Phil and A&E

I've been in a writing mood and was wondering what I could blog about. Thanks to the repressive folks at A&E, I have a blog!

Let me be clear up front. I'm not a huge fan of Duck Dynasty. My oldest son loves it; I can take it or leave it and actually find it to be on the silly side. It smacks of typical reality TV to me. Yes, I'm pleased they show Christian values and prayer but it's simply not my cup of tea.

I have friends and family who have chosen the homosexual lifestyle. Yes, I said "chosen." God didn't design a man to be with a man or a woman with a woman, end of story. There's NOTHING at all natural about a man wishing to put his penis into the anus of another man. However, that's not the point of this posting to debate whether homosexuality is something natural or not.

We have a Constitutional right to free speech. Phil Robertson exercised that right. I'm sure from a legal standpoint A&E can suspend him indefinitely from the show for whatever reason they want. However, had Phil came out in support of the homosexual lifestyle this would all be a moot point. He would be heralded as a hero and be given accolades for daring to be different. But because he disagreed with a MINORITY of the population, a vocal minority at that, he's going to be suspended from the show. Bull hockey!

What happened to the right of the straight guy being able to speak his mind? In college classes we're told how we're supposed to respect the "differences" of those around us. Well, it's about high time people start "respecting" my "difference!" I'm tired of being expected to roll over and play dead when I have a dissenting opinion that isn't politically correct.

However you choose to live your life isn't my business. I may disagree and I will pray for you but it isn't my business. However, if I'm asked my opinion of a lifestyle, I will most certainly state my opinion. It's a scary situation when people start being reprimanded for having an opinion. George Orwell certainly comes to mind right now..........

It matters who you date, Christian single!

13For men of this stamp are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, assuming the garb of Apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder. Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light. 15It is therefore no great thing for his servants also to disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be in accordance with their actions. (Weymouth New Testament)

http://biblehub.com/wey/2_corinthians/11.htm

When we watch an old cartoon or maybe look at a comic strip, how is Satan displayed? Usually as this comical little guy wearing a red suit, holding a pitchfork and having pointy ears and a tail. Now if Satan came disguised as that no one, I repeat NO ONE, would likely fall for his tricks. Instead he generally comes to us as something or someone that looks good and doesn't hold any appearance of evil. Indeed, the Scripture posted above bears this out. What does this mean for the Christian single?

There are many ways in which Satan might come at a Christian in an effort to entice them but I want to focus on this from an aspect of Christian singles who are seeking God for that someone special in their lives. As someone who's been through a bad marriage which resulted in a divorce, I can tell you first hand what the wrong relationship will do to your walk with Christ. Satan doesn't have just one trick up his sleeve, either.

Too many people have the idea of "missionary dating." Hey, if only I can get him/her to come to church with me, I can change him/her! Yeah, that's all it will take! I had the same idea as a teenager and even dated someone who wasn't a Christian. Now before I go too much further, let me say there's nothing wrong with witnessing to a non-Christian and inviting them to church. Dating them will likely lead to a disaster! A dear friend of mine gave me the illustration once of two people, one standing on the altar and one lying in the floor. The person on the altar is the Christian and the one in the floor the non-Christian. Which is going to be easier, pulling the person up or pulling the Christian down? Same thing will happen if you choose to enter in a relationship with a non-Christian.

Perhaps the most dangerous thing is the person proclaiming themselves a Christian who isn't. This falls into two categories. My pastor is a funeral director and he says that many times when he asks what religion a person was, he gets told "Baptist." That person hasn't darkened a church door in years but they claim themselves of the Christian religion. No pointy fingers here or no judgement passing. That person has to answer to where they stood with God. It's the second one that's much more dangerous to the Christian if they're not careful.

About three years ago, I met a lady online. We had both been a part of Christian Mingle and had a ton of mutual friends in common. We decided to see if there was something "there" between us. She seemed like a dream come true. Church secretary. She helped with the youth in her church and I believe even taught Sunday School some. She explained to me she was waiting for marriage and ANY guy who tried ANYTHING with her was out the door. Yes, sir, sounds great! If it sounds too good to be true.....

