Liberty's Library

Originally written January 4, 2006

Mornin' Everyone,

There is so much I wanna say about the Sago Mine situation. So much I wanna say about the national media's efforts to cover-up their mistake of running with a story that had not been confirmed, only later to say "Oops, we're sorry, your husbands, brothers, sons, and daddies are all dead". However, I need to learn from my past mistakes. There will be a time and place for finger-pointing and for blame-placing but that time is not now. Just as it was post-Katrina, we need to help people first then we'll worry about finding fault.

For those of you who don't know, we are the local CBS affiliate for the Sago, WV area. Our reporters know these people and their families. They are our neighbors. They are our brothers and sisters, church family and friends. When CNN pushes local people around so Anderson Cooper can have a better shot of our grieving statesmen, it doesn't go unnoticed. There was a swift and marked effort to only talk to the local media once those horrified people of Sago saw how the "big shots" treated West Virginia.

How completely ignorant do national reporters have to be to refer to this state as "Virginia" or to utterly misrepresent themselves by giving "Tallmansville" as their location. You are not in Tallmansville, you are in Sago. Please get it right. I thought the people of West Virginia were the backhills hicks who didn't know their butts from holes in the ground...and here we have the National Associated Press using the incorrect state abbreviation, "W.Va." Attention media, the United States Postal Service assigned all of the states two-letter abbreviations while I was still in elementary school. The abbreviation for West Virginia is "WV". It is not W. Virginia. It is not W. Va. It is not, West V. It is WV...period. Even if you graduated from a sub-par Journalism School you should still know all 50 of the state abbreviations.

[deep breath]

I do not consider myself a West Virginian. I never will. I was born in Ohio, a completely different state with a completely different history and a completely different socio-economic make up. However, I am actually physically angered at the simple dismissal with which some folks in this country treat the Mountain State.

These mountaineers are laughed at, spit on, ridiculed, subjected to countless sneers and jeers, culturally emasculated, and dejected at every turn by more states than not. And for what? I suppose it is because West Virginians are "stupid, slow, tobacco chewin', cousin datin', back woods, good-for-nothin hicks". Such arrogance makes me sick. Let me remind those who currently have this mindset that West Virginias know in what state they live. They know how to spell it, they know how to abbreviate it, and they know how to appreciate it for what it is.

Today, they lost 12 of their brothers and you lack the cooth of properly identifying their town.

Shame.

Originally written May 12, 2007


Everyone has one...probably more than one.

This morning I went there for breakfast since my wife is out of town on a Zoo Sleepover with the rest of the third grade in her school. I plopped down at the counter, all of the waitress said "good morning" with a few calling me by name, and I ordered my food.

While I was waiting I thought back to college and all of the fun my friends and I had at the Waffle House near campus. It was the only place open after curfew so we would sneak out and eat a late fifth meal. It was also the best place to sip coffee and study during finals week. That only happened during my senior year though because that's the only time I had a car.

College wasn't the only time I captured memories from WH and stored them for later retrieval. I think it was 2004 and my brother had just come home from his 14-month tour of duty in Iraq. I came into town for his homecoming and so had most of the family. We had patriotic bunting hung up all over the house and cake and all kinds of party stuff waiting for him when he got home. After the party, the pictures, and the gifts he brought back for us, he asked me and my oldest sister to go out for coffee. We arrived at Waffle House and he sat us down. He then gave us a special gift, one that was only for the two of us and no one else. He said,

"I know that my friends and family have a lot of questions about my time in Iraq. Only you two can ask me anything you want and I'll answer to the best of my ability. There are no boundaries, but only for you two."

That was one interesting night.

But I'd say the most memorable time at Waffle House was when I went with my last college roommate ,Manuel, and one of his friends from Panama. Manuel and I were great friends even though we had just met that last year of school. He and his Wife even came up from Costa Rica to be in mine and Amy's wedding this past October.


Anyway, back to the story. I forget Manuel's friend's name so we'll call him Edgar. While Edgar was driving, he was bragging to us that his money was no good at WH. The workers always let him eat for free and yadda yadda. Oh well, at least he always had a food option if he was low on funds so good for him.

While waiting for our food, I began doing what alot of people do at restaurants, stacking the coffee creamers. I started with a one-level base of around eight creamers then I started one single tower that kept creeping higher and higher. I had about ten creamers stacked one on top of another which was getting a bit of restaurant-wide attention. I felt bold so I stopped with the creamers and went for the salt and pepper shakers. Now, these shakers weren't the squared, plastic ones that you find at McDonald's, these were glass and metal with rounded tops and not that suitable for stacking.

The salt was the first to go up. After a few ginger repositions, it was stacked and balanced right in place. Edgar was beside himself with disbelief and truthfully so was I. I was never a stacker so this was all new territory for me. It was kind of exciting but I also feared how long of a clean up I'd be in for if this thing came down prematurely.

During this time, Edgar had been flirting with the waitresses and really hamming up the fact that he was going to eat for free and he knew it. So I decided to make things a little more interesting. I bet Edgar that if I could stack the pepper shaker on top of the salt shaker that he would have to buy MY food as well. If it didn't stack, I'd get his for him (even though he didn't need it).

All of the sudden, this cocky Panamaniac who thought himself King of the Hash browns was backing down off of his throne just a touch. He called one of his waitresses over and he explained the situation. Using some sweet talk and flashing his award-winning smile a few times, the waitress reluctantly agreed to cover his bet if he lost. I could tell that she wanted me to lose [It also occurred to me that some of the waitresses weren't exactly enamored with Edgar as he had earlier stated].

So, with the particulars in check, I went for the pepper shaker. I was extremely nervous because I was still a novice stacker and here I am going for rounded object on rounded object. To my amazement, the pepper shaker went up pretty easily with only a few minor adjustments. I pulled my hand away and the tower stood firm. The corner booth across the room clapped and for the first time all night Edgar's smile was very forced and nervous.

I'd find out two weeks later that that night was the last night Edgar ever got to eat free at WH. :)

So, what's your Waffle House story?

Originally written in 1998


If I had to think back to my earliest memory, it would be a difficult task. I have so many childhood memories that it's very hard to find the earliest one of them all. A funny anecdote is that when I was four years old I used to claim that I remembered the face of the doctor who delivered me. Who was I trying to impress you ask? I'm not too sure!

Since I have to choose one memory I guess I'll have to go with this one. I remember being wakened every morning by my mother when I was three. She'd come into my room and sit at the edge of my bed and lean over to give me a kiss. It's like she didn't want me to start out the day without me knowing that she loved me. And if I think hard enough, I can remember feeling Mom sitting on my bed even while I was still asleep. It just happened so often that I found myself aware of the smallest movement of the bed even in my sleep.

My memory isn't just about my mom waking me every morning, but what we did every morning that I'll never forget. My room had Fairy Tale wallpaper and it had pictures of all the famous storybook characters like Humpty Dumpty, the cow that jumped over the moon, and Jack and Jill just to name a few. Well, when Mom came in to wake me she would say, "Can you find the cow?", and I would smile and reach up my hand to touch the one closest to my bed and she would beat me to it. We both laughed and it became this little game to see who could touch the character first.

"Can you find Humpty Dumpty?", she would ask. Sure enough I would slowly reach my hand up to touch good ole Humpty and she would throw hers in just ahead of mine and beat me to him. I really didn't care is she beat me or not, I just thought it was fun to play.

Today my mom is 52 and just a little slower than she was twenty years ago. If we would play now I would have no trouble beating her. Funny, as I remember back to all the fun we used to have, I still think to myself, "I really don't care is she beats me, just as long as we got to play", and I think that's true.

Why do I still remember those mornings, I think it's because it was the only ten minutes in the day that mom was truly mine. That time we shared was just ours and no one else was ever invited to play along. If she called me up from home in New Orleans now and asked to play when I come home for Thanksgiving, I'd like to think she'd be able to beat me. Families are important to all of us; they're the only people we love to hate but when trouble comes, you have their back. Funny isn't it?

"Can you find your family"? If so, reach out your hand and touch them.

Originally written September 16, 2004


Mornin' Everyone,

Thanks to Kirsten's insistance upon an update, I give you the Bachelor Auction Recap!

So I get to the Radisson Hotel outdoor lounge after quite a hectic work day, hair appointment, gasoline stop and paycheck pick-up. I'm a bit...okay...alot nervous, but I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't find my favorite jeans so I was stuck wearing my Sean John's which are about two inches too short in the legs. I do my best to shrug that off as I enter the outdoor lounge.

I hook up with the Emcee of the evening and the American Cancer Society (henseforth known as ACS) folks at the registration table where I hand over my Bachelor Application. They inform me that I'm supposed to "work the crowd" and mingle with all the ladies so they can see what they'll be bidding on before the auction starts. I replay that sentence in my head and for some reason my brain only registers, "Go strut your stuff and work your game on these ladies". Mind you, I work three jobs and am finishing my Meteorological Post-Grad...when do I have time to "work my game" on ANYTHING..let alone HAVE A GAME in the first place? I immediately realize that I have gotten in way over my head, but the story doesn't end there.

I didn't go screaming into the night or anything. Instead, I tried to keep in mind that if I just stuck it out the ACS would be that much closer to a cure for cancer. That kept me motivated (or distracted) enough to go and "work the crowd" for about an hour and a half. I actually met some cool people and had a good time with them. Not as bad as I thought really...it was starting to be kinda fun...until it came time to start the auction.

