Sometimes we all need a reality check!


If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to sway juries and make people think clearly.
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Here with a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no clue
who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us
constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask
the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and
Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who
they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?
I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all
about Tom Cruise's wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am
a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.
If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And
it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit
up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel
discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to
me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a
ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and
sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all
that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my
beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me
as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think
Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think
people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around,
period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an
explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like
it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from
that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to
worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us
who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the
America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is
a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's
intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and
Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this
Happen?" (regarding Katrina)
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.
She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but
for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of
our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed
out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection
if we demand He leave us alone?" (She said the same thing when
interviewed after 9-11)


In light of recent events . . . terrorists attacks, school shootings, etc.
I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her
body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools,
and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school: the
Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your
neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children
when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped
and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed
suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And
we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience,
why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them
to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it
out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder
why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what
the Bible says.
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread
like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord,
people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely
through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the
school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it
to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe,
or what they will think of you for sending it .
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think
of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it . . . no
one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit
back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards . . . honestly and respectfully,
~ Ben Stein
http://www.heaven-speaks.com/Reality%20Check%20B.html