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Be ready, he will come when you do not expect him.

~ wzippler

LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN - SEPTEMBER 15, 2017: The Ascension of the Lord on the satined glass of St James's Church, Clerkenwell Alexander Gibbs & Co (1863).

Matthew 24:42-44
42 Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into. 44 This is why you also must be ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Every so often someone declares that they KNOW when Christ is coming back, they get a lot of people especially Christians who haven’t carefully studied the Bible, worked up then the day comes, and all their hopes are dashed.  It’s even worse than that, some of the people who believed the preacher with the date have sold off all of their stuff, and recklessly spent the money they had to have a few laughs before leaving Earth. Imagine their shock when they woke up the day after they thought Jesus would come back, now penniless!  I imagine that many of these people left the faith when they really should have studied their Bible, and left their false teacher. When we come up with false dates for the second coming or even pass them on via Facebook or Twitter, we are committing a crime against the Body of Christ! We run the risk of chasing people who were close to coming to Christ away as well.  Don’t do it!

In this crazy world, we live in, it is easy to fall prey to the idea that Christ will come back any minute now, and it is possible, but it is also possible that he won’t come back in our lifetime. People have made false predictions about the end of the world almost since these words were written two-thousand years ago. I believe that we were not told the date so we could avoid having the temptation to put our work off till tomorrow because when tomorrow comes, it will be today so waiting until tomorrow may end up waiting till it is too late. Instead of trying to guess something that Christ purposely avoided telling us, we should instead keep our opinion about the exact day to ourselves, work for him as if he is coming back before bedtime, and plan as if your grandchildren will live to a ripe old age. That way all your bases are covered and you will live the life that Christ intended.

Self respect

~ wzippler

“The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.”

― Joan Didion

Modern day thinking tells us that everyone deserves an award just for showing up, but I believe that deep down inside we all know when we did not do our best, or even try.  A lifetime of getting awards simply for showing up I believe wears on our souls.
Why try to succeed if you will be just as appreciated for not trying as you are for working really hard?  But deep down those who can look at trophy covered walls, know that they are empty. Not a finger was lifted to get those awards, anybody could have gotten them.
They look back on their lives and realize they can not stand on their own two feet, everything has to be handed to them. That is where desperation springs from.

There are some cases where the person where special consideration is due. There are some people who face greater difficulties then the rest  who do deserve an award for things we take for granted.  But those people are exceptions to the rule.

We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to help everyone find some area in their life where they are talented and encourage them to be all that they can be.  We need to encourage kids to slowly take responsibility for their own life.  If they are overweight don’t tell them that it is McDonald’s fault, take them to the doctor, and if they have no medical issues giving them problems encourage them to take responsibility  for their own health. Teach them that treats are OK on occasion but they need real food to live off of.  Teach them a form of exercise they can enjoy. The gym isn’t for everyone there are so many other ways to get exercise, and many of them are fun.
Teach them the joys of hiking, sports or swimming… If you can look for an organization that encourages kids to take an active part in their community and get exercise at the same time, like cleaning up the local park , or dog walking at the local animal shelter.  While patting a kid on the back for just showing up may make them feel good for the moment, in the long run it does them great psychological harm.  Instead teach them to be all that they can be. “I DID IT MYSELF!”  Feels so much better then “I showed up, now where’s my prize?”.

 

Reasoning to Atheism

~ wzippler

“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It’s like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can’t trust my own thinking, of course I can’t trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.”

—C.S. Lewis