DISQUS

I see this reflected in the variety of LinkedIn group messages that I see each day. Interesting to see how this matures over time.

Wow. Didn't see that one coming Marva. Good choice of probably one of their lesser known songs. I went with a group of their contemporaries. Happy OSF.

BTW are you coming to BWB? I'm actually going to make it this year. I specifically wanted to swap tips with some of my fellow WordPress bloggers.

That's art with a purpose. I'm going to keep that idea in mind for the future.

By the way Adrianne, claim your Lemonade Award on MartyBLOGs today. Have a good one.

Old school and new. Always a good combination. I'm just having a dance party over my way. Come and check us out.

I fat-fingerred my email address on my first comment - long day - but it's right this time (LOL).

Wow, I didn't know she was still competing. That's amazing to still be competetive in your forties. Look what George Foreman started (LOL). I bet the shocks a lot of younger runner when she shows them that she still has it.

Hey is your video comment feature a third-party widget I can find somewhere or is that a blogger.com feature?

Addrienne, nice redesign! It's been a while since a clicked in to see what's happening with Black Women in Europe. When did you give it the new look?

I have a question, a bunch of questions actually, about expatriate life. I'd like to talk to you directly about international relocation. Can I give you a shout offline in the next few days. Is there a contact e-mail or phone number you'd prefer me to call?

Thanks.

I've never gotten into this thing but this turned out to be a good instructional video. So the objective is to match up your button mashes with the notes as they appear on screen right? I can see how that would catch on. As a non-gamer though I'm just curious to know if there are there any Black artists who's work has been programmed into it?

On an unrelated note, fredric, have you thought of networking with the Black Data Processor's Association in order to help your foundation's mission? Villager is a member. I bet he could hook you up with some connections. Kevin Myles with the Wichita NAACP would be another one. He's great with community outreach.

I like the constantly improving looks of the site man. The little dude with his lip poked out cracks me up. Have a good one.

Hey Eddie, I'll address a couple of your replies in detail too.

Eddie: "So by this standard, it does say in the bible that we should not be eating pork and engaging in premarital sex and a dozen other rules. "

Martin: Yes, and all those things are still relevant. But, it doesn't matter that people do or don't live by them. They still apply.

Eddie: "Look at the evolution of the Laws from that of first testament to that of the second. I consider myself to be a Christian woman who is able to ascertain for MYSELF what I believe, however I do not force my beliefs another individual."

Martin: The old and new testaments compliment each other. Old leads to new. There are no contradictions. Jesus brought a better and final law in His day. I'm not sure if that's the evolution you're referring to but, O.K. It's still consistent. It's not about forcing your beliefs on anyone. It is about stating your beliefs and being firm in them. No one else is ashamed of what they believe in so why should we Christians act like we're scared to address things directly where ever we see wrong in the world. That's our job as good witnesses. And yes, as you said, a solid Christian always has to think for themselves but that doesn't mean that we don't speak out. And we can always confer with each other on matters that we agree on or disagree on like we're doing in this forum.

Jeanne: "As to fitting the standard give me a break. This country since its inception has never fit the standard if it did my family would not have immigrated and would have still remained in chains. What frankly is the standard. It was the standard not more than 60 years ago for me and my brothers to cower at the sight of a white man. It was the standard years ago that my close friends could not date a white woman. Get over it…The standard changes every day. Standard is driven by the fear of individuals who do not understand differences in others."

Martin: That was life sixty years ago. What changed it was freedom fighters insisting that the principles be lived in reality and not just spoken in theory. That's why we no longer live thru those things. Specifically because the standards don't change, but society is made to change and live according to known standards.

Jeanne: "If we complied with the “standard” than many of the innovations that have come to be would not have constructed if those individuals complied with the standard."

Martin: In this case we're talking about people, not objects so the innovation example doesn't really apply.

Jeanne: "If this society we live in breathes in the condition of TOLERATION, for which the pilgrims, civil rights fighters and now Gays, fought to attain then why can’t they get married. We preach, yes PREACH ,that we must love our neighbors as ourselves etc…than why are you upholding the main principle."

Martin: Because tolerance doesn't mean that everything goes. Wrong is still wrong and right is still right. Yes, we love our neighbors in all cases, even if they don't show it back. But love doesn't make a wrong thing a right thing. It still is what it is.

Oh, I got you now. You mean like what your mother used to pull out when she went to the farmer's market back in the day? O.K. I'm on the same page with you now.

