A Memorial Day Devotion for Christians

Posted on May 25, 2013 by

soldierIn A Memorial Day Devotion for Christians, Rob Barkman provides a Christian perspective where one has too often been lacking in recent years.

Memorial Day is a day that is set aside to remember, and honor, our brave soldiers who have given their lives to protect our land and keep us free.  It began as a day to honor our Civil War dead, but after World War I, it was expanded to include our war dead from all the wars in which America was involved.  Go to http://www.usmemorialday.org/ for more information.

According to http://www.historycentral.com/wars.html , our country has fought in 12 wars (not counting the Afghanistan War which brings the updated total to 13.)  In every one of these cases, we have asked the young people of our nation to be willing to give their lives in the name of freedom (for us and others in foreign lands.)    The sacrifices these young men and women have made can never be totally comprehended nor can they be repaid by us.

Just stop and think about a little of what these wonderful young people have given up for us.  At the very least, they have given years of their life, time away from their families, to serve their country which they love. They have given us any chance of setting down “roots”, having to move from base to base once every 3 to 4 years.   Many will be physically disabled the rest of their life, having the use of one or more of their limbs taken from them.   Scores have been mentally disabled resulting in them being unable to handle day to day living.   And thousands upon thousands have given the ultimate sacrifice, their life, so that we can continue to enjoy our lives living safely in a land of freedom.

We can never begin to understand what they went through, and are continuing to go through, all because they love their nation and the freedoms we take for granted everyday.  We can never begin to repay them and their families for the sacrifices they have made for us.  It seems as if saying “Thank You” just isn’t enough.

THE SCRIPTURE:

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

(Joh 15:12-14)

(continued here)

English: Picture of the medal of honor

English: Picture of the medal of honor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When a young man or woman chooses to enter military service, few fully appreciate the sacrifices they have offered to make. Instead, recruiters speak of adventure or educational benefits. And yet the United States of America’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, does not hide the truth. Most recipients receive the medal posthumously.

soldier.pngIn a Christian nation, military service is about protecting family, friends and countrymen, and any nation where soldiers serve for Duty, Honor,  Country is blessed.

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Posted in history, Philosophy, religion | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

THERE’S AN ALTERNATIVE TO DIGGING THE HOLE DEEPER: UPDATE

Posted on May 25, 2013 by

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When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. — Will Rogers (from here)

Check out Virginia’s Cuccinelli Battles Democrats, Media. When Conservatives run for political office, they become soldiers in an information war. Their opponents and the Social Democrat news media do not offer solutions for our state’s problems. Instead, they sling mud.

Here are the candidates.

Each is running on a solid Conservative platform, and the people who every year waste trillions of our tax dollars to steal billions don’t like them.  Surprise! Surprise!

What do these men stand for? Here are the key speeches they made at the Republican Party’s nominating convention in Richmond, VA.

Candidate for Governor: Ken Cuccinelli

Note that Cuccinelli makes it clear where he stands, and he is willing to defend his beliefs in debate with his opponent.

Candidate for Lieutenant Governor: E. W. Jackson

Candidate for Lieutenant Governor E. W. Jackson has become a special target for government big spenders. What kind of nonsense is the Washington Post peddling?

Cuccinelli, who is expected to face Democrat Terry McAuliffe, declined to comment when asked about some of Jackson’s more controversial statements. He noted that he sometimes disagreed with Obenshain in the Senate, but all three share a commitment to constitutional “first principles.”

“I am just not going to defend my running mates’ statements at every turn,” he said in an interview. “They’ve got to explain those themselves. Part of this process is just letting Virginia voters get comfortable with us, on an individual basis, personally.” (from here)

Oooh! E. W. Jackson has said something radical, but what something? Why didn’t Cuccinelli defend him? Listen to why the folks at the convention cheered so wildly at his words. What could Cuccinelli say that Jackson cannot say better himself?

Candidate for Attorney General:  Mark Obenshain

Candidate for Attorney General Mark Obenshain seems a bit staid. Of the three, he is the least unconventional, but he is steady, intelligent, and dependable. His record says he will be there when we need him.

BONUS: Threshold

Here is a video that the party played between the speeches at the convention.  It lays out the difference between the Conservative and the Socialist Democrat visions.

Update:  Related articles

Here are the top “related” articles selected by WordPress.

