Mar 28, 2009
God's Glue
A doctor-friend wrote: A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio … and I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned … but I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is...how He spoke the universe into being … how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire...etc. etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) … and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking … 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'
Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart … how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.
And then I lost my breath.
And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!
It was because he started talking about laminin.
I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them :'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see … laminins are what hold us together … LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell.. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE.
But now I do.
And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already) … Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it … if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see ...
Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!
Amazing.
The glue that holds us together … ALL of us … is in the shape of the cross.
Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.
'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER. ' Colossians 1:15-17.
Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool.
Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together … one cell to another … by the cross.
You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin 'glue' would look like long before Adam even breathed his first breath!!
"Faith is not knowing what the future holds, but knowing who holds the future."
I wanted you to know and to understand that YOU are being held together by the cross of Jesus Christ! His love! His forgiveness and His marvelous power!
Author’s Name Unknown
Beware of Authoritative Voices
Many people today rely on the global positioning system or GPS in today's cars to get to places. The GPS has probably saved more gasoline than any other recent improvement to cars. The GPS is especially helpful to those who are "directionally-challenged" so that they don't waste gallons of fuel trying to find how to get to their destination. However, we must not overly trust even the handy GPS.
Recently I was doing my usual daydreaming when I missed a highway exit. It took less than a second for the GPS to recalibrate with new instructions. As I got to the ramp where traffic was coming onto the highway my GPS told me to make a sharp right. Had I obeyed the GPS instruction, I would have saved myself ten miles of driving but I also would have been driving the wrong way on a one-way freeway incoming traffic ramp. I wonder if she --- the voice in the GPS --- (it's a she because it has such a nice feminine voice) evidently was wrong. If I obeyed her instructions, I not only most likely would have ended paying for a traffic ticket, but even worse --- I could have caused an accident and possible injury or even death.
We really need to pay attention to whose voice we listen. Many people today speak and act with such confidence and authority that it just seems right to listen to their counsel. Yet they can be as wrong as the GPS in my car.
Just 48 hours before Lehman Brothers went belly-up, a very loud voice from a financial authority on a financial television program advised all to buy Lehman Brothers because "it was solid". So much for that financial authority's "expert advice". Children obey their parents. In school, students obey their teachers. In church, parishioners obey their pastor. Or do we? Should we?
At some point in our lives, we mature and stop checking our brains at the door. In Isaiah, God tells us " ... let us reason together ..." God is not honored by blind obedience. He is best served by thoughtful, intelligent, principle-driven decisions. Be very careful about to whose voice you listen!
by Roger Bothwell
My Insight:
So many of my friends believe the way they do simply because its the way they were taught. They believe because it's convenient. They believe because their spiritual leader tells them to. Not one of them truly believes on their own ... they have never taken the time to truly understand for themselves why they believe the way they do. For them, it's much easier to blindly follow rather than stand on their own before God. How sad is this!?!
Like the article above stats, "God is not honored by blind obedience. He is best served by thoughtful, intelligent, principle-driven decisions" truly say's it best. When we stand before God on judgment day, we will be judged on our own understanding and not of that which we conveniently accepted or blindly followed.
Knowing God is Loving God! Knowing God is no different than loving your partner or your friend. You KNOW your partner and friend ... that's why you love them. Loving God is no different. God invites us to come and reason with him ... to come and GET to KNOW Him. So why not let go of those silly and stupid traditions, including all those just because notions and reason with God ... who knows, you just might truly fall in LOVE with HIM.
:Pj
Recently I was doing my usual daydreaming when I missed a highway exit. It took less than a second for the GPS to recalibrate with new instructions. As I got to the ramp where traffic was coming onto the highway my GPS told me to make a sharp right. Had I obeyed the GPS instruction, I would have saved myself ten miles of driving but I also would have been driving the wrong way on a one-way freeway incoming traffic ramp. I wonder if she --- the voice in the GPS --- (it's a she because it has such a nice feminine voice) evidently was wrong. If I obeyed her instructions, I not only most likely would have ended paying for a traffic ticket, but even worse --- I could have caused an accident and possible injury or even death.
We really need to pay attention to whose voice we listen. Many people today speak and act with such confidence and authority that it just seems right to listen to their counsel. Yet they can be as wrong as the GPS in my car.
Just 48 hours before Lehman Brothers went belly-up, a very loud voice from a financial authority on a financial television program advised all to buy Lehman Brothers because "it was solid". So much for that financial authority's "expert advice". Children obey their parents. In school, students obey their teachers. In church, parishioners obey their pastor. Or do we? Should we?
At some point in our lives, we mature and stop checking our brains at the door. In Isaiah, God tells us " ... let us reason together ..." God is not honored by blind obedience. He is best served by thoughtful, intelligent, principle-driven decisions. Be very careful about to whose voice you listen!
by Roger Bothwell
My Insight:
So many of my friends believe the way they do simply because its the way they were taught. They believe because it's convenient. They believe because their spiritual leader tells them to. Not one of them truly believes on their own ... they have never taken the time to truly understand for themselves why they believe the way they do. For them, it's much easier to blindly follow rather than stand on their own before God. How sad is this!?!
Like the article above stats, "God is not honored by blind obedience. He is best served by thoughtful, intelligent, principle-driven decisions" truly say's it best. When we stand before God on judgment day, we will be judged on our own understanding and not of that which we conveniently accepted or blindly followed.
Knowing God is Loving God! Knowing God is no different than loving your partner or your friend. You KNOW your partner and friend ... that's why you love them. Loving God is no different. God invites us to come and reason with him ... to come and GET to KNOW Him. So why not let go of those silly and stupid traditions, including all those just because notions and reason with God ... who knows, you just might truly fall in LOVE with HIM.
:Pj
A New School Prayer
Since the Pledge of Allegiance And The Lord's Prayer Are not allowed in most Public schools anymore Because the word 'God' is mentioned ... A kid in Arizona wrote the following:
Author's Name Unknown
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites, It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks..
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd. =0 A
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites, It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks..
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd. =0 A
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen
Author's Name Unknown
Mar 24, 2009
The Son, The Son
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.
About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.
He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'
The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?'
There was silence.
Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.'
But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'
Another voice angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting.. We came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandt's. Get on with the real bids! '
But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting.' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
'We have $10, who will bid $20?'
'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'
'$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?'
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son.
They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'
A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!'
The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over..'
'What about the paintings?'
'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.
The man who took the son gets everything!'
God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The son, the son, who'll take the son?'
Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.
Author Unknown
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.
About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.
He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'
The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?'
There was silence.
Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.'
But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'
Another voice angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting.. We came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandt's. Get on with the real bids! '
But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting.' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
'We have $10, who will bid $20?'
'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'
'$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?'
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son.
They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'
A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!'
The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over..'
'What about the paintings?'
'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.
The man who took the son gets everything!'
God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The son, the son, who'll take the son?'
Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.
Author Unknown
Mar 21, 2009
It’s Easter—Hallelujah!!!!
There are two seasons which I enjoy and celebrate … Christmas and Easter.
I know that there are those who do not celebrate Christmas and Easter. Their claim is that these two holidays are pagan celebrations thus “Christians” should not observe them. Some go as far as to say that God despises our celebration on these two holidays. However, they do admit that they believe in the Christmas and Easter story … huh???? Well, if you believe then why not celebrate? Okay, can we say oxymoron?
Yes, because of commercialism Christmas and Easter has lost its true meaning in our society. But for those of us who truly believe in the significance of these two holidays and are able to separate the secular from the spiritual then, oh my god!, what a celebration it is. Because, He was born, crucified, and resurrected … can you say hallelujah????
I believe that Christ died for you and me and on the third day was resurrected. And because of His willingness to undertake this enormous gift of Himself, today you and I have hope beyond this life as we know it. Now, if this isn’t worthy our celebration then I don’t know what is. After all, these two events in history is the very foundation upon which we build our faith and look to the future with hope that one day soon we will live with Him … can we say, Amen????
