On the other hand if one is really intent on killing the swine virus I would suggest slow roasting the pig over a pit until well cooked thus killing the virus and making a dent on world hunger at the same time.
Showing posts with label Information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Information. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Stop the Scare Mongering
The Swine flu or the H1N1 virus as it is now called is being used by both our government and their willing allies in the media to spread a sense of panic and, I believe, as a means to promote nationalized health care. As flue viruses go this is not only mild but so far laughable. According the the World Health Organization there are about 2100 cases of the virus with 44 deaths world wide, See here. The U.S has 896 cases with 2 of those 44 deaths, see here. While all of these deaths and the potential deaths to come from this virus are tragic, they pale in comparison to the common seasonal flu with yearly affects one in five Americans or 226,000 people and kills 36,000 people in the U.S. alone, see here. If anything may possibly make the case for national health care the common seasonal flu make a better case than the swine virus.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
What are the Sacraments
One of the most misunderstood aspects of Catholic Doctrine , both by non-Catholics as well as by Catholics themselves is the Sacraments. The Sacraments are Central to Catholic theology. Failure to understand them is failure to understand Catholicism. Many of those who reject Catholic teaching on the sacraments often ague against a false understanding of them and are thus working against a straw man, in many cases in good faith wishing to correct what they perceive to be Catholic errors and in some cases by people who should know better. Examples; Here, here, here, and here. This post will (in the feeble words of the author) attempt to explain what the sacraments are and what they are not.
A Sacrament is in a essence a visible, outward sign of a spiritual reality. In essence what the we see taking place with our senses is actualytaking place in the spiritual realm. In baptism for example, Water which represents cleansing, actually cleans the soul of the individual of original sin. The following web sites give similar definitions of the word Sacrament; Here and here.
Humans are unique creatures in all of creation. Creation is comprised (As far as what has been revealed to us) by three distinct living being, the spiritual in the form of Angels, who have spiritual but not corporal natures, and corporal as in the from of animals and plant who have corporal but not spiritual natures, Humans are unique in that they are created with both spiritual and corporal natures. Of these beings the Angelic and the Humans are made to worship God. The Angels worship God within their nature and worship with their whole being which is spiritual. Humans are made worship God with their whole being as well. So how can a human creature who is both flesh and spirit worship God using their whole nature? This is where the Sacraments come in. In the old testament there was no sacramental system, so the Jews worshiped God using symbols such as the Temple, Sacrifice, Images (yes the Jews used Images in their worship, this is for another post) etc. Jesus Came to show us a more perfect form of Worship, first by becoming flesh himself and showing us God though our senses. Jesus usually used matter to perform his miracles. He would for example make mud by spitting on dirt and healing the blind. He would show a visible act of Worship to the Father and raise the dead. The lady with the blood disease showed her faith by touching the garment Jesus wore. Jesus made it a point of going down to the Jordan and being baptized by John. Jesus turned bread into his body and blood and commanded his apostles to forgive and retain sins. So by becoming flesh and leaving a visible church with visible means of showing us God's grace Jesus instituted a Sacramental Church. Indeed as Jesus is seen as a sacrament of the Father by making God visible, the Church is seen as a sacrament of Jesus as it is her mission to make Jesus visible in the form of his body, both in the sacrament and in her body of believers. It must be noted
that all of the Sacraments have supporting passages in scripture. I will deal with each sacrament individually in other posts.
There are seven Sacraments;
Each sacrament corresponds with a certain aspect or stage in human life. The fact that there are seven is also significant. In scripture the number seven corresponded with the fullness of what is being spoken off. Thus there are seven days in a week and on the fullness of Creation God Rested.
In essence the Sacraments are gift from God that shows us his grace. They are not means of earning salvation (as some non-Catholics say) since they have no use to us unless we have faith, they are simply there for us, to aide us in worshipping with our whole being, to see and feel Gods grace flowing into our lives, keeping us feed in our journey in this life while at the same time showing us glimpses of the next.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
What Not Global Warming
So let me see place an exploding volcanoe under the polar ice cap and what do you get. The Ice sheets melt. They still have to throw in the increasing water temperature... Read Article
Voter Guides
Voter Guide For Serious Christians.
Note that nowhere in this guide is there mandate that seeks to create a government dependent class. Nor is the death penalty a non-negotiable, as the church while frowning on the death penalty still recognaices the right of the State in such matters. It is not the same to kill an innocent child and to kill a convicted Murderer.
There is at least one candidate that I know that will violate several of these non-negotiables.
