| Coming to KY!!! |
[Jan. 26th, 2006|03:27 pm] |
That's right, you read that correctly. I'll be coming down to KY for Martin's Luau B-day party on February 11. I should actually be in town on the evening of the 10th but since the lingerie party isn't really my cup o' tea I don't think I'll be attending that. I oughta be in town by about 6 that evening (7 at the latest) so should be able to do dinner with whoever's up for it before the party. I'll have two friends with me so you have to be nice (haha)! We might have to wait for a bit that night since one is coming from SC to meet us there and I'm not sure how well we'll successfully coordinate arrival times. I'm sure my brother will come up from Richmond Sat night to hang out too.
So, basically, we are going to need a place to crash for Friday and Saturday nights. I don't think that Martin and Colby's place is best since they'll be hosting the party Friday night. If someone has separate rooms (say a spare bedroom and a couch) then that would be awesome, otherwise we'll make do with whatever you got.
I'm supposed to have left work already and I don't really like staying late so I'm gonna cut this short. Same message on both MySpace and LJ. See ya'll soon! |
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| KY Trip |
[Jun. 1st, 2005|09:15 am] |
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Alright, so I'll be passing through Lexington in a few weeks. I have a wedding to go to in Fort Wayne (how is it that people seem to be getting married places really far away from me?) and I'm gonna take a few days beforehand to pass through and say hey on the way. I plan on leaving here on Wednesday the 22nd (possibly the night before but it's looking like Wednesday will be the travel day). The wedding is on Friday (weird) and so I'll be leaving that afternoon. I'll be in Lex for two nights and one full day. Basically, who wants to hang out? Also I kinda need a place to crash. It looks pretty likely that I'll have someone riding out with me so make that two spots. Ideally we need somewhere where we can sleep separate (two beds, bed + couch, bed/couch + floor, whatever). So...since you all bounced around on me I figured I'd better check and see where we should shoot for now. |
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| Really Red |
[Apr. 20th, 2005|10:05 am] |
Well, the good news is that I just got back from official travel to Miami. The bad news is I look like a lobster.
I gave a presentation Monday morning, after that the Director of the Program that invited me down said that they were probably done with me until that evening and told me to head out to the beach. Needless to say I was glad to comply. Unfortunately, I put some sunscreen on, played in the water (surprisingly warm and the best part was that it had been windy all weekend so big waves) and then went to lay down and read. I promptly fell asleep. I woke up a few hours later completely burnt up. Like, small blisters on my shoulders burnt. Not good. I've got that wonderful little sunglass line on my face too. Oh well, it was still the beach. As long as I don't get sun cancer or anything it'll just be a "learning experience." I got back and then my boss (who lived in Miami for years) said, "Oh yeah, the sun in Miami is one of worst places where you can get burnt really easily and quickly." "Thanks for the advance warning." |
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| Bible |
[Dec. 10th, 2004|10:22 am] |
So finally here's the promised post about the Bible. This thing is four pages long single spaced at size 10 font in Word so I'm probably eating up everyone's friends pages again but I haven't figured out the LJ cut and since I'm at work I don't really have time to research it. So we're just gonna have to copy it in here. Take care all and hope things are going well.
If we want to try to answer the question, “Is the Bible the Word of God?” then I’m going to assume that we can take the existence of God as a given premise otherwise this question becomes rather moot. For the existence of God see my post right before this, it wasn’t something I focused on but I mentioned it briefly.
Unfortunately this isn’t something that you can prove scientifically because by its very nature the question goes beyond the realm of science. However how many assumptions do we have about the past that when broken down are only faith based? To put it bluntly, what part of the Bible have you ever read and thought “That’s not of God”?
Another thing that needs to be addressed before we can ask whether or not the Bible is inspired is the historicity of the Bible. Stated in another way, how do we know that the Bible that we can purchase at the local bookstore is the same Bible that was written thousands of years ago? I don’t want to spend too much time on this cause I have a feeling this is gonna be really long. If you have more questions on this I have lots more data.
First, let’s look at a bibliographical test for the Bible. This basically just asks about the textual transmission of the document that reaches us. In this situation we find that rejecting the Old Testament as changed becomes very difficult. The OT was finished around 400 B.C., the first thing that needs to be pointed out is how thorough the scribes had to be when copying the text. Historian Samuel Davidson says this about the Talmudists (Hebrew scribes): “A synagogue roll must be written on the skins of clean animals, prepared for the particular use of the synagogue by a Jew. These must be fastened together with strings taken from clean animals. Every skin must contain a certain number of columns, equal throughout the entire codex. The length of each column must not extend over less than 48 or more than 60 lines; and the breadth must consist of thirty letters. The whole copy must be first-lined; and if three words be written without a line it is worthless. The ink should be black, neither red, green, nor any other colour, and be prepared according to a definite recipe. An authentic copy must be the exemplar, from which the transcriber ought not in the least deviate. No word or letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory, the scribe not having looked at the codex before him… Between every consonant the space of a hair or thread must intervene; between every new parashah, or section, the breadth of nine consonants; between every book, three lines. The fifth book of Moses must terminate exactly with a line; but the rest need not do so. Besides this, the copyist must sit in full Jewish dress, wash his whole body, not begin to write the name of God with a pen newly dipped in ink, and should a king address him while writing that name he must take no notice of him.”
We even have some evidence for how thorough the Talmudists were at following these rules. Previous to the discovery of the dead sea scrolls, the earliest OT manuscripts were from around A.D. 500, nearly 1,000 years after it was written. However with the dead sea scrolls (in addition to numerous other OT books) a complete and unspoiled copy of Isaiah was found that we’ve dated at 125 B.C.. This manuscript matches perfect with a copy produced by Talmudists in 916 A.D. (who clearly would not have had access to this scroll when producing their copies). Other manuscripts from the dead sea scrolls averaged ages of 68 A.D., only 450 or so years after the OT was completed (which as I’m about to point out is remarkably close).
