Before the election I saw a lot of posts about how Christians don’t have to be Republicans, and maybe Obama really can change the world. Usually those people never debated the issues at all…it was like voting for President was a popularity contest. It’s much easier to post a long winded letter written by someone else about how they are smitten with Obama than it is to detail how his liberal policies would be good for America.

Now that Obama has been successful on his first major goal (spending even more of our money), I was wondering how those people above feel now? Did you expect Obama to spend nearly a trillion of our dollars, a move that will most certainly prolong our recession? Do you feel $300 million for electronic golf carts is a good way to stimulate the economy? Do you feel Obama’s rhetoric that Republicans want to do nothing is fulfilling his promise of bipartisanship?

There are a LOT of stupid things in this “stimulus” bill. Let’s list them!

The last political post about abortion got sidetracked to government assistance to the poor, so instead of continuing the discussion there, I’ve decided to start a new thread here. Consider a new post in a series about “the issues.” From Mike in the previous discussion:

For me the biggest issue is caring for what Jesus calls the “least of these.” I would argue that would involve issues such as healthcare as millions of Americans are left without adequate access to the care they need. You are also right that it shouldn’t be the governments responsibility to care of the “least of these.” I would love to see the church in America come along side and help these people out in their time of need without the government. But in the present state of the church, that simply isn’t happening with our time or our finances. For example, only 17% of Christians tithe off their income and on average they give 2%. How can the church make a difference if its people aren’t doing their part? Additionally, only 20% of believers in the average church serve in any capacity outside of attending Sunday morning. So then do we as Christians ignore the issue? No I believe that we can partner with our leaders and help them accomplish what the church isn’t.

There are a number of questions that should be asked and answered. “Government Assistance” is a really generic phrase, so I’ll speak in fairly general terms.

1) Do people give enough money to charity?

According to Mike, the answer to this question would be no, but I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. For one, the above is only an analysis of giving within the church. It doesn’t include money given to Habitat for Humanity or money donated to a local charity. A better indicator of giving to charity can be found here. Total charitable giving in 2007 was $306 billion (2.2 percent of GDP). Of that, $229 billion came from individuals. Religious organizations received just over $100 billion

2) How much is enough?

Mike said it’s hard for the church to make a difference because they don’t have enough money, but the question then is, how much? Should the government (or Mike) be able to decide, and force you to give that much?

I would say no, and not only because the money belongs to me, but because I want to decide how that money is used. In the past tax money has been used to put a cross in a bottle of urine. I’m supposed to trust that after the government takes my money they will use it in ways I approve of? No thanks. If I want to donate money, I will give it to the organizations I trust and believe in (none of which are the government).

3) Is the government any good at helping “the least of these”?

I made a post back in May that talked about the war on poverty. In case you don’t want to read it, we currently spend around $600 billion a year on the poor, and since the war on poverty began in the 1960′s, the poverty rate has remained unchanged. So much for making things better. No one really disagreed with that post though, so it must have been a good one.

I’ll look for a post from Mike about how the government is good at helping people.

4) What does government “giving” do to people?

I’ve made this point over and over, but I’ll make it again. When the government gives people things for free, it saps them of the energy to become better. When the government picks you up for making stupid decisions (like buying a house you can’t afford), people don’t learn their lessons. When the government offers to pay for your child’s lunch everyday for their whole life, it’s amazing how “poor” some people immediately become. When people expect the government to support them until they’re dead through social security, people stop saving money and making good choices. When the government gives handouts, it makes things worse. Government programs are bankrupting our country.

5) If the left loves the poor more, they must give more money, right?

Conservatives give 30% more to charity every year despite having a lower average income than liberal families. Do liberals recognize this, or do they just turn a blind eye and champion more leftist causes?

6) Is life all roses?

No, it’s not. Life is a struggle at times, and surviving those hard times make us better people. You don’t become a country with a strong work ethic by believing that the government can fix every problem. No, you tell people to learn to take care of their own life, to better themselves through education, and to make wise choices. If you think more government involvement is the answer, then you have learned nothing from history.

Those are some questions I came up with…what about you? Keep your comments focused on the topic at hand. If you want to talk about guns or war or something else, we can have a new issues post for that.

We’ve had discussions about abortion in the past. I’ve heard fellow Christians say that the government shouldn’t stop people from aborting their babies. I challenge any of you who are supporting Barack Obama to read the following article, and then explain to me how your doing so can possibly coexist with your Christian faith. I’ve heard Trent try and defend abortion laws, and I’ve heard Mike say he doesn’t think Christians have to be Republicans, and the same goes for any other Christians supporting Obama or pro-abortion laws.

Read This Now

…and then tell me with a straight face how someone with such views has earned your support.

Tonight we went to see the movie "V for Vendetta" with Natalie Portman. We wanted to go out for dinner and a movie, and with a lack of decent movies to see, this junk sounded the best. Now let me clarify why I call it "junk."

The premise of the movie is that 20 or so years in the future London is ruled by a dictator and freedom is almost non-existent. Dictators, oppression, that’s fine by me, it’s happened in the past, and it could happen again. What’s so freakin’ annoying is how he came to power though. America’s "war" is the only real cause given. By war they mean the war on terror, and that this has eventually led to a society with nightly curfews, heavy surveillance, and few freedoms. The "former United States" is now in civil war, for no obvious reason.

Now I understood that much going into the movie from what I read in reviews, so maybe I’m an idiot for seeing it anyways. There were several things I hadn’t read though that just cemented in my mind that Hollywood hates Christians and Conservatives. In case you want to see this trash, stop reading now.

