The Bible records that the scribes and Pharisees, the educated "priestly class" of New Testament times, constantly hounded Jesus Christ with the question, "By what authority do you preach?" (Matthew 21:23-24). Jesus Christ was by profession a mere carpenter, who learned that trade from His earthly father. By comparison to the theology-educated scribes and Pharisees, He hardly had any formal credentials by which to recommend Himself. Yet, He in his youth astounded the chief priests of the temple, as He taught with authority.
The Bible also records that He authorized His twelve apostles to preach in His name, saying "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every living creature." (Mark 16:15). He also is recorded as sending out His twelve apostles (Matthew 10:5-7) to tell the lost sheep of the house of Israel that the kingdom of God is at hand. Yet those apostles, like Jesus Christ Himself, were not formally-educated professional theologians, but were of humble worldly professions. Several, for example, were mere fishermen. Here was the beginning of the notion of a lay clergy. Indeed, Jesus said that the hireling cares not for the sheep of the flock, and runs away when the wolves come to attack them(John 10:12-13).
At the time of the Protestant reformation, when Martin Luther stood before the Diet of Worms to answer to the Catholic church authorities of his day for his accusations against the established church, he refused to recant his ideas, saying, "Here I stand! I can do no other!" Based on the scriptures, Martin Luther established the proposition of infallibility resting with the Bible scriptures themselves, rather than with a professional church hierarchy. He also therefore established the notion of the universal priesthood of all Bible believers.
Today, followers of Jesus Christ preach by inspiration of the Holy Spirit revealed through Bible scripture, and not by academic certificates awarded by theological seminaries and colleges. "By their fruits you will kinow them", said Jesus Christ, in acknowledgement that deeds are a stronger witness than mere words in the proliferation of His gospel(Matthew 7:15-20).
-LKM
Monday, December 14, 2009
Whatever Happened to Superman and John Wayne?
Thanksgiving, not Christmas or Easter, should be our favorite holiday of the year. It is the time to recall to our collective national memory our reliance upon both Almighty God and upon one another, for all that we are and all that we have, and the paramount importance of expressing gratitude for the same.
Among my fellow Christians at least, all too many will pray to God only when they are on the "down" side of life, to say, "Help, God! Get me out of this mess!" All too many will neglect and even refuse to pray to God when on the "up" side of life, to thank Him for placing them upon their proverbial mountain-top.
Our society has placed much value upon self-reliance. But how realistic is this social mantra? Is it not true, that somebody else somewhere contributes to all that we are, and all that we have? Some men, in their arrogance of pride, will deny their need for anybody else. "I'm a rock-'em sock-'em John Wayne-Chuck Norris-Arnold Schwarzenegger machismo man", they will say, "I can make it on my own, and if anybody gets in my way, I'll terminate them!" But the only problem here, Superman, is that the invention of cell phones has resulted in a deplorable dearth of telephone booths to which our mild-mannered news reporter Clark Kent can make a quick dash if necessary!
But wait! The story does not end there! You say Superman evolved from some one-celled low life in the remote past, just by godless random chance? Then, how does the path of evolution move ever-upward towards greater complexity in the face of sheer random chance? No, if we put Superman under an electron microscope and study his genetic DNA, we will see a vast myriad of amino acid molecules comprising his proteins, all lined up in a precise order. If even one amino acid is missing or out of order, guess what, folks? We do not have life! And what are the odds that the thousands of amino acid molecules would line up in precise order, just by random chance? Mathematicians have asked computers this same question repeatedly, and the answer has always come back as virtually zero! This phenomenon is called "irreducible complexity", and could God be trying to tell us something here? Given that birth defects have occurred, is it not then a miracle that most babies are born normal and healthy, with a million possibilities for something DNA-wise to go wrong? Indeed, the fool has said in his heart, "There is no god, to whom I should be thankful."
Yes, my fellow Americans, we must learn again to count our blessings and name them one-by-one. Today, the average American home could pass for the Prime Minister's residence in many foreign countries, and how many of us have the skills to single-handedly build such a home? President Abraham Lincoln was correct, to say we have become all too complacent in taking the Lord's choicest blessings upon this nation all too much for granted.
Finally, there is the issue of gratitude to one another. Who of us could single-handedly grow our own food, make our own clothes, construct our own automobiles we drive, and even extract from petroleum the gasoline necessary to move that automobile forward? Could John Wayne, Chuck Norris or Arnold Schwarzenegger do all that by themselves?
