America...

Selling the White House brick by brick to the highest bidder.

A Blown Fuse

This is a little off topic but I feel it must be addressed. I just found out about this television show Pants-Off Dance-Off which aired on the cable channel Fuse back in 2006-2007. It features, and I quote, "stripteasers of all shapes and sizes as they dance while disrobing down to their undergarments, and most of the time they strip completely naked." That's not the worst part. Guess what - it's rated TV-PG. PG! I don't care if it aired at 4 in the morning on a channel that could only be reached by reciting a special phrase which could only be learned in a strict bar after midnight, the FCC (who basically shut down television after the Janet Jackson fiasco) actually gave this program such a rating, let alone allowed it on the air to begin with. Then to make a mockery of the entire thing, the website for the damn show asks for your birthday because you have to be at least 18 to enter. Yeah, that's stopping the unattended middle schoolers from checking out the full frontal. Thank God at least it's still censored there.

TV Guide called this show the "dumbest show on television". On top of it Tila Tequila hosted the first season. If Mr. Bean and Amelia Bedelia turned out to be siblings but went ahead and had a child anyway, and that child was dropped on its head during birth, and then given a lobotomy during childhood, this show would be dumber yet. This rating system is an outrage, call your congressman. God is crying.

Don't be the lizard.

Radical Honesty

There has never been a better time for a man of substance, character, and credence to be brought into the public eye to teach us a new way to live. Or rather, unteach us an old way to live. The man I am talking about is none other than Brad Blanton, author and creator of "Radical Honesty". He speaks the truth, and his truth is true no matter what you think you believe. He is bold, outspoken, what people consider "politically incorrect" (there will be more on this later...), and a fresh voice in the wilderness of stupidity.

Everyone lies, according to Blanton "we all lie like hell. It wears us out. It is the major source of all human stress. Lying kills people." Yet we do it like it is the source of life. I do not wish to rant about another man's rants, but I will let his quotes speak for themselves (himself?).

"The mind is a jail built out of bullshit...the way out is to get good at telling the truth."

There are much more out there, but I want you to explore this man's mind for yourself. I missed it, but he said two really great things on the second episode of This American Life. Maybe I will retrieve them one day. For now, I open the floor to you wonderful readers, leave comments with your favorite Brad Blanton quotes and visit his website RadicalHonesty.

Don't be the lizard.

20/200 Vision

As an aside from my last post, I would like to make one point very clear. Politics has taken up with great importance matters that really don't mean much to the state of humanity. Government systems are supposed to take care of its people at any cost. They are supposed to put citizens first and then the country. How did things get so messed up? Federal governments should be put in place for these few reasons:

1. Setting up and organizing Armed Forces (and whatever else comes along with that responsibility, such as war).
2. Providing health care, public services, and free information.
3. Regulating business, imports, taxes, the general economy.
4. Setting up an educational system and providing resources.
   

The federal, state, or even local governments should not be concerned with the issues of abortion, gay marriage, gun control, and any other of those minor inconveniences. To emphasize such trivial things in a presidential platform is ludicrous. These things should be worked out among families, service workers (police especially), clergy, and maybe even local governments. They are not important as far as the three branches are concerned. But they make it their problem. This is one of America's biggest mistakes. We should take the focus off legal morality and emphasize fixing things, changing things, and doing things.

There is too much government and too much legislation in this country. The more law, rhetoric, jurisdiction, and regulation there is in a society, the more dangerous it becomes. The perfect example of this is the famous quip: "The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words." While it turns out that this is a hoax, it still greatly resonates this country's bureaucratic role.

What the government needs to do is stop trying to be so moral, religious, spiritual, or whatever else they front, grow some balls, and start on the things that really matter. Sometimes it is better to ignore what the people think they want since they never know what's best for them and give them what they need. I say elect a generic, serious, strong and faithful Christian President without all these crazy right-wing claims or evangelical doctrines and just do it. There should indeed be a separation of church and state, but never a separation of state and church. This country needs leaders who know who our true King is and live according to Truth.

Don't be the lizard.

What This Blog Is and Isn't

This Blog Is

• A way to reveal idiocracies, contradictions, mistakes, and wrongdoings in America, especially among the Christian community.
• A place to voice my opinion.
• Cynical in nature but speaking the truth in love.
• Open to debate and commentary. Share as you will.
  
• A link between the Christian world and the secular one.

