Freedom is not free.
This video says it MUCH better than I can.
"Remember Me" by Lizzie Grant.
It is the best argument I know for YouTube.
Lizzie made me cry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervaMPt4Ha0
Memorial Day, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Only a Truly Good God would say...
We must remember this world we have is only temporary. It seems entirely possible that some of the alarmist talk about Global Warming may be true. How much is true remains to be seen. And we must be vigilant to avoid giving power to anyone who seeks it for ambition.
Deborah Zabarenko is Environmental Correspondent for Reuters.com. It is possible that some of what she publishes is from self-seeking sources after unwise power. Yet it is all very compelling information. I found her from a very alarming article on AOL.com for today.
Just before that, some truth obviously from the Creator blessed me with the perspective we should begin with: Knowing God is where everything worth having begins. Below was a Verse of the Day for me.
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
The book of James is full of ordinary concepts applied in a very spiritually pure way, and in many ways a summary of Proverbs applied with the full revelation of God in mind. That revelation consists in the deeds and lessons of Jesus the Messiah, as well as those men he selected to fulfill that revelation. Unlike the false Jesus some present, the truth from James cannot be said to be easy to live by. Consider one of my favorites, which I have trouble finding the discipline to live by, and which comes only a few verses later than the above.
"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:13-17, NIV (emphasis added)
Deborah Zabarenko is Environmental Correspondent for Reuters.com. It is possible that some of what she publishes is from self-seeking sources after unwise power. Yet it is all very compelling information. I found her from a very alarming article on AOL.com for today.
Just before that, some truth obviously from the Creator blessed me with the perspective we should begin with: Knowing God is where everything worth having begins. Below was a Verse of the Day for me.
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." James 3:13-18, NIV
The book of James is full of ordinary concepts applied in a very spiritually pure way, and in many ways a summary of Proverbs applied with the full revelation of God in mind. That revelation consists in the deeds and lessons of Jesus the Messiah, as well as those men he selected to fulfill that revelation. Unlike the false Jesus some present, the truth from James cannot be said to be easy to live by. Consider one of my favorites, which I have trouble finding the discipline to live by, and which comes only a few verses later than the above.
"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:13-17, NIV (emphasis added)
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Love Truth to Know It
On Mother's Day.
My kids and wife are out of town. My mother lives about four hundred miles away in the foothills of the Sierras between Sacramento and Tahoe. So God decided to use Mother's day to remind me what I was born for, "loving truth to know it" and sharing that for Life.
I have been having trouble getting motivated publishing about God's Word via CitiZendium.org (the public contribution Internet encyclopedia with reasonable controls over content) as an author. There are no central articles there about the Bible, and the consensus of other authors there is we should begin with a table about the various books of the Bible with a column for every major religion and a row for every book. That doesn't seem so hard, but it is so very far from what I have passion about.
Then God reminded me of a couple things: You have to love spiritual truth before you can know it; and there are babies dying every day because so many folks do not yet know it. Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal has an excellent quote (thanks to BrainyQuote.com) on the first point. A friend's posting on a forum I use reminded me I need to read more of Pascal.
Loving Truth to Know It.
"Human beings must be known to be loved;
but Divine beings must be loved to be known." - Blaise Pascal
One of my concerns about participating in CZ.org is that there are so many folks there with imposing credentials that I need to be convincing with to make any real contribution, and I am just an ordinary guy whom God happens to have blessed with His reality through His Word (see older postings here for that). In the book store I was looking for any book that might help with publishing that Books_of_the_Bible page I should be working on. I found nothing oriented for persons of every Bible-related religion about the content of the whole Bible. But God did leave something there I am convinced I need.
Out of place on the Bible bookshelf was the book about "How to Argue and Win Every Time" by Gerry Spence, a famous lawyer with an incredible win record. One of his major points early on is that you have to convince folks out of passion for what you know personally, because no one is a better expert on that than you are. Gerry Spence might be a recognizable name to anyone who comes here out of love for personal freedom and the duty to Defend Others. He defended Randy Weaver, the separatist of Ruby Ridge fame in Idaho whom the BATF and FBI attacked in 1992. In that point, Mr. Spence is agreeing with Christian advice to base your testimony on your own personal reasons for knowing God is real, and in a way with Blaise Pascal.
That one must Love Truth to Know It is of course the very principle of the Bible itself. You cannot begin knowing God until you begin to love what He stands for. Until you have done that, you are most often disobeying the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other God before me. The fact real Truth is based upon Love explains why so many consider the Bible false, they do not begin with loving real Truth. Why is Reality like that, one might ask? That way only lovers of God are destined to spend eternity with Him, that is a consequence of realizing He is in control and desiring Him. Out of respect for our wishes He would not have it any other way. But notice that choice is Ours, not an arbitrary punishment of His.
So now I must get ready for Church again, and at least may have the right attitude to publish as I am certainly called to do, and now better armed intellectually and spiritually for. The next time someone comes to me with an argument against the Bible, I will ask them: What is your favorite verse? Why? If they have no good answer, they are unqualified to convince anyone about the lasting truths of the Bible.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what does the above have to do with Mother's Day? God reminded me by a radio sermon this week what all the Lost are doing with their power of "choice" over the lives of babies, and the Spiritual truth about abortion that He gave me before.
