Saturday, June 19

Hooray!! Mac Owner and CEO Steve Jobs takes a stance for PORNOGRAPHY

Another reason why I love Macs!!! This is truly revolutionary for our time and age, though it doesn't take care of the issue itself, it gives the consumer an opportunity to make wiser decisions and a better option. Read on!

Steve Jobs Takes a Stand – AMEN



Every once in a while you come across a profound statement made by a prominent leader that makes you realize that there are still great people in the world today. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple put his entire reputation on the line by taking a very bold stand regarding the issue of pornography and the decision to block all sites from any of his products. In a world filled with people who would criticize this move and label him a narrow-minded, free speech control freak, I would like to go on the record publicly as saying, “You have got my loyalty and respect!” Here are some thoughts taken from Breakpoint’s website:





Jobs has made it clear that he wants to keep pornography off Apple products as much as possible. Obviously Apple can’t control everything its users do, but it can make porn scarcer on its products, and it has done just that.

A British newspaper, The Guardian,reports, “So insistent is Apple [on this policy], many magazine publishers developing ‘apps’ for the new iPad . . . have had to self-censor.”

As you might expect, this has triggered a frenzy among some critics. Ryan Tate, a writer for the Gawker website, sniped at Jobs about suppressing his customers’ “freedom,” prompting Jobs to respond, “Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom.”

When Tate replied that he didn’t want “freedom from porn,” Jobs answered, “You might care more about porn when you have kids.” In a correspondence with a consumer, Jobs went even further, speaking of his company’s “moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone.”

How refreshing it is to see someone who actually gets it—that yes, there are those of us who prefer to be free from the storm of smut that assaults us from every television, computer, and phone screen. The supply of pornographic material is so overwhelming that access to it is certainly not an issue of “freedom” anymore, if it ever was.

Jobs has pointed out that people who want to see porn on their phones, and who want easier access to it on their computers, can easily get all they want if they buy other companies’ products. But as he said in a press conference, “That’s a place we don’t want to go—so we’re not going to go there.”

What Jobs seems to understand, and what his critics seem to be ignoring, is that there’s so much more to pornography than just issues of economics or free speech. It shouldn’t even need to be explained, but apparently for some people it does: Pornography is an ugly, poisonous, degrading business for everyone involved, whether they’re making it, using it, or selling it.

As my colleague Kim Moreland recently mentioned on our blog, The Point, new studies are demonstrating yet again just how dangerous and addictive it can be. It tears at the fabric of marriages and families and of society itself. Its use is connected from everything to higher divorce rates to human trafficking to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Aside from the occasional reference to protecting kids (which is enough), Steve Jobs didn’t go thoroughly into the reasons for his policy. But for whatever reason, he truly is demonstrating corporate responsibility, the kind that we desperately need more businesses to show in this sex-obsessed society.

May he continue to stand by his principles, and may his tribe increase.

Friday, June 11

Homosexual Adoption, Who should raise a Child???

I'm posting a research paper, from a brother who I share my views with, this essay is serious business. However, I will first post a video that will surely tug your heart!! Enjoy!



Children are Priority

The Defense of Marriage Act is a good law in that the federal government of the United States legally upheld the sacredness of traditional marriage which is the foundation for family life. Traditional marriage has been historically proven to be the most successful system for proper child development. While same-sex marriage is the primary focus for the legal war that is being waged between gay rights activists and proponents of traditional marriage, an arguably more significant bi-product of this conflict is the implications towards the legality of same-sex adoption. Though the conflict over the future of gay marriage is significant enough as an isolated issue, the struggle is exponentially more significant than just consensual adults seeking legal recognition. The future of same-sex marriage will be the catalyst for the future of same-sex adoption. Where legislation regarding same-sex marriage must carefully consider the rights and social ambitions of the couple, legislation that would also govern adoption should always be tailored towards the best interest of the child and not the interests of prospective parents. There is a higher likelihood that children adopted by same-sex couples will suffer parental death. There is a higher likelihood that children adopted by same-sex couples will face developmental challenges as a result of being fatherless or motherless. Certainly children adopted by same-sex couples are the subject of a hasty cultural experimentation. Because of these reasons, same-sex adoption is not an adequate solution for natural and healthy child development. Without The Defense of Marriage Act, there would be no ability for individual states to restrict same-sex adoption.

