It….

I don't remember the first time I ever heard the story of Christmas, the story of the birth of Jesus, nor when Gods' plan of salvation was first explained to me. In my memory, this is something that has just always been. And there are times when I wish that I did not know the story. You see, with knowing something for a long period of time, there comes a certain level of "callousness" that comes with knowledge.

That is one reason why I love Christmas. You see, even though I get just as caught up in the hustle and bustle of shopping and decorating, at some point IT happens. One year IT was while I was up late playing Santa, putting packages under the tree for the kids. Another year IT was while I was driving home on Christmas eve and the roads were empty. What is the IT I am referring to? IT is when that quiet moment hits, when, for just a moment, the Christmas story hits me, and the wonder of it all shines again, when I am amazed at what a wonderful gift that God has given me. And for those few minutes, the callousness of my heart is stripped away. I may not remember the first time I was told the Christmas story, but during this time, I briefly feel the wonder and amazement of Gods' gift to me.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just [man], and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. ([And] this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen [it], they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard [it] wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered [them] in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

This, this is Christ, the King, Whom shepherds guard and angels sing: Haste, haste to bring Him laud, The Babe, the Son of Mary!

- From Luke Chapter 2, Matthew Chapter 1 (KJV) and the Chorus from "What Child is this?"

Perhaps you may believe that this sounds a bit cliché, but this year, remember that Jesus really is the reason for the season.  At some point during this busy time you will have a few moments of quiet.  At that time, sit back and ponder. Allow IT to happen to you, and remember the joy you had when you first heard the message.

Merry Christmas.

Rumors, Gossip and your Testamony

It's that time of year again, when people start forwarding all sorts of emails with cute Christmas stories. Add these to the collection of emails I get from people telling me how this senator is corrupt, a representative is doing something underhanded, or that evils of some of the actions our current president is involved in, I find that I spend a lot of time reading emails, most of which are junk. Below part of a message I put together some time ago addressing this topic, and how forwarding unverified email just ruins your credibility. I thought I would share this today…

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Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
    -Exodus 23:1 (KJV)

When I first became a Christian, many of my friends started forwarding me things they thought were "cute" or "interesting" little Christian stories. As time went on, I started discovering that many of the stories being sent to me were fake. One example went like this:

I am sure that all of you heard about the sandstorm in Iraq Tuesday and Wednesday (the worst in 100 years some say) and the drenching rain that followed the next day. Our troops were bogged down and couldn't move effectively.

The media was already wondering if the troops were in a "quagmire" and dire predictions of gloom and doom came from the left wing media. What they didn't report was that yesterday, after the weather had cleared, the Marine group that was mired the worst looked out at the plain they were just about to cross. What did they see? Hundreds if not thousands of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines had been uncovered by the wind and then washed off by the rain. If they had proceeded as planned, many lives would have undoubtedly been lost.

As it was, they simply drove around them and let the demolition teams destroy them.

Praises be to His mighty name! Thank you God, for protecting our young men and women!

Cute story, except that it is a total lie, and only 15 minutes of searching uncovered this hoax (Urban Legends Reference Pages: Glurge Gallery (Sandstorm)).

Another email still roaming around warns people that they should check their computer for the file JDBGMGR.EXE. If this file is on their computer, it should be delete immediately as it is a virus. Unfortunately, this is not a virus. If you were a programmer who deleted this file, you could no longer debug javascripts. How open is the friend that deleted this program (based on your advice) going to be to the gospel after you have wrecked their computer? Why should they believe you?

Do we bring honor to our Lord when we circulate these little lies? Is this how to reach a spiritually lost and dying world? Spreading these lies ruins our testimony. Why should someone believe us about our walk with God when we are also willing to send them bogus stories of how someone drilled into hell? They question if we really know what we are talking about. God doesn't need us to fabricate something in order to make Him look good. When we pass these "lies" around, (and in the past I have been guilty of this also), do we not become guilty of telling lies, spreading false teachings, and even helping to create a false "god" of our own?

