Spilt Wine

Dobson v.s. Obama

I am having a hard time understanding why James Dobson feels what Obama said in a speech in 2006 to be a distortion of the bible. One of Dobson’s complaints about the 2006 speech is that Obama said the book of Leviticus suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, and that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

Again, I don’t see the blasphemy that Dobson is suggesting that Obama made.
Prior to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Hebrews lived according to the religious law, culture and traditions of their time, in which consisted to eating traditions, animal scarifies, and slavery. It is what it is. You can’t sugar coat the Old Testament. What I found interesting and true in the statement Obama made in his speech was the quote about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, wherein he called it "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes, which are the specifications for the architecture of Christian character. Accepted as a whole, they provide the ingredients for the upright Christian character.

I think Mr. Obama is right in this aspect. If we were to apply Christian principals or better yet, Jesus’ teaching to our Government’s way of business, it would in fact cease to continue as it has been.

I have been thinking, what if Jesus ran for President today, would he win? What would our Country look like if the Government applied the principles from the Sermon on the Mount to it’s foreign policy? Jesus, called by some the great pacifist, would he continue the “War on Terror”? When Jesus said to offer your other check after you have been slapped in the face, could we Americans really swallow our pride and do such a thing in this post 911 era? Would Jesus hold talks with Countries, which our Country has deem enemies? I am willing to bet that Jesus would even travel to Cuba to visit Fidel Castro on his deathbed.

(On a side note, I was just thinking last night, why is that we refuse to have any trade or communications with Cuba, who is no military threat to the US, but we have open trade with communications with China. Money… If Cuba had money, we would talk to them despite being communist.)

Anyhow perhaps Mr. Dobson should use his position and voice to influence the United States government in applying Jesus’ teaching to its policies.

First some powder

OOPS! You can't get away Brother!

How do you open this thing?

Let's see....how does Mommy make you hold still?

Oh Sister!...This IS NOT FUN ANYMORE!

Almost done Jacob!.......Uh-oh! your diaper is backwards!

Now I just have to buckle you up.......

Fini

Fathers Day has come and gone all to fast. It was a great Father’s Day weekend; swimming, BBQ, Oaks game, wiffle ball game with good friends in the A&W parking lot, evening bike ride with the family and sleeping in til 9am on Sunday, all in two fun filled days. This has been my fourth Father’s Day with my daughter and my first with my son. My friend Dan pointed out that there are a lot of roles I fulfill in life that make me who I am, but there is only ONE unique role that I fulfill and that is being a father to Jacob and Gracie. I am the only one in the whole world that gets to be their daddy. What a humbling, awesome and sometimes frightening responsibility.

This story was told to me by my wife. She tells me that while her and our four year old daughter Gracie were looking at pictures of the Dodger game we had gone to as a family, Gracie said, "Daddy sure LOVES the Dodgers". Then she says, “Mommy, don’t tell ANYBODY this, but Daddy has a BOYFRIEND. And I know boys aren’t supposed to like boys, but the Dodgers are Daddy’s boyfriend!”

Hope and Faith Part II

I ended my last blog posting on hope and faith by saying that perhaps faith is
having a passion for what isn't possible. I want to explore that a little
bit more. For the purpose of my point I am going to use the two different
opinions of how life on Earth began. On one side of the coin there is those
who believe in creation by the Great Creator. This encompasses most
religious faiths. Then there are those who believe in evolution and the big
bang theory.

The likely hood that a Great Creator decided to create this Earth, with all
of its majestic mountains, vast oceans, beautiful rivers, lakes, trees,
plants, sun sets, and wind; in addition to, the stars, moon, sun and galaxy is beyond pretty slim to none. Then to think that this Creator would then create different animals of all shapes, sizes, and purposes and then man is even more unlikely. To make things practically unbelievable and impossible, this Creator has created man in his image for his enjoyment and longs to have a relationship with each one of us despite all of our wickedness. Think about it. If there was a
Creator, in all his wisdom, power, and glory, why would he waste his time on
such flawed individuals who a lot of the time don't acknowledge him and often times work against him.

