Sunday, May 30, 2010

Being characterised as having a 'belief system' is tiresome. I am sure there is no mallice intended but you need to know that you are simply regurgitating politically correct nonsense. You see the thing is that the term was coined in the 60s/70s/80s by a radically athiestic education programme designed to eject Christ from the classroom. All well and good say those who don't believe Christ was who he said he was but the trouble is when you don't have Christ you have a vacuum and the laws of physics say that it must be filled.

As we know Christ, who was taught to my father's generation, has been replaced by the educated elites rational. They can explain why the generations of their fathers, grandfathers and forefathers believed all this religious nonsense. Clearly they were less evolved wingnuts, fruit cakes and lunatics. We, the enlightened genetic mutations of turbo charged chimps have modernity. We say, " there, there Adrian, if it makes you happy, well done, your belief system must be very nice for you but we don't need it so please keep it away from our children." "We have higher truths to teach them like feminism, environmentalism, democracy (as long as we remain in charge) secularism and equality and diversity." There is only one Bible verse these people share with their followers, that's you by the way of the cap fits, and that's, "thou shalt not judge".

So little Johnny isn't wicked, he just has attention deficit disorder. Give him a state provided educational pyschiatrist and we’ll be fine. The drunken daugher with an STD isn't bad for giving her body away cheaply, it's her body and she'll do what she wants with it, noone has the right to judge her. Your irresponsible idle boy, who shows little respect for anyone or anything and has no sense of duty or purpose beyond the goal of his selfish satisfaction is good at heart, he's just going through a difficult phase. These attitudes stink. They are uncaring, selfish, timid and unloving. When our children started to walk we grabbed them if they were running into danger and told them the truth. There was no reason given, obedience was expected and demanded. That's because we loved, cared and provided for them. So love comes with truth. If you just grab them without love it's cruel and if you love them without grabbing them, they'll run under a truck.

Put another way if you fill their heads with ideas, philosophies, facts, figures and qualifications without love, they'll be crushed and if you shower them with love without truth and learning they'll be lost. The trouble is as parents you don't know what to believe. You hear all these conflicting claims, great ideas, and beguiling stories and it's just confusing. You have heard that religion is the cause of wars, you have seen the oppression of ideologies like communism and you have been taught by Marxists (cunningly disguised as liberals (my apologies to the true liberals out there)), that truth claims are power plays. And then to cap it all you have been taught that you have your own ideas, make your own mind up, you are independant person, nobody can judge you!

I just came by to tell you that someone can judge you and you will be judged. The charges against you will be turning your back on the one person who loved you so much that he was willing to die for you. You will be judged for putting your trust in worldly things that are corrupted and decaying. You will be judged for looking at the cross and seeing the limp, bloodied, torn, dehydrated, stinking corpse of Jesus Christ and scorning it like the paid religious professionals who hung him there. You will be judged for choosing a broad, comfortable, non confrontational easy going path that leads to darkness, lonliness and death instead of the narrow, tough and difficult path that is in the light and leads to life. The historical truth of the Cross is not a power claim, as Marx so rightly says most truth claims are, but a true story of humility, sacrifice and love. It is the most liberating, inspiring, hope giving story ever told and it's all true. Add that to your list of equality and diversity lectures.

So please don’t characterise as someone who has a ‘belief system’. If you had the cure for cancer you wouldn’t keep it a secret, likewise if you have the truth that leads to life it would be unloving and completely lacking in compassion not to share it. I understand that if, like me, you wanted to reject Jesus Christ’s truth claim in preference for your own. You do however, put your faith in something. Something atttracts your time, treasure and talents, gives you purpose and hope and maybe provides you contentment and satisfaction. Given that’s the case I would strongly encourage you to test your truth claim against mine. It’s a short life and there’s a gift of truth with a new life of purpose, meaing and love greater than you ever imagined avaibable to you, you just have to face up and accept it.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Remember

I remember a time when you could only buy ready salted, salt and vinegar or cheese and onion crisps (chips for the American audience). The introduction of beef flavuor was a wonderful thing. Now we have salsa flavour amongst hedgehog and probably pea soup.

