by ·Comments Off on Absolutes vs. Anarchy in the Early Virginia Colonies

Four Hundred years ago when the Virginia colonies were on the verge of annihilation, the governors drafted a document called, “The Lawes Divine, Moral and Martial, for the Colonies of Virginia.”

These laws provided very strict and precise guidelines for daily life in the colonies. They covered everything from borrowing tools, to performing the daily necessities of life as they so politely put it.

They even had a provision for those who blasphemed God to have a bodkin thrust through the tongue… the second time so offending. And the third time you broke any of these lawes, you would be put to death.

Pretty harsh you say? The reason such strict moral and martial laws were implemented was because everyone had established their own absolutes. There was no legal authority and anarchy ruled.

Ironically before the Lawes were implemented, there were more deaths, desertions, mutinies and murders than after. They realized early on that true liberty was based on absolutes that all men lived by. They knew that license was death, not only to the individual, but to the corporate body as well.

by ·Comments Off on First Amendment… License or Privilidge

The Federal Court in Virginia recently held that the Loudon County Public Libraries did not have to put blocking programs in their computers that have Internet access.

The experts that spoke on behalf of blocking said that it was not censorship, it was protection of children against on-line predators and pornography. This same library doesn’t carry pornography in book form, as a matter of course. And by not purchasing every book available they are not deemed to be censoring.  The Judge decided that the first amendment and the license of free speech should prevail.

At the same time this is occurring, the well-known southern song of Dixie is being banned from Southern schools because it is determined to be too inflammatory… too insensitive.

It seems as though those southern schools either need to become more open-minded like the librarians in Loudon county, or the librarians need to take the same sensitivity training the southern schools take.

But in any case, there needs to be a consistent interpretation of the First Amendment across the nation or it will become irrelevant.

by ·Comments Off on Legislating Morality

When someone who identifies himself as a liberal wants to protest a moral absolute of someone who calls himself a conservative you will hear, “You can’t legislate morality.”

That is patently untrue as we see morality legislated every day. Society has determined assault, murder, rape, robbery, incest, cannibalism, and even tax evasion to be morally wrong.  Clear, unmistakable laws were passed to say if you do any of these things you will not pass go, you will not collect $200, you will go to jail.

If society did not legislate morality it would cease to exist . . . it would revert to anarchy where no absolute exists and all are free to make their own morality as they go.

When we forget that the foundation of our law is based on the laws of God, then we have broken our covenant with Him. You can take the Bible and prayer out of schools, you can ridicule the beliefs of Christians, but the bottom line is, all of our laws stem from the moral absolutes authored, in the Bible by God .

This is Nina May and the Renaissance Women reminding you that four little words don’t begin to change that fact.

by ·Comments Off on There’s Something About That Name

What is it about the name Jesus that get’s everyone so exorcized?

People are told that can’t say it at work, kids can’t type it on their computers at school or even wear T-shirts with it on them.

Landlord’s can’t advertise for tenants by saying simply, If you love Jesus too, we’d love to have you as a renter.

Of course they could say, If you love cats, or horses, or trees, then it wouldn’t be a problem.

So what is it about that name that just seems to get everyone so upset?

It can’t be that it is religious because other people can mention Mohamed and Buddha and Mary Baker Eddy and L. Ron Hubbard, and well, just about any other name associated with religion . . . just not the name of Jesus.

Could it be that maybe that name really has power like the Bible says? And maybe the people that keep Jesus’ name out of public discourse know just how powerful it really is.

They must know something they don’t want everyone else to know . . . that there is something about that name . . .

This is Nina May and the Renaissance Women reminding you that Jesus loves you, and that is the difference.

by ·Comments Off on Double Standards

It is actually a blessing in disguise that conservatives and liberals are held to different standards.

Remember when Dan Crane a former Republican congressman cried at a press conference, asking forgiveness for a liaison with an over-zealous female intern, and Democrat Gary Studds refused to apologize for an affair with a male intern?

Well, Dan loses his race, and Gary gets re-elected. The integrity of Reagan, Quayle, Bush collectively was so great that the only attacks that could be leveled were personal and irrelevant.

Reagan was an actor, Quayle couldn’t spell, and Bush raised taxes. OK, I agree with that one… but at least he was never unfaithful to Barbara.

Then there was John Tower, Judge Bork and Justice Clarence Thomas. All men of impeccable character, but their conservative ideologies unleashed the wrath of the left.

