Living a perfect life
Ξ June 25th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
I once heard someone say “I try to live a good, clean life, and hopefully when I die it’ll be good enough to get me into heaven.” Well, the sad reality is that it won’t be.
Try as we might, it is literally impossible for any human being to live a life that’s good enough to get him/her into heaven. Why? Because perfection is required in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. In order to “make it in” we must be without spot or blemish - in other words, without sin.
The problem is that no man or woman is perfect. Each and every one of us was born into a life of sin, and there is nothing we can do to change that fact. As long as we’re alive on this earth we’ll be stuck with the legacy of sin passed down to us over the generations from Adam. We’re all sinners, and as such we are simply incapable of living a perfect life. We just cannot do it.
Therein lies the problem that we all must face: We have to be perfect in order to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven when our earthly life comes to an end, but since it’s impossible for us to live a perfect life it would seem that we’re doomed to spend eternity in hell! But that isn’t the case at all…
You see, God made a way for us to achieve the status of perfection through the blood sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus came down to earth in the form of a human baby. Then, just like every baby must, He grew up. Chronologically, He lived a normal life by going through the stages of childhood, His teenage years, and finally adulthood. And through it all He remained as spotless as a lamb, perfect and without sin. How is that possible you say, given the fact that all human babies are born into sin because of the fall of Adam?
Well, it’s possible because unlike the rest of us, Jesus wasn’t a descendant of Adam. He was conceived of the Holy Ghost, not a man, and His mother Mary was a virgin. This miraculous holy conception and birth allowed the Christ child to avoid the chain of sin that stretched all the way back to Adam and Eve. Jesus was 100% human, yet He was also 100% God - He was perfect in every way!
Jesus was born without sin and He lived a sinless life, but He took on the sins of the entire world and allowed Himself to be crucified on the cross at Calvary so that His shed blood could provide remission for our sins. Jesus became the Saviour of the entire world by offering Himself up as the perfect sacrifice so that we humans might be saved!
So while it’s true that we will never be able to live a perfect life, thanks to our sins being “covered” by the blood of Jesus, in the eyes of God those who accept Him as their personal Saviour will be perfect and without sin, and worthy of being admitted into His holy Kingdom.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” - John 3:16
“Planting His Seeds”
Ξ June 22nd, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
Our good friend Phyllis Helton clued Cheria and me in to an absolutely wonderful website called “Planting His Seeds“. It is published by a Christian couple by the names of Rick & Ruby, and it features literally hundreds of poems, articles, and other great resources with Christian and patriotic themes.
I haven’t had a chance to read through the entire site yet (that will take a while), but I have found what I have read so far to be accurate, timely and completely in accordance with the Word of God. You can check it out for yourself by clicking here.
American citizenship, Immigration, and the Rule of Law
Ξ June 19th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
On the day I was born, the good Lord handed me the most precious birthday gift I have ever received: He allowed me to be born into an American family on American soil. On that wonderful day I became a natural-born citizen of the United States of America, the greatest place on earth that human beings have ever lived outside of the Garden of Eden. It is truly a gift from God to be born on American soil!
But in their considerable wisdom, our forefathers made a way for people born in other lands to move here and eventually earn their American citizenship through a process called naturalization, and over the years millions of decent, hard-working men and women from every nation on the globe have made tremendous sacrifices in order to take advantage of that opportunity.
Naturalized citizens enjoy the same rights and privileges as their natural-born countrymen, save one: the right to hold the office of President of the United States. Our great nation was virtually built on the backs of immigrants who risked their lives and meager fortunes to come here in search of a better life for themselves and their families.
Immigration is a good thing for the future of our country, not a bad one. With few exceptions, those who are willing to follow the rules and do everything that is required in order to become a legal, naturalized citizen end up loving their adopted country just as much as those of us who were born here, and in some cases even more. And when you think about it, each and every one of us except for pure-blooded Native Americans are either immigrants ourselves or the descendents of immigrants.