-LKM
Among my fellow Christians at least, all too many will pray to God only when they are on the "down" side of life, to say, "Help, God! Get me out of this mess!" All too many will neglect and even refuse to pray to God when on the "up" side of life, to thank Him for placing them upon their proverbial mountain-top.
Our society has placed much value upon self-reliance. But how realistic is this social mantra? Is it not true, that somebody else somewhere contributes to all that we are, and all that we have? Some men, in their arrogance of pride, will deny their need for anybody else. "I'm a rock-'em sock-'em John Wayne-Chuck Norris-Arnold Schwarzenegger machismo man", they will say, "I can make it on my own, and if anybody gets in my way, I'll terminate them!" But the only problem here, Superman, is that the invention of cell phones has resulted in a deplorable dearth of telephone booths to which our mild-mannered news reporter Clark Kent can make a quick dash if necessary!
But wait! The story does not end there! You say Superman evolved from some one-celled low life in the remote past, just by godless random chance? Then, how does the path of evolution move ever-upward towards greater complexity in the face of sheer random chance? No, if we put Superman under an electron microscope and study his genetic DNA, we will see a vast myriad of amino acid molecules comprising his proteins, all lined up in a precise order. If even one amino acid is missing or out of order, guess what, folks? We do not have life! And what are the odds that the thousands of amino acid molecules would line up in precise order, just by random chance? Mathematicians have asked computers this same question repeatedly, and the answer has always come back as virtually zero! This phenomenon is called "irreducible complexity", and could God be trying to tell us something here? Given that birth defects have occurred, is it not then a miracle that most babies are born normal and healthy, with a million possibilities for something DNA-wise to go wrong? Indeed, the fool has said in his heart, "There is no god, to whom I should be thankful."
Yes, my fellow Americans, we must learn again to count our blessings and name them one-by-one. Today, the average American home could pass for the Prime Minister's residence in many foreign countries, and how many of us have the skills to single-handedly build such a home? President Abraham Lincoln was correct, to say we have become all too complacent in taking the Lord's choicest blessings upon this nation all too much for granted.
Finally, there is the issue of gratitude to one another. Who of us could single-handedly grow our own food, make our own clothes, construct our own automobiles we drive, and even extract from petroleum the gasoline necessary to move that automobile forward? Could John Wayne, Chuck Norris or Arnold Schwarzenegger do all that by themselves?
-LKM
Saturday, December 12, 2009
LKM On Love and Marriage
The four-letter word "love" has been widely bandied-about in society over the decades, to mean many different things to many different people. In this connection, the notion and institution of marriage is deeply involved: today, America is witness to a shameful(shameless?)50% divorce rate, signaling a break-down in the institution of marriage.
Understandably, divorcing couples will emphatically claim that the undoing of their marital relation is strictly their own private business, and nobody elses. But when our national divorce rate stands at 50%, resulting in several adverse economic and socio-political impacts upon the public-at-large, whose business is the integrity of marriage then?
True love is to say that we value other people, for a possible variety of reasons. It also means that the basis of our value in relation to other people is not fleeting or transitory, but is rooted in eternal religious and other absolute truths, no matter how inconvenient they may be to us at the spur of the moment. True love, like God's word and the U.S. Constitution, must continue even when it pinches, as well as when it comforts. Otherwise, we have no word of God, no U.S. Constitution, and worst of all, no true love.
Divorce is no less than a signal failure to ascribe to the moral standard demanded by true love. It most likely is symptomatic of an attitude of "what is in this marriage for me?", rather than an attitude of "what can I give to this marriage to improve it?" Contrary to popular opinion, marriage never autonomously and automatically "works out" for anybody; rather, married people must constantly work at it, as a life-long project. This does not give license to regard one's marriage partner as their "extreme make-over project", although striking a balance between corrections and compliments is certainly very desirable.
Most likely, marriages fail because one partner has unrealistically high expectations from the other. We do not live in a perfect world; rather, the Bible tells us truthfully that we live in a sinful and fallen world. Given that fact, the Bible counsels us to forgive other people their sins to the same extent we would like to be forgiven our sins. "Mr. Perfect" and "Mrs. Perfect" exist in fairy-tale stories only, and not anywhere in the real world. While we may expect any one person chosen at random to meet some of our demands and desires, in no way can any one other person meet all of our demands and desires, to our satisfaction. Why then do we demand that of marriage partners, whom we regard as special? Jesus Christ counseled His disciples to pray with the words, "forgive us our sins, AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US". This means we are not asking God for carte blanche blank-check uconditional forgiveness of our own sins and failures. Rather, we petition Him to use the same measure of mercy upon us that we use in our evaluation of other people--including our marriage partners.
