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. 

Article: here

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

Early Marriage?

Have you ever thought about getting married young and then decided against it because you thought that it would limit your time to be yourself, decrease your choices, or that it would all just end in divorce? There was an article called "Say Yes. What Are You Waiting For?" written by a man named Mark Regnerus that talked about maturity when getting married, divorce, and getting married young. Regnerus said that getting married young isn't always the cause of a marriage ending, but it could very well be a sign of immaturity. I agree that getting married young could possibly be a dangerous thing because younger people might tend to focus on the romance of a relationship and not realize that there's far more to a relationship than romance.

Regnerus writes, "I've met 18 year olds who can handle it and 45 year olds who can't". He states that it depends on the mentality of the person when getting married. Regnerus also said that knowing how to resolve a conflict and communication are two key ingredients in a lasting relationship. I've been told many times that one of the most important things in any relationship is communication, which makes sense because there's no way a marriage could work out if the communication and honesty isn't there. If a marriage relationship lacks communication, how will conflicts get resolved? How will the two people ever be happy without honesty and communication?

He mentions that having a degree before you marry is a smart idea, and I agree with that. When you have a degree, you at least have an idea of where you want to go in life. If you marry before you get your degree, you still might not know what you want to do yet. If you marry after, you will have more knowledge of what you want and what you're doing. However, not everyone will have this problem if they marry before they get a degree. I'm simply saying that I believe it is a smart idea to have a degree before marriage.

Snowflakes. Snowflakes Everywhere.

I am often surprised by the things that people do simply to be accepted by society. People will go to many great lengths in order to protect their "oh so precious" reputation. There are so many people in the world today that are against Donald Trump, particularly people who hold a high position in society such as actors, singers, and fashion designers. The fashion designer, Sophie Theallet, refused to make dresses for Ivanka Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. Normally, the dress that the first lady wears on the Inauguration Day is put into the National Museum of American History. One thing about this situation that confuses me is that this has never been an issue. No fashion designer has refused to make a dress for the first lady. So why is it such a controversial issue now when it was never a real issue until now? I am sure that there have been people inducted into office who were worse than Donald Trump. Did Sophia Theallet refuse to make a dress for Melania because she thought it would ruin her career? Did she not want people to see her as someone who "associates herself with the Trump family"? The mindset of people today seems to be "Oh I Can't Show My True Colors Or People Will Know The Real Me" or "If People Do Not Like Me Then I Will Not Be Able To Live With Myself". The people in the world who think like that need to hurry and wake up and realize that not everyone is going to like them or the things they choose to do. 

Sure, people have a right to have their own opinion, whatever it may be. But if a fashion designer refuses to make a dress for someone, what if another fashion designer who makes clothes strictly for men or strictly for women refuses to make clothes for the opposite gender? What if a woman walks into a shop that makes men's suits only and asks the designer to make her a dress and the designer says no? That woman could, and probably would, sue that man and his whole company for not making her a dress. She would probably say something along the lines of, "It's because I'm a woman, isn't it?". The level of snowflake-ness and extreme pettiness that currently exists in the world makes me want to punch a wall because it frustrates me so much. Oh, I'm sorry were you offended because that person walked by with a Donald Duck shirt on and Trump's first name is Donald? Here's a puppy to make you feel better. Would it make you feel better if I were to stand here and pat your back while I call you a snowflake? Yes, someone might not like Donald Trump or his family and not want anything to do with them. I do not particularly like the man, but that does not mean that I would not make a dress for his wife.

Cowards, Prayers Led, and Scriptures Read

The world witnessed a small piece of history on January 20th, 2017: the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump. There were many people that attended the inauguration including some famous celebrities. However, there were a few celebrities who denied the invitation to attend the inauguration of president Donald Trump. What I do not completely understand is why they would say that they would not be attending. Is it because they think it will ruin their "reputation"? Or maybe they think it will destroy their "career"? As a matter of fact, both options are quite likely, but I still think it is a stupid reason to not go to an event that supports President Trump. The same reason why some of the celebrities refused to go to the inauguration is probably one of the reasons why America has lost a lot of the morals that it was founded upon and also one of the reasons why the world is in this current state of, for lack of a better word, disgusting-ness. Little to no people will stand up for what they believe in anymore. People will lie about their opinion simply for the sake of their own They are afraid that it will make people change their opinion about them or they think it will make people not like them. It is true that either of those things may happen, but isn't it better to have your thoughts out in the open instead of keeping them bottled up inside of your mind forever? 

Another part of president trump's inauguration that came as a shock to me was that prayers were said and scriptures were read. Even the mere presence of an openly religious person at an event such as the inauguration shocks me a little bit. This country was first following Christian morals and principles. As of late, promoting Christianity

or even the mere mention of the name "Jesus" will inevitably be followed by persecution. You could just go up to someone and say, "Hey, I believe in God" and they would probably respond with, "Oh, I can't be seen with you" or "No, you can't talk to me". Not just in America, but Christians all across the globe are afraid of talking about Jesus. It's not even allowed in public schools. The fact that there were preachers that attended the inauguration that read scriptures from the Bible and led the people in prayer gives me the smallest bit of hope. I'm sure that at least some of the past presidential candidates would never allow prayer or scripture readings at their inauguration. Since President Trump allowed such things at his inauguration, it makes me hate him just a little bit less.

President Trump, to me, seems like a bit of a people pleaser. In Trump's speech at the inauguration, he said, "I will never, ever let you down". I feel as if he is saying that just to please Americans and I don't think that statement will remain true for very long. Who knows what's going to happen while Donald Trump is president. There might be a terrorist attack and he might not be able to stop it or we might get even further into debt. He shouldn't have said, "I will never, ever let you down". He should've said, "I will try to never, ever let you down".

Can't Reach It, Don't Need It

Do you remember when people were not able to go to high school? Do you remember when attending high school was a privilege and not a right? Yeah, I don't remember either. That is because attending high school for free has been a right for everyone for a long time. Everyone is able to attend a public K-12 school for no charge. Now many people today are asking why a public college education is not offered free of charge. When I ask myself that question, it does make me think. Why not offer a free public college education? If the college enrollment went up, then jobs would increase as well. More teachers would be needed due to the increase in the size of the student body. I am sure that many people would benefit from a higher education, especially if it does not challenge them financially.


Now, all that being said, I still think that a free college education would raise problems. I'm not saying that it wouldn't provide any benefits because I know that a majority of the world's population would benefit from another four or more years of debt-free education. I know I would. However, it would cause some issues. If college was free, there's going to be at least one person who will take advantage of it. They will think, "Well, I'm not wasting my money if I don't attend this one class, so what's the point in going? One simple class I'll not matter". Now, one skipped class may not matter at the time, but what will happen when it turns into three skipped classes? Five skipped classes? College would just end up being like the free app on your phone that just sits there because you never use it.

It's true that a college education today is a privilege. People either have rich parents or family members that pay for their tuition, work hard to earn their own education, or they simply do not attend at all. As of April in 2015, about 70% of Americans did not have a college degree. Among that 70%, there was probably a good mix of people who dropped out of college and those who did not even enroll in a two year or four year college. According to howtoedu.org, pursuing a degree makes it easier for someone to get a job. It's easier to pursue a job when you have something else driving you. To put it simply, I do not think that offering a free college education would be a smart move. There would be too many people that would take advantage of it. The longer people don't have to work for their education, the harder it will be for people to even try looking for a part time job let alone getting a full time career. I am not saying that this would happen to everyone, but I think it could and probably would happen to a lot of people if free college were to be offered.

I See You Sinning

The media likes to portray the stereotypical Christian as someone who takes all of the crap that's thrown at them and just says, "Lord bless your soul". Christians are thought of as people who do not, or
at least aren't supposed to, retaliate. I'm not saying that Christians aren't and shouldn't act this way. A lot of Christians do, and should. In addition to the media's projection of the Christian community, there are many movies and TV shows that attack Christians as a whole. Various jokes are made towards Christian beliefs and practices. It's not even just the Christian religion, although that is the main focus of the jokes. The Jewish religion is also being constantly made fun of. Even gays, bisexuals, lesbians, and transgenders are taking a lot of heat from the media. However, you are always hearing about how people are having riots in the streets because they don't agree with who even knows what. The LGBT community is always protesting because some insignificant person openly told them that what they're doing is wrong. Let's be honest, how many times has there been a story on the news titled "CHRISTIANS PROTESTING IN THE STREETS"? Probably not very many times, right? That in no way gives someone the right to make fun of the Christians in the world. Luke 6:31 says, "Do to others as you would have them do to you".

A lot of the heat that Christians take comes from TV shows. One of

those TV shows is the very popular "Family Guy", created by Seth Macfarlane. Macfarlane is very sacrilegious and he is proud of it. He does a very good job showing it with the jokes that he lets into the script of his show. He loves to attack the Christian faith,

particularly in a Christmas episode of the show where a character kicked the baby Jesus out of the manger. Some might see Macfarlane as fearless since he holds nothing back when it comes to making crude jokes. Being a Christian myself, I see Macfarlane as a straight up coward. He knows that Christians will not retaliate when they see their religion being made fun of. Sure they may wag their finger at the screen and say, "Jesus can see you sinning", but they will not go out and protest. That is probably why Seth Macfarlane thinks that he can make joke about the Christian faith and not be worried about being attacked by the majority of society. What many people don't realize is that he is truly being a coward. He doesn't want groups such as the LGBT community and black community to come after him, so he goes after the safest options, Christians. I believe he his afraid, and I know that other fellow Christians would agree with me. I believe that if a Christian were to hear an off-color joke

directed towards their faith, it would be perfectly understandable to get offended. Personally, however, it doesn't bother me and I just let it roll off. The way I see it is that the person who makes the crude joke aimed towards Christians clearly has a butt on their face instead of a mouth because all that comes out is crap. They need Jesus.