Abortion, from my perspective

Elections are coming up fast, many people have even taken advantage of the option to vote early, and have already cast their vote. I will be voting early as well, since I’m going to be out of the country on the 4th. Now on to the topic of this post.

As with every election, one of the hot topics is abortion.
Pro-life on one side pro-choice on the other.
Some people base 100% of their voting decision on this one issue.
Groups spend tons of time and money fighting for their side. Pro life people want it made illegal, pro choice people want to make it easily available.
But here’s the thing, everyone is missing the point, focusing precious resources on the symptom not the problem.
The problem is not the procedure. It is the demand for the procedure.
Think about it, it’s just like any business, no demand means no facilities needed.

At this point some of you may be thinking “Ok mark, you’re talking in ideals. but the reality is, there is demand”

So here’s what’s going on, take a look around, look at the society we live in, glance at the entertainment. We live in a society that says, sex outside marriage is great, everyone is having sex, enjoying it, having a good time, wear a condom and you’ll be fine.
Find a more dramatic show where a girl actually gets pregnant, and society and cultural norm pipe right up saying abortion is the best option, just take care of the problem so you can continue to live your life.

Why does no one tell the girls that when you have sex with multiple partners, her body will begin to release less and less of the natural chemical that is designed to bond her to her husband and deepen her love for him(this is the same exact chemical produced when a mother nurses her child. Which bonds her to her baby.)
The result of this is sex begins to have very little significance to her, the rush of that chemical slowly goes away, and before long sex=nothing. And when she eventually get’s married, her feelings towards sex stay exactly the same, and the marital relationship suffers.
The world leads the young to believe that the only possible consequences are STDs and pregnancy, and turns right around and says, but if you use proper protection you’ll be fine.

Why does no one tell the young that yes, sex is great, it’s a gift from God, but pregnancy is not the only risk, having pre-marital sex will rob them of the joy that it is supposed to bring in your marriage.

Sex has become so taboo in christian circles, resulting in no one talking about it, the truths are not taught. And the kids are left with few options to answer their questions, so they accept the worlds ideas, and learn about it on the internet, and they end up with a perverted truth about sex and what it is. and cheap pornographic ideas about what it should be like.
And all they hear from the church is “don’t have sex before marriage”
without any deep reasons or convictions that doesn't hold up against the pressure of the world for long.

Come on church, we are the body of Christ, and we’re not doing our job.
You never saw Jesus shying away from tough and challenging topics.
Most christians live a watered down existence, staying away from anything that in their mind might offend someone, or “push them away from God.”
But the reality is, people are starving for something real and genuine, they see right through the soft christian facade most churches front, and they see a bunch of baby immature people, who have little to no reality or genuineness about their relationship with God. And they come to the conclusion that christianity is nothing, so they move on to other religions till they find something real that fills the need they have inside.
And you know what, these starving people are not just people who grew up with no beliefs. statistics say that 80% of people leaving high school and going to college, stop going to church with zero plans of going back.
Do you hear this? These starving people that are searching for something real, are our own kids, kids that grew up in the church.
And if the church doesn’t wake up and start behaving like the body of Christ, this is going to continue.
And the next generation in their search for truth will accept the worlds perverted truths about every area of life.

You want to make this country a better place? Start focusing on the problems instead of wasting valuable time trying to fix a symptom.

This is really good

Ok so I'm posting from my iPhone so this isn't going to be long.
But I was just readings Romans today (chapter 1-8) in the message bible version.
And I just want to say that if you've ever struggled with sin in the past and couldn't seem to stop doing those things no matter how hard you tried, take the time to read this.
It talks allot about what God has done for you and His love for you.
If you don't have a bible in that version go to bible gateway.com you can read it there.

That's all for now. God loves you, truly, never forget that.

i just read a good book...well, not technically a book.

Ok so there’s this guy, Max Hsu, producer, song writer, photographer, pretty much your standard multi talented guy.
The other day I found out about his blog from david jay, DJ said to go check out his blog for some incredible photography.
I’ll just say this, I went for the photography, and stayed for the writing.
Tons of really good advice and wisdom about creating, and life in general.

Something he talked about a few times is if you want to do something, spend 15 minutes a day doing it, because you’ll go so much farther 15 minutes a day than if you spent 3hrs on saturday, as saturday never comes.
Inspired by this I’ve just started something I’m calling “the 15min list”
The things that will go on this list are those things that I want to do, but I never seem to do.
Here’s what it looks like so far:

In case your wondering, that’s a dashboard widget called checkmarker, and it’s really handy for keeping track of things.

So, go check out Max’s blog, I ended up reading the entire thing, beginning to now. Had me laughing, learning, and being seriously challenged to change how I live my life.
Also somewhat inspired me to share more of my knowledge and things I have learned and will learn. So look for some for stuff from me in the future.

thinking right

so this image you see here is actually the logo i designed for new generation entertainment. the concept being thoughts and ideas coming from God.
i'm realizing more and more that this isn't just a better way to create entertainment, this is a better way to live life.
so this image is now the wall paper on my cell phone, to remind me that i need to stay connected up to God.
check out isaiah 55 especially the first half of the chapter.
the point being, life spent thinking Gods thoughts instead of your own, i believe this is the best way to live.
i'm using this logo to continually remind myself to keep my mind in line. you're welcome to do the same.

a good message on how the church should operate

i heard about this guy named kris vallotton recently in a post on sarah's blog.

i just listened to a message he gave titled Living In Covenant. and it really speaks allot about how the church should be operating.
here's the link to the podcast, i really recommend taking a listen.

i love ed gungor's message titles

"What I Hate Most About Christianity"

click the link to check it out and take a listen.

if you want more browse around that blog, it's the whole archive of his messages.
another fun one is "What To Do When Sheep Happens"

those are some good ingredients.