What is fair? What would you consider fair? That is the big question, and it seems Obama is going to use that as his campaign theme. No longer is Hope and Change the charge, but now Fairness. But really, what is fair?
fair
/fɛər/ [fair] adjective, fair·er, fair·est, adverb, fair·er, fair·est, noun, verb
adjective
1. free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision; a fair judge.
2. legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; proper under the rules: a fair fight.
3. moderately large; ample: a fair income.
4. neither excellent nor poor; moderately or tolerably good: fair health.
5. marked by favoring conditions; likely; promising: in a fair way to succeed.
(source)
Free from bias, dishonesty or injustice, that is the most common use of the word fair, yet many people distort this word to mean equal. Fair and equal are not the same thing
e·qual
/ˈikwəl/ [ee-kwuhl] adjective, noun, verb, e·qualed, e·qual·ing or ( especially British ) e·qualled, e·qual·ling.
adjective
1. as great as; the same as (often followed by to or with ): The velocity of sound is not equal to that of light.
2. like or alike in quantity, degree, value, etc.; of the same rank, ability, merit, etc.: two students of equal brilliance.
3. evenly proportioned or balanced: an equal contest.
4. uniform in operation or effect: equal laws.
5. adequate or sufficient in quantity or degree: The supply is equal to the demand.
(source)
Equal, as great as, the same as… Hmmm, that does not sound at all like free from bias, dishonesty or injustice, but maybe its just me… So let see, the argument goes something like this, the Constitution guarantees fairness.. so lets look at that…
The Preamble:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
(source)
Nope it’s not here.. general welfare doesn’t state equal or fair, just general… So maybe it was the Declaration of Independence…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,[75] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
(source)
Ok, so this time the word equal is here… “…That all men are created equal…” but you have to read on, “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”
Yes, we are all created equal, by God, we all are Gods creation, and love by him. We all have the right to pursuit happiness, but the pursuit of happiness does not mean that we will ever achieve it. That is up to us, as individuals. This does not change the fact that we are all created equal. This truth remains.
The current use of the word Fair as Equal is misleading and unjust. It is divisive and corruptive, it is poison to the mind of millions of people who are taught that fairness means equality and that equality redistribution and punishment of the successful.
Romney is Obama’s lattes example of this, Romney is now the poster child of an Unfair America, an America
where he makes millions and you and I do not. The Obama mantra is this, take what he has, give it to those who do not… But how is this fair? How is this American? Do you not think that is the Founding Fathers had wanted to create a governmental system that redistributed wealth, they would have written it into the governing documents? They did not do this for the very simple reason that they believed in the individual, they believed in fairness, they believed in the words they wrote “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,[75] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….” They believed in freedom, freedom from the government, freedom to succeed or to fail. freedom to live life and to define your own happiness.
The Obama attack on wealth is as anti-American as J. Edgar Hovers attack on Hollywood stars for their political interest (source). Freedom does not mean equal, but it does mean fairness, we, as Americans, al have the same rights, we all can achieve greatness or we all call remain mediocre, the choice is ours, and ours alone. History is full of people, disadvantaged people, who have stepped up and achieved their dreams and goals. History is also full of people who have lost their wealth and become one of the marginalized. This, my friends, is freedom at its best, no government picking losers and winners, but rather, everyday Americans working hard to achieve there dreams, some making it and others not, that is Fair, that is equal, equal rights to try and equal rights to fail. That sounds fair to me…
This election, the election of 2012, is an election were we, the people, once again have to chose how we define America, do we define America as the founding Fathers defined her, as a nation of Free People, Free to follow their dreams, Free to achieve their Dreams or do we define America as a nation that punishes success, that takes from some to give to others. The rewards hard work with taxation and redistribution. The Founding Fathers fought a war, and shed their blood for the privilege to define their own destiny, to make it on their own, or to fail on their own. Yet, today we see a new definition emerging, one that wants to redefine America as a nation of people who want the government to define who makes it and who does not. They wish to recreate America into a Nation that no longer believes in humanity, but rather believes in Government. We have to fight for the preservation and restoration of America, to get back to the basics of what made this Nation the greatest Nation ever to adorn this Earth. A Nation that is blessed by God, as the Founding Fathers believed her to be. This November I, without a doubt, the most important election in the history of our great nation. This election will decide the fait of generations to come, as Ronald Reagan said
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
~Ronald Reagan
This election we will decide if Reagan was right, will we be telling out grandchildren and great-grandchildren what America use to be, how freedom use to be…. God will, no, instead we will be telling them how we saved freedom, preserved it for them and how they must always be diligent and alert in the cause of freedom.