She "slipped up" one morning and suggested we should sleep together when I came to visit. When I called her out on it, well, it was a joke. Bad taste but a joke. Okay, we're human and mistakes happen. Other little things came up here and there but always she had an excuse. Hey, I'll admit it, I had been suckered in by all her smooth talk; I wanted it all to be true. Just like a car that we desperately want and we fail to check under the hood to see what problems there might be. When I finally did meet her in person, the "slip ups" weren't slip ups at all. This self-professed Christian lady did not at all portray the persona she had presented.

Be careful in what you'd doing, Christian singles! The devil would love nothing more than to trip us up. Trust me when I say a miserable relationship/marriage WILL hurt your relationship with God!

Christmas. To do or not to do, that is the question!

I'm a Christmas nut. Many, many moons ago my ex-wife and I decorated our little apartment in October. Shoot, I'm usually listening to Christmas music in August and I'm Walmart's first shopper in the Christmas section when they put it out.

I realize that many say Christmas has pagan origins and we shouldn't celebrate it. If that's your personal conviction, so be it. I would never attempt to shove Christmas down the throat of someone who didn't believe in its celebration. I would also hope that the reverse would be true; I don't wish to have someone condemning me because of my belief that it's alright. I think this comes down to what Paul talked about in the New Testament. He said some believed it okay to eat meat sacrificed to idols and others did not; he said that we must answer to Christ in regards to what we allow or don't allow.

Perhaps some of the Christmas traditions can be traced back to pagan influences. Number one, I've never been a pagan nor was I alive when the traditions were changed! Let me address the common arguments I hear and I will address them as to how I believe.

One thing I've always heard is that Jesus could have not been born on December 25th. You know, I'm not a theologian nor do I know enough about what the climate was during the time of year He was born. I do hear people make the point that it's always other religions honoring their deity on December 25th. I've always heard that Satan has an imitation for everything real. We find variations of Noah's flood in other religions. We find attempts in other religions to have a savior/redeemer. If Satan is the expert in copying Christianity for other religions, why not copy December 25th for these other religions? Again, there's nothing in Scripture to bear this out but it is a thought.

Another thing I hear often is the "Santa Claus myth" and/or how close "Santa" is to "Satan." I'll take this issue one thing at a time. People say that if you tell your kids about Santa that they will find out it's a myth and they'll also believe Christ to be a myth. Okay, I can see that point but I disagree. First of all, I don't, nor have I ever, prayed to Santa. I don't go to the First Pentecostal Church of Santa. I don't read a Bible about Santa. Growing up, I knew what was real and what was fake. I took Santa no more serious than I did Bugs Bunny or Woody Woodpecker. And for the Santa vs. Satan thing, a quick bit of research will fix that. Santa is another word for "saint." We have Santa Monica in California and there's also the Santa Anna winds; I don't hear anyone saying they must be a haven of evil!

Third of all, if Christmas were this huge pagan holiday that we should avoid, why do we have the ACLU fighting tooth and nail attempting to remove nativity scenes from the public square? We're talking the same group who wishes to remove any religious references from the public square including The Ten Commandments and other vestiges of Christianity. If Christmas offends them, it must not be a big pagan holiday, right?

So, here's my take on the subject of Christmas. I'm not worshiping a tree, not at all! What did Christ hang upon when He died for our sins? A tree! The Christmas tree of choice is an evergreen tree, a tree that stays alive year-round. That reminds me of the eternal life I'm promised when I die or go via the rapture. The decorations, well, I don't worship those either. They remind me of the beauty of Heaven. If we read Revelation it describes the Holy City and the beauty of it. The lights remind me that Christ is the light of the world and that we are to project that light to a lost and dying world. It could also remind us of the star that led the Magi to the Christ-child.

