Drum roll please...duh duh duh...we have finally come to the end of the series on pornography. But I have forgotten two very important elements: what does God have to say about all this and what can I do to help myself with this struggle.

I feel like I have tried to answer the question, why is pornography wrong, from a secular perspective up until this point. But ultimately, I have to get to the reason why it is wrong: because I believe using pornography involves lust and I think God has made it clear even lustful thoughts are wrong.

Now, here's the difficulty, how do you define lust? Either the people listening to Jesus thought it was so obvious what lust was, or they were too afraid to ask, because in the Bible it appears that they bought what he had to say about it. But most of us, in the 21st century, start wondering how do you really define lust. So I am going to try.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-29

You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

The key here in my mind is that lust is defined as thinking or acting sexually with another woman that is not your wife (and inverse for all the ladies). Now what Jesus did not say was that sexual thoughts were wrong - and that's important. But it my mind it is the act of taking those sexual thoughts and applying them to a person that is not a spouse.

It might seem subtle, but I think the distinction is important. After reading Steve Gerali's The Struggle I have really struggled (ha!) with his basic premise that masturbation might not be wrong. Now I am good friends with Steve and we have had many conversations about this together. He supports himself in saying that masturbation does not have to include lust, because it does not have to include lustful thoughts about someone.

Now I don't have time to blog about masturbation (maybe for another day), but I think the thought is an interesting one. If I can think about sex, but not about anyone in particular, is it still lust. I have to say, after years of thought: no.

Now back to porn. Porn always involves someone. Now, you might say, yeah but they are just random people on the internet. Here's the point: they still are people. They are still someone's sister, or daughter, or friend. They still have a soul, a life, a destiny. And for whatever reason the model has decided to pose (or act), there is a spiritual connection between the person in pornography and the person using pornography.

One quick story that I think will help illustrate this point before I move on to my tips (and I am sorry if this is too graphic for you). When I was 13 or so and exploring my sexuality, I didn't have a lot of porn to use and one thing that I remember being very "attracted" to was Amanda Beard in the Summer Olympics - ahh those tight bathing suits. So needless to say, I explored my "sexuality" while fantasizing about her. Figuring, like most do with porn, that this person isn't a "real" person in my life and she's just on the tv. Now, fast forward about 8 years and sure enough, I am in a position to meet (and spend some short amount of time) with Amanda. Now, I of course did not divulge what I shared in this blog with her, we talked about her new Olympic victories in Sydney. But it did drive home the point that day, and I remember thinking this, that wow, Amanda is a real person. And so too are the porn models - and that is an important thing to remember.

Alright, now for the tips on how to deal with a porn struggle:

1. Be open and honest with people about this struggle. Sure you don't have to post it on your website ;-) - but don't let this struggle consume you in private. Find some friends to talk about it with. Trust me, there are a lot of us out there dealing with this, and if you run into someone who doesn't want to help, or "thinks its gross", etc...say that's cool and find someone else. I have had great, open, honest, and raw accountability in my life from the time I was 17 and let me tell you it is necessary.
2. As Jesus said, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, and if your eye causes you to sin gouge it out. Now I am not saying you should take this literally (or else a lot of us would be blind and with out hands). But what I do think is important is take any measure you need to, to help overcome this.
3. This brings me to my next point. Don't have internet at home. WHAT?!?! I know, this is coming from a guy who is a web programmer and makes a living off of what he does on the web. But I am telling you, if this is a problem (and especially if you are single) just don't have internet at home. I didn't have internet in my home here in GA for the first 12 months. It is doable
4. I have never used it, but many have told me how much a program like Covenant Eyes www.covenanteyes.com has helped. Now it kind of goes a lot with point number 1, because you have to be willing to be accountable, but if you are willing to be accountable, it might be of great help.
5. Check out other resources at http://www.xxxchurch.com

Well, the series is finally over. And as I type this, I am now late for lunch with a porn producer, Atlanta's largest - Mike South (how's that for a way to end the series). I'll blog about that experience sometime later. Sorry it took me so long, but hopefully you find it helpful.

WOW! I KNOW! It took me a long time to wrap this one up. And I stopped in a particularly awkward place for three months. But it is a good thing I stopped when I did, because I would have just wrapped this sucker up and moved on and it would have sucked.

I work crazy hours normally, and November & December are the worst. So right after our Christmas Eve service (we are talking 12:10 am on Christmas morning), I left for Indiana. For the next two weeks I did very little besides hang out with friends, play with Jadyn, and relax. It was great. I also picked up the new book of one of my favorite writers, Chuck Klosterman, entitled Chuck Klosterman IV. As always, it was incredibly insightful, particularly to the conversation we are having about pornography. I call this, this Steven Tyler’s Surrender:

In 2002, I interviewed Aerosmith's Steven Tyler about drugs and groupies, and he said something along the lines of, "Having sex with the same woman a thousand times is way more interesting than having a thousand one-night stands with a thousand different women, because those one-night stands are all the same."...Every aging rock god (except maybe Gene Simmons) eventually comes to this same conclusion; in fact, anyone (famous or not) who decides to get married is unknowingly agreeing with Steven Tyler. At some point, most people decide that sleeping with the same person improves the quality of their life, even though it eliminates romantic choice. We all unconsciously understand this. However, nobody consciously believes this is true until after the fact. If you ask any single man if he'd prefer to (a) have sex with a thousand different women or (b) have sex with one woman a thousand times, he will always stake option "a", even though he knows this decision is virtually guaranteed to make him feel awkward and alone.

Chuck Klosterman IV (page 210-211)

I could pretty much just let you read that, and it would say enough. But I am too stupid to stop there. This communicates what I was talking about in the previous post way better than what I said. And here's why: Steven Tyler's reputation. If anyone should know the "glory" of sleeping with thousands of different women, it would be Steven Tyler. But here, you have an aged rocker, admitting something so universally true, and so reputatiously alarming, that there is little you can say to disagree.

I think porn is like this. As I have admitted earlier in this post, I have seen thousands of images of porn. And I agree with Steven that, in the end, they are all the same. Really porn is just the allure of the interesting, but in actuality it is pretty dull and only alludes to the truly interesting, a healthy, fun, erotic, monogamous relationship with the same person for many, many years.

The question is going to be, am I going to be like Steven in continuing to feel akward and alone, or am I going to strive to live my life in full realization and trust that the God who created sex, knows how best to "do it" and surrender my life to Him.

Still to come:
Sat - What God has to say and steps to avoid using porn

P.S. I included the date of this post back in the August "week" so that when people read it in the archive, they won't notice there was 3-month gap between posts (until they read this of course).

P.P.S. For more incredible observations from Chuck Klosterman, and my theological insight related to it, click here

Also, If you haven't read all the posts on pornography, you need to start at the beginning or else you won't get the full understanding of where I am coming from with this post. Click here

If you ask a pastor to tell you what is wrong with pornography but on the condition that he cannot refer to scripture, 99.9% of the time this is what comes out next: “Pornography is wrong because it destroys relationships.” I usually follow up with this question: “yeah, but what if it doesn’t. What if someone’s partner is cool with it.” The pastor responds, “I wouldn’t believe her.” Here’s my problem: I have had this conversations with people and when they tell me this, I do believe them. But I am still not ready to concede that porn is ok, even for these people, so I am compelled to dive further to find the real reason porn is wrong in all situations.

Before I go any further I should say this. There are people out there (mostly women) with certain insecurity issues that would say they are “cool with it,” but deep inside not be. One might even be able to say the majority of the people who do say they don’t mind their partner looking at porn qualify for this group. But that still does not negate the potential scenario, nor answer the question why porn is wrong. But I digress.