God Bless
Paul Sposite
Guided Insight Life Coach
42.303780
-83.378959
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In the Great State of Michigan we are going through a lot of growing pains as of late. In November we elected a new Governor, Rick Snyder. He won the Governorship overwhelmingly by stating exactly what needs to happen in this state to fix it. Cut corporate taxes, share the burden, fix the schools and all the rest. People liked hearing it, and voted him into office.
But, there is always a but when it comes to politics, the Gov. did something no politician ever does, and it is coasting him. He is doing exactly what he said he was going to do…. He cut corporate taxes, he shared the burden by removing loop holes in our income tax system, he raised personal income tax a tad bit, and now he is fixing one aspect of the school system, the unions and tenure. How dare him!
Where does he get off doing what he said he would do. Doesn’t he know that us voters like to hear the hard fixes, but we don’t want you to actually do them. We want to talk about shared sacrifice, but we, personally, don’t want to sacrifice, let others do that. Silly, silly man… It’s obvious that he is new to politics, he is trying to run the state like a corporation! But what irks me the most is, he told us that and now he has the guts to do it!
People are really upset, and the unions are, well pissed. Governor Snyder is working relentlessly to turn this state around and he has no political baggage to carry with him, no special interest groups beholden to and he don’t care what his poll ratings are, basically he is not a Politian, he is a business man doing his job, the job he was hired for. One of his campaign signs read “Hire Rick”. That basically says it all.
School reform is paramount to the turn-around of this state, we must educate our children to compete in the global market, but we must also create an environment were they want to remain in the state of Michigan after graduation. Rick is focused on this, he is laying the groundwork for this to become reality, not just some nice sounding campaign slogan.
I proudly voted for him, and I continue to support him. Do I agree with all his decisions, such, no, but I also understand that I don’t know nor do I see everything that he does. I only know a small part of the over all picture. The Governor must consider the impact on each and every citizen of this great state. That is a burden I would not want, but one Mr. Snyder campaigned for, using a very new method, truthfulness.
Hmmm, maybe it will catch on and we will see some of this from our other politicians. Just a thought….
What the legislation would change for teachers
Here are some of the major changes that are part of legislation approved Thursday by the state House:
• A beginning teacher would be in a probationary period for five years, instead of the current four. However, a beginning teacher deemed effective for three straight years would get out of probation sooner.
• It would be mandatory for a tenured teacher who is rated ineffective on an evaluation to be placed on probation.
• Seniority would no longer be a predominant factor in layoff decisions.
• Language that says teachers can be fired for only “reasonable and just cause” would be eliminated and replaced with language that says teachers can’t be fired for “arbitrary or capricious reasons.”
• The pay of a teacher would be cut off after 90 days if that teacher is appealing a firing.
• Six items would be added to the list of issues that teachers unions could not bargain, including placement of teachers, personnel decisions during layoffs, performance evaluation systems and discharge or discipline of employees. (Read the article here)
God Bless
Paul
42.303780
-83.378959
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Global Warming…. Really, its 55 degrees here in Michigan and it’s May 19th.. Hmmm, Right now I would be happy with global warming. Hell I would be happy with normal temps.
I remember as a kid in school learning about the new ice age we were going to have, they use to tell us that if we did not change our ways that we would be covered in ice… Well that didn’t happen, so now is we will all burn up, and that isn’t happening, so they changed it to climate change. This way they have there asses covered no matter what happens.
Each time they make predictions, they get it wrong, for example, the ozone layer hole, they stated that we needed to stop using aerosol cans, to stop the hole. So the government outlawed the arousal cans and guess what, the hole is still there, and it got bigger, after it got smaller.. .Hmm, think maybe that its just doing what is was made to do?
