Summertime Madness

So, I was sitting here trying to come up with something to blog about. There’s obviously a plethora of issues that deserve yet another opinion; Bill Nye, abortion, feminism, mandatory healthcare, Trump, transgender issues, etc.

So why not do a blanket post?

I’ll touch on a bunch of stuff briefly to try to get the inspiration flowing. You guys should feel free to comment your opinions and let me know what you want to hear more about.

First: Bill Nye

Yes, technically Bill Nye is a “scientist” since he has a degree in a scientific field. But he has, since then, abandoned all forms of logical and scientific thinking. He has sold out to the liberal agenda and spouts their twisted ideas as undeniable facts.

No, it is not because “our understanding of science has changed”. Things as obvious and physical as chromosomes don’t just change, conveniently with an uprising of people deciding they are transgender or that they’re genders that don’t exist. You can’t change your gender. There is “gender re-assignment” surgery, but you can’t go in and change your chromosomes. A person born a male can never physically be a female, no matter how big his fake boobs are.

 

Second: The Demonization of Christians

I’m sick of it. Granted, in regard to many social issues throughout the years, Christianity has been the black sheep, the bad guys. The newest issue is the Catholic hospital that refused to perform a hysterectomy on a woman who felt like a man and wanted the procedure done as part of her sex reassignment.

The hospital refused.

First off, of course they did. Its a Catholic hospital n the idea of a person changing the identity that God gave them on such a basic anatomical level is preposterous and sinful.

Second, they don’t perform ANY sterilization surgeries on ANYONE. It goes against their moral code. So no, this is not the church discriminating against transgenders. It is them following the same rules they use with every person that enters their building.

And lastly, why did this woman go in there, ask for a hysterectomy, knowing it was a Catholic hospital and then get butthurt when they said they couldn’t? There are plenty of hospitals that do perform hysterectomies. I have to believe it is similar to the Christian bakery incident years ago. This isn’t a case of an innocent person asking for a product out of good intentions. These people single out Christian companies, ask for things that they know Christians will not morally comply with, then cry out discrimination.

This immature behavior of attacking for the sake of attacking is old and overused. It’s like when you’re little and you sing constantly around your sibling because you know it bugs them. This is the LGBT saying “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you.” in between poking us.

 

Third: Trump and Healthcare

There is no winning. Democrats are mad at Trump because he’s making changes to Obamacare that they don’t like. Republicans are angry because he hasn’t completely repealed Obamacare yet.

Everyone needs to calm down.

The man has been in office for 100 days and he has been very busy.

He told the Republicans to come up with something to replace Obamacare with. They came up with something slightly different, but just as terrible. So yes, he said he’d work with Democrats because Republicans failed. It is nothing for Republicans to be upset about. He’s doing what you want. He’s trying to back off from Obamacare.

But if all he does right now is strip it away, he removes healthcare for millions of people with no replacement. It’s a bad business move, as much as it sucks for us tax-paying Americans that are funding Obamcare. So give the man some time.

Also, no, Trump is not leading us into war.

We. Have. Been. At. War.

We’ve been at war almost my whole life, definitely as long as I can remember well. This has been a constant issue. He’s trying to lead us OUT of war because the last President’s approach didn’t do anything helpful.

 

Fourth: Summer!

Something a little more light-hearted. It’s summer!!! I’m so happy I could cry. Alaskan winters are brutal.

However, with summer comes all sorts of interesting outfits and opinions on how women should dress. Here’s throwback to a post Miriam and I wrote.

“You Don’t Need the Burka”

Modesty doesn’t have a formula and the Bible doesn’t have guidelines about what clothes to wear. It does have guidelines about how you should view your body, treat it, and how to view yourself in regards to the opposite sex. These are all factors of modesty. The fact that I wear crop tops doesn’t make me less Christian than you, it means that I didn’t put it on to impress men, I put it on because it’s freaking hot outside and my husband knows that I’m not showing my body off to anyone else.

 

I think that’s about it for this post. I would appreciate feedback so I know what you guys would like to her more about. I’ll be getting internet at y cabin soon so I’ll be able to blog more often!

Halloween

This year I have seen a lot of posts about Halloween and how Christians should respond to it. I’d love to throw in my two cents.

