Bring Latin Back to Middle and High Schools

America's long slow grind towards mediocrity for all has unnecessarily precluded certain subjects from commonly being taught in school.  For instance, the language skills for native born Americans are absolutely abysmal, in which, not only do many Americans know no other language other than English, that aren't even proficient at that. Fortunately, for Americans, English is the international language of business and because America is the largest economic force the world has ever known, the fact that Americans sort of know English makes them valuable, despite their limitation to just knowing the English language.

For many people, to even consider taking any time whatsoever to learn a "dead" language such as Latin, seems absolutely pointless, and it most definitely would be, if Latin had not been in its own time the language of the Roman empire which still has influence today in sports (i.e. Super bowl numbering), medicine, legal, religion (Catholicism), history, literature, mottos, and species names, to cite a few of their common day relevancies.  All of the above, would definitely signify, that at least at a minimum, Latin should be considered to be taught for motivated students in middle and/or high school, and it is, but at a far reduced effort,  in far fewer classes, in today's schools, of which many of these schools, do not offer any Latin courses, whatsoever.

One of the fundamental reasons for learning Latin and the structure of it, is that doing so, will invariably improve the grammar and linguistic skills of those speaking and writing English, because a significant amount of English words such as corpus, homo, finis, and so forth all have their roots in the Latin language, and thereby the learning of Latin will help significantly in comprehending English words at their most foundational root.  Additionally, if we do not challenge our youth to tackle languages outside of their own native language, they will, almost for a certainty, never fall in love with language and its variety, poetry, beauty, and harmony, nor will they ever be able to read, let alone comprehend, any of the classic literature in its own native language, as it was first written.

There has never been a better time to bring forth a renewed emphasis on learning Latin, because the teaching and learning of such can be augmented by computer programs written specifically to aid and validate the learning of Latin.  In an era in which so many have a strong desire for specific university placement, those that comprehend Latin have demonstrated time and time again superior SAT scores, most notably because their comprehension and usage of English has improved as a result of the solid foundation that Latin provides.

So too, the working knowledge of Latin, helps to separate the wheat from the chaff, those that are motivated and disciplined, from those that feel entitled by being born into this country into believing that having a somewhat working knowledge of English is somehow good enough.  For parents and for their children this is surely the time for a renewed emphasis on Latin being taught in the schools, so as to bring us out of darkness and be able to proclaim: fiat lux.

The Apparent Contradictions of the Four Gospels

In today's modern age, man likes to think that he is so much smarter than our more simple-minded credulous brothers of yesteryear.  Not only that, just with the fact that the New Testament is available so readily in every conceivable format, be it written or audio, computer or hard print, all at virtually no cost makes the scriptures truly democratic. Now, at man's leisure, the New Testament can be dissected, cross-checked, and chronologically rearranged, to such an extent, that clear and unequivocal contradictions will appear quite readily in numerous passages when compared to other gospels.

For instance, it seems disappointing to say the least, that John 19:14, has Jesus still on trial, " And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!"  Whereas, in Mark 15:25, Jesus is, in fact, already crucified, "And it was the third hour, and they crucified him."  So that, it is fair to state, that if the gospel writers aren't even sure as to when Jesus' trial was, nor of the time of his crucifixion, how many other things do these gospel writers have factually wrong, and in truth, there are many such troubling contradictionscontained within the Bible, to which, some scholars, usually apologetics, go to great lengths and stretches to prove how, in fact, somehow these aren't contradictions at all, but that each can be explained by various circuitous reasoning means, some sensible and reasonable, while others are fairly far-fetched.

There is, however, another way at looking upon the gospels and the writers of them, which is, first of all, to recognize that the gospel writers are not historians, and thereby are not trying to write a history of Jesus, as that isn't the primary purpose of their respective gospels.  The primary purpose of their gospel is to successfully preach the message and the mission of the Christ, nothing more, and nothing less.  This means, that each of the gospel writers is going to have a different perspective of the Christ, because each of the gospel writers, is an individual who has a completely different background and personality than the other gospel writers, demonstrated by the fact that the gospels were written by: a tax collector (Matthew), a young man (Mark), a physician (Luke), and a fisherman (John).  Further to the point, if each of these writers were to write exactly the same story with exactly the same information, than three of these gospels would be redundant, but instead each of the gospels has its own perspective because the prism that these writers see the Messiah is different, because although each experienced our Messiah, their reflections and recollections will differ, just as each of us relates to our Creator in our own way, yet, He is changeless, although our experiences and interpretations of God are unique to ourselves.

So too, it is, that when we go a sporting event, or when we go to the theatre, yet, when we read a review of the event, none of us, will totally agree with that review, because each of us, has interpreted and seen the event through not only our own eyes, but have related to it with our own particular personality and upbringing, to which certain aspects of the event will be treated in significantly different ways by each individual, of which, none legitimately negates the validity of the other person's vision.

The gospels are not court documents, the gospels are not inerrant history, they are, though, the inspired word, events, teachings, and sayings of Jesus the Christ.  The writers, each of them, are witnesses to the Christ, to which each of them has an overarching mission to preach the message to the people, to which, each has done, in his own inspired way.  To get lost in the minutiae of the dates, times, places, and numbers, is to miss the big picture that this is the greatest story ever told, and told well, four separate times.

The Soda Sin Tax

Taxes are part of the American tableau, and aren't going away anytime soon, if ever.  The bottom line is that the government has to collect taxes from its population in order to, in theory, promote the general welfare of its citizens.  While there are all sorts of taxes in America, one of the more unique ones, is a tax on sin, things such as alcohol, cigarettes, and now, in a few select jurisdictions, soda. 

First things being first, in order for a new tax to be given the moniker of a "sin tax" the item being taxed must be fairly conclusively considered by experts to be harmful to the body and/or to the mind.  Soda is a product that has no nutritional value, and instead uses sugar, or sugar substitutes, amongst other flavorings and additives to give the drink a pleasing and satisfying taste to one's palate.  While soda may taste good, or why else would someone drink it, that doesn't mean that it is good for the body, and it certainly isn't necessary for the body.  The negatives of too much soda drinking have been strongly linked to obesity, tooth decay, bad cholesterol, and diabetes, mainly because sugar as used in soda, is unhealthy for the body.

