is only 200 miles away. This causes the price to rise. Also, WE NEED OUR OWN OIL. Mexico and Cuba are drilling the gulf, yet we won't do any new drilling. We've got a tundra in Alaska that has tons of oil that we aren't touching. Canada has at least a trillion barrels in the tar sands that we aren't touching. The technology isn't there for hydrogen yet, so we've got to do stuff in the short term. The gospel of judas is just weird. Is there relevant information? Maybe. Regardless, its weird. I cried during sunday's episode of West Wing.

2006-04-10T13:14:00.000-05:00

I don't know if people actually click on links, so I'm gonna post this whole article. Seems like maybe we emergent evangelicals have jumped on a political bandwagon a wee bit too soon. here IS a problem with global warming... it stopped in 1998 By Bob Carter (Filed: 09/04/2006) For many years now, human-caused climate change has been viewed as a large and urgent problem. In truth, however, the biggest part of the problem is neither environmental nor scientific, but a self-created political fiasco. Consider the simple fact, drawn from the official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, that for the years 1998-2005 global average temperature did not increase (there was actually a slight decrease, though not at a rate that differs significantly from zero). Yes, you did read that right. And also, yes, this eight-year period of temperature stasis did coincide with society's continued power station and SUV-inspired pumping of yet more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In response to these facts, a global warming devotee will chuckle and say "how silly to judge climate change over such a short period". Yet in the next breath, the same person will assure you that the 28-year-long period of warming which occurred between 1970 and 1998 constitutes a dangerous (and man-made) warming. Tosh. Our devotee will also pass by the curious additional facts that a period of similar warming occurred between 1918 and 1940, well prior to the greatest phase of world industrialisation, and that cooling occurred between 1940 and 1965, at precisely the time that human emissions were increasing at their greatest rate. Does something not strike you as odd here? That industrial carbon dioxide is not the primary cause of earth's recent decadal-scale temperature changes doesn't seem at all odd to many thousands of independent scientists. They have long appreciated - ever since the early 1990s, when the global warming bandwagon first started to roll behind the gravy train of the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - that such short-term climate fluctuations are chiefly of natural origin. Yet the public appears to be largely convinced otherwise. How is this possible? Since the early 1990s, the columns of many leading newspapers and magazines, worldwide, have carried an increasing stream of alarmist letters and articles on hypothetical, human-caused climate change. Each such alarmist article is larded with words such as "if", "might", "could", "probably", "perhaps", "expected", "projected" or "modelled" - and many involve such deep dreaming, or ignorance of scientific facts and principles, that they are akin to nonsense. The problem here is not that of climate change per se, but rather that of the sophisticated scientific brainwashing that has been inflicted on the public, bureaucrats and politicians alike. Governments generally choose not to receive policy advice on climate from independent scientists. Rather, they seek guidance from their own self-interested science bureaucracies and senior advisers, or from the IPCC itself. No matter how accurate it may be, cautious and politically non-correct science advice is not welcomed in Westminster, and nor is it widely reported. Marketed under the imprimatur of the IPCC, the bladder-trembling and now infamous hockey-stick diagram that shows accelerating warming during the 20th century - a statistical construct by scientist Michael Mann and co-workers from mostly tree ring records - has been a seminal image of the climate scaremongering campaign. Thanks to the work of a Canadian statistician, Stephen McIntyre, and others, this graph is now known to be deeply flawed. There are other reasons, too, why the public hears so little in detail from those scientists who approach climate change issues rationally, the so-called climate sceptics. Most are to do with intimidation against speaking out, which operates intensely on several parallel fronts. First, most government scientists are gagged from making public comment on contentious issues, their employing organisations instead making use of public relations experts to craft carefully tailored, frisbee-science press releases. Second, scientists are under intense pressure to conform with the prevailing paradigm of climate alarmism if they wish to receive funding for their research. Third, members of the Establishment have spoken declamatory words on the issue, and the kingdom's subjects are expected to listen. On the alarmist campaign trail, the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King, is thus reported as saying that global warming is so bad that Antarctica is likely to be the world's only habitable continent by the end of this century. Warming devotee and former Chairman of Shell, Lord [Ron] Oxburgh, reportedly agrees with another rash statement of King's, that climate change is a bigger threat than terrorism. And goodly Archbishop Rowan Williams, who self-evidently understands little about the science, has warned of "millions, billions" of deaths as a result of global warming and threatened Mr Blair with the wrath of the climate God unless he acts. By betraying the public's trust in their positions of influence, so do the great and good become the small and silly. Two simple graphs provide needed context, and exemplify the dynamic, fluctuating nature of climate change. The first is a temperature curve for the last six million years, which shows a three-million year period when it was several degrees warmer than today, followed by a three-million year cooling trend which was accompanied by an increase in the magnitude of the pervasive, higher frequency, cold and warm climate cycles. During the last three such warm (interglacial) periods, temperatures at high latitudes were as much as 5 degrees warmer than today's. The second graph shows the average global temperature over the last eight years, which has proved to be a period of stasis. The essence of the issue is this. Climate changes naturally all the time, partly in predictable cycles, and partly in unpredictable shorter rhythms and rapid episodic shifts, some of the causes of which remain unknown. We are fortunate that our modern societies have developed during the last 10,000 years of benignly warm, interglacial climate. But for more than 90 per cent of the last two million years, the climate has been colder, and generally much colder, than today. The reality of the climate record is that a sudden natural cooling is far more to be feared, and will do infinitely more social and economic damage, than the late 20th century phase of gentle warming. The British Government urgently needs to recast the sources from which it draws its climate advice. The shrill alarmism of its public advisers, and the often eco-fundamentalist policy initiatives that bubble up from the depths of the Civil Service, have all long since been detached from science reality. Intern-ationally, the IPCC is a deeply flawed organisation, as acknowledged in a recent House of Lords report, and the Kyoto Protocol has proved a costly flop. Clearly, the wrong horses have been backed. As mooted recently by Tony Blair, perhaps the time has come for Britain to join instead the new Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6), whose six member countries are committed to the development of new technologies to improve environmental outcomes. There, at least, some real solutions are likely to emerge for improving energy efficiency and reducing pollution. Informal discussions have already begun about a new AP6 audit body, designed to vet rigorously the science advice that the Partnership receives, including from the IPCC. Can Britain afford not to be there? • Prof Bob Carter is a geologist at James Cook University, Queensland, engaged in paleoclimate research

2006-04-08T16:43:00.000-05:00

I play softball with a group of guys from the Christian Center here in Murfreesboro. We are not good. And when I say we're not good, that might conjure up images of us, you know, not being bad either. Well, those images would be wrong. We're pretty bad. I got a little frustrated Thursday night, and I might have yelled. I might have yelled that we "look like a bunch of circus clowns" or we "look like we've never played baseball in our lives." For several of them, this second insult might actually be true. We've lost 3 games this season, and we have one left. The first game actually wasn't that bad, but the second and third games have been atrocities. Somehow, I got roped into pitching. I'm not sure why, exactly, seeing as I'm one of the few who's played organized baseball before. I can make plays at pretty much any position, yet, I'm stuck at pitcher. I mean, as long as you throw it near the plate, people will swing. In softball, you don't need a good pitcher nearly as bad as you need people in the field who can, you know, field. Anyway, it makes me all the more frustrated, cause I may get ripped when I'm pitching, and I don't have much control over it. In baseball, if I were pitching, and I'm lobbing flat fastballs belt high, and I'm getting ripped, its my fault. But in softball, you are required to lob the ball right in the middle of the plate. Anyway, after the second game, someone made us pray. Praying in public settings has always rubbed me wrong. Probably the most irksome and the most prolific is resturaunt praying. Having worked as a server, I know first hand how awkward it is to walk up to a table to ask how the food tastes and realize you're interupting Jesus time. It never made me want to be a better Christian when I saw people praying. It made me not want to be a Christian. Well, that being said, I really didn't want to pray after the game. At first, I thought I was just being pretentious, but then I realized why it bothered me. Jesus talked about praying in private. I think that has a lot of merit, and not just because Jesus said it. Think about how you look to those who aren't part of the christian culture. You aren't "witnessing". You're look pretentious. You look like you're parading your religion.

2006-04-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

I figured since everyone else has been weighing in on Nancy Grace, that I should too. I didn't get to watch the show, but I did read the transcripts and I've once or twice watched Nancy, so I have a pretty good idea of the tone of the interview. Rubel, I thought, did a great job answering the questions she asked, it's just too bad that she didn't give him any time to answer them. Once she realized that he wasn't a crazy cultist, she cut to someone else and didn't let him finish responding to her accusations. Basically, its tabloid journalism at best. Pretty much all news has become tabloid news. History's repeating itself, really. If you read about newspaper wars in the early 20th century, newspapers were sold by bogus headlines, and the papers themselves were more gossip columns than legitimate news. Anyway, the sooner we realize that the news we are getting isn't actually news, but infotainment, the better off we will be. Speaking of infotainment, we had a severe weather outbreak in Tennessee last night. A massive tornado ripped through Dyersburg in West Tennessee, and killed something like 20 people. It was a pretty massive supercell, probably 25-35 miles in diameter, with significant rotation. The tornado stayed on the ground for 25 miles. My guess is that it was a strong F3 or a weaker F4. The storms moved into Middle Tennessee, and spawned several funnel clouds around Murfreesboro. I took a drive around midnight last night and parked south of town, right in the path of the rotating part of the thunderstorm. It was eerily calm, and I was watching attentively for a funnel. I saw the wall cloud, and right after it came through, several large pellets of hail fell from the sky. Two or three about quarter size. I decided to high tail it out of there, which turned out to be a good decision, cause the hail started falling hard core right as I left. Anyway, I watched the weather all night, and, as I have come to expect, they made sure to scare everyone that they possibly could, regardless of where teh storms were headed. I'm so glad that I'm going into broadcast meteorology, cause these people have no idea what they are talking about.

