The Theory of Intelligent Design

Please note that this is a rant....

Today as I write, a court battle is being fought in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a battle that has been fought since the Scopes Monkey trial, a battle to decide if God created the Earth and all things on it or if life arose through a process of evolution. This battle which is raging in Harrisburg and the state of Kansas is a part of something bigger, bigger than Intelligent Design or evolution. Its a battle over the culture and heart of America, its the right versus the left and Democrat versus Republican. These pushes by the religious right are all a part of a larger effort to seemingly bring the Kingdom of God down to Earth, lowering Gods reign to that of a Democratic system. The Christian political minds of this country have for years now tried to talk of the evils of liberalism, fighting and hating Bill Clinton, they have warned of judges legislating from the bench all the while wanting judges to do the same by overturning Roe v. Wade . They have blindly followed almost anyone with an (R) after their name even in War or policies that hurt the weakest. But all the while they knew they hold the power, it was the Religious Right that got George W. Bush elected in 2004. This effort by the Religious right is an effort to force the law of God on this nation, to make the 10 commandments the law of the land. They are using power, political power to get their way. The Kingdom of God will not be established by men but by God. The church is giving in to the allure of and want for power and control that they can have. The religious right forgets that that this world will get worse and worse, before the Kingdom comes. I believe its Satan that is behind a lot of this, because he has always been into cheap imitations of the real thing, thats what the religious right is making a cheap imitation of the real Kingdom of God

The Age of Grace

GRACE, Gods UNMERRITED favor

Gods grace is all sufficient for all we need in this life and it covers the entire world. Gods law which as Paul says is used as a school master to lead us to Christ, comes up short in us. Gods law is usually the unfortunate part of our faith that the world sees. Our effort to push morality, a morality that we ourselves cannot keep, on this world. Its funny how that we(the church) get involved in politics and government so that we can make this country live by the law that we are no longer under that should be a shcool master to teach and show us our failings and need for our savior, we tell the world that this is what will make things good if we live by these 10 commandments, its ludicrous. Then of course when a terrible thing happens, like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, we (the Church) say that God is judging those people or our nation for rejecting Him, Im personally tired of the christians that have said that because of Mardi Gras and all the sexual excess in New Orleans God judged the city, if God is busy judging cities for their immorality, then what about San Francisco or Las Vegas, or Bejing after all its full of atheists.The reason is that God is not "judging" these places, cause if He did they would never rebuild. In fact Jesus spoke about this in Luke 13

1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus says here that just because your immoral or even evil you wont get smashed like a bug, these things happen to everyone, not just the immoral or sinners, in fact Im sure there where plenty of Christians in the twin towers and in New Orleans.

Jesus goes on to explain how God is regarding judgenent,

He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’

God is like the keeper of the vineyard even though we dont bear fruit He doesn't wish us to perish, in fact He may even do all He can to help us bear fruit, even though we never have in the past. God is patient with all of us, believer and non believer alike, He doesn't smite when we get a little out of line , He just poors out more Grace We (the Church ) are the ones calling for Gods judgement on this world and claiming it in His name when we see it happen. We are a lot like Jonah , we want to let the world no that they need to repent, but at the same time we want God to judge the unrighteous. God had something to say to Jonah that I think might even apply to us today.

the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

God doesn't look at the terrible things that are done in the world and lick His chops thinking of ways to judge those that are lost. God looks on them with pity, He loves them and cares for them, He pours out His Grace on them and He gives them what they need.

Yesterday the words " Under God" in the pledge of Alligence was ruled unconstitutional by an appelate court here on the left coast and this will most likely go to the Supreme court eventually, Yawn!!!, Im so tired of the worry in this country that our religious freedom and as some believe our heritage is being taken away. This whole thing is getting old, the christian right for as long as Ive been following Jesus has been trying to convince us that this country was founded as a christian country on christian principles. Now It was founded by men that believed in God, and came from a sort of christian heritage after all in 17th and 18th century Europe there wasn't much choice of religion. The christian religion was more of a cultural norm than a way you chose to live contrary to the world around you. Most of the founders of this country belonged to the Masons, an organisation that most christians of the evangelical persuation would call a cult. Thomas Jefferson, didn't believe in any thing supernatural and in fact had his own bible that had all the miracles of Jesus taken out. George Washington the first President even wrote in the treaty of Tripoli that the United States was not a Christian Nation. Another part that comes out of this whole battle over God in public policy is the way the typical Evangelical feels that they are persecuted that the whole non christian world is out to get them, when its nothing more than a political battle that they have gotten involved in and the person on the opposite side disagrees. Christians need to stop relying on public policy and laws to define the movement of the church and start focusing on really following Jesus, whether we have "under God" in the pledge or not, or even if the religious freedoms of this country completely erode, we should not be about making the world act like us, but about us acting more like Jesus to a lost and dying world. I believe that by living like Jesus and loving our neighbors that the world can change , even if the laws aren't favorable to us.

