Fear mongering

Ok just a few quick thoughts (rants) here, not going to take all night....

Is it just me or is anyone else noticing a trend in politics? Link yes, that was a rhetorical question.

Ok, so the link is more about the perpetuation of flaws in DC, let's talk more about fear mongering in DC.

Yes it goes way back. I'll start with Bush #2 though.
So he starts with it back on 9-11. We get a war on terror, then a war in Iraq. All because we fear what might happen (WMD, terrorists, evil rulers, etc.) Yes the people did call for it, I partly blame the US citizens, and the media for allowing it to perpetuate.
Now we have President BHO. Let's see, what's on his agenda. Government Healthcare (not reform), Climate bills, abortion rights.. hmm.. anything else?

So within the last few weeks we see media and political releases getting into high gear and saying how terrible life will all be if these bills aren't approved. Hogwash!
So today I see this article, oh hey by the way it will only be an increase of $175avg per household! With unemployment on the rise why would you be promoting a bill that is planning on raising costs per household?!?! This also coming from the White House that said 'Pass our stimulus bill to avoid an 8% unemployment'. Of which we are over 9% now. Then 'Do our budget that will only be 1trillion in deficits'. Which was later shown to be more like 3T. These people couldn't give you a straight number to save their lives! Why listen to them, I'd rather listen to credited scientists and economicists. Sure the WH gets people like them to say what they want, they control their funding purse strings. BAH! read more!

So about that health care, here is an interesting op-ed piece about the myths the WH is promoting to win over American minds. Reading some of the replies can get you thinking too.
I'm all about getting reforms in to change the cost of doing business and being insured, but his plan is the last 'reform' I would want to see America do. Smaller government not bigger. That's not the 'reform' we need.

I truly hope American's can see past the fear mongering this time. Tell their representatives that enough is enough. Back off the stimulus packages, back off climate change(global warming) bills, and back off trillion dollar deficits for health care budgets.

Jesus was a Mason?

Ok not really, but kinda sorta. I'll explain. The title is a play on words so to speak. I've been, for whatever reason, hearing a lot of people talking about the Masonic (Freemasons) links to Washington DC lately. My grandpa was one, maybe I'm sensitive to the subject. Then I also ran across an article about the possibility Jesus wasn't a carpenter.
Seeing as how the Greek words used for Carpenter is Tektwn, and it's not always used to mean Carpenter. Mark 6:3 Matthew 13:55
It could mean he was a builder, or any craftsman, a stone mason perhaps.

The article here points out that the parables Jesus used are not exactly carpentry related, but they do have other relations to building. Refrences such as: The cornerstone, solid rock, foolish builder, and an unfinished tower.

I don't particularly think it matters what he may have been taught to do as a job prior to his ministry, though it does shed some possiblities and make the parables relate better to his early life. But really it doesn't matter because he didn't come to this world to build buildings or work on wood. He came to save it. Luke 19:10

Torture, waterboarding, and Christianity?!

To torture or not to torture? That is the question.
If the end justifies the means is anything to harsh? And when does harsh become inhumane? Are you willing to traumatize someone by using their inner most fear against them? Is cutting off someones fingers, hoping they will tell you the information you want to know, going to far? What is torture? What is waterboarding; is it like a swirly or a wet willey, or a drowning feeling?
These are some of the questions I have been asking myself for the past few weeks. Then today I stumble upon this little nugget:

"When it comes to defending the lives of the unborn, most evangelicals utterly reject utilitarian ethics. Life is sacred, and all people—even the unborn—are created in the image of God. But this belief is put to the test when the life in question is that of a suspected terrorist. Do we really believe all human life is sacred or only innocent life? Are all people created in God's image or only those not labeled "enemy combatants"?" From Christianity Today go read it, it's short.

I had to reevaluate my position, or at least define it. I want my country to be safe, but not at the expense of dehumanizing suspected terrorists. Even if they are a known terrorist, removing human rights is wrong. There are still ways to interrogate suspects, get the information you need, and remain humane. Even the definition of torture says pain must be intentional and severe. Thus creating an objective what is 'severe'?

I don't see anything positive about torture, though I definitely see the benefits of obtaining information from a suspect. Please, let's be humane, and be better than those that wish us harm.

