Prayers for Peace Unanswered

Most (non-radical) people I meet today, those who are family oriented, community-minded, and have a sense of social fairness and decency would readily welcome world peace. No doubt, many today pray for it. In fact, there have even been official religiously backed events collectively begging God to bring peace on earth. It seems a noble enough desire and request, why hasn't it come?

This topic is actually much deeper than most would imagine. For the sake of brevity, I will touch only on two major components.

First, God Jehovah will bring peace. Jesus himself taught us to pray to “our Father,” and ask for his “kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus taught us the notion of God’s Kingdom taking over earth’s affairs nearly 2,000 years ago. He would not have done so if it were a mere rose-colored-glasses dream. It is sure to come and scripture has time-and-again confirmed and reassured that hope. Since that is God’s way of bringing peace, what about repairing and reforming the world’s governments today?

Jesus also spoke about this world’s governments but not in positive light. First he spoke of an over-arching ruler that controls all this world’s man-made systems. Who is that person? It is the same one that offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world—none other than Satan himself. In time, just as the prophecy in Daniel foretold, God’s kingdom will destroy (not reform) earthly governments and replace it with the rulership Jesus Christ told us to pray for—God’s Kingdom. (This belief is not license for disobedience to civil authorities. The Bible indicates God allows these for our protection and a semblance of social order. However, their authority is relative to God’s authority.)

See also this illustration about prayers, and this expanded explanation of Matthew 6.

Filthy Rich But Spiritually Poor

I knew I had an immeasurable treasure in my faith, but last night that I came to even a greater appreciation of it. My wife and I were channel surfing, looking for something worth watching. After determining that there wasn't anything intelligible to view, I handed the remote to my wife. She started watching “The Filthy Rich Guide….” 

At first I had no interest, I went to the computer and started working on a couple ideas I’ve been developing. But then I heard something that caught my attention. It was a psychologist analyzing the psyche of rich people--why they spend so wastefully. His observation is that in reality, they are bored. He cites a statement by one of the billionaires he analyzed that said exactly that--he is bored. He has made more money than he can spend in a lifetime, he has traveled and enjoyed the finest of everything, so he needs thrills to stimulate his thought and adrenaline. 

I cannot imagine being bored. I have so much to do--and yet my funds are considerably more limited and my health restricts me even more. My situation compared to theirs would be akin to Morgan Freeman’s role as the mechanic compared to Jack Nicolson's role as the billionaire in the movie The Bucket List. But two big differences between me and those billionaires is: 1) I have a life-rudder known as faith, whereas they seem to act rudderless (based on my observations from the show). Except to be driven to riches, fame, and fun, there is nothing that guides them and they have no idea how to find that guidance. 2) I have a quest for knowledge and the desire to share that with others, whereas they prefer fun and self-indulgence instead of modest, gracious, and generous living--aiding those less fortunate. Although they may contribute funds to various good-will agencies, they personally are not involved. If they were, they might not live so frivolously.  

I continue to be thankful for the wonderful knowledge I've come to have. I am thankful to Jehovah for the brain he gave me and the heart-desire to protect my knowledge and my relationship with Him. Would I accept money if it were offered, yes, but not in place of the wealth I have in the things I've already mentioned. Peace, contentment, calmness of heart--those things money will never buy.

Does History Repeat Itself?

There is an old saying that history repeats itself. If we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. Until I researched for this article, I was unaware that there are people that actually occupy their time trying to figure out whether or not the perception of history repeating itself is true. There is even a website to debate whether or not history repeats itself:

For the sake of this discussion, I am not speaking of some spooky Deja vu, nor of specific events happening again, whether here or in some supposed parallel universe. I am speaking of a pattern of action and reaction that, with some reliability, can be anticipated/expected. For example, in its simplest form, if a parent anywhere in the world leaves a desirable treat out in the open, tells the child not to touch it until dinner, then leaves the child unattended....chances are that child will repeat a well-known pattern (history) of "sneaking" a taste, a bite, or even gorging.

In more complicated cases such as those who try to find similarities in national and world history, it is not the details of the events themselves that are important. Rather it is the somewhat predictable (imperfect) human character. Especially now (post World Trade Center attack) the whole world is on heightened alert that repeats of tactics used by terrorists can occur, indeed, will occur. (In these case, world security forces are indeed analyzing not only human types and personalities, but the details of how attacks are orchestrated and carried out.)

