Ralstins Words

Recently I have heard a lot about pacifism and how it is the best option to stop pain. My discussions about this topic have left me with a firm belief that pacifism does not work. Now I know a lot of people state that violence does not work either, and they’re right. There is no long term solution. When possible one must find a peaceful solution to a situation. On the other hand, that is not always the option and violence is necessary. I will tell you how I came to this conclusion.

I went to an event sponsored by the philosophy house on my campus at Tabor College. The gentleman was a pacifist and the topic came up on how there would be peace in the Middle East. His statement was, “The international powers need to intervene and split Israel and Palestine up saying here is Israel and here is Palestine. Furthermore we should keep them from fighting till peace happens.” In a nutshell, strip the governments of their rights to govern and force them to get a long. At least there would be no fighting, right? The killing would stop? Nope. When asked how he would do this with out violence he stated, “It is a stupid idea that will never work. The reason being that you would have to do it with out violence.” See even that will not work because to have that work you would need violence. Furthermore taking away the free will of a nation because they can’t get along is not right. Help them reconcile yes, but we do not need to strip them of there sovereign right. So what do you do forcing them to stop won’t work, Violence has not worked so now what?
What if one side stopped fighting and resisted with out violence, slaughter house. There comes a point to where the aggressor doesn’t give a care about what they are doing. Well what about the world; they would care. Nope - there is genocide going on every day in Africa. Hear anything about it on the news? The world couldn’t care less. So where does that leave the nations that are caught in this struggle? They are left to fight, to defend one self.
Trent Voth said give him a million counselors and he could have peace in the Middle East. Nice thought but it kind of hard to do that when you’re dead. Now he would state Christ willingly died to save us and so we should be willing to do the same thing. Christ new that he would save lives. I rather harm one person and save thousands, have thousands killed to save one.
So where does this leave us Christians? In an interesting predicament. When the situation arises it is up to you. I firmly believe violence is the last option and as little as violence as possible to stop the situation. But furthermore it is a matter of the heart; what is the condition of your heart? Why are you committing this act of violence? Is it because of rage or is it because you are protecting people?
Pacifism has not worked neither has violence. Neither of these options are long term solutions. If they were we would be at peace now. So we need to come up with a new solution to the problem. If we really want peace we will find it. Christ showed us freedom and peace comes at the highest price - the price of blood. What will this mean for the world of the future? I welcome your thoughts and comments, please.

This past week I have been thinking alot about love, and my view on it. As I have said before what scares me the most is the I am scared of choosing the wrong one. A friend of mine stated, "that if there is only one person for you then it is somewhat taking from free will." So as I thought on this I realized that he is write and so have other friends that have said this. I have come to the realization that love has an aspect of choice in it. There are many people that you can love and that are compatible with each other. However you in your life chose to be with this person. The ideology that Christians state that there is only one person for you I believe has caused a lot of divorce. Let me explain the marriage is getting rough and hard well I guess I messed up and this is not the right one, there person then get a divorce to find the right one. This is wrong of course because marriage is hard and it takes work. My parents have had hard times, even thought they were going ot split every now and then, however they have made it work. They reason being is that they chose to make it work. So is there really only one person for you, or is it that there are many people that God has for you, and you chose to be with just one? 

So in my group of friends there is talk about the possibly of me winding up with my ex-girlfriend. The thing is that I am trying to see their reasoning for this. One of my freinds tell me not to worry about it just let it go. I can not do this I must find out why people say that I will wind up with her. I will tell you the reason for this madness.

Love is an unsolvable equation there is no explainable way to know for sure if you love someone. What are the signs of love? How do you know that the person that you marry is the right one, or that you have just not meet the right person yet? These are the things that one can not answer. How do you know that love your parents? How do you know that your just not saying it?

Here is the thing that scares me is making a mistake like marrying the wrong person. When you marry someone it aught to be forever. If not then there will be enormous amounts of damage. Dont get me wrong I am happy for my friends that have found love and are sure it tis the right one. However it boggles me that they can not explain how they know for certain that this is the right person for them for ever, they just know,

This is why things like this bother me so. What if my ex is in fact the right one for me, Maybe it is the wrong time though. On the other hand what if the right one for me I am to meet ten years from now? How to know these questions I do not know. However it seems like my friends have all the answers on this matter. This is why love frightens me so. I can not understand it or be certain of it.

Maybe you people might be able to give me some insight to this matter for me.

Ok I been gone for to long, There is a good reason  for this I have been working on a major seres it will be posted on this bog and other places. It is about ex and intimacy. In this articles I will be talking about how my generation seems to get these words mixed up. This is a very difficult topic to talk about. There will be breaks in these article with funnies and parts of my fictional book.  I hope you join me on this journey on this matter. 