I was second on the auction block so I had time to collect my thoughts and try to stop sweating all over myself. It didn't work, because just like that the first bachelor was purchased and he went for $80! Eighty bucks is alot of money! Suddenly every ounce of self-confidence I ever had was drained from my 6'3" frame. "There is no way I'm gonna go for $80", I thought. I'd find out sooner than later because the Emcee had just called my name.

So, I'm up on this stage ALL ALONE in front of approx 150 girls and assorted bachelors. The emcee wasn't even up there, she was IN THE BACK of the room so I was really ALL ALONE! She read my little Bachelor Bio as I walked up the stage and the bidding began.

"Let's start the bidding at $50", she said, "do I hear $50".

Inside I'm screaming, "FIFTY BUCKS...LADY ARE YOU CRAZY", knowing that I'd never go for $50 right off the bat. But I did. Then with the auctioneer prompting $55, I got another bid from the other side of the room. The call came for $60 and the original bidder was back in the race. Miss 55 now wants $65, so it becomes a two lady race on opposite sides of the room!

By this time I'm really getting into it, I'm starting to work the room and get these bids higher and higher. Soon $65 would become $70 then $75 finally the call came for $80. I thought surely they would stop at $80 and not make the first bachelor be outbid so soon.

Well, then came $80 and we flew right on past it as the auction got hotter and hotter. Eighty dollars...eighty-five dollars...ninety dollars...ninety-five dollars...100 DOLLARS!

This was madness! Someone just bid $100 and the auctioneer was asking for $110! I couldn't believe it! This was great! The ACS was getting all this money and I had a "ripped from the pages of a citcom script" auction battle going on!

We sat on $100 for a while...looking at the other bidder to see if she would finally put that winning bid up for $110. Waiting...waiting..waiting. It never came and I was sold for $100!

So I'm going out to a fancy country club with a very nice person where we will be enjoying all the attention of a four star chef at his exclusive "Chef's Table". I'm looking forward to it, it should be fun!

There you have it. My worst fears melted away, I had a great time on the block, and the ACS made a C-Note for my little ole self. Everyone walks away a winner.

I hope you walk away with some laughs and good thoughts of charity after having read this. Take some time and think about how you could be serving others in different and unique ways.

You'll be blessed because of it!

Until I see you again,
Be good and be God's ~

Originally written February 20, 2007



Just yesterday Bob Chirdon, the Vice President and General Manager of WTOL, aired this editorial on the statewide smoking ban that Ohio voters passed back in November. He praises the Ohioan voter for passing this ban after walking into a smoke-filled Italian restaurant in Milwaukee over the weekend.

During the election season, all of the folks in the newsroom were tossing around their opinions about this measure. There was one common reaction from just about every person to whom I talked and that was, "Ew...I hate smoke. I hope it gets banned in November". Well I, too, hate the smell of cigarette smoke and the cancer causing ingredients in contains, and the fact that it is the only product on the market that when used as directed kills you. Please don't misunderstand that. However, I think a larger point has been missed here and that is government should have no right to tell a private business owner to whom he can or can't open his doors.

How is it that a "No Smoking" sign couldn't have been enough to tell smokers to go elsewhere to light up? How is it that a "smoking section" isn't enough of an indicator that if non-smokers don't want to smell smoke, then they should be seated in the non-smoking section? So what...because smokers and non-smokers alike couldn't follow the plainly written placards, the tyrannical majority felt it necessary to force a moral highground issue down citizen's throats? How is that the American way?

Again don't get me wrong here, I hate it that people are addicted to this garbage. This habit is debilitating and kills too many moms, dads, and kids each year. But if you don't want to smell smoke, then don't frequent the establishments that have smoking sections; this includes the ones that are poorly ventilated. If you want to light up after a meal, don't expect a non-smoking restaurant to cater to you or like cliental. How is that hard to understand? Now, in enclosed spaces where it is difficult or impossible to remove yourself from unwanted secondhand smoke (i.e. a train, subway, or work place) it is pretty universal that smoking is prohibited and only permitted outside of these facilities or in a designated smoking room with ventilation (i.e. large airports). Now with this ban, smokers don't even have that choice anymore.

This smoking ban should have never made it to the ballot in the first place. It should have been left up to the free market system to handle. If there is a greater demand for non-smoking establishments, then more and more business owners will cater to that crowd. If there is a large smoking population nearby, locally owned, private business should be able to offer goods and services to them without the government's dissatisfaction. Now that this precedent has been set, what civil liberty will voters take away next? Will they ban private gun ownership because, "I don't like knowing there are guns in my neighborhood"? Will they vote away your right to spend your money at wal-mart because "I don't like that they forced mom-n-pop shops out of business"?

New York is already banning the use of trans fats like there is no tomorrow and the wackos on Capitol Hill are trying to do the same all over the country. When are we finally going to look at the 400lbs. lady who cries that McDonald's made her fat and call her out for her lack of personal responsibility? I don't need Uncle Sam to save me from myself, thank you, and I don't need the voter to do that either. What if I want trans fats in my hamburger every once in a while? Am I gonna have to go to Canada to get it (did anyone else shutter when they read that)? Come on, people!

Dave Hudson said it best, "Just pave my road and kill those who are trying to kill me. I'll take care of the rest".

I wish that were true.

Originally written February 12, 2007

The letters and manuscripts that make up the Bible speak mostly on subjects having to do with faith in God the father, the coming of the Messiah, and how His teachings should (and did) transform its listeners into a brotherhood of Christianity. Paul says in I Corinthians (1:10) that we should let no divisions be among this brotherhood. Instead we are to be joined together in the same mind and judgment. This, of course, is a preface to the shame he later brings on the Corinthian church for harboring divisions.

I watched as a church visibly split down the center isle after one of the members called the marital availability of a divorced minister candidate into question. Divorcees felt that he should be allowed to re-marry. After all, either God approved of their divorce; they felt, or would understand and forgive if they had sinned by separating and or remarrying. Others kept repeating verse after verse quoting, “God’s stance”, on multiple marriages and being divorced for any reason other than death or unfaithfulness. Like Francium and water, this loaded topic exploded and exposed a rift in the membership that had long existed under the surface. Opinions got hotter while opposition got stronger. To quote Brick Tambland, choruses of “loud noises” rang louder than any song service ever held in that building.

It is no small wonder why the Holy Spirit placed so much emphasis on unity in the scriptures. Division among His children is the single most destructive topic about which Jesus ever prayed. Our separation from Him is the reason God formulated a salvation plan that included Christ’s coming to earth. Today, it is the only cause of war, poverty, addiction, oppression and suffering around the world. You might ask how this could be true.

Poverty is the division between people and means. Addiction separates the body from its fix. Force without justice gives way to oppression. A reaction absent of a solution leads to suffering. War is often the result of quick pride without calm wisdom. While the ‘how’ of every problem might change, the ‘why’ is always some form of partition, disagreement, or error.

That little church discovered that the only way to rebuild in-roads amongst the two factions was to openly and respectfully study what the Bible had to say and discuss all possible meanings scripture could hold. The forum was not designed for the body to come together under one opinion. Rather, the membership could once again talk about what they felt and why without causing pain or breaking open even larger chasms.

The division of racism in America can only be discussed and debated in one forum. A theatre of respect, honesty, and openness must exist for any solutions to be reached. I am so thankful for Cameron’s methodology to this very intricate matter and only seek to offer constructive and complimentary discussion. I need to state that I am participating under the assumption that the discussion addresses areas of concern to the Black community. So, my response is directed to this community.

I’m convinced that the key to some if not all of these problems is encouragement. The time for buck-passing on the part of whites and apathy on the part of blacks is over. Squabbling over who’s at fault accomplishes nothing save more division. It is time to empower people with solutions and equip them with knowledge.

Just look at all of these African American firsts. www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmfirsts.html. These endeavors are nothing short of extraordinary and are the product of hard work and dedication. This list is yet unfinished. More can and will be done. We must push the younger generation on to greatness and add their names.

Most of all, while celebrating one’s individual heritage, we need to embrace the citizenship of our America as one people, not sub-groups of unassimilated sub-cultures. For example, Notre Dame College offers a 3-credit course in the English Major track called (EN 343) Major African-American Writers. We should be including these writers in an expanded section of American Literature. Why further separate the nation and her people’s accolades along these racial lines?

With that in mind, let’s take each item one at a time:

How to secure medical coverage – Half of this answer is that there is good news to share concerning the nation’s economy. Too many citizens are buying into the media’s message that big oil profits, a rising Dow, and other successful businesses are bad for the country. Nothing (short of global warming) could be further from the truth. So many journalists want society to believe we live in soup kitchen America and that our poor population is rising with every waking moment. This article, “Not So Poor: The luxury of American poverty - Census Bureau definitions too wide” by Robert Rector found in the National Review, dated Oct 25, 1999 challenges that horse-and-buggy thinking.

The other half of this answer is being gainfully employed. And more and more people are doing just that. According to www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy, 111,000 jobs were created in January. Since August 2003, more than 7.4 million jobs have been created – more than the EU and Japan combined. Over 500,000 jobs have been added in the past three months alone. Finally, the economy has now added jobs for 41 straight months. Productivity has had strong average annual growth of 3.1 percent, which is higher than that of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. According to the US Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate in December of 2006 was 4.6%. This was the lowest unemployment rate since the tech bubble burst in the late 90s/early 00s.