:Pj
To read more about Easter click here.
I know that there are those who do not celebrate Christmas and Easter. Their claim is that these two holidays are pagan celebrations thus “Christians” should not observe them. Some go as far as to say that God despises our celebration on these two holidays. However, they do admit that they believe in the Christmas and Easter story … huh???? Well, if you believe then why not celebrate? Okay, can we say oxymoron?
Yes, because of commercialism Christmas and Easter has lost its true meaning in our society. But for those of us who truly believe in the significance of these two holidays and are able to separate the secular from the spiritual then, oh my god!, what a celebration it is. Because, He was born, crucified, and resurrected … can you say hallelujah????
I believe that Christ died for you and me and on the third day was resurrected. And because of His willingness to undertake this enormous gift of Himself, today you and I have hope beyond this life as we know it. Now, if this isn’t worthy our celebration then I don’t know what is. After all, these two events in history is the very foundation upon which we build our faith and look to the future with hope that one day soon we will live with Him … can we say, Amen????
:Pj
To read more about Easter click here.
Weather Report
"Any day I'm vertical
is a good day"
...that's what I always say.
If you ask me,
"How are you?"
I'll answer, "GREAT!"
because in saying so,
I make it so.
When Life gives me dark clouds and rain,
I appreciate the moisture
that brings a soft curl to my hair.
When Life gives me sunshine,
I gratefully turn my face up
to feel its warmth on my cheeks.
When Life brings fog,
I hug my sweater around me
and give thanks for the cool shroud of mystery
that makes the familiar seem different and intriguing.
When Life brings snow,
I dash outside to catch the first flakes on my tongue,
relishing the icy miracle that is a snowflake.
Life's events and experiences
are like the weather -
they come and go,
no matter what my preference.
So, what the heck?!
I might as well decide to enjoy them.
For indeed,
there IS a time for every purpose
under Heaven.
And each season brings its own unique blessings.
~BJ Gallagher~
is a good day"
...that's what I always say.
If you ask me,
"How are you?"
I'll answer, "GREAT!"
because in saying so,
I make it so.
When Life gives me dark clouds and rain,
I appreciate the moisture
that brings a soft curl to my hair.
When Life gives me sunshine,
I gratefully turn my face up
to feel its warmth on my cheeks.
When Life brings fog,
I hug my sweater around me
and give thanks for the cool shroud of mystery
that makes the familiar seem different and intriguing.
When Life brings snow,
I dash outside to catch the first flakes on my tongue,
relishing the icy miracle that is a snowflake.
Life's events and experiences
are like the weather -
they come and go,
no matter what my preference.
So, what the heck?!
I might as well decide to enjoy them.
For indeed,
there IS a time for every purpose
under Heaven.
And each season brings its own unique blessings.
~BJ Gallagher~
Gates Of Heaven
A woman arrived at the Gates of Heaven.
While she was waiting for Saint Peter to greet her, she peeked through the gates.
She saw a beautiful banquet table.
Sitting all around were her parents and
all the other people she had loved and who had died before her.
They saw her and began calling greetings to her
'Hello - How are you! We've been waiting for you! Good to see you.'
When Saint Peter came by, the woman said to him,
'This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?'
'You have to spell a word,' Saint Peter told her.
'Which word?' the woman asked.
'Love.'
The woman correctly spelled 'Love'
And Saint Peter welcomed her into Heaven.
About a year later, Saint Peter came to the woman
And asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day.
While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived.
'I'm surprised to see you,' the woman said. 'How have you been?'
'Oh, I've been doing pretty well since you died,' her husband told her.
'I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill.
Then I won the multi-state lottery.
I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a huge mansion.
My new wife and I traveled all around the world.
We were on vacation in Cancun and I went water skiing today.
I fell and hit my head, and here I am.
What a bummer!
How do I get in?'
'You have to spell a word,' the woman told him.
'Which word?' her husband asked.
'Czechoslovakia .'
Moral of the story: Never make a woman angry... There will be Hell to pay later!
Author Unknown
While she was waiting for Saint Peter to greet her, she peeked through the gates.
She saw a beautiful banquet table.
Sitting all around were her parents and
all the other people she had loved and who had died before her.
They saw her and began calling greetings to her
'Hello - How are you! We've been waiting for you! Good to see you.'
When Saint Peter came by, the woman said to him,
'This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?'
'You have to spell a word,' Saint Peter told her.
'Which word?' the woman asked.
'Love.'
The woman correctly spelled 'Love'
And Saint Peter welcomed her into Heaven.
About a year later, Saint Peter came to the woman
And asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day.
While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived.
'I'm surprised to see you,' the woman said. 'How have you been?'
'Oh, I've been doing pretty well since you died,' her husband told her.
'I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill.
Then I won the multi-state lottery.
I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a huge mansion.
My new wife and I traveled all around the world.
We were on vacation in Cancun and I went water skiing today.
I fell and hit my head, and here I am.
What a bummer!
How do I get in?'
'You have to spell a word,' the woman told him.
'Which word?' her husband asked.
'Czechoslovakia .'
Moral of the story: Never make a woman angry... There will be Hell to pay later!
Author Unknown
Mar 19, 2009
It's Coming!
You are in your car driving home. Thoughts wander to the game you want to see or meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any you've ever heard fills the air. The sound is high above you. A trumpet? A choir? A choir of trumpets? You don't know, but you want to know … So you pull over, get out of your car, and look up. As you do, you see you aren't the only curious one. The roadside has become a parking lot. Car doors are open, and people arestaring at the sky. Shoppers are racing out of the grocery store. The Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt. Players and parents are searching the clouds and what they see, and what you see, has never before been seen.
As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part. A brilliant light spills onto the earth. There are no shadows. None.
From every hue ever seen and a million more never seen. Riding on the flow is an endless fleet of angels. They pass through the curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square inch of the sky.
North. South. East. West....
Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting, Holy, holy, holy... The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.
Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet. The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns and there He is... Jesus.
Through waves of light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King. He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud. He opens his mouth, and you are surrounded by his declaration:
I am the Alpha and the Omega.
The angels bow their heads... The elders remove their crowns.. And before you is a Figure so consuming that you know, instantly you know: Nothing else matters... Forget stock markets and school reports. Sales meetings and football games. Nothing is newsworthy.. All that mattered, matters no more... For Christ has come.
This morning when the Lord opened a window to Heaven, he saw me, and he asked: My child, what is your greatest wish for today?
I responded: 'Lord please; take care of my family, my friends, the person who is reading this message, their family and their special friends. They deserve it and I love them very much'.
The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its beginnings but not its end.
Author Unknown
As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part. A brilliant light spills onto the earth. There are no shadows. None.
From every hue ever seen and a million more never seen. Riding on the flow is an endless fleet of angels. They pass through the curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square inch of the sky.
North. South. East. West....
Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting, Holy, holy, holy... The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.
Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet. The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns and there He is... Jesus.
Through waves of light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King. He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud. He opens his mouth, and you are surrounded by his declaration:
I am the Alpha and the Omega.
The angels bow their heads... The elders remove their crowns.. And before you is a Figure so consuming that you know, instantly you know: Nothing else matters... Forget stock markets and school reports. Sales meetings and football games. Nothing is newsworthy.. All that mattered, matters no more... For Christ has come.
This morning when the Lord opened a window to Heaven, he saw me, and he asked: My child, what is your greatest wish for today?
I responded: 'Lord please; take care of my family, my friends, the person who is reading this message, their family and their special friends. They deserve it and I love them very much'.
The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its beginnings but not its end.
