Bring the heat

It’s a bit late in the year, but busy schedules will do that. The peppers are in the ground though. Labels are in the pictures.

Really Jim DeMint?

I just received a “Christmas” message from Jim DeMint.

In our tumultuous world, I turn for guidance both to scripture and to the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.

His message then quotes and extols Samuel Adams. Finally he finishes with this:

America was founded of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are a shining city upon a hill. We Americans take it upon ourselves to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to provide for those most in need. That spirit of giving is the true spirit of Christmas and the true spirit of America.

Thank you for holding true to the spirit of America. Have a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season.

Not once does he mention the true reason for Christmas even in his chosen quote. Not once do we hear about the incarnation of the Son of God and His purpose for coming into the world. No, as is typical for a politician, it seems Christmas is about America.

Jesus came into this world to free us from sin. That’s why we celebrate His birth. America is a wonderful place, but the spirit of America is no substitute for the Spirit of God.

This Christmas forget the politics. Look to our Lord Who gave his life so that we could be freed from sin and Who took it up again so that we could have eternal life if we believe in Him.

False Teachers, Heresy, and Discernment

In the 1980s I would on occasion listen to a radio program late at night on the AM band. The program was an exposition of the bible by a gospel preacher. I enjoyed listening to it, but I cannot remember its name now. I did an internet search to see if I could find it, but I’m not sure I did. I found quite a few things that I did listen to back then that I now know to have been heretical. I also found some things that seem like they might be what I was looking for.

Is “faith” enough?

Recently I was involved in a fairly acrimonious discussion with another blogger who professes to be a Christian. He is able to recite the fundamentals of the Lord’s plan of salvation and claims to believe them. However, he also believes and teaches some rather strange things for a person who professes the name of Christ.

On “doing good”

When people die, it’s not uncommon to hear people say of the deceased “He was a good man.” When they’re not reporting on the latest political infighting, or the most recent scandalous celebrity behavior, the major media like to present stories of how some people work hard to help others – such as Mother Theresa, Doctors Without Borders and the like.

Keurig Despicable?

Coincidence? Yes, probably so.

Welcome

If anyone is wondering, I’ve decided to move my content from my old site to this one. Why? In part performance. The server my previous provider was using is getting old, it’s slow, and it’s down more often than up. The second reason? Cost.

WordPress.com provides free sites. I can export all of my old content and import it here, and that’s what I’ll be doing soon. Or rather, as soon as I can access the old site again. Then, if I want to upgrade the site later to a premium site, it will cost me less than half of what I’m paying my old provider.

So, Individual Liberty – Individual Responsibility will be moving here shortly.

Maybe WordPress.com is a better place. We’ll see,

Changing hosts and e-mail

You may or may not have noticed but my web site has been up and down sporadically for the last several weeks. This has been frustrating to me, and I’m seriously considering dropping the service provider for the site. I do have a regular WordPress account, so I am thinking about moving the content from here to a new WordPress site. Why pay for something that is so unreliable?

When and if I do that, I will also be switching to a new e-mail address as well. Those of you that know my current e-mail address, drop me a note and I’ll send you my new address. Those of you that don’t know my current address, comment here and if I know you I’ll send you the new one.

Coexist? No.

I frequently see a bumper sticker that says “Coexist”. It’s made up from a lot of symbols for various religions and clearly means that these religions ought to coexist.

Time for a career change

At  the end of April I was laid off from my position at Goldman Sachs. They took my entire department and several other departments. After 32 years of working as a software engineer, it was getting harder and harder to convince people that I didn’t want to be a manager – that the only thing I wanted to do was be a software engineer.