We have been “studying” this for only a small amount of time, the earth has been around for a lot longer than we have, and it seems to be doing fine… Yet we feel that we are so smart that we know, based on 30 or 50 years of research, what the earth is doing, how it does it and what we need to do to help her. Hmmm, sounds a little high and mighty to me. But what do I know, I don’t have lots of letters after my name.
Forget the fact that not to long ago we had an email scandal, proving that the scientist involved in the global warming research were “fixing” the results to prove there point. Forget facts, they only get in the way.
The left wing liberals do not like facts, they interfere with there plans to control everything and everyone. Yet the facts are facts. We find this in all aspects of liberal thinking, be it politics, social issues or religion. The facts just get in the way. But what can we do… Well first off, conservatives can get better educated about the facts, and we can get better at education others with the facts. Liberals are masters at disseminating falsehoods, propaganda or out and out lies. Yet we find it hard to tell the truth, we know the truth, we just don’t like to “push” the truth on others. Yet liberals do it day in and day out, and at the same time accuse conservatives of “pushing” our agenda on others.. .Hmmm, sounds odd to me.
Global something or other is just a way for liberals to try to control us, with laws and regulations demanding that we believe in an unproven fact. Much like evolution and creation. If the liberal was truly “open minded” as they claim they are, they would be willing to accept the fact that we really don’t know if Global what ever you want to call it, is real or not, they would be willing to accept the fact that creationism is as viable as evolution. Yet they don’t, instead they push there agenda on us as if we are little children who cannot think for themselves. Go figure…
As for me, a little global warming would be good right about now, I am sick of the rain and cooler than normal temps… But what do I know….
God Bless
Paul
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The government employee unions created by PERA may be the single largest obstacle to restoring the state’s prosperity. Collective bargaining for government employees is not an inalienable right, and its practice in Michigan has added billions of dollars to the cost of government. The repeal or restructuring of PERA could resolve the state’s chronic fiscal crisis. PERA is long overdue for a thorough re-examination, leading to the rewriting or repeal of the law. (source)
I, as anyone who has ever read my blog or talked to me, am not a union supporter. Now, I do believe, that at one time in our history unions were needed and did provide for the betterment of the American Workforce, but that day is long gone. No-longer do we need a socialistic group to represent the collective needs of its workers. The American workforce landscape has changed. The unions represent a group think that is not positive to the economy nor to the workers they are to represent.
The protest and reactions to local and state governments trying to get there financial houses in order is a testament to how out of touch the unions are. This country is in a depression, economically as well as morally. We are spending more than we have, yet the unions still feel they are owed more and more, unwilling to give up, as the privet sector has. We can not continue in in this fashion if we ever wish to dig our way out of this hell hole we have placed our selves in.
I have often asked, “If unions are so good, and so helpful, than why are people forced to join?” Common sense dictates that if a particular institution was beneficial to me, I would, of my own will join it. But unions offer me no choice, if I wish to teach, I must join the union, if I wish to become a fire fighter, I must join the union… Even if I do not wish to do so… Sounds like forced participation to me. Yet if I forced everyone who worked for my company to become a Catholic or they could not work for me, I would be accused of discrimination, and rightly so. Yet with unions ( a form or socialism) it is perfectly acceptable, and in fact it is law. Hmmm….
I believe that unions once served a purpose, but that time has passed us by. It is time to move on, its time to start to take responsibility unto yourselves. Unions, to me, take away my personal responsibility and places it in to the hands of people with there own personal agenda. I advocate myself to others, not a good thing.
The United States of America is going through a change, we are growing up, and the times of the Unions is coming to an end, and God willing it will end peacefully.
God Bless
Paul
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This morning when I was deciding to blog, I was not to sure what to blog about, so like I will often do I turned to the internet looking for inspiration. I went to all my normal sites, www.catholic.net, www.usatoday.com, and other news outlets on the web. I have set up several feeds on my home page that allows me to read headlines from several sources, but nothing was jumping out at me. So I turned to Bing. Not the singer, but the search engine and typed in the key words “Odd News”. You never know what you will find…
NYC Schools chancellor regrets birth control joke
Ok, the title grabbed me… A school official jokes about birth control… Hmmm, can birth control even be funny? So I clicked the link…
A spokeswoman says New York City Schools Chancellor Cathie Black was making a joke when she suggested overcrowded schools could be solved with birth control.
