Soul and Spirit | Ain't Complicated

Good News…

…followed by bad.

Australian scientists said Monday they had mapped a blood cell structure which could hold the key to improved drug treatments for diseases such as leukaemia, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.

[…]

“We hope that this discovery will lead to targeted therapies, more specific to the malfunctioning cells seen in diseases such as leukaemia.”

Lesbian, Atheist, Muslim to “Attempt” Christian Life

A new television program being broadcast this month follows a group of 13 non-Christian volunteers, who, on camera, attempt to “live by the teachings of the Bible for three weeks.”

“Make Me a Christian,” broadcast in a three-part series, asks the participants to be mentored by four pastors from a variety of backgrounds – Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, and Pentecostal – as they attempt to live like Christians, an effort that runs in stark contrast to many of the participants’ backgrounds.

The 13 volunteers who will make the effort include a tattooed militant atheist biker, a man who converted from Christianity to Islam, a lesbian schoolteacher, a lap-dancing witch with a lust for expensive shoes, a middle-class yuppie couple that can’t find time to spend with their children and a party animal who claims he’s slept with over 150 women.

Whether people can be made into Christians by a three-week crash course in discipleship, however, remains a matter of debate.

[…]

The show’s website concludes with the teaser line, “All this is just the start of their three hard weeks. Can they embrace Christian ideals and learn to live in a different way or will their old lives prove just too strong to resist?”

You cannot live the Christian life without Jesus.

There is no Christian life without Christ. Not in real life. And certainly not in for-TV life.

Help Us

As a Russian jet bombed fields around his village, Djimali Avago, a Georgian farmer, asked me: “Why won’t America and Nato help us? If they won’t help us now, why did we help them in Iraq?”

A similar sense of betrayal coursed through the conversations of many Georgians here yesterday as their troops retreated under shellfire and the Russian Army pressed forward to take full control of South Ossetia.

Note to other countries: Who will go to war against Russia for you? 😯

US-Russian Tensions “Worsen”

Dozens of Russian warplanes staged air raids in Georgia on Monday, officials said, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of trying to undermine Russia’s mounting military offensive.

[…]

Russia and Georgia pursued their attacks as diplomatic tensions worsened. US President George W. Bush, Georgia’s biggest western ally, said he had told Russia’s influential prime minister that its bombing of Georgia was “unacceptable.”

Putin responded by accusing the US of trying to disrupt the Russian military operation by transporting Georgian troops from Iraq into the “conflict zone.”

“I regret that some of our partners are not helping us but in fact are trying to impede us,” Putin said directly referring to the US flights of Georgian troops.

[…]

The UN refugee agency said up to 80 percent of Gori’s population of 50,000 have fled the city because of Russian attacks.

[…]

Russia, which has already moved battleships to the Black Sea and said it has sunk a Georgian navy vessel, is preparing to deploy 9,000 troops to bolster its forces inside a second separatist Georgian region, Abkhazia, a military spokesman was quoted as saying by Interfax.

It will send more than 350 armoured vehicles to add to what is officially a Russian peacekeeping force in the breakaway region, the spokesman said.

“What is officially a Russian peacekeeping force” highlights a concept I’ve found difficult to grasp for years. Look at Russia’s track record through fairly recent history and who wouldn’t consider their “friendly” military presence anywhere without at least some trepidation?

PS to Putin: So some of your partners aren’t helping you? Well, what’s the US to do when it’s also partners with your adversary? Ah, the strange world of geopolitics. And of plain ole politics. 🙄

Well, may the good news from Australia result in new and effective cures for leukemia. Amen.

In a Swine’s Snout

In a swine’s snout?

What’s that about?!

Islamic Debit Card

Please note that my headline is more accurate than is NewsMax’s, which at this point still reads: MasterCard Starts Islamic Credit Card:

MasterCard Worldwide and Malaysia’s EonCap Islamic Bank have jointly launched what they are calling the world’s first Islamic debit MasterCard.