This writer has his own marital standards he expects in any marriage partner. These are: 1)Understands and values what I have to offer her, to make her life better. Does not compare me with other men, to insist that I be like them. 2)Does not ever use tobacco, alcoholic beverages or narcotic drugs. 3)Socializes with other people outside the family within limits of modesty and decency, without being sexually promiscuous. Is not an "every man's woman". 4)Accepts financial responsibility, lives within her own financial means and never has debts. 5)Being of my own race is preferable, but is not absolutely required. 6)Instructs me and builds me up tactfully and diplomatically without tearing me down in abject contempt. 7)Is of Christian ethos and understanding, but exact church denomination or membership is not important. 8)Highly values education, sees self as a life-long learner. 9)Is approximately of my generation, not either a mother or a daughter, chronologically or spiritually. 10)Being a great cook is "a consummation devoutly to be wished"(to borrow words from William Shakespeare), but is not an absolute requirement. Still, women should honor the old adage that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
If we divorce our marriage partners for having personal failures ABC which we do not like, and marry another, that second marriage partner may well not have failures ABC, but could well have personal failures XYZ, which we also do not like. Nobody anywhere "has it all, says it all and does it all" perfectly at all times, from A to Z. The same as what President Abraham Lincoln once said about fooling people, should also be said about pleasing people: "You can please some people all the time; you can please all people some of the time, BUT YOU CAN'T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME." Persons considering divorce should keep this thought always in the forefront of their minds.
When Richard Nixon was this nation's President, there occurred a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. To fill that vacancy, President Nixon chose judge G. Harrold Carswell of Florida. But as the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee was looking over his record as a judge and a lawyer, they said it was mediocre. Yessirree, MEE-DEE-OCRE!--whereupon, Senator Roman Hrushka of Nebraska, a committee member, said with an apologetic demeanor, "THERE ARE A LOT OF MEDIOCRE JUDGES AND LAWYERS IN THE COUNTRY! GIVE MEDIOCRITY A LITTLE REPRESENTATION!"
Divorce results when we say, "My husand/my wife is MEE-DEE-OCRE!", and we refuse to give mediocrity any representation in them. Then-news anchorman Eric Sevareid has the answer to this: if you have a baseball game in progress, and the batter hits the ball into the out-field, and the out-fielder always catches the ball, THATS BORING! On the other hand, if you have an out-fielder who sometimes misses the ball, THAT MAKES THE GAME MORE INTERESTING! So it also is, with the game of marriage.
-LKM
Understandably, divorcing couples will emphatically claim that the undoing of their marital relation is strictly their own private business, and nobody elses. But when our national divorce rate stands at 50%, resulting in several adverse economic and socio-political impacts upon the public-at-large, whose business is the integrity of marriage then?
True love is to say that we value other people, for a possible variety of reasons. It also means that the basis of our value in relation to other people is not fleeting or transitory, but is rooted in eternal religious and other absolute truths, no matter how inconvenient they may be to us at the spur of the moment. True love, like God's word and the U.S. Constitution, must continue even when it pinches, as well as when it comforts. Otherwise, we have no word of God, no U.S. Constitution, and worst of all, no true love.
Divorce is no less than a signal failure to ascribe to the moral standard demanded by true love. It most likely is symptomatic of an attitude of "what is in this marriage for me?", rather than an attitude of "what can I give to this marriage to improve it?" Contrary to popular opinion, marriage never autonomously and automatically "works out" for anybody; rather, married people must constantly work at it, as a life-long project. This does not give license to regard one's marriage partner as their "extreme make-over project", although striking a balance between corrections and compliments is certainly very desirable.
Most likely, marriages fail because one partner has unrealistically high expectations from the other. We do not live in a perfect world; rather, the Bible tells us truthfully that we live in a sinful and fallen world. Given that fact, the Bible counsels us to forgive other people their sins to the same extent we would like to be forgiven our sins. "Mr. Perfect" and "Mrs. Perfect" exist in fairy-tale stories only, and not anywhere in the real world. While we may expect any one person chosen at random to meet some of our demands and desires, in no way can any one other person meet all of our demands and desires, to our satisfaction. Why then do we demand that of marriage partners, whom we regard as special? Jesus Christ counseled His disciples to pray with the words, "forgive us our sins, AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US". This means we are not asking God for carte blanche blank-check uconditional forgiveness of our own sins and failures. Rather, we petition Him to use the same measure of mercy upon us that we use in our evaluation of other people--including our marriage partners.
This writer has his own marital standards he expects in any marriage partner. These are: 1)Understands and values what I have to offer her, to make her life better. Does not compare me with other men, to insist that I be like them. 2)Does not ever use tobacco, alcoholic beverages or narcotic drugs. 3)Socializes with other people outside the family within limits of modesty and decency, without being sexually promiscuous. Is not an "every man's woman". 4)Accepts financial responsibility, lives within her own financial means and never has debts. 5)Being of my own race is preferable, but is not absolutely required. 6)Instructs me and builds me up tactfully and diplomatically without tearing me down in abject contempt. 7)Is of Christian ethos and understanding, but exact church denomination or membership is not important. 8)Highly values education, sees self as a life-long learner. 9)Is approximately of my generation, not either a mother or a daughter, chronologically or spiritually. 10)Being a great cook is "a consummation devoutly to be wished"(to borrow words from William Shakespeare), but is not an absolute requirement. Still, women should honor the old adage that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
If we divorce our marriage partners for having personal failures ABC which we do not like, and marry another, that second marriage partner may well not have failures ABC, but could well have personal failures XYZ, which we also do not like. Nobody anywhere "has it all, says it all and does it all" perfectly at all times, from A to Z. The same as what President Abraham Lincoln once said about fooling people, should also be said about pleasing people: "You can please some people all the time; you can please all people some of the time, BUT YOU CAN'T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME." Persons considering divorce should keep this thought always in the forefront of their minds.
When Richard Nixon was this nation's President, there occurred a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. To fill that vacancy, President Nixon chose judge G. Harrold Carswell of Florida. But as the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee was looking over his record as a judge and a lawyer, they said it was mediocre. Yessirree, MEE-DEE-OCRE!--whereupon, Senator Roman Hrushka of Nebraska, a committee member, said with an apologetic demeanor, "THERE ARE A LOT OF MEDIOCRE JUDGES AND LAWYERS IN THE COUNTRY! GIVE MEDIOCRITY A LITTLE REPRESENTATION!"
Divorce results when we say, "My husand/my wife is MEE-DEE-OCRE!", and we refuse to give mediocrity any representation in them. Then-news anchorman Eric Sevareid has the answer to this: if you have a baseball game in progress, and the batter hits the ball into the out-field, and the out-fielder always catches the ball, THATS BORING! On the other hand, if you have an out-fielder who sometimes misses the ball, THAT MAKES THE GAME MORE INTERESTING! So it also is, with the game of marriage.
-LKM
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Sports: A Politically-Incorrect Christian Perspective
The Bible says in Romans 12:2, "Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."
The objective of sports contests is to beat out other individuals or teams of persons in some athletic endeavor, in order to confer prestige upon the self at the expense of the repute of others. It is no less than an attempt to prove before men, WHO one is. One of the Ten Commandments is: THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. Self-deification is therefore a sin against this divine mandate.
For the Christian, once it is proven, both to one's self and to other people, WHOSE one is, it is of virtually no importance by comparison, to prove WHO one is. Inasmuch as supremacies of physical strength and prowess can be used for wicked evil, as well as for noble virtue, Christians should not give much moral priority to this kind of self-identity in the opinion of other people. And indeed, as salvation is all His work and none of our own, we have nothing in ourselves about which to boast, concerning our salvation. Indeed, God chooses the lowly, to bring down the high and mighty of this world, so NONE will boast before Him. I Corinthians 1:18-31.
It is a disgraceful shame, that most Christian churches in America today end their worship services some time between noon and 1 PM, so that congregants can arrive home just in time to turn on Sunday afternoon sports contests on TV. This is most definitely conformity to the world, and indicates that most people who call themselves "Christians" are not truly saved. Were all Christian churches to hold Sunday worship services in the afternoons(and some thankfully do), it would be interesting to see how many church congregants would THEN show up for worship services.
