Never, Ever Give Up

Never, ever give up.  Keep on going, no matter the circumstances.  Learn to deal with pain.  Endure the difficult and challenging times.  They are opportunities.  They are temporary.  Be stubbornly opposed to failure.  Triumph is a reality.  Incorporate it as a way of life.  You do not know all things, therefore study, learn, ask for help.  Have a belief system that has been tried, tested and shown to be powerful.  A wise person learns from his/her mistakes.  A WISER person learns from the mistakes of others.  Be consistent.  Have a good time!  Enjoy your victories!  Even the little ones!

Some Serious Disabilities

Maybe they won't have the privilege of having a handicapped parking place.  Maybe they won't be allowed to go to the front of the line, or get special seating at athletic events.  Maybe they will not be stared at or pitied.  Nevertheless, they may still have disabilities.  They might be unable to have close friends.  They might be unable to hug, greet, smile or love someone.  They might be unable to accept people for who they are, without judging them severely.  They might have some serious image problems because they don't like themselves.  Because of their chincy ways, they might be unable to spend a little money, even though they have it.  They might be unable to be happy for the success of someone else, due to the fact that they are insanely jealous.  They might be extremely bitter, lonesome and depressed.  They might have so much pride that they are unable to deal with their shortcomings because they deny they have them.   Man.........these are some serious disabilities.

No Blaming Others

  He was a young man from a wealthy family.  At home, he had everything he needed.  Including love from his father.  Although he lacked nothing, something within him wanted to experience the pleasures this world has to offer.  The pleasures he was thinking about were not free of cost.  Therefore, he asked his father for the share of his inheritance.  I suppose you know the story already.  It is well known.  However, I just want to focus on one main thing.  This young man went to a distant land.  Apparently, he had a "ball."  When he had a lot of money, he had a lot of friends.  Soon, he ran out of money.  Times were tough.  There were hard economic times in the land.  The young man suffered.  He had no money.  He had no job.  He had no friends.  He got a job feeding hogs.  How low can you go?  He went even lower.  He wanted to eat some of the food the hogs were eating, but he was forbidden to do so.  Pretty sad.  Yes, it is a portion of the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Here is my focus:  The parable in the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Luke says: "He came unto himself."  Very important.  What does it mean?  It means he humbled himself.  It means there was no room, reason, or justification to blame anyone else.  He came unto himself!  This means he didn't blame his friends,  government, society, the economy, his family, teachers, neighbors, the "system,"  tough breaks, God or anyone else.  He came unto HIMSELF.  The buck stopped there.  Forget about blame.  To me, this is the most important part of this story.  Before he decided  where to go, he had to have asked himself: "Where do I go from here?"  He then answered his own question: "I will arise and go to my father."  It worked out for him.  It worked out for him because........"He came unto himself."  No blaming others, man.  No blaming others.

If you Cannot Convince Them........

Some people have the "correct answers."  They have the truth, goods, best idea, best directions and more.  However, they are unable to convince someone else.  Sometimes those who have the aforementioned also have a bad attitude, arrogance, an inability to win people over, or are poor communicators.  The man who said, "If you can't convince them, confuse them," was in politics.  I consider politics necessary.  But it can also be a brutal and dirty business.  Politics is a struggle for power.  It can be war.  Like some say: "All is fair in love and war."  Often times it is a war of egoes.  Apparently it is a competitive situation when if you are unable to convince, you must confuse.  It sounds vindictive.  Maybe it is just a political  strategy.  The man who made that quote was the 33rd President of the United States......... Harry S. Truman.

Power Transferred From Society To The State

I have never said in any of my writings that government is unnecessary.  Government is a necessity.  Who does government rule?  It rules people.  It rules groups of people.  In a broader sense,  it rules a group, the largest group........society.  Yes, government rules society.  Society is larger than government.  How can government be larger than society?  Is government more powerful than society?  I know these are philosophical questions.  However, they are relevant questions in light of the current roles of government in the United States.  Sometimes the working person thinks: "I would like to pay less taxes.  I would like to keep a larger portion of my paycheck."  However, the government helps the needy.  Is this wrong?  No.  But there was a time in this country when the government did not help the needy, charities did.  Did that work well?  Maybe, maybe not.  It works today to some extent.  Does tax and spend work well?  Not that well.  There is room for improvement. How? By not spending unnecessarily.   "Needs of society's members" and "redistribution " are two key words in this discussion.  Some years ago, two scholars discussed the situation that is of concern today.  Here are two short, thought-provoking quotes regarding this issue.

