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YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Guv strikes state's gender-specific restrooms
'Who would have believed it would be legal for men to enter women's locker rooms?'


Posted: May 29, 2008
9:23 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

 


Bill Ritter

With today's signature on SB200, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, has eliminated gender-specific restrooms and locker rooms statewide, giving woman and girls reason to fear being confronted by predators, cross-dressers "or even a homosexual or heterosexual male," according to a critic.

The state's new "transgender nondiscrimination" bill makes it illegal to deny a person access to public accommodations, including restrooms and locker rooms, based on gender identity or the "perception" of gender identity.

Ritter signed the Expanded Discrimination Prohibitions, approved by the legislature, with this definition:

"'Sexual orientation' means a person's orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or another person's perception thereof."

"Who would have believed that the Colorado state legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation?" said James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, the Christian publishing and broadcast ministry in Colorado Springs.

 


 

"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence," Dobson said. "The legislation lists every conceivable type of organization to which this law applies, including restaurants, bathhouses, massage parlors, mortuaries, theaters and 'public facilities of any kind.' Those who would attempt to protect females from this intrusion are subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and up to one year behind bars.

"This is your government in action. It represents a payback to Tim Gill and two other billionaires who have essentially 'bought' state legislators with enormous campaign contributions. Coloradans deserve better!" Dobson said.

"And by the way, because of the way this bill is written, it is not subject to the initiative process. There is no recourse,” Dobson said.

According to the bill, business owners and managers of restaurants, gyms, barber shops, massage parlors and managers of public facilities "of any kind whether indoor or outdoor" cannot deny a person employment or access to a facility based on gender identity or that "perception."

The bill also makes it illegal to discriminate based on "sexual orientation" when renting, selling or leasing housing or when selecting members for jury duty." Penalties for those who discriminate against others based on gender identity include fines and/or time in jail.

The same issue, on which WND has reported, already has created a mess in Montgomery County, Md., where a lawsuit is pending seeking to deprive residents of the right to vote on whether they want their restrooms and locker rooms opened to men who believe they're women.

WND reported the Montgomery County Board of Elections certified a petition assembled by Maryland Citizens for a Responsible Government that would be placed on the November election ballot.

The petition seeks to reverse a county law adopted in recent months that aims to "protect" transgender people from discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and various services. Critics say instead it would virtually eliminate the ability of businesses, clubs or anyone providing a "public facility" to prevent men from entering women's showers, and vice versa.

The Colorado bill says churches, synagogues, mosqu and other places used principally for religious purposes are not included in the definition of "place of public accommodation."

"Lest we think that this is just the 'bathroom bill,' I'd like us also to realize that this really is about Christian businesspeople being able to practice their faith through their profession," Rep. Amy Stephens said, citing an Albuquerque photographer who refused to photograph a same sex couple's ceremony, was brought before the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission, found guilty and fined $6,000.

Dobson warned the Colorado bill now will be "coming to every state in the country."

Posted in the Politics interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 07:43 PM
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Here is a little piece on the blending of modern life and ancient faith in the homeland of the Christian Monastic Tradition: http://www.reuters.com/arti...

 

Posted in the Religion & Faith interest group.
Topics: Modern meets ancient, spirituality and technology.
posted by Wayfarer on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 09:18 AM
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Contemplating Cats

There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." --Anonymous

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." --Anonymous

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." --Jeff Valdez

"In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats." --English proverb

"As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat." --Ellen Perry Berkeley

"One cat just leads to another." --Ernest Hemingway

"Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later." --Mary Bly

"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia." --Joseph Wood Krutch

"People that hate cats, will come back as mice in their next life." --Faith Resnick

"There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats." --Anonymous

"I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." --Hippolyte Taine

"No heaven will not ever Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me." --Unknown

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." --Albert Schweitzer

"The cat has too much spirit to have no heart." --Ernest Menaul

"Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God." --Anonymous

"Time spent with cats is never wasted." --Colette

"Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well." --Missy Dizick

"You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats." --Colonial American proverb

"Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want." --Joseph Wood Krutch

"I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic." --Anonymous

"My husband said it was him or the cat... I miss him sometimes." --Anonymous

"Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit." --Anonymous

Posted in the Animals interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Friday, May 30, 2008 at 03:17 PM
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Since everyone is talking about Obama this morning; I will share this artical on Black Liberation Theology.