The EonCap Islamic Debit MasterCard is basically a debit card with ATM functions, as well, Business Week reports. It also works on PayPass systems and is compliant with Islamic religious law, which prohibits earning or paying interest.

“The card ensures that purchases are automatically deducted from the cardholder’s account and approved only if enough funds exist within the account,” said Fozia Amanulla, chief executive officer of EonCap Islamic Bank.

I’d go for a two-way-interest-free debit card.

Especially if its use is approved only when sufficient funds exist in the account. (No more overdraft fees, you know.)

I should ask MasterCard for equality with the Muslims (on this score, anyway). 😆

Thank You!

You’re not entitled, so be thankful!

Who has encouraged you throughout your life?

Be grateful to each and every person who has said things to you that have given you the inner strength to do what you might not have done without that encouragement.

There are projects and courses of action that we might not have followed through on. We might have been ready to give up. We were feeling discouraged. We might have thought that we were wasting our time and effort. We might not have realized that we had the necessary skills, talents and intelligence. Someone believed in our abilities. Someone was willing to tell us that we should continue going further. Be grateful for what those people have done for you.

There’s too much ungratefulness goin’ on out there.

Because there’s too much unthankfulness goin’ on in here.

So develop a thankful heart.

Entrusted With Grief

“What a privilege to meet someone to whom God has entrusted such grief.”

I read that on WorldMagBlog toward the end of Andrée Seu’s Roses in December.

Believing that sure requires a change in perspective.

And a declaraction of faith in and acceptance of the wisdom and love and grace of God.

Should I Care about McDonald’s Profits

Maybe I should. But I don’t.

Here, though, are some people that do:

And here is some of what WorldNetDaily has to say about the matter:

“McDonald’s says they ‘stand by and support our people to live and work in a society free of discrimination and harassment,'” the AFA said. However, “Here is what they won’t tell you. McDonald’s helped sponsor the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.”

The American Family Association asked McDonald’s to remain neutral in the culture war. The company refused, “stating they will continue to support the gay agenda including same-sex marriage,” the AFA said.

McDonald’s spokesman Bill Whitman even told the Washington Post people, including Christians, who oppose homosexual marriage are motivated by “hate.”

“The boycott is not about hiring homosexuals or how homosexual employees are treated. It is about McDonald’s choosing to put the full resources of their corporation behind promoting the homosexual agenda,” AFA said.

The issue erupted after McDonald’s paid $20,000 and installed one of its executives on the board of the National “Gay” and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

The AFA now is asking consumers to sign a boycott petition and contact their local restaurant managers to raise objections over the company’s activism.

[…]

AFA Chairman Don Wildmon said, “It’s a shame that McDonald’s would tarnish their family-friendly image. But the company has ramped up its support of the gay agenda and it leaves us no option but to call for a boycott.”

I don’t agree with McDonald’s on this one.

And I imagine I wouldn’t agree with AIT, WalMart, Safeway, ARCO, Burger King, Taco Bell, BiMart, True Value, Circuit City, Quill, Yoder Store, UPS, USAirways, Honda, Chevrolet, Dell, Verizon, Canby TelCom, and Portland International Airport on some things either. Perhaps even on some very important things.

Shall I boycott them all?

Then with whom shall I do business?

Building With Sand

I would like to see some sand sculptures like the ones photographed on July 12 at Weston-Super-Mare (Somerset, England) beach. On that beach “the sand has the right consistency for perfect sculpting.”

In the first image is a North American sand sculpture — consisting of totem poles, bears, a hockey player, fir trees and buildings sculpted by Jill and Thomas from Florida.

Next check out this lion and “Sand Rover” (built by I don’t know who).

Aren’t those amazing?! And neat?! Those folks are quite the artists!

But doesn’t it seem kinda dumb to invest that kind of time and talent and effort into something as short-lasting as a monument of sand?

Jesus warned against building on sand. These folks build with sand on sand.

There are good life lessons in that, no?

“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand” (Matthew 7:26).

On what you building your life?

And with what are you building?