If more people have jobs, more people have insurance. There is a new message today and it is “The individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race.” ~ Booker T. Washington. This is good news and you can be apart of it!

After all of that, I’m wondering who is saying disparaging things about the economy and why? Perhaps, this Booker T. Washington quote applies here:

"There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the
troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public.
Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they
have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs -- partly because
they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want
the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their
jobs...There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who do not want the
patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only
an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make
themselves prominent before the public."

Now, what about those who stay chronically unemployed? After education incentives haven’t worked and unemployment has run out and the fourth baby is born…there is one very drastic solution that needs to be seriously considered. If someone can work but won’t, we must remove their ability to harm children as a consequence of laziness. Remove the children from the care of their unfit parents placing them in families who do have health and dental benefits. Cameron said it best when he said, “when millions of children are still without something so fundamental, it shames us as a people”. I can only add to that by saying that it should shame the parents more so.

Amending Public Schooling – Brown vs. the Board of Education (1954) was a powerful landmark that overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ‘separate but equal’ stamp. It, along with the Higher Education Act (1965) secured equal public schooling, which has paved the way for institutions, that 60 years ago, Black America could have only dreamed. From the US Department of Education website: “Today, there are 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universitys with more than 228,000 students enrolled. Fifty-six institutions are under private control, and 51 are public colleges and universities.” The HEA defines an HBCU as: "...any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation."

Stop issuing scholarships based on race. Highlighting or setting apart one race over another is the every definition of racism and it needs to end. Plus, by offering these scholarships, the black populous is saying, “you’re right. We are weak and can’t do this by our own merits”. I can think of no academic slap in the face harder than making a minority believe itself to be inferior all the while reinforcing the idea that it is impossible to get by without handouts. It wasn’t for real but these guys out of Boston University did something pretty remarkable in order to shed some light on this racist practice. Ever heard of the scholarship for white students?

Finally, a short note on elementary school funding. Millions and millions of dollars go into public education every year. Yet where does it go? The teachers (my wife being one) don’t know and the principals are still asking for more and more with each passing year. Here is a story about New York’s sham funding system from 2002. I’d like to know exactly where my money is going before we throw more at this problem. Perhaps we’re spending enough and we won’t really know until we find it.

Internet access for children – My best solution for this situation is putting the power of the internet in the hands of our publicly funded libraries. This would cut costs of trying to outfit everyone with a computer. According to Wikipedia under “racial demographics in America”, Today, most African Americans (over 60%) live outside the southern US and in urban areas, but are increasingly moving to the suburbs. Lets use our urban mass transit system to direct this 60%+ to the locally operated and maintained libraries to use the pre-existing internet access at a reduced rate or free. In Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, the library allows its visitors free internet access for 30 minutes. Some libraries might offer more time to its patrons. I can also see this as a great opportunity for our local churches to step up and help with the needs of the community. Take this church for example. They have a program called, “Homework Central” that is a fully functioning after-school tutoring program complete with computers with internet access and is totally funded by the weekly and special contributions. What a great ministry opportunity that is.

How to prevent the Brain Drain – The city of Toledo is suffering from this very situation. Some folks seem to like the Mayor’s suggestions. This article from the Toledo Blade newspaper shares what Mayor Finkbeiner’s survey has found.

1. Lower cost of living.
2. Cut city income and property taxes.
3. Make an effort to hire local college graduates.
4. Inform the public to take advantage of the buyers housing market.

I leave you with a very inspirational and eye-opening final word from Mr. Washington’s “Up with Slavery”:

"Think about it: We went into slavery pagans; we came out Christians. We went into
slavery pieces of property; we came out American citizens. We went into slavery
with chains clanking about our wrists; we came out with the American ballot in
our hands...Notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, we are in a
stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and
religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other
portion of the globe."

The answer is that black America can do anything it wants to do. Just look at what it has already overcome. It can refuse payment from depression and be a people of means thus crushing poverty. Black America can be proactive in finding a solution to end suffering. It can fix and heal the collective body from the addictive entitlement mindset and emerge victorious. Young black men and women can use their wisdom to silence the war raging within and be proud.

Can they do it alone? Maybe…maybe not. But why should they have to? We are one America and it is our job to help ourselves.

Originally written December 4, 2004


Love vs. Fear

Just a few days ago, the American culture entered into a season of giving. We’ve begun a period of good will and charity. Outward expressions of love abound at this time of year like none other. Of course I’m referring to the Christmas holiday: A time of peace on earth.

However, now there is another very different emotional expression that hits a similar peak, depression and fear: the fear of being alone during the holidays and the depression that comes when those fears are realized.

Love and fear: two polar opposites. Several times in the scriptures we read of a situation where love is matched up against fear. If love were to win out, it would affect the outcome one way while fear would affect the outcome in the reverse. Let’s look at three.

Read Matthew 14:23-30 (Peter walks on water)
Peter let fear get the better of him…Fear – 1, Love – 0.
FEAR PARALYZES US.

Read Matthew 25:24-26, 30 (The Wicked Servant)
The servant let fear blind him…Fear – 2, Love – 0.
FEAR IS SELFISH.

But the best example of love overcoming personal fear is the story of the crucifixion. During communion I usually think about His physical suffering and pain but I don’t usually focus on His mental anguish or His human fears. The conflict between human fears and His Godly love is described in Matthew 26:36ff.

Read Matthew 26:36-37 (Jesus in Gethsemane)
In verse 38, Christ, the Creator of the universe and the Messiah of Prophecy, admits His fear. So now the stage is set and His love slowly battles His fears and the dread of the terrible pain He must suffer. Love struggles against fear in the garden.

If Jesus lets fear win, John 10:18 and John 19:11 tell us that he had the power to remain off of the cross. If Jesus allows love to win, He had the power to lay down His life for us (Matt. 26:39). The internal conflict was so agonizing, says Luke 22:44, that He sweat great drops of blood: A rare yet well-documented medical condition called “hematohidrosis” .

As he prayed in the garden, He was comforted by His Father and by an angel; while the apostles whom Jesus labeled His friends in John 15:15 and His only source of human comfort, slept. But John (one of those who slept) later says in I John 4:18 that “perfect love casts out fear”; so Love won in that garden and Jesus went to the cross so that mankind’s fears can be replaced by faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love.


The wicked servant learned that fear is selfish. Peter learned that fear paralyses.
Jesus taught us that love is selfless. Christ demonstrated to us that love enables.

Originally written February 27, 2005


Introduction: Read Joseph Scriven story. (Mentioned 107 times in OT/NT) I’d like to share with you the 7 aspects of God’s influence on our Friendships.

1. God gave us a model: Jesus is the greatest of friends
a. John 15:9 says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”
b. Jesus is always there (Camp Song: Jesus Never Fails).
c. Christ will never quit loving us, just as God will never quit loving Him.
d. John 15: 13-15 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

2. God gave us some Insight: Some Proverbs of Friendship
a. The Hebrew word for friend (Rea) also means, neighbor, companion, fellow, brother, lover…etc.
b. Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times”.
c. Proverbs 17:18 says, “A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.”
d. Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
e. Proverbs 22:11 says, “He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.”
f. Proverbs 27:6 says, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”
g. Proverbs 27:9 says, “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel.”
h. Proverbs 27:10 says, “Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father, and do not go to your brother’s house when disaster strikes you – better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.”
i. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

3. God reminds us that people aren’t perfect: There are circumstances where even our best friends will desert or disappoint us.
a. Proverbs 19:4 says, “Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man’s friend deserts him.”
b. Proverbs 19:6 says, “Many curry favor with a ruler, and everyone is the friend of a man who gives gifts.”
c. Proverbs 19:7 says, “A poor man is shunned by all his relatives—how much more do his friends avoid him! Though he pursues them with pleading, they are nowhere to be found.”
d. Proverbs 27:14 says, “If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.”
e. Luke 15:11-32. The prodigal son. As long as the money was there, the friends were there. But when the money ran out and hard times came, no friends were there to bail him out. Hired himself out to a pig farmer.

4. God tells us to be patient: Friendships are developed
a. That’s why there are so many degrees of familiarity.
i. I know their face…but I don’t know their name.
ii. I only know their name because I overheard someone talking about them.
iii. Yea, they are an acquaintance. I say “hi” in passing.
iv. I have a few classes with them…or…he/she is in my department at work.
v. I know them fairly well, but we’re not close.
vi. I was just talking to her yesterday. Yea we are good friends.
vii. Oh, he’s my best friend in the whole world. We talk almost everyday and twice on Sundays.

5. God shows us how to do it right: Friendships take communication
a. The more you talk and get to know each other, the stronger the friendship becomes.
i. So be careful whom you befriend.
1. James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people. Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?”
b. Just the reverse is also true.
i. Old college friends that I’ve fallen out of touch with over the years.
c. Our relationship with Christ is the same way. So was His relationship with His Father.
i. Prayer, prayer, and more prayer.
ii. Simply talking to God is a great way to get started.
iii. God is never going to come alive to you as a living, breathing friend if you don’t talk to Him.
1. Sometimes it is short and sweet.
2. Sometimes it’s heartfelt and deep.
3. Sometimes it’s not for you but for someone else.
4. Sometimes its formal maybe during a worship service.
5. Sometimes prayer is accompanied by tears (joy or sorrow).
d. Christ Prayed to His Father all the time.
i. The Lord’s Prayer in Matt. 6
ii. John 17 in the garden
iii. John 11:41 Jesus’ prayer at Lazarus’ resurrection (very informal).
iv. Luke 24:50 Christ blesses the disciples before ascending.
v. Luke 22 prayers at the Lord’s Supper.
vi. Luke 11 Christ teaches his disciples how to pray.
vii. Luke 9:29 While Jesus was praying, he was transfigured.
viii. Luke 9:16 Christ blesses the 5 loaves and 2 fish.
ix. Mark 1:35 Jesus prays in a solitary place.
x. Matthew 15:36 Christ prays over the 7 loaves and few fish.

