Deeper Waters

There are many people today who are highly educated, but yet, when it comes to their thoughts on religion and philosophical matters, they can be incredibly atrocious. How can this be? How can it be that people can go to great schools and get degrees and be said to have a good education, but at the same time seem to make arguments that are just ignorant?

A friend of mine here goes around to various schools and gets to speak about Christian apologetics. I have pondered what it would be like to go there and ask “Why are you in school?” Now some might be there because they have to be and they’ll give that answer, but many will say they are there to learn. I could also ask about those who plan to continue their education afterwards why they plan to do such a thing. 

What if the answer is that one is there to learn? That answer only goes so far though. Why are you wanting to learn a bunch of facts? Is it simply because you want to be a Jeopardy contestant someday? One should not learn facts simply for the sake of learning facts. One should try to understand the pieces of the puzzle so they can understand the whole. 

Could it be that is where we have fallen short?

Do we teach people to try to understand reality as it is? We try to teach them facts about reality but we do not teach them how to analyze reality. It is like showing various angles and parts of the puzzle but never telling anyone that all of these angles and parts are supposed to go together and to form a cohesive whole.

Or it could be that many don’t think the cohesive whole even exists….

Thus, philosophy and religion get downgraded as one can surely know things about a philosophical idea or about a religious belief, but these are not seen as coherent in anyway. They have no connection whatsoever to the real world. It is the idiots of society that look at the world and assume some sort of theistic mindset.

In the medieval worldview, theology was the queen and philosophy was her hand-maiden. Both of these were to work together. The sciences were underneath them. This is not to downplay physical sciences of course. They have their place and it is an important one. We are to be grateful for all that they have done for us, but let us not dare think that the peasants have uprooted the queen and started their own government!

With our interest in facts though, we are getting there. One knows about religion the way one is to know about fairy tales, but one is to be educated and know the facts of science. Of course, I’m not denying that there are facts in science. I will deny though that science is the only method that can give us truth and if something isn’t scientifically demonstrable, it isn’t true. (And if you think I haven’t met people with that kind of stance, think again.)

Today then, mankind believes he lives in a disjointed world and doesn’t see how the picture fits. It is because he has lost sight of that puzzle. He has forgotten that his goal is not to understand pieces of reality, but to understand reality. He is to learn to analyze what goes on in the world around him and see how it fits into the nature of the whole.

This is one reason also science needs to reclaim the concept of the final cause. The final cause in Aristotlean thought is the purpose for which something is. When we see a system in space we can ask why it is that way. What purpose does it have? When we watch anything else in science, we can raise up that same question believing theris a mind who made it that way for a reason.

In this, we are to remember that we serve the God of all truth. What I learn in philosophy and theology relates to what someone learns in science which relates to what someone learns in economics which relates to medicine which relates to politics, etc. There is too much out there for one man to know all of it, but we can work together and learn Truth.

And we must remember this. We are all to be metaphysicians in some sense. We are all to spend some time pondering ultimate reality. It’s good to know facts, but if one doesn’t know how to reason through facts and realize a deeper message, one could simply be one of the ones that proclaims themselves to be wise and becomes a fool.

I had some friends over tonight and we were discussing a Christian worldview. It was myself and another apologist friend of mine with two others who are starting to get interested after having come in contact with some Jehovah’s Witness. We started talking about dealing with people on religious issues and this got into the art of arguing.

Christians need to learn how to argue. I’m not talking about it in a negative sense, but in the sense of being able to find the truth, find flaws in claims other people are making, and being able to refute them. Considering we are in an election year, this is an especially important time for Christians to be learning to watch arguments instead of simply delivery and presentation.

One thing I made clear to my friends was the need for Christian thinking. This is not the territory of Christians entirely. It is simply clear logic that has been handed down throughout the ages and describes the way the world really is. What I am about to say can be found by reading Aristotle or many books on logic. I write it out tonight for I was asked by them to do so.

That having been said then, let’s look at basic laws of logic.

First, the Law of Noncontradiction, which will be called the LNC for short. A cannot be both B and non-B in the same time and in the same sense. What this basically means is that contradictions can’t be true. I am sitting at my computer desk right now. I cannot be both sitting and not sitting at the same time and in the same sense.

