The Trying Times

Community

2007-08-07T10:26:00.000+12:00

I've been thinking a lot lately (the last month or so) about the state of community in New Zealand.

I was delivering little booklets for church the other day to a few streets around and including Mahia Road, and was quite surprised at the state of properties in this area.

- Lots of graffiti
- Unrepaired fences and gates
- Dogs wandering the streets
- Cars in disrepair
- Unmown lawns

This neighbourhood is clearly full of residents who simply don't care about their property.

This is not however a poverty issue. This is people choosing to live in a pig sty.

- It's not cheaper to let a dog roam the street than to not have a dog in the first place.
- It's not cheaper to graffiti than to not graffiti.
- It's not cheaper to have a car up on block with panels missing than to get a scrap metal company to take it away for free (or give you money to take it away). Especially when your other car is a late model 4x4 with 'We Want You Motor group' proudly displayed on the spare wheel cover.

People talk of the 'good old days', when;

- you could leave your car keys in ignition when you went into the shop
- you could leave you house unlocked
- you could park you car anywhere you wanted without concern of whether it will get stolen
- you could leave things in the back seat with out fear that some one might see it and break in to steal it
- you knew everyone in your street by name

This is no longer part of New Zealand Society, especially places like South Auckland. Why?

Actions that we may considered the right and safe thing to do at the time, I think, are in fact contributing to the escalation of crime.

In response to crime we;

- get burglar Alarms
- get insurance
- get bigger locks
- move out of the bad areas
- no longer walk down certain streets or alleyways
- no longer park in particular places
- don't venture into dodgy areas
- don't let our children off our property unless they're with an adult
- don't send our kids to that school anymore
- get more insurance

and the list goes on and on...

Because 'good' people no longer live or venture into 'bad' areas what hope do these area have to become 'good' again?

Because we have insurance it doesn't matter that the police don't have time for petty crime. sure it's an inconvenience but we got our money back.

Because we all have big locks and alarms people who happen to leave something unlocked 'deserve' to have their house broken into.

As a community we are withdrawing, and as we, rightly or wrongly, withdraw, we are creating space in our community. If it's not good upstanding members of the community filling this space then then who will fill this space?

There is a quote which says - all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil in our community is for good men to hide behind bigger locks, taller fences and more comprehensive insurance.

The Media are at it again

2007-05-30T14:08:00.000+12:00

Again an example that the media are not neutral.

On this page on the TV3 website I saw this heading...

'Destiny Church protests against freedom of religion'

That is misrepresentation!

Smack That!

2007-05-02T09:33:00.000+12:00

Goodness me...

Sue Bradford is a Lair!

In the face of massive public rejection of her Anti-Smacking Bill Sue Bradford blames this on the 'fact' that the opponents of her bill are 'mis-informing' the public!

RUBBISH!

The only person mis-informing the public is the likes of Sue Bradford

If you go here and watch the video of Sue on Close up. At around 3:50 on the time scale Sue start to ramble about the label 'Anti-Smacking' that has been given to her Bill. She claims that it's not an Anit-Smacking bill, she never called it that, and blames this 'mis-information' on the opponents of the bill.

Then go here... a Green Party Press Release dated 6th October 2003.

Further on in the video of Close-Up Simon Barnett, who did an awesome job in the interview, explains how Sue had told him in a radio interview that if she saw him smack his child in the supermarket she would report him to the Police. He went on to ask how can he be garanteed to not face prececution for giving a light smack. Hone Harawera's responce was "don't smack your kids".

Sue and Helen stop lying to the New Zealand Public... This is an 'Anti-Smacking Bill'

People of the land...

2007-04-02T11:30:00.000+12:00

please go here... it's very important.

If you've done that already then you can go here and see how it's going.

Clint Rickards

2007-03-09T10:23:00.000+13:00

I don't want to condone any behaviour of Clint Rickards (or Brad/Bob) but 'm very concerned!

I'm concerned at the number of high powered people making comment on the court cases. People basically implying that he is guilty when a jury (who actually saw all the evidence) has found him not guilty. Basically saying that the jury got it wrong!

Yet look at the outcry when Mr Rickards himself said the jury got it wrong when he defended his "mates".

What is happening to our country

Punks

2007-03-05T14:18:00.000+13:00

My Wife and I went to an open home yesterday and were away from the car no more than 10 minutes. While we were gone this happened...

The only thing visible in our car was a sports bag with tennis rackets, and these punks were prepared to break into a car on the side of the road in broad daylight at the promise of no more than a bag and 4 tennis rackets. Unforunately for us there was more stuff in the boot. All in all about 4k worth of stuff was taken.

The car the offenders used, a gold Mitsubishi Diamante ATS249, was a stolen vehicle. We have photos of the offender offending. We were on the scene within seconds of it occurring. We have at least 1 witness to the event. And we have the address of the offenders mate. And yet despite all this 'in our favour' the cops still did not deem this important enough to attend to.

Believe it or not...

2007-02-27T11:42:00.001+13:00

... I am still alive

this is awesome!

2006-10-18T15:43:00.000+13:00

Over 33,000 signatures!!

33,000 - 4:50 21/10
26,700 - 3:10pm 20/10
10,000 - 3:10pm 19/10
1,200 - 3:20pm 18/10

Sign on the dotted line...

2006-10-18T13:59:00.000+13:00

Sign this petition!... do it now!... cos I said so!... and so did scott!...

About Jolly Time!

2006-10-12T16:31:00.000+13:00

Labour To Pay Back Election Overspend

Surplus!!

2006-10-11T13:41:00.000+13:00

New Zealand has just posted a 11.47 billion dollar surplus!

Why is this? sorry Dr Cullen... who couldn't afford tax cuts?

$11,470,000,000 surplus

divided by

4,152,238 population

equals

$2762 per person

That for every man, woman and child that lives in New Zealand.

$53.12 every week they could've paid back to each New Zealander.

Shot Labour Government

Section 59

2006-10-09T10:19:00.000+13:00

I've done my first post on the section 59 Blog.

Check it out if you feel the need.

Dear Anonymous

2006-09-22T08:28:00.000+12:00

If you wish to discuss with me how beautiful my fiance is then please feel free to do so, providing you are not hiding like a little girl behind anonymity. Just as I would not discuss things in my personal life with random strangers on the street, with unidentified callers on my telephone or unknown txters on my mobile phone, I will not discuss such things with an anonymous commenter on my blog.

Changes

2006-09-21T08:53:00.000+12:00

You may notice a minor change to my blog.

I now have a section called "My Group Blogs" which has a (very very small) list containing other blogs which I will also post on from time to time.

- First one is the world famous ALFA BLOG. I've just posted some good news there so go check it out!
- Second is a new topical blog dedicated to the issues surrounding Section59. I haven't posted there myself yet but plan to soon so pop by for a look every so often.

Too Funny

2006-09-18T11:41:00.000+12:00

Engagement Party!

2006-09-15T13:24:00.000+12:00

Provided you are not a weird stalker type person who I don't really know, please feel free to heed the following advertisement.

Lovely Labour Leaders Look at the Law

2006-09-15T11:28:00.000+12:00

I'm amused at what has been thrown around in the media lately regarding the Labour Party's views on electioneering (i dunno if that's speled rite). To cut a long story short they seem to be looking to do 2 things;

1) Pass retrospective legislation (which is always bad news) which justifies what they did in regard to electioneering.

2) Pass legislation which makes illegal what National did in regard to electioneering.

Basically making what is illegal, legal and what is legal, illegal.

Regardless of who you support and how you feel on this particular matter, it's certainly a sign of a desperate government when they show such disregard for the law by using it simply to satisfy their own desires.

Why Mr Willis is sad

2006-09-12T10:38:00.000+12:00

Check this out.

Isn't she lovely!

2006-08-02T09:21:00.000+12:00

I know the news is nearly 2 weeks old but I thought it was still worth a post!
Anna and I are engaged!

Stop Talking

2006-07-19T12:45:00.000+12:00

Our problem in New Zealand is that we're all talk. Whenever something happens there's outrage. People ring the talkback "This shouldn't be happening in our country". People talk to their friends "This is Horrific". Then a week later we've forgotten who Chris and Cru were. - That's on a National Scale.

When you look on a more personal level we have a similar problem. Rather than solving problems we would rather talk and joke about them. It's called gossip! When we have a problem with someone what we do is we talk to everyone BUT the person we actually have the problem with.

