The Reason for the Season

"The Reason for the Season" is one of my favorite sayings at Christmastime, but what does it really mean?  Most people probably think of the "first Christmas" meaning the birth of Jesus.  This is good in that it reminds people that Christmas is not just about giving or getting gifts.  It's not just about profits for retailers or even helping people.  Yes, the birth of Jesus is very important and the "reason for the season".

However, if you focus just on the birth of Jesus at Christmas, you are missing out on something very important.  One of my favorite activities each year is to attend the Christmas play at a nearby Bible college.  The reason I like this play so much is that it not only focuses on the birth of Jesus, but his life as well.  We would have no reason to celebrate His birth if it had not been for the life He lived and ulitmately the death He died.  My church auditorium currently has a manger on display next to a cross.  This is fitting since the manger is meaningless without the cross.  The cross is why there is "Christ" in Christmas.  If we celebrate just a miraculous birth, we are missing the point.  It is Jesus' life and death that was God's gift to us.  That is why we rejoice! That is the real "Reason for the Season"

Mark Kirk

Some people believe that Mark Kirk can win the Senate seat that was previously held by Barack Obama.  Just because they think he can win they think that is enough reason to support him.  Nevermind the fact that he voted for cap and trade.  Who cares that he is pro-choice?  This win at any cost mentality is what is destroying the Republican party.  We were told in 2008 that John McCain was the only Republican who could win because he appealed to the middle.  Unfortunately, the right wing was so disgusted with him that not enough of them turned out for it to matter how many people in the middle voted for him.  If you can't get the support of the base of the party, the middle or independent voters don't matter.  It is not impossible for a true conservative to win in Illinois, especially given the current state of the Democratic party in this state.  The Illinois GOP needs to wake up and look for a true conservative.  Even if Mark Kirk wins, the GOP still loses, given that he supports the democrats on the many of the major issues as much as he does the Republicans.

Replacing God with Government

The sermon at my church this week was on offering. It was a good sermon, but my mind got to wandering when the preacher talked about how our offering is used to meet people's needs in the community. It made me think about how politicians in recent years have tried to convince us that it is the "Christian" thing to do to pay taxes so that the government can help people. They would have you believe that their message and the message from my preacher's sermon today are one in the same.

However, I believe these two messages could not be further apart and this actually goes to the heart of one of, if not the biggest problem in our country today. Some people have called it the Progressive Movement, which began in the early part of the 20th Century. Whatever you want to call it, I have noticed that it has gradually become an effort to replace God with government. Since the 1960's there has been a concerted effort to remove God from any role in our society. The further we have moved from God, the greater our needs have become. Check out what David Barton had to say about this:

"In each study you can clearly see a negative impact starting around the year 1962 when School Prayer was removed! Teenage pregnancy rates have gone up 500% since 1962. Unmarried mothers have risen dramatically since 1962. The divorce Rate is so high that many young children don't really understand what a family is. Violent Crimes have risen steadily since the early 60's, and our prison system is bursting at the seams. The SAT scores have steadily declined each year for 18 straight years since 1962 and continue to decline or be low. We once had the best school system in the world, and we are now ranked about 15th among the industrialized nations. This is despite us spending more money then any other nation in the world on our school system. "

During approximately the same period of time, we have seen massive growth of the government in terms of spending, regulations and government employees. For every problem we face, someone in the government has an "answer". The latest example we have seen of this has been dealing with the problems in healthcare, but the previous president thought he had the fix for education with "No Child Left Behind". The people behind the movement to remove God from the public square want you to believe they are separating church and state, but they are really replacing the church with the state. The amazing faith of people in the governments ability to fix our problems is astounding, especially considering how often the government is to blame for those problems. Before you know it, all of our money will read "In Government We Trust."

If you think I'm wrong, look at the way some his followers practically worship Barack Obama. From the tingly Chris Matthews to fainting fans in the crowd, his rallies often resembled old revival meetings more than political meetings. Just listen to his themes..."Change You Can Believe In"; "Hope"; "Yes We Can!" If you listen to some of his speeches, they were so uplifting and devoid of any specifics that would distinguish them as political speeches rather than sermons. Actions of the government would also have you think they believe they are gods as well, such as determining when life begins (abortion), creating life (embrionic stem cell research), and deciding when life should end (refer to some of the aspects of the latest health care debate).

If we want to turn things around in this country, we need to reverse this trend. Put God and the church back in their rightful places, independent and unimpeded by the government. This is not an establishment of religion but merely allowing the free exercise of it and letting people turn somewhere besides to the government for the answer to their problems. Instead of decreasing the deduction for charitable giving, it should be increased. Then the people are able to support the organizations that excel at meeting people's needs (more efficiently, I might add) through their giving, whether it is to their local church or other non-profit organizations. Wouldn't it be great if we had a lot more St. Jude's around to help the people in need of crucial healthcare?

If we continue to turn to the government to fix our problems, we will only get bigger problems. Try letting the church and other organizations work on the solutions. It's what they specialize in. Remember, it is the government that takes your money and turns it into debt, but it was Jesus who took the gift of five loaves and two fish and fed 5,000. Who are you going to put your faith in?

Welcome To My Blog

I recently attended a town hall meeting for my local congressman. I had several questions that I wanted to ask him. Unfortunately, about 300 other people had just as many questions. Clearly, I'm not the only person who's frustrated with the way things are going in our country.

I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of things, so I thought it was appropriate for me to create my own town hall where I could express my thoughts and concerns about what I feel is important. This will probably be a mostly political blog, since that is what concerns me the most these days. But sense my thoughts and interests are very wide-ranging, I may choose to focus on other issues from time to time as well. Hopefully you will enjoy what I have to say or at least it will challenge you to think.