Thought For the Day: The Supreme Ethical Rule: Act So As To Elicit the Best In Others and Thereby In Thyself

“The Supreme Ethical Rule: Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself.” – Felix Adler, professor, lecturer, and reformer (13 Aug 1851-1933)

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First Principles: Whoever Would Overthrow the Liberty of A Nation Must Begin By Subduing the Freedom of Speech

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” – Benjamin Franklin

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Like A Child

Like A Child
by Michael Doyle

Unafraid like a child
Feeling the spirit of the wild
I serve our Father's kingdom
In the name of love and freedom

Praising Jesus's sweet name
The spirit of the Lord is the same
That brings our Father's love
Believed from below; proclaimed above

We behold the living king
As we begin to fully sing
Removing darkness by the light
As the day ends the night

He came to free and save
As He delivered us from our graves
With the bringing of His light
He removed the darkest night

So that we might live
Our Father - His Son did give
He deserves our praise
As He lives to light up our days

(c) August 12, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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First Principles: Natural Liberty Is A Gift of the Beneficent Creator To the Whole Human Race, and That Civil Liberty Is Founded In That

“The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms and false reasonings is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race, and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice.” – Alexander Hamilton (1775)

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Thought For the Day: In Nature There Are Neither Rewards Nor Punishments; There Are Consequences

“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.” – Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (11 Aug 1833-1899)

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Furthering Conformance To the Cross

Furthering Conformance To the Cross
by Michael Doyle

With an amazing sense of unearned grace
The foot of the Cross can be embraced
An essence of sin drives our theology
As we acknowledge the truth of you and me

Conforming ourselves to the Bible's mirror
It's a self-examination of our life's errors
Starting there to first openly embrace
The steps necessary to reach our better place

We live in the midst of shifting communication
That challenges our necessity for relations
There in the getting from here to the there
Of life that brings us to love past our fears

We have passed through phases of modernization
In our becoming this ill-defined post-modernist nation
This has led to the smallness of inert globalization
To a time of history ripened for pluralization

Serving ourselves to the mindless buffet of gluttony
With hard thought on what's good for you and me
It is a spiritual moment of vapid malnutrition
It too often leads to the abandonment of attrition

That has formed across our nation into a secularization
That embraces the abuses of Godlessness across our nation
Edging God out through our out-of-control egos
We come to a dark momentum recklessly into the unknown

In Ephesians, we are told of a community of Gentiles and Jew
This can be seen as representative of me and you
As we come together and are made spiritually anew
We, believers, need unity in all Godly things that we do

God's Word anchors our Christian sense of society
Through grace and peace, calmness heals anxiety
As we live every single day in grace and are set free
We lived blessed lives through our Father's spirituality

We are to strive to live holy without blemished blame
Doing these things for good and in our Father's name
Holy hours lived by each of us having the capacity for good
If we'd exceed our brokenness and rise up, understood

As we walk our separate path in God's love and light
Finding our way through the darkness of Satan's night
Forgiven of our trespasses through His good will
It becomes a matter of fact, not a matter of how we feel

We need to lavish grace toward all in all we do
Across this world lived in daily by me and you
The first and the last are necessary for completion
Of the tasks of God's love set out as the world's foundation

God's salvation is available to al for all eternity
Freely given by grace despite our states of perplexity
As long as we keep our eyes focused on the cross
We have everything to gain and none of the world's loss

This is how we walk in our best hope and reverence
Guided through every season by divine providence
So many people spend life mired in the madness
Of unnecessary arguments that can only bring sadness

The spirit of God is the hope given in revelation
Believe only in the risen Son to reach our destination
Of Heaven given to us all by divine proclamation
This then is the only wise course for our foundation

We surrender ourselves to God's promises to survive
And as we surrender our pretenses, we can thrive
There are lines that cannot and must not be crossed
If our hope for society will not be lost

(c) August 11, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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Thought For the Day: Censorship Is the Tool of Those Who Have the Need To Hide Actualities From Themselves and From Others. Their Fear Is Only Their Inability To Face What Is Real

“Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real, and I can’t vent any anger against them. I only feel this appalling sadness. Somewhere, in their upbringing, they were shielded against the total facts of our existence.” – Charles Bukowski

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First Principles: It Is By Grace You Have Been Saved, Through Faith – and This Is Not From Yourselves, It Is the Gift of God Not By Works, So That No One Can Boast

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9

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In A Less Than Perfect World

In A Less Than Perfect World
by Michael Doyle

I look out into my living room
It gives me hope instead of gloom
To see my daughters study by preference
And not out of some required deference

Maybe I did one or two things right
To be a parent seeing this special sight
They express their views with elegance
And are well-spoken while prone to reference

In this less-than-perfect world
I often see them reading and curled
Reflecting on what they have read
It puts a happy thought in my head

That I have not had to strictly cajole or goad
To find their feet planted on the high road
That they have landed there of their own accord
Is something rarified and will carry them forward

Long after my time has come and has gone
This tenacity will push them forward and on
To the better things that life has to bring
Rather through engineering or the love to sing

It's a joy to see they have little procrastination
It makes me certain of them reaching their destinations
That is all a father can ever dream and hope for
At least in this less-than-perfect world I often ignore

This universe is not as confusing or mislaid
As often felt by those who walk lost and afraid
And I see two brave young ladies in my living room
Who will bring brilliance while dissipating the gloom

(c) August 10, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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First Principles: A Republic, By Which I Mean A Government In Which the Scheme of Representation Takes Place, Opens A Different Prospect and Promises the Cure For Which We Are Seeking

“A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking.” – James Madison (1790)

The idea that we live in a democracy and that democracy requires protection are misnomers. Our founders were adamantly against democracy and for the rule of law provided in the framework of the republic founded as The United States of America. The scheme of representation in our republic is provided by the democratic means of free election of those who represent the people. A democracy means that if there are 100 people and 51 decide to confiscate private property, they can.

A republic stands for the laws decided by our representatives on our behalf. 51 of the 100 can be in favor in taking the other 49’s private property. But if the law states this should not be under the given circumstances, the property cannot be taken. It comes down to the “rule of law.” Understanding this is fundamental to our nation’s well being and survival.

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