Author Unknown
Holy Email
One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on. So he called one of His angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time. When he returned, he told God, 'Yes, it is bad on Earth; 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not. God thought for a moment and said, 'Maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another opinion.' So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time. When the angel returned he went to God and said, 'Yes, it's true. The Earth is in decline; 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being good.' God was not pleased. So He decided to e-mail the 5% that were good, because he wanted to encourage them, and give them a little something to help them keep going.Do you know what the e-mail said?
Okay, I was just wondering, because I didn't get one either.
Maxine
Atheism In America
Below is an essay by Andrew Sullivan. It is rather lengthy but it is quite an eye-opener. Also, please pay close attention to the various responses from people inside and outside the USA.
There’s a new power in America – atheism.
The faithless are a growing force as the churches duck the challenges of the age. There is one thing that is not allowed in American national politics, and that is atheism. “In God We Trust” is on the currency; and the number of congressional members who avow no faith at all are about as plentiful as those who are openly gay (none in the Senate; five in the House).
Under the last president, religious faith – evangelical Christianity or Benedict-style Catholicism – was a prerequisite for real access to the inner circle. But the requirement is not just Republican. Among the more excruciating campaign events of last year was a faith summit for the Democrats in which candidates vied with one another to express the most piety. Barack Obama’s Christianity – educated, nuanced, social – is in many ways more striking than that of, say, Nixon, Truman or Eisenhower.
Americans are losing faith, though; and those who still have it are moving out of established churches. The nonreligious are now the third biggest grouping in the US, after Catholics and Baptists, according to the just-released American Religious Identification Survey. The bulk of this shift occurred in the 1990s, when they jumped from 8% to 14% of the population, but they have consolidated in the past decade to 15%.
As elsewhere in the West, mainline Protestantism has had the biggest drop from 19% to 13%. Despite heavy Latino immigration, the proportion of Catholics has drifted down since 1990, and their numbers have shifted dramatically from the northeast and the rust belt to the south and west. Take South Carolina, a state you might associate with hardcore Protestant evangelicalism. It certainly does exist there but in that southern state, the percentage of Catholics has almost doubled since 1990 and the percentage of atheists has tripled.
America, it turns out, is a more complicated spiritual place than the stereotypes might imply. Islam is still tiny and integrated and largely successful. Catholicism, while buoyant among new Hispanic immigrants (who are, nonetheless, drifting rapidly towards evangelicalism in the southern hemisphere whence they came), has plummeted in its heartland. Think of Massachusetts, the home of the Irish, the Italians, and Portuguese. In 1990, Catholics accounted for 54% of all residents of the Kennedys’ state. That’s now 39%.
The bulk of these ex-Catholics joined no other faith group, and the number of residents claiming no religion at all jumped from 8% to 22%. Of course, the sex abuse scandal played a powerful part. One of the chief enablers and protectors of abusive priests, Cardinal Bernard Law, was based in Boston and escaped real accountability by being given a prestigious sinecure in Rome. The Irish and Italians in Massachusetts did not forget.
In many ways the most interesting dynamic is that between mega-church, politicised evangelicalism and atheism. Mega-churches have emerged in many suburban neighborhoods in America and now serve as community centers, as social-work hubs and as venues for what most outsiders would think of as stadium-style Sunday rock shows, in which religion looks like a form of fandom. Charismatic preachers, like the now disgraced Ted Haggard or the politically powerful Rick Warren, have built massive congregations.
The movement has spawned its own shadow pop music industry, co-opts the popular culture as any brand-conscious franchise would, and has a completely informal form of worship. Go to one of these places and it feels like a town in itself with shops, daycare centers, conference rooms and social networking groups. The car parks feel like those in sports stadiums, and the atmosphere evokes a big match. In 20 years, the number of Americans finding identity and God in these places has soared from 200,000 to more than 8 million.
This is not, one hastens to add, an intellectual form of faith. It is a highly emotional and spontaneous variety of American Protestantism and theologically a blend of self-help, biblical literalism and Republican politics. This is, in many ways, how George W. Bush re-framed conservatism in America, and with one in three Americans now calling themselves evangelical, you can see the political temptation. The problem was that the issues the evangelicals focused obsessively on --- abortion, gays, stem cells, feeding tubes for those in permanent vegetative states –-- often came to seem warped to many others. Those who might once have passively called themselves Christian suddenly found the label toxic, if it meant identifying with such a specific political agenda. And so as evangelicalism rose, atheism and non affiliation emerged as a reaction.
It is impossible to know where this is heading, but the latest survey is a reminder to exercise a little skepticism when you hear of America’s religious exceptionalism. Yes, America is far more devout than most of western Europe; but it is not immune to the broader crises facing established religion in the West. The days when America’s leading intellectuals contained a strong cadre of serious Christians are over. There is no Thomas Merton in our day, no Reinhold Niebuhr, Walker Percy, or Flannery O’Connor. In the arguments spawned by the new atheist wave, the Christian respondents have been underwhelming. As one evangelical noted in a recent issue of The Christian Science Monitor, “. .. .being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of evangelicals can’t articulate the gospel with any coherence. . . ."
The quality of the Catholic priesthood has also drifted downward. The next generation of priests is more orthodox, but also more insular and less engaged with the wider world. There are a few exceptions. The 29-year-old orthodox Catholic, Ross Douthat, has just won a treasured opinion column slot in The New York Times. But he is sadly an exception that proves a more general rule. American Christianity may be stronger in some pockets, but it is dumber too. In the end, it is the free market-place of ideas and beliefs that will count.
What one yearns for is a resuscitation of a via media in American religious life --- the role that the established Protestant churches once played. Or at least an understanding that religion must absorb and explain the new facts of modernity, the deepening of the Darwinian consensus in the sciences, the irrefutable scriptural scholarship that makes biblical literalism intellectually contemptible, the shifting shape of family life, the new reality of openly gay people, the fact of gender equality in the secular world. It seems to me that American Christianity, despite so many resources, has ignored its intellectual responsibility. And atheists, if this continues much longer, will continue to pick up that slack.
Atheism just rejects all philosophies based on "supernaturalism" and "faith" (in my view, a vice). Atheism is not a philosophy although some confuse their particular philosophic views with atheism. If you decide to escape religion, you will have to find a philosophy based on reality and reason. -- Mel M, Berkeley, CA, USA
To define atheism as a reaction to a supreme being or others' belief in a supreme being is inaccurate. An atheist has a working theory that we're out here on our own and we need to deal with the world and other people on that basis.
-- Elizabeth Margareta Griffith, Tampa, FL, USA
All points well taken, but nearly every comment betrays ignorance of the writings of the last two popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It is irrefutable that they were/are intellectual giants. Yet they have the greatest faith. -- Cory, Princeton, NJ, USA
"And atheists. . .will continue to pick up that slack." Good for us, I'd say. If people stop worrying about doing God's will, they can start concentrating on what would be good for fellow humans. -- Sophie Amrain, Munich, Germany
Just be good for goodness' sake. Religion is a great way to pull humanity up from barbarism, but what then? -- Philip Anderson, Chatham, MA, USA
I think this column was very interesting. One point Mr. Sullivan didn't really highlight (although he does quite frequently on his blog) is the role fundamentalist thought plays in the decreasing intellectual role of Christianity in America. Thought leads to questions that can't be easily answered -- Kathy Petz, Blue Bell, USA
Philip Jenkin's (professor of history and religious studies at Penn State) book The Next Christendom would probably be of interest to readers here. While one could argue that Christianity is dying in the West, it is growing explosively in the global South and East. The West itself may be dying. --- Jonathan, St. Louis, MO, USA
"John: I disagree with the suggesting that faith and reason must be mutually exclusive as qualities inherent in an individual. Faith, is to believe without evidence, or in the face of contrary evidence. If that is "reasonable" then, you and the dictionary have a different understanding of the word. -- Ferran, London, UK
With all due respect to John in Melbourne. Reason by definition requires a reason to assert a thing as "true" with proof and evidence. I have "faith" in a better future, but I can't prove it, just as a "believer" can't prove any one of the world's hundreds of invisible "gods". Belief is not fact. -- Chris Aable, Beverly Hills, CA, USA
Atheism gives nothing (to society, charity, people) has nothing to offer except eternal obliteration. I've tried it; I'll pass. The religious climate is much like the other; cyclical. There will be times of heat and times of coolness. But hard times tend to bring people to their knees. -- Steve, Julian, CA, USA
I am a Christian, and one more inclined toward the evangelical than traditional expression, but I think the article is fair. I don't, however, agree with the comments suggesting that faith and reason must be mutually exclusive as qualities inherent in an individual.