2006-03-29T00:08:00.000-06:00

Word to the wise... Always, and I mean ALWAYS, check the expiration date on milk in a college guys apartment. One bite of cereal with expired milk, and I'm about to vomit. I may vomit. Soon. ugh

2006-03-26T23:07:00.000-06:00

In our culture, when someone says or does something that causes a tense or awkward situation because of lack of thought, or sheer coincidence, we say that someone "stuck their foot in their mouth". Today, I had one of those situations. Most of the time, when these things happen to me, its because I say something offensive without first noticing my surroundings, such as making fun of someone for wearing blue jeans on the golf course when your grandfather is behind you and is wearing jeans as well. Take foot, insert into mouth. Today, however, there is no possible way I could have avoided this awkward moment. I took Carrie, her brother, and mother, to the natchez trace bridge over highway 96. Its a gorgeous view. A large, arching bridge that suspends nearly 200 feet in the air. I've visited it several times, one time in particular to throw a couple pumpkins off of it. This past experience would lead to the awkwardness today. Carrie and I stopped on the side of the road, about halfway on the bridge, when we were passed by a middle aged woman. I didn't think it to be strange, however, looking back, typically middle aged women don't drive out into the country to walk across tall bridges, but I wasn't quite thinking about that at the time. What I was thinking about was the pumpkins, and when Carrie stopped to wait on her mom and brother, I took off across the bridge, and quickly caught the woman walking in front of me. In my unceasing wisdom, I offered this tidbit of information. "I threw a pumpkin off this bridge once. It was awesome. " To which she responded, with a deadpan expression, "I'm here cause a month ago my boss jumped off this bridge." Total. Silence. The only thing I could think to say was, "I'm sorry". I've never been in a situation like that before, nor do I expect to ever be in it again, so I followed with, "do you want me to leave you alone?" "No," she replied. "I'd like some company" She preceeded to tell me that he was driving over the bridge, where he stopped. Hopped out of his car, and jumped 200 feet to his death. I'm sorry was still the only thing I could think of to say, but I refrained, knowing how hollow those words can ring. I walked with her some more until Carrie and Johnathan came bounding up with large rocks in hand, prepared to throw them off the bridge. I shhhed them and communicated as silently as possible the predicament with which I was faced. We walked to the opposite side of the bridge and talked quietly. After she left, we threw the rocks off the bridge, and it was fun, but I couldn't help thinking about the man who jumped, and the woman who was hurting, that probably felt more awkward because of my comments. I felt, and feel, bad about it, but there was no way of knowing. I just hope she gained some closure. So next time you're on a bridge that is a common place for people to end their lives, don't talk about pumpkins. Actually, just don't talk to anyone, unless you are positive they aren't mourning a co-worker.

2006-03-23T11:21:00.000-06:00

I hate to be a post whore today, but something else has caught my attention. Wendy Thomas, of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, wrote this column today. http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_columnists/article/0,2845,MCA_25341_4563307,00.html I am sick and tired of the smoking nazis telling people when and where they can smoke. The government shouldn't have a say in this, unless its a government building. Private businesses shoudl make the decisions. If you don't want to smell smoke in a resturaunt, don't go to ones that allow smoking. If enough people don't go, they will change things, because businesses are in it to make money. They will follow the money, and there is no reason for the government to force to to behave.

2006-03-23T10:42:00.000-06:00

Maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but reading the reponsefrom the Christian Peacemaker Team after their fellow members were rescued from Iraq, kinda pissed me off. They continue to call the U.S. Army occupiers, and make statements branding the whole group of people as evil, yet, they have nothing negative to say about the Islamic Fundamentalists who kidnapped them. What is wrong here? The "occupiers" are the people who rescued them. The people for whom they are causing the greatest harm, saved their lives, and the people for whom they are showing "love" are the ones who kidnapped them. I'm just not getting the logic here. I can understand one having an opposition to war. I don't agree with that position, but I can understand it nonetheless. However, if you are going to oppose war, in my opinion you should make a concerted effort not to take a side in an issue. There is violence on both sides of this conflict, none more obvious than the merciless killing of Tom Fox, who agreed with whatever group killed him that the Americans should leave Iraq. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

2006-03-21T21:46:00.000-06:00

Most notably, my girlfriend and I have been throwing around the M word with great frequency. We're not engaged yet, but its coming fairly soon. I have to save up for a ring, and pay off my debt. Basically, in a nutshell, that means I need a new job. 500 dollars a month isn't cutting it when I'm paying 60 bucks for cell, 15 for cable, 50 to church, and over 200 a month in gas. I'm trying to save 50 dollars a month, pay off 50 dollars on my credit card, and still have a social life. I'm getting rid of my 4 runner which is now only getting 17 mpg and hopefully tomorrow getting a Honda Accord, which will get close to 30 mpg. That will save me some serious dough. edit: I had some other things written here, but in retrospect, I've decided that blogger isn't quite the forum in which I should have released them. I apologize for anyone that was hurt or embarrassed by what I wrote.

2006-03-18T13:54:00.000-06:00

I'm reading Donald Miller's new book To Own A Dragon. Miller's prose is like music to my ears. I often don't laugh out loud while reading. Actually, now that I think about it, I've never laughed outloud while reading. At least until I read Blue Like Jazz. That's beside the point actually. Besides the fat that Miller is hilarious, his books are extremely thought provoking. So far, I've been close to tears after reading some things that he's written. While I did grow up with a Father, when reading his memoirs, I feel like I can fully empathize with what he's saying. I feel his pain, cry his tears, experience his joy. Its a great thing when you find a writer that you feel like you know. This book makes me want to be a dad, and it makes me realize how incredible my own dad was and is. Anyway, I recommend everyone picking this book up.

2006-03-14T13:13:00.000-06:00

I really like what Governor Richardson is saying out in New Mexico. If he is actually for these things, and if he seriously is for "free enterprise, social justice" etc, then I might just vote for a Democrat. We really need people to get passed some of this crazy partisanship, and passed the fundamentalists in both parties. We need progressive policies on many things. Progressive economic policies that will create free markets and continue the global spread of capitalism and we need progressive social policies that don't try and dictate what I can and can't do in my bedroom, watch on tv, etc. Laws are for protecting individual rights, not quelching them. http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/Richardson0314.html

2006-03-14T12:48:00.000-06:00

You are a
Social Liberal
(68% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(83% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

2006-03-08T12:44:00.000-06:00

I'm really frustrated with politics right now. I can honestly say there are no candidates for which I want to vote. President Bush has turned out to be a big government guy, who came in under the guise of Reagan. The only reason I support him is because I think he's committed to fighting terrorism, well, at least moreso than the democrats. Most of the republicans are hacks (as are the dems) and they are both corrupted by the christian fundamentalists and the wacko leftists respectively. I can't in good conscience not vote, however, I can't vote for anyone in good conscience. It seems we've reached the point in democracy where it fails, where we've figured out we can vote ourselves the treasury, and its not gonna be long before our economy can't and won't support our government's insatiable desire for entitlements and pork barrell projects. Besides that, we're nearly WWIII with some combination of Iran, North Korea, China, and possibly Russia and other smaller Middle Eastern states, and this war is gonna make the first two look like skirmishes. The only possible deterent to this thing would be our country having a missle defense system that will keep us from nuclear devestation, but terrorism will continue as long as there are people willing to blow themselves up in the name of Allah, or whomever they deem to be their god. I used to be optimistic about this, but I don't see anywhere to go but down. My political ideas are not anywhere close to the mainstream, and neither are my spiritual ones. Sorry for the negative post. I'm just in a negative mood I guess.

