Free Republic

A PRAYER FOR OUR NATION Published July 19th, 2008 Dear God, We supplicate ourselves before You in this time of strife and indecision and confusion in our land. We pray You see fit to save our nation which has achieved so very much and which has struggled so very hard and which has endeavored to share our God-given bounty with the world. We have not been perfect in all we have done and tried to do but we have done our very best. We are now beset by forces antithetical to Your commands and we are in mortal danger of...

What is the measure of a man? Faithfulness and strength... peace in the face of adversity... Joy when there seems to be no good reason. A man's worth is not in what he has or does but in the treasures that lie in his spirit. Not in the friends he chooses, but in the friend he is. Too few men possess anything more than a head of stone and a heart of mush. Too many believe in everything, or nothing at the cost of all. They are: Too often unaccountable… Too blissfully irresponsible… Too utterly inconsistent… What is the measure...

nearly hemorrhaged when Lil’ Wayne approached the microphone at the 2008 BET Awards saying, “I am nothing without God, baby! I just want to say thank God, thank my family and thank Universal.” What god is he thanking? Does he worship some ancient god named “Misogyny?” There is a serious disconnect in the hip hop community that allows rappers to evoke the name of God in thanks while producing music that celebrates evil.

Neither faith nor science can answer the most important questions. So why are believers and atheists still bickering? I went to a debate recently in New York between a rabbi and the famous polemicist Christopher Hitchens, on the question "Does God exist?" Hitchens was called on to speak first, and he won the debate with his first two sentences: "I don't know why I have to speak first. He has the burden of proof." The mostly secular ... audience heartily applauded this sally, which was based on the premise -- never challenged by the rabbi -- that science provides an...

Hi folks - I myself often battled innerly with how I stand in things religious. I studied the Bible in its entirety very carefully, and did a lot of other reading (e.g. about the ancient Greek and Roman view on religion). I do have respect for people who take the agnostic stance - if you don't have gone through religious experiences, and your conscience tells you so, then it is absolutely respectable to say: 'I don't know' (the great philosopher Imanuel Kant, himself a devout religious man, wrote this almost literally). My own view on this topic: I have great...

"Theodicy" Part 1: Carl's Choice "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."Watch and comment on Part 1. (Part 1 introduces Carl, the main antagonist in the story.) Since the death of his fiancée, Carl has become a drop out, heavy drug user and, most recently, a homeless street performer in Washington, D.C. Recovery seems possible after he saves the life of a congressman's relative and gains access to her wealth, but hidden enemies and his own inner turmoil threaten to drag him to new lows.

You might think from the recent spate of atheist best-sellers that belief in God has become intellectually indefensible for thinking people today. But a look at these books by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, among others, quickly reveals that the so-called New Atheism lacks intellectual muscle. It is blissfully ignorant of the revolution that has taken place in Anglo-American philosophy. It reflects the scientism of a bygone generation rather than the contemporary intellectual scene.

Making good on a promise to a friend to summarize his views on Christianity, Thomas Jefferson set to work with scissors, snipping out every miracle and inconsistency he could find in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then, relying on a cut-and-paste technique, he reassembled the excerpts into what he believed was a more coherent narrative and pasted them onto blank paper -- alongside translations in French, Greek and Latin. In a letter sent from Monticello to John Adams in 1813, Jefferson said his "wee little book" of 46 pages was based on a lifetime of...

As I said earlier, I think God exists. I say think because I had a crisis of faith while in high school—linguistically ready, but not philosophically mature enough, to read the French existentialists (en francais, bien sur). I don’t think it occurred to the teacher to discuss the ideas—or perhaps he was a nihilist or at best an atheist himself, and so couldn’t imagine that anyone else might be perplexed by what she read. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have an adult in my life at that time who could discuss the idea of the absurdity of existence and contingency....

Sen. Barack Obama did patriotism yesterday, today it is faith and by the end of the day both speeches will have been done in back-to-back states that swing: Missouri and Ohio. The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator plans to go to Zanesville, located in eastern Ohio, to visit a church program that provides food and clothing assistance to those in need.