The article, short but to the point, makes a very interesting read. And to me it states a lot about what the liberal elites really think. The basic problem the school board was discussing was over crowding and the need to address the need for more desk in the future. The solution, according the Black, birth control. The reaction from the people, well they did not find it funny and some even stated it was a racists remark…
Well I don’t know Miss. Black, so I can not comment on that, but I can comment on the over-all idea of Birth Control and ethnic community…
Planned Parenthood, the international baby killing company, basic premise is racists. The founder herself, Margaret Sanger spoke of sterilizing those she designated as “unfit,” a plan she said would be the “salvation of American civilization. (read more here)
Some more interesting reading from the same website (more to read)
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America. Are we being targeted? Isn’t that genocide? We are the only minority in America that is on the decline in population. If the current trend continues, by 2038 the black vote will be insignificant. Did you know that the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a devout racist who created the Negro Project designed to sterilize unknowing black women and others she deemed as undesirables of society? The founder of Planned Parenthood said, “Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated.” Is her vision being fulfilled today?
And a few links….
AbortionRacism.com
Planned Parenthood Exposed
Planned Parenthood Accepts Racist Donors Wanting Black Babies Killed
Margaret Sanger Interview On The Topic Of Infidelity / Video
Why We Oppose Planned Parenthood
The Truth About Margaret Sanger – Planned Parenthood’s Racist Founder
The Negro Project – Margaret Sanger’s Eugenic Plan for Black America
Margaret Sanger Interview with Mike Wallace
God Bless
Paul
42.303780
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A lot of press has been used on the Bush Tax Cuts, they were set to expire today. The liberals rang out with the same old “Cut’s for the rich” mantra, yet if you took the time to read the facts you would see that this is just not true. The Bush Tax Cuts did shift the burden of taxes, but not to the poor like many liberals would claim, but to the rich.
In 2002 the latest year of available data, the top 5 percent of taxpayers paid more than one-half (53.8 percent) of all individual income taxes, but reported roughly one-third (30.6 percent) of income.
The share of taxes paid by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers will fall from 4.1 percent to 3.6 percent.Source: U.S. Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis (read article here)
I get so frustrated when I try to have conversations with the liberals about the tax cuts. There are two main points that upset me the most. The first is just the simple fact that the argument that the tax cuts hurt the poor and make the rich richer… The facts just don’t prove it, as the two bullet points above show. It is just an out-and-out lie. Yet the media and liberals keep saying it. And many just keep believing it. The first argument is fact, the second argument is not.
The second argument is based on ideology. The liberal ideology goes something like this:
It is wrong for people to make more money then others, it is unfair that there hard work should be rewarded off the back of their workers.
There are several variations of that ideology, but the basics are all the same, it is unfair…. What is unfair? Is it unfair if one baseball team earns more on ticket sales than an other? Is it unfair if one CEO makes less than another? Is it unfair if one child gets an “A” on their report card and others only get “C”s? Fairness has nothing to do with equality. A baseball game is fair when all the rules are the same, a grade a student receives is fair when each student is afforded the same opportunity to receive an “A”. (Fairness)
the other part of the argument is based on the idea of “To Much”:
They just earn too much, the profits that company made is grotesque.
Who determines what is too much and what is not? What is the standard that is used? Does the scale change based on were you live, the size of your family or the type of work you do? Or is it just a value the liberals toss out when every they want to rally the troops?
At my place of work we have one benefit that was not removed from us that most other companies have, free coffee. Yep, I can drink all the free coffee, tea or hot coco I want and they provide free filtered water. Too some this may seem a bit silly to even bring it up, but trust me I have a point. At my place of employment we also receive bonuses every quarter and they just placed a ping-pong table in an old unused classroom. So yes, my company tries to make the work environment fun and relaxing. Now I do drink the coffee and get the bonus, but I do not use the ping-pong table. Such is life, I don’t play ping-pong. Now if it was an air hockey table I would be in their playing, but it’s not so I don’t.
