Archive for the ‘from others’ Category
Church bashing or correction?
Posted on: February 7, 2012
I was apprehensive about sharing this, cos I don’t believe as Christians we should be bashing the Church, or other church denominations, but at the same time, not speaking out against something like this says that I agree with it, doesn’t it.
I’m not a member of Mars Hill. I’ve never met Mark Driscoll and don’t know him in person, so this is not a personal attack on him. I’ve read some articles he’s written, and while I disagree with him on some things, I also agree on some points.
But this is just wrong, I think. This sounds more like a cult than a Christian fellowship…in my opinion. Anyway…
MARK DRISCOLL’S ‘GOSPEL SHAME’: THE TRUTH ABOUT DISCIPLINE, EXCOMMUNICATION, AND CULT-LIKE CONTROL AT MARS HILL
Mark Driscoll’s And Mars Hill via JesusNeedsNewPR.net
Part 1: Church Discipline Contract
Part 2: The truth about discipline, excommunication, and cult-like control at Mars Hill
Leave me your thoughts if you wish.
Top 5 Regrets of the Dying
Posted on: December 13, 2011
- In: from others | thoughts
- 3 Comments
Have you ever wondered what a person who takes care of dying people may have learned through the experience? Bronnie Ware worked in palliative care and eventually wrote both a blog post and book with the intriguing title: Top 5 Regrets of the Dying. Here are the top 5 reasons she encountered:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
(via Tom Anderson – the myspace guy)
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Thankfully it didn’t take my whole life to realise all this. Although I have found that realising this is only the first step. The fighting you have to do with the people closest to you who truly have your best interests at heart but have yet to realise the above and think by truly living, you’re doing it wrong…because you’re not following the plan they’ve laid out for you…because to them your life doens’t make sense. The fact that you aren’t chasing the same things society is scares society…they don’t know what to do with you…and therefore they tell you you’re doing it wrong and call you weird, and naive, and so many other labels.
I haven’t got it right, mind you. I’m still struggling to forge my own way and not just fall in line – which would be so much easier.
I just want to make sure that when my life comes to an end I won’t have any regrets…I won’t wish for a different life.
This actually reminds of this post.
My resolution for next year is to do more of this…more living, less conforming…with a special emphasis on Number 4.
This is it…it is happening!
Posted on: November 22, 2011
“‘Live each day as if it’s our last’, that was the conventional advice, but really who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn’t practical. Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you. Go out there with your passion and your electic typewriter and work hard at something. Change lives through art maybe. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and full and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.” – David Nicholls
“But this is what I’m finding, in glimpses and flashes: this is it. This is it, in the best possible way. That thing I’m waiting for, for that adventure, that movie-score-worthy experience unfolding gracefully. This is it. Normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidewalks, in our houses and apartments, in our beds and at our dinner tables, in our dreams and prayers and fights and secrets – this pedestrian life is the most precious thing any of us will ever experience.” – Shauna Niequist
“I was thinking how amazing it was that the world contained so many lives. Out in these streets people were embroiled in a thousand different matters, money problems, love problems, school problems. People were falling in love, getting married, going to drug rehab, learning how to ice-skate, getting bifocals, studying for exams, trying on clothes, getting their hair-cut and getting born. And in some houses people were getting old and sick and were dying, leaving others to grieve. It was happening all the time, unnoticed, and it was the thing that really mattered.” – Jeffrey Eugenides
I call it hope…
Posted on: May 13, 2011
found at Letters I’ll Never Send
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This is it
The reason why you carry on.
Because even though you’ve had your heart broken so many times, over and over again, guy after guy or girl after girl, you find the strength to keep going.
It’s because when you find someone
At the supermarket
On the street
A friend of a friend
At your group of friends but you never noticed
On the bus, train, coffee shop, somewhere in the world
When you find someone and your eyes crush, and your heart beats and your hands sweat and you don’t know what to say or what to do and you pray week after week just to be able to see that person again, time after time ’till you find the right amount of courage to just say hi, and say hi again, maybe have a conversation or just smile…
And their smile gives you butterflies.
In that moment when you realise that your ex? The one that broke your heart? That being is nothing when compared to this new person that you don’t even know but want to. Because you feel so much more with just one look that you felt in 2, 3, 4 months or years of kissing and touching. You need to know this person. Who might just be the one.
When small things make you the happiest person alive. When in truth, nothing else or no one else matters.
It’s called love. We all look for it and we all try again, even if our heart lies in pieces. We know there’s someone out there that can glue it. To perfection.
Yes, we have to be careful. The one who fixes your heart can break it too. And this time it is possible that no one can fix it.
You know this is the reason why you carry on
When you know it can hurt
But you take a leap of faith.
And you don’t care
All you see… is the chance to fall in love
Cold Turkey…and other things…
Posted on: April 19, 2011
I’m learning about Christianity from a self-proclaimed non-Christian. I feel like he knows more about Jesus than I do. I feel like he knows more about living the Christian lifestyle than I do. I feel like he gets the message of the bible more than I do. The love thing.
Anyway, this is an excerpt from Cold Turkey by Kurt Vonnegut.