According to a collaborative study put out by the International Journal of Epidemiology, the life expectancy of a homosexual man ranges from 34.0 years to 46.3 years, a full 20 years less than the life expectancy of a heterosexual man. (p. 657-62). One possible cause for such a discrepancy between the life expectancy of homosexual and heterosexual men is the high rate of HIV infection among homosexuals. According to the US Center for Disease Control, “approximately 56,300 people were newly infected with HIV in 2006...; [fifty-three percent] of these new infections occurred in gay and bisexual men (CDC).” In 2008, at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's (NGLTF) national conference, a well-known gay rights activist named Matt Foreman gave a speech in which he stated, “With 70 percent of the people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi (sexual), we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease." (par. 30). According to a study conducted by Dr. Paul Cameron, homosexual women, similar to their male counterparts, die young with the median age of death being 44 years old. (par. 10). Because of the drastically high mortality rate of middle-aged homosexuals, children who are adopted by homosexual parents are placed at a much higher risk of losing a parent to death. No child should be given to a couple of whom one will likely die before their child reaches adulthood.

Though many homosexual individuals would make loving care-takers, as a family unit, same-sex couples cannot provide a complete and natural nucleus for children. Children adopted by same-sex couples are by default either fatherless or motherless. Nature has designed families to consist of a child being raised by a biological mother and father. In an article of a Washington Times’ publication, author and professor of social and political ethics, Jean Bethke Elshtain explains the importance of traditional parenting:
There are big conceptual and historical issues here. There are also simple, humble truths. The humble truth is that every child needs and deserves the love and provision of caring adults in a relationship that perdures. The committed, two-married-parent family is the best environment we know anything about in which to rear children. (par. 10)
As Elshtain explains, a stable, two-parent upbringing fosters healthy children. Same-sex couples cannot offer a child both a father and mother. Adopted families should reflect the most basic natural needs of a child. Countless studies have shown that children who are either without a father or without a mother are strikingly more prone to psychological disorder, criminal activity and many other sociological problems.

Records of human civilization date back thousands of years. These surviving records detail how many past societies have reached progressive levels of social and scientific development. It is known that many ancient societies achieved advanced scientific understanding, impressive mathematical and astronomical precision, sincere piety and religious practice, enlightened philosophy that laid the foundation for modern thinking habits, and intricate social structure. Many aspects of modern culture were built upon these ancient ways of life. Despite all the information that has been gathered about these past societies, there has not been any evidence discovered that would indicate the existence of same-sex marriage, same-sex parenting or any form of same-sex family structure. Historically, no society has ever developed, much less sanctioned the concept same-sex marriage or same-sex adoption and parenting. The summary of The Defense of Marriage Act accurately states, “What has been understood under federal law for over [two-hundred] years: that a marriage is the legal union of a man and a woman as husband and wife.” (par. 4). The United States’ historical understanding of marriage simply reflects how marriage was defined throughout all of world history, both recent and ancient alike. It is only within the past quarter of a century that same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting have become widespread concepts. The idea of same-sex parenting is not only revolutionary to near modern society; it is revolutionary to all known aspects of all known social structures to ever exist. Elshtain says, “All societies have a stake in the creation and sustaining of norms surrounding sexuality, child rearing, and other vital human activities.” (par. 9). Same-sex parenting is a first of this kind of social undertaking that places children, society’s future, as the subjects experimentation. The rights and desires of homosexual couples must take a back seat to the needs and well-being of the children. For it is the well-being of the children that will translate into the well-being of the civilization.