I remember when the boxy shaped Ford Transit was brought out and my father bought one. Wow, you'd struggle to exagerate how cool I thought this was. I deeply admired the cab and the size and the newness. It fuelled a great desire for commercial transportation a passion that has dwindled.

I remember when the M27 was turned from woodland to road. I walked about 4 or 5 miles to watch the construction equipment in action. There's only one thing more exciting than a new Ford Transit and that's the site of a mechanical digger, I believe excavator is the right term, loading a one of those earth moving trucks with big wheels. Hours of fun watching the heavy machinery at work.

Don't get me started in tractors. The Ford County, what a magnificent beast. This was the first I knew of tractors with all four wheels the same size. I remain particularly fond of John Deere, big fords and of course my favourite Massey Ferguson. On the lead up to my sixteenth birthday I carefully planned and nurtured dreams of having a tractor, I really did. I honestly thought this was a feasible aspiration. Knowing that you could drive a tractor on the public road at 16 this was my ticket to freedom. Needless to say I was disappointed.

Then I remember dreams of high yeald vegtable growing. My father very kindly rented a large maching for rotating the earth and I transformed a plot of land from waste to production. From my large pile of rotted rabbit manure I fertilzed the ground and produced a bumper crop of broad beans. I had great farming plans. From the library I got books out about sillage making and cattle husbandry and made mental plans. Hours and hours of mental plans involving farm machinery, sillage, a large farmhouse and a life in the country. I kid you not this was the mind of the foureteen year old Adrian.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Stuff

I submit to you that much of your "knowledge, beliefs and convictions" are in fact an amalgam of the stuff that you have been absorbing all your life. That it is time you considered that the lens in which you view the world is corrupted and you are therefore not seeing things as they really are! Now that, if true, is a powerful statement that should give you cause for concern. Let’s discuss:

Would you admit to adopting the views, habits and opinions that most attract you? I was a particularly strange youth who took to listening to current affairs programming on the radio from an early age. I loved the liberal libertarian mindset that said you could be all you want to be, argue over morality and the person with the convincing argument gets the most votes and wins the day! Of course this allowed me to shape the world to suit my proclivities which of course unfettered were sex, drugs and rock and roll. I didn’t have to look far for the company of those who shared my passions. Did we have a good time? Yes and often. With our energy, enthusiasm, stamina, sense of sporting passion and testosterone of course we had a great time. Singing rugby songs with gusto, playing bar games with abandon, seeking to entertain and have a grand old time.

Nobody asked “what person do you suppose will emerge as a result of this behaviour and mindset?” “What effect would you like to have on the world around you, what sort of legacy do you hope to show, how so you intend to lean into the future?” Nobody saying “I tell you the truth, I speak from love, I care about you”. Not pious questions but big questions from the heart. I did have ideas of character, morality and legacy but these were cultivated in a culture that celebrated young men behaving like idiots, encouraged excess and couldn’t care less about the outcome. Where was my father during this time, my friends’ fathers, the fathers of the women I hoped would carelessly give away their bodies; where were the uncles, godfathers, where were the patriarchs? I’ll tell you. They were emasculated by an overbearing liberal led feminist ideology that had somehow convinced them that the wisdom that had lasted for millennia, about the roles of man and women was

nonsense and that equality and diversity was the new religion. There is no truth, we can all formulate our own truth and morality and it is the height of arrogance to suppose you have any right to tell me what to do. We took a vote and you lost! Well check out the streets people, see the prison population, see the incident of domestic violence and the divorce courts and see just how profoundly you have lost?

Just stay with me a little longer and suppose, hypothesize just for a moment that there is a Creator God that exists above time and beyond this material universe. Just use your imagination to suppose that something cannot come from nothing and before there was anything God existed for eternity, living in perfect relationship as an outpouring of love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Have you got that image of love? Good. Now think; all you have to do is believe and you will be gifted His righteousness. You do nothing else, no chants, no praying five times a day. Just accept that he loves you, he willingly died for you. He knew you before time began and has power over all creative forces which was ultimately illustrated in the historically recorded event of being resurrected from the dead!

