Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Ben Zornes

The Real State of the Union (Part Sixth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Sixth)

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The final thing I’d like to address is the budgetary claims the President made. President Obama touted the fact that the Federal Government’s deficit will be the lowest it has been since 2008, a mere 3224056738_8463b09018$468,000,000,000. This was spun as positive news, when in reality this is irresponsibility at its finest! The Federal Government’s total revenue this year is $3,340,000,000,000 (that’s $3.34 trillion, but I think the zeros need to be included); the proposed White House budget is around $3,900,000,000,000. This leaves a shortfall of around $468-564 billion depending on what reports you look at! This will cause our national debt to rise to a staggering $18,690,000,000,000!!
If a citizen who makes $50,000 annually, spent the way the government is spending, that would mean they would be $8000 in debt after just one year. The atrocity of this is put well by this statistic from Brillig: “The estimated population of the United States is 319,903,034 so each citizen’s share of this debt is $56,578.89.” My 1 year old daughter currently owes more than I make annually! For all this talk about our responsibility to future generations, this is hypocrisy at its finest.
We are to provide and protect our offspring. Furthermore, it is painfully obvious that our children will pay the price for our fiscal irresponsibility and greed. This is fundamentally wrong, for we are forcing children to pay for the crimes of their fathers and rather than leaving them blessed and free, we are leaving them cursed and in bondage to the penalty of our greed and irresponsibility. The proposals and policies being discussed by the President as well as by many in Congress are commonly irresponsible and lacking in consideration to the safety and security of our grand Nation’s future. [Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part Sixth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Fifth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Fifth)

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The President made this claim in his State of the Union address: “no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.” This is, perhaps, the President’s most irresponsible and alarm3224056738_8463b09018ist statement of the speech. The claim of man-made global climate change is founded on models that have been shown to be rigged to produce an outcome in support of the environmentalist agenda. So called “climate change” is not the greatest threat to future generations; the wholesale murder of them through abortion is a threat to future generations, our $18 trillion deficit is a threat, our abandonment ofBiblical Christianity and the morals contained therein is a threat…climate change (while climates and their changes certainly can produce dangerous weather) is not our greatest threat.
First off, the notion of global climate change assumes that we humans know what the “normal climate” is for our planet. The global thermostat is being fiddled with, by we carbon belching humans and if we ain’t careful we’re gonna roast! But the evidence points to the fact that a warmer climate is better for us as humans and that we are actually heading into a warmer eon from a period of relative coolness (in which the life-expectancy was rather shorter). Longer life span also means more humans living long, more able to innovate new ways of feeding more people and helping to take care of this home God has given us! We must not assume that we know what is the precise ideal climate for earth. [Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part Fifth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Fourth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Fourth)

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Here is the fourth entry in my series addressing the big issues raised by President Obama in the recent 3224056738_8463b09018State of the Union Address.

We must affirm the fact that all men are created equal and God has endowed them with certain inalienable rights. However, not all ideas are created equal. Thus, we must be wary of jumping on the bandwagon of the tolerance crowd which insists that we refuse to hurt anyone’s feelings by critically evaluating their worldview and what informs it. In the case of the President’s view of the Islamic religion we see a woefully inadequate assessment of the Islamic worldview.
It is oft repeated that the terrorists and radicals ought not to taint our view of the religion as a whole, and that is indeed a healthy and judicious reaction. If 1% of a certain ethnic group was known for radical and violent behavior to defend their beliefs, we wouldn’t consider it an attribute of the whole. We should examine why that 1% acts as it does and seek to both sway them from their violent ways and yet to defend the rest of us from them! [Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part Fourth)

The Real State of the Union (Part Third)

The Real State of the Union (Part Third)

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This is the third part in my series addressing several of the issues raised by President Obama in his 3224056738_8463b09018recent State of the Union Address.

There was some buzz about the fact that this State of the Union address was the first to include the word “transgender”.  A word on this issue. Homosexuality is a sin, not a crime. As such, it needs to be treated that way; as a Christian, I do not propose the criminalization of homosexuality. However, it must be understood by our magistrates that though they ought not to criminalize these aberrant forms of sexuality, neither should they sanction and bless them.

[Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part Third)

The Real State of the Union (Part Second)

The Real State of the Union (Part Second)

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This is the second part in my series addressing several of the issues raised by President Obama in his 3224056738_8463b09018recent State of the Union Address. Part One can be found here.

The President proposed offering free Community College, and though education is a vital and  important aspect of any nation’s future, we would be fools for handing over another sector of our education system over to a government that has been an abysmal failure when it comes to education. According to some accounts, the USA is fifth in the world for how much we spend per student, and yet we are 17th overall in mathematics & reading, and 21st in science! To illustrate this, if an NFL team had the 5th highest paid roster, yet failed to make the playoffs year after year, heads would roll, coaches would be fired, and the fans would be deeply frustrated.   [Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part Second)

The Real State of the Union (Part First)

The Real State of the Union (Part First)

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I’ll be writing a post everyday for the next week or so, responding to specific issues which were either 3224056738_8463b09018directly or indirectly raised by President Obama in his recent State of the Union address. As Christians we are to understand that the Gospel has bearing in every arena, and that includes the political, governmental aspects of our culture. I write this as an appeal to all the branches of the governing bodies of these United States of America. I’ll be covering successively the issues of life (and when it begins and therefore deserves protection), Obama’s educational proposals, Homosexual mirage and the fact that Obama was the first president to use the word transgender in a State of the Union Address, how we ought to view and deal with Islamic militants, climate change, and our bulging deficit and rising debt. So, let us begin shall we? 

PART FIRST

This Union of Free States is built upon the principle of defending life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is any government’s primary and God-given responsibility. First and foremost we must understand that for a government to function well, it must understand where authority comes from, and especially that government is not the ultimate authority. We Westerners must further understand that neither is the populace the ultimate authority. We are under God, and must acknowledge Him if we are to prosper and thrive as a nation.  [Read more…] about The Real State of the Union (Part First)

Heaven’s Fruit and Earth’s Dust

Heaven’s Fruit and Earth’s Dust

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Johnny Cash once sang,” you’re so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good”. Most of the time I agree heartily with the Man in Black, but in this instance I must protest. And though there be some element of truth in this statement, it is not from being “too heavenly minded” that causes issues down here below. I would submit that when we are “no earthly good” it stems from a defect rather than an excess of heavenly mindedness.

Our real problem is we too often mistake earth’s joys for heaven’s, and this will only result in misery and woe and fruitlessness in our service to others. In fact, the Christian knows that the only hope for this earth is the riches and the fruit of heaven. Isaac Watts understood this well, and so I share here a hymn of his. If we would be holy and fruitful in our commission upon this earth, we must forsake worldliness and feast only at heaven’s table!

Far from my thoughts, vain world, begone,
Let my religious hours alone:
Fain would my eyes my Savior see;
I wait a visit, Lord, from Thee.

My heart grows warm with holy fire,
And kindles with a pure desire:
Come, my dear Jesus, from above,
And feed my soul with heav’nly love.

The trees of life immortal standblogpost 01.15.15 image
In fragrant rows at Thy right hand;
And in sweet murmurs, by their side,
Rivers of bliss perpetual glide.

Haste, then, but with a smiling face,
And spread the table of Thy grace;
Bring down a taste of fruit divine,
And cheer my heart with sacred wine.

Bless’d Jesus, what delicious fare!
How sweet Thy entertainments are!
Never did angels taste above
Redeeming grace, and dying love.

Hail, great Immanuel, all divine!
In Thee Thy Father’s glories shine;
Thou brightest, sweetest, fairest One,
That eyes have seen or angels known.

Ben Zornes