This Blog Is Not

• A place to express hatred, prejudice, conviction, or unsupportable ideas.
• An open forum to discuss theology, atheism, creationism, evolution, science, politics, nature, or anything else that may become controversial and divert the point away from the topic at hand.
• About me.
• Yours.

*Disclaimer: I was born and raised traditionally Jewish. I had a Bar mitzvah, attended Sunday school growing up and went to a lot of temple. If I make any references to the Hebrew people, religion, or tradition I do so out of love and respect. I am not trying to pigeonhole, criticize, condemn, or insult anyone on a personal level. If I do so forgive me and please let me know in a nice way. I thank you for your time and devotion.

Law Abiding Citizens and Counter-Intuitive Enforcement

Senators and Governors and Presidents! Oh, my! Why do we even bother? The right wing camp has us believing morality lies within the law. The school of thought for a long time is if you take a bunch of Christians and put them in positions of high authority, everyone will leap to their feet in rapturous joy and begin praising God. If only it were that easy. No amount of laws in any society or culture will ever create a moral majority.

Appeals are being made everyday to change American law to align more to how God wants us to live. Ban abortion, no indoor smoking, minimize pornography. Hollywood tried doing this in the early days of film, and look where we are now. Hell, even God tried doing this throughout history and yet we consistently fail. It all started with Adam and Eve. They had one rule. ONE! Do not eat this "apple" or you will die. That sounds pretty straightforward. Yet, Original Sin entered the world because of a question (that is a theology to be discussed somewhere else). So for hundreds of years people lived with the knowledge of God but not the ability. Then Leviticus and Deuteronomy were written. God's people now had laws.

Of these over 600 laws, maybe only a handful were successfully followed. God gave these strict guidelines so the Jews could one, be holy as God is Holy and two, stay alive while traveling through the desert. Almost every single law between the two books has a scientific and theological reason behind it. However, the Hebrew people continually fell short of God's glory, even with all the law and no distractions (Exodus). So, God made a deal with the people. He brought Moses up to a mountain and basically said "Ok, fine. I understand it is hard to follow this many laws, so here are 10." That's it? Ten laws? Seems easy enough. Until golden calves and prostitutes start appearing. So now what? People are clearly not even good enough to follow ten basic principles. God sends His son Jesus to show us how to live.

Jesus clearly stated that even the Mosaic laws are no longer requirements of God. To sum it up, love God first and foremost and then love your neighbor. Do these two things and all else will fall into place. Yet, YET, people fail to even do these two simple tasks. If this is not the perfect example of the human condition, I need to stop thinking. So how will laws make any of us holy or righteous or even just morally straight? They won't. God admits it throughout the Bible. He's basically saying 'look, just follow Christ and do what you think I would want you to do'. Love Him and you will know how to live for Him. No amount of American law will get us to do that, what it takes is a strong faith, an even stronger will, and a belief in God. Christ died for our sins and we need to live for Him. Creating American laws is not a way to evangelize and it will not make Christians out of Pagans, Atheists, and Gentiles.

We need to stop putting any form of emphasis on creating "Christian laws". We need to simply stop doing the things that the laws would have us stop doing anyway. Because, either the laws will be followed by people already doing or not doing what the laws establish, or they will be broken regardless. This is an epitome act of spinning our wheels. We need to share the love of Christ, not the law of God.

Don't be the lizard.

Welcome!

For the longest time I've been cynical and apprehensive of blogging. I felt like it was a pretentious, self-serving vehicle for people to spew. While I still doubt anything noteworthy, poignant, or substantial. No one can change the world through a blog. Yet, my counter-culture days are coming to a close. I am buckling down, sucking it up, and admitting defeat. My thoughts will go unheard for as long as I fail to embrace our brave new world. So here it goes: my first public blog.

My name is Matthew Binder (penname Alexander Carbon) and I am a few weeks away from graduating FIU with a BA in English. I plan to attend vocational school for music production. I am a recent Christian, being saved sometime around August 2007. My testimony is on Youtube, just search for my name. But this blog is not about me. It is about you, it is about us. It is about the utter chaos, confusion, and corruption in the media, the country, and the church. I am setting for myself one goal and one rule: this is uninhibited, unadulterated, uncensored commentary on the state of the nation and I will bring it to you hard, fast, and strong. There are no periodicals or deadlines. I write when I feel and publish when I write.

So welcome me as I welcome you. It is going to be a long and arduous journey through the very fibers of our souls.