 

 

Rev. Wright and Black Liberation Theology

Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews

 

Sermon delivered May 4, 2008

Before this past week or month you may have never heard of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. After this week, just about everyone knows who he is. His association with presidential hopeful Barack Obama, his interview with Bill Moyers on PBS, and his recent provocative speeches before the NAACP and the National Press Club launched Rev. Wright into the national spotlight. I saw the live broadcast of the National Press Club speech and thought immediately of the need to address the main underpinnings of Rev. Wright’s comments—Liberation Theology. He gave a brief history of its roots and how it interplayed with the development of Black Theology or the Theology of the Black African Churches.

Beginning in Latin America, Liberation Theology is based on the belief that the Christian Gospel demands "a preferential option for the poor," and that the church should be involved in the struggle for economic and political justice in the contemporary world—particularly in the Third World. Dating to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the Second Latin American Bishops Conference, held in Medellin, Colombia (1968), the movement brought poor people together in Christian-based communities, to study the Bible and to fight for social justice. However, since the 1980s, the church hierarchy has criticized liberation theology and its advocates, accusing them of wrongly supporting violent revolution and Marxist class struggle” (Columbia University Encyclopedia 2004).

Black Theology developed alongside Latin Liberation Theology and had its roots in the Civil Rights and the Black Power movements of the 1960s. In the process, many “black ministers consciously separated their understanding of the gospel of Jesus from white Christianity and identified it with the struggles of the black poor for justice.” Rev. Wright correctly credits two books written by James Cone, “Black Theology and Black Power” in 1969 and “A Black Theology of Liberation” in 1970, that made liberation the organizing centre of his theological system and subsequently of many Black churches.While Latin Liberation Theology was concerned with classism and Black Theology was concerned with racism, both held a common concern for the poor (Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology 1984).

So what’s the problem? Is there a problem at all? Certainly Orthodox Christianity teaches the dignity and equality of all human beings, regardless of socio-economic class, race or gender, because we are all created in the image and likeness of God. The divine Son and Word of God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ to save all of humanity from evil, sin and death. Orthodox Christians around the world, historically and now, are involved in activities and ministries that seek to bring God’s mercy and justice to suffering and oppressed people.

The problem is that Liberation Theology, Black Theology, Feminist Theology or any other similar theology have tended to supplant the theology of God revealed in the Law and Prophets of Israel, in the person of Jesus Christ, and continuously revealed by the Holy Spirit to the Saints in the Church. These theologies become heresies when they take part of the truth and try to make it the whole truth. It is like taking a theatrical spotlight and placing a red lens over it and then saying that whole world is red.

This distortion is what caused some in the Latin Catholic Church to support violent revolution motivated by godless Marxism. This distortion is what caused feminist Christians to demand ordination for women while dismissing many traditional forms of Christian spirituality in favor of pagan rituals. This distortion is what caused James Cone to say:

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love. (See William R Jones, "Divine Racism: The Unacknowledged Threshold Issue for Black Theology", in African-American Religious Thought: An Anthology, ed Cornel West and Eddie Glaube (Westminster John Knox Press)).

As Greek Orthodox Christians, we know well the history of oppression and suffering under the Turkocratia, the Ottoman Muslim persecution that lasted nearly 500 years. We know that the freedom fighters of the Greek Revolution in the early 1800s were mostly Orthodox Christians. While the bishops and priests certainly prayed for the freedom fighters, one does not find writings emanating from the Church encouraging armed revolution and slaughter of the Turks. The same pattern is found under Roman occupation/persecution of the first three centuries and under the Communist Regime in Russia during the 20th century. Even St. Paul’s epistles encourage patient endurance and faithfulness to God, not armed resistance, under persecution. If Greek Orthodox took the same approach as the most radical Liberation and Black theologians we would see everything through the lens of Ottoman oppression. This might motivate us to say things like “God is only the God of the Greeks!” or “Every Turk is evil!”