Here's little story you may have heard!

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said,

"Socrates, do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

So think about what you're saying. Is it Truthful? is it Encouraging? is it Important to the person to whom you are speaking? I think the triple filter will eliminate a lot of crap that we don't need to say, thus giving us more time to actually act positively to solve problems!

Pride

2006-06-29T11:52:00.000+12:00

What ever happened to pride?... Not rude arrogant self pride... But pride in our families and our community.

Has any seen the new train station in Manurewa? It's not even finished yet and it's covered, and I mean really plastered, in graffiti.

And need I mention the Kahuis?

Why is it that we have such low regard for our families and community that vandalism and violence are now more than acceptable and are even cool? and how can we reverse this trend?

Wedding Pics!

2006-06-27T12:03:00.000+12:00

Here's a couple of pictures from Dwaine and Catherine Faletanoai's Wedding - 24.06.06.

In the Merc!...

And who are these studs?...
Maybe I should turn The Trying Times into a PhotoBlog?

Hehe...

2006-06-23T13:26:00.000+12:00

Why is there a dark spot in that light fitting?

Opinion Poll

2006-06-23T13:22:00.000+12:00

Who thinks I should buy this car?

Abortion

2006-06-15T16:33:00.000+12:00

Statistics Website - An Interesting Post

A Joke...

2006-06-15T15:48:00.000+12:00

This is an absolute Joke! please follow the link and read the article if you haven't already. It's long but contains a very interesting and disturbing read.

For those who don't I'll just give you a brief outline......

A boy had behavioural problems. He had kicked a hole in a toilet door at school and sworn at his Deputy Principal. For this he was give six strikes on his trousered bottom with bamboo cane, the type used to stake small pot plants. He also tried to strike his step father in the head with a baseball bat. Unable to find the bamboo cane she used a small riding crop (the "horse whip") which, she said "gives a stinging sensation which is memorable but not injurious. I have tried it on myself."

The discipline, she said, was effective. The lad gave her a hug and apologised and from then his behaviour changed radically for the better. School staff agreed there had been a huge improvement.

The mother was then harrased by CYFS and had the boy removed from her care after the so called "abuse" was discovered by a social worker.

"The Family Court awarded CYFS interim custody of my son, based on the hearsay of one social worker alone and without calling evidence to substantiate the social worker's claim."

The mother said she did not give or call evidence at the trial and it took the jury less than an hour to decide unanimously, on the prosecution evidence alone, that she was not guilty.

AND SHE STILL DOESNT HAVE HER KID BACK!

Why?...

The mother said that even though the court had ruled an assault did not occur, CYFS refused to return her son, on the grounds that he had been assaulted.

So CYFS apparently know better than the New Zealand Court System and a jury (representitives of the New Zealand Public)!

May I also add that the charges were laid with a great deal of reluctance by the police but under pressure from CYFS.

I'm very very very very concerned that CYFS, A) are able to pressure the police in that way, and B) are able to completely ignore the justice system and get away with it!

Are others concerned about this???

HAHAHA...

2006-06-12T09:13:00.000+12:00

Found this article in the NZ Herald today. Very very funny...

LONDON -

A Local Government Association memo calls for "pilot projects for the Manilow method", a system tested in Sydney, where the strains of Copacabana and Mandy were piped through loudspeakers into a car park where youths congregated.

The memo advises local councils to experiment with songs that young hooligans "would find almost unbearable to listen to and too uncool to hang around".

Maybe an answer to Scotts concerns?

TradeMe

2006-05-04T09:30:00.000+12:00

I like TradeMe.

This is good and bad at the same time.

I bought an Alfa last week.

I also bought a Sony Handycam.

The good new; These were both great deals, well worth the price that I won them for.

The bad new; I am now very broke

In other news!

2006-04-27T14:08:00.000+12:00

Check out the happenings @ The Alfa Blog

I am unfit!

2006-04-26T13:07:00.000+12:00

As you may have been previously unaware, I thought I would let you know that I am increadibly unfit. But I want to change this so I started jogging before I went away at easter and was trying to think of a way to programme this jogging so I could develop my fitness. But then why think too much when you can find something that someone else has already done. My girlfriend had found a seven week programme to develop stamina for running, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Here it is...

I only started this week so I dunno how effective it is yet. But for me it seems that it was a good place to start. So far it has not been too hardout and yet has not been too easy. Good stuff.

Dude!

2006-04-04T10:31:00.000+12:00

Come on! It stands out pretty good with those blue and black/dark dark green panels!!

Surely someone's seen it!!!

Dude, where's my car?

2006-03-25T12:00:00.000+12:00

Has anyone seen my car?

Tennis

2006-03-10T12:45:00.000+13:00

Put your hand up if you like tennis! Go on... people sitting in front of computers often raise a hand in the air.

OK... so tennis is cool! I've been playing it a bit lately. Every so often the boyz get together in the evenings and have a go. More recently Scott and I have been playing on friday mornings. We'll warm up for a bit and then play a set.

I would like to say at this point that I've been kicking Scott's butt! But that would be a HUGE lie! We've played 3 sets so far. The first week was 6-0! ouch. The second week was still 6-0! still ouch. We played again this morning and it was 6-1! It was not a whitewash. Finally I have won a game!

Oh and by the way... if Scott happens to post or comment about anything stupid that I may or maynot have done during the tennis game this morning... It's not true!

Get The Edge

2006-03-03T15:32:00.000+13:00

I was watching TV recently and there was an infomercial for "Get The Edge". This is one of those self help programs produced by my cousin Tony Robbins. The thing that caught my attention was something Tony said during an interview. He said something along the lines of...

'You don't get satisfaction by achieving. You get satisfaction by overcoming huge odds.'

I think that's really interesting. I don't think our society believes this. NCEA for example, the pass mark is 'A' which stands for Achieve. So people are incourage to Achieve with out needing to overcome any huge odds.

Just a thought

Submissions and Section 59

2006-02-27T10:28:00.000+13:00

Well I've sent away my submission, as below with a few minor changes. It's the first submission I've done, so was quite exciting. I would encourage you all to get involved with submissions on topics you feel strongly about. Go to this page and you can see a list of what submissions are being called for.

For those who are curious about public opinion on the repeal of section 59. Here are the results of some polls

A Stuff online poll found that %83.8 were opposed to the banning of smacking.

A TV1 online poll found %93 of respondents in favour of being able to use reasonable force to discipline their children.

A NZ Herald Digipoll found %71 were against repealing section 59 and only %21 in favour.

There you have 3 polls where the question was put in 3 different ways. Every time there is an overwhelming response that New Zealand does not want Section 59 repealed. However, our current Labour government has proven to us before that public opinion does not mean much. Of course they all know so much more and have a superior grasp on reality than us general public. Yeah Right!

Please pray about this Bill.

My Draft Submission

2006-02-23T10:51:00.000+13:00

SUBMISSION

To the Justice and Electoral Select Committee

On the Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill 2005

Introduction

1. This is a personal written submission from Jonathan P Willis, ** ***** ****, ********, Auckland, New Zealand.

Stance

2. I do not support the Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill 2005.

Statements

3. Section 59 is not protecting abusers. It is clearly stated in this very same crimes bill that assault on a child is a crime. Assault is defined as an attempt or threat to cause injury on another. A smack that is administered using reasonable force is not intending to cause injury but is to correct the child. If a person is intending to cause injury when they use force on a child then they have already broken the law as it stands. There is no need to add, remove or change anything.

4. Removing Section 59 will turn good parents into criminals and take away from them some of the authority they need to raise their own children. Without Section 59 a parent is legally no more entitled to use force on their own child as they are to use force on anyone else. For example, should a child refuse to get into bed, the parent cannot use any physical force on the child. Picking up the child and placing them in their bed against their will is using force. The parent no longer has the law to protect them in doing this if Section 59 is repealed.

5. 'The police won't prosecute' argument. There is a common statement from supporters of this bill that the police won?t prosecute parents who lightly smack their children or that the police are too busy to investigate a small claim such as a smack. But these statements are irrelevant. Weather they do prosecute or if they don?t. Whether they have time to investigate or not. If section 59 is removed from the crimes act the law will still stand against any parent who uses any force as a way of correction. The fact remains that the police could prosecute people, and will be obliged to do so should a complaint be laid, making criminals out of people who are good parents.

6. Parent/Child relationships are important and unique. The relationship between a parent and a child is not the same as other relationships. The parent is responsible to care and nurture and protect their Child. To bring them up as someone who is useful to society. Because of the role the parent has in this relationship they need to be able to correct the child. It is quite clear to children that if they receive a smack that what they are doing is not what they are mean to be doing. Section 59 is special as there are not many other people who are given protection from the law to use force like parents are. Removing this section is, by law, making the Parent/Child relationship the same as any other and ignoring the important role the parent has to instruct and discipline the child. This will be detrimental to the family and to society overall.

Recommendation

7. I recommend that this bill is dismissed and that section 59 remains as part of the Crimes Act. The law already stands against those who abuse their children. Section 59 does not protect child abusers. It simply protects the role of the parent which is vital to the upbringing of future generations in a way that will be of benefit to society in the years to come.

Inflaming Fury

2006-02-17T10:30:00.000+13:00

I saw a headline in the Herald today - Photos "will inflame muslim fury"

This is refering to photos of Iraqis who have been bound up, forced to stand bent over, etc by western troops in Iraq.

Why is it quite normal and accepted that Muslims will get angry and riotous because of actions against their Culture, But we have to be tolerant?!?! Why are we labelled as 'Intolerant' and 'Racist' if we even make a broad factual statement in reference to the Muslim Culture and yet muslims, so it seems, are quite within their rights to murder others because of some cartoons?!?!

I'm not wanting to encourage western troops to abuse Iraqis! I don't know exactly what's going on. And I'm not for attacking muslims for fun! But how many videos do we have of Muslims beheading westerners? or storys of muslims attacking christians and westerners... and what?... nothing... no anger... no riots? Sure we should not be intolerant for the sake of it... but it's not ultimately the Muslims who are wanting us to be tolerant of them, although I'm sure they do. It's our dumb politically correct culture. Why can't we flaming stand up for ourselves with out being victimised by our own culture!

I heard a quote recently which seems as though it applies to our Western Culture:-

"Civilizations die from suicide, not murder." - Arnold Toynbee

Debt

2006-02-17T10:00:00.000+13:00

Debt is bad kids

Don't do it!

No household slave can be the slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't be slaves to both God and money. - Luke 16:13

If you are in debt you are not in control of your finances and therefore a slave to money!

This is bad.

Who cares?

2006-02-14T08:09:00.000+13:00

Well....

I rode to work today... it took 30mins and now I'm complete stuffed, hot and bothered... hmm...

In other news... Congrats to the 'Misfits' who clocked up their first win of the season with a dominating 24-11 win over 'The Hornets'. Well done guys! For those of You who are unaware as to who the Misfits are, they are an indoor netball team which is the result of Alex's inspiration.

edited 15/02/06 - the final score was 24-11 not 23-11 as originally stated

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2005-12-22T16:15:00.000+13:00

I'm off tomorrow (23/12/05). Spending Christmas in Wellington with extended family and then off gallivanting off around the South Island over the New Year Break and the back 05/01/06.

Hope everyone has a good break and takes care.
See you all soon.

A Question

2005-11-02T09:13:00.000+13:00

This is an extract from a book I'm reading.

Clue #4: Christ Is Equal to God the Father

The fourth reason we believe that head/kephale in l Corinthians 11:3 should be understood as "source/origin" rather than "authority/leader'' is based on the theological implications for the third pair in the series, Christ/God. We know that Jesus voluntarily yielded to His Father's will throughout His earthly ministry. But this doesn't mean that within the Trinity the Son is in some sort of permanent, one-sided submission to the Father. In fact, the mutual submission we're supposed to have in the Body of Christ flows out of the mutual submission of members of the Trinity to one another.

In the Bible we see each member of the Trinity lovingly bestowing honor on the others. The Father always commends the Son and works through the Spirit; the Son always yields to the Father and promotes the Spirit, and the Spirit always points to the Son and does what the Father says. The Trinity is the ultimate model of servanthood, preferring one another in love and honor, always submitting to one another in perfect unity.

The question I have is this.

"Can anyone see anything wrong with what is written here?"

I don't want people to comment on whether they agree with it or not. I don't want people to comment on the theological implications of what is written here. I just want you think as if you had never read anything about the trinity before. From that aspect is something wrong with what is written.

Does that make sence?

Posting

2005-10-20T14:35:00.000+13:00

Well it's been a little over a month now... Should I post again?

Right Unite!

2005-09-19T14:02:00.000+12:00

What we saw on saturday night was that New Zealand doesn't want change enough! The right tried to consolodate within the National party. However this failed to gain quite enough support for them to take control in regard to coalition talks.

No one was a winner on saturday night.

Most people I know voted from either of these 2 perspectives:-

- Voted to get a christian party into government, or

- Voted to get Labour out of government.

And the reality is; both failed!

The sad thing is; if both had united to either cause I would suggest we would still have failed.

If the .8%(ish) of voters for CHNZ and DNZ had voted for National, it still wouldn't have had enough support.

and, I can't statistically prove it, but I think that

If those really commited Christians who support the idea of Christians parties but wanted Labour out of government more, had voted for CHNZ or DNZ, they still would still have not made the threshold.

Scott has some 'D' words, I've got some more.

I'm not disciplined enough. I'm not dedicated enough. I'm not desperate enough.

Pray for me that this will change.

The Weeman

2005-09-16T11:21:00.000+12:00

Thanks to all who've been praying for Carl (The Weeman) Muir.

He's recovering well and will most likely be in hospital till Monday. He's still in ward 21 at Muddlemoore so feel free to pop in for a chat if you can!

This is for those who were curious about what happened.

And as I've said before... luckily he is a Weeman... cos if you check this one out... there's not much space left!

God is so good to have spared our brother from more injury. Praise the Lord!

Petrol Prices!!!

2005-09-13T08:54:00.000+12:00

Petrol Prices have gone down!

Yay for everyone!

BUT!

I was pondering!... Petrol is not that expensive!!! Shock horror you might say!!! but think about this...

Petrol is cheaper than milk!!

Petrol is a non-renewable resource. It's main production is from overseas (it is imported). It goes through a significant refining process. All things which would suggest a high price.

Milk is a renewable resource. It is produced in abundance right here in good old New Zealand. It does go through certain processes, but doesn't need really need to. All things which would suggest a lower price.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Wow!

2005-09-07T10:02:00.000+12:00

I am really amazed!!!

I was looking around, after thinking about yesterdays post, and was wondering how things were going with the Intelligent Design Theory (IDT) vs. Evolution debate. If found this great article in the New Zealand Herald entitled Intelligent Design - coming to a school near you.

What is amazing is the angle taken. For once the Christian perspective (IDT) is not being rubbished! It is almost as though the Science Teacher (Evolutionists) are the ones being put in a bad light.

If you have time, you should read it! It's very cool.

That would never happen here!?!?

2005-09-06T09:07:00.000+12:00

I was listening to the talkback yesterday. On the afternoon program they were discussing the situation of lawlessness which occurred after hurricane Katrina. The question was asked - "Would that happen here?"

People were so shocked at the reaction people had to such a terrible tragedy. That instead of helping-out, people would rather take the opportunity to abuse those in need.

But really it's not that amazing at all?!

At School, and right through life, people are not taught the value of human life. We are told that Humans evolved from nothing and that we are just animals. We believe the evolutionary statement "that the fittest will survive."

So why are we so surprised when we see/hear of people taking things at gunpoint from people dying in a hospital! Afterall - Only the fittest will survive! Those sick in hospital are no use to anyone! If you have weapons you have a means to be the fittest and to survive. Why not use them?

Our society preaches a message "We Are Just Animals!" yet is so astounded when we actually act like animals!

What's up people?!

State of the Nation

2005-08-31T10:44:00.000+12:00

Dear Anybody and Everybody

Please come down to Covenant Presbyterian Church, 77 Rogers Road, Manurewa, at 7am - each morning - and join us in prayer for the state of our nation and the coming election.

Regards,

Somebody

What can we do?

2005-08-25T13:25:00.000+12:00

There has been alot of coverage lately of rock throwing, crap in movies, twisted media coverage, banning of smacking, pornographic advertising, etc.

There's so much crap going around. But what can we do about it? I mean complaining's fun! But it doesn't always help!

I'm thinking I don't wanna be raising my kids with all this going on!

But how can we fix it?

Does anyone have any practical things that we can do to reverse the decline of our country?

I'm still angry

2005-08-10T09:26:00.000+12:00

In fact I'm more angria!

"He then spoke to the Prime Minister and after a brief conversation, which I was not privy to, advised me that they needed to make the 16.50 hours flight."

"The Prime Minister passed the comment at the end of the trip that it was a very heroic drive. I believed she was happy that she had got somewhere to keep her schedule.

"I wasn't aware until two and a half hours or three hours later when we got back to home that she was sitting at the rugby in Wellington, which brassed me off a bit.

I can't believe that only 3 people care enough about this to comment!

10:46:- This post was edited to make Strong Bad happy.

I am angry!

2005-08-03T16:30:00.000+12:00

These are extracted from articles which were in the NZ Herald
------------------------------------------------------------------
30.07.05

The Weekend Herald understands that neither Helen Clark nor Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton, who was also in the motorcade, will give evidence.

An application was made by at least one defence lawyer for certain witnesses to be called, but this was refused by Judge John Strettell and neither politician can be compelled to appear in court when Parliament is sitting.

01.08.05

The Prime Minister's motorcade had no legal right to be travelling at speeds over 140km an hour through Canterbury last July a court has heard.

02.08.05

The defendants had incorrectly interpreted the situation as "one of extreme urgency" and they had no legal right to travel in such a way.

The motorcade allegedly travelled the 205km from Waimate to Christchurch at an average of more than 128km/h to ensure that Helen Clark could catch a flight to get her to Wellington in time for a Bledisloe Cup rugby test.

02.08.05

A bus driver transporting high school students had to pull his vehicle to the roadside to avoid colliding with the Prime Minister's speeding motorcade, a court has heard.

03.08.05

Christchurch company director Warwick Wright told the Timaru District Court he called the *555 service to complain about the excessive speed and bad driving of two vehicles he saw on the outskirts of Christchurch on July 17 last year.

He said he provided the registration number of one of the cars to a police receptionist.

"I made the phone call because I was concerned about what I saw as a continual bad standard of driving.

"I was told that vehicle that I had complained about was the Prime Minister's car and [the receptionist] had no jurisdiction or ability to do anything about it."

Christchurch journalist Brent Fraser told the court he felt his family's lives were at risk when he had to swerve his car to the left to allow the motorcade past near the Mid-Canterbury township of Chertsey.

"They were all travelling down the middle of the road," Mr Fraser said of the three vehicles.

"It looked as though they were nose to bumper."

Mr Fraser said he believed the motorcade was travelling faster than 140km/h.

Timaru housewife Deborah Mitchell told the court she was in a Temuka dairy when she saw the motorcade go past in a 50km/h zone at a speed she estimated to be about 140km/h.

"I thought there must be some really horrible emergency. I spent the weekend worried about what had happened."
------------------------------------------------------------------
I have just heard on the radio news that evidence has been given at the trial claiming that on arriving at the airport the PM and co had a 30 minute wait in the Koru lounge!
------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a joke!

We have a Prime Minister who feels that her presence at a rugby test is more important than the safety dozens of road users and is quite happy to sit back and let 6 people go to court over something that, if she didn't initiate, she could have stopped!

This reminds me of the Paintergate scandal!
------------------------------------------------------------------
Helen Clark,

You are our representitive leader.
You are not better than us neither are you more important.
You are not above the law.
Your power is given to you by us.
You have forgotten this, and I hope that you will be reminded when New Zealand remove you from power at the coming election.

Hog

2005-08-03T09:11:00.000+12:00

1.
a) Any of various mammals of the family Suidae, which includes the domesticated pig as well as wild species, such as the boar and the wart hog.
b) A domesticated pig, especially one weighing over 54 kilograms (120 pounds).

2.
a) A self-indulgent, gluttonous, or filthy person.
b) One that uses too much of something.

3. also hogg
a) Chiefly British. A young sheep before it has been shorn.
b) The wool from this type of sheep.

4. Slang. A big, heavy motorcycle.

According to irrefutable sources I am a hog.

Movin' on up!

2005-08-02T08:44:00.000+12:00

Because I posted about being No. 7 on Yahoo for "regrowth of facial hair on girls" I have been promoted! I am now No. 3!...

I wonder if this post, because it also has the words "regrowth of facial hair on girls", will move me even closer to the top! maybe one day I'll be No. 1!

Not again!!!

2005-08-01T08:17:00.000+12:00

I've been search engined again! this time it was by Yahoo. and once again the infamous topic of facial hair was the reason!!

regrowth of facial hair on girls

Search for that on Yahoo and my blog will come up at No 7. Not a bad ranking!

Quote

2005-07-27T16:44:00.000+12:00

This quote just seemed appropriate to a disscussion I had with some friends the other night.

Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events.
Small minds discuss people.
- Anon

TradeMe

2005-07-27T11:23:00.000+12:00

I have some stuff on trade me!

If you need Toner Cartridges for a Xerox Tektronix Phaser 6200 then check it out!

Bread

2005-07-25T14:28:00.000+12:00

Jesse has recently posted on the negatives of coke.

I thought this would then be a good time to dispell any rumours - Here's the statistical evidence that proves that bread is bad for you!

- More than 98% of convicted felons have had bread.

- 99.9 percent of all people who die from cancer have eaten bread

- 99.7 percent of the people involved in air and auto accidents ate bread within 6 months preceding the accident

- 93.1 percent of juvenile delinquents came from homes where bread is served frequently

- Half of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

- Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.

- Bread is often a "gateway" item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.

i did it too

2005-07-20T11:10:00.000+12:00

Chocolate Sunday

2005-07-12T11:58:00.000+12:00

I'm planning on doing a post on Sunday soon but would like to understand what my readers think about Sunday.

I'm going to steal Nathan's idea and do a little survey, so little that it only has one question! Please do not ruin this by commenting about other peoples answers. As I've said I will post on this topic soon and we can do that then.
Please just answer the question!

What is Sunday for?

A smack on the BoT's Bot!!

2005-07-06T09:18:00.000+12:00

I heard this news article being discussed on the radio this morning!

School trustee role 'too hard for parents'

I can so see people trying to use this to get rid of the BoT's from schools to allow the state to further control education...

We need to remove Labour from power as this is Helen Clark's goal. To have 24hr state run childcare.

This is also a hint for Scott to continue his series on Christian Education! :)

Google

2005-07-05T09:50:00.000+12:00

I was using the trusty sitemeter to see what was happening in the life of my blog and found that someone had linked to my blog from Google! WOHOO! I'm famous!

But guess what they were searching for?!... bleaching moustaches, how

HAHA

I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank Michelle for her comment that has allowed my blog to feature at No.9 on such a prestigious search engine!

Smack

2005-07-04T08:40:00.000+12:00

The New Zealand Herald this morning has shown once again how our government is favouring minority groups.

More than 70 per cent of voters want parents to keep the right to use "reasonable force" to punish their children - despite growing support in Parliament for a controversial bill that many see as anti-smacking.

It also shows that being a professor at a University doesn't mean you have to be smart.

Auckland University psychologist Associate Professor Fred Seymour said the repeal of section 59 was being confused with the related issue of outlawing hitting children - something the bill would not do.

"If the section 59 situation was explained carefully, the majority would see the sense in it being removed. There is no way police are going to rush out and prosecute parents for smacking their children."

Could someone show me where there is any legal protection for parents if section 59 is removed? Just saying that when section 59 is removed that "There is no way police are going to rush out and prosecute parents for smacking their children." doesn't mean that they can't or that they won't in the future! As Nato said in a comment on this topic earlier a few politicians saying that the police won't prosecute parents will mean absolutely nothing to anyone in 10 years yet alone 40 or 50!

Another Opinion

2005-07-04T08:22:00.000+12:00

Anita has posted on her thoughts on who she might vote for and also some interesting thoughts about United Future.

Check it out.

Another reason

2005-06-30T10:18:00.000+12:00

Scott just showed me this article

A clear majority of Parliament looks set to support sending Green MP Sue Bradford's controversial anti-smacking bill to a select committee for public submissions....

National social services spokeswoman Judith Collins said her party opposed the bill and would replace it with a full review of the child abuse issue if it won power.

Who to vote for?!?!

