Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni
You're not 40, you're eighteen with 22 years experience. ~Author Unknown
Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life. ~Herbert Asquith
You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. ~Author Unknown
They say that age is all in your mind. The trick is keeping it from creeping down into your body. ~Author Unknown
A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip. ~Author Unknown
Believing hear, what you deserve to hear:
Your birthday as my own to me is dear...
But yours gives most; for mine did only lend
Me to the world; yours gave to me a friend.
~Martial
Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again. ~Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Did you know this about basketball? I didn't...
The Roots of Basketball
Chuck Colson, BreakPoint, April 7, 2010
Here's a good trivia question for you. Which major sport was invented as an evangelistic tool?
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, John Murray recalled the story of the game's founding. The inventor of basketball, James Naismith, became convinced that he stood a better chance of exemplifying the Christian life through sports rather than through preaching. So he took a job as a physical education instructor at the YMCA's International Training School for Christian Workers in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith's vision was "to win men for the Master through the gym."
In 1891, Naismith set out to invent a new indoor game that students could play during winter. He spent weeks testing various games, including versions of soccer, football, and lacrosse, to no avail. "Finally," Murray writes, "Naismith decided to draw from all of these sports: with a ball that could be easily handled, play that involved running and passing with no tackling, and a goal at each end of the floor." In short, he came up with basketball.
From the beginning, Naismith and his athletic director, Luther Gulick, held the players to a high standard. As Gulick wrote in 1897, "The game must be kept clean." A Christian college cannot tolerate "not merely ungentlemanly treatment of guests, but slugging and that which violates the elementary principles of morals." He recommended that a coach should "excuse for the rest of the year any player who is not clean in his play."
Basketball served as an important evangelical tool during the next 50 years, Murray noted. In 1941, Naismith wrote that "whenever I witness games in a church league, I feel that my vision, almost half a century ago, of the time when the Christian people would recognize the true value of athletics, has become a reality."
In the last 100 years, we've seen no shortage of Christian athletes who use their skill, self-discipline, and sportsmanship as a witness to Christ-from Olympic runner Eric Liddel in the 1920s, to football player Tim Tebow in our own generation.
In fact, so many athletes give the glory to God after a game that sportswriters sometimes get irritated with them. To which I respond: Which would you prefer--players known for their faith and good sportsmanship, or players who are arrested for assault or drug use?
If you have a young basketball fan in your family, tell him or her the story of how basketball was invented. And pray for Christian players who can use the public's love of sports the way Naismith envisioned when he invented basketball--as a witnessing tool to "win men for the Master through the gym."
Chuck Colson, BreakPoint, April 7, 2010
Here's a good trivia question for you. Which major sport was invented as an evangelistic tool?
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, John Murray recalled the story of the game's founding. The inventor of basketball, James Naismith, became convinced that he stood a better chance of exemplifying the Christian life through sports rather than through preaching. So he took a job as a physical education instructor at the YMCA's International Training School for Christian Workers in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith's vision was "to win men for the Master through the gym."
In 1891, Naismith set out to invent a new indoor game that students could play during winter. He spent weeks testing various games, including versions of soccer, football, and lacrosse, to no avail. "Finally," Murray writes, "Naismith decided to draw from all of these sports: with a ball that could be easily handled, play that involved running and passing with no tackling, and a goal at each end of the floor." In short, he came up with basketball.
From the beginning, Naismith and his athletic director, Luther Gulick, held the players to a high standard. As Gulick wrote in 1897, "The game must be kept clean." A Christian college cannot tolerate "not merely ungentlemanly treatment of guests, but slugging and that which violates the elementary principles of morals." He recommended that a coach should "excuse for the rest of the year any player who is not clean in his play."
Basketball served as an important evangelical tool during the next 50 years, Murray noted. In 1941, Naismith wrote that "whenever I witness games in a church league, I feel that my vision, almost half a century ago, of the time when the Christian people would recognize the true value of athletics, has become a reality."
In the last 100 years, we've seen no shortage of Christian athletes who use their skill, self-discipline, and sportsmanship as a witness to Christ-from Olympic runner Eric Liddel in the 1920s, to football player Tim Tebow in our own generation.
