Saturday, July 5, 2008
Are Catholics afraid of truth
Christians in general and Catholics in particular are often accused of being afraid of truth. We are told that we reject science and hold to superstitions. That our beliefs when held to the light of truth fall apart like a snow man in the dessert. The fact is, that nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that in the past men of faith, or claimed the faith seemed opposed to progress and sound science, out of fear that their beliefs would be proven wrong perhaps, or out a sincere desire to save souls. But the folly of this is self evident and not in keeping with historical Christian thinkers. Indeed we owe much to Christianity when it comes to progress in education. The university system was a Catholic invention. Modern genetics was developed by Gregor Mendel a Catholic priest. Nicolas Copernicus developed the modern science that proves the sun is as the center of our solar system, again a Catholic Priest. Galileo did not get in trouble for proposing this but for delving in theology as well as science. So history shows that Christianity has from the beginning embarked in "A relentless, unstoppable pursuit of the truth" to borrow from Rush. Jesus said that "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). So to a Christian the truth, all truth, is liberating. It is also true that to a Christian the opposite holds in that to hold to a lie is to be enslaved. This is where the Church and some people in science clash. Not all research is interested in truth. Take stem cell research. Science has shown much progress in stem cell research not derived from an unborn embryo. Yet some insist on pursuing embryonic stem cell research. It is therefore evident that the research is not to seek out truth but to promote the lie and the evils of abortion. This the Church and the rest of Christianity will oppose with every moral weapon we can muster.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy Birthday USA
Today we Celebrate the birth of Our Nation. In all of our celebrations, family gatherings, and fireworks we must not loose sigt of what we are celebrating. We Celebrate the birth of nation founded on a premises never before conceived. The notion that All Men are Created Equal and are endowed by their Creator with the rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.. The founders of our nation set out to protect these God Given rights. They did this first by sacrificing their own lives, the lives of their families and their Fortunes fighting a revolution that they were not supposed to win against what was a the time the mightiest empire in the world. Having done the impossible and won their independence they then set out to create a governing document unique in history. That Document was our constitution. This constitution was unique in that it limited the power of the federal government first by enumerating the first powers it did have then by further dividing that authority into three branches of government thus no one individual could have absolute power.
Today as we see a judiciary encroaching on the legislature and the executive powers, and when we see an ever growing federal government who seems intent on appropriating powers that the founding fathers
never intended it to have. It is incumbent on us the voters to read and remember the words of our founding documents and begin the process of taking our government back. We have elections coming up, and while we are all focusing on the presidential candidates (none of which are rally that inspiring) let us remember that there are also local, state and federal positions on the ballot. Everyone of these races could begin the process of returning out government to it's founding roots.
Here are our founding documents lest we forget;
Read them, learn them, love them and fight for
them they are worth every bit of our blood and sweat and they are the founding
documents of the the one nation that is in the words of Bill Benet "The last
Best Hope of Man Kind"
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
This is what the left wants for us.
Note how north Korea the thuggish dictatorship the left wants us to emulate is dark and South Korea, the prosperous capitalist nation.
See here
See here
Why is it....
That when privately held oil companies reports a profit (which goes for the most part to running the company and to the share holders, I.E. me as a 401K holder) it is seen as evil and the outcry is heard across the whole left wing spectrum, but the same people are silent when a muderous dictator turns an even bigger profit by scamming the oil for Food program.
Perhaps if the oil companies changed their names to oil for food or had a crecent as their symbol the left would be more sympathetic.
Perhaps if the oil companies changed their names to oil for food or had a crecent as their symbol the left would be more sympathetic.
The Faith of an Atheist.
I have always believed that it takes more faith to hold to Atheism than it does to hold a belief in God. Atheist have to look at the majesty of Creation all around them and believe that is came by a process other than intelligent design. Atheist accuse believers of a faith that cannot be empirically proved, yet there is less proof for the atheist position than there is for the believers position.