Some who favor same-sex adoption may argue that it is better for an orphaned child to be adopted by gay parents than to never be adopted. Why then are there restrictions in place for who can and who cannot adopt? Why would not that same reason apply to other sub-par homes for the orphaned children? Traditional couples who are older and closer to death are typically not eligible to adopt. Paul Cameron says, “Adoption agencies will seldom permit a couple in their late 40s or 50s to adopt a child because of the risk of parental death.” (par. 10). Just as older, higher risk heterosexual couples are rightly restricted from adopting, so should the high risk of homosexual life restrict same-sex couples from adopting because of the probability of parental death for the adopted child. It is often determinative for adoption agencies to deny adoption to a fatherless or motherless family; it should be equally determinative against fatherless or motherless same-sex homes. Despite the reduced number of eligible families who can adopt, the standard must be determined based on the well-being and development of a child, not based on convenience. Standards for child safety must trump personal desires of the prospective parents, even same -sex couples.

With marriage and family as an anchor for the development of individuals, the society of humankind has grown and thrived for thousand of generations. Throughout history, traditional marriage has remained the root of family success and children the fruit. A system that fosters social stability, procreates offspring, and was given to man by nature should not be anxiously uprooted, redesigned or redefined in the name of cultural acceptance. Though the protection of society and the advocacy for the well-being of children may be misunderstood as bigotry, the American culture must not yield to special interests or personal desires over what is morally and socially best. The Marriage Defense Act served to protect the sanctity of marriage, and esteem marriage as a uniquely defined sacred system on which society is built. This is why the Act is and good. Society must continue to thrive for thousands more generations.

written by Phil Barry



Works Cited
Hogg RS, Strathdee SA, Craib KJP, O'Shaughnessy MV, Montaner JSG, Schechter MT. Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay men. International Journal of Epidemiology 1997;26(3):657–61
Hall, Irene H., Ruiguang Song, and Philip Rhodes. "HIV Incidence Estimate." Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA., 2008. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. .
Foreman, Matt. "State of the Movement." National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Detriot. 8 Feb. 2008. Web.
“The Defense of Marriage Act.” Summary of the Act: Congress of the United States,1996. 371-72. Print.
Elshtain, Jean Bethke. "Reflections on the Family at Millennium's Beginning." World & I
March 2000: 312-323. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 April 2010.
Cameron, Paul, and Perrin, Ellen C. “Q: Does Adoption by Gay or Lesbian Couples Put American Children…” Insight on the News 22 Apr 2002: 40-43. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 April 2010.

Thursday, June 10

The Church: Called & Collected Compilation by LampMode Records

So LampMode dropped the compilation "The Church: Called & Collected"

It's pretty tight, it is definitely hitting in a timely fashion, I have been yearning for some more theological based Hip Hop, and this definitely has quenched my thirst!

Here's the link directly from LampMode describing the project.

Cop the album on AMAZON or iTunes

Here's the Track List:

1. Take 'em to Church - God's Servant ft. Azriel
2. Expository Preaching - shai linne (produced by Alex Medina)
3. Conversion - Trip Lee (produced by Alex Medina)
4. The Good News - Hazakim
5. Membership - Stephen the Levite
6. Words from Mark...
7. Biblical Theology - shai linne
8. Evangelism - Hazakim
9. Leadership - FLAME (produced by Big Juice)
10. Words from Thabiti...
11. Church Discipline - Stephen the Levite
12. Discipleship - Tedashii (produced by Big Juice)
13. Beautiful Church - Evangel (produced by Big Juice)

Here's a single from Flame called Leadership!!



Here's the EPK! Enjoy!

The Church // Promo 1 from The Lamp Lounge on Vimeo.



Definitely a solid performance and Project!

NEXT UP:



Trip Lee: Between Two Worlds
Dropping: June 22, 2010



Can't Wait!
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