Wednesday, May 26, 2010

"Creed" by Steve Turner

Ravi Zacharias asks, "Who are we? What is our creed?

Creed

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your definition of knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during,
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated, and
you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes,
UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
some his good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same;
at least the one that we read were.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament because We believe
there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behaviour that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth
that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds
and the flowering of indvidual thought.

Post Script

If chance be the father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear:
‘state of emergency’,
‘sniper kills ten’,
‘troops on rampage’,
‘youths go looting’,
‘bomb-blast school’,
it is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

Steve Turner

** Note: I've found at least 5 different transcripts of this in addition to the audio in Dr. Zacharias' talk. I've done my best to union them to include all and hope the words are a good representation of the author's composition.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Robin has been admitted to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.


Once again, Mike Dulak has blessed me. I am kicking myself for waiting the month and a half to get in touch with him, but I figured I was doing the responsible thing, not indulging in the luxury of having her fixed while other expenditures should have priority. Whee, self-denial, and the more absence was making the heart ache, but I proud of myself for doing the right and responsible thing.

In retrospect, not at least asking Mike what it would cost, and just assuming it would cost $150+ was stupid.

I drove to Rocheport yesterday and he admitted Robin into the intensive care unit. He loaned me a lovely little mando to serve surrogate and ease the heart for the three weeks he'll be away on vacation.

Time to fix? 1 day.

Cost to fix? Oh... about $8.

I'll spend probably close to that in gas.

I'm kicking myself... stupid stupid stupid.

Thanks Mike. You're awesome.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Good news from the IRS (It's all a matter of perspective)

Received a notice of "Overpaid Tax Applied to Other Taxes You Owe". My $1,542.00 return was applied to my 2007 Tax Debt. Called them and now I owe $2902.96 ($1,410.75 for 2007 and $1,492.21 for 2008). That's down from over 6 grand. At $105 a month that's 28 months if you don't figure in overpaid tax applications from future years and any charges, penalties, interest, federal-smack-smack.

I think I may be able to increase the payment here in the near future, and it will be so very wonderful to have the federal monkey off my back.

I would have had several hundred more in returns to apply but I didn't realize that the IRS forces me to file Married Filing Separately and if one of us doesn't itemize, then the other cannot itemize. Oh well, just one more way living outside of God's plan brings heartache in this world. Glad this world is momentary and light. :)

So yes... it's good news, or rather, I choose to look at it that way.