In fact, so many athletes give the glory to God after a game that sportswriters sometimes get irritated with them. To which I respond: Which would you prefer--players known for their faith and good sportsmanship, or players who are arrested for assault or drug use?
If you have a young basketball fan in your family, tell him or her the story of how basketball was invented. And pray for Christian players who can use the public's love of sports the way Naismith envisioned when he invented basketball--as a witnessing tool to "win men for the Master through the gym."
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Happier children
"Both faith and fear may sail into your harbor, but allow only faith to drop anchor."--Author unknown
Children happier for being spiritual: study
By Shannon Proudfoot, Canwest News Service, April 6, 2010
Kathleen Ennis's son was three years old and leafing through a book in the back seat as she drove him home from swimming lessons when he suddenly piped up and asked who her mother and father were. They're his grandparents, she explained. And who are their parents, he wanted to know, and where are they?
Ennis explained that their parents were her grandparents, and they had died. There were a few beats of silence before the little boy exclaimed, "Oh, they're risen!" revealing an understanding of his family's Catholic faith that caught his mother by surprise.
That day a decade ago, Ennis discovered something as a parent that new Canadian studies have just revealed, much to the surprise of researchers: Children have an unexpectedly sophisticated grasp of spirituality, and they're happier for it.
"There had never been that language; that link had never been made for him," Ennis, director of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a children's program in the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, says of her son's epiphany.
Newly published research from the University of British Columbia finds that spirituality--a personal belief in a higher power--is strongly linked to the happiness of children ages eight to 12, but religiousness--practices such as attending church--is not. The original study was conducted with relatively affluent, predominantly Caucasian and Christian children in B.C., but it's just been repeated with children in the very different milieu of New Delhi, and lead author Mark Holder, an associate professor of psychology at UBC's Okanagan campus, says preliminary analysis shows the same surprising results.
"I wasn't even sure we could measure spirituality in kids," he says. "I wasn't sure when we gave them the questionnaires whether they'd be able to understand it (or) we'd end up with what we refer to as a 'wash,' which means we don't find anything significant because children don't get it and they just guess and respond randomly. The fact that we got such strong results indicates that they must somehow be understanding it."
What's more, the studies showed varying effects for different aspects of spirituality, suggesting that children grasp their faith with a subtlety that may elude many adults, Holder says.
Ennis works with children under age six in the Archdiocese of Toronto, and she says she's constantly amazed by the spiritual and metaphorical links they're able to build on their own. She starts talking about the Parable of the Good Shepherd who cares benevolently for his flock when the children are just three or four years old, she says, and almost immediately they grasp that they themselves are the sheep watched over by Jesus.
"They're beautiful and also profound, and theologically, they're very sound," she says of their revelations.
She uses simple stories and few words to convey these religious lessons to the youngest parishioners, Ennis says, and the Biblical stories come to life with the help of figurines to act out the stories or tiny mustard seeds representing those to which God's kingdom is compared.
And she always knows when the children are enthralled because the wiggling and fidgeting stops, she says.
Amy Crawford, program minister for children, young teens and youth with the United Church of Canada, says she believes that, rather than limiting spirituality, the developmental stage of childhood enhances it.
Often when people talk about a spiritual experience, they'll recall something from childhood, she says, but over time, society and even religious institutions themselves encourage people to suppress that youthful capacity for wonder.
For a long time, society failed to "honour and respect" the capabilities of children in this context, Crawford says, but she believes children experience the presence of a higher power in the same moments adults do--even if they don't always know how to express it.
There's been plenty of academic research on the relationship between adult spirituality and happiness, Holder says, and even some work on adolescents, but very little on the spiritual lives of children. Now that his studies have demonstrated that children understand these concepts, he's hopeful more research on the topic will follow.
Children happier for being spiritual: study
By Shannon Proudfoot, Canwest News Service, April 6, 2010
Kathleen Ennis's son was three years old and leafing through a book in the back seat as she drove him home from swimming lessons when he suddenly piped up and asked who her mother and father were. They're his grandparents, she explained. And who are their parents, he wanted to know, and where are they?
Ennis explained that their parents were her grandparents, and they had died. There were a few beats of silence before the little boy exclaimed, "Oh, they're risen!" revealing an understanding of his family's Catholic faith that caught his mother by surprise.
