Some of you may say I'm only pretending to be a pirate ...while others, after hearing my explanation, will say I'm worse than a pirate.

Actually, I don't really know where you are at ...but, I do have some idea where I'm at, and want to share with you where I'm coming from.

Let me present to you my qualification.

One definition of a pirate is ...one who takes something without permission.

Some of you may say I'm too kind to be a pirate ...as I say many things that Christians would say, but others would say that qualifies me as a 'hater'.

So, as a pirate, would I want to take away your right to abortion?? Would I want to take away your right to smoke marijuana ...without a doctor's permission??  Or would I want to take away your right to redefine marriage??

Of course, a Christian also believes in Jesus ...and believes that Jesus is honest.  In all honesty, Jesus said He will return.  And that return is detailed as the beginning of His thousand year reign on earth.

I may not have a very accurate image of what that thousand year reign will look like ...but, I see it as a pleasant relief for many whom presently live under a very brutally oppressive regime.  I also see the thousand year reign as a sort of communing, as some would say is a bit close to the ideals of communism.

The problem with this view ...is how we view communism.  Most of us would look at the ideals of the Occupy Wall Street movement with its aim towards more social and economic equality.  Ironically, the symbol for their movement looks somewhat like a hashtag ...or sort of like a Tic Tac Toe game, with the strategic placing of Xs and Os in the squares.  And speaking of squares, it reminds me of Tiananmen Square ...which under a Communistic regime, things were handled quite differently than was the case on Wall Street on September 17, 2011

And it could be said that the beginnings of communism is in some form of socialistic reform. Our present strides towards reform seems to presently take the form of social changes: inclusive of the aforementioned pot smoking, Pro-choice, and various LGBT celebratory announcements. And I believe that only the extreme, inclusive of the pot smoking contingent, would view these as progressive changes and engage in wishful thinking that these changes would dominate the scene during the thousand year reign of Jesus.

I do believe there would be more social equality in the thousand year reign, though I believe this will never be achieved through the wisdom of any political system we could come up with ...and to the contrary, I believe our wisdom would lead to more inequality ...as evidenced throughout the world in societies who have adopted that form of government.  

As the Book of Romans says, " ...For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man ...".

Our government is supposed to be ---"by the people, for the people, and of the people" ---and it is in actuality, not becoming that.  It is only pretending to become that as the Xs are strategically being placed, to draw the line ...and they win.

What do they win??  They conquer your rights ...and having conquered you by deceiving you into thinking they were in favor of your rights. Jesus said the poor will be with us always ...and during the thousand year reign, I believe the rich will become much less rich, and the poor will be a bit less poor. But, today, who is elected to work so that others can avoid doing so??  For those poor to be less poor, we are not so much providing jobs ...in essence, strengthening the hand of the poor, but weakening their hand so they can only voice their need.

Isaiah 5:20, states, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!"

There is also a problem with us not being able to distinguish between the action or practice ...and the person who is involved in the actions.

We don't have to label people as bad who don't do good things.  Being either uneducated or unwise, does not make one bad.  But, not following God is unwise ...and can lead to bad things.

How do we define good ...or who should define it??

We may say cigarettes are bad ...but, the people who smoke them are not bad.  Smoking pot is has been legalized as many feel it is no worse than cigarettes, and some even say they feel it is good.

So, we have a bit of confusion as to what is good and bad ...yet, we all still have some idea what we feel is good and what we feel is bad.  So, let's extend it a bit to listing things we feel are not just bad ...but, outright evil.

I'm not going to guess what audience is out there ...nor will I be likely shocked.  I worked in a prison, and have been exposed to various extreme behaviors.  And I know some behaviors are mixing with society which have yet to be deemed unsafe ...with need for incarceration.  Yet, I feel the majority of people would still agree with what are the extremes are.  So, what do we agree on ...that should not be acceptable, that is considered 'evil'??

Maiming women ...and raping young girls??  I believe that maiming anyone, or raping anyone is violently wrong ...and it should be top priority to stop this evil.  But, aside from the action we should take to prevent this from happening, do we at least agree that these things are evil??  Do we agree that evil exists??

Some of you may even go as far as saying that since God is all-powerful and all-seeing ...then He sees and allows pain, suffering misery, and disaster. And since those things are evil, you may say, then can it be concluded that God is evil??

Certainly not ...

Why do people say that then??  Believe it or not, I have heard people say that.

Well, there was a time when pain, suffering, misery, and disaster did not exist ...and all things were glorious, seemingly in want of nothing.

But, not so ...perhaps in need of nothing, but to want is to describe 'more'.

Yes, there is freedom of choice.  Yes, isn't that what most of the complaints or grievances are about in our society??  We want the freedom to choose whether to call the life inside the womb ...a separate life, or an equal life.  Or to call it no life at all ...???

And to refine marriage, must we also accept child marriages?? Horrifically, they do already exist in some countries, with the brides as young as five years old (or young).  This happens to 10 to 12 million girls every year in developing countries ...not allowing these precious little girls to develop any trust or hope, and certainly the countries not developing well in this respect.

Freedom of choice can be as horrific as this ...or as simple as eating a fruit in the Garden of Eden.

But, this is not where it began.  The angels ...among and possessing such a share of glory, were a third convinced that it was not enough.

Yes, we prefer to make our own choices ...and often demand our rights.  We say we want equality, yet often that simply means we want something.  Would equality mean we would be willing to give everything we have to an impoverished person ...to trade places with someone in Haiti, or some war-torn nation??  Or does it mean we merely want to have more ...and it doesn't concern us whether there are those who have less??

So, isn't it us ...who rather choose for ourselves, who have helped change a world that was not meant for pain, suffering, misery, and destruction??

And how can we then ...blame God for the choices we so insist that we have?? God is not going to stop allowing us to choose ...so, what does stop us from choosing wrongly??

Listening to Him ...

And following Him as He would have us to do ...or at least wanting to follow Him. If and when we don't follow Him ...misery, pain, and suffering follows.

Not of His choice ...but, by the insisting of ours.

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