Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me, you hate me, you know me and then
You can't figure out the bag l'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah

There is a yellow one that won't accept the black one
That won't accept the red one that won't accept the white one

And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee

It is Sunday in Australia and I believe probably one of the most appropriate sermons preachers throughout the world should be teaching today should be one of fighting against human urges of racism, bigotry, prejudice, hate and the spread of lies.

We see racism throughout the world and it doesn't matter which country you go to you will find racism if you look hard enough.  We have racism here in Australia, some places are defintely more racist than others. 

Quite often racism is kept quiet behind closed doors, their talk of racism is only discussed with those they know also share their views.  For the rest of the world, they have a different persona and they come across as being fair and accepting of people no matter what their race or colour maybe.

I was saddened to see this video of white Christians in an American small country town displaying such vivid displays of open racism.  This is just one small town, however it is not an isolated occurrence as I read enough comments on the web to know that this is not just a fringe view. It is not the view of many Americans, but it is the view of enough Americans for it to still be a concern.  We in other countries need not feel smug, as what we see on this video and on other videos on the web is not something restricted to America, but a world wide problem. 

Although it is saddening to see, I think it is something we all need to see. How can we confront such behaviour if we are completely blind to it.  We need our eyes opened and we need to take stock of ourselves to make sure we also do not harbour similar feelings.

After seeing this behaviour I have realised that I did indeed learn things of value from growing up in a Christian church.  Many experiences shape us and I have been positively influenced by many philosophies and experiences, including attending the "Uniting Church in Australia" for a good part of my life and having a mother and a saintly grandmother who were brought up in the "The Salvation Army" tradition.  The very fact that the story of "The Good Samaritan" immediately sprung to mind after seeing such open displays of racism from Christians, is testimony to the fact that I did learn some very good lessons from my Christian background.  After learning these lessons from a Christian church I continually find it difficult to comprehend the actions of some Christians in regards to their ill treatment of others.

Also:

Is it not a Christian's duty to find out what is the truth and what are lies and to then only spread the truth?

Is it not also a Christian's duty to point out to others when they are being deceived or when they are spreading falsehoods?

I know that the negative actions of these people are not the actions Jesus expects of his followers and I am sure many Christians are saddened to see such behaviour from fellow Christians.

So I would hope that ministers, preachers, priests, pastors both in these communities and throughout the world over, have the strength to tell their parishioners that these actions are not the actions of good Christians and go against the fundamental teaching of Jesus; which was to love one another as thyself.

If you truly do "love your neighbour as yourself" bearing in mind that Jesus defined a neighbour as anyone anywhere,  then it is impossible to be racist, it is impossible to spread falsehoods about others and it is your duty to find out the real truth about others and not just base your opinions on hearsay.

None of us are perfect and we will all falter, but surely there must be a standard of behaviour that is to be expected of people and many of us are currently way below that standard and really need to lift our game.

In respect to the US election, I am sure there are people on both sides of the great divide who are behaving badly, this message is not just directed at the people in this video but to everyone.  We need to live with one another if we are to make this world function at its best, there maybe difficult times ahead for our world and we have not got a chance of successfully moving forward if we continue to be divided.

Have a good and peaceful Sunday.

 

And still the message goes out to young people that who they are is not who they should be, creating self hatred, depression, guilt, shame, isolation and some times leading them to suicide. The cycle continues because we in the Christian community allow it to continue by making LGBT people feel that they have to change to be accepted as a whole person in the eyes of God, the church and the wider community ............

 

 

At least I now don't feel quite so alone as a Christian speaking out, there are others who are speaking out and regrettably they are experiencing the penalty from other Christians for doing so .............

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I would like to say this to finish off.  Yes once again I am putting forward my liberal/leftist and some would say heretical views, but I am afraid that I can't help it, as you see I was indoctrinated at a very early age to have these types of views.  I was taught to love one another, to stand up for those who are persecuted, to help the needy and the disadvantaged, to welcome the outsider.  Yes I was taught about some special man who used to talk to crowds on hillsides and on beaches and any where else people would gather to hear him.  I believed that what I was being taught was the truth and this man was an example of how we should conduct ourselves throughout our lives.  The indoctrination process was very effective, as I still believe it is the right way to live. So if you have a problem with my views, then blame my mother for taking me to church every Sunday from the age of four, because that is where I learnt about some guy called Jesus who told people that the greatest commandment is love and every other commandment hinges on that commandment. I guess I must have missed the Sundays when the congregation was taught to condemn and hate those who are different to ourselves - I am glad I missed those Sundays, I am better for it.

Like I said I am not going to debate this issue because for me there is nothing to debate. 

Oppression and persecution of LGBT people is wrong and that is all there is to it.

 

Just some extra informative videos if any one is interested.

These two videos are worth watching.  There are a number of excellent speakers and one of the speakers actually mentions the 'research' project that was done to see if ex-gay therapy worked and how the ex-gay movement has high jacked and falsified the results.

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The other side of the ex-gay movement; the broken families.  Ex-gay movements quite often tell gay people to marry a heterosexual partner as a part of the changing process from being gay to being 'ex-gay'.  Then eventually the 'ex-gay' person can no longer keep up the pretence of being an ex-gay and feels compelled to be true to themselves and their family and leave their 'heterosexual' marriage.

 

 

 

 

If You Are a spouse dealing with this issue, and need support please visit: www.straightspouse.org

I know Ellen got it right when she said the following:

"A boy has been killed and a number of lives have been ruined. And, somewhere along the line the killer, Brandon, got the message that it's so threatening, so awful, and so horrific that Larry would want to be his Valentine -- that killing Larry seemed to be the right thing to do. And when the message out there is so horrible that to be gay, you can get killed for it, we need to change the message. Larry was not a second-class citizen. I am not a second-class citizen. It's ok if you're gay."

We really do have to wonder where a teenage boy gets the message from that a person should be killed just for being gay.

Sadly one of the places a person learns such a thing is from various religions.  I have seen far too many hateful comments left on blogsites, YouTube and various other websites to ignore the message of hate that is all too often being delivered by