2006-03-02T08:25:00.000-06:00

I agree with the vast majority of things that I read from emergent writers. However, more and more I find myself bothered by some lack of understanding, at least in my opinion, about some specific issues. I've been reading Brennon Mannings "The Signature of Jesus" recently, and while I like the book, I'm having some difficulty with it. Like most emergent authors, Manning is an economic leftist. I can agree with a lot of things about the movement, but one thing I can't stand is people talking about economics in moral terms, when they really don't have a grasp on economics. For example, Manning mentions our buying goods made by people making low wages in other countries. He even goes so far as to say that maybe people in other countries whos goods we are buying should actually be making American minimum wage, but how we wouldn't be able to afford our goods, and that the reason those people are working for such poor wages is because the big greedy corporations and all consuming americans just want to screw these people over. I'm sorry Mr. Manning, but economics is not quite that simple. Wages aren't set by a company who arbitrarily pays people low wages because they can. Wages are set by supply and demand, just like everything else in an economy. The reason they can pay people 50 cents a day in [insert african nation] is because there are a whole lot of people and not many jobs. When industry comes into an area, wages are set at a price where the supply of labor meets the demand for a job. If there are 50,000 people looking for a job, and I'm hiring 1000 people, I'm gonna hire the thousand people who will work for the least amount of money offerred. In a poor country, where 50 cents in american money goes a much longer way than it does here, wages can't be as high as they are here. We used to be poor and charge low wages in this country when our workforce was much larger than the amount of jobs availible. We had immigrants pouring into this country from eastern europe, and factories that didnt' have enough jobs for everyone. That drives down wages and it hurts people. However, when wages are low, and production is high, it enables companies to make a similar profit with a cheaper item. Cost of living goes down, so the low wages aren't nearly as penalizing as they once were. Also, when companies become more profitable in these situations, they can hire more people, which means less people living in as dire poverty as once before. What are these people in Africa doing before industry comes? They are sustinance farming, and they are dirt poor. When industry comes in, it offers them a chance to make money and if the money brings them more than farming does, they'll take the jobs. Money enters the economy, poor people actually have a buying power, which causes more business to open, which in turn employs more people, which puts more money the the economy, etc etc etc, all the while allieviating the condition of the poor, who now have oppurtunity. Just the same, many are pushing in this country for a higher minimum wage. Sure it sounds good on paper doesn't it? All those fast food guys start making 7.15 an hour instead of 5.15.... but does it really help the poor. A very few of them it does, but if you're looking for a utilitarian solution, this is not it. When a company is forced to make its lowest wage 2 dollars higher, they will have to fire people. In order to keep profits to keep them in business, they will get rid of their least productive, least skilled workers (ie, poorer less educated people). Also, prices rise in order for the business to make a profit now with their increased labor costs, which make the poor who were making 5.15 an hour who now have no job, even less able to pay for goods that they need. Another factor that hurts the poor is how the higher wages will bring many unemployed upper middle class kids into the work force. Maybe they aren't willing to work for 5.15, but 7.15 is enough incentive for them to get a job. Now, poor people are competing with middle and upper middle class white teenagers for work and if you believe that this country has some racist tendencies, you know that the kid with the polo shirt is gonna get the job before the kid with the fubu shirt. If everyone took some basic economics classes, we'd get rid of these ridiculous "government trying to control the economy" policies, we would help the poor much more than we are now. Besides all that, the kingdom of God isn't a political, governmental kingdom. It is us. It is up to us to help the poor, not the government. If the government can do anything, it will do what is best for the economy, because thats what will help the poor the most.

2006-03-01T11:34:00.000-06:00

Every day I find myself more and more frustrated with Christians. Not Christ, mind you, just Christians. I feel like the attitudes of many who bear the name of christ reflect so poorly on his attitude. His love for the poor, the downtrodden, the "sinners". The more I'm in a church setting, I begin to loathe it. Very few places have an attitude with which I'm comfortable and I'm not sure how to deal with that. I want to be able to be in community with people I disagree with, but I don't want to be in community with those who don't share a similar attitude. Smug christians, hateful christians, know-it-all christians.... I just can't stand. I can't stand when a preacher or speaker gets in front of me and with absolute certainty explains something that's really not so cut and dry. I'm tired of the way we talk and live because I can't imagine it being comfortable to those who didn't grow up speaking christianese. Regardless, its frustrating. But I'm pressing through. In other news, I've become somewhat obsessed with New Urbanism. Several communities are springing up in Davidson and Williamson counties. Instead of typical neighborhoods, built for cars with lots of space between houses, garages that take up the majority of the house, and no retail within walking distance. These New Urban neighborhoods are more like a small town. Similar archetecture (but not cookie cutter homes) and different size houses, condos, apartments, and flats with prices ranging from upper to lower middle class. One of my favorites is Lennox Village . I love how there are community parks, common green areas, no garages on the front of houses (I hate those) and one of my favorite things, old main street style shops with lofts above them. Hopefully that will be the first place I move from the boro. A little one bedroom loft above some quaint little shop. I think New Urbanism offers a great oppurtunity for ministry. We'll once again live in communities where people have no choice but to be around each other. Schools are all in the neighborhood, people can walk to get groceries, to the park, etc. It offers public arenas for you to meet those who might be searching. Anyway, I'm excited.... well, obsessed is a better word.

2006-02-17T23:51:00.000-06:00

trying out a new thing with tags. trying to broaden the smaller reader base i have through technorati's tagging system. drove home from nashville tonight with carrie. We took a slight detour around an accident which led us throught he burgeoning metropolis of kingston springs, tn. i also accidentally turned the wrong way on the interstate. kinda frustrating. but we made it. now its time for snow. tags snow technorati

2006-02-17T13:48:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been thinking about global warming, probably because a group of evangelicals including Brian McLaren, and the president of Abilene Christian University, signed a statement showing their commitment to helping stop global warming, well, to stop the pollution we create that supposedly causes global warming. I'm not sure exactly where I stand on this issue. On one hand, I definitely appreciate the efforts of evangelicals to adopt some sort of environmental position. We were given dominion over creation, but that does not mean we should just blatantly destroy it, and I believe its about time that evangelical christians jumped on to help this. However, I'm not sure that there is enough supporting our use of chemicals causing global warming in order to shut down the our economy. The Kyoto Treaty, which many liberals cite as a cure all for everything from severe hurricanes to melting glaciers, to tornados and crippling snowstorms, in actuality will do very little to end global warming, if in fact we're causing the vast majority of it. Kyoto does not have any regulation on China or India, two burgeoning economies in the world that are polluting at dramatic rates, yet it imposes strict regulation against the United States, Great Britain and other developed countries. The motivation behind this legislation is purely political. It serves to "level the playing field" for other nations through the guise of saving the environment. The fact is, its not leveling the playing field. It is punishing the success of American Capitalism. I support our government's refusal to sign this legislation until it applies to everyone and until significant evidence that we are the cause of global warming, not a warming sun or any other climactic patterns. In some reading that I've done, I've noticed that there has been climate change on our globe far before we began burning fossil fuels for energy. Several Ice Ages have come and gone before technology reached the point where air pollution was anything more than a nomadic group sitting around a campfire cooking meat from a mastadon. The earth goes in cycles of warm and cool. Right now, there are factors contributing to warmth that we must be aware of, such as the sun going through a hot phase. When this happens, the earth warms significantly for several years, melting polar caps and glaciers. This causes a desalination of the oceans, which in turn causes the gulf stream to either slow down or cease flowing. Once the gulf stream slows, warm air is no longer being pushed into the far northern hemisphere in europe which causes a dramatic cooling of the earth, or even a shocking climate change into some sort of ice age, which refreezes glaciers and polar caps. One can see this when you notice where there were glaciers during ice ages and there aren't now (ie the great lakes were formed by glaciers during an ice age. Can you imagine what would be going on now if the great lakes were ice and people noticed them melting significantly. People would go ballistic, just as they are doing now. Climate change is natural on our planet, to a certain extent, and we need to realize that before we draft legislation that will actually hurt the poor more than rising oceans and catastrophic storms.

2006-02-16T09:22:00.000-06:00

For those of you who think the republicans are the only party in this country with fascist tendencies... think again. The city of Calbasas in California has now banned smoking in public OUTDOOR areas. Yes outdoor areas. No smoking outside of businesses, not in parks, not on the sidewalk. Seriously, what's next? I'm reminded of Portland Maine which bans smoking inside any public buildings and does not allow drinking alcohol outside any buildings. The two things that are meant to be done together can't be. So, Republicans are fascists in my bedroom. Democrats are fascists in my buisiness and in my personal space. Vote Libertarian. http://www.theacorn.com/news/2006/0209/Front_page/001.html

2006-02-14T23:42:00.000-06:00

I understand the good things about communal living. I understand that the early church practiced it and it worked all right for them, but I just don't think I'm very good at it or something. I can't stand living with people who don't do any work, which leaves an overwhelming amount for me to do. Its like, if you're living in a communal setting, the person with the worst work ethic gets the best deal. I've got a roomate who makes more than his share of messes and cleans up, well, he doesn't ever clean up. Its really frustrating. Also, we don't pool our food resources, yet, my food has a tendency to disappear, and that is also a frustration. most recently I realized that my laundry detergent is almost gone and, no joke, I bought it at the beginning of January. normally it takes me 3-4 months to use a whole thing of detergent, but since someone's been using mine, its gonna be much less than that. And I won't say anything to ayone cause I'm not one to make a big deal out of stuff. These kinda things make me wish I lived on my own, cause I constantly feel like I'm being taken advantage of.

