SuperSparky's blog

I Just Had a Star Wars / Obama Epiphane

[caption id="attachment_701" align="aligncenter" width="336" caption="Chancellor Palpatine, Evil in Disguise"][/caption] I was somehow in the twilight zone and some how Star Wars then the Presidential election swirled together.  Then I snapped back to reality when I saw something in my mind that turned me cold. Everything in Star Wars, and about the old republic and such can be likened to what is happening today.  First let's create some definitions: Star Wars, then their Real Life Equivalent

• Old Republic -> United States of America (A Republic too).
• Young Anakin Skywalker -> The gullable, indoctrinated, "hope of the future" liberal youth.
• Obi Wan & Qui Gon Gin -> Sarah Palin and John McCain, respectively.  Also represent parents.
• Queen Amadala -> The ignorant and trusting populace in awe or in love with what they should be in fear of.
• Senator Palpatine -> Barack Hussein Obama.
• The Trade Organization's Seige of Naboo -> The current Fannie Mai and Freddie Mac so-called "bail out" fiasco.  All caused by Democratic socialist requirements for unreasonable loans to those that could not afford them.  You can only burn a candle at both ends for so long.
• Jar Jar Binks -> Joe Biden and Barney Frank (take your pick, they are both idiots, and no matter what they do general maheim is the result).

The story pretty much goes the same way.  Like Palpatine, Obama uses and exploits things happening in the republic that he secretly endorses and supports that makes him look like a messiah or hero.  When in fact, he's a Marxist wolf in sheep's (or messiah) clothing.  He makes sure everything is a nearly perfect storm to have the people WILLING and almost begging to give up the liberties and control they enjoyed for many years and previously faught hard and long for.  Like anyone hunting for absolute power, he uses those to reach his goals and then tosses them aside when the usefullness is over.  Obama, tosses aside his pastor, his Acorn group, his friends, his own family (brother, aunt, etc.) and sweet talks many people to join his side with promises of power. He has the minorities and the poor swooning at his feet treating him like he is the messiah, yet it is the very socialist programs that keep them poor and in their condition.  Programs Obama fully endorses even to legalized theft of those not participating in social welfare programs.  In Star Wars Sanator Palpatine looked like their savior, he was going to make the republic safe.  He was going to bring "peace" to the galaxy.  What he did do was eliminate liberties, and brought "order" to the galaxy, but certainly not peace.  He even was granted emperorship.  This was the beginning of the end for Rome, once a republic as well. I don't need to get more specific than that.  It's oddly similar in how fiction predicts current events. It's easy to follow along.  Just was what and how the Old Republic in Star Wars was replaced and turned into a dictatorship or empire?  Look at what Obama and your Democrat party wants to do to our Republic all in the name of Marxism.  Nothing good can come of this.  Marxism and socialism always and will always fail. [caption id="attachment_703" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Padme Amidalla of Star Wars"][/caption] "So, this is how liberty dies; to the sound of thunderous applause." - Senator Amidala (Former Queen)

May I Present People That Can Think?

May I present people, intelligent people that know how to think, these people also explain their thoughts and conclusions.  They aren't star struck.  They are also not afraid to express their opinions.  They are also not afraid to call a spade a spade, a liberal a liberal, and a Marxist a Marxist. First, may I present a young, handsome, African American Conservative:

You'll never see that on the drive-by media! Here's one you did see on the liberal media, although not intentionally; and on CNN for that matter!  Yet another African-American Conservative:

I believe he articulated his desires and issues quite eloquently and intelligently. Perhaps, just perhaps, African-American Democrats may just want to study some history.  Especially around the time of slavery and the civil war.  A new political party was formed in support of freedom for all.  It was once a "third party" that many of the Whig and older Federalist party defected to out of conservative solidarity.  It was the party that got an unlikely candidate elected to be President of the United States.  That party was the Republican Party and that President was Abraham Lincoln.  The south mostly consisted of Democrat slave owners.  The North, while also having Democrats, had a majority sympathetic to the new Republicans.  Although those remaining in the Whig party didn't care if the south seceded or even had slaves, the Republicans grew tremendously quick. Well, after the North won the Civil War, and President Lincoln ended slavery and of course new amendments made to the Constitution, the Democrats didn't like the idea.  Some local southern Democrat offices helped to start and fund a new organization and movement designed to secretly, yet overtly make former slaves lives a living hell.  This new organization was the Klu Klux Klan.  True, it was not "officially" sanctioned by the national Democrat party, it was funded and endorsed by local chapters.  The national party never denounced it either.  It was essentially the militant wing of the Democrat party. As history progressed and racism remained, it was always the Democrats in the various local and State governments resisting change (for the better) for African-Americans.  In fact, those most resistant were always Democrats, including Governors! As history progressed further, and the 1960's happened.  The liberal "peace" movement was the perfect time for the Democrat party to be suddenly seen as "friends of the oppressed."  It was pure genius.  They, instead of fight the "former slaves" decided to instead buy off their loyalty.  They offered and promised handouts, social programs and such as a means to "get even with whitey".  The genius here is that instead of conventional slavery, they would instead enslave them financially and still keep their votes and loyalty.  They would promise them that the USA did them wrong, so now the USA would support them by giving them what they "deserved".  Programs like welfare, low income housing government projects and such were excellent means to gain a loyal enslavement.  A free check from the government meant they wouldn't be asking for and competing for "white jobs".  It also guaranteed poverty and a means to keep them somewhat angry. The message of the Republicans, that anyone can succeed if they worked at it and tried hard was lost to the free handout. The last conservative statement given by a Democrat was John F. Kennedy, and was apparently lost to deaf ears:  "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country."  That is a basic Republican and Conservative standard, yet spoken by a Democrat... how odd. What's happened today?  The Democrat party has managed to indoctrinate and and convince people to vote for a system that is a social system that has historically failed miserably time and time again, and resulted in the poverty and failure of cultures.  They, through an African man, have managed to tell people to go to hell and at the same time made them look forward to the trip by sheer devotion. Obama is a false messiah, an anti-Christ (that is the definition).  There have been and will be many more, but he is one of the bigger ones.  It is amazing that a group of people that have a long history of oppression by many nations and cultures, would embrace something and someone so against personal freedoms and liberties, that it can only be attributed to long term genius of deception and indoctrination. Unfortunately, this time the enslaved people are chosing enslavement of their own free will because the guy looks like them and says he will give them free things. Frankly, sometimes, in the very end, after all efforts to show you the truth are exhausted, you get what you deserve. Incidentally, the only Presidents in the history of the USA that employed and entrusted African-Americans with cabinet, military, and advisory positions where Republican Presidents (Reagan, and both Bush's). People of all races will vote Democrat, thinking that 60 years of failed social programs, just might work this time.  According to recent studies of respected economists, the great depression dragged on ten times longer by FDR's socialist "New Deal" than if the market was allowed to recover on its own.  The new socialist restrictions on a capitalist economic system actually limited the market's ability to recover.  How Hoover failed was by doing nothing at all to combat serious issues with the economy, which were socialist restrictions and a lack of control of greed (yes you read that right).  Even capitalism has its severely uncontrolled dark side called "Monopolism".  If you take the "human" out of capitalism it becomes cold Monopolism quite quickly, and that's what happened with the great depression.  Had Hoover put in controls on worker's rights and basic decency, I seriously doubt the depression would have been much to speak of and so-called workers unions would have been unnecessary. Now to today's economy.  Democrats try to blame it (along with everything else) on the Bush administration.  I'm afraid not.  It's socialist restrictions put on banks and the stock market, enforced by two bloated government insured bureaucracies allowed to run amok with their socialist rules and agenda which nearly ruined the banking system and thus the economy.  All aspects traceable to the Jimmy Carter administration, Clinton administration, and the congressional oversight committees chaired by Barney Frank.  Not allowing banks to refuse risky home loans was a major factor in this.  The so-called "everyone is entitled to a home" was a socialist rule and a big problem for the economy to support forever.  It's like chopping down the whole forest just to keep warm.  That's how Democrats create "good economies" and how they leave it to a Republican to clean up the mess and take the blame when there's no more forest to burn. Socialism cannot be maintained.  When you steal from the rich, and give to the so-called poor, eventually the rich become poor or get to a point to where it isn't worth working 60 hours a week for only 30 hours worth of take-home pay (and employing 30 people) and know it's going to some bum that doesn't want to work (France anyone?).  It's a fundamentally flawed system that will never ever work.  Why bother?  Just fire 25 of those workers and leave it at that. What better way to control people!  Have them all dependent on the government.  Remember the Soviet bread lines, poor quality housing, bad public safety, no freedoms, etc?  That is the kind of government that Obama wants.  That's the kind of power he wants over you, because you are "too stupid" (or can't be trusted) to make your own decisions.  He will take care of you, the government will know best.  Remember, he's the "saving messiah". Now, listen to this.  Companies give people jobs.  Many "rich" people own companies.  Many invest in companies.  These companies could not make their money without PEOPLE employed for their various tasks.  The greater the employee's responsibi lity and affect on profits their actions have, the larger their compensation is.  Usually, this involves a lot of expensive schooling or years of experience.  Not every rich person is born rich.  In the USA, most are self-made rich.  They got that way by having a great idea and working hard at it. Now, if someone like Obama, wants to steal hard earned money from companies and those that achieved an income level by working hard and a long term personal and financial investment to get there, then they would have to get rid of those employees making them money, when that money that Obama takes from them could be paying employee's wages.  Social taxation feeds high-unemployment.  France (and now a lot of Europe), is an excellent example of this social burden.  It's why none of them have growing economies. The USA got to be as great and powerful as it is because of capitalism and enginuity AND the desire to sell a new idea.  Take away the incentive and you take away the economy it's based on. The only permanent poor in this country are living in Democrat run areas of this country (New Orleans anyone?).  Using socialist welfare programs to just barely keep them alive.  That money would be better spent teaching them a trade and giving them an incentive to work hard and thus improve their lives, instead of keeping them where they are, by a regularly given handout.  A hand-up and must more useful and compassionate than a handout ever will be.  Besides, doing so would leave more funds and more means to better support and take care of those that truly cannot take care of themselves like the severely physically and mentallty challenged.