Of course while atheist hold as an article of faith that there is not God, they have an ecclesiastic structure. The Have churches in the form of the University system (A catholic invention), the professors being their clergy. Their journals being their Magisterium, their sacraments (in most cases not all atheist are leftists) abortion, Tehir popes are leftists Judges who ignore the constitution and develop Dogma from the Bench, which no leftist Atheists dares contradict. They have no problem excommunicating those that defy their dogmas, ask Joe Lieberman and Zell Miler. Make no mistake the atheist will cling to his faith regardless of any evidence to the contrary, Not much different than the Pharisees of Old who opposed Jesus even when witnessing the miracles he performed in their mist.
Of course while atheist hold as an article of faith that there is not God, they have an ecclesiastic structure. The Have churches in the form of the University system (A catholic invention), the professors being their clergy. Their journals being their Magisterium, their sacraments (in most cases not all atheist are leftists) abortion, Tehir popes are leftists Judges who ignore the constitution and develop Dogma from the Bench, which no leftist Atheists dares contradict. They have no problem excommunicating those that defy their dogmas, ask Joe Lieberman and Zell Miler. Make no mistake the atheist will cling to his faith regardless of any evidence to the contrary, Not much different than the Pharisees of Old who opposed Jesus even when witnessing the miracles he performed in their mist.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Why Obama is more Dangerous to our Security than Carter
Many political pundits have stated that an Obama Presidency would be a second Carter Term. There are indeed some comparisons in that both seem to think that negotiation is the only way to address global issues. During Carters presidency the Military technological advantage the United States Had over the Soviet Union was almost lost. Carter canceled several defense projects such as the B-1 Lancer bomber program. Instead of defeating the Soviets, Carter sought to appease and negotiate with them. Obama has made it clear that he will take the same approach with our current enemies. The problem is that we live in a much more dangerous world today than in the 1970's. The Soviets were many things, but they were not suicidal. They sought to destroy America but were not willing to be destroyed in the process. So while Carter was pushing for negotiations the United states still had a Nuclear arsenal that could destroy the Soviets and the Soviets knew that. Our current crop of enemies on the other hand are not only willing to die, but see death as desirable when fighting the infidels. So while Obama negotiates with our enemies they are developing Nuclear weapons in the belief that their version of Armageddon will bring forth the twelfth Imam. So while Carter was Naive in dealing with the Soviets, the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction served as a deterrence against overt Soviet Aggression. There is no such deterrent against the current crop of Islamic Terrorist. To elect Obama is to re-elect Carter to negotiate against an enemy that is not interested in negotiating. While the prospect of a McCain presidency is not my Idea of an Ideal presidency, the prospect of an Obama presidency literally frightens me. Even a Hillary Clinton did not frighten me that much, with her at least I could be assured she could to to our enemies what she did to her husband when she found out about the Lewinsky Affair. I understand it was not pretty.
Why I cannot Vote for Obama
Article, No to put to fine a point on it, and at the risk of beeing called politically incorect (as if I cared) but this is simply evil, right there with Stalin and Hitler.
It's easy to be tolerant when there are no absolutes
This Column points to a survey dealing with religious tolerance. The fact is that the survey points not to religious tolerance but to religious relativism. Tolerance is recognising and thus protecting the God given rights of individuals. Tolerance does not mean giving another belief systems the same truth status as yours. While all beliefs systems have truth in them, they cannot all be equally true in all aspects. Christians believe Jesus is God and the Messiah promised in the old Testament, Jews reject that and Muslims believe Jesus was merely a prophet and hold Mohammad as higher in the order of prophets. Now only of these can be true. The relativist says that all three are true since what is true for one may not be true to another. The thing is that truth is truth and it remains true regardless of individual belief.
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
On the existence of Ghosts.
I thought I would post on something less political and less apologetic in nature and post on something that I find interesting in a somewhat related field.