I recently went to visit my parents in Biloxi, Ms and on the way I decided to visit my friend, Kendall Lyons, in Arlington, TX. He let me tag along with him to an interview at a local place called Tuscany. “It is Italian food man,” he said. I was like, “ok,” expecting something like Olive Garden. Boy was I wrong.
There is nothing spectacular about the out side of the place, but that is where the norm ends. When you walk in you are warmly greeted by the staff and blown away by the art work on the walls. You can tell that there is something unique about it. I asked the owner, Phil, if it was hand drawn on the walls. “Yes it is, here we have the story of creation depicted.” It was amazing. “In Crowley were our new place is going to be the ceilings are higher which will allow us to do so much more.”
The unique thing about this restaurant is that it shows that the American dream is still at work, I got an opportunity to sit and talk to the owner and listen to his story. He came from Macedonia, Greece to New Jersey, U.S.A. All he had when he came to America was a hundred dollars and a suitcase. He met his wife in Jersey then moved to Dallas. He open duo his first restaurant in Lancaster, TX. Now he has three restaurants in Texas. The newest one being in Crowley Texas.
The food is authentic and made fresh daily. Like most Italian restaurants we were given free bread with out meal. The really nice this about it was hot and fresh; the dough was made that very same morning. I ordered the Tour of Italy which includes the following. Lasagna, Fettullini, and my fav. Chicken Parmigiana. My college Kendall Lyons got the Chicken Balsamic. Both entrees came with salads I got Thousand Island dressing, while Kendall got the house dressing. It was a specially made red vinerget style dressing. Now I usually do not care for these dressings because they are to bitter; this one was really good with a hint of sweetness to it.
Our entrees were amazing instead of a like a watered down sauce this was a thick and rich sauce; robust would be a good word to describe it. Every thing was full of flavor one of the best Chicken Parmigiana that I have hade. All the noodles were really soft and tender. The Chicken was realll easy to cut through not a tough piece at all.

The service of the employees was excellent really friendly. Their philosophy is treat every one as family. The manger of this location has worked for Phil for 8 years. Also every one of Phil’s families is apart of the working of the restaurants. There were times where his youngest daughter would come up to Phil and tell him a massage. Just a really nice environment to take your family out to eat at. Furthermore it is realty reasonably priced. Our meal was a big portion we could not even think of eating it all; and ach of them were about 10 bucks. So the prices are really affordable.

Over all Tuscany is a place that I recommend to any one who is living in or going through the Dallas Ft. Worth area. Excellent food, service and excellent price.

Phil’s family has two restaurants that are the same style and environment as Tuscany in Wichita, Ks. They are please go and visit them you will not be disappointed.

So since the recent elections I have heard a lot of things about our new president elect. One of these things that I hear is that Obama is a Muslim. For starters, this allegation was not true; it was an inaccurate statement made by Fox News and several political pundits who thought it would be a great first line of attack, even though it was built up from a foundation of fear and prejudice. Fox news retracted this statement and said that they were wrong. However, for the sake of argument, lets say that your right, and “he is a Muslim?” SO WHAT!!!? Who cares what religion our new president? Are we electing him to run a church or a country? The last timed I checked, America is a country, not a national church. So religion should not matter. The funny thing is that Christians like their religious freedoms, but they can’t stand it when others want to exercise their religious freedom. But, that is a topic for later discussion.
Furthermore, just because someone is a Christian, does not mean that they can govern a country successfully. I look at the current president that we have right now as an example of such a fact. George Bush is a Christian man; however, he has not run the United States in the way a Christian should successfully. Just because someone is a Christian, does not mean he, or she, would make a great leader. They are still human and can make mistakes. Also, religious affiliation is not one of the qualifications to lead a nation.
In closing, Christians need to start supporting our new president, and stop worrying about what faith he is or is not। It does not matter; America is a FREE nation not a CHRISTIAN nation. We need to pray for him and that God is in the dealings of this nation. May God go with you.

For a follow up on this topic visit Kendall’s blog located on the left. By the middle of the week.

Ok so these topics are  going to sound quite odd coming from a christian Youth Minister, however I feel that I must talk about this subject. So that people will know that not all Christians are blind, and ignorant.  However this is not really a persons fault. Young people are taught buy their parents and teachers who were taught by the same. We live in a culture where people believe what they are told; they do not do any research looking for the truth. Therefore the truth has gotten muddled and blurred.  Now is the time to reveal the truth once more before Christians destroy America and we wind up falling into ruin a memory like Rome.  The next few topics are going to be about Christians and politics, and how they are bad together.