Posted on 07/07/2003 3:50:21 AM PDT by grumple
In light of the many perversions and jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayton asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding the attacks on Sept. 11). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?" In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school ... the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. The school administrators said no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued (there's a big difference between disciplining, touching, beating, smacking, humiliating, kicking, etc.). And we said OK. Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won't even have to tell their parents. And we said OK. Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons all the condoms they want so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said OK
Then some of our top elected officials said it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. Agreeing with them, we said it doesn't matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in private as long as I have a job and the economy is good.
Then someone said let's print magazines with pictures of nude women and call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of the female body. And we said OK. And then someone else took that appreciation a step further and published pictures of nude children and then further again by making them available on the Internet. And we said OK, they're entitled to free speech.
Then the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex. Let's record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes. And we said it's just entertainment, it has no adverse effect, nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in!
Many times lately I've seen the word God (on Free Republic) where some have forgotten how to spell it, like some aversion to it, as if they would be skewered by the Devil's pitchfork for spelling it out....I received this in e-mail and myself thought it was profound....Three points:
1) Many if not most of the people who write "G-d" do so for religious reasons of their own. They feel there is a religious proscription against spelling out the word "God".
2) Discussion of religion is not proscribed in the school or workplace, at least not by the Supreme Court. The courts only maintain that all religious beliefs must be treated equally. A public school may legally have a Christian Club that meets after school...they had just better be willing to allow the Wiccan Club or Atheist Club to meet too.
3) When people in this nation are reticent about discussing religion with those whose beliefs are unknown, that's not embarrasment about their own faith, but respect for that of others. Many if not most of us tend to recognize religion as a matter of personal conscience. Indeed, unsolicited religious commentaries rarely lead to discussion, nor, I suspect, are they intended to. Dave Barry once said "People who want to share their religious beliefs with you never seem to want you to share yours with them.". He had a point.
-Eric
Why do we write "G-d" instead of spelling it out?
| We're concerned that a document containing G-d's Name might not be treated respectfully, so we don't spell out the Name in full. Using an abbreviation isn't disrespectful; it's like using "Dr." for "Doctor". Furthermore, we're using the abbreviation for a respectful reason: to avoid putting the Name in a position where it might be treated disrespectfully. Using substitutes for Divine Names is an old Jewish tradition; the Tetragrammaton is never pronounced nowadays (it was pronouced by the priests when the Temple existed), but is replaced by "My L-rd", and even the replacement is used only for sacred purposes. ar@torah.org |
Do you not think that if fully spelling-out "God" really pissed Him off that He would've lightning-struck somebody for it by now?
I can't be sure when this practice started in Judaism, but I can make an estimated guess the practice of spelling "God" "G-d" started long before language filters.
Many if not most of the people who write "G-d" do so for religious reasons of their own. They feel there is a religious proscription against spelling out the word "God".LOL! Even if I believed that such lightning strikes happened I can think of better reasons for such to happen.Do you not think that if fully spelling-out "God" really pissed Him off that He would've lightning-struck somebody for it by now?
Such as the time I was in my best friend's wedding party. I think everyone was relieved that it was a clear day. :snicker:
-Eric
World War 2, for example.
Since this custom predates language filters and computers by a significant chunk of time, how it "looks" to you online in the 21st century, and what it actually is, are two different things, aren't they?
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