The Muslim philosopher Avicenna had something interesting to say about this. He told us that the person who denies this law should be beaten and burned until they admit that to be beaten is not the same as not to be beaten and to be burned is not the same as not to be burned.

Sadly, I meet people often who should be thankful Avicenna is no longer around….

The second law of logic is the Law of Identity. LID. A = A. My computer is my computer. Your car is your car. Your copy of the Bible is your copy and not mine. Even if I have two Bibles here and both of them are the same in all respects except location, they are not the same object. One of them is one thing and the other is another. 

The third law is the Law of Excluded Middle, which is the LEM. A is either B or non-B but nowhere in-between. This water bottle next to me is either empty or not empty but nowhere in between.

We also brought up the importance of recognizing statements that contradict themselves and asking questions in response to show the contradiction.

“There is no truth.”

Response: Is it true there is no truth?

“All truth is relative.”

Response: “Is that a relative truth?”

“You can’t know anything.”

Response: “How do you know that?”

“You should doubt everything.”

Response: “Do you doubt that?”

“I can’t speak a word of English.”

Response: “Did you just say that in English?”

“That’s true for you but not for me.”

Response: “Is it true for you but not for me that that’s true for you but not for me?”

“There are no absolutes.”

Response: “Is that an absolute truth?”

“Only scientific statements are true.”

Response: “Is that a scientific statement?”

Now many people don’t come right out and make contradictions this straight forwardly, but some do. If not, one has to analyze what one says and see if there is a contradiction. There might not be. It could be the person is wrong on a matter of fact. If someone is a Christ-myther for instance, he’s not holding a position that’s inherently self-contradictory. He’s just holding a position that’s wrong on a matter of fact.

Good thinking needs to return to our lives. We live in a world where people are interested in knowing truths, but they do not want to know Truth. They want to know about things but they don’t want to know about what things are. We live in a psychological age where we want to know about our particular selves without konwing what it means to be a man, woman, or just a human.

Without knowing these rules, it is revealing why so many lose the game and so many play so badly at it.

Let’s not let Christians be in this category. We need to be out in the forefront with sound thinking.

My roommate and I had a friend come over tonight as this friend and I watch the new Smallville every Thursday night. (Or Friday afternoon if we have to.) Yes dear readers. My roommate is still unrepentant and has yet to enter into the joy of Smallville. Nevertheless, this involved somehow our discussing with our friend how we first met.

What happened for us was that he was passing through my town and so I invited him over and then we went out to dinner at my favorite pizzeria. My roommate reminded me of a story tonight where his mother had told me about a pastor who was hesitant to do baptisms and communion. I don’t recall why, but he felt unworthy.

My reply pretty much?

Good.

The honest truth is, we are all unworthy. None of us deserve to be in the position of ministry. We’re there by grace and we are blessed to get to serve. We don’t get to serve him because of who we are. He lets us serve him because of who he is.  We are unworthy servants doing as we have been told. (Luke 17:10.) The good news is God likes to treat his servants very well.

I try though to honestly stay humble in the face of all that happens. This week, I have received a number of compliments at the seminary and it seems to happen more often and every time, I get more and more amazed. I just cannot believe at times that God has so far taken someone like me who is an unknown from an unknown town and is using him to do great things.

Due to certain conditions I have, I was not predicted to do much with my life. I was not seen as one who would finish High School. Whoops. I did that one! I was told to not go into ministry because I would not be able to speak in front of people. Apparently, they would have been stunned to have seen the sermon I gave to the student body where I was in Bible College to about 1,000 people.

Every single time, I have thus far proven people wrong.

1 Cor. 1 talks about the kind of people God uses which includes the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. This keeps making more and more sense. I was with an apologist friend of mine in another state once who was introducing me to members of his church and being very complimenting to which I finally told him “You’re going to give me a big head!” He just smiled and said “Don’t worry. You know who you are.”