The other week, the Atlanta-based porn producer Mike South contacted the show. In dialogue with him, he revealed the fact he has had many relationships with people “not in the industry” and they have been cool with his profession and his personal use of pornography. In addition to that, I have a friend, lets call her Linda (no its not my mom), who knows her boyfriend looks at porn, and she too is cool with that. She isn’t insecure about it. She knows she can still please her man, and that her man is very pleased with her (I am not condoning their extra-marital relationship, but it is what it is).

Here’s my problem. Take for example this scenario. I go on a date with my (*cough* non-existent) girlfriend. We go to a movie with Jennifer Anniston in it. We walk out the movie and somehow Jennifer’s attractiveness gets brought up. I then proceed to make the comment, “yeah, Jennifer is hot.” Now about 20% of my past girlfriends would probably have a problem with this statement. But 80% would not. They aren’t threatened by my observations towards Jen. They don’t associate my observations about Jen to mean that I don’t think they are hot. It just is what it is. This is the reason that I actually do believe some when they tell me that it isn’t a big deal if their partner participates with pornography. We all have an ability to internally decide what we are or are not threatened by.

But I still will not say it is right, and here is why. I am not someone who says sex has to 100% of the time be selfless, even though I know there are those out there that think that is the definition of healthy sexuality. I just don’t see how that works. But, sex, like all things in a relationship are about give and take. Sometimes you give more than you take, and other times you take more than you give. The heart of pornography is using it to achieve sexual satisfaction where you are always the one taking. This sets a pattern in one’s life that establishes subconsciously that sex is all about them. Now, this may or may not have consequences in the bedroom. But lets for example say it doesn’t. Lets say for example it actually heightens the bedroom experience (as some claim). The problem I see is that it still robs a relationship of a true partnership in the bedroom. It robs it of its eroticism. It robs it of its fun. It robs it of its struggle. It robs the full experience.

In the end, I don’t think porn is wrong because it destroys relationships, but rather I think porn is wrong because it prevents relationships to be lived to the fullest. This is subtle, but important. Jesus said, “life is to be lived to the fullest,” and Steve Gerali says, “since the brain is the primary sex organ, sex must be learned.” Take celebrities for a second. Better yet, take crazy rich kids who are heirs to huge amounts of money. Better yet, take Paris Hilton. She lives a life in a constant state of highness (both with or with out drugs). Her whole life is centered around attaining the most popularity, the most prestige, the most influence and constantly experiencing the most pleasure. The sad truth of the matter is that her attempts to attain only the positive enable her to miss huge amounts of life that are truly valuable: the low points.

None of us like these points. And many of us would think that our lives would not be destroyed if we never had them again (just as I don’t think porn by default destroys relationships). But I guarantee Paris is missing out on parts of life that are truly valuable, and those engaged with pornography are also missing out on parts of sexuality that are truly valuable. Why? Because they are cheating the communal, learning experience sex should be with one’s partner. Even those that use “porn together” to learn stuff are still cheating the experience. It is like cheating on a test in class. If you copy someone’s answers, sure you might get the grade you want, you may even be able to commit that information into long term memory, but the journey, the thrill of learning is bypassed and cheated.

For me, I want my sexual relationship (whenever that comes) to be full, and not tainted. I want the highs, I want the lows, and I want the in-between, and nothing should get in the way of that.

Fri: What God Has To Say
Sat: Methods That Help

Also, If you haven't read all the posts on pornography, you need to start at the beginning or else you won't get the full understanding of where I am coming from with this post. Click here

The rise in pornography use over the past 15 years is attributed to one thing: the internet. But to blame the internet for this rise is really quite ridiculous. Why? Because the internet doesn't force anyone to do anything. First the blame should first reside with those of us who "demand it." But to just leave it there doesn't make much sense either because people haven't really changed, so why has the demand increased? Because of what the internet allows for us to do, and what the internet allows for porn producers to provide.