That day a decade ago, Ennis discovered something as a parent that new Canadian studies have just revealed, much to the surprise of researchers: Children have an unexpectedly sophisticated grasp of spirituality, and they're happier for it.
"There had never been that language; that link had never been made for him," Ennis, director of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a children's program in the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, says of her son's epiphany.
Newly published research from the University of British Columbia finds that spirituality--a personal belief in a higher power--is strongly linked to the happiness of children ages eight to 12, but religiousness--practices such as attending church--is not. The original study was conducted with relatively affluent, predominantly Caucasian and Christian children in B.C., but it's just been repeated with children in the very different milieu of New Delhi, and lead author Mark Holder, an associate professor of psychology at UBC's Okanagan campus, says preliminary analysis shows the same surprising results.
"I wasn't even sure we could measure spirituality in kids," he says. "I wasn't sure when we gave them the questionnaires whether they'd be able to understand it (or) we'd end up with what we refer to as a 'wash,' which means we don't find anything significant because children don't get it and they just guess and respond randomly. The fact that we got such strong results indicates that they must somehow be understanding it."
What's more, the studies showed varying effects for different aspects of spirituality, suggesting that children grasp their faith with a subtlety that may elude many adults, Holder says.
Ennis works with children under age six in the Archdiocese of Toronto, and she says she's constantly amazed by the spiritual and metaphorical links they're able to build on their own. She starts talking about the Parable of the Good Shepherd who cares benevolently for his flock when the children are just three or four years old, she says, and almost immediately they grasp that they themselves are the sheep watched over by Jesus.
"They're beautiful and also profound, and theologically, they're very sound," she says of their revelations.
She uses simple stories and few words to convey these religious lessons to the youngest parishioners, Ennis says, and the Biblical stories come to life with the help of figurines to act out the stories or tiny mustard seeds representing those to which God's kingdom is compared.
And she always knows when the children are enthralled because the wiggling and fidgeting stops, she says.
Amy Crawford, program minister for children, young teens and youth with the United Church of Canada, says she believes that, rather than limiting spirituality, the developmental stage of childhood enhances it.
Often when people talk about a spiritual experience, they'll recall something from childhood, she says, but over time, society and even religious institutions themselves encourage people to suppress that youthful capacity for wonder.
For a long time, society failed to "honour and respect" the capabilities of children in this context, Crawford says, but she believes children experience the presence of a higher power in the same moments adults do--even if they don't always know how to express it.
There's been plenty of academic research on the relationship between adult spirituality and happiness, Holder says, and even some work on adolescents, but very little on the spiritual lives of children. Now that his studies have demonstrated that children understand these concepts, he's hopeful more research on the topic will follow.
Miners miracles
Rescue of 114 at Chinese Coal Mine Called 'Miracle'
By Sharon LaFraniere, NY Times, April 5, 2010
BEIJING--From the start, China's latest coal mine disaster seemed likely to end like so many others in a country where an average of seven miners die every day: a failed rescue effort, grieving relatives and few, if any, survivors.
But for reasons still unclear, the March 28 accident at the Wangjialing mine in Shanxi Province in northern China turned out differently.
More than a week after the mine flooded with water, rescuers found that most of the 153 men trapped underground were still alive. And by midafternoon Monday, 114 of them had been pulled to safety.
Rescue efforts continued on Monday, and rescuers hugged each other and wept for joy, a scene broadcast repeatedly on national television on Tomb-Sweeping Day, China's national holiday to commemorate the dead. A spokesman for a rescue team of more than 3,000 workers declared the outcome "a miracle."
"This is probably one of the most amazing rescues in the history of mining anywhere," David Feickert, a coal mine safety adviser to the Chinese government, told The Associated Press.
The accident occurred when workers digging tunnels broke through a wall into an old shaft filled with water, suddenly flooding the new V-shaped shaft with millions of gallons and submerging five of the miners' nine work platforms.
The mine's managers had ignored evidence of dangerous water leaks in the half-built mine days before the disaster, according to a preliminary investigation by the State Administration of Work Safety. Workers had been ordered to step up the pace of construction in order to meet an October deadline to begin production, the agency found. The Chinese government has managed in recent years to dramatically cut the death rate at its coal mines, but they remain among the world's most dangerous.