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience." This quote is attributed to George Bernard Shaw. Whether intended as tongue-in-cheek humor or a serious note, there is one observation I’d like to make about this: It is not that man is incapable of learning, it is that he arrogantly refuses to learn. One reason that I have observed for this arrogance is that each generation thinks it is smarter than its predecessors.

In particular, as a person who enjoys discussing Bible topics with others, I notice that people discount the Bible as an irrelevant, ancient writings, produced by superstitious people. Yet they will not even give the Bible a chance. They will not look into it to see what life-experiences it contains that can aid them. They both ignorantly and arrogantly reject the idea of getting to know the book because they are modern, they are enlightened with secular education, they have issues that they think just are not covered in the Bible. What they don't know is that God covers sufficient events in the Bible to cover all principles of living that we will ever experience regardless of what generation they occur in. It IS very relevant to our modern day.

Borg-ified Body

(I revisited this article on 4/6/2017 and discovered some links are dead so I removed them. Others I updated.)

We are just a few days away from year 2015 and I thought it would be a good time to time-capsule (mental snapshot) where we stand with becoming Borg. Here are the personal accessories to which the word “smart” has been applied:

Smart Phones

Smart Watches

Smart Hardhat

Smart Glasses (and competitor: Smart Telepathy)

Smart Contact Lens
Smart Teeth and Smart Dentures
Smart Earrings
Smart Necklace

Smart Bracelets aka Smart Wristbands

Smart Rings

Smart Underwear

Smart Clothing

Smart Shirt
Smart Belt

Smart Socks

Smart Shoes

Smart Tattoo
Smart Implants and Body Parts

Smart Anti-Seizure Brain Control Device

Not really a "smart" device category per se, but honorable mention because it falls into the category of mechanizing (Borg-ifying) our body: Three cheers (albeit hesitant) for thought-control devices and “brain augmentation” (brain-to-computer interfaces).

I think that pretty much covers the whole body. Did I leave anything out?

Note: In designating “personal accessories,” I am excluding the appliance industry which includes smart refrigerators, smart ovens, smart washer and dryers, and more. Additionally, I am not including smart TVs. I also didn't include "older" technologies such as so-called bionic body parts -- knees, legs, arms, etc.

(As far as forming a Borg collective, we've already done that through social media.)

Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated.

Types of Christians

I met a man today that wouldn't agree to even a 30-second presentation I had prepared about the Bible. “No thanks, I’m set.” What I wanted to tell him is “Really?! That is amazing because I don’t even feel I am ‘set.’ Challenging myself every day to work on my imperfections, to remember to pray daily, to work hard at loving my neighbor, all of that is a challenge as an imperfect human.” But then he interrupted me again and said “If I got any closer to God, I’d have to die and be in heaven.” He explained that he goes to church and tries to be good. I finally got one point in. I wanted to choose my words carefully to see if he’d take the bait. I said: “Actually, there is at least one more step you can take before that extreme.” He looked at me puzzled. (I thought to myself “Good! I got his attention.”) I waited a moment to see if he’d interrupt me again. He didn't. So I continued “Years ago I concluded for myself that instead of merely going to church and listening to what someone else tells me God says, I needed to try reading the Bible on my own.” He admitted he hadn't done that. Like myself, he was retired from secular work so I encouraged him to sit down every day for only 10 to 15 minutes and start reading the Bible. He agreed it was a good idea.

After several hours, I sat and reflected on the experience. I thought of all the types of people I encountered in my lifetime. Here are the major categories:

Foxhole Christian: Those who, when faced with extreme circumstances, cry out to a God they may never have even believed in. (Compare Luke 12:16-21)

Armchair Christian: Those who love philosophy and expound on their intellectual viewpoints and engage in philosophical debates with others. It is more a game of mental chess, perhaps even playful banter, than a committed viewpoint. The end result is not to determine a course of action, but rather to see who can play the best game (of words).

Pew Warmer Christian: Those who go to church once a week to have their consciences appeased. They go, they listen and sing, they leave. “That’s it for God for this week, honey.”

