Month: November 2016

Anti-Trump Protesters Are Making Him Look a Whole Lot Better

~ ForCommonGround ~ 1 Comment

20161112_usp531

I’ll keep this short and to the point. No matter the words that Trump spoke during his campaign that made him out to be a divisive and crude candidate, those words are now being overshadowed but an angry hate-filled mob. Perhaps one of the best things that could’ve happened to help his image was to have many of those who don’t support him and the election put on a vulgar display as many of them have done since Election Day. Don’t get me wrong, the only thing that will completely erase his shady past will be if his actions now as a President, husband, and father reflect a humble and repentant heart with a desire to serve the best interests of this nation.

His opponents say that he will tear this nation apart. So what do many of them do? They lead march after march and paint their foreheads with labels like, “not my president” and smash windows and vandalize buildings. All of these protests serve one purpose: they breed division. They’ve even gone so far as to call upon our electoral college to ignore the popular votes on their states. Are you kidding me? I am not a fan of Trump’s character which is the biggest reason I didn’t vote for him,  but every bit of hate speech spoken by his opponents makes them look a whole lot worse. Some people continue to say how much they fear they have with a Trump presidency yet it’s been Trump supporters who have been beaten on the streets.

This post is by no means meant to prop up Donald Trump or make him out to be a stand-up guy. Only time will reveal his current character and ability to be our President. But I would just plead with my fellow countrymen who are causing controversies and division, striking fear, and spreading vile speech on social media and in the streets to stop and take a good long look at what they are doing and saying. They say they want a nation of inclusion and peace yet they are doing things to create the exact opposite atmosphere. I am a huge fan and advocate for the democratic process and free speech but the Anti-Trump movement has been the epitome of hypocrisy. Want inclusion? Be inclusive. Want peace and unity in our nation? Be unified. Fear an administration that is discriminatory? Don’t discriminate. After all, its not our president who sets the cultural and ethical patterns of society; It’s society itself.

Let’s be the example of love, unity, peace, kindness, and goodness that we want to see in our leadership.

No Shocker Here!

~ ForCommonGround ~ 3 Comments

cultureshock

I’m going to take a break from my usual posts and address…you guessed it…the elections. Before you click off this post (because you are so sick of election stuff) just know that I am not pushing a party agenda or talking trash in any way. This is meant to calm the common rhetoric we’ve seen since Tuesday. I say it’s common because there are always protests following elections and in some cases, states try to leave the union (like Texas four years ago). So as an American Government teacher, I wanted to provide some information that may just calm some people down.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong about my predictions for election night, but I was not surprised. I’ve been telling my students for nearly two years that the national political trend predicts a Republican candidate as President. A look back through election results dating back to 1968 shows that the results from 2016 are right on schedule. No political party has dominated our government for an extended amount of time since 1968. When a party controls either branch of government for a long amount of time, that is known as a party era. One has not existed since the Democratic Era between 1932 and 1968 where Eisenhower was the only deviant from the party. Prior to that era, the Republicans controlled the Executive from 1860-1932 with only a few Democratic presidents in between.

While there have been 6 Republican presidents compared to 3 Democrats since 1968, the time difference is not so big. Republican presidents have controlled the white house for 28 years and Democrats for 20. More importantly to note, most of the time Congress, as a whole or at least one chamber,  is controlled by the opposing party so those presidents are at a political stand still for a portion of their term(s).

-1968-1976 Nixon (R) and Ford (R)

-1976-1980 Carter (D)

-1980-1992 Reagan (R) and Bush Sr. (R)

-1992-2000 Clinton (D)

-2000-2008 Bush Jr. (R)

-2008-2016 Obama (D)

-2016-? Trump (R)

A lot of factors play in to this phenomenon: One, overall our nation is fickle in their political support. Popular and political culture changes with the seasons. Two, party loyalty is stronger than ever. Those who regard themselves as Republican or Democrat truly bleed red or blue and are becoming even more polarized. Three, there is an ever growing number of independent voters whose votes are up for grabs each election. Four, there are more swing states (ones who could vote either party) since 1968 than in prior decades.

While the election results may be a surprise to some, the current power switch is nothing new. More than likely the trends will continue and no single party will run our nation for a long amount of time. Most importantly, its all over and we can move on past the bickering and mud-slinging towards unity. Love him or hate him, Trump is our president and he is probably the least partisan one this nation has ever had. Only time will tell if that is good for us or not.

I call on my Christian brothers and sisters to continue in spreading love and encouragement. No matter our leader, our mission has not changed. We are, and always will be, about our Father’s business. Let’s help to bind wounds and stand for truth. The sun will continue to rise and the seasons will come and go as they always have until that glorious day that our Savior calls us home. No matter what color people think they bleed, Jesus Christ bled and died for us and that is what matters most. We need to speak life and hope and break down political, race, and gender lines that only serve to hinder and divide us.

Pray hard and love much!

Paying Attention to Your Christianity – Old Path Musings

~ ForCommonGround ~ 2 Comments

(Not original photo)

Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Paying Attention to Your Christianity

Paying attention to how your Christian life is going is important.  As things in this world get more and more debased, we need to pay closer attention to what is being taught.  That is because the heart and mind can easily be drawn off course.  In the book, Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian, more than once, got off the Celestial Pathway for one reason or another.  Most of the time, it was because he failed to heed Evangelist’s instructions.  He let some things slip in his life and listened to other people, like Mr. Civility, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, and others.

An Urgency to Living Right

When we give earnest heed to something, we make it a priority in our life.  Earnest means that it is urgent, it needs to happen now and cannot be put off.  It takes an urgency to live right.  There is often just a short time from when a temptation is presented and a decision is made to move toward sin.  You need to be paying attention so that you are not drawn away by your own lusts, that reside in your heart.  When you let something slip, it means you lose traction, you lose stability.  When we let Bible teaching and doctrine slip out of our heart and mind, we are letting our walk with God slip.  That is why we need to be in church regularly, read our Bible each day, and put good, godly thoughts in our mind all day long.  Make sure you are paying attention to your Christianity today.  If you don’t, eventually, you are getting out of the race.

by Dan Cler | Nov 4, 2016 | 

https://apple.news/AlfqUk5ICQOKeZJYVjRxj9A