There’s even more evidence for the historicity of the New Testament. The NT was finished with the Revelation of John near the end of the first century. We have over 150,000 original manuscripts of the NT books. Many of these are from as early as the 4th century, only about 250-300 years after the original was written. Compare this to other classical works that were completed about the same time. Tacitus’ Annals were completed around 100, the earliest copy we have of it is 1100 with a time span of 1,000 years and we only have about 20 copies that old or younger. The most certain ancient writer we have is Demosthenes, we have 200 copies of the same one of his works, the oldest of those from about 1100. But he wrote from 383-322 B.C., 1,300 years before our earliest copies! This is only a sample of the ancient Greek and Latin writers (I have many more) but it helps to demonstrate how amazing it is that we have so many ancient copies of the NT dating so close to its completion.
Another argument for the historicity of the Bible is its Internal Validity. Nearly all of the NT writers claim that they are giving a first-hand testimony of what they have seen and witnessed (Luke 1:1-3, 2 Peter 1:16, 1 John 1:3, Acts 2:22, John 19:35, Luke 3:1, Acts 26:24-26). All of these people were writing to many others who had witnessed these same events and if the miraculous nature of the deeds ascribed to Christ is truly a first-hand account then it’s unlikely people would have forgotten these things. Yet we do not have any accounts from the same period of people who disputed the accounts of the gospel writers. These are not only friends of those men who seemed to concur but many enemies and men who persecuted the early church. The Jewish religious leaders are a perfect example. They executed scores of believers along with the Romans and Herodians yet we have no record of any of those who were there saying that the things they testified of did not happen. I was also going to say something about archaeologists support for Biblical history but I want to move on to some other things, if you want some quotes from noted archaeologists on this I’ll be happy to e-mail them to you.
I think that the key point that needs to be made about the Bible when you wonder whether or not it can be accepted as God’s word is its uniqueness. The Bible is absolutely unique from any other book ever written in several ways. First, it is unique in its continuity. Look at the following stuff on how the Bible was written:
1. Written over a 1,600 year span.
2. Written over 60 generations.
3. Written by 40+ authors from many different walks of life (Ex. Moses, a political leader trained in the universities of Egypt; Peter, a fisherman; Amos, a herdsman; Joshua, a general; Nehemiah, a cupbearer; Daniel, a prime minister; Luke, a doctor; Solomon, a king; Matthew, a tax collector; Paul, a Rabbi).
4. Written in many different locations and settings (Ex. Moses in the wilderness, Jeremiah in a dungeon, Daniel on a hillside and in a palace, Paul in prison, Luke while traveling, John in exile on Patmos, others in the midst of military campaigns).
5. Written at different times; both David while at war and Solomon while at peace.
6. Written during different moods; some from the heights of joy but others from the greatest depths of despair.
7. Written on three different continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe).
8. Written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek).
9. The subject matter includes hundreds of controversial subjects (defined as a subject which would create controversy when discussed) yet has an amazing harmony while following one central theme: God’s redemption of mankind.
Compare that continuity to any other group of books. Josh McDowell once challenged a salesperson for the Great Books of the Western World Series to take any ten authors from one time, one place, one mood, one continent, one language, one walk of life, and just one controversial subject; would those authors agree? The man thought for a while and finally responded “Absolutely not.” Two days later the man became a Christian because anyone seeking truth cannot deny the significance of that uniqueness.
The Bible is also unique in its circulation. The Bible has been printed and read by more people in more languages than any other book in history. In the 1940’s, the British and Foreign Bible Society announced that in order to meet its demands it had to print “one copy every three seconds day and night; 22 copies every minute day and night; 1,369 copies every hour day and night; 32,876 copies every day in every year. And it is deeply interesting to know that this amazing number of Bibles were dispatched to various parts of the world in 4,583 cases weighing 490 tons.” The Bible has been translated into more languages and dialects than I really knew existed. Encyclopedia Britannica cites that as of 1966 the Bible had been translated into 240 languages and dialects and parts of it into 739 additional ones. As I stated above the Bible is unique in its survival. No other manuscript was preserved so carefully as the Jews preserved the OT and no other ancient manuscript holds even a candle to our documentation of the NT. The Bible has survived through centuries of persecution only to continue just as well loved as before. It has been criticized countless times yet each time archaeology has judged in favor of the Scriptures! Does any of this prove that the Bible is the Word of God? Of course not but it does demonstrate beyond all doubt that the Bible is absolutely unique.
I think that the most important point to be made about the Bible is how it is absolutely unique in its teachings. The Bible teaches us about everything that we need to know in order to find eternal riches. In all of the chief subjects but most importantly, God’s plan for redemption, the Bible provides a completely unique picture, something that I truly believe no man could make up…leaving out the problem above of how it would stay cohesive through so many different authors and centuries.
I want to take some time just to walk through what the Bible has to say on some key issues just to try to get a grasp of how much of a holistic view it presents on them. I’d really like to build the case from the lesser to the greater so let’s start with man. Unlike all other books, the Bible condemns all of mankind. Nearly every genre of literature has historically tried to exalt man, if not in what he actually is then in what he can become. Even the existentialists who spend so much time tearing down our preconceived notions of value argue that we can make ourselves perfect by creating and then becoming our own personal definition of perfect. Not so with the Bible. In the Bible we read, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18).
