History #2

Is the New Testament reliable?

The reliability of the Bible is huge for the Christian faith because if some of it is incorrect then all the credibility goes out the window. So this is a very valid question to ask. I myself asked this same question a couple of years ago, because I didn’t want to waste my life on something that wasn’t even true. I needed to know for sure. So I did some research and asked some questions at school. The facts amazed me.

I believe that the New Testament is a reliable source because there are over 5,000 ancient copies. And 99 percent of these match up perfectly. That is pretty amazing. The gap between the dates it was written and the earliest copy is only about a hundred years. This is quite incredible considering that most of the classics have gaps averaging about 1,000 years. Another thing is that back then all people would learn through stories. This is called “oral tradition.” During that time Jewish children were taught to memorize material very accurately. So knowing this it is not hard to believe that the stories were remembered accurately. Knowing all of the facts it is safe to say that the Bible is true because there is more evidence for it than any other ancient text. Remember you have to assume that the text is innocent until proven guilty, and over the period of thousands of years not one person has been successful in finding a contradiction in the Bible or proving it historically inaccurate. Therefore because of this I believe that the New Testament is true.

History

I do not agree with Paige. We can learn so many things from history. Without us knowing what happened in the past we would make the same mistakes over and over again. So history is a useful tool to show us how to go about different circumstances. Paige claimed, “history was written by the winners.” I see where she is coming from but I believe that History is recording the facts; sometimes the winners record it and sometimes the losers. It just so happens that the winners record it more often because the losers are usually dead.  That’s just how it works. History has helped us progress our society, because we have written things down or recorded them we can build off of each generation. If we were illiterate different methods or ways of doing things would be forgotten all together. Thanks to History and records we can become a more advanced society. 

Socialism

Socialism is defined by dictionary.com as “a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.” So the idea behind it is that everyone is equal and deserves the same amount of wealth. So socialism believes that it’s the government’s job to make everything equal.

While socialism may sound good at first because they believe everyone is equal, the ways of doing this cause’s more harm than good. In a society where the government is based on socialism a Doctor with get paid the same as a janitor. This is ridiculous because the doctor had to go to college for many years and endure strenuous courses. While the janitor started to work right after high school, with no additional training. A Doctors job is very complex and serious while a janitor’s job any capable person can do. So in this “perfect society” a hard working man would not be rewarded at all. This is why socialism does NOT work! It rewards the lazy and punishes the hard workers.

Socialism would work in a perfect society, but that’s not the world we live in. We live in a corrupt world with people that steal, murder, lie, ect. As Christians we believe we live in a fallen world so we know that this stuff will occur. So in knowing that the world we live in is corrupt we should be able to observe that socialism would not work for a long period of time because it is based on the principles that everyone will have good intentions for one another and will always work hard for the community. Socialism will eventually lead to laziness because there is no reward for working hard. So eventually no one will be motivated. And when a society has no motivation to succeed they will collapse.

Economics 2

I would first like to start off by saying that as Christians we believe that God created the earth and everything in it; so we should try to take care of it. At the same time a lot of people take this way too far! God essentially left us in charge of earth. He created us in his image, so we are different then everything else he created. Knowing this we ought to be concerned about other things like where the billions of people on this earth will spend eternity. Environmentalists try to protect the earth so much that they sometimes forget about humans.  Environmentalists put all of their faith in “Mother Earth,” but the truth is mother earth cant provide you everything. And if they do this they will eventually be disappointed because only God can provide for our every need. Yes, the earth does provide recourses but God created that for us and so much more. So in conclusion I believe that people should focus more on sharing Jesus with communities or at least care for people instead of being so worried about the environment. 

Economics #1

Michael Moore really used every second of the two and a half video to try to get his point across that socialism is the way to go. Mr. Moore said in the video that “Socialism is democracy.” I do not find this to be true. The definition of Socialism is “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”  And the definition of a Democracy is “government by the people; especially: rule of the majority.” So given these real definitions I find the statement that Mr. Moore said to be very misleading.