The Post Turtle

Well, here we go again.  Senator Barack Hussein Obama, the president of hypocrisy, socialist poster-boy, and "the One", the liberal messiah, is whining again when the truth about him is spoken.  Poor Obama, FOX News is picking on the omnipotent one.  It's just not fair.  If FOX had not been doing their jobs, asking the questions the rest of the media should be asking, checking the claims both candidates make and calling them on it when shown to be lies, and questioning the personal friends and associations of each candidates; then Obama would be 4% higher in the polls.  Well, duh!  Oddly enough, that is true, but not for the whiny reasons he'd want us to believe; that is, FOX is needlessly picking on him.  As with all liars and narcissists, when the light of truth shines upon them and exposes their various lies, they tend to lash out, even to the gnashing of teeth.  How dare they tell the truth!  How dare they expose your anti-American friends!  How dare they expose your shady dealings in Chicago politics and Acorn!  How dare they point out his inexperience!  Only he is allowed to do this himself (ala the probes into Sarah Palin and "Joe the Plumber")  The plan and ruse was going so well! It's like watching an episode of Scooby Do, where the kids catch the bad guy and those famous words, "If it hadn't been for you meddling kids, my plan would have worked!" The news media is so excited about this election, they want it to happen and happen for Obama in the worst way.  They ignore Obama's association with Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, Senator James Meeks, the crooked Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Acorn, Sam Graham-Felson (a communist/Marxist), all in favor of the story of the century.  Liberals are so excited, they are like a dog that latches on to your leg and "goes to town" because he's so excited your there.  Liberals don't care about who he is, his lack of experience, his associations, nothing.  They are just hoping a true Marxist makes it into the Oval Office so they can tell him what to do. Obama is a Pinocchio.  Without his teleprompter, he's useless.  His managers try their best to keep him isolated (alluding to the first paragraph).  When he strays, his true Marxist nature comes out.  Yes, Obama said he wants to "spread the wealth".  Get rid of companies, business owners, corporations, the rich, etc. you are left with only one thing, the poor.  The Soviet Union is an excellent example of what socialism and communism is.  The party members becomes the rich, not those with talent and incentive, and the poor are the rest of the populace.  Without incentive and the ability to invest and take risks, the economy stagnates and eventually the whole system falls apart. Before you start up about the economy and current situation, may I remind you it was government enforced social rules on banks that ruined the system.  Forcing them to give home loans to those that, frankly, should still be renting, not owning.  Any time the government exercises socialist controls on a capitalistic system it causes that system to collapse, as our economy has demonstrated.  Oh, incidentally, one of those that was directly involved in this problem, besides Barney Frank, was Barack Hussein Obama.  However, the press will never bring that up. If Barack's plans were ever to come into effect, I guarantee you that the Jimmy Carter era will look like nothing compared to the mass failures in the market expected by Obama's plans.  Mass Socialist programs galore.  When you take money away from businesses and those that give people jobs, all you do is remove the incentive for them to make money and hence HIRE PEOPLE.  Less people with jobs, the less people buying goods, the more people dependent on government.  Eventually no more money is being generated or collected, and the incentive to make it is gone, especially if the government is going the STEAL your hard earned money and give it to some bum not willing to work hard.  Giving someone a hand up is one thing, but giving a hand out is theft. Why should I work 60 hours a week in a small business to earn me $200,000 a year, when Obama wants to take a large portion of it and give it free and clear to some so-called "poor" person who didn't earn it, just to "spread the wealth"?  Why not instead educate that poor person on a skill or how to run their own business instead? "Poor" in this country is not static, like Carl Marx wanted people to believe.  This country has always been the land of opportunity, a place where the poor can become rich and successful if they work hard at it.  This means the majority of the poor are no longer "the poor" a decade later.  They are replaced by other "poor", some who used to be "rich".  It's a fluid situation.  In fact the only areas where you can demonstrate "permanent poverty" are where social "hand out" programs are in effect.  After all, why go and get a job, when you get a check from the government every week (New Orleans, anyone)? Senator Biden has been dropping gaffe-bombs, left and right, many going way beyond stupid and mis-statements.  The guy is an idiot, and has been in the Senate for decades!  Yet, the wolves of Obama's campaign and the media ship a bunch of lawyers off to Alaska to investigate a GOVERNOR to see if she is qualified to be a Vice President.  Such obvious partisanship is responded to with "whaaat?  Oh no, we are just checking on her statements."  We hear things like "Governor Palin has no experience to be Vice President"  WHAT?!!  How about Barack Hussein Obama's complete lack of experience to be President?!!  His been an active senator for 120 days and before that he handed out flyers!! What better person to meet with foreign dignitaries than someone who is friendly, down to earth, tough, and very endearing to others.  Why have a stuffy politician when you can have a genuine American as a Vice President?  Joe Biden?  He's an idiot, and every time he opens his mouth he proves it.  Sarah Palin?  She proves her competence every time she opens her mouth and she proves she doesn't take crap from anybody in that same process.  I am confident the liberals fear the lack of control and lack of coercion Sarah Palin demonstrates fuels their vitriol.  This includes those in Congress, Hollywood, and the main stream media.  They fear Sarah Palin because she is not buy-able. Barack Hussein Obama is mad, steaming mad and hopes if he can just avoid the truth just until election day, he'll have the election in the bag.  This is why he's angry. This leaves with the following story, I have no idea if it is true, so let's just assume it is humorous fiction.  Nevertheless explains it all:

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.  Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our President. The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle'". Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a "Post Turtle" was.  The old rancher said, "When your driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'Post Turtle'". The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain.  "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb-ass put him up there to begin with."