The Bible is unique in what it has to say about the source of evil. Most things point to Satan or some other outside power, force, or influence that orchestrates evil. The Bible points directly to the heart of man. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because both of his books are filled with such strong lamentations along with his prophecies. When he looked at the human heart he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” (Jer. 17:9). Jesus said, “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” (Mark 7:21-23). James tells us that temptations come from our own evil desires which lead to sin and then to death (James 1:14-15).
Then look at the world and its system. Normally man tends to think that this world is very good because it is ours. We have something that we’ve built. As we continue to grow we make the world better and more civilized. Philosophers may disagree on what is meant by “better” but they all agree that we work toward a better world. Instead the Bible uniquely condemns the world and all its ways, setting it as being in enmity toward God. “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4-5). “We know… that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19). There are many more passages on this but I’m already almost to three whole pages at size 10 font so I’ll keep moving.
Since the Bible so clearly teaches that man and the world are caught in sin look at what the Bible has to say about sin. Rather than making sin something that happened to man or something that we simply have to live with, the Bible maximizes our guilt for sin. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). ”Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34). “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8). Then look at the punishment that the Bible ascribes for sin. When man’s writings do not fully recognize the gravity of sin then they do not understand what the consequences are. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). This is why the Bible has to condemn us as sinners the way that God sees us. Look at examples of eternal punishment for sin and think of it from God's viewpoint (we’re getting to the Bible’s teachings about Him). For one sin Adam and Even get banished from Eden. For a single sin Cain and all his descendents were cursed. For a single sin the earth swallowed up Korah and those with him. For a single sin Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land. For a single sin Achan and his family were stoned to death. For a single sin Elisha’s servant was struck with leprosy. For a single sin Ananias and Sapphira died. The mere fact that we are not utterly consumed immediately upon being born sinners is in itself an act of God’s grace. When you realize how much your sin is an affront to the God who is “Holy, Holy, Holy” (the greatest superlative the Hebrew language would allow). We deserve hell in all the ways that the Bible describes it. “Where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). “And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night” (Rev. 4:11). This is why the Psalmist looked at his own sin and wrote, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord…If you O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord who could stand?” (Ps 130: 1,2). I would say what man would condemn himself and all his kind so completely?
Compare all of this with what the Bible has to say about God. The Bible gives us a more unique and more complete than anything that a man could have imagined. Just take a sample of what the Bible teaches us about God. He is eternal: “Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” (Ps. 90:20). He is infinite: “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens – what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave – what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.” (Job 11:7-9). He is sovereign: “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?” (Lam. 3:37). “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” (Is. 46:9-10). He is omnipotent: “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jer. 32:27). He is omniscient: “Great is out Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.” (Ps. 147:5). He is omnipresent: “’Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord.” (Jer. 23:24). He is Immutable: “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). He is the Judge to whom everyone will have to give an account (Rom. 14:12). He is just: “He does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Num. 14:18). He is so holy that even the angels must veil their faces in His presence (Is. 6:2)! He is so holy that Job and Isaiah, two men who undoubtedly walked more devoutly before God according to the law than us, cried out, “I despise myself” (Job 42:6) and “Woe to me! I am ruined!” (Is. 6:5) when they were confronted with His presence. Tell me, what other book paints such a marvelous, awesome, beautiful, complete, and terrifying picture of God?
Look then at the division between guilty, sinful, man and holy God. All other books teach that man must somehow earn heaven. Not the Bible. The Bible shows that because we are so sinful we can never earn it. Instead we don’t even recognize how great our need of it is. Instead we play on our little hill of crap, trying to climb to the top so we can scream, “I’m king of the dung heap!” Instead the Bible tells us that salvation is only found by the grace of God, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9). “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.” (Titus 3:5). Where do you think the stories come from of the beggar being lifted from wallowing in his own vomit to becoming an heir of the kingdom of God? Can you imagine being lifted to the highest places in Christ? We are brought to the throne of that Almighty and Holy God. How could any man have come up with a way that God could be perfectly holy and perfectly just yet perfectly loving, gracious, and merciful? Let’s also not forget that Jesus Himself treated the scriptures as the Word of God (Matt 4:4,7,10, 5:17, 11:35-36 and all through the gospels). In order to deny His testimony than you must determine who He is since He surely is not God if He’s wrong.
This is the crux of the uniqueness of the Bible. What man would have come up with the cross? What man could have said that because the gulf between man and God was too great for man to ever cross that God would become man to bring man to God? I find it easier to believe that a man created the world than that a man could ever devise a story and a person like Jesus Christ. Only a Raphael could have painted the “Transfiguration”. Only a Michelangelo could have designed the murals of St. Peter’s. Only a Shakespeare could have written Romeo and Juliet. And only the Holy Spirit could have produced the portrait of Jesus that the Bible reveals. Christ’s character is without rival in any literature or scripture. I like the argument of A.W. Pink so I’ll close in his words. “Who would have dared to imagine the Creator and Upholder of the universe taking upon Himself the form of a servant and being born in a manger? Who would have conceived the idea of the Lord of Glory being born in a manger? Who would have dreamed of the Object of angelic worship becoming so poor that He had not where to lay His head? Who would have declared that the One before whom the seraphim veil their faces should be led as a lamb to the slaughter, should have suffered His own blessed face to be defiled with the wile spittle of man, and should permit the creatures of His hand to scourge and buffet Him? Whoever would have conceived of Emmanuel becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross!” |
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| A few thoughts |
[Nov. 5th, 2004|04:28 pm] |
I was gonna post some post-election "analysis" on here but I decided that it wasn't entirely what I wanted to do. I think a few people have hit something important on here so I figured that I would address it, especially since I saw it in the Washington Post today too. Anyway, some people have pointed out how it's evangelical Christians (the "religious right" if you prefer) that really won this election for Bush. Well...I'm not gonna disagree and to be honest I'm pretty glad that I don't have to.