However, just because soda is bad for you, doesn't mean that the government should tax it, as there are many other items that aren't good for one's body, either.  What makes soda a particularly good target to tax, though, is the fact that soda is quite easy to substitute with something far more beneficial, which is, both plentiful and healthy, and that substance is water. Basically, water is an essential ingredient for anybody's healthy body, and the access to good, clean water should be a fundamental priority of all communities and fortunately that is typically the case.

Currently, the soda sin tax is in its infancy, to which, the biggest purveyors of soda are fighting it tooth and nail, as is their wont.  As long as the soda sin tax, is limited to a few communities or cities, it is difficult to gauge the tax impact, good or bad, mainly because it is so easy to work around it, in the sense of finding supply outside of the areas in which the tax has been imposed.  This means, that the ultimate push on the soda sin tax, must not only be State wide, but also nationally imposed, and until such time as that is done, it really won't be known as to whether the imposing of such a tax has impacted the consumption of soda within America.

The bottom line in regards to sin taxes, is that the product, itself, will still be legal, and for those that thereby consume it, the product will still be there, with the only real significant difference, being that an additional tax has been imposed, to which the consumer need only make a very basic decision, as to whether that tax makes a big enough difference to them in regards to purchasing that item.  The impact to the consumer will be fairly minor, as there are plenty of valid substitutes to sugar drinks; it will also make a difference to governmental tax authorities, as the successful implementation of this new sin tax will provide a fairly easy and straightforward increase in tax revenues without an undue burden upon the population, and their free choice.

The Constitution and our Legislators

Our federal legislators have a duty to uphold the Constitution, and not therefore to go about their business as if the Constitution can be discarded, ignored, distorted, obliterated, or altered, for any law passed by the legislature that contradicts the Constitution is not legitimate law.  While legislators are entitled to debate Constitutional law, and if necessary to create legislation that will change Constitutional law, that law only comes into effect when a proposed constitutional Amendment is actually approved by a supermajority in both houses of congress, and then ratified by three-quarters of the States in a reasonable period of time.

Then there are those legislators that believe that we have a "living Constitution" which can be defined in a number of ways, to which by far the most damaging of these definitions, would be one, that stipulates that the Constitution and its meaning, changes over time, thereby properly adjusting to the changes and needs of the people over time, somewhat akin to modern knowledge, for instance, that scientists have proven to us that the center of the universe is not the earth, nor is it flat, thereby, in reality, as our knowledge and comprehension of this world, has become more comprehensive, our Constitution adjusts to this newfound wisdom.

The problem with taking any fixed and written document, and then attempting to sell the point that it changes with the times, effectively means that the document although written is not fixed, which in substance means that law is always in a flux, and law that changes with the prevailing winds of the time, is not only not good law, it really isn't law at all.  The fact of the matter is America has a Constitution, structured in such a manner that it can be amended, which it has been twenty-seven times, and thereby legislators that take office in this country, do not properly have the option of ignoring or altering the Constitution without going through the procedural steps as instructed by said Constitution.

Another very important point that legislators often fail to grasp, is that their sacred duty, is not to enact laws here and there per their own volition, but their foremost duty is actually to act on behalf of the people, specifically as their elected representatives, within the confines of the Constitution.  While there isn't anything wrong with desiring to effect change, if that be the people's will, to do so, within the structure of our government, necessitates, that certain steps be taken and adhere to, with always the foundation being that implementation of these changes must fall under the auspices of Constitutional structure.

If, instead, those that legislate, whether for their own power, or subversion of power, or to take power, or abuse power, or political power, look upon the Constitution as an instrument that can be stretched, bent, twisted, or re-interpreted so as to favor one's own desires, especially to the exclusion of the people and specifically the perversion of the Constitution, are no patriots to this country.  These legislators, are best seen as usurpers of the people's will, usurpers of the Constitution, that march only to the beat of their own avarice and believe as Kings did of old, that the rulers are above the law, above the Constitution, above the people, so that the great mass of citizens of this country are treated thereby as puppets to be controlled by their legislative puppeteers.

Natural Gas Deregulation

In some States of the Union, utilities, such as natural gas, have been deregulated, which to the uninitiated seems to represent something that could possibly save them money, but that isn't necessarily so.  The thing about natural gas that we need to understand is that an infrastructure has to be created in the first place, so in Georgia, for instance, the Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) is the company that previously had the monopoly on providing natural gas for consumers in Georgia, but after passage of a new State law, their monopoly ended and was replaced by a deregulated market, allowing a natural gas marketplace to which these companies interestedthen submitted financial particulars and plans to the commission and thereby upon approval became certifiedmarket providers of gas to consumers in Georgia.

The first hint that deregulation isn't the same as a free and open marketplace is the fact that the actual natural gas, the infrastructure that brings natural gas into your home, the pipeline maintenance of that gas, and the actual delivering of natural gas is still under the control as well as being the responsibility of the Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) company which for providing this service is allowed to charge for it via a State certified rate schedule with  “AGL Pass Through Charges" being shown on your monthly bill.  Again, think about it, the entire infrastructure of the natural gas going into your home is the responsibility of not your deregulated natural gas provider, but the responsibility of Atlanta Gas Light.  This being so, what exactly are these deregulated natural gas providers actually providing to consumers, since they have created none of the infrastructure nor are they responsible for any of that infrastructure, including importantly, the actual natural gas that is provided. The best that can be determined about what all these deregulated natural gas providers actually do, besides billing the customers for their agreed upon fixed rate, or variable rate plan, or whatever plan the customer has signed up for, is to purchase the natural gas on the commodity market and then re-market it to consumers, which signifies, that they are really marketers of natural gas and not producers of it.  While that isn't necessarily a bad thing, and perhaps that is the very definition of deregulation, however, it just seems rather deceptive that the natural gas provider that consumers have selected actually have little or nothing to do with the discovery, delivery or the extraction of the real natural gas product, and in actuality aren’t much more than being in the business of buying, negotiating, and procuring natural gas contracts.

Not too surprisingly, when you add a layer of marketing to the natural gas supply chain, you have added a layer of profit and infrastructure to the price of natural gas, and even though there appears to be plenty of competitors in the now deregulated market, those competitors have a distinct tendency to crowd out the inferior marketers, and hence over a period of time, to begin to act as an oligopoly that without enacting outright collusion are able to enact a gentleman's agreement that enables the marketing and smoothing of rates to be conducive to their bottom line, and passed on to the unsuspecting public as deregulated competitive rates, whereas in actuality, the consuming public has been effectively hoodwinked.