Jesus Christ warned that not everyone saying to Him "Lord, Lord" will inherit His kingdom, but just those who do His will. He also warned that the road to destruction is broad, and many go therein; but, narrow is the road to salvation, and few there be who find it. Surely, self-deification is on the broad road to destruction, contrary to the will of God.
-LKM
The objective of sports contests is to beat out other individuals or teams of persons in some athletic endeavor, in order to confer prestige upon the self at the expense of the repute of others. It is no less than an attempt to prove before men, WHO one is. One of the Ten Commandments is: THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. Self-deification is therefore a sin against this divine mandate.
For the Christian, once it is proven, both to one's self and to other people, WHOSE one is, it is of virtually no importance by comparison, to prove WHO one is. Inasmuch as supremacies of physical strength and prowess can be used for wicked evil, as well as for noble virtue, Christians should not give much moral priority to this kind of self-identity in the opinion of other people. And indeed, as salvation is all His work and none of our own, we have nothing in ourselves about which to boast, concerning our salvation. Indeed, God chooses the lowly, to bring down the high and mighty of this world, so NONE will boast before Him. I Corinthians 1:18-31.
It is a disgraceful shame, that most Christian churches in America today end their worship services some time between noon and 1 PM, so that congregants can arrive home just in time to turn on Sunday afternoon sports contests on TV. This is most definitely conformity to the world, and indicates that most people who call themselves "Christians" are not truly saved. Were all Christian churches to hold Sunday worship services in the afternoons(and some thankfully do), it would be interesting to see how many church congregants would THEN show up for worship services.
Jesus Christ warned that not everyone saying to Him "Lord, Lord" will inherit His kingdom, but just those who do His will. He also warned that the road to destruction is broad, and many go therein; but, narrow is the road to salvation, and few there be who find it. Surely, self-deification is on the broad road to destruction, contrary to the will of God.
-LKM
Saturday, December 5, 2009
LKM New American Flag Proposal
Down with political correctness! This pernicious doctrine is of Communist origin, Mao Tse-T'ung wrote of it in his Little Red Book, calling it "right thinking". Its purpose is to politically intimidate people out of speaking their honest minds, especially concerning those "hot-button" topics about which we all care so profoundly. This political phenomenon is most relevant in the discussion of mankind's five universally-favorite topics: money, sex, politics, sports and religion.
The notion of political correctness has become such a pervasive threat to American Constitutional freedom, that it is high time America adopted a new flag in rebuttal to it. I suggest we continue to have the fifty white stars on the blue field in the upper left-hand corner, even as we have with the current American flag. However, in place of the red and white stripes, we should have a white field, upon which is emblazoned the red letters "PC" inside of a red circle. A blue diagonal stripe should be placed across the red PC letters, signifying American collctive rejection of the political correctness doctrine.
This flag is completely consistent with American historic tradition. This nation was founded by dissenters who were looked upon by the rulers of their Old World countries of origin as being "politically incorrect". Our Constitution, accordingly, makes provision for dissent from popular opinion under the ruberic of the First Amendment. The Bill of Rights is to be extended to individuals, to exercise as they see fit, free of coercion to the contrary either by government or by collective majority opinion.
Thomas Jefferson was totally correct in saying that timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty. Let us Americans not be cowards, to prefer that boisterous sea of liberty today. Freedom begins at home, and we must practice at home the same ideals for which we expend American lives and resources on behalf of foreign countries abroad.
-LKM
The notion of political correctness has become such a pervasive threat to American Constitutional freedom, that it is high time America adopted a new flag in rebuttal to it. I suggest we continue to have the fifty white stars on the blue field in the upper left-hand corner, even as we have with the current American flag. However, in place of the red and white stripes, we should have a white field, upon which is emblazoned the red letters "PC" inside of a red circle. A blue diagonal stripe should be placed across the red PC letters, signifying American collctive rejection of the political correctness doctrine.
This flag is completely consistent with American historic tradition. This nation was founded by dissenters who were looked upon by the rulers of their Old World countries of origin as being "politically incorrect". Our Constitution, accordingly, makes provision for dissent from popular opinion under the ruberic of the First Amendment. The Bill of Rights is to be extended to individuals, to exercise as they see fit, free of coercion to the contrary either by government or by collective majority opinion.
Thomas Jefferson was totally correct in saying that timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty. Let us Americans not be cowards, to prefer that boisterous sea of liberty today. Freedom begins at home, and we must practice at home the same ideals for which we expend American lives and resources on behalf of foreign countries abroad.
-LKM
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