Sunday, October 7, 2012

Old Quote

Found this old quote recently, I  believe I copied it from a book at one point, but I neglected to make note of what book. "Sine Deo Quid" Latin meaning "Without God what".

Lessons from Stonewall

I was watching the movie Gods and Generals recently and was reminded about how fascinating that time of history is. As someone who studies several areas of history I enjoy the lesser known wars and times, but the Civil War being a dark time in American history is one that no one should ever even try to forget. One thing that I noticed was the character of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, played by actor Stephan Lang. General Thomas Jackson is a man that I have always admired both as a military hero and as a good man, one to aspire to be like from all I have read. One particular portion of the movie that stood out to me was when General Jackson first meets J.E.B. Stuart. General Jackson asked Stuart if he used tobacco to which Stuart replied he did not, Jackson then tells Stuart that he does not either, the reason being that the general enjoys it too much. I have read in the past that General Jackson also would not drink because he believed he would enjoy it too much. In this present day and age such discipline can be found, but often times it is rare. How often in our daily lives do we choose the things that we enjoy the most, knowing that those are the things that are the worst for us either physically, mentally, or both. Paul in the Bible says that he put his body under subjection, this implies a great amount of discipline that he set forth. Today people, especially Christians, may say that they are putting themselves under subjection. But, generally what they mean is that they are depriving themselves of something either for a only short time or of something they do not enjoy in the first place. Although it may not be wrong to drink or to smoke, if one becomes to attached to it and become addicted to it, that one cannot not placing God first in their heart. Every Christian should put God first then anything else, not the other way around.