So what does all this have to do with fairness and the bush tax cuts… I’ll tell you, I work with a young man who sees the free coffee as unfair, he don’t drink it, and there for he gains no benefit from it. In-fact he sees it as a loss to his bonus. Yet he does play ping-pong and see nothing wrong with that. Now some may think he has a point, the coffee has to be replenished yet the ping-pong table is a one time fee. Yep, he tried that one on me, and he is correct, it is a one time fee for the table, but the room it takes up, the old classroom, does cost the company each and every month in rent. I am willing to be the rooms rent is more than the coffee per month.
You see, fairness to him, was only what he thought effected him negatively, when I brought up the fact that the room rent was more than the coffee, well lets just say he decided he was only “joking” about the coffee. If that is true, that was the longest joke I have ever heard, because we have worked together for over 8 years and for most of the 8 years he was complaining about the “fairness” of free coffee. Now I don’t hear that so much. Hmmm, interesting isn’t it…
The two arguments that the liberals use to scare people about the Bush Tax Cuts are nothing but lies and a screwed up definition of fairness… All will benefit from the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, yes the poor as well as the rich. The liberals need to stick to the truth, they need to base there fights on facts, not on their own skewed view of the world. Fairness and equality are not the same thing, It is fair to offer all the same chances to achieve wealth in this great nation of ours, but the results will not, and should not, be equal. Some will work harder than others to achieve wealth, and yes some will just have dumb luck and stumble in to it. Me, I say “God bless them all” and “Good Luck”. And yet others will work just has hard and achieve nothing and some will lose it all. To them I say “God Bless” and “Keep working at it”. Is that fair? Nope it’s not, but such is life, was that equality at work, Yep it sure was, each and every one of us has the opportunity to achieve greatness, yes some of us may have to work harder than others to achieve it, be we all have the same opportunity to pursue happiness, that does not mean we will all arrive at it.
So may this New Year bring you all the opportunity to achieve greatness, and may you, be it through hard work or just dumb luck, find it.
God Bless
Paul
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I was just thinking about my youth and what it was like to be Catholic back then. What a difference between now and than. I am not that old, in my yearly 40’s, but still the Church has gone through a lot of changes in the past 40 years.
The Church being what She is, the visible presence of God on earth, she often times moves very slow. People complain that they Church should “keep up” with the times. Think about that statement. Just in my short life this would have:
1960’s: Drugs and Free love would have infiltrated the Holy Mass and we would have had not respect for authority and human life.
1970’s: A generation that was between two realities, that of hard times and of lost innocence. We would of had a very racially divided and driven Church and our priesthood would contain woman. The drug and free love of the 60’s would have been common place and we would be looking to “find ourselves” in an age of “pop” psychology.
1980’s: Sacred music would have went the way of New Wave or Punk rock and the youth of the Church would have been a lost and forgotten community. The Baby boomers from the free love generation are not the “I want” “Self-serving” generation of Yuppies that believe that “He who dies with the most toys wins” are becoming our priest. And the Church would have lost her identity and sacred art for flashy and stark decor.
1990’s: The gen Xer of the 80’s are now becoming of age and taking places of leadership with in the community, but are disillusioned with the self servingness of the yuppies of the 80’s and are looking for a purpose. If the Church were to follow the lead of the Xer’s Sacred Mass would be 60 second sound bites thanks to the MTV generations. Our sermons would be pseudo political non committal and appeasing to all. The Church would jump from one service project to the next, never allowing Herself to become attached.
2000’s: If the Church were to change with the times by the year 2000 we would be a mess. We would have several factions fighting for control of Her and She would not be allowed to defend herself. The Yuppies would be in total control and the running of the Church. The Hippies of the 60’s would now be the controlling factor, working for the :Institutions” they rallied against and becoming the authority they despised. They would not command respect because they never earned it and they would not give respect because they do not demand it. They Xer’s would bring a sense of loss to the Church and She would respond in-kind. She would offer nothing to them and require the world from them. Yet She would hold hope that they will accept the empty promise of “All are welcome”. Yet the “Y” generation is still bringing its confusion to the table of the Church and She would accept that as a desire to change and challenge the status quo.