America's Sin In Forgetting God By Evangelist Joseph T. Larsen This article is from the July 1933 Moody Bible Institute Monthly AMERICA'S greatest sin and the real cause of the present depression is forgetting God. That means failure to obey God, to listen to His Word, and to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Godlessness leads to disregard for law, corruption in politics, fraud in educational and state life, and hypocrisy in the Church. America has forgotten God! Its parents, youth and citizens as a whole - these have forgotten God. Even ministers, educators...

Turn on your audio and click the Source URL: http://www.interviewwithgod.com/patriotic/highband.htm

A young man got caught in the river's rage while trying to recover more of his folks belongings. He died in those merciless waters. At the rate the river was moving, it boggles the mind that his body could be recovered. Yet instead of being swept away, he was found relatively close by. God was hanging onto him for his family's sake. Perfect strangers were driving up to people's houses and would just start loading belongings. No questions asked, just pitching in. Getting people and parts of their life to safety. God was the matchmaker, giving people that could help...

NewsBusters reader Shane S. shared this experience: I was searching for a book I read in college, "God: A Biography." I searched Barnes & Noble's website using the book's title as my search term. The book I was looking for was the first result given. The second result? "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by the Messiah Himself, Barack Obama. I tried the experiment myself, and sure enough. Here's the link to the search page. After the jump you'll see the image of the search page result.

D-DAY, FDR, June 6 1944 FDR, PRAYER, GOD, D-DAY, TODAY No matter what we may think of FDR—and what I think is ambivalent at best—the man had a soul and seemed to love his country. Same goes for JFK, along with a comparable ambivalence. However, this speech by FDR, delivered while the invasion of Normandy was in progress, stands in stark contrast with the thinking of too many of our leaders today. That invasion didn’t take a day, of course. Dubbed “Operation Overlord,” it consisted of a great armada of some 7000 ships and landing craft, almost 200,000 allied naval...

Thracian God Dionysus's Temple Discovered in Bulgaria? Updated on: 27.05.2008, 12:30 Author: Blaga Bangieva Over the tomb of Sevt III (on the coin) in the mound Goliama Kosmatka near Shipka town (Central Bulgaria) is most probably located the temple of Dionysius - the God of Fruitfulness. The news was reported in Kazanluk city by the director of local History Museum Kosio Zarev. According to Zarev's words the conclusion was made after the detailed geo-radar examinations of the mound executed by a private team. The researches showed that immediately over the Sevt III's tomb, revealed three years ago, is located a...

A Letter from Iraq - Chaplain Garland Mason: Subject: Chaplain Mason’s brother, Cpl Chris Mason KIA 28 Nov 2006, and our men and women who have Fallen in battle. Date: 24 May 2008.The following letter was read at a "Memorial Wreath Laying" in memory of Cpl Chris Mason 24 May 2008. It was later read aloud by Senator Jeff Sessions (R) Alabama, during the Memorial Day service at the National Cemetery in Mobile 26 May 2008. The Senator felt the letter reflects the type of men and women who fight for our freedom.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would first like to thank all...

Byrd endorses a shining young statesmen Tribune-Review By Salena Zito Well, his state may have gone Clinton, but he didn't. In a statement released by the Obama campaign, Sen, Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., announced his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama saying:

Why a Human Utopia Won't Happen by Bill Bradford My children started watching it first. I happened to see it on television occasionally. Then I found myself drawn into this social drama by the endless manifestations of ever-evolving technology. Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, is the popular space-odyssey television adventure in which man in the 25th century is expanding his philosophy and near-utopian coexistence among other, less-sophisticated, inhabitants of the galaxies.It's an idea older than Plato that man can somehow engineer a civilization that brings peace, happiness and prosperity to all who can be persuaded to embrace its philosophy.In...

Hey sweetie, are you bitter? Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Salena Zito Perfect Sen. John McCain bumper sticker: Hey sweetie, are you bitter?

