Bill Maher's anti-Christian documentary

I stayed up late last night to watch the David Letterman show. I normally do not watch it (nothing against David), but since Sen. McCain was supposed to be on, so I decided to watch it. Sen. McCain decided that he should be in Washington working on the economic crises, so he canceled on Letterman. Dave obviously did not take it lightly, because for the rest of the show he ripped McCain relentlessly. That is not the point why I am writing. While watching I saw a commercial for a "documentary" film from Bill Maher. The film titled; Relgulous is supposed to be about how ridiculous religion is, and it does it in joking way. This is an obvious retaliation to the film that Ben Stine released last spring. I have not yet watched the film, so I cannot have a critical view of it yet, but I have seen a trailer for it. From what I have seen the film is supposed to be critical of all religions, but from interviews and clips that I have seen, it is more or less directed towards Christianity (Maher does have some gay Muslims he interviews though). Maher has selected some off the wall folks, and puts them in a more ridiculous light than what they are already in, and labels them true Christians. This is very dishonest, and to compare it to the work that Ben Stine did in his film; Expelled. Ben did not make any stupid jokes about atheist, all he had to do was ask them questions about their faith, and they became bumbling fools. Ben didn't have to interview the nut jobs that followed the pagan beliefs, he went right to their poster boy Richard Dawkins. So the joke is on Bill Maher, he has no evidence or no rhetoric to prove any of his opinions. All that I have heard from him is jokes and ranting. My question is; is this the best that the pagans can do? They laugh and call us foolish for believing, and worshiping in a God that created the universe. They believe the world has created itself, thus they worship themselves. I would love to see them interview a solid Christian scholar just once. I am sure Dr. John MacArthur would love to debate Mr. Bill Maher on this point. Here is the You Tube link for one of Billy's rantings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmar4-NAJ

Fly Fishing 101

A passion of mine has been rekindled over the last couple of months, that is the most likely reason why I have not written in my blog for the entire month of August. I have decided to post something every Saturday, unless I am some how completely unable to. With that out of the way I will continue with my first thought.

I have been a fly fisherman for six years, but have never been this consumed in it. I have done other activities that have felt this way, but this is some how different. I was into horseback riding, bow hunting, then traditional archery, some golf that was really short lived, and various other outdoor activities through out my life. They all had one thing in common which was; they all started out intense and slowly faded to cold coal. That is the complete opposite of what I am experiencing with fly fishing right now. It started off slowly but has grow red hot, as I constantly flame it. I have emerged myself with study and needed some kind of quick relief. I have been racking my brain with Bible studies and, theology. I just needed something quick and easy to do, to get outdoors, and enjoy God's creation. Fishing seemed like a quick fix. Its easy, you just find some water, get some bait, rig it up, toss it in the water, and sit and wait. Boring, I was finding myself taking my studies with me to the lake side, while not being bothered much with the pole lying beside me. Then in one of my stupors, I graped my fly rod, called up a friend of mine to give it a go, and went to the nearest ripple section of water. We did not hook any fish, but we were dreadfully hooked ourselves. We started studying up on the proper way of fly fishing, we also upgraded our rods, reels, and other gear. We learned more about our prey, and have had some good success. So far our fish of choice have been small mouth bass, with the occasional blue gill, but we spend our free time dreaming about twenty inch trout giving us the fight of it's life(When that happens I will be sure to write about it). But the truth behind this story is; the faith fullness of Christ, I would not be able to enjoy this activity the way that I do if it wasn't for Him. That is the difference that I pointed out earlier. When I was involved in those other outdoor activities, I did not live as I lived now, I did not know Jesus Christ as Lord as I know now. I would give fly fishing up in heart beat, if it separated me from Christ. Christ is my life, only in Him I can live. The reason why fly fishing is so enjoyable, is because it is not my center of life, like other activities were. Christ is, He makes life so much more richer, things taste better, life pains are so much more deep. It is not the same with every one, not every one enjoys fishing like I do. That is not the point. This is; when Christ is the center of our lives, when He is our treasure, and nothing else matters; the appetizers in life are so much sweeter.