I Could Not Have Said It Better Myself

Today, I was going to write this big and long winded blog about how the USA is falling into the cesspool of political correctness and so-called "progressiveness".  I was half way into it, and doing some research (blog posters DO research don't they?) I came across this magnificently made video that I am completely sure is in the accurate spirit of the man Thomas Paine himself.  Watch it, and share it with everyone you know.  I could not have said it better myself, and decided to ditch my work in favor of a simple embedded link to the video, which says it so much more eloquently than I could ever have said: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFKGrmsBDk]

This, my friends, is exactly how I feel, and I know many of you feel.  This concludes my latest post, brief though it was.

The " War " on Terrorism

I recently read an article by the lovely and very eloquent Ann Coulter.  She was praising President George W. Bush for keeping us safe for the past seven years, and I join her in that praise.  However, I have some complaints as to how President Bush has fought the war on terror the past seven years. Anyone that grew up in the Vietnam war era (and is a conservative) would tell you we could have won that war and won it quickly, if our armed forces were allowed to fight it like we have fought wars in the past.  In Vietnam, it was too politically correct.  Too many rules to follow and too much "respect" for those shooting at us.  This fear of the press and obedience to ridiculous UN imposed "rules of engagement" caused that war to be a failure, a bloody failure.  The armed forces of the United States are not Constitutionally intended to be international police nor "peace keeping" forces. After September 11, 2001 President Bush declared that "if you're not with us, then you're against us" and sounded all big and bad about avenging the dead.  Well, unfortunately, President Bush should have taken some lessons from General Patton and Douglas MacArthur of World War II.  The way you win wars is to completely obliterate and demoralize the enemy until they surrender.  You certainly do not refuse to bomb a mosque the bad guys use as a headquarters because you "respect their religion"!  You destroy the mosque and kill those inside it so they think twice about doing it again.  You do it so the people that love their mosque in the next town will help you next time so their mosque doesn't get destroyed.  Once the enemy knows your weakness, they exploit it. The so-called innocents are not innocent if they aid the enemy or refuse to point them out.  People will think twice about putting their children up as shields if the enemy is what they are shielding.  The key here is, that if the children are killed in the process of killing the enemy, then using children as shields won't be tried again.  People do not realize how many innocent lives could be saved in the long run if the war was fought as a war.  I seriously doubt that this wouldn't be going on for seven years if our military would just have been allowed to kick ass until an unconditional surrender or the people bring the bodies of the terrorists themselves to stop the war. The other problem was inviting reporters in with the fight.  Kick these liberal jackasses out.  The Constitution only applies in the USA with freedom of the press.  The press was tightly controlled in World War II, and for good reason. So yes, President Bush has protected us the past seven years.  I don't think people give him credit for that. It's just I think seven years is a bit unnecessary if this "taking it to the enemy" war would be fought like wars have always been fought. Stop picking on grannies and stop banning two year old's from flying just because they have a similar name to a known terrorist.  While I do know that some two year old's can be a terror and some can de-calcify one's spinal column at the mere sound of them screeching, I have never known of a two year old capable of hijacking a jet liner.  The TSA is Bush's seven year failure.  If all hijackers and terrorists to date have been of Middle Eastern descent and of the Muslim faith, then it's not racial profiling to be concerned over those matching that description.  It's called being intelligent not racist.  Ignoring the obvious is stupid and a waste of time.

Air-infidel

When World War II was over, we did something we have never done before (except after the civil war).  We helped our once enemy rebuild all of those buildings we bombed.  We helped the economies and infrastructures of both Japan and Germany grow healthy again, but this time under a free and people chosen government; of course, under our careful watch.  Look at what Japan and Germany have turned into.  They are free countries with free markets free of dictators and fascism.  Their people now choose their own destiny.  Churches, schools and temples are restored.  Life eventually continues on with the new. This brings me back to our modern war.  Instead of not bombing mosques and such with terrorists holed up in them.  Just use them for bombing targets until they realize all they are accomplishing is getting their mosques destroyed.  When the war is over, help to rebuild those mosques.  Being afraid to bomb certain buildings gives the enemy a weapon they otherwise wouldn't have.  Buildings can be replaced, no matter what they are.  The key is to let the enemy understand they are vulnerable no matter where they are holed up, be it church, hospital, mosque, or school. As to Pakistan, they have to be made to understand that either they throw out Al Quida and get their border under control or we will.  As long as the Pakistani tribes on the border of Afghanistan know we won't bomb or invade that part of Pakistan, they will always harbor Al Quida and the Taliban.  If they realize it is not in their best interests to do so (ie: they get killed or bombed because Al Quida or Taliban is in their village), then Al Quida and the Taliban will no longer be welcome.  Yes, I think fair warning to them is justified, but also the acknowledgment they were warned, but ignored it, if villagers die in an effort to kill the enemy. Pakistan has no legitimate leg to stand on by saying they are neutral or sovereign.  If people are coming from their country and killing our soldiers and are being protected and harbored by their citizens, then they need to understand we have a right to fight back even within their borders to stop it. Yes, President Bush has kept us safe for seven years.  I just wonder could it have been less than seven years to have really won this war?  I believe so, and to hell with the inept, liberal, and pompously pontificating UN should they complain.  Personally, I feel anyone that does complain should have all aid and/or military support (and we protect 70% of the world ourselves) removed immediately.  A vulnerable country is a cooperative country. Frankly, as useless as the UN is, we should evict them and make Switzerland deal with those jackasses.  Most of the money that funds the UN comes from the USA.  Why we still allow that corrupt and inept organization dictate to the world how to behave when they line their pockets with shady deals and child sex and rape scandals is beyond me. The League of Nations was inept, the UN is inept.  Why oh why do we still put up with them? Sorry Ann, but Bush could have done better.  The surge was a much needed improvement, but totally unnecessary had it just been fought like a war in the first place.

Part 2: The Creation (or The War of Science and Main Stream Christianity)

This article is sort of a "I really should have written about this in the other article" type thing. Somehow I just couldn't get this topic out of my head.  Perhaps it was viewing the History Channel recently, and their fetish with constantly misunderstanding or misrepresenting Christian (and Jewish) beliefs about the Earth and its history. Here are some myths I typically hear from "experts".

The Earth Is The Center of The Universe Myth

The first thing I want to write about is the so-called "Christians believe the Earth is the center of the universe" myth.  Granted, there were many arrogant weasels in the dark ages that loved to think of themselves that way, and even enforced it as so-called "doctrine", but it's not something Jesus nor his Apostles ever taught.  It was not taught by Moses either.  Granted, the people of the Earth and God are the only topics in the scriptures, but the Earth is not mentioned as being exclusive, nor the center of the Universe.