Certainly do not misunderstand my words to imply that Rev. Jeremiah Wright is evil. In fact, I’m sure he is good person with many redeeming qualities. During his speech to the National Press Club he mentioned many of the ministries of his parish, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. I would like to hear more about those ministries to seniors, youth, the poor, and prisoners along with many others. These are the words and activities that can unite people. That will not happen with the divisive words coming out of an extreme Black Liberation theology.

Rev. Wright quoted Jesus’ inaugural sermon which quoted the Prophet Isaiah (61:1-2). It is the gospel passage we read every September 1st, the beginning of the Ecclesiastical/Church Year, from Luke 4:18-19. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” We must be careful not to read this from a purely literalist perspective. For any one of us can be wealthy, healthy, powerful and free by worldly standards while at the same time be very poor, sick, weak, enslaved and oppressed in terms of our relationship to God and each other.

Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews is the pastor of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fr. Andrews is the past president of Minnesota Eastern Orthodox Christian Clergy Association (MEOCCA), and a volunteer chaplain with the St. Paul Police Department.

Posted: 26-May-08

Posted in the Religion & Faith interest group.
Topics: christianity, theology, Oama's Pastor.
posted by Wayfarer on Friday, May 30, 2008 at 10:35 AM
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Most of these quotes are taken from G. K. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy." Chesterton argues against materialism, the philosophical view that only matter has any reality; non-material constitutents of human experience like love, meaning, compassion, etc. are not real. It's an important discussion given how much Western culture has been influenced by the materialist view in the last century -- Darwin, Freud, Marx, etc.

 


 


 

  • The general fact is simple. Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion... To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain... The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits...

     
  • As an explanation of the world, materialism has a sort of insane simplicity. It has just the quality of the madman's argument; we have at once the sense of it covering everything and the sense of it leaving everything out... His cosmos may be complete in every rivet and cogwheel, but still his cosmos is smaller than our world. Somehow his scheme, like the lucid scheme of the madman, seem unconscious of the alien energies and the large indifference of the Earth...

     
  • For we must remember that the materialist philosophy (whether true or not) is certainly much more limiting than any religion. In one sense, of course, all intelligent ideas are narrow. They cannot be broader than themselves. A Christian is only restricted in the same sense that an atheist is restricted. He cannot think Christianity false and continue to be a Christian; the atheist cannot think atheism false and continue to be an atheist.

     
  • But, as it happens, there is a very special sense in which materialism has more restrictions than spiritualism... The Christian is quite free to believe that there is a considerable amount of settled order and inevitable development in the universe, but the materialist is not allowed to admit into his spotless machine the slightest speck of spiritualism or miracle. The Christian admits that the universe is manifold and even miscellaneous, just as a sane man knows that he is complex. But the materialist's world is quite simple and solid... The materialist is sure that history has been simply and solely a chain of causation...

     
  • Spiritual doctrines do not actually limit the mind as do materialistic denials. Even if I believe in immortality, I need not think about it. But if I disbelieve in immortality, I must not think about it. In the first case, the road is open and I can go as far as I like; in the second, the road is shut...

