Recently in the media world, Sony Pictures had been working on a movie that was planned to be released on Christmas day. Seth Rogan and James Franco were going to be staring in this comedy film called “The Interview.” The plot being the assassination of Kim Jung Un, did not go over to well with Korea. Un had people hack into Sony threatening the theaters, that led to four of the major movie company’s backing out of showing this film. Is it smart of them to back out of showing this movie? Or is it cowardly? As the United States, we have this thing called freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, free to do whatever we want, all while abiding by the law of course. But if we have freedom as a country why is Sony deciding to pull their movie? Because we are scared of some threats? The United States gets threatened all the time, and we are going to let it affect what we watch? Even though it sounds very arrogant and foolish, if we want to watch or produce a movie as Americans’ we should do just that. But what if Sony did produce this movie, and it went to theaters everywhere. Then North Korea launched an attack on the U.S. and we had a war on our hands, all because of some movie. Sounds like a pretty dumb thing to go to war about. But if we don’t produce this movie than Korea has beaten us without even fighting us. Truthfully I don’t know what is worse, getting attacked by Korea because of a movie, or losing a battle we haven’t even fought in. I think as American citizens we are very selfish and arrogant and we want what we want when we want it. Which isn’t a good thing, but since we already are we mine as well go with it and get what we want, we have the best military in the world! I don’t think we should be afraid of Kim Jung Un just because of a movie.

A Right To Die

          Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with glioblastoma and was told she had only a few months to live. At only 29 years old, this was devastating news for her and her family. Instead of going on and on about this woman's life, I will spare you the details. Basically she was the face of the "Right-to-Die" movement where she proclaimed she would not let this cancer kill her, so she had an assisted suicide instead. The question is, is this right? Is it okay to take your own life if it spares you the pain of death that is coming? Biblically I think this is wrong because God gave us life and it is his right to take it away, not ours. But hey, if abortion is morally right in todays society, anything should be acceptable. But unfortunately not everyone in our world looks at issues like these biblically, so I have to address it non-biblically as well. So even if this assisted suicide was considered okay, where would it end? They would then have to start considering euthanization of the sick and the elderly as being okay. But if we say thats wrong then everybody starts getting all sensitive and crying saying "we have a right to do this its our lives and our bodies" but the constitution says we have equal rights as people, it doesn't mean we have the right to do whatever we please. If that were the case we would have no laws and our country would just be chaos. But this woman did have cancer, and she was going to die a painful death, so this assisted suicide made her, at the time happier, and I'm sure it made her family happier too knowing she would not be going through as much pain. So although I do not think her decision was the right one, she did what she thought was right, but was it right?

"Torture"

                  Recently reports of torture from the CIA have been released. The CIA handed over information about torture such as waterboarding, rectal rehydration and other painful acts that were not authorized by the white house. Out of 6,000 pages from a report, the CIA released 528 pages about the things that they were doing. 5,472 pages are still in the hands of the CIA and I think they should stay there, we don’t know any other methods of torture that they used except for the ones that they told us. Is it immoral to torture? Torture is torture, whether it’s extreme torture or very mild, it’s still torture, but the ends justify the means. As a country, if we can save thousands of lives by torturing a few, it’s okay. But not everyone agrees with that statement, former secretary of state Colin Powell told the CIA to do what they had to do, but not to tell him what they had to do, otherwise he would have to take action and prosecute those in the wrong. It’s like when you go to tell your mom something but she says I don’t want to know so she doesn’t have to get you in trouble. The main point of this issue is the morality of our country, is it okay for us to torture if it gets us valuable information, or is it wrong?