2006-02-11T15:08:00.000-06:00

I really wish that I could be a professional writer. I know I'm not very good or anything, but, I could see myself sitting in a coffee shop, drinking some hot brewed beverage, typing away at my laptop whilst listening to whatever obscure indie rock band is my pick of the day. I guess that's kinda what I'm doing right now, actually. My headphones aren't on, and I was listening to Panic! At the Disco, but still. Last night, I was really disappointed. In the interest of full disclosure, I'd like to let everyone know that I am a weather nerd, and have been since I was about 3 years old. My most striking obsession with the weather is snow. I love snow. I love snowstorms, or as much "snowstorm" as we have in the mid south. Yesterday, the weather persons were all forecasting between 4- 6 inches of snow for the Nashville area. I was pumped. I'd been driving around, and occasionally, I would pull up to Krystal wireless hotspot and check the radar and temperatures, as well as the new forecast models. I'd compare the position of the low pressure with that of the forecast models, to see if it was moving according to schedule. Things were looking good. The snow was moving in. I called Memphis, where my family lives, and they were receiving heavy snow, About an inch an hour rate. Their temperature had dropped ten degrees in about 30 minutes, which excited me because one of my worries had been that it was nearly 50 degrees yesterday in Nashville, and I was concerned that it would be too warm for snow. I went to work, where I didn't have access to the internet for 3 hours, though I did finally get to check the weather on television. Temperature had dropped. The snow had all ready started in northern Davidson County, and it had begun to mix in with the rain in Antioch. I was pumped. When we left, snow was falling, though the temperature was slightly above freezing so it was a wet, slushy snow that was having trouble accumulating. No worries, right? I noticed that a little more rain had begun to mix in around 7, and the next time I checked the radar, I saw it. Warm air was streaming northward, right up I 65. Not a good sign. All the snow from middle tennessee was changing to rain once it reached the I 65 corridor. I hung my head in disappointment. It wasn't going to happen. Not only did the warm air push in, but the low pressure didn't pull in nearly as much moisture as had been anticipated. The weather persons had let me down again. Memphis got 4 inches. I can't remember the last time Memphis got 4 inches of snow. I think it may have been 2001. Or before. Regardless. I'd like to apologize to all the school children of Nashville (and all snow loving adults). Its my fault. Just like the storm that Jonah caused while he fled Ninevah, God is punishing me (but for an unknown reason) by not letting it snow. Memphis has received more snow than Nashville every year since I left. I'm convinced at this point that if I moved to Buffalo, NY that the lake effect snows would cease. Seriously. In other news, tomorrow is the first sunday in the new building at Otter Creek. I'm singing on praise team, and am excited about having 45 extra minutes to sleep. I'm also excited about being able to go to class. I can count on one hand how many times I've gone to class at OC since I've been there.

2006-02-07T22:55:00.000-06:00

Sunday was the last service at the Granny White Pike building for Otter Creek. I'd have to say it was one of the most emotional services that I've ever attended. I've only been attending OC for two and a half years now, but it feels much longer than that. While I was attending Lipscomb, I had trouble making friends. Despite my love of performing, college has brought about the realization that I'm somewhat of an introvert. I don't make friends very easily, maybe because of my constant struggle with self esteem. Regardless, through the lonely times at Lipscomb, Otter Creek was always a refuge for me. That building became a place of comfort. Sunday morning worship was the highlight of my week, and the church, and the few relationships that I built were ones that encouraged me, and kept me from missing home too much. No matter how down I might have been after a Saturday night spent alone in my dorm room, when I walked in the doors on Sunday morning, I forgot about whatever had been getting me down. I knew I'd see BST's smiling face, and get a bear hug (he gave me a bear hug the second time we met actually, which was a little awkward) and Tim's preaching was always an encouragement, even through his angry period. I had my pitiful crush on the unreachable Amanda McKinney now Vickers, who became a big sister to me and gave me some much needed encouragement through emails. All those feelings kinda are wrapped together with that sanctuary, but they will come with me. I remember the sunday before Labor Day, 2004, as soon as service was over, getting a phone call from my dad that my grandmother had died that morning. I was standing in the second row middle section, thinking about where I was headed to eat and the phone rang and I just knew what was happening. That's a memory from the building that I will never forget. But back to the service. I know I haven't had the memories that many have had in that building, but Sunday morning, I could feel them. I could feel the excitement, the sadness, the nostalgia, the memories. It was a beautiful thing to be a part of. It was wonderful to walk through the history of such and amazing church, one that has drastically affected my life in so many positive ways. It was so refreshing to hear John Rucker, in his 80s, admit his humanity to a church he's attended nearly his whole life. It was amazing and surreal. However, I am excited about this new building. I'm excited about the great things that OC will be able to accomplish for the Kingdom at its new location. I'm excited about the fact that this new building hopefully will be the building where my family is born and raised, and where I'll get to see my future children grow and learn about Christ. I'm also excited about only one service and 45 extra minutes of sleep on praise team mornings. I praise God for Otter Creek and all that its doing and will do for the cause of Christ!

2006-01-30T22:45:00.000-06:00

Hey Christians. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Protestants and Catholics. Traditional and Contemporary. Calvinists and Evangelical. I'm taking to all of you. I've got a question that I think deserves some serious consideration. One for the scholars and neophytes alike. Wait, don't go get your Bible. You won't really need it for this. What I want to ask is simple; what are you afraid of? Sure, we live in a world that is sometimes hostile to Christianity, we live in a world where our traditional morals seem to have gone down the drain. I understand. I go to a public university, so I've seem it first hand. But I've got to ask myself. Is this militant "values" campaign really what our country needs? Is it imperative that we tell gays they can't marry? You may argue that the Bible condemns homosexuality (though I'd like to have a conversation with you, but thats a different topic) so the government shouldn't allow it, but are you really willing to hold to that argument? Christian America, are you ready to outlaw divorce? Cause that would be the logical next step from where we are now. In all actuality, it would have been a logical first step seeing as Jesus is pretty explicit on how he views divorce, while being strikingly silent about Homosexuality. What are you afraid of? The NBC affiliate in Nashville recently pulled a television show off the air after an aggressive letter writing campaign by the religious right. I watched the show the only night that it actually aired, and I enjoyed it, thought later, after further consideration, I have decided that the show was a bit melodramatic and probably did not exhibit the qualities of popular television. Regardless, this show was not pulled from the air because of excessive language, nudity, or extreme violence. The Christian Right threatened a boycott of the network because they were afraid of Jesus. This might sound funny, but its the only explanation at which my feeble mind can arrive. Something about a Jesus who didn't smite a minister who struggled with an addiction to painkillers, or command an exorcism of the Reverend's gay son scares the hell out of them (pun intended). This show brought Jesus to network television surrounded by shows completely absent of him. Right in the middles of shows that portray the hopelessness of a life without faith, and shows that demean humanity with body builders, big boobs, and beetles, appears a show about a tough life that is only meaningful because of faith, and that's the one we pull from the air. What are you afraid of? You know, I'm not saying you should be forced to watch television you disagree with, or that television should be able to show whatever they want. What I am saying is that there are bigger battles to fight than what's on TV and there are bigger social problems to deal with than whether or not two guys can get married, like world poverty, or the violence and drug addiction that plague our inner cities. Not many people would consider the Roman Empire a particularly moral one, yet the early church did not start a letter writing campaign to Nero because he allowed (and practiced) Homosexuality. They went out and lived the love of Christ, and it transformed the world. They realized that forcing morality will never create good people, but changing hearts will. So, on the issue of gay marriage, if you do not agree with it, go out and love people. Go to the gay bars and form relationships, without judging, just showing the love of Christ and what he has done. Blatant discrimination against homosexuals has not changed them over the last millennium; its just created a group who live lives searching for acceptance because they cannot get it from those who should be the most accepting. What are you afraid of? There is plenty wrong with television today and I bet most people would agree, but how about instead of killing any mention of Jesus you do not like, either turn off the TV or use it as a tool to reach those that are seeking.

2006-01-07T17:17:00.000-06:00

Last night I was excited to be able to watch the new, "controversial" television show "The Book of Daniel". Let me tell you that it is probably one of my new favorite shows this year. Definitely favorite drama, but I don't know that it can surpass "My Name is Earl" (though it is awfully close). The premise of this show is an episcopalian priest who's family is well... typical. They have the same kind of problems that other families have... maybe a little exaggerated. Daughter is selling drugs (but not using them), one son is gay, another son (who is adopted) is involved with a wealthy parishioners daughter. Daniel's mother has alzheimers, his dad may be having an affair, his sister in law is a lesbian and may have killed her husband in order to get 3 million dollars Daniel's church had raised for a new episicopal school. The mom has an alcohol problem and Daniel is struggling with an addiction to painkillers after back surgery. Ok, well, its probably a little exaggerated, but still. Jesus shows up and talks to Daniel throughout the show. I heard one lady from some conservative christian group (who had not seen the show) remark that the jesus portrayed in the show will not be the Jesus she worships. I don't know if Jesus is talking to her too and telling her that, but the Jesus that was portrayed in TBOD is probably the best portrayal of Christ I've seen in a while (and that includes the 700 club, and trinity broadcasting network). Jesus encourages Daniel to do the right thing, gives him advice, and listens to what he has to say. He's not uber judgemental like the Jesus that the far right displays, but he's not all tolerant like those on the left would think. He lets Daniel know subtlely that his painkiller problem isn't a good thing, but he doesn't get enraged. He is gentle and a friend, willing to listen. I thought the show was great, and I think everyone shoudl watch it. We live in a world that has not been completely transformed. People sin, people struggle, and Jesus isn't sitting there with a book checking off what you do and don't. He wants you to make the right decisions, but he doesn't blow a gasket when you don't. This show tries to portray Jesus as caring, nurturing, and Daniel as a guy with a good heart who tries to do the right thing, but, like us, isn't always successful.