Now that changes everything. The course of your life, the purpose you have each time you go out to party, the meaning of spending time amongst people and serving them, loving them. Be you a nurse, checkout girl, soldier, banker or baker you have a soul and a purpose. Now get out and party hard, dance hard, crank up the volume, have a great time but do it knowing that it has a purpose and that’s to enjoy your Father’s love.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

अल इ वांट फ़ो मदर'स डे इस अन अफ्फैर All I want for Mother’s Day is… an affair?

All I want for Mother’s Day is… an affair? According to an article on cheating and Mother’s Day that I read today on MomLogic.com, thousands of women evidently think they do. Here is the first half of the article:

AshleyMadison.com, the dating website for married people, tells momlogic exclusively that Mother’s Day is the second-busiest day of the year for female member signups.

On a typical Monday, between 2,500 and 3,000 women join AshleyMadison.com. But on the day after Mother’s Day last year, AshleyMadison.com saw close to 24,000 new signups. They anticipate that 30,000 women will join this year on May 10 — the day after Mother’s Day.

This “day after” trend is nothing new to AshleyMadison.com: Their biggest day of the year for female signups is the day after Valentine’s Day, and their third-biggest day is the day after New Year’s.

Why are holidays like these such turning points for women? Noel Biderman, president and founder of AshleyMadison.com, says, “Because they have expectations — expectations that their partnership will be celebrated and even romanticized — but that is often not what transpires ….”

Biderman (a married father of two) believes there are several reasons why women turn to AshleyMadison.com after Mother’s Day in particular:

On Mother’s Day, women in general expect to be celebrated by their partners. However, for many already suffering from a lack of appreciation, this day represents a continuation of neglect and disappointment.

Women have affairs for different reasons than men. Whereas men are usually looking for sex, women tend to seek attention that they’re not getting at home. This lack of attention often makes them feel undesirable — and feeds their need for validation.

While I have a few thoughts about Mr. Biderman and his website, I can’t argue with his logical explanation about what women need from their husbands. We need to be celebrated, appreciated, desired, and validated. He’s right on.

This article leaves me with one thought for all of the husbands reading this:

“Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it” - Ephesians 5:25

Thursday, May 6, 2010

लेट'स पार्टी हार्ड लिखे आईटी'स 1999

I just had a conversation with a fine loyal soldier who has served before the colours for 30 years. A man who was an RSM of the Coldstream Guards and today serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Air Corps. Anyway he was interested to learn what imbued meant as I had spoken about the way in which we are imbued with nonsense from popular culture. I explained - " To inspire or influence thoroughly; pervade: work imbued with the revolutionary spirit." The translates into us inadvertently being influenced, learning, absorbing, accepting received wisdom (often wrongly called common sense), all the nonsense the world would have us believe. The medium is the media, TV, talk shows, current affairs, political rhetoric and urban myth that is shared in bars, restaurants and cafes.

I submit to you that much of your "knowledge, beliefs and convictions" are in fact an amalgam of the stuff that you have been absorbing all your life. That it is time you considered that the lens in which you view the world is corrupted and in fact how you are seeing things is corrupted and you are therefore not seeing things as they really are! Now that, if true, is a powerful statement that should give you cause for concern. Let’s discuss:

Would you admit to adopting the views, habits and opinions that most attract you? I was a particularly strange youth who took to listening to current affairs programming on the radio from an early age. I loved the liberal libertarian mindset that said you could be all you want to be, argue over morality and the person with the convincing argument gets the most votes and wins the day! Of course this allowed me to shape the world to suit my proclivities which of course unfettered were sex, drugs and rock and roll. I didn’t have to look far for the company of those who shared my passions. I chose the sailing, rugby and horse riding crowd, all the debauchery you want with a touch of supposed class. Did we have a good time? Yes and often. With our energy, enthusiasm, stamina, sense of sporting passion and testosterone of course we had a great time. Singing rugby songs with gusto, playing bar games with abandon, seeking to entertain and have a grand old time.