Kerry and the Democratic party did an incredible job of rolling out the vote. It really was awesome, I was thrilled to see how many voted. I did always wonder how we were going to "teach the world about democracy" when more than a third of us don't vote. And Bush's side managed to reply by bringing Christians out to vote as a block like they never really had in the past. I think I read this morning that something like 15-20 million more people voted this year than four years ago. That's an awesome number.
But it does bring up an important question of why the evangelicals cost Kerry the election if that's true. I think Bryce kinda got to it, this election really was about values. It wasn't about terrorism, let's be honest, neither candidate was going to do something to try to get terrorists to attack us more despite what Cheney said. It wasn't about the war in Iraq, a lot of people (myself included) who voted for Bush even thought that the war was a mistake with everything we've learned since (that doesn't mean I think he lied, just that we acted on bad intel), cause neither of them will get us out of there with any sooner. It wasn't even about the economy, the economy was growing fast, or the deficit since studies were showing that the long term deficits would be virtually identical under both candidates. What got people out there for Bush were those values.
It seems like something that's so easy to dismiss or ridicule. I mean, values seem pretty old fashioned and ridiculous in a world without a true black and white. If of course you're willing to accept that. I firmly believe that no matter what I'm told by a scientist I could never be an atheist. To be perfectly honest my faith isn't strong enough. The idea that nothing (not even a void, absolutely nothing) times nobody equals everything is seriously the most ludicrous idea I've ever heard. Something has to be eternal, either a God being or the universe and the same scientists who tell me there can't be a God tell me that it's scientifically impossible for the universe to be eternal. Logic demands one of those premises is wrong, I'll take the idea of a God who's greater than science. In the end only two theories of God have ever made sense to me that explain the existence of evil, Christianity and Deism (the belief of two equal powers, one good and one evil). Again, Deism (like Atheism) eventually falls apart on me logically and Christianity's all that I have left.
But think for a second of where that leaves people. All the sudden the perspective becomes eternal. We do see that our "citizenship is in Heaven" (Phil. 3:20) and that we are "pilgrims and strangers on earth." (Heb. 11:13) We don't work for earthly treasures because we want incorruptible heavenly ones. We see ourselves as belonging to Jesus' kingdom and want to be with Him with all our hearts.
But there's a disparity, while our citizenship is in heaven we are still on earth. So we have to wonder, how then ought we to live here knowing that we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells? (2 Pet. 3:11-13) Well, the Bible calls us "ambassadors of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20). So then we must represent Him to all people. To bring this back to the election, this means how we vote. We have to vote to try to bring politicians into office who will be faithful to God's law and makes laws that same way. That's why Christians came out in big numbers to support the gay marriage bans, not because we hate gays, on the contrary we're called to love all people, but because we hate sin, both in our own lives and in the lives of others. That's why most evangelicals could not vote for Kerry in good conscience, because some of the things which he supports. Bryce's example of abortion is a great one. The commandment is "You shall not murder" so I could never vote for anyone who supports abortion. My greatest fear is that one day both the Republicans and the Democrats will be running pro-abortion candidates. I honestly don't know what I'll do.
To bring this back a little bit I'd like to illustrate something. On Monday night I met with four other people to pray for the elections and our country. We honestly did not meet to pray for any particular candidates or parties. What we prayed for was God to change the hearts of whoever was elected, that He would use them to do His will. We prayed that the church would faithfully carry the gospel to souls who needed it. We prayed for stability in Iraq and Afganistan, that they might find peace and freedom to believe and that Christianity could flourish in those regions, not be forced upon people who did not want it but that they might freely believe what they wanted and that God would work among them.
Yet the key part of our prayer was along the lines of Lamentations 3:37, "Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?" Mostly we were praying for peace and faith, that regardless of what happened, whether or not the candidates that we supports won, that we would trust God's perfect plan. After all, His plan of salvation was perfect and did not need our help. Likely if we had lived during that time we wouldn't have understood it until His Spirit removed the veil from our eyes and gave us the gift of faith that we might believe. Imagine how ridiculous it is, that as men our sins condemn us before a perfectly holy and righteous God, not only that but that even our good deeds count as filthy rags in His sight. So a God who had to be just but chose to love us anyway sent His only Son to become man. That Son lived the perfect life that we never could, in perfect obedience to God's law, and then died. On that cross all of my sin was placed on Him, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" and He took the punishment for it and in exchange for my sin He gave me his righteousness "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) It's absolutely mindblowing. But any God who would do that for me deserves all that I am and can do for Him. And one day I can't wait to take all of my bad deeds along with all of my best deeds and throw them into a heap so that I might run straight into the arms of Jesus, brought into the presence of God by His precious blood.
That God can have my vote, it's part of all I have to give which isn't nearly enough but that's the most beautiful thing. It doesn't have to be. |
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| Deficits |
[Oct. 20th, 2004|02:18 pm] |
Some numbers for people who hear all the lies and false images painted by both sides at the debate:
Congressional Budget Office projected FY 2004 deficit: $422 billion ($23b under the mid July estimate and $56b under the march estimate, $100b under the project deficit when the President released his February budget).
Big question, how big is that? Measured against U.S. Gross Domestic Production (GDP) it's only 3.6%. That's honestly nothing special. It's large in real dollar terms but when measured against our economic strength (currently about $12.5 trillion) it was exceeded 9 times since 1982 and 1993, six of those times the deficit was over 4.5%.
The FY 2005 outlook is better too, it's down to $348 billion, 2.8% of GDP. The reason this is declining so much is because government revenues are increasing. As you would expect (since government revenues are based upon taxes and duties/fees) the economy is growing much faster than previously expected. Overall we have an economic decrease under Bush...but only because of a huge economic shock on September 11, 2001. Since then we've had large growth that has accounted for most of those revenues.
So what does this mean? Greenspan's smart. It's hard to say how much an administration is responsible for economic growth. Greenspan has been advising Reaganomics however (along with several other advisors). In otherwords, don't worry about government deficits and spending, make sure that the incentives are in place for private investors to offset that by increased revenues. It does work, with an economy the size of the U.S. one no one really cares about our deficits, it's not like people won't lend us money. So tax cuts are effective, they provide more incentive to the people who drive our economy. But only when the tax cuts are across the board. Tax cuts on middle and lower class with increases to upper class actually tend to hurt economic growth because guess who has enough economic weight to drive the economy.
In the end at least now you know what the numbers are, not as good as Republicans try to paint them but not anywhere in the same realm as being as bad as Kerry and Edwards have stated. Again, remember these don't come from either party, they're from the CBO "Budget and Economic Outlook" which is available for anyone to read (if you're that bored). |
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| Still Alive and Kicking |
[Sep. 19th, 2004|05:32 pm] |
Hey, what do you know, this thing still works. I didn't even forget the password. I'm proud. Obviously I don't spend nearly as much time on-line anymore so e-mail and livejournal simply have not been the same stomping grounds that they used to be. Pretty much I live by phone communication at this point, easier and less time-consuming.
Anyway, I figured I'd throw up a quick update. Life's busy. I switched to the 7 to 3:30 shift so that I can avoid more of the traffic and also so I have a little more time when I get home. Of course it doesn't lend itself well to sleep but hey, you can't have everything. So I have about an hour and 20 mins, hour and a half commute each way, then eight and a half hours of work (with an hour lunch to go to the gym mixed in there). Normally I do the lunch thing at about 1:30 so I get back and only have an hour to go, that's nice. Then Wednesdays are Bible Study. Nat and I finished all of our summer series so now we're in the last two weeks of a 5 week study on Jude, then we're going to get into Hebrews. In Sunday School we're leading a discussion on the 12 disciples that's turning out to be really good. So usually my Tuesday evenings are preparing for Bible Study on Wed and the same with some of Saturday (although I still find time for football)... To make life more interesting I think I'm going to start some seminary classes in the spring, 7-9 credit hours on evenings and weekends. That should good though, Nat's starting it to so at least we'll try to have some classes together when we can.
Outside of that church people populate most of the hang out time that I have left. I try to get together with some people on a regular basis just so we can have some good hang out and relax time and also some fellowship and recharge type stuff. Two of those friends, Nat and Jeremy, are rapidly moving towards marriage. It's exciting. I mean I've known Jeremy for a long time (I guess close to a decade now) and have seen that relationship develop the whole way through. Nat and I have been good friends since we were in Kindergarten so seeing him get to that point is awesome. Personally the whole romantic side of my life is confusing as ever. Of course.
Not sure what else to report on at the moment. I'm normally available to talk on the phone so you all can feel free to call although if you're not on verizon (Let's hear it for IN-Network!!!) after nine is good so that it's free minutes. Anyway, I gotta run, later all.
By the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 12th, 2004|11:03 pm] |
Quick update while I wait for the laundry to dry:
Work's still good. Today was definitely a Monday though. Very frustrating and long. Luckily, we only get one Monday a week. At least I hope. Tomorrow's got a lot of meetings so it can't be too bad at least. Meetings are easy cause you don't have to work....
Went to an O's game with Lindsey and Megan on Friday. Good times...even if it was a shut out loss. I picked the right fun people to go hang out with at least. Got to laugh at drunk people, that's always fun too. My boy Tejada just won the home run derby and set records for most homers in a round and most in a derby. Hit one of them 491 feet. That's incredible to think that someone could hit a baseball that far.
Still have Bible Study going on. It's going really well, we've got about five weeks left of 1 John and then I'll have to have figured out what we're going to do next. Started memorizing on the metro trip home on Friday, have the first 21 verses so far. About a fifth of the way there! We have an overnight on Friday, guess I gotta finish deciding what we're going to do for that too. It would probably be a good idea to prepare...something.
Not really sure what else to say at the moment. I've got lot's to think about but as I'm not sure who reads this I guess it's not going on here. Anyway, hope everything's going well for everyone else. Later. |
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| Weekend |
[Jun. 17th, 2004|05:28 pm] |
I'm thinking meet at 116 at 7 for dinner tomorrow night. Someone who lives in Lexington can figure out such details as where to go. :P
Still really do need someone to go to this wedding. |
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| Weekend |
[Jun. 14th, 2004|05:55 pm] |
So, uh, I need a girl who wants to go to a wedding in Louisville Saturday afternoon.
Anyone want dinner Friday and Saturday night? |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 8th, 2004|11:21 am] |
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Time to graduate today! Congrats to everyone else graduating about now. |
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| Sick of it |
[Apr. 14th, 2004|12:34 am] |
It's amazing how many people are willing to criticize President Bush for "Ruining the country" but I haven't heard any of them actually explain to me how he's done that. Big order for one man. Ruining the country and all. Tough even for a President. No one really seems to have a better plan either. Just lot's of criticism without any data or any alternatives. I'm kind of sick of that. It actually makes me discount people's opinions since they don't offer anything else.
Anything thing that amazes me is how many people call the President "stupid," a "moron," or an "idiot." Apparently they've met him and tested him in some way to judge his intelligence. Funny though, of all the people that I've heard say that walking around campus, none of them seem to have History degrees from Yale or MBA's from Harvard. Hmmm. I'm kind of sick of that too.