If you choose not to celebrate, more power to you; I won't condemn you or call you names. All I ask is the same respect for my choices!

Don't take your health for granted

I have to be desperate these days to go to see the doctor. The thought of paying cash for an office visit since I don't have insurance is frightening. Thankfully the nurse practitioner’s office I use allows a substantial discount for paying up front.  Laying all that aside, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of what happened.

I think a lot of you are familiar with the fact I’ve been dealing with some pain for over a month now, pain I blamed on wrestling with the boys and landing on my elbow. Eventually, the pain began to spread into my arm and shoulder. I even have dealt with shooting pains in my fingers. I scheduled a doctor’s appointment.

As always, I got weighed and had my vitals took. I showed to have gained about 1 ½ pounds since my last visit way back in February. Considering I was fasting in February and wasn’t on this visit, it shouldn’t have been alarming on that part but it alarms me. I was exercising like crazy earlier in the year, spending a lot of time on the gazelle and/or walking several miles per day. Not good.

I fell out of my routine and being in pain for a couple of months hasn’t helped anything. My blood pressure was up (not dangerous by any means) as was my heart rate. This is NOT good. I’ve been forcing myself to get back on the gazelle lately. I may be sore afterwards but the weight has to come back off and the blood pressure MUST come down. I’m not proud of myself but what good will I do to beat myself up?

Here’s to starting the journey of healthiness again.

Technology and its adverse side effects

In the spirit of "giving credit where credit's due," I have to give credit to a fellow classmate on another campus extension, Jennifer, and (again) Ms. Clark, my public speaking professor at SEMO.

Today was our final day of class for the summer. Our assignment was to give an impromptu speech on a topic given to us at random. Jennifer's topic given to her was technology and she spoke of how modern technology was more of a detriment than a help.

While Jennifer wasn't saying we should go back to the days of Fred Flintstone, she did bring out some very valid points about how modern technology is actually driving us FURTHER from people instead of CLOSER to them.

The December 2011 issue of The Reader's Digest posted an article about the fact manners have gone by the wayside in modern American society. My classmate reiterated some of the things that this issue brought up.

We all love our cell phone. I enjoy the convenience of calling my kids at home or making an important phone call when I'm out. How far we've came from the party line telephone we had in the 1970's!!! While certainly an important tool in our everyday lives, we are so apt to misuse it. How many times have we seen the person walking through the store with a bluetooth earpiece carrying on what almost looks like a one-sided conversation? It's annoying and it's rude.

How about texting and driving? I'm guilty but I'm getting better!!! While it certainly might be considered an act of rudeness by some, it diverts your attention from the road and makes you dangerous. You're an accident waiting to happen! Put up the phone or let someone else drive!

Our beloved Internet. Without it, I wouldn't be sitting here blogging this topic nor would I have been able to hear a fellow student on another campus extension give her speech! Have we perhaps become too dependent upon the Internet? When I graduated in 1992, the Internet was unheard of. If I did a research paper, I had to (gasp!) dig out books and magazines. My last speech I gave was under the determination that I would not use any online sources. I almost got away with it. I wound up giving in and I e-mailed a couple of people I know because I couldn't remember the name of a radio program I needed to cite as a source.

I'm spoiled to my 55" LG TV, I really am!!! I love seeing my beloved Cardinals in high-definition. I sometimes remember how happy I was as a kid when my parents let me watch The Incredible Hulk or The Dukes of Hazzard on the 25" console TV. I would now look at a 25" tube-type TV and laugh, thinking of how far we've came. On the other hand I've admittedly let myself become spoiled and I've defined happiness by the size of a TV screen.

Technology can be a good thing. I'm not suggesting, nor was my classmate, that we should go back to the Stone Age or the Dark Ages. Maybe it's simply time we lay down the phone for a little while or turn off the TV for a bit and get outside. Enjoy God's creation He so generously gave us. Have a conversation with the family without the TV on. We should have the rule over technology and not the other way around.

