Saw a screening of The Notebook last night.

I’ve been thinking of a lot of things lately. I actually can’t remember when I hadn’t been thinking about a lot.
In no particular order:
- gay marriage
- emotional contraception
- business monopolies/price gouging
- making a list of things I am committed to
- Evangelical Protestantism vs. Catholicism

Gay marriage – Philippe wrote, “But, for the best interests of this country and the laws that allow us to do what we do and be what we are, the Constitution is where the buck starts and stops, NOT the Bible.”
I have to ponder further if I believe that it would be in the country’s best interest if the laws started and stopped with a firm foundation in the Bible. My gut reaction is that that is what this country was founded on, and with the way things are going with pop culture and the level to which the country is desensitized to violence, profanity, and sex, I would try going back to that. But I would also have to be willing to try basing laws on the Quran and the book of Mormon possibly. I’ve read parts of the Quran and I definitely don’t understand it fully because some of it just seems wrong. Do I believe gay marriage should be legalized? Do I believe “under God” should be taken out of the pledge of allegiance? Do I believe “IN GOD WE TRUST” should be on all our currency?
I am a Christian first. Everything else is second. I believe our purpose on earth is to be in relationship with God. That’s why I believe humans exist. Marriages recognized by the Church should be centered around that relationship. Marriages recognized by the Federal Government… that’s a different story. That’s probably what people are bickering about, the legal aspects and benefits of marriage. It’s obviously not God.
People are actively pursuing pushing God out of every aspect of society and winning.
People are actively pursuing pushing God into every aspect of society and losing.
When does society begin to lose? I believe society is losing out.
I believe “under God” should be in the pledge of allegiance because I believe anyone respecting the strength of God is better off for it. They learn another level of humility and eventually may reap all the rewards that come with faith in God. My thought process is the same for, “In God We Trust”.

Emotional contraception – I watched The Notebook last night. There was a moment I remember clearly. I was all choked up, my insides were welling up and I felt tears coming. I contorted my face and flexed the muscles necessary to force back tears. In that moment I asked myself why I was doing this. The answers were not worthy. So I let go. I allowed myself to feel the emotions the movie was trying to convey and I let the drops run down my face. Some of the answers that ran through my mind were masculinity and perceived strength. If you cry in a movie, you are not masculine. If you cry in a movie, you are weak. Am I not masculine? Am I weak? What do I care if you think I’m not masculine? What do I care if you think I’m weak?
Crying cleans my insides. It is a physical response to an emotional state that I believe is healthy. Vulnerability is the stone on which the sword of character is sharpened. It’s like the Michigan bend but don’t break defense. No defense is impenetrable and it’s wrong to assume yours is. Instead, you recognize and embrace your weaknesses and develop them into strengths little by little. But I don’t believe crying in a movie is a metric of weakness. In fact, I truly believe it’s a metric of strength. I am comfortable enough with who I am to disregard what other’s think of me and allow my body to do what it’s designed to do when experiencing sadness. If you are not comfortable with yourself and unable to disassociate your feelings from other people’s perceptions of you, that’s called insecurity. Insecurity is weakness. If you don’t let yourself cry when you feel sadness, you’re robbing yourself of cleansing. “Yeah Eric, but not everyone cleanses like you do.” Whatever, you’re robbing yourself and that’s the truth.

Business monopolies – So I have a widget. It’s commonly known as the best widget. To not get my widget is to not get the best quality. I sell 1 billion widgets a year for one dollar each across the country and I employ 100,000 workers. You just made a thousand widgets in your back shed in Michigan. Your widgets are almost as good and you sell all of them this past year for fifty cents each. You pour your profits and the rest of your life savings into making 10,000 widgets for the next year with ten employees.

Scenario 1: I catch whiff of your upstart business and I notice that last year my widget sales were slightly lower in Michigan. I lower my widget prices in Michigan to ten cents, severely undercutting your fifty cent widget. I balance this by raising my prices in California where my widgets are selling like hotcakes. You are left with 10,000 widgets, no capital, fired employees, and a 2nd mortgage at the end of the year. I leveraged my global resources to retain market share. You are now out of business and broke.

Scenario 2: I catch whiff of your upstart business but I know that business monopolies are wrong. So I make no adjustments. Your 10,000 widgets sell well at the lower price and you can move forward with your plans to expand. At the end of 2 years, I have been forced to lower my widget prices to seventy-five cents to match your price. You are selling 400,000 widgets a year and I am selling 600,000. You started leaner and only had to employ 20,000 employees. I have had to downsize my workforce 40% and let go of 40,000 employees.

I understand. I understand that business monopolies are unfair. But just because it’s unfair shouldn’t make it illegal. I’m going to do what I have to do to protect my hard working employees every time. You want to cut into my market share? Build a better widget. Not a kind of good one, not one that’s alright compared to mine, a better one. One that makes consumers want to have yours over mine no matter what. Don’t punish Microsoft for having the leverage to squash competition. If you really care, help the upstart build a better OS. Not a kind of good OS, not one that’s alright compared to Windows, a better one.

I’m committed to:
- trying to discern what God wants to do in my life
- trying to discern what God wants me to do with my life
- sharing God with anybody
- my wife’s and my child’s needs
- my mom, dad, new mom, brother, and sister
- being at work 8.5 hours a day
- writing songs glorifying God
- coaching other’s in the beautiful game of soccer

I enjoy:
- Jedi basketball
- NBA
- Looking at the cards Annalisa stamps
- Movies

Evangelical Protestantism vs. Catholicism - During the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation split away from the Roman Catholic Church, thus destroying the unity of Christendom in western Europe. The Protestant movement further fragmented during the following centuries. At the present time, they number over a thousand Christian denominations in North America alone.
Both sections of Christendom agree on some major theological matters, like Angels, the crucifixion, Jesus' incarnation, bodily resurrection, and the imminent return of Jesus to earth in the second coming, Heaven, Hell, the Trinity, and the virgin birth of Jesus. They partly agree about baptism and the makeup of the Bible. But there exists a great gulf between the two groups on other matters of belief and church practice -- particularly with regard to salvation and the rapture. The divisions are deep and long-standing. This has led to prejudice and discrimination. Hostility is particularly high in some countries in South America, where Protestants -- particularly Pentecostals -- have been taking "market share" away from the Catholic Church. Bloodshed has resulted in some countries. These conflicts have sometimes made it difficult for Catholics and Protestants to mount joint programs in North America to fight for causes on which they both agree.
However, recent years have seen some social problems in which both Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants have cooperated. Generally speaking, they have attempted to preserve certain social traditions intact. They have been opposed by liberal religious groups, feminists, gays, lesbians, and some scientists, therapists, medical personnel etc. who have promoted change in society. Most cooperative efforts are related to human sexuality: restricting abortion access, maintenance of special rights for heterosexuals, opposing pornography, etc.

Go to: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_capr.htm