Obama and his Kentucky cross TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Chris Brody, the senior national correspondent for Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), is reporting Sen. Barack Obama has a flier for next week’s primary contest in Kentucky that shows Obama standing with a substantial-sized cross to his left. Brody writes that Obama “is making a direct appeal to evangelicals with fliers that mention his conversion experience and they highlight a big old cross. Remember (Gov.) Mike Huckabee’s supposed subliminal cross in his Christmas campaign ad? Well, Obama campaign ditches

Hillary & Obama: Peaches & Herb? TRIBUNE REVIEW By: Salena Zito Perhaps if you had been in an isolation chamber since the day before Sen. Hillary Clinton's first loss in Iowa, you would think that the poll for tomorrow's contest in West Virginia made sense. Until that moment she was inevitable. Now, not so much. Still the numbers are the numbers and here is what they say about Tuesday's West Virginia primary and next week's contest in Kentucky:

Will Jesus Christ return to Earth in the year 2015? And can studying NASA's website provide evidence for such a scenario? A minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus. "God wants us to look at the biblical calendar," says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash. "The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance....

God's Guide to Sex Everyone knows about the similarities between animal and human sexuality, but what about the differences? And what are the implications of those differences? by David Treybig God cares deeply about your sex life. What? You've got to be kidding, right? After all, doesn't God say don't do it while most people do? Does He know what we've been doing? Surprising to many, God is quite concerned about our sexuality and wants us to have the best sex possible. And yes, He does know what each of us has been doing. And He's disappointed that so many...

RFFM.org Commentary I know most of you have heard just about enough from the so-called Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I'm sure Barack Obama has. But let's face it, to Republicans and Hillary Clinton, Wright is the gift that keeps on giving. Nothing more really needs to be said. The man is a bona fide hater and those who receive his hate-filled wrath are in some good company. On April 28th Wright spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C. Besides the usual tirade, Wright entered into some revealing dialogue after he was asked about his relationship with Louis Farrakhan....

Thou wilt prolong the king's life; His years shall be as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever: Oh prepare lovingkindness and truth, that they may preserve him. Psalm 61:6,7

...Secular gun-free big-government Europe doesn't seem to have done anything for people's happiness. Consider by way of example the words of Keith Reade. He's not an Obama speechwriter, he's a writer for the London Daily Mirror. And the day after the 2004 Presidential election he expressed his frustration in an alarmingly Obamaesque way: "Were I a Kerry voter, though, I'd feel deep anger, not only at them returning Bush to power, but for allowing the outside world to lump us all into the same category of moronic muppets. The self-righteous, gun-totin', military-lovin', sister-marryin', abortion-hatin', gay-loathin', foreigner-despisin', non-passport ownin' red-necks, who...

THE Pentagon is joining with universities and hospitals in $US250 million ($267m) research to discover how to help wounded soldiers regenerate skin, muscle and even limbs from their own stem cells. The army's surgeon-general said he envisioned the day when adult stem cells would be harvested before a soldier goes into the battle and then used to regrow new limbs within days of suffering a combat wound.

Huckabee & The Club friends at last? TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito When former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was running for the Republcian nomination for president, no one attacked him more often and with more conservative muscle than the uber-economic conservatives from The Club for Growth. Pat Tommey, chairman of The Club, wrote last October in The National Review that a flirtation with Huckabee even as a vice presidential candidate did a "great disservice to the conservative movement if it overlooks Huckabee’s stunning record of big-government liberalism.” So, it came as a bit of surprise to receive a blast e-mail from...

There's no debate: Pens trump politics tribune-review by salena zito Politics stops at the water's edge -- even if that water's frozen, apparently. About 57,000 more households in the Pittsburgh region tuned in to watch the Penguins beat up on the Ottawa Senators than tuned in to see two senators (Obama and Clinton) beat up on each other in the Democratic presidential debate, according to Nielsen Media Research. The hockey game played in 175,000 – or 23 percent – of all households in the Pittsburgh metro market, while the blame game played in 118,000 households – or 14 percent of...

