The Gun Show

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. But not if the arms in question ever get better, because we've never seen any technological advances in our lifetime. Oh, and definitely not if they look scary. Yeah, I forgot about that part. Oh, and no A-Bombs." -Fake Thomas Jefferson

"Only if you can prove that you need one." - Dead Benjamin Franklin

"Only one bullet at a time too!" - Short George Washington

This is was a quick blog. I'm sure there will be a Part II.

The private ownership of, and proficiency with weaponry of all kinds are in a great way responsible for the existence of our country.  The founding fathers also knew it would be the case, and so they protected that right in VERY SIMPLE TERMS.

If the State is to stay "free" then it stands to reason that its Militia should be as well. I don't think the "Militia" described is our armed forces, but the general public.

Regulated means regulated, not restricted, not eliminated (and I promise you, that is the end game for many politicians. Just ask Diane Feinstein. And yes, I know she's speaking about one type of weapon in particular... but that weapon should also be legal for all law-abiding citizens)
"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here."

I'll be the first to admit it.  There is a problem with gun violence in this country. (omg, right? a gun-owning republican who admits to a problem with gun violence?) But that's not completely true. I'm going to spell it out for you as easily as I can.

     Gun - A weapon incorporating a metal tube from which bullets, shells, or other missiles are propelled by explosive force, typically making a characteristic loud, sharp noise.

     Violence - Behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.

And here's another one.

     Murder - The unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

Guns are not the issue. The issue is violence. The answer to this violence problem is to have a respect for life. (Considering many of the people crying for strict gun laws to protect our children are also pro-abortion, they are hypocrites) I'm not holding my breath for that to be fixed by the liberal brainiacs who definitely have all the answers.

Teaching respect for guns and responsible gun ownership from a young age is the other answer you're looking for. If I was curious as a kid, I could ask Dad and he'd UNLOCK his gun cabinet to teach and show me about his pistols, rifles, or shotguns. Notice I said, "Unlock." Because they were locked up. In a cabinet which was and is currently ATTACHED TO A WALL. Many of my friends are also gun owners, and they take similar care to ensure the safety of their firearms.

Passing "common sense" gun control laws, the enforcement of which do nothing to stop the criminal element form acquiring weapons but only reduce the availability those weapons to law-abiding citizens, is not the right course of action. I don't care what statistics say, because there are no definitive statistics regarding illegally possessed weapons used in violent crime. Partly because any weapon being used illegally is being used illegally... (OMG criminals commit crimes)

If someone is about commit a violent crime, there's a good chance they've already broken a few laws... Considering many weapons used in crime are obtained in an illegal manner this shouldn't be surprising. (They don't have to be stolen guns to be illegally possessed.)

Point being: Criminals break laws and passing stupid laws makes ordinary people into would be criminals. If banning anything actually worked, we'd have banned crime a long time ago. 

I give gun control a rating of 0/10 liberal vegan bacon burritos...

Differences in Worship

This one might step on the toes of people who normally agree with me.

Somethings I've observed in the many churches with which I've been involved are the differences in worship, and no, I'm not talking about music, or the "Touchdown," "Arms Wide Open," or the "Perpetual High Five" stances... Though, my personal go to is the "Elbow Flap," when my hands aren't on a soundboard or lighting console.

Click here if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Here's my question: What is the actual object of our worship?
Let's skip past the typical idols of our existence: Women, men, sex, money, cars, movies, etc. We all know those can be a problem already. I'm talking about something that many of us may not even consider to be an issue.

I'm afraid the church, in general, is focusing their worship on what God does or will do, rather than focusing on God, himself. I see it when people speak from the pulpit, sing from the stage, in daily conversation, in status updates, tweets, etc.

There is nothing wrong with asking God to let his glory fill the area in which you choose to worship him. However, we know from numerous passages that God is always with us. We cannot escape his presence, so why the redundancy? Why ask for Him to be there, if He's already there?
Add to that, the fact that we are expected to consistently worship God, in good times and bad. Doesn't that mean we should be worshiping Him even when we don't "feel" His presence? When we don't think He's there?

I've heard it said after a worship service, "Man... God really showed up tonight." That is the same line I hear when the Giants win... "The Giants really showed up last night."
I've also heard "God just didn't show up." But no... The people who say that God didn't show up are misguided and allowing what they "feel" to dictate how active God is in their lives and in their church. The real issue is that they just didn't notice God's presence. They were expecting a grand spectacle of dancing, jumping, shouting, speaking in tongues, etc.

It's my thought, that if I'm hanging out with my pastor, dad, wife, brother, or the guy to my left at Starbucks, and we're discussing doctrine, theology, mission work, music, lyrics, church business, or anything that is potentially edifying, God is no less present then, than when I'm at a Casting Crowns (or Disciple, Emery, etc) concert with my hands in the air. In fact, a meeting of the Church's Board of Trustees should be just as spirit-filled as the worship service on Sunday.

So, instead of focusing our attention on what "God's gonna do," let's put it back onto God, himself.