Recently I have become fascinated by the Sci-Fi Original Series Called Ghost Hunters. I have always had an interested in Ghosts, but have always found the field troublesome as it is filled with people whose views are decidedly non-Christians. I am interested in the field from the Christian point of view. The reason I find the program interesting, even though the main characters do not bring a Christian world view to the field, it the skeptics approach they bring to their investigations. Unlike the British guys on travel channel these guys (plumbers by trade) enter a situation with a desire to disprove anything paranormal and in many cases do show alternative explanations. When all natural explanations are exhausted then they are willing to acknowledge paranormal activity. Of course when paranormal activity is documented they do not usually offer a Christian explanation or solution. Sometimes they do offer solutions, but not a Christian one, such a bringing in clergy. One of the things that the show serves to establish is that there is something in this world besides the physical world. Which can come as a revelation to those from an atheistic point of view.
My interest in these subject as mentioned is belief that whatever entity is active in these hauntings can only come from one of two sources. Either it is of God (which is in most cases not likely as angels invariably come with a divine mission, there is also the potential of the souls in Purgatory seeking prayer some mistics have written on this) or it is of demonic origin (the more likely explanation in most cases) This is where I think the Ghost Hunters guys may be failing their "clients". Not all demonic activity results in possessions and are as overt as that depicted in the exorcism of Emilly Rose. Many are quite benign in appearance, the purpose of which is to cause confusion and crisis of faith amongst their intended victims. The victims then turn to spiritism and other pagan practice as a source of explanation and are thus drawn further from Jesus. I think these are more dangerous than the actual possessions as those are clear and the solution is also clear. It takes duly appointed Catholic Priest to liberate those poor souls.
The website for the Ghost Hunters group is Here.
There is a more Catholic oriented site that deals with the demonolgy aspect of this.
Recently I have become fascinated by the Sci-Fi Original Series Called Ghost Hunters. I have always had an interested in Ghosts, but have always found the field troublesome as it is filled with people whose views are decidedly non-Christians. I am interested in the field from the Christian point of view. The reason I find the program interesting, even though the main characters do not bring a Christian world view to the field, it the skeptics approach they bring to their investigations. Unlike the British guys on travel channel these guys (plumbers by trade) enter a situation with a desire to disprove anything paranormal and in many cases do show alternative explanations. When all natural explanations are exhausted then they are willing to acknowledge paranormal activity. Of course when paranormal activity is documented they do not usually offer a Christian explanation or solution. Sometimes they do offer solutions, but not a Christian one, such a bringing in clergy. One of the things that the show serves to establish is that there is something in this world besides the physical world. Which can come as a revelation to those from an atheistic point of view.
My interest in these subject as mentioned is belief that whatever entity is active in these hauntings can only come from one of two sources. Either it is of God (which is in most cases not likely as angels invariably come with a divine mission, there is also the potential of the souls in Purgatory seeking prayer some mistics have written on this) or it is of demonic origin (the more likely explanation in most cases) This is where I think the Ghost Hunters guys may be failing their "clients". Not all demonic activity results in possessions and are as overt as that depicted in the exorcism of Emilly Rose. Many are quite benign in appearance, the purpose of which is to cause confusion and crisis of faith amongst their intended victims. The victims then turn to spiritism and other pagan practice as a source of explanation and are thus drawn further from Jesus. I think these are more dangerous than the actual possessions as those are clear and the solution is also clear. It takes duly appointed Catholic Priest to liberate those poor souls.
The website for the Ghost Hunters group is Here.
There is a more Catholic oriented site that deals with the demonolgy aspect of this.
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.
One More Justice is all we need....
To keep making good decisions like this, on a consistent basis.
Of the Two candidates one promises to nominate, Justices like Ginsburg, and Stevens the other promises to nominate justices like Thomas and Elito.
Of course the one that promises to nominate such originalist Justices has a maverick streak and we cannot truly know what he will do, but if the other guy wins we do know what he will do. One might give us the majority we need to overturn state sponsored infanticide, with the other there will be no such chance perhaps for a very long time.
Of the Two candidates one promises to nominate, Justices like Ginsburg, and Stevens the other promises to nominate justices like Thomas and Elito.
