Taking one's beliefs to their logical conclusion

There are so many different views of what is "good" and what is "evil". And, there are many views that disregard those concepts altogether. I want people to question the views of good and evil that they have, and take them to their logical conclusion. Through objective, critical thinking, we all need to consider the views we hold dear and diligently analyze their application in every single thought, word, and deed. We have to consider the paths those views take us, and all of the circumstances that can follow. This process involves a lot of questioning, which many people can't handle.

What do you believe in right now? Was it different a year ago? What inspired a change in your beliefs? Do they change often, or are they set in stone? Are the beliefs decided for you as time passes, and you just go with the flow?

Regarding good and evil as it is projected through the media, do you believe popular news programs on TV, and let them choose what is right and wrong for you? Do you accept what they tell you, or do you view their reports with critical eyes and ears? What are your sources of information? Most importantly, who OWNS your sources of information? Do you ask critical questions every single time you turn on the TV or read an article? How about when you are given an opportunity to support or reject another view, and edify or villianize individuals and groups?

There are thousands if not millions of people who rely on TV to tell them what is right and wrong. To me that is the worst way that anyone can live. It's the easiest form of slavery there is, for both the people who create the TV programs and those who watch them. Some people don't believe in God, and they are very critical of those who do. But, when it's time to watch the political news program with their favorite celebrities, it's like going to school for them. They will take almost any manufactured teleprompter feed as truth- hook, line, and sinker. Follow those beliefs to their logical conclusions, and you have the prime setting for an Orwellian nightmare.

TV is one very important example that I use, because it has and continues to have such an enormous impact on what many of us decide is good and evil. Interaction with media truly functions as a religion for some people, and so, those who engage their TV should think about the views that are being projected. Question their validity, understand the method and consequence of application, and the logical conclusions that follow. That goes with any system of belief, such as trust in a political party, system of governance, Buddhism, or Atheism.

For those who don't believe in Jesus Christ, I urge you to question the validity of His teachings. I urge you to discover how to apply the love that God the Son wants us to have for each other. I want you understand the possible consequences that a believer can face, both good and bad. Finally, contemplate the logical conclusion to the life of a believer in Christ. Of course, you need to read the Bible in order to do this effectively. Start with the book of John, as it communicates Gods' message in a unique way. As you keep learning and discovering, you will come to see that there is only a conclusion to this physical life. My prayer is that you come to know Christ personally, and discern between His goodness and the evil that works against Him.


For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  1 John 4:1

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.  Philippians 1:9-10

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.  Hebrews 5:14

Only one kind of Christian

I haven't written anything for this blog in a long time. So many things have been happening lately, and I'm feeling the need to voice my opinions again using this neglected blog. So here it goes.

I have always been opinionated, and the older I get, the less patience and tolerance I have for sin. Yes, sin. I am a Christian, and I believe sin is real. "What kind of Christian are you?" you may be asking. Well, I'll be glad to answer that. There seems to be so many demoninations, or institutions that carry a Christian banner. I won't begin to list and describe the different names and affiliations which some self-proclaimed Christians indentify themselves with. What I will do is give a very nutshell description of what it means to be a Christian.

The word "Christian" is sort of a default term for many people, used in order to fit into some society or feel comfortable. Of course, that ends up giving Christianity a bad name, as those same people will say and do things that don't reflect Godly living. Those things are usually seen by others, and then naturally those "Christians" are mistakenly perceived at times as representatives of their Christian faith. Other times, they are just used as fuel for the fire against anything related to Christianity. Given there are so many relativist views today on what a Christian is, one way that I cut through that default mentality is to refer to myself as a believer in Jesus Christ. That puts me in a smaller category, since I am not using that all too familiar label of sorts, almost like "republican" or "democrat". There is nothing wrong with the word "Christian", but that word has been misused so much that sometimes it functions more as a label than a declaration of faith.

