My Confession (Ben Stein)

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
- - - - -
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.
If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

It's Hardest When.

All we can do is pray.

Excuse me for being blunt, but I hate having to say that. Not because I don't believe it, but because I wish it wasn't true.

I wish there was more I could do. I wish I could feed the hundreds of thousands going hungry in Africa. I wish that I could rescue every young girl and boy living in brothels in Cambodia. I wish I could have depressed people on a 24/7 watch, so that when they start tying that rope around their necks, I could stop them. I wish that I could tell that child that they were valued, you know, the one whose parents tell them they're the reason their lives didn't turn out the way they'd wanted. I wish that I could cure the woman breathing her last breaths. I wish I could tunnel my way into the Pike River Mine - one year earlier - and rescue the men who died. I wish that I could hop in my time machine, go back to 1939 and take Hitler down. Or at least, out of the picture. I just wish that I could teleport myself to North Korea, and, and, and... And? I don't even know what I would do. What I could do. What could I do? Burst into the doors of the seven story 'Pleasure Palace', wave my wand and banish Kim Jong's successors to a land where naughty world leaders go to think about their actions? Probably not.

God, why is it so hard for us to live in this world? Why have we done such bad things with the gift of the earth that you gave to us? What is our problem? We are our own problem! Annihilate us! Too bad You're a man of your word. Rainbows and all.

Father, humble our hearts and minds... how dare we think we can do this thing on our own? If it's our fault the world's the way it is now, how can we be trusted to bring it back to Your standards? Back to right?

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.

My Heart

My heart is empty.

Christmas break, here I come.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Politics.

So, the elections are coming up which means its time that we start seeing all those semi-familiar faces on flimsy pieces of card being plastered up on every corner of every street. You know the faces; the ones you only see every three years when it comes time for them to subtly ask slash beg for your tick in their box. 


Anywho. (Google Chrome just prompted me to have that auto-corrected to 'any who' but I told GC where to go and added it to dictionary. Yeah, am I boss or what?). So, ANYWHO, I've been wanting to share my reasons for who my vote is leaning toward, but its way too long for a Facebook status, so I ran back to my blog. For the first time in an age. (I tend to do that.)


The two strongest political parties in New Zealand are National and Labour. No, I have not done thorough research in to the background and origins of either of these parties, so this post is purely based on my experience as a human being for the past 18 years. (Oh snap, I forgot, I'm 19.)


Labour is promising an increase in the minimum wage, more jobs for unemployed youth, and lowering the prices of fruit & veg. Well, these are the only things I've seen written on their posters anyway.


National is wanting to introduce measures that will not give young people more money, but that will teach young people accountability, responsibility and initiative. Instead of giving young people money to potentially waste, they're going to teach them to be good stewards of money they're privileged to be given, by giving it to them in the form of bus cards, food vouchers and whatnot. 


Sure, the stuff Labour wants to give us looks nice. Who doesn't wanna vote for the people that are saying they'll give us more money for what we already do for an already average amount? Well, when I consider the bigger picture, I'd rather not vote for them. All I've heard of them vowing is instant gratification. I understand that our nation is keen to bounce back from the Recession, but imagine with how much more energy we will be able to bounce back if we take these next few years to develop our national financial/socio-economic mindset...


Although I'd love to be paid at a higher rate, I'd love more to see a significant (in a downward direction) shift in the number of young people leaving school to go straight on the dole - where a high majority of them stay for the remainder of their existence. (I know there are people that genuinely require this assistance, I'm referring to the people who use the money as a cruisy surf through the pockets of hard working New Zealanders). So yeah. 


Positive change in this nations' financial and even emotional mindset starts in each person. Change is inevitable and individual. So I'm going to vote for the people that are wanting to positively affect the way we think about ourselves, our money, the nation and the nations' money. 


Blah, blah, blah, Politics. 

(I wish this guy was running for President. ^)

Treasure Holding Rubbish

Quick post.

Driving through Manukau City this afternoon, my mother and I passed the back of the Warehouse. They had those large metal cage rubbish bins that most companies have, and theirs was filled to the brim and overflowing. About 15 flattened cardboard boxes were sitting atop the rest of the trash, they were clean and seemed to be in reasonable condition. And so what did we do? Well, of course, we parked up next to that bin and started to load up our little car. Hahaha! I know, it's such a fresh thing to do.

So anyway, while we (it was only mum to be honest) loaded up the small car, I got to thinking about those boxes. What had they held before the life was flattened out of them, and they were disposed of? What was their purpose? What was the costly good being held securely within the walls of those cardboard cubes? Whatever the answer to my questions were, it didn't matter anymore. The box had served its' purpose, it was no longer needed and no longer wanted. Nobody would suffer as a result of the absence of the Average-Joe boxes. More than likely, nobody will even notice anything is missing from the storeroom of the Warehouse.

But then I got to thinking about what we were going to be using the boxes for... We'd unload them from the car, bring them into our warm, homely lounge and begin to unfold them. We would give these boxes back their original shape, redeem them from their flattened and depressed states. I pictured the boxes being sealed with brown duct tape, or masking tape, or whatever it is called... I pictured it in my mind. Once the boxes were given their shape back, we'd gift them with a new purpose. To hold our treasure, to secure the earthly possessions that we love enough to move from house to house with us. The boxes, once considered rubbish, would soon be holding within their secure selves the memories of our lives. Photos, diaries, bracelets, but even more so memories of days gone by, secret journal entries and friendship reminders. What amazing purposes these boxes would have... without them, we would be without a place to store our treasures. Our treasures in this world would be wayward, individual and more likely to be lost or forgotten.