I didn’t understand that much then, but I think I understand it more now. My friend had seen my own heart better than I, which is what friends can often do. We can often be totally blind to aspects of ourselves that our friends see clearly. This is one of the great blessings of friends. My roommate, for instance, has done more to build up trust I think than anyone else and enabled me to do more than I have just by being a friend.

Ministry is not about worthiness. It’s about showing who is worthy. It’s an enjoyable job in many ways, and it’s also hard. I enjoy arguing with skeptics, but there are times also you get tired of being in the firing line and you’re thankful that you have good friends around you at those times who are able to keep you going strong.

There are times I’ve needed to go on to bed some nights, but someone needed to talk, and I didn’t think it should be put off, so I talked. They had a pain in their life and they just wanted an ear. I know I’ve had enough people who have done the same thing for me. Will I be tired and exhausted overall the next day, even if it’s a work day? Yeah. That’s what you do though.

You always keep in mind your unworthiness. I think of what my friend said and all I had stacked against me and how its been overcome so far. I can’t explain it through natural means. I know I’m not the same person I was ten years ago. I imagine going back to a high school reunion and having people wonder if I’m the same person who left. Ontologically, yes. Qualitatively, no.

There’s something amazing though when you hear all the good stuff during the day, and yet you go to pray at night and you think “Wow. How amazing you are that you pull all this off God!” 

My answer to that pastor would still be the same. No. You’re not worthy. Who cares? God has called you to serve and he has blessed you with that opportunity. If you have the gifts and the opportunity and the desire, then serve.

It’s not about you and your worthiness after all. It’s about him and his worthiness.

I was in a discussion with a co-worker today about the topic of abortion and one point she made up to me as someone who is pro-choice is “You don’t have a uterus.”

Well, I suppose it’s meant to be a point.

In his work, “Defending Life”, Francis Beckwith has a word to describe this argument.

“Silly.”

First off, my view on whether the unborn are human or not has nothing to do with the genitalia I possess. Now I won’t deny that I can’t know the experience of what it feels like to be pregnant. However, that is not what is under discussion. We are not discussing what an experience is but what the unborn is. (And to the comment on my last blog and I plan on addressing those issues later, yes though, there are some people who believe the unborn is a person and still favor abortion.)

I will never know what it means to carry around a life inside of me for nine months and then go through an experience that I am quite certain is painful in having that life come out into the world. No doubt, that is a hard experience to go through from morning sickness to cravings to the painful moment of birth itself. (To which I say I wonder about when I get married and get to the point where my first child is being born. There will be all the yelling, screaming, crying, groaning, moaning, not to mention whatever noises my wife is making at the time.)

However, if the man is to have no say in the abortion debate simply because he’s a man, then why is it, that since he can have no say on whether the life should live or not, that he is then forced to pay child support. If the experience is to belong solely to the mother, then shouldn’t all the ramifications of that belong to the mother?

There are other points Beckwith points out as well. For instance, if a man can have no say in the issue, then it’s time to throw out Roe v. Wade. Why? It was a decision made by nine men. These men don’t have uteruses though. (I would hope you all knew that by now.) However, their opinion seems to be binding on the issue. 

Beckwith also says then that the mother cannot make a decision on whether the boy should be circumcised or not. After all, the woman possibly can’t know anything about what that experience is like. (And my fellow men, aren’t you glad that that happens at a time when we’re really too young to remember what it felt like?)

Finally, Beckwith says that the sword can cut the other way. Every argument given for abortion I saw today was an emotional one at some level. Could it be that since men are not the ones that are the most emotionally involved in the case that they should be the ones who are given the most authority in the matter?

The ultimate problem is simply that this argument is an argument based on experience and does not address the issue at all. Whether the unborn is a human person or not cannot be addressed by describing what the experience of pregnancy is like or how painful it is. It is a question about ontology and not function.

Last night, I was reading Aristotle. Now normally, Aristotle is really boring for me. I’m not going to dispute that he said a lot of stuff that’s really good, but he just doesn’t present it in an exciting way. Aristotle is the kind of guy that says in six paragraphs what most of us would say in one sentence. However, I was reading the Nicomachean Ethics and started thinking about society and morality and abortion.