2005-06-29T14:02:00.000+12:00

I have been thinking, due to this post, who I should vote for.

My first reaction is to say that my main goal in the future of New Zealand Government is that Labour be removed from the position where it can do more damage.

This can only be done one way.

National.

Let me explain my reasons.

Under MMP there is no point voting for small parties. The chance that they pass the 5% needed to get into parliment is too low. In the last 2 elections under MMP approx 5% of votes have been discarded due to this. This means the voting %'s are redistributed meaning bigger parties get more MP's. If the votes allocated to smaller parties were actually given to the party they were intended for at the last election, then Ashraf Choudhary would not be in parliment. His abstention in the Prositution reform bill allowed it to pass.

So unfortunately parties that are not yet in parliment will struggle to get there. Which is a shame because I would like to vote for a party like christian heritage or maybe destiny but doing so will waste my vote, as i have done at the last 2 elections!

Of the parties already in government. The Greens and Progressives both support Labour unquestionably. So they are ruled out.

United future seems to have some good ideas and a seeming christian base to it, but they also supported Labour. Which is a decision I'm sure they regret now, but never-the-less I will not vote for them because of it.

The Maori Party... well i'm not Maori... sorry i don't know much about them but won't be voting for them as I would like to see an end to treaty claims, race based funding, etc.

ACT. They unfortunately may fall below the 5% and with no promised electoral seat, voting for them could also be a wasted vote.

So that leaves NewZealand First, and National.

And after viewing a pp slide showing different party views (voting) on matters of national moral significance. National came out on top. Actually they came out on top of every other party except for United Future.

__________________

Just as an aside... I have been also thinking, because of this post, that I should vote Labour. As it would be better for Labour to be in power when the country crashes down around us.

Just a thought!

Social Service vs. Social Action

2005-06-28T09:47:00.000+12:00

Lets create an illustration to show the difference between these 2 things.

...There is a street corner which has no traffic lights or give way signs or any kind of traffic control systems in place. This corner has become notorious for serious accidents because of this...

Social Service would be likened to the Ambulance or other emergency services which attend the scene of these accidents. A vital thing in this situation.

Social Action would be likened to the people who petition local or central government to install traffic control systems at this intersection. Also vital.

Here is a real life situation

...Our country is falling apart because it is falling away from God...

Social Service is spreading the Gospel, helping those discriminated against, etc

Social Action is working with government to move our country back to a Biblical Moral Base.

If we Only have ambulances and never install traffic lights or if we have no ambulances and only install traffic lights then we will have big problems...

Christians as a whole need to be involved in both. And not just that, we need to work together, not criticize each other.

Social Action and Social Service are not opposites. They are different things but ultimately they leading to the same purpose. They are both nessesary.

Hello Mrs Davis

2005-06-28T08:46:00.000+12:00

Anita was asking "What should I wear/do/say(?)" when Helen comes to her work today. Well I'm thinking that mentioning this mornings Herald-DigiPoll may not be a good idea!

I'm Saddened

2005-06-27T10:45:00.000+12:00

I want to Blog... I have so much to say... But I am also feeling Down.

So I won't bother.

Breaking news!

2005-06-25T18:51:00.000+12:00

This just in....

Andrew J Couthard still dislikes facial hair but he does have himself a blog.

You can find it right here

Um... I'd like to have an argument please

2005-06-23T13:55:00.000+12:00

What happened to good old debate and argument.

What is really annoying is when you put up a good argument and people respond by either personal attack or a statement about how your argument is wrong and having absolutely no reasoning nor counter argument to back up their claims!

Lefties! RAAAAAA!

Lost and Found

2005-06-22T09:17:00.000+12:00

I've lost something!!! I was wondering if anyone could help me find it! I was looking for it this morning and it just wasn't anywhere!!

Has anyone seen Customer Service lately?????

I journeyed via Shell Manurewa this morning to gain some needed petrol. Arriving on the forecourt I was confronted by numerous vehicles scattered about, all waiting in anticipation for the vacating of one of the precious pumps. After my, not massive but significant, wait I was able to get into a pump space (and meanwhile more cars were arriving!). I ventured into the shop to find a small queue of persons waiting to pay for their petroleum.

What blew me away, was this... Inside the shop I found, with my very own eyes, 4 people in Shell uniforms.... Not 1.... Not 2.... Not 3.... But FOUR! How can this chaos be created when 4 staff are on shift!!! There was NO ONE on the forecourt, 1 person on the till and the remaining 3 people were standing around laughing while 1 of them stacked KitKats nicely on the shelves!!

RAAAAAAAA

I repeat... Has anyone seen Customer Service lately?????

Look out New Zealand!

2005-06-21T09:34:00.000+12:00

Apparently Cave People have been spotted in auckland!

Yay

2005-06-21T07:58:00.000+12:00

Check it out!

Maybe people aren't as stupid as I'd thought!

We're all a bunch of monkeys!

2005-06-20T09:31:00.000+12:00

What up kids!!

Well I'm gonna just rant about creation. Hope you don't mind.

I had the privilege of attend a few answers in Genesis Seminars over the weekend!
How awesome was that?!
Big ups to the AIG people for their hard work and putting on the free seminars for us. It was such an encouragement!

So yeah... I'm gonna jump on Scott's bandwagon here... State education is not neutral!!! Science taught from the perspective of evolution is not neutral.

Evolution is not science! it's a belief system.

for example... as bible believing Christians we say that God has existed forever... and that the earth was created by God from nothing... and people say "what a load of rubbish.... you can create something from nothing! And how can God have existed forever!"

so lets look at evolution... it started with the big bang... what happened with the big bang... first there was nothing... then nothing exploded and created everything... same problem.... something is created from nothing!

same issue!

Then some smart scientist came up with an awesome idea to solve this... "No it wasn't something from nothing... What's happening is a repeating cycle where there's a big bang... then everything compresses again and then there's another bang again and so on and so forth" and all they're doing is pushing the problem back millions on years. It still had to start at some point! Or maybe it has been in existence forever...

Same issue!

These flaws in their theory make it as much based on faith and belief as any other religion.

Evolution vs creation is not science vs religion... but religion vs religion.

And therefore the belief system of evolution being taught as a basis for science in our state schools means our state schools are teaching religion.

They're not neutral!

RAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Small Furry Creatures

2005-06-17T14:42:00.000+12:00

On the facial hair front!...

I cannot believe people could think that facial hair could potentially make the difference between marrying someone or not!

I was trying to stick up for the girls in this world that they live in under an intense pressure to look good. but it seems that's how they prefer it!

oh well...

Girls! This post is dedicated to girls

2005-06-15T08:09:00.000+12:00

I have been thinking recently and have decided that I feel incredibly sorry for girls! And also that I would never want to be one!

With the push of the feminist movement women now have the vote and many other opportunities in life mainly in the area of career choices and the like.

But why I feel sorry for girls is because along side these things the pressure on girls to fit in and look good has also increased.

My thinking on this came about due to the discussion of facial hair. A lot of girls don’t like facial hair, and a possible explanation for this I think could be that girls are jealous.

If I guy does not shave his face for a few weeks, no one really cares! It doesn’t affect him and doesn’t really affect others. The odd person might say “that looks bad” but also people may say “that looks good”. No big deal.

But,
If a girl were to not shave her legs for 3 weeks! That’s social suicide! She couldn’t leave the house! People would laugh at her and talk about it behind her back!

I suggest an underlying reason for girls problem with facial hair is that they wish this same pressure that is on them, to be on the guys also!

Shame on us!

Shame on society!

That we are so superficial!

Why I know the Bible to be true

2004-05-17T22:17:00.000+12:00

I was thinking to myself the other day, cos I have no friends, and I thought. The basics of the bible is actually quite easy. You believe and trust in God and you live forever. And I was thinking to myself... am I being sucked into this thing. Really being a christian there is no bad outcome to life. If I have lived my life showing Christ like qualities then I when I die if I simply cease to exist, then that's not a bad thing, I would have lived well. If however the bible is true then of course there's eternal life in Glory with the God and people that I love. There doesn't seem to be a bad outcome. I don't know of any religious groups that state that if you live a good moral life you will suffer eternal punishment.

So in my ramblings to myself I thought... what if this is just a joke? In a sencs it seems so obvious to me that when I die nothing bad will happen to me if I live as a Christian. So what if someone made it up as a safe guard for people to keep them happy while they're alive?