Well, I don't really have a conclusion except to say that I seriously believed initially that this would be a short post. So much for that. Ah well, Blogeleina is back I guess, long, overly deep posts and all.

Who knew that so much could be said about a pile of discarded, flattened and meaningless cardboard boxes?
But then again, who would think that God could make so much of you and I...?

Love, Where Is Your Fire? Brooke Fraser

Love, where is your fire? I've been sitting here smoking away
making signals with sticks and odd ends and bits, but there's no sign of a flame
Imposters have been passing, offering good-feeling glow
but I'm holding out for what you are about - an inferno that burns to the bone
some urge me to be temperate, lukewarm will never do

[CHORUS]
'Cos I, I wana (know I'll) blaze with you
So i'm holding my heart out to you
Holding my heart out

So I stand, handing out torches
speaking words that are lamps to their feet
Til the time when you come and I'm whole and we are one and the fire in me is complete
Some tell me to be moderate but lukewarm will never do

[CHORUS]

[BRIDGE]
Then a doubt comes to lie at the back of my mind
That I'll offer you me and you'll politely decline (no thank you)
So i hasten to mute it, I'll shout and rebuke it - "away!"

I hate you Apathy.

There are many things that motivate me to want to do something great in this world. When I watch a movie like Blood Diamond, and the Special Effects, Lighting, Camera Angles and Backing Track cause me to feel great empathy for the child soldiers. These children are stolen from their homes, which are most commonly ruined by Guerilla warfare, and brainwashed into believing that their kidnapper is actually their saviour. Their saviour from the ignorance of not fighting, of being a passive and loving person, and of having feelings other than hate and murder toward anybody but yourself. Watching the movie Blood Diamond makes it so easy to see why somebody should do something for those children. It would just make sense, to see an injustice and then feel inside of you that you need to do something about it. It just makes sense. Even watching videos on Youtube that people have made about the prevalence of Human Trafficking in todays' Modern World. There are real videos of children selling themselves, and their ability to give oral sex to a visiting tourist. Listening to songs about these slaves makes my heart stir, and somehow arises in my heart, the desire to save these children, these girls, these slaves. Reading books that vividly explain situations in which families of young children are forced to run for their lives and take refuge deep in the forests of their countries because the government are pursuing them for becoming a Christian. I read the many cases of girls that are raped because they are Christian, and houses being burnt to the ground because inside were a secret group holding a church service secretly in the hopes of not being found out by the government. When I read these stories, my very insides churn and are wrenched with the gloominess of uselessness, of helplessness and that desire again fires up that I need to help these people. That I need to run to these people and give them aid, give them refuge, give them safety and security. I feel for them, I yearn for their safety, I have an inner cry for these people and I feel sad for them and with them. 


But. I do not think that I am the only one that feels this way. I bet that most of the people that watched Blood Diamond felt as though their hearts were being ripped out for the safety of the innocents in Africa. I bet that most people had a sleepless night or two, tossing and turning, questioning themselves and what their lives are focussed on. The same with the Youtube videos, a lot of those videos have had at least 1000 views. Those people would have also had the burden on their hearts for these young children forced to sell themselves for little or no pay. More than just me would have looked further into the facts, and may even have shared the video on their Facebook page, or the link on their Twitter account. Christians, I am certain, after reading a copy of the Voice of the Martyrs monthly newsletter, will have sent money over to Christians in Persecuted countries. They may have even written a letter or two, or four to the governments about releasing Gao Zhiseng out of their custody. Many will have signed the petitions and did a great thing being a part of such a noteworthy cause.


But. I do not want to be one of those people. There will be no backing track, fancy camera angles, or script after the movie. There will only be real life risky situations. There will only be children that want to kill you for helping them, and there will be no yell of 'cut'.There will be just you. And to add to the emotions you once felt for these children, will be confusion, fear, anguish, and more. 
In those countries with the sex slaves, you can't press pause once you have gotten yourself into the business of going up against Traffickers. You can't exit the internet browser, because a court case is not an internet browser, it is just you and a judge that has the power to have you killed. There is no encouraging song in the background, just the sound of your pain and the silence of your thinking... What the hell have I gotten myself into? And the truth is, there is no way out then. It's a consequence that has its effects forever.
Going up against a government doesn't end with the closing of a pamphlet. You will probably get killed or come close to it. And like I said, you can't flick the page or speed up time, you just have to live with it. Or die with it. And yeah, that is the truth. There aren't fancy letter heads flicking across the screen of your life, there aren't moving pictures of the disaster... You live in the disaster, you are a part of it. Sometimes it may even be your picture taken. Truth I say.


So yeah, I do not know what I want to be. But moved by music and cinematography is not one of them. I do not want to rush because I want to be sure, that I am committed and I understand the consequences of my actions. I don't want to get out there and then be faced with something that makes me think "Hey, this wasn't in the guidebook... I want a refund!" Because their lives are not refundable!!! In fact, who even has the capacity to put a price on them???!!! Oh it angers me so. sdfldfkldfkjfjaiosPDSKodfi-0fiew-0fi03.


Most people will think I am over-reacting and making things bigger than they are. I just think that they are under-reacting and making things smaller than they need to be.


I hate you apathy.