I mean no disrespect to the Catholics who may end up reading this. But I simply cannot take your tradition seriously. I have examined scripture, and have found them to be both pointless and contradictory to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

For example, your near divination of Mary

Take a look at this verse in which Jesus rebukes a woman who praised Mary:

Luke 11:27-28
“And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed [is] the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it.“

Obviously Christ did not see any need to praise his Mother more than any other.

Sainthood

From what I understand, you must perform various miracles and be dead, among other things, to be considered a Saint among the Catholics.

Let us look at another scripture verse regarding Sainthood:

1 Corinthians 1:2
“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called [to be] saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:”

They’re not dead and there are no miracles to speak of. Why are they regarded as Saints? Because they are sanctified in Jesus Christ.

If that’s not enough for you, here’s another one.

Ephesians 2:19
“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;”

Ephesians has another troubling opposition to Catholics.

Jesus Christ is the mediator

I quoted Ephesians 2:19, but lets step back a little bit and read what else it has to offer:

Ephesians 2:18
“For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

Stop praying to the Saints! Jesus Christ is the only mediator between us and God. Don’t you remember when Saul tried to speak to the prophet Samuel after he had passed away? Was he not rebuked and met with a demon?

Confession

Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.“

Catholics have tried to earn their salvation in a number of ways, including “hail Marys.” Salvation is not for your to earn, but for God to give. Only through his Son Jesus Christ can you be saved.

And no, you are not supposed to confess to a Priest. Look throughout scripture, you will find that the man of God convicts the sinner, and the sinner repents to God.

David for example. He did no apologize to the Prophet who revealed the sin in his life, but rather he fell before God almighty and begged forgiveness.

Here is an account of a dedicated Catholic during confession:

“He told me I was absolved of my sins, and to go in peace.

I stared at him for a moment. “That’s it? Don’t I have to say Hail Marys? Our Fathers? The Creed? The Rosary? Anything?”

He laughed at me and told me to go do a good deed or something.”

The Priest told Her to “do a good deed or something.” How can I take that seriously? How can they argue that as scriptural? The rest of the story can be read here: http://caity.nu/musings/he-laughed-at-my-sins

There are too many holes and contradiction in Catholicism for me to offer any respect.

Well, I was arguing with myself whether or not I should post this.

On one hand, I love Star Wars and get excited about anything that has something to do with it. On the other hand, it’s cheesy. Well, I’m going to post it anyway. Because I know it will bring at least a little laughter out of some of you.

There is a contest created by Star Wars fans every year called the LCC (Light-saber choreography contest,) in which fans may upload their homemade light saber duel and be judged. In the previous contest a young man created one with a gospel message, and was awarded 4th place.

He has created another one. It’s being called the Jedi Pastor.

“The Conflict Within,” their first video, can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLrcZdD1-G4

Are you not glad you watched that?
-Cullen Webb

Ever wonder why God, the most powerful and influential being the history of the Universe, does not speak openly with human beings? I have. And for the longest time I could not understand it.

With all the debates about whether or not God exists, whether He created the world or evolution did, or if Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, you have to wonder why He doesn’t go on Fox-News for 10 seconds and set the record straight. No more mystery. No more confusion. No more ACLU. No more garbage in our schools.

But then again, that’s the problem. If God did show Himself to all of humanity He would in effect remove our freewill. Think about it. Would Adam or Eve have eaten the fruit if God did not leave them alone at times?

Could mankind choose to not follow God if He was as obvious as the sun? If God is going to let us choose for ourselves to put faith in him, he must leave room for doubt. For how can one have faith without the ability to doubt?

Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

This is probably Sunday-school level for some of you. But it was a revelation for me. Heheh. The way I feel about this was summed up nicely in a book by Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith.

God bless you all. I have been getting so many new readers and users lately it is amazing.
-Cullen Webb

I have always said that having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a pee section in a pool. The dangers of second hand smoking, over hyped or not, are real. In light of this fact Gov. Granholm  has passed a smoke-free law making it illegal to smoke indoors in most of Michigan. Among the few exceptions are the Casinos and Cigar Clubs in Detroit.

Question: is this a violation of our freedom?

I think not. Although the ability to smoke will be taken away from many of our citizens, the health of just as many will be protected. Besides, is it not illegal to smoke marijuana? I would like somebody to tell me why that is illegal, yet smoking in general is not.

Narcotics are addictive, expensive and destructive.
Cigarettes are addictive, expensive and destructive.

Get them both out or neither one. Be consistent in your laws, draw a straight line.

I was worried at first that this law may come too close to violating our freedoms. But when I heard that it only prohibits indoor smoking I saw how health oriented it was, and how it could not be abused.