Man what a mess the Church would be is She allowed that to happen, thank God it has not… Wait, That is the Church of today in the United States, it did happen, She did change with the times…. Man what is going on here?
The sad truth is that the radicands of the 60’s did infiltrate the Holiness of the Church and She did bend and shift and Change to try to gather in the lost. Yet in doing so She has become lost herself. She allowed small changes to become accepting, to fulfill the “spirit” of Vatican II or of the generation She was serving. The end resold of the great experiment, we have a Church who is loosing Her identity, we have a Church who can not respect Her own supremacy and who has no modesty onto Herself. Yet She freely accepts this in the name of acceptance. Two Thousand years of Tradition are lost upon a few generations of walking in the desert.
But all is not lost, there is a home, the Gen Xer and Gen Y babies are becoming of age, they are assume rolls of responsibilities and, praise be to God, have learned a lesson or two from the mistakes of the generations that passed. Each and every generation has a alpha and omega side to it, its beginning and its end, the 60’s produced productive and unproductive results as did all generations. But, as in all generations, the fabric of this nation of our Church was changes, altered is someway that allowed us as a nation and Church to take the road more traveled. This resulted in the great experiment know as the “Modern Church”.
To me, how can the Church be modern or old fashion? If Christ is the same then, now and always, should not his Church be? Do we really want a “Church2.0” or “Church of today"? I don’t think so, I think what we want, and what we need is The Church, the one and true Church established here on earth as the visible sign of God among us.
the generation now entering the seminaries are seeking the truth of the Church, not the truth of today, we are seeing parish life take on a new roll and responsibility towards it community at large (well in parishes with newer Priest who were not ordained during the “great experiment”). We are seeing a resurgence of Catholic radio and TV and even the mainstream is picking up on this with big budget movies with biblical and moral themes being produced.
All is not bleak, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is becoming more and more visible as each day passes. Let us pray that we have learned our lessons, but humanity being what she is, I would venture to bet that we have more “great experiments” to come. God willing we will survive them as well.
I am not asking that the Church return to it’s pre-Vatican II ways, not at all, although I see nothing wrong with it for people who gain something from it, but what I am asking is that we do not allow the pop culture to override the Traditions and sacredness of the Catholic Church.
God Bless
Paul
AS a side note: Most of the priest involved the scandals were children of the “Free Love” generation
… Hmmm think there may be a connection?
| Romans 3:23-24“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved. |
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Last week I was driving my nephew and his friend back home, my nephew lives with me and his friend had spent the night so he attended Mass with us. On the way home his friend said he was thinking about getting baptized in to the Faith. I was happy to hear that, I am always happy to hear anyone say they want to come home to the Catholic faith. And him being a 16 year old youth, I was even more so. But, as I always do, I asked him why, why did he want to enter the faith. His response was typical, when I die I don’t want to go to hell.
Good reason?
Some would say so, and sign them up, tell them Jesus loves you and don’t worry be happy. But not me.
Good reason?
No, not really, it is a reason, but not truly a good reason to become Catholic. Why would I say that, what makes me thing that avoiding Hell is not a good reason. Aren’t we all doing that, following the ten commandments, doing good, praying attending Mass all in an attempt to avoid hell? No, I’m not, not sure about you, but that is not my main point.
So if not to avoid hell, than why?
To attain Heaven!
Hmmm, you may be thinking I am just splitting hairs, that I am just stating the same thing, but using different words. But I am not, the two are exact opposites of each other, directly opposed to each other.
Lets look at the first statement:
“When I die I don’t want to go to Hell”
At the very basic level, the statement is harmless. Very noble ambition. My response to him was “but do you know what the Church teaches?” “Are you willing to follow her teachings?”/ Both questions invoked a look of confusion, a look that said it all, a look that said “Wait, I have to do something, I have to follow rules?” a look that said “I thought saying I was Catholic was enough, I thought Jesus loved me”.