6. God give us the gift of Friends: Our Church is a Community of Friends/Family
a. Christians who serve God serve people.
i. Matthew 7:12 says, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets.
b. The way we treat others is the way we treat Jesus
i. Matthew 25:40 says, “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.”
c. We must take advantage of our bond and reach out as friends to the lost.

7. God wants us to use our gifts for His kingdom: Using our friendships as a tool for Evangelism
a. By far the most effective way to touch people today is through the association of friendship.
b. In America, friendship association is the key that unlocks the door of opportunity to saving souls.
c. A Man was sitting at a gospel meeting and heard a sermon on the text in Acts 26.
d.[Paraphrase Acts 26]
e. Acts 26:28 says, “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?’ Paul replied, ‘Short time or long – I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
f. That man was a man by the name of Philip Bliss.
g.[Finish reading the Philip Bliss selection with closing.]

Originally written 12/01


1. You have been asked by the elders of a congregation that has never had a small group ministry to establish one. Describe in detail how you would go about it.

First things first, the eldership needs to be 100% sold on the idea. I can assume that by the question, they are indeed in favor of small groups. (I can also assume that they have a ‘small groups goal in mind.) They also need to publicly approve of small groups for the benefit of the members.

Now that the Eldership is behind the idea, we need to begin educating the congregation on small groups. They need to know what small groups are and how they work. A good way to do this is by going back to the beginnings of the New Testament church when they met in houses. Tell them why the church began meeting in buildings (Constantine became a Christian and organized them into buildings) and how the small groups are still an effective way to come together.

Say I were going to call our small groups ‘Life Groups’; a way of educating about the groups is making an acrostic that incorporated all the aspects of the groups and what the goals are:
L – Love…getting to love one another
I – Involve…getting involved in one another’s lives
F – Fellowship…enjoying the togetherness of the family
E – Evangelism…without this aspect, we are losing a powerful tool. Inviting others to group meetings (outreach).

The next step would be cultivating the idea of the groups to the congregation. This entails setting a goal for participation. Let’s say that the Eldership wants an optimal level to be 60%. This should be a striving or rallying point for the congregation.

Secondly, setting a date for implication or a “go date” is needed during this process. This also helps to serve as a rallying point.

Finally in the cultivation stage, announcing the leaders and co-leaders (Leader training is simultaneously happening…see next section). This should help to make a connection with the members as now, more people than just the Elders and the Minister are visibly involved.

Lastly in my planning stage, plan a countdown to the implication dates and involve the membership in preparing for the kickoff by holding a special service concerning the power of small group dynamics using Jesus and his disciples or His closer friends as a Biblical example.

Splitting into Groups
During the time between the public announcement of the small group plan and the countdown to implication, we have been holding a training seminar for all those interested in being small group leaders. (You may even want to begin a small group with just the leaders at first so they can learn how to direct a group…time suggested; 6 weeks). I will probably find that people within the seminar will naturally emerge as leaders. Along with leader training should be the establishment of a co-leader system. This step is in expectation that the groups will multiply then divide when the number gets too big to be a small group. The Co-Leader(s) would then take the satellite group and become its group leader.

Once the training seminar has been completed, I am going to allow the leaders to recruit people for their small groups. I expect to see a ‘common ground’ trend, as people tend to gravitate towards groups with which they can identify.


2. You have been asked by the Main Street Church of Christ to perform an overall analysis of congregational effectiveness. Describe how you would go about this.


I have to admit, this question is a bit vague, so I’m going to have to go on what I think is meant by this question. Effectiveness is the measure of how you are doing as a congregation versus what the congregational goals are. The Body needs a yardstick to measure up to; something to visualize progress or the lack there of. There are several ways to gage effectiveness.

1. If one of your goals is to grow proportionally with the community, look at the growth of the congregation over the last few years and compare to the growth rate of the community. If the community is growing at 5% over five years and the body is growing at barely 1% over five years, effective growth is lacking.

2. If one of your goals is to appeal to the demographics of the community, look at the demographics in the community and compare that to the congregation. If the building is in a predominately black community and 80% of your membership is white, you are not effectively representing the community. Likewise, if your community is made up of younger families and the congregation is mostly elderly folks, you are heading towards stagnation.

3. Look into the ministry systems of the Body. Are they active, involved, is outreach being done, are Bible studies being conducted? Are they producing results that are helping the membership attain their preset goals? Are contacts with non-members being followed up? Is there an influx in new members?

4. Does there seem to be discord among the members? Look for factions and cliques forming within the congregation. Is one of the groups being catered to more than others? It is wise to monitor the tension within the family because cracks in the foundation affect the whole structure.

5. Note the attendance at church functions and assemblies. Are you maintaining numbers that reflect your team goals? Do the same numbers of members show up when you hold a service-oriented project versus a fellowship event like a cookout or ballgame? Maintaining a family atmosphere is crucial in effective group dynamics.

6. Finally, but by no means the last possible analysis tool, gage the outreach and encouragement towards the members themselves. When a brother is having surgery, do members take care of the brother’s family by providing for them? Do members grieve with the grieving and rejoice with the overjoyed? The family needs to love each other in times of sorrow and in happier times. Is this reflected in the Body that meets in your location?

This list is by no means all-inclusive, but these should give a good look at the overall effectiveness of the congregation in question. The important thing to remember is without preset goals it is impossible to measure progress. Without that initial starting point or point of reference, you cannot see where you’ve been and where you are.

Originally written September 12, 2008


President Weatherdaddy, in his first one-hundred days, would:

*Seal the northern and southern borders. Beef up border patrol by re-assigning 50% of the national guard to said borders. If you are in the national guard, shouldn't more of you be "guarding the nation"?

*Bring home 80% of our military personelle currently serving in Europe and Japan. The remaining 20% can "monitor the situation" just fine, thank you.

*Publicly call out every member of congress...this, the worst congress in American history...for not working together to get one single important piece of legislation passed. Then, work to set term limits.

*Strip down the Federal government's responsibilities to national defense, foreign policy, and homeland security (The supreme court will remain untouched). Everything else will fall under the jurisdiction of each of the several states.

*Hault any new legislation from the hopper until we have researched whether or not existing legislation would accomplish the same goal. Why inact new laws if we're not enforcing the ones we already have?

*Abolish the IRS.

*Adopt the gold standard.

*Inact the 5% income flat tax. This is plenty of money to cover all necessary programs and services taken on by the Federal government.

*Tell the UN to set up headquarters elsewhere.

*Discontinue billions and billions of foreign aid dollars that are just handed out like candy. If a country needs help so bad, they can ask for it. We reserve the right to say no.

*Cut all welfare and entitlement for those who can work but don't. You are endangering your family by your willingness to sit on your ass and shirk your responsibilities. Therefore, if you refuse to provide for them, your children will be removed from your "care" and placed in foster care.

*Work to only allow abortions for specific, medically-proven circumstances. This will be a compromise that I'd hate to make but fewer children killed is fewer children killed and that's the goal.

*Get out of the nation building business.

*Work to make the burning and general desecration of the U.S. Flag a crime punishable by fines and/or jailtime. Look folks, I like free speech just as much as the next guy, but if you can yell "fire" in a movie theatre and get charged with inciting a riot, then you should be charged for destroying a national symbol that's proper care is clearly defined in the flag code.

*Remove all governmental influence from the bedrooms of consenting adults. If two guys or two girls want to get married, let the church make that call. It is not the job of the government to limit who can and can't get married.

*Allow each state the right to vote on legal drinking age. If they can decide their own speed limit, why not the drinking age?

*Find smoking bans unconstitutional that don't allow private businesses the right to serve both smoking and non-smoking clientel.

Then on day 101, I'm taking a nap!

Originally written September 14, 2004


Mornin' Everyone,

I had a great weekend and wanted to share some of the highlights.

First of all, Micah's football team won on Friday night. He had the first points of the game with a 35 yard field goal. He was so siked about putting that one through! It was great to be there and be excited for him and be the big brother. Lots of family and church family came to the game as well to cheer him on so the stands were full of people pulling for him...and it was an away game!

Then on Saturday morning, Micah played on the JV team and they won that game too. He had all the kicking duties that game so he worked alot. he did well as the team cruised to a 41-8 victory.

The coolest part of the weekend, though, was going to the Ohio State game. However, the coolest part wasn't being at "The Shoe" and it wasn't seeing the best band in the land or even watching my team win a very close game. In order to fully appreciate this, you'll have to read one of my previous posts...the one with all the quotes in it. Go ahead, I'll wait...........

Okay, now that you are caught up, I give you the coolest part of my weekend:

It's right after the Football game on Friday night. It was an away game so, I hop into my car along with my parents and Abby (my niece) and we head back to Marysville to wait for the band and the team to get back. We stop by the high school to wait for the team, but discover that they beat us there because we dropped off Abby at her house. So I go find Micah and we all ride home together.