There were 261 workers in the mine when the March 28 accident occurred. Of them, 108 quickly made it to safety, but 153 remained trapped in the watery pit and were feared dead.
The rescue operation was huge: A battery of pumps was installed, draining as much as half a million gallons of water a day from the mine in the hope that rescuers could safely enter it. By Friday, five days after the flooding, the water level inside the mine had dropped nearly 11 feet.
Then on Friday afternoon came a glimmer of hope as rescuers heard tapping on a metal pipe underground. They tapped and shouted into a pipe in response, and sent down hundreds of bags of glucose, a phone, pen, paper and two letters of encouragement inside a plastic bottle.
When they pulled a pipe back up to the surface, rescuers found an iron wire tied to the end, an apparent signal from survivors, according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency. Rescuers also spotted swaying lights at the opposite end of the shaft, another possible sign of life.
By Sunday night, 100 rescue workers had descended into the mine and located the first group of nine survivors. They were carried out of mine shortly after midnight and rushed to the nearest hospital in ambulances as thousands of people keeping vigil along the roadside cheered. Those survivors were later reported to be in stable condition.
Up to 300 rescuers were inside the mine by Monday morning. China Central Television, the state-controlled network, showed rescuers carrying out miners one by one. The men were wrapped in green blankets on stretchers, their eyes covered with towels to shield them from the light.
Some of the trapped miners had used their belts to attach themselves to the shaft walls, and hung there for days. Some managed to jump into a floating mine cart, the network reported.
The miners did not drink the water that flooded the mine, afraid that it was contaminated, the state news media reported. A medical officer told reporters that the survivors suffered from severe dehydration, hypothermia and skin infections from prolonged exposure to the water.
Some were in shock, according to news reports, and one was still gripping his miner's lamp when rescued.
"I have not slept for several days," one rescuer, Wei Fusheng, told the television station, weeping with happiness. "Our efforts have not been in vain."
By Sharon LaFraniere, NY Times, April 5, 2010
BEIJING--From the start, China's latest coal mine disaster seemed likely to end like so many others in a country where an average of seven miners die every day: a failed rescue effort, grieving relatives and few, if any, survivors.
But for reasons still unclear, the March 28 accident at the Wangjialing mine in Shanxi Province in northern China turned out differently.
More than a week after the mine flooded with water, rescuers found that most of the 153 men trapped underground were still alive. And by midafternoon Monday, 114 of them had been pulled to safety.
Rescue efforts continued on Monday, and rescuers hugged each other and wept for joy, a scene broadcast repeatedly on national television on Tomb-Sweeping Day, China's national holiday to commemorate the dead. A spokesman for a rescue team of more than 3,000 workers declared the outcome "a miracle."
"This is probably one of the most amazing rescues in the history of mining anywhere," David Feickert, a coal mine safety adviser to the Chinese government, told The Associated Press.
The accident occurred when workers digging tunnels broke through a wall into an old shaft filled with water, suddenly flooding the new V-shaped shaft with millions of gallons and submerging five of the miners' nine work platforms.
The mine's managers had ignored evidence of dangerous water leaks in the half-built mine days before the disaster, according to a preliminary investigation by the State Administration of Work Safety. Workers had been ordered to step up the pace of construction in order to meet an October deadline to begin production, the agency found. The Chinese government has managed in recent years to dramatically cut the death rate at its coal mines, but they remain among the world's most dangerous.
There were 261 workers in the mine when the March 28 accident occurred. Of them, 108 quickly made it to safety, but 153 remained trapped in the watery pit and were feared dead.
The rescue operation was huge: A battery of pumps was installed, draining as much as half a million gallons of water a day from the mine in the hope that rescuers could safely enter it. By Friday, five days after the flooding, the water level inside the mine had dropped nearly 11 feet.
Then on Friday afternoon came a glimmer of hope as rescuers heard tapping on a metal pipe underground. They tapped and shouted into a pipe in response, and sent down hundreds of bags of glucose, a phone, pen, paper and two letters of encouragement inside a plastic bottle.
When they pulled a pipe back up to the surface, rescuers found an iron wire tied to the end, an apparent signal from survivors, according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency. Rescuers also spotted swaying lights at the opposite end of the shaft, another possible sign of life.