2006-01-07T14:18:00.000-06:00

Tis time. Tis time. I've been putting off my year in review post, but now, as I sit in my empty apartment, trying desperately to find something to, I will succomb to updating the LJ. 2005 was a pivotal year in my life. Its definitely a year that I look back at who I was just twelve months ago and barely recognize myself. I began the year in a new place, in an uncomfortable place. I kinda have a love/hate relationship with change, so leaving Lipscomb and starting at MTSU was both thrilling and frightening. While I hadn't quite plugged in with a group at Lipscomb, I was comfortable there. I knew my place. I knew some people, though I wasn't close with any of them, I had gotten on good terms with the administration. Most notably, I'd perfected the "jesus" face. Inside, I was scared to death that my religion didn't make sense, but outside I had it all together. What would I do at MTSU? Spring semester of last year brought a ton of new people into my life. People that genuinely cared about me and enjoyed my company. Moving in at the Bellwood mansion was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. I learned a lot about myself, especially the first two months. I paid rent, bought my own food, cooked my own food, moved furniture 300 miles in a UHaul, experienced alcohol, among many other things. Most notably, I realized how awesome my parents are, and how they care about me so much that they will force me to make tough decisions and figure things out on my own when I need to. Summer was just unreal. Working 30 hours a week, at ten bucks an hour. Getting off at 1:30 every day, eating chick fil a with my mom, golfing by myself, or with one or more members of my family. Singing at workcamp and meeting a girl, who, though we are not together anymore, really changed my life. Helped me to be adventurous, taught me how to laugh, how to take risks, and how to be in a relationship that makes you happy without being happy solely because of the relationship. I think I learned a ton about myself from Picayune to Panama City Beach, and I'm forever grateful for that week of my life. Hurricane Katrina didn't directly affect me but it changed my life and my faith. My misunderstanding of God and my desire to have everything figured out came to an abrupt head a couple days after the hurricane. When you start asking WHY questions, especially after being raised in a modern faith (I use modern as a time period not as in now. We live in a post modern society now) that is totally rooted in rationalism and how if we look hard enough we can understand things, it can be detrimental to your faith. I looked at the gulf coast and I said "Why... why would you allow this to happen?" And I searched and searched and picked my brain and I couldn't come up with anything. This just didn't make any sense to me. Lunch with Brandon Scott Thomas couldn't have been more helpful. The main thought is that... there are things we aren't ever gonna know, we aren't ever gonna figure out. The problem is, we've thought for so long that we've figured God out, and we understand him and then certain things happen and they don't gel with our ideas of God. What do we do then? He referred me to Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo and I also started reading Donald Miller and I've realized how much I've missed the point of CHristianity. I've realized how much of my faith was based, not on God, but on my own understanding, and how when put under a microscope, my understanding will inevitably deconstruct. Human wisdom is foolishness to God. That doesn't mean that we just accept bad theology... it means sometimes you're just not gonna get it, and its freeing sometimes to say "I dont' know." Claire, inadvertantly, you helped me rediscover my love for God. I am so thankful for that. School started back far too soon, and I moved into an apartment with guys that I knew, but not well. Apartments are much closer quarters than houses, and I became close with these guys pretty immediately. Got a job, initially, so as to free up my weekends to go home to see one girl, and ended up finding a new one because of it. Kinda strange how that works out. Kinda strange how I wasn't looking and it just happened. Kinda strange how big a part of my life Carrie's become since August. Wow. Classes were a drag this semester. They pretty much sucked and my grades reflected my interest in class. 3 B's, a C+ and a C. Less than stellar. Though, something important did happen. I figured out my major. History with a minor in secondary education. Maybe I'll teach for a while and if I don't like it, I can find something else to do. My classes this semester rock and I'm pumped about them. Basically, this year has been everything I could imagine. Good and bad. Easy and Hard. Thought proking and chilled. Its been wonderful. I'm excited about this next year to come. I think big things could be on the horizon.

2005-12-26T09:14:00.000-06:00

Every Christmas Eve, my family attends service with my Grandparents at Forest Hill Community Church. My Grandpa is an elder there, though they haven't been attending the church long, relative to where they attended before moving to Memphis. When they first moved up here, circa 1992, everyone in my family that lived here (An Aunt Uncle and cousins, Grama and Grandpa, My family) went to Quince Rd Church of Christ. What I as an 8 year old didn't understand, was that problems had been brewing there for a while. The deaconship was very, lets say foward thinking, wanting to change up some of our 1950's style worship service. The elders, on the other hand, were not so keen on the idea. Eventually, the group of deacons and their families took their Max Lucado books and started a new church called "Community Church of Christ". For about six months, approximately 200 people attended in a ball room at the Adams Mark Hotel. Sometime during that period, someone threw a guitar into the mix, and a whole bunch of people left. You know, its ok to be "liberal" but only to a certain point right? Well, long stort short, eventually, a good thing got too small for some of the families with children who wanted a strong youth group for their kids to grow up in, so Community Church (dropped the "of Christ" during the whole deal) disbanded. Some went to a burgeoning MEga church called Hope Presbyterian. Some moved to Highland St church of Christ (my immediate family) Some went to Forest Hill Community Church. My grandparents were one family that did. If you'd known my grandparents before they moved to memphis, you would have never expected them to attend a church with no c of c roots. There were dyed in teh wool, so to speak. But they found this new church, and liked it. They tried to convince my parents to come. I never liked the church from the get go. I'm not sure what it was... something about it always made me feel like I was on Trinity Broadcasting Network, though that may have just been because someone always played the guitar or piano during a prayer. That just screamed televangelist in my mind. I told my parents I didn't want to go there, and that I would attend Highland as soon as I got my drivers license. That convinced them to stay at Highland, and I believe it was a good decision. Anyway, back to the story. I can't stand going to Forest Hill. I don't know what it is exactly. Maybe its that I feel like its a show. Something about the way the stage is set up, or the fact that the pastor talks like a DJ on a christian radio station, I'm not sure. One thing that bugs me the most is how my Grandparents rant and rave about it. I understand they love the church, and they love the ministry of music (I don't say worship ministry, cause it's never struck me as being about that too much. That's just an opinion though. But Saturday night, they starte oohing and aahhing cause the pastor and his wife were doing a duet with him on the piano and her singing "O Holy Night". They are both talented, but they do the same thing every year, and its always the finale, and, forgive me for being this way, but I feel like everything at that church is the Pastor and his Wife show. Its one of those churches where they are involved in everything going on. I know there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but its just not my preference. The final thing that irks me about that church is either A: If the christmas program is for outreach, why do they give everyone and envelope to give an extra "Christmas Gift" to the church B: If its not outreach, why the minisermon, complete with 5 minute long "Sinner's Prayer" for you to repeat after the pastor. I am not someone who thinks the only way to be saved is to be dunked under the water. But the sinner's prayer almost seems more trite than that. Especially when no one comes foward, they just repeat in their mind what the preacher is saying. Its like, if you don't say these words that I'm going ot say to you, you aren't going to heaven. And oh yeah, Salvation is totally an individual thing... don't bother letting anyone know that you're praying the prayer. Anyway, I'm really glad that my parents didn't make me go to church there, cause I"m almost positive that I wouldn't be where I am spiritually had we gone there.

2005-12-23T12:50:00.000-06:00

Its kinda weird how these things hit you. This morning when I woke up, the most important thing on my mind was, "I wish I could go back to sleep, instead work" but then I realized that I spent money I didn't have on presents this year and I'm extremely lucky to be making what I am sitting and answering telephones at a law firm, so I got up. I got up just like every other morning. Stumbled around in the dark to turn off the cell phone alarm, hopped in the shower, gargled some water (I have a cold, and I've been waking up with that 'I'm kinda sick' sore throat) got dressed, took some medicine, and headed to work. Traffic was light this morning. I imagined that it has something to do with it being the Friday before a Sunday Christmas, and most people decided to take a long weekend, either that or it was actually Saturday and the calendar in my mind had gotten confused, but that second thought didn't last long as the morning guy on News Radio 600 WREC said "good morning" a million times and told me that it was, in fact, Friday. All this to say, this morning was rather typical, and as I arrived to work, I still imagined it would be a typical day. But as I began perusing blogs this morning, something struck me. I often wonder about how God works in our lives, and whether or not he controls every aspect or any at all, or somewhere in between, and I've decided that one can still have faith and be at any of those conclusions and still be a follower of Jesus, but this morning, I really felt like a lot of things came together and made a lot of sense to me. I believe I understand why I went to Lipscomb, and met Brandon Scott Thomas and why I started questioning my faith, and life, and all the things that had seemed so certain once. Why I had ended up at MTSU, why I'm with Carrie now, why I met Claire this summer. I think its all led up to this point. I guess I'll stop beating around the bush here. I think that God is calling me to start some sort of house church in Murfreesboro. Obviously, he didn't send me an email, or give me a vision, with the exact steps and what I need to do etc. I'm not sure when this is going to happen, how its going to happen, who's going to be involved, and things like that, but there is a group of people, a rather large one in my opinion, that's searching in the Boro. 22,000 undergrad students, a few christian ministries that in my opinion have become shelters rather than communities. A place people go to escape the world rather than a refuge for those who are of the world. I love all the people at the Raiders for Christ a ton, but I feel like we're missing so many people because we're wrapped up in ourselves. I am the same way, well, I've been the same way, and I'm repenting of that. I'm trying to look to others rather than focusing in on my own salvation. Being saved is not just about my eternal soul, though I have faith I'll be with Jesus. I feel like Christ made clear that salvation is here now, for all of us. Salvation in Jesus is freedom from the powers of greed, and lust, of hatred and discord, freedom from a slavery to the flesh that only leads to death. Again, I'm not sure when, or how this will happen. But I think there's a need for this and I think God has called me to work with it somehow. I'm not sure what the exact direction of the church will be except that I want it to be an open place, where people can come however they are, feel free to worship however is comfortable to them. I want to have authentic community, the kind of community that the NT church exibited. I want to have intimate relationships with the other members, and I want us to serve together, and let our main goal be serving others rather than ourselves. Maybe I'm getting to be an idealogue here, but this is what I'm feeling, and I'd love to dialogue with anyone who might be interested.