"The great non sequitur committed by defenders of the State,including classical Aristotelian and Thomist philosophers, is to leap from the necessity of society to the necessity of the State."
  
Murray N. Rothbard     (1926-1995)    Dean of the Austrian School of Economics

"The more one considers the matter, the clearer it becomes that redistributionis in effect far less a redistribution of free income from the richer to the poorer, as we imagined, than a redistribution of power from the individual to the State."

Bertrand de Jouvenel   (1903-1987)Source: The Ethics of Redistribution [1952] (Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1990)

The Word Cleanses, The Government Can't

God is not a respector of persons.  To Him, everyone is important.  But is He important to you?  I will not allow the government to form my opinion unless that opinion is in line with the Word of God.  Does that mean I hate the government?  No.  The problem with government is the same problem that exists in families, religious organizations, police departments and any type of organized group or institution..........it is full of human beings.  Once that fact is established, we then realize that there will be weakness, hypocrisy, falsehood, hidden agendas, greed, ignorance and much more.  But, when it comes to God........well, He is just perfect.  His ways are perfect.  However, any human organization that supports His greatness, holiness, power and truth is faulty.  That is just the way it is.  The redeeming factor is that they are preaching a perfect and flawless God.  They are not preaching the greatness of themselves.  At least they are not supposed to be doing that.  If they teach, preach and live the truth of God's Word, they will be blessed, even in spite of the weaknesses of  its members and attendees.  Someone once said:  "You are brainwashed, man!"   My response is actually a no.  Our minds need to be "washed."  Our hearts need to be "washed."  How does that happen?  Through the Word.  Ephesians 5:26 tells us that.  King David, in Psalms 51,  asks God to "Create in me a clean heart."  The Word cleanses the heart also.  Of course the heart needs to be willing.  Jesus Christ is the Word.  He is the Word made flesh.  His Word says:  "My son give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways."  (Prov. 23:26)  God's ways are the best.  They are the purest.  The opinions of men are poor and inadequate substitutes for the ways of God.  One of the most well known "brainwashers" in the history of the world was one of Adolf Hitler's Army officers.  His name was Joseph Paul Goebbels.  He was in charge of propaganda.  Here is one of the things he said about it.

"It is the absolute right of the state to supervise the formation of public opinion."     

(1897-1945) Nazi Propaganda Minister

Well, I want my opinion formed by the Word of God, not by an insane megalomaniac.

Coy Is A Boy

Coy Mathis was born male.  He is from Fountain, Colorado. He likes to dress up as a girl.  He is six years old.  He made the transition from boy to girl at the age of four.  His parents should not have allowed it. He is in the First grade.  He wants to use the girls'  restroom.  Some of the parents of the school have complained because they do not want this boy using the girls' restroom.  I do not blame them.  Boys are boys, and girls are girls.  The school districts' decision to allow this child to use only the boys' restroom, gender-neutral faculty bathrooms or the nurse's bathroom, I think is fair and reasonable.  The parents of Coy do not agree and are taking legal action.  They want their son to be able to use the girls' restroom.  To me, the parents of Coy are inconsiderate, unreasonable, unrealistic, and selfish.  This is a public school, not a private home. Since Coy was surrounded by sisters, maybe he wanted to be a girl as well.  I do not place the blame on Coy.  He needs the proper guidance.  It appears the parents have succumbed to the pressures of some of the societal trends.  They truly need to do some child-rearing, but it appears that they need to develop for themselves a value system that considers the importance of reality.  They have been fooled into thinking that gender is a choice.  Gender is not a choice.  It was determined at the moment of conception.  That boy needs a proper upbringing.  Of course there will be challenges.  When has raising children not been  challenging?   Taking this situation to court will be time-consuming, expensive and totally unnecessary.  So, the boy wants to be a girl.  Too bad.  Too late.  "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."  (Prov. 22: 6)  Incidently, I met an ex Principal of an elementary school about two years ago.  He chose to retire early  because he was faced with the same issue.  People tell me that he was an outstanding Principal.  These are the words he shared with me:  "I never dreamed I would need to deal with a problem like this......'I'm done, I'm outta here,' I told them."