Of course the one that promises to nominate such originalist Justices has a maverick streak and we cannot truly know what he will do, but if the other guy wins we do know what he will do. One might give us the majority we need to overturn state sponsored infanticide, with the other there will be no such chance perhaps for a very long time.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Priest Sex Abuse Scandal
It was terrible and it did highlight problems in church administration. It gave the Media an excuse to go for endless weeks attacking the church and showing how this proves the folly of Priestly celibacy. No mention of Protestant Clergy accused of similar crimes, this of course by married clergy, but to report on this would not advance the notion that sex abuse is the fault of celibacy. Also ignored are the acquittals of Catholic Priests being.
I found these in ten minutes using Google. I do not have the world wide resources of the media or a Lexus Nexus account.
Please note, I am as angered by the scandal as the next devout Catholic, but I think there should be perspective and this should point to the medias Anti-Catholic Bias.The Fact is that the incidents of Sex Abuse were wildly exaggerated in order to cast aspersions upon the Catholic Church and to discredit her teachings which stand in opposition to the secular Medias
libertine lifestyles and beliefs.
Charity is not a Government Program
It’s an election year. This means that predictably the secular left candidate will discover Scripture and Jesus and translate the teachings of scripture and Jesus on the treatments of others with charity into a government program. They will say Point to passages such as the Good Samaritan, the Be Attitudes, Do unto others etc. and speak of treating others with charity an immediately point to a government program as the only expression and or application of these teachings to the exclusion of legitimate charities such as Catholic, Charities, Lutheran Social service, The Salvation Army and other charities to do great service, often on shoe string budgets and lots of volunteers and real individual acts of charity. Interesting that when a secular left winger quotes scripture or refers to Jesus the ACLU’s and George Soros of the world do not scream as they do when a right winger does the same, perhaps because they know that the left wing candidate does not mean it.
Catholic Social teaching does allow and even encourage government assistance for the poor, but it also recognizes the obligation of a free people to do service for each other without the need or want of a government program. Catholic social teaching does not really care where the assistance comes from, it does not however promotes one method or the other. Catholic social teaching opposes the extremes of both Socialism as well as Capitalism and believes that society can have an economic systems that incorporates the best aspects of both economic systems. Only politicians seeking to buy votes and to create dependence of government will promote government as the only legitimate form of charity.
Real charity is something one does without coercion. No can be forced to be charitable for, if one is forced it is no longer charity. Charity by definition is voluntary. Politicians who promote charity through government programs are seldom charitable with their own Money as evidenced by their own tax returns. They love to be charitable with other peoples money, which the take in the form of confiscatory taxes. The fact is that it is people of faith that are the most charitable and they give without coercion, often above and beyond what is already taxed. It is also people of faith who often volunteer their time to charitable organizations (this never makes it on a ledger sheet). In time of disasters it is private individuals who often out-gives even our own very giving government
My Brother posted an excellent treatise on the true meaning of Charity on his Blog Assenting Catholic. Read Post here.
So in short do not let politicians fool you. Whenever they bring up Jesus and the bible and speak of charity, grab a hold of your wallet, it’s not as though they are going to open theirs.
Catholic Social teaching does allow and even encourage government assistance for the poor, but it also recognizes the obligation of a free people to do service for each other without the need or want of a government program. Catholic social teaching does not really care where the assistance comes from, it does not however promotes one method or the other. Catholic social teaching opposes the extremes of both Socialism as well as Capitalism and believes that society can have an economic systems that incorporates the best aspects of both economic systems. Only politicians seeking to buy votes and to create dependence of government will promote government as the only legitimate form of charity.
Real charity is something one does without coercion. No can be forced to be charitable for, if one is forced it is no longer charity. Charity by definition is voluntary. Politicians who promote charity through government programs are seldom charitable with their own Money as evidenced by their own tax returns. They love to be charitable with other peoples money, which the take in the form of confiscatory taxes. The fact is that it is people of faith that are the most charitable and they give without coercion, often above and beyond what is already taxed. It is also people of faith who often volunteer their time to charitable organizations (this never makes it on a ledger sheet). In time of disasters it is private individuals who often out-gives even our own very giving government
My Brother posted an excellent treatise on the true meaning of Charity on his Blog Assenting Catholic. Read Post here.