A good society is one that enables you to be good. The role of government is to bring about that freedom for society. If all men were angels, as the founding fathers said, there would be no need for government. Government is there not because people are good but because they are evil. Government is meant to contain the forces of evil.

What about abortion? If abortion is for the good of society, then it would seem that abortion would enable us to become good. Yeah. I know. Goodness is an unknown concept really today. The ancients spent so much time talking about virtue and today, you would be hard-pressed to find people who could tell you the four cardinal virtues.

Of course, if someone is a moral relativist, this won’t really work on them, but then one can just ask where they get this idea of “a right to choose.” Where does a right come from exactly? If moral relativism holds the day, one cannot say abortion choice is good or evil even. One can merely say that it is. To say it is good or evil is nonsense. 

For now though, I’m simply going to assume moral absolutism for the sake of the blog. If you disagree with that stance, please understand then that that is another argument for another blog and it could be one that I take up soon. However, for those who do believe in moral absolutes of some sort, I would really like you to see if you can find abortion being good for society in that it helps people to BE good.

Please notice the emphasis on being. There is no doubt that one could say abortion brings about some goods for some. Some might say “Well, it allows me to have financial stability.” Generally, I could agree that financial stability is a good. Another could say “It allows a couple to have sex without having to have a baby.” This is the one of pleasure and I think we would say that pleasure can be a good also.

However, is being good about financial stability or is it about pleasure? One can be good and have those things, but would we not think that one can be good without those things? Could one be good in the Russian Gulag? Could one be good in a nazi prison camp? Could a Christian ascetic living on a hilltop alone be good?

Goodness is not about obtaining certain ends, but about the kind of person that you are. Do you value what is good more? This will also depend on how things rank on your scale. Do you put pleasure above life? Then why not be a rapist? Do you put financial stability above life? Then why not mug someone, kill them, and take all their money?

Instead, it seems the opposite has happened. A just man is one who values what is just. Do we value what is good any more? Has our society shown an increase in the value of life since abortion or have we instead kept pushing the envelope further? Now we have euthanasia being discussed and partial-birth abortions going on and even ethicists who say that the living baby in the delivery room can be killed.

Today, we have school shootings going on and suicide being rampant. Do we really value life more or do we value it less? If we value it less, could it be because of the laws? Laws cannot make someone be good or evil, but they can change the public viewpoint over time so that one comes to see something as good or evil when they shouldn’t. It’s also because we don’t have moral training in our education any more. People are not taught about the good and what it is or what it means for something to be evil. Ethics is not a topic you will hear discussed in the classroom normally in the school system.

Thus, if abortion is not being good for society, the simple question is, why have it? Sure. It might bring about some goods supposedly, but let us not dare sacrifice the good for some goods.

The friend I mentioned a few days ago and I were talking about this topic recently. I had linked her to an MP3 of Lauren Winner speaking on sexuality. Lauren Winner is the author of “Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity.” This is a book I think everyone who wants to learn something about a Christian view of sexuality should read.

Lauren Winner in the MP3 and in the book cites the corniest story of all about a couple going out to a movie and the man goes home saying “Lord. I know the wedding is in two weeks and your grace is sufficient, but if you could just make these weeks fly, I would be really appreciative.” Most of us can understand that one and think it makes sense.

The lady, on the other hand, seeing as this couple had been to the movies, snuck home a popcorn kernel that she will keep in her diary as a treasured memento of this event. Winner says the authors of the story claim the girls want “non-sexual socialization.” Yep. You can picture a girl sitting at home one night waiting for her boyfriend to call saying “Wow. This guy is great for non-sexual socialization.” (And no, I’m not saying that sexual socialization means having sex.)

This kind of thinking though is an insult to men and women.

My own mother, for instance, I have been told was told when she got married that you just have to act like you enjoy it. This is definitely a shame. Women. God gave you a clitoris. The purpose being so that you could have pleasure in sex. Your bodies are designed I believe to bring men pleasure, but then they are designed so you can receive pleasure from men as well. The Bible affirms this numerous times whether highlighting the joys of marriage or the language used to describe Israel chasing off after other lovers.

What is the idea given? As Winner says, it’s that women don’t have libidos. Women are never told apparently that they might one day have their own sexual desire and might really want sex one day. However, this is far from the case. Naturally, as a guy, I can’t say I know from personal experience, but from talking to women who I often find to be just as interested as men are. (And in fact, some of them are more interested.)

When women are seen in this light, then they become objects. The denial of physical pleasure as a blessing for a woman is a damage to the woman as well. Is it wrong for a woman to have physical pleasure in sex? Not at all. She was made so that she would. I do believe of course that sex is for the purpose of reproduction and we know the woman carries the brunt of that, but to deny her physical pleasure is simply to make her just a machine that is supposed to breed babies.

Now let’s move on to the men.

What’s the message given to men? Men are simply bundles of hormones who think about sex 24/7. Now I’m not sure that’s accurate. I will say as a guy, I think about sex a lot, but I can’t say it’s all I think about or it’s all that is on my mind. There are times I could be playing a game or writing a blog or doing some reading in a book and sex just isn’t on my mind. 

When it is though, what are we to do? Well men are supposed to take a lot of cold showers.

If we men were often in that position where when we had strong sexual desire, we had to take a cold shower, we’d never leave the shower.

Consider this also with the attitude the church gives on lust. You are not to think about sex until you are married. Sorry guys. You’d better be thinking about it before marriage. It is such a contrast that we give the impression that sex is dirty and that men better not think about it, but that is all they can seem to think about so what’s a guy to do in that situation? He often feels condemned if he does think about sex, and wonders if there’s something wrong with him if he doesn’t.

And also, men are not just bundles of hormones. I know my friend would speak of my great fascination and wonder with women, but she would also say that underneath that also, or rather in support of it, is a strong side that seeks to honor a lady and treasure that beauty. It is one that wants to come to that pleasurable moment and have the pleasure not just be mine, but hers as well. (Men. Here’s some advice. Pray that you can bring your wife as much pleasure as she brings you or will bring you.)

Why not admit the truth instead?

We both think about this. Men and women are thinking about it. They think about it a lot. They have strong desires and we simply need a fruit of the spirit, self-control. Men need the support of men and women that of women. 

Sure, there are some differences, but if we are giving images that aren’t rooted in reality, we not only deny sexuality as it is, but we do a great harm to those who are young and growing up and are wrestling with these issues.

Ravi Zacharias has talked about this topic before also citing Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher who said you never step in the same river twice. The water is always changing. His student Cratylus said you don’t even step in it once. You are changing as the river is changing. As much of a paradox as I think that last statement is, I would like to touch on a truth of a changing world.

Everything changes it seems. Here in America, we’re about to change who will lead our country and we’re liable to see several other changes as well. As I go through school, I find some of my views changing on various issues. I have a problem with allergies often and so I find myself changing from sneezing constantly one day to being fine the next. My own emotional reactions to myself and what is going on are in a constant state of flux.

Thus, how I wake up in the morning is no guarantee of how I’ll go to bed at night. The world I wake up to is rarely the same one I go to sleep in. Something has changed throughout the day and usually something that I consider significant. Some of my relationships or some of my opinions have changed so that the world is different.

I can also think of how things are for people who have to relate to me and I to them. Could the way my roommate and I interact change often based on our different moods? Could it be safe to ask me a question one day and unsafe to do so the next? Could it be that one day I’ll want to have a friend spend time with me and the next day I don’t?

Everything is changing.

I find something when I pray at night, and for me, I’m a nighttime guy with prayer. Prayer is the last thing I do before I turn out the lights. I find the first thing I am usually saying when I come to God is that I am thankful that he is constant. God is one that never changes. He is outside of space and time and is eternally acting. This is so mind-boggling to me. This is a concept I find myself wondering about. In my view, God is viewing my birth right now, my wedding someday, my children being born, my death one day, my being in his presence in Heaven, all in one eternal now.

God and time. It’s such a fascinating topic to think about and I’m still thinking about it and when I have clearer and more certain thoughts on it, I’ll probably write about it.

I’m thankful though that he doesn’t change. When I come to him, he is the same. He is the foundation that the whole world rests on us. You don’t have to worry if God is different than when you approached him yesterday. He’s not. You don’t have to worry if they’ll be a different God tomorrow. There won’t be. He is the one constant that you can always turn to.

That means you can always rely on him. 

Think about the attributes of God and see how incredible he is and realize that that will never change. Nations will rise and fall. You will live and die. He will be there always though. Throughout endless ages, God will remain the same. When all the world is collapsing around you, you can always look and realize God is constant. He is not changing.

Whatever is going on in your world, keep that in mind. You’re changing, which isn’t always bad, but he is not. You can trust in him forever. He is the rock.

As readers know, I celebrated a birthday yesterday. I had a friend contact me afterwards who is a very wise lady and whose words of wisdom and conversation I always appreciate. Friend. You know who you are and you mean a lot to me. This friend reader the blog I wrote yesterday and was saying that they thought it was excellent and then said something that surprised me “And you were thinking about that on your birthday too!”

Now, that’s just a paraphrase, but I found it interesting. I’ve got another friend who has learned that he has to watch what he says around me. If he says something, he’s liable to get me going on on a long tangent for a long time. It’s just the way the mind works I suppose. I’d even say a lot of insights I come across just come from hearing what people say and pondering on it, which is where Parmenides said we can learn a lot of philosophy in Plato’s dialogue named after him.

My thoughts immediately were, “The reason why some people don’t think on their birthday is not because it’s their birthday, but because they don’t think on the other 364 days of the year.” If you are thinking on those days, it will be no problem to think on your birthday. In fact, you will be thinking on your birthday like on any other day.

Could there also be something to this with our holidays as well? For non-American ones, I am going to be listing some of our American holidays here, so you can supply your own equivalents if need be. Holidays I believe are to remind us regularly of what we should be doing all year long. I don’t think God wanted the Israelites to remember the exodus from Egypt only during the Passover.

Do I have a hard time being thankful on Thanksgiving? It’s probably because I’m not thankful the rest of the year.

Do I honor my Mom on Mother’s Day? If I don’t, maybe it’s because I don’t honor her enough during the rest of the year.

Do I really give thanks that I live in a country where I am free to worship and speak as I wish? If I don’t, it might make sense if I have a hard time recognizing the 4th of July.

Do I take time to remember those who died in war so that I could live freely? If I have a hard time on Veteran’s Day, maybe it’s because I’m not doing that the rest of the year.

What about the incarnation? Could it be Christmas can be hard for some because they don’t celebrate the incarnation the rest of the year?

Could it be we miss the reality of what happened on Easter because we don’t spend enough time throughout the year acknowledging the resurrection?

Now I’m not against these holidays either. I think they’re good times because they also have a great community aspect to them. We should be seeing them all year long though. We should be celebrating the reality of each of these all year, including our birthdays as our existence is something good to celebrate as is that of our friends and family.

So, do I think on my birthday? I hope so! If I’m not, then maybe I should be seeing what I’m doing the rest of the year.

Readers know that I normally write blogs to good friends honoring them on their birthdays.

What do I do on mine today?

Which went well, my roommate did excellent surprising me with a cake and some books and my folks gift to me today of Smallville Season 7 was quite pleasing. I was hoping to get it on my birthday. Last night though, I was pondering what this meant to be thinking about another year of existence.

The first idea is on my belief of God’s knowledge. In my mind, I and everyone else did exist as an idea in the mind of God before I actually acquired existence in the space-time universe. God was not surprised by me. He saw me from all eternity and in fact, it would be better to say that he sees me from all eternity. It is difficult for us to often talk about God as our thinking is so time-laden that we seem to drag God into that unawares.

That always brings in to mind the uniqueness of existence. I have always been on God’s mind and he brought me into existence at a certain time. I believe that he knows what he is doing and does all things well. Please understand this readers. I say this about me as it is my birthday that I am thinking about, but what I am saying is not unique to me. It applies to everyone in the universe.

