LIVING IN THE BIBLE BELT

The South is generally known as the Bible Belt. What most people do not realize is that the Bible must be interpreted like any other literature. The method to be followed in Bible interpretation is the grammatical historical method. Interpreting Scripture grammatically ensures that it will be done in context. A text without context is a pretext. I have lived in the Bible Belt for approximately nine years and I do not see much Bible living.

An example of this a Letter to the Editor in the Johnson City Press. The letter writer C.I. Morrell complains about ball games being scheduled on Sunday morning. He wrote, "Maybe playing on Sunday afternoon is OK, but I agree that the games should not be scheduled on Sunday morning. The kids should be afforded the opportunity and encouraged to go to church–not discouraged."

There are quite a few things that Mr. Morrell needs to understand in this regard. He wrote in his letter, "I guess we’ve forgotten that "to keep the Sabbath holy," is still relevant." He uses Scripture and then contradicts himself in the same letter. The fourth commandment reads "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." If playing ball should not be scheduled during Sunday morning, why is it all of the sudden acceptable on Sunday afternoon? How long does a day last? It is the Sabbath day, not Sabbath morning.

Most of those playing these ball games are educated in the government schools. During the school year they are taught that God does not exist. They are steeped in atheism and when they go and do what atheists do by playing sports on the Lord’s Day, why is Mr. Morrell surprised? This is because Mr. Morrell does not understand the situation. He probably supports the local government schools.

Scheduling ball games on the Lord’s Day is consistent with the curriculum of the government schools. All that I see is consistency in this situation. This is what I would expect. These boys would rather be playing ball than going to church. Their parents would rather go to the ball game than go to church. Their actions speak so loudly I cannot hear what they say. Parents who go to church would not let their boys play ball, at least on Sunday morning. They would be in church instead of at the ball game.

This demonstrates what these people think about God. They do not fear Him. When it comes to church attendance and a ball game, God is always the loser. This is because those attending these ball games are idolaters. They are not spiritual. This makes sense because they are continuously taught to be idolaters in the government schools. Church’s do not help themselves by preaching the nonsense of not being subject to God’s law. This is proof that they get what they deserve for their false doctrines.

Ball games being scheduled on Sunday morning in the Bible Belt. How shocking. These games will be continued to be scheduled on Sunday morning. The solution to this problem is something that Mr. Morrell never thought about, pull all church children out of the government schools. It has been said that if the Baptists pulled their children out of the government schools in the Bible Belt, they would collapse overnight. Oh, that it may be so!

RESTORING SANITY

To be relevant, one needs to keep up with current events. So many people that you encounter on a daily basis have no idea what is going on around them and when something takes place, it takes them totally by surprise. Most people do not care about serious matters. Their minds are set on which Hollywood Celebrity is pregnant and which ones are getting and divorce or being remarried for who knows how many times.

Theology has consequences. All people are theological. It is never a matter of theology, no theology, but which. Most people are schizophrenic when it comes to their theology. They have taken a bit of this and a bit of that and have created a mosaic, not knowing the source of their beliefs. Their thinking is murky at best. When their thinking is challenged on any issue, they lack the ability to identify the issue accurately and are forced into silence.

The so called intellectuals (academicians) are almost unanimously against the death penalty. They hate it with all their heart. There is almost nothing that angers them more than this. Every argument that they foment is shallow and illogical. They give more credence and apologies to the criminals than the victim. They are not concerned for the victim or their families but for the criminal. Those who are against the death penalty are pro-murder. This is not surprising because these same individuals support the murder of unborn children.

On Wednesday, April 16, 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection as the way of execution for convicted murderers. Executions that used lethal injections had been suspended until the Court ruled on this issue. By an overwhelming majority of 7-2, the Court upheld the constitutionality of this execution method. The AP story said it was a splintered Court, "A splintered Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday, approving the most widely used method of lethal injection." Splintered? Is 7-2 splintered? Overwhelming majority is an accurate statement. Splintered is typical of the media’s inaccuracy.

The media is against the death penalty. Their favorite argument is that an innocent man may be put to death. You will forever find articles in the paper regarding stories of someone that was convicted and sentenced to death and was found to be innocent. When someone like Ted Bundy is sentenced to death, they will never say that Ted deserved what he got. They are not interested in justice. All of their poorly thought out arguments uphold injustice.