However, and this is the big however, there was no sense of boundary, no sense of purpose, no sense of what’s it all for. Philosophers call it hedonism, having a good time for good a times sake. The result is energy and passions being consumed in a selfish way that could have been used to love and serve people. Men being encouraged to be sexual predators instead of recognising their role to love, serve and honour the weaker sex and respect and defer to those who are older and wiser. I’ll tell you how long ago this was. I remember a couple of fellas in their mid thirties occasionally joining in with our revelry and being impressed that these older men were still getting stuck in with the younger crowd.

What I missed was good counsel, honest guidance and truth from men around me. Yes there were opinions expressed, there was occasional disapproval if one couldn’t function well due to the effects of alcohol but nobody to say these are the ultimate consequences of your action. Nobody asking what character are you seeking to nurture, what person do you suppose will emerge as a result of this behaviour and mindset? What effect would you like to have on the world around you, what sort of legacy do you hope to show, how so you intend to lean into the future? Nobody saying “I tell you the truth, I speak from love, I care about you”. Don’t dismiss these questions. I did have ideas of character, morality and legacy but these were cultivated in a culture that celebrated young men behaving like idiots, encouraged excess and couldn’t care less about the outcome. Where was my father during this time, my friends’ fathers, the fathers of the women whose bodies I was hoping would carelessly give away their bodies, where were the uncles, godfathers, where were the patriarchs? I’ll tell you. They were emasculated by an overbearing liberal led feminist ideology that had somehow convinced them that the wisdom that had lasted for millennia about the roles of man and women was all nonsense and that equality and diversity was the new religion. There is no truth, we can all formulate our own truth and morality and it is the height of arrogance to suppose you have any right to tell me what to do. We took a vote and you lost! Well check out the streets people, see the prison population, see the incident of domestic violence and the divorce courts and see just how profoundly you have lost?

Why did men lose the vote? Because a three hundred year enlightenment experiment, two world wars, twentieth century conflict and a raft of convincing existential philosophers knocked all the conviction and belief out of people. People leading ordinary lives, without the time to examine the circumstances, left the reigns of power to the liberal intelligentsia bent on social engineering drawn from Marxist theories about religious power plays. And women tired of macho wars, chauvinism and weak men spotted their chance, like their mother Eve, to have control and grabbed it. You are left with the masses being free to choose the life so beautifully captured in Trainspotting. Is that not uber ironic. This iconic movie of the 80s that illustrates, in all the gory details, the consequences of a social framework that breeds dependency on the state, while telling us we are all individuals with rights to die in our addictions and take our offspring down with us. It’s no wonder radical Islam, with its controlling legalistic religion wants to see western society and all it represents wiped off the earth; let’s face it, it’s not very attractive?

Of course it’s not attractive but it’s no less attractive than the alternative Islam offers of Hijabs and Sharia Law. The point is that non of us are perfect or attractive to a perfect and beautiful God. We have all sinned and fallen short of His glory of God and the good news is, well you know the good news already, but do you really know it? Do you really know that He absorbed the wrath that you deserve, He who knew no sin became sin so that I could have his righteousness? Just stay with me a little longer and suppose, hypothesise just for a moment that there is a Creator God that exists beyond time and this material universe. Just use your imagination to suppose that something cannot come from nothing and before there was anything God existed for eternity, living in perfect relationship as an outpouring of love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Have you got that image of love? Good. Now think; all you have to do is believe and you have His righteousness. You do nothing else, no chants, no praying five times a day, just recognise that he loves you, he willingly died for you. He knew you before time began and has power over all the creative forces ultimately illustrated in the historically recorded event of being resurrected from the dead!

Now that changes everything. The course of your life, the purpose you have each time you go out to party, the meaning of spending time amongst people and serving them, loving them. Be you a nurse, checkout girl, soldier, banker or baker you have a soul and a purpose. Now get out and party hard, dance hard, crank up the volume, have a great time but do it knowing that it has a purpose and that’s to enjoy your Father’s love. So stay in control, practice moderation be in a position to help people who need help when they fall victim to addiction, emptiness, drunkenness and sadness. Even if your earthly father failed you that’s okay. People will continue to fail you, we’re just people but knowing that we are loved beyond measure no matter what this corrupted and degenerating temporary world throws at you is awesome news. Let’s party like its 1999!