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I put my big question about life to my biological son Mark. Mark is a pediatrician, and author of a memoir, The Eden Express. It is about his crackup, straightjacket and padded cell stuff, from which he recovered sufficiently to graduate from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: “Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.” So I pass that on to you. Write it down, and put it in your computer, so you can forget it.
I have to say that’s a pretty good sound bite, almost as good as, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” A lot of people think Jesus said that, because it is so much the sort of thing Jesus liked to say. But it was actually said by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, 500 years before there was that greatest and most humane of human beings, named Jesus Christ.
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.
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For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.
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When you stop to think about it, only a nut case would want to be a human being, if he or she had a choice. Such treacherous, untrustworthy, lying and greedy animals we are!
I was born a human being in 1922 A.D. What does “A.D.” signify? That commemorates an inmate of this lunatic asylum we call Earth who was nailed to a wooden cross by a bunch of other inmates. With him still conscious, they hammered spikes through his wrists and insteps, and into the wood. Then they set the cross upright, so he dangled up there where even the shortest person in the crowd could see him writhing this way and that.
Can you imagine people doing such a thing to a person?
No problem. That’s entertainment. Ask the devout Roman Catholic Mel Gibson, who, as an act of piety, has just made a fortune with a movie about how Jesus was tortured. Never mind what Jesus said.
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other things he wrote
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* If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC
* Everything was beautiful. Nothing hurt.
* And now I want to tell you about my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is”. So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is”.
*Requiem:
The crucified planet Earth,
should it find a voice
and a sense of irony,
might now well say
of our abuse of it,
“Forgive them, Father,
They know not what they do.”
The irony would be
that we know what
we are doing.
When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
“It is done.”
People did not like it here.
Passion and such
Posted on: February 15, 2011
i’m too lazy to write…it happens…so instead here are some quotes i found while trolling the world wide web…
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may you be passionate, able to lead;
and may your ambition help you succeed.
may you be happy and playful and bright;
and may you grow healthy, bursting with life.
may you be wise, speaking only the truth;
and never lose your creative youth.
all of these blessings we wish you this day
and forever as you go on your way.
with love, we hold you as this new life you start;
wrapped in happiness close to our hearts
- Jewish Blessing, found on some Jewish website on a baby quilt
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There is some place where your specialness can shine. Somewhere that difference can be expressed. It’s up to you to find it, and you can.
~ David Viscott
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laugh much. dance wildly. write letters. drink wine. love fully. sing loudly. be brave. be daring. be extraordinary. grow, learn, listen, experience, explore. eat chocolate. watch movies. read books. show gratitude. be great, be humble. live fearlessly. make memories. make friends. take pictures.
- how to live, che kershaw of indieberries.blogspot.com
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But you can move on quickly if you want to
Forget about our history if you must
You could find a new guy if you’d like to
But I’m still hooked up on us
- Hooked up on us, Jay Jay Pistolet (also via indieberries)
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“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.”
— Charlie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Feel it in your bones
Posted on: February 10, 2011
- In: from others
- 1 Comment
#340 Feeling it in your bones from 1000 awesome things – some things just need to be shared…enjoy
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Born and blasted into the world you’re a baby brain with wide eyes, chubby legs, and cloudy thoughts. Mom lifts you and picks you, eyes open and close, and fogs rise and settle. Tears stream and faces scream as your swirling brain twists and turns into thoughts…
Nothing makes sense till it does.
Nothing feels right till it does.
Chalk raps on blackboards beside times tables, language stirs sounds into sentences, and stories send you flying into faraway worlds. Book reports and homework inspections, chemistry labs and biology dissections, all fill your spinning brain with numbers and theories and thoughts…
Nothing makes sense till it does.
Nothing feels right till it does.
Teenage sleepovers and late night walks, summertime camps and suppertime talks, keep expanding your mind and your understanding of the world. First kisses and first touches, first fights and first blushes, all fill your heart with dreams, expand your brain’s book shelf, and get you thinking about a life below the surface of yourself.
Nothing makes sense till it does.
Nothing feels right till it does.
But … sometimes challenging lectures or scattering friends, confusing debates without exams at the end, can frighten your mind and scare dreams away, can frighten your life and trade tomorrows for todays. Family pressures and social graces, broken promises from trusted faces, could suddenly swirl you upside down and scatter your mind or dim your heart…
When nothing makes sense …
… … When nothing feels right …
… … … … When it gets scary to realize…
… … … … … … There are no instructions in life…
That’s when it’s time to stop, it’s time to think, it’s time to pause, it’s time to blink. When you hit the end of the year open your eyes and look behind you. When you hit the end of the year open your eyes and look inside you.
Because today you’re right here …
… … And there’s so far to go …
… … … … And today there’s still fear …
… … … … … … But there’s only one way to know …
Feel it in your bones, feel it in your bones, feel it in your bones.
Feel your bones to move forward, feel your bones to move on, feel your bones to forget, feel your bones to carry on… just feel your bones to say you’re sorry, feel your bones to show you care, feel your bones to choose tomorrow, and feel those bones to get you there.