     
  • (I)t is the charge against the main deductions of the materialist that, right or wrong, they gradually destroy his humanity; I do not mean only kindness, I mean hope, courage, poetry, initiative, all that is human. For instance, when materialism leads men to complete fatalism (as it generally does), it is quite idle to pretend that it is in any sense a liberating force. It is absurd to say that you are especially advancing freedom when you only use free thought to destroy free will. The determinists come to bind, not to loose. They may call their law the "chain" of causation. It is the worst chain that ever fettered a human being. You may use the language of liberty, if you like, about materialistic teaching, but it is obvious that this is just as inapplicable to it as a whole as the same language when applied to a man locked up in a madhouse. You may say, if you like, that the man is free to think himself a poached egg. But it is surely a more massive and important fact that if he is a poeached egg, he is not free to eat, drink, sleep, walk, or smoke a cigarette. Similarly, you may say, if you like, that the bold determinist speculator is free to disbelieve in the reality of the will. But it is a much more massive and important fact that he is not free to raise, to curse, to thank, to justify, to urge, to punish, to resist temptations, to incite mobs, to make New Year resolutions, to pardon sinners, to rebuke tyrants or even to say "thank you" for the mustard.

     
  • In passing from this subject, I may note that there is a queer fallacy to the effect that materialistic fatalism is in some way favorable to mercy, to the abolition of cruel punishments or punishments of any kind. This is startlingly the reverse of the truth. It is quite tenable that the doctrine of necessity makes no difference at all; that i leaves the flogger fogging and the kind friend exhorting as before. But, obviously , if it stops either of them, it stops the kind exhortation. That the sins are inevitable does not prevent punishment; if it prevents anything, it prevents persuasion. Determinism is quite as likely to lead to cruelty as it is certain to lead to cowardice. Determinism is not inconsistent with the cruel treatment of criminals. What it is (perhaps) inconsistent with is the generous treatment of criminals, with any appeal to their better feelings or encouragement in their moral struggle. The determinist does not believe in appealing to the will, but he does believe in changing the environment. He must not say to the sinner, "Go and sin no more," because the sinner cannot help it. But he can put him in boiling oil; for boiling oil is an environment. Considered as a figure, therefore, the materialist has the fantastic outline of the figure of the madman. Both take up a position at once unanswerable and intolerable...

     
  • The ordinary man always has been sane because the ordinary man always has been a mystic... The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand. The morbid logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else becomes lucid. The determinist makes the theory of causation quite clear, and then finds that he cannot say "if you please" to the housemaid. The Christian permits free will to remain a sacred mystery but, because of this, his relations with the housemaid become of a sparkling and crystal clearness. He puts the seed of dogma in a central darkness, but it branches forth in all directions with abounding natural health...

     
  • It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all...

     
  • There is a thought that stops thought...Evolution is a good example of that modern intelligence which, if it destroys anything, destroys itself. Evolution is either an innocent scientific description of how certain earthly things came about; or, if it is anything more than this, is an attack upon thought itself. If evolution destroys anything, it does not destroy religion but rationalism. If evolution simply means that a positive thing called an ape turned very slowly into a positive thing called a man, then it is stingless for the most orthodox; for a personal God might just as well do things slowly as quickly -- especially if, like the Christian God, He were outside time. But if it means anything more, it means that there is no such thing as an ape to change, and no such thing as a man for him to change into. It means that there is no such thing as a thing. At best, there is only nothing, and that is a flux of everything and anything.

     
  • This is an attack not upon faith, but upon the mind; you cannot think if you are not separate from the subject of thought. Descartes said "I think, therefore I am." The philosphic evolutionist reverses and negatives the epigram. He says, "I am not, therefore I cannot think."

     
  • This bald summary of the thought-destroying forces of our time would not be complete without some reference to pragmatism; for, though I have here used and should everywhere defend the pragmatist method as a preliminary guide to truth, there is an extreme application of it that involves the absence of all truth whatever...

     
  • Pragmatism is a matter of human needs, and one of the first of human needs is to be something more than a pragmatist. Extreme pragmatism is just as inhuman as the determinism it so powerfully attacks. The determinist (who, to do him justice, does not pretend to be a human being) makes nonsense of the human sense of actual choice. The pragmatist, who professes to be specially human, makes nonsense of the human sense of actual fact.

     
  • To sum up our contention so far, we may say that the most characteristic currrent philosophies have not only a touch of mania, but a touch of suicidal mania. The mere questioner has knocked his head against the limits of human thought; and cracked it. This is what makes so futile warnings of the orthodox and the boasts of the advanced about the dangerous boyhood of free thought. What we are looking at is not the boyhood of free thought; it is the old age and ultimate dissolution of free thought.