I've heard it said that "What if it was my family member that was held hostage, with the threat of life or rape; then I probably wouldn't mind the use of whatever means necessary". Hopefully that situation will never occur, but if it did I would pray first for the will of God to be served, then pray for the strength of character to do what is right in the face of great evil.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

What's up with MLMs?

MLMs (Multi level Marketing; AKA Network marketing).
Examples: Amway(Quixtar), MaryKay, Avon, and many many more.

After my wife did a short run (about a year) with Mary Kay Cosmetics, we ended up short about $2grand and decided to call it quits. This apparently is a similar scenario with thousands of others.

"The largest MLM company, Amway/Quixtar, and hundreds of others, such as Nuskin, Herbalife, Melaleuca and Nikken, operate it in such a way that 99.9% of all people who invest will never earn a net profit."-FalseProfits

Unfortunately Sarah's recruiter started her off on the wrong foot. There is a good way and a bad way to get into any business venture, and going in with a poor understanding of how it operates is definitely a bad way. Had she gone in with the idea that she would just use these products herself, and if her friends wanted to use them as well, great. If we were able to stick to that it may have been a different result. Many factors including her recruiter, her personality type, stocked product, and the business model shortened the life span of her fledgling business.
I've been looking at home businesses myself, because, like most, I would enjoy having a little extra income. I'm not afraid to work for it, not afraid to sell. I am concerned with 'using' my friends and family as my test subjects. Which is the case for most, if not all, MLMs. I also see it as a poor business model. There are similar products for sale over the counter at traditional store fronts, and in most cases it's cheaper. It's cheaper because you don't have to pay your recruiters recruiters recruiter. MLMs are known as pyramid(or matrix) schemes because for the most part you make money not because of the product you sell, but by enlisting other sellers to work under you.
These companies have great products (sometimes superior to store bought) to sell (Avon, Amway, MaryKay) but at what cost? Sure the financial cost is obvious. But what about relationships. Can you afford to be sitting down across the table from your good friend and basically begging them to buy your product so you can pay rent?
Realize that most people who get into the business do it to get discounts on the product, and not to resell it. Which ends the pyramid and makes it harder for the person who wants to make it a full time job. The 'bonuses' you can receive from recruiting will offset your own purchases and therefor encourages you to recruit rather than sell the product. At some point there is a market saturation of recruiters (sellers) and product so that everyone is struggling to sell or recruit. Face it, no product is so good and at the right price that EVERYONE will get on board. There is a breaking point, and since these MLMs don't know and perhaps don't care what that breaking point is they just keep pushing more and more to sell/recruit. At some point they are telling everyone you can be a winner, but they are only hiring people who will lose.

I'd like to make more money and these 'get rich quick' schemes are just that schemes. If they sound to good to be true they probably are. Some people make money, but most people lose money on (or just purchase product) with these companies. I am realizing that to increase my income I need to focus on my current job and get a promotion, because seeking additional income from other sources requires more time. That would take away from what family time I currently enjoy.

Something in my gut says stay away from these as a form of income. Call it discernment, logic, or whatever. I pray for guidance to do the right thing for me and my family. I hope for the same for you and yours.

***

Summary of What's Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing

1. MLMs are "doomed by design" to recruit too many salespeople, who in turn will then attempt to recruit even more salespeople, ad infinitum.

2. For many, the real attraction of involvement in multi-level marketing is the thinly veiled pyramid con-scheme made quasi-legal by the presence of a product or service.

3. The ethical concessions necessary to be "successful" in many MLM companies are stark and difficult to deal with for most people.

4. Friends and family should be treated as such, and not as "marks" for exploitation.

2012 dun dun dunnnn...

It's the End of the world as we know it.
Or so plenty of people think.

So the Earth WILL end one day, it's inevitable, but WHEN will it end is the question. I think at this current point in time NO ONE can say anything definite. There have been speculations about the end since the beginning of the Earth(think 1st century, 2000, and just about every year in between). But we are still here!

So why now are people on the 2012 boat?
Maybe it has to do with:

• The Mayan Calendar starts a new cycle in Dec. 2012
• President Obama ends his 1st term in 2012
• the Sun is on an 11yr cycle set to end in 2012
• The current economic situation is speculated to go out to 2012
• Earth Magnetic poles are estimated to switch any time now, possibly around 2012

So how COULD it happen, or perhaps, how to people THINK it could happen...
A selection from 2012 Bast Theory

• Flu Pandemic - Swine Flu anyone?
  