I'd like to side-step a moment before I continue with this, and remind those that have actually read the Bible, about Jesus' number one pet peeve he always had with the Jewish powers that be (usually the Pharisees).  Jesus spoke of the Mosaic law, as it is written (and given by him before his birth mind you, so he is an expert), and the ridiculous additions people would add on to it.  Things like limiting the distance you can walk on the Sabbath, or eating corn from the stalk while walking through a corn field on the Sabbath, or healing on the Sabbath, or saving your ox on the Sabbath, etc. etc.  Jesus emphasized the Sabbath was made for the good of man and not simply as a limitation on every seventh day.  Point?  Man loves to fill in non-existent blanks with their own stupid rules and so-called dogma, usually out of ignorance, but also for power.

OK, back to the topic at hand.  The "Earth is the center of the universe" is a man-made dogma that has no origins nor basis in the scriptures.  The "Earth-centric" beliefs started from ignorance and molded into doctrine as many things did at the time of Jesus.  The account of Earth's organization in the book of Genesis, speaks of the Earth, but it doesn't say everything revolves around it.  The only thing we can say is that the teachings in the books in the Bible are all written to the people of the Earth and nothing more.  Anything else is guessing and conjecture. The "Earth-centric" belief is a tradition that has damaged Christianity far too much in history, and it has to stop.

The Earth Is 6000 Years Old (give or take a few) Myth

OK, I want people to remember part one of this article, and Moses' account of the organization of the Earth, before jumping down my throat.  This is one of those misunderstood issues with the Earth simply perpetuated from the use of "create" in the Bible instead of "organize", a translation error.  It's amazing how a poor translation can create so much confusion with just one word!  I have some things for you to think about:

1. The materials used to organize the Earth and where they came from is not covered, nevertheless, God commanded materials be brought together to form the solar system and everything needed to support man on Earth.  How old those materials are is unimportant, but can cause confusion.
2. It is written in Genesis that this organization took six periods of time to complete.  This is translated as "days", but could have just as easily been translated as months, years, centuries, etc.  It was a vague phrase denoting periods of time.  The translators chose "days".  Frankly, I have no problem with 6000 years ("a day to God is a 1000 years to us," look it up), but it's not important if it really was a day or not.
3. The Garden of Eden is a specific place on the Earth, not the whole Earth, and nowhere does it say how long Adam and Eve lived in that Garden before they were tossed out.  It could have been millions of years, or week.  We don't know.  We do know that, in the Garden, everything was preserved and unchanging, but we know nothing of what went on outside the garden while Adam and Eve were in it.  This leaves a large question mark on the "after organization" age of the Earth that wasn't part of the Garden of Eden.
4. The Garden of Eden was in Africa, or the Middle East or wherever.  Listen, everyone seems to forget one very important thing in the Bible.  There was this big flood, and everyone, but Noah and his family, were killed in it.  Water has currents, it flows quite easily.  Sure, it rained 40 days and nights, and I'm sure a lot of other things happened to contribute to the deluge (ice caps?), but we know the Earth was a veritable Water World for a time.  I'd say it was a VERY LONG TIME before the ark could land on land, and I'm sure the ark had food as well as animals to cover it.  Nevertheless, they could have started anywhere on Earth and landed anywhere on Earth.  Like most people, they named things after the old things ("New" York, "New" Hampshire, etc.) so their naming of rivers where they ended up gives no credence to where the Garden was originally.  Just because there's a river called "Sidon", doesn't mean it's THE "Sidon" mentioned in relation to the Garden of Eden.  For all we know Noah and Adam could have lived in Australia or the Americas (which I believe it was) for that matter, and there was the Garden's place.  So using existing landmarks to "place" the Garden of Eden is a fruitless endeavor.  You can travel pretty far drifting in a boat.
5. Dinosaurs.  Of all the ridiculous "fill in the blanks" stories I have heard from so-called "Christian Scholars" about the Dinosaurs.  They even peddle this BS on young children claiming Jesus road Dinosaurs!  Please, please, please, stop making Christians look like complete idiotic nutjobs with this Dinosaur BS!  Please refer to #3 above and then re-think about what might have happened to the Dinosaurs.  The fact is, they are not mentioned in the Bible ANYWHERE.  So stop making up stories about them.  There are many logical and reasonable possibilities for them and none go contrary to teachings in the Bible.  God has a good reason to keep that knowledge from us and I can live with that.

If UFO's and Aliens Were Found to be a Truth, Then It Would Rock The Foundations of Religion!  Myth

Oh please help me to stop laughing about this one!  So, you mean that to find proof that the Earth isn't the center of the universe, and that God has other creations as infinite as the stars, is supposed to be some sort of threat to religion?  The only threats I see are to the false dogma's perpetuated by some religions that the Earth is God's only unique location for life. It would just mean that the reality of God's intelligence is far superior to that of even man's imagination. Why would God bother with all of the trillions and trillions of galaxies and stars unless his plans far exceeded measly (and arrogant) Earth?  While I do believe the Earth has a special purpose, I do not believe it is exclusive in the universe for life.

Technology Is Evil!  Myth

This is another myth I cannot help but laugh at the blind stupidity of some that feel this way.  Everything on Earth has dual uses.  It can either be a tool for good or a tool for evil.  It doesn't matter what the tool. God made us stewards over this planet and gave us the materials to better our lives.  Every natural resource is a gift and for our responsible use.  Every animal, every tree, every plant, all oil, coal, water, wind, gases, solids, metals, etc. were put here for our responsible use.  To claim they are evil and shun them is frankly, in my opinion, a slap to the face of God.  God taught us that everything must be done responsibly and in moderation applies to the Earth.

• Is it OK to use oil?  Of course, why would God put so much of it in the ground, unless he knew we were going to need it?  Does that mean to use it irresponsibly and create a mess of things?  No, but it does mean God gave us oil to use.  Remember, everything can be used for good and for evil, and oil falls under this.  Pump oil, but be careful not to make a mess.  Burn its byproducts, but make sure you don't cause harm to people and the other resources of Earth.  Be smart about it.
• Is it OK to cut down trees?  Of course, just make sure you replace what you took so there's more for the next generation.  Going overboard with clear cutting isn't being responsible stewards, but neither is ignoring the resource that is there for our use.
• What about animals and eating meat?  To all of my vegetarian and vegan friends out there, God said to eat meat is OK, and necessary, but only if it is done responsibly and sparingly.  Having a steak for three meals a day would be gluttonous, but having a steak for dinner isn't wrong at all.  Meat is great for keeping the body warm and is high in protein.  Nevertheless, there are many more fruits and veggies than meat.  Try eating more of them.  That's what they are here for!
• Computers, are probably God's best tool for spreading truth and knowledge to the world, unfortunately, it's also good for evil uses as well.  Like everything God has given us, we need to show responsibility when using it.
• Nuclear power is also God's gift.  It's one of the most powerful for good use, and most dangerous for evil use.  Just because evil can exploit it, doesn't mean it is evil.  The amount of energy that can be extracted from nuclear material is absolutely amazing.  God expects us to use it wisely, not ignore it, or cower in fear of it.

Technology is a gift from God, and should be treated as such.  Like every gift, it can be misused, so responsibility is required for its use.'

"Stupid-stitions"

Every society and culture has their superstitions.  Superstitions have no place in science nor Christianity, yet I see Christians everywhere that have sailed off the deep end with their superstitions (or "Stupid-stitions as I calll them), which have no basis in fact nor scripture.  It's a form of "fear gossip."

