Living Vicariously

Have you ever told your child or have your parents ever told you that as long as you have a good spirit, the love of Jesus Christ, and a good paying job, then you will be happy? That you need to have a lot of money in order to be happy in your life? How many times have you heard someone say, "You need a good job and make a lot of money in order to be happy!" or "No you can't major in that field because it will not make you enough money!"? It seems as though some parents these days are teaching their kids the "Prosperity Gospel". The prosperity gospel is a distorted version of the true gospel. It teaches people that to be healthy, wealthy, and happy is what God wants for every single one of his children. The illusion that we need to be wealthy to be happy seems to have seeped into the minds of almost everyone you encounter. It is true that God wants the best for every human being, whether they are one of His children or not. However, not everyone is going to end up wealthy. Wealthy people will, at times, think they do not need to rely on God because they have a lot of money. Not necessarily poor people, but people with less money will most likely be more reliant on God. Material prosperity is not everything. 

Part of the prosperity gospel also comes from parents trying to make their kids the center of their world. The parent might even try to make the child succeed in order for the parent to be satisfied. This sort of behavior might stem from the parents wanting their child to have a successful life so that they can live vicariously through their child. Parents need to not put that much pressure on children.  Children are not responsible for making their parents satisfied with their own lives. It is possible that some kids will end up hating their parents if they are forced to excel in something in which they find no joy. I'm sure parents want the best for their kids, but there is no need to keep pushing them to be the best at everything. Children should be loved by their parents, but not be the absolute center of their parents world. 

Numerous parents want to shield their kids from the evil things in the world and from bad experiences. This is understandable because parents do not want any harm to come tho their children. However, parents need to let their kids experience hard times. How many times in the Bible did God let people go through trials in order to strengthen their faith in Him? How will kids mature and have their faith strengthened if they are not able to experience life? God wants us to have the strongest relationship with Him that we can have and we can't have that unless the hardships of life force us to turn to God for help. 

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Murder Is Not Moral

Willie J. Parker

A man named Willie J. Parker claimed that he had a "conversion" and that he could work in a "moral and spiritual argument" when on the topic of abortion. He stated, "It felt as life-altering for me to move from being unable to do abortions to being able to do them as it did to move from being an unbeliever to a believer". The fact that this man thinks that God is calling him to perform abortions makes me sick. To put it simply, abortion is murder and that's the truth. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Exodus 20:13, it says, "You shall not murder". Does this man that claims to have had a "religious" calling to perform abortions really think that God wants him to perform an act that he clearly said not to do? I thought only Satan tempted us to do things that went against God's wishes. I could be wrong, but I'm not. 

Parker also said that he does not think the life of a fetus is as important as the life of a female. He said, "In the moral scheme of things, I don't hold fetal life and the life of a woman equally". I'm sorry, but in the "MORAL" scheme of things? MORAL? Does he really think that it is morally correct and okay to help women kill their unborn babies? The decision to consider one life more important than the other is not at all a moral decision. All human life is important. No matter what stage it is at, whether it is at the moment or conception or 90 years into the journey of life, a human is a human and it is important. If there is a heartbeat, then it is a living breathing human created by God. 

I have always thought that abortion was murder. I have always thought that a baby was a baby from the moment of the conception, not from the moment it comes out of the womb. Even if a woman does not want children or she can't afford a child and she accidentally gets pregnant, I still think that abortion is wrong. Let's say there's two women, one is 40 years old and married and one is 16 years old with a boyfriend. If the 40 year old woman chooses to keep the child, it could harm her health because it's considered dangerous to give birth past the age of 35. If the 16 year old chooses to keep the baby, it'll bring shame onto her because she's only a teenager. Which one do you think would be more encouraged to get an abortion? The 16 year old girl. The truth is, neither one should get an abortion. Yes, it could damage the health of the 40 year old woman and it could damage the reputation of the 16 year old girl. But those aren't excuses to kill one of God's creations. I believe that if a baby is conceived, then it should be allowed to live and not be murdered before it even gets the chance to live it's life. 

Read the article here