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God

We read in John 3:3 that: "…Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," and further in response to Nicodemus' question as to how a man could possibly be born again, the Messiah replies, "…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:5-6).  These wise words of Jesus are words that must be taken to heart, for it is these very words that should open our eyes as to the understanding and thereby the prime importance that the re-birth that Jesus mandates has nothing to do with our physical bodies but everything to do with our spirit.

While there are many people that are familiar with these words, and some that confess that they have been born again through having been baptized, or through some other religious experience or activity, that they have been thereby re-born, are often missing the very point of this particular scripture. The most important point, that Jesus makes very clear, is that a true re-birth that Jesus here refers to, necessitates a fundamental new perspective on life which indicates that you no longer suffer from the delusion that the body is all, nor even that your mind is all, but that spirit which is immortal, is your actual being and the recognition of this re-birth, is the recognition that the spirit, and not the flesh, is now the preeminent thing in your life and your actions thereby display this foundational belief.

A person, any person, that claims that they are actually re-born, will not, by definition, be the same person that he was in the past, he will have broken free from the chains of self-identifying with his flesh and will instead see himself as of the spirit, by the spirit, and for the spirit; recognizing that even before he was formed physically in his mother's womb, he was spirit, and henceforth when he is walking here on earth, he will recognize intuitively that he is indeed spirit, though encased in a body, but innately capable of being outside of the body, and thereby the master of that body.

The failure to understand that we are spirit in conjunction with believing that we are just the material body is catastrophic, because that failure hinders greatly in adhering to the straight and narrow path that will enable us to become a returning member of the kingdom of God.  Those that build their castles on this material plane, will truly reap what they have sow, for good or for bad, but in either event, they are bookended by their inevitable life followed by death, whereas those that are spiritually re-born will create treasure in heaven.

Those that recognize in their re-birth that we all are made, without exception, in the image of God, will find it far easier to see God in others, and by that attribute, will behave in their actions with a true reflection of this view.  To be re-born is to re-recognize as if for the first time, that we are co-heirs in the kingdom of God, a kingdom without beginning and a kingdom without end, to which our return will be seen as the re-arrival of the prodigal son, re-birth into the loving bosom of his God.

The Truth behind Valley Forge

America, isn't particularly known for learning or remembering its history, however, Valley Forge, and the remembrance of the bare-footed soldiers with bleeding feet, clothed in rags, disease ridden, suffering through the privations of shoddy shelter, lack of food and critical supplies, in the winter of 1777, is a story that most everyone is familiar with, or at least have seen the pictures of it depicted in various paintings.   Valley Forge certainly was a time that tried the very souls of the American Revolution, and as the general of that camp, stood Washington, who as the Commander in Chief was the man that the troops stood steadfastly by, despite the appalling conditions of that dreadful winter.

Not too surprisingly, those with only the most rudimentary grasp of history, chalked up the sufferings of our troops as just being one of those things that happened in times of war, or of bad weather, or of bad location, and of a rebellion that apparently was underfinanced in a country that was far poorer in material wealth and far less united than we are accustomed to today.  While there is a generic truth to this viewpoint, that isn't the whole truth, as in any war effort, the commissars, the supply chain, the logistics of procurement and distribution, the treasure chest, are all quite vital to the overall effectiveness of men at war.

This signifies then, that there were people authorized by Congressional authority, but typically far removed from Valley Forge, who were in charge of supplying Valley Forge with appropriate food, blankets, horses, and ammunition.  Unfortunately, times of war, can bring to those that have or are responsible for these above-mentioned items, a chance to profiteer from owning or controlling items that are in high demand, so that there was many a man that increased the pricing of his wares significantly so as to capture more profits for himself, and/or to sell his goods to the British side because they paid in gold specie, whereas the revolutionaries paid in Continental script.  To makes maters much worse, though, the commissary whose responsibility it was to fulfill the desperate and compelling needs of the Valley Forge soldiers, contained a combination of incompetency, corruption, duplicity, bureaucratic conflicts, inefficiency, selfishness, and powerless.

Washington and his soldiers were at the mercy of their own fellow revolutionary compatriots that failed in their ability to perform their supply duties in a competent and timely manner, which meant that far from their not being enough supplies to furnish Washington's soldiers with adequate food and shelter; instead the logistics in order to accomplish these tasks was abysmal or lacking, with the end result, being that soldiers fighting for the freedom of the revolutionaries sufferedwith their own lives and deprivations from this lack of supply.  

In times of war, things change, so that those that have cattle or other vital food stuffs, cannot sit on a fence and subsequently be held unaccountable, as those that do not either actively participate or provide labor or materials for a revolutionary effort are not deserving of the fruits of such a success, and as for those, that see war and conflict, as the opportunity to play one side against another, or to profiteer from the desperations of others, should suffer the long term consequences of their short term rapacity. 

The soldiers at Valley Forge, that suffered, and they did suffer, suffered primarily because those that could or should have provided that helping hand chose not to, and those that gained upon the sufferings of others, are neither patriots nor deserving of liberty to which nothing good ever comes without much cost and much commitment.

Doing and Doing for Others

America is known as a great charitable country, to wit, we provide humanitarian aid to nations big and small all over the world.  So too does America provide aid and a safety net to the impoverished here at home.  All of this is to the basic good, as anytime that you see in the face of your fellow man, a reflection of yourself, your treatment of that man, will be better for having seen the common humanity that all men are inherently endowed with.

There are however, situations that a man must do for himself rather than having others do this for them.  For instance, there comes a time, when your child has to go to pre-school or kindergarten or whatever, and not too surprisingly or too infrequently, the small child suffers from separation anxiety, but anxiety or not, the child needs to be amongst other children of its age, and the child needs the opportunity to engage in activities that will expand its field of knowledge and thereby to learn with its peers.  Additionally, when your child is in school at whatever stage of life, that child must take the tests that will demonstrate whether they have learned and comprehended certain knowledge or not, and thereby it would be self-defeating if said child cheated or if the tests were actually taken by somebody else.

