Dumb People Should Not Become Believers in God

Because they make him look bad. So I read this really short article from AFP on Yahoo News. It is a whopping seven sentences. Basically, Oliver Stone's son Sean has converted to Islam while filming in Iran. It says that his mother is Christian and his father is Jewish. I guess he is now covered regardless of who is right, covering all the basis. What bothers me is what he said. He said he was born Jewish and Christian and he still is; but, now he says he is accepting of Muhammad and the other prophets. The article is linked below:

Oliver Stone's son converts to Islam in Iran

One is not born into Christianity or Judaism (as a religion), these are beliefs. Now you may be more likely to accept the beliefs or at least claim to if your parents raise you in a certain faith; but, it is still a belief and not genetics. His understanding of the bible and the Koran is clearly so weak that he does not understand the most basic principles of religion. The biggest attack on true faith is not atheism, it is people who have no true belief and think they do. They think of it as just believing someone was good and that God is only a good feeling.

I wrote about this once before I think; but, it may have been on one of the prior versions of the blog. Faith does not mean simply thinking something is more likely than not, it means that you are willing to take risks because of your belief. In one part of the bible it says that Moses had faith in his staff and leaned on it. He didn't just believe, he acted as if it would hold him up, he trusted that it would hold him up.

Someone who believes all religions has faith in none. Having said that, I would really question his commitment to Islam, I wouldn't be surprised if he "converted" for the sake of making the documentary.

Pastor Carol Daniels Tribute

I had just finished posting when I decided to check the stats on the blog. I saw a lot of traffic on Pastor Daniels and decided to search her name and see if anything new had happened. Turns out that her church has placed a monument to her where the church used to be. For those who come here because of the posts about her, I thought you might like to see this.

KFOR - Community remembers pastor with monument

Certainly a day of remembrance for me. A day to remember one that I will not see again and a day to remember one that I was never fortunate enough to ever meet. Perhaps someday I will be fortunate enough to be in Oklahoma, I will stop by the monument in the same way that I stopped my darlings grave today.

A Visit to a Cemetery

I don't visit cemeteries often. I have buried many, many people; but, rarely go back to visit. I am much more likely to think about those who have passed away rather than visit the place where they are buried. I visited a grave today, I had promised myself that I would do it and I did.

I visited the resting place of the love of my life. It was not meant to be, outside forces and the world got in the way. I left her flowers and candy cane, her sister had left her candy canes so I figure she must have liked candy canes. I left them for valentines day just before the place closed so I would know that they would be there in the morning for her. Stupid, right? She will never see them nor taste the candy canes. I just felt a need to do it.

She is buried in a little hill in front of a little white church, it is a very pretty place. While I was placing the flowers and candy, a car pulled up in front of mine, the person looked at me and then drove to the other side of the hill and parked; but, never got out. The driver was a woman of about my age. I left the things on the grave which still looks very recently dug. I then got in my car and drove away. I wondered why the woman in the car had parked next to me and then moved on, I wondered if it might be my love's sister. I am never not an analyst.

It is possible that the woman was scared of me; but, I was just some guy placing flowers and candy canes on a grave at 4:30 in the afternoon the day before Valentine's day, I don't think I looked that scary, just sad. Maybe she was there to visit someone's grave that was nearby where I was and she wanted to be alone; it is a new part of the cemetery and there cannot be more than three close by. Perhaps I shall never know. Life is like that sometimes.

I have felt that there was something left for me to do in order to completely be free of my past and I didn't know what it was. I have had the feeling that there was some unfinished business and I think this was it. My elders are all dead, my house and prior life are now gone never to return. Saying goodbye to her was a finality, it was the last attachment that is gone that needed to be recognized.

So now I am free to do as I wish, I am free to date, free to move where I wish, free to do whatever I want. I don't wish to move, I like where I am. I cannot say there is anything in particular that I wish to do other than write. I do not think I wish to date, I think I am done with that. I think I will focus on work more. I only have to work a couple more years and there are some things I would like to see happen.

I don't know where my life will take me; heck, I cannot believe where I have been and how I got here I will never know. What I do know is that there are certain people that I will not see again and certain things that I will not do again. Closing doors and new roads are a fact of life if we are lucky enough to see them. I think I have shut off the lights and closed the doors to parts of my life that are never to return.

The Beatles - In My Life

In What Way Shall I Be Imperfect

This is a message strictly to Christians. If none of us is perfect, if all of us are sinful, which sin should I be guilty of? Which sin should you be guilty of? If we are all sinful, do we get to pick which sin we are guilty of and is there a hierarchy of sins? At what point do the sinners get accepted, or is it just me that is never is accepted? How does love and forgiveness work, is it about the sinner or forgiveness and grace? Peace. Does it ever become about love or is it always about self?

