Forgive me for being a while getting back on here. I have been busy with work, school, and traveling to the lake.
The Other Side of Feminism
Feminism is a movement sweeping into the minds of many people across the globe, and it destroys the traditional and proper view of humanity. But there are many myths surrounding feminism. We have the general idea of what feminism is. Women are to blame - they want power and want to be equal or greater than man - that general sort of idea. But feminism is much more than a modern attempt at electing a woman as President. Feminism is a constant struggle throughout the race of mankind, and it is not merely the fault of women.
What feminism does is destroy the way we should view humanity. It takes us away from the traditional God-ordained way of viewing men and women, giving us a worldly alternative. This movement is not really modern - in fact, the very first sin man committed was feministic in nature. The "modern" side of feminism is just the different applications and rhetoric used.
When Eve ate from the forbidden fruit, she was putting herself to the level of God, or so in her mind, and did so even without asking her husband. Perhaps it would be forgivable if, when Eve felt tempted, she asked her husband's permission, and he said no. But Eve did not do this.
However at the same time, Adam is blamed for this sin much more than Eve is. The Scriptures do not tell us about "Death through Eve" but rather "Death through Adam." Adam seemed to have been present watching Eve eat the fruit, and he failed to remind her of God's grace and His law that they should not eat of that tree. He failed to be the man! See, feminism is not so about women wanting too much power, but it is often about men not being men. If men are not the men, protecting their families, loving a wife with a passion unknown to the mind of mortal man, raising a family in a God-fearing way, being the head of the house as Christ is the head of the church, etc., then it is very forgivable to the women to want to take over.
I do not agree with the women feminists of today, so do not get me wrong. But it seems the actions of the men speak as louder or louder as the words used by women. So often while working at Chick-Fil-A, I notice women paying for the food, telling me what they and their husband want, grabbing the food and taking it to the table, etc. These may not be great big deals, but there is something behind them. If men are not willing to make a living for the family, then who can blame the women for doing that?
Once again, I do not write this to condone the women leaders of modern feminism, because they, the voices, are at fault too. This blog is written to show 'the other side' of feminism, not the only side of feminism. But it is the side that does not get talked about much today.
What do you think?
God bless America
Pray for our Troops
March 21, 2008
Ryan Hampton
Friday, March 21, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Sin, Confession, and Lent
Approaching Easter Day, it is easy for many people to overlook the season of Lent. Lent is the season leading up to Easter, in which we dwell on our sin and lowliness. The tradition of Mardi Gras actually arises from the season of Lent. Mardi Gras has become the day in which people party as if it is the last day before they really have to get serious about their sin.
And certainly this can be a wrong outlook to life and Lent, as if we should sin as much as we can to make up for a sinless Lent. But there is nothing wrong with a season to help us better understand our sins. It helps us better look forward to Easter. It makes us all the more joyous when Easter comes, and we realize that despite our sin and lowliness, there is Someone who covers up our sin, and has resurrected with glory so that we may resurrect with glory at the Final Resurrection.
It seems just like yesterday Lent just began, and now it is about over. I remember feeling bad that I missed our church's Ash Wednesday Service -- a service that is really humbling. I know I have not dwelt on my sin enough, but it is never to late for me, nor you, to see our sins.
We have all sinned, and we should not forget that. In lives in which we so often forget about our sin, it is good to humbly look over our lives. Whenever we think we have it all together, that other people should learn from us, we should be humbled to see our sin and our misery apart from the grace of God. We have all failed in all of the Commandments. We have all put something ahead of God; we have all made and constructed things that we in some spirit worshiped; we have all used God's name in a manner that did not go to give Him full praise and adoration; we have all forgotten that the Sabbath Day is the Day of the Lord, and we have opted to work for our own personal benefits instead of worshipping God corporately each week; we have failed to honor our parents, not that we even honor those below us either; we have all taken something that was not rightfully ours; we have all looked to some other person with some sort of lustful immoral thought; we have all had unrighteous anger toward a fellow man; we have all spoken falsely against our fellow man for only our own personal immediate sake; we have all desired for and even complained about something else someone else had that we did not. This covers each Commandment. We are all sinners, of whom I am of the worst.
Of course, I do not write this to scare you into thinking that there is no hope; rather, I write this to show you just how great the Hope is, and how desperately we all need it -- everyone of us. So I encourage you to look at your sin, and perhaps instead of complaining about that person you know who is weird, that person who is acting unwise in any sort of relationship right now, that person who is always late to everything when you are always on time, that person who cheats on tests, has excessive foul language, who seems to have no respect for his parents, seek forgiveness for yourself, and then humbly share it with others. Confess your sin to God -- even specific sins. Feel free to confess many of your sins to others around you. If you have held a grudge against someone, get rid of it, and lead by example in recognizing your own faults even to them. Build each other up in the Lord as Paul spoke of -- even people you have perhaps been angry at or looked down upon for a while.
Didn't Jesus tell us to consider the plank in our eye before looking at the speck in someone else's eye? Didn't Paul tell us that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God? Perhaps we should all personalize these issues, and stop complaining about other people.