In the workplace, no matter your job, how responsible it is or is not, there are some responsibilities that will be put onto your shoulders, so that, you as an employee, must do your part to perform those responsibilities in a competent and professional manner.  While there is something to be said about teamwork, working together, and collaboration, it is imperative that each member of that respective team contributes to it, as opposed to only a select few, pretty much doing all.

No doubt, there have been times in your life in which you have done something for another, wondering perhaps, or possibly knowing that, the other person probably could have done what you just did for them, without the actual need of your aid.  It is these times that truly separate, good actions, from actions while good, which would ideally be more appropriately filled by somebody else.  That is to say, it is difficult to criticize someone who out of the goodness of their heart helps another, however it must also be recognized that there are times, when that help probably should not have been offered, asserted itself, or have been accomplished. 

In actuality, the real purpose of a mentor to a student, a parent to a child, is to teach and engage the other, thereby providing the basis so that these individuals can one day think properly and to become self-reliant.  Any society in which a significant portion of the population becomes dependent upon the government or its substitutes for its daily subsistence, and does not make their own effort to wean themselves off of such a dependency, are creating at a minimum a two-tiered society, of those that do, and those that don't.

The fundamental problem with not doing for yourself, when you do have the innate capability of doing something for yourself, is that, because you are not self-sufficient nor self-reliant, you are almost for a certainty, not self-governmental, because you have failed to demonstrate that capacity, and therefore because you have ceded your sovereignty to another, your destiny is in another's hand, for better or for worse.

Religion and the Constitution

All oaths that office holders take in America, all follow the same basic format, which is to: "… solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."  There wouldn't be any point of taking such an oath, if the intention for those that did so, was to ignore the very thing that they have sworn to protect.  When it comes to religion in America, one would have a tendency to believe that following the Constitution would not only be paramount but would also be consistent from office holder to office holder, from year to year, but instead, the governmental religious rulings have changed significantly over the years, so much so, that a fairly strong argument could be made, that America, which initially was created as a vibrant and strong Christian nation, has morphed itself instead into what appears to be a secular State.

The thing is the Constitution is quite clear and specific about its intent in regards to religion, so that the very point of the 1st Amendment, which states in part: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" has been re-interpreted from its original intent and its original meaning that the Federal government through its Congress does not have the right to impose a National religion upon its population, to now become that that there should be a wall of separation between Church and State.

While some contemporary people, for whatever spurious reasons, are intent that America should be seen as a secular State, that is not consistent with the founding of America, nor is consistent with the Founding fathers and their beliefs, nor is it consistent with the Declaration of Independence, nor is it consistent with the Constitution, and it certainly is not consistent with the people that nobly advanced this country at that time.  There is not necessarily anything wrong with wanting or desiring or trying to make America a secular nation, as the people have implicitly the right to alter or abolish the nature of their government, however, doing so, properly, must be done not only through the people, by the people, and for the people, but also accomplished through the auspices of a new Declaration and thereby a new Constitution, as opposed to taking known and established Constitutional law and deliberately subverting it.

If America, insists that God cannot be in our classrooms, cannot be in our justice system, cannot be in the public square, and cannot be in the way that we conduct our everyday life, then we will certainly understand the futility of: "Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel," rather than " but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house." (Matthew 5:15).  America was founded as a Christian nation by Christians, however, this never did mean, nor does it mean presently, that the only religion permitted in America must be Christian or offshoots of Christianity, as the Constitution clearly states and our history of plurality has clearly shown that all Americans are entitled to the free exercise of their religious or irreligious beliefs.  In fact, in America, the Constitution makes it clear in Article VI that: "…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust…"

Today, modern man has reasoned itself into the cardinal error, of believing that through their mind and through their intelligence they now know all, see all, and are all, and thereby their government has no need for the interference and the inconvenience of belief in any sort of God.  The belief or disbelief in God or voluntary service to any particular religion is a free thinking man's prerogative, however, to preclude others from their own beliefs, or to actively close the door on the free exercise of worship by governmental decree, is an abomination to this Constitution and thereby to this country and to which it stands.

America is a Military State

The United States Military Defense budget for 2015 was in the neighborhood of $600 billion, this for a nation that has no peers, nor any other Nation-States that could possibly threaten it on any level, be it economic political or via the military.  The personnel in our War Department consist of nearly 1,400,000 peoples on active duty, with another 850,000 on active reserve.  Additionally, America operates or controls as reported by nationalpriorities.org, "between 700 and 800 military bases worldwide."  Strange thing though, when it comes to actual war, those powers are as declared by our Constitution, held in the hands of Congress, yet, unfathomably, since WW II, America through its Congress has declared war on zero nations, yet, in the 21st century alone, America has been at war with Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen.

All of the above clearly indicates that the military is not only a law unto itself, but pretty much does whatever the upper echelons of the military-industrial complex desires it to do.  The fact is that any elected government, or unelected for that matter, in any form of State, must always, recognize that there is an implicit agreement, or explicit for that matter, between the civil in conjunction with its military arm, that they must be basically on the same page, or the military will if not given its proper tribute often exercise its power to overthrow oppressive domestic civil restraints.  The thing is once any country has crossed the Rubicon, of having standing armies as a matter of course, than they have indeed set the stage at having no other choice but to stand down against such armies, or suffer the devastating consequences of military conquest within their own native country.

The crux of the matter is that it isn't good enough for the War Department to simply have all these sophisticated weapons, to have all these well trained personnel, to have all these ambitious generals, and then react to a world in which there is often strife and confusion by sitting back and doing nothing.  The military can only do so many exercises, so many training missions, so many rescue missions, before there is an itching from high above, to actually do something constructive or destructive with their might.  A military as big and as powerful as the United States, is akin to a superbly conditioned Heavyweight champion, who because he is the champion, is not interested in months upon months of a regimen of just training and flexing muscles, because he knows that he is far more capable than putting on a mere shadow-boxing show, instead he is there to prove himself and thereby he must fight.

The fact that our military is so big, sophisticated, talented, strong, state-of-the-art, and powerful, means for an absolute certainty, that those that push the buttons, and make the decisions, have a deeply ingrained desire to fight, and thereby that is why America is always at war, because a champion in order to be viewed as the champion, must fight and not only that he must vanquish his opponent.

