On Another's Sorrow

by William Blake

Can I see anothers woe,
And not be in sorrow too.
Can I see anothers grief,
And not seek for kind relief.

Can I see a falling tear
And not feel my sorrows share,
Can a father see his child,
Weep, nor be with sorrow fill'd.

Can a mother sit and hear,
An infant groan an infant fear—
No no never can it be.
Never never can it be.

And can he who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrows small,
Hear the small birds grief & care
Hear the woes that infants bear—

And not sit beside the nest
Pouring pity in their breast,
And not sit the cradle near
Weeping tear on infants tear.

And not sit both night & day,
Wiping all our tears away.
O! no never can it be.
Never never can it be.

He doth give his joy to all.
He becomes an infant small.
He becomes a man of woe
He doth feel the sorrow too.

Think not, thou canst sigh a sigh,
And thy maker is not by.
Think not thou canst weep a tear,
And thy maker is not near.

O! he gives to us his joy,
That our grief he may destroy
Till our grief is fled & gone
He doth sit by us and moan
"On Another's Sorrow" by William Blake, from The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. © Doubleday, 1988. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

http://bible.com/59/isa55.8-9.esv For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

What was the Confederate Soldier fighting for?

As I was researching some family history I found some Confederate soldiers in my lineage. It occured to me what were these average men fighting for? By average I mean subsistence farmers, in other words they had to grow everything they ate or make everything they used. These men whose lives were occupied with keeping food on the table and clothing on their backs, what interest did they have in rich plantation owners?

    The answer I believe is none!

Why should they risk life and limb for a corporate business man that they had no interest in or stand to benefit from in any way shape or form?

Most were too busy to keep up with politics, and they did not have access to the media as we do today.

The overwhelming reason to me seems to be that the Union Army was fighting its way through the South and destroying everything in its path. The only choice these men had to save their families and their farms was to join the Confederate Army.

Whether they believed in slavery or not does not seem to be an issue that comes up in the letters of Confederate soldiers I have read. I believe they were fighting a  government that they beleived had overstepped it's bounds as laid out in the Constitution, and an opposing army that was determined to destroy them.

Now let me be perfectly clear on something. No one in his right mind would say it is right for one man to enslave another!

The atrocities committed during slavery are horrific and some of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity! The white people of this time seem to have had the same mindset as the Nazis did to the Jews or the abortionist to unborn children. They were not acknowledged as human beings.

Therefore they were denied human rights.

But I want to focus on the average Confederate soldier.

It seems to me that the above-mentioned reasons are the only ones they would with risk their lives over. Why else would they do this?

From what I have learned watching Antiques Roadshow, when they are talking about Confederate Army memorabilia, it is always of much poorer quality than what the Union soldiers had. Also in one Confederate soldiers letter I read said they had a sit-down strike because they were not  paid or fed. Which leads me to believe they were fighting for family and the Constitution.

A man may believe strongly in many issues, but very few he is willing to lay his life down for!

The Daily Spurgeon: What Is Your Answer To That Question?

The Daily Spurgeon: What Is Your Answer To That Question?: No event in history is so well authenticated as the resurrection of Christ, he was seen by individuals alone, and b...

     The greatest question anyone will ever answer is "Who is Jesus and what did you based on that answer. Either He will be your judge or He will be your Savior! As I heard it said in the video series Sharing Christ without fear, the host said there are only two kinds of religions in the world. Those that accept Jesus as the Savior and those who do not. Some say he was a great teacher or prophet, but not God in human form. As the article linked above states, no event in the history of man is so well documented and authenticated and yet so denied. Some men like Christopher Hitchens spend their whole life denying Him, but that does not change who He is. Christianity is not a religion, it is a reality. The question is what is your response to that reality?

Confronting the Problem(s) of Evil Biblical, Philosophical, and Emotional Reflections on a Perpetual Question - Desiring God

Confronting the Problem(s) of Evil Biblical, Philosophical, and Emotional Reflections on a Perpetual Question - Desiring God:

'via Blog this'I just wanted to share this link, John Piper wrote this right after the Sandy Hook tragedy. It really takes an in depth look at these issues from a Biblical perspective,

Unarmed Christians/Biblical Ignorance

    There has been quite a lot of stories about firearms and who should own them since the Sandy Hook tragedy. Who should be armed and who should not has been one of the major topics to come up in the Blogosphere. As a Christian man, I believe in the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States grants me the right to own and carry a firearm. That has been covered on the Net enough that I have nothing new to add to the subject. Of greater concern to me as a Christian is unarmed Christians in the Biblical sense.

