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Posts Tagged ‘Religon’

How About Some Respect

January 5th, 2015 No comments

I wish many things for 2015, but one in particular is “Respect for others.”  The basic concept of respect covers a large spectrum of subjects; I am mentioning only a few in hopes that my comments will stimulate your thinking.  Perhaps together we can come up with a list of things we all need to do to help make respect for others more prevalent in 2015.

 

In my opinion respect for others starts in the home with young children.  Parents need to teach and practice respect for themselves and other members of the family.  I am appalled at how some parents talk to their children and allow their children to speak to them.  I witness some parents and children shouting at one another, and sometimes using foul language.  This is teaching disrespect that goes far beyond the family.  Parents need to teach children early on how to disagree with another person without shouting and yelling and name-calling. Read more…

Will Your Foundation Pass Inspection?

December 31st, 2014 No comments

Throughout the world at the present time, there is an activity being carried on that has been in existence in some form since the beginning of civilization.  However, since World War II it has been on a steady increase, and now we find it in just about every direction we look.

 

Yes, in just about every direction we turn our heads we see people building.  Buildings—of all different sizes and shapes, constructed of all types of materials, and for a variety of purposes—are being built.  And there is one thing that all of these buildings must have in common to pass inspection: a solid and secure foundation.

 

If a building doesn’t have a good foundation, it won’t make any different how much money is spent on it or how well it is built.  It will not be long until the windows begin to jam, the plaster cracks, and the floors buckle.  One must have a secure and solid foundation upon which to build.   

 

What we have been saying about buildings is also true of people—we must have a solid and secure foundation for our lives.  There was an Episcopalian clergyman I was acquainted with who wore a size “tipple D” shoe.  His foot was so big he was fondly referred to as “Reverend Footsie.”  But this is not the kind of foundation I am referring to: I’m thinking about the foundation to man’s soul, the foundation to one’s very house of life. Read more…

Time Marches On

September 21st, 2014 No comments

On August 27, 2014, Andy Thomason, news reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education wrote: “You are getting older. You are older now than you were at the moment this page first loaded. And now you’re even older, and you can’t stem the tide of time.” What he wrote, of course, is correct. From the minute we are born, we continue every second of our lives to get older. Over time, this can become somewhat disconcerting. I suggest that there is, however, something we can do to make each stage of our lives more rewarding. 

As human beings, male and female, young and old, we never seem satisfied with where we are in life.  For example: Read more…

What Happened to Sin

September 13th, 2014 No comments

In the opening paragraph of his book Whatever Became of Sin?, Karl Menninger, one of the founders of the famed Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, tells a funny but very significant story. 

“On a sunny day in September, 1972, a stern-faced, plainly dressed man could be seen standing still on a street corner in the busy Chicago Loop.  As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch or business, he would solemnly lift his right arm, and pointing to the person nearest him, intone loudly the single word ‘GUILTY!’ 

“Then, without any change of expression, he would resume his still stance for a few moments before repeating the gesture.  Then, again, the inexorable raising of his arm, the pointing, and the solemn pronouncing of the one word ‘GUILTY!’ 

“The effect of this strange accusatory pantomime on the passing strangers was extraordinary, almost eerie.  They would stare at him, hesitate, look away, look at each other, and then at him again; then hurriedly continue on their ways. 

“One man, turning to another who was my informant, exclaimed: ‘But how did he know?’” Read more…

Sixty Years Together

September 9th, 2014 1 comment

Staff members at a local Starbucks I frequent for hot chocolate learned that my wife and I recently celebrated our sixtieth wedding anniversary.  They are all relatively young, and sixty years seems like a long time to them.  So they asked me to write about some of the things a couple has to do in order to make it together for that long. 

In this day and age when so many married couples find they are not a match for each other and call it quits, it is not surprising that today’s younger adults find sixty years of marriage to be very unusual.  When my wife and I were married, celebrating a fiftieth anniversary was hailed as the “golden” anniversary that everyone was in awe of.  The fiftieth anniversary is still very special.  But today many marriages bypass the golden anniversary, as well as the sixtieth, and it is not unheard of for people to celebrate seventy-five years together, or even longer.  So there are many others who are more qualified than I to write about what it takes to make a marriage work.  But I will share my thoughts about making a marriage a lasting relationship. Read more…

Gospel Music: Evangelists and their Song Leaders

August 11th, 2014 No comments

This is a continuation of last week’s blog: “What is Gospel Music?”  

The origin and development of Gospel music goes hand in hand with the history of evangelism in the United States.  Dwight L. Moody, an evangelist of the mid-to-late 1800s, was the primary “architect” of a new kind of church music that has become what we now call Gospel Music.  Moody’s song leader and soloist, Ira D. Sankey, was the “craftsman” who composed the music that fulfilled the architect’s vision.  

The initial thrust of Colonial America’s “Great Awakening” (1730-1740s) focused on “reviving” the religious fervor of church members, and was immediately followed by the trail of itinerate evangelists who went from town to town pitching their tents and preaching “hellfire and damnation” to the unchurched.  It was then that Dwight Moody came to the fore with a new approach to evangelism that was utilized later by evangelist Billy Sunday and refined to its greatest use by Billy Graham. Read more…