Really I'm fucking pissed. I hate it when people say stupid things. It kills me when I hear intelligent people saying stupid things. |
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| Baby Boomers and Deficits |
[Mar. 5th, 2004|02:12 pm] |
Deficits first because that's easy and I don't need to look stuff up for it. The U.S. budget deficit hardly matters at all. Because the U.S. is such a large and stable economy, it can easily borrow money to cover its deficit. Accordingly, a budget deficit in the United States does not require us to print more money to pay for costs (as they would have to do in a developing country where financers did not trust the investment environment). It's printing money to cover budget deficits that causes inflation (see Israel in the 1970's). We don't have to do that so inflation is not a problem from a budget deficits. There are other reasons to insist upon a balanced budget but the majority of those are not based upon economics (for example, I would support a balanced budget amendment simply because I think that fiscal responsibility, as a person or as a collective group of persons, is important). The only other economic impact of a budget deficit in a large developed country is that it can cause interest rates to rise to encourage that financial investment.
Quickly about what I said in my comment on Billy's journal about trade deficits. Whenever you see a trade deficit you see a surplus in the net capital inflow. This is because the trade deficit is determined (simplified) by the following equation: U.S. imports from other countries - U.S. exports to other countries. However if this is negative then it has to be paid for somehow. The net capital inflow is World purchases of U.S. assets - U.S. purchases of world assets. These are then put on opposite sides of the equation and must always equal each other. So we have:
U.S. trade deficit = U.S. net capital inflow
The following stuff on the baby boomers is based upon a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report from November 2003. http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4863&sequence=0
First, the number of people over age 65 is expected to double by 2030, and will account for more than 20% of the population at that time (about 13% today). Increased life expectancy should cause these people to live longer while the decreased fertility rates that come with prosperity will mean less workers per retiree (4.8 people ages 20-64 for every person ages 65 or over in 2000, expected to be 2.9 in 2030). This has followed a general trend, spending on Social Security and Medicare has risen from 2.5% of GDP to 6.9% over the last forty years. That's a lot of money! Overall Social Security makes up about 40% over total income for people 65 and over. Still about 10% of the elderly fall below the official poverty level.
Example: A two-earner couple retires in 2000 (one high wage, the other low wage). They will receive a total of $570k over their lifetime from Social Security and Medicare. Based on rising costs that same couple would receive $960k in 2030 according to current law.
A 1998 CBO study found that, "each dollar of Social Security wealth . . . reduces private wealth by between zero and 50 cents." In otherwords, the guarantee of government benefits reduces people's propensity to save for themselves. So then sudden changes to Social Security will heavily affect baby boomers households who have no prepared. From 1960 to 2002, as Social Security payments have increased, the Adjusted private saving rate has decreased from a little over 8% of GDP to around 5%.
The following numbers come from another CBO report estimating the number of people 65 and above: 37 million in 2003, 75 million in 2035, and 95 million in 2075. Obviously there are any number of factors that could change who lives to that age in that time span but I'll just work with those numbers for the purposes of ease.
Under current law, a person who reaches the age of 65 and retires in 2003 will have a present value of their lifetime benefits of $193k. That same person in 2035 would have a present value of $260k. The effects that this would have on the budget are pretty clear. The question quicly becomes, what can we do to stop it?
I don't really have an easy answer as I only see two possibilities. One, we have to give up those government supports such as social security and medicare in favor of more private savings and assistance. That is to say, people have to plan for the future more or receive more help from private citizens (friends, families, or charities) to prepare for their own retirement. The other is those of us will still be working would have to be willing to accept a far higher tax rate (Sweeden style) in order to pay for the benefits for the eldery preparing to retire. I don't know if I think there is a good solution. Honestly, I don't want to pay 60% of my income to the government in taxes. I don't even consider that to be a solution. But then what do we do about the large number of baby boomers who Social Security simply won't be able to support? If we decrease payments then we might be able to get it to an affordable point but undoubtedly there will be far more than 10% of elderly living below the official poverty level.
The only reasonable answer I can give is incentive base. Namely, I think that (up to a certain level) social security benefits should increase in proportion to private savings. I'm not sure if this should be based on nominal savings or on savings as a percentage of income but regardless it provides people with a strong incentive to save for their own retirement. This would also allow us to decrease nominal spending on social security and avoid heavy tax raises. I would go into this in more detail but this post is already really long so I'll do it later if people want. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 30th, 2004|04:23 pm] |
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Alright, I'm assuming that most of you know this but for those of you who don't we are once again having a super bowl party here on Sunday. Kickoff is around 6:30 I believe. What we need to know is who's coming and what they'd like. Corey and I are discussing a few possibilities. First is the obvious pizza ordering...however we're going to need to know who'll be there to make that order far in advance. Second is ordering some wings. Again, we need to know a long time ahead to do this too. Last one is just have snack type stuff, chips, dip, etc. What do you guys have a preference for? If anyone wants beer it's byob or let us know and give us money. We ain't rich! Anyway, lemme know. |
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| All you motherfuckers listen up |
[Jan. 22nd, 2004|04:31 pm] |
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Only point of this is to tell everyone to come over here sat night to drink/hang out. Think there are some people coming up from EKU and maybe a few other random/new people. Not a true party but should be a good time anyway. Be there or die!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Satisfaction |
[Jan. 6th, 2004|10:23 am] |
This is a follow-up to something I started in one of Joe's posts and then realized that I would keep going forever. So now I'm just going to keep going forever on here instead! *wicked manaical laughter*
In that comment I talked about some things that just aren't the biggest or even relatively close factors when it comes to the way that I make decisions, now I want to talk a little more about why. The key reason is because none of those things ever satisfies. Money: Just look at all the depressed disgustingly rich people there are out there. I can't believe that this is even considered as a way of finding satisfaction but for some reason this country cannot shake itself of the mindset that "He who dies with the most toys wins." To quote Lewis Black: "You're still dead fuck nuts!" Career: Think of the way that immersing oneself in a career destroys everything else. Or of the psychiatrists offices filled with people who work 12 hours a day and then don't know what to do with themselves. Lockheed Martin released a study saying that people who retire in their mid 50's tend to live for another 2-3 decades while people who go to the maximum age for retirement (65 there I believe) tend to die within the next five years. Friends and family: They all eventually let you down. The more you build your satistfaction on them the harder you fall when eventually they fail. Not a single one of them is perfect. If there's one thing that we can all respect Joe for it's because he never just settles (I'm not trying to imply anything about your plans here Joe, seriously). Why just accept a situation as something that can't be made better? I'm not dissing any of you, you guys know I love you all, but every single one of you has let me down at some point just as I've let all of you down. We just aren't perfect enough to ever perfectly fulfill someone else. What's more we all die and we have no idea when it will happen. How much would it crush someone else if they're relying on someone for all their satisfaction and then that person dies.