When we arrive home there is a message waiting for my dad on the answering machine. I'm not paying much attention, you know, the message isn't for me, so I walk on by and head for Micah's room which is where I sleep while I'm home (Micah and I share his room just like old times). I catch a glimpse of my dad fevorishly writing something down from the answering machine message but make nothing of it.

Now, it's 8:00 on Saturday morning and Micah is already at the school to dress and practice for his JV game later that morning. I wake up and head in for breakfast when my mom greets me in the kitchen. She gives me "good mornings" and asks what I want for breakfast. So I'm munching on my Honey Combs and looking out the sliding glass doors that overlook the golf course and noting what a beautiful morning it is...and I noticed my dad was gone. That's when my mom levels me with some great news!

Fast forward to a few hours later. The JV game has just ended with a victory. Micah has left the field to come see us in the stands, but has to go back into the locker room to change. We wait for him by the enterance to the school and when he comes out, he gets leveled by the same good news!

"Look here", says my dad as he holds two OSU tickets.

"Yea, Yea, I know", mumbles Micah, who first believes that my dad is just rubbing in the fact that he and I are going to the OSU game. However, after a second look, he realizes that these tickets are different than the ones that had been sitting on my dad's desk for the past week.

Dad declares, "These are two tickets to the OSU game...two more tickets".

Micah goes nuts! He's jumping up and down and hugging anyone that moves, including this poor couple that just happened to walk by where we were. Picture a football player jumping and screaming like a school girl and that was my brother.

However, the story isn't over. Tyler, my nephew who is about two years younger than Micah came along to the JV game and he's watching Micah go into histerics completely unaware that the same great news is about to knock him off his feet.

"Buddy, you're in...you're going", I said as my dad held out the remaining, precious Ohio State ticket in front of a bewildered 16 year old.

Now you've got two teenaged boys jumping up and down embracing each other and screaming like two school girls...in public!

Then came the explaination concerning the appearance of these "holy grail" tickets from above. Mom chimes in with the details.

"Your dad was calling all over the place yesterday looking for two more Ohio State Tickets and he found some, but they were in Dublin. So, he went in to Dublin before your game and picked them up. That's why we took two cars to the game."

So, on that Saturday afternoon, along with 104,622 of our closest friends, my dad, Micah, Tyler and I watched the two family-favorite teams play one another for the very first time...live. What a day that I shared with my family!

I'll never forget the bridge we walked down from the parking lot towards the Horseshoe that day in Columbus; marveling at the tens of thousands of people walking that bridge with me and the bridges on either side. I'll never forget the "Best Darn Band in the Land" that played with such attitude, pristine dominance, and insistance of respect which 104,622 people freely gave. However, I'll treasure the memories of sitting next to my dad for hours soaking in this moment together...I'll treasure my little brother and nephew getting a front row seat for the game winning 55 yard kick that was directed towards the end zone where they sat...and I'll treasure the bonds strenghtened by the events of that weekend, both family and new aquaintences.

How firm thy friendships...O - HI - O!

Until I see you again,
Be good and be God's ~

Originally written May 14, 2007


The National Gas Out Day won't work! So, don't waste your time or my ears tell me about this fool-hardy scheme that comes up at least twice a year! I cringe when people actually believe that they are going to make some huge shift in prices in just one day. The simple economics tells the story.

If you are planning on skipping the pump on Tuesday, you likely filled-up Monday or are waiting until Wednesday. And so will all the rest of you crazies! Therefore, the gas companies (more importantly O.P.E.C -- Oil Producing and Exporting Countries) will still get all of that profit, just one day later -- or sooner as the case may be.If you really wanna make a splash in the oil markets, you'll need to do several things:

Stop blaming President Bush!

He's not the cause of high gas prices. The cause is a combination of OPEC, the futures market value, federal and state tariffs, the lack of refinery capacity in the U.S. and her dependence on foreign oil, green peace and other wackjobs not letting us drill for oil in our own country because we MIGHT harm the environment, and political unrest in the Middle East and Africa.
Properly maintain your car buy keeping up with all scheduled maintenance.

Only put the grade of gasoline on which your engine's manufacturer suggests it be run. Also make sure your tires are properly inflated. Finally, remove all excess garbage and junk from your car. Every pound your car carries decreases fuel efficiency. All of those empty coffee cups and McDonald's bags add up after a while.

Car pool.

Drive a hybrid (I shutter saying that because I don't want to be mistaken as a tree hugging, earth idol worshipping, freak show).

Pick one day every week and make that your permanent "No Gas Day".

Never buy gas on that day again. It will take a concerted and persistent 'gas out' to really make any waves in the futures of crude.

Just to prove you have intellectual prowess, stop giving U.S. oil companies the figurative finger every time they post earnings reports.

I, for one, am happy our capitalistic society is working and it is a beacon/model for the rest of the world to follow. Back in the 80s when gasoline was $0.25 a gallon, I don't remember Congress rushing to the financial aid of the oil companies to keep them afloat. So, now that they are prospering (thanks in large part to President Clinton's efforts to increase our dependence on foreign oil) people like Hilary Clinton should shut her "I wanna take those oil profits" mouth...and so should all those who are pissed at Exxon-Mobil, Marathon, and BP.

Thank you and keep the change!

Originally written December 30, 2005


Mornin' Everyone,

Every now and then, I get nasty-grams from viewers. You know, when I screw up the forecast or I'm not wearing the right color shirt or my hair gets too long...etc... a few folks like to get on the horn or the e-mail and let me have it. Just part of the glamour.

Today, I received one by mail. Evidentally, someone took offense to a statement I made about a month ago when I said that the earth is closer to the sun during the winter than at any other time of year. Well, someone decided to write and tell me how much of a moron I am. They clipped an article from a local newspaper regarding the earth's seasons and from that they deduced that I was wrong.

Actually, this is how they put it:

"You seem very smart, but what you said was not very smart. Before you go on air, get your facts straight please."

That wasn't enough. These folks were too cowardly to leave their names. They just signed the note, "Dedicated viewers". They even went so far as to cut their name off of the little return address sticker they put on the envelope.

Okay, that was enough for me. I decided to use a reverse search using their address and FOUND their names (and their ages too). I then wrote what you are about to read, USING their names. The following is the response I just mailed back to them. It will go out today. Please, enjoy this and share it with someone you love.

**********
Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so,

Thank you for being dedicated viewers of NewsChannel 5. We make it our goal to continually increase our effectiveness in bringing you the news, weather and sports information that is important to you. It is my personal goal to educate my viewers on the truth behind popular myths and "wife's tales" when it comes to meteorology, as well as adaquately prepare you for the day ahead. I also like to throw in a whole lot of fun, I mean, hey, how serious do you wanna be at 6 AM?

One of the most misunderstood concepts in astronomy is the concept of seasons and how the earth responds to seasonal changes thanks to its tilt (23.5 degrees). Usually, I have to explain the seasons in-depth for most folks. I'm very satisfied to know that you have grasped this concept. This will make my job in the following explanation much easier.

The statement you included in your letter was:

"You made a statement on the morning show...that the sun is closest to us now - I know for a fact it isn't."

I'm glad you said that. This alludes to the difficulty that most folks have in grasping the scientific reality of the Perihelion and the Aphelion of the earth's orbit. But don't worry, I love teaching. As you know, the Terra [axial] orbital (and all other orbitals for that matter, not just that of earth) is not a circle, rather is an ellipse. An ellipse has a major axis and a minor axis thus flattening the path so that there are two oblong points... one of maximum distance and one of minimum distance. I have included a diagram so that it will be easier understood.

Please note where it says, "Planet X perihelion". This position is the closest that a planetary body will come to the sun (in orbit). At this point, the earth is 147.5 million kilometers away from the sun. Thus, earth is closest to the sun here.

Also note in the diagram the "Planet X aphelion" position. This position is the farthest a planetary body will be from the sun (in orbit). At this point, the earth is 152.6 million kilometers away from the sun. Thus, earth is farthest from the sun here.

As it happens for earth, the perihelion (closest to the sun) is always around early January. This year it will be January 4th. Conversely, the aphelion always occurs around early July. This year it will be July 4th.

Therefore, with the northern hemispheric winter beginning on December 21st, it is true that the earth is closest to the sun during the northern hemispheric winter.

Here is a note from Scott J. Badham, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming.

"Although it may seem that Earth's relative distance to the sun would be a prominent factor in determining seasonal changes in temperature, it pales in comparison to the prominence of the planet's axial tilt with respect to controlling temperature, or more accurately, distribution of solar energy. It is the axial tilt (presently 23.45 degrees), in fact, which determines seasonality. During Northern Hemisphere summers, the north pole is oriented in such a way as to be pointing in the general direction of (not directly at) the sun; during Northern Hemisphere winters, the north pole is pointing away from the sun. I should clarify this by saying that the north pole points in essentially the same direction throughout the year (i.e. Polaris, the North Star), regardless of where it is in its orbital path.

Incidentally, it is for just this reason that the polar regions are immersed in full to partial darkness during certain parts of the year (i.e. the north pole during northern winters.) When a region of the surface of Earth is more straightly facing the sun (like northern latitudes do during northern summers), the amount of sunlight falling on that surface is greater than when that surface is more obliquely facing the sun (like northern latitudes do during northern winters.) This seasonal change in the amount of incident solar radiation per unit area on the surface of Earth is ultimately what determines the seasonal changes in temperature. Any introductory astronomy text will have illustrations that depict what I have described here, if the mental visualization is difficult (which it certainly can be.) I hope this explanation helps."

