10 Product Warnings for Dummies –
10. On lawnmower: “Warning: When motor is running, the blade is turning!”
9. On fireplace log: “Caution: Risk of fire.”
8. On rock garden set: “Eating rocks may lead to broken teeth.”
7. On Swedish chainsaw: “Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands.”
6. On bottom of Tesco’s Tiramisu dessert box: “Do not turn upside down.”
5. On Sainsbury’s peanuts: “Warning: contains nuts.”
4. On a laser pointer: “Do not look into laser with remaining eye.”
3. On Rowenta iron: “Do not iron clothes on body.”
2. On PMS relief tablets: “Warning: Do not use if you have prostate problems.”
As with other products, it can be beneficial to be over cautious in the risks of product utilization, my personal blog included. Below are my beliefs and values I believe will impact all of my writing. I feel, and it is my hope, these will assist you as a reader to further understand the lenses I see all things through.
Disclaimers –
1) I am young, inexperienced, lacking in knowledge, and therefore naive
- I do have opinions and feelings, however this is what they are, opinions and feelings. Please understand I am not claiming my thoughts, opinions, and feelings are absolute truth.
- I do not have access to the resources (data, people, and experience) current politicians and leaders do. I believe they are much more informed than me in making decisions. Again, please receive my writings as opinions, not as facts.
- I have not only lived in the United States my whole life, but in the Midwest (Iowa and Minnesota). Therefore, I have a limited global and national perspective. As a result I consider myself very naive.
- Everyone has a worldview, worships something or someone, and has placed their faith in something or someone. As I desire others to respect me regardless of my personal belief system/worldview, it is very important for me to respect and honor others regardless of their worldviews. This does not mean I agree with or believe their views to be wise. None-the-less, it is my hope to treat others as I would like to be treated.
- Worldview definition – A set of beliefs answering the following questions:
- How did we and everything else come into existence?
- Why are things the way they are (good or bad)?
- What, if any, purpose do we have? (Could be rephrased: “Why are we here?”)
- Where, if anywhere, will we go after death?
- Worship definition –
- Anything we give of our time, talent, and treasures.
- Faith definition –
- We all place our hope and trust in something or someone to attain those things we worship. Most of the time it is ourselves or God/gods.
- My worldview (incomplete section)
- All scripture (Bible) is God breathed (1 Timothy 3:16)
- I believe I am called to be God’s messenger, not his editor. As C.S. Lewis outlines, one must decide if Jesus is Lord, lunatic, or liar.
- Justification by grace through faith in the work of Jesus. I am saved to works not by my works. (Ephesians 2:8-10 and Romans 3:23 – 5:21)
- For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
- We see in part, not in whole (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)
- I cannot reconcile and justify all Biblical events and principles. There are parts of the Bible I still wrestle with.
- The Bible and the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe (1 Corithinians 1:18)
- I understand many see the Bible as dated, offensive, and foolish. As stated, above, I request you respect me regardless of my belief system. In addition, I strongly encourage you to answer the four questions any worldview must answer as outlined above. Ignorance is not bliss, it is unstable.
- All Christians (including myself) profess values and ideologies yet contradict these with our actions
- I am perplexed why this is shocking to so many. We boldly profess:
- We are sinners in need of a savior (Romans 3:23)
- We will continue to be sinners in need of our Savior until He returns to reconcile all things to himself (1 John 1:8-10)
- The life of a Christian is marked by a humble and continual confession, repentance, and reconciliation of our sin. I and other Christians will continually break God’s commands and statues until His return. This means we will say we want and strive to be one thing, however we will continually stumble, welcome to Christianity :)
- Impact
- As I view Biblical scriptures as truth, it is the measuring stick, lense, and foundation I evaluate all issues against and build all theories of change upon.
- The problem of sin
- All of my ideas combined, even if they were perfect in theology (which they clearly are not, but even assuming for a moment they were), would not solve the issue of sin. Thus I believe these measures will only help improve/provide stability in a broken world, not usher in a perfect world.
- A continuum exists with classical liberalism on one end and socialism on the other. Classic liberalism, or libertarianism (think liberty), promotes individual freedom of choice with minimal central planning and authority. On the contrary, socialism is founded on individuals being directed how to live by a powerful central planning authority.
- Ironically, the modern, American concept of a liberal is associated with the Democratic political party which is closer to socialism than classic liberalism.
- How does this play out? While I would counsel people to engage or not engage in certain practices, I do not believe forcibly allowing or preventing certain activities is right or wise. The caveat being an individual’s free choice cannot infringe upon the rights and free choice of others.
- The Hatch Act prohibits me from supporting or disapproving of any elected officials. I can speak about issues, but not elected officials. Nor may I hold an elected office. This is a welcomed restriction as I prefer to avoid both of these and now I have a scapegoat :)
- All decisions are based off of values you have at the moment you make a decision. We all do exactly what we want to do at the moment we do it. Unfortunately we may regret the decision later. However this does not change the fact at the moment, it was exactly what we wanted to do. Please see my Voting Issues, Role of Government, and Basic Level of Care posts to see detailed listings of my values.
- Hopefully I will improve my succinctness and clarity the more I write, but there is just as high of probability they will get worse, sorry!
All things considered, please take warning, I am an unpolished, young and inexperienced writer. As such, I fear I have a high probability of flip flopping on numerous issues :)
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