2005-12-19T11:30:00.000-06:00

Hell. Something I've been thinking about a lot... most notably in the past week or so, but, all in all its something that's been at the back of my mind for much longer. I've never been a fan of "Judgement House," a conservative southern baptist "evangelism" program put on around halloween. I've only been to a few, but most of them revolve around some stereotypical teenagers at a party, drinking, covorting, you know, the whole deal. Typically someone mentions something about Jesus in the beginning, but then puts him off, saying they'll be good later, or something to that degree. LAter in the show, some dramatic accident happens, maybe drunk driver, or something like that, and several people die. After death, the are sent before God. Some are forgiven, and sent to heaven, and then Jesus says "I do not know this person" to God and they are sent to torment. There's screaming, red lights, terrible sounding things. Then, cut to people celebrating in heaven. Jubilant. Good for them since they said a prayer and got dunked under the water. The lights come up, and a heavy set baptist preacher with perma-grin walks out and asks people to come foward. Many do and are prayed over and/or say the sinner's prayer. I've never understood why I couldn't stand these things. I guess it was the whole scaring people to become christians deal. That's not something I would imagine is very effective for genuine life transformation. Something was still nagging, though I didn't know quite what it was. Enter this week. I read "The Last Word, And The Word After That" by Brian McLaren. This book is the third in his trilogy that began with "A New Kind Of Christian" followed by "The Story We Find Ourselves In". These books introduce, in ficitional narrative, the ideas that our society has moved into a new historical period, one that has been labeled "postmodern" since its after the "modern" period of history. The arguments are that modernity and christianity have become so intwined that they are indistinguishable, and that unless we re adjust the church to new culture, generations may never realize the life that comes from the Kingdom of God. The final book deals with a touchy subject for recovering fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals, hell. For hundreds of years, hell has been used to scare people toward christianity. Imagery, mostly borrowed from Dante's Inferno, among other sources, were used in sermons, most notably "Sinners in the hands of an Angry God" by Johnathan Edwards. This presents a conflict for many christians, myself included. How does a God who is so loving and forgiving, have a big room full of folks up in heaven, and just let others be tortured in fire below. Does not that seem a little out of character? I know what many of you are thinking. Justin, God punished people all the time. He asked some pretty hard things of the Jews. But all of his punishments were temporary, they were just. He killed Sodom and Gomorrah, and that was it. But didn't they go to hell you ask? Not according to the Ancient Jews. In the old testament, there is no mention of hell. None. The Jews didn't believe in an afterlife. The place you go when you die was "Sheol" otherwise known as "the grave". Somewhere along the way, some jews started believing in a resurrection, when the messiah came, all the good jews would rise from the grave in order to enjoy the greatness of a new israel that ruled over the Romans, Assyrians, Greeks, everybody. The Sadducees on the other hand, didn't believe in the resurection. So where does hell come into all of this you ask? The pharisees believed that the messiah wouldn't come to israel until they were good enough, until they were keeping the law to a T. They adopted the idea of Hell from the cultures around them and used it to their benefit. they used it to scare people into following the law. Wasn't working very well for them, but thats just an aside. When Jesus shows up, people that believe he is the Messiah. Their understanding of the Messiah is that he will bring back Glory to Israel, lead the armies against the Romans and other Pagan Gentiles, and show who God's people really are. What he does, however, is quite the opposite. He talks about a Kingdom, which gets everybody really excited, but the catch is, this Kingdom is nothing like what they had imagine. the Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven, isn't some sort of place we go after we die, its a way of living that is totally contrary to the flesh. Jesus' new Kingdom was about salvation all right, but not salvation from eternal torment. Jesus used hell as a metaphor that the people would understand (since the Pharisees had been using this idea of hell, borrowed from other cultures, Greek, Zorastrian,Egyptian), and used it not against those who the Pharisees condemned, but he used it against the Pharisees themselves. They were trying to enforce a moral code that even they couldn't live up to, and through their laws they were missing the point entirely. the Law was never meant to be a burden on the people. Jesus said it himself. The whole law is summed up with "Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" These are the laws of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. That being said, there will be a judgement. Just because Hell was used as a warning doesn't mean we will not be judged. Jesus made it clear, through his metaphor of Hell, that living a Kingdom life is imperative. Its of dire importance. It was so important that he was willing to sacrifice himself, in order that the sins of all mankind be forgiven, so that we will know we should live a kingdom life. What does al l this mean? I'm not sure exactly what I believe judgement will be like. What I do know, is that we are guilty of using hell the exact same way the pharisees did. Where do we go from here you ask? I think we stop using hell as a threat. That creates, first, a sense of invincibility. I'm "saved" from hell, so what does it matter what I do. I can ignore the radical Kingdom lifestyle Jesus preached because its really all about going to heaven. Sound kinda selfish? Second, it makes it even easier to ignore the plight of those in need. It makes it easy to rationalize walking by that homeless person and not helping. I mean, he probably deserves it anyway cause he drank himself to death, right? Or how about ignoring the famine going on in Africa. I mean, God's gonna come back really soon and take us to heaven, so why should we worry about those things. We're living in the end times. Let's go work on studying the bible more, and making sure we don't ever say Damnit when we stub our toe. I mean, what if Jesus came back right when we stubbed our toe? Anyway, that's just what I've been thinking about. Maybe we've missed the whole point here.

2005-12-17T23:54:00.000-06:00

I've had two great spiritual conversations the last two nights. On friday night, I had dinner with a girl that I've been friends with for about 4 years now. We talked about different struggles in our lives, some really personal stuff, stuff that I'd never imagined she might struggle with. We talked a lot about community too, and how its such an important thing in christianity. Its also something that so many in church shy away from, most likely due to the constraints of the modern viewpoint, and American Individualism. I can do it on my own. Its all about me. Selfish Christianity at its finest. That leads to the point where people walk down roads they never meant to go down, all because they were afraid what people might think of them. The ironic thing is that most of us struggle with the exact same things. Tonight, Mitch Holt and I talked about our frustrations with church as an institution. How we're tired of a lot of things, and we're tired of people using christianity as a social step or a crutch to exisitance. It goes back to community again. That's what "church" was and is supposed to be. Its supposed to be about relationships, not punching your card when the doors are open. I'm so guilty of that myself, you know, the "wow, 15 minutes left of church... where are we going to have lunch today." Not that having lunch is bad. In fact, it could actually be a wonderful thing. What if our small groups met one sunday a month to just have a meal together, maybe have some sort of moderated discussion about things? Wouldn't that be wonderful. That meal would probably be more like "church" than anything we do in the building. I would like to start a house church I think. Or maybe not in place of sunday morning, but something sunday night, get an intimate group that we can confess things, and we can serve others. That would be awesome. Anyway, just some random musings for the evening. Time for bed.

2005-12-14T21:04:00.000-06:00

I would like to apologize. I'd like to apologize for the attitude I've had in the past, an attitude rooted in a fundamentalist faith that told me I was better than anyone else because I said the right words, and did the right things, therefore God looked on me more favorably than others. I, along with many others, have created a God that is about myself, a Christianity whos focus is the individual's freedom from hell, rather than with the plight of the afflicted. I feel as though Jesus woudl be ashamed of me. I ask for forgiveness. I ask for forgiveness for putting on the "church face" and looking down my nose at those who struggle with things that I didn't. Things that, while they do have worse consequences on earth, are no different from the sins with which I struggled. I ask for forgiveness for using hell to try and scare people into following a moral code that I came up with, not the one that Jesus preached. In short, I ask forgiveness for not loving, for not being Jesus to those who need him, to looking at the poor, the weak, the less intelligent, and those with different skin color as mine and feeling superior. If I have not been Jesus to you, I ask your forgiveness.

2005-12-13T12:40:00.000-06:00

So, we're still a fairly spiritual society. Numbers on this question are considerably lower in Britain, France, and Europe in general. Check it out.

2005-12-13T11:22:00.001-06:00

So, the guy on the myspace thing decided to quit myspace. Randomly. After he posted all the pictures of the gay men and said "eww" after them, I made a thread that said "heterosexuality is so gross" and posted pictures of people fooling around and being drunk and stuff (no nudity) and he commented "point made. i'm out" and deleted his myspace site. I'm reading "The Last Word and the Word After That" by Brian McLaren the third book in his "A New Kind of Christian" trilogy. It's really intriguing. So far here are the highlights... "For people like Gil, (an engineer, not a lawyer) faith was meant to be solid, bolted down tight, static, secured; in the midst of a turbulent world, it was one unchacing reference point, something from the past that we keep going back to, a place to escape the chaos. Christianity was a Sousa march, completely charted, with a strong downbeat, great for military maneuvers, not jazz with all its swing and syncopation and imporovisation and blues notes" I think that's so true. So many of us want a faith that is unchanging, a rational faith to fit with our rationalistic worldview. But rationalism is rooted strongly in modern culture, and we're moving beyond that. We've realized that rationalism hasn't solved all our problems, and since we've tried to use rationalism to further the kingdom, eventually that moves to far and rationalism becomes God. When rationalism falls apart, since Christianity has become so intwined with a human creation, its doomed to have problems. We're moving through that right now, but its gonna be hard, because when people's steadfast ideas are questioned, many times they hold onto it tighter, hoping that it will be a lifevest, but many times, it ends up becoming a brick. We've got to look around and decide what is a product of culture, and what is universal.

