Saturday, August 8, 2015

Does It Really Matter?

For many years as a Christian Church Pastor I tried in vain to get church people to follow the bible in our practices. Culture keeps chipping away at the meaning and actions of our Christian Celebrations. It started early, very early when church leaders incorporated two pagan celebrations into Christian celebrations. They moved the birth of Christ from January to the solstice day of December 25th and there it stayed in the Western Church.

They changed the name of Resurrection Sunday to Easter Sunday to move Romans from the pagan goddess to Christ. Then we have the whole X-mas thing which is a miss understanding of the Greek letter “X” spoken as “chi” for Christ.

After 40 plus years of trying culture has won out. I know that I can never change what is to tightly locked up in peoples minds and hearts. I have to ask myself, “Does it really matter?”

If we know what we mean does it matter what it use to mean? If we actually do celebrate the birth of Jesus does it matter what day we choose? If we celebrate the Resurrection does it matter what we call it?

The real test is that Christians do what Jesus taught! That is what really matters. Jesus took the old laws of love your neighbor as your self and taught us to do more; Love those who hate you and pray for those who do bad things to you. There are church members today who do and say hateful things about people they don't like. They are not following the teachings of Jesus and in fact are doing the opposite so can they be truly called followers of Christ?

Yes it really matters!

Monday, August 3, 2015

Student Loan Program

The Student Loan program is a double edged sword. On the one hand students can get easy access to money for their collage expenses. On the other hand they often do not read the fine print which makes it possible for their school loan debts to really pile up. It is not an easy choice for young people going to school cost are high and it is really hard to work your way through as we did in my day. In some ways this easy money has made it possible for more people to get a collage education and then an economic education afterwards.

Some people are crying out for debt relief for former students who now can not afford to buy a new home or car because of a student loan they can not get out of even in bankruptcy court. The government loan guarantee to the loan company is that the loan will be paid off by the student. Because students can delay repayment many do but do not understand that the interest accrues and compounds every day. If I make a loan I will pay it off as a matter of personal pride.

The Student Loan program has been good for the universities and has allowed them to raise the price of education. We need to rethink the Student Loan program and perhaps our educational system. Should the state pay for our education from K through BA/BS? Should we go back to only those who can afford a collage education are able to attend?

What do you think?