How many innocent men have been put to death? The number is very small. How many guilty men have been put to death? Their names are legion. I am glad that the Supreme Court has upheld sanity by upholding the death penalty for convicted murderers. Be sure of this, academia and the media will try to get the death penalty abolished. They are insane and desire to have the world ruled by their insanity. Once again, thank you Supreme Court!

ENVIRONMENTALISM IS IDOLATRY

There is nothing new under the sun. Environmentalism is idolatry. Environmentalism is worship of the creation and not the Creator. When man rejects Christianity, he will seek to worship something because he cannot evade being made in the image of God. His only alternative is the material world i.e. what he can see with his physical eyes.

Mr. Bitter is a dupe of the environmentalist philosophy. His solutions are all idolater’s solutions at the end of a gun. This is because the environmentalist philosophy is bankrupt. They have no solution but coercion. What Bitter calls for will result in worsening the oil situation. He does not realize that government regulation is the cause of the rise in gas prices and yet he wants more regulation ensuring shortages.

When there is a shortage in the market, you can rest assured the government is involved. The establishment’s religion is environmentalism. This is taught in the coercive educational system from kindergarten all the way through graduate school. Environmentalism is the government established religion of America.

I like green, the green of cash from being productive. God told man to subdue the earth. This is what the environmentalists seek to stop. Drilling for oil and subduing the earth is the solution to the high price of oil. The environmentalists desire is to become primitive. They are regressive, not progressive as they claim. Our survival depends upon getting goods to the market. This is what oil companies seek to do. The environmentalists are determined to stop them.

THE INJUSTICE OF JUSTICE

Justice is just another word that has no meaning in our day. When man decides what justice is, you can rest assured that it will be injustice. Man believes that he is wiser than God, but man is a fool. He demonstrates his foolishness in manifold ways on a daily basis. It never dawns upon him what the consequences of his actions will be. He never extends anything out to its logical conclusion. This is too logical for his mind.

Our entire judicial system needs to be reformed. No not with tougher sentencing, but with Biblical punishments for crime. When man attempts to institute any policy, it always ends up being the opposite of what he intends. This is because man does not know what is right and wrong. It takes revelation from God. This revelation is found in the pages of the Bible. Unless someone uses the Bible, properly interpreted, his methods will prove to be counterproductive.

Man never learns. He is intent, as was Adam was, in having his own way. He desires autonomy from God. Only those who agree with rebellious man do not see any problem in men’s institutions. They believe that they are right. They never question anything. They are mindless automatons. Whatever the government says is right, they support it with all of their being. They are the type who say that there is nothing we can do about it.

Prisons are unbiblical. They are places of unproductiveness. Even if the prisoners are given tasks to do, they are menial tasks and the prisoner is not adequately compensated for his labor. Prison labor is slave labor. Prisoners are slaves of the state. The Bible does not allow for such nonsense. The Bible’s punishments are either restitution or the death penalty. One is productive in restoring the possessions of a victim and the other produces a godly civil order by removing those who seek to destroy civil order.

A recent case makes the point, in regard to restitution. Gloria Erwin McIntosh pled guilty to vandalism over $500 and was sentenced to one year’s incarceration. She had scratched the name "pig" on a sport utility vehicle owned by the wife of Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris. Clearly, McIntosh was in the wrong and her act was criminal. There is no disputing this at all. However, her sentence is ridiculous. I believe that this stiff penalty, considering the crime, was given because it was the wife of the county’s sheriff. Remember this is the South.

Who is really being penalized here? The taxpayers of the State of Tennessee. The taxpayers must pay for McIntosh’s shelter, food, clothing, medical care etc. McIntosh does not have to do anything to have these things that you and I have to work for. We have been sentenced along with McIntosh. We have been sentenced to provide for someone who is going to be unproductive in prison. This makes no sense whatsoever and yet this is what is hailed as justice. This is stupidity right out in the open.

What should McIntosh’s sentence be? What did she vandalize? The sport utility vehicle. Therefore, she must make restitution by paying for the damage caused by her scrawling pig on the SUV. Whatever costs are associated here must be paid for. The only persons affected by this crime are the Harrises. McIntosh only owes them. She does not owe a debt to society. She should be required to make double restitution.

Double restitution would be a deterrent to McIntosh every behaving in a similar way. If she is unable to make double restitution, then she will become an indentured servant until full restitution is made. This makes McIntosh productive by having to work off her debt to the victim and the Harrises have their vehicle restored by the body work and a new paint job for their vehicle. This is a wining situation for this crime. Anything else is anti-judicial.