I know I know I may as well not be an American if i don't think lincoln was a great president, but do some research what you learned in elementary is distorted fiction!Do some real research and you may learn something besides 3rd grade history
"Lincoln is credited with being the greatest constitutional leader in history, having "preserved the Union," but his popular persona does not reconcile with the historical record. The constitutional federalism envisioned by our Founders and outlined by our Constitution's Bill of Rights was grossly violated by Abraham Lincoln. Arguably, he is responsible for the most grievous constitutional contravention in American history." See more This is an excellent article
First let me state by no means to I think I am better than anyone else here this is just my perspective.
Keeping that in mind here goes.
My wife and I do not teach our children that santa is real, however if you know us at all and have seen any of our holiday pics that lisa has taken and other vids you know we take the boys to see santa.
I see this as no different then letting them see Scooby doo or dora at Kings Island. They are not real, they know it as much as a 2 ½ year old can understand..
Growing up my parents never taught me Santa was real, that he gets you presents if you are good etc etc.
Mind you I do not feel deprived of anything at all. I was able to go sit on santa’s lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas like any other child. We have been teaching Nolan for a while now that God makes trees, flowers, the sun and the moon etc. Only lately when we ask him who made this or that he says SANTA!!!. We gently laugh and say no silly God made it. We’ve never told him santa made anything, somehow somewhere he picked that up. Now when you ask him sometimes he will say Santa and just laugh and say no santa’s pretend, he’s not real, God is real. Now we don’t snarl or yell at Nolan if he does these things we enjoy it, nor do we “preach” at him about it. he’s only 2 ½.
We don’t teach the boys that santa gives them presents because what possible good is there in doing so? For one you may have to explain to them (possibly crying kid) one day santa is not real. My mom didn’t find this out till she was 10 or so something like that.To me promoting that santa gives our children gifts takes away from the ultimate reason for the season. My personal conviction is that teaching our children that Santa is real and brings them presents is the ultimate insult to God. Here’s why God graciously provides me a job that, provides me money to provide a home, food and yes to buy gifts for the kids. For me nothing is added by telling our kids santa is real, but plenty is taken away from God by telling them santa provided the gifts.If you really want to go deeper the whole idea of santa is that if you are good you get presents, when in reality God provides Christians and even the unsaved with great gifts regardless how wicked or evil we can be.
I am so thankful I am not rewarded based on how good I am or should I say AM NOT!
For me to say that even the smallest gift comes from santa would take the ultimate glory from God.We are blessed because of God’s wonderful grace not due to anything of man.
Isaiah 43:7
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory,
I have formed him; yea, I have made him
I am a sinner saved by God’s Grace, everything I have is because of him, not me. Sometimes God does not get all the glory like he should. I hope not to promote something that takes away HIS glory even more.
Nolan's First time visiting Santa He still is scared of him,
Nathaniel had no problems with santa on his first visit this year.
pay close attention to the part where nolan stops for a moment looks at santa then starts up again. Too Funny!
Where did the X in Xmas start... Christmas each year there are always those who loudly decry the use of the abbreviation "Xmas" as some kind of blasphemy against Christ and Christianity. This concern has been elevated recently with the public debates about manger scenes and the substitution of "holiday" for Christmas in stores and government venues. Among religious folks, the objection to Xmas is usually along the line that people have taken Christ out of Christmas and replaced him with an unknown (since the Greek letter chi, [C,c] which looks like the English letter x, is the symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics).
The exact origin of the single letter X for Christ cannot be pinpointed with certainty. Some claim that it began in the first century AD along with the other symbols, but evidence is lacking. Others think that it came into widespread use by the thirteenth century along with many other abbreviations and symbols for Christianity and various Christian ideas that were popular in the Middle Ages. However, again, the evidence is sparse.
In any case, by the fifteenth century Xmas emerged as a widely used symbol for Christmas. In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type. In the early days of printing typesetting was done by hand and was very tedious and expensive. As a result, abbreviations were common. In religious publications, the church began to use the abbreviation C for the word "Christ" to cut down on the cost of the books and pamphlets. From there, the abbreviation moved into general use in newspapers and other publications, and "Xmas" became an accepted way of printing "Christmas" (along with the abbreviations Xian and Xianity). Even Webster’s dictionary acknowledges that the abbreviation Xmas was in common use by the middle of the sixteenth century.
So there is no grand scheme to dilute Christianity by promoting the use of Xmas instead of Christmas. It is not a modern invention to try to convert Christmas into a secular day, nor is it a device to promote the commercialism of the holiday season. Its origin is thoroughly rooted in the heritage of the Church. It is simply another way to say Christmas, drawing on a long history of symbolic abbreviations used in the church. In fact, as with other abbreviations used in common speech or writing (such as Mr. or etc.), the abbreviation "Xmas" should be pronounced "Christmas" just as if the word were written out in full, rather than saying "exmas." Understanding this use of Christian symbolism might help us modern day Xians focus on more important issues of the Faith during Advent, and bring a little more Peace to the Xmas Season.