2005-12-12T23:12:00.000-06:00

I frequent a networking site called Myspace. Surely most of you have heard of it. You can add friends and bands and send bulletins. Also you can join groups. I am a member of the "church of christ" group on there. If you are familiar with the C of C, you will know that there are a wide variety of people who consider themselves members. This can cause some interesting discussion on the boards. I am increasingly frustrated with one person on the board. Someone posted an advertisement for their "Gay Christian" group and this Freed Hardeman grad commented " I don't think anyone wants to touch this with a long stick. Ewwww" It made me angry, but not as angry as what he posted after that. Here's the link to the forum. I'll let you come up with your own opinions.

2005-12-10T15:14:00.000-06:00

Every day I look in the mirror, and realize that I have less hair than the day before. This is not something that I'm handling well. I have never had the greatest self image, and I've just begun to get comfortable with the fact that I am an ok looking guy, and now, my hair starts to fall out. Wonderful. Pre 3rd grade - didn't care how others perceived me 3rd-4th grade - over weight 5th grade - 8th grade - crooked teeth, acne, braces 9th - 12th Nothing in particular, but I just never felt good about myself. First year of college - Freshman 15 Second year of college - lost most of that, Now I'm balding. I'm starting to think it may be a never ending cycle, either that, or my bad self image causes me to look for things that aren't perfect abotu myself. Kinda a bad side affect of all this is that, since I couldn't control how I looked, I could control how I dressed, and I became obsessed with what clothes I had on. Not brands, per say, but definitely whether or not they were trendy. Anyway, so now I have a bad shopping habit. I don't buy ridiculously expensive things, but if something's on sale, I have a problem not getting it. Its something I'm working on. Christmas shopping is finally finished. I'm excited about that. I got all sorts of great gifts for everyone. Here's what I got folks (nobody tell) Daniel (brother) pair of Wallabees, old navy thermal henley. Brandon (brother) striped button up from American Eagle, Johnny Cash greatest hits, Cd visor, several burned cds. (he lost his on a mission trip in Belize this summer) Dad - Long sleeve green tshirt and Tin Cup DVD Mom - Three long sleeve shirts from Old Navy AFazz - Light green oxford shirt from Hollister Daniel Wade- Pinkish Button up from Abercrombie Carrie - Saved! DVD, Kelley Green Sweater from AE, mix cd. Wonderful card full of thoughtfull things written by me. Wade and Afazz's shirts came from this wonderful store called "Rugged Warehouse". Had I bought those shirts from their respective stores, they would have cost me upwards of 100 dollars. But I got both of them for 25. I'm singing on Praise team tomorrow. I'm so glad that I have Otter Creek, even though its so far away. Its so good to be at a church where I feel a kinship of Spirit with many of the leaders. At the Christian Student Center, which I enjoy, don't get me wrong, I feel like if I expressed alot of the things I believe, I might be tarred and feathered. Well, probably not. But people would talk about me behind my back. And who wants that? I read a couple of chapters from "searching for God knows what" by Donald Miller. Really intriguing. It talked about how we tend to make god and jesus just like us... and how dangerous that is. And its not just the ultra conservatives who think God wants us to kill the homosexuals, but its also me. If we aren't careful, we have the tendency to feel like we have God figured out. I feel like any time we do that, we are in grave danger. If God were a formula, Jesus would have told us. If there were a formula for life, wouldn't you think he would have said it at the Sermon on the Mount? But there's no formula. And that's kinda disheartening, but I think it makes finding God a whole bunch more interesting. he's looking for relationship, not just a fulfilling of a few steps. God, I'm sorry for putting you in a box, for defining you by looking at myself and my logic. Help me to strive for a relationship with you, not for just figuring you out.

2005-12-05T12:51:00.000-06:00

Today I drove past a Baptist Church here in town with a large sign reading "Jesus is the Reason for the Season". It got me thinking about the dilemma going on right now about stores not saying "merry christmas" but "happy holidays", and how the christian right is blowing a gasket over it. I could understand their being upset if it were the government making it law that no business could post Merry Christmas or a Nativity scene in front of their establishment, but I feel like this is a losing battle. If you don't like a business not saying Merry Christmas, you have the right to not shop their. Pay more money and shop at a mom and pop store. If enough people decide not to shop at Walmart this year, maybe they'll put Merry Christmas back up. The thing is, were you to boycott these stores, you would in essence be hurting many of the working poor in our country, people who who's sole income is their job and Wal-Mart and whose hours could get cut, or worse their jobs lost. Really, I think we should just get over this. I would say there are plenty of things Jesus cares about more than whether or not the holiday on which we celebrate his birth, is commercialized to the point of their mentioning Jesus everywhere that we're buying gifts. He's probably want us to, you know, help out a poor family this year by selecting an angel from the angel tree, or feeding homeless at a shelter on christmas day. I'm pretty sure that's what he'd be doing. Can you imagine what would happen if Falwell, Robertson, and the like stopped trying to dictate a Christian culture through politics and started helping the poor and being Jesus to the world?

2005-12-02T20:10:00.000-06:00

I haven't updated this in years. Maybe I'll start again soon. Things are gonna change around here though. I am no longer a hard nosed right wing almost fundamentalist christian. I've become almost completely Libertarian now, which I believe is a good move, and I've realized that I am Emerging from a Fundamentalist Evangelical mindset that I had previously obtained. These are things that I'm happy about. I'm glad you stopped by. Hopefully, I'll update about politics or religion when I feel the need.

2004-06-30T13:46:00.000-05:00

I haven't updated in a while, but I thought I needed to put this somewhere in case it never gets to the editorial page. I am a conservative who attended Moore's movie on opening night. While I concede that I had my preconcieved notions about the film (from accusations of those interviewed in the film, and from my previous viewing of Bowling for Columbine and its grievous distortions) I went into the film trying to be as open to things that might be true as was possible. I quickly realized my hope of seeing a legitamate criticism of the president soon faded. When Moore began with the clips from the 2000 election, I knew the direction he was heading. Like many on the fringe of the Left, Moore accuses that Bush "stole" the election and lies by omission when he says that "every possible recount situation had Gore winning". Also, Moore neglects to mention that the mainstream media called the election for Gore before the (largely Republican) panhandle had even closed the polls. At least one study has been done by McLaughlin and Associates which found that quite a large number of Bush voters didn't vote because the election had all ready been called for Gore, and that if they had voted, a recount would not have ever been necessary. This is just one of the many distortions and lies that Moore pushes in his movie, not to mention the sophomoric name calling, and cute editing used to make the president and his Cabinet members look like incompetent idiots not fit to run the country. All groups use propaganda to push their ideas. Advertisments are a key example. Using smiling happy people to promote products is propaganda. Moore's movie goes beyond that. Moore intentionally leaves out facts and uses manipulating editing techniques to create an idea that he labels truth. I encourage people to see this movie. Moore is all ready quite wealthy so boycotting this movie isn't going to hurt him at all. When you see the movie, make sure to investigate the claims he makes, and when you find the distortions and the lies and the omissions, point them out to people. If Moore's ideas were true and good, he wouldn't need to use deception to acheive his goals.