Preparing to Rest

I worked outside today, had to visit some locations and look at some things. I don't work in the field often, it happens a few times a year; but, I spend most days in the office. It was a beautiful southern California day and those are pretty hard to top. After I got home I walked to the store and just enjoyed the twilight, I am very fortunate to be where I am.

It occurred to me yesterday that I was better off alone for the rest of my life than I had been with my ex-wife. I hate to say it; but, it is true. I don't miss anything I lost, not the house, not the Benz, not the stuff and not even the money. I have gained a peace and now I can rest when I get home, it feels pretty good to know that all the pressures that I felt for so long are going away.

I must cut the posts short, a relative has arrived. Peace.

Under Your Skin

Two articles and two issues. The first article is from the Telegraph and is about a new requirement that EVERY dog in England be chipped. Microchips for all dogs to hold owners to account Here is a quote from the article, “Surely anyone who cannot control their dog should not have one,” he said. The "he" was a Lord Renton and the where is England.

Now I had been told that in Australia, rather than license the dog, the person has to get a license to own a dog. What I did not know is that most areas limit you to two dogs and two cats. Oh, and they all have to be spayed or neutered. Now the claim is that viscous dogs need to be monitored; but, why would all the cats need to be chipped? Also, wouldn't it be enough to just neuter all the male animals? I mean if you neuter all the males, they still cannot breed. Not long ago an Australian politician called for paying girls to get fixed. I didn't think that Australia was overcrowded because it is NOT overcrowded.

In China they simplified it in two ways. Firstly, you cannot own more than one dog and secondly, at least in the downtown Luwan District in Shanghai, you have to go to a public hearing and get your neighbors approval to own a dog and if anyone doesn't approve then you cannot own a dog. What is the deal with these crazy dog laws?

There are some crazy laws out there regarding animals, especially dogs. In Sweden they have a law that you have to visit your dog at least twice a day; but, unless it has changed it is still legal to have sex with a dog. There are a few countries that have not allowed having sex with animals; but, many of them require that your dog be spayed or neutered. What is the real issue. Oh, in Canada it is illegal to own a pit bull and a few other breeds.

What is it about dogs that governments hate but people love? They love us back; but, that cannot be it. Oh, I know, they will protect us with their lives. Yes, that is it, they would die for us. My little dog wouldn't even think about it, heck, he won't let anyone in my room when I am asleep, he flips out. I read this article from a Russian site about a particular breed and how it had been labeled dangerous. The author flipped because apparently the breed is known for not being wild; but, protective perhaps. Hmmm.

They have told us in the United States that we should chip our dogs for their protection. The chip doesn't work like a transformer as far a I know. They also require people to spay or neuter their dogs in most places. If your dog is fixed then surely chipping it does nothing to prevent it from breeding. Oh, it is in case our dogs run away; but, why. If the dog is neutered or spayed it will not be breeding wild packs of dogs that are also spayed and neutered.

I love my dog, heck, I love dogs. Dogs think the world of us. My dog still cries sometimes when I go to work. I have been told that it is quite pitiful. The darn dog sleeps in the bed with me every night and never leaves my side if I am in the house, not even to eat until he cannot stand it and sometimes not even then. If I walk outside and the dog is not on a leash, it doesn't really matter because he won't walk five feet from me (he is always on a leash outside anyways).

I don't trust people who don't like dogs. I mean I understand people who are afraid of dogs especially if they had been bit, that is a reasonable response; but, that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about people who just don't like dogs. It has been my experience that dogs usually don't like them. I have also found that they people who don't like dogs usually have something to hide or a certain kind of cruelness to their nature.

There are some dogs that can actually smell cancer in their masters. I have no idea how many peoples lives have been saved by their dogs and under any circumstance that you can imagine, dogs don't care if their master is at risk no price is to great. You may have seen that picture a few weeks back and the story about the dog who a soldier had in a war zone, the soldier returned and died and when they buried him the dog stayed at the grave. They love us even once we are gone.

So what is behind all this dog shenanigans? Aside from the fact that England really doesn't have a dog problem (they put down about 6,000 a year in a country where they have 8.3 million), why should you need to chip every dog, they already have licenses attached to them.

If you could pull up a satellite image of every chip in every dog in the world, you would know where there masters were and the owners information, including their name, address and whatever other information they keep on owners. Just think, all the technology needed to track people who were chipped has already been tested on dogs.

Just to be Clear

I believe in what I believe and will live for it. Risk is as meaningless as reward, doing what is right for the right reason is the answer. We don't hear that promoted a lot. Nope, we hear that we are meaningless, irrelevant and self aware for but a moment and it is all wrong.

Every sentient being matters, even the dumbest and most selfish of us. We all matter because we are all alive. Priorities are only understood when one has to face the consequences at the end of a question, make the final determination as to who we are and what is really important. Just some thoughts and cheap post. Peace.