At least a couple years after God began blessing me with His truth in supernatural ways, I was wondering why all the scriptural answers to my concerns were coming from the original Scriptures (Old Testament). At that time several years ago our President vetoed a ban against Partial Birth Abortion. It was on my heart to know what God thinks of abortion. I got the feeling that it was the right time to put my hand in my Bible without looking.
I opened my eyes to find my finger on a verse I had studied before but didn't Realize what it might mean. In answer to the two questions on my heart: Is the New Testament really from God? And, What does God feel about Abortion? My finger was on Luke 1:54-55. This is Mary's song of praise as the mother of the Unborn Messiah about what Messiah's first coming means to all Israelites yet unborn.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
Luke 1:54-55, New International Version
(Courtesy of BibleGateway.com)
Whoa! Is that an answer? Not only is this about the Reality of the Unborn Messiah, His purpose on earth is Mercy to all the Descendants of Abraham. I am again in Awe of what God does with His Word!
My kids and wife are out of town. My mother lives about four hundred miles away in the foothills of the Sierras between Sacramento and Tahoe. So God decided to use Mother's day to remind me what I was born for, "loving truth to know it" and sharing that for Life.
I have been having trouble getting motivated publishing about God's Word via CitiZendium.org (the public contribution Internet encyclopedia with reasonable controls over content) as an author. There are no central articles there about the Bible, and the consensus of other authors there is we should begin with a table about the various books of the Bible with a column for every major religion and a row for every book. That doesn't seem so hard, but it is so very far from what I have passion about.
Then God reminded me of a couple things: You have to love spiritual truth before you can know it; and there are babies dying every day because so many folks do not yet know it. Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal has an excellent quote (thanks to BrainyQuote.com) on the first point. A friend's posting on a forum I use reminded me I need to read more of Pascal.
Loving Truth to Know It.
"Human beings must be known to be loved;
but Divine beings must be loved to be known." - Blaise Pascal
One of my concerns about participating in CZ.org is that there are so many folks there with imposing credentials that I need to be convincing with to make any real contribution, and I am just an ordinary guy whom God happens to have blessed with His reality through His Word (see older postings here for that). In the book store I was looking for any book that might help with publishing that Books_of_the_Bible page I should be working on. I found nothing oriented for persons of every Bible-related religion about the content of the whole Bible. But God did leave something there I am convinced I need.
Out of place on the Bible bookshelf was the book about "How to Argue and Win Every Time" by Gerry Spence, a famous lawyer with an incredible win record. One of his major points early on is that you have to convince folks out of passion for what you know personally, because no one is a better expert on that than you are. Gerry Spence might be a recognizable name to anyone who comes here out of love for personal freedom and the duty to Defend Others. He defended Randy Weaver, the separatist of Ruby Ridge fame in Idaho whom the BATF and FBI attacked in 1992. In that point, Mr. Spence is agreeing with Christian advice to base your testimony on your own personal reasons for knowing God is real, and in a way with Blaise Pascal.
That one must Love Truth to Know It is of course the very principle of the Bible itself. You cannot begin knowing God until you begin to love what He stands for. Until you have done that, you are most often disobeying the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other God before me. The fact real Truth is based upon Love explains why so many consider the Bible false, they do not begin with loving real Truth. Why is Reality like that, one might ask? That way only lovers of God are destined to spend eternity with Him, that is a consequence of realizing He is in control and desiring Him. Out of respect for our wishes He would not have it any other way. But notice that choice is Ours, not an arbitrary punishment of His.
So now I must get ready for Church again, and at least may have the right attitude to publish as I am certainly called to do, and now better armed intellectually and spiritually for. The next time someone comes to me with an argument against the Bible, I will ask them: What is your favorite verse? Why? If they have no good answer, they are unqualified to convince anyone about the lasting truths of the Bible.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what does the above have to do with Mother's Day? God reminded me by a radio sermon this week what all the Lost are doing with their power of "choice" over the lives of babies, and the Spiritual truth about abortion that He gave me before.
At least a couple years after God began blessing me with His truth in supernatural ways, I was wondering why all the scriptural answers to my concerns were coming from the original Scriptures (Old Testament). At that time several years ago our President vetoed a ban against Partial Birth Abortion. It was on my heart to know what God thinks of abortion. I got the feeling that it was the right time to put my hand in my Bible without looking.
I opened my eyes to find my finger on a verse I had studied before but didn't Realize what it might mean. In answer to the two questions on my heart: Is the New Testament really from God? And, What does God feel about Abortion? My finger was on Luke 1:54-55. This is Mary's song of praise as the mother of the Unborn Messiah about what Messiah's first coming means to all Israelites yet unborn.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
Luke 1:54-55, New International Version
(Courtesy of BibleGateway.com)
Whoa! Is that an answer? Not only is this about the Reality of the Unborn Messiah, His purpose on earth is Mercy to all the Descendants of Abraham. I am again in Awe of what God does with His Word!
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