Social Action

“Religion poisons everything.  As well as a menace to civilization, it has become a threat to human survival … As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different ways planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all the hard-won attainments [I am touching upon].  Religion poisons everything.”

Thus Christopher Hitchens, the British-born commentator and polemicist, in his immensely readable and provocative book published last year entitled God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.  What are we to make of such a trenchant claim?  Are we to put it down to the nature of the polemicist’s art, staking out the most extreme opposing ground possible and slug it out from there?  Or should we take him at his word?  Is he right?  I want to start by suggesting that he is not right, obviously.  Religion, like sex or food, can be used or abused.  We don’t find anyone in Austria calling for the state to legislate its way into the bedroom because one of its deranged citizens sexually assaulted his own daughter.  We don’t ban fish and chip shops just because some fanatics of the fat-fry choose to carry out suicide strikes on their own bodies. 

It is that time of the year again when couples and hopefuls are encouraged (by society) to do something special to remind/show thier loved ones how much they mean to them etc.  I am currently not in a relationship but thats not the reason for my first comment.

My first thoughts are that what Valentines Day is all about should be happening all the time and not just on Valentines Day.  There should be no need to set aside a day to show your affections - or is this just me?

I wish to welcome you all to our pastorate's blog. I hope that we shall all use it to enhance our faith in God, minister to the each other and the world at large and above all, as a source of our daily strength.

First, I have linked a few useful websites offering daily bible listening and verses and the proverbs of the day with archive bible reading. I shall also upload links with daily reading planner, which come hardy for those with limited internet exposure. It is my sincere hope that we can all add to this list to ensure that everyone is aware of useful websites out there.

Jonsie


I was five. He was 19. Somehow this was no problem for me, I had already decided that I was to marry Jonsie. He knew this information. I made it very clear on every meeting.

He was the youth worker at Immanuel Baptist Church, the same church my father and mother were ministers of in the 80s.

There are many analogies that we can draw when talking about foundations.  If a building doesn’t have good foundations, for example, a building won’t be safe or stand for very long.  The reverse is also true.  A building with strong foundations is a strong building. 

What do you miss most from your youth?
 
For me..It’s the naivety and innocence of it all. The unadulterated hope, untainted with jade and cynicism. In today’s world we kill or subvert our passion and spontaneity and call it maturity. We measure every move and countermove, thinking, thinking thinking and when we finally get round to acting, the actions themselves seem to be simply just that an act. It’s a best measured response rather what we actually feel. It’s all within reason. , it’s the correct response but it’s not our response

I'm afraid this isn't a title trying to be funny... a group of radio station competition contestants were handed 8-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes and had to hold in their urine. The winner who could "hold it in" the longest was promised a Nintendo Wii console. A 28 year old Jennifer participated in the contest and was subsequently found dead of what is believed to be water intoxication.

I'm fearful of a growing trend that seems to be seeping into the minds of our generation and those after us. I am not the first person to discuss this subject nor shall I be the last.

It is that of responsibility. Not the fear of responsibility. But those that refuse to take ownership of it. The people who have made it their life long ambition to sue the last coins of their previous employer, or the adverts that encourage us to not look where we are going on a wet surface. Instead! Great news! We can blame it on someone else!

We have never seen anything as beautiful as what we see when we walk out the front door.

Bill knows how I like to keep my birthday quiet! So he told you all about it - nice one! Anyway, one of the presents I was given was the complete DVD set of the TV series, From Earth to The Moon. It is the story of the whole Apollo effort to land a man on the moon.

I love it! And over the past weeks, I have been addicted.

And as usual, it has got me thinking, not  alot, but still thinking!