Before I continue I should say that what I am about to type are not justifications for using pornography. They are reasons internet porn has increased the usage by everyday Americans...Americans that 30 years ago would not have thought of buying a Playboy. The reasons are very male centered. I wish I would write from a female perspective (especially with the stats that show massive increase in female usage), but I can't. So alas, I am just going to write about what I know - maybe for the first time. But I digress.

The way I see it there are four reasons porn is better than sex.

1.) It requires no commitment whatsoever, and on the surface appears to have no baggage. You can access it when you want. If you are too tired, that's cool, you don't have to do it. Your "partner" in this excursion is never "too" tired. She is always ready and available. When your done: she doesn't want to talk, she doesn't want to snuggle, she doesn't want anything. You just turn her off and go about doing (usually sleep) whatever it is that you want to do. There are no phone calls in the morning. There is no expectation of life change. It is all about attaining pleasure and moving on - there's nothing to commit to.

2.) It's super easy to find, which means it takes no effort to attain. There are no awkward pick-up lines. There are no "am I looking" outside my league type of feelings. For those that believe in sexual purity before marriage, there is no long (did I say long...) wait until pleasure can be attained. (Usually) No one even knows you are doing it, so it is private! In a matter of seconds I can have any girl, scenario, act, etc...it's super easy.

3.) It's anything and everything you could ever want, how you want it, when you want it, and often with illogical ability to have "different stuff" at different times. This is where it gets crazy. Internet porn allows for any of your wildest fantasies to come true...and beyond that, often times more than one of your fantasies to come true at the same time (which is totally illogical). If I want to be sleeping with a cheerleader, while receiving a blow-job from some sorority girl, while eating-out some girl you have seen at work, while having pool sex, that is all logically possible inside the brilliant imagination of the human mind - while just logistically impossible in reality. Porn images heighten this experience.

4.) Internet porn is typically average looking woman. I think this is the most profound point and I stole this from Chuck Klosterman and I left my book at home so I can't quote him. BUT...Playboy were always these GORGEOUS women (ones most of us would never come in contact with on a daily basis) in strange, exotic situations (which we wouldn't visit). Internet porn changed all this. It took (usually) attractive, but not gorgeous women (ones we see everyday) and put them in situations that we are in everyday. If you have a girl at the office you fantasize about, you can probably find something similar to her on the web. If there is a girl in a class you like, there is something on the web you can find that looks like her and puts her in a situation you would find her in. I think ultimately this leads to the subconscious reason porn is wrong (which we'll get to on Friday), but for now we should recognize that because of its normalcy, porn attracts normal people.

None of these reasons justify the usage of pornography. All of them are built under the false pretense that sex should be about me attaining maximum pleasure at any cost, and with no regard to my partner. There is nothing wrong with sex being pleasurable. But just like eating (remember the cheeseburger) cannot solely be understood as attaining pleasure at all costs, so too, healthy sexuality must recognize that there are limits (and consequences) when looking outside the boundaries of sex's design to attain pleasure. We'll get more into why this is later, but first we need to understand that porn's growth is due to its overall normalcy.

Upcoming:
Thus: What If My Partner Doesn't Care
Fri: What God Has To Say
Sat: Methods That Help

Porn is nothing new, but since the advent of the internet, it seems to have built huge momentum. For the rest of the week, we are going to look at pornography from all angles, including some many of you probably have never considered.

I should make a serious digression point here. I am stating for the record that I am a hypocrite when it comes to this issue. As you will see over the course of the week, I will take a very strong moral stance on pornography. However, I struggle very hard with this issue. In the past 15 months I have viewed pornography 7 times. Now some of you (probably women) think that is a disgusting amount. Others of you (probably men) think that I am bragging that I have only done it 7 times. The truth is probably somewhere in between. But all of what I am about to say should be with the understanding that I too struggle with this issue. I know I have done wrong, but that still doesn't change the absolute truth of this issue. C.S. Lewis says "you can't judge a coat by the person who wears it," and I am saying, "that you can't judge an issue by the person who practices it." But I digress.

