Christians – By the Book

Well, it’s about time that somebody got the message right, at least commercially. Its time for the church to get this message right too. God calls us to have our roles by His design. In Genesis, God made us male and female, let’s return to acting like it.

So here is an easier read for you:


Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone. Men took charge because that's what they did. But somewhere aling the way, the world decided it no longer needed men. Disco by Disco, Latte by foamy non-fat Latte, men werer stripped of their khakis and left stranded on the road between boyhoog and androgyny. But today, there are questions our genderless society has no answers for. The world sits idly by as cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street. For the first time since Bad Guys, WE NEED HEROES. WE NEED GROWN-UPs. We need men to put down the palstic fork, step aaway from the salad bar and untie the world from the tracks of complacency. It's time to get your hands dirty. Its time to answer the call of MANHOOD. IT'S TIME TO WERE THE PANTS.


I for one will be buying Dockers and supporting this “Man-Ifesto”. I invite you to be a man and wear the pants too.

I hope they will be coming out with the complementary Woman’s line of skirts, blouses and dresses.  Modest and fashionable should never go out of style.

I just finished emailing them my thanks (Contact Levi’s)

"Wear the Pants", the Dockers Man-Ifesto.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

As a 50+ year old husband and father of three, I praise you for pointing out how our culture has degraded and that its high time for men to start acting like men again. Gentlemen, not just males.

While I believe you (Levi's) have been part of the problem, I'm very glad to see you recognizing some of the problem(s).

I will now start buying Dockers with joy, limiting my distrust. I have blogged you on my website (www.chbtb.com) and I will be sending the knowledge of your stand to my friends and contacts.

Now I ask you to return some more of the traditional clothing that I grew up with to the racks. I further challenge you to complete the other half of the coin, by coming out with a "Wear the Skirt" or "Dress like a Lady" promo that highlights modest and fashionable dresses, skirts and blouses.


Now how about you do the same and let them know that you appreciate their promotional ad and what it stands for.

I am in my fifties and remember a time when nobody had a computer or a calculator.  So yes, I used to use the TRS-80, the Atari 800 (Great Machine, back in the day) and a desktop XT class PC, first with CPM, and then with DOS. Then I used the GEM UI instead of that Windows 2.0 junk.  I was forced to move to Windows 3.1 because some of the software we used required it.

Then I got my first “portable” PC, it was 26lbs and only ran when the cord was plugged in, but at least I could take it with me to a customer’s location, because they didn’t have one, or had none to spare. We booted and ran everything off of 5 1/4″ floppy disks, until I got my 20MB hard disk, WOW! so much space, I could never fill that up!

Boy have times changed.  Now our portable computers weight less than 5lbs and run for 6 hours on a battery.  We can do everything with them and we still complain about Windows. Email, IM, Web browsing and all the standard office apps.

Now our phones can do half of what our notebooks can do. They can do Email, IM, Web browsing and we can even touch our docs and spreadsheets.

We should be amazed, every day!

Wednesday morning I got up early, 4:20am to be exact, and by 9 in the morning, I was standing in Jacksonville FL, a mere 728 miles from my home in Maryland.  In less than 5 hours, I had eaten breakfast, driven about 60 miles and flow 700+ miles. AND, I expected to do the same in reverse that evening and sleep in my own bed that same night!

Can you imagine trying to explain that to one of our founding fathers? The 60 miles I drove would have taken 4-10 hours by horse or 2 1/2 days by foot.  The 700 miles would have taken several weeks to a month by ship, winds depending. Over land, this would have taken approximately ~450 hours, which is between 57 and 75 days.  Just think of how many meals, beds, changes of clothes one would need. The cost was enormous and the supplies need would be tons.  I didn’t even take a tooth brush or a change of underwear.

The founding fathers would have had so much more to worry about, from the horse that would get left in Baltimore to transportation in Florida.  We just rent a car in minutes and we are off and running.  We really are blessed to be living in America in the year 2009.  Would that we would marvel at want we can do and that we would be thankful to God.

Sometimes you will hear someone at a church giving announcements say something like this, “here is a secular announcement”.  Dictionary.com defines secular as:

of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.

If everything I do is supposed to be to God’s honor and glory, is there a part of me or my time that I set that aside from this task?

1 Cor 10:31Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

If not,  I have to take every thought  captive for Christ and nothing is “secular” to me any more.

II Cor 10: 3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

That means the way I golf, work, fish, farm, pray, talk and think … all of it is to be done to God’s honor.  If we actually did this, I think that would change the way we are as Christians, and the way that Christians are thought of.

With all the hubbub aout AIG and the bonuses that they “may” have to pay to there Exec team, remember the REAL crooks that gave them the money, our President and the swindlers in Congress and the Senate.

You see, the truth is, I don’t care if AIG folds and goes out of business.  That goes for greed happy banks and auto makers that over extend themselves too. Business is self governing in a truly free market.   Its not the job of the congress to bail out people that can’t manage their way out of a wet paper bag.

If our government could run a business well, then the trains would be on time and the Post Office would out do FedEx and UPS.  Ha!  Medicare would be an example to us all!  It is, of how NOT to do something.

