In previous arguments with Peruvian friends, I have backed down because forcing a distinguishable difference between N. and S. America always turns me into appearing superior since I'm from the USA - the land of wealth and prosperity in their minds. It doesn't make sense to them that Mexico is part of N. America even though truly it's people and culture relate more closely to that of S. America. As you can imagine, I no longer argue for 7 continents, I've learned to just nod my head and smile.
As I read through Operation World this week, I like that they break one continent - The Americas - into three regions rather than two continents. The three regions of the Americas are: North America (USA, Canada, and Greenland), The Caribbean (the islands of the Atlantic and Gulf), and Latin America (Mexico, South America, and all of the smaller countries in between). It makes a lot more sense this way as opposed to our traditional way of creating two continents - one of which includes part of Latin America. I never know if those smaller countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, etc.) and the islands of the Caribbean belong with the North or the South anyways.
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Last evening as I read a few pages on prayer for the Americas, there were a few sentences that stuck out to me.
Pray that godly North Americans might continue to engage with the
needs of the world in a humble, passionate, and informed way.
Hollywood's portrayal of American life is a perversion of the values
that made the USA a great nation.
As I read these two sentences, my mind began to wander to all of the corrupt situations surrounding me - not just via Hollywood but through all kind of media. Music, video games, movies, tv shows, news sources, and even conversations with those nearby all tend to demonstrate morals and values that go against the dreams and desires of our founding fathers.
In GOD we TRUST!
It's written on our money, it's plastered on the walls of some government buildings, and it some cases it has been used in public speeches. However, do we truly believe it? Is our trust really in GOD or do we trust in the government to fix our problems and keep us safe? Maybe the bigger question is: Does our government truly trust in God, or do they rely on man or other forms of false hope when making decisions that effect each one of us? I have an overwhelming sense of disappointment that we've turned our backs on GOD when it comes to government, and He is left out of many discussions and decisions that take place in Washington, DC.
I don't think it's appropriate that we continue to ask GOD to bless America when the only time many Americans run to Him occurs during times of extreme heartache and attack. Instead, we should be praying for America to bless God by turning to Him and relying on His guidance as our ancestors have done in the past.
Rights come from GOD, not government.
This Founding Principle is actually embedded in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Again, we as Americans are forcing our government to vote on issues that are clearly stated in the Bible as right or wrong. Our government was created to make and enforce laws to protect the people, not to decide correct moral codes for humanity. Let's look at the biggest {moral} issues facing us currently: abortion and gay marriage. It is not one's right to decide that gay marriage is legal or that abortion is a woman's choice. Those are not rights God has given us; instead, He has clearly stated in His word {the Bible} that both of those are sin. {See the verses below.}
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It disappoints me to think how far man has fallen from the beginning of time - beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden over 2000 years ago. Then I think how far America has fallen since it's beginnings 200+ years ago, and my heart breaks for humanity. I am, however, overjoyed that God forgives, His grace covers me and all my filthiness, and His mercy makes me a new creation. He can do the same for you, and I firmly believe that if Christians would unite together in prayer and action, we will see the world, too, change for the better.
IN GOD I TRUST!!!
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Verses on Homosexuality
Genesis 2:24/Ephesians 5:31 - For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
Leviticus 20:13 - If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Romans 1:26-27 - Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 7:2 - But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
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Verses on Abortion
Psalm 139:13-18 - For you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.
Psalm 22:9-10 - Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.
Jeremiah 1:4-5 - Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."
Job 31:15 - Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
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