The Reasons for Suffering, and the Reasons for Blessings

I've noticed that, often when someone is suffering. People seem to think that because they are suffering, God must be punishing them for a certain sin. This is not so, even though all suffering is a result of the fall of man, all our suffering is not always a punishment for a particular sin. Suffering has more purposes in our lives than just punishing our sin. Lets look at what James has to say.

James 1:2"Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For we know that the the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have it's full effect, that you may perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

From this passage it is obvious to us that there are more reasons for suffering than just for punishing sin, as many people tend to think.
If you read the book of Job, you will find that just because we are suffering doesn't mean that we are being punished for a particular sin, as Job's friends thought. The Bible says that Job was a righteous man, not perfect, but he was righteous. And from the conversation God has with Satan, it is obvious that he was not punishing him. Therefore, we know that God uses suffering to do many things, not just punish sin.

God may use suffering in our lives to teach us to trust him more, to test our faith or maybe he his doing it for a reason he does not want to reveal to us.

Now let's look at the opposite side of this. What if we are being blessed by God? Does that mean that we are being rewarded because of a good deed that we preformed? This can be the reason, but to say that our good deeds are the only reason for our blessings would be sort of placing credit where credit isn't due. The only reason we are even able to do good is because of God's Grace. We are blessed because the goodness of God's heart, not ours.

My Facebook Experience

Well, I've officially been on "Facebook" for five days now. And you know what? It's not quite as bad as everyone makes it out to be, I mean if you stick with the right friends it can actually be a good way to keep in touch with one another(this isn't an official endorsment, I'm just giving you my take on it). I've also found several people who I have not seen in years, and it has been great to talk to them again.

However, a lot of people have been telling me to be careful not to get addicted to Facebook, well I admit I was addicted for the first two days, and I couldn't stop checking for updates. But now after a little while longer I find that I am completely bored of it! It seems almost pointless now, I guess I'm just not the Facebook type. But then again since it is the only way I can keep in touch with family and friends back in San Diego, and there are a few other fun things to do there(i.e. Live Chat with buddies that I know from abortaware.com). I guess I'll keep my account up and running.

In Christ Alone

-cj

Freedom of Choice Act

Please pass this on to everyone you know.

"Mr. Obama has indicated he will be signing the Freedom of Choice Act as soon as he gets into office which pretty much obliterates any steps that have been gained by people who are pro-Life – please consider signing the petition
against FOCA by following the website below.

http://www.fightfoca.com/"

• The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would eliminate every restriction on abortion nationwide.
  
• FOCA will do away with state laws on parental involvement, on partial birth abortion, and on all other protections.
  
• FOCA will compel taxpayer funding of abortions.
  
• FOCA will force faith-based hospitals and healthcare facilities to perform abortions.

Tagged: Six Things I Have Learned This Year

I've been tagged by Penn Tomossatti from the blog "All of Grace," to tell you six things I've learned this year(outside of school). Well, here they are!


1. The art of fence building, I've been building a lot of fence in the past few months.

2. How to use a number of different saws(skill saw, chain saw, etc.)

3. I have learned so much of God's love and greatness.

4. Some HTML and a little CSS code.

5. Over the past year my dad has been looking for a job, and with such a bad economy, I've had to do without a few things. So I guess what I have learned from that is to be content with very little(my dad has a pretty good job now, and were going to need a lot of prayer, I'll explain that in a later post).

6. Lately I've gotten very interested in politics, so I've learned a lot about that too.

I won't be tagging anyone but if you would like to do this, you are completely welcome:)

-cj

How Long do We Have?(This is a Must Read)

This an email a friend sent me. It's interesting to see how our nation is slowly becoming a place so unlike the 'God fearing free country that it once was.'

"About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

'A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.'

'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.'

'From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.'

'The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years'

'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. from bondage to spiritual faith;

2. from spiritual faith to great courage;

3. from courage to liberty;

4. from liberty to abundance;

5. from abundance to complacency;

6. from complacency to apathy;

7. from apathy to dependence;

8. from dependence back into bondage'

Some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Democrats: 19, Republicans: 29

Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000, Republicans: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million, Republicans: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2, Republicans: 2.1

In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare...' Some believe the United States is now somewhere between the 'complacency and apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the 'governmental dependency' phase. If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message. If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy and ignorance is the greatest danger to our freedom.

WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE."

A decision

With much prayer, consideration and help from all of you, I have made a decision about my blog. For the time being I'll continue to post here, at "Blogger," but I intend to move to "Wordpress" sometime in the future.

I have totally enjoyed "Blogger," and would recommend it to anybody new to blogging. Also, I would like thank everyone who lent their sound advice and voted in the poll concerning this issue.

In Christ
-cj

Barrak Obama, Our President

With the arrival of the news that Barrak Obama is our next president, there is one thing that I do not regret about this. I am glad that we now have a president who is African American. But what makes a man qualified to be president? Is it the color of his skin? Or his experience and knowledge of how to efficiently do the job? America was so anxious, so ready to get a black man in the White House that we were willing to turn a blind eye to everything this man stands for, to sacrifice everything America stands for and to embrace what America has fought against since the day it was founded, namely socialism. For those who doubt that Obama could possibly be socialist I have a few words for you. Obama's "Spread the wealth" idea is the very foundation of socialism. I quote Karl Marx(founder of socialism)



"To those according to their need, from those according to what they have."

In other words, Give to those who do not have(and will not labor for) what the man who has worked hard owns.

But what will we do? Will we sit back and watch our country turn against the very principals that it was built on? No! I urge you not to give up, but to continue to fight for what is right and good. So please, do not be discouraged, be encouraged! For after all, God always has the first, the present and the last word in everything.

-cj

Written for Teens Set Apart

One more heart stopped

Hey everyone, I'm sorry I haven't been posting regularly lately, I've been very busy. ..but I'll be doing my best to post regularly from now on. Anyway, I found this on Abortwaware.com. It is a very powerful and heartbreaking post where an unborn baby silently communicates with his mother.

"Month One
Mommy I am only 8 inches long but I have all my organs. I love the sound of your voice. Every time I hear it I wave my arms and legs. The sound of your heart beat is my favorite lullaby.

Month Two
Mommy today I learned how to suck my thumb. If you could see me you could definitely tell that I am a baby. I'm not big enough to survive outside my home though. It is so nice and warm in here.

Month Three
You know what Mommy I'm a boy!! I hope that makes you happy. I always want you to be happy. I don't like it when you cry. You sound so sad. It makes me sad too and I cry with you even though you can't hear me.

Month Four
Mommy my hair is starting to grow. It is very short and fine but I will have a lot of it. I spend a lot of my time exercising. I can turn my head and curl my fingers and toes and stretch my arms and legs. I am becoming quite good at it too.

Month Five
You went to the doctor today. Mommy, he lied to you. He said that I'm not a baby. I am a baby Mommy, your baby. I think and feel. Mommy, what's abortion?

Month Six
I can hear that doctor again. I don't like him. He seems cold and heartless. Something is intruding my home. The doctor called it a needle. Mommy what is it? It burns! Please make him stop! I can't get away from it! Mommy! HELP me!

Month Seven
Mommy I am okay. I am in Jesus's arms. He is holding me. . . He told me about abortion. . . Why didn't you want me Mommy?

Every abortion is just . . . One more heart that was stopped.
Two more eyes that will never see.
Two more hands that will never touch.
Two more legs that will never run.
One more mouth that will never speak.

It is a baby and abortion is murder. We must end abortion. Defend those who can not speak for themselves yet."

Taken from Elisha Cross' blog.