Just a thought.
What do you think?
God bless America
Pray for our Troops
March 12, 2008
Ryan Hampton
And certainly this can be a wrong outlook to life and Lent, as if we should sin as much as we can to make up for a sinless Lent. But there is nothing wrong with a season to help us better understand our sins. It helps us better look forward to Easter. It makes us all the more joyous when Easter comes, and we realize that despite our sin and lowliness, there is Someone who covers up our sin, and has resurrected with glory so that we may resurrect with glory at the Final Resurrection.
It seems just like yesterday Lent just began, and now it is about over. I remember feeling bad that I missed our church's Ash Wednesday Service -- a service that is really humbling. I know I have not dwelt on my sin enough, but it is never to late for me, nor you, to see our sins.
We have all sinned, and we should not forget that. In lives in which we so often forget about our sin, it is good to humbly look over our lives. Whenever we think we have it all together, that other people should learn from us, we should be humbled to see our sin and our misery apart from the grace of God. We have all failed in all of the Commandments. We have all put something ahead of God; we have all made and constructed things that we in some spirit worshiped; we have all used God's name in a manner that did not go to give Him full praise and adoration; we have all forgotten that the Sabbath Day is the Day of the Lord, and we have opted to work for our own personal benefits instead of worshipping God corporately each week; we have failed to honor our parents, not that we even honor those below us either; we have all taken something that was not rightfully ours; we have all looked to some other person with some sort of lustful immoral thought; we have all had unrighteous anger toward a fellow man; we have all spoken falsely against our fellow man for only our own personal immediate sake; we have all desired for and even complained about something else someone else had that we did not. This covers each Commandment. We are all sinners, of whom I am of the worst.
Of course, I do not write this to scare you into thinking that there is no hope; rather, I write this to show you just how great the Hope is, and how desperately we all need it -- everyone of us. So I encourage you to look at your sin, and perhaps instead of complaining about that person you know who is weird, that person who is acting unwise in any sort of relationship right now, that person who is always late to everything when you are always on time, that person who cheats on tests, has excessive foul language, who seems to have no respect for his parents, seek forgiveness for yourself, and then humbly share it with others. Confess your sin to God -- even specific sins. Feel free to confess many of your sins to others around you. If you have held a grudge against someone, get rid of it, and lead by example in recognizing your own faults even to them. Build each other up in the Lord as Paul spoke of -- even people you have perhaps been angry at or looked down upon for a while.
Didn't Jesus tell us to consider the plank in our eye before looking at the speck in someone else's eye? Didn't Paul tell us that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God? Perhaps we should all personalize these issues, and stop complaining about other people.
Just a thought.
What do you think?
God bless America
Pray for our Troops
March 12, 2008
Ryan Hampton
Friday, March 7, 2008
I Thought Evolutionists Did Not Look For Their Conclusions
If you hear a debate between a conservative Creationist Christian and an evolutionist/atheist, the evolutionist will most likely mention that we should "study facts and then reach a conclusion." Supposedly, Christians assume a conclusion, and then find random facts to back it up. But watching this video, this seems different. I find the evolutionist reaching a conclusion and then looking for the facts. No, I am not posting this as a Ron Paul video. Of course, I do find it odd that small clips are used to try to show Paul's "flip-flop" on evolution, when the majority of the video is supposedly scientific and not political. But that is not what I post this for. For the point I am trying to make, you really only need to watch is the last two and a half minutes or so.
I find it odd that the evolutionist, forced with his problem of the missing chromosome, looks for a conclusion and just happens to find it. He found his conclusion, and then looked for the facts. Of course, his "finding," even if is true, does not prove anything, and only leads us to the question of "why were the two chromosomes 'taped?'" Just something I happened to notice.
What do you think?
God bless America
Pray for our Troops
March 7, 2008
Ryan Hampton
I find it odd that the evolutionist, forced with his problem of the missing chromosome, looks for a conclusion and just happens to find it. He found his conclusion, and then looked for the facts. Of course, his "finding," even if is true, does not prove anything, and only leads us to the question of "why were the two chromosomes 'taped?'" Just something I happened to notice.
What do you think?
God bless America
Pray for our Troops
March 7, 2008
Ryan Hampton
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Politics of the Church
One of the problems the church has always had has been knowing how to approach
politics. The church has been in political troubles all throughout her history. We should not treat this generation or time period as an exception, but neither should we treat it as the only time this has been a problem either.
Many tell us that the church has become too political. A few would argue that the church has not been political enough. But the problem is not that the church has been too political or not political enough, but the problem is that the church has not been the church.
There was a time when there was argument whether the King or the Pope had complete authority. Was the church being the church at this time? No, they were too obsessed with civil power that they forgot about the Great Commission. The church has forgotten about the Great Commission today, and has instead has become legalistic about books and movies such as "Harry Potter" and "The Golden Compass." These things may be issues that the church can deal with, but only after it has first focused on its main roles: to love others as ourselves, to spread the Word to all nations, to reunite the many denominations that have divided Christians for so long, to worship God corporately each Sunday, and to all around return to the basic principles of Jesus.