• "Bar-codes are the mark of the beast!!"  Um folks, get a grip.  Bar codes make everyone's life easier, especially stockers and cashiers, and weren't designed to be tattooed on anyone's forehead.  Get a grip!  A bar code is a technology that makes it easy for computers to read important information off of a label.  That's it, no need to type it, just use a laser scanner to find out what it is.  That's efficient, not evil.
• "Everything with 666 on it is evil and I'm going to die!!! Ahhh!!!"  I remember working for a small electronics store, and there was this highly stupid-stitous lady that would always come in to buy parts.  If any total (sub-total, tax, total, etc.) had "666" in it, she'd panic and add something else to the price or ask to have split receipts made up just so that number would not be in the total.  Soon, all of my fellow employees would have fun with this lady and adjust the totals so something always would give 666 in it (always discounting by the way, although it didn't matter, she would pay with the totals that way).  Sometimes it was worth the few cents out of our pockets to balance the till just to have some fun.  It's just a number folks, get over it.  If someone wants to implant or print something on your forehead, then I would start to be concerned.
• "I saw Jesus or Mary on my toast / cat / tree / puddle of mud / as a shadow on a wall / cloud in the sky / stain on my bathtub etc."  Cool optical illusion, but not a miracle.  God rarely does blatant or grandiose miracles (parting the Red Sea, etc).  Usually God is subtle and everything he does is useful and has a purpose.  Nothing, and I mean nothing is ever for "show".  Even Elijah's exploits all had their important purposes.  Jesus on a piece of toast is just plain stupid.  Yes, God does miracles every day, but he's not wasting his time on toast.
• "Witches!!  Stories about (make believe) magic are evil!  Burn them!  Burn them!!!"  Get a grip people!  I mean get a grip!  Yes, magic, the kind designed to deceive and mimic God's miracles is evil in that context.  However, that does not make the entertainment art of "magic" evil, nor does it mean Harry Potter(tm) is evil.  Get a grip people!  God gave us imaginations and encouraged us to develop our minds, grow in understanding and learning, and tell each other stories, put on performances, etc. for entertainment.  A children's book about make believe lands full of mystical creatures and with "magic" powers and such isn't evil.  It's developing the child's mind to be able to be creative and find unique ways to handle problems in their real lives.  It allows them to see even make believe is a place with real problems and smart solutions.  Make believe is a training ground for real world responsibility and creativity.  I do not believe modern technology could have happened if the inventors of the past hadn't read the fanciful books of all types of imaginative authors from science fiction to magical fantasy.  God expects a parent to ground a child in reality so they know the difference between real and pretend, expects them to teach a child right and wrong, so a child's journey into make-believe is healthy and safe.  Be an active part of your child's life and video games, books, TV, and movies will never hurt them.

Misunderstandings

Ah yes, the inevitable misunderstandings.  Some mostly brought on by paranoia, or cultural taboos and traditions.

• "Polygamy is evil!"  Um...yes and no.  Once again, I urge you to read your Bible.  Like all things, both physical and spiritual, evil can counterfeit it or use it for its own purposes.  Sure, we read about David and Solomon and their wives etc, but I'm not going to actually talk about them.  To understand them you need to understand Abraham, God's friend.  Yes, God called him a friend.  This has a lot of deep meaning.  Nevertheless, not directly related to the issue, but a means of showing Abraham's integrity, honesty, and strength.  God promised Abraham a son and seed "as the sands on the seashore" (lots of descendants), and Abraham had a wife (Sarah) that couldn't bare children.  If you carefully read the account of Abraham, there are certain truths you learn about God's law and marriage:
  1. Sarah offered Hagar, her servant, to be the means of Abraham "raising up seed".  She, being the first wife, consented to a second wife.
  2. Like any decent and honest man in that position, Abraham got scared and asked God about it.  Abraham was God's friend and had integrity, and loved his wife.  He thought he couldn't satisfy love and integrity in this situation.  He was stuck, and asked God what to do about it.  God gave him permission and commanded him to do as his wife asked.

So what have we learned about polygamy so far?

1. God uses it sometimes to "raise up seed".
2. The first wife must consent to it.
3. God must command it and approve of it, otherwise only one wife.

Without these three criteria, polygamy turns into evil's counterfeit, a counterfeit of deceit and perversion, an abomination towards God.  Without those conditions, monogamy is the rule, period. So, God gave Solomon and David permission for their wives (initially).  By the way, the difference between a concubine and wife is, all are "married" to the king, but only children of "wives" can inherit the throne.  Which is why Isaac got the inheritance from Abraham and not Ishmael.  Hagar was a "concubine" and Sarah was the wife, yet both were married to Abraham.

End of Revelation

I mean the means where by God communicates to man.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say God is done with Prophets and inspired men.  Recognizing who is a real prophet and who is a wolf in sheep's clothing is our responsibility.  People never listened to the prophets of the past and ridiculed and stoned them for their message.  What makes you think that isn't happening today? I don't believe God ever leaves us alone to fend for ourselves.  He's always inspired people to do his work.  Want to know how to spot a fraud?  Simple, read James 1 and Galatians 5.  Paul tells us how to recognize spiritual truth and James tells us how to verify it.  If someone is preaching and not displaying the attributes of the Holy Spirit that Paul teaches about, then it isn't from God.  If they are screaming and yelling, are bitter and hateful etc, then God isn't inspiring them, nor is their message coming from God. The Book of Revelation's "warning" as a lame excuse or argument for the end of prophets.  The Book of Revelation is a single book among many in a collective volume or library of books called the Bible.  In fact, the Book of Revelation was written long before many of the books in the New Testament.  If John's warning in Chapter 22:18-19 was to mean all accounts, books and writings from God, then we would have to throw away most of the New Testament.  The words "...If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book." were written to mean the words written in the Book of Revelation, and not all scripture in general.  John meant to not change the account of the vision he saw about the end of the world.  Nobody is supposed to change the words or add to them (although it's obvious someone in the past has) of the account of the vision.  Common sense people!  The books in the Bible are not in the order that they were written.

Conclusion

I hope to finally put this topic to rest, at least for myself.  My next article will most likely be political I truly know there is a God, and he is our father.  He sent us, his literal children to Earth to learn, grow, and be tested.  Part of this test involves us choosing right and wrong, learning good and bad, seeing good and evil, knowing joy and misery.  Seeing and experiencing the opposites so we gain in wisdom and intelligence and make the right choices.  God sent us his most obedient son, our big brother, Jesus, to satisfy two eternal laws that were impossible to satisfy on their own, and kept us from returning to God.  That was "Justice" and "Mercy".  Being without sin, Jesus satisfied justice for our sins, which prevents us from returning to God, and he satisfied Mercy for us in the same action.  This was Jesus' most important purpose, and shows perfect love for doing so. I know this to be true.  It makes logical sense to me.  The universe makes sense with the piece of the puzzle.  Knowing there is a God is quite comforting, and knowing he has a grand plan for me, makes it all that more exciting to live.  I am so thankful for my right to make my own choices in life, and a country that also gives me those rights to make them. Christianity isn't about telling people on street-corners they are going to go to hell.  That's not what Jesus taught us.  Jesus taught us to be and act like him to the best of their ability.  To treat everyone with love and kindness, not hatred and vitriol.  It is not our position to tell someone they are going to hell, that judgement is reserved for Jesus Christ himself.  We, however, are expected to teach by example and show what is right, and let the individual choose in peace.  The parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told has so many meanings in this area, that it would take another article to explain it.  I'll leave that for another day. Science, pure science, the truth, comes from God and proves God's existence.  Some scientists my deny that fact by showing a blind eye to the obvious, but that doesn't change the facts.  Some Christian's so-called explanations for things not told to us need to stop.  Seriously, Jesus riding dinosaurs?!  Give me a break!

