Category: Thoughts

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The 10 Cannots and Abraham Lincoln

abraham-lincoln

Today is Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday and many people throughout the country are celebrating our great 16th President. Politicians on both sides of the political aisle love to attribute their party to Lincoln in an attempt to have some of his greatness rub off on them. Lincoln, on today’s political spectrum, would have been considered a Conservative, although Liberals attach themselves to him and praise him because he was responsible for one of the largest increases in the Union. However, much of this was due to Lincoln’s staunch support of the Constitution of the United States, something we rarely hear about, much less see from politicians. Abraham Lincoln believed wholeheartedly “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” He believed that all men’s rights and freedoms were given to them by God, not by Government, a far cry from what we see today. Lincoln’s increase of the Union was to do one thing: ensure that all slaves be free and granted their God-given rights and freedoms, something the Constitution of the United States promises. The Constitution does not promise a Savior Government to provide financial security for individuals or for businesses, only that all men would have equal opportunity and for the physical protection from foreign and domestic enemies and justice for any who takes those freedoms and rights away. I wonder who protects us from the Government who takes those freedoms and rights away?

It is because of Lincoln’s view on limited Government, that some historians believe the “10 Cannots” were attributed to him, based on some of his thoughts, speeches, and ideas. However, others attribute it solely to a flyer that was sent out by a Conservative Group, one side containing a quote by Lincoln, the other the 10 Cannots by William J. H. Boetcker. The author of the 10 Cannots is William Boetcker, a Presbyterian pastor, who was an outspoken Conservative, you can read more on him HERE.

I believe in light of our current political situation, our current economic problems, in honor of Lincoln’s Birthday and his support of limited government, I would post William Boetcker’s 10 Cannot’s for us all to think on today…they are very powerful:

  1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
  2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
  3. You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
  4. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
  5. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
  6. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
  7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
  8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
  9. You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.
  10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

 

William J. H. Boetcker
William J. H. Boetcker
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Sex and Alcohol

beer

After reading this article by Newsmax, I’m wondering if I should rethink my choice not to drink alcohol. Maybe this is why my alcoholic Grandpa (mom’s dad) was a womanizer?

Rather than damaging a man’s sexual performance, a good, stiff drink actually improves a man’s sexual prowess in the bedroom. Australian researchers found that men who drink report as many as 30 percent fewer problems than those who didn’t drink at all.

Dr. Kew-Kim Chew, of Western Australia’s Keogh Institute for Medical Research told London’s Sunday Telegraph that men who drank within safe, moderate guidelines seemed to have the best erectile function. In Chew’s study of 1,580 Australian men, even binge drinkers functioned better sexually than those who never drank.

“We found that, compared to those who have never touched alcohol, many people do benefit from some alcohol, including some people who drink outside the guidelines,” Chew said.

The study found that low risk drinkers (those who consumed up to twenty drinks a week spread over five days) had the fewest sexual problems. Those who drank on weekends only and those who were binge drinkers suffered lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who drank only one day a week or drank none at all. Men who performed the poorest were heavy drinkers who had stopped drinking and those who smoked or had heart disease.

I think I’ll take my chances. I’ve seen Alcohol destroy too many lives in our family, so I’ll stick to the soft stuff, plus my wife would tell you I don’t need alcohol to…okay, I’ll just leave it there. 🙂 What’s your thoughts?

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Conditioned

football-training

I have a battle that wars within me constantly. Its a battle between desiring to be the Christian that Christ wants me to be and to do Christianity the way I was taught to do it.

I believe football has more conditioning and training drills than any other sport. I’ve played all of the major sports in school; football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. I missed out on underwater basket weaving. Football has so many positions and each position has a different function depending on the play, so the training is extensive. If you are an offensive lineman, one play may call for you to run block while the next requires a pass block, then an entire new play may require that you perform a pull block to open a bigger hole for your running back. This process of training is often referred to as “Conditioning.”

When I got out of High School, I held several jobs. One of my greatest closing lines when interviewing was to assure the company that I had the skills to perform the job, but because I had never worked in the specific position or for a competitor, I would do the job exactly the way they trained me to do it, unlike career employees, I was not conditioned in any other method of doing the job, basically I was a blank slate. I was communicating that I had not been programmed to do it any other way, rather I would perform the job only in the manner that they conditioned me or trained me to do it in.

I struggle with this in Christianity. I grew up being programmed that a lot of Christianity was a duty instead of a relationship. Even though I know better, I find myself reverting back to this approach in my faith walk. Don’t get me wrong, some of my Christian conditioning was good for me, and I use the skills all the time, but then there are some areas that are toxic to my relationship with Christ. I don’t want to do Christianity, I don’t want to have a checklist to make sure I am not making God mad. I fight against some of the opinions that were taught to me as ‘fact’ and as ‘the Gospel’. I’m left questioning a lot, is this (particular issue) a non-negotiable or is it a mere opinion of a righteous individual? In the end, I guess God uses this struggle to keep me reliant on him during the times I have this war raging within me. Join the Conversation: Have you been conditioned?

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A Man on a Mission

Let me clarify up front…I am a Gator Hater!!! I am an unashamed, proud Georgia Bulldog’s fan and under normal circumstances would pull for any team that played our border foes, however on Thursday night, things changed for me. We’ve all most likely heard the promise made at the press conference, if you haven’t I embedded the video here…

Tebow is passionate about football and about winning, but he is more passionate about Jesus! On Thursday night, I found myself pulling for, not the Gaytors, but Tim Tebow. I found it amazing that the game announcers could not even talk about Tebow without talking about his faith and his off the field missions work. There was no seperating Tebow from his faith. Now I know there are groups of Christians who act like Christianity should almost be on the down low, as if we were living out a covert faith life. I do understand the desire not to be identified with the cheesy Christian-ease that some enjoy, but I believe the early Christians would take issue with the idea that we should live out Christian principles but only talk about Christ if someone gives us the opportunity. Their lives were all about Christ and they preached the Gospel to everyone they had the opportunity to do so with. I see that with Tebow, he is all about Christ. Some people would not pull for a player just because he is a believer, however when someone will put all of his or her fame and reputation on the line to live their life absent of self and for God’s honor, it makes me want to pull for them.

When most college students are partying and wasting their spring breaks away, Tebow is taking the free time he has to share Christ with a disconnected people across the ocean. Tebow made me think of the first Christians on Thursday night when the announcers could not seperate the faith from the man. Francis Chan talks about in Crazy Love…The early Christians never called themselves “Christians” – it was people outside the faith that first called them “Christians” because their lives reflected Christ. As you can see in the video, Tim Tebow is on a mission to be successful and to win at the game of football, but I know that he is more interested in being on a mission to see lives changed through the Gospel of Christ.

There are thousands of Christians in college football, but I have seen none who are as vocal or as passionate about Jesus as Tebow. I believe God allows people to rise to certain levels on a national stage, not because they have followed the principles in Your Best Life Now, but because God knows He can trust them to use it and not abuse it. You will never see Tebow in his game gear without a scripture under his eyes or a praise for his Savior from his lips, and as long as he is surrendering his spotlight to allow Jesus to shine, I believe He’ll continue to be given the opportunity to excel in what he does. His life reflects what Psalm 115:1 says, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” I believe it is people like Tebow who can spark a passion for Christ in an entire generation! So, Thursday night this Gator Hater, cringed and celebrated a man sold out to Christ hoist a National Chapionship and a MVP trophy in victory in hopes my Bulldogs can allow him to demonstrate overcoming defeat next season 🙂

Join the Conversation: Thoughts?