Because when your world sorts itself out, when your head moves aside, when your heart thumps up front, when that blood bubbles inside, well that’s when you know, that’s when you see, that’s when you finally become … what you were meant to be.
So whatever you’re thinking about today …. stop trying to choose and choose. Whatever you’re searching for today … just look inside for clues. Yes, whatever you’re thinking about … just stop and feel instead. Cause when you feel it in your bones you can smile and forget your head.
Nothing makes sense till it does.
Nothing feels right till it does.
Nothing makes sense till you feel it.
Nothing feels right till you know.
AWESOME!
Gareth Cliff vs Muslim Women
Posted on: December 17, 2010
I came across an open letter from Conrad Koch to Gareth Cliff regarding him saying he felt sorry for Muslim women because they are forced to dress a certain way. I really dug the letter, but even more, I dug one of the comments from one of the readers – I’ve copied it below:
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I am a muslim woman. I write this letter from peace and to inform your readers why Islam is so beautiful and practical. Muslim woman do not wear hijaab(headscarf and modest clothing) for men but for themselves. It is their choice to wear hijaab to follow what God has instructed them to do, not their husbands, fathers or anyone else but God. My favourite story about modest dress was: One day a school girl asked a religious leader – Mufti Menk. Why are muslim women oppressed and wear a head scarf and dress like that and why do men have beards and wear robes? His answer was: “the same reason the mother of Jesus, Mary wears the head scarf in all your portraits and the same reason Jesus has a beard and wears robes in all your portraits, for the love of God.” Why has God instructed women to dress modestly? At the time when Islam started women were treated the worst buried alive, etc. Islam came and liberated women. Many examples to numerous to mention here. A woman wears hijaab the same reason you lock away all your valuables in a safe. If you had the most precious stone in the world wouldn’t you want to hide it from everyone and wrap it up safely. Hijaab is a women’s security blanket. With her modest dress she feels safe to walk the streets without even being noticed and maybe even being respected for it. In these times where women are being sexually abused left, right and centre the hijaab is one of the best safety mechanisms she has, almost a shield of protection. With the hijaab all women are the same equal to each other and in retrospect equal to man. Fat, thin, tall, short. Woman are talking to each other, the person, not getting distracted by their assets or liabilities. The same goes with man communicating with woman. With the hijaab you are talking to HER not her looks*. God is the most wise and knows best. I admire the father who is inculcating such beliefs in his children at such a young age. Religious freedom is a democratic right and one of the reasons I love South Africa and wouldn’t choose to live in France wear the headscarf is banned. My only regret is I didn’t ask permission to wear hijaab when I was the first muslim girl to attend my model c school in the eastern Transvaal way back then.
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*emphasis mine
Do follow the link and read the full letter and the other comments…awesomeness!
I’ve always been a fan of the way Hijaab and the reasons for it. I actually think I would prefer to dress like that most of the time. But I also feel like I can’t…I guess I just think it doesn’t fit into my “culture” or that I can’t cause I’m not Muslim…or a number of other reasons really – including that sometimes I do actually enjoy looking sexy and feeling like a million bucks, even though I know that that is really not the image I should be putting out there as a Christ follower. I have other thoughts on this, so maybe I should save them for a full on post…
Candy’s Poem
Posted on: December 3, 2010
Once upon a time, there was Candy and Dan.
Things were very hot that year.
All the wax was melting in the trees.
He would climb balconies, climb everywhere, do anything for her, oh Danny boy.
Thousands of birds, the tiniest birds, adorned her hair.
Everything was gold.
One night the bed caught fire.
He was handsome and a very good criminal.
We lived on sunlight and chocolate bars.
It was the afternoon of extravagant delight.
Danny the daredevil.
Candy went missing.
The days last rays of sunshine cruise like sharks.
I want to try it your way this time.
You came into my life really fast and I liked it.
We squelched in the mud of our joy.
I was wet-thighed with surrender.
Then there was a gap in things and the whole earth tilted.
This is the business.
This, is what we’re after.
With you inside me comes the hatch of death.
And perhaps I’ll simply never sleep again.
The monster in the pool.
We are a proper family now with cats and chickens and runner beans.
Everywhere I looked.
And sometimes I hate you.
Friday — I didn’t mean that, mother of the blueness.
Angel of the storm.
Remember me in my opaqueness.
You pointed at the sky, that one called Sirius or dog star, but on here on earth.
Fly away sun.
Ha ha *beep* ha you are so funny Dan.
A vase of flowers by the bed.
My bare blue knees at dawn.
These ruffled sheets and you are gone and I am going too.
I broke your head on the back of the bed but the baby he died in the morning.
I gave him a name.
His name was thomas.
Poor little god.
His heart pounds like a voodoo drum.
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This poem is from the movie “Candy”…such a hectic hectic movie…that and “Requiem for a Dream”…FLIP!
Beloved
Posted on: November 26, 2010
“Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, “Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody.” … [My dark side says,] I am no good… I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the “Beloved.” Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.”
-words by author Henri Nouwen
copied from Jesus Needs New PR