Fegurson Part 2

           Everyone knows what is going on in Ferguson, Missouri, if you don’t, watch the news or read the paper. Basically police officer Darren Wilson is being accused of an injustice by doing his job, and defending himself. Shooting an unarmed teenager for no reason sounds bad, and that’s what the community of Ferguson is making it seem like. But that’s not what happened, Wilson was beat and got charged by 6 foot 4 300 pound Michael Brown, and so Wilson shot him. Is this an unjustified killing? Would you consider this a murder? Who’s in the wrong here, Brown or Wilson? In order to determine this, there has to be a trial, but before the trial there has to be enough evidence, and to figure that out, the case has to go to a Grand Jury to see if it is even worthy. A Grand Jury consists of a District Attorney and a group of 12 to 23 average American citizens. This case went to a Grand Jury for a couple months, and I’m surprised it even took them that long to come to the conclusion that this officer is not guilty and was just doing his job. The whole reason for a Grand Jury is so people like Officer Wilson don’t go to prison because they are accused for shooting someone, even when it is their job. But vice versa if Wilsons shooting was dirty and he really did “shoot him for no reason” then Wilson would be put on trial and be convicted, based upon how the trial went. The Grand Jury keeps Police Officers in line, cops can’t do whatever they want without consequences, the Grand Jury takes away their power of being able to do anything, but still allows them to do their job if they are doing the right thing. The Grand Jury is a vital part of our government and without it, our justice system would fail to bring justice to those who need justice brought to them, and it could falsely convict those who are doing the right thing, such as Officer Darren Wilson.

 

 

Christianity Without Hell

          

What is hell? Hell to some people is just a word, or an idea, but to Christians, it is ones eternity. But it is an option of eternity, the other being heaven. Christians believe everyone deserves to go to hell for eternity because of our sins, but since Jesus Christ died for our sins, we now have a chance to choose, since of course God gave us free will. But what would Christians preach to non-believers if there was no hell? Because then there would be nothing to be afraid of after death. So if there was no hell would Christianity even exist? Why would it? If there’s no hell why would we want to live our lives for God if we are going to go to heaven anyways? The problem is exactly that, we wouldn’t praise God if we didn’t have to face consequences of sin. But now the real problem is, are Christians only praising God out of fear of going to hell? You can clearly tell the difference between a Christian who legitimately has an unconditional love for God, and a Christian who is just afraid of hell, technically I wouldn’t even call them true followers of Jesus. So what is the point of hell? Hell is where sinners, which we all are, who didn’t accept Jesus Christ as their savior and live their life for him, go after death. For eternity. That is a scary thought, which is why a lot of non-believers turn to Jesus, because they are scared, which isn’t wrong, its good people turn to Jesus when they are scared. But its even better when they stay with Jesus, and they become true lovers and true believers of Jesus Christ. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Hillsong's Journey

          In our world today gay marriage has became an extremely controversial topic, which is now causing churches to get shut down and leaves the christian faith extremely frowned upon. The gay community, and the people who support the gay community do not appreciate what the bible says about homosexuality, and they are finally getting sick of it. Forcing pastors to marry gay and lesbian people, and even the situation in Houston, Texas, shutting down churches if their sermons discriminate gays at all. Brian Houston is the Senior Pastor at Hillsong Church, which is now a worldwide church with locations in New York, California, and their main campus which is in Australia. Hillsong is an extremely influential church, and is where a lot of churches get their worship music from, for Hillsong is a very musically talented organization. Recently Hillsong has been bombarded with their view on gay marriage, particularly Pastor Brian, who decided to speak on the subject. He said “Its very easy too reduce what you think about homosexuality to just a public statement and that would keep a lot of people happy, but we feel at this point, that it is an ongoing conversation, that the real issues in people’s lives are too important for us just to reduce it down to a yes or no answer in a media outlet. So we’re on the journey with it.” That is a very respectful response in my opinion. The problem with this is the government is bombarding the church with questions and accusations, and the only right answer is what the government wants to hear. For example what if murder all of a sudden became legal, and the government asked the church their views on murder. And the church said well it says in the bible right here that murder is wrong, then the government would instantly be against the church, its the same situation with gay marriage, churches are getting shut down for disagreeing with the church. What happened to the first amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of religion? The church now doesn't have freedom of speech or religion. If the government is listening and they hear something they don't like they can just shut the church down, that doesn't sound like freedom. On the other hand christians do seem to discriminate against the homosexual community, making them feel unwelcome. But if thats the case then liars shouldn't feel welcome in church either because the bible professes that lying is sin, and it is wrong, so why is homosexuality so different? Why is it that liars feel welcome in church but gay people aren't? Were all sinners so whats the difference? I think the difference is the christian community in general tends to get more on the gay peoples case than the lair, or stealers, or lusters. I think we give gay people a much harder time because they are different than us, when in reality we are just as much as in sin as they are.