Not All Evidence is Viewed the Same

For true justice in a court of law, those deciding upon the evidence, must weigh that evidence objectively, without unduly favoring one side or the other, and certainly not giving more credence to one party over another, simply because you like one better or dislike one more.   Since we are all subjective human beings, it is somewhat of a real challenge, to not let our own prejudices and emotions overcome us when deciding another person's fate.  We owe it to the person on trial, though, or the case being litigated, to give proper consideration to all the evidence and most certainly to not jump to a particular conclusion before each side has had its complete say in court.  The significant issue with determining in your mind that one side's story is the story before all the evidence is either complete or fully weighed, is that having done so, you will subtly or deliberately begin to take subsequent evidence and weigh it not against truth or fairness, but weigh it instead against whether that evidence confirms your story and thereby validates it, or whether it doesn't and often times thereby ignore or dismiss it.

It certainly is not easy for a judge to properly be fair in a trial, but at least a judge is skilled in the law and has been trained in the ways of it, whereas, the general public, for the most part is not.  While judges will instruct the jurors on how to weigh evidence so as to be impartial and also instruct the jurors not to discuss the case with other jurors until such time as all the evidence has been presented, the truth of the matter is that jurors aren't going to follow that instruction all that often or all that well, mainly because jurors want to talk and communicate with each other, and humans being humans, rather than starting with the weather, sports, or entertainment will move right on to the case itself, as a valid substitute, since that is the relevant item of the day.

The thing is that not only will jurors want to talk about the case, but also the jurors talking to each other, will already have taken a look at one another, and in one way or another, in one form or another, decided that the jurors that they feel that they have more in common with, whether that be by sex, age, race, perceived religion, or perceived status,  will almost invariably lead to little cliques forming that will then test each other out, so as to determine as to whether they are seeing things the same way, thereby receiving validation on their theory, or not, and so on.  All of this, unfortunately, trumps over the evidence, because ultimately most people placed into public areas and the testing of character, want to, for whatever reason, valid or not, to conform to the prevailing view of their respective group. 

One way, perhaps, to overcome this bias upon juror deliberations, is to request from each juror before any discussion of guilt or innocence, to separately write down a paragraph or two of their summary as to why each respective side should have won or lost the case, and then the readings of these paragraphs by the selected juror foreman or similar, will provide valued information as to the fairness of these jurors, so those that turn in papers that cannot come up with even one valid reason why a particular side was right or wrong, are those that have probably come to that conclusion very early in the process and thereby have shut the door on all contradictory evidence to that theory, while remembering or noting only the evidence which supports their favored side.  On the other hand, a juror that can make a valid and fair case for either side is the epitome of someone that weighs evidence properly, listens well, and thereby represents the type of juror that will render the most defensible decision based on the evidence presented properly weighed and objectively evaluated.

The Collusion between Big Government and Big Business

The thing about the government in America, is that one way or another, from a business perspective, you know that the government, will be good for the money.  Not only that, the budgets of governments from your little townships, to counties, to cities, to States, and to the Federal government, ranges from thousands of dollars, to hundreds of thousands of dollars, to millions, to billions, and then to trillions of dollars.  All of that money makes for a deep desire from these businesses that contract with governmental entities to get as much as they can so that they can profit and grow by it.  That money is so important to these businesses that they prefer to leave nothing to chance, so as to secure most favored status, sole business set aside, preferential treatment, non-competitive bidding, and so forth, meaning that no stone will be left unturned in order to secure lucrative and important contracts that will often bring millions upon millions of dollars or revenue and/or profit to the business.

The first real trick of a good and viable business is understanding your future customer base from top to bottom, and once that is determined, who holds the purse strings of that money, and the final trick is one of figuring out how to get your fair share of, or, since this is America, more than your fair share from those people.    The most effective way to get your fair share and then some from governmental contracts is to know the people that issue the contracts in the first place, since all business at its core, is a people business, so much so, that it can be stated as a truism, that people like to do business with people that they like.  Further to that point, people will find all sorts of ways and justifications to steer business your way if they like you, whereas, if they despise you, they can discover all sorts of demerits or reasons why you are not qualified.

Although there are a multitude of ways to get people to like one another, from gifts, to mutual interests, to good listening skills, and so forth, one finds that if you just cut through all the confusion and static, money and/or power seems to incentivize all sorts of people.  For instance, many people that are employed by governmental agencies feel that they are underappreciated, underpaid, and under recognized by the peers, however, if these same governmental employees are in a position to which they can reward contracts or influence the issuing of such they often find that their utility to outsiders ishighly appreciated, so much so, that there is a quid pro quo between these two parties, something to the effect, that the businesses offer all sorts of enticements, such as employment of family currently, or future employment, bonuses, and so forth.  Of course, you can't actually stipulate these things in writing, but instead these things are implicitly understood between both parties so that those that regulate, or issue contracts, aren't really trying to on behalf of the government to initiate or negotiate the best fiscal deal for that governmental institution, but rather they are actively trying to work hand-in-glove with the actual contractor, recognizing that the better that they do on that given task, the better it will be for them.  So too, do experienced people in private enterprise, gravitate to governmental jobs that require someone of their unique experience and qualifications, to which, their overarching objective, a significant amount of the time is not to serve their government in an ethical and above board manner, but instead, to serve their former private enterprise master.

The pie is plenty big enough, so that the government doesn't want to stop this racket because it isn't like it's their personal money, nor do private enterprise companies want to rat each other out, as there is plenty to share for all, and just as long as the public is kept ignorant, misinformed, or out of sync, nobody is the wiser.  The only disinfectant that can properly halt this collusion that cheats the taxpaying public is the bright sunshine of full disclosure and transparency of all governmental contracts, without exception.

The Best Gift

There virtually isn't a person alive, who doesn't want or appreciate getting or receiving a gift from someone, especially when that gift is something desired strongly or needed.  The gifts that we give and the gifts that we receive vary depending upon all sorts of circumstances in regards to such things as who we are, our age, and the gift givers themselves.  In this world, based upon our upbringing, tradition, and all the commercial advertising of all sorts that we come across day-by-day, the giving of gifts follows a pretty standard set of rules, of which, foremost amongst them is that gift giving is considered to be an obligation, sort of, as a way of expressing your love or affection from one person to another which is demonstrated in practicality by the gift itself.

There are, however, many, many people that often simply do not have the means to provide the desired gifts to others, and then because of this lack, are unfairly brushed with the aura of unconcern or uncaring.  This is most unfortunate, because usually the desire to please another with an appropriate gift is there, but the monetary means to do so, are sorely lacking.

