Stephen Boudreau

Another brilliant video from Prager University. The general question this video asks is, “are we addicted to gossip?”

Think about it for a second. Can you go 24 hours without saying anything bad about another person? If I asked you if you could go 24 hours without having a drink of alcohol, would you be able to? If not, then we’d say you were an alcoholic. So what about speaking ill of others…

Food for thought. Control over my words is a key to our character.

More girls are killed every year in India and China than are born in the United States. This is an unbelievable genocide.

What can be done?  How do we protect these girls?  How do we prevent this from happening elsewhere?  These are all big questions that I don’t know how to solve.  However, these types of things happen when governments are allowed or force themselves on the lives of citizens.

As Dennis Prager says, “The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.”    Add to that, the bigger the government, the smaller the church.  The bigger the government, the smaller our liberty.  The bigger the government, the more likely a society is to create laws that abort baby girls.

Show me how I’m wrong about this.

I’m encouraged by the response by so many to the “Jesus came to abolish religion” video.  I didn’t realize when I saw it that my sentiments would be echoed all over the web.  Here’s another brilliant video response.

My business partner posted this to his Facebook wall.  When I saw the preview image was a muscle-bound behemoth I was thinking that maybe his account got hacked, but what I watched was truly a punch to the gut. This video is speaking right to my core: if you want to improve, if you want to change, if you want to reach new heights — you have to give your very best at everything you do.  Very few even aspire to make this a reality.  I know I haven’t… how can I start doing that today?

Baby steps, I suppose.  But being your best means not settling, making sacrifices and taking roads less travelled.  Ultimately, it means denying myself.  Tough stuff. But it starts with every decision.

Granted, this guy is a little dorky. So clearly… my kind of guy! His points are terrific. This is a longer video (around 12 minutes), but it’s very engaging and lightened with a little comedy.

Here’s a link to a very brief, but outstanding article from Christian blogger Matt Warner. He makes his case far more eloquently than I did.  Below is an excerpt:

Unfortunately, when left to themselves, they’ve simply created their own religion that is right where they are already right. And based upon beliefs that change at the convenience of their whim. This is not a denial of self, it’s an indulgence of it. They make Jesus in their own image instead of conforming themselves into His. Religion is what, first, tells us what that Divine Image looks like and then, second, gives us the means of conforming to it.

In truth, religion and Jesus (God) are all wrapped up together. If you want your religion to be fully true, you need Jesus. If you want to know Jesus, know the religion that he founded – his body and bride the Church. As soon as a person tries to have one without the other, they end up with neither.

From I Hate Religious People? – Fallible Blogma

One more rant about this video…

There’s a trend amongst the enlightened elite to speak self-confidently about how “Jesus wasn’t a Republican”. These people need to get over themselves. Jesus wasn’t a lot of things. 

There is no good reason to make such a statement other than an attempt to inject personal politics into a conversation it needn’t be. Jesus wasn’t a politician. He wasn’t a pastor. He didn’t write books.  And he certainly didn’t shoot videos for YouTube.

Jesus didn’t go to Bible church, wasn’t part of a ‘home team”, didn’t get married and didn’t have kids. He didn’t like hypocrites, didn’t like faith without obedience and spent his time with people from every walk of life .

Why does anyone feel compelled to pronounce that Jesus was not a Republican?  Outside the imaginations of those who fret over conservative politics, where exactly is this a widespread belief? Answer: “Jesus was a republican” is not a widespread belief. Time to move on to matters of actual significance.

Bottom line: the only reason to (ignorantly) pronounce Jesus’ political persuasions is to get a personal dig in on a group you don’t like.

Jesus was a carpenter. He is the savior of the world. If that’s the story you are telling, resist the impulse to show people your political enlightenment during story time.