-- John, Melbourne, Australia
I'm going to have to disagree with Sandy. Our country was founded on the belief that every individual is free to his or her beliefs. I, personally, am glad that atheism is on the rise. But I also have the sympathy and enough of an open mind to respect every individuals beliefs. -- Katie, California, USA
I think the end of religion in it's current form is on the horizon. It just won't be possible to deny reason in the face of proof for much longer and still be able to contribute to society in a meaningful way. I am so ready for this to happen. -- Dan, Raleigh, NC, USA
Soothsayers & alchemists once were respected until science ended their role in society. Similarly religion will wither as science & reason lays bare its inconsistencies. Faith may persevere for we still need it to cope with the harsh realities of life but religious dogma must surely die. -- Sanjay, Royal Oak, MI, USA
Reading this article hurts my heart. Our country was founded on Christian, Godly principles. I t is true, our world has strayed far away from them, which I read many of you applaud. I believe that this is the reason that the world is so messed up! May the Lord have mercy on us. God loves you all! -- Sandy, Hawaii, USA
As an atheist becoming acquainted with more and more history, my respect for religion in general and Christianity in particular grows, and I honestly do hope for a rebirth of intellectual Christianity, especially in America. I'd rather have Christians like Darwin and Babbage than Bush and Limbaugh. -- Boris, Minneapolis, MN, USA
I am a former Lutheran chaplain, [but] not now affiliated with any religion. Yet my expression of self is wholly based on Spirit, as is true for others I know as well. Translate: Not all of the "unaffiliated" are rationalists. Rather, there are those who see the Sacred Divine...in everyone and everything. -- Barbyrah Fluor, Minneapolis, MN, USA
The decline of irrational, often violent and always mythological and superstitious, religious beliefs inherited from our ignorant bronze age ancestors is likely a good thing. The gap in social infrastructure as churches decline may be a bad thing.
-- J. R. Shipley, Iowa city, IA, USA
As a nonbeliever who recently identified with a religious tradition, I'd like to suggest that the impact of 9/11 should not be underestimated. Our respect for belief, and our identification with believers, was irretrievably lost on that day. And I would like to second Paul Fidalgo's sentiment. -- Ken Pidcock, Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA
Unlike most of the responders today, I yearn for a passionate, articulate faith. I wonder where the contemporary Reinhold Niebuhrs might be? -- Diane Roth, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Christian intellectual irresponsibility is nothing new. History suggests it can be expected. Recall the Church's reaction to Galileo and Darwin, yet without the contributions of these men we scarcely would know where or what we are. -- Scott, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Religion is an explanation of reality humans developed when we knew nothing. We no longer need it. I hope and believe that Sullivan will someday accept this, and cast off religion himself. His mind is too good to waste on agonizing over how to reconcile ancient superstition with modern knowledge. -- Jeffrey Deboo, Portland, OR, USA
I think the rise of the religious right and their preoccupation with issues such as homosexuality, stem cells, abortion and science bashing was part of a society that had nothing else to worry about, in other words pure decadence. Times have changed, now we have real worries! -- Marc Hesse, Providence, RI, USA
Christians have taken a bad wrap. I agree it has taken a turn for the worse, and it must get back to its true roots. Christianity is not about pushing a political agenda. It's always been about love and respect for others and self. When it returns to those roots, it will have relevance again. -- Kent W., Ann Arbor, MI, USA
As an atheist, I want to say "God, I hope so!" As society matures and becomes more educated, there is less and less need of superstition of any form. We can get a handle on morality without invoking an external power, and this has been the sole virtue of religion for most people. -- Forrest, Randolph, VT, USA
Religion had its purpose but now it is doing nothing but holding humanity back. Keep the good things, such as community, but drop faith. Let's stop believing in god, and start believing in ourselves. If a fictional character is all that holds us together, no wonder we are always at war. -- Jonah, New York, USA
The problem was that the issues the evangelicals focused obsessively on – abortion, gays, stem cells, feeding tubes for those in permanent vegetative states – often came to seem warped to many others. For me, that's the take away line. If that's what Christianity is, count me out. -- Paul Girard, Sacramento, CA, USA
What one yearns for is a resuscitation..." I definitely don't yearn for this. Religion must absorb and explain the new facts of modernity. The problem is, the more facts you have the less you need religion. What we really need is, simply, less religion.
-- Justin, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Good news but still a very long way to go. It is no accident that the most irreligious societies are also the most highly educated. There are many in the US who need to drop the bronze age fairy tales into the dustbin of history and embrace a life of reason. This appears to be finally happening. -- Jason Mead, Bristol, England
Mr. Sullivan, you show great respect to atheists, with whom I know you do not agree, and it is very much appreciated. Your embrace of intellectual integrity is refreshing, and I thank you for a thoughtful piece. -- Paul Fidalgo, Washington, DC, USA
Seconding Mr. Fidalgo's sentiments: thank you for your respectful engagement with those of us who're non-theists of whatever stripe. That's vanishingly rare. I consider my worldview richer for the influence of serious Christian thinkers like Lewis, Niebuhr, Merton & Percy. I'd welcome their return. -- CMW, St. Louis, MO, USA
Written by Arthur Sullivan
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There’s a new power in America – atheism.
The faithless are a growing force as the churches duck the challenges of the age. There is one thing that is not allowed in American national politics, and that is atheism. “In God We Trust” is on the currency; and the number of congressional members who avow no faith at all are about as plentiful as those who are openly gay (none in the Senate; five in the House).
Under the last president, religious faith – evangelical Christianity or Benedict-style Catholicism – was a prerequisite for real access to the inner circle. But the requirement is not just Republican. Among the more excruciating campaign events of last year was a faith summit for the Democrats in which candidates vied with one another to express the most piety. Barack Obama’s Christianity – educated, nuanced, social – is in many ways more striking than that of, say, Nixon, Truman or Eisenhower.
Americans are losing faith, though; and those who still have it are moving out of established churches. The nonreligious are now the third biggest grouping in the US, after Catholics and Baptists, according to the just-released American Religious Identification Survey. The bulk of this shift occurred in the 1990s, when they jumped from 8% to 14% of the population, but they have consolidated in the past decade to 15%.
As elsewhere in the West, mainline Protestantism has had the biggest drop from 19% to 13%. Despite heavy Latino immigration, the proportion of Catholics has drifted down since 1990, and their numbers have shifted dramatically from the northeast and the rust belt to the south and west. Take South Carolina, a state you might associate with hardcore Protestant evangelicalism. It certainly does exist there but in that southern state, the percentage of Catholics has almost doubled since 1990 and the percentage of atheists has tripled.
America, it turns out, is a more complicated spiritual place than the stereotypes might imply. Islam is still tiny and integrated and largely successful. Catholicism, while buoyant among new Hispanic immigrants (who are, nonetheless, drifting rapidly towards evangelicalism in the southern hemisphere whence they came), has plummeted in its heartland. Think of Massachusetts, the home of the Irish, the Italians, and Portuguese. In 1990, Catholics accounted for 54% of all residents of the Kennedys’ state. That’s now 39%.