Bitter: the gift that keeps on giving TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito John Brabender, a D.C.-based media strategist, put up the first "bitter" ad to be used in a congressional race -- for a Republican. "Barack Obama's statement about the small towns of Pennsylvania and the entire middle America for this cycle is the gift that you can use all year long," Brabender said. He said that you could say it is the gift that keeps on giving. Brabender's client Matt Shaner is in a tight Republican primary race to succeed retiring John Peterson in the biggest piece of congressional geography...

Obama outburst in Pennsylvania Shame, shame, shame TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito ABC News is reporting that Barack Obama launched into a fiery offensive tonight in a speech before the United Steelworkers Union in Steelton, Pa. Obama, in response to Sen. Hillary Clinton criticisms of his 'bitter' remarks, said "Shame on her, shame on her, she knows better."

Rev. Jeremiah Wright criticizes media at Eugene Pincham funeral OBAMA'S FORMER PASTOR | Fires back at Fox News during sermon at Pincham funeral April 13, BY ART GOLAB Staff Reporter agolab@suntimes.com The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., former pastor of Barack Obama’s Trinity United Church of Christ, has kept a low profile since some of his sermons landed him in the middle of a political firestorm. But on Saturday Wright made his first extensive public remarks since the controversy began

Faith out front: Democratic candidates try to reach religious voters By Mike Wereschagin TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 13, 2008 The God gap is closing. Both Democratic presidential candidates are expected to speak about their faith today at the Compassion Forum, a 90-minute event at Messiah College near Harrisburg that will be broadcast to more than 1,000 congregations next Sunday, two days before the Pennsylvania primary. In a stark break from the last two presidential races, the presumptive Republican nominee does not plan to attend.

The stuff Pennsylvanians are made of TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Obama's statements have also put Pennsylvanians under the microscope of the country. No state's diverse population can be placed into one category, but a good insight as to what is important to most Pennsylvanians was found in our own newspaper today. ...If you want an insight into the stuff Pennsylvanians are made of, read ‘Fishmas Eve.'

What Hillary Clinton said about guns the last time she was in the White House was that ordinary Americans had to “buck the gun lobby”. Yesterday, Clinton seemingly discovered that the gun lobby is ordinary Americans. Since Barack Obama’s “Hillbilly Twofer” Friday, Hillary Clinton’s been sounding like her best buddies are Smith and Wesson–and that she’d like to take the both of them to church in a small town somewhere as soon as possible.

God, guns and Obama TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito On Friday it was reveled that Sen. Barack Obama told wealthy San Franciscans last Sunday that small-town Pennsylvanians and Midwesterners "cling to guns or religion" because they are "bitter" about their economic status. By today in Muncie, Ind., Obama acknowledged that he "didn't say it as well as I should have."

Is Mary Worthy of Worship? by David C. GrabbeForerunner, November 2003 A major area of doctrine that sets Roman Catholicism apart from the rest of this world's Christianity is its view of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Many weighty schools of thought and doctrine center on the person and function of Mary, and if one examines Roman Catholicism to any degree, the importance Catholics place on the mother of our Savior becomes readily apparent.These beliefs are not just intellectual. They have led to applications and manifestations that literally fill volumes. For example, when a Catholic prays the rosary, the "Hail...

I suppose a lot of people wonder why a loving God would keep Himself so hidden and unseen when so many people it seems are looking for Him. Some people I suppose wonder why God doesn’t just make Himself known to everyone and ‘just let them decide’ after His physical revelation is made clear? First off I want to point out that for God to make Himself physically known to us, God would have had to have been physically with everyone right from the beginning of creation, to the present, as people are born every single second, in great numbers,...