Yes, this great “melting pot” that we proudly call America has always welcomed immigrants with open arms, and it is my opinion we should continue to do so. But today we are faced with a problem that simply must be solved, and solved quickly if we are to maintain our nation’s culture, sovereignty and security…
Illegal immigration is one of the greatest threats to our nation that we have ever faced. We have literally thousands of criminals sneaking across our borders each and every week. Yes, I did say criminals. A bit harsh, you say? Possibly, but also 100% accurate. When a person crosses one of our borders and steps onto American soil without obtaining authorization through the proper legal channels, he/she is committing a criminal offense. And as any first-grader can tell you, anyone who commits a criminal offense is a criminal. It really is that cut and dried.
There are those among us who say that the millions of people who have violated our borders might have technically broken the law, but the offense is minor and should be overlooked - even rewarded with legal status and a “path to citizenship”. How else can one explain the idiotic immigration bill that our nation’s leaders are currently trying to ram into law against the wishes and better sense of the vast majority of American citizens?
It’s true, we really do need immigration reform, but we certainly do not need an amnesty bill that will end up granting legal status and naturalized citizenship to millions of people whose very first act upon entering our country was to violate our laws and show no respect whatsoever for the sovereignty of the nation. Sometimes I just sit and ponder what our leaders must be thinking.
The following is what I consider to be the best plan for immigration reform:
- First and foremost, we must seal off the borders by whatever means necessary in order to stop the “bleeding”. Until we stop the flow of new criminals across the border, anything else we do will just be a waste of time and taxpayer money.
- Second, one by one, send the illegal aliens back across the border as we catch them. And yes, we can catch most of them if we try. Of course the naysayers insist that hauling millions of people back to the Mexican border would be too difficult and expensive to make it practical, but I disagree. Even if it ends up costing us a billion dollars or more, that’s chicken feed when compared to the monstrosity of our federal budget. Surely, if we can spend billions each year on “bridges to nowhere” and paying farmers not to grow their crops, we can afford a billion or two for something that is truly in our nation’s best interest long-term.
- Third, reward those who are willing to follow the rules and do the things the law requires in order to get here, then learn about our culture and assimilate into it with a real “path to citizenship”.
In this day of “suitcase nukes” and a pervasive disregard for our nation’s culture and sovereignty around the world, it’s imperative that we fix the illegal immigration problem before it “fixes” us. And it’s equally imperative that we do it the right way!
“Time”
Ξ June 13th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
Trying to fully understand the concept of “time” is like trying to hold a gallon of water in your bare hands - try as you might, it just isn’t going to happen. For us humans, time isn’t a constant. Rather, the “length” of our seconds, minutes, hours, days and even years keeps changing as we move on from one activity to the next and from one stage of our lives to the next.
In the mind of a child, a person’s lifetime lasts for eons. The first decade of life seems to last forever, with birthdays coming along at a snail’s pace and that coveted age of sixteen (when they’ll finally be able to drive) lying so far into the future that they doubt if they’ll ever reach it. But eventually, against all odds, they become teenagers…
Back in my high school days, I was a good student who truly enjoyed learning, but some of my classes lasted for what seemed like an eternity. I would just sit there, watching the hands on that big round clock move slower than a slug swimming through cold molasses, the boring teacher just going on and on about some boring topic that held no interest for me whatsoever.
But then the classes that I really enjoyed - like science and history - were always over before I knew it. Of course in reality they all lasted the same length of time: 55 minutes. But those 55 minute segments of the school day were like an accordion, getting longer and shorter as the classes changed.
And then came the army… talk about a warped sense of time! Let me tell you, I spent an entire year at Fort Bragg, NC one summer. No, I take that back - it wasn’t a year, it was more like two! That had to be the hottest, most miserable place this country boy has ever been, and the vast majority of my time there was spent way out in the woods where there was nothing but sand, pine trees, mosquitoes, and ticks galore. And to top it all off, the daytime temperatures hovered around 100 degrees and the humidity at night was high enough to make an ice cube sweat (not that we ever saw any)! I thought those eight weeks were going to last right into the next century.
As we get older the years get shorter and shorter. I have come to realize that human lifetimes and time in general aren’t linear as the clock and calendar would have us believe. Birthdays that used to come once every three or four years now come in batches, and I have somehow managed to jump right from my 20’s into middle age.
Well, thanks for reading these silly ramblings of mine. Be sure to check back in a couple of months and I’ll let you know how things are going at the retirement center…