The bulk of these ex-Catholics joined no other faith group, and the number of residents claiming no religion at all jumped from 8% to 22%. Of course, the sex abuse scandal played a powerful part. One of the chief enablers and protectors of abusive priests, Cardinal Bernard Law, was based in Boston and escaped real accountability by being given a prestigious sinecure in Rome. The Irish and Italians in Massachusetts did not forget.
In many ways the most interesting dynamic is that between mega-church, politicised evangelicalism and atheism. Mega-churches have emerged in many suburban neighborhoods in America and now serve as community centers, as social-work hubs and as venues for what most outsiders would think of as stadium-style Sunday rock shows, in which religion looks like a form of fandom. Charismatic preachers, like the now disgraced Ted Haggard or the politically powerful Rick Warren, have built massive congregations.
The movement has spawned its own shadow pop music industry, co-opts the popular culture as any brand-conscious franchise would, and has a completely informal form of worship. Go to one of these places and it feels like a town in itself with shops, daycare centers, conference rooms and social networking groups. The car parks feel like those in sports stadiums, and the atmosphere evokes a big match. In 20 years, the number of Americans finding identity and God in these places has soared from 200,000 to more than 8 million.
This is not, one hastens to add, an intellectual form of faith. It is a highly emotional and spontaneous variety of American Protestantism and theologically a blend of self-help, biblical literalism and Republican politics. This is, in many ways, how George W. Bush re-framed conservatism in America, and with one in three Americans now calling themselves evangelical, you can see the political temptation. The problem was that the issues the evangelicals focused obsessively on --- abortion, gays, stem cells, feeding tubes for those in permanent vegetative states –-- often came to seem warped to many others. Those who might once have passively called themselves Christian suddenly found the label toxic, if it meant identifying with such a specific political agenda. And so as evangelicalism rose, atheism and non affiliation emerged as a reaction.
It is impossible to know where this is heading, but the latest survey is a reminder to exercise a little skepticism when you hear of America’s religious exceptionalism. Yes, America is far more devout than most of western Europe; but it is not immune to the broader crises facing established religion in the West. The days when America’s leading intellectuals contained a strong cadre of serious Christians are over. There is no Thomas Merton in our day, no Reinhold Niebuhr, Walker Percy, or Flannery O’Connor. In the arguments spawned by the new atheist wave, the Christian respondents have been underwhelming. As one evangelical noted in a recent issue of The Christian Science Monitor, “. .. .being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of evangelicals can’t articulate the gospel with any coherence. . . ."
The quality of the Catholic priesthood has also drifted downward. The next generation of priests is more orthodox, but also more insular and less engaged with the wider world. There are a few exceptions. The 29-year-old orthodox Catholic, Ross Douthat, has just won a treasured opinion column slot in The New York Times. But he is sadly an exception that proves a more general rule. American Christianity may be stronger in some pockets, but it is dumber too. In the end, it is the free market-place of ideas and beliefs that will count.
What one yearns for is a resuscitation of a via media in American religious life --- the role that the established Protestant churches once played. Or at least an understanding that religion must absorb and explain the new facts of modernity, the deepening of the Darwinian consensus in the sciences, the irrefutable scriptural scholarship that makes biblical literalism intellectually contemptible, the shifting shape of family life, the new reality of openly gay people, the fact of gender equality in the secular world. It seems to me that American Christianity, despite so many resources, has ignored its intellectual responsibility. And atheists, if this continues much longer, will continue to pick up that slack.
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Have Your Say
[Responses To The Above Article]
[Responses To The Above Article]
Atheism just rejects all philosophies based on "supernaturalism" and "faith" (in my view, a vice). Atheism is not a philosophy although some confuse their particular philosophic views with atheism. If you decide to escape religion, you will have to find a philosophy based on reality and reason. -- Mel M, Berkeley, CA, USA
To define atheism as a reaction to a supreme being or others' belief in a supreme being is inaccurate. An atheist has a working theory that we're out here on our own and we need to deal with the world and other people on that basis.
-- Elizabeth Margareta Griffith, Tampa, FL, USA
All points well taken, but nearly every comment betrays ignorance of the writings of the last two popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It is irrefutable that they were/are intellectual giants. Yet they have the greatest faith. -- Cory, Princeton, NJ, USA
"And atheists. . .will continue to pick up that slack." Good for us, I'd say. If people stop worrying about doing God's will, they can start concentrating on what would be good for fellow humans. -- Sophie Amrain, Munich, Germany
Just be good for goodness' sake. Religion is a great way to pull humanity up from barbarism, but what then? -- Philip Anderson, Chatham, MA, USA
I think this column was very interesting. One point Mr. Sullivan didn't really highlight (although he does quite frequently on his blog) is the role fundamentalist thought plays in the decreasing intellectual role of Christianity in America. Thought leads to questions that can't be easily answered -- Kathy Petz, Blue Bell, USA
Philip Jenkin's (professor of history and religious studies at Penn State) book The Next Christendom would probably be of interest to readers here. While one could argue that Christianity is dying in the West, it is growing explosively in the global South and East. The West itself may be dying. --- Jonathan, St. Louis, MO, USA
"John: I disagree with the suggesting that faith and reason must be mutually exclusive as qualities inherent in an individual. Faith, is to believe without evidence, or in the face of contrary evidence. If that is "reasonable" then, you and the dictionary have a different understanding of the word. -- Ferran, London, UK
With all due respect to John in Melbourne. Reason by definition requires a reason to assert a thing as "true" with proof and evidence. I have "faith" in a better future, but I can't prove it, just as a "believer" can't prove any one of the world's hundreds of invisible "gods". Belief is not fact. -- Chris Aable, Beverly Hills, CA, USA
Atheism gives nothing (to society, charity, people) has nothing to offer except eternal obliteration. I've tried it; I'll pass. The religious climate is much like the other; cyclical. There will be times of heat and times of coolness. But hard times tend to bring people to their knees. -- Steve, Julian, CA, USA
I am a Christian, and one more inclined toward the evangelical than traditional expression, but I think the article is fair. I don't, however, agree with the comments suggesting that faith and reason must be mutually exclusive as qualities inherent in an individual.
-- John, Melbourne, Australia
I'm going to have to disagree with Sandy. Our country was founded on the belief that every individual is free to his or her beliefs. I, personally, am glad that atheism is on the rise. But I also have the sympathy and enough of an open mind to respect every individuals beliefs. -- Katie, California, USA
I think the end of religion in it's current form is on the horizon. It just won't be possible to deny reason in the face of proof for much longer and still be able to contribute to society in a meaningful way. I am so ready for this to happen. -- Dan, Raleigh, NC, USA
Soothsayers & alchemists once were respected until science ended their role in society. Similarly religion will wither as science & reason lays bare its inconsistencies. Faith may persevere for we still need it to cope with the harsh realities of life but religious dogma must surely die. -- Sanjay, Royal Oak, MI, USA
Reading this article hurts my heart. Our country was founded on Christian, Godly principles. I t is true, our world has strayed far away from them, which I read many of you applaud. I believe that this is the reason that the world is so messed up! May the Lord have mercy on us. God loves you all! -- Sandy, Hawaii, USA
As an atheist becoming acquainted with more and more history, my respect for religion in general and Christianity in particular grows, and I honestly do hope for a rebirth of intellectual Christianity, especially in America. I'd rather have Christians like Darwin and Babbage than Bush and Limbaugh. -- Boris, Minneapolis, MN, USA
I am a former Lutheran chaplain, [but] not now affiliated with any religion. Yet my expression of self is wholly based on Spirit, as is true for others I know as well. Translate: Not all of the "unaffiliated" are rationalists. Rather, there are those who see the Sacred Divine...in everyone and everything. -- Barbyrah Fluor, Minneapolis, MN, USA
The decline of irrational, often violent and always mythological and superstitious, religious beliefs inherited from our ignorant bronze age ancestors is likely a good thing. The gap in social infrastructure as churches decline may be a bad thing.