That's what Christianity is about, faith. It means trusting in God instead of ourselves, because we realize that we are not the final solution to the problem of evil in this world. It means realizing that we have all sinned, which means we violated Gods' standard, and that nothing we do is going to fix it. It means that we believe in what Jesus Christ, God the Son, has done for mankind. He suffered persecution, torture, and death on a wooden cross, in order to pay the debt for the sins of the world. "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." -2 Corinthians 5:21. Jesus even became sin, in order to take all of the punishment for us. He later rose from that death he willingly accepted, purchasing a place in heaven for those who trust in what He has done. We need to transfer our trust in ourselves to Jesus Christ, seeking His forgiveness for the sin we cannot remove on our own.

Being a Christian is not easy, and it's not supposed to be easy. I see everyday as a battlefield, since we are always given the decision to think, say, and do something bad or good. I slip up in some way everyday, no matter how "small" it is. I am not perfect. But, even though I still sin, it doesn't mean I have lost the salvation I recieved by faith in Christ. That's what is referred to as "grace". Unmerited, undeserved, totally unearned favor. Though I slip up now and then, I know that I am forgiven, and I don't have to live in guilt and doubt about a gift that can never be taken away. That doesn't encourage me to keep doing wrong things, but it does remind me of how weak I am, of how much I need to work on personally, and of how gracious God is. God knows our hearts, and if you truly believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life, then you are saved.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9

Feel depressed? Drugs aren't the answer

According to a current American radio ad, "customers who have taken Zentra compared the feeling they had to that of falling in love". They had "an overwhelming sense that everything is well with the world, and that things will get better". Yikes. IT'S A DRUG, not a source of hope and happiness.

Given the side-effects attached to these current drugs on the market, you're probably better off with a bottle of Jim Beam to soften your brain. If you take the drug Ambien for insomnia, there is the risk of suicide, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, and/or difficulty sleeping. Are you really that desparate for sleep? Have you heard the statistics on America's armed forces who have taken these types of meds? Since 2002, the number of suicide attempts in the army has increased by six times. More than 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008. We're more dangerous to ourselves than terrorists are! The facts show that placebos are healthier for depression/anxiety sufferers than these drugs. There are many other drugs that are potentially harmful, though claim to be remedial. If you take the birth control pill Yaz, you have the risk of heart attack and/or stroke, among other side-effects. Women who are willing to take that risk for the sake of sexual pleasure need to re-think their priorities.

I understand that clinical depression is a real and serious condition, but it's important to know how it starts. The original cause of it is not a chemical imbalance, which the drug companies and many doctors want you to believe. It starts with your thoughts. If you think of yourself as a useless and unintelligent waste of space, your body will echo that. Our brain is an organ that translates our thoughts into physical response. Our brains essentially control our bodies. That's common sense, but in consideration of where these medications come from, that's not the issue. GlaxoSmithKline, Lily, Pfizer, etc.-- they don't care about the source of the problem, because it doesn't align with their profit goals. The drug co's and doctors never address the importance in seeking psychological counseling first, which would target the actual problem. If you don't work on the solution, then of course things will negatively compound. In the case of depression, without a helpful degree of psych counseling, the brain can be affected so much over time that it eventually does need something to support normal function. Most people who are suffering from depression and anxiety mistakenly take the latter route prematurely. What really boggles me is that these dangerous chemicals are being engineered and sold to the public. Sadly, this is nothing new.

We shouldn't listen to what the mainstream media/government says is good for us. In lieu of America's current debate on socialized healthcare, we need to educate ourselves so that we can scrutinize our own health, as well as the policies that impact our care options. It's not about equal healthcare, it's about profit and control. As long as there are impressionable consumers, there will be people who prey on their vulnerabilities. One of America's current leaders had said that the country's constitution is a negative liberty, in that it says what the government can't do to you, instead of what it can. It's important to know who your true allies are.