As always, thank you for contacting us at the AccuWeather StormCenter. If you have any more questions regarding the science of this earth, the stars, or of course meteorology, please fell free to let us know!

Me
Morning/Noon Meteorologist
NewsChannel 5 (CBS)

**********
I truly feel sorry for some people. It took me all of 10 minutes to research for quotes and find that diagram.

I am, by no means, an infalliable expert in science. I don't claim to be an expert in anything; not even the Bible, although I know more about it now than I ever did at Harding. But seriously, there is no excuse for ignorance when the internet is literally at your fingertips any time you want. Information is all around. All we have to do is take the time and exercise the patience to look for it.

~ Be good and be God's

Originally written February 6, 2006


Mornin' Everyone,

Admittedly, I don't watch the NFL until the Super Bowl so I am terribly unqualified to type any further. However, since the first amendment applies to me too...

I have always lived in Northern West Virginia under the notion that this was a temporary stop on a career filled with other small stops until marriage and settl-age. However, as it appears, this was a longer layover than I first thought, but it does offer a quicker track to marriage and settling down. Anyway, WV has no professional team for which to root. That said, depending on where in the state you live, you could be a Browns, Bengals, Ravens, Redskins, Eagles, or Steelers fan. This part of WV is firmly placed within the bounds of Steeler country...and I've been sick of it since five minutes after I got here.

Most of you have no blood born right to call this team your own. If you were born in PA or currently live there, this post is not directed at you. Ownership is rightfully proved in this case.

But I digress.

So, with last night's win in Super Bowl Extra Large, most everyone here is clamoring over Bettis and Ward and Randel El....blah blah blah. Look people, you are in West Virginia and you are claiming ownership of a team that is in Pennsylvania... a state by the way, whose other college football team (Pitt, although some even hate Penn State just as much) you despise with as much vigor as I hate Michigan. Explain to me how that makes sense? How idiotic you all look for jumping on the Pittsburgh bandwagon! How sad you look as you twirl your Terrible Towel posing as the lost sons of Steel Country. I was hoping for a Seattle victory last night but only to shut the yaps of the desperate, wannabe, Steelers adopted fans of WV.

Now, I'm sure that won't set well with my WV readers. Well, to them I say, "a dissenting opinion has its place too and I'm dissenting against the loud mockery you make of yourselves every Sunday during football season". So, like it or lump it, that is what I have to say about that.

Now, if you disagree, hey, more power to you. Feel free to let me know you disagree with me. Just don't think that an opposing opinion will shame me into submission and surrender. ;)

To end, I ask this question: Is it August yet?

Originally written September 30, 2004



Mornin' Everyone,

On Monday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by a local paper for an article concerning the lack of involvement in church youth groups. This morning, the writer sent me an electronic copy of the article that will be included in today's (Thursday) issue. Thanks to Barb Knicely for the article she wrote!

I thought I'd include the article in it's entirety and accept comments, discussion points or questions:

We all can relate in one way or another to how busy and hectic our lives have become. We run from one event to the next as our lives pass us by in one big blur. Has all of this running with our children affected involvement in church youth activities? In talking with area pastors and youth ministers, the general concensus is, "Yes, it has!"

"People are forced to prioritize with busy schedules, and unfortunately church is not a top priority," Meadowbrook Church of Christ youth minister James Canterbury said. "You can only be proactive up to a certain point then it depends on how involved the parents want to be."

Parental involvement does play a key factor. Often it becomes more of a priority depending on the age of the child. As children become older and more involved in sports, start working, and begin driving it gets harder.

"One big difference is that so many teens have their own car," Freedom Southern Baptist Church Pastor Jim Sanders said. "It used to be families had one car and church was the social gathering place. Now kids are naturally inclined to go other places because they have the ability with their own cars."

According to Canterbury another factor is the larger emphasis put on giving children options. "Parents used to say, do it my way and it was done. Now the view on parental discipline has shifted and the children are given choices. A parent can ask the child, Do you want to play now and take a nap later or take a nap now and play later? Either way the parent wins, but it gives the child a false sense of equality."

St. Marks Lutheran Church Pastor Jim Caton agrees that children are busier these days. This makes it harder for them to participate in the church activities that they would like to do.

"The children have a desire to be there, but are faced with some tough decisions," Caton said. "I always tell them that as tough as it may be, the choice is theirs. I can't make it for them." He has found when they are struggling with these decisions, more often than not, they are present at the church activity, which is a positive side to this dilemma. "Sadly, these decisions sometimes make the kids who attend church seem odd."

I am sure it is difficult and frustrating to be a youth minister these days. Activities are scheduled and other events take precedence. What can be done about this constant struggle?

"We continue to plan activities and realize not everyone will be able to be at everything," Caton said. "We just go with who's available and make the most of it."

Canterbury feels it is important to spend time with the members of the youth group.

"Everyone is looking for someone to accept and love them for who they are," he said. "I am making it a priority to spend one on one time with them. This helps to form a bond that will help make church activities a top priority in their lives."

Pastor Sanders also thinks that relationships are what needs to be a priority.

"Building relationships is so important. Our nation seems to be having trouble understanding the value of a good relationship, and we are being driven by the wrong purpose. The kids need to ask themselves what will add fulfillment and purpose to their lives? What is lasting and what is temporal? A relationship with the Lord needs to be a priority in order for them to grow individually. Once this happens there will be a change of heart and their priorities will fall into place."

So, what does everyone think? Agree/disagree?

Until I see you again,
Be good and be God's ~

Originally written July 21, 2005


Mornin' Everyone,

Have you ever wondered where in the Bible it says that gambling is wrong? I sure have. So I did some checking this morning and found something rather interesting. The Bible doesn't say gambling is wrong. Furthermore, the Bible never mentions the word "gambling" at all!

So, if the Bible doesn't label gambling as a sin, where did we get this notion that gambling is wrong in the first place? I'm not exactly sure, but we do know that we are told to be good stewards of our money (1 Peter 4:10). Jesus told a parable about servants who are given some money by their master and are told to go put it to work for him. Two of the servants do so and reap benefits. One is lazy and does not do what his master tells him. The master praises the two servants but calls the other wicked (Luke 19:22).

So how did the two servants make the extra money? They put it to work for them, like investing it in something (Luke 19:15ff). Could it be that the stock market is a valid way to make money? Sure is...but isn't it a risk? You bet your belt buckle it is. That's why they call the stock market a gamble. Hmmm...so is the Dow Jones evil?

I've been told that games of chance are the foothold of the Devil because they are a method of gambling. The Bible speaks of a certain game of chance called "casting lots". The casting of lots was a random way to make decisions much like flipping a coin or rolling the dice. The soldiers at the foot of the cross cast lots to see who would get Jesus' clothing and the apostles cast lots after His ascension to choose Matthias as the new apostle (Acts 1).

Okay, so the apostles cast lots...am I saying the gambled? Yep, they most certainly did. Would the Holy Spirit use sin as an avenue to work through other Christians? If I understand the nature of God, then the answer is no. Therefore it appears that the simple act of gambling in and of itself is not wrong.

NOTE: I am not talking about addicted gamblers...just the act itself.

Be good and be God's ~

Orginially written February 19, 2007

A book report of sorts
I've had within my possession, for about 8 months now, Jonathan Foreman's book, "The Pocket Book of Patriotism", and I've been meaning to share some of its deeply meaningful contents with you.

In the first portion of the book, Foreman recounts a timeline of selected human events and of American history. Truthfully, I've never read that portion all the way through but when I want to find something of interest, I check to see if it's on there.

The second portion of the book contains monumental speeches, excerpts from (or entire) several important documents, and historic songs and verse that became woven within the fabric of our country.

Finally, the last portion lists assorted US facts including all 42 presidents (Grover Cleveland listed twice), the name and occasion of each state admitted to the union, the Pledge of allegiance, the naturalization oath, the medals of honor for branches of service, famous quotes concerning America and the patriotism of her people, and selections of the Federal Flag Code which was passed by Congress in 1942. I know I'm not listing all of the material covered in this book but I think you get the idea.

As the back sleeve indicates, it is essential that this book find itself in every home and school in America. It saddens me that American History is a subject that bores so many of our youth today. The blame for this is jointly shared between the parent, the pupil, and the educator...not all, mind you, but some. The parent for failing to instill within every son and daughter the lifeblood of what an American is and what he/she can be thanks to the sacrifice of the brave who possessed the wisdom of foresight - that something greater than themselves was beyond the horizon; the educator for not properly contextualizing patriotism nor its weight on the inhabitants of this great nation and in turn the citizens of all mankind; and the pupil for not giving a hoot in the first place.

I'd like to share with you just a few quotes you'll find in, "The Pocket Book of Patriotism" and then read your thoughts and ideas regardless of political posture.

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty." ~ John F. Kennedy's inaugural address - January 20, 1961

"One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it is the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man...let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened, 'I will not fail thee nor forsake thee'." ~ Ronald Reagan's Pointe Du Hoc speech - June 6, 1984

"Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man." ~ Mark Twain

"One cannot be an American by going about saying one is an American. It is necessary to feel America, like America, love America and then work." ~ Georgia O'Keefe

May God bless you and may God bless America.