Yet, through it all, there is something fundamentally out of sorts in many aspects of gift giving and that is the fact that material gifts are actually seldom the best gift of them all.  The thing about gifts of the material kind, is that even if wholly appreciated, that initial rush of feeling, that initial rush of appreciation, will invariably fade over time, so that even if the gift is something as expensive and impressive as a brand new car, one day that car will not be so new, it will be surpassed by many another car, and over time, it will fade, get tarnished, and become just another car, and while definitely appreciated, the car itself and typically your feelings for it, will have definitely depreciated.  That, in a nutshell, is the issue with all tangible gifts which is that all of them will invariably lose their luster and their utility, no matter how much they were initially appreciated.

Then there is another type of gift, a gift more meaningful than others, a gift that allows a man of any material worth, to match a man with ten thousand times that worth, and that gift is the gift of your sincere concern for another expressed through human contact. Sometimes, the nice present beautifully wrapped for a good friend or loved one is the expedient way to provide something tangible to someone, and thereby does not demand much of anything from the giver other than money and a little forethought, whereas in actuality, what has been circumvented is the truly important thing, which is a meaningful conversation, a dialogue, a meeting of the minds, and simply time spent together.

None of us can take any of our material gifts with us to the next world, meaning that at best, we appreciated these gifts while here on earth, whereas there are indeed gifts that transcend space and time, and those gifts are love, respect, empathy, concern, patience, and sincere communication.  When we take the time to listen to others, to help to guide others, to mentor others, to be a good neighbor to others, to be there for others in times of their trouble and stress, to sacrifice our free time to be of service to others, and to will the good of another, this is when we have stepped out of our small little finite world and have stepped into something of far greater expanse, into a world without end, and have provided the best gift of all: love, expressed in all of its many splendors.

The Rulers and the Ruled

Lincoln's Gettysburg address in 1863, declared that we: "… shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."  Today, more than 150 years later, how many Americans truly believe that this is a government, of, for, and by the people?  While it is true that our government most certainly has not perished, in fact, unfortunately, quite the opposite is true, that our government in all of its many forms and colors, has actually become far more intrusive, far more demanding, and far more commanding of its citizenry, so that today the people have little concept of what a properly formed government should really be like.

Presently, we live in a country to which the most vital and important activities that our government is often participating in, are things that we as citizens, are not privileged to really even know about; things such as our endless involvement in the foreign affairs of other nations, as well as our many governmental covert activities that are often deliberately hidden or obscured from the public's view.  Additionally, the government makes it policy to spy domestically and extract all sorts of data on all of its citizens, under the false flag, of protecting the homeland.

The thing is it is impossible for the citizenry to hold the government accountable if the citizenry is essentially held clueless about what the government is actually up to, and with layers upon layers of secrets and misdirection that no one could possibly work their way through, in addition to the endless lies and deceptions at the highest echelons of our government, to which none are ever held accountable, makes the entire show of accountability a hopeless exercise in futility.

The present government is in reality and intent not of the people, but rather it is a separate government, sovereign only to those that are part of that same social milieu, to which the good of the people, is not even conceived of, in fact, it isn't even considered.  Instead, this government and the parties to it, go about their business for the sake of their own aggrandizement, and if there is hell to be paid for stupid or miscalculated decisions, it will be paid by the blood, sweat, and toil of the people, in their faithful devotion to their country, which asks for their patriotic dedication to a government that sees them at best, as subjects, born to serve those that are their betters.

None of this should be happening nor should it have ever come to this, in a country that once truly was the beacon of hope for the tired and the poor, but now its own people are too often exploited, manipulated, used, and then tossed away as damaged goods.  Unfortunately, we live in a land to which the leaders of such in conjunction with the almighty military-industrial complex work hand-in-hand to do what they believe should be done so as to gratify their selfish objectives, preferably behind closed doors, with access restricted to only those with a need-to-know, creating position papers that twist and turn clear rules into whatever the government wills instead to perform, because this government cares not at all for the welfare of its people, for it's the new American Caesar, a law unto itself.

Money and Power on their Collective High Horse

In this country there are some people with plenty of money, so too there are some people with the right connections with the right people, as well as there being some people that are powerful in their ability to forge law and public policy, and then there are the other people.  It would be one thing entirely if these well-placed privileged people, simply kept to their selves and didn't interfere in the day to day operations of everyone else, but too often people who believed that there were either born with a silver spoon in their mouth or somehow have obtained one, are very interested in seeing that their viewpoint of what people should or shouldn't do should be the de facto viewpoint for everyone else.

This means, in effect, that there are a select few that want to lord it over everyone else, so that if the current belief, is that obesity in all cases is wrong, than obesity must be legislated out of existence, so too this goes for smoking, or drinking, or just about anything that these busybodies can come up with.  While it may be true, conveniently so, to be able to demonstrate that certain things are bad for you physically, or that certain behaviors or bad for you psychologically, the problem with this interference in other people's behavior is that those that are creating this intrusion are not doing it because they truly believe that it is the right thing to do, but because they want to be able to tell and thereby mandate what you do, period. 

These know-it-alls, that pound the tables that smoking is an unmitigated bad, that intemperate drinking is the inherent downfall of many a man, and that eating too much is catastrophic, will do everything within their power, of which they have a lot of, to see that you don't do any of those things, at least not easily, and in order to accomplish this mission, they propagandize, pass laws, create penalties, and enact regressive taxes to effect their vision about what is best for you.  While it is one thing to have a parent, express parental concern for their children, it is an entirely different thing when the government or certain special people dictate to you what you are or are not permitted to do especially when you are effectively "off the clock" so to speak.

For those that believe that smoking or drinking or eating certain foods are wrong, for reasons good or bad, but reasons just the same, than those people should do not do those very things.  It is entirely different thing, however, to take your belief and insist that a free man must submit to it, as if your belief, because it comes from you, is thereby always valid, whereas my belief, because it comes from me, is invalid. 

While to take a brotherly concern about someone else most definitely has its merits, it is pig-headed to insist that your brotherly way is the only way, the right way, and the only sensible way.  The thing is those that claim that they are looking out for our best interests are too often, doing nothing of the sort, they are simply and straightforwardly trying to dictate to everyone else that things should always be their way, because their way makes for a perfect little convenient life and fit for them, and consequently they just really want us to shut up, acknowledge their greatness, and subsequently dismiss our freedom of thought and actions as the disobedience that is never permitted in their twisted small world that brokers no dissent.