-- J. R. Shipley, Iowa city, IA, USA
As a nonbeliever who recently identified with a religious tradition, I'd like to suggest that the impact of 9/11 should not be underestimated. Our respect for belief, and our identification with believers, was irretrievably lost on that day. And I would like to second Paul Fidalgo's sentiment. -- Ken Pidcock, Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA
Unlike most of the responders today, I yearn for a passionate, articulate faith. I wonder where the contemporary Reinhold Niebuhrs might be? -- Diane Roth, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Christian intellectual irresponsibility is nothing new. History suggests it can be expected. Recall the Church's reaction to Galileo and Darwin, yet without the contributions of these men we scarcely would know where or what we are. -- Scott, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Religion is an explanation of reality humans developed when we knew nothing. We no longer need it. I hope and believe that Sullivan will someday accept this, and cast off religion himself. His mind is too good to waste on agonizing over how to reconcile ancient superstition with modern knowledge. -- Jeffrey Deboo, Portland, OR, USA
I think the rise of the religious right and their preoccupation with issues such as homosexuality, stem cells, abortion and science bashing was part of a society that had nothing else to worry about, in other words pure decadence. Times have changed, now we have real worries! -- Marc Hesse, Providence, RI, USA
Christians have taken a bad wrap. I agree it has taken a turn for the worse, and it must get back to its true roots. Christianity is not about pushing a political agenda. It's always been about love and respect for others and self. When it returns to those roots, it will have relevance again. -- Kent W., Ann Arbor, MI, USA
As an atheist, I want to say "God, I hope so!" As society matures and becomes more educated, there is less and less need of superstition of any form. We can get a handle on morality without invoking an external power, and this has been the sole virtue of religion for most people. -- Forrest, Randolph, VT, USA
Religion had its purpose but now it is doing nothing but holding humanity back. Keep the good things, such as community, but drop faith. Let's stop believing in god, and start believing in ourselves. If a fictional character is all that holds us together, no wonder we are always at war. -- Jonah, New York, USA
The problem was that the issues the evangelicals focused obsessively on – abortion, gays, stem cells, feeding tubes for those in permanent vegetative states – often came to seem warped to many others. For me, that's the take away line. If that's what Christianity is, count me out. -- Paul Girard, Sacramento, CA, USA
What one yearns for is a resuscitation..." I definitely don't yearn for this. Religion must absorb and explain the new facts of modernity. The problem is, the more facts you have the less you need religion. What we really need is, simply, less religion.
-- Justin, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Good news but still a very long way to go. It is no accident that the most irreligious societies are also the most highly educated. There are many in the US who need to drop the bronze age fairy tales into the dustbin of history and embrace a life of reason. This appears to be finally happening. -- Jason Mead, Bristol, England
Mr. Sullivan, you show great respect to atheists, with whom I know you do not agree, and it is very much appreciated. Your embrace of intellectual integrity is refreshing, and I thank you for a thoughtful piece. -- Paul Fidalgo, Washington, DC, USA
Seconding Mr. Fidalgo's sentiments: thank you for your respectful engagement with those of us who're non-theists of whatever stripe. That's vanishingly rare. I consider my worldview richer for the influence of serious Christian thinkers like Lewis, Niebuhr, Merton & Percy. I'd welcome their return. -- CMW, St. Louis, MO, USA
Written by Arthur Sullivan
Should We Heed This Warning?
When I was a kid, I read about David Wilkerson who took the gospel to the gangs of New York. I even saw the movie The Cross and the Switchblade made about him. Many know about him, but most don't know what happened in his church just eight years ago.
In the summer of 2001, Pastor David Wilkerson of the Times Square Church in New York City was "warned by God" that a calamity was coming. For six weeks, he felt an intense burden and enormous heaviness. A critical need for intercession was so profound that Pastor Wilkerson canceled everything on the church calendar – mission's conferences, youth events, and every guest speaker. For six weeks, there wasn't a sermon. Instead, there was intercession for our nation with weeping and repentance. He told his congregation that he "knew" something was coming and that something was bad. And that something was soon. So the congregation prayed and prayed and prayed.
At 8:46 a.m. on 9/11/2001, the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I
If David Wilkerson says he's heard something from God today, I think we'd be crazy not to listen, especially after his previous experience of having been "warned by God" proved to be true. He now says that he feels the same thing he felt leading up to the [9/11/2001] attack by radical Moslems.
In an "urgent message" dated March 7, 2009, Wilkerson said:
AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE – EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US. For 10 years, I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires such as what we saw in Watts [Los Angeles] years ago. There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting including Times Square in New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God's wrath.
In essence, God is about to judge the raging sins of America and the other nations, and to destroy the world's secular foundations. Just as David wrote to Israel as a warning from God in Psalm 11:6-7: ". . . .Upon the wicked he [God] will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright ", the same message is being sent to our present world.
This is a righteous judgment, like the judgments on Sodom & Gomorrah and during Noah's generation as recorded in ancient Jewish history in The Bible.
Similarly, according to Jewish ancient history, the prophet Jeremiah was instructed by God to also warn wicked Israel, ". . .Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you; return ye now everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. . . ." [Jeremiah 18:11-12]. And that warning, once again, pretty well applies to our world today.
The bottom line is that America and the rest of the world are economically and morally bankrupt.
Warren Buffett has recently said that our economy has "fallen off a cliff".
With the election of the most pro-abortion President [and Congress] in history, there's no question that we deserve God's judgment. Barack Obama recently signed an executive order, which in essence permits the "use an unborn child as material to be used to develop future human spare parts". So much for defending the "least of these", which he so often claimed during his presidential campaign. It is a way of cannibalizing the weak to help the strong. And by the way, don't believe everything you hear in the news. Obama did not say that he was against cloning; he said he was against reproductive cloning. Killing a new life after cloning one is another matter entirely. Welcome to Obama's "brave new world".
And it has been reported that Iran now has all that it needs to build its own nuclear weapons.
So, if what should we do?
First, I give you a practical piece of advice. Lay in store a 30-day supply of non-perishable food supply, toiletries and other essentials. In major cities, grocery stores are [will be] emptied in an hour at the sign of an impending disaster.
And when the guy [Wilkerson] warns us: "AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN", I think we would do well to heed it, and follow the words Wilkerson has quoted from Jeremiah 18:11: ". . .turn back each of you from your evil way, and reform your ways and deeds. . ."
Note: I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off. I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose.
An excerpted and edited commentary by Janet Porter
In the summer of 2001, Pastor David Wilkerson of the Times Square Church in New York City was "warned by God" that a calamity was coming. For six weeks, he felt an intense burden and enormous heaviness. A critical need for intercession was so profound that Pastor Wilkerson canceled everything on the church calendar – mission's conferences, youth events, and every guest speaker. For six weeks, there wasn't a sermon. Instead, there was intercession for our nation with weeping and repentance. He told his congregation that he "knew" something was coming and that something was bad. And that something was soon. So the congregation prayed and prayed and prayed.
At 8:46 a.m. on 9/11/2001, the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I
If David Wilkerson says he's heard something from God today, I think we'd be crazy not to listen, especially after his previous experience of having been "warned by God" proved to be true. He now says that he feels the same thing he felt leading up to the [9/11/2001] attack by radical Moslems.
In an "urgent message" dated March 7, 2009, Wilkerson said:
AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE – EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US. For 10 years, I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires such as what we saw in Watts [Los Angeles] years ago. There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting including Times Square in New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God's wrath.
In essence, God is about to judge the raging sins of America and the other nations, and to destroy the world's secular foundations. Just as David wrote to Israel as a warning from God in Psalm 11:6-7: ". . . .Upon the wicked he [God] will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright ", the same message is being sent to our present world.
This is a righteous judgment, like the judgments on Sodom & Gomorrah and during Noah's generation as recorded in ancient Jewish history in The Bible.