Bush Takes Responsibility for Blunders

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that "I take responsibility" for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and said the disaster raised broader questions about the government's ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.
"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of
Iraq'
"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.
The president was asked whether people should be worried about the government's ability to handle another terrorist attack given failures in responding to Katrina.
"Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack? That's a very important question and it's in the national interest that we find out what went on so we can better respond," Bush replied.
He said he wanted to know both what went wrong and what went right.
As for blunders in the federal response, "I'm not going to defend the process going in," Bush said. "I am going to defend the people saving lives."
He praised relief workers at all levels. "I want people in America to understand how hard people worked to save lives down there," he said.

I have to say that when I opened up Yahoo and saw this I was deeply impressed, this is a leader, and I deeply respect this I really hope that those that oppose Bush wont do the same thing that their Conservative adversaries did when Clinton admitted his wrong during the Lewinsky fiasco. I hope that there will be enough common sense to see the need for change not partisan bickering. As not being a Bush supporter in almost all senses, this act has given me some more respect to the man and his character.

2 Weeks ago today hurricane Katrina was ravaging the Gulf Coast, in the days following a tragedy unfolded, a tragedy that can not be described, a human tragedy. The poor of New Orleans trying to flee the rising flood waters, sometimes being herded like animals into the Superdome and the cities convention center, all the while the question was asked where is the help? Let the debate begin. Those on the left and the media blamed the federal government, more specifically the Bush administration. While those on the right in an effort to defend their man, were busy blaming the state and local governments. highlghiting Lousianas govenor and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. What happened on the Gulf coast was a natural disaster of a biblical scale, the behavior of the few that looted raped and pilaged is inexcusable and to say its because of their poverty is an affront to every poor person that seeks to be honest and good, but in the same instance, I dont blame a person for stealing food or water for themselves or others, to survive. Here is my assesment, all are to blame from the streets of New Orleans to the Oval Office, it starts at the lowest level, the level of the poor, more spcifically the gangs that ran the city for 5 days, what they did in a terrible situation to make it worse was disgusting and I firmly believe that God will judge them righteously. Next the city officials, who let 560 school busus sit and get flooded, instead of using them to get the near 100,000 people in New Orleans that had no transportation out of the city. The Govenor of Louisiana, for not sending the national Guard into the citythe instant Katrina had passed, just for safeguard, instead of making them leave due to the leeve breaking. Now the Feds are guilty of a slow response, to aid and evacuate via the coast guard and FEMA, for days an area that was a National disaster area recieved no aid, in the form of food and water or better yet a way out. Lastly the president bears the responsiblity of not being a leader and getting upset and angry that all these things happened and using his power to make things come about, instead of being seemingly more concerned about the oil production and how it was hurt, than the situation that wasn't being taken care of in New Orleans. I guess I lied there is one more and this one is for all us christians, last of all God is to blame , after all it was Him that caused Katrina to happen, but difference about Him and everyone else is that He wont defend Himself and wont shift blame, which is tthe way we should live our lives, because it sure would make this whole thing easier to handle by everyone if people realized that mistakes where made by all , now lets all get to fixing it.

While the rest of the country was focusing on Hurricane Katrina and the devastation in the Gulf coast, the state legislature here in California was hard at work passing legislation to make this state the first to allow gay marriage. fortunately though Gov. Schwarzenegger is planning on terminating this piece of legislation. Now I believe that constitutionally homosexuals have the right to marry , being that it is a pursuit of happiness, thus guarenteed under the law, also as a christian, this would affect my life and faith in no way, in fact it would make me have to live what I believe more diligently. So why do I have a problem with what the California legislature did, because it was seemingly underhanded, being done while America and California's attention was focused elsewhere. This is something that needs to be debated and discussed, with the full attention of the citizens of the state of California after all it was those same citizens that approved prop 22, outlawing gay marriage. What would have been the outcry, if in the days following 9/11, congress would have banned abortion? In short much more discourse needs to take place on the subjuect of gay marriage, in California and America, and in the midst of a national disaster, when full discourse is not likely, the debate must be postponed, no matter what your feeling on this issue

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