     
  • It is vain for bishops and pious bigwigs to discuss what dreadful things will happen if wild skepticism runs its course. It has run its course.

     
  • It is vain for eloquent atheists to talk of the great truths that will be revealed if once we see free thought begin. We have seen it end. It has no more questions to ask; it has questioned itself.

     
  • You cannot call up any wilder vision than a city in which men ask themselves if they have any selves.

     
  • You cannot fancy a more skeptical world than that in which men doubt if there is a world.
Posted in the Religion & Faith interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 12:54 PM
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This link says that after the Tibetan protest the Chinese government is keeping a close eye on Roman Catholic pilgrims.  Let us all remember the Chinese earth quake victims in our prayers while we are at it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/...

 

Posted in the Religion & Faith interest group.
Topics: human rights, Religouse Freedom, China.
posted by Wayfarer on Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 09:51 AM
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His Grace Bartholomew the Ecunemical Patriarch of Constinople has been voted by Time magazine as one of the most influential men of the year and has been awarded The Woodrow Wilson Award for his efforts in human rights, protecting the enviroment and dialogue between science and sprituality.

http://www.directionstoorth...

Posted in the Neighborhoods/Regions interest group.
Topics: science, spirituality, enviroment
posted by Wayfarer on Friday, May 23, 2008 at 10:16 AM
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I gots to get me one of these! http://blog.wired.com/cars/...

 

Posted in the Technology interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 06:09 PM
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Some surprising results in this artical of who actually practices what they preach> http://www.washingtonpost.c...

Posted in the Politics interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 12:16 PM
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THE SNEEZE
           
          They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the
          Already crowded auditorium. With their rich maroon gowns flowing and the
          Traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.
           
          Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away
          Tears.
           
          This class would NOT pray during the commencements---- not by choice,
          But because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.
           
          The principal and several students were careful to stay within the
          Guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and
          Challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one
          Asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.
           
          The speeches were nice, but they were routine until the final speech
          Received a standing ovation.
           
          A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and
          Silent for just a moment, and then it happened.
           
          *
           
          All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED!!!!
           
          The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said, 'GOD BLESS
          YOU'.
           
          And he walked off stage.
           
          The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found a
          Unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future with or without the
          court's approval.
           
          Isn't this a wonderful story?
           
          Pass it on to all your friends and GOD BLESS YOU!!!
           
          This is a true story. It happened at the University of Maryland!
          Two men right here in Yucca Valley, along with tne ACLU were responsible for that Supreme Court decision. 
Posted in the Politics interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 12:39 PM
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Another blog was addressing the American market for drugs and it's cause of drug violence in Mexico.  The original poster of that blog deleted a lot of comments ,because the commenter's were promoting casual drug use and legalization of it in the U.S.  I glanced at the comments before they were deleted and noticed that most of them were from the militant liberal crowd.  It struck me as odd that a vast majority of the self professed liberal crowd would support the use of recreational drugs.  You would think that a few would offer a diffrerent opinon.  So let us address that question.  What is your stand on casual drug use?

 

Posted in the Health & Wellness interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 03:32 PM
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Since I was a child I have always had an interest in Astronomy.  Of course I could never convince my parents to buy me that telescope and as a adult more important things like rent and food take precedence.  Once again I find that good things come to those who wait.  This morning I found on Yahoo this free Microsoft program that lets you explore outer space with images from the big boys telescopes.  Now I can spend time admiring more of Gods creation and giving thanks for his wisdom and goodness that surpasses all understanding.

  http://www.worldwidetelesco...

Posted in the Technology interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 09:14 AM
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Here is a link to "Six Dawns" which is a E-book that discusses traditional Christian approach to creation.  As you will read, the argument is quite different than the rationalist West arguments of Intelligent Design, Creationism, or Darwinism that have been much debated lately.  http://www.zephyr.gr/stjohn...