Similarly, according to Jewish ancient history, the prophet Jeremiah was instructed by God to also warn wicked Israel, ". . .Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you; return ye now everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. . . ." [Jeremiah 18:11-12]. And that warning, once again, pretty well applies to our world today.
The bottom line is that America and the rest of the world are economically and morally bankrupt.
Warren Buffett has recently said that our economy has "fallen off a cliff".
With the election of the most pro-abortion President [and Congress] in history, there's no question that we deserve God's judgment. Barack Obama recently signed an executive order, which in essence permits the "use an unborn child as material to be used to develop future human spare parts". So much for defending the "least of these", which he so often claimed during his presidential campaign. It is a way of cannibalizing the weak to help the strong. And by the way, don't believe everything you hear in the news. Obama did not say that he was against cloning; he said he was against reproductive cloning. Killing a new life after cloning one is another matter entirely. Welcome to Obama's "brave new world".
And it has been reported that Iran now has all that it needs to build its own nuclear weapons.
So, if what should we do?
First, I give you a practical piece of advice. Lay in store a 30-day supply of non-perishable food supply, toiletries and other essentials. In major cities, grocery stores are [will be] emptied in an hour at the sign of an impending disaster.
And when the guy [Wilkerson] warns us: "AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN", I think we would do well to heed it, and follow the words Wilkerson has quoted from Jeremiah 18:11: ". . .turn back each of you from your evil way, and reform your ways and deeds. . ."
Note: I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off. I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose.
An excerpted and edited commentary by Janet Porter
Mar 18, 2009
Jesus Walking
HE ARRIVED THIS MORNING,
WE HAD PRAYER,
SPENT SOME TIME JUST TALKING,
AND THEN HE WAS ON HIS WAY TO YOUR HOUSE.
When He gets to your PC, please escort Him to the next stop ...
Please don't allow Him to sleep on your PC.
The message He is carrying is very important and needs to go round the world.
May God bless you as you do this.
AMEN
Walking for Jesus!
Say a prayer, then pass Him on to bless others.
Our assignment is to love and spread the gospel throughout the world.
Have a blessed day and touch somebody's life today!
I just did.
He's walking around the world - via e-mail!!
Pass it on so He can get there.
When you forward, put where He left from in the subject box.
WE HAD PRAYER,
SPENT SOME TIME JUST TALKING,
AND THEN HE WAS ON HIS WAY TO YOUR HOUSE.
When He gets to your PC, please escort Him to the next stop ...
Please don't allow Him to sleep on your PC.
The message He is carrying is very important and needs to go round the world.
May God bless you as you do this.
AMEN
Walking for Jesus!
Say a prayer, then pass Him on to bless others.
Our assignment is to love and spread the gospel throughout the world.
Have a blessed day and touch somebody's life today!
I just did.
He's walking around the world - via e-mail!!
Pass it on so He can get there.
When you forward, put where He left from in the subject box.
Mar 14, 2009
Less Christian?
The Issue:America is a less Christian nation than it was 20 years ago, and Christianity is not losing out to other religions, but primarily to a rejection of religion altogether, a survey published Monday found.
Seventy-five percent of Americans call themselves Christian, according to the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1990, the figure was 86 percent.
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League said he thinks a radical shift towards individualism over the last quarter-century has a lot to do it.
"The three most dreaded words are thou shalt not," he told Lou Dobbs. "Notice they are not atheists -- they are saying I don't want to be told what to do with my life."
At the same time there has been an increase in the number of people expressing no religious affiliation.
The survey also found that "born-again" or "evangelical" Christianity is on the rise, while the percentage who belong to "mainline" congregations such as the Episcopal or Lutheran churches has fallen.
One in three Americans consider themselves evangelical, and the number of people associated with mega-churches has skyrocketed from less than 200,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million in the latest survey.
The rise in evangelical Christianity is contributing to the rejection of religion altogether by some Americans, said Mark Silk of Trinity College.
"In the 1990s, it really sunk in on the American public generally that there was a long-lasting 'religious right' connected to a political party, and that turned a lot of people the other way," he said of the link between the Republican Party and groups such as the Moral Majority and Focus on the Family.
In the survey, one in five Americans said they have no religious identity or did not answer the question, and more than one in four said they do not expect to have a religious funeral. –CNN
To read more click here.
My Issue:
I, for one, do not claim to be a “Christian”. I am so far from being “Christ Like” it ain’t funny. Therefore, I, in all honesty, will not subscribe to this title. I consider myself to be more of a Spiritual being in training who so happens to believe in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ. That God sent His only Son to die for me. That He rose from the dead. And is coming back again … soon I hope!!!!
As for the rest of the issues (interpretations, prophecies, doctrines, etc.) that mainline Christianity dwells heavily on, I find to be cumbersome, unfounded, unsubstantiated, unrealistic, and self-ordained. I do not believe that any one denomination or religious sect has or is the final word or is the “sole selected” of God. I find this mentality to be nothing more than absolute nonsense. I also believe that most, if not all, mainline churches are nothing more than big business using “religion” for profit and power. And above all, I do not believe that “Religion” and “Politics” need to sleep in the same bed … this in itself is a dangerous combination which has been proven to be true throughout history. Perfect example; the Taliban … Religion sprinkled with Politics has been a deadly awakening worldwide, and soon to come to a neighborhood near me and you?
When it comes to the Bible, the only actual written word from God is the ten commandments. As for the rest of story, I do not believe they are the actual words of God, but mans interpretation’s and reflection’s guided by God so that we will have a past and present look at how God interacts with us, as well as a guide by which we can chart the course of our lives. I do not consider it a sacred book, but an essential book that continuously focuses our attention to Him and on Him, and through its wonderful messages we can draw closer to being whole and experience a relationship with heaven here on earth.
In my earlier life I found it necessary to divorce myself from God in order to find and get to know Him on a personal level. Faith was nothing more than a ritual handed down to me from my parents and it wasn’t working for me … it was shallow, cold and empty. The faith of our father’s offered nothing more than fear and loving God out of fear isn’t a relationship. Therefore, I emptied my life of God and religion, read the bible along side authors such as C.S. Lewis and Bonhoeffer, and concluded that the only thing that mattered was my personal relationship with Christ. As for the rest, it is neither here or there … it’s not what’s going to save me. As long as I keep my eye on Him, He will lead me into eternal glory.
As for my faith today, like anyone else, it’s a continuous process, sometimes a daily struggle, and on occasion a bit difficult to hang onto. I do stumble along the way … boy to I ever! May try and take matters into my own hand. On occasion stray from Him because I feel that He could care less about me. Regardless, with all that makes me, ME, I am here to tell you that God is very real. He understands exactly where I’m at. And on more than one occasion I have personally witnessed His hand reach down from above, scooped me up, and carried me through to higher ground … all this even though I am among the one in five who claims no religious identity. This in itself is proof enough that religious affiliation is irrelevant to God.
Memo
To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.
P.S. And, remember...
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
Should you decide to send this to a friend; Thank you. You may have touched their life in ways you will never know!
Now, you have a nice day.
God
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.
P.S. And, remember...
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
Should you decide to send this to a friend; Thank you. You may have touched their life in ways you will never know!
Now, you have a nice day.
God
The Law Is The Law!
So if' the US government determines that it is against the law for the words 'under God' to be on our money, then, so be it.
And if' that same government decides that the 'Ten Commandments' are not to be used in or on a government installation, then, so be it.
I say, so be it, because I would like to be a law abiding U.S. citizen.
I say, so be it, because I would like to think that smarter people than I are in positions to make good decisions.
I would like to think that those people have the American public's best interests at heart. But, you know what else I’d like?
Since we can't pray to God, can't Trust in God and cannot post His Commandments in Government buildings, I don't believe the Government and its employees should participate in the Easter and Christmas celebrations which honor the God that our government is eliminating from many facets of American life.
I'd like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter. After all, it's just another day.