So in short do not let politicians fool you. Whenever they bring up Jesus and the bible and speak of charity, grab a hold of your wallet, it’s not as though they are going to open theirs.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Obama Supported by Foreign Leaders,
Such as Castro, HAMAS, Hugo Chavez, and Mahmoud I'm-a-dirty-Yak, And Now Kim Jung Ill. Still Waiting on Osama Bin Ladens, grainy video tape is probably in route as we speak.
It's nice to know who Americas Friends and well wishers want as our president.
It's nice to know who Americas Friends and well wishers want as our president.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
This is what I was talking about on a previous post.
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)
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Case for the Iraq War
It's popular these days especially in leftists circles to malign the war in Iraq. One can hear the common refrains in the evening news. They will say things such as, there were not weapons of Mass destruction, Bush Lied, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, this was is about Oil Etc. I will try to address some of these Issues as I am perhaps one of about ten that still supports this war.
To begin with I must address a question that may be forming in the minds of some. How can a Catholic who claims to be devout support this was in light of the Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI's opposition as well as many other bishops. The answers is simple. The Catholic church is not opposed to war as a matter of Doctrine the same way the church is opposed to Abortion and Contraception. The fact is that the Catholic Church has developed a Just war Doctrine (Read here and here) There is no Just abortion doctrine. The Issue of War is a matter of prudential judgement by legitimate authority and neither the Pope not the bishops are privy to the information available to heads of state that leads them to such decisions. One can be a Catholic in Good standing and be in support or in opposition to this war (though I think that those that oppose it are misguided)
OK, now that that is out of the way lets address some of the talking points of the opposition.
1. There were not WMD's. This is one of the most common statements of those opposing the war.
First it must be pointed that this argument was used by no one before the war started, the fact is that every intelligence service in the world from the French, to the Germans, to the UN and everywhere in between had intelligence that they did have WMD's. He was tried on the use of the WMD's (article, and article) He used the weapons on his own people.I remember watching the Images when it happened. In actuality WMD's were found (Article). It is true that the expected stock piles were not found waiting for our troops to just pounce on them (As if Saddam were dumb enough to leave them liying around waiting to be found.). Was was found was documentation that a WMD program existed (This article shows that though it is not friendly to the U.S. cause) The opposition to the Iraq War before the was centered around allowing the inspectors to do their Job, the only notable war opponent that did not hold to this view was Saddam himself, he did all he could to prevent the inspectors from doing their Jobs.
Bush Lied. This statement shows a fundamental misunderstanding what a lie is. For someone to lie they must know that what they are saying is not true. Bush was relying on the same Intelligence used by the previous administration to support military action in Iraq. The only difference is that this time it was a republican and there were no interns involved. And yes the little Matter of 9-11. The famous sixteen words regarding Uranium in Africa is still affirmed by British intelligence to this day.
Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, No one said he did. Though the 9-11 commission report did document contacts at various levels with Al quaeda. the events of 9-11 showed us the reality of Islamic terrorism in general of which al queada is but one group and the one brought to the fore front after 9-11. Bush said as much in his speech after 9-11. We are at war with Islamic terrorism not just Alquaeda. Furthermore to beleive that Al-quaeda a world wide organization was everywhere but Iraq is self delusional. Sadam was himself a terrorist, he ran a terrorist state and he sponsored terrorism world wide paying money to the families of suicided bombers in Israel.
The Iraq War is about oil, This argument was used during the last war with Iraq. If this war were about oil, gas would not be $4.00 a gallon. The Iraqis run their own Oil.