Early on in the movie there is a Bishop that Natalie Portman and the Terrorist, V, setup to kill. The reason? None given, just that he was at some facility that held V. The setup? Apparently the Bishop has a thing for young girls, so Natalie Portman in a skimpy dress will do the trick. Of course he’s violent and repulsive like most Christians. Strike one.

Then there is a minor sub-plot given through a letter Natalie Portman finds. It’s about a woman who was arrested and imprisoned because she was a homosexual. She recounts "And then they came for us" as two men lying in bed are rushed and arrested. Makes perfect sense that America’s "war" would lead to homosexuals being arrested and killed. Strike two.

One of the "revolutionary" characters has a forbidden copy of the Koran in his basement. It was found during a raid and he was executed we find out later on. There is clear sympathy towards the now forbidden Koran. So the Christian is a disgusting pedophile, but the poor Muslims had their book outlawed. Strike three.

Why does Hollywood treat us like we’re idiots? Liberals want to complain about our civil liberties being taken away, but I challenge any of them to give an actual example of how that has happened.  Name one aspect of your life where you have lost a freedom? They won’t be able to, because they have not lost anything. The movie assumes that if our current course continues the eventual result will be a police state with zero freedom. When people fly planes into our buildings, refuse UN mandates, and pursue nuclear weapons while shouting death to Israel, I believe we are fighting for our freedom, not leading to its destruction.

Save your money.

One of the biggest gripes I have with liberals (greens, dems, socialists, many republicans in office, etc) is how much faith they put in the government. Besides the fact that they think a government entity should decide where MY money goes beyond vital infrastructure (see social securty, food stamps, hand outs, etc), these people put a HUGE amount of trust in the goverment.

After both 9/11 and Katrina the government doled out large sums of money. Shockingly people abused (FEMA abuse) the money handed out by the government! (Take a moment to catch your breath, I know it’s hard to believe). Why on earth do liberals trust the government with their money? How naive can you be! The government is not a support system for all the lazy, no good, worthless people in the country. I think as Christians we have a responsiblity to love our neighbor, but I don’t remember God entrusting that responsibility to the stinkin’ government. It’s no wonder that red states give more than blue states, because many liberals think paying taxes is charitable giving. Taxes are to charitable giving as cash is to a drunk outside a liquor store.

The government was not created to give handouts. If you want to throw your hard earned money at people that pay for cable tv and then sign their child up for free or reduced lunch be my guest. Nobody is stopping you from doing idiotic things with your own money, you don’t need the government.

Tonight I had a great discussion with Paddy about speaking in absolutes, and indeed how dangerous that can be. Speaking in absolutes often assumes a VAST amount of knowledge that the speaker can in no way prove. What the person should be doing is generalizing. Here are some excerpts from various conversations (edited for length):

paddy: more detail is allways more mesmorizing
nathan: not always
nathan: take poetry for example
nathan: most poetry takes only a few lines to say what it wants. but according to your logic, a poem that is 9412840124 pages long would always be better
nathan: or a 4120482048 min long description of a sunset would be better than a 10 min description
paddy: ok
nathan: every baseball player owns a baseball glove
nathan: that’s an absolute. i said EVERY baseball player owns a baseball glove
paddy: ok
nathan: while it sounds correct…..for me to know that, I would then have to account for every baseball player in existence and prove that they have a baseball glove, something I haven’t done
nathan: it’s one thing to say “all christians are good people” (an absolute) and to say “most christians are good people” (a generalization)

Kevin actually said a lot more than that, but if he wants to post what he said he can. Here’s what my sister had to say:

denise: we’re cognitively programmed to generalize-
denise: we absolutely cannot prevent ourselves from generalizing
denise: exactly-wisdom has everything to do with applying generalizations-ie when do they or do they not work in specific instances
denise: cognitively speaking, we are very bad at dealing with many details at once-generalizations are shortcuts for helping us make sense of life

Unfortunately I think Paddy took me to mean that absolutes are NEVER right (which is an absolute in itself, and already wrong).

nathan: absolutes aren’t always dangerous. for example, there is one blue cup on my desk. that’s an absolute that is entirely true haha
amy: you should tell him that
amy: haha

Food for thought. Eat up!

Hope everyone has a great Easter Sunday. It’s one of those days we can stop and remember such an awesome sacrifice. It’s a day that gives our life meaning and hope. Some religions follow people who died…and stayed dead. Christians worship a man that died for our sake, and walked out of the tomb to tell about it. It happened, I believe it, and that gives me hope in my future, and peace in my present.

During breaks from all my school work this week, I’ve been playing with a fun little tool called DesktopX. It’s a FREE program that can turn your desktop into a ton of fun. After you install it you can download objects, widgets, and themes to run.

So you’re still saying "Nathan, what the heck does it do?" Oooh, what doesn’t it do! Right now I have a rotating image of the earth on my desktop…it can tell me the current temperature, 5 day forecast, and even show me a radar image of Southern California. Next I have a special "Desktop Note" widget (no, I don’t know why they call them that). I can put new sticky notes on my desktop to remind me about different things I need to do. Then there are special system info displays. They can show you your ip, ram and cpu usage, and tons more. Then there are zoomer icons, clocks, alarms, calendars, games, and just weird fun stuff. If any of that sounds cool, visit some of the links below!

Get DesktopX here

Wincustomize – Look at the left column for DesktopX sections.

DeviantArt – Lots of cool stuff on this site. They pretty much hate Christians and Republicans, but I’ll forgive them for some cool DesktopX objects.

Skinbase – Some weird stuff.