By Sunday night, 100 rescue workers had descended into the mine and located the first group of nine survivors. They were carried out of mine shortly after midnight and rushed to the nearest hospital in ambulances as thousands of people keeping vigil along the roadside cheered. Those survivors were later reported to be in stable condition.
Up to 300 rescuers were inside the mine by Monday morning. China Central Television, the state-controlled network, showed rescuers carrying out miners one by one. The men were wrapped in green blankets on stretchers, their eyes covered with towels to shield them from the light.
Some of the trapped miners had used their belts to attach themselves to the shaft walls, and hung there for days. Some managed to jump into a floating mine cart, the network reported.
The miners did not drink the water that flooded the mine, afraid that it was contaminated, the state news media reported. A medical officer told reporters that the survivors suffered from severe dehydration, hypothermia and skin infections from prolonged exposure to the water.
Some were in shock, according to news reports, and one was still gripping his miner's lamp when rescued.
"I have not slept for several days," one rescuer, Wei Fusheng, told the television station, weeping with happiness. "Our efforts have not been in vain."
Monday, 5 April 2010
Raw Potatoe juice to heal Rheuma, Artheritis etc....
The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is one of the most favorite and popular vegetables in many countries of the world. It came to our lands from the Southern American continent, namely the mountains of Peru, and for centuries it has been used in many folk medicines (starting from Oriental or Russian and ending with Central American) for its numerous therapeutic properties. Recently, it was scientifically proven that the vitamins, organic acids, mineral composites, enzymes and microelements that can be found in raw potato juice have various positive effects on our health.
First of all, potato juice is a valuable natural remedy which can assist in improving the function of our digestive system to a great extent. It can help eliminate an acid condition in the stomach and relieve ulcer pains. For such treatment, it is recommended to use the juice of red potatoes. It is important that red potato juice should be consumed right after is it made. For making a good potato juice, red potatoes should be washed out, dried out, grated and squeezed. Also, you should never use juice of immature potatoes or the potatoes with black dots since such potatoes can contain certain toxic substances. If you mix it with carrot juice (50 g of raw potato juice and 100 g of fresh carrot juice), raw potato juice can help to calm down burning sensation and gastritis pains.
The second most valuable property of potato juice is its ability to treat rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatism, lumbago, and so on. In terms of such treatment, potato juice can be taken with various herbal teas, such as sage or nettle teas. Also, arthritis pains can be very effectively relieved by using a tea made of clean potato peels. Raw potato juice is effective for constant migraines and constipation. Finally, taken regularly on rising in the morning (or 30-20 minutes before breakfast), 100-150 g of raw potato juice can be used as a very powerful liver cleanser. Some patients reported that drinking raw potato juice assisted in relieving certain skin problems, such as eczema, skin blemishes, dry and itchy skin, and so on.
Since raw potato juice can not be considered too pleasant for drinking, it can be mixed with other juices: not only with carrot or other vegetable juices, but also with fresh lemon juice and honey. In particular, drinking raw potato juice mixed with some honey can substantially lower the risks of possible food poisoning, and also can remove the excess uric acid from the body and disinfect your bowels in a natural way. In addition, raw potato juice has very good properties and can assist in diarrhea treatment.
If you want to try some more or less serious raw potato juice treatment program, I would recommend drinking 100-150 g of fresh juice for a fortnight every morning and every evening, 1.5-2 hours before meal. Then, after a 7-day break you should repeat the treatment for other 2-3 weeks. It is very important to remember that you should eat a light and healthy diet during the treatment. However, you should not start a potato juice treatment or eat a potato diet without consulting a nutritionist or your personal therapist. There are certain problems and ailments connected with the function of our digestive system, which can be escalated by using a potato therapy.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
First of all, potato juice is a valuable natural remedy which can assist in improving the function of our digestive system to a great extent. It can help eliminate an acid condition in the stomach and relieve ulcer pains. For such treatment, it is recommended to use the juice of red potatoes. It is important that red potato juice should be consumed right after is it made. For making a good potato juice, red potatoes should be washed out, dried out, grated and squeezed. Also, you should never use juice of immature potatoes or the potatoes with black dots since such potatoes can contain certain toxic substances. If you mix it with carrot juice (50 g of raw potato juice and 100 g of fresh carrot juice), raw potato juice can help to calm down burning sensation and gastritis pains.
