N3il’s Blog

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which The Critical Post Staff would like to share with you. We think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America …

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God ? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’

In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said okay.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it…. no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

The Band of Brothers, the men’s group from St Paul’s Church, Crofton spent a weekend away together at Carroty Wood, Tonbridge, Kent. We had a great time of fun together and out speaker was Phil Stokes, Phil is an inner city pastor and teacher with entrepreneurial inclinations. He start projects, communities and conversations. Check out this website to see what else Phil is involved in. http://www.thewellcc.org.uk.

Phil spoke at 4 sessions, click the links to either listen on line or download the mp3 files to listen in your own time on your own mp3 player.

Published in the Metro Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Friendship is the answer to your prayers

By Aidan Radnedge

FORGET exploring the aching of your soul or the meaning of life – what really makes us happy is the chance to have a cuppa with friends and sing some songs, scientists say.

Being part of a church congregation surrounded by like-minded friends is more important to happiness than prayer, a study has found. The sense of ‘belonging’, rather than the religiosity, is what made people ‘extremely satisfied’ with their lives. Of those that went to church every week and had three to five close friends in the congregation, a third were ‘extremely satisfied’ with their lot. Of those who went to church several times a year but had up to five close friends there, the proportion fell to about a quarter.

However, only a fifth of those who had no close friends at church were extremely satisfied, which is the same proportion as for those who never go to church. Belonging was ‘the secret ingredient’ in religion that made people happier, said US researchers.

‘One of the important functions of religion is to give people a sense of belonging to a moral community,’ said Asst Prof Chaeyoon Lim of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ‘This community, however, could be abstract and remote unless one has an intimate circle of friends who share a similar identity.

‘The friends in one’s congregation thus make the religious community real and tangible and strengthen one’s sense of belonging to the community.’  The findings applied to the three main Christian traditions but researchers said they found ‘similar patterns’ among Jews and Mormons.

Friendship is the answer to your prayers