Originally written 12/01

Introduction
In the first few pages of his book, “The Frog in the Kettle”, George Barna makes the point that the church should be evangelistically ready for the inevitable change that comes with the advancement of the new millennium. With a changing audience comes the responsibility of adapting the methods of sharing the unchanged message to better reach the masses.

“We have continued to operate as though our environment has remained the same”, says Barna, “At this crucial point in history, we must begin to anticipate the world’s needs in order to meet them” (p. 21).

It has been 14 years since this book was published and in those years we have seen the pendulum swing from a more reserved, traditional worship service, to a more vibrant and active period of devotion. The assembly is not the only thing that has been affected by this kinetic shift. Some Christians have raised concern about this alteration movement and its future in the Church. Some ask when is modification the answer and how much change is too much? What effect does this have on new converts? How does division or change among a congregation affect its outreach efforts? Finally, has our effectiveness in those efforts been lessened? We’ll look at these and other questions when we consider the future of the Twenty-first century church in the mission field.


Youthful Spirit
Barna doesn’t want to see the church choking on the dust kicked up by the winds of change. The need for advancement is understandable. And although alteration is always needed in order to improve, I believe that in some ways the pendulum of modification has swung too far. We have witnessed a move to a more youth-led church, are in danger of losing our grip on the essentiality of baptism, and have sacrificed our four-part musical tradition, that teaches the knowledge of God, for praise and worship songs that are sung by ‘praise teams’ that don’t teach hierarchy, but simply make the worshippers feel good (David R. Canterbury, 2001).

Some believe that we are changing our methods not out of necessity, but rather to be more like other denominations that have bigger attendance and larger budgets. I am convinced that we should not sacrifice our first-century identity or what sets us apart as a church for the sake of being among the “in-crowd” of Christendom. We should rejoice in the fact that we are correctly modeling our biblical example that is described in Acts.

In the April 30th 2001 edition of the Christian Chronicle, F. LaGard Smith was asked what he could say if he had 10 minutes to speak to every member of the churches of Christ. Smith says,

“In all seriousness, I would call on the church to abandon youth ministries, which have toppled the spiritual hierarchy. Throughout Scripture, spiritual leadership is not only male, but it’s elder. It’s the wisdom of the years that leads and nurtures younger generations. We’re just a youth-driven church, like the youth-driven culture of which we are apart”, (Smith, 2001).

I think doing away with youth ministry will do much more harm than good. Yet, although his words are extreme, I believe Smith has a solid point. He says that although teen-involvement is critical to the growth of the congregation, we have a youthful culture that is leading the church and this is simply not the role of the younger generation. Youth participation is one thing, so is leading a public prayer or leading singing during a service. These acts of service are great and are a benefit to the work of the local congregation. However, Smith is trying to warn us of something very dangerous. He argues that the youth are more susceptible to failings because they follow the wrong impulses.

“The youth culture is not driven by issues of truth”, says Smith, ”but issues of the heart. And the heart is just volatile. A younger generation does not perceive authority in the same way previous generations have. And in the absence of that collective understanding of Biblical divine authority, every man is his own law”.

The heart is a very wonderful and magical thing. Its power is unfathomable and its affect on us is great. It moves us to serve or give at our expense, yet crumbles when we hurt. A lot of times, however, our hearts are blinded by such strong emotion. To allow ourselves to be led by these impulses could lead to tragedy. Our hearts can be clouded of judgment when we are depressed or when we experience great joy. It is tossed and pulled in so many different directions that it’s hard to know the right time to follow its yearnings. In the same way, when the youth of our congregations try to lead with their hearts, they are not always being led down the right path. Rather than obeying your heart, follow the unshakable knowledge of the one who made your heart. God, His son, and the Bible are all you need to stand on. By removing the human vulnerability of emotion and relying on divinity, we can know without doubt where the right pathway lies.

Singing Sweetly
In the same issue of the Christian Chronicle, Gary Browning writes an article titled, “’Real Sin’ in Sacrificing Quality Singing”. He is concerned about the welfare of our identity in our four-part a cappella singing tradition. But more than that, he is worried that what began as “Praise Groups” has taken away from the worshipping experience of the congregation because they are doing all of the worshipping. We tend to participate less in the service when we hear just a small group of singers over the entire audience.

Browning writes, “God’s children are not learning to sing in parts or in some cases even participate, for we have groups and individuals who “worship” for us better than we can – obviously, for they have the best voices. Are we becoming spectators? Would God agree with that logic?"

Some have heard this argument and said, “Then let those who want to have a more contemporary service have a separate assembly from the traditional service”. However, this ‘quick fix’ is not an answer to the question; it is simply cutting off and separating the church’s membership. What we need to consider when we want to change the worship assembly is the effect it will have on our children, new converts, and indeed the entire congregation. We need to pull back on the reigns of the ‘praise team’ songfest and involve the whole body, as Christ intended we do so very long ago. The purpose of the worship service is not to achieve an emotional high or to make the audience, “feel good”. Let’s remember that the worshippers need to be focused on the effect their praise has on the worshipped and not the effect their praise has on themselves.

Conclusion
It’s exciting to see something that needs fixed and feeling the Spirit moving you to act on it. It’s exciting when He gives you a vision of how much better things could be. But knowing when to stop modifying and not fixing things that aren’t broken is a gift of wisdom. When there is a need for change within the church, let’s work to find a remedy while keeping in mind Christ’s prayer, “That they may all be one”.

Once the church has a clear vision on where they are and where they want to be, they can be more effective in reaching out to the community and to those who are lost.

Originally Written 4/10/2001

Introduction
It’s no secret that Christians face tough decisions everyday. Jesus warned his disciples that the road less traveled by would be filled with potholes and snags along the way. He encouraged them by explaining that a life lived for Him would not be an easy one. However, if you obey His commandments and stand the tests of sin, persecution, and the devil, you will be given a home with Christ for all eternity (Matt. 5:12). For some Christians, tough decisions come in the form of political partisanship. They have a hard time deciding what party a well respecting Christian should join. For others, whether or not to send their child to a Christian university is a tough choice. They don’t want to be any less of a Christian by sending their child to a state college.

We want to make the kinds of choices that reaffirm our love for Jesus and our will to follow Him. But sometimes, deciphering Biblical teachings is easier said than done. The right choice is not always the easiest to execute nor is it the easiest to find.

One of the toughest decisions to make, especially if you are a parent, is the issue of Christian consumption of alcohol. Can one decide to drink wine and still be in accordance with the scriptures? Scores of misinformed Christians have insisted that the Bible prohibits all forms of alcohol consumption excluding medicinal purposes. What they have done is transposed Biblical truth and inserted their own opinion. However, I intend to restore Biblical truth. By looking at the opinions of Bible professors, reading articles, and searching the Bible, I will disprove the common misconceptions about alcohol created by well meaning, yet paranoid, Christians. I will present some points that will shock some readers, while other points are commonplace. I intent to say that the Bible allows alcoholic consumption and those who consume alcohol should not be looked down upon for responsibly acting on this truth. Supported only by the Bible, I will defend these two cases.

Speak Where the Bible Speaks…
Before I begin pleading my case, let’s look at what the Bible teaches about drinking wine or alcohol. Drunkenness is a sin no matter how you slice it (Eph. 5:18). Galatians 5 lists Drunkenness as an act of sinful nature. Christians are to separate themselves from drunkards at all times (I Cor. 5:11). One must remember that these two items deal with the over consumption of wine and not drinking in moderation. It must be clear that the intent of the writers is to shy away from drunkenness, not the drink.

In the Old Testament, the term that is used is “drinking to excess”. The OT says over-drinking leads to all kinds of sin including sexual perversion (Hab. 2:15). Another example of over-drinking is found in Esther the first chapter. King Xerxes and his servants drank to excessive levels and engaged in sexual perversion (Esther 1:10).

Church leaders are to drink in moderation as stated in I Timothy. What you must understand is if simple consumption of wine and alcohol were indeed wrong, the Holy Spirit would have told Paul to admonish the deacons to abstain (I Tim. 3:8). Therefore, one cannot interpret the verse in I Timothy to prohibit moderate drinking, only drinking to the excess.

Wine was considered valuable for it’s medicinal properties, both in Biblical times and in today’s world. Not many Christians object to this usage, as anything used as medicine is intended to help the ailing. Paul told Timothy to use a small amount of wine to help in his digestion process (I Tim 5:23). The writer of Proverbs suggests wine was used as a sedative and a pain-killer (Proverbs 31:6). And finally, the Good Samaritan used it as an antiseptic to heal the wounds of the injured man (Luke 10:34).

Now that we’ve looked at what the Bible says let’s move on. Since New Testament Christians are no longer subject to OT law, citing OT scriptures as commandments would be useless. Therefore, I’ll only use NT scripture to argue my case concerning the twenty-first century Christian and alcohol. Several scriptures, articles, and myths surrounding alcohol usage will be discussed in this section.

The Percentage Rule
Norman L. Geisler, in his article, “A Christian perspective on Wine-Drinking”, gives many conditions upon which NT Christians drank wine. The first one I shall address is what I call the “Percentage Rule”.

He argues that the alcoholic content of wine today is stronger than wine of the New Testament, thus you cannot justify social drinking today but you can justify drinking in those times (Geisler, 50). Today’s wine would be considered “Strong Drink” because it is not diluted with parts of water. Classic Greek writers spoke of mixtures: Euenos writes of three parts water, one part wine; Hesiod – three to one, water to wine; Alexis – four to one; Diocles and Anacreon – two to one; and Ion – three to one. The average was about three or four parts of water to one part of wine (Geisler, 50). Geisler goes on to say that only Scythians drank “Strong wine”, one part of water mixed with one part wine.