Modern country radio

Hank Williams, Jr. said in one of his more recent songs that everybody's got a butt and a point of view. I think Bocephus might agree with my point of view-when country radio won't play a living legend such as him, there is a problem. We are talking country music royalty here. His dad turned the country music world topsy-turvy with his proto-rockabilly flavored country in the late 40's and early 50's and Bocephus played the outlaw card pretty well infusing Southern Rock into his music and helping to fuel the outlaw movement. While I'm not the biggest fan of Hank III, he can sing country with the best of them when he's not busy doing some variation of punk rock. I guess country radio has no place for those who do genre-bending, either.

I don't wish to knock those who like the new stuff. I simply have an issue with someone who has to TELL me how country he is. When you have to fake a twang and talk about getting on the hood of your daddy's tractor or you have to beg a girl to "shake it for me," well, there's a problem. The thing is that anytime I've brought it up to friends (particularly female), there's no defense of the lack of talent, it's always about how "hot" the singer is or how they'd drink their bathwater (yes, really!).

When I was growing up in the 70's and 80's, it was nothing to hear a new song by an old artist. You had George Jones and Johnny Cash who had been around since the 50's and they were still charting well into the 1980's and were getting air time even when country radio was in its pop phase. You also got to hear "oldies" from time to time juxtaposed with the new stuff.

Country radio used to not be afraid to focus attention off the mainstream and play something different. I'm too young to have been around for The Bakersfield Sound but I do know when Countrypolitan/Nashville Sound was all the rage, Buck Owens was doing edgy, gritty, Telecaster driven music that got tons of exposure. Would that happen today? Probably not.

Something changed in the mid-1990's. All of a sudden the older artists were pushed off the radio dial. There's quite a bit of 90's country I like but absent from the dial were George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and many others who put out albums in that era. Johnny Cash's American recordings were considered some of his best work in years and even resulted in a Grammy for one of them but country radio wouldn't touch him. Even Neil Diamond put out a country album (Tennessee Moon) and even he couldn't get airplay.

I know my music isn't mainstream anymore and isn't everyone's cup of tea. I'm not here to bash new country fans. All I'm saying is to expand your horizons. Check out some non-mainstream artists like David Church, Hank III, Shooter Jennings or others. You might find you like it!

If you were arrested for being a Christian........

........would there be enough evidence to convict you?

It's easy to SAY you're a Christian. Do your actions back that up? Do people see a difference in your life, something that makes them want what you've got? If they can't, there's a problem!!!

It seems too many these days want to SAY they're a Christian and there's nothing there to back it up. I once heard a preacher ask the question "what do you do when someone pulls out on you? Do you smile and go on or do you give them the California howdy?" In case you DON'T know what the "California howdy" is, there was a scene in the movie version of The Beverly Hillbillies where the Clampetts were flipped off and they thought it meant "howdy."

Do foul words come out of your mouth? Now I'm not talking about hitting your finger with a hammer and something slips out. I'm talking on a consistent basis here. People do notice these things whether we realize it or not. Those who aren't Christians expect to be able to see a difference.

Do you make sexually explicit comments? The Bible says that no coarse language should be named among Christians. Now there's nothing wrong with private things between spouses but in public by singles? That's a no-no. We shouldn't be taking jokes "below the belt" as Christians.

Does your music reflect what a Christian should listen to? I'm not about to go off on a legalistic bent here. I've heard preachers infer that you can tell how close a person is to God by seeing where their radio is set at. I disagree with that. I have no problem with secular music as long as the message doesn't big dishonor to what God says in His word.

The same thing with TV/movies. Is what we're watching something that's going to bring dishonor to God? Would you watch it if Jesus was there?

I'm not trying to come down on anyone, believe me. I'm far from perfect and have areas I need to work on myself. I don't dare point fingers-I'd have 4 pointing back at me. Just remember that when we name the name of Christ we have a lost and dying out there watching to see if we live up to that name.