So the lesson is quite obvious and one that will play itself out in every election as these contradictions become more apparent. If you want leadership that is held to an incredibly high moral standard… elect conservatives.

by ·Comments Off on Where Do Liberals Draw a Line?

Is there anything that self-proclaimed liberals consider morally repugnant?

Where do they draw the line on what is right and wrong?

We see them spend so much time fighting for the rights of pornographers, drug addicts, same-sex marriage, abortion clinics, sex education in elementary school . . . and, well, the list is endless.

But as radical as they are in supporting the rights of every single special interest group, they just can’t seem to muster that same open-mindedness for Christians.

Take for example the town in Arizona that wants to have a Bible Week declared. You would have thought they were handing out pornographic videos to first-graders.

Ironically, liberals would think that is perfectly normal.

Every movement has an agenda, or purpose. But when one pretends to support free speech of any kind, while forbidding a segment of society to express their’s the agenda becomes transparent.

I wonder how they would handle a gay-pride day with mass repentance while invoking the name of Jesus in the town square? Don’t you just love dilemmas?

by ·Comments Off on Fighting Pastors (Give em Watts)

During the Revolutionary War, everyone was affected, and the churches were intimately involved.

In Springfield, New Jersey, the Rev. Caldwell’s wife was killed and his home burnt to the ground. The incident inflamed the townspeople against the British. They were inspired to fight knowing that the option was death. They faced 5,000 trained soldiers and at the height of the battle the colonials took refuge next to Caldwell’s church until they ran out of paper wadding for their muskets.

The Rev. gathered up all the copies of Watts Hymns and ran out to the rifleman. He was tearing the pages out of the hymnals, passing them out shouting, Put Watts into em boys! Give em Watts!

Today, that church would have it’s tax exempt status revoked for getting involved with politics, or standing up for what it believed.

So 200 years ago, these parishioners stuffed their muskets with hymnal pages, to gain independence for our country. Now, generations later the government is monitoring the activities of churches like the Church at Pierce Creek.

This is Nina May and the Renaissance Women hoping for a spiritual revolution in our churches.

by ·Comments Off on Day After Thanksgiving Day

This is traditionally the first shopping day of the holiday season. But what holiday? What used to be called Christmas is now referred to as the Winter Holiday. So why are we celebrating Winter and giving gifts?

The great irony is that to demean Christmas too much would kill the shopping spirit and the economy would suffer. So, whether the merchants like to admit it or not, they rely on Christians shopping today to celebrate the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ. And because Christ brought the free gift of salvation to all who would believe, we give gifts to one another.

So as you are shopping today and hear the piped music playing nothing by Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, and other “Winter Holiday” specials, the merchants are probably telling you that you are in the wrong place, shopping for the wrong holiday.

If Christians dont keep Christ in Christmas, and remember its true meaning, one day we will be wasting time shopping for gifts no one needs, spending money we dont have, and asking ourselves . . .Now, why are we doing this again?

This is Nina May and the Renaissance Women encouraging you to remember why you are shopping today.

by ·Comments Off on Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is a time of reflection. But does our thankfulness ever include our heritage and the sacrifices of great men who won for us the freedom to express this thanks?

For example, have you ever wondered what happened to the fifty-six men who signed the declaration of Independence? Well, five were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. And nine died from wounds inflicted during the war.

Who were these people? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, nine were farmers or plantation owners, 11 were merchants, and almost all were men of well means and education.

They had security, but they valued liberty more. They all had a great deal to lose for standing by their principles, and they knew that if they were captured they all risked death. They all pledged, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Maybe we should be thankful that they relied on God and realized it was His will that all men live free.

by ·Comments Off on Revolution Then and Now

Most people today believe that the American revolution was unanimously supported by all Americans. That is not true at all.

Only one third of the citizens living in America at that time called themselves Patriots and supported the fight for freedom. Another third were known as Loyalists and did everything they could to support English rule in the colonies. And another third could not make up their minds who they supported.

So there was strong division between the two extremes of the American revolution. One extreme opted for status quo, unfair taxes levied without representation in Parliament, and the continued control of an oppressive King.

The Patriots, on the other hand, wanted power to vest in them as promised and ordained by God. They wanted a representative form of government that would give each of them a vote. To them the people were more important than the power of government.

It seems as though the country is still divided with one extreme believing in the power of the individual, and the other, the power of the state. This is Nina May for the Renaissance Women and all modern-day patriots.