It’s generally accepted that Halloween originated with the Celts  and their New Year Festival called Samhein. In this featival they would dress up to ward off ghouls and ghosts. There were great bonfires and animal sacrifices to keep evil spirits away, not to invite them in.

While they were misled and pagan, still it was not a truly Satanic festival.

This type of festival was present in many cultures as a harvest festival, a time of rejoicing

The Catholic Church then Christianized it to the become All Hallows’ Eve, All Hallows’ Day, and All Saints Day, the same way Christmas was Christianized from a pagan holiday. You can look up the history Halloween on a Catholic site and get a pretty detailed report.

Yes, it’s true, there are plenty of people who turn Halloween into a celebration of Satan and demons and darkness. Just like there are plenty of people who glorify Santa on Christmas and people who have pre-marital sex on Valentine’s Day.

There are plenty of people who are oblivious to any meaning of Halloween and just use it as an excuse to get candy on sale from the store.

By letting kids, or adults, celebrate Halloween, they are not thrusting their soul into Lucifers face saying “Here! I dressed up and asked a stranger for candy! My soul is now your slave!”

Thats ridiculous

Halloween in the States has become much more of a time when everyone gets to pretend they are someone or something they are not. We get to socialize, have fun with our friends, get creative, and develop seven cavities in one night.

I think what gets me most is the churches response to Halloween activities. They encourage churches to host “Hallelujah Festivals” or “Light Festivals” to counter the evils of Halloween. So instead of your kids dressing up and going door to door for candy (which is strictly Satanic and inherently evil) they instead get to dress up and play games to win candy, which is praising the Lord

They are still all doing it for the same reason. Kids just want candy.

Don’t get me wrong, church festivals can be fun and a good way for kids to stay warm and socialize with their church buddies. My problem is the demonization of going trick-or-treating even though it’s the same exact thing.

When you get down to it, Celebrating Halloween as a Christian is the same as any other day you celebrate. Don’t worship Satan.

 

The Truth AboutWomen Being Paid Less

Here’s the truth: Women are not getting paid less.

Anyone who has taken any sort of logical thinking course can figure out that the statistics can’t possibly take into account every possibility.

The fact is, yes, on average women make less of an income than men.

Because less women work! In 2014 47.4 of the civilian workforce was female. That 2.6% that was added onto the male wage average would’ve been quite a bit a money, making it look like men earned more. Which they did. Because there’s more of them.

More women are likely to quit a job to take care of family than men. The poll from non-working adults showed that 61% of women gave this reason and only 37% of men.

Also, take into account maternity leave, where women still have a job that they aren’t making money from.

Women are more likely to take part-time jobs so that they can also care for children, whereas more men take full-time jobs, consequently earning more money per year than women.

There are of course exception to every rule.

But if you look at the average per-year wage statistics statistics, which is all we get, it certainly looks like women are discriminated against, when really they just work less or work lower paying jobs.

More men seek the higher-paying full-time jobs so that they can support their families.

Middle-class wives, for the most part, don’t absolutely have to work and consequently don’t seek the highest paying jobs. They tend to find jobs that they’ll enjoy doing, or jobs where they can work from home, which, on average, won’t pay as much.

The wage gap doesn’t exist. It’s lies being spoon-fed to you from a media that wants to get feminists riled up.

Do some research, don’t just accept what you see on the news

1 Cup, 2 Cup, Red Cup, Blue Cup

Oh no, Starbucks has red cups for Christmas.

Because they’ve always done such Christian decorations on their cups…

And I’m personally offended that Jesus is not on my triple shot no-foam pumpkin spice latte with whip…

Because Starbucks is the most important thing in the world…

.

.

.

GUYS! It’s a freaking Starbucks cup, not ISIS in your neighborhood.

Calm down!

Everybody already knows that Starbucks is not, nor have they ever been, a Christian company. This is not news.

Their “war on Christmas” never actually started. It has always been Starbucks being secular.

The fact of the matter is, there are several actual reasons to boycott Starbucks if you are a serious Christian. Not a single one of those reasons is that your cup is red.

Reason 1: CEO Howard Schultz has been vocal that Starbucks’ support for same-sex marriage is a core value of the company.

Reason 2: Starbucks supports Fair Trade. Fair Trade is not Fair Trade. Do some research. Fair Trade stunts economic growth in third-world countries, keeping them as poor as possible to manipulate the workers. Fair Trade does it’s fair share of damage on a global scale and I personally avoid Fair Trade whenever possible.

Reason 3: If you’re hard core, reason 3 is that Starbucks is not a Christian company. It is a very very secular company. This has always been the case. Most coffee companies are not Christian. Most businesses in general are not Christian. This is no longer a Christian country and that is just something we need to realize.

So before your knickers get in a knot, ask yourself why Starbucks is riling you up so much.

Literally nothing has changed.

And the whole “My name is Merry Christmas” thing? Petty. Because guess what, the individual Starbucks employees are just following the rules set out by the god-like CEO and other higher-ups. It’s not their fault. And corporate won’t know whenever an employee calls out “Merry Christmas” when your drink is done. It makes no difference to them what you do.

Screw Feuerstein, he just wants the whole controversy to keep growing. He claims people are outraged, but I don’t actually know anybody who’s actually angry about this. He just wanted that invite to CNN.

AND Starbucks sells Advent calenders. It’s not like they have eliminated all mention of Christmas and decided that it is a neutral ‘Holiday season’ or that they’re spouting Communist mantras at you when you order.

Really though, the fact of the matter is that your celebration of Christmas and what it stands for should not be based off of a paper cup from a secular company. Starbucks is not invading your home with blowtorches, determined to burn down anything that is representative of Christmas.

Calm down, celebrate Jesus’ birth with your family, and if your still angry, get your coffee somewhere else. There are so many other coffee companies, and local coffee is ALWAYS the best.

Besides, Starbucks coffee sucks.

If you want to read a much more eloquent blog on this subject, go check out Matt Walsh’s genius take on the matter.

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/no-serious-christians-arent-worried-about-the-stupid-starbucks-cups/

Common Courtesy is not so Common Anymore

In this bustling, hectic word people forget or ignore things as simple as being polite and respectful to the rest of the souls doing the same thing as you- waking up, earning money, going to bed.

It is sad that when someone says ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ how much it makes my day.

Why have we neglected such simple yet positive words?

I know that it’s hard. You’re in a rush, you’re late, you’re sleepy, you’ve had a bad day.

But haven’t you ever, just once, thought “that person was kinda rude.” ?

You don’t want to be that person.

Especially when someone is serving you, such as in the food industry or even retail, where the employees are all there to make your experience better, you want to be respectful. I try to always remember to be polite and respectful because their entire job is serving people. Making people things, helping people find the right items, customer service.

Now, granted, not everyone in customer service has fantastic customer service skills. It’s something a lot of people never really perfect. But smiling, being patient, and saying thank you or ‘have a great day’ goes so very far.

It’s refreshing to the person you’re interacting with, who in turn, will most likely be friendlier and more polite to you as well.

Our generation loves conflict. We love aggression and moving quickly. But we don’t have to be jerks to those trying to help us. We don’t have to be negative to complete strangers just because we’re having a crappy day. It doesn’t have to work like that.

So next time your barista, waiter, clerk, shop attendant, or whoever smiles and tells you to have a good day, smile back. Say ‘you too.’ You have no idea how much it actually brightens up their day.

They may be having the worst work day of the year. You don’t want to contribute.

Have a fantastic day everyone 😉

Worldviews. Sometimes You Can’t Change Them.

Everyone has a worldview. Everyone’s is different. It changes their perspective on things. There are very many people who see the world through an atheistic view or the view of a different religion. As Christians, we know that this is wrong.

Sometimes you have to accept that some people will not change their minds, no matter how many arguments you counter with the Bible and your own personal faith.

Does that mean you stop trying? No.

Jesus did not give up and stay silent when the Pharisees refused to listen to Him. It’s our job to keep speaking. Christianity is dying out in the chaos of an atheistic, gender-queer, racist world. We need a resurgence of strong Christians. That will not happen if you are scared into remaining silent.

People will get offended. They’ll attack. So what? Aren’t you offended at what is being said? Why don’t you get a voice?

And what about that one person, the silent eyes that read what you have to say and are changed for the better? What about the one person who meets Jesus because of your conviction? They make it all worth it.

I’m so proud of some of my friends for being so vocal about what is right. I love it. It makes me happy. It gives me hope.

Speak up, Christians. We are not dead yet.

