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Eugene Redstone (1,545)
Eugene Redstone


Two Years After the Robbery

Posted Thursday, August 13, 2009 (99 days 22 hours ago.) Viewed 29 times.

A quarter of an inch made all the difference in the world that day.  One way and the events would have a tragic, permanent effect, changing my life and the lives of my family members for ever.  The other way would be intangible, and eventually I would have to live like those events never took place.  A quarter of an inch is the only difference.

That quarter of an inch of course is the distance the trigger would have needed to travel to send the bullet into the back of my head while two of my sons watched.  Sorry for being so dramatic, but I think about that quarter of an inch frequently.

I'm not afraid of dying, but I want to be around to finish raising my boys. I want to be able to see them succeed in life as they start families of their own and I want to grow old with my wife so we can once again have the house to ourselves!

I wish I could say that the events of that day made me appreciate life more, or made me start living life to a fuller extent.  Maybe it has.  I know that I appreciate friendship more than I used to, but that is probably cancelled out by my despising shallow relationships even more.

My boys have really gotten to see the human-ness of their father over the past 2 years, but I think that's ok.  We are human, after all.

I know that after my last post about the robbery I said that I would write about the good that has come as a result of the robbery, and I haven't done that.  To tell the truth, I'm no longer sure about the good that has come of the robbery.  I like to try to put a positive spin on things, but after two years I'm not sure I can.  Sometimes bad things happen, and it just sucks.  This experience definitely sucked.  I curse the day that guy tied me up, ordered me to my knees and put a gun to my head.

Please don't get me wrong.  I live a good life and I feel fortunate in many ways, but that day was not a good day for me.  It's been very hard for me to get beyond that day.  I wonder if I ever will.  I am at the stage where I must act like the events of that day never happened.  Regardless, no one needs to feel sorry for me, I do have a great life otherwise.

I am gradually returning to my Christian-pacifist roots.  Unfortunately most Christians around me are becoming more and more militant because of the current political climate, so this leaves me out in the cold. 

Maybe through this post I can convince some people to be more gracious to others having a hard time getting through a life situation.  Even others who don't appear on the surface to have a care in the world.  That would be a good thing. 

If you would like to read what I've said before on this topic, here is what I had written after the robbery and what I wrote one year after the robbery.

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I Don't Believe the 'Bias Liberal Media' Bit

Posted Tuesday, January 27, 2009 (297 days 23 hours ago.) Viewed 501 times.

This morning I had a conversation with a good friend. I told him something that my local newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, had reported the day before. His response: "I don't care what the Houston Chronicle says." He doesn't believe the bias liberal media.

This has always fascinated me. From a young age, my children have commented on the occasional bumper sticker that they would see that would state, "I don't believe the bias liberal media." They didn't understand what the term "liberal" meant, but they did understand good grammar, which is what makes this bumper sticker stand out to them. (The term "bias" is not an adjective, though "biased" is.)

This earlier conversation with my friend has gotten me thinking: Why do so many conservatives consider the media to be biased toward the liberal end of the political spectrum?

Now I consider myself to be pretty conservative, though I guess maybe I should let others decide that for themselves. Long ago I used to believe that the media had a liberal bias. Then we started getting complaints on SearchWarp that we were part of the liberal media elite. That really got me thinking.

The 3 sectors which are most universally considered "liberal" are 1. the arts, 2. the media, and 3. universities & colleges. Why do conservatives consider anything from these institutions as being, you know, the "L" word?

The Arts

Let's think about it. Art generally is considered something which is supposed to elicit emotion from the viewer or participant. The emotion is usually something along the lines of an awe of beauty. Art could also be an uncommon interpretation of something with a traditional meaning. By definition, things which are non-traditional or emotion inspiring are not usually considered conservative.

The Media

The job of the media is to report on multiple sides of a story, showing the reader or the viewer a perspective that they themselves might not find apparent. There is an inherent problem here, as 90% of the people might see one side of the story and 10% of the people might see the other side. The job of the news media is to present both sides, even though they are disproportional. The conservative side of a story, by nature of being conservative, often holds the traditional view which everyone is familiar with. To present the 10% which is less traditional and therefore less understood, the media must spend a disproportionate amount of their time explaining the 10%. I think this is often misunderstood as a "liberal bias" of the media.

Think about the recent Presidential campaign. One candidate proposed a continuation of the past military strategy of strengthening armaments and troops. The other candidate proposed talking with our enemies. Which strategy was traditional / conventional and which was a new way of looking at the situation?  Which strategy needed more explanation and exploration? I think you would agree that talking with our enemies is much more intriguing than blowing them up. Exploring the uncommon tactic doesn't make the media biased toward the liberal end of the spectrum; it means that they are doing their job.

Universities and Colleges

Finally we come to universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning. What is the job of these institutions? It is to take young adults and expand their knowledge by opening their minds to new ways of thinking and looking at situations. For some reason, being able to look at a situation from the point of view of others has become a "liberal" thing. I think we conservatives are shooting ourselves in the foot by allowing narrow-mindedness to become a known characteristic of conservatism. Regardless, it seems that being educated has become synonymous with being liberal. I think conservatism can not afford for this to be the case.

Finally, I am often reminded of the definition of liberal. Liberal means generous. Liberal means gracious. The root word which liberal comes from means "freeing "or "freedom" (hence the words "liberating" and liberty").  I have to ask you, when has this become a bad thing?


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So What is The Judgment Day? How Should Christians Prepare for it?

Posted Sunday, January 04, 2009 (321 days 1 hour ago.) Viewed 523 times.

There's been quite a buzz lately about the coming Day of Judgment spoken of in the Bible.  This is something I've been fascinated with for most of my life, but I should state right up front anyone who claims to have all the answers on this topic is probably trying to sell you a book or trying to get you to sign up for their newsletter.  There are only a few literal descriptions of the Judgment Day in the Bible, leaving a lot open for debate.  It's not an easy subject and what I am writing here are just my observations.  Hopefully it will provide some discussion and food for thought.

 

What Should We Fear?

In my short 42 year lifetime I think I've seen quite a bit.  I've lived through dire predictions of the planets lining up and causing the Earth to spin out of orbit in 1984.  I've read through my copy of "88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Return on September 8th, 1988".  I watched people around me stockpile food and weapons for the advent of the year 2000. (I didn't have enough money to stockpile anything myself!)  Currently it seems the predictions of the end of the World are predicated on the fact that America is undergoing cataclysmic economic woes, or the fact that America has just elected a president who appears different than past Presidents. Neither of which really amounts to a hill of blue beans in Bible prophecy, from what I can tell.

Now I'm not mocking anyone caught up in these past movements.  As a Christian I believe that we are living in the last days and indeed Jesus is returning for His Bride.  But in the midst of these movements, I've witnessed Christianity at its' worst and I'm afraid of the worst of Christianity reappearing again in 2009.

The problem that I see is that these "last days" movements result in fear, and not much else.  We know that Jesus and the Apostle Paul both said that we can judge a person or situation by the resulting fruit, so if these movements did not result in obedience and holiness, then I would have to guess that these movements were not of God in the first place.

 

How Should Christians Prepare for the Day of Judgment?

I believe the clearest and most complete portrayal of the Judgment Day found in the Bible comes from Jesus, and can be found recorded in Matthew 15:31-46.  Here it is in the NIV courtesy of BibleGateway.com and Zondervan:

The Sheep and the Goats

 31. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 34. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

 37. "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38. When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39. When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 40. "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

 41. "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

 44. "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

 45. "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

 46. "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

 

The goats go to eternal punishment, and the sheep go to eternal life. As Keith Green said in his song The Sheep and the Goats, "The difference between the sheep and the goats is what they did, and didn't, do."  In other words, these examples seem to have to do with actions rather than just faith.  I guess that's fodder for another article.

What I'd like to point out here is that the sheep were prepared for the Judgment Day because they were feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, inviting in the strangers, helping the sick, visiting the prisoners, and clothing those who needed clothing.

To the contrary, the goats were not prepared for the Judgment Day because they were not doing the above.  My guess is that many of the goats would have done these things if they had known they were doing it to Jesus, but since they didn't see Jesus in "the least of these" they didn't do it.

I would like to leave you with this thought:  When you hear man speak about the coming Day of Judgment, does it leave you fearful, or full of compassion for those who are less fortunate than you?  Does it make you want to be tight-fisted with what you have, or does it make you more willing to share with those around you?  Does it allow you to look down your nose at others, or does it make you feel like we all live in a fallen World so we need to help others to the best of our abilities?   I submit for your consideration that if it is the former and not the latter, we should be questioning if it really is of God.


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