I'd like the US Supreme Court to be in session on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter as well as Sundays. After all, it's just another day.
I'd like the Senate and the House of Representatives to not have to worry about getting home for the ' Christmas Break.' After all it's just another day.
I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved, if all government offices and services would work on Christmas, Good Friday & Easter. It shouldn't cost any overtime since those would be just like any other day of the week to a government that is trying to be politically correct.
In fact.…
I think that our government should work on Sundays (initially set aside for worshipping God) because, after all, our government says that it should be just another day ... What do you all think????
If this idea gets to enough people, maybe our elected officials will stop giving in to the minority opinions and begin, once again, to represent the majority of ALL of the American people.
Author Unknown
And if' that same government decides that the 'Ten Commandments' are not to be used in or on a government installation, then, so be it.
I say, so be it, because I would like to be a law abiding U.S. citizen.
I say, so be it, because I would like to think that smarter people than I are in positions to make good decisions.
I would like to think that those people have the American public's best interests at heart. But, you know what else I’d like?
Since we can't pray to God, can't Trust in God and cannot post His Commandments in Government buildings, I don't believe the Government and its employees should participate in the Easter and Christmas celebrations which honor the God that our government is eliminating from many facets of American life.
I'd like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter. After all, it's just another day.
I'd like the US Supreme Court to be in session on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter as well as Sundays. After all, it's just another day.
I'd like the Senate and the House of Representatives to not have to worry about getting home for the ' Christmas Break.' After all it's just another day.
I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved, if all government offices and services would work on Christmas, Good Friday & Easter. It shouldn't cost any overtime since those would be just like any other day of the week to a government that is trying to be politically correct.
In fact.…
I think that our government should work on Sundays (initially set aside for worshipping God) because, after all, our government says that it should be just another day ... What do you all think????
If this idea gets to enough people, maybe our elected officials will stop giving in to the minority opinions and begin, once again, to represent the majority of ALL of the American people.
Author Unknown
Nothing’s Sacred Anymore
Fred Winters, the pastor of the First Baptist Church, was shot and killed during the 8 a.m. service, and the attacker and two parishioners suffered knife wounds in the attack, authorities said.
The gunman entered during the service and walked up to the pulpit.
Winters and the gunman apparently exchanged words before the 27-year-old man fired four shots, hitting the pastor's Bible and then the pastor, said Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent.
"The only thing we know is that the suspect said something to the pastor and the pastor said something back to him -- we don't know what that was," Trent told reporters Sunday afternoon. "It was almost as if the pastor may have recognized him, but we're not sure about that at all."
The gunman's .45-caliber pistol jammed after he shot Winters, Trent said. The man then pulled out a knife before being tackled by some of the approximately 150 worshippers attending the service in southern Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri.
The Illinois shooting is believed to be the nation's first in a church since July, when a 58-year-old man opened fire in a Knoxville, Tennessee, church during a children's play. Two people were killed and six wounded in that shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
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In the Tennessee case, Jim Adkisson told police he targeted the church because of its "liberal teachings," according to court papers. Adkisson pleaded guilty last month in a deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty and will face life in prison without parole, court officials said. –CNN
To read more click here.
The gunman entered during the service and walked up to the pulpit.
Winters and the gunman apparently exchanged words before the 27-year-old man fired four shots, hitting the pastor's Bible and then the pastor, said Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent.
"The only thing we know is that the suspect said something to the pastor and the pastor said something back to him -- we don't know what that was," Trent told reporters Sunday afternoon. "It was almost as if the pastor may have recognized him, but we're not sure about that at all."
The gunman's .45-caliber pistol jammed after he shot Winters, Trent said. The man then pulled out a knife before being tackled by some of the approximately 150 worshippers attending the service in southern Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri.
The Illinois shooting is believed to be the nation's first in a church since July, when a 58-year-old man opened fire in a Knoxville, Tennessee, church during a children's play. Two people were killed and six wounded in that shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
advertisement
In the Tennessee case, Jim Adkisson told police he targeted the church because of its "liberal teachings," according to court papers. Adkisson pleaded guilty last month in a deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty and will face life in prison without parole, court officials said. –CNN
To read more click here.
Mar 7, 2009
Payback Is Fun!
You may have heard in the news that a couple of Post Offices in Texas have been forced to take down small posters that say
'IN GOD WE TRUST,' The law, they say, is being violated.
Anyway, we heard proposed on a radio station show, that we should all write 'IN GOD WE TRUST' on the back of all our mail. After all, that's our National Motto, and it's on all the money we use to buy those stamps. We think it's a wonderful idea.
We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed.
If you like this idea, please pass it on and DO IT. The idea of writing or stamping 'IN GOD WE TRUST' on our envelopes sounds good to us . WE'RE HAVING A STAMP MADE TOO! Heck, lets use it as our signature on e-mails too!
It's been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, we have a very hard time understanding why there's such a mess about having 'In God We Trust!' on our money and having God in the pledge of Allegiance.
Could it be that WE just need to take action and tell the 14% to 'sit down and shut up'?
If you agree, pass this on, if not, don’t. BUT REMEMBER IF YOU DON’T, that’s one reason why this world is in the mess we're in now. WE SIT BACK AND LET IT HAPPEN!!
Author Unknown
'IN GOD WE TRUST,' The law, they say, is being violated.
Anyway, we heard proposed on a radio station show, that we should all write 'IN GOD WE TRUST' on the back of all our mail. After all, that's our National Motto, and it's on all the money we use to buy those stamps. We think it's a wonderful idea.
We must take back our nation from all the people who think that anything that offends them should be removed.
If you like this idea, please pass it on and DO IT. The idea of writing or stamping 'IN GOD WE TRUST' on our envelopes sounds good to us . WE'RE HAVING A STAMP MADE TOO! Heck, lets use it as our signature on e-mails too!
It's been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, we have a very hard time understanding why there's such a mess about having 'In God We Trust!' on our money and having God in the pledge of Allegiance.
Could it be that WE just need to take action and tell the 14% to 'sit down and shut up'?
If you agree, pass this on, if not, don’t. BUT REMEMBER IF YOU DON’T, that’s one reason why this world is in the mess we're in now. WE SIT BACK AND LET IT HAPPEN!!
Author Unknown
Revelation 3:8
When God leads you trust him fully and let go. Only 1 of 2 things will happen. Either He'll catch you when you fall, or He'll teach you how to fly! The power of one sentence! God is going to shift things around for you today and let things work in your favor. God opens doors no man can close and God closes doors no man can open. If you need God to open some doors for you. Have a blessed day and remember to be a blessing.
10 Commandments Made Simple
Some people in the Southern USA have trouble with all the Thou shalt and Thou shalt not of the Ten Commandments in the King James Version [KJV] of The Bible. Folks just aren't used to talking in those terms. So, in Tennessee someone translated the language of the KJV into 'Jackson County' language [the common local language]. This is no joke; posted on one wall of a church in Gainesboro, Tennessee are the 10 commandments in the local dialect as follows:
I
Have jes' one God
II
Put nuthin' b'fore God
III
Watch yer mouth
IV
Git yerself to Sunday meetin' in church
V
Honor yer Ma & Pa
VI
No killin'
VII
No foolin' around with another fella's gal
VIII
Don't take what ain't yo's
IX
No tellin' lies or gossipin'
X
Don't be hankerin' fo' somebody's stuff
Have jes' one God
II
Put nuthin' b'fore God
III
Watch yer mouth
IV
Git yerself to Sunday meetin' in church
V
Honor yer Ma & Pa
VI
No killin'
VII
No foolin' around with another fella's gal
VIII
Don't take what ain't yo's
IX
No tellin' lies or gossipin'
X
Don't be hankerin' fo' somebody's stuff
<><><><><><><>
Now that's plain an' simple. . .an' easy to remember, ain't it?
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