What does the news media want to talk about? The answer is Bishop E. W. Jackson’s stance on “social” issues.

Typically, Socialist Democrats and the news media sidekicks complain the Conservatives want to force their religious morals on everyone. Hogwash! There are few busybody Christians, but the fact is the Socialists on projecting their own motives on their opponents.

Look at our government’s budget. Socialist Democrat have packed that exploding monster full of spending on SOCIAL programs. At the same, using “civil rights” and environmentalism as their excuses, Socialist Democrats use the tax code and endless regulations to stick their noses into what services businesses can provide, what businesses can sell, and who businesses can hire.

Posted in Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson, Republican Party, Senator Mark Obenshain | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NEWS ALERT...Boy Scouts Vote To Allow Openly Gay Scouts

Posted on May 24, 2013 by

Reblogged from That Mr. G Guy's Blog:

From the Washington Post;

The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday ended its ban on openly gay youth, but maintained a ban on gay adult leaders. The decision was framed as a compromise, but one that experts said might eventually lead to litigation and thousands of defections from one of America's largest youth organizations. A Boy Scout poll earlier this year showed the Scouting community was deeply divided on the issue.

Read more… 438 more words

I have younger brothers who participated in the Boy Scouts. I never did. I was so soured by the Cub Scouts (a sissy organization run by mothers ;-) ), I wanted no part of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Well, in hindsight I must admit I made a mistake. The men who ran the scout troop my brothers joined actually let them do something besides drinking milk and eating cookies.

Unfortunately, the BSA's leadership has lost sight of their mission. For the sake of corporate donations and favorable news coverage, the BSA leadership seems bent on giving up the organization's principles. These principles are expressed in the Scout Law.

Consider what Robert Baden-Powell wrote the original Scout Law, and note that in 1911, he decided to add these words.

A SCOUT IS CLEAN IN THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED. Decent Scouts look down upon silly youths who talk dirt, and they do not let themselves give way to temptation, either to talk it or to do anything dirty. A Scout is pure, and clean-minded, and manly.

The Boy Scouts once used the lure of the great outdoors to coax boys into becoming morally straight, responsible young men. Even though practical experience and medical knowledge clearly shows same-sex sex is unhealthy and self-destructive, now the BSA has begun to adopt a more worldly, politically correct attitude about sex.

Same-sex sex is not pure, clean-minded, or manly. Nonetheless, the BSA appears bent upon accepting unrepentant homosexuals into its ranks.

No human institution survives forever, and so it is with the BSA. When corruption sets in, often there is only one alternative. Begin anew.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

WHAT THE CULTURE WAR IS ABOUT

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

school.png

What is the culture war about? To a large extent, it is about whether individuals still matter.  Consider this excerpt from Individuals Used To Matter from NooneOfAnyImport’s Blog.

The devil’s in the details.

Even the smallest decision can resonate far beyond its initial design.

Older son learned to read early.  We naively expected schools to take this skill into account, but by the final year of his brick-and-mortar experience, we knew that would never happen.  In third grade, the slow and thorough application of “reading strategies” to standardized (and therefore lame) material was not only the norm but mandatory, regardless of a child’s reading level.

They have to go through this process, I was told.  Even if they can mechanically read the words, they won’t be able to comprehend the meaning unless we use these strategies to teach them, I was told by Educators Who Are Well Meaning But Shall Remain Nameless.

Now consider what C. S. Lewis said in the preface to a short story he wrote, Screwtape Proposes a Toast. Here is an excerpt from that.

In my view there is a sense in which education ought to be democratic and another sense in which it ought not. It ought to be democratic in the sense of being available, without distinction of sex, colour, class, race, or religion, to all who can—and will—diligently accept it. But once the young people are inside the school there must be no attempt to establish a factitious egalitarianism between the idlers and dunces on the one hand and the clever and industrious on the other. A modern nation needs a very large class of genuinely educated people and it is the primary function of schools and universities to supply them. To lower standards or disguise inequalities is fatal.