Another blemish in Moore’s argument was when he stated that Christianity and Islam both support socialism. He gives an example about the pie, and how a rich person took nine slices and left one slice for the poor to fight over. In this argument he makes it look like the rich did nothing to earn the pie but that he or she just took it. While some people believe that successful people get in power by just cheating is wrong. While this does happen once in a while it is not just the upper class but the lower classes also. Many successful people are in the position they are in today because of hard work and dedication. And the bible does support those who do work hard. The Bible clearly says, "If you don't work, you don't eat." So both Christianity and socialism support working hard and the principles behind it. So that is where I believe his argument falls apart.

Abortion

The statement that funding abortion with taxpayer’s money is the same as funding the war in the Middle East is absurd. I would first like to say that this comparison is horrible. How do these relate to each other at all!? Funding wars with taxes have been apart of our culture for many decades. The reason we are in the Middle East is because of 9/11, which was over 10 years ago now. At that time the president thought it was is America’s best interest to go to war with the people who did this to us. While I did think we should go to war with them then, I know think that we should pull out because now we are just fighting a war with no end in sight. We are fighting a war with no clear goals or objectives. But that’s another topic for another day. My point is that in order to maintain America we will always have to put some of the taxpayer’s money towards war and defense because that’s what keeps us safe at home and our brave soldiers properly equipped out on the battle field. This is a necessity for our survival as a Nation.

On the other hand using taxpayer’s money to fund abortion is completely different. Aborting babies does not help our nation in any way. I will first start by addressing abortion itself. To abort a fetus is to prevent life. And a synonym for prevent is to stop, therefore I conclude that to stop someone’s life is murder. For whatever reason someone wants to have an abortion they are making that decision for the baby. The baby, while still a human being cannot talk so he or she cannot speak for himself or herself. Sense when is it ok to chose if someone should die or not without committing a crime? What did the baby/fetus do wrong? Why should he or she be punished for what his mom or dad did? My answer would be that he or she should not be punished. Give the baby a chance! Someone gave you a chance to be born why can’t you do the same? I can’t believe that the world has come to this; this goes to show how corrupt our world is. Our taxpayers fund the murders of millions or babies. It’s embarrassing that our culture has come to accept this. And in believing in this, I will do my best to vote against abortion at any opportunity that may present itself in the future. I will always support the rights of those who cannot defend themselves, the young innocent babies..  

Politics

Having a global secular government would be a negative thing. In the Bible when it talks about the Tower of Babble, God had different people go their separate ways. This is evidence for Christians to not believe in one big government that rules the whole world. God  is the ultimate authority and in a secular government when you throughout all of God’s commandments and beliefs then you have nothing firm to hold on to without a God you have no foundation to fall back on.

If we had one central government it would have to be something similar to a Utopia. A Utopia society is supposed to be the perfect civilization. However people fail to come to the realization that we live in a fallen world. So in a fallen world without a God you are entrusting solely on a fallen person/government. On the other hand if you have a Christian leader if they truly follow Christ and live according to his Laws then you have some common ground and you can then know how he or she will base their choices. In a fallen world there is no such thing as a perfect society. In a Utopia everything is expected to be equal. But is it really equal? So in this society a Janitor would get paid as much as a Doctor? This is not fair because the Doctor had to go through strenuous classes in school whereas the Janitor only graduated from high school. This is not right and that is why having a smaller government is better. In American we have the freedom to choose whatever carrier we want and get paid accordingly for the level of difficulty or the amount of time we spend on something. This is the fare way because what you put in is what you get out.

ART

The video and the article are both very compelling. They both convey a common idea; art is important. Art can hold so many different meanings. It can elucidate truths and bring a deeper meaning to things, which couldn’t be seen without art. While they both agree upon this, they disagree on many other notions.

The video and the article have many similarities. To start off, like I have previously states they both of course believe that art is important. They also both agree with the fact that art in unique. They is something about art that can’t be attained through a mathematic equation.  Art can enrich life and make it more enjoyable.

The video and the article start off similar but they couldn’t end any farther apart.  The article states that art expresses worldviews. So if you are a religious person you would probably incorporate some religious message or aspect in your art, so it has a deeper meaning then you just made it because you felt like it… However the video stated, “art is impractical.” They think that art is just supposed to look cool or fancy. While a lot of art does look cool and fancy I believe that in art a worldview is also being carried through the artwork. So while it looks cool it also sends a message whether negative or positive.

