Okay
I'll admit it... I brag on my kids a lot. Maybe too much... but you know what? I'm proud of my kids and hey, they're the only kids I've got!
Sometimes I brag on myself... I'm a decent drummer, a good writer, a fairly good photographer and a pretty nice guy. (Most of the time)
Occasionally I brag on my Wife. She's brave (having lived most of her life with a significant hearing loss and still doing well in a hearing world), she takes good care of me and the kids. She's a good cook and housekeeper. She's good at her job and with the kids at school. She's also the most beautiful woman I've ever known.
(She gets special bonus points for sticking with me for the past 20 years!!!)
I have even bragged on my dogs a bit... Luke is the best friend a person could ever want. Yeah, he barks too much sometimes, especially when we're making pancakes or baking biscuits, but he's loyal, lovable and smarter than the average dog.
Socks is smart too, and where Luke sometimes does his own thing rather than minding his Master, Socks always minds and follows the rules. I rarely, if ever, have to correct her about anything.
I also think we live in a nice neighborhood, have good neighbors and a good school. We have a great Doctor (thank you Doctor Smithson), good teachers, a good Pastor (Pastor Fred), and a batch of great relatives and friends nearby. We have pretty good jobs and a good music teacher (John!) and a lot of things going well in our lives.
Oh sure, I wish I had better knees that weren't falling apart and a few less migraines. I also wish my kids would mind all of the time and that the world was full of Republicans and Christians and that there would be no war, famine or bad guys...
But overall things are going okay...and I still have bragging rights!
David
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3 comments:
if the world was full of republicans and christians, all the problems of the world would not be solved, as there are different factions within each group that still don't agree with other factions, for one thing. plus this world would be a pretty boring place, which is fine if that's what you want and i'm not saying there's anything wrong with being republican or christian. but having everyone be a christian/republican is not what will bring an end to war. one of the things that might actually do that would be the willingness of christians/republicans to look at other people who are neither christian nor republican, and accept them as they are without trying to convert them or think lesser of them, something i have found to be a rare viewpoint amongst christians. (non-christians/non-republicans need to learn to accept christians/republicans as they are, as well.) this might bring about the end of war and famine and "bad guys" if we (humanity as a whole) can learn to see others as no better or worse than our particular group is; if we can just learn to accept people as they were made by their creator.
in addition, there are without a doubt positive contributions that have been made by both groupings. however, other political persuasions and religions also have made positive contributions to this world, plus, believe it or not, neither of those two groups (or any group) has an exclusive lock on the truth. a world with only christians or republicans would be missing out on a whole plethora of ideas and experiences (both good and bad, but in my opinion it's the bad that helps us to appreciate the good). just my two cents' worth... :)
gail
and your point is???
Ha! Gail, you know I tend to lean Republican, and am a devout Christian, and granted, both tribes have their problems....but....
You also know me and you know where I stand on most things and you know I would never belong to a group that was either hate-driven, nor warmongering.
I think that there are two sides of every debate and plenty of gray areas, although there are many subjects and problems that should be dealt with in black and white.
(not meaning race, of course)
Do I think all non-Christians are bad? No, but they are at a loss Salvation-wise, according to the teachings of Jesus, and I'm going to go with him as an expert in this case.
Do I think all non-Republicans are bad? No, but I think some of the things that the Liberals stand for are anti-Christian, and as such should be avoided at all costs...
(again, a loss of salvation could occur for these people if one follows God's word, as we should)
My opinion? Yep... but I try to base all of my opinions on fact...
I do appreciate your input, because you always make a good point and as a good friend, I value your opinion even if I find some areas to disagree with you on...This is what makes America great!
Oh, and don't vote for OBAMA!
-Dave
as your friend, i'm just playing devil's advocate by asking the following question: is the main reason that you and most christians embrace christianity is to make sure you don't go to hell when you die? because that sure seems to be the feeling i get from your response, as well as from various conversations i've had with christians over the years.
you say that non-christians are not bad people, nor are liberals (some of whom are christians) bad but a lot of what they support is supposedly bad. therefore, one should support the christian vs. the non-christian point of view/way of living so that one doesn't have to spend eternity in hell, even if the non-christian point of view might be more compassionate and more based in reality here and now. but, one thing to consider is what appears to bad in one situation might be a good thing viewed through different eyes. i mean, one of the tenets to christianity is 'thou shalt not kill', but you nor i would be alive today if someone had not killed our food for us (and this does include vegetables because they are living as well). it takes life to support life.
plus, history does in fact show christianity as being warmongering and hate-driven (not across the board, but there are obvious times in history when this has been so) in their efforts to get people to convert. people have been killed (and presumably sent to hell) throughout history because they would not convert to christianity. (this is true of other abrahamic religions as well, i'm just saying that christianity should not be excluded from the warmongering hate-driven category.) people say that christianity is unique and therefore true because jesus was a real historical person, but just a little research will show that much of what christianity is is borrowed from religions pre-existent to christianity, including elements from the life and times of jesus of himself that appear in the gospels. so people are supposedly going to hell for not believing in a myth borrowed from other myths. that makes no kind of sense.
i used to be a believer, but i just can't buy it anymore. for one thing, if jesus has done so much for us, why would we have to be coerced by god to believe in him? and it is nothing more than coercion: believe as i do or you're going to hell. you can sugarcoat it or deliver it via a fiery sermon, but either way it's saying the same thing. however, it seems to me that an omnipotent, omnipresent god of love is not going to be threatened by someone not believing the story of jesus as written in the bible. a god of love would understand that even outside the cultural context of jesus as presented in the bible, it is possible to love god in various manifestations, and would actually condemn the use of heaven vs. hell as a threat to get people to believe one way or another.
so, i do have a lot of respect for you as well, but i have to disagree with you wholeheartedly on this one. i think this 'salvation' business is a form of mind control. yes, this is an out there thing for me to say, but it seems accurate to me. people's fear of going to hell (or not going to heaven) keeps them from living, and from thinking for themselves in the here and now. there are things in both the conservative and liberal camps that i support, and things from each side that i loathe. but what i think one way or another about politics or anything else does not affect what happens to me in the afterlife. it only affects me right here, right now.
okay, i'm done now. see you at work tomorrow. :)
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