Those Sinful Taxcollectors

I love learning new things about Jesus’ life and his mission on earth. I hope you feel the same.

This morning my mom and I read Matthew 9:9-13 (My favorite passage of the three. If you’re only going to read one of the passages, read this one.) Mark 2:13-17, and Luke 5:27-32

First off, to avoid confusion, Levi and Matthew are the same person. Don’t ask how that happened, I don’t know.

So, Jesus calls Levi (Matthew) to follow Him, so of course he does, and he’s so excited he throws this banquet.

Well Jesus found Matthew sitting at a tax collectors booth, so obviously there were a few tax collectors.

The Pharisees and Scribes got all upset, because when don’t they?

They asked Jesus why He was eating with sinners. Jesus replied with the most awesome reply ever.

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Does it seem profound to you? Because it seems profound to me.

The first sentence goes along pretty well with the verse about seeing the plank in your own eye. Most of us know that verse pretty well. Careful not to misuse it. That verse isn’t saying that you must be sinless in order to judge another Christian’s sin. It is saying you have to be honest to yourself and recognize what your sin is. It’s about avoiding being hypocritical, not about being blameless and not judging others.

The second part of Jesus’ answer is referring to Hosea 6:6 and Micah 6:6-8. I encourage you to look them up, they are both great verses. They are saying how burnt offerings and sacrifices are not what God wants. He doesn’t want a big showy display of Christiaity. He wants acknowledgement and for us to walk with Him as best we can.

The verse uses the word mercy. Mercy does not mean excusing a sin and saying that everything is ok as long we love each other. It means desiring what is good for others. What is better than salvation and repentance? How can someone repent without knowing what their sin is?

The last part is Jesus reminding the ignorant Pharisees yet again what His mission was. It was not to call the righteous, but to reach the sinners and bring them closer to God.

Note the wording. Jesus didn’t use the word ‘believers’ he used ‘righteous’. Who among us is righteous? No one. We are all sinners. He was not saying He was only calling sinners and left the believers alone. He spoke to the sinners who recognized that they were sinners and recognized their need for Him. Not the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes.

Jesus was emphasizing the need to acknowledge your own sin and turn to Him. I love that. I love that that was His focus because it is so important to repent. It’s how we get closer to God.

Adultery and Living Water

The Samaritan Woman at the Well. John 4: 4-26

First of all, to all the people who have tried to use this against me, Jesus pointed out the woman’s sin almost right off the bat.

He told her how she was sinning.

Ok, let me start at the beginning. A Samaritan and a Jew walk up to a well. No, this isn’t the start of a bad joke I promise. The Jew talks to the Samaritan, which is crazy, because Jews just don’t do that. It’s “below them.”

She can tell He is a Jew and is super confused. She talks to Him anyway.

Jesus asks for a drink of water and she asks how a Jew could ask for anything from a Samaritan.

Jesus replied by saying that if she knew who she was talking to, she would’ve asked for water back, the kind that completely satisfies your thirst.

I like how Jesus really drew people in with the way he spoke. He was all mysterious and wise and weird, and it made people ask more questions, get involved in the discussion. He was a very talented speaker.

So, then He explains how this water quenches all thirst and the woman’s like, ‘well give me some so I don’t have to haul water all the time. It’s messing up my back.’

Jesus replies with ‘go get your husband and come back.’

I imagine this made the woman a little fidgety, if she had any clue at all who she was talking to. She admits that she has no husband.

Jesus tells her she was right the say that because she has had, in fact, FIVE husbands (no way all those men died) and pointed out that she was living in adultery.

If you don’t believe divorce and remarriage is adultery then read Romans 7:2 and Matthew 5:32. I can give a couple more references if you still don’t believe the Bible.

This. Is. Important. He tells her straight up that she is an adulterous woman. There was no sugarcoating, no super-sweet “I love you but you really shouldn’t be doing this…”

NO

Jesus was like, “You’re living in sin. Cut it out.”

She realized He must be a prophet and He starts telling her that the Samaritans are wrong in worshipping what they do not know and that soon people will worship in spirit and in truth.

A couple things to point out here. First, historically Samaritans worshipped idols AND had a fear of the Lord. They tried to mesh their culture with the Jews’ and cover all the bases. But it doesn’t work that way.

