Divine Intervention -- Tim Tebow

I have heard so much about Tim Tebow, the Broncos miracles and the thoughts and questions about this being "Divine intervention". USA Today reported that in a telephone survey, the Poll Position website found that 43.3% of people who are aware of Tebow's success believe Divine Intervention has been a factor. The crux of this is the pollsters did not ask how the respondents defined Divine Intervention. They also probably did not ask what the beliefs of those being polled were. Let me tell you what, as a Believer, we mean by Divine Intervention and why it is real and it happens every single day.


An atheist might look at this poll and dismiss it, guffaw or even have distain, "How can people be so stupid?" But that reaction simply shows their ignorance and inexperience with Divine Intervention and the recognition of it. It is a fairly simple and not uncommon occurrence. 


Do I think that God's hand is directly involved in a Broncos win? Of course not. Does God play a role in the outcome of the game? You bet. What non believers don't get is what awesome power lies in belief, faith, willingness and acceptance. God is always there -- you invite him in or you don't. And guess what? You can call Him whatever you want my; personal term happens to be God. He does not turn his back on anyone; we turn our backs on Him.


What an atheist wants to argue is that faith IN God is not God. Ah, but it is. There is no line between the two. When I am limited by only faith in myself I am accepting the limitations of myself as a human and the universe, as I perceive it. I have already doomed myself to achievements I can imagine. Tim Tebow does not accept the premise of self limitation and that my friends, IS Divine Intervention. Only until you believe you CAN…can you. What about all those things I never dreamed of? What about the impossible? I chuckle at the arrogance of the atheist who thinks that "this is all there is". In 1492 the earth was flat and Columbus was surely going to fall off the edge of the world. How great is this world? Back then it was the Church (a creation of man) who limited the Universe -- now it is the non-believer who is limited. We have come a long way!


The world of hard core science is more likely to have an open mind to the unknown, to the unimagined. Atheism is stuck in the middle. They often think of themselves as the most open-minded folks on the planet (making us Believers closed-minded) -- when they are often choosing so much less for themselves than there actually is… I think of the lyrics from a song by Mercy Me…


If I hear just one more time
That I should try and be more open-minded
I think I just might scream
The world says this is all there is
Yet I believe the One who says there's life after this
Now tell me how much more open can my mind be?


Ever heard of String Theory? From an article by PhD Physicist Frank Lee, "String theory, also dubbed as "the theory of everything" has been able to unify all four fundamental forces. The most revolutionary finding of the string theory is that our 3D world is not the entire universe. It is actually embedded in a ten dimensional space, analogous to a TV screen (2D) embedded in a house (3D). Theologians have long suspected that God could live in a higher dimensional space. Now that the string theory has provided evidence for the existence of a higher dimensional space, the theory could also unify religion with science."


Science is closer to believing in God than we ever dreamed. God created man to be curious, to want to KNOW. But we as humans are limited; we either can choose to Believe or to not Believe. We were created with free will and the power of choice. I choose to not limit my life and my world to the known, the understood and the tangible. Why would anyone choose such a small world?


In the end there really is no debate. An atheist demands "proof" of God. An atheist by demanding proof is assuming he or she has the power to understand and be all knowing -- that is simply not possible, science will tell you that. We all admit that there are things in this existence that are unknown, not understood and undiscovered. Until someone BELIEVES in God can he understand even an inkling OF God, so by definition an atheist never will - he has already decided NOT to. If he, the non believer, tries to argue against the existence of God he is entering a debate he has no business being in…until he has BELIEVED can he have any hope understanding of that which he argues against.  All of us who DO Believe have most certainly faltered in our faith -- we have both perspectives.


What is great for the atheist is that God is there whether you believe in him or not…

Socialism -- Not Ala Carte

Three of many quotes by Thomas Jefferson:

1.) ” I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

2.) “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

3.) “I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence; we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.”

What I don't understand it this.  The "left", for lack of a better term, wishes to move more toward a socialist state.  Capitalism is evil.  They want economic equality, a redistribution of wealth and they do not vehemently care to defend private property rights -- after all it is the right to produce and profit that is rooted in private property rights.  In essence, Socialism hands the decision making and the "social design" to the government.  Then we see the same group occupy Wall Street.  They are (at least some of them) sick and tired of the current field of elected leaders.  They feel the leaders are greedy, self-interested and corrupt to put it bluntly. They want their "fair share". 

Well let's examine what is the likely cause of that corruption.  In its most basic form, corruption is generally born from power or the desire for it. In this country and really every other country power equals money.  As they say, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

So let's pretend that we could wipe the slate clean. Vote everyone out and elect all new leaders who have the same vision for a pursuit of a socialist utopia.  They, as leaders, will design the system of who gets what, how it is distributed and make life better for everyone around them.  They of course then become the enforcers of that societal design. 

So if I get this right, under a capitalist society where the free market decides prices and distribution our leaders become corrupt.  But under a design where the leaders, NOT the market, determine where the wealth goes, how it is distributed there will be NO corruption?  That is a silly idea.  When the leaders, no matter how wonderful and "good" they were when they were elected, are handed over the power to design society and distribute wealth you will see corruption of a magnitude you never imagined.

I hear people often point out (usually the Scandinavian countries) successes of socialism; they ignore the vast difference in our countries, our demographics and our immigration policies.  If you look at say Norway, you see a relatively homogenous country.  Historically, Norway has limited immigration to those who "add value".  There has been an influx of asylum seekers in the last decade.  But because of that, Norway is making changes to what constitutes "asylum".  In short, the don' let "just anybody in".  Their borders are heavily controlled, the folks who live there are educated the way the state needs them to be.  You cannot simply decide you want to be a "philosophy major" if there is not a demand for that in the State's economy.  Instead you might be directed to a trade school where your education, subsidized by the state, will add value to the state.   

The resources in Norway are also much higher per capita than they are in the U.S. so there is more to "go around". You can do that when you control your borders.  The country has significant resources (they are one of the world's largest exporters of oil, natural gas and seafood). I also learned that the government has majority or full ownership of the largest operators in the Norwegian oil fields, and that any "surplus wealth" from Norwegian petroleum income is invested straight into the government pension fund -- I doubt our "occupy" crowd would like that. Even Canada does not see a huge influx of uneducated, low income immigrants -- they have a fabulous buffer to the south…the United States of course! 

Also, Norwegian men between the ages of 18 and 44 are obliged to serve 18 months in the military -- like it or not.  There are some exemptions but to be sure, if too many folks opt for exemptions or deferrals, things will change!   If you look at the basic tax rate in Norway at first glance they does not look to different but then you get to the VAT -- Value Added Tax.  That is a tax on purchases -- VAT tax is 25% on most purchases, 14% on food and 8% on a handful of other things -- no one is exempt from these taxes, not even low income people.  So in essence they pay very hefty (comparable to ours) income tax rates AND they pay a huge national sales tax.  Olso is the third most expensive place to live in the world -- lead only by Paris and Milan.

So if you really want socialism take a moment to truly understand what it means. It is not an ala carte menu.  To make it work you have to go "all in".  I don't see the folks clamoring for "equality" and "economic fairness" being folks who are willing to:

1) Serve in the National military

2) To shut down the borders

3) To be told what they can and cannot study -- or whether they can at all.  (Utopia needs worker bees too!)

Just a few thoughts on this Friday morning.  I have to get to work now.  Actually I rephrase that…I GET to go to work now!