Which brings me to another point. The only thing that we truly have to look forward to in life is death. We try to plan ahead, to anticipate, but we never know what will happen. I could not even finish this post and instead die when the monitor explodes. We never know. All we know for sure is that it will happen sometime. So all of those things above are just our attempts to suppress that knowledge, to build up walls against that burden and fear. We do everything we can to find diversion from having to sit and think and then run into the wall of that being all that we actually know. Worse yet we don't know what happens after that. Nothingness? Afterlife? We have never made that journey so we just don't know.
So, in my mind at least, the only thing worth finding satisfaction in (and using as a basis for making every decision) is something that answers that question of what happens after death. If the answer to that is nothing then what's the point of even bothering to find satisfaction? All that happens is we go through the motions for a few years, die at a completely unknown and unpredicted time, and that's it. In fact the only thing that you could decide in that situation is to choose when that death actually comes. For that reason, in my opinion, life for the atheist becomes insanity. How can anyone remain "all there" if they have to live everyday with only the knowledge that one day they will die, they don't know when, and the only power they have to is choose to die at any particular moment?
On the otherhand if the answer to the question of "What happens after death?" is anything other than nothing then we should do everything that we can to make sure that it is the best something that exists. That is the only thing worth our satisfaction, knowing that we have something after death that is better than the life which ends at a time that we don't know. Peter wrote, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5). The idea that we can have an eternal inheritance, meaning that we have been adopted as sons and daughters of God, is the only thing that could ever be worthy of rejoicing over. What's the point of rejoicing over anything when it doesn't improve our overall state? But there is an inheritance that will never perish as we do, will never spoil as our bodies do with age, and will never fade away like even the memories of us will one day. That is worth rejoicing. Getting that is being satisfied. And that is why Peter says "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!" How much praise is given to God when we find out satisfaction in the knowledge that He has met our every desire? There's nothing that we lack if we have that inheritance. Because of the uncertain nature of our existence, our only knowledge being that we die, if we don't have that inheritance then we don't really have anything because it can all vanish at anytime. On the otherhand, if you have that inheritance you have the only thing worth having and you have everything. How could we not glorify God for meeting our every need through no reason than because of His great mercy? John Piper said it this way: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." Only when we are satisfied in Him alone are we recognizing that He has given us everything that can satisfy and truly giving Him the glory that He deserves.
But Peter goes even farther with this idea of having that meaning having everything: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have been made to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:6-7). What does any trial truly matter unless it affects that inheritance? We are, through faith, shielded by God's power (v. 5) so that that inheritance is preserved. Therefore the only that we should worry about in these trials is that that faith is proved genuine in securing that inheritance, the greek implies the necessity of these trials. When we have passed them and proved the faith is genuine it will be to our praise, glory, and honor when we get that inheritance. Even moreover we're told in Ephesians 2:9 that that faith is "not of yourselves, it is the gift of God". So not only has God provided for the adoption into our inheritance, He has provided the faith to secure us in His power until Christ is revealed and we receive the promise. So then our suffering trials for a little while brings even more praise, glory, and honor to God. Again, to quote John Piper: "God is more glorifed in us when we are most satisfied in Him...God is even more glorifed in us when we are satisfied in Him in the midst of pain."
Yet there's still more involved here: "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:8-9). Because we know what comes when He is revealed and we wait for that and suffer trials that prove our faith, we are filled with a joy that passes our ability to even express, even in the midst of grief. What's more you can take this farther to those times that you aren't going through trials and grief. During these times we still rest secure in God and still have this joy in us because we know that our inheritance and our salvation are secure by God's power. In the greatest of times we still rest on that inheritance and on God alone as being the only thing worthy of our rejoicing. Therefore we already have the statements by Piper, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him...God is even more glorified in us when we are satisfied in Him in the midst of pain" and we can go further than that and say that God is even more glorified in us when we are satisfied in Him in the midst of joy. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 15th, 2003|11:02 am] |
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So what do you do when you know that one friend blatantly lied to another friend, and you don't know why they did it but you know that the person who was lied to now knows it was a lie? |
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| Good, Bad, Good, Bad... |
[Dec. 8th, 2003|12:43 am] |
So here goes the weekend summary:
Friday, very good. Went out and got lot's of shopping done. Made dinner that night and enjoyed good company and a good wine, always a nice combination. Friday night I didn't go with what I had had planned (didn't really have an option as I was ordered) but still had a very good evening.