I came across a study recently that says 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women use porn (that number is actually 34% according to another study). When all women are considered this number jumps to 53% (and believe it or not I could not find a statistic on the percentage of men viewing porn, probably because it is 99%). 25% of all internet searches are for porn. 77% of online visitors to adult content sites are male. Their average age is 41 and they have an annual income of $60,000. 46% are married.

Now I am going to tell you something that I don't think anyone will ever say. It may mean I am wrong - however, I think until we honestly face up to the issue we are never going to be able to deal with it, so it needs to be said. I think the reason porn is such a strong factor in our society is because for many it is better than sex. I know, most of you want to ring my neck for saying that. And given the fact that I am still ("technically") a virgin, should be all the more reason to believe I don't know what I am talking about, right? But before you discount me, maybe we should be asking the question why are otherwise perfect marriages wrecked by porn usage? Why are men and women literally throwing away their lives, their families, their relationships for this. So maybe, just maybe, for the next five days, give me the benefit of the doubt. If you think I am wrong, that's cool, but for five days just go along with it.

I will defend that stance more tomorrow (but this blog is getting seriously long). I will say this before I end this post, just because something may be better doesn't mean it is necessarily good for you (or society). Think of the ultimate cheeseburger. This is no McDonalds cheeseburger. This is no cheeseburger you have ever had in your life. This cheeseburger is so fatty, so delicious, so unbelievably life changing that the instant you finish digesting this cheeseburger you will certainly die of a heart attack. The reason: because you took eating outside the boundaries the heart was designed to handle. Now for those first 10 minutes it was probably the best thing that you have ever had, but that doesn't mean it was the best thing for you, nor does it mean the mass consumption of these cheeseburgers by society would be good for culture. That is the way I am going to approach porn for the next five days: it is the ultimate cheeseburger that will kill you.

Upcoming:
Wed: Reasons For Porn's Growth
Thus: What If My Partner Doesn't Care
Fri: What God Has To Say
Sat: Methods That Help

References:
Puremorality.org
Christianpost.com
Trueu.org
Blazinggrace.org

I blogged a couple of days ago about the fact that I am looking to buy a condo. I have found an area I like and numerous options within that area that meet my "price range" requirements. So...what's the next step. That's right, you talk to a loan officer.

I will say this, what I am about to write below does not apply to people who "can't seem to control their spending." If you are a person like this, a house is a great way to "force" yourself to save, while at the same time, providing the most fundamental need we all share. This also probably doesn’t apply to those who have families to take care of. But I digress.

So I started to sit down and punch the numbers. I was debating between a 30-year fixed, a 30-year fixed but pre-paying it like it was a 15-year fixed, and a 15-year fixed. I would take the PMI hit as I still feel the 80/20 option is too sketchy - especially if it is a variable interest rate or even worse an interest only loan.

As I was doing this I had three "benchmarks" in place: 3-years, 5-years, and the life of the loan. I wanted to see at what "I owned" at each point. And the most fascinating thing revealed itself to me. I think it might be better to rent and save the rest. Take this for example. On a 30-year fixed mortgage, after 5-years I will have accumulated $7,027.80 in equity (on a $110,000 property). This is after paying a monthly payment of $1,072.44 THIRTY-SIX times (this includes taxes, insurance, PMI, association dues, etc...). Now, if I were to take that same monthly payment, subtract out rent ($545) and save the rest ($527.44) over the course of the same 5-years I will have accumulated $32,377.43 in savings! Here's the other deal, lets say I remain single for the rest of my life (lets pray not). If I carried this pattern of saving and renting over the course of a 30-year mortgage, making $527.77 deposits every month, at the end of the 30 years I would have $911,740.79 - there is no way my place would appreciate that much.