Note that nowhere in this guide is there mandate that seeks to create a government dependent class. Nor is the death penalty a non-negotiable, as the church while frowning on the death penalty still recognaices the right of the State in such matters. It is not the same to kill an innocent child and to kill a convicted Murderer.
There is at least one candidate that I know that will violate several of these non-negotiables.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
About the Author
Almost every book I read has a little snippet about the Author. I thought this would be a perfect time to Introduce my self and give you more than what is in my bio. This is also a far easier subject for me to write about when I do not feel up to pulling multiple sources for reference on a more controversial topic. Believe I have a Word file with about a page and a half of topics ranging from The Sacraments to UFOs I intend to get to in time. So here it Goes.
As Mentioned in my bio My name is Richard Lamb. I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in May 19th 1972. I have been married for 15 and a half years. I have two beautiful daughters, 9 and 4 respectively. I have a Bachelors in Information Technology, and Masters on Information Systems, with an eye for an MBA and perhaps a Doctorate (Depending on Student Loans Career Advances and My wife's Patience) As can be seen and will yet be seen by my posts, my interests vary greatly. I love Religion (Because I love God), Politics, Science, Sports (Especially NFL, Go Jaguars) etc. I short I am interested in those topics that people seem to want to avoid in polite company to avoid controversy. I firmly believe that people avoid these topics because they are often not well versed in them and can offer little support for their views and because they are really afraid of finding their view to be wrong. But since many of the topics I cover here are consequential, especially Religion and politics, which deal with both our eternal lives as well as our temporal, I think they not only should be discussed, but can in polite company when discussed with a sense of charity and truth seeking.
My Interest in religion and politics comes from a crisis of faith that I lived though when I was younger. I was born into the Catholic faith and grew up in the church, but as with many who are born into a faith my initial faith education was nominal at best. None of my early education prepared me to give a reasoned Response for my beliefs when faced with tough questions. During the process of my growing up in the church my parents were divorced my Father moved to Jacksonville and became more involved in his own faith tradition which was Disciples of Christ (Very much a Southern Evangelical Faith, similar in many ways to the Baptist, with minor but important differences not pertinent to this post) Fast forward to my 11th year of life when we moved to Jacksonville from Puerto Rico. While here we spent more time with our father who would make it a point to take us to his church when we stayed with him. Initially I resented that since I am not a morning person and preferred to go to Mass on Saturday nights with my mother when we stayed with her. In time though I was OK with it. I met friends there and there were even a girl or two that I took a licking to. But something happened while I was growing there that forced me to look deeper into my beliefs. People began asking me questions about such subjects as the papacy, and Mary, questions I had not answers for at the time. This forced me to research Christianity. I knew I was going to remain a Christian since I believed Jesus was my saviour, even then I felt an attraction to Jesus as saviour. My research focused initially on finding the historical church, the church founded by Jesus since I instinctively knew that a church not founded by Jesus himself had no historical standing. In my research I began to both find answers to such questions as the papacy, Mary and other Catholic teachings. Indeed I found the early church was Catholic, both in doctrine and structure, though in a nascent form initially. I also found that like my most Catholics were ill prepared to give responses for their faith and many were catholic because their parents were. To this day I find that. I began reading books that were both historical in nature as well as books that were more apologetic in nature. initially these books were in question and Answer format. Then I discovered Catholic answers on the Radio. I also discovered such heavy wights as Scott Hahn and Jimmy Akin. their knowledge was invaluable to me. I feel it is incumbent on me to teach others what I have learned and show others the beauty of Catholicisms and the Truth contained within.
My Interest in politics stems from my Interest in Religious issues, my first political thoughts stem from the abortion issue. When I initially voted I looked for the candidate that promised to put an end to the murder of unborn Babies. At this same time I recall hearing a voice on the radio espousing things I instinctively understood to be true, both from a Christian perspective, but also from a more down to earth common sense perspective. That voice was Rush Limbaugh. I guess it could be said I am a Rush teen. I would listen to him after school while driving home from school. Then I would listen to him when ever I could after work etc. Then I discovered other voices such as Bary Farber and others who espoused similar views. It should be noted that these voices only gave me a means to better express what I already knew to be true based on my upbringing and my faith. I found the notion of individual responsibility and judging people not skin color to ring true. When I heard the opposing thought process of government dependence, secularism judging people as remember of a race or group I found the reasons lacking and based on emotion not reason.
In short I find Religion and Politics to be so closely related in so many areas that I have become a religious and political animal. I seldom find people willing do discuss these topics with me (My brother does but we agree all the time, when we discuss these topics we reinforce each others views and help each other bolster our rhetoric, with resources and better answers). The few people that engage either agree or quickly shut down when I begin to make sense.