That might work for you now Kim but when you guys start having kids you're going to need some big canvas bags and lots of them (LOL). Just in case I start getting more environmentally attentive than I thought I was, where do you buy canvas bags from anyway?

Let me respond to some of your particular points in more detail.

Jeanne: "Marriage isn’t an institution that has stood the test of time. Not 40 years ago, in the US, people could not marry outside of their race (and the same arguments you use were used against whites and blacks marrying–caring for the children, the structure of society). More recently than that, women were considered the property of men in marriage until marriage laws were changed. Until African Americans were freed, they couldn’t marry each other legally."

Martin: As I said earlier, society's misuse of and non-application of the principles, doesn't nullify the principles. Black people didn't have any degree of self governance during slavery so there were obviously no choices about family structure except what an owner allowed. But when we became emancipated and started reconstituting our families what did most Black men and women do? They got married because they new what it took to have a strong family unit. That carried us solidly through the perils of Reconstruction and Jim Crowism. And forty years ago that generation of Blacks took it upon themselves to embrace divorce and not bothering to marry in the first place. We took the idea wholesale and it's killing us today. Broken families and bastard babies in record numbers. Yes Jeanne, the family standard in Black America was the same as it always has been in any strong society in history. I'll use your four decade reference again. Back then, 75-80% marriage rate. Today, less than 1/2 or 1/3 of that rate. The consequences stare us in the face daily. It's not racism that brought on modern society's continuing decline. It was our people's choice to embrace the right to do the wrong that everybody else does instead of what has always proven to be beneficial to us.

Jeanne: "And I think a bigger problem of marriage in our culture is adultery and rampant divorce–these things harm children far more than two loving women or two loving men."

Martin: I agree with your first point to a degree. I don't think they are bigger problems but adultery and divorce definitely don't get a free pass. A child carries that confusion with them for decades. Take it from me, a child of divorcees. But again, it falls within that forty year time frame. I disagree with your second point though for reasons already stated. Those kids are really going to be messed up in the head. Yes I see it in my part of the country too.

Jeanne: " I don’t advocate forcing any church to marry same-sex couples. I think what’s done in the church belongs to the church. But why can’t I be legally married if my church recognizes my union?"

Martin: First, because even church leaders (pastors, elders, bishops) whatever their titles in a particular denomination are capable of egregiously misinterpreting scripture. The consequences - spiritually and societally - of misinterpretation and misapplication of scripture by church leaders is dealt with extensively in the Bible. It's specifically because God holds them to a higher standard since they are duty bound to lead us properly and to represent Him properly. Second, scripture specifically denounces and decries the entirety of homosexuality and all its consequences from front to back. I can share a few with you if you like. Yes, all sin is wrong but yes again, God does give particularly harsh attention to some sins more than others. It's not about rights, Jeanne. It's about what actually is right. Implication being, some things are absolutely wrong no matter how we want to make them otherwise.

By canvas bags I assume you mean paper bags? Do they still make those?

Let me jump in. It's not fear, it's morals and moral standards. Yes the country has them, yes they should continue to be upheld. Call it whatever you want to but the country isn't obligated morally to uphold alternative or abhorent lifestyles (civil unions or gay marriages). They are the same to me. It's for these reasons that although he is my candidate, Obama is wrong on these points and I will fight him on them as he brings them up. No, it's not about "rights", it's about "what is right".

Yes the spiritual and political traditions of the country compliment each other. The law of the land was developed from the spiritual principles and traditions of the founding citizens. Doesn't matter that they were individually personally imperfect in applying them in their own lives (slavery, racism other obvious flaws). What matters is that the principles are upheld.

There are standards of proper family structure that have stood the test of time. Civil unions and gay marriage don't fit the standard. It only leads to bad things for families and societies especially the well being of children who are being raised in a confused household environments by gay/lesbian couples every day. (Children have a right to a proper family too don't they?) No this isn't about rights, people. The ramifications are much, much deeper than that.

By the way YBP Guide team. Nice upgrade to the blog. Haven't taken a look in a while. Have a good weekend.

I happened by the telecast on accident and they just happened to be announcing the contenders for her category. It was nice to see her win it.

It's simply a difference between government and private industry as you mentioned. No private industry takes all the holidays like government does and all private entities pick and choose the holidays they do and don't observe. It's different for all of them.

So fredric, since he kicked butt in Iowa, do we post a new Barak picture before Tuesday's primary?

New Hampshire is the next one in the W column!!!