Existence itself is a gift. What it is entirely, I will have to think more on. One of our textbooks this year will be “An Interpretation of Existence.” I have been thinking about existence more and more since I heard it. What does it mean to exist? We all think the question is so simple, but could it be something so simple that we don’t really know what it is because it’s right in front of us?

I’d like to bring in another idea though that I’ve had seeing as I plan on writing a paper on the Trinity. I recently read Rushdoony’s “The One and the Many.” This is talking about the ancient question in philosophy of which has primacy. The one or the many? In Christian thought, it’s both as God is one in nature and three in person. Thus, God is one and many.

Notice what that means. There is universal and particular both in God. There is the nature of God and there are the particular persons that share the nature of God. Universals would be such things as redness. There are objects that are red and partake of the quality of red. Particular would be a stop sign. That one stop sign is red.

Have you ever considered that this explains so much of the creation as there is a universal and particular there also. All that we see participates in a nature beyond itself somehow, but yet, each thing is a particular object. The tree outside our apartment bears the nature of being a tree, but it is a particular tree. It is not all trees.

What about you and I?

We each bear the quality of being human. Some of us partake of extra qualities, such as I partake of being male, being caucasian, etc. However, there is a particular to me as well. I am the only one of my kind that bears the attributes that eventually get down to me being me. There are things about me that are not true of anyone else.

Which means not only am I an idea in the mind of God at first then, but I am a unique one, and again, the same applies to you. There is no one else like you. God could not have another idea of you because if those two ideas are the same, then they are really one. You are unique in your own way. There never has been anyone like you and there never will be anyone else like you. If you don’t believe God makes mistakes or that things don’t happen accidentally, then you exist for a reason.

This means also that that person that you meet on the street exists for a reason. They are unique in the mind of God and it would be tragic for us to treat them as common. Each one is unique and it could be that each of us is meant to show something different about the nature of God in eternity. None of us alone can fathom who he is, so the more of us that are there, the more we all know about his nature and how awesome he is.

In closing though, what do I see? A birthday is a unique event to celebrate God bringing something into actual existence that is unlike anyone else that has ever been or will be. That applies to my birthday and it applies to yours as well. Your existence is here for a reason. Will you not use it for something greater than your existence?

For those curious, today’s blog is being done early due to having a friend over to celebrate an important event with me.

Yes everyone. It’s the Season 8 premiere of Smallville.

Thus, I will have tonight free and spend it with a friend. On to the blog though.

I don’t usually go political, but I am going to somewhat this time. I am a strong conservative, as most of you probably know, but today, I speak more as someone who believes in morality. The news reported yesterday that Sarah Palin had had her computer hacked by someone and that personal information was leaked all over the internet. A story even said the AP refused to comply with the Secret Service in the situation.

I went to a page talking about the story and read through 100 comments. I was greatly concerned because I did not find one that said “This was wrong.” Instead, they were making jokes about her email server, about whether she got spam or not, that she was a moron for letting this sort of thing happen, etc. No one said anything about the morality of the situation.

I’ll go on and say it then. This was wrong. I don’t care if it had happened to Obama or Biden. It was wrong. Bristol Palin as a result of yesterday’s event had her cell phone ringing constantly as her number was in it. I really feel sorry for this girl having to deal with a pregnancy as a young teenager, but now the media has blown it out of proportion. Yes. She did something wrong. The family is working together though to deal with the situation. Drop it.

A debate I had with someone recently on the topic of abortion had this person saying, as they are older than I, that they are thankful they won’t be around to see what the upcoming generation will produce. What they meant was my kind though who are pro-life and believe in the sanctity of the unborn and what oppression that would put on women.

I am concerned about the future though when I see an evil act take place and all anyone can do about it is laugh. It is not a laughing matter no matter who is involved. If you are a conservative, you should condemn this. If you are a liberal, you should condemn this. If you are a moderate, you should condemn this. This is not about what party you belong to. This is simply about right and wrong.

I hope you will do what is right. Don’t read these things that have been leaked. If you see someone laughing about it, point out that what was done was wrong. It is no laughing matter. (I wonder how many of these are the ones that press the homosexual argument about what people do in private though finding it funny that private emails are on display.)

For the future of America, we need morality.