Ebola Doctors

Currently in our world there is much stress over this disease “Ebola” which is a type of hemorrhagic fever. Its cause of death is multiple types of organ dysfunction, but if survived it is a quick recovery. Ebola is a contagious disease which makes it easier to obtain, unlike cancer, or a genetic disease, it is a sickness. The only way for you to get Ebola is from contact with somebody’s bodily fluids who has this disease. That being said, most people wouldn’t want to go to Liberia or West Africa, which is where this disease originated from, to help these people who have this disease. Most Americans are comfortable with their life and would not want to sacrifice, or even risk it to help others, and the fact that some people do sickens them. A few Christian doctors are over in these infected areas and it really bothers people for one reason, their faith. The fact that they talk about Jesus while they do what He asks of them is just absurd to these people for some reason. Author of “In Medicine We Trust” Brian Palmer explains his view on these doctors, being an atheist he obviously does not believe in God, so his writing of this article is completely unbiased. He says in the article that if these doctors were non-believers of Jesus Christ, he would not have any critiques or complaints about what they are doing, but since they are believers he admits that he finds faults in the work that they are doing. And why is that? Why are people getting so offended about these Christian people sharing about God, God is the reason that they are even helping these people! So why is it not okay for them to explain why they are making such a sacrifice and risking their lives? I think I know the answer to why people have such a problem with this. It is because they are uncomfortable, and scared, they are scared that these Christians might be right, but do not want to admit it because they do not want to change their ways of sin. That is just one way of looking at it. Overall I think these people have no room to criticize these Christian doctors, I don’t see them trying to help, at least these Christians are making an effort to do the right thing.

Suicide Isn't A Disease

   

                          Recently Robin Williams, a famous actor and comedian that most people are familiar with took his own life because of his disease depression, which is his cause of death most people would say. But I don’t believe depression is a cause of death, I believe suicide is, and that it is a choice. Depression is a serious thing, Clinical Depression, is a serious thing actually, I don’t believe being upset for a few weeks about a break up or a loss of something or someone is depression, I believe if you are diagnosed by a doctor with clinical depression it is a serious matter. Now if you are clinically depressed is suicide an option? Or even a thought? Although I am not depressed and have never had suicidal thoughts and I cannot speak on the minds of those who are suicidal, I do not believe suicide is an option or ever should be. The thing is many people take their own life and use depression as a justified reason for their death, which it is not. The definition of suicide is- the act of taking ones life intentionally, but for me there are two different definitions of suicide, one being selfish and one being selfless. If you kill yourself because you’re sad and feel you have nothing to live for you’re a coward, whereas if you are jumping in front of a bullet to save your mothers life you are brave and a hero. The story of Sampson in the bible could be labeled a suicide but in reality it is an act of valor. During battle Sampson knocked down the pillars of the building he and all of his enemies were under, killing thousands of Palestinians and himself. Suicide because of depression is a cowardly thing, and it is selfish, it is not a symptom of depression, it is a choice. There are so many different things you can do to help with your depression, and programs you can attend to help. Robin Williams tried attending rehab but it did not help him because I believe he did not want help, you have to want help to get it. Suicide however is a very very serious and sad matter, any loss is a tragedy. Feeling so strongly against suicide I wanted to just rant about how suicide is wrong and bad and say Williams is stupid for his decision, but how can I say all that? I have absolutely no idea what he was struggling with and what he was going through, so how could I sit here and ridicule him? My heart longs for him actually, the fact that he was so unhappy with life and his decisions that his only way out of everything was suicide. My heart longs for all the people who feel this way, it is indeed a sad thing, and is no way people should be living.