So this is what I don't get. Why the heck would anyone single, with no family, buy property under these circumstances. I keep thinking I must be missing something. But the numbers add up. The reason I am asking this isn't because I want to horde my money. However, we have all been very blessed by God, and I want to do the most I possibly can with the money He has blessed me with (including giving it away). So to me this all boils down to a question of stewardship - why give the bank money that God may want me to put elsewhere. Last weeks question was where to buy. But now I am asking, should I buy - and that is the question Shakespeare would be proud of.

P.S. For anyone who would like to see the worksheet I created, click here.

I have been watching my 13-year old cousin Nick all weekend long. Today, after I put in a couple of hours at work, he wanted to go see the movie Accepted. I thought this looked hilarious, so we called some friends and went to the 5:00 pm showing.

Some may say taking a 13-year old to Accepted was irresponsible. Frankly, I don't think there was anything that he doesn't see on TV, and if anything, it opened the door to a pretty good conversation about college and his future. But I digress.

Here's what I don't understand about Accepted. The premise of the movie is this: the main character doesn't get accepted to any school he applies for. He obviously lives in rich suburbia, because it is made clear very early that everyone he knows is going to college. In addition to that, his parents actually tell him his life is over because he didn't get accepted. So what does he do? Nothing else but creates his own college.

Word gets out about the college that accepts those that everyone else rejects and enrollment grows from 3 to 300. Now the main male characters are these "not-unattractive," but certainly somewhat "geeky" guys. The "auxiliary" male characters are definitely more geeky, and borderline socially awkward. So you say, yeah, totally, I know that kid. That kid is the one no one liked in college and refuse to accept.

But here is where I start to wonder about who really isn't accepted in our society: ugly girls. Even though this school is filled with geeky guys, there is really no ugly girl in the entire movie. And sure enough, the geeky, socially awkward guys hook up with really hot girls (one girl was even an ex-stripper). Thus this leads me to a conclusion about society that I don't think is particularly good for culture. Ugly girls are unacceptable.

Sometimes I think America is retarded. And for all the claims that we are out to dominate the world, sometimes I really wonder if that is the case, because the one thing that is keeping us from ruling the world is the one thing we can't give up: Energy!

On a side note, I am not against the idea of America dominating the world, as I still say the good we have done in the world far outweighs any other country in history. And even though we aren't perfect, and we do have injustice in our own country, I still think America is a pretty darn good place and a good role model for most countries to follow. But I digress.

Ok, so everyone from Al Gore to Michael Moore to even George W. Bush has said America is addicted to oil. Now, while the latest gas prices spike is due more to increase demand (India and Asia) than decreased supply (despite what the news tells us), it seems to me that attempts to curb demand here in the states all take corporate or governmental responsibility first. Now while I am optimistic about America, I am not optimistic about corporations or the government. So if corporations or the government aren’t going to be the answer to this problem, what is? Individuals! And in my mind there is one simple thing we can all do that will drastically decrease the amount of oil consumed: move closer to work. Why in the world of ethanol research and stressing public-transporation, are the Greenpeace hippies not suggesting this simplest step of all.

I fill up my 15 gallon car once every 2 weeks. This is mainly due to the fact that I live 1.7 miles from my work. In 2006, America consumed somewhere around 7.6 BILLION BARRELS of oil. On the average, Americans drive 43.5 miles a day, of which 32.0 miles of those are spent commuting to and from work. That means that 75% of our driving and 5.7 billion barrels of oil are use in relation to work commute. If we were to cut the average commute in half to 16 miles each day, we would essentially be cutting our total fuel use to 4.75 billion barrels - which would drop our fuel consumption below what we consumed in 1970.

While we wait for the government to get out of the oil lobby business, and we wait for oil corporations to come around to ideas like ethanol, this is something every American can strive to do. The end result is families save money, spend more on American products (as apposed to Middle Eastern oil), this would increase our economic status, saves the environment, simplify lives, and makes us safer since the Middle East will have less control over us. How is that not a easy win situation all the way around?