The Illusion of So Much to Do

In America, we are served the same illusion again and again, that we just have to get all sorts of things done, such as cleaning, cooking, working, bills, bringing our children up right, helping with the community, and so forth, to which each of these things most definitely have their merits, but life actually is in effect, much more straightforward than we might think.  The first clue that perhaps we shouldn't be so intimately involved in the rat race, is to understand, that Jesus the Christ, time and time again, took time to contemplate by himself so as to recharge his batteries and to stay focused on the meaningful things such as in keeping His oneness with our Lord, to which we read in Luke5:16: "And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed."  After all, you would think that the Messiah would have all sorts of things that He just had to do, that would literally keep Him busy night and day, but intuitively He understood that the greatest power and wisdom attainable necessitated both quiet meditation as well as concentrated attention to our Creator, or else He would not be the Christ for His people.

So too, there is the story told of Martha and Mary, to which, when Jesus entered their house, Martha took it upon herself to do all the necessary work, that she just had to do, in order to properly receive and serve a guest as great as our Messiah, whereas Mary, on the other hand, merely sat at Jesus' feet.  Yet, when Martha complained that it was unfair that she was not getting any serving help from Mary, and thereby Martha was unable to benefit or appreciate the words being spoken by Jesus, "And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her," (Luke 10:41-42).

To a certain degree, hearing this gentle rebuke, seems a bit unfair, after all, it would appear that Martha is doing all the things that a host should do for an important guest, whereas Mary is doing nothing, and logically you would think that Mary has an implicit obligation to do her part, because two heads working together can accomplished much, and having done so, thereby both will be able to equally receive the words of Jesus.  However, that isn't what Jesus said, He makes it very clear that life is far simpler than being an accomplished busybody, or being anxious, and that in fact, life can be summed up into this understanding that rather than us having so many things to do, of which many of those things are not so much for the good of ourselves but more for selling the illusion of our vitality to others or to feed our self-righteous vanity, we should instead focus less on this world that does not last, and more on the eternal things that will never end.

While it is true that God does desire that we be good for something, so too God desires that we stay focused on the true prize, which is our re-uniting with His Kingdom, and while there are fundamental things that we need to attend to in our everyday activities, the correct priority should be to always keep in mind, that we must first serve Him for it is the choices that we make day by day that take us either closer or further from His eternal love and grace.

Great Britain's Royal Africa Company

America, until its independence, was a colony of the British Empire, to which, initially there were not any slaves in America, but typically instead there were indentured servants brought here to provide necessary and desired labor help.  Great Britain, however, created the Royal Africa company that worked under the aegis of the Majesty of Great Britain, to which one of the functions of the Royal Africa Company, besides the perpetual search for and lust of gold, was the trade in human flesh, to which, part of that process, was to forcefully take Africans from Africa and then export them to either the Caribbean or North America, not as indentured servants, but as human chattel.

Of course, like most government enterprises, there were rules, regulations, taxes, and money involved in this particular trade, so that the government of Great Britain, had a vested interest in the success and the regulation of the slave trade specifically in regards to the Royal Africa Company, to which its British investors of such, demanded a fair return on their money at risk.  This meant that each slave brought into America was subject to a tax payable to the Crown for this importation, over and above the actual trading, bargaining and commerce for the slaves themselves.  In short, the trading of slaves was not some sort of willy-nilly adventure of arbitrary taking of peoples from Africa, without any rhyme or reason, but something instead that was deliberate, pre-planned, and executed essentially with the stamp of approval of Great Britain as deliberate policy.

While there were plenty of valid reasons why slavery was popular with the planter class, even within that class, at the highest echelon there was an increasing unease with slavery, to such an extent that States such as South Carolina and Virginia, desired to significantly reduce or eliminate the importation of slaves into their respective States, not so much because slavery didn't make economic sense to them, and certainly not because they collectively saw slavery as a blight upon mankind, but primarily because of their anxiety in having so many slaves within their State, that they felt that they were unwittingly sowing the seeds of potential economic destruction, rebellion, uprising, ruin, or revolt, as the sheer amount of oppressed black slave faces in their presence was considered to be quite troubling.  In lieu of the continuous importation of slaves, these States, concerned about the unprecedented growth of slavery, hoped to utilize more indentured white servants which would not only more easily assimilate into society but would pose far less of a physical threat than blacks.

In any event, the Royal Africa Company, did not give in to American desires or demands, mainly because the monies that they were making from this trade was quite lucrative for the coffers of the royal treasury, it created steady and dependable profits for its investors, as well as the fact that there were powerful vested interests in America that profited greatly from this trade in human flesh.  Had it not been for the Royal Africa Company, there probably would have been far less slavery thrust upon American soil, as the powerful combination of explicit British governmental support, mercantile interests, and the lust for undeserved profits, inevitably led to the wanton trafficking of human subjects from their country of origin in order to be exploited in a country ironically founded upon freedom.

Driving a Vehicle should be Regulated, but not Considered to be a Privilege

Nowadays, we live in a land to which our fundamental rights, such as the right to travel from one place to another, especially when utilizing a motor vehicle, are skewed in such a perverse way, that driving a car is considered to be a privilege, and not thereby a right.  To understand this better, a privilege is as defined by Merriam-Webster.com: "a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others," which succinctly summarizes the issue.  

The problem with driving being considered as a privilege is that privileges are fairly easy to revoke because a privilege is considered for the most part to be a special dispensation provided to the citizen upon accomplishing a certain thing, or exercising a certain action, but are also subject to specific rules, laws, ordinances and regulations, and to a lesser extent arbitrary law.  On the other hand, a right is something that belongs to you, to which for the government or its authorities to take away any of your rights, typically means a surrender of that right voluntarily or the confiscation of that right through a court of law judgment or its equivalent.

Currently, the driving of a vehicle on a public road is enforced as a privilege, and not a right, to which this is why each driver of a vehicle applies for a basic driver's license which will enable them to travel the roads subject to specific restrictions.  However, should that driver be found later to be in violation of the laws of the respective State in regards to their driving, that driver's license and thereby their ability to drive on the public roads in America, can be confiscated, restricted, or revoked.