Before you forward that next message about how a little girl needs prayers for her brother, or that some organization will give you money if you forward this email", Or some cute (but totally untrue) story of how God did some action, take 15 minutes to see if what you are about to send is right. The testimony you save might just be your own.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
    -John 8:32 (KJV)

The Vomit of your sins…

Yesterday at work a students came in seeking assistance with formatting on a Microsoft Word Document. As we were working on the document, the student noticed that I had the following proverb written on the white board behind my desk:

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
-Proverbs 26:11 (KJV)

Now where I work, I can't really get into deep discussions about the Bible, and sharing my faith is somewhat frowned upon, so while I had the text of the proverb upon the board, I did not identify that this was from the Bible.

As we worked upon her document, the student was more and more enamored by these words of wisdom. They held an even deeper emphasis for her as she is a veterinarian student.

I don't know how many of you have ever had a dog, but for those that do, I'm sure that you have enjoyed those times when you pet is sick. One of my favorite times (please read this knowing I am dripping with sarcasm) is when I awake in the middle of the night to the sound of a dog at the foot of the bed preparing to throw up.

When a dog throws up, for some reason they will turn around and try to eat what their stomach has just rejected. What is even worse is that our other dogs will run up to check out the "treat" just deposited on the floor, even attempting to partake of the just spewed "gastric delicacies".

I hope that by now your stomach is feeling just a little queasy about this topic. You see, our sins have the same appeal to God as dog vomit does to us. Both are disgusting. I have no comprehension of why a dog would want to eat its puke. When I am sick, I have no desire to follow in the wisdom of the dog. And fortunately, none of my friends will rush over to fight over my "expelled" food. The thought of it should turn your stomach.

Now let's put this in the view of the Lord. Just as I have no use for dog vomit, God has no use for sin, yet how many of us will continually return to sin, something that we know is wrong, something that sickens our Lord. And how many times have we lead others into sin?

But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.
- Numbers 32:23 (KJV)

If we do not turn from our sins, our sins will eventually catch up with us and expose us. In John Wesley's Explanatory notes, he puts it like this:

Sin will certainly find out the sinner sooner or later. It concerns us therefore to find our sins out, that we may repent of them and forsake them, lest our sins find us out, to our confusion and destruction.

Christians must repent of their sins. Christians must confess their sins to God and seek his pardon. In some cases it may be that a Christian must seek out and confess their sins to others also. But if we do not, our sins will hunt us down and destroy us.

Drugs will destroy our bodies. Alcohol can do the same thing (why do you think they call it being intoxicated? If you are drunk, you have in effect poisoned your body). Pornography (Adultery/fornication) will lead to the destruction of the enjoyment of marriage, and can lead to illness (AIDS, Syphilis, gonorrhea). The list goes on…

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The above was part of message that I had put together some time ago. I ran across it while digging through a backup of my old laptop files. Shortly we will be coming upon a new year. Many people will make Resolutions to change their life in some way, or set some goal to achieve, but before the end of the month most will have already broken those resolutions. Now would be the time to reflect back on the past year. Take inventory of those things you know are displeasing to God, and seek his forgiveness. That is what Christmas is all about. Jesus came to pay the debts we could never repay. Now is the time to turn from the folly of you old ways. Now is the time to stop returning to the vomit of your past sins.

Current and Starting weight: 261 (I am maintaining my weight through the holidays, then plan to take part in a fast. I will give further details on that come 01/03/10)

The Beam in my eye…

I find this message a little hard to write. First, I can't find my glasses, which results in all this being a bit blurry. Thankfully I can adjust the font size on my laptop so I can see well enough to write this.

Second, this is the first time I've attempted to post to this blog using the publishing option in Microsoft Office. It looks simple enough. Yes, I'm a computer technician, but I deal primarily with hardware, not software, so I have no clue how this will display when I click on "Publish".