I took another step yesterday in "achieving" the so called "American Dream": I went with a realtor searching for a condo to own. Ok, so it is not your white picket fence, front yard, blah blah blah, but at least it is my American Dream.

On a side note, I want everyone who reads this to e-mail Rachel at rachel.10[at]sbcglobal.net and convince her to come be my roommate. She works with me and would be an awesome roommate. After the raise I got, I told her I wouldn’t even charging her rent. That's like giving her a $5,000 salary increase every year! She still has her doubts. There is no romantic interest here (on either side) so it's all good! She loves football, hates children, has no emotions so it would pretty much be like rooming with myself. But I digress.

It is interesting heading into this part of my life. Everyone I talk to says the same thing: "ohh you are looking at buying property, that must mean you are setting up shop and putting down roots." And I think to myself, is that really what that means? Is the American Dream really something that traps you in one place?

The irony in the situation is that I am still considering a job in San Diego that has been offered to me. I am flying out next week to see the area and meet with people (but the people out there know that their offer is a long-shot and I am making plans here in ATL in the event that I don't accept). I obviously won't buy a place until after I decide.

I would hope, that all of us would never feel trapped in our circumstances to not pursue the opportunities God puts in front of us. To me, that is no American Dream but an American Nightmare. For some, they like the stability of having their job, staying in one place for the rest of their life with the wife and the kids and the white picket fence. They don't feel trapped, they feel secure – and that is a way of taking advantage of the opportunities God has place in front of them. But for others (like myself), I don't think I am ever going to be content, and I will always look into what dreams God has for me and no piece of property is going to convince me otherwise. Only then will I feel, my "American Dream" is synonymous with "God's dream for me."

If you asked me who is the one person you would like to meet that is still alive I would answer Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (yes I had to copy and paste that name from a Google search). Now half of you would say, who the heck is that, and the other half would probably be appalled. For those that don't know, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the President of Iran.

Now, before I get any further. I want to say that the preceding does not condone or excuse any of the comments Ahmadinejad has made in the past (especially in relation to Israel). I do not love Hitler. Nor do I want the Jews wiped off the face of the earth. But I digress.

What fascinates me about this man is that he doesn't seem like your average Middle East nutball (reference Osama Bin Laden). I don't see him touting around automatic weapons, and in the good majority of his photos he is smiling, dressed in fairly western cloths, and if you didn't know him under the context of being the President of Iran, wouldn't he seem pretty sane?

This past week, Ahmadinejad sat down with Wallace on 60 Minutes. I not only watched that interview, but I also watched the interview, in its entirety, with no edits on C-SPAN. Now this guy definitely seems to be a good manipulator (and I am not necessarily saying that is a bad thing). When Wallace asked him a question he obviously didn't want to answer, he just talked for 10 minutes about something else and by the time he got done, we all forgot what the question was.

But here's my point. Twice this week I heard reference to Iran and the Anti-Christ (or Great Satan). Once, was the re-quoting of Ahmadinejad himself when he referred to America as the Great Satan, and the other time was when (I am ashamed to say) someone on my radio show actually accused Ahmadinejad of being the Anti-Christ. But in my mind, neither of these terms do anyone any good. I don't understand why we can't just sit down and talk to one another like adults. I have said this before, and now I am putting it in writing. If I were elected President the first thing I would do is travel to the three countries that "supposedly hate us the most," with a relatively small entourage, with little security, on their turf, and at least attempt to talk this out. Sure, it might fail. Sure, they might reject my plane entering their airspace. Sure, I might find out the guy really is a nutball like everyone thinks and the situation is nonnegotiable. Sure, I might even get killed in the process. But at least then I will never have to meet the real Great Satan because I will have lived a life that valued all human life enough to put aside the past, put aside stereotypes, and met my responsibility to talk out issues in the hope of saving millions of lives. In my mind, the only great Satan in our presence today is stupid diplomacy.