Depending upon the city or town that you reside in, driving a vehicle may or may not be critical for your overall everyday activities, however, for most adults that have commitments to a job or school or whatever, there is a fundamental need to be able to drive a vehicle as the alternatives to doing so, are often rather inconvenient, too expensive, or unreliable.  This means, that the fact that the government treats driving as a privilege, to which this privilege can be revoked by the same government and/or never be issued in the first place, creates an undue burden against certain members of society.

Rather than seeing driving a vehicle as a privilege, the government, should regulate the business of driving, and while some people may see this as essentially being the same thing, it isn't.  In point of fact, a regulation properly written, is something created by the Legislative branch of government, to which there would be little merit for using State coercion in order to get citizens to comply to a given driving regulation, as long as the regulations were written broadly enough so that the statue would allow car insurance companies as well as the lien holders of vehicles themselves to tack on their own additional rules or regulations upon the driver of the vehicle, to which the driver would then weigh the tradeoffs of this or that so as to get the best fit for their budget and corresponding rate. 

The driving on the public roads of America, should not be treated as a privilege, but rather should be subject to reasonable regulations, so as not to interfere with the reasonable right for citizens to travel freely along the public roads of America which they as taxpaying citizens have already paid for.

The Law of Karma

If there was no eternal justice, than life would be an endless series of careening from one event to another, all without purpose, and all without end.  Fortunately, that isn't the way that life is constructed, there is eternal justice, there is eternal morality, there is eternal love, and there is eternal forgiveness, to which we are constantly reminded of this, through that still small voice that helps to guide us in our conscience.  Yet, we are endowed with free will which is a truly wonderful gift provided to us by our Creator, and free will, means exactly that, that we are free to choose, and it is through those choices and our actions that our life writes itself into the annals of time. 

In this world, the unceasing opportunity to fool ourselves, consciously or not, to 'game' the system, to seek all sorts of shortcuts and illusions that we create and ultimately live in, makes us falsely believe that when it comes to that time when we stand before our Lord, that we will still be able to stand tall and thereby withstand the withering bright light of the absolute clarity of love, truth, and justice.  This viewpoint will not hold true to the tests of time, and it is then, if we have not first admitted to it, that we will recognize for a certainty that the crown of glory that we wish to partake of is something that our tarnished hands cannot grasp, and we know it.

The reason for karma, is the innate understanding, that illness cannot create health, that wrong actions can never be right, that evil is not good, and thereby the false roads that we have taken cannot be effectively erased, that instead, we must first straighten up our spine, so as to thereby straighten our path to find the only true road to eternal glory.  If, on the other hand, within our soul, we believed, that evil is good, that wrong is right, and tried to force this belief into the folds of our eternal destiny, we would discover that it simply cannot be done, that the bright light of eternal bliss is tainted by sin and our wrongs, so that try as we might we cannot possibly pry open the golden door.

We need karma, for the exact same reason why a helpless toddler needs both supervision and direction, which is for its own good, upbringing and protection.  If, in our endeavors we are never corrected, if in our endeavors, we are unable to acknowledge the hurt that we are creating for ourselves and others, than we will inevitably continue to do it again and again.  Karma is there for each of us, so that we will through thoughtfulness come to the reasoned conclusion, that the bad that we see so often in our lives is actually correlated to the bad that we have either already done or contributed to in other's lives.

The law of karma allows us to understand and to comprehend that we are all in this for the long haul, and that therefore brick by brick, stone by stone, deed by deed, we build our pathway back to God's eternal love.  The race most definitely is not to the swift, to which it is to be better understood, that wrong actions necessitate correspondingly right actions. God reminds us of this, day by day, by the suffering we so often feel by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, to which our proper response should be to serenely arm ourselves with truth, justice, and brotherly love.

The Stairway to Heaven

Here, in the Western world, mainstream religion does not often believe in reincarnation, instead, they believe in essentially that there is only one life, and therefore when this physical life is over, long or short, good or bad, fair or not, that this is all that there is, on this physical plane.  There are many reasons to believe that this belief is flawed, even tellingly from passages in Scripture, such as "But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished…" (Matthew 17:12).  So too, even a cursory glance at the world at large, demonstrates the reality of the circle of life which is all around us; an endless cycle of birth, death, and re-birth, again and again and again.

For those that do not believe in reincarnation, one would be hard pressed to see the world as anything other than extremely unfair, to which some people are born into not just significantly better material circumstances, but also better educational, justice, fairness, looks, and health situations.  While our Creator asks nothing more from us but to do the best with what we have, circumstances can make this extremely problematic for certain people and hence it would appear to be inherently unjust.

So too there are people, that have remarkable skills or inclinations even at a young age for medicine, mechanics, music, mathematics and so forth, so much so that we consider them to be child prodigies or similar.  In a significant amount of cases, the parents of such children, wonder where these talents originated from, because they know in their heart, it was not in truth from their parenting or upkeep, instead it seems to have come from within the child, itself. 

The best explanation for the reason why there are certain powers and predispositions inherent within each one of us has everything to do with recognizing that while the physical shell of our body changes from life to life, our soul remains consistent to what it was in previous lives.  That is to say, if you have previously demonstrated a high degree of skill as a practitioner of medicine, than all things being equal, this same talent will be there in your present life like a rich oil well, available for you to tap back into it. 

Not too unexpectedly, our lives are a mixture of good as well as bad habits, good as well as bad decisions, so that when re-entering this life after having exiting a previous one, those bad traits that we have previously demonstrated of perhaps lacking in patience, having a hot temper, and so forth, are carried with us, the same as if they never left us.  This, more than anything, is the reason why reincarnation exists, because we know whether we want to recognize it or not in this world, that in order to get right with our Lord, we have to have demonstrated right actions and behavior in this dimension.

For those that dismiss reincarnation, recognize this important point, if you were excessively jealous, covetousness, prideful, lustful, and so forth on this material plane, do not think even for a second, that somehow in Heaven, that these traits of yours will miraculously disappeared, as they won't at all, but rather will be seen to be dark clouds that perpetually follow you. Therefore it is these faults that will preclude you from truly entering into holy fellowship with our Creator, not because He will not accept you, but because you recognize that you still have work to do in order to climb that stairway into God's heart and Heaven.