Founder of Chick-Fil-A an Inspiration

On September 8 S. Truett Cathy, the founder of the restaurant chain Chick-fil-a passed away. He was a very successful man, and if you ate at his delicious restaurant you would know that, but some people don’t appreciate his success as much as others. Before Cathy died a lot of people used to admire him as a Christian man, he would close all of his restaurants on Sundays so that his workers could spend time with their families, but he also called it a silent witness to God because people would ask why it was closed and they would be told it was the Sabbath or that it gave the employees a chance to go to church. People used to admire that, about how he was open about it his faith. The company gave millions of dollars opposing same sex marriage and trying to extend marriage being between a man and a woman, Cathy did this out of his beliefs, he didn’t discriminate against gay or lesbian people, he only proclaimed his belief and did what he could to try and enforce the law of marriage between a man and a woman. Well the homosexual community was not a fan of what he was doing, they would boycott and campaign to keep chick-fil-a restaurant chains out of their cities because Cathy didn’t agree with their lifestyle. The thing that really bugs me about this tragic loss is how fake and hypocritical people are. One minute they are praising him for proclaiming his faith and being a good Christian example, and standing up for what’s not right and then after he is gone everyone is talking bad about him saying how he discriminated against gay people. The thing is you can ask almost anybody who knew him, and even people who didn’t know him, they all looked at him and saw Christ in him. Even though everybody falls short from the glory of God, I do not think Cathy is one to discriminate, I think he was just standing up for what he believes in, and if that’s wrong, isn’t it wrong for gay people to stand up for what they believe in and give money and campaign toward same sex marriage? I think people these days tend to just tell people what they want to hear and not speak their minds, although speaking your mind can sometimes not be the best idea, to me it’s better than lying to someone and being fake. Our society has fallen into a routine of just being a people pleaser and not standing up for what they think is right and what is wrong. I believe Christians do this a lot for God tells us to be in this world and not of it, but thanks to our sinful nature and our decisions we disobey God completely and we join the world in their sinful activities. I think Cathy was right for standing up for his beliefs and I stand behind that statement, he was an inspiration, a great example and a man of God, he will be missed.

The Truth About Your Kids in College

     

College is one thing that I am extremely excited for, I can't wait to have all the freedom in the world and be able to make my own choices and do whatever I want, and I am defiantly not alone. College is probably one of the most exciting moments for most people, they get to be on their own for the first time in their lives. “The heart wants what the heart wants”, a famous quote by Woody Allen is pretty straight forward, if you truly desire something in your heart you’re going to try and go get it.  Most kids feel safe and pure when they start college as freshmen, even the ones who might have been leaders at church, or very religious people, but if their hearts are not in the right place and they desire bad things, that’s what they are going to pursue. Most parents are at home thinking that their kids are probably out at a bible study when in reality they are getting hammered. There are of course those who don't not participate in vulgar activities, but most of the time a persons true self is revealed during college. And the point that I am agreeing with is that college does not change peoples hearts it reveals it. 

Purge Rumors

              The movie The Purge Anarchy recently came out in theaters which is a sequel to the movie The Purge, which made 29.8 million dollars. The main idea of this movie is that all crime is legal for 12 hours once a year, and the point of this is to reduce the crime rate, so that people save all their anger and temptations for the one 12 hour period per year. There is murder, robbery, rape, every crime imaginable is legal. I have not seen the second movie but I have seen the first. A family was broken apart and left scared and scarred. When I watch scary movies I don't get scared, however the thing scariest about this movie is the thought of it actually happening. People losing their friends and family, that's just terrifying. The point of this movie is to scare people, its a fiction/horror movie, which some people obviously took a little to seriously. In Louisville, Kentucky a teenager spread rumors about a local purge happening on August 15. He tweeted "Whos trying get a Louisville Purge started with me?" The police said they would increase their units and maximize security, because they thought there was a real threat, even though the tweet was just a prank. This story traveled throughout the United States and people started to worry about this actually happening, and how could you not? Especially if you've seen the movie ad seen the potential things that could happen, but its a good thing we have this thing called the law. Although laws can be changed, it is very unlikely that this law would be passed. The thing about the Purge is its a movie, its fiction, it would be like someone saying that they were scared of a zombie apocalypse from a movie they saw, its just not likely to happen at all. And I think these rumors and pranks should make people appreciative of not just police officers for helping protect them, but also appreciate all law enforcement and the laws that the government provides us with, keeping us safe. God gave us the law as not just guidelines but as rules so we would not just make decisions purely off our morals, because for some people that would be a very bad idea. And when you break rules there are consequences, and this teenager, who spread these rumors is facing them.