Friend, if you are suffering from depression, you need to face your fears and seek to control your thought life. In some cases we can't always do it on our own, that's why counseling should be sought out. Most importantly, you need to seek guidance and protection from The Great Physician. God knew you before you even came into this world, and he knows what you need. Through trust in His Son Jesus Christ, you can begin to see things like depression as a choice, and not as some disease. You may look at Jesus as just a mere coping strategy, but He is definitely not. There is nothing more essential for our lives than faith in Christ. He paid the price for the sins of all mankind, and choosing a life according to that gift makes us victorious over the things that keep us from God's best. We don't have to be victims of ourselves, especially when we understand what is and what isn't in our control.

The Gap Theory, Carbon Dating, and Aunt Ida

We are all aware of the design v. evolution debate. Those two sides will always be at each other's throats. Interestingly enough (but not for long), there is also a group that believes in both as being compatible, and they rely on carbon dating and speculation without a firm ground in sound doctrine. They believe that billions of years took place right after "God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). During those billions of years, all forms of life were created, including the dinosaurs. That would make for a pretty long week. It is a highly speculative detour from God's Word, since He was just beginning to create space and time, as we can see in the next verses.

If you read past Genesis 1:1, it's obvious that God wasn't finished with His creation. The gap theory presumes that the second verse of Genesis describes God's wrath on Earth, making it "without form and void", and that the rest of chapter one outlines what God has already done. It's true that God can do anything, but God's Word is God's Word, and it says nothing about billions of years taking place during the first day of creation. In my entry evolution and intelligent design, I wrote that what drew me fully towards the design belief was the fact of man's original sin. Man's conscience isn't in any way a part of a "chemical evolution", and death is not simply "nature's law". In an article by this amazing ministry called Answers in Genesis, the author addresses the gap theory, and uses sound doctrine that reinforces my view based on man's sin.

"The Bible says specifically that ‘by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin’ (Romans 5:12), so that there was no death in the world until man brought sin into it. The ‘gap’ theory would require billions of years of suffering in the world before man or even Satan had sinned, and that means that God Himself would be directly responsible for sin in the world. God could not be the author of sin. So the ‘gap’ theory is precluded theologically."

So, if you hear a Christian teetering between design and evolution, this is one point you can share with them.

Another fallacy which the gap theory clings to, and what atheists have ignorantly given praise, is the method of carbon dating. Carbon dating, or radiometric dating, has been used in mainstream science to "prove" that the Earth is billions of years old. I am not a scientist, so I won't attempt to explain this scientifically on my own. In regard to Aunt Ida, our "monkey ancestor", you would basically need to know how much carbon was present in her corpse at the time she died, which is individually different for all creatures and impossible to determine from a fossil. Also, there needs to be a certain constant in regard to the carbon level in the atmosphere. 14C in the atmosphere needs to be equal in production rate to the removal rate of 12C from a corpse, which is referred to as an "equilibrium". Since there are various rates of decay between every dead organism, and 14C in the atmosphere isn't fixed, that dating process is inaccurate. The Answers in Genesis article I found on carbon dating goes into excellent detail. It includes that the inventor of the method, who was an evolutionist, knew the discrepancies in carbon dating but chose to write them off as experimental errors. Pride can really screw things up, can't it?

Considering how non-human the fossil 'Ida' looks, isn't it funny how atheist scientists refer to it as the "missing link"? If that's the case, then where's my tail? I got jipped.

In Conclusion...

The more that this world attempts to disprove God and separate itself from Him, the more proof we acquire of His existence and omnipotence. If you deny there is a God, I urge you to open your heart to Him. He came to us as Jesus Christ to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. By putting your trust in Him as your Redeemer from the punishment of sin, life is yours. And through repentance (a change of mind), you begin to align yourself with God's best for your life. Man's intellect is a powerful gift from God. Archeology and all of the other forms of science are great blessings. But, if your objective is to elevate man and eliminate God, you are headed down a foolish path.