joyfulchristian

Something to keep in mind

*** Warning! Warning! Danger Will Robinson! Accounting lingo ahead! *** 

I've noticed that some of our clients, when talking about their taxes, use words or phrases that they don't actually understand.  Here's a couple of points that will make things clearer and avoid some confusion.

First, the phrase "tax return" does not have anything to do with the amount you receive back from the government.  If you are receiving money back that is a tax refund.  The return is the document filed with the government which reports your income for the year and calculates your taxes.

Next, the phrase "electronic filing" has nothing to do with the manner the government sends you your refund.  Instead, electronic filing refers to a method of transmitting your return in which your preparer sends the return to the government through electronic means rather than mailing the return.  Filing electronically does not necessarily mean that the goverment will send your refund to your bank account electronically.  If you want an electronically transmitted refund, you want to use direct deposit.  Direct deposit can be used no matter what manner you choose to file your income tax return.

This type of year I typically find lots of misunderstandings with clients because they don't understand these two phrases.  Generally it's possible to infer what they actually mean and explain the phrases to them.  However, it's not always immediately evident that a client doesn't understand the words they're using.

ARRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!

Sorry about the lack of free ice cream. I've been positively swamped at work and by the time I get home I'm exhausted.  What can I say?  It's tax season.

Anyway, there are still some things that can get me worked up enough to rant, even now.  And here's one of them: Would someone please explain to me, if you can, how Congress wasting tons of time holding hearings about steroids in baseball is not a betrayal of conservative principals? 

Seriously here, I think steroid use by professional ball players is a betrayal of the fans.  I think it's tragic that teenagers get bogged down in steroids because they think it's the only way to "make it" in athletics.  But the idea that this should be the subject of Congressional hearings is just ludicrous.  I expect this sort of pathetic pandering when the Democrats are in charge, but when Republican lawmakers go into this it makes me want to pull my hair out.  (And yes, to those of you that know me, I do mean what hair I have left.)

Enough rambling.  Back to work with me!

I found myself wondering

I just found myself thinking, "Why is it that so much that I find pleasure in seems to be tinged with some pain?"  Then it occurred to me that maybe I was thinking about it wrong; maybe the question is, "Why is it that so much that I find painful also comes with a good deal of joy?"

Covetnous

I have a headache this morning, probably due to sleep deprivation, so I didn't go to service this morning.  Instead, I'm studying at home.  I was reading Polycarp's letter to the church at Phillipi and came across this passage:

For if a man cannot govern himself in such matters, how shall he enjoin them on others? If a man does not keep himself from covetousness,he shall be defiled by idolatry, and shall be judged as one of the heathen.

Polycarp is not alone in linking covetnous with idolatry; Paul does the same thing in scripture:

(Col 3;5, ESV) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

At first blush, comparing covetnous and idolatry sounds strange.  What do these sins have in common?

Matthew Henry wrote:

And covetousness, which is idolatry; that is, an inordinate love of present good and outward enjoyments, which proceeds from too high a value in the mind, puts upon too eager a pursuit, hinders the proper use and enjoyment of them, and creates anxious fear and immoderate sorrow for the loss of them. Observe, Covetousness is spiritual idolatry: it is the giving of that love and regard to worldly wealth which are due to God only, and carries a greater degree of malignity in it, and is more highly provoking to God, than is commonly thought. And it is very observable that among all the instances of sin which good men are recorded in the scripture to have fallen into (and there is scarcely any but some or other, in one or other part of their life, have fallen into) there is no instance in all the scripture of any good man charged with covetousness.

Similarly, Albert Barnes said:

It is remarkable that the apostle always ranks covetousness with these base and detestable passions. The meaning here is:
(1) that it is a low and debasing passion, like those which he had specified; and,
(2) that it secures the affections which properly belong to God, and is, therefore, idolatry. Of all base passions, this is the one that most dethrones God from the soul.

Both of these scholars agree that covetnous and idolatry are linked because both take the passion that we are to have for the I AM alone and direct it toward something much lower.  When you look at it this way, you can see that any type of passion, when taken to the degree of obsession, could transform itself  into a similar type of sin.  This could happen even with types of passion that  are normally considered good, or even would normally be considered blessed by God.

The Bible is quite clear that God intends man and woman to be together.   We're told that they, "shall become one flesh."  For a couple to leave behind their old identities to become a single unit requires  a great deal of effort and passion.  This is clearly what the Lord intended.  But what would happen if the husband or the wife's (or even just a boyfriend or girlfriend) became so passionate about their match that it began to distort their sense of reality and began to govern, rather than just drive, their relationship both with the other as well as with the world and, most importantly, God?  At that point, the positive good of oneness could become a type of idol.

This should not, of course, surprise us.  C.S. Lewis said, I can't remember where, that evil has nothing of it's own.  Satan is not his own type of being.  He is merely a perversion of the servants of YHWY.  Similarly, the sins which he tries to trap us with are not their own type of behaviors and attitudes; they are merely perversions of good acts and passions.

Lust is nothing but a perversion of love and the act of sex.  Both of these were created by God and are considered positive good in the context that God intended.  Likewise, sloth is merely a perversion of rest, which were told that even God has done.

We must, of course, guard ourselves against all types of idolatry.  We must not allow any passion to exceed the love and devotion due our Creator.  If we do, we have taken the first step, however unintentional, toward open rebellion against the Father.  And that, of course, is the essence of sin.

Contributions are good

... but use your brain please. 

Apparently Sri Lanka has gotten a lot of contributions for tsunami relief that are simply useless.  In fact, they've gotten enough of it that they're going to start taxing it:

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Tropical Sri Lanka is grateful for a deluge of tsunami aid but said on Friday it drew the line at used winter jackets, blankets and other second-hand clothes and would tax unsuitable aid to discourage it.

Practical items for tsunami survivors, such as new clothes, tents, building materials and water purification equipment would not be taxed, the Ministry of Finance and Planning said in a statement.

"We want to discourage the importation and donation of used clothes. Some of the stuff cannot be used," said a senior finance ministry official who asked not to be identified.

"I think they have been sent with good intention. Maybe  they thought Sri Lanka was on the South Pole," he told Reuters.

This may sound a little harsh until you think about it.  All the time and resources that ends up getting burned transporting items that cannot be used by recipients takes away from resources needed to get them stuff they can actually use.  Contributing items that are worthless does more harm than good.

 

For crying out loud

Once again, the House is trying to create a plan for filling vacancies in the event that it's membership was radically reduced due to a catastrophe.  And once again, there is much wailing that this bill isn't the best way to deal with the problem.  I agree that holding special elections in 49 days isn't a perfect solution, but none of the solutions being batted around are perfect.  However, all of them are better than what we have now, which is nothing. 

Three years after 9/11 we still don't have a contingency plan of any sort in place.  This is just absurd.  Do something already!