Active-Authentic Christian: These regularly read their Bibles and make efforts to apply the Bible’s principles in their lives. They realize that Jesus was not about sitting in a church and then doing nothing with the experience to help others. Rather, they make efforts to speak with others about the Bible because of the seriousness of its message. These are the rarest and most authentically Christ-like individuals. They are humble and readily admit they are both imperfect and do not know everything. They realize that God gave each individual free will and a conscience. With that realization, they accept that people can choose not to believe as they do. God is the judge, not us.

Extremists: These are very opinionated and condemnatory of those not agreeing with them. They may resort to verbal, or at times even physical, abuse of those not bending to their viewpoints. In the days of the early Christians, they were the persecuted, not the persecutors. The Bible makes it quite clear that true Christians are not physical warriors.

Is Christmas Christian?

There is the ideal of Christmas (loving neighbors and families caring for one another), and then there is the reality. The reality of the season is what gives atheists and non-Christians the fuel they need to discredit those who participate.

Within the last week (third week of Dec.2014), an article of road rage where a woman with a SUV rammed and ran a Honda off the road was arrested. Road rage is nothing new, but if “the season” were truly motivating people toward kindness, you’d think it not be something we’d be reading about.

But even more shocking was the “cute” article of letters written by children to Santa. One girl wrote a message that included a drawing of a pony. For decades I've seen such letters. They are usually filled with promises to be good and pleas for fulfillment. Not this girl. She wrote: “You better bring my pony this year or there will be consequences!” Whoa! Is that a threat? Then, there was the little boy that was even bolder: “I've got three words for you, Santa: ‘I Hate You!’” He then explained, “You never bring me what I ask for.” (I read both these on my phone, but when I went back to find them, I couldn't remember which news reader I was using. I searched for an hour but to no avail.)

Forget the rude and disrespectful attitude. How about the feeling of entitlement –the demanding from a complete stranger something just because they want it? How about the completely selfish viewpoint. While children in foreign countries would be happy with just playing with a box or sticks, these kids DEMAND more. Is this holiday breeding love and generosity or is it breeding selfish, self-absorbed brats. I take you back to the woman at the outset to answer that question.

There is a saying associated with Christmas that goes: “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Ask most people “why” Jesus is the reason and, if they can come up with any reason at all, it is usually that “it is because Jesus was born on December 25^th.” Problem is, scholars in most all religions have proven that is not true. The reason “Jesus is the reason for the season” is because “Church forefathers” (aka Catholic Church), in their attempt to appease pagan worshipers of the sun, told them that the birth of the sun (winter solstice) could become the birth of the “son of God.” From there, other peoples fabricated and embellished all these stories we now have about Saint Nic. As to what month Jesus was actually born in—we don’t even know that much with any certainty. Most feel it was in autumn.

I could go on to enumerate all the negative side effects of this celebration, but the news has done a wonderful job of that already. On the positive side, it is a real relief to people when they discover what a huge lie Christmas is. Instead, like myself, millions have learned what true Christianity is and what it is based on. Jesus himself said there is more happiness in giving than in receiving. Coupled with that are the fruitages of true Christian living. These are daily traits, not just once a year for a few weeks.

In short, as a Christian who truly respects Jesus, I have concluded that the celebration known as Christmas is an insult to Jesus. (More information)

Jesus Is Our Savior

Infrequently I hear people say that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christian. Since that is a lie or at very least a misconception, I work hard to explain the facts and truth of the matter. Normally, I end up going into a lengthily explanation. For decades I’ve struggled to find a brief explanation. I think I finally hit on it….

We believe what Acts 4:12 says about Jesus: “There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” Indeed, Jesus is the designated savior of sinful mankind, which includes all humans. But now focus on the part that says “has been given.” Who did the giving of Jesus’ name? The answer is found at John 12:49 where we read that “the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak.” Yes, the one Jesus taught us to pray to at Matthew 6:9 with the words “Our Father in the heavens,” God himself, is the one that pointed to Jesus in prophecies as being the Messiah.

Does God, “our Father” have a name? At Psalms 83:18 we read: “May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth.” (Other translations) Yes, the Father’s name is Jehovah and that is why we primarily call ourselves Jehovah’s Witnesses—because the Father, Jehovah, is the one that Jesus himself directed that we should pray to and worship.

In short, then, Jesus is God's means for saving mankind from sin and death. He is God's spokesman (John 1:1, "the Word"), and, as the "son of God," is second in command.