2004-05-06T17:28:00.000-05:00

I can't begin to speak my thoughts on the happenings in the past couple days. Most of all the apology today, but just this whole prisoner "scandal" in general. First of all THIS IS NOT TORTURE! I don't know how much that can be stressed. Humiliation, yes. Some gross stuff, sure. But this is not torture. Torture is burning people alive. Torture is raping a man's daughter in front of him, cutting off his son's fingers until he confesses to a crime he didn't committ, sticking a human being into a woodchipper, feet first, so that you don't die first, but get to feel the pain. Do you know why this was going on? It wasn't for the humor of our troops. We aren't allowed, under the Geneva Convention, to really do anything that would help us obtain information from the terrorists and other people who were captured. Any form of physical contact is all but banned. You basically have to give the people the same luxery they'd receive in a freakin Hilton hotel, and you expect them to give you information? That is ridiculous. These steps were taken because in their culture, it is shameful for a man to see another man naked, and it is shameful for a woman to hold any authority over a man. They took these pictures and showed them to terrorists while they were being questioned to "soften them up" so that they would hopefully be more willing to talk. I realize it looks really bad, but there have been reports of these such things before, and were you upset? NO! The pictures are what made you upset. You've got to put all this into context. WE ARE AT WAR! War is not a pretty thing. Being a prisoner of war shouldn't be a cakewalk. Granted, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard, but at some point we've got to try and win this thing, and we've got to realize that the people we are humiliating.... THEY ARE THE ONES TRYING TO KILL OUR TROOPS! With the exception of a few, few unfortunate people, these are terrorists, al quada loyalists, baathists and other such undesirables that are blowing up our guys when they're out helping old ladies cross the street. We just have no idea, no idea what our best and brightest are going through right now. Some of the Congressional Democrats even have the gall to call for Rumsfelds resignation. That's logical, since no one knows if he gave the order to do this. He's not responsible for any of this crap, especially if he didn't know it was going on. Oh, but actually he did know it was going on, back in Oct and Nov of last year when this actually happened. Did you know that? Yeah, the only reason we know about this is because THE PENTAGON THOUGHT IT CROSSED THE LINE AND INVESTIGATED IT. And all you yahoos who truely believe that we should just disband as a country because we're all to blame for the acts of a small group of soldiers should know that the only reason you know about this is because the people you wish to get out of office, the people who are making sure you have the freedom to say ridiculous things like "Rumsfeld should resign," or "Bush should have choked on a pretzel," are the ones who were upset enough about this happening in the first place to make sure some heads roll because of it. They are undermining our effort in Iraq some in order to pacify you people who just don't understand what's really going on over there. If I seem just a little upset, its because I am. Now, to appease the appeasers, Bush is out there apologizing for the actions of the small group of troops and giving the Left a great oppertunity to make a new political ad. Why are they requesting that Bush apologize? Its not to help him thats for sure. If it were the right thing to do, they wouldn't want Bush to do it because it would help him. When he apologizes it makes him look like a weak leader. While we're on the subject of apologies, where were the calls for Clinton to apologize to Bosnia and Milosevic? Where are the Clinton apologies to Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, etc. Or his apologies to the Rwandans? Or the apology to Haiti for putting a corrupt guy in power. Don't see any apologies there. Or how about Osama and Al Quada apologizing for the first trade center bombing, the embassy bombings, the USS Cole, and knocking down two of our buildings full of people. This is INSANE! I dont' know how much longer I can deal with this. But, my hope comes from the fact that the majority of the American people understand a lot of these things. They know pictures don't tell the whole story. They know our soldiers are under a huge amount of stress. They know that the Liberals are only after recapturing their power. They know that our safety is being made into a political issue, and I don't think they are going to stand for it much longer. This frenzy over the alleged "torture" is not being fed by our people or the Iraqi people; its being fed by the Democrats, and their friends in the partisan media and the American people know that. On a much brighter, happier note about our Commander in Chief, check out this picture

and find out where this came from here .

2004-05-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

First off I want to express my disgust at the charges of some of our armed servicemen abusing Iraqi prisoners. Unacceptable. I saw the graphic images that are most likely being used as propganda in the Arab world to incite more violence against our troops, and it made me sick. I know that anyone who supports the war is also just as upset about these images as I am. We went over there to try and end terrorism, by showing them the benefits of freedom, and how we aren't barbaric like their dictator Saddam Hussein. Now we have probably created a whole new group of terrorists. These guys have been telling moderate arabs that we abuse people, and all other sorts of lies, and then come to find out, we've got some redneck wastes of humanity that are doing the same thing to Iraqi prisoners. Unbelievable. On a lighter note, JFK fell off his bike, it appears that he wasn't injured but, apparently he is going to have some more "shoulder surgery" (BOTOX!) i was perusing across one of my favorite websites for gossip, and news about politics, the drudge report and i found this article. it seems as if almost all of the officers that served with John F Kerry aren't what one might call avid supporters of his being Commander in Chief. Hmm ---- lets check it out.

2004-04-26T14:34:00.000-05:00

Its been a busy month. I haven't updated in quite a while due to numerous reasons, not to mention busyness (is that how you spell that). When is John Kerry gonna get some momentum. I've been waiting and waiting to have to defend Bush's ability to pull off this election and it seems the more Kerry tries to define himself the less defined he's actually getting. At this point in 1984 and 1996, President's Reagan and Clinton were actually lower in the polls than Bush is today. Reagan went on to win in a landslide over Walter Mondale and Geraldine Feeeraroooooo. (Could just be me, but when Mondale said he wanted to raise taxes.... maybe thats not such a good idea) Kerry has stated his desire to give 4000 dollar college grants to anyone who pledges to work in some sort of social program (where are these 4000 dollar grants coming from? Thats right, your tax dollars) Sounds like a good idea right? Help more people go to college. Actually, this scheme to grab voters will never accomplish the goals that it promises to accomplish. As we've long known, in a free market society, colleges will raise tutitions in order to continue bringing in the best students it possibly can. They will see what they can do to the campus when they add 4000 dollars to tutition.... they will still be able to bring in the same amount of students as before, but they can build a ton more stuff cause they are essentially getting 4000 more dollars a student for school. The only way Kerry's plan could work is if they initiated price caps and everyone with any economic sense knows what happens with price caps. Just another reason to just say no to Kerry.

2004-04-08T10:09:00.000-05:00

I'm sure I really don't need to elaborate on this story. US Jobless Claims in Three-Year Low 2 hours, 29 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo! WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing initial claims for jobless aid dropped sharply last week to the lowest in more than three years, the government said on Thursday in a further sign of a reviving employment market. First-time claims for state unemployment insurance fell 14,000 in the week ended April 3 to 328,000 - the lowest level since just before President Bush (news - web sites) took office - from 342,000 the prior week, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said. The unexpectedly large drop in claims likely will garner close attention both at the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) and the White House. The drop in claims far exceeded forecasts by Wall Street economists who had predicted a decline of just 2,000. The Labor Department said last week's weekly level of jobless claims was the smallest since 320,000 in the week of Jan. 13, 2001. Last week, the government reported a sharp surge in new jobs during March with 308,000 positions added to payrolls, and the decline in jobless claims adds to evidence that hiring conditions may be on the upswing after a long drought. The apparent pickup in employment may also hasten an end to a long era of low interest rates, which saw the Federal Reserve cut its key lending rate for overnight loans between banks to a 1958 low. The Fed regularly cites its concern about slack labor markets as a reason for keeping rates low, though the recent jobs data suggest the slack is being taken up. Weak hiring has been a hot issue in the campaign for November's presidential elections, with Democrats highlighting the overall loss of jobs since Bush took office while administration officials maintain an economic upswing will soon give rise to job growth. The Labor Department's four-week moving average of new claims, which irons out weekly fluctuations, declined 3,250 last week to 336,750 - the lowest since 335,750 in the week of Nov. 25, 2000.

2004-04-05T11:23:00.000-05:00

If I hear one more word about how outsourcing is destroying our country I'm going to puke. In all honesty, are people just completely stupid? Have they taken any economics classes? I haven't taken formal classes and even I know that outsourcing actually brings more jobs back to the country. I don't want to go into deep economic theory on this, but, it doesn't take too much to make sense of this. The main reason for outsourcing, is greater output for less money. When you can hire two workers in one place for the price of one worker in another place, even if you sacrifice a small amount of quality, its made up for in quantity, your company will make more money and will be able to sell a cheaper product, thereby giving you an advantage over the competition, forcing your competition to find ways to lower their prices, or make a better product for the same price, and everybody wins. Not only that, but since products cost less, companies in America can afford to hire more workers, (yeah, thats you) and the cycle continues. Another thing that is bothering me, is how people blame the President for their losing their job. THE PRESIDENT DOES NOT HIRE OR FIRE ANYONE! All the President can do is try and create the right climate for individuals to create jobs. Also, lets think about this. Alot of people want the government to secure their jobs, but they don't realize the reprecusions of their flawed policies. Sure it sounds good on paper to say, "No one is allowed to fire people anymore." so that everyone has job security. But lets look at the consequences of that idea. Before we had refridgerators, ice men delivered ice to people to put in an ice box, where the kept their food cold. When refrigerators became so numerous that ice men were no longer needed, they lost their jobs. Should we have banned people from using refrigerators because it would have caused the ice man to be without work? NO! Thats ridiculous. If the government decided that everyone shoudl have job security, than no new inventions would be able to be created that could possibly harm any sector of jobs. In conclusion, if this doesn't make sense to you, go to North Korea.

2004-04-02T14:14:00.000-06:00

So, we have 308,000 more jobs as of last month, and I turn on Air America radio and what do I hear? I can sum it up in just a few words, "Broadcasted from a secret bunker 3500 feet below Dick Cheney's, Air America radio-- what the evil Right is scared of, bush is a LIAR! LIAR!, cause the economy is in the toilet" I don't know about your opinions, but that sounds like a winning formula to me, I mean, I just can't believe Liberals aren't all ready dominating the airwaves with gloom and doom and Al Franken obnoxiously yelling liar anytime a conservative of any prominence is mentioned. Who wouldn't want to listen to that? In regards to AA, (which is what I'll refer to it as from now on) let me make a prediction as to whats going to happen in the future. I'm not sure the time frame on this, but its not going to be all that far off. Basically, unless AA comes across some sort of tremendous funding; ie George Soros, or [insert wealthy yahoo lib here] they will go out of business. It all goes back to the free market. If there were enough people nationwide that could support a Liberal Radio host, there would all ready be one. Despite the popular belief that evil Clear Channel Radio is out only to promote Republicans, the truth of it is that Clear Channel is out to make money. If there's a large enough market to support a Liberal host and bring in money to Clear Channel, they wouldn't hesitate to put them on the radio, but the truth is, Liberal hosts can't make it in a free market like radio. Its been tried time after time, with failure being the largest common denominator. So, in conclusion, I say there's no need to worry about AA. It will die with its former brethren in the arena of Liberal Talk Radio.