If this sounds harsh, I would observe that the opposite policy is really devised to soothe the inferiority complex not of the idlers and dunces but of their parents. Do not be in the least afraid that those who live out their school-days—which should be brief—on the back bench of the lowest class will suffer any trauma when they see promotion and honours and official approval going to the diligent minority. They are stronger than it. They can punch its head and kick its stern. All the distinctions they really care about—the popularity and the success in games—go not to it but to them. They enjoy their school-days very much. Our real problem is to see that they impede as little as possible the purposes for which school really exists. (from here)

What was C. S. Lewis writing about? Screwtape Proposes a Toast is the sequel to The Screwtape Letters.  In his stories about Screwtape, an administrator — a senior devil — in the bureaucracy of Hell, the Lewis imagines how devils might tempt us into their realm. Screwtape Proposes a Toast acknowledges the Devil’s “finest” accomplishment, government-run public education and the overriding importance it places upon student self-esteem.

self-esteem
n 1: a feeling of pride in yourself [syn: self-pride]
2: the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect: “it was
beneath his dignity to cheat”; “showed his true dignity
when under pressure” [syn: dignity, self-respect, self-regard]

Self-esteem is about pride.  When our pride separates us from the love of God and overrides our responsibility to love our neighbors, pride becomes a sin (see THE SEARCH FOR THE MOST VIRTUOUS VERSATILE BLOGGER — PART 5).

Posted in Culture War, religion | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

A MODERATE COMMITMENT TO JESUS, TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE AMERICAN WAY?

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

flagWhen I put together a post, I try bring together the ideas of different people. Where did the ideas for this post come from?

Item #1:

English: Bill Bolling of Virginia

English: Bill Bolling of Virginia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is a link to the first hour (yesterday) of The Don Kroah Show: 2013-05-21_DKS_Hour_01. About one-third of the way through the show, Kroah interviewed Lt. Gov Bill Bolling. In this interview Bolling offered up his expert opinion on a convention he had not bothered to attend. Why? Bolling wanted to give his “moderate” assessment of the GOP convention in Richmond, VA. That convention selected Ken Cuccinelli as the GOP’s candidate for Governor, and Bolling was not happy with that choice.

Here are some of Bolling’s complaints and some straight-forward rebuttals.

  • Complaint: A convention limits participation.  Rebuttal: Anyone who is willing to take the time can participate in a political convention. As matter of fact, we used a national convention to get our Constitution written and statewide conventions to approve it. What political pros like Bolling don’t like about conventions has to do with money. Winning the nomination at a convention is not about money or advertising; it is about getting people to believe you. When a convention is used to nominate a candidate, if a candidate cannot get people to show up and support him, he cannot win.
  • Complaint: E. W. Jackson, the GOP nominee for Lt. Gov. has said some extreme things.  Rebuttal: Bolling never offered a specific example of what Jackson has said that is so extreme. What might make Jackson an extremist? He believes what the Bible says is true? He thinks politicians should actually abide by their oath to the Constitution? Wouldn’t it be nice if Bolling took the trouble to explain?   :grin:    Dare he?
  • Complaint: Conventions are run by ideologues.  Rebuttal: What exactly characterizes an “ideologue”? As it happens, the term “ideologue” is a meaningless insult. What Bolling apparently doesn’t like about conventions is that the people attending are dead serious about what they believe.  Because Bolling is a moderate, he apparently finds that offensive.

Item # 2: 

You, Being Evil… at Thinking in Christbible
In this post Russ White explains the human condition. Even the first apostles of Jesus were evil men, and Jesus told them that to their faces.

These men, surely, were good. Among all the men on the face of the Earth, no matter what time, or what place, we should be able to look at these men and say, “you are a good person.”

Before we get too far, though, let’s look at what Jesus actually said to these very same men.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! -Matthew 7:9-11

“You, being evil…”

After they abandoned their Lord to suffer crucifixion, the apostles understood. We are only the children of God.  At best we are only newly reborn; we are not the adult children of God.

To become perfect, we need Jesus to teach us how to be good.

Item # 3:

Where have moderate politicians gotten us?

Consider what is in the news.

In fact, there have been so many scandals in recent years we cannot keep track of them. And why? We have let moderates lead us. Instead of being earnestly committed to our beliefs, we have been only moderately committed, and that kind of commitment is no commitment at all. Therefore, whenever our leaders find Jesus, Truth, Justice, and the American Way inconvenient, they now practice moderation and do whatever feels good.

Posted in 2013 Election, Culture War, E.W. Jackson, Information Warfare, Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, Republican Party, Tea Party | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment