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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Republicans care nothing about the poor.

Ah the careless and unchecked lies that get spewed all over the internet and other media.

According to this study taken from 2008, the states who voted republican tended to be more charitable than the states who voted democratic. The top 8 most charitable states were all republican while the bottom 7 states were democratic. In fact, if you add up all of the percentage points for republican states vs. democratic states, the count comes out to 119.5 Republican vs. 113.9 Democratic, despite the fact that there were only 22 republican states vs 28 democratic states in 2008. That means Republicans were more charitable than Democrats with less states.

Now one might say that Republicans were able to be more charitable because they have all the money. After all,  everyone knows that republicans are all about the super-rich so they must have more money to give away. Well according to this article, the richest states were largely democratic while the poorest states were largely republican.

Any chance we can finally put this one to rest? Probably not.

Truth rarely means much in politics.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Pornography

Using pornography to satisfy God-given sexual desire is like eating Twinkies to satisfy God-given hunger.

We mistake taste and titillation as being the totality of the purpose for God-given hungers and desires. Junk food may satisfy our cravings but it does not address the intention of hunger which is to nourish our bodies. Pornography is a cheap substitute for intimacy within marriage. It satisfies the craving but it leaves us undernourished sexually.
Sexual desire is intended to bring us together with our spouse and share the unity we have with each other. It is a celebration of intimate relationship. It is a picture of our vulnerabilities before Christ as we share in His intimate love for us. We display ourselves before God, naked and with blemish, and He accepts us and loves us as we are. Every time we join with our spouse, we are celebrating this image.
Pornography leaves us without most of the other benefits of sex. Intimacy, acceptance, protection, bonding, pheromones, Oxytocin, endorphins, etc. God's purpose for the desires he gives us are for our good. It is grace on God's part that he built in these desires. They make it pleasing and easy to do His will. If we can just believe that His way satisfies more fully.

John Piper has an excellent discussion on this very thing.