Saturday day - Baaaaaaaad. Was very pissed off and anti-social. The only good thing about this time was the Cats won and even that wasn't as good as it should've been.
Saturday evening/night - Saved. Luckily ended up decided to go to dinner with Bryce, Joe, Matt, and Leslie and managed to cheer up enough that I felt like being around people for the party. Good sign. Party was very good too. I had a blast. Got Lindsey (neighbor) down here to play flip cup, decided that she's one of the most fun people to play against personally cause you can make every single round a challenge. Even got a prolonged head scratching that night. Of course I also got groped many times (no this was not by the same person that did the head scratching). Good night. Yay. Some bad shit happened but fall out from it was not bad and so did not cancel out the good of the party.
Sunday - Bad. Today kinda started low and never got back up. Lot's of stuff I was looking forward to doing and really just about none of it actually happened. Lone bright spots of the day were Charlie coming over to watch Pirates (only plan that actually worked out today) and the Bible Study I just did to try to get back in a functionning mood. Talked to Betsy for the first time in a long time but by this point I was already so pissed/frustrated/disappointed that it really just didn't help. It's not even really anyone's fault, just shit happening that can't be helped. I absolutely hate getting my hopes up for stuff and then it not working out. I hate the impotent feeling that goes along with it when it happens for reasons completely out of control and there's not even anyone to be mad at. Pretty much I hate being pissed off and not being able to do anything to make it better. Sucks. Gonna stop whining and get off here now though.
Sidenote but this is not a wanting pity post or trying to make anyone feel guilty. Like I said, it's not anyone's fault and no one can really do anything about it. Just in that frustrated upset disappointed and so pissed off state. |
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| Happy Thanksgiving |
[Nov. 27th, 2003|11:11 pm] |
"It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. For You make me glad by Your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands. How great are Your works, O Lord, how profound Your thoughts! The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers fourish, they will be forever destroyed.
"But You, O Lord, are exalted forever.
"For surely Your enemies, O Lord, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered. You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me. My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
"The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, 'The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.'"
Psalm 92
Happy thanksgiving all! |
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| Delayed post while distracted |
[Nov. 22nd, 2003|11:40 pm] |
First a quick vampire thing: I'm gonna have my brother and a friend who's riding to MD with us here tues night so I don't think that I can do vampire that night. Would anyone want to do Monday night instead?
Second, this is a post that I told Joe I was gonna make after reading a debate between him and his Dad and I never got around to writing. I do want to go ahead and get this down but I'm not sure how clear it will be right now since I'm kinda more concerned with a very serious conversation that I'm having at the moment. But for what it's worth here goes (sorry if this is subpar Joe).
Joe and his Dad (irilbookend I believe, need to make sure and add him to friends list) had a conversation where one of the things that came up was how economies work in societies (the original topic was about how people view the passing of time, I believe). I think it was Joe (I'm not reading the convo this second cause I wanna state things in my words, not his) who said something along the lines of "a true christian society would probably have an economic system that would closely resemble capitalism." Maybe surprising, since I'm an economics major who can tell you why socialism didn't work and because I'm a christian who believes that the Soviet Union was every bit as bad as Nazi Germany, I actually agree.
First thing that I would have to say is that if you take the two chief commands of christianity "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" are what everything else is based on. Paul said that "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." (Rom. 13:10). However, while these are the two greatest commandments, Christianity does not give detailed rules on how to apply these in every society and in every social situation. The Bible says to feed the hungry but does not give cooking lessons. We're told to study the Scriptures but not given lessons in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. It is not intended to replace all the different human works but rather to set them all in they're proper order and place.
All of that said, at the same time, the New Testament gives us a pretty clear picture of what a Christian society ought to look like. If anything it might give more than we can take or want to hear. For one thing it says there should be no parasites living off of others, "If a man does not work, neither shall he eat." (2 Thess. 3:10). In addition everyone should work to produce something good, there would be no manufacture of useless goods or useless ads convincing us to buy them. At the same time this society would always focus on obedience to established authorities. Finally it would be filled with singing, thankfulness, and rejoicing.
Because of all this I really think that if such a society existed and we found it, we would think that economically it was very socialistic. There really wouldn't be much need for money because everyone would earn what they needed and would be able to share what they had extra with everyone else. Those who did not provide anything for themselves would not get anything from the others. Everyone would be cared for by their own productiveness and their wellbeing would be improved by the productiveness of everyone around them. At the same time we would probably find its family and social life very old-fashioned and perhaps very aristocratic. I think that all of us would like some bits of the society but I don't think that any of us would like all of it, that's why I say that perhaps we're given more than we can handle. We've departed from this plan in so many ways and each one of us wants to think that what their particular divergence is is the original plan itself. This is the problem that I think that most people have with Christianity. Everyone likes bits and pieces of it but so few are able to see and desire the whole thing. We approach Christianity from a mindset where we look for an ally of our own particular view but instead we find either a loving Father and Master, or a Judge.
One more thing about the socialism thing. One of the reasons that we are to work is so that we can give to those in need. James wrote, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27). The key part is that this all stems from love, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." (1 Cor. 13:3). Anyone who takes what I have above as a reason to depart from charity has completely departed from all Christian morality. In fact, in the passage below it becomes clear that without love (obviously true complete love for God above all which leads to many other conclusions that I don't have time or space to go into here) leading to good works and charity is what will mark out Christians.
"'When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."
'Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirty and give you drink? When did we see You a stanger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."
'Then he will also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me."
'Then they also will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a strange or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?" Then He will answer them, saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.'" (Matt. 25:31-46). |
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