The point is we should first focus on ourselves before we really worry about politics. But at the very same time, we should not resist politics. The politics of the church will come when we focus on the teachings of Jesus, and they will come in a profound way. Dr. George Grant said that "We must think of politics some of the time, so that we do not think of politics all the of the time." This quote seems to hold up; many of those today who complain that the church is too political are the most legalistic of Christians out there.
So what should the politics of the church look like? Well, as I said before, let us first focus on our basic task. The politics will then begin to take care of themselves. We should long for a day when the entire world bows on their knees and confesses with their tongues that Jesus is Lord; we should long for the day when earthly rulers bow to the ultimate rule of God; we should long for the day our governments are orchestrated by a Christian worldview that all men are created equal with certain unalienable Rights, and that governments are set up by God to protect our Rights; we should long for a day when the life of an innocent baby, born or unborn, would not be threatened; we should long for a day when our government punishes those who threaten our life, liberty, and property. This is extremely political, but it comes from the mission of the church.
And what has happened today? Today, we start with politics, and then we try to separate Christianity and make it something to the side. If we see religion and politics crossing paths, we make a political issue about it. Mitt Romney is a Mormon, should we not vote for him? Mike Huckabee was a Baptist Minister, does this make him more or less prepared for the job. Don't get me wrong - I want a firm Christian who can confess Jesus as Lord while speaking to the entire nation to be our President as much as most anyone, but the way we make political issues out of it all today is quite distasteful to me. One reason I would be skeptical of voting for Mitt Romney is because of his Mormonism. But I don't want to go around making a political issue about it. Perhaps today what we need is someone with a quiet driving faith, if a political fuss will be made of anything else.
The difference between the ideal way the church should handle politics and the way it has, is that the ideal way of handling politics is to first be a Christian. Because our Christianity covers (or should cover) all of our life, politics will be taken care of in the boldest of ways. Today, Christians seem to first be political, and then try to separate Christianity out of it. When the two intermingle, as they inevitably do, we have a giant mess on our hands.
What do you think?
God bless America
God bless His church
Pray for our Troops
March 1, 2008
Ryan Hampton
politics. The church has been in political troubles all throughout her history. We should not treat this generation or time period as an exception, but neither should we treat it as the only time this has been a problem either.
Many tell us that the church has become too political. A few would argue that the church has not been political enough. But the problem is not that the church has been too political or not political enough, but the problem is that the church has not been the church.
There was a time when there was argument whether the King or the Pope had complete authority. Was the church being the church at this time? No, they were too obsessed with civil power that they forgot about the Great Commission. The church has forgotten about the Great Commission today, and has instead has become legalistic about books and movies such as "Harry Potter" and "The Golden Compass." These things may be issues that the church can deal with, but only after it has first focused on its main roles: to love others as ourselves, to spread the Word to all nations, to reunite the many denominations that have divided Christians for so long, to worship God corporately each Sunday, and to all around return to the basic principles of Jesus.
The point is we should first focus on ourselves before we really worry about politics. But at the very same time, we should not resist politics. The politics of the church will come when we focus on the teachings of Jesus, and they will come in a profound way. Dr. George Grant said that "We must think of politics some of the time, so that we do not think of politics all the of the time." This quote seems to hold up; many of those today who complain that the church is too political are the most legalistic of Christians out there.
So what should the politics of the church look like? Well, as I said before, let us first focus on our basic task. The politics will then begin to take care of themselves. We should long for a day when the entire world bows on their knees and confesses with their tongues that Jesus is Lord; we should long for the day when earthly rulers bow to the ultimate rule of God; we should long for the day our governments are orchestrated by a Christian worldview that all men are created equal with certain unalienable Rights, and that governments are set up by God to protect our Rights; we should long for a day when the life of an innocent baby, born or unborn, would not be threatened; we should long for a day when our government punishes those who threaten our life, liberty, and property. This is extremely political, but it comes from the mission of the church.
And what has happened today? Today, we start with politics, and then we try to separate Christianity and make it something to the side. If we see religion and politics crossing paths, we make a political issue about it. Mitt Romney is a Mormon, should we not vote for him? Mike Huckabee was a Baptist Minister, does this make him more or less prepared for the job. Don't get me wrong - I want a firm Christian who can confess Jesus as Lord while speaking to the entire nation to be our President as much as most anyone, but the way we make political issues out of it all today is quite distasteful to me. One reason I would be skeptical of voting for Mitt Romney is because of his Mormonism. But I don't want to go around making a political issue about it. Perhaps today what we need is someone with a quiet driving faith, if a political fuss will be made of anything else.
The difference between the ideal way the church should handle politics and the way it has, is that the ideal way of handling politics is to first be a Christian. Because our Christianity covers (or should cover) all of our life, politics will be taken care of in the boldest of ways. Today, Christians seem to first be political, and then try to separate Christianity out of it. When the two intermingle, as they inevitably do, we have a giant mess on our hands.
What do you think?
God bless America
God bless His church
Pray for our Troops
March 1, 2008
Ryan Hampton
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