My brother brought up the point that a man out in the middle of a field smoking would not affect anybody. He should therefore not have his right taken away from him. The outdoors-only detail edifies that.

What do you think? Good or bad law? Is this big Government?

Thanks for reading.
-Cullen Webb

P.S. It takes effect May 1st.

Here is a photo I use while on christian forums and Tangle:

My family got me a t-shirt with the logo and a phrase: “Friends don’t let friends go to Hell.”

My brother saw the t-shirt and drew me a picture:

Awesome eh?

I just wanted to share that with you.
-Cullen Webb

A few days ago I had an experience so common that most of you have had it happen at least once. I opened my door to find 2 well dressed individuals with a pamphlet they wanted me to read. They were Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I want to take a look at their pamphlet and their most notorious doctrines, and compare them with scripture.

#1 – The divinity of Jesus Christ

This is the doctrine they are most known for. They believe that Jesus Christ is not in any way of divine origin. In fact, they believe that he is Michael the Arch Angel.

They teach that in the beginning, he ruled from Heaven as Michael. Later he was born of a virgin, fully and 100% man. He was not the Christ until after his baptism.

After his death, God destroyed his body and recreated him as Michael. Now fully angel, he will never be seen visibly on earth again. In fact, only 140,000 faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses will ever see him again. The rest will be ruled over by the 140,000.

The primary defense for his mortality, is that we are all “Children of God,” and therefore he was no different than we are.

However, we must look at some scripture.

John 1:14
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Jesus Christ is again referred to as the ONLY begotten of the Father in verse 18:

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].”

There we have a very clear description of Jesus Christ. It says he is of the bosom of the Father. This is a big thing when compared to our place in existence.

We must also realize that if Jesus Christ was indeed fully man, it would have been impossible for him to remain sinless. For we are all sinful by nature.

Genesis 8:21
“…for the imagination of man’s heart [is] evil from his youth…”

#2 – The Age of the Earth / Judgment “day”

Something that truly disturbed me was the irreverence for scripture. While reading their pamphlet I saw several references to the idea that scripture is inaccurate if we believe the time line literally. The day-age theory is deeply rooted in their teachings.

For example, it took many thousands of years for God to create the earth. And Judgment day is really thousands of years long.

Let us look at one of my favorite scripture verses:

Proverbs 30:6
“Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

Ouch. I don’t think God likes it when we accuse him of being incapable of telling time, or preserving his word.

#3 – The Cross

It is a well enforced belief that Jesus Christ did not die on a cross. But rather a pole. If fact, the cross is seen as a symbol worshiped by us “pagans.”

I cannot help but wonder, “who cares?” It has nothing to do with the wood that he hung on, or the metal that pierced him. It has everything to do with his blood.

I do not understand how people can serve a religion or cult that is so scriptural illiterate as this, yet consider themselves followers of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for reading. Be sure to add any of your thoughts in the comment section.

-Cullen Webb

We have a lot of soldiers in Iraq right now. I have a bud who just got out a few months ago. It can take a huge toll on them to be away from friends and family, not to mention the hardships they face.

Keep them in your prayers. Write them, send them Chocolate (worth its weight in gold over there), or anything. Just let them know they’re not forgotten.

Wow. I don’t think I’ve gone this long without a post before.

But I have good news! My laptop has arrived and I am revved and ready. I am probably going to break the time/space continuum somewhere by uploading a photo of my laptop with my laptop…but oh well.

I have been so blessed by all of you who have made donations. This would not have been possible without you.

Needless to say, the next video is underway. I am very excited about it, but as always God has a final say in its production. So I have no idea what it will end up like.

I have so many issues I want to write about. Universalism, Feminism, Jehovah Witness’, No-Smoking laws, etc… But I’m simply going to share with you a video I found moving.

This way I can catch you off guard on controversial issues. *chuckle*

Thanks everybody for reading. It means a lot.
-Cullen Webb

If cyber-world has dust, the family computer just bit it.

I have been in a constant war with over 90 different virus and trojan programs on that thing. It is so bogged down I can’t even open Microsoft Word. What started with the Google Hijack virus became Anti-Spyware Plus and so much more.

People, get good protection for your PC.

Anyways, that is why I have not responded to any comments or written any posts recently. I would not risk uploading a virus to nationpains even if the computer could use the internet anymore.

But my laptop is almost here. Oh the joy. I will turn that thing into Fort Knox against even a temporary cookie.

I’ll be keeping you up to date in no time.

-Cullen Webb

This is a fantastic poem that I received from a friend a while back. It reminds me of the movie “UP” that Disney put out. Or at least the beginning of it.

I would have liked to see some spiritual depth put into this poem, but it is good none-the-less. (more…)