Governor Provides a Teaching Moment in Christianity

There's nothing really complicated about Christianity - it's a simple religion based on a very simple premise.

Still, many non-believers find it tricky - and misunderstandings are common.

This is especially true for those who consider themselves Christians because they think of themselves as being good persons, or maybe attend church regularly, or belong to a particular faith where they've spent a lot of time inside a church building.

These things are nice but unfortunately do not make someone a Christian.

These days politics and religion are so intertwined that much of the press coverage on Christianity adds to the confusion, and often hurts the public image of Christianity.

The latest example occurred this week when the newly elected Governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley made some remarks that many did not understand, particularly non-Christians.

Governor Bentley told a church crowd that those individuals who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his "brother and sister"; although he went on to say that he wanted these non-believers to be his "brother and sister."

This of course means he wants them to be Christians.

The Anti-Defamation League called the Governor's remarks "shocking". The Governor is right however - as far as the statement goes. Those who do not believe that Jesus is their savior - would not be his "brother or sister". That is a simple statement of Christian fact.

The Anti-Defamation League went on to question whether non-Christians can expect to receive fair and equal treatment from Governor Bentley in light of these comments, and that is a fair point to ask.

But the Governor has stated that he will serve "all of Alabama" equally, and until he demonstrates otherwise, everyone should expect this to be the case.

The League (which fights discrimination against Jewish people) went on to say that Governor Bentley's comments sounded as if he was trying to use his office as Governor to advocate conversion to Christianity among the people of Alabama.

As a Christian, the Governor probably does want everyone to know Jesus as their savior as this is the basis of the Christian religion. He made the remarks to a church audience, and only he can decide if he should keep those thoughts to himself.

The New Testament, the "Bible" of Christianity, says he should not.

Many believe that public officials should not utter any comments concerning their religious beliefs, while others say this is oppressive and unacceptable. Mixing politics and religion is hard, no doubt, but having a good understanding of various religious beliefs might be a good place to start.

British scholar and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis said that being a Christian does not necessarily mean that other religions do not contain at least some element of truth - but he said Christians differ from other religions in one important way - namely that Christians believe Christianity is right and all other religions are wrong.

He went on to say that Christianity is similar to the logic of arithmetic that way - there is only one right answer to a sum and every other answer is wrong. Yet he points out that some wrong answers are much nearer being right than others.

No doubt Governor Bentley understands this about Christianity - and others do not.

Robb Austin is a former newspaper reporter and elected Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and has successfully run numerous Congressional campaigns. Learn more at http://robbaustin.com/.

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On Social Security, A Nixon-To-China Moment

It took a former supreme Allied commander, President Dwight Eisenhower, to confront what he called the "military-industrial complex." It took President Lyndon Johnson, a Southern Democrat, to push the Civil Rights Act through Congress.

And it took President Richard Nixon, who built his career on anti-communist rhetoric, to open relations with Communist China and to relax Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union. In politics, these events - a major change promoted by a leader whose background would make him more naturally a defender of the status quo - have become known as "Nixon to China" moments.

President Obama has just had his Nixon to China moment on Social Security. I suspect that, in the long run, it will be by far the most significant item in his jobs proposal last week.

Flash back six years: In 2005, President George W. Bush wanted to allow workers to divert part of their Social Security taxes into private accounts that they would control. This would have cut into the cash flow that Social Security uses to fund benefits for current retirees, bringing the program closer to the point where it must either cut benefits or dip into the Treasury's general revenues. But it would have created a truly self-sustaining vehicle in the private accounts, finally putting some truth into the myth that workers fund their own retirements through the taxes they pay under the misleadingly named Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).

"Social Security faces a challenge, not a crisis," Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., told The Washington Post in a typical comment at the time. "Diverting over $2 trillion from the trust fund into private accounts, as suggested by the president, does not address Social Security's challenge 40 to 50 years from now. Indeed, it would make it far worse." (1)

Back to the present: Obama, together with last year's Democrat-controlled Congress, crossed the FICA Rubicon with a decision to cut workers' payroll taxes by 2 percentage points in 2011 in order to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

It didn't work. Meanwhile, in his attempt to reach a grand bargain with congressional Republicans on reducing federal deficits and debt this summer, Obama agreed to consider what he called modest reductions in Social Security benefits - another line Democrats had previously refused to cross.

But it was in Thursday's speech to Congress that the president all but said that this is a new world, one in which Social Security's needs must compete with other pressing national interests. He proposed cutting FICA taxes in half next year for employers and their workers, with additional breaks for businesses that hire new staff or give raises to current employees.

Where Bush wanted to cut Social Security revenues so workers could save for their own retirements, Obama proposes to cut Social Security revenues so workers will, he hopes, go out and buy things - cars, clothes, toasters, more expensive college tuitions, whatever.

So what does Rep. Levin think?

"The president tonight stepped up to the plate with an urgent plan of action on jobs," the Michigan Democrat said in a statement following Obama's speech. "Now it is time for Republicans to move from their plan of complete inaction and begin working with Democrats to jumpstart our recovery. The livelihoods of far too many Americans are at stake." (2)

Neither Obama, nor Levin, nor anyone else has yet said exactly what would happen when the "temporary" tax cut expired, at the end of 2012, with the president's hoped-for re-election safely behind him. But unless the economy is roaring ahead by then, which is unlikely, Congress would be under heavy pressure to extend the lower rates, just as the Democratic-controlled Congress reluctantly extended the Bush-era income tax rates last December.

The Social Security "trust fund" about which Levin no longer seems very concerned was always a fiction. It has been a pay-as-you-go retirement program since the first dollars were paid out. Now Obama, like Bush, proposes to change that - but Obama's approach just changes Social Security, for now, into a borrow-as-you-go program. In other words, he treats it as just another government endeavor, which must compete for available funds with every other federal priority.

This is why many, though not all, Republicans are likely to back the Obama FICA tax holiday. Most Republicans won't say it as bluntly as Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but they basically agree with him that Social Security's current structure is a Ponzi scheme, if not a "monstrous lie."

They have been unable to break down the erroneous perception that Social Security recipients paid for their own benefits. Obama now has done that. By proposing cutting workers' FICA taxes without cutting either current or future benefits, Obama shattered the illusion that Social Security is anything but a cash transfer program.

Now the stage is set for an honest discussion about who should get Social Security cash transferred to them and how much they should receive. It won't happen right away, but over time, we are likely to see retirement ages raised, benefits lowered (at least in inflation-adjusted terms) and entitlements "means-tested," meaning people with more than certain amounts of income or assets will get little or nothing. Federal retirement pensions will ultimately be viewed as a subsistence-level supplement for people who either did not or could not put away enough to sustain themselves in their old age.

As for the rest of us, I suspect Obama's proposed FICA tax holiday will work out pretty much as George W. Bush proposed: We'll save it rather than spend it, or use it to pay down debt (which is another way of saving it). It will be the private accounts Bush wanted in all but name.

President Obama, welcome to China.

Sources:
1) The Washington Post, "Bush Promotes Plan For Social Security"
2) Congressman Sandy Levin, "Statement on President Obama's Jobs Speech"

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Is There A Eureka Moment When Searching For Success?

So, when does the light come in our pursuit of success? I for one believe that eureka moments do occur. That flash when you say to yourself. Now I get it. But first you need to understand what it is your after. If you're flying down the highway at night without the headlights on your in big trouble. Life is like that to. There is no waiting around to get inspired. It's like paying for your kids to go to university. Many will just lumber along and not know what they want. Change the situation to they are paying for their education and they will figure it out pretty fast what it is they want to do with their life. If it's your dream your success rate is much higher than if it's mom and dad's dream transferred to you.

It was the Roman Philosopher Seneca that said" Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" This is not what I would call the eureka moment but an important step. You should put yourself in that position to be ready. Take those steps in the direction to seize the moment when it occurs. I feel that success lives in the top few percent of the population. The difference is that success does not appear in getting the job or project 90 percent done. It appears when we get it completed. It's the last bit that's so hard to obtain, yet it's so close.

These following steps will help prepare you for seeing the eureka moment when it appears. And it will...
Knowing what you want is paramount. When you know what it is you are after, your mind is always on the hunt towards that end.Turn over all the rocks is a favorite saying of mine. You never know what underneath.Search for someone who as excelled in your field of passion. They will be happy to share their defining moment.Write down some goals. Your success rate will take a huge jump.Accept the advise of others with open arms and see how you can adapt their eureka moment to make it yours.Most importantly believe their will be a sign. That flash when you go, Oh My God. There it is right before me.

We have all had the should of, could of, would of, times in our lives. Those are in the past. I ask you this. Would you jump at the same opportunity if it came along tomorrow? If not. File it away as it will be just back ground noise that will cloud your judgement. Know what you what. You are in the launch position. When that eureka moment comes you are ready for lift off.

Paul's many years of business and life experience have provided him with the expertise to deal with complex issues regarding success and obtaining your goals. Paul has developed a passion for writing and chooses to share this knowledge with his readers and clients. Paul has lived and taught much about what he writes about. This is what separates Paul from those who have just studied it from those who have experienced it,studied it and taught it. Life is full of tough decisions and some times we need a coach to help us through that. Paul can help you get pointed in the right direction and gain control of your life once again. For more information please go to http://www.toyourfuturesuccess.ca/.

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You Never Step Into The Same River Twice (Every Moment Is Precious)

Life is precious and each moment is like stepping into a new river of ever fresh and differently flowing water. So, this article starts with that sentiment. Time does not wait for anyone in objective existence? Well, if you perceive the statement I made in the first sentence as a reality, well you agree with my article so far. Keep reading, you may yet get something out of it. We all step into the river of existence with each breath and each moment is never the same in any way, it never matters how alike the action may be to three breaths before, it is never the same, ever.

So, there is an answer to every "why" there is, and it is a good thing to find out those answers productively using each unique moment instead of sitting in denial of the need to find out. Yes, I did say need and mean it genuinely.

So, what is the real point of this article, there is not any time to genuinely sleep when we are awake. Each moment should be used uniquely, efficiently, effectively and productively to understand and master each subsequent moment in life and existence. Conscious beings cannot subsist on the past or the future, they can only swim in the river now. After all, only animals and lower beings genuinely exist in the past after they are fossils almost as unconscious as their existence when they were alive, they have the same unconscious future. But, only consciousness has a choice as to how it will exist genuinely past, present or future. Happy, sad or indifferent, consciousness has a genuine choice.

Sure, I could make the point less plain and less realistically pointed. But, I would be making a sacrifice of meaning and substance or more accurately, quantity over quality. So, there is a choice, and a rational sacrifice of effort payment and benefit (in that order) in the now if we want to live in the now successfully with our consciousness.

Realistically speaking, is that not the rational reality of all situations, pay then benefit or am I wrong, "there is a free lunch for anyone who does not make the payment grade." What I mean is, it comes down to what we can rationally handle. Instead of "what you see is what you get"; "what you can handle is what you meet." It is up to you and you only, for you as it is up to me and me only, for me in that sense. For life is composed of many concepts, life is a total package of reality and little else ultimately. Deduce from that saying what you will in the sentence before this, but know that reality starts out a fantasy like space travel and car travel beyond the horse and buggy was a mere hundred years ago and how the "fantasies" of that sort become reality later on through conceptual evolution. The fiction and unbelievable of today becomes the normal reality of tomorrow, and so it goes.

My name is Joshua Clayton, I am a freelance writer based in Inglewood, California. I also write under a few pen-names and aliases, but Joshua Clayton is my real name, and I write by that for the most part now. I am a philosophical writer and objective thinker and honest action taker. I also work at a senior center in Gardena, California as my day job, among other things, but primarily I am a writer.

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