The Three Sexes

Here is an interesting article for you to read. Click here. I think this goes a long way to speaking about how "openminded" and tolerent the public schools want to be, while allowing the agenda of a small minority to dominate. In California boys and girls are allowed to decide what bathroom/locker room they what to use based on what gender they "feel like". It also talks about taking all references to fathers and mothers, moms and dads out of textbooks because it is biased to heterosexual people. I am not kidding- and this law was passed in California and the Arnold, the "Govinator" signed it.

A very wise poet once said "You say humanist philosophy is what it's all about? You're so open-minded that your brains leaked out..."

What do you think...should believers in Jesus Christ continue to try to fight to keep the public affairs like the school system as close to Godly values as possible? Or do we just accept that these laws are just an effect of where our society stands morally and work to turn people's hearts back to Christ? Or both?

CC

Sharing my Google Reader with all of you...

So the more I learn how to use Google Reader and the Blogger website the more I like it. Now as I find articles/feeds from all over the internet, I can mark them as "shared" and they will appear in a list of the lower right column of the blog page. This will give you some interesting reading on items that I either don't have time or desire to blog about. One really cool article that is over there is 21 questions answered about the Mormon faith, in response to Mitt Romney, a mormon, running for president of the United States. I have also linked it above. I think they have skirted around some of the facts and "watered down" the answers as much as possible. In my mind any teaching that adds to or takes away from the Gospel in the Bible is a cult, and that is how I view Mormons... Read it and let me know what you think.

CC

Farewell Friend

From the January 25, 2008 Baltimore Sun:

Former state Sen. J. Robert Hooper, who resigned Dec. 31 because of health problems, died last night at his Harford County home of colon cancer. The Republican was 71.

Two months ago, Mr. Hooper, of Street, took part in the legislature's special session, but he announced Nov. 14 that he would resign because his declining health was an obstacle to meeting the demands of the office.

"It would be unjust to the people of the 35th District to expect less than a 100 percent effort from their representative," he said at a news conference. "This I can no longer give."

Then-Del. Barry Glassman was appointed to the Senate seat, with Mr. Hooper's recommendation.

Last night, Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican representing Harford and Cecil counties, said she visited Mr. Hooper 12 days ago, holding his hand at his bedside for about two hours.

"He was considerably weaker, but his wit was still there. He was as sharp as he could be," said Senator Jacobs, who has known Mr. Hooper for 22 years, since the two worked on public schools issues in Harford County.

She said Mr. Hooper devoted his life to helping people, especially children.

"The great majority of the bills he put in were to help constituents," she said. "They came to him basically saying, 'This was wrong, this needs to be fixed.' He would agree and put bills in to help people."

Mr. Hooper was born in Baltimore and grew up in Pylesville. He graduated from Bel Air High School in 1954.

That same year, he began running Harford Sanitation Services Inc., a trash-hauling company that grew from one truck and two employees to 50 trucks and 120 employees.

He married Shirley Cullum on Christmas Eve 1957, and they had four children. She survives him.

The businessman ran for the Harford County Council as a Democrat and was elected in 1982. He served two terms before being defeated in 1990.

He successfully ran as a Republican for the state Senate in 1998 and was re-elected twice.

He was known for his work on the finance committee and the joint subcommittee on Program Open Space and Agricultural Land Preservation.

Senator Jacobs said that Mr. Hooper "was a friend to every staff person that he ever met."

"Last summer, he had a huge cookout party for all the staff on the finance committee," she said. "It wasn't for senators, just for the staff and their families."

Mr. Hooper was actively involved with the Salvation Army and around Christmas would serve as a bell-ringer.

"He was very quiet in his good deeds. I know he loved the Salvation Army," Senator Jacobs said. "A few years ago, he got me working at the Harford Mall at Christmas."

He was also involved in the Harford County, Aberdeen and Havre de Grace chambers of commerce, Route 40 Business Association, Harford County Housing Inc. and the Mason-Dixon Business Association.

Mr. Hooper was an active member of Fawn Grove Church of the Nazarene, serving on the church board and teaching Sunday school.

Services were incomplete last night.

We will miss you Hooper!

This Hit is Dedicated to Anthony....

In case you can't see the video, here is a link.

Webcams from around the world

This post has nothing to do with anything we normally post and discuss on this site, but is it too good not to share. Here is a link to an article that contains links to websites that have webcams from every corner of the earth. It is cool to get to see places you have never/will never get to visit and even cooler to get to see places you have been and want to reflect on (like Times Square in New York City). Some of my favorites are:

Niagara Falls covered in snow

Far away tropical place

Eiffel Tower in Paris

If you have a favorite, or know of other cool webcams not listed here, add a comment and share.

CC

Chrysalis

I spent my MLK weekend in Paducah, KY at a youth retreat called "Purchase Area Chrysalis." What is Chrysalis? Well, unlike most youth Christian retreats, this retreat is specifically designed for youth that have already accepted Christ as their savior.

In a series of 15 youth/adult/pastor "talks" youth learn from a wide range of subjects from God's grace to the sanctity of marriage. These talks take place between times of rest, food and short breaks. And, oh yeah - no cell phones or watches allowed!

