Billy Graham's daughter

[darrels joy]

In light of the many perversions and 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 the attacks on Sept. 11).

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 recently) 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 OK.

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?

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!

[SEATJERKER]

...doesn't it,...

...

[sn-e3]

Aman to that we are what we sow

[MarineAO]

I will pass it along and incourage others to do the same, THANK YOU, Darrel's Joy

[Keith_Hixson]

Sunday Evening I spent with a friend who has lived the majority of his adult years in Africa. He now is going to Bombay India the third largest city in the World.

He told me some amazing things. In Africa at least in Kenya you can go into the public schools and speak about Christianity and give out Bibles. In India a mosly Hindu country you can give lectures on Christianity in the public Schools. These folks realize that morality must be taught and without a religious base it is very difficult to teach morality. I believe that what was said by Miss Graham is very true. We are taking the teaching of morality away from the public schools and wonder why our society is crumbling around us. Thank you PC.

Keith

Many of the greatest benifits to mankind have come either from religious individuals or groups.This is a fact that cannot be denied.Unfortuneately it is also true that many-if not most- of the greatest crimes against humanity have been commited by religious individuals and/or groups.Do we need to be reminded that the rag-heads who flew the planes on 9/11 were deeply religious folks?Should we take this as a sign that God (Allah) favors Islam and begin teaching it in the schools?

Personally I have a lot of problems with the idea that God-like some petulent child-is withdrawing his protection because He hasn't been getting enough attention.Always figured He was bigger than that.

As far as religion in schools:Been there.Done that.Didn't much care for it.My 6th grade public school class was ruled with an iron hand by a deeply relgious lady name a Mrs. Moffet.She began each day with a prayer that usually lasted aprox. 15min.,she then enlightened us with a Bible reading that lasted considerably longer.Then it was time for class participation.One by one we were required to stand and quote a memorized Bible verse (not allowed to the same one twice in a year and certain portions were off-limits).Heaven help the student who messed up!One night I forgot to memorize a verse and when it came time for my oration I confessed to my crime.I was called up in front of the class and she used me to demonstrate her expertise with a metre-stick (she prefered these to yard-sticks because of the additional thickness).I gotta say that for a little woman she had a great arm and no small amount of stamina.Her accuracy,however,was at best mediocre.She managed to cover my entire body with the exception of the bottoms of my feet and my right eye.I no longer remember any of those Bible verses (with the exception of "Jeasus wept";bet He would have wept even harder if He'd ever run into Mrs. Moffet)but I surely do remember Mrs. Moffet and that stick!I hope y'all will forgive me if I'm not too excited about the posibility of such "enlightenment"being inflicted on my children and grandchildren.As ye sow,so shall ye reap.

Not being the brightest person in the world,I did not let the above experience sour me on organized religion.I joined a church in '68 that seemed like just the thing.These folks intended to do all sorts of wonderful things for people and the world in general.The spiritual leader was a powerful speaker name a Jim Jones.'Nough said.

[Sgt_Tropo]

Unfortunately, I think you have an honest belief in God and religious fervor confused. after reading your post about your experiences in a "religious" school, I can understand why. I too attended a "religious" school. It was a Catholic school run by the Jesuit priest order. These men and their nuns were extremely strict and intolerant of whomever they saw as "lazy", be they child or man. I also got my share of swats and meter stick beatings, but I also knew then and now that it was God's doing but that of a man or woman. I turned from the Catholic teachings and church, but found God, after many years of searching.
God never asked us to be "religious". In fact, the in Bible Jesus condems religion for the sake of religion. He called it pious and self-edifying and an establishment of evil.
The zealots who attackewd the world trade center, who continue to carry out murderous bombings and who claim to be of a "higher" religious calling, are nothing more than fanatical criminals, who are looking for an excuse for their actions and believe that by involking God's name (be it God, Allah, etc.) they can justify their actions.
Madelene O'Hare was extremely "religious" in her belief that there is no God; no Supreme Being. Your school teacher was extremely "religious" in her beliefs that memorizing Bible verses and beating young children with a stick for failing to do so was in any way a part of God's plan. Jim Jones was extremely "religious" in his belief that he was the reincarnation of Christ Himself. He got so wrapped up in his own lies and schemes that he "religiously" believed that by murdering (convincing his followers that they should commit suicide) litteraly hundreds of people, that he and they would be carried to Heaven.
Religion is nothing more than a belief in a man-made set of doctrines. Belief in an all-powerful and all-loving God is religion free.
God gave man 10 simple rules (commandments) to live by, if we wanted His blessings. Unfortunately, we (mankind) took those 10 rules (laws if you will) and turned them into over 9,000 laws / rules, and none of them even remotely resemble the originals.
God loves ALL of mankind equally. It has nothing to do with skin color, country of birth, or what if any religious organization we belong to. What matters is that we love and honor Him. But, like 99.999% of us who are parents, He also allows us to make, and hopefully learn from, mistakes. When we make choices, we, not God, are responsible for our actions.
God has used various men and women, through the ages, to act as His prophets and impart His wisdom and desires to all of us. He even told us how we could know the false prophets from the "real" prophets. A "real" prophet of God would NEVER speak wrongly, on any subject, not just God's word. Over time, God imparted His wisdom and teachings through men to create the Bible; a book which has yet to be found to contain a single error or incorrect statement. In fact, the Bible's accurracy is being proven more and more each day by the very secular scientists and atheists who try to disprove it.
But enough about that for now, as there isn't enough computer memory on the PF site to go into a lengthy discussion on these points. What I am simply trying to say is this; God's teachings are what mankind has based his morality on for all of history. The moral teachings such as, "Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not steal, Thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not bear false witness, etc" are the things we threw out when we threw God out of our schools and everyday lives. These simple 10 commandments; these simple rules for living are what are needed to be brought back to the forefront, not more "religious doctrine".
Jesus taught that even these commandments or rules could be boiled down to two. And that if we lived by these two commandments, our lives would be full and rewarding. He was asked which of the commandments was the most important and He replied, "You are to love God with all your heart and with all your soul." He further stated that the second was "You are to love your neighbor as yourself".
The reason that "religious" fanatics want to hurt, kill and maim others is that they love their religion more than God and they love themselves more than their neighbors or God, as well.
God doesn't care if you're a member of the Catholic Church, a Muslim Temple, a Buddist Temple or a Baptist Church. He only wants you to love Him and to love each other above all else.
We are not to follow after a man, such as Jim Jones, Jerry Falwell, Osama bin Laden, the Pope, nor any other. We are to follow after God and God alone.
I will pray that you find it within yourself to recognize that the actions and misteaching of a few men and women were not those of God. Forgive them in their ignorance and ask God to help you understand His will for you.