The second most valuable property of potato juice is its ability to treat rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatism, lumbago, and so on. In terms of such treatment, potato juice can be taken with various herbal teas, such as sage or nettle teas. Also, arthritis pains can be very effectively relieved by using a tea made of clean potato peels. Raw potato juice is effective for constant migraines and constipation. Finally, taken regularly on rising in the morning (or 30-20 minutes before breakfast), 100-150 g of raw potato juice can be used as a very powerful liver cleanser. Some patients reported that drinking raw potato juice assisted in relieving certain skin problems, such as eczema, skin blemishes, dry and itchy skin, and so on.
Since raw potato juice can not be considered too pleasant for drinking, it can be mixed with other juices: not only with carrot or other vegetable juices, but also with fresh lemon juice and honey. In particular, drinking raw potato juice mixed with some honey can substantially lower the risks of possible food poisoning, and also can remove the excess uric acid from the body and disinfect your bowels in a natural way. In addition, raw potato juice has very good properties and can assist in diarrhea treatment.
If you want to try some more or less serious raw potato juice treatment program, I would recommend drinking 100-150 g of fresh juice for a fortnight every morning and every evening, 1.5-2 hours before meal. Then, after a 7-day break you should repeat the treatment for other 2-3 weeks. It is very important to remember that you should eat a light and healthy diet during the treatment. However, you should not start a potato juice treatment or eat a potato diet without consulting a nutritionist or your personal therapist. There are certain problems and ailments connected with the function of our digestive system, which can be escalated by using a potato therapy.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Ein frohes Auferstehungsfest
A man who was completely innocent offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. -- Mahatma Gandhi
http://tommyswindow.com/new_downloads_english.htm
Ein total unschuldiger Mann bot sich selbst dar, als Opfer für alle anderen, seine Feinde eingeschlossen, und erlöste damit die Welt. Es war eine perfekte Handlung. -- Mahatma Gandhi
http://tommyswindow.com/downloads_german_01.htm
Un homme complètement innocent s'offre comme sacrifice pour le bien des autres, ses enemies inclus, et a payé la rançon pour le monde. C'était une action parfaite.
Mahatma Gandhi
http://tommyswindow.com/downloads_french_01.htm
http://tommyswindow.com/new_downloads_english.htm
Ein total unschuldiger Mann bot sich selbst dar, als Opfer für alle anderen, seine Feinde eingeschlossen, und erlöste damit die Welt. Es war eine perfekte Handlung. -- Mahatma Gandhi
http://tommyswindow.com/downloads_german_01.htm
Un homme complètement innocent s'offre comme sacrifice pour le bien des autres, ses enemies inclus, et a payé la rançon pour le monde. C'était une action parfaite.
Mahatma Gandhi
http://tommyswindow.com/downloads_french_01.htm
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Radical Love
Radical Love and Resurrection Catapulted Christianity
Audrey Barrick, Christian Post, Mar. 29, 2010
Why is it that Jesus' message lasted beyond his short life? Why did the message and person of Jesus not evaporate like all the other wannabe messiahs?
Because at the core of his message was a brand new kind of love and at the core of his experience and history was a resurrection, Andy Stanley told his congregation at the start of Holy Week.
A few years ago, Stanley was in Rome with his wife when he noticed something that took him aback. Hanging over the entrance of the Roman Colosseum where the emperor once entered was a cross. Another hung over the entrance where gladiators had entered through.
Stanley posed to North Point Community Church members: "If you could imagine going back 2,000 years ago and ... what if we were able to gather ... some of the Christians that lived in Rome [and] say to them 'someday there will hang in the entrance of this arena of death a cross, a cross that does not reflect or represent the power of Rome, a cross that does not reflect or represent the anger and the death associated with crucifixion, ... [but] one single crucifixion of a Jewish carpenter ... who never traveled more than 25 miles from his home, was basically a public figure for three years, was betrayed by his own people and executed by the Roman authorities but whose message impacted the entire world ... and long after there was a Roman Empire people would worship and celebrate this one Jewish carpenter."