This why I am Glad I discovered this forum. Here I can give free reign to my thoughts rather than letting them fester and just sit in my brain unused (In time I will write a Book and find a way to get it published)
As Mentioned in my bio My name is Richard Lamb. I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in May 19th 1972. I have been married for 15 and a half years. I have two beautiful daughters, 9 and 4 respectively. I have a Bachelors in Information Technology, and Masters on Information Systems, with an eye for an MBA and perhaps a Doctorate (Depending on Student Loans Career Advances and My wife's Patience) As can be seen and will yet be seen by my posts, my interests vary greatly. I love Religion (Because I love God), Politics, Science, Sports (Especially NFL, Go Jaguars) etc. I short I am interested in those topics that people seem to want to avoid in polite company to avoid controversy. I firmly believe that people avoid these topics because they are often not well versed in them and can offer little support for their views and because they are really afraid of finding their view to be wrong. But since many of the topics I cover here are consequential, especially Religion and politics, which deal with both our eternal lives as well as our temporal, I think they not only should be discussed, but can in polite company when discussed with a sense of charity and truth seeking.
My Interest in religion and politics comes from a crisis of faith that I lived though when I was younger. I was born into the Catholic faith and grew up in the church, but as with many who are born into a faith my initial faith education was nominal at best. None of my early education prepared me to give a reasoned Response for my beliefs when faced with tough questions. During the process of my growing up in the church my parents were divorced my Father moved to Jacksonville and became more involved in his own faith tradition which was Disciples of Christ (Very much a Southern Evangelical Faith, similar in many ways to the Baptist, with minor but important differences not pertinent to this post) Fast forward to my 11th year of life when we moved to Jacksonville from Puerto Rico. While here we spent more time with our father who would make it a point to take us to his church when we stayed with him. Initially I resented that since I am not a morning person and preferred to go to Mass on Saturday nights with my mother when we stayed with her. In time though I was OK with it. I met friends there and there were even a girl or two that I took a licking to. But something happened while I was growing there that forced me to look deeper into my beliefs. People began asking me questions about such subjects as the papacy, and Mary, questions I had not answers for at the time. This forced me to research Christianity. I knew I was going to remain a Christian since I believed Jesus was my saviour, even then I felt an attraction to Jesus as saviour. My research focused initially on finding the historical church, the church founded by Jesus since I instinctively knew that a church not founded by Jesus himself had no historical standing. In my research I began to both find answers to such questions as the papacy, Mary and other Catholic teachings. Indeed I found the early church was Catholic, both in doctrine and structure, though in a nascent form initially. I also found that like my most Catholics were ill prepared to give responses for their faith and many were catholic because their parents were. To this day I find that. I began reading books that were both historical in nature as well as books that were more apologetic in nature. initially these books were in question and Answer format. Then I discovered Catholic answers on the Radio. I also discovered such heavy wights as Scott Hahn and Jimmy Akin. their knowledge was invaluable to me. I feel it is incumbent on me to teach others what I have learned and show others the beauty of Catholicisms and the Truth contained within.
My Interest in politics stems from my Interest in Religious issues, my first political thoughts stem from the abortion issue. When I initially voted I looked for the candidate that promised to put an end to the murder of unborn Babies. At this same time I recall hearing a voice on the radio espousing things I instinctively understood to be true, both from a Christian perspective, but also from a more down to earth common sense perspective. That voice was Rush Limbaugh. I guess it could be said I am a Rush teen. I would listen to him after school while driving home from school. Then I would listen to him when ever I could after work etc. Then I discovered other voices such as Bary Farber and others who espoused similar views. It should be noted that these voices only gave me a means to better express what I already knew to be true based on my upbringing and my faith. I found the notion of individual responsibility and judging people not skin color to ring true. When I heard the opposing thought process of government dependence, secularism judging people as remember of a race or group I found the reasons lacking and based on emotion not reason.
In short I find Religion and Politics to be so closely related in so many areas that I have become a religious and political animal. I seldom find people willing do discuss these topics with me (My brother does but we agree all the time, when we discuss these topics we reinforce each others views and help each other bolster our rhetoric, with resources and better answers). The few people that engage either agree or quickly shut down when I begin to make sense.
This why I am Glad I discovered this forum. Here I can give free reign to my thoughts rather than letting them fester and just sit in my brain unused (In time I will write a Book and find a way to get it published)
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Why I am Catholic
One of the reasons I created this blog is to Give a reasoned defense for my Catholic Faith.
1 Peter. 3:15 ....Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; (note the link takes you to the whole epistle, lest I be acused of missing the context). I believe that it is incumbent in each believer to be able to give a reason for their faith, and not just a some murky sentimental reason, but an explanation based on sound reason. In my view there is nothing more reasonable than Christianity.
So now for my explanation for why I am catholic. For me it comes down to what was the church that Jesus founded upon the apostles. Everything I have seen points to the Roman Catholic Church. There is an unbroken line of succession from my bishop to the apostolic era. This is called apostolic succession. The early church was catholic both in doctrine and in structure. Jesus said to Peter in Mathew 16:[17] And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. [18] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. [19] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Jesus went on to tell his apostles in Luke 10: 16; He who hear you hears me and he who rejects you reject me. And In Mathew 28:20 "....I am with you til the end of the age".
The promises of Jesus to his apostles did not die with the last apostles nor did the early church believe that. This is why I remain Catholic in light of recent bad press regarding the sex abuse scandal and crazy priests like Reverend Pfleger.
So basically I am Catholic because the Apostles were. I see no need to start another church. Jesus already did that. I have no nail scars on my hands to give the authority to start a new one.
1 Peter. 3:15 ....Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; (note the link takes you to the whole epistle, lest I be acused of missing the context). I believe that it is incumbent in each believer to be able to give a reason for their faith, and not just a some murky sentimental reason, but an explanation based on sound reason. In my view there is nothing more reasonable than Christianity.
So now for my explanation for why I am catholic. For me it comes down to what was the church that Jesus founded upon the apostles. Everything I have seen points to the Roman Catholic Church. There is an unbroken line of succession from my bishop to the apostolic era. This is called apostolic succession. The early church was catholic both in doctrine and in structure. Jesus said to Peter in Mathew 16:[17] And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. [18] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. [19] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Jesus went on to tell his apostles in Luke 10: 16; He who hear you hears me and he who rejects you reject me. And In Mathew 28:20 "....I am with you til the end of the age".
The promises of Jesus to his apostles did not die with the last apostles nor did the early church believe that. This is why I remain Catholic in light of recent bad press regarding the sex abuse scandal and crazy priests like Reverend Pfleger.
So basically I am Catholic because the Apostles were. I see no need to start another church. Jesus already did that. I have no nail scars on my hands to give the authority to start a new one.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Intro
My name is Richard Lamb and as can be seen by my Bio, I am a man of many interests. I am also opinionated and like to engage in what some call the arena of ideas. This blog is one of what I hope to be an ever-growing number of ways in which I can express my views.
So you know where I come from I am a devout Roman Catholic. I try my best to live in accordance with the Magisterium of the Catholic church and remain in Communion with the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome. Politically I tend to lean right on most issues, and more libertarian when It comes to Immigration, more on that later.
At present time I am about two weeks from earning a Masters Degree in Information systems. Actually I should be working on my homework not starting a Blog, what can I say. I have a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology. I love computers and am in awe of technologies potential for good and terrified of it's potential for evil.
I also have an interest in the Sciences, especially natural Science and Social Sciences. I love Animals, Nature in General and am fascinated and am an avid student of Human nature. I have strong views when it Comes to Man made Global warming, other eco-leftie, anti-capitalist movements.
I am also a capitalist, as Winston Churchill is quoted as saying "Capitalism is the worst economic system to ever work". I hold a slightly higher view of Capitalism but I like the quote.
So, Religion, Politics, Science, Technology Family and Country. Of course there is much more to me, but I have to leave something for future posts, don't I?
So you know where I come from I am a devout Roman Catholic. I try my best to live in accordance with the Magisterium of the Catholic church and remain in Communion with the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome. Politically I tend to lean right on most issues, and more libertarian when It comes to Immigration, more on that later.
At present time I am about two weeks from earning a Masters Degree in Information systems. Actually I should be working on my homework not starting a Blog, what can I say. I have a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology. I love computers and am in awe of technologies potential for good and terrified of it's potential for evil.
I also have an interest in the Sciences, especially natural Science and Social Sciences. I love Animals, Nature in General and am fascinated and am an avid student of Human nature. I have strong views when it Comes to Man made Global warming, other eco-leftie, anti-capitalist movements.
I am also a capitalist, as Winston Churchill is quoted as saying "Capitalism is the worst economic system to ever work". I hold a slightly higher view of Capitalism but I like the quote.
So, Religion, Politics, Science, Technology Family and Country. Of course there is much more to me, but I have to leave something for future posts, don't I?
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