All this says is that in Biblical times, one would have to drink more to get drunk then today. Nothing in this mixture description has been said to make one believe drinking is wrong. The opposition, who believes all forms of drinking is sinful, has failed to prove it with this argument. What is has proven is that it is okay to drink a small percentage of wine. They have excused early Christians for drinking wine in smaller amounts. Is this not hypocritical? If drinking were a sin, which it is not, would drinking in diluted forms be a sin just the same? One cannot say all drinking is a sin and then justify drinking in small amounts. That, in essence, is justifying a sin just as long as it is small or insignificant. Sin is sin according to the Bible (I John 3:4). Degrees of sins are a moot point, and so is the “Percentage Rule”.

Jesus Drank Wine
When I have asked people their opinion about alcohol and wine drinking, one of the most popular responses has been, “Jesus would never do a thing like that”. What will shock these people and others as well is the fact that according to the New Testament scriptures, Jesus drank wine on several occasions. In Luke, the followers of John the Baptist ask Jesus if He is the one whose coming had been foretold. He told them to go back and report what they had seen, that He had healed the sick, the blind, and the lame. Then Jesus speaks to the crowd considering John the Baptist. “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John…”(Luke 7:28). But the Pharisees and experts of the Law didn’t like what Jesus was saying; John hadn’t baptized them. Jesus then makes this statement towards the Pharisees, “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He is a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners” ‘(Luke 7:33-34).

The Pharisees would not call Jesus a drunkard if they hadn’t seen Him drink anything. You don’t call people names and hurl insults without having something to back it up, in this case seeing Jesus drink. Also, as Harding University Bible professor Ken Neller said in a recent interview, the Greek word for wine used in Luke 7:33 is the word Oinos, which means fermented juice extracted from grapes. Neller went on to say that Onios is the most used word for wine in the New Testament. Jesus said that John came drinking Oinos, and in the following verse, he make an allusion to that word by saying, ‘He came drinking’ (Luke 7:34). Since they called John a drunkard, it’s not hard to know what kind of drink Jesus meant when He said the word, “Drinking”, in verse 34. This same account is also told in Matthew 11:18-19, therefore it’s hard to ignore. It is important to note that Jesus was not a drunkard, nor was He ever drunk. Drunkenness is a sin and Jesus never sinned, on this we all agree. Therefore, we can see these allegations by the Pharisees of Christ being a drunkard were false.

The Wedding Feast in Cana
The other case in which Jesus is introduced with wine is in John the second chapter. The text says that Jesus and His mother attended a wedding feast in the city of Cana in Galilee. At this party, Mary is told that the wine supply had run out (John 2:3). Mary tells the servants of the house to do whatever Jesus tells them (John 2:5). However reluctant He may have been, Jesus tells them to fill six stone jars of water, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons (John 2:6). He then turned the water into wine, and was even praised for bringing out the best wine last (John 2:9-10). This is the account according to the Gospel of John.

This story seems to prove many things in favor of my argument. First, the Greek word for wine in the text is the same as in Luke, Onios. Onios has been defined in the previous account as fermented juice extracted from grapes. Harding University Bible professor Joe Jones said in a recent interview that the Greeks added small amounts of wine to purify the water to be suitable for drinking. Some people have come up with the notion that Jesus turned the water at the wedding feast into purified water.

My response to that is, “Give me a break”! Jews didn’t drink water at a wedding party, they drank wine…and incidentally lots of it as is indicated in John 2. Also, The International Standard Bible Dictionary says that it was custom for both Jews and Greeks to drink wine at all kinds of parties and gatherings, weddings was just one example (1068-1070). Secondly, if the opposition insists that the people in John 2 drank water purified with wine, then I keep coming back to the Percentage Rule. You can’t justify drinking in small amounts if you believe drinking in any amount is wrong.

The second proof this account makes has to do with the supplying of alcohol. Jesus is the character in this story that supplies the multitudes with wine for their pleasure and recreation (John 2:1-12). Since we have already seen that Jesus can do no sin, we can therefore conclude that supplying more wine to people who have already consumed is also not wrong. It is safe to say that Jesus would not have supplied wine to those who were drunk, mind you, because drunkenness is sinful. However, since the account in John says He did indeed make it possible for those in attendance to enjoy wine, can it not be said that social drinking is not sin? Is it not true that Jesus can do no sin (I John 3:5)?

Geisler Makes His Thirteen Points
In defending the opinion that a Christian should not consume alcohol, Norman Geisler says that before a person decides to drink or to continue drinking, he should be fully aware of the following facts about alcoholic beverages and their effects today (Geisler, 52).

1. An estimated ten million problem drinkers or alcoholics are in the United States adult population.
2. Of adults who drink, 36 percent can be classed as problem drinkers
3. In addition, an estimated 3.3 million young people ages 14 –17 are problem drinkers.
4. Alcohol-related deaths may run as high as 200,000 per year. In two years’ time there are as many alcoholic-related deaths as there were in the entire Vietnam War!
5. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States about $50 billion in 1975. That figure has risen considerably since then.
6. Between 1966 and 1975 the percent of high school students who said they had been drunk increased from 19 percent to 45 percent.
7. Alcohol is one cause of cancer.
8. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the third greatest cause of birth defects.
9. Evidence exists that social drinking impairs one’s social and intellectual capacities. Rather than getting sharper, people who drink get duller.
10. Half of all traffic fatalities and one-third of all traffic injuries are alcohol related. Whereas a person has the legal right to drink, he does not have the right to endanger the lives of others on the highway by his drinking.
11. A high percentage of child-abusing parents have drinking problems.
12. A relatively high correlation exists between alcohol consumption and robbery, rape, assault, homicide; and more than one-third of suicides involve alcohol.
13. Taxpayers pay $11 to offset each $1 paid in liquor revenue (Geisler, 52).

While traffic deaths are tragic and child abuse is no laughing matter, some things need to be said about the list provided by Geisler. This list has plenty of useful information confirming the effects of alcohol abuse but only one item listed deals with drinking for pleasure and recreation. Let’s look at the first item…”An estimated ten million problem drinkers or alcoholics are in the United States population”. This concerns alcohol abuse…”Problem drinkers”…it does not say that there are ten million social or occasional drinkers in the nation. At my count, item numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12 all deal with alcohol abuse and drunkenness, not social drinking.

Looking at Item numbers 3 and 6, we see my next point. Item number 3, “In addition, an estimated 3.3 million young people ages 14-17 are problem drinkers”, deals with illegal use and consumption of alcohol by minors or those under the legal drinking age. These two items are not concerned with social or casual drinking; they are talking about the unlawful use of a controlled substance. You cannot entertain adolescent drinking when you are considering the Biblical truth of adult Christian usage.

The remaining two items, number 7 and 9, are to be considered faulty in their presentation and wording if they are to be taken as evidence supporting alcoholic abstinence. Item number 9 has to be my favorite in the whole list. “Evidence exists that social drinking impairs one’s social and intellectual capacities. Rather than getting sharper, people who drink get duller (Geisler, 52). Let me just say that one doesn’t usually drink socially on the sole bases to better outwit one’s friends. If exhibiting a dull personality is a sin, then I know several people who have no hope for eternal life.

Cancer is a horrible disease and it claims thousands of live every year. I think, however, that saying a cancer-causing agent is sinful is disrespectful of those who have the disease. Cellular phones cause cancer as well, are we to conclude that cell phone usage is sinful? What about saccrin? Should all products containing saccrin be pulled from the shelves because it’s ingestion is sinful? The point I’m making is quite simple. Just the introduction of saccrin or alcohol or any other carcinogen does not cause cancer. The prolonged exposure to and ingestion of carcinogens result in the contraction of cancer. Which supports the already proven point that alcohol abuse and over-drinking is sinful not social, recreational, or occasional drinking.

The Christian and Social Drinking
Harding University Bible Professor Joe Jones wrote a sermon called, “The Christian and Social Drinking”. In a section of his sermon called ‘Wine in the First Century, the third point says the Greek word, “Oinos”, refers to both a fermented and an unfermented beverage (Jones, 2). Here, Jones is mistaken. Ken Neller told us that Oinos always refers to a fermented beverage of juice extracted from grapes. There is a Greek word for wine that Jones could be confusing with Oinos. The Greek word, “Gleukos” (Gleukos) means sweet or new wine (Jones, 1). New Wine, as Ken Neller tells us, has not quite finished the fermenting process; it is fermented, but not fully as Oinos. Neller, in the transcripts of our interview, states that both Oinos and Gleukos are capable of making one intoxicated.

Conclusion
The use of alcohol can clearly be prohibited in several areas. Those who are not of legal age cannot partake; neither can those who drink to get drunk. Those who have conscious objections should not drink to avoid sinning (James 4:17). One should avoid drinking when in the presence of a weaker brother (Rom 14:21). We as Christians should be considerate of those who object to drinking.

At the same time, those who oppose drinking should not prohibit those who wish to drink for the same reason. The opposition should be considerate of those who wish to observe a Biblical freedom, and should not be called “sinners” (Rom 14:21). The Bible approves of wine-drinking (Geisler, 51). Christians who choose to see this truth differently should be respectful of those who wish to drink socially.