 

 

Posted in the Religion & Faith interest group.
Topics:
posted by Wayfarer on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 10:36 AM
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ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW, WHAT AN ARTIST!
 
 

Jesus on the Beach - This is Awesome!




Pictures below are from a beach in Maryland . Isn't the artwork awesome? Be sure to open up your screen all the way. The man creates new ones each day, as the ocean washes away his work every day.

This is Chuck Ritchey, Sr.  he work s on the beach at Ocean City, Maryland People marvel at his talent and fortitude because it is true that his works get washed away with the tide and he does them again. He is certainly a witness for Jesus Christ as thousands of people, in the course of a day, view his work and watch as he crafts his treasures. May his message be viewed by many.







Posted in the Arts & Entertainment interest group.
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posted by Wayfarer on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 08:35 AM
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Iraq’s “new martyrs”

Christians are fleeing Iraq and Christianity risks disappearing from the country, says a senior Baghdad cleric, Archbishop Avak Asadourian of the Armenian Church of Iraq, reiterating appeals made recently to Western churches to intercede with their governments about the plight of Iraqi Christians.

“We do have the courage of faith, the outpouring of love, but because of the war, you see death and destruction, the manifestation of evil. Our people are lacking hope, and so they are leaving,” said the archbishop in December.

He said the four years since the US-led invasion had been “the most difficult by far” of his 28-year ministry in Iraq.

“We have new martyrs in the church in Iraq,” said Asadourian. “I know of no one incident in the last four years where priests have converted to another religion because they have been threatened,” the archbishop stated, adding the same was true for lay people. “So in Iraq the faith of your brothers and sisters in Christ is strong enough to face martyrdom.”

Young people “are faced each day with death and destruction, they are faced each day with being kidnapped or facing the agony of having a loved one who is kidnapped.”

Despite the hardships, Asadourian, who lighting candles in Iraqleads the Council of Churches in Baghdad, said the faith of the Christians in Iraq has not wavered.

“I pray that the churches in the West will be strong enough to have a say in the corridors of power to remind those in power what they promised for Iraq and that it is high time that the promise is fulfilled. We ask for peace, not only for Christians, but for the entire Iraqi people, be they Muslim, Christian or adherents of other religions.”

He noted that the churches in Iraq have faced conflict situations since the outbreak of the war between Iran and

Iraq in 1980, in which many young Christians were killed. “After that came the Kuwait war, and what ensued after that was the 13-year-long embargo, which in itself was a war. Then we had the 2003 war – and after the cessation of hostilities, we have this, the ‘war against terrorism’ taking place in the entire country.”

“There’s no comparison between Iraq now and [under Saddam],” Canon Andrew White, a Baghdad-based Anglican priest, said in a televison interview. “Things are the most difficult they have ever been for Christians, probably ever in history.” He said that about 90 percent of Iraqi Christians have either fled Iraq or have been killed after being targeted for assassination by Islamic extremists.

On New Year’s Eve, at least seven Iraqi churches were bombed.

Reprinted from:http://incommunion.org/arti...

Posted in the Religion & Faith interest group.
Topics:
posted by Wayfarer on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 11:13 AM
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333 magnify
Dear Lord,
So Far today I'm doing alright
I have not gossiped, Lost my temper,
Been greedy, grumpy, nasty or
Self-indulgent.
 
I have not whined, complained,
Cursed, or eaten any chocolate.
I have Charged nothing on my credit card.
 
But, I will be getting out of bed in a miute,
and I think that I will really need your help then.

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posted by Wayfarer on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 07:23 AM
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Happy Cinco de Mayo

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posted by Wayfarer on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 08:09 AM
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The Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, His Grace Bartholomew I has been listed as one of The Times Magazines man of the year.

 http://www.time.com/time/sp...

 

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posted by Wayfarer on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 04:33 PM
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SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2007
(This couldn't be more true!)



Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang . State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 -
Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
</ B>1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher .. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

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posted by Wayfarer on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 09:08 AM
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