If you can't buy into that idea of creation, the only other thought is that
our existent is an accident. A mathematical miracle of unfathomable odds.
Odds that there was some huge explosion that placed earth in the prime
conditions to make molecules and cells that then made water, oxygen, which
yield plants, trees, and micro organisms, who then began to evolve into
animals. In which came the monkey who continued to evolve into modern man.
These odds don't happened. This would be like me driving to all fifty
states, buying a lottery ticket in each state and winning all fifty times. Take a
moment and think about the complexities of life. Just look at how complex our bodies are with DNA, the nervous system, the brain, heart, lungs and other organs. It just isn’t possible that an explosion of some sort accidentally set off the type of events that would bring life on this planet.

Both ideas and beliefs are not possible, but here we are. We see the
sunsets, we see the stars, we explore space, we procreate, and we exist.
Whatever side of the coin you tend to believe in, you do so with faith, as
either side cannot be absolutely prove beyond a reasonable doubt, yet people
from both perspectives believe passionately one way or the other, as
impossible it may be and that takes faith.

Faith is having passion for what isn’t possible.

Had a family outing to the Dodger game today. Here are some of the high lights. Juan Pierre stole his 22nd base of the season; crowd cheered, Jacob cried. Russell Martin hit a home run, we all cheered. Jacob cried. Matt Kemp hit a 3 run home run to take the lead over the Cubs; the stadium erupted, Jacob screamed and cried. Derek Lowe got the win, Saito struck out the side in the ninth inning and Dodgers beat the Cubs 7 to 3. Other than traumatizing my son at his first Dodger game to the point that he will probably hate baseball, it was a good day and outing.

I came up with a great bumper sticker phrase today. "Get off my ass I am saving gas."
Now the trick is, how do I make a buck or two off this?

A question was once posed to me, if there was no Religion, would Faith still exist?
That question got me thinking and has led me to a new question; can Religion exist without God and can God exist without Religion? My response to the first question is yes. There are plenty of religious people in the world, of all faiths who have missed the boat completely on God. I have seen this first hand in the Christian Faith and sadly, at different times in my life, I have been one of those people.

Regarding the second question, can God exist without Religion? Most definitely. God did exist prior to creation of man and earth. However, when I started to think about where Religion came from and how it started, I discover that it was God who had introduced Religion to man.

Let me define what I believe Religion to be so that we all can have an understanding of what I am trying to say here. I see Religion as an institutionalized system of practices and structure, wherein faith is practiced and exercise, through worship, teaching, and obedience. (I specifically left out relationships and community living. I believe for the most part, healthy relationships and communities to be organic subsequent actions of Faith not religion.)

I also understand that I am writing this post from a somewhat relative stance, of which I believe the Christianity Faith and History to be true. I hope that does not muddy up the water and that we can all still look at this from outside of the box and deconstruct it for better understanding.

God told Adam and Eve not eat from the Tree of Knowledge and to tend to the animals. That was their structure God had provided for them, wherein, if abided by, they were honoring God. It was God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments. It was Jesus who instructed us to love God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.

Are these not rules and regulations that God has imposed for us to practice and when we do so, we honor God? It appears to me that God started the ball on Religion. I know Religion is bigger than just the Ten Commandments, but they do provide a sense of structure and order and is that not the purpose of Religion?

I am not arguing that Religion is bad nor am I saying that religion is just a set of rules. I do want to make the point that rules are not bad. Instead of rules, perhaps I should call them “Devine Suggestions”. They are in place for our protection and good; however, unfortunately, the “suggestions” or rules become law, which leads to legalism. And God did not impose legalism. Jesus is quoted as saying “I come to bring life to the fullest” and “that my yoke is light”. Which is the opposite of living in bondage of rules, regulations and laws. When it comes down to it. We (man and women) are our own worst enemies when it comes to having a pure, holy relationship with our Father the Creator.

Your comments, feedback and opinions are welcomed.

Summer is about here. Though I HATE the heat of Visalia summers, there a few things I look forward to.
I look forward to:
- Coastal and Mountain Camping trips
- Fried Chicken and Fireworks on the Fourth of July
-Summer nights. Nothing is better than a Visalia night at about 10pm. Especially after it was 105 earlier in the day.
- Morning disc golf games.
- Home made ice cream
-BBQs with friends
- Swimming with Gracie