Third, this is a hard blog for me to write personally. Throughout the past posts, I've focused on the idea that we should know what we believe, why we believe it, and then see if we actually act upon those beliefs. Granted that on the grand scale I focus on a combination of politics and religion, but these same methods should apply to how we handle our daily living. Let me share the following story:

A missionary I know has an outreach to teens. He has an incredible life story, and praises how the Lord has worked in his life. He goes into both schools and churches sharing his experiences with alcohol, drugs and the down side of music. It is a successful ministry, and the Lord is working greatly thru this man. I have heard his messages and they are both sound scripturally, and moving. But I have one problem: his size. I would bet that this guy weighs between 350 and 400 pounds. When he preaches, he is very vocal and paces about the podium… and he ends up dripping in sweat. While he is a wonderful minister, but I have found myself wondering how many people judge him by his size? In my case, I agree with his message, but how many kids look at him, don't like what he is saying, and dismiss him as some fat guy screaming at them? And I know kids… they may not like the bible, or know very little about it, but many of them will ask: "Isn't gluttony a sin?" How many more might he reach if he showed restraint in his diet?

I hate hypocrites.

That is why this is hard for me to write. Let me share the following scriptures, and then tie them together:

Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things
     - Philippians 3:19 (KJV)

For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
     - Proverbs 23:21 (KJV)

Scripture definitely tells me gluttony is a sin. There are many passages regarding not just overeating, but all gluttony in regards to overindulgence.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
     - Matthew 7:3 (KJV)

Did I not just ask how many kids dismiss him because of his weight? Isn't that what I've just done? Yes, the missionary is overweight. And it might help his ministry if he lost weight. But who am I to say this? I am overweight. As of this morning I weight 261. I should be somewhere between 170 and 190. Yes, I believe that being overweight affects how one ministers. And that is one thing that does hinder my ministry (or perhaps I use that as an excuse..?) But you know what? This missionary is doing a LOT more than I am in regards to reaching out to the lost. I have no right to judge him. Before I should ever bring the issue of weight into it, I should be taking care of my weight issues first, and working to improve my outreach to the lost before this should ever be an issue.

Yes, he is overweight. It is easy for me to say he is overweight simply because I am not as overweight as he is. It makes me feel like I am somehow "better" than he is, but if I step back, I can see the truth – we are both overweight, and HE is doing much more to serve the Lord. I need to follow the instruction of the Lord, and take care of the beam that is in my own eye rather than pointing out the mote (splinter) in his. Only once I have my weight under control could I ever approach him about this, and then it must be done in love and kindness, not with an attitude of superiority. So what do I do?

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
     - 1^st Corinthians 10:31 (KJV)

I must acknowledge that I need to make changes in my eating habits. I need to rein in my eating so that it brings glory to God (along with everything else I do).

I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
     - Job 31:1

Covenant -

A writing containing the terms of agreement or contract between parties; or the clause of agreement in a deed containing the covenant.
     - Websters 1828 Dictionary

To do this, I need to make a covenant. Job did this: he made a covenant, a contract that he would not allow himself to look upon other women. He knew how lust displeased the Lord, so he made a contract that he would not do this. Now I do not believe that it was a written contract, but God remembers when you make a contract with him (and how many such contracts have I broken myself?).

Today I am making a covenant: With Thanksgiving upon us, I will take care to no over-indulge during these next few days, and after Thanksgiving, to have a period of hard hitting dieting. By this time next year I want to be at 190 or lower (that 71+ pounds I plan to lose). And while this is first and foremost between me and the Lord, I will post current weight and amount lost at the end of all future blog entries. Should anyone read this, I covet your support.

Current and Starting weight: 261

To our Veterans

The greatest thing I can say to our veterans this day is this:

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
     -John 15:13 (KJV)

God bless you for your service and your sacrifice, and God bless your families

Where do you stand?