Both of these also touched on modern art. The video called it “anti-art.” I think this is absurd because while a lot of it is simple, I think in simplicity there is beauty.  An example for this is a simple pick and roll in basketball. While everyone that has played basketball has heard of it, it still works. It is so basic but yet when ran to perfection it can be so beautiful. In succeeding or executing with a simple play it demoralizes the other team because they have been preparing all week but yet they managed to over-look such a simple thing. God made many complex things that is considered art, and he also made simple things that is art as well. Therefore I conclude that simple things man creates can be acknowledged as art as well as the complex.

  

In conclusion I would have to agree primarily with the article over the video. I believe that the article held more true to the Christian belief. Complex or simple, art is art.

Shariah Law. LOL

Shariah law is the moral and ethic code that all true Muslims follow. The code is given to all people in Islam's most sacred book, the Koran and was shown by the prophet Mohammad. This brings us to our first big question. If America is a country that has very few Muslims in comparison  to the rest of the population, why would putting Shariah law into action be a good thing? I guess this would follow being "politically correct" but it certainly would not help anything. On top of this, Shariah law does not stand for anything the founding fathers of this country stood for. They stood for religious freedom and people being able to express and have faith in anything they wanted to. This is the primary reason we are even a country today. Shariah law goes directly against that and encourages the punishment of infidels. It encourages the persecution of homosexuals and women that are caught in things they should not be involved in. I'm sorry but America is already heading down a path that is pretty much going to be impossible to reverse and by adding Shariah law to the mix would make everything even worse. We are not a Muslim nation and should therefore have nothing to do with laws of countries that are. In addition, all devout Muslims hate everything the west stands for. Since this is the case why would they want Shariah law to take affect? Maybe to take over America and make it a Islamic nation? That's about the only thing I can think of.

At the same time, Shariah law are just not laws in and among themselves. Along with Shariah law comes a whole different set of values and beliefs America has no idea about. If this type of law were to come into play it would without a doubt ruin everything we know as a society. It is already a huge problem right here in America and it is going to get worse and worse as time goes on. The last thing we need is Shariah law taking affect on the precious lands we all  call home.

Law

For Christians Government is not ultimate authority for creating law. Christians believe that God is first in their life above all things. So because of this the ultimate laws would be the Ten Commandments. So if the Governments law contradicts the Bible Christians are called to follow God’s law first. In addition to this they would also try to live out their lives with the fruits of the spirit. However just because we don’t agree with the government and the leaders in power, we should still respect their position. God put them in that position and we should respect that. On the other sided, if one is not a Christian they very well might think that the Government is the ultimate authority for creating laws. To that my argument would be this. All humans have an instinct inside of them; some call it the Natural Law, and this is what law has been based on, since the beginning. The Natural Law is defined as “an ethical belief or system of beliefs supposed to be inherent in human nature and discoverable by reason rather than revelation” (http://dictionary.reference.com) Because we have this, to me this alone is enough proof that there is a God. How else would one explain the Natural Law? For every human to be born with a sense of right and wrong is incredible. For this to be possible it would lead me to believe that there has to be an intelligent creator. Therefore God has to be the Ultimate authority for creating Law.

Feminism

I will start this off by quoting scripture in the New International Version (©1984) it states, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” So the Bible states that male and female are equal, but at the same time they have different characteristics. For example men are generally stronger and are known as the protector and usually the provider. On the other hand females are usually more nurturing. So while remaining equal men and women are called to do different things. Because men are generally more fit they are better suited for the military, or becoming a firefighter/police officer. Because more men are better at these kinds of jobs does not mean that women aren’t equal but it means that their talents aren’t geared toward other things. God has called woman to raise their children and nurture them. I believe women can also have jobs as long as they are still raising their kids like God wants them to. The ERA would make both genders equal in every way. Because of this females would be able to enlist and serve in the front lines. I don’t believe women were called to do tasks like this but in other jobs if the woman is more qualified and does a better job then she deserves to have the job. But for a woman to get a job just based on her gender alone is ridiculous.