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.