I was given the chance to share the following as a brief message at church last Sunday. While similiar to my original first post (Question with Boldness), it is more detailed. I hope this is a blessing to anyone reading this...

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Martin Niemöller was a German pastor and theologian born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892. Niemöller was an anti-Communist who supported Hitler's rise to power at first. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemöller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. Unlike Niemöller, most gave in to the Nazis' threats. Hitler personally detested Niemöller and in 1937 had him arrested and eventually confined in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. Many of you may not know who Martin Niemöller is, but you are probably familiar with a poem he wrote:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
after all I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
after all I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
after all I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
His poem is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the dangers of political apathy, as it often begins with specific and targeted fear and hatred which soon escalates out of control.

Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
     - Esther 4:13-14

Both Pastor Niemöller and Mordecai are saying the same thing: Make a stand. But we can’t make a successful stand unless we know our world view, knowing what we believe and why we believe it. So how do we do this? How can I know for sure what my world view is, and that I am taking a Godly stand?

1) Question your beliefs.

“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”
     - Thomas Jefferson

2nd Corinthians 13:5 tells us to examine ourselves. Are you standing firm in the faith? Are you sure? Our actions are based upon what we believe, but how often do we catch ourselves, or worse yet, someone else catches us doing the opposite of what we say we believe?

In this age of political correctness, how often are we afraid to question others about what they believe simply because we want to avoid confrontation? Worse is the fact that all too often we ourselves don’t know the answer, when we are confronted with doubt because we either fail to remember what we have been taught, both in Church and school, or, either accidental or on purpose, we were taught wrong.

2) Study - 2nd Timothy 2:15 tells us to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

This is exactly what the Bereans did. The apostle Paul had just been forced from Thessalonica because what he taught was different than the common thinking and teachings of his time. There were even plans to kill Paul. But when Paul arrived in Berea, he found a different mind set: here the people would listen to him, then consult the scriptures to see for themselves if what Paul taught was correct. Paul tells us…

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
     - Acts 17:11 (KJV)

These Bereans were considered “more noble” because they were seeking the truth. They didn’t not just listen to Paul and then say to themselves “Hey, he sounds like he knows what he is talking about”, accepting his statements at face value. Nor did they think to themselves “I like what he says better then what I’ve been told before” and then blindly follow Paul. They questioned with boldness, searching the scriptures to see if Paul was telling the truth.

So what are the benefits of questioning what we believe and what we are told?

1) We are approved unto God (2nd Timothy 2:15)
2) We are not deceived by false teaching and false doctrine (Ephesians 4:14), knowing the truth, and the truth shall set us free (John 8:32)
3) Ultimately, as 1st Peter 3:15 tells us, we are able to make a Godly stand, because we are able to give an answer for when others ask us why we believe what we believe.

So why is all this important? We live in a time of false profits and false teachers.

Isiah 5:20 puts it this way: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

We find this not only in our churches, but in our schools, with the people we work with, with the news we listen to, and even with family members. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone tells me that our country was not founded on Christian values and principles. I always thought it was, but could never back up my views, because I didn’t know the truth. Partially because I had forgotten what I had been taught, or because what I had been taught had been twisted, I would avoid defending my views. I had to take the above principles and apply them. I had to question my beliefs, and seek answers. Only them could I now only know what I believed, but could defend it.

Here are just a few of the things I came across in that research:

Virtually every one of the 55 writers and signers of the United States Constitution were members of various Christian denominations: 29 were Anglicans, 16 to 18 were Calvinists, 2 were Methodists, 2 were Lutherans, 2 were Roman Catholic, 1 lapsed Quaker and sometimes Anglican, and 1 open deist--Dr. Franklin who attended every kind of Christian worship, called for public prayer, and contributed to all denominations.

In 1800, when Washington, D. C., became the national capital and the President moved into the White House and Congress into the Capitol, Congress approved the use of the Capitol building as a church building for Christian worship services. By 1867, the church in the Capitol had become the largest church in Washington, and the largest Protestant church in America.