I have thought all along the the selling point of megapixels on digital cameras was a marketing scheme now here's proof!!
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm "So long as you have 100 to 150 DPI (dots or pixels per inch), you have plenty for a sharp print viewed at arm's length. This means a 6 MP camera can make prints 30" (75cm) wide and still look great. When was the last time you printed that big? "
For instance, a 3 MP camera pretty much looks the same as a 6 MP camera, even when blown up to 12 x 18" (30x50cm)! I know because I've done this. Have you? NY Times tech writer David Pogue did this here and here and saw the same thing — nothing!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/technology/08pogue.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1 “The more megapixels a camera has, the better the pictures.”It’s a big fat lie. The camera companies and camera stores all know it, but they continue to exploit our misunderstanding. Advertisements declare a camera’s megapixel rating as though it’s a letter grade, implying that a 7-megapixel model is necessarily better than a 5-megapixel model. "
I just finished the book Raising a Modern Day Knight. (I got it for $5 including shipping) It’s a book for fathers about raising sons. It was good I’d give it a B overall. I like Reb Bradley’s book better. Anyway the premise of the book is how fathers can truly teach their sons to be men. The main idea is a Man needs to reject passivity, accept responsibility, lead courageously, and expect the greater reward (Joy).
I am blessed to say my dad like almost all of my friend’s dads did these things..
The author of this book Robert Lewis did not have that blessing. After reading this book it helped remind me how GREAT a blessing having a Godly father truly is for a son. To put it in perspective let me paraphrase some of the stories about the author’s dad:
Robert had numerous division 1 football scholarship offers from big time schools he ended up going to Arkansas. His dad did not help him whatsoever in the process of choosing what school to attend. The only thing his dad told him was “it’s your decision”.
The guys dad missed his own sons wedding, he had a good reason he was too drunk at home!
One Night long after all the kids had moved out, Robert’s dad was drunk and wanted to go out for more drinks his mom tried to stop him from leaving to go drinking, he pushed his wife away as he was walking out the door. Unaware he had made her hit her head on the coffee table and broke her neck!Dad stayed out drinking all night went straight to work the next day and got the news, he had a heart attack on the spot.While in the hospital his son came to visit, dad was so out of it he thought his son was the DR and started telling him how many mistakes he made in his life, and how proud he was of his son that was a pastor and how he loved him. This was the first time Robert had EVER heard these things from his dad! After his dad realized who was standing in front of him Robert witnessed to his dad for over an hour, by the grace of God his dad was saved.
The night of the accident Robert was at the church He pastored. There meeting was about prayer, the question was asked what is the one thing you want to trust God to do that you think is absolutely impossible?
you already know what Robert prayed for…
My point of all of this is no matter what trials and tribulations you may be going through God is in control.It’s hard to accept some times.
1 Samuel 2:
9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
If we are able to participate in raising Godly children it will bring great joy to us. So far I can totally attest to this. Even though Nolan and Nathaniel are so young. I pray that 20 years from now this will still hold true…
Proverbs 23:24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
"That Barack Obama trounced John McCain last Tuesday should have surprised no one. In fact, in this column, weeks ago, I stated emphatically that John McCain could no more beat Barack Obama than Bob Dole could beat Bill Clinton. He didn't. (Hence a vote for John McCain was a "wasted" vote, was it not?) I also predicted that Obama would win with an electoral landslide. He did. The real story, however, is not how Barack Obama defeated John McCain. The real story is how John McCain defeated America's conservatives. "
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Again, it wasn't Barack Obama who destroyed conservatism; it was George W. Bush, John McCain, and the millions of evangelical Christians who supported them. And until conservatives find their backbone and their convictions, they deserve to remain a burnt-out, has-been political force. They have no one to blame but themselves.
"And since it is unlikely that the Republican Party has enough sense to understand any of this and will, therefore, do little to reestablish genuine conservative principles, it is probably best to just go ahead and bury the scoundrels now and move on to something else. Without a sincere commitment to constitutional government, the GOP has no justifiable reason to ever govern again. Therefore, put a fork in them. They are done. Let a new entity arise from the ashes: one that will stand for something more than just "the lesser of two evils." As we say in the South, That dog just won't hunt anymore." Read Full Article Here
This article says it all as far as I am concerned!
