I wanted to let everyone know about this organization. Please get involved. You can get a shoebox from many local churches. Every time I have filled a shoebox, it has only cost around ten dollars. Ten dollars is worth a presentation of the Gospel to someone who doesn't know Jesus. If you would like more information about Operation Christmas Child or Samaritan's Purse, you can visit their website at www.samaritanspurse.org.
I would just like to make a quick post to remind every one of my readers about a great organization. This organization is called "Samaritan's Purse", and it is headed by Franklin Graham, the son of the infamous evangelist, Billy Graham. Shortly before Christmas each year, Samaritan's Purse allows individuals the opportunity to provide Christmas to those who would otherwise do without. They do this by providing individuals with a shoebox that they can fill and send back to Samaritan's Purse. Samaritan's Purse will then take these shoeboxes around the world and use them as a segway to present the lost with an opportunity to know Jesus.
I wanted to let everyone know about this organization. Please get involved. You can get a shoebox from many local churches. Every time I have filled a shoebox, it has only cost around ten dollars. Ten dollars is worth a presentation of the Gospel to someone who doesn't know Jesus. If you would like more information about Operation Christmas Child or Samaritan's Purse, you can visit their website at www.samaritanspurse.org.
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In a prior post, I talked about the conservative view of compassion, and how it created a better means of living for everyone involved. In this post, I would like to talk about the liberal view of compassion, and its flaws, by using a very similar analogy.
Let's say that I am travelling in the woods, and I run across Bob (as I did in the other analogy). Let's also say that Bob and I are out there, and have run out of food (as in the other analogy). Let's also say that Bob and I each had our own separate "camp", or place to relax, etc. Let's also say that each camp includes part of a river. Let's also say that I know how to fish, and Bob doesn't (as in the other analogy). Bob doesn't know how to fish, and on the first day, I agree to teach him how to fish. Unlike the last analogy, Bob asked me to teach him to fish. So, on the first day, I take Bob out to the river, show him how to dig up worms, how to make a fish hook, and how to make a fishing pole. I teach him how to bait a hook, and a short time later Bob has caught his first fish! Bob and I continue to fish. Bob catches three fish that day, and I catch five. This is alright, since Bob is only just learning to fish. But I have been fishing for years, and this is a bad haul for me. I teach Bob how to scale and cook his fish. I share one of my fish with Bob. At the end of the day, Bob and I eat our fish and are full. We each go back to our individual camps and go to sleep. The next day, Bob asks me to teach him how to improve his fishing. So, I take Bob out to the river and show him some of the tricks that I have picked up over the years. We spend most of the day out there, and we catch a few more fish today than we did yesterday. Bob catches three and I catch seven. That night, as I am scaling and cooking my fish, I am approached by someone I have never seen before. Let's call him Tom. Tom is from the city, and came out here to see the river. Tom asks if he can sit down with me and talk. I say sure, and offer him some of my fish. Tom tells me that he is from the city and that he was interested in what is going on down here at the river. Tom and I talk about the fishing that Bob and I had been doing out here, and that we had caught a pretty good amount of fish in the last couple of days. Tom thanks me for my time and, as nightfall hits, goes back to the city. The next day, I go outside to fish, and see Tom down by the river. Bob also comes down to the river to fish, because he is getting hungry. Bob sees Tom, and starts to talk to him. Tom asks Bob what he is doing down by the river, and Bob replies that he is about to go fishing because he is hungry. Tom asks how many fish he catches, and Bob replies that he does okay, but that I always end up catching more. After a few more minutes, Tom thanks Bob for his time, and goes back to the city. That night, as Bob is cleaning his fish, Tom comes back and asks Bob, "How many fish did you catch today?" Bob, not wanting to be rude, tells Tom that he had "caught four, but almost had another two." Tom thanks Bob for his time, and turns toward my camp. A few minutes later, Tom arrives at my camp, and asks me how many fish I caught. "I caught 7 fish today," I reply. Tom then informs me that, although the city never had claim to the land I was currently living on, it now staked a claim to it. He then informed me that, since I was living on the land, that I would be allowed to keep a couple of the fish that I had caught. However, I would not be allowed to keep all of them. "This is ridiculous!" I thought, but I reluctantly gave up four of my fish when Tom asked me. Tom then returned to Bob, and gave one of those fish to Bob. He told Bob that, since the city had staked claim to the land that we were staying on, that the city would be redistributing the fish to help those who had less fish. "If you don't catch enough fish, then I will make sure that you still have some to eat," Tom told Bob. Tom decided to keep three of the fish I had caught for himself. The next day, I go out to fish again. I do not see Bob all day. At the end of the day, I decide to go see what Bob is doing. I arrive at Bob's camp to see that he has just built himself a fire. "Are you alright?" I ask Bob. "Yes," replies Bob, "why wouldn't I be?" "I haven't seen you all day," I reply, "I didn't know if you might have been sick. If you were, I was going to bring you some fish to eat." "That's alright," replies Bob, "Tom told me that if I didn't catch enough fish, he would still make sure that I have some to eat." "Did he give you any fish last night?" I ask. "Yes, Tom gave me a fish last night." "Tom took those fish from me," I replied. "You will still have enough anyway," replies Bob. "Not if Tom keeps taking fish from me like this," I reply. As I am finishing up the last sentence, Tom arrives at Bob's camp. Tom also has someone else with him. Let's call her Jane. Tom introduces Jane, and informs us that she will ensure that the fish are distributed equally among everyone here. "How many fish did you catch," Jane asks me. "I caught 12 today. I was going to offer Bob some, because I thought he was sick," I replied. "Give me nine of them," Jane replies. "Nine! That is too many!" is my reply to Jane. Jane continues to bug me, and Tom threatened to take me back to the city and place me in jail if I didn't cooperate, so I gave Jane nine of my fish. Jane gave three to Bob, three to Tom, and kept three to herself. I was only left with three. As the days went on, Bob still refused to go and catch any more fish. The more I caught, the more people took. I was never again allowed to experience the feeling of having more than enough to eat, because I was always forced to give everything I had away. I no longer had anything to give freely to those who needed it. As such, my desire to show compassion on my fellow friend was met with the desire to stay alive. Before, I could have given Bob some fish if he were unable to fish for any reason. Now, both of us barely have anything to eat at the end of the day. Furthermore, I appear to be the only one who is working to feed everyone. Did Tom and Jane truly show compassion on Bob? No, because Bob was able to survive before. He was also able to eat and be full. Bob had a valuable skill that he could have taught to someone else who was in the same boat that he was once in. Furthermore, Bob's attitude changed, and he no longer had any ambition to do anything. Did Tom and Jane truly show compassion on me? No, because I was forced to give up something that I had worked for, and someone who did not want to work any more received it. Furthermore, I only grew more frustrated and fearful with each passing day. My right to do what I wanted to do with the fish that I caught was infringed upon, and I barely had enough on some days. What did Tom and Jane do? They proved that they are selfish. They stole from someone who was perfectly capable of doing good, and hindered his ability to do so. Furthermore, they proved that they are not above using threats of any kind in order to force their idea of compassion on everyone. They may not have realized what they were doing, but that does not make what they did any more right. Tom was not a person who thought about what he was doing. He only did what the city told him to do. Jane only did what Tom hired her to do. Neither Tom nor Jane showed any kind of compassion on anyone who was present in this story. In fact, they showed that they are uncompassionate people who only care about "equalizing outcome". Those of us who have worked for years must now work harder because there are people who don't have as much as we do. Tom and Jane have failed to realize that, although there are exceptions, some people don't have as much as we do because they did not work as hard as we did. Did this story help you to understand the flaw in the liberal idea of compassion? Today, I have posted a new book review of Rush Limbaugh's first masterpiece, "The Way Things Ought To Be". I thought that today may also be a good time to keep you informed of some future changes.
As I stated in my last post on what to expect in the future, plans are in place to organize the books according to publisher. However, there are other updates coming soon. The next book review you will see will be one of the C.S. Lewis greats. This book has been one of my favorites to cite, particularly when I was running apologetics100 (www.apologetics100.blogspot.com, which I plan to have up and running again sometime in the future). However, I have never read this book cover-to-cover. I have only read chapters here and there. That will all change. One other addition of note is a new reviewer. My sister is also a "book nerd", and will soon be helping me write book reviews for this site. This will take a great load off of my shoulders, as well as provide a consistent flow of book reviews that will be posted. Her first book review will be on a great book, but I will not spoil the title of the book at this time. I would also like to take this time to thank each and every individual who has taken the time to check this website out. This website started as a hobby, but has become more of an addiction to me lately. Part of this is because of the number of page views we receive each and every day. I appreciate each and every person who visits this site. I will leave this post at that, and will keep you updated as we plan changes. Until next time, Travis Stockelman Conservatives are often accused of being uncompassionate and uncaring. We are accused of being hate mongers, bigots, and sexists. However, I would like to offer compassion from the conservative viewpoint. I would like to show that conservatives are compassionate, even while we are undeservingly being called names.
There is an old saying that goes, "If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime." This is the conservative view of compassion in a nutshell. To illustrate, let me tell a story. Let's say that I was hiking in the woods one day. Let's also say that there is no civilization anywhere around. There is no city to go to, and no town to go buy supplies from. Let's also say that I run into another hiker (we'll call him Bob), who is in the same situation. Bob has brought snack foods, and has been living off of them for the past week before I arrived. He is now almost out, however. I also know how to fish. What is the compassionate thing to do? On the first day we are out there, if Bob is hungry, I will catch a fish and feed him. On the second day, I will ask Bob to come out and watch me fish. "I don't want to," replies Bob. "I will only give you fish tonight if you come and watch me fish," I reply. "Alright," replies Bob, "I will go and watch you fish." So, on the second day, Bob watches me fish. On the third day we are out there, I ask Bob to fish with me. "I don't want to," replies Bob. "I will give you a fish ONLY if you try to fish and ONLY if you don't catch enough for yourself," I reply. "Alright," says Bob, "I will go and fish with you." So, I make Bob a fishing hook, give him some string, and dig him up some worms to fish with. Bob catches a few fish, but is still hungry, so I give him some of my fish. On the fourth day we are out there, I teach Bob some fishing tricks. "I don't want to learn these things," Bob replies. "I can only help you catch more fish if you will let me," I reply. "If you don't let me teach you how to fish on your own, I will not give you any extra fish tonight. You will be stuck with whatever you catch," I reply. "Alright," says Bob, "I will let you teach me". So I teach Bob how to make a hook, how to attach a string, how to dig up worms, and how to better catch fish. A week later, I go out to fish. However, a large tree limb falls from the above me, knocks me out, and I fall face-first into the water, unconscious. I end up dying. Is Bob now in a condition to better help himself than he was when I first met him? What kind of condition would he have been in if I had just given him the fish? Would he have learned enough to survive on his own? Or would he have starved because his only meal ticket had died? I should also point out here that, in this illustration, I do not represent the government. I represent the kind-hearted, compassionate American citizen. Civilization, which was nowhere to be found in this illustration (I pointed that out at the beginning) represented government. I taught Bob a valuable skill that he will need in order to survive. In order to do that, I first had to convince Bob to let me teach him (I won't give you any of my fish tonight if you don't......). Once I was able to convince Bob to let me teach him, I was able to teach him a skill that will eventually prolong his life and make him happier (since he will be able to eat). This illustration shows what true compassion is: lifting your brother out of trouble, and not tearing him down. Written by: Travis Stockelman This is an update to let you know what to expect in the near future. As our site begins to grow, we will have to re-arrange some of the tabs at the top of the screen to accommodate what is being reviewed.
Some of you may have already noticed that we are now grouping the book reviews by the author of the book. This is the first of several new ways you can find the books you like or are interested in. Soon, we plan to group the books by publisher as well. If you are a fan of books published by, say, HarperCollins (which is my favorite publisher so far), then you will be able to simply tab down and view the list of book reviews available from that publisher. As far as book reviews go, you can expect to see one of Rush Limbaugh's books reviewed in a couple of days. The first thing you will see, however, is a review of Ben Stine's documentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". Some time in the near future, you can expect to see the popular Christian apologist C.S. Lewis on here, as well. You can also expect more of these updates. As always, I would love to take suggestions for good books to read. If you have a good book and would like it to be reviewed on this site, simply send an email to: [email protected]. Keep coming back, and expect to see more reviews each time. Until next time, Travis Stockelman Today, my family and I decided to attend a rally in Columbus, GA, that was meant to support the veterans who are rallying in Washington, DC. This was the first rally I had ever been to. Although the numbers were slightly disappointing, I was not disappointed by the principles upon which these people stood.
The number of people who attended this rally was small. This was due to a lack of organization. When you think about the fact that probably a couple of dozen people showed up, last minute, to stand up and be counted among the greatest citizens in our country, I think that we did alright! We rallied at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia. Although it was only about a 20 minute drive for us, some attendees drove from close to Atlanta, over one hour away! We stood outside of the Infantry Museum for a couple of hours. All of us believed that the government has overstepped its bounds and is too large. What happened today inspired me to become more involved in what happens in America. I will be more active politically. After all, it's my country too! Written By: Travis Stockelman |
AuthorTravis Stockelman is a conservative Christian who resides in Phenix City, AL. He currently holds a degree in Fire Science from Chattahoochee Valley Community College. ArchivesCategories
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