{"id":317,"date":"2014-12-30T17:18:06","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T22:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/?p=317"},"modified":"2014-12-30T17:18:06","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T22:18:06","slug":"another-year-or-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Another year! or is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Around this time of year we always comment that another year has come and gone. But has it really? I mean we have arbitrarily created the calendar year based on the earth\u2019s rotation around the sun or something to that effect. But just because it does rotate consistently doesn\u2019t mean we had to choose that as our system of years.<\/p>\n<p>Haley\u2019s comet comes around once every 75 yrs or so. What if we decided that every time Haley\u2019s came by it was a year? Think how much younger we all would suddenly be. The Bible say\u2019s that to the Creator one year is like a thousand and a thousand is one year. So you could at 30, for example, theoretically be turning 30 seconds old or 30,000 years old based on your measuring system.<\/p>\n<p>Of course there was the tried and true hourglass that apparently took an hour to finish but only ran when you decided to turn it thus making a day much shorter if you chose. I think sundials were one of the first timekeepers but were pretty much only reliable in the Sahara. If you lived in Seattle and didn\u2019t want to be late for work back in the sundial days you were better off setting up a cot at your work station and get up when you heard any commotion.<\/p>\n<p>God created the idea of time (since it is only an <em>idea<\/em>, being eternal there really is no 7:30 or whatever, but I digress) and gave us a way to measure it based on darkness and light.<\/p>\n<p>He had to separate the two so we could tell them apart otherwise <em>everyone<\/em> would think they lived in Seattle as I already mentioned. We talk about time like it is alive. It is a good <em>time<\/em> to start a new resolution. It\u2019s about <em>time<\/em> I turned over a new leaf. There is no <em>time <\/em>like the present.<\/p>\n<p>Actually all there is when it comes to time is the present. Each moment you exist is all you can rely on since none of us can control our existence and none but God decide when time is up.<\/p>\n<p>The one thing you are expected to control is your attitude during the moments of existence. We are not supposed to grow as Christians to show God how holy we are getting. Instead we are to practice such an unusual lifestyle of gratefulness, love and compassion for others irrespective of our own condition that we drive fellow humans to desire a life like ours. Do people watch your life and say\u201cI want what he has?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is why I imagine God says without faith it is impossible to please Him. Faith relies on what we believe God to be based on His Holy Book.<\/p>\n<p>We live for substance we hope to grasp one day in a dimension both similar and dissimilar to our familiar 3<sup>rd<\/sup> dimension, we commit to evidence even when we don\u2019t see it using three dimensional eyes but a \u201csense\u201d of faith that is tangible and allows us what would be considered an extra-sensory perception to \u201csee\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This is the life of the believer that we all not only should strive for but are expected to. In time we\u2019ll get there, just stay clear of Seattle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Around this time of year we always comment that another year has come and gone. But has it really? I mean we have arbitrarily created the calendar year based on the earth\u2019s rotation around the sun or something to that effect. But just because it does rotate consistently doesn\u2019t mean we had to choose that&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","tag-time-perspective-gregorian-calendar-resolutions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Another year! or is it? - God&#039;s Comic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Another year! or is it? - God&#039;s Comic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Around this time of year we always comment that another year has come and gone. But has it really? I mean we have arbitrarily created the calendar year based on the earth\u2019s rotation around the sun or something to that effect. But just because it does rotate consistently doesn\u2019t mean we had to choose that&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"God&#039;s Comic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-30T22:18:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Stine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Another year! or is it? - God&#039;s Comic","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Another year! or is it? - God&#039;s Comic","og_description":"Around this time of year we always comment that another year has come and gone. 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But just because it does rotate consistently doesn\u2019t mean we had to choose that&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html","og_site_name":"God&#039;s Comic","article_published_time":"2014-12-30T22:18:06+00:00","author":"Brad Stine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html","name":"Another year! or is it? - God&#039;s Comic","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-30T22:18:06+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-30T22:18:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#\/schema\/person\/243d86fd9261f0ca95264b80e71e80e9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/2014\/12\/another-year-or-is-it.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Another year! or is it?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/","name":"God&#039;s Comic","description":"God&#039;s Comic - Brad Stine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#\/schema\/person\/243d86fd9261f0ca95264b80e71e80e9","name":"Brad Stine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/870\/870f4e7ff5414a60daaefcce61009a6cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/870\/870f4e7ff5414a60daaefcce61009a6cx96.jpg","caption":"Brad Stine"},"description":"\"Brad Stine is on a mission \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a mission to free us all from the chains of political correctness and prevent our eventual \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwussification.' From his Nashville stronghold, Stine is mounting his crusade against these hypocrisies, all of which are explored in his highly anticipated 4th album\/DVD, aptly titled \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWUSSIFICATION!' \"You know what offends me?... Offended people,\" says Stine. A staunch supporter of first amendment rights and foe of political correctness, Stine asserts that rights should be universally applied. \"In a country with guaranteed rights to freedom of religion, its citizens are constantly trying to make faith in public spheres illegal, I am offended by that contradiction and want to talk about it as a comic.\" The strength of his conviction about our freedoms can be found in many places on WUSSIFICATION \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from \"Merry Christmas Too!\" (the right to celebrate religion) to \"At Least We're Not France!\" (the responsibility to take action as a country) to \"Spank\" (the ability to discipline our children the way we see fit). What would cause the wussification of Brad Stine? \"I hope that nothing ever wussifies me to deny my own personal beliefs,\" he says. \"Brainwashed wussies have been taught that standing up for yourself and defending your personal point of view makes you a close-minded hate monger.\" Stine stops short of defending his point of view as the ONLY one, adding \"...one must also be respectful of dissenting belief while supporting their own.\" He is, after all, an inclusive figure who trains his comedy to attack ideas, not the people who embrace them. Stine's faith forces him to acknowledge the respect and dignity of all\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 even the wussies with whom he disagrees! Stine models his approach to comedy after legendary practitioners that he has known and loved over the years. Despite George Carlin's disdain for theistic beliefs, he has been a big influence on Stine. \"I always enjoyed Carlin for turning the tables on culture. He is an excellent writer that has endured for decades.\" More current comedic touchstones are Brian Reagan, Paula Poundstone, Jim Gaffigan and Monty Python, among others. Fear not, true believers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with his brand new album, Brad Stine is here to save the world from WUSSIFICATION \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one politically-correct, offended person at a time!\"","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/author\/bstine"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godscomic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}