Jesus did not have any political influence, nor did he write any books. He was condemned to crucifixion which was the most shameful and painful way to die, the lead pastor noted. And decades after his death, Jerusalem and its Temple were razed during the Jewish-Roman Wars in 70 A.D. and all the Jews were expelled. With that, the entire context for Jesus' ministry and for what he taught vanished.
So how did Jesus' message last so that today a cross hangs at the emperor's gate of the Roman Colosseum?
Radical love and the resurrection, Stanley answered. Citing Jesus' famous words, Stanley read: "As I have loved you, love one another."
Though the commandment may sound commonplace today, at that time, it was radical.
"In that statement and in the statements that would follow, Jesus did something that was so unusual that I'm sure it took them ... maybe the rest of their life to get their arms around," Stanley noted. "He said ... every single person that has been born has value."
"The primary thing that would mark Christians in the first century was that they had this unusual, fanatical ... selfless, sacrificial, weird ... love for one another," he stressed.
And that love was directed to all including slaves, women, the rich and poor and enemies.
While many Christians today may push for legislation or petition and protest in efforts to change a secular culture, Stanley pointed to a method that really works when trying to change culture--love.
"What we know works ... is this radical, unusual, unconditional love for one another," he said.
"The reason I know it works is because there is a cross hanging in the emperor's entrance to the colosseum in Rome."
Couple that message of radical love with the resurrection of Jesus and that's the answer to why Christianity has spread and why Jesus' name has become so powerful.
"Today we're here because of that radical love and because of an undeniable resurrection that catapulted this message out of a context where it should have been buried once and for all," Stanley said.
Audrey Barrick, Christian Post, Mar. 29, 2010
Why is it that Jesus' message lasted beyond his short life? Why did the message and person of Jesus not evaporate like all the other wannabe messiahs?
Because at the core of his message was a brand new kind of love and at the core of his experience and history was a resurrection, Andy Stanley told his congregation at the start of Holy Week.
A few years ago, Stanley was in Rome with his wife when he noticed something that took him aback. Hanging over the entrance of the Roman Colosseum where the emperor once entered was a cross. Another hung over the entrance where gladiators had entered through.
Stanley posed to North Point Community Church members: "If you could imagine going back 2,000 years ago and ... what if we were able to gather ... some of the Christians that lived in Rome [and] say to them 'someday there will hang in the entrance of this arena of death a cross, a cross that does not reflect or represent the power of Rome, a cross that does not reflect or represent the anger and the death associated with crucifixion, ... [but] one single crucifixion of a Jewish carpenter ... who never traveled more than 25 miles from his home, was basically a public figure for three years, was betrayed by his own people and executed by the Roman authorities but whose message impacted the entire world ... and long after there was a Roman Empire people would worship and celebrate this one Jewish carpenter."
Jesus did not have any political influence, nor did he write any books. He was condemned to crucifixion which was the most shameful and painful way to die, the lead pastor noted. And decades after his death, Jerusalem and its Temple were razed during the Jewish-Roman Wars in 70 A.D. and all the Jews were expelled. With that, the entire context for Jesus' ministry and for what he taught vanished.
So how did Jesus' message last so that today a cross hangs at the emperor's gate of the Roman Colosseum?
Radical love and the resurrection, Stanley answered. Citing Jesus' famous words, Stanley read: "As I have loved you, love one another."
Though the commandment may sound commonplace today, at that time, it was radical.
"In that statement and in the statements that would follow, Jesus did something that was so unusual that I'm sure it took them ... maybe the rest of their life to get their arms around," Stanley noted. "He said ... every single person that has been born has value."
"The primary thing that would mark Christians in the first century was that they had this unusual, fanatical ... selfless, sacrificial, weird ... love for one another," he stressed.
And that love was directed to all including slaves, women, the rich and poor and enemies.
While many Christians today may push for legislation or petition and protest in efforts to change a secular culture, Stanley pointed to a method that really works when trying to change culture--love.
"What we know works ... is this radical, unusual, unconditional love for one another," he said.
"The reason I know it works is because there is a cross hanging in the emperor's entrance to the colosseum in Rome."
Couple that message of radical love with the resurrection of Jesus and that's the answer to why Christianity has spread and why Jesus' name has become so powerful.
"Today we're here because of that radical love and because of an undeniable resurrection that catapulted this message out of a context where it should have been buried once and for all," Stanley said.
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