The quest to avoid hell is a quest of negativeness, a quest of avoidance. It looks at life as a series of task designed to avoid rather than engage. Consider the youth or co-worker who does their best to not do their work. Often times we say of them “If only they would put as much effort in to doing the work as they did in trying not to do the work…” Well, the same holds true for the way we chose to interact with our faith. Do we interact in a negative or positive way. Do we look at our faith and Church as positive or negative? Do we consider ourselves playing offense or defense?
How we choose to enter in to the faith will shape how we live out our faith.
By choosing to enter in to the faith with a negative statement will ensure that your faith journey will be one of a series of negative events. We do project our feelings on to our reality. With the negative outlook on the faith we will see the faith tinted through the lenses of our eyes. The tint will darken all we see and feel. Our faith will be one of darkness one of shadows and hidden corners lurking about to trip us up.
We are called to search for heaven and in doing so we will naturally avoid hell. Jesus talked more about the Kingdom of heaven more that he did about the depths of hell. Jesus gave us the positive message of the Beatitudes to follow, a message the has its goal Heaven. The Catholic faith is an uplifting positive faith, not one that is a heavy weight to hold us down, nor one that uses the darkens of hell as her message.
My Nephews friend was looking at the Church as a way to avoid and not as a way to obtain.
I can avoid debt or I can obtain wealth. The simple fact that I avoid debt does not automatically mean I will obtain wealth, but to obtain true wealth I must avoid debt. The same logic can be applied to the two seemingly similar statements “Avoid Hell” and “Obtain Heaven”. I can do all the things to avoid hell, yet still not enter in to the Kingdom. recall the story of the young rich man who asked Jesus what he must do to follow him.
17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
Mark 10:17-22
The rich man was trying to avoid hell, not obtain heaven. He was willing to avoid all the pitfalls, but unwilling to seek the kingdom.
Are you avoiding or seeking?
Is your faith positive or negative?
Are you entering in to a relationship that is seeking truth or a relationship avoiding it?
God Bless
Paul
Bible Verse of the Day….
| Deuteronomy 7:9“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved. |
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A friend and I have an ongoing joke about being liberal or conservative, I being the conservative. Today as we chatted online was no different, it always seems that one of us (mostly me) will some how manage to bring it around to being a liberal or a conservative.
It’s all in fun.. or is it????
For the most part yes it is, but on some level we both hold true to our convictions, I as a conservative look at the world differently that my liberal friend. I see things more black and white, true or false right or wrong, were as my liberal friend, well she see things in more shades of gray. The truth can shift and move for her, for me it can not. Right and wrong can have many levels, for me, well, not so much… You get the idea…
Now lets bring in politics and religion…. As we were always told, never talk politics or religion, unless you want a fight or you want to lose a friend. Well my friend and I talk both all the time, I the conservative her the liberal…. And yes, sometimes it can get heated. And yes sometimes I think we both question why we are friends… But we remain friends because we both respect each others views.
Let me repeat that… I respect her views, that is not to be confused with agreeing or even thinking she is close to being right, I just respect her views, knowing that she is wrong.
In that last statement, knowing that she is wrong, I am not joking, as a conservative, and as someone who believes I should stand for what I believe in I do not take lightly my convictions. I will defend them, I will argue them and I will stand by them. Please know that I do not stand strongly for something I have not researched… I can not stand for something I do not know anything about. I look at both sides of an issue, as a Catholic I read both conservative Catholic point of view and liberal point of views. And as for my political point of view the same is true. I am also a strong believer in you can not be liberal in politics and conservative in religion or any other combination of live events. You may lean less on one issue to the right or left than an other issue, but you are still a liberal or conservative come the end of the day.
For example, I do not believe I can agree with the political types who call themselves Catholic, yet vote for laws legalizing abortion, or healthcare that pays for abortions. You can not be Catholic, yet approve of killing babies.
The same argument can work with many issues, I cant be Conservative and agree with same sex marriage, I cant be liberal and not support woman’s liberation. I can’t be one thing, yet claim another. My simple logic class in collage taught me that. We can not be true to two masters, as Jesus tells us.