But then it dawned on me. If it was so obvious... as it is obvious to me... why isn't everyone a christian?... The Bible is only obvious to me because I am a christian, not the other way around. It's not obvious to others because their souls are dead to it's message. Mine was made alive to the message, through the Holy Spirit, and now it makes sense to me.

Praise the Lord

2004-05-13T10:16:00.000+12:00

Good Morning All,

I'm going to write a post.

Well, I've been thinking lately. And I'm getting concerned for our country. I would like Parents in this country to take a stand for their children. I'm sick of our government making parents feel that they're not reponsible for their kids anymore.

Parents are responsible for their kids education - not the government
Parents are responsible for raising their kids - not Child, Youth and Family Service
Parents are responsible for their kids sex education - not the Family Planning Clinic

Parents,

Your Childrens lives are shaped by 4 things;

God
Their DNA
Their Environment
Their Choices

God and DNA... no one has control over.

Environment - until the age of 16 - 18 is completely controlled by the parents

Choices - until the age of 8 - 10 is completely controlled by the parents and after that parents still have a huge input into the things children choose.

Parents have a huge reposiblility to their kids and before God to make sure their kids grow up to be of benefit to our society.

Things like abortion and homosexuality are now considered right in our society.

Kids are allowed hormone replacement at the age of 13 to change their gender.
Girl now can have abortions without parents consent.

Parents need to train their kids from an early age that these things aren't right so they don't make stupid mistakes.

People often say teaching kids from a christian perspective from a young age is brainwashing them. Yet they send them into an education system that brainwashes them with statements like "Be true to yourself" - how does a 13 year old know what being true to themselves mean? - and "Sex is ok, as long as you use a Condom" - Is all of a sudden being pregnant the worst thing that can happen to you?.

New Zealand Needs GOD!

2004-05-10T13:26:00.000+12:00

[ Song Lyrics ]

Traded in my ticket... I grew up and traded it in
Can't do it again, can't go back, it's time now, can't do it again
I can't go back, this time has come

Across the sea, I see you but you don't see me, train leaves at 9p. It's only memories now of the days that past so quickly, remember the days I used to sing those songs, the days on the other end of the track seem so far away, and now, in this Alcatraz of the city, I've traded in my ticket, traded it in. Forget all that, train leaves at 9p

Whispers heard so clearly in this wild night, rain that never seems to stop even when the grey has gone. See a lady in a white dress singing "I was lost but now I'm found"? Yeah, well I traded in my ticket. She led me into it really, the concrete girl with her fine eyes and wild hair, I ripped a piece off and gave it to the man on the door, it wasn't much, just the corner, and I traded it in, followed her in there so many times, each time just a little more
gave it to the man as I walked in the door

Never the less, I make my way to the station, tears fall from the darkened sky, sit on the wet bench, watch the people board. Regret hits like the train in front of me, stranded now. And what for? Because I traded in my only way home, for the company of this... concrete city

There is a shuffle beside me, I look up to see a face I don't know. "Lost your ticket son?" I look away, can't handle this shame. He pulled something white from his pocket, "this is my one."... my eyes start to fill as he turns and walks away... whistle's blowing now, everything's gone

My hand touched something as I clutched the wetted wood bench, he'd left it there, his own ticket, perfect and white. His name had been scratched out, mine in place, I know who he was now, it's easier to see from this side of the tracks. He died out there, alone in that concrete prison, so I could be here, across the sea.

(Soda - Concrete City)

2004-05-06T09:27:00.000+12:00

[ I am Amused ]

I'd just had a little chuckle to myself the other day. I was just thinking about the whole Forebed and seashore thing, and was amused by the fact that Don Brash, who opened this huge can of worms, is now sitting back (quite smuggly, i would imagine) out of the media's spotlight, watching the labour party self destruct because of it.

2004-05-05T10:09:00.000+12:00

[ Birthday ]

Yay! It's Scott's birthday today!

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday dear Scott
Happy Birthday to You

2004-05-04T10:48:00.000+12:00

[ Psalm 1 ]

Blessed is the man

who does not
walk in the counsel of the wicked
or
stand in the way of sinners
or
sit in the seat of mockers

But
his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and
on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
That brings forth fruit in season
and whose leaf does not withers.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like the chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

2004-05-03T14:21:00.000+12:00

[ THE BIBLE ]

What is the Bible?

I think as Christians we underestimate the Bible.

To us it seems to be a book of laws, a book of dos and don’ts.

The Bible is a story.

A true story.

As Christians it should be our story.

We’re told that no one can add to the Bible.

In a sense this is true.

But I think this causes us to distance ourselves from it.

Because it is our story I think we can add to it. And we must add to it.

We need to continue to write the story.

We have to live our lives as part of this story.

How do we do that?

N T Wright asks us to think of the Bible as a 5 act play.

Act 1 – Creation
Act 2 – The Fall
Act 3 – The life of Israel
Act 4 – Jesus
Act 5 – The Church

Now Act 5, The Church, has not been completed. Only Scene 1 has been written.

To perform this play it needs to be completed.

How best would we finish this play?

To do justice to the message the Author is trying to give we must first read what has been written so far.

To live our lives as part of the Bible story we need to READ the bible!

Wow!

Nothing new you say!

But! We need to read it as a story. A whole true story. Our story. Not pick out pieces of the Bible as we need them. Not taking parts of it and saying “you can” or “you can’t”.

When we take it as our story, and read it as a whole. We find out that Joshua (for example) was not some mystical guy that did some magical and heroic things, some old codger who did things back in the weird old days.

Joshua was just like us. Our Ancestor. Someone trying to please his God. Our God.

He was part of our story.

A story that we must continue.

Not in blindness.

But with direction -

The knowledge of the story that has already happened.

2004-04-05T11:44:00.000+12:00

Well....

I wonder who will be the first person to read this? haha

2003-09-04T22:00:00.000+12:00

[ Breaking and Entering ]

I broke into a car today! tehe how cool is that?! well technically I didn't break anything... the door was unlocked! The silly people had left their lights on... and the rear left door unlocked. So I opened the door, got in, turned off the lights, climbed out and locked the door. I was kinda wishing I had a pen and paper around cos it would've been cool to leave them a note as I'm sure they'll probably never notice anything even happened!

[ Save Mart ]

I got 4 shirts and a pair of shorts for $32!! And these are good clothes.... not like op shopy smelly dirty old clothes... in fact one of the shirts I bought still had the original tag on it. never been worn! Good job... thanks Save Mart!

2003-09-03T21:53:00.000+12:00

[ Runs ]

I've been going for runs lately... well more like a jog with alot of walking... but that's fast walking... not just stink walking. Anyway... The curcuit is 3.5k and i've been timing myself each time. I was thinking i should record them before a forget so where's a better place than my blog.

29:00
28:30
28:15
27:15
25:45

I'm really impressed that i've got faster each time! so it must actually be doing something!

[ My 21st ]

For those of you who i'm gonna invite... nah just kidding... everyone (who i know... not like freaky stalker people who just happen to read this blog!) is invited. My 21st is gonna be on the 26th of Sept at Covenant. The themes gonna be like a radioactive kinda thing, so get you brain ticking for something to wear! tehe

[ Shelf ]

I made a shelf... It cost 18 dollars... that's pretty cheap for a shelf... its' nearly 2 metres tall... and abot 400mm wide... it's cool.

2003-08-26T17:21:00.000+12:00

[ Newspaper articles ]

I've been really impressed with some of the thing that have been said in our papers lately! Thanks to people like Scott and others the Christian values and ideas that our country once held dear are being expressed!

This was taken from The "SIDESWIPE" column in the NZ Herald today - 26.08.2003.

If only Bill English was Prime Minister these NZ Catholic readers would have nothing to complain about:

"It was announced in our parish newsletter that the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, will be special guest for the celebration and blessing of the refurbished administration block and library at our local Catholic school. Gee, isn't it great to have such a special guest who doesn't believe in God, is openly pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-homosexual law reform and whose Government's policies devalue marriage and undermine family values. How appropriate is that? Was it really so hard to find anybody who promotes Christian values, rather than somebody so diametrically opposed to them? Is it really any wonder it is generally thought Catholics have lost the plot and have no credibility in today's society? What next? Bishop Pat Dunn opening an abortion clinic? It seems anything is possible.

