It's finally ready!

I am so grateful for your patience ... all four of you! ;-)

I've revamped my primary website, and rehashed the blog too, and slowly I am moving the better posts from this blog over to that one, while adding fresh content at the same time.

This one will be up for a while longer, at least a month, but I hope you'll bookmark my other site and join me there! I'm really pleased with what I've been able to accomplish, mostly 'cause I had to do it myself and I ain't no web genius.

Come on over!

Big changes coming!

Hey gang,

I've got some big changes in the works for MarkLaRoi.com and this blog.... with some major changes in my daily life, I want to reflect those changes and a newly directed commitment which I hope and pray will open some doors to me that have been closed for a long time.

Barring any issues, which have of late been plentiful, expect an unveiling by the end of this week!

update 8.29, 12:16 AM - Ok, I DID say barring any issues! Sorry gang, but t's been a very trying summer. I am gettign things taken care of which will allow me to be much mroe productive in the immediate future, and step number one is *drum roll* revamping my website and blog! Yep, to reflect the new direction my life is taking, I am redoing my site and am so very close to publishing it. Don't worry, the name will simply redirect to the new site so you shouldn't have to do anything in order to see it.

I'm aiming for a more businesslike look to the main site, and a more streamlined look for the blog. I hope you'll be willing to offer your constructive criticisms when you see it.

Dare I say ... coming soon? 

Learning to communicate

(I shared this on my Facebook page and thought it might be useful to someone here)

You public speakers, and yes that certainly includes you preachers, you've got to work to connect with the audience in front of you. Some of the best communicators in the world are the best "promo" guys from the world of professional wrestling. A "promo" is simply what it's called when a wrestler has the microphone and talks. The best of these guys learn how to seize the attention of the crowd, hold it, and turn it any way they want it to turn.

"The American Dream Dusty Rhodes" is known as one of the very best of the very best talkers of all time. He shared in an interview that as he was sharpening his "promo" skills, one thing he did was to study southern Black preachers because he noticed the attention they commanded when they spoke. Listen to these promos by the American Dream, and note how he utilizes not only those inflections, but appropriately applied emotion in order to gain the ear of his audience.

Remember speaker, if you want to be a great communicator, study great communicators!

Kim Kardashian calls Indian food "disgusting", and creates a learning opportunity

On Sunday's episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," Kim revealed that she finds Indian food "disgusting."
Many viewers were offended by Kim's dismissal of the cuisine and shared their disapproval via Twitter. "I think its good Kim Kardashian doesn't like Indian food because that means she won't ever visit India and that in itself is a blessing," wrote one user.
Kim took to her blog Tuesday to clear up any confusion over her remark. "In NO way was this intended as an insult to the Indian people or their culture," she wrote. "This is just my own personal taste. There are a lot of foods I don’t like… I hate cilantro and peppers, and there are definitely some Armenian foods that I personally find disgusting, but that doesn’t reflect my opinions on other Armenian people or my culture."

I can't believe it but I've gotta side with a Kardashian. Yep, I'm as surprised as you! Kim K. is taking a great deal of heat for saying that Indian food is "disgusting", and being accused of insulting Indian people. I have no trouble believing that she sincerely meant only that she dislikes the food. This is where a common failure in communication raises its ugly head;

I first noticed in my mid-teens that rather than take the time to think through an opinion, and take a stand on an opinion, many people lazily categorize an entire subject instead of objectively looking at the possible impact of their own tastes. I first recognized this phenomenon with Rap music.

Growing up I heard a LOT of white adults, and some black adults but not as many, say with great conviction "Rap music is garbage" or any of a dozen other variations of that statement. This type of dismissive accusation ignores the fact that someone else may LIKE Rap, and in declaring it all worthless they rather ham-fistedly insult the people who like that thing  by declaring their tastes as, at best, sub par.

If these people had only taken the time to consider the feelings of others and said "I don't like Rap", I know of at least four physical fights that could have been avoided. However, to make that kind of statement frees one from deeper (dare I say it again, "critical"?) thinking and facing the fact that ones own opinion is NOT the end-all declaration for the world.

This applies to taste in music, food, sports, colors, and quite a few other areas. I'll give another example; I dislike the sport of hockey greatly. I find it completely uninteresting to the point of aggravation. However, I cannot say that hockey is "stupid" because it ISN'T. It just doesn't hold any appeal to ME. Others love it, get great physical exercise from it, gain friendships in watching the games, and it's not inherently evil.

Neither is Rap, and most certainly neither is Indian food. So, since I am forced to side with Kim Kardashian, I hope YOU will at least think over this issue in your life, and in the way you speak. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to hurt someone close to you, and to make enemies even of complete strangers, by thoughtlessly dismissing something that means a lot to them.

By the way, I like Indian food. Then again, it's difficult to find any culture's food from which I can't appreciate at least several dishes! ;-)

Online Censorship?

I tried for some time to post this on my Facebook today, all to no avail. So, I posted a test to see if that would show, and surprise, surprise, it did! That said, I thought I'd share it here to see if it lasts.

"The stakes are continuing to rise on this dilemma: Last week, YouTube, owned by Google, banned a message by orthodox Rabbi Yehuda Levin, labeling it “hate speech” because it criticized the gay rights movement,” .... Apple has twice removed applications that contained Christian content from its iTunes App Store. In both instances, Apple admitted that these apps were denied access because it considered the orthodox Christian viewpoints expressed in those applications to be “offensive.” ...... Google has committed past practices of anti-religious censorship. For content reasons, it refused to accept a pro-life advertisement from a Christian organization, an issue that prompted litigation in England. Google is also alleged to have blocked a website in America that had conservative Christian content." ~ http://www.charismanews.com/us/33478-are-facebook-apple-and-google-censoring-christian-speech?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+delicious%2Fgqlf+%28Christian+Headlines+Top+Headlines%29

Original Sin

Why do bad things happen to good people? They don't, and in a moment you'll understand why.

Original sin is a concept that is difficult for many to grasp, and even fewer to accept. You can understand it if you believe that Adam and Eve were truly our first parents as the Bible declares (Genesis 2:5-7, 3:20). Think about parents today, and how their kids are like them. Parents pass on things like eye, hair, and skin color, general stature, propensity to particular diseases and conditions, and even personality traits. This is an accepted fact to all men.

We have all inherited something from those who came before us. Adam and Eve have passed down traits to us like being made in the image of God, and having an awareness of God. They've also passed down something very unwelcome. Guilt for Sin. When they sinned against God they were tried and convicted of treason, and the world was cursed because of them (Genesis 3). They also inherited death because of their guilt (Genesis 3:3, Romans 5:12, 6:23). The very fact that we all die in our time is evidence that we have inherited the guilt of sin from our first parents just like you inherited your hair from your own.

This is original sin, and not one human being escapes being born already condemned because of it (Psalm 51:5, Ephesians 2:1-5, Genesis 8:21). Why do bad things happen to good people? They don't, because there are no inherently good people (Psalm 14:1-3, Romans 3:10-19) .

Salvation in Jesus Christ isn't a free man making a good choice, it's a condemned man accepting pardon for his Sin (Isaiah 55:7, Jeremiah 33:8, Galatians 2:16, Romans 8:29-30) . All have sinned, all need the pardon. Are you still waiting for something? Do you still want the prideful boast of being able to say that you earned salvation in some way? Set it all aside, and recognize the gift from Christ.

Posting and commenting troubles

I'm having troubles getting Blogger to work properly, and will be making some changes hopefully soon. If it seems I'm ignoring your comments or that your comments are getting through, it's because I can't fix the problems. I'll let you know as soon as I deal with it.