The war in Iraq diverts from tracking down Bin-laden, this argument is based on the notion that we somehow left Afghanistan to go after Iraq. This not true, the hunt for Bin-Laden is still ongoing. The ground condition in Iraq and Afghanistan are different thus different force structures are required. The notion that the U.S. cannot, with the most powerful military in the World cannot fight war in two countries. The fact is that the war on terrorism has our troops all over the world, including the Philippines and Somalia. Iraq is and has always been one front in the war on terrorism and those that say we should have stayed in Afghanistan are trying to imply that Iraq has nothing to do with the terrorism. If Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism then why are the terrorist streaming in from all over the world to fight there. I mush prefer they take on our trained troops than to have them here killing my family. Make not mistake they still want to do that.
To begin with I must address a question that may be forming in the minds of some. How can a Catholic who claims to be devout support this was in light of the Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI's opposition as well as many other bishops. The answers is simple. The Catholic church is not opposed to war as a matter of Doctrine the same way the church is opposed to Abortion and Contraception. The fact is that the Catholic Church has developed a Just war Doctrine (Read here and here) There is no Just abortion doctrine. The Issue of War is a matter of prudential judgement by legitimate authority and neither the Pope not the bishops are privy to the information available to heads of state that leads them to such decisions. One can be a Catholic in Good standing and be in support or in opposition to this war (though I think that those that oppose it are misguided)
OK, now that that is out of the way lets address some of the talking points of the opposition.
1. There were not WMD's. This is one of the most common statements of those opposing the war.
First it must be pointed that this argument was used by no one before the war started, the fact is that every intelligence service in the world from the French, to the Germans, to the UN and everywhere in between had intelligence that they did have WMD's. He was tried on the use of the WMD's (article, and article) He used the weapons on his own people.I remember watching the Images when it happened. In actuality WMD's were found (Article). It is true that the expected stock piles were not found waiting for our troops to just pounce on them (As if Saddam were dumb enough to leave them liying around waiting to be found.). Was was found was documentation that a WMD program existed (This article shows that though it is not friendly to the U.S. cause) The opposition to the Iraq War before the was centered around allowing the inspectors to do their Job, the only notable war opponent that did not hold to this view was Saddam himself, he did all he could to prevent the inspectors from doing their Jobs.
Bush Lied. This statement shows a fundamental misunderstanding what a lie is. For someone to lie they must know that what they are saying is not true. Bush was relying on the same Intelligence used by the previous administration to support military action in Iraq. The only difference is that this time it was a republican and there were no interns involved. And yes the little Matter of 9-11. The famous sixteen words regarding Uranium in Africa is still affirmed by British intelligence to this day.
Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, No one said he did. Though the 9-11 commission report did document contacts at various levels with Al quaeda. the events of 9-11 showed us the reality of Islamic terrorism in general of which al queada is but one group and the one brought to the fore front after 9-11. Bush said as much in his speech after 9-11. We are at war with Islamic terrorism not just Alquaeda. Furthermore to beleive that Al-quaeda a world wide organization was everywhere but Iraq is self delusional. Sadam was himself a terrorist, he ran a terrorist state and he sponsored terrorism world wide paying money to the families of suicided bombers in Israel.
The Iraq War is about oil, This argument was used during the last war with Iraq. If this war were about oil, gas would not be $4.00 a gallon. The Iraqis run their own Oil.
The war in Iraq diverts from tracking down Bin-laden, this argument is based on the notion that we somehow left Afghanistan to go after Iraq. This not true, the hunt for Bin-Laden is still ongoing. The ground condition in Iraq and Afghanistan are different thus different force structures are required. The notion that the U.S. cannot, with the most powerful military in the World cannot fight war in two countries. The fact is that the war on terrorism has our troops all over the world, including the Philippines and Somalia. Iraq is and has always been one front in the war on terrorism and those that say we should have stayed in Afghanistan are trying to imply that Iraq has nothing to do with the terrorism. If Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism then why are the terrorist streaming in from all over the world to fight there. I mush prefer they take on our trained troops than to have them here killing my family. Make not mistake they still want to do that.
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