     All the talk about weapons since the above mentioned tragedy got me to thinking about the most powerful weapon on Earth. The Bible. In Hebrews 4:12 " For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. " There is no weapon ever devised by man that can do this! Not only that, but we have it at our disposal and use! Stop and think about that. We have the weapon that can stop the ultimate enemy we as Christians face, Satan. Jesus gave us this example in Matthew 4 where He was tempted by Satan. Here was a Master swordsman using the Sword of God as it was intended when being tempted by Satan.

     So many times Satan uses our Biblical ignorance to infiltrate the church because men who should know better do not because they do not saturate themselves daily with the Word of God. As I was studying my Sunday School lesson on 1 Timothy 3 & 4 I was struck by this thought. Here is the text "1Ti 4:1  But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, 
1Ti 4:2  through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; 
1Ti 4:3  forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth. " The only way this can happen is if men embrace false doctrine and ignore the Word of God. I was watching a video on the contradiction of the Masonic Lodge and Christianity, here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCe2YoMEyuM. About halfway through the video the host asked the former Worshipful Master if a Christian man had taken these Masonic vows how could he tell if what the Lodge taught was in contradiction with the Bible? His response was, and I paraphrase here "A Christian man who is daily saturating himself in the Word of God will have no problem seeing the contradiction. The one who will is the one who is not studying the Word of God." If we do not daily saturate ourselves in God's Word we will be like the lazy man in Pro 19:24 " Some people are too lazy to lift a hand to feed themselves." We will not be ready or trained in how to use our weapon when the enemy attacks and or not even know when he attacks with false doctrine! 

Sen. Rob Portman's about face on homosexuality

     I recently read this story on NPR's website, here is the link http://www.npr.org/2013/03/16/174454419/a-fathers-change-of-heart. I enjoy Scott Simon on Weekend Edition, but I don't always agree with his point of view. I think that is the crux of the matter in a nutshell. Scott has a secular world view and I have a Biblical worldview. The point of the article was here is a senator who in the past has held strong anti homosexual views, but since his son has come  out as gay, has now changed his mind and accepts this lifestyle.
     
     Sen. Portman even sponsored the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) bill in 1996 against same sex marriage, citing his religious beliefs. Now that his son has come out, those beliefs are suddenly set aside. I have a real problem with setting aside strongly held Biblical beliefs just because a close family member chooses to sin intentionally. This nor any other action on the part of man nullifies the Word of God. It is not that I am not sympathetic to people who participate in this lifestyle, but when God condemns sin in the Bible, I nor anyone else has the right to say it suddenly is right because of who is doing it or who or what it effects.
   
     Several points I want to make, first is the inerrancy of Scripture. Either The Bible is perfect or Christianity as we know it is a fraud! God's Word has stood the test of time and all issues that have tried to prove it wrong. It is the inspired Word of God "2Ti 3:16  Everything in the Scriptures is God's Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. ". Therefore if the Bible speaks against something and man says it is the opposite of what the Bible teaches, man is not only wrong, but blatantly defying God!

     Second, at no time are we justified or commanded in the Bible to bash homosexuals. We are to reach out to them with the Gospel just like any other lost person we may meet. We have the way of eternal life to offer to them, but we will not have that chance to communicate that to them if we alienate them with condemnation and harsh words. Remember hate the sin, but love the sinner. I think Ravi Zacharias gave the most well balanced and Biblical view on homosexuality here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIw6ngIqaD0.


     Third and final point, if we do stand on the firm foundation of the Word of God we will be like the example Jesus gave in Mat 7:24  "Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock.
Mat 7:25  Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock. Mat 7:26  Anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obey them is like a foolish person who built a house on sand.
Mat 7:27  The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Finally, it fell with a crash." We as Christians must stand on the Word of God, even when it is difficult, not popular or politically correct.