Richard Dawkins on Down Syndrome Abortion

           Richard Dawkins is an evolutionist, an atheist, an English writer, as well as a professor who taught at University of Oxford a very smart and successful man. But in all his wisdom he managed to come up with one of the stupidest things I have heard in a long time. In 2012 994 dead unborn children with Down syndrome were found in England and Wales. Dawkins was asked if he thought this was civilized and he said "Yes it is very civilized. These are fetuses, diagnosed before they have human feelings." He then says later how Down syndrome babies are just a burden on the family and that they should just try again because they have no quality of life, and it would just be child abuse keeping them alive. Which is ironic to me because I'm pretty sure killing a baby is child abuse....but maybe I'm just crazy. Abortion is already something that I completely disagree with, but here Dawkins is just crossing the line. After hearing some of the comments and remarks made to him, he then goes on to "apologize" by saying he is sorry if we, the readers, were offended by what he was saying. 
           Most parents who have children with Down syndrome say that they have very strong bonds with their children, like they would with any children. Although it feels like Dawkins is forcing his opinion, he says "I wouldn't dream of imposing my views on you", and then he continues to say how aborting the baby with the disorder is both the "moral and sensible choice." Being a Christian, I believe that God does not show favoritism, it states in Acts 10:34 “SO Peter opened his mouth and said: Truly I understand that God shows no partiality. Which means that God does not show favoritism, Dawkins, not being Christian doesn’t take that into consideration. But you do not have to be Christian to realize, “Hey killing babies is wrong”, especially babies who have Down syndrome, or any disorder! You could even compare this to racism, discrimination just because they have a disease, or are different from the common people. Although it seems I am forcing my view on you, just as Dawkins has done, even though he states that is not is intention, it is more a question you must ask yourself. Is it moral to kill not only a baby, but a baby with a disorder just because they aren’t like the common people?

Ferguson Shooting

             On August 9th, the death of Michael Brown was a tragedy and a great loss for his friends, his family and his community. On his way back from a call in Ferguson, Missouri, Darren Wilson came to a halt in the middle of the road by Michael Brown and his friend Dorain Johnson obstructing the road. Wilson knew from another unnamed officer that there had been a robbery but did not know it was Brown and his friend, who had just robbed a convenience store. As Wilson prompted them to move out of the way so that the oncoming cars and himself could pass, Brown did not listen, in fact he decided to do something else.           

             As Officer Wilson got out of his car to instruct them to move again, Brown and his friend Johnson pushed him back into the car, as Brown started to beat the officer senselessly in the head and face. The unknown source claims that there was "solid proof" that there was a struggle for the officers gun. During that struggle the gun fired, whether it was Brown or Wilson, we don't know, but at that point nobody had been shot yet. What we do know however is that Brown and his friend started to walk away when Wilson got out of the vehicle and ordered them to freeze. Brown turned around with his hands up saying, "What, you're going to shoot me?"  After his remark, Brown charged at Wilson, and then Police Officer Darren Wilson shot six rounds into the victim.             What people fail to realize about this event, is that we do not have any solid proof yet of what happened, what I just explained to you was just one of many stories that have been told about this case. Whether Brown caused his own death by assaulting and charging Officer Wilson, or Wilson shot him for no reason, we don't know yet, all we know is it was a loss for the Brown family and the Wilson family. When I started to write this, I instantly sided with the police, thinking to myself, "oh he was just doing his job" or "it was probably the kids fault." Whether he was doing his job or not doesn't matter, what matters is that not only Brown's family and Wilson's family are hurting, its people all over the Untied States who are hurting as well. And I think for me, and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a time for us to show God's love and compassion and be there for the people who are affected by this young mans death.