The Creation (or The War of Science and Main Stream Christianity)

There is a bizarre and disturbing war of misunderstandings going on between science and those claiming to be Christians.  Oddly enough, there are those on both sides that claim the universe just "popped" into existence, although by completely different methods.  I am amused at the whole situation. Here's the scenario: Science:

The universe began as an infinitely small singularity of infinitely large mass that suddenly exploded and created the matter of the universe, which eventually became solar systems, galaxies, clusters and super-clusters of today.  What they don't say is why (or how) it exploded, how the singularity got there, and how the singularity was formed. Everything you see is by sheer accident and purely random choice of happenstance, no intelligence involved. Man and the animal kingdom evolved from a chemical soup, or came from a comet, or [insert newest theory here].  Evolution is the rule.

Much of Christianity:

God, an intelligent being that's everywhere and nowhere without substance etc., but loves us all, decided to say a few words and magically the universe appeared at his mere words. Man and the animals appeared at God's mere words as well, and have always been as we see them now. The beauty and grandeur of everything supports intelligence.

---------------- Now, with that said, I can see why those on either side of the aisle can think the other one is completely nuts.  From a scientific point of view, a scientist sees the mainstream Christian view as an energy creature straight out of Star Trek, that can change shape and form, with mystical magic powers said an enchantment and waved his wand, made everything appear, and decided to sight see as Jesus and tell everyone he can save them.  That, with a few exceptions, is an atheist's point of view of the mainstream Christian. Who's fault is this?  It's (here come the flames) modern Christianity's fault. Before I go on, I must say that I am Christian, and I belong to a church that is Christian.  However, since this article is based on my opinion, I'd prefer to keep the name of this church silent. Christianity has been around for nearly 2000 years.  In this time, you have to be an idiot if you think that some of the words of the prophets, apostles, and Jesus himself haven't been lost or corrupted over this time.  I do know the things the prophets and apostles wrote about were true as they were written by their own hand.  However, politics, desire for power and human error (as there were no copy machines) have resulted in these writings either going missing, missing key and important information, been purposefully changed by one desiring power, and even simply having the real meanings getting lost in translation after translation and copy after copy.

First, a little lesson.  For many centuries after Jesus and his apostles, the various churches (sorry, but "Catholic" wasn't the only one, it just was the biggest) used hand written copies of the writings of these men.  Many were copies of copies of copies.  Some were abridgments, and some were commentaries of the originals.  Each church had a library and each Parrish could only store a small amount and so the priests usually had their favorites they would preach from, and only they were allowed to read them (odd, since Jesus preached to everyone, not just his Apostles).  This was too cumbersome to have all of these scrolls and books around, so it was decided to come up with a standard canon or library all parishes would have and be able to preach from.  It was also decided that this library would be small enough to just be bound into one volume.  Incidentally, that Latin for "Library" is "biblia", which is where we get the word "Bible".  So, a bunch of self-righteous, lazy, and uninspired bone-heads decided to ditch the vast library of religious knowledge they had access to, and only put their favorite parts into a small book and call it the "Library" or "Bible".  Eventually, the other books either rotted away or were just simply lost to history. So, here we have the Bible.  It's based upon writings that were inspired by God and written by holy men, but it has gone through the careless filter of ignorant, power hungry, and careless men to become the volume it is today.  This is why there is so much confusion. Then add on to the top of that the various "creeds" by, certainly, uninspired men.  Yes, the creeds, all founded by committee and not all members of these committees were all Christians.  Some had pagan members.  These creeds were designed to stop the bickering and fighting between churches, and were ordered by the sovereign (and not allowed to leave until a consensus was made).  So, the best they could come up with was that God was a big mysterious "nothing" that was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and manifested itself in three different forms (Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit).  This is God being formed by committee.  It's also total BS.

Now, back to the universe... Christianity and science could co-exist if both parties really knew what the other was REALLY talking about.  For example, there is no word "create" in Hebrew.  The word "QaNeh" is usually translated to "create".  The Hebrew "QaNeh" means "to build a nest", the English word originates from the Latin word "creat" which means "to bring into existence".  OK, we have a problem here. To a Hebrew (from which we get the "creation" account in the Old Testament), the word "create" is an abstract concept, and nothing in the Hebrew language can translate to "create" or "creation", or even "creator".  In fact "organize", "organization", and "organizer" would have been better words.  Many Christians see God as a being that makes something appear out of nothing, this is incorrect.  It is not what Moses wrote down, nor told his children.  The Hebrews saw God (metaphorically) like a "bird" who goes about acquiring and gathering materials to build a nest, and saw man as the "eggs" he was building the nest for.   This something out of nothing is an incorrect and recent concept.  It is not "Biblical" as many would claim. If you carefully read the account in Genesis (that Moses wrote) you will notice that if you replace the words "create" (and all similar) with "organize", your perspective changes.  Oddly enough, what Moses describes can't be much different than what we hear on the Science Channel. God is the master of delegation.  Choosing prophets, apostles, etc. proves this.  Like a foreman on a construction site that gets credit for it and is responsible for it, God is the same with how this Earth was organized.  This is why God has angels etc.  This is how he can seem to be everywhere at once.  He has servants (angels) everywhere. Let's see, Moses says "the Earth was without form".  A sounds like the solar system is just one big pile of supernovae rocks and hydrogen gas.  A pretty dark place. So when God says "Let there be light".  He's giving an instruction on organizing the materials necessary to form the solar system.  What is the first thing that happens in solar system formation?  Why, I do declare, a star is formed by a quick collapse of hydrogen into a gas ball supporting nuclear fusion which gives off light. "Let there be a firmament" and so on sounds like gathering debris to form a planet with an atmosphere, a "firmament". Then we see water and dry land forming.  Once it was ready, here come the plants.  Let's see now, my own practical mind says God commanded his servants to plant seeds.  Does Moses say where they came from?  Nope, but I'd venture to guess there has been seeds and plants for many eternities. Then we learn that sea life was placed here first.  Moses doesn't say how, but I'm sure it's the same way we would bring fish to another planet should we travel there.  Yes, I believe the animal life was brought here, and has always existed throughout eternity. Next comes the land animals, I believe placed here as well. All these things were done at God's word.  Not by "magic" or "poof!", but by servants obeying a command. Before I continue, let my scientific friends consider their "accident" or "random" theory for a moment.  Consider the following:

• Sol, our sun is of a relatively small and stable form of star.  Anything any larger or smaller would make life nearly impossible either through heavy radiation, or pulsing or irregular output.  It's also an unusual star.  It's stability is not the norm.
• The distance from Sol to the Earth is pretty specific for our radiation dose and temperate climate.  Any closer and we fry, and any further we'd freeze.  Note, this "liveable zone" is not measured in feet, but millions of miles, though narrow in an astronomical sense.
• The orbits of the planets, although technically elliptical, are all perfectly stable and almost circular.  Very friendly for stable seasons and climate on the Earth.  In fact, these almost circular orbits seem to not be the norm, according to recent observations.
• The positions of the planets is very unique.  Our gas giants are on the outside, very far away, and in stable orbits.  Observations so far (and computer models) show gas giants migrate to their respective stars to be consumed, and usually are in wild heavily elliptical orbits, thus swallowing any rocky planets.
• Our gas giants are organized in order of size, with the biggest being closest to Earth.  This makes for an excellent "first strike" cleaning system of rocks (asteroids) and other debris from striking the Earth.
• Our moon is way too large to have been captured and the proto-earth (Earth MKI) theory has many holes in it.  Yet it's there.  It stabilizes the Earth's spin, and slows it to 24 hours.  It keeps it tilted to allow for seasons.  It exerts a gravitational pull resulting in tides and ocean currents and weather patterns.  The ocean currents, which keep the climate stable and the UK moderate, among other places.  Air currents that clean and circulate the air which feeds the plants CO2 which gives us oxygen.  All of this from the moon, which is very large for its planet and in a nearly perfect circular orbit.
• The Earth's magnetic field.  This field keeps us from cooking from the sun's radiation, and the atmosphere does the rest.  It's very hard to find any rocky planet with a strong magnetic field.  Only the gas giants usually have them.  Ours is tremendously strong for the planet's size, as well.  The large Moon's tidal forces help contribute to this.
• The Earth itself.  The configuration of the continents allows for ocean currents which temper the climate and keep the oceans not too warm and not too cool, thus supporting life.  Plate tectonics, to allow for stabilizing of the Earth's internal heat, which fuels the magnetic field.  Which also turns everything combined into one giant temperature stabilizer.
• Natural resources.  My goodness, all of the liquid and solid based resources to help us better our lives.  None of the other planetoids have such a diverse number of resources.  Obviously this was set aside for man to use.
• The perfect order of it all.  Plants, to form oxygen and the nourish the Earth.  Animals, to eat the plants and earth, to release CO2 for the plants to turn into oxygen.  Rivers, to feed all of them.  Rain, to form the rivers.  Oceans to collect and process the natural wastes and supply the rain.  Storms, to cleans the ground; natural fires, to renew the earth to give new places for things to grow.  The beauty of the plants, and the mountains, all for their own vital purposes.  Everything wreaks of intelligence behind it.  Thousands of perfectly happening "accidents" is no accident.
• Then there's the position of the solar system.  It's in a relatively "safe" place of the Milky Way Galaxy.  Out in the proverbial suburbs, if you will.  Away from the supernovae, gamma ray bursts, and other dangers the universe has to offer.  A place where our sun's own magnetosphere has the strength to protect us from everyday galaxy weather.

OK, now finally we have man.  Notice how God, the Father, himself does this step.  We really don't know how, and frankly it's not important to me right now.  Nevertheless, the specifics of man being formed is that God made man in "his own image".  How hard is that for people to understand and grasp?  God made us to look like him!  So, is God a mysterious nothingness that is both everywhere and nowhere?  No, of course not.  God "looks" just like us.  Although I'd venture to say in a more perfect form.  Jesus tried telling that to his disciples many times.  He said he was the "spittin' image of his father" (paraphrasing obviously).  Gee, that means his father looked like him.  Wait a minute, his father was someone else.  So when Jesus says he and his father are "one" that certainly means they have one purpose or think alike, where the heck a bunch of dark-aged boneheaded idiots thought he meant they were the same being is beyond me.  It's one of the truths about God that was not lost to history in the Bible.  Heck, the account of the baptism of Jesus plainly says God the Father is one individual, Jesus is another, and the Holy Spirit is a third individual.  When Apostles say they had visions seeing Jesus on the right-hand of God, they didn't see a guy standing on his own right hand.  They saw a father and his son standing next to him. This brings meaning to us as God's children.  This means we literally are his children.  Get over it.  Yes, humans are special and distinct from the animal kingdom.  It's why God gave us dominion over everything in and on the Earth.  There's a good reason why we are here.  When Jesus says "everything in my kingdom is yours" you may want to consider the vast aspects of that incredible promise.  Eternal life is different than immortality.  God and Jesus are eternal.  Just think about what that means. My scientific friends.  The rules of God are quite literally perfect science.  Everything makes sense, has order, and is always in complete conformity with the rules of true science.  Unfortunately for Earth science, they don't know everything.  If they did, they would be God.  There are obviously higher laws that govern the behavior of the lower ones.  We on Earth only see the lower laws, and that's part of the plan. Now my Christian friends.  You can't go to a university or seminary to learn about what the scriptures mean.  Nor can you trust a bunch of angry men's compromise theory of the nature of God either.  Such knowledge is taught through careful and prayerful study.  How do we know this?  This very question was asked of James, an Apostle and Jesus' half brother.  James 1:2-6 basically says to not just take a book's or man's word for truth (sometimes called "blind faith" or fanaticism).  James says God loves to give knowledge to those who sincerely seek it, and NEVER chews them out for asking ("Upbraideth not" means he won't be angry with you for asking).  If you ask and expect to really receive an answer, then you will receive an answer.  What he was basically saying was study hard, and think it out in your mind first, and when you come to an impasse or a point to where the "need to know" needs to come before further action is taken, then that's the time to sincerely, humbly, and patiently ask God, expecting an answer.  You will receive that answer. To a scientist that isn't the "scientific method".  However, if God does exist, and God does personally answer heartfelt and sincere prayers for knowledge, then this answer must be so obvious and personal that it cannot be denied as to its origin, thus proving it sufficiently enough for the individual.  This is the method God has given us to find out what is true and what is a lie.  Who do you trust and who do you mistrust? Many Christians misunderstand how to pray and its purpose, which is the main reason why atheists misunderstand and are scared of the prospect of a supernatural being controlling someone's life.  First of all, God gave us brains and an intelligence of our own to think for ourselves.  He gave us Prophets and Apostles to write about how to live and treat each other.  God expects us to know these things.  God also expects us to educate ourselves as much as possible about the topic at hand.  He expects us to study out a problem in our minds, come to a conclusion or choice, and then ask God if this is the right choice.  Prayers of "tell me what to do" in most instances will get you the answer "see if you can figure it out first".  God put us here to have us make choices and have the freedom to make good and bad choices.  This is how we learn.  Asking God to tell you what to do about each and every aspect of life is not his desire, nor plan, and frankly you'll find yourself no better off.  Want to pass a test?  Good, then study hard and ask God to help you remember.  Asking God to give those, that didn't study, the answers, won't work. God's a "fill in the blanks" God, not a "spoil the rotten lazy child" God. So how does all of this fit with "Intelligent Design?"  It's very simple.  Science is blind to all of the perfection and intelligence around them.  Each single one they claim is accidental or random.  Yet as a whole it's an amazingly perfect collection of random accidents to come together so perfectly to be so mathematically unlikely that the odds of even ONE thing happening (like the large moon and small earth coming together) is so remote, that the odds favor an explosion in a print factory to accidentally form the dictionary from the resulting debris.  Combine all of the "accidents" odds together and you get an astronomically large number that represents more than the total number of atoms in the universe (to one) odds of everything on the earth happening as it did. Those of science just open your eyes, there's evidence of intelligence everywhere.  Those of Christianity, pull your head out and actually learn the truth about what you are supposed to believe and share with others.  Stop basing your beliefs on the uninspired and committee born creeds of the dark ages, and just read and learn from the scriptures as they were intended to be learned. Both science and Christianity will actually find that they are quite similar and that true science and true Christianity has an eventual convergence.

