Jason's Blog

Avoiding Poverty

2008-06-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

George Will, "A Poverty of Thought," Washington Post, September 13, 2005. Three not-at-all recondite rules for avoiding poverty: (1) Graduate from high school, (2) don't have a baby until you are married, (3) don't marry while you are a teenager. Among people who obey those rules, poverty is minimal.

Scenes from Christ's life on Earth

2008-06-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

2008-06-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

It seems like people think you're cool if you are on a journey to find God, but they don't think you're cool if you actually find him.

Denominational Confusion

2008-06-01T20:40:00.001-07:00

My friend and I were at a restaurant last week and we asked our waiter what question he would ask God if he had the chance. He said he'd need to think about it. Five minutes later he came back and said, "I think I'd ask God why there are so many denominations and churches. Can't we all just get along?" Interesting question. Did you know in the US alone we have over 2000 different protestant denominations? Diversity in the church can be a great thing because there are different styles of worship to fit the differing tastes and preferences of Christians. Diversity yes, disunity no. A quote often attributed to Augustine sums it up nicely - "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."

Watch the Road

2008-05-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

What would happen if you got run over by a logging truck? Paul Washer put it this way... "You can’t have an encounter with a logging truck and not be changed... its impossible to have an encounter with a thing as big as a logging truck and not be changed! Then why are you telling me that so many people have had an encounter with God and they’ve never changed. Has God grown smaller than a logging truck?"

Three Wonders

2008-05-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

John Newton said that when we get to heaven, there will be three wonders:
1. Who is there
2. Who is not there, and
3. The fact that I’m there!

It's Not Just OPEC

2008-05-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

Federal and State excise taxes on fuel account for an average cost of approximately 62 cents per gallon. That's a combined tax of about 20% per gallon of gas. The average profit per gallon of gas for oil companies: 10 cents according to the EIA. Thomas Sowell put it this way: The government collects far more in taxes on every gallon of gasoline than the oil companies collect in profits. If oil company profits are "obscene," as some politicians claim, are the government's taxes PG-13?

For Heaven's Sake

2008-05-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

So I've been wondering lately what we're going to do in heaven...and who came up with this idea of harps and halos and hymns? John Eldredge in his book “The Journey of Desire” states “… nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service… we have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever, amen. And our heart sinks, Forever and ever? That’s it? That’s the good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual.’ We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.” [John Eldredge. “The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We’ve Only Dreamed Of.” (Nashville: Nelson, 2000) p. 111]

What do you worship?

2007-10-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

The kind of God we worship will determine the kind of person we become!

It's Good to Laugh

2007-10-11T15:02:00.001-07:00

laughing yoga

2007-10-11T09:33:00.001-07:00

I finally found the secret to happiness...its the laughing yoga

Organized Religion?

2007-09-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Being organized is not the problem...following false religion is. In 2001, the twin towers fell. Thousands of years before that, organized religion centered around another tower - the tower of Babel. In Genesis 11:1-9 we see a perfect example of an organized religion that was not pleasing to God. The descendants of Noah organized themselves to build the tower under a false belief system. They believed that their unity was more important than their relationship with God. God stepped in and confused their languages, thus breaking up this religion. God loves His church, He created it, He organized it. Does God love organized religion? Only if it's purpose is to worship Him.

Questions

2007-08-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Every question in the world boils down to one question..."Did God create man, or did man create God?" in other words, "Is man created in the image of God, or is God created in the imagination of man?"

Big Surprise, I'm not God!

2007-08-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

I remember helping my little Grandpa fix cars occasionally. There was nothing he couldn't fix. I don't ever recall him saying to me as a little boy, "Can you go ahead and replace that transmission for me?" So what did he do? He gave me a wrench to hold, a bolt to screw in. He knew my limitations. He loved the car too much to leave that all up to me. But more than that, he loved me too much to make it all about me. He loved me too much to give me too much. God is no different. God frees us from such a burden. Max Lucado puts it this way, "You can no more die for your own sins than you can solve world hunger. And according to him, that’s okay. The world doesn’t’ rely on you. God loves you too much to say it’s all about you."

Today

2007-07-18T20:11:00.001-07:00

Well my secret blog has been discovered so I feel like I should actually post something on here to justify it.

Echoes in Eternity

2007-04-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Secularism says, "Right now counts for right now."
Christianity says, "Right now counts FOREVER!"

The Prayer God will ALWAYS say yes to...

2007-04-29T01:39:00.000-07:00

Isn't it about time we ask God for a change of character, instead of a change in circumstance?

Patience that Runs

2007-04-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

We are an impatient generation. The average public cost for red light running alone in the US exceeds $14 billion per year - 207,000 crashes, 178,000 injuries, and 921 fatalities attributed to the hurry up mentality that dominates us and saves us on average about 50 seconds. We are in a race according to Hebrews 12:1 ("let us run with endurance the race that is set before us") but one that is tempered with patience. James 5:8 tells us, "You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." So how do we run with patience?

George Matheson wrote, "We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet there is a patience that I believe to be harder -- the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still: it is the power to work under stress; to have a great weight at your heart and still run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily tasks. It is a Christ-like thing! The hardest thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in the sickbed but in the street." To wait is hard, to do it with "good courage" is harder!"

Planets and Stars To Scale

2007-04-27T16:59:00.001-07:00

How big is your God?

I Need More Evidence

2007-04-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

The reason people do not believe in God is not because of a lack of evidence or logical reason, but because of a rebellion to God himself. As Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen points out: "There is the evidence of the created order itself, testifying to the wisdom, power, plan and glory of God. One should not miss the testimony of the solar system, the persuasion of the sea, the amazing intricacies of the human body. Theres the evidence of history. Gods deliverance of His people, the miracles at Passover night and the Red Sea. The visions of Isaiah, the Shikinah Glory in the temple, the virgin birth of Jesus, His mighty miracles, His resurrection from the dead. There's the evidence of special revelation, the wonder of the Bible as God's word unsurpassed in its coherence over time and its historical accuracy and its life renewing power." In short, there is no shortage of empirical indicators or evidences of God's existence, from the stars of the heavens to the five hundred witnesses of Christs resurrection. Historically, prophetically, scientifically, experientially, God has shown himself. But the question remains up to you, will you choose to believe it or not?

Why Does God Allow Evil?

2007-04-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Problem of Evil does not exist an in atheist universe. If there is no god, than there is no absolute moral standard. Rape and torture, although painful, would not be wrong in an atheist universe because there is no absolute standard of good by which one might measure evil. This can only occur in a theistic universe and thus the very asking of this question presupposes a theistic worldview. The laws of morality themselves are derived from a worldview that sees clear distinctions of right and wrong, good and evil based on some standard. To have a rational interchange on the subject, one must presuppose certain definitions of what evil is. Without the existence of God you cannot prove anything. You must have concepts of abstract entities such as laws, universals, and prescriptions to speak of what is moral or immoral. But how does an atheist use laws of logic, science and morality without in so doing, give continual evidence of the fact that they arent atheists at all. They know this God who we are speaking about. He is the one who created them and who is continually revealing himself through not only in the natural order of the universe, but through their very conscience and use of reason. They know this God and yet they suppress the truth about him. You know this to be true because they continue to use the laws of logic, science, and morality although from their world view, these concepts do not make sense. Without a uniformity of the universe, discussions about absolutes such as evil are pointless. From a Christian worldview however, understanding that there is evil in the universe is a concept that is best understood by looking at ourselves. Pogo wrote, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago described it another way: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?