A. Slater and B. Minnear,
Whangamata.

PS: Sorry, Bishop Pat!"

2003-08-19T12:11:00.000+12:00

[ GLORY AND HONOUR ]

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GLORY AND HONOUR?

I WAS TRYING TO WORK THIS OUT AND WAS WONDERING IF I COULD HAVE SOME OTHER PEOPLES OPINIONS ON THE MATTER.

[ CAPS LOCK DAY ]

ISN'T IT GREAT! IT'S CAPS LOCK DAY TODAY. WE CAN BREAK THE UNWRITTEN RULE THAT STRONG BAD LOVES.

[ ROTORUA ]

I'M GOING TO ROTOVEGAS TOMORROW, SO BE GOOD WITH OUT ME AND DON'T LEAVE RUDE COMMENTS JUST COS YOU KNOW I'M NOT THERE!!!

[ DUH BUH FUH ]

THERE IS A NEW STRONG BAD EMAIL... HOW COOL IS THAT! AND ABOUT TIME TOO!!!!

2003-08-18T11:18:00.000+12:00

[ Continuing Chatter to Clearly Cover the Concerning Case of Contoversy ]

Just a small note. My friend Nato believes there is a problem with controversy. I would tend to agree with his point, but just like to say that I think the problem is not so much with controversy. The problem is with our attitude. That is why I stated that controversy for the sake of arguement is not helpful. If we are arguing for no genuine reason we can find ourselves believing something just for the sake of it and argue it up to a point where we believe something that we only believe because we've argued for it for no reason. If that makes sence. Another thing. Arguement and controversy are not the same thing. If we create contoversy we should first believe that our position is complete, true and biblical. Only then should we consider make controversy. If controversy then just becomes an arguement then maybe we need to find a different appoach!! As we've established that the person creating controversy has a biblical position then the person argueing with them must be wrong. Most likely they will continute arguing and if it gets to a point where they just don't see your point of view then continuing to argue helps no one. If this is the case then they need the Holy Spirit to clarify it for them, not a big arguement that goes nowhere.

[ YBC ]

For those of you who have not been to a Youth Bible Conference before this is a wicked opportunity to grow in your relationship with and knowledge of the Lord and also to meet Christian people from around the country.

I've just added to the site all the information you need so you can organise your holidays around coming to YBC.

2003-08-15T09:44:00.000+12:00

[ Comment... ]

This start as a comment in response to Dan’s post on controversy…

Society today is all about fitting in. Blending in and following the norm, so much that even Christians try and fit in with this trend. They think that if you cause a stir then it will draw attention and that’s not good. Christians seem to be happy being private Christians, worried that people will think they’re stupid for being a Christian. I know this was true for me. Right through my school years I was happy just cruising. All my friends knew I went to church, but that’s pretty much where it stopped. I think we need to realise that this trend in society to blend in with the norm is not biblical. A lot of Churches, in a genuine attempt to reach out to young people of this age, have tried blending in with contemporary culture. But this is not what we’re called to do. What we forget is Matt 5:13-14

Salt and Light
13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

If we blend in with the world we will have nothing to offer the world as we have become like the world. Salt makes us thirsty, If we stand apart, different from the World then we can make the world thirst for what they don’t have. Rather than us trying to offer them a lifestyle which is no different to the one they’re currently living.

I’ll come back to Dan’s topic now. Controversy for the sake of argument I don’t think is very helpful. Controversy for the sake of being salt and light in this world of darkness I think is very important.

Thanks Dan… Let’s all try and be a bit more controversial

[ Music ]

One way we can be different and stand apart form the world is by thinking about what Music we listen to. There is so much blasphemous ungodly trash on the radio these days. The thing is... there's no reason why, as Christians, we should put up with this. There's so much decent music around. If you don't know of any why not try Life FM instead of what ever else you listen to. There's heaps of different kinds of music on there. I've recently started getting a few Christian CD's as well. I refered to PFR in my last post they're awesome. My favourite CD of the moment is one I've recently aquired. It's called 'Take Two' By Ill Harmonics. Highly recommended cd. It's kinda old school rap. With Drums that sound like real drums, cool organs and the odd bit of classical guitar.... check it out

2003-08-13T16:17:00.000+12:00

[ I must be bored... ]

I thought i'd play with yahoo see where I came!

jono's blog - 2

thus spake jono - 1

i'm not very good at keeping my blog upto date - 1

dan's online diary - 19

scotty's blog - 2

nato's blog - 3

There you go lots of pointless information!!!

[ PFR ]

I got my Pray For Rain (PFR) CD's today! I'm very happy... Brought all six of their albums! If you've never heard them then you're missing out!! I strongly recommend you get hold of one of their cd's somehow. Borrow them off me! but only if you're careful.

Here's the lyrics to my favourite PFR song - Forever.

I'm remembering the words inside my head
I heard them yesterday
A whisper telling me that life waits up ahead
Beyond the day to day
Through this world will hand me my fair share of pain
Leave me broken and bruised
I know there's a Father and His Son who know my name
And They will see me through
Oh yeah, I know

I believe He paid the price
A sacrifice so we could be together
Forever
And I know when I see Jesus' face
All my tears will be erased forever
Forever

Hidden in my heart
The day He called me friend
The day He set me free
I found Him one summer day
Or better said, Jesus, You found me
I gave You my loneliness and broken heart
You gave to me Your love, Your love

I've come to know
I've come to know love
I've come to know the truth
I've come to know
I've come to know love

I believe he paid the price
A sacrifice so we could be together
Forever
And I do believe I'll see the face
Of Jesus and we'll both embrace together
Forever

I want this song played at my funeral.... not that i'm planning one having one soon... but you know!

2003-08-12T10:30:00.000+12:00

[ Strong Men ] - like Strong Bad and Strong Mad... Strong Sad is a girl
As I said in my previous post, I'm was not suggesting everyone go out of their way and put everyone down! What I'm saying, is that the world is going to crap because the leadership in so many areas of our society is moving further and further away from God's Word. As Christians and especially the Christian Men we need to rise and meet this challenge!
You're right Anita about the woman at the well. There's also the adulterous woman that was dragged before Jesus. He said ‘he who is without sin cast the first stone’ and basically let her get away with it. In both those cases the women, I believe, were convicted of their sin. The thing with Jesus is he knows our hearts. He knows when a kind word or encouragement was needed and when something stronger was called for. When he confronted the traders at the Temple he didn’t just say ‘Go in peace, your sins are forgiven’, he trashed their stalls. Because he knew their hearts he knew what the right action to take was.

Yes we do need to show God’s love and graciousness to the world. But in doing so we can’t just let ourselves be walked all over. I believe, as Lou pointed out, In many situations we are infact showing our love by standing up for what is right.

2003-08-11T15:35:00.000+12:00

I'm wondering if i should conform to the current trend of using Headings for each topic!.......
........
....
.......

ok

[ MEN ]
Right... I'm kinda picking up from a few different topics that have been going round. What sparked me to put it down was Nato's post the other day. Nato asks this important question "Where are men now??????". Dan picked up earlier on feminism and how feminist are not try to make themselves equal with males.... but are actually trying to become men. And I believe this is part of the problem. As Females are taking over the role ordained for males... the males are being pushed aside. So what we have is the genders swapping roles. Males are becoming more feminine. To the world this is not really a problem. But as Christians it most definately is, as it is reversing God's created order. As Christian men we need to start standing up for what we believe and stop letting the world go by and take over more and more of our lives. Dan has brought up some real controversial topics recently... The thing that annoyed me was when everyone starts saying that we have to be nice and we shouldn't say things like that. What happens then is everyone backs down and shuts up. Which is nice from a 'keeping the peace' point of view, but all it has done is lead people to compromise their views. What's wrong with saying that Arminianism and Feminism are wrong??? they are!!!!....... People sitting back trying to be nice about aren't solving anything. Sure I'm not saying we need to go out of our way and be horrible about it!! but i'm not going to apologise for what the Bible says!

2+2=4.... whether you believe it or if you don't!

The problem with Men today is generally they are quite happy letting people believe that 2+2=3 - just what ever feels right for you - We'll just let the feminists believe that 2+2=5 that's ok whatever works for them - People need to be confronted with their sin before they're confronted with it on judgement day.