Now, that is a truly different idea fredric. I have to see if I can into mine and try it out. I can't wait to see if this makes the news...LOL

Hold up, wait a minute. Ya gotta have "This Christmas" by Donnie Hathaway and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" by The Temptations.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to have started grad school in '07 (got a B in my first class!!!) and continuing on this life changing route in '08.

Great technology platform. Even more reasons to stump for Baraxk. The points on internet access and speed are really key.

Thomas Friedman in "The World is Flat" talks about how we're practically in last place in the world when it comes to those two things alone and America created the technology!

Good post man. Tell your readers to send some mondey to his campaign too. They're doing a big internet fundraiser this week to boost the coffers.

Hey Any, need some Wordpress tips. Do you have an old post on adding tags or a tag cloud to a Wordpress template? Wordpress's online tips aren't the easiest to follow.

Thanks......Marty

There are two key things to keep in mind here people. One is legal and the other is scriptural.

First, everything involves legal technicalities to keep practical matters as they should be. When it comes to church life, for instance, avoiding co-mingling of funds by having an entity separate from the formal church organization is how that's done. World Changers Church is the formal body that takes care of it's members. Their tithes most likely go to making that entity operate Sunday thru Saturday with all of its ministries and services that edify that body of people and maybe any outreach that they do as a body. That's pretty much the standard method of opeartion for any congregation of any denomination anywhere.

Creflo Dollar Ministries is a separate entity (look at the credits on TV next time) that would most likely qualify as his business operation. And as a former banker who has opened business accounts for such entities I understand why he would have such a thing. It's really simple. If the church members decide they no longer want him as pastor then he can still minister independently as an evangelist with conferences, workshops, broadcasts etc. He can still witness to save souls and support his family at the same time.

Joyce Meyer is a good example of this way of preaching and ministering. She's never been anybody's pastor. She's a professional evangelist and her legal entity, Joyce Myer Ministries, is the only truly effective way she can do national and international ministry the way she's done for 20-30 years.

The only way you can support the type of infrastructure that it takes to do things the right way and be transparent about it is to apply basic business principles. Again, it's a common sense practical matter. It's not about church being a business. It's about doing things the right way to keep them on the up-and-up.

Secondly, the Bible demands that his preachers of the Word be taken care of. They are giving the doubters spiritual food so that their souls can be saved for eternity. They are also feeding the believers to edify them for daily living.

The specific verse addressing the need to take care of the preacher is Numbers 18:21. From the New International Version of the Holy Bible it reads like this, "I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting." Read the entire chapter and you'll get the full context of God taking care of His priests /preachers/ministers/bishops thru the resources of the people.

So stop giving the mega church leaders a hard time people. They are gaining in proportion to what they are giving spiritually. The body of members is growing and they are apparently happy to give because they keep showing up and putting their dollars in.

And I guarantee you the well known preachers give away lots more percentagewise than any of their members put in. That's another reason they are doing so well is because they know how to give it away so the Good Lord keeps giving more to them to give away. But that's another principle for another time.

Way to go Dr. Dollar. Hope the $69 mil doubles this year because you're doing a great job ministering no matter what the critics say.

Way to go fredric and everybody else who is making or has made that move. That's why I'm back in school full time in Computer Science and Software Engineering. Regular corporate engineering never did it for me and I've been looking for the right thing ever since I left industry 4 or 5 years ago.

Now I'm getting my coding/artistic jones on which I should have done more than ten years ago. Well, like one of my old bank customers told me one day, "It's never too late." That was an affirming comment for me just a couple of months ago.

You hit a positive nerve on this one fredric, specifically, the dream vein!!! Keep on movin' people. Keep on movin'!

One more thing on a different subject though. I wrote a post yesterday that I'd like you to share with your readers and send it to ten of your favorite bloggers. Comment on it and ask them to comment as well.

Feel free to post a reponse to it on your blog and ask some of your favorites to do the same. Maybe spread it around amongst the YBP Guide team and have everyone take a crack at it?

I'm using the "bloggers I read" approach to making this one as viral as possible. I'm that passionate about the subject as you'll see when you click thru the link.

http://www.martyblogs.com/?p=30

Thanks......Martin

Great insight on this subject GIB. You've confirmed what I always suspected about the purpose of tipping from both the server's and patron's perspectives.

I try to take it a step further sometimes and do proactive tipping in certain situations. Maybe I'll leave an extra doolar or two for the hotel room cleaning lady. I definitely try to tip restauraunt servers better than everage for that reputation reason you mentioned. That's being proactive for great future service.

It's not a bad idea to do the same at airprts if you fly the same airline consistenly and want to develop a relationship with a particular skycap or two.