Friday, March 16, 2012

Special Hymns for drivers.




"Just a moment honey,I'll call you back."

Here are a selection of hymn titles for those of you who may be travelling this holiday weekend.

1) 45 m.p.h.  God will take care of you.
2) 65 m.p.h.  Nearer my God to Thee.
3) 85 m.p.h.  This world is not my home.
4) 95 m.p.h.  Take my hand precious Lord
5) 100 m.p.h. Lord I'm coming home.
6) 120 m.p.h. Beyond the sunset.
7) 130 m.p.h. The Master has called.

May the Lord grant us all a sense of humor.

Ian

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

leading NASA technology expert fired because of his creation beliefs



This piece of news was too good not to share.
Today the opening arguments are being made in a Los Angeles Court House in the wrongful dismissal case of David Coppedge.

Coppedge was a team leader in the exploration project of the Jupiter moons and was a fifteen year old veteran at NASA.

Needless to say he is a bright individual.

But in the increasingly atheistic environment at NASA, Coppedge was proving to be an embarrassment to his bosses. For why?

Because he actually believes in "intelligent design", the taboo notion that Somebody ACTUALLY CREATED  the planets that NASA is exploring.

Not only did Coppedge believe in intelligent design, he also had the temerity to share those thoughts with his fellow workers.

For such institutional violations he was firstly demoted and then fired.

Today his case is being heard by a Los Angeles judge who, we hope, will adjudicate with a mind free from the lilliputian prejudices that have infected the crew at NASA.

Stay tuned for the outcome.

Ian

Monday, March 12, 2012

The Crystal Cathedral. the end of an era.



This was about all the congregation amounted to on Sunday when the last sermon by Sheila Schuller-Coleman had been preached.

The "Hour of Power" ministry has run out of gas and the palace of ostentation has fallen to the Romans.. the Roman Catholics that is.

The Reverend Robert Schuller cobbled together his own gospel of faith, wealth and positive thinking and preached it from his crystal pulpit for over thirty years. This week, bankrupt financially and bereft of new ideas, the keys were handed over to the Catholics of Orange County for a cool $57 million dollars, almost enough to pay off the church debt.

In his own philosophy, that was intended to substitute the "ancient gospel", he stated that "anything on the sinfulness of man and his fallen condition must be eliminated from our preaching.Possibility thinking is the answer. Positive thinking is almost as important as the resurrection."

" My creed of life can be summed up thus:

               ' I AM, I CAN, IT'S POSSIBLE'."

Robert Schuller may well be repeating that mantra as he goes to bed tonight but history and his creditors are telling a different story.

Jubilate.

Ian

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Fukushima:one year ago today




We remember the Great Tsunami of 2011 and the destruction of dozens of coastal communities of Eastern Japan. It happened a year ago today.
I also remember what took place in my lifetime when Hiroshima was flattened by the first wartime nuclear bomb.
Here are some photos of the city 67 years later: a triumph of the human spirit and the Marshall Plan causing a miracle of transformation in a broken nation.

Now contrast these pictures with those from Detroit, Michigan. One taken in 1945 and another 2011.











While simplistic answers are always easy to provide, it is worth noting that Japan has no welfare state. If it is going to happen the people must MAKE it happen.

Detroit, on the other hand, has the highest welfare roll in the United States.The city has diminished from a 900,000 population to just over 400,000 and from a mighty economic power house to community with the highest per capita murder rate in the nation where even the Mayor is in Jail.

Perhaps America's largess to the nations should be directed a little nearer home.

Food for thought.
Ian