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| The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning 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, bejewelled 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 crèche, 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 Nick and Jessica 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 Nick and Jessica 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 recently) 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 neighbour 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?
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 | | |
| xanga seems pretty slow and dead these days... for those of u who keep up... here's a lil entry, similar to the previous few that i posted. hahaha. (can't seem to rite bout ne thing else rite now... and it also keeps serving as a reminder to myself on wat i need to do =/) i got about 5 more weeks left til the "fat lady sings"... and it's all over... i prob say this over and over and over again, but i really can't wait til i quit. these past few weeks have been a real drag at work... i think my unmotivated spirit is bringin other ppl down too. hahaha... sorry, if it is... so anyways... there's a lot of things that i need to do/am lookin forward to... they keep my life at work bearable... cause i just daydream bout wat imma do after work and after i quit... haha =P -_- next week: i get to go to some city club cocktail gathering in la that penn law's hostin... kinda excited. haha next month: i get to go to some trainin stuff for work. talk to my managers to discuss my quit date. oh joy~ (note the sarcasm -_-), then basically finish up all my work by the march deadline. then .... go to nyc and philly!!! oh and mayb mexico w/ the praise team, if that pans out. oh and how could i forget... march madness!!!!!! (UCLA~!!!!!) then for a couple of months: hit up some books. relax. learn golf. practice some instruments. work out. finally get to play ball consistantly. prob go visit sf. mayb dc. then prob vegas =P (oh. and stella and pj's weddin) then in june. visit europe (london paris rome florence)!!!!! and andy's weddin. so weird then in july. visit korea... and mayb beijing? (highly doubt beijing tho =/) then in august. maaaayb a cruise? then sally's wedding. then start school, f'sho~! then my old life is over. and my new life will begin. excitin and scary. =/ busy busy busy. but still... good kinda busy. i also need to spend as much time w/ my parents/sis and friends btwn all this... cause life will be kinda diff after i move ... weird. =/ | | |
| again. nothin much to rite... but it's a new year. so i thought it's about time to rite another entry... honestly, w/o pictures and stuff... it's hard to update w/ an "interestin" entry... ne ways... the winter break was good... lots of chillin w/ old faces and catchin up... some of the pictures r on my facebook, if ur interested... but yea... like i said... it's a new year. 2008.... but nothin feels diff at all... actually. the only thing im realizin is that time flies. that's for sure. everythin in life seems to be happenin so fast now... i guess those older folks weren't lyin when they said... after u graduate hs, everything will happen so fast. that before u know it, u'll be married w/ 3 kids and a 4th on the way... it literally seemed like a few months ago, when i was still tryin to decide wat college to go to... and it turns out that that was already 6-7yrs ago... life has been great so far tho. i def cannot complain. and each time i enter a new chapter in life, God has always blessed me and guided me down the rite path... hopefully, He'll continue doin the same throughout the rest of my life~ anyways. this yr, 2008, will now bring me to. yet. another few new chapters in my life. a lot of change. a lot of uncertainties. a lot of everything. and thus, will require a lot of trust and faith in God. it's excitin and scary and all these other emotions all jumbled up together at the same time... but i must say, i'm pretty curious/excited/anxious to see wat God has instored in my life... the next 5-10 yrs will probably bring about the most change in my life that i have ever experienced... shoot, in 10 yrs... wow. i probably (hopefully) would've graduated from law school already and will be practicin either at a big law firm or pavin my path to go into gov related law careers... and also i'd probably (hopefully) married to a beautiful, smart woman of God and have 2 kids already, workin on number 3 ... hahahaha... iono. but yea. that all seems too crazy for me rite now... first things first... do well in school. find a good girl and start datin... deng. but in this day and age. findin a good girl seems almost impossible. yea yea. im sure the girls r sayin the same things bout guys -_- k. well i think i rambled on for a bit too long. again. back to work... hahaha... only 2-3 more months of bein able to say that... hahaha... then i'll be FREE FREE FREE!!!!! so let's play ppl~ hahaha... God bless~  | | |
| deng... 4 hrs of sleep per nite for 2 weeks is freakin tirin... -_- ... i think it's taken a toll on my body... BUT im okay!! hahaha... blessing times... ne ways... not much to rite... just didn't rite in a while, so thought it's time to rite somethin... ne thing... side note: wow. y is EVERYONE gettin married/engaged/couplin up (the couplin up isn't actually a 'big' deal ne more... how can it be when so many ppl r gettin married and engaged???)... wow... so many shockers even w/in the week... the latest one.... MINA!!!!.... WOW! congrats mina, on the engagement!!!!! ... it's bout time, don =P ... deng... i remember u from elementary school, when u were "too cool for school" ... then all throughout jr high/high school/college/and now... deeeng... wow.... time flies... seriously... sooooo many weddings happened/will happen w/in the next yr.... rangin from hs friends to college friends... it's insane... (w/in 1 yr.... off the top of my head... sarah, steall/p. jeff, daniel/christine, brian/shelli, grace, andy, sally, mina) ... ... wow ... ... im in total shock~ congrats everyone tho... im happy for u all (although prob not all of u read this =P) ... deng... i think almost all my class girls have at least a serious bf relationship rite now... crazy stuff... ne ways... ok. that's the BIG thing for now... bye. | | |