The Near Impossibility of Time Travel

Oh yes, a great science fiction plot object.  My father's favorite story line.  The "Time Travel" gimmick that entertains everyone from the Geek to the casual reader. I am a big viewer of the "Nerd Channels" on television.  I like to watch the Science Channel and Discovery channel quite regularly.  I've given up on TLC as it has just become the decorator channel.  Although Discovery seems to be the Alaska channel now, but I digress... I have always been interested in science.  No, not the junk science so many practice now days with their "assume that..." theories and such, and claiming them as facts.  I am talking about pure science.  The kind of real science politics, government funding and Al Gore can't pollute into a false religion. Don't get me wrong, TV is not my only source of information.  I love to read as well, and have read more than just fiction.  While I don't claim the mental fitness of Einstein, I do grasp the concept of relativity and for the most part, it makes sense to me. Many times, when I see scientific and experimental concepts discussed about time travel, I only hear the theoretical and Earth-centric aspect of it being spoken of.  Things such as worm-holes, warping, and folding space come into the conversation.  These theories may have scientific merit, but they don't have practical understanding.  I frequently see scientists in the world that concentrate on their fields exclusively, and frankly, are completely ignorant of many other scientific fields of study.  If there's one thing I have learned as a computer professional, it's that knowing hardware, software, and all technologies relating to the industry gives an edge to the quality of work offered as a programmer.  Those that only understand programming and have no idea how a CPU and its relating electronics work together will always be at a disadvantage and missing a very important point of view.  Science is the same way.  You may be nuclear physicist, but maybe, just maybe, knowing a bit about astronomy and geology might just help you in your field. Back to time travel.  I hear a lot about the fundamentals of relativity being discussed in relation to time travel theories,  but I never ever hear the practical and obvious problems relativity brings to the issue.  Only the deepest theories are discussed, but never the problems they cause. Let me lay it down, so to speak, for everyone to understand.  Let's say someone figures out how to travel through time and makes a "Mr. TimeTravel" or "flux capacitor" device.  Yay for him/her!  Guess, what?  It still will be unusable.  They have only conquered the tip of the iceberg.  How?  The universe is not like a Hollywood movie, nor is the Earth sitting stationary in space.  Bending some laws to achieve time travel does not eliminate other laws.  

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

Consider for a moment that nothing in the universe is sitting still.  In fact, most, if not all of it is moving quite fast, blazingly fast.  You think you are sitting still on Earth reading this, but in reality this is happening:

• You are traveling (if sitting on the equator) 1000 miles per hour as the earth rotates on its axis.  You have this great spinning force wanting to fling you off into space, but the Eath's gravity keeps you firmly in your chair.
• The Earth is orbiting the Sun, a simple star called "Sol", at approximately 18.5 miles per second.  Pretty darn fast in and of itself!  The Earth should be flung out into space, but it and the Sun's gravity keeps it comfortably in a stable orbit.
• The Sun, "Sol", orbits the Milky Way Galaxy's center at approximately 450,000 miles per hour, with a slight oscillation through the galactic plane.
• The Milky Way Galaxy is (by most scientific estimates) traveling through space at approximately 1.3 million miles per hour.

OK, you now have this fancy-schmancy "Mr. TimeTravel" device or a flux capacitor, and you want to do some time traveling.  GREAT!  Now you need to solve the problems of distance.  If you want to appear even five minutes into the past, then you had better be wearing a space suit and have a REALLY fast space ship, because you aren't anywhere near the Earth when you arrive.  You will appear at precisley the point where you left the Earth at that particular time.  You will also have the relative inertia of all of that speed from the Earth's rotation, the Earth's orbit, the Sun's orbit, and the Milky Way's speed all at once without the gravity to govern it.  In a split second after you arrive, you will be nowhere near where the Earth is going to be even in just five minutes worth of time travel. Where you appear all depends on what direction you were heading when you left, and what direction the Earth was heading.  There is a chance you might end up inside the Earth itself or inside the moon or other object, if not out in space.  There's no way you are landing on the Earth after you zap to another time. So time travel may sound cool, romantic, and a great way to write a story.  I don't think mankind will ever be able to actually experience it.  There's just too much going against you.

Europe vs. the USA

For the past 1000+ years, the average time span between major war involving governmental or boundary changes in Europe and even Asia, has been 68 years.  Most have involved some power-hungry megalomaniac desiring land and power.  This same region claims to be the intellectual powerhouse of the world, they claim to be progressive, and full of wise philosophers and great thinkers.  History has shown that the only times such a war was not successful was in the early twentieth century with World Wars One and Two.  All have been in Europe and both were the only ones involving the rescue and assistance of “the barbaric, backward thinking, stupid, imperialistic, conservative, and power hungry” armed forces of the United States of America.

The same country that is full of “stupid rednecks”, “gun toting nutjobs”, “simple-minded twits”, “religious fanatics”, and “greedy imperialists,” yearly, gives protection and comfort to many of those European nations, including former enemies, by contributing billions of dollars from its “greedy” citizens, the same country that in addition to the “official” assistance and military protection they offer (with their own money), also has the highest charitable donation percentage of its populace than any country in the world.  This same “rogue” nation that could have built a veritable empire, in both Europe and Asia, after World War Two, chose instead to help the Europeans and Japanese rebuild their broken countries, and made sure governments were set up to give them freedoms they never had before in the history of the world.

So next time some high-thinking, yet ignorant professor, reporter, or politician tries to convince you that Europeans are far more advanced than the “primitive” Americans, may I suggest you study a little history.  The world would not have the freedoms, inventions, and technologies it now enjoys without them.  Your right to hate and bash Americans, and their President, was given to you by Americans that gave their lives for you to have that privilege.

Maybe, just maybe, we should pay more attention to those backward Americans than listen to those pompous intellectual jackasses that “think themselves” into stupidity.  What lessons do Americans try to teach the un-listening “rest of the world?”  No philosophy, social, environmental, and economic can succeed without the freedom of the individual, and that history is to be learned from, not ignored.  There are those that would try to change the United States of America into something more along the lines of the European methods of socialism, communism, or fascism, all philosophies demonstrated to be failures time and time again by European society itself.  When the USA changes, is the day the world is no longer safe.

You may think placating evil is the way to avoid war.  You may think deny the existence of evil is the way to avoid provoking those that cause war.  You may think that giving evil what it wants to prove somehow you respect them is a way to avoid violence.  All you do is give up your freedoms and way of life until you are no longer free, and live in fear.  Is that freedom?  Is that peace?  Is peace only the absence of war, or is true peace the absence of worry for your families?

So next time a group of people demand you grant them the ability to kill their disobedient wives and murder their daughters, and demand special treatment for their own versions of law, us American’s suggest you tell them to return where they came from and never give up your freedoms just to placate unjust or “cultural” demands.  How long before their culture and unjust laws replace yours?  How long before your daughter is killed because she wears a skirt and doesn’t cover her face?

Does this seem like “peace” to you?

American’s even though many are hated, will fight to the death to retain their freedoms to live, breath, and worship the way they see fit, and not have their actions dictated by the crowd.

These are the opinions of one American.  Want to know an American?  Talk to them, and stop listening to the propaganda of your news media.  The days of honest journalism went bye-bye in the 1960’s.

Is America perfect?  Of course not.  The very forces and philosophies that end up in the ruin of other nations are becoming mainstream today under the guise of being "progressive" or "enlightened".  What ruins a nation is loss of identity, loss of morality, and loss of culture.  Abraham Lincoln demonstrated what was necessary to have a healthy nation, and that living by ALL of the God-given laws of freedom (for all races) was what makes a society and country great.  Winston Churchill demonstrated that evil must be stopped and never placated at all costs, else society falls.  Ronald Reagan demonstrated that people and freedom are what makes a country great, and not its government.  George Washington demonstrated that the peace true freedom brings was more important than the illusion of peace under tyranny.  A humble Jew once demonstrated that there is no greater love, than the love of one that is willing to give their life for their friend's freedom.

Say what you want about any war on this earth.  It is a just war if tyranny is toppled and freedom is allowed to grow.  There are those that would say stirring up a hornet's nest is suicide, and then there are those that would say the absence of the nest is better than tip-toeing around the hornets in the first place.  Eventually you will get stung as the hornets multiply.  On the other hand, being free to play, swim, dance and run is much better than trying not to stir up hornets.