Entitled?

A dozen minor children and the responsibility that comes with having children lies elsewhere?



One sad thing about this is that the children love their mother and are now separated from the only person they have known as their mother. Regardless of her state or the way she has raised them, she is still their mother and they will still love her and be hurt by this ongoing process.

I pray that God would give these children hope and a better future regardless of their past and the circus that surrounds them. Perhaps this will give the mother an opportunity to make some changes in her life that will help to reform her mindset on entitlement.

Michael Jackson Most Wanted Love

"I am going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth. I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I think all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That's all. That's the real truth. I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved. I said I know I have an ability. Maybe if I sharpened my craft, maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved because I think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love them and to look in their eyes and say it."

-Michael Jackson

One cannot read these words without feeling a tremendous sadness for a soul that was so surrounded with hero-worship but remained so utterly alone.

-Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

-I John 4.9-10

Michael Jackson penned a song called Morphine. It is very telling of his final years. You can read the lyrics here and watch/hear the video (as long as it stays up) here.

You can read the entire article by the Rabbi here.

Some questions:

-How does this impact you?

-Do you think the lure of money and fame would have caused you to be an enabler to MJ?

-Does this make death a little more of a reality for you?

-Does how we live and what we believe in life really matter?

-If you had 15 minutes with MJ, what would you have told him?

Bush's Magic Wand

I laughed out loud when I heard this on tv (not that I watch c-span on a regular basis or anything).

Joe Biden Drilled By Reporter

When tough questions are thrown at Biden, Obama's campaign pulls the plug on future interviews.


Are they going to do that if they make it to the White House?

Denny Burk: Thoughts On The Saddleback Presidential Debate

Denny Burk has chosen to blog live on the Saddleback Forum hosted by pastor of Saddleback: Rick Warren, author of all things purpose driven. I would encourage you to take a look at what he has written and watch the debate/forum between Obama and McCain yourself. As Christians we have a responsibility to make informed choices in every area of our lives as we are stewards over them; entrusted by God. The same holds true in elections.

Below you will find the links to the discussion.

Live Blogging Part 1 Here.

Live Blogging Part 2 Here.

Commenting On Rick Warren Here.

Overall Rating Here.

Some questions:
-What did you think of the forum?
-Does this put Rick Warren in a different light for you?
-Who do you think came out with more compelling, true arguments?
-Does this affect who you will vote for?
-Did you find this beneficial? What about the candidates being asked the same question?
-Why do some Christians not think it important to think through issues considered "secular"?

Destination Psych Ward

I'm not crazy, doctor. There really is a cat in my wall.

A Brooklyn man found himself locked up in a loony bin for four days after he smashed down walls in three apartments trying to rescue a fugitive feline.

Muth couldn't catch Rumi from that hole either, so he broke into a third apartment, and again started smashing walls.

Steiner [the superintendent] had as much success coaxing Muth out as Muth did with Rumi.

So the super called cops - who shipped Muth to a local psych ward.

Rumi remained in the catacombs of the condo - a former church. And the shrinks decided Muth was suffering from bats in his belfry.

The hospital records say he had a "bizarre delusion [he] was trying to save a cat of his friend," The Brooklyn Paper reported.

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Do you think a cat was worth it?
-Should this man do what most Americans believe they are entitled to do: sue?
-Do you think we have lost trust in our fellow man (would he have been trusted back in the 1930's)?
-Should the Brooklyn Paper apologize?
-What do you think about Muth's final statement in the link above?

"Hug A Fatty" Campaign

Health Secretary Alan Johnson today called for an end to stigmatising the obese.

The Cabinet minister warned that 'vilifying' fat people will not make them lose weight or solve Britain's obesity 'epidemic'.

Instead, Mr Johnson proposed a national campaign tackling unhealthy lifestyles.

His comments come only a week after David Cameron said the overweight had only themselves to blame and they must take personal responsibility for their condition.

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Do you find this offensive?
-If you are overweight, how does this sit with you?
-What do you think about David Cameron's statement in the quote above?
-Do you think the title "Hug a Fatty" "present[s] the message more intelligently"?
-Is obesity an epidemic? Is it evolution? Is it a consequence of our technological, industrial and scientific gains?

Rev. Jesse Jackson Wants To Make Obama A Eunuch

“My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility.”

Jackson was speaking to a fellow guest at the time about Obama’s speeches in black churches and his support for faith-based charities. Jackson added before going live, “I want to cut his nuts off.”
“I have great passion for this campaign and traveled across the country … arguing the case for the campaign,” Jackson said. “And this thing I said in a hot-mic statement that’s interpreted as a distraction, I offer apology for that. I don’t want harm or hurt to come to this campaign.”

You can read more here and here.

Some questions:
-Is an apology enough?
-Should the same standard he held for Don Imus be enforced concerning him?
-What is Jesse Jackson a reverend of?
-Why do you think Jesse Jackson felt "okay" saying this type of comment about another person?
-Are we all subject to sin nature and in need of forgiveness? If so how many times should we forgive?
-Is there a double standard at work here? Where is the outcry?

