MORE  RELIGIOUS  STUFF

Since its Sunday, I thought that it might be fun to talk about religious things again.

GREAT COURSES

My disks for the course entitled The Lives of Great Christians were unplayable because of large cracks. I will be contacting the company for replacements.

THE WEEK MAGAZINE ... REPORTS FROM 2016

01.  Traffic Stops

An Indiana State Trooper pulled speeders over and asked what church they attended and whether or not they had been "saved," and if they had no religious ties, he would preach to them about Jesus.

02.  Pope meets Internet

Pope Francis initiated an Instagram account.  Look for "Franciscus  with a tagline "Pray for me."

03.  Escape

When polygamist Lyle Jeffs didn't show up for a trial, his lawyer suggested that he might have "experienced the miracle of Rapture,"

04.  Looking Up

Brazilian researchers revealed that Michelangelo secretly included views of female genitalia in his Sistine Chapel paintings.

SACRED  ETYMOLOGY

Astrophysicist Adam Frank wrote for The Nation back in 2009:

"If you trace the etymology of 'sacred' you'll see it's related to the architecture of Roman temples. The 'sacer' was the domain inside the temple, where you met the gods.

So the sacred was the inside, and the profane was the outside of the temple,  where you sold your walnuts or whatever. 

It's this sense that we have, that we sometimes encounter -- or the sacred erupts into our lives -- this sense of the world being wholly  other than our profane and everyday experience. You just suddenly notice how weird everything is, or HOW BEAUTIFUL"

FOREST  FIRE

A while ago, lightning strikes caused a forest fire in Florida.  Two Churchmen commented on the event.

01.  Our friend, Pat Robertson said that the fires were an "Act of God" designed to punish Florida for supporting Gay Rights."

02.  John McTernan, minister and founder of Cops for Christ stated:

"Actions by a people or country will trigger God's judgement on a nation. A nation gets what it deserves. As in Florida -- that wasn't wanton destruction.  That was a warning.  As for the lightning bolt, sometimes its real obvious what will get God upset and sometimes its not. He's got certain issues that really get Him steamed: abortion, homosexuality, pornography."

I wonder what kind of communication method these guys use to talk to God,

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