Splinter Therapy

Satan, Job and Jesus

One of things that has always made sense to me is the rational arugment that a perfect sacrifice was needed to pay for the sins of mankind.  Otherwise it would be impossible for a God who is both perfectly holy and perfectly just to interact with sinful beings.  Thus, Jesus would have to be God Himself come to earth to live a sinless life so that he could serve the role as the perfect sacrifice thus satisfying God's requirement of holiness and justice.

While driving the other day I was thinking about the story of Job (really one of the most disturbing books in the Bible to me).  Then a thought hit me  - in the beginning of the book God and Satan have a conversation about Job.  Satan seems to not only have access to heaven but is able to converse with God; it is very clear in the story that Satan is in God's presence.  Considering what is stated in the paragraph how is that possible?  If the bible is to be taken literally and inerrantly, then Job must have come after Adam and Eve which means at the point Satan was conversing with God he was already a fallen being.  In fact, he is referred to as Satan, not Lucifer which was his pre-fallen name.  So, how is Satan, the Lord of Sin of Death able to be in God's presence? 

I am sure I am not the first one to have this thought.  If anybody has a way to navigate through this apparent contradiction, I would be interested in hearing/reading it.

Paulo Coelho - HP Commercial

Paulo Coelho has become one of my favorite authors.  His books encourage me to live more deeply.  Some of his themes are on forgiveness, redemption, temptation, and following your heart.  I still find that most people have not heard of him; so, I try to share the secret of Paulo Coelho whenever I can.  This HP Commercial fits into that category - very well done, and I love the line about "My computer is my window to the world".  Enjoy!

List of Taxes

I am all for paying taxes.  In my opinion they should go toward protecting and maintaining freedom and very little after that.  The amount of tax we pay, however, and how our tax dollars are used is absolutely ridiculous.  Here is an incomplete list of taxes we pay (recently emailed to me from a friend).  This same email stated that none of these taxes existed 100 years ago and we had no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and families were not dependent on having two income sources - and we were the wealthiest nation in the world.

How long before we realize that the government should not be in the solutions business but in the protection of freedom busines?  Anyway, here is the list:

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax (often a local municipality tax)
Estate Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax,
Fuel permit tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Interest expense
Inventory tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road usage taxes (tolls)
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone federal excise tax
Telephone federal universal service fee tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
Telephone recurring and no n-recur ring charges tax
Telephone state and local tax
Telephone usage charge tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax