This is a great song by Hoobastank. I always thought it would be a good song to sing to God. Someone put a video to it and I want to share it with ya. So here it is. Enjoy!
Archive for January, 2008
The Reason
Posted in music with tags christian, hoobastank, music, the reason on January 16, 2008 by Kevin Rinersnow ya’ll
Posted in disillusionment, fun, life, snow, weather on January 16, 2008 by Kevin Riner
We live in sunny southern TN. Today was predicted a small chance of snow. We received a small portion of snow. I usually tell everybody that I won’t believe it till I see it. I’ve seen it snow plenty of times but unfortunately, they (the meteorologists) miss it when they say chance of snow. But this time they got it right. A chance and a portion received.
A Goulosh of Seasons
Posted in Dissapointment, confused, disillusionment, hunting, life on January 14, 2008 by Kevin Riner 
Mathew 16:2-3
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
2He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
So it’s been said that it says in the bible that when the end times get here that the seasons will not be distinguishable. The above context is what I have found for support of this theory. Let it be written that I can not stand in agreement with this theory, however, for the sake of argumentation I am going to use the theory for some fun commentary.
If the conclusion that the seasons will not be distinguishable in the end times, then I agree with this conclusion on the account of these matters.
1. Baseball season- April 1-October 28, Football season-September 6-February 3, Basketball season-October 31- April 16, Hockey season- October -June 6.
The seasons overlap and what puts my panties in a wad is when football season starts, baseball doesn’t even exist. (Maybe cause I live in Titan country) And when Baseball season starts all they can talk about is the Final Four and basketball crap. I want complete and total BASEBALL coverageon all networks and cable sport channels! Is that too much to ask. I mean c’mon. Even off season football trades take precedence over baseball! Aaaarrrgghhh!!!!
2. Deer season-
- Archery: Sept. 15 – Dec. 15, 2008 (end dates may vary by WMU)
- Muzzleloader: Nov. 1 – Nov. 11, 2008 (beginning dates may vary by WMU)
- Firearms: Nov. 12 – Dec. 7, 2008 (end dates may vary by WMU)
God forgive us if we use a stinkin gun during bow season. I can’t get em straight. And Lord knows I don’t want to be out there during juvy weekend, but when does that take place again.
3 Actual Seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer)-Who knows these days. It’s snowing in California and Iraq, drouts in the south and flooding in the mid-west. Record breaking highs in August and wearing shorts to Christmas parties, geez!
Seasons? We don’t need no stinkin seasons!
Tell me your coolest website
Posted in blogging, internet on January 13, 2008 by Kevin Riner
I was sitting here thinking. I am an internet junkie, plain and simple. Alot of times I ask people where that special restaurant is that is all the rave yet no one knows about it. So how about it? What is that website that you have to go to all the time? Care to share?
Long time no… Wait can it wait a little longer?
Posted in Peace, fear, hesitation, life on January 7, 2008 by Kevin Riner
Have you ever seen those movies where a kid was just plain mistreated when they were a kid and when they got older they decided to make it right? So they put together a list of all those that done them wrong in grade school and started taking them out one by one.
I ran into one of those today, sorta. Let me ask you another question. You know those guys they say not to mess with because they’re too quiet? Well this guy I’m speaking of is just that. He was a quiet one and when we were in the eighth grade, he shot one of his best friends. Yeah, don’t mess with the quiet guy!
So, I’m in McDonald’s today getting some lunch. And this guy walks in. I didn’t recognize him but he stood right behind me in line. And for some reason, McDonald’s just happened to have the biggest lunch crowd I’ve seen in a long time. So I’m standing there and I get this tap on my shoulder and he asks, “What’s you last name?”.
“Uh, mmm… Riner?”
“Didn’t we go to school together at Connely?”
“Yeah?”
“My name is…” He said.
“Oh yeah. I remember you,” thinking to myself about what he had done.
We made small talk for a moment all the while he’s asking if I’m married, where does she work, where do I live, and so forth and while these questions are just being hammered out I got this picture of Steve Buscemi in the movie Billy Madison where he’s putting on the lipstick and getting ready to take out his vengeance. And by the way, No I didn’t tell him ALL the truth on any of these questions cause quite frankly, he was freaking me out.
So we departed ways and I happily ate my big mac while doing the big mac rap!!!
Separation of Church and State-part II
Posted in America, GOD, church, life, politics, religion on January 6, 2008 by Kevin RinerI have come across a website called “Americans United for Separation of Church and State”. Forgive me for my ignorance of knowledge. The first amendment clearly says this:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”
CLEARLY, this amendment is speaking to the government. It is argued that the phrase “separation of church and state” does not exist in the First Amendment. True! But where it does exist is in a letter to the Danbury Baptists from Thomas Jefferson. In his letter, he wrote,
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.”
Now I’m not a brilliant man but this amendment builds no wall separating church from state per se. What it does build is a wall with a one way swinging door. The government cannot get in but the church may get out. You see, it says the congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. No where in this amendment does it say that the church can not have say so in the arena of government. If it does, please correct me. I’m not above being corrected. I just don’t like it. And also to me, if a church wants to get involved in government, it can because the First amendment also says Congress cannot prohibit the free exercise of a religion.
Also, if you continue to read the First Amendment, it goes on to say,
“or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Which gives the church the power of free speech. The “AU” says the church cannot get involved with any political campaign because it is a tax exempt establishment. Is this a privilege the government has bestowed on the church or is this a battle the church has won feeding the government their own dinner? Tax exempt or not, the church has a free speech right and I read nowhere in the First Amendment that the church cannot involve itself with a political agenda.
In my own thoughts, I think our forefathers messed up on a royal level. It’s fine that they’d want to keep the church and state separate, but they should have worded it alot different.
Maybe it should have read, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the church have any right respecting any establishment of government.”
There is your wannabe First Amendment.
Separation of Church and State
Posted in America, church, life, politics, religion on January 4, 2008 by Kevin Riner
oh yeah, I’m going there!
The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
I’ll start by saying I am know historian by trade. I have not done any exhaustive researches. I have not read a many of books on the subject. I write this “blog” merely through an inquisitive nature. I have included links at the end for your reading pleasure. I have found them to be quite informative and yet rather entertaining. Remember, this is a BLOG not a BOOK!
I started this journey of searching the meaning of “separation of church and state” because this is election year 2008. I am in favor of Mike Huckabee who happens to be a Baptist minister. But also for those who choose not to vote for him because of him being a minister and “having no economic knowledge” he was once the Governor of Arkansas from July 1996 to January 2007. But this is not a political campaign for Mr. Huckabee.
Debate starts here!
- Agreeing with “the reality” link at the bottom of this post, it says America was not intended to be a Christian nation. Our fore-fathers were not Christian. They were masons. If you are unaware of the masons, they believe in tolerance of religions. As long as you believed in a god, you could be a member of the free masons.
- It has been stated by Thomas Jefferson himself that he himself was a deist. Deism is a system of thought advocating natural religion based on human reason rather than revelation. He believed you had to be good to receive the rewards in Heaven. This goes directly against scripture.
a. Romans 3:10- As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
b. Ephesians 2:8-9 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.
- Jefferson also in a manner stripped the bible of Jesus’ miracles to backup his moralist idealism. You can a find a copy here.
- In 1797, in an attempt to establish peaceful relations with Muslims off the Northern Coast of Africa (an attempt that failed and led to the Barbary Wars), the Treaty of Tripoli was ratified by the Senate. Article 11 of the treaty states:
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…”
There are many other points to show that our forefathers were not Christians per se but they were religious in some ways leaning on the bible in many aspects of thought. But as the bible says the demons believe in Jesus yet they tremble at the mention of His name. So my argument there is just how devoted to Christ were they really?
The main reason for posting this is two part: What exactly does the First amendment mean? And can we really separate church and state.
The real meaning of the First Amendment will never truly be known I believe. We can only search the early writings of our forefathers and sort of “put two and two together”. But I think, taking from the link of “The Right” at the bottom of the page, is what he says when he writes
When the First Amendment was passed it only had two purposes.
- There would be no established, national church for the united thirteen states. To say it another way: there would be no “Church of the United States.” The government is prohibited from setting up a state religion, such as Britain has, but no barriers will be erected against the practice of any religion. Thomas Jefferson’s famous “wall of separation” between church and state comment was made in a letter to a group of Baptist clergymen January 1, 1802 in Danbury, Connecticut, who feared the Congregationalists Church would become the state-sponsored religion. Jefferson assured the Danbury Baptist Association that the First Amendment guaranteed that there would be no establishment of any one denomination over another. It was never intended for our governing bodies to be “separated” from Christianity and its principles. The “wall” was understood as one directional; its purpose was to protect the church from the state. The world was not to corrupt the church, yet the church was free to teach the people Biblical values. It keeps the government from running the church but makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government.
- The second purpose of the First Amendment was the very opposite from what is being made of it today. It states expressly that government should not impede or interfere with the free practice of religion. The purpose of the separation of church and state in American society is not to exclude the voice of religion from public debate, but to provide a context of religious freedom where the insights of each religious tradition can be set forth and tested. As Justice Douglas wrote for the majority of the Supreme Court in the United States vs. Ballard case in 1944: The First Amendment has a dual aspect. It not only “forestalls compulsion by law of the acceptance of any creed or the practice of any form of worship” but also “safeguards the free exercise of the chosen form of religion.” The First Amendment was a safe-guard so that the State can have no jurisdiction over the Church. Its purpose was to protect the Church, not to disestablish it.
The above entry answers the first question but the second question can either be a tougher question or in actuality be an easier question. Can we truly separate the church from the state?
Answer: Yes and No!
- Yes- If you are a non-Christian, there is no church or Jesus or the Holy Spirit in you. The bible says you are either for me or against me. Matthew 12:30 So it is quite easy to separate the two because one doesn’t exist.
- No- Nothing can separate from the love of God if He is in you. If you truly love Jesus, and your purpose in life is to glorify him with every work that you do, then separation is impossible. So for a politician who truly seeks the face of Jesus cannot and will not separate the job of presidency or senate or any Governmental position for that matter from being influenced by Jesus. It is impossible.
So no matter what the man or woman might say, he or she cannot separate Jesus from his work. If he/she is a Christian and truly seeks the heart of Jesus, then separation is impossible. You cannot change who you are when making decisions. You can lie, you can falsify, but you cannot change.
So to wrap things up, if Mike Huckabee who’s running for president and he is who he says he is, then Jesus will be the influence of every decision coming from Washington D. C. if he is elected president. It cannot be separated.
The first amendment does not say separation of church and state. This was a phrase used by Jefferson in a letter to the baptist church cause they feared another creed would be recognized as the national church. The First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” meaning Government can show no favoritism towards any sect, creed or religion and it can in NO WAY prohibit any exercise of worship. So if the president wants to worship, he may.
The deal was to make it where no one could force their religion on anyone else. You were free to worship in any way you like. And it reads to me that Congress can not intrude into religion but there is no word that exemplifies that church cannot intrude into government.
So…
We may be able to separate church from state but it is impossible to separate God from man.
THE LEFT-http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/history_of_the_separation_of_chu.htm
THE RIGHT- http://www.jeremiahproject.com/culture/ch_state.html
THE REALITY- http://www.theology.edu/journal/volume2/ushistor.htm
Mary living in a Martha world
Posted in church, life on January 3, 2008 by Kevin Riner“American Christianity is more like busy Martha than like pensive Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus. It expands more in breadth than in depth. It is often carried on like a secular business, and ina mechanical or utilitarian spirit. It lacks the beautiful enamel of deep fervor and heartiness.”
Philip Schaff