Where in our Constitution does Congress get the right to open our wallets for a private enterprise? NOWHERE!!!  We need to hold our Congress to doing what the Constitution allows it to do, and nothing else. Let the market kill the bad businesses and support the good ones.

Just say NO, to BailOut Dough!

I was discussing the whole OSX, EULA and Aplle products issue with a friend in Ithaca NY.  He is a MacBook and iPhone user.  As we discussed the concept of Apple as a hardware company, he blurted one “Apple’s not a hardware company, its an experience company”.  He went on with his belief that Apple wants you to experience something different.  That is why thy limit the hardware, control the software, DRM management and such.

When I asked him about what he thinks Apple will do with the OSX86 movement, he replied “ignore it, while making valed threats against it”.   He thinks Apple will use it as a seeding grown for moer Mac sales … he maybe right.  I asked about my model of a no support for non-Apple hardware version of OSX and he doesn’t think Apple will take the money and run. At $149 per copy and virtually no support costs, I think Apple is foolish to walk away from this nearly free revenue.  With just a 100,000 unit sales, Apple would net about 15 million in revenue.  If you hit a million users, Apple could be looking at $150 million in revenues, directly from Microsoft’s customer base.  If you get a little silly and 10M users switched, you could get $1.5 Billion in sales.  All of these sales don’t include the possibility of each user buying iWork , iLife and a further Apple hardware product.  This is a large revenue opportunity!

If he is right and Apple is really an experince company, they’ll waste this opportunity too.

Back to my complaint against Apple’s EULA that “OSX is only for Apple computers”.  Those of us that work in the technology sector know this is not true, technologically.  It becomes strictly a moral issue.  Is Apple morally right to require Apple hardware and will those that buy the software live by the EULA that Apple requires you to click “I agree” to get the software to install.

If I bought a Macbook and removed OSX and replaced it with any Windows product from WinXP to Win7 Beta, the software would run just fine. People might say I had a very expensive Windows PC, and they would be right. People might look at me a little a little weird as the Windows logo comes across the boot screen, but neither Apple or Microsoft would sue me or demand I stop doing that.

Now enter the reverse model, where I want to buy a copy of OSX and buy a PC that has similar hardware to a Macbook and suddenly the EULA makes it wrong??? I think Apple is wrong.

Apple even includes a couple utilities to do just that in a dual boot style arrangement.  BSD, the basis for OSX is a free operating system, but OSX isn’t???

Maybe someone should check the EULA of BSD and see if any derivitive works have any rules to live by … maybe Apple is violating the BSD rules?

It would be a whole lot simplier if Apple would modify the EULA to say, “if the licensee chooses to install OSX on non-Apple hardware, the licensee waives any support from Apple and waives the right to return the product, except for a failed media replacement.”  Wake up Apple and do the right thing.

Divorce … its a tough, heart and gut wrenching topic to discuss.

A friend and I were discussing divorce and she made a point that I had not considered much, “Why do people who divorced, because their spouse had willfully committed adultery, get labeled divorced, when they have chosen the Godly path and ended the marriage.”

Mat 5:31-32 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Mar 10:2-12 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

The more we talked about these and other verses concerning divorce, the more I could see that the one rightfully putting a spouse away was being marked in with a label, much like the adulterous spouse.  That’s wrong.  The injured spouse, the one not committing adultery, should not be labeled if they choose to divorce.

The cheating spouse must be labeled “divorced”, so faithful Christians will know they cannot remarry.  This serves three purposes:

1. This gives faithful, unmarried Christians notice not to entangle their hearts with the “Divorced”.
2. It reminds the church about the sacred value of marriage and divorce.  People need to think twice about both, as well as breaking their word to God and man.
3. It should let the “injured party” of the marriage return to the marriageable pool of people in the church. Stop labeling these brothers and sisters.

The scriptures give enough guidance to those willing to follow it.

Later we will discuss more about divorce  and the issues surrounding it.

In this down economy, it is easy to get tense, mad or upset and stop looking to God for your direction.  Kind like Peter when he was on the water walking to Jesus.

Mat 14:24-33 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

He started paying attention to the water, the waves and the wind.  We do the same thing, the job, the bills, the economy … Take note of the key points from this scripture in the book of Matthew:

• God allowed Peter to do something extra ordinary … walk on water.
• God was right there with Peter, how much safer could Peter be?
• God reacted quickly to Peter’s cry for help, see verse 31 … “immediately” Jesus moved to help Peter.

We can rest assured that He will do the same for us, even when we don’t see it, Jesus is working to help us.  He is good, like the Father and the Spirit are good.

Mat 19:16-17 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Phi 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Last year I saw Today show host “Meridith” admit that she lies, “Little White Lies”, like to her friends asking if an outfit makes them look fat, etc.  As a result, I don’t trust her reporting as much anymore.  How about you … Do you lie?

Is it OK for a Christian to lie? (No, I don’t think Meredith is a Christian.)

Here are a couple of scriptures for you to think about.  There are plenty more on this subject.

Lev 6:2-5 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
Lev 6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
Lev 6:4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,
Lev 6:5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.

Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Is there a time when its ok to lie?  NO!!!!!!!!