Now conservatism and liberalism should not be our masters, there are many in each camp who take the basic concepts to the limits, they are extremist, and to them it is there master. That is un-healthy and not very smart. But I do believe in the basic principle of serving only one master. I am a conservative, proud to be one and will proclaim it from the roof tops, but I do not serve conservatism, it serves me.
I am not a slave to my values, as some would think say I am, I follow my values (to the best of my ability) not because they own me, but rather because I own them. A good conservative is a conservative not because it “limits” us, but because it “frees’ us, it allows us to live freely, to choose our own destiny and too chart our own path.
Now many liberals would argue that point, they would state that all our rules and laws do just the opposite, they would state that we should be confined, oppressed and fell like a slave to our conservative views. Silly Silly liberals, how lost they truly are.
If that were that case, than Jesus would be the biggest slave master ever, Jesus was and is always calling us to follow Him, to be true to the Father (God) and it is God who gave us the commandments (the rules the laws) to follow. So logic would state that if I follow the laws God gave us, that I am a slave to God and God is my oppressor…
Hmmm… Not a God I would want to follow, yet it was Jesus who said “”The truth will set you free” “I am the truth and the light”, so if Jesus is the Truth, and the the Truth will set us free, than we must follow Jesus.
Now a liberal would now state that Jesus is the new law, so the old law no longer matters…
Hmmmm
Didn’t Jesus state that he was here not to abolish the law but to fulfill it? How can one fulfill something and at the same time make it no longer valid? Once again simple logic would state that if I fulfill it, that I am giving it greater value, but hey, why add logic to the conversation….
Just something to think about….
Paul
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In a world were we can get instant results, instant answers and basically instant anything we often times forget to make sure we have the facts. I know, why mess things up with facts, it’s much nicer to just keep on keeping in with what I want to believe, or what is convenient to me. But facts are important, and as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details, well the truth is in the facts.
The idea of man made Global Warming is what is big currently, everywhere we look we are being told how we, humans are affecting the world, how we, humans, are killing our planet. We are being told that if we don’t stop our destructive behavior we will not have an earth to destroy for much longer. Some say in 20 or 30 years others say id 50 or 100 years, but all agree that we, the bad humans, are destroying our planet.
Now never mind the fact that no scientist can truly prove this, and that not all of the scientific community agrees with this. Lets look at historical evidence for this. The global climate change people have been around for years, so what have they said in the past that would support the present outlook?
1970’s:
“a major cooling of the planet” was “widely considered inevitable” because it was 
“well established” that the northern Hemisphere’s climate “has been getting cooler since about 1950” (The New your Times, May 21, 1975)
Some disputed this fact (the Times, September 14, 1975) and others felt it was much worse that :a full-blown 10,000 year ice age” involving “extensive Northern Hemisphere glaciation” (Science News, March 1, 1975, and Science magazine December 10, 1975)
So we went from a global cooling to a global warming, now it’s just called global climate change. The name has changed but the net result is always the same, create fear with bogus predictions that are 10 or 20 years, no one will remember who made it and even if they do, who cares that was so yesterday.
As Catholics we have a responsibility to care for the earth and all of God’s creations, yes we need to recycle and yes we need to find alternative fuels and power sources, but we need to do this ethically. We can not lie or manipulate data to support our case, we can not fabricate facts nor deny them we must base our decisions on sound facts and we must take our responsibility of Stewarts of the earth seriously.
God created the earth for humans to have dominion 
over, we are to care for the animals and plants, look after the rivers and the stream and see that our lakes and oceans are clear and clean. The responsibility is huge and the yoke of caretaker is heavy, but God is with us and He will help us with the burden. God has provided all the answers to our questions, all we need to do is discover them.
By the way, the earths temperature has not gotten any warmer in the last 10 years, and we know for a fact the the earth warms and cools all the time, think about it, we did have an ice age, and that was before all the big bad humans created green house gasses…. Hmmm…. The dinosaurs must have has SUV’s also…
Paul
Take the new poll, just check the pool tab at the top of this site…
The information I state in this blog came from an article called “Those Green Doomsayers” by George F. Will from the April 2009 issue of Townhall magazine, check it out at www.townhall.com
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