• Nuclear War / WW3 / Biological War- North Korea, Iran
  
• Large Hadron Collider - Going on under Europe right now
  
• Religious Apocalypse - Welcome back Jesus
  
• Nuclear Accident - chernobyl
  
• Rise of the Machines - Anyone seen Matrix or Terminator
  
• Asteroid/Meteor/Comet - poof
  
• Coronal Mass Ejection (CRE) from our Sun- Knock out Earth electronics, send us spiralling into a world wide crisis, massive deaths due to starvation, war, sickness.
  
• Magnetic Pole Shift- Everyone would feel upside down? toilets everywhere would flush backwards.
  
• Supervolcano - liquid hot magma
  
• Ice Age (Global Cooling) - Canadians would need to move down to USA to avoid being buried under glaciers.
  
• Global Warming- Thanks Al Gore.
  

Just some quick thoughts this morning, as this has been a topic of discussion between me and few people this week.

America is warming, Austrialia is cooling?!

Ok I totally get the opposite seasons based on what hemisphere we are in but I'm talking about the political realm.

America is just getting reved up again with the global warming crud. For the last couple of weeks I've seen the news about the EPA wanting to put CO2 on the list of greenhouse gasses that are dangerous to public health. Link So everyone should stop breathing, because all that CO2 you exhale is dangerous to public health. Please don't shut any doors in your house, you wouldn't want CO2 to build up! This same gas that plants use to produce oxygen and grow! Let's not forget the other gases including methane, better stop feeding all those cows. Makes me want to go eat beans just to spite them. Other gases might make sense to reduce the production of, just maybe. Here's the other 4 on the list: Nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Remember Chlorofluorobarbons (CFCs) from the 80s ozone is going away stuff. hmm....

I think Australia might be getting cold feet about their cap and trade program. However it's not because they think the globe is getting colder. They just want time to redo the program, promote green energies, and reduce greenhouse gasses.
Scientists in Australia are looking at Antartica, but unlike American news that focuses on the West side of Antarctica they are looking at the side they lay claim to. The east side is actually growing in size and cooling! So is it warming, melting, and falling into the ocean or freezing and growing?! Answer, Antarctic sea ice is up over 4.7% since 1980. That doesn't make for good news here in America.

So not so sure where you stand on global warming. Is it warming? Do humans cause it? What can be done about it?
Have you noticed the news lately.. record freezing temperatures and there also happens to be no sun spot activity for the last 95 out of 107 days (by my count). NASA SOHO Sun watcher.
Coincidence, I think not. No sunspots were observed on 266 of 2008’s 366 days (73%), says NASA. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. It's cyclical people...



So I think it is obvious that our Sun has a huge impact on our Earth, and that there is little we can do about it. We should still promote green energies, but carbon cap trading is a political gimic to make the rich richer at the expense of the poor. I think our climate will get cooler in spite of what our government does. I just hope it gets cooler before they claim the credit, but not before it's too late to prepare for a harsher winter. Come on world governments get your acts together!

How old was Jesus?

I did a quick poll on facebook and got all sorts of answers. Thanks to those who participated. This seems to also be the same assortment of answers I saw from the academic realm.

I think people assume he was born on 0AD, started his ministry at 30(per luke 3:23), and it only lasted for 3 years. So lots of people are on board with the 33 year old Jesus. Not sure why.

I propose to you that he wasn't 33, but in his 40s when he died.

1. Jesus was born between 6BC and 4BC; 4BC is when Herod the Great died.
2. Jesus was alive after the death of John the Baptist Matt14:12 NET
3. Historian Josephus records a defeat of Herod Antipas by Aretas at 36AD, people at that time contributed it as divine punishment for his behavior towards John the Baptist. - Jewish Antiquities (book 18, chapter 5, 2)
4. Herod Antipas' brother Philip died in 34AD. It is supposed to be Johns critisism of Herod taking Philips wife that gets him beheaded Matt 14:3-4
5. That puts John the Baptists death around 35AD
6. Pontius Pilate was Roman governor of Judaea (AD 26 – 36)
7. That puts a crucifixion before 36AD

If Jesus was alive for Johns death around 35AD and the governors in power by 36AD
Then Jesus would have died (and resurrected) around 35/36AD!
6BC to 36AD is 42 years of age.
Jesus could be around 42 years of age, and had a ministry of about 12 years.

Other resources: Link Link