The Strange Only Gets Stranger

Now, not only are U.F.O's being sighted regularly, but some are actually said to be flying women. That's right, flying women. Don't believe me? Watch the video in the link provided.

You can watch (and read more) here.

Some questions:
-Does this video prove anything?
-What are your thoughts concerning U.F.O's as they relate to extraterrestrial origins?
-Are you convinced that this video showcases a flying, hovering human?
-What alternate explanation could there be?
-Does this affect your faith? If so, how?

LIberals, Show Evangelicals Some Love!

At a New York or Los Angeles cocktail party, few would dare make a pejorative comment about Barack Obama’s race or Hillary Clinton’s sex. Yet it would be easy to get away with deriding Mike Huckabee’s religious faith.

Liberals believe deeply in tolerance and over the last century have led the battles against prejudices of all kinds, but we have a blind spot about Christian evangelicals. They constitute one of the few minorities that, on the American coasts or university campuses, it remains fashionable to mock.

Scorning people for their faith is intrinsically repugnant, and in this case it also betrays a profound misunderstanding of how far evangelicals have moved over the last decade. Today, conservative Christian churches do superb work on poverty, AIDS, sex trafficking, climate change, prison abuses, malaria and genocide in Darfur.

Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives...

I read it first at Denny Burk's blog.
You can read more here.

Some questions:
-Why do you think Evangelicals are not tolerated when tolerance is the battle cry of the liberals?
-What are your thoughts about the New York Times article?
-Do you find the author's comments right on or is he over simplifying the issue?
-How do you see this issue being overcome or can it be?

WSJ Critiques The Church's Use Of Discipline

I linked to a story reported on by the Wall Street Journal concerning Church discipline on my "In the news" section as posted by Denny Burk. Tim Ellsworth has picked this up and wrote a little concerning it.

You can read on Tim's blog here.
You can read on Denny's blog here.
You can get some biblical insight on Church discipline here.
You can read the original story in the Wall Stree Journal here.

Some questions:
-Is discipline required for a church to be a true church?
-What does scripture teach concerning discipline?
-If discipline is ignored, is it sin?
-Can a church be a truly healthy church and not practice discipline?

Mystery Worshippers Grade Local Churches

Heart of America Radio reports on how mystery worshipers, based on the mystery shopper concept, are critiquing churches.
That unfamiliar face sitting next to you in the pew might be more than just a visitor – he or she may be a "mystery worshipper" who will critique your church's worship service and post the findings on a popular Web site. During the past six years, volunteer "mystery worshippers" have slipped unannounced into more than 800 pews in England, North America, and occasionally more exotic locales. Mystery worshippers share their impressions and experiences on Ship-of-Fools.com.

Some reviews focus on relatively trivial details, like the quality of the coffee or the comfort of the pews. Some will take the church to task on bigger issues. "The Dumb Acolyte" reported on an African-American Pentecostal church in Boston called the United House of Prayer for All People. He didn't like the 'cult of personality' surrounding the church's spiritual leader, referred to as "Sweet Sweet Precious Precious Daddy Madison" throughout the service.

You can read more here.

You can visit the actual webpage here.

Some questions:
-What do you think of the mystery worshipper concept?
-Do you think this is beneficial to the local church or at best neutral?
-Should a Church incorporate aspects of "Corporate America" in its bid to stay relevant?
-What do you think would be some adverse affects of implementing this concept?
-Do you think this could undermine the authority given to the elders of the particular local church?

Hillary Clinton Campaign Office Staff Taken Hostage

(WBZ) ROCHESTER, N.H. A man is holding at least two people hostage at the presidential campaign office for Sen. Hillary Clinton in Rochester, New Hampshire. WBZ has learned he walked into the office with some sort of device strapped to him, claiming it was a bomb.State Police said the man released a mother and a child from the office, but is holding others.
Clinton is not there.

You can read more here.

200+ Hits for Big Brother Rape YouTube

I am sort of suprised by how many hits I have received (over 200 in less than 30 minutes) on the Big Brother Rape post I blogged on yesterday. The suprising part is not that I have received a lot of hits but what people are searching for. A vast majority of people from all around the world are searching for these terms: "Big Brother Rape YouTube".

Some questions:
-What does this say about our nature?
-Does being "anonymous" on the web make way for being entertained by things that we would normally speak against in real life?
-What is the draw of televised "rape"?

Big Brother TV Show "Rape" Broadcast Live

Richard Bezuindehout, a film student from Tanzania and a married man, was broadcast live on Big Brother in what many across Africa say was rape. Both he and Ofunneka Molokwu, a medical assistant from Nigeria, came back from having participated in binge drinking and she (according to viewers but denied by producers) passed out and that is when Bezuindehout took advantage of her.

In defense of his sexual behavior he gave this reasoning: "Well, this is Africa."

You can read more here.

Some questions:
-What do you think of his defense?
-What good comes of debauchery?
-What do you think about a show that airs sexual promiscuity over the airwaves?
-What do you think of a married man participating in this act... and his defense?