"I suppose that the main reason Christians think that McCain is less of an evil than Obama is the abortion issue. There is no question that Obama’s views on abortion are reprehensible. But then he doesn’t claim to be pro-life like McCain does. If McCain is so pro-life then why did he vote to confirm to the U.S. Supreme Court pro-abortion justices like Stephen Breyer, Ruth Ginsburg, and David Souter? Why did he consider the pro-abortion senator Joe Lieberman for his vice presidential running mate? Why does he think it is okay to kill babies who had the misfortune to be conceived via rape or incest? Why has he voted for Health and Human Services Title X funding for Planned Parenthood?"
"As bad as Obama is, it doesn’t change the fact that the Republicans deserved to lose. But because the Democrats didn’t deserve to win, some Christians thought they faced a dilemma and, after assuming the position outlined above, voted for McCain.
But there was no dilemma. There were other choices on the ballot – like Chuck Baldwin, a conservative Christian who is miles ahead of McCain when it comes to being a real conservative. But it comes as no surprise that Baldwin was rejected since Ron Paul was likewise rejected in the Republican primaries."
This is a good article explaining both sides of the proposed auto industry bailout. I am not for any kind of government bailout for any company. They put themselves in this position, for many reasons including WAYYY overpaid CEO's, inability to compete with foreign car companies and many other reasons. I am saying this as my grandfather (who is still living at 93) two of my uncles, my father-in-law (all which are retired) and many other people i know worked for GM or Ford. I just don't think the government should bail out a company that created it's own mess. As you can see the bank bailout has caused a domino effect, now the auto industry wants a bailout, then what all the Airlines want one, then what Toy companies? I mean hey if people lose jobs they can't buy kids toys so you may as well bail them out too right? I know the argument oh we will lose jobs, if they are in this bad a shape they may be destined to fail anyway. I say take a wait and see approach. The auto industry needs to figure this out for themselves, if that means they start over from scratch then so be it. If we keep this up sooner or later the government will control everything which is what the new president elect seems to want!
"General Motors, in particular, seems to be in difficulty. The company is burning through cash so quickly that it might not be able to fund its operations past the end of the year. Ford is in trouble as well, though it said last week that it should be able to survive in the near term"
I recently exchanged emails with my old high school football coach mike gims. One thing I can say about him is for all the coaches I had in all the sports I played from elementary on up is coach gims was a good christian testimony as a coach. I am not saying that all the other coaches had terrible testimonies, but Coach Gims exemplified it. He also stressed how we needed to keep christ first and that football will not matter in a few years. I had been surprised to learn he was no longer coaching high school(he had been coaching for over 15 years) he had moved on to coach college. I thought cool. I played for coach gims for 3 years when I was a freshmen he was an assistant and then sophomore and junior year were his first two years as a head coach. He was always trying to be innovative sometimes it worked like our run and gun offense which was not common in High School those days. Then sometimes it didn't like running the lonesome polecat a few too many times :). He made his mark with the run and gun and improved upon it and I am pretty sure that is how he was able to move up the coaching ranks. In his email, He shared with me that he was having his entire team of college players read the book raising a modern day knight. That's coach, always stressing the importance of keeping christ first! here he is trying to help men be fathers, and they don't even have kids yet! Oddly coach has 2 or 3 girls and no boys. The book is for fathers on how to raise their sons to be Godly men. It's also where I got the title for this blog. Knowing I have two sons of my own he suggested i pick up a copy. Finally last week I went ahead and ordered mine. I have read the first 3 or 4 chapters and I like it so far. It's an easy read, if i have the time I should knock this book out in no time. Thanks for the tip coach, you never quit coaching do ya? If you are still coaching in 18 years i have two boys you should look at :)
There are thousands of people in Europe who have been ignored and suppressed, that could passionately warn naïve Americans about the insidious dangers of Socialism. Two German ladies came to Morning Star Baptist Church and shared with me the dire situation of this upcoming election. The one lady was eleven years old when Adolph Hitler came to power, and she said in sober tones, “you Americans are about to make a grave mistake” she continued “Socialism is very close to Fascism and it will Destroy America!”
Allow me to share ten reasons why I am NOT a Socialist.
1.Socialism disguises itself to level the economical playing field, but in reality, the middle and lower income brackets are penalized when the wealthy are overtaxed.
2.Socialism has proven historically that Communism is the goal. Because Socialism cannot achieve its tenets unless there exists an increase of totalitarian control from the Government.
3.Socialism preys on the sympathies of the wealthy convincing them thatEgalitarianism is humanitarian and your civic duty. In actuality, voluntary charity through churches and non-profit agencies is a better way. Americans stopped giving after FDR’s New Deal was implemented in 1933. Legislating donations destroys the spirit of giving.
4.Socialism encourages class envy. The middle and lower income classes ought to be thankful for the wealthy because they spend their money, create jobs, and they help stabilize the economy. Envy and jealous suspicion are counterproductive.
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