Believe it or not, that’s happening in today’s world, the modern day Church. People pick and choose what they want to keep from the Bible (mostly verses out of context and a supposed “faith”) but at the same time they worship the world and it’s idols, such as science and the word of people instead of God’s Word.

Jesus said people must worship in spirit and truth. Several times the Bible refers to the Word of God as truth. Seriously, take the Bible seriously. It is super important!

I realize that I need to work on the part where I show people how God can fix things, but the first step is pointing out the wrong, the sin. Warning against it. Trying to steer other Christians clear of it.

I do NOT see many Christians doing that at all. I know this theme pops up a lot in my blog, but I’m very passionate about it. Really, what’s more important than trying to lead people closer to Christ?

I pray that people don’t only challenge my words, but that they make people think. It seems like too many people just want to argue with me and don’t actually take the time to consider that what I say might actually be right. Don’t count me out just because I’m young. Maybe I’m still clinging to a scrap of child-like faith that others have already discarded as juvenile.

I try my hardest to take the Word of God seriously, literally, and I look to it for answers. I don’t know a better source for answers. Please, fellow Christians, instead of arguing with me right off the bat, pray about it, read the Bible on the subject, and then see if there is really something that I’m doing incorrectly.

Thank you so much for reading!

I Am….

A  Bible-believing Christian.

A Conservative.

An Anti-Feminist.

Pro-life.

Anti-Racist (Which is not exclusively white-black. Everyone is capable of racism.)

A dancer.

A writer.

A teacher.

In love.

I have no reason to hide or be ashamed of any of these. And I am certainly allowed to speak out for what I believe in. More Christians ought to start speaking against sin more, it is Biblical. Maybe if we had kept that practice up, the world wouldn’t be quite as bad as it is now.

I am proud of who I am. I am firmly rooted in my beliefs. I encourage you to take a look at what you believe and whether or not it is Biblical. I can give you verses supporting all my positions, verses in context. If you, as a Christian, can’t do that then it might be time to look a little closer at what you believe.

I am saying this in love, because I do worry for Christians who believe things contradictory to the Bible, such as abortion and gay rights. Pray about your beliefs and what you should believe and speak out for. I do, though I probably should more often.

Have a fantastic day everyone.

Homeschooling Wins

I graduate this summer.

I’m 100% done with my school. Every credit is accounted for. I even got a head start on college. How did I get all this done?

Homeschooling.

No, it’s not suppressive and anti-social.

And we aren’t Amish…

Homeschooling has been a huge blessing on me and my family. It has allowed me to do things that public school wouldn’t, such as dance and taekwan-do classes during the day.

Homeschool also allowed me to get a 7-credit head start on college last semester.

My mother had the chance to personally see over my school and was able to approve of everything I learned.

Speaking of, I got to choose what I learned a lot of the time, especially when I got to high school. One semester I had a focus on archaeology. I got to study mythology. I learned about astronomy for a semester. I got to pick what science to do, what English to do, which foreign language I wanted to learn.

Homeschooling gave me time to write a book. (Or two and a half…)

Homeschool connected me with my boyfriend. If I had been public schooled, I never would’ve met Golden Boy since we met in a homeschoolers chemistry class. The thought of not having him in my life is physically painful.

I’m sure public school has it’s good points, like sporting teams and dances, but don’t tell me it’s more social. Sure, you may see a lot of people every day, but how many close friends do you have? I have four very close friends, not including Golden Boy, and a handful of other good friends, friends I can trust. I met the majority of them because of homeschool classes. It may be a different story for you, but I don’t hear about having that many close friends from people I know who are public school.

There’s less drama in homeschool! There’s no backstabbing, breakups, “She-said he-said” or any of that junk. It’s you, chilling at home, listening to music and taking an hour long lunch break.I mean, you have to deal with siblings, but you have to do that anyway.

(There’s also less drugs, underage drinking, and sleeping around)

I was able to get closer to my mom than  I would’ve if I was gone every day. I got to focus on my faith through my school. Apologia science is a wonderful thing.

I will definitely be homeschooling my future children, as long as it’s still legal. Making homeschool illegal is really such a stupid idea. The government is just afraid because the majority of homeschooling families are Christian, conservative, or both and they don’t want either group in America anymore. So I pray for the future of homeschool, especially since public school has gone SO far downhill.

Are you homeschooled, or were in the past? What are your experiences with homeschooling?