Are You Standing Up For Christ?

Remember the young girl at Columbine who was asked by the shooter if she believed in Christ and she answered "yes". She was shot and died for her belief. How many of us would have the same courage to stand up for our love of Christ when faced with that same question and a gun pointed at our head?

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning. If more of us would be live as followers of Christ and stop judging and criticizing amongst ourselves - within the traditional church, outside the box, church on TV, on the fence - stop saying OK to the government - and stand up for our beliefs, perhaps then our country wouldn't be known as an atheist country. Do I think is article has merit? Am I worried about what other people think? Yes, I believe this article has merit. Yes, I love the Lord and want everyone to know that! My life is in His hands.


Commentary.

My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crïeche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.


My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

My First Blog

Hmmm, what to write, what to write, what to write. Oh, what do I write in my first blog. I wanted an outlet for my frustrations instead of piling them on my friends in emails. Now that I have my blog set-up, wouldn't you know it - no frustrations. Well, not major frustrations anyway!

I'm sitting here at work watching the clock and watching the parking lot as everyone leaves for the holiday weekend. I'm so tired of the same mundane routine, the predictability of every day, I could scream. I'm ready for a complete change in life, something that I can be passionate about and put all of my energy in. Being an emptynester should allow me the time & means to find that passion/dream. It's the "finding" that's so difficult for me. If I were to be honest with myself, stepping out of my comfort zone of predictability is scary. As one of my friends stated on her website "Oh horrors, what if I take a risk in pursuing this dream and it is a failure?"

I guess I do have a dream, not that this dream will impact or change the world, but it is the part of the change I'm looking for in my life. I want to live out west and raise goats for backpacking. Yep, you read it right - I want to raise goats. I grew up on a farm and spent the majority of my time growing up outside working with my dad. We had cattle, pigs, sheep and a couple horses, but no goats. My friends here at work tell me I'm crazy and I don't know what I'm getting into with goats. Well, I agree that I tend to be a little on the 'nuts' side and I absolutely don't know what I'm getting into, but darn I want to do it anyway. So, I guess I'll start with a little dream and hopefully somewhere along the path I'll find a bigger dream.