All living languages are promiscuous. We promiscuous speakers shamelessly shoplift words, plucking bons mots and phrases from any tempting language. We wear these words when we wish to be more formal, more elegant, more mysterious, worldly, precise, vague. They flash on our fingers like gaudy rings, adorn our hair, warm our necks like rich foreign scarves. They become our favorite trousers, the shoes we cannot live without, our way of describing illness to our doctors, declaring love to our lovers, formulating policies, doing business. We believe we own them and are frequently astonished to discover their original roots in another...

Representative tries to put the fear of God in atheistRead Eric Zorn's full post: Rep. Monique Davis to atheist Rob Sherman: `It's dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists!' By Eric Zorn | Change of Subject April 6, 2008 Did you hear about the state legislator who last week blasted a Lutheran minister during a committee hearing for spewing dangerous religious superstitions, and then attempted to order the minister out of the witness chair on the grounds that his Christian beliefs are "destroying what this state was built upon"? Of course you didn't, because it didn't...

GENEVA (Reuters) - British physicist Peter Higgs said on Monday it should soon be possible to prove the existence of a force which gives mass to the universe and makes life possible -- as he first argued 40 years ago. Higgs said he believes a particle named the "Higgs boson," which originates from the force, will be found when a vast particle collider at the CERN research centre on the Franco-Swiss border begins operating fully early next year."The likelihood is that the particle will show up pretty quickly ... I'm more than 90 percent certain that it will," Higgs told...

Why would a loving God allow evil? Probably one of the biggest issues regarding people’s objection to God, is the underlying feeling that God, ‘if He were God’, would not allow evil to affect so many people. Indeed, there is a great amount of terrible suffering in this world, and people naturally struggle with this important issue. Some of the accusations leveled toward God that I see quite commonly go along the lines of “God must not be perfect (or omnipotent) if He wasn’t big enough to prevent evil from affecting us”, and usually people will extend this accusation to...

How Do We Know That We Love God? The Bible states over and over again exactly how we are to demonstrate our love to God. The simple answer may surprise you! by Lyle Welty How do we know we genuinely love God? That probably seems like an odd question to most of us. Of course, we love God, and we just know that we love Him. But is that good enough? Is it enough to just know and feel that we love God? Is anything else involved? Actually, the Bible-God's inspired Word-is clear about how we show love to God....

Redefining Morality: Why a Torrent of Trouble Threatens to Engulf Us Today the major English-speaking nations watch as a storm of problems draws ever nearer, a storm created by hostile forces that blurred and weakened their sense of morality. Does the Bible indicate where we will go from here? by John Ross Schroeder A recent article in USA Today captures the essence of present discontent in the United States. It laments: "In poll after poll, two-thirds or more of Americans say the country is on the wrong track. Oil prices are near an all-time high. The president's popularity hovers near...

Parent's objection led to the motto being painted over at a Dallas-area elementary --- THE COLONY — A Dallas-area school will put "In God We Trust" back on a gymnasium wall after the U.S. motto was painted over when one parent objected. The motto had been on a wall at B.B. Owen Elementary School in The Colony. District spokesman Dean Tackett said a parent complained about displaying the word "God" in school, so the phrase was painted over. But Tackett said on Tuesday, in response to complaints from other parents about the hasty removal, "In God We Trust" will be...

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 1 Cor. 1:30, 31

A little girl fights for her life, and her last wish is to see her father. But that wish may not come true. "They didn't expect her to still be here. She's fighting, day by day, minute by minute," said Vonda Yaeger, mother. 10/11 has followed the story of 10-year-old Jayci Yaeger as she battled brain tumors. Now doctors say she is about to lose that fight. Her last wish is to spend what time she has left with her father, but he is in a federal prison for drug charges. Less than six months ago, Jayci was energetic, fun...

As I sit here today pondering the coming Resurection Day, I thought of the love of God and how great His love must be to give His Son for His created beings with so many flaws. We know in the begining, He wanted to show us His feelings for us, so He gave us marriage because He thinks of us as His Bride. We couldn't know what God feels for us unless we could have the same feelings. Then he gave us our children. How could you possibly understand the sacrifice of God if we had no children to relate...

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:40,41