Men of God
Men of the Bible
Men of Integrity
Men of Faith

Where are men now?????? This is answered very easily. They are sitting in the crowd hanging out. We will only notice them when they stand up. When we add to this list 'Men of Action' then people will start to notice them.

Moas - Men Of Action - We should be saying what Scott loves to say "MOAs - back from extinction"

[ Links for lost surfers ]

Chris Mason-Battley showed me this and also this at work the other day. Both which I found quite amusing.

[ Quote ]

It's time i put a quote on here.

Teach us, Good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest:
To give, and not to count the cost;
to fight, and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do Thy will.
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

St. Ignatius Loyola

2003-08-07T08:37:00.000+12:00

I got mad at my Blog... Uh... For finding nothing to rhyme with paper,
......... Uh...... I hope don't see it's name in the paper,
in the obituaries... cos that would mean it's Dead

My (clap) Blog is not dead (clap)(clap)
I'm so glad my (clap) blog is not dead
My (clap) Blog is not dead (clap)(clap)
I'm so glad my (clap) blog is not dead
My (clap) Blog is not dead (clap)(clap)
I'm so glad my (clap) blog is not... Just the claps
(clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)... keep it rolling guys... (clap)(clap)(clap)(clap)

Well here I am.

I am posting a post

I'd just like to pick up on the topic that seem to be so popular at the moment.

Two Choices...

I'm going to give everyone two choices today.

Option 1

You can go about doing what you would normally do today

or

Option 2

You can jump to the moon - The cool thing about this option is once you get to the moon all sickness and disease will cease. There will be no crime. Your body will revert to it's perfect form and will never tire. You will live for eternity with every single one of your needs met in abundance.

Which one will you choose?.. Option 1 or Option 2? - "Of course" you say "we will choose option 1. Option 2 is impossible. We cannot jump to the moon." - You say you have choosen option 1? but in fact you didn't. You infact had no choice in the first place.

This is answered in the assumtion that Option 2 is impossible, as we can't under our own power, jump to the moon.

Scenario 2

What if the power was given to you to jump to the moon?

I would suggest that given these two options any person with the ability to comprehend them would choose Option 2.
Again this is not actually a choice. Noone would choose Option 1.

Now you can argue that maybe there is someone who would infact choose option 1, but i think if you really think about it you would just be saying that for agruements sake. And also... my arguement has a flaw... it doesn't take into account the Holy Spirit... he works far beyond our comprehention.

Well I hope you've enjoyed the post.

2003-07-03T22:06:00.000+12:00

In Memoriam

-Jono's Blog-

2003-06-21T00:17:00.000+12:00

Well well well....
I'm just winding down for the day.
My parents are away in Nelson for my Uncles birthday, so I decided to have some guys over for dinner. It was pretty cool.... the dinner tasted great. The only thing that I didn't like was how the T.V. kinda killed the evening a bit. As soon as it is switched on it has the power to destroy all sensible conversing that is going on and it has some kind of gravitational force that draws people to it. It's quite sad really. In the end we started playing cards which was a nice change. We played 'scum' or 'president'... well it has a few other names but they're not worth repeating. I can quite proudly say that i was never scum! (how ever a was vice-scum on more than one occasion). It was a nice suprise when Debbie Winter showed up. Not something you would expect when she lives down south. I must say the pav was pretty good. Thanks Debs. The legend of the pav lives on!

Well I should be trying to get some sleep soon. I have the job of videoing my boss's wedding tomorrow and it would not be a good look if I were to fall asleep.
Laterz

2003-06-18T20:44:00.000+12:00

I'm back!!!
If you haven't been reading Scott's Blog then you will be wondering where I'm back from! Scott and I have spent the last couple of days tramping. Yesterday afternoon (tuesday) we treked from the car for about 2 and a half hours to the hut. And then this morning we climbed to the top of the pinnacles and back to the hut before returning to the car. Talk about up hill!!! It was more like rock climbing than tramping for quite a bit of the way. Anyway... it was an awesome experience. Good opportunity to get away from everything and talk. We spend a bit of time on tuesday night going through Malachi and then James they're both wicked books. I know STEPS have been going through Malachi. It's all about God being angry at his people for being half-hearted and deceitful with their giving to God. Very challenging. James has some awesome verses. One that stood out especially is James 4:4b "whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Thats pretty powerful and scary stuff! But something alot of us as Christians need to realize! After our reading we decided to spend some time in prayer before going off to bed. So it was a very encouraging and challenging experience in more ways than one!... including the fact that Scott forgot the noodles! tehe
Yeah... so that's something I think we need to do more often. Just get away from the world! Not necessarily tramping but just getting away. Although tramping is good. If you can do it often enough you won't need Strong Bad's Ab-Abber 2000!

2003-06-13T17:47:00.000+12:00

Ok ok ok.... so I haven't posted for a few days. my excuse? We to be completely honest. I've been on the net each night for the last few nights and thought 'I'll go do a post'. but then decided that apart from 'Hi' or 'I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever write a post about sibbie' that there wasn't much for me to say. I Don't wanna make my blog all boring! so there's my excuse.

Ok time for the real bit of the post (yes I do have something to say today)

Well last night I was thinking... (I can do that sometimes)... I feel I really don't pray hardly enough at all. So I decided it would be good to get out my Bible and do a bit of reading about prayer. The first verse I thought of was 1 Thess 5:17 "pray without ceasing". Which of course is almost the exact opposite to how I have just descibed my prayer life... Yeah... So then I just used the little thing in the middle of the page that has other passages on the same topic. I followed that to Luke 18. The parable of the persistent widow, which teaches us to be persistent in prayer. Again another way in which my prayer life doesn't deserve a pizza. And finally I was directed (by the bit in the middle of the columns) to 1 Samuel 12:23 "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you.".... This passage really struck me. I guess I've always thought that the people who pray hard-out... They're kinda just like super-great Christians. and those that don't pray so much. Well they're just normal Christians. But that's really not true at all. By not praying as I should - without ceasing - I'm actually sinning! Maybe I'm just slow... or dumb... or both... but I had never realised that before! It's kinda scary! So there's my challenge for now... to build my prayer life... And as it says a bit earlier in 1 Thess 5 "And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle"... So hit me up about it when you next see me... see if I've been good or not. Thanks...

I'd just like to point out something that I've found to be one of the most frustrating things ever. When it's late at night, and you're just feeling right and ready to crash into your nice warm comfortable bed. You shut down the computer (if you're a geek) and head to your room (if you're not quite enough of a geek to have the computer in your room) only to find... that your bed isn't made!!!! It kinda sounds stupid. But it's happened to me a few times now. (one being last night).

Anywayz... there's my post. I hope it was worth the wait.

2003-06-08T13:56:00.000+12:00

Well I'm happy... I've sorted out the graphics at the top of the page. so YAY no more add banner! I'm just gonna be a stola and steal some script from dan's page and make a drag and drop Homestarrunner.
Hope you all are having a nice weekend

The Trying Times

Community

The Media are at it again

Smack That!

People of the land...

Clint Rickards

Punks

Believe it or not...

this is awesome!

Sign on the dotted line...

About Jolly Time!

Surplus!!

Section 59

Dear Anonymous

Changes

Too Funny

Engagement Party!

Lovely Labour Leaders Look at the Law

Why Mr Willis is sad

Isn't she lovely!

Stop Talking

Pride

Wedding Pics!

Hehe...

Opinion Poll

Abortion

A Joke...

HAHAHA...

TradeMe

In other news!

I am unfit!

Dude!

Dude, where's my car?

Tennis

Get The Edge

Submissions and Section 59

My Draft Submission

Inflaming Fury

Debt

Who cares?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

More questions!!

A Question

Posting

Right Unite!

The Weeman

Petrol Prices!!!

Wow!

That would never happen here!?!?

State of the Nation

What can we do?

I'm still angry

I am angry!

Hog

Movin' on up!

Not again!!!

Quote

TradeMe

Bread

i did it too

Chocolate Sunday

A smack on the BoT's Bot!!

Google

Smack

Another Opinion

Another reason

Who to vote for?!?!

Social Service vs. Social Action

Hello Mrs Davis

I'm Saddened

Breaking news!

Um... I'd like to have an argument please

Lost and Found

Look out New Zealand!

Yay

We're all a bunch of monkeys!

Small Furry Creatures

Girls! This post is dedicated to girls

Why I know the Bible to be true