It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.
     - George Washington

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.”
     - George Washington, Speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779 

It cannot be emphasized too strongly that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded assylum, prosperity and freedom of worship here.
     - Patrick Henry

"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
     - United States Supreme Court, 1892.

"These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation."
     - United States Supreme Court, Feb 29, 1892,  Church of the Holy Trinity v. US

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
     - John Adams

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
     - John Jay

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."
     - Abraham Lincoln

I’ll close with these two thoughts. Proverbs 14:34 tells us “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Alexander Hamilton, the First US secretary of The Treasury said: “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.” My challenge today is, are you ready to take a stand? What will you stand for? And more important is, are you standing for the things of God?

Ronald Reagan speaks out against Socialized Medicine

President Ronald Reagan unveils the tricks and lies behind the socialized, universal government healthcare proposals imposed by Congress and others in the government. Reagan understood the issue of catastrophic illnesses that are long and costly must be addressed, but they should not be used as a weapon to force all people into a government healthcare system that controls patients' rights and doctors' freedoms.

The Fall of the Republic?

On October 14, Lord Christopher Monckton gave a presentation in St. Paul, MN on the subject of global warming. In this 4-minute excerpt from his speech, he issues a dire warning to all Americans regarding the United Nations Climate Change Treaty that is scheduled to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009.

A draft of the treaty can be read here:

http://www.globalclimatescam.com/documents/un-fccc-copenhagen-2009.pdf

Chuck Norris has an article in WorldNetDaily with a good analysis of the treaty:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=114005

There has been considerable debate raised about Monckton's conclusion that the Copenhagen Treaty would cede US sovereignty. His comments appear to be based upon his interpretation of the The Supremacy Clause in the US Constitution (Article VI, paragraph 2). This clause establishes the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and U.S. TREATIES as the supreme law of the land. Concerns have been raised in the past that a particularly ambitious treaty may supersede the US Constitution. In the 1950s, a constitutional amendment, known as the Bricker Amendment, was proposed in response to such fears, but it failed to pass. You can read more about the Bricker Amendment in a 1953 Time Magazine article:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806676,00.html

Lord Monckton served as a policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He has repeatedly challenged Al Gore to a debate to which Gore has refused. Monckton sued to stop Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" from being shown in British schools due to its inaccuracies. The judge found in-favor of Monckton, ordering 9 serious errors in the film to be corrected. Lord Monckton travels internationally in an attempt to educate the public about the myth of global warming.

Seduced by Fascism

"Seduced by fascism" conceived and edited by Joe Bly. Anyone can be sold to the public as a leader. Good people will follow a bad leader.

Question with Boldness....

So who am I and why should you even listen to me? I’ve already stated that my real name is not Joel Uriel, so why should you put any faith in anything I have to write?

First, in this age of political correctness, we often afraid to question others about what they believe because we want to avoid confrontation. Worse is the fact that all too often we don’t know the answer. There is an area of doubt caused either by our failure to remember what we have been taught, both in Church and school, or, either accidental or on purpose, we were taught wrong.

“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”
- Thomas Jefferson

When we have doubts, question with boldness. If you have the facts wrong, you will learn something. At the same time, If you have the facts right, you will enlighten someone else.

But here is the next thing to remember:

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
- Acts 17:11 (KJV)

The apostle Paul had just been forced from Thessalonica because what he taught was different than the common thinking and teachings of his time. There were even plans to kill Paul. But when Paul arrived in Berea, he found a different mind set: here the people would listen to him, then consult the scriptures to see for themselves if what Paul taught was correct. These Bereans were considered “more noble” because they were seeking the truth.

All the world needs now is one more Christian blog, but I am here to seek Truth. When I have time, I will share what I know. And should anyone actually read this, I will gladly discuss what I write.

My point here is this: Question everything. Make sure that what you believe is correct. And then make sure that you are living in a way consistent with what you believe.