| deng... the blessings just continue... this is like an overdose of great messages all comin together at once... pretty crazy... so... lee chan soo msn's pretty awesome... first time hearin him speak yesterday... and seriously blew my mind... it was about a passage that we r all familiar w/...(Jesus appearin before His disciples and walkin on water)... but it's funny how i never saw the passage in view of how he explained it... realize that this happened right after the feedin of the 5000... as soon as that event happened, Jesus rushed His disciples into a boat and sent them off, leavin the other ppl (5000) behind... then He went off to pray (i think) and left his disciples to face a storm... and according to many biblical scholars, the disciples got on the boat around sunset time... and the storm probably started around the evening (9pmish?) and Jesus didn't appear until 3-6amish.... that's at the min of 6 hrs that the disciples had to face the storm w/o Jesus.... and so we ask ourselves... 1. y did Jesus rush the disciples to go off like that when they could've easily stuck around, relaxed, receivin the applaud of the 5000 who just witnessed a tremendous miracle?... and 2. y did Jesus wait so long before appearin before the disciples and calmin the storm?... it mite not make sense to us... but when viewin things in God/Jesus' perspective it's easy to find the answer to these questions.... first of all, Jesus says that it was dangerous for them to stick around.... dangerous, y? i think it's because with the praises of the ppl after the miracle, the disciples mite've easily fallen into the deception that they were somebody impt... then pride would've gotten to their heads, etc... which also links us to the answer to our next question... we all know that many of the disciples were fishermen before followin Christ... so we then realize that goin out on a boat and facing storms were second nature to them... wat would've happened if Jesus appeared after a couple hrs? ... it wouldn't have been a big deal to the them... "oh, Jesus, wassup~ welcome back... we got this covered... relax... don't worry bout it..."-type-deal... but after hrs and hrs after strugglin w/ the storm... and feelin/bein hopeless... only then did they realize that they couldn't do ne thing... then they started to fear... and realize their weakness... THEN Jesus appears and they were able to find the peace and comfort in Christ and at the same time was able to rely on Him for strength... so many times... we, even as christians, find ourselves tryin to find reasonin behind how God answers prayer or reasonin behind y certain things happen in life/in this world... but wat we do here.. is limit everything to our perspectives... we need to take a step back and try to view things in God's perspective and try to realize y He does wat He does... (i know it's impossible at times... but we need to try... and at the very least, in the end... when all is said and done... we WILL realize it...) another thing that the pastor mentioned that kinda struck some nerves in my brain... from the disciple's pt of view... they obeyed Jesus. went on the boat. then faced a tremendous storm and struggled for hrs and hrs.... how's that fair?... obey. storm. obey. storm? ... but we realize... w/o the storm... they would not have been able to find/experience that comfort in Jesus... and witness a greater miracle in Jesus calmin the storm and walkin on water, etc... if our lives r always happy-go-lucky... and we find ourselves never really havin experienced God's work in our lives... mayb we need to ask ourselves... r we obeyin God? then... today... (oh man this is gettin long, so imma cut it real real short)... he basically continued on w/ the passage and how peter got off the boat and walked on water to Jesus... he left the boat (his comfort zone), stepped out in faith, after asking Jesus (synonymous to prayer for us) and receivin confirmation from Him... and then he was able to experience something greater (walkin on water)... the boat was his safety net amidst the storm... but it was w/o Jesus... out of the boat... was a storm... but was w/ Jesus... think about how this applies to ur life~ ... k. ne ways... btwn his main message topic, he also strayed a lil and made mention of how, we always argue and have "ill intention" w/in our very own churches... and now that im somewat "grown up"... and become more "mature" (havin my eyes open even to the adults and their behaviors/intentions/characteristics)... i realize that this is very very true... for myself and even for many of the "main" church leaders... lee msn was sayin how satan is prob foldin his arms, kickin back and just enjoyin it... has it come to this? has the Church, the Body of Jesus Christ, really come to this?... man... dagger to the heart.... i am very guilty of this... and i need to muster up the courage to 1. change my heart/attitude... and 2. make amends w/ some ppl too... ok. ne ways.. this is really really long... but if u get through to readin it all... HIGH FIVE to u... and im sure ur not regrettin readin it either =P... hope it was a blessin to u as it was to me... God bless. adios~ | | |
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