I was a table leader for 4 of the 19 boys who attended (there was 30 on the girls side). These youth came from all over the "Purchase" area and from all different backgrounds. One admittedly had come because a girlfriend - who by the time he got there was an ex-girlfriend who consumed much of his time and focus. Another had lost his foot battling bone cancer. He seems to be on the road to recovery and is going in for a full body scan next week - please keep him in your prayers. The third is very analytical and is currently reading some of the same books on truth that I have such as I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist so we had an instant connection. The fourth was a good old country boy who liked to hunt and ride motorcycles.

I honestly can say that each took advantage of the opportunity to grow in their relationship with the Lord - and so did I!

PS - Way to to TERPS!! Watch out Duke!

Relatively Speaking Part 1

The past couple of months I have realized just how far from the truth we (the human race) have wondered. There are battles on multiple fronts with the enemy, but at the heart of the battle is the battle over truth.

In realty, it's not really a battle over truth. Those who express an opposing view do not accept truth but rather the doctrine of "what is true to me is true to me and what is true to you is true to you" which can be summed up as relativism.

John Piper wrote in depth about "Relativism Challenged in the December issue of Relevant Magazine (sorry, the article is not posted on line). I wanted to share some of his thoughts on how to "rescue others who embrace relativism by simply pointing out how evil and destructive some of its effects are."

First, people who deny truth and embrase relativism inheritantly know that this stance is self-contradictory by how they live their lives. His example of this is:

"Professors play the academic game of relativism in their classes and then go home and get upset with their wives for misunderstanding them. Why do they get upset? Because they know that there is an objective meaning that can be transmitted between two human beings, and we have a moral obligations to grasp what is meant."

Secondly, relativist use it as a crutch to do what they want and get away with it. When we deny the authority for all Truth which is God we give ourselves an excuse to do whatever without the guilt that comes with it. The truth is that when we don't follow the truth...

Thirdly, there is real consquences when we revolt from the Truth. Sure enough, there is and always will be disease but you are more likely to contract a STD or AIDS by living a sexually active lifestyle with more than one partner than you would if you waited until you were married. You are less likely to steal from someone else if you don't envy their posessions.

Part 2 to come...

Being Content

I have been listening to a series of teaching from the book of Philippians by Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle. It has been a very insightful, and I think that his style is so different that it may help us long-time believers see things in a new way.
The last topic covered is Joy in Poverty, from Philippians 4:10-23. A couple of analogies he uses: "Health and Wealth" (name it and claim it) teaches that God is a big pinata and our faith is a stick. If we have enough faith your big stick can reach God and he will rain blessing of "stuff" down on us. Another one was that if you gave your kid $20 to go buy a few things at the store and told them they could buy themselves a candybar too, but they came home with $20 worth or candy and nothing you asked for. If you did this a few times and had spent $60 and only gotten your bread and eggs but nothing else, you would probably start to give your $$ to someone else who would do what you asked. So it is with us and the blessings God gives to us. We need to be content regardless of what we have, the world is always pulling at our "flesh" and trying to get us to be bad stewards of the resources given us by God. Please listen here and tell me what you think.
Our hearts always seem to want to wander...why?

CC

Be fruitful and Multiply

OK, I do not plan to post a blog about every article I read, but this one is crazy. A FoxNews article that you can read here notes that birth rates are on the increase in the US, at there highest level since 1961 (end of the baby boom). One of the major reasons for this increase, according to the article, is that we have a growing Hispanic population that has a higher fertility rate than the US. Hispanics accounted for one-quarter of the US births. It also noted that non-hispanic white and other ethnic groups are seeing increases.
What are the other reasons mentioned for the increase: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortions, poor education and poverty. Come on...are these really the only legitimate reasons that could come up with? I know I live in a bubble, but I know a lot of younger families who are having a lot of kids, and it is not because they are lazy, stupid and poor without access to abortions. They actually love kids! What a concept. These days a 3 kid family is the new 2 kid family, 4 kids are the new 3, and so on. We have friends with 4, 5 and 6 kids... and they are mostly college educated couples who can support themselves. What do you think?

1/21/08 Update:
I just read a related article on Fox News.com, you can link to it here, that reports abortions are down to there lowest levels in 30 years. It notes that still 1 in 5 pregnancies ends in abortion. 1 in 5!!!! Does that shock anyone else...or course the states with the highest abortion rates are DC, NY, NJ, DE, FL, MD and CA. Contrary to the first article I mentioned at the top of this post, it doesn't sound like the access to abortions have decreased, just the number of people having abortions.

Joltin Joel Just Judges Joel

I saw a replay of this Larry King interview a couple of days ago and couldn't take my jaw off the floor.

Church branding

Interesting article I found on the Nashville Tennessean website about church branding. Leave it to Nashvegas to have consultants that specialize in pumping up church attendance. I am all for making a church relevant to it's community...take a look at the rock concert atmosphere created in on eof the churches mentioned. Read the article here. Let me know what you think.