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creative essays revelation Uncategorized

My Biggest Regret.

My biggest regret was not getting married and having children earlier in my life.

I look back, and see that I was brainwashed and hoodwinked.

Let me explain why…

My 20s were almost pointless. I had a few long term relationships, we moved in together, we played house, but these relationships never bore any fruit.

I was uninspired, overemotional, unmotivated and depressed for a large part of my 20s. As I look back, I realize that this was a perfectly normal reaction to my circumstances for any young man. Because, a man I was, full of energy and capable of working long hours and multiple jobs, without sweat. But I wasn’t a man in the way that millions of young men who came before me were.

They married young, had children young. They moved into careers or apprenticeships by the age of 22. They owned their own land by the age of 25. They were beset with responsibilities on all sides, but being young and in their physical and mental prime, they were up to the task.

Fact is, it is a weird cultural tradition we have today, that promotes marriage and child-raising to be put off into our early 30s and late 20s, when evolutionarily-speaking, we were biologically designed to rear children in our late teens through our 20s.

That said, I look at the large numbers of single, unmarried 26 year olds who are prescribed psychotropic drugs and antidepressants, and can’t help but wonder if it is direct result of the aforementioned cultural tradition. Perhaps they are like a fish out of water, outside of their biological directives, and hence–floundering, dejected, and confused.

I look back and think this was the case for me.

When I had children, I had no time for anxiety or depression. There was no time for naval-gazing. There was a life to build, and lives to protect.

And then, one day I realized, that I had been brainwashed, in a way. The question occurred to me–who benefits the most by my remaining single, and extending my childhood well into my adult years?

The businesses and companies that make most of their money off of teenagers and the young. The movie industry. Advertisers. Television networks. Sporting organizations and bars, nightclubs, casinos, and even 8 year universities.

Did they influence me subconsciously by consistently portraying TV shows, one after another, of groups of single 20-35 year olds having a great time with their friends night after night? Did that become my expectation of what being a 26 year old should look like and feel like?

I think that is closer to the truth.

I think that right now, there are a lot of 25-32 year olds alone at home looking back on the anxiety and depression that came from extending their childhood for ten years for no good reason.

Pointless, fruitless relationships. No children. No wife.

This is literally the perfect storm for a societal crash, because of the way they let hollywood and big business brainwash them into remaining a child consumer for another decade after they became men and women.

In the near future, the situation may come to a head in the worst way.

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politics revelation Uncategorized

Why Politics makes you Blind

I had a thought last night about politics and religion and the difference between them. I have always thought of politics as a kind of secular religion. People become committed and passionate adherents of one political doctrine or another. They will even make war and commit violence to attain political means.

But even more than that, partisan politics makes you narrow minded in a different way.

In politics, people focus on the evil in particular groups.

In religion, people focus on evil itself.

The truth is that politics gives you one blind eye.

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atheism creative essays politics revelation Uncategorized

Why Christians are the Real Truthseekers

I had a kind of epiphany the other night about truth and the seeking of it.

I have always felt that most believers I have known are extremely curious people, and have often considered them to be seekers of truth.

Now, an atheist hears this and maybe scorns at the idea. They think of themselves at pure rationalists, following logic and reason to their inevitable conclusions. I believe, for most of them, this is a self-deception.

I say this because you often find, especially concerning social and political issues, atheists allow emotion to override their sense of logic and reason. You often find that they believe that if a man claims that he is biologically a woman, then he just is. The traditional husband/wife/child nuclear family structure can be replaced with alternative models, and nothing of value is lost. And there many more examples such as this.

What is happening is that truth is being discarded for a false sense of self-righteousness.

I find that the majority of atheists do not believe in truth at all. They believe in good feelings, and acceptance to the point of being enablers of suffering.

Christians believe that only the truth can set someone free. It seems to me, on the other hand, that many agnostics and atheists believe that truth, in regards to social issues, such as those just proffered, should take a back seat to niceness.

The problem is, it is not nice to enable someone in their own self-destructive behavior. It is reprehensible, pernicious and evil.

Another example is the absurdity, in the atheist worldview, in being politically or socially active, at all. In a godless universe, where we are just assemblages of meaningless matter, where all morals are subjective, or a matter of cultural preference, the idea that a person should be socially or morally inclined to the point of emotionalism is absurd. In such a world, more of a selfish and self-serving moral philosophy makes sense– that is, if you determine that life is worth living out, at all.

But on Twitter and in message forums all over the internet, on any given day, you find atheists using the strongest of moral language in indignation and judgment toward those that think or believe or vote differently from them. They call their interlocutors reprehensible, racists, and even go as far as to use the word evil.

This is a great mystery and betrays an inconsistency in their reasoning processes. It is not truth that blindly follow, but their souls, in the end.

All of that said, after midnight, a couple of nights ago, I had an epiphany that put all of this together. I made two Tweets at the time to express my realization.

“Most live in a world of bad guys and good guys. Christians live in a world with all bad guys. The only natural thing left for us do is to seek truth, as we already know we won’t ever make a heaven here on earth.”

This is an important point. I’m not trying to fix the world. It is man’s heart or soul that needs fixing. I’ll leave the endless cycle of legislating morality through government to those who don’t know better. The cycle of suffering isn’t going anywhere. Governments will grow in scope and power, the people will be oppressed by the swelling power of the government, The people will either revolt or capitulate. Nothing is gained. No moral progress has been had. The world becomes no better, but more confusing to our befuddled social scientists and humanities engineers.

Believers are not sidetracked by all of this moral wrangling. We are left to seek out truth. It is all we have left to accomplish.

The other tweet:

“Being a truthseeker is what ultimately leads people to God. You can only find God by sorting through the chaos of the moral singularity inside man. But you can only find yourself there by seeking truth.

And that is closer to the point. Unless you confront the greatest mysteries and tackle them head on, you cannot make a claim to truth. You cannot claim to be a seeker of truth. We who believe have already looked into the noisy turbulence of the cosmic eye, and found truth in it. And because the truth sets a person free, we are free of the moral and political confusion that often finds a home inside the godless man.

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parenting revelation Uncategorized

Dealing with a Distant Child

I was thinking last night about how to deal with a distant daughter or son. I have two daughters myself, and sometimes children will go through phases. They may become distant, even manipulative, or seemingly aloof or disinterested in almost any kind of interaction with their parents.

I was thinking about the frustration a parent feels in this case, and actually know it well. You feel hurt. You would die for this child, give your life for her or him if it came down to it.

But she has her face buried in a phone all day. She ignores instructions, requests, even greetings. Maybe she has a hundred excuses for why she cannot talk right now or do some simple task.

Maybe the parent will become so frustrated that they begin to feel their heart hardening against the child. The parent feels dishonored, disrespected, and plainly dissed.

I feel like God spoke plainly to me about this subject, and it was a simple and short message.

We have to remember that we too have a heavenly Father. We have, at times, disrespected Him. We have ignored Him for weeks on end, even years, sometimes decades. We too have had our head buried in child-raising or a career or a relationship or a pet sin. We have at times been rebellious, cold, undeserving of his love and the great gift of existence that he has given to us.

We are hypocrites if we complain about our children’s inattention.

Once we realize that we too have been distant children, we also realize that the answer to the problem we are facing is grace, mercy, and unconditional love and patience. We must be patient with them. We must wait for them. We must constantly let them know that we are always there for them. We must be ready to receive their love and attention back at any time.

Of course it is our instinct to grow cold against those who are hurting us. We must never allow that to happen. We must always remember the unlimited grace and mercy our Father God had in dealing with us, and model our behavior after Him.

Categories
apologetics revelation

How to Understand Strict Old Testament Laws.

I had a revelation about Old Testament law years ago. It came after reading a verse by Jesus where he says: “Man is not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made FOR MAN.”

I began to think of the different laws and commands and guidelines issued in the Bible in a new light, as if they were given for our own benefit, one way or another.

And this brought me to “the law,” as it were, which seemed harsh, strict, and imposed discipline on the community and the small nation.

It was actually the story of the man gathering up sticks on the Sabbath outside city limits that altered my view on all of this. I mean, why was it such a dastardly deed on HIS part? A man was found wandering outside the city limits, and he was collecting sticks on the day of rest. Moses ordered the man to be stoned.

The answer is that, for a small nation surrounded by larger and more powerful enemies, where each boy and man is a soldier as well as a citizen, STRICT MILITARY LAW must be observed.

You may see these rules and laws as hyper-puritanical, but they had to be. An outside attack or war could come at any moment, and the people needed to be sober and vigilant at all times.

TODAY we consider these laws abusive or immoral. But we are not in the same context or situation as the Hebrews were 2 thousand years ago, where perhaps these laws were necessary for the survival of the tribe/nation. Remember: the Sabbath was made FOR MAN.

But what does that even mean?

Well, how could the sabbath, or a day of rest benefit a man?

Well, that seems obvious. Men who overwork themselves, and put in 7 days a week at 12 – 16 hours a day will quickly find themselves exhausted, physically sick, and in distress mentally and emotionally.

Men should definitely have a day off, or a day of rest. This is just a common sense principle.

So, now we can understand why Christ said that the Sabbath day was made for man, or for his own well-being.

To quickly go back to the example of the man collecting sticks, we have to remember that a small, wandering desert nation will be responsible for its own defense. Every man is a citizen, but also a soldier.

In the military, almost anywhere in the world, if a soldier breaks the rules and guidelines set out, and deserts his post, and he is caught doing so, his punishment will be severe. And everybody understands this. But when atheists and skeptics look to the old testament law, they seem to forget just exactly what the situation was that the ancient Hebrews lived within, which was a cold, ruthless, dangerous existence, where they are always teetering on the edge of annihilation or destruction.

They must always be sober, at the ready for a skirmish or a surprise assault by a neighboring tribe.

It must be understood that they must be a warrior society. They have no other choice in such a dangerous world.

Their lives are defined by constant war. Their world is dog eat dog. Not at all a situation we are familiar with from the cozy comfort of our air-controlled bedrooms.

So, the next time you read or hear about a non-intuitive command or law in the bible, and immediately draw back from it, being repulsed by the harshness of it, stop and ask yourself what function this law might serve in that ancient society. Ask yourself why this law was given, and how it would benefit this society to institute it. Always remember that their world was much, much different from the sterilized one you live in.

If you are going to judge, judge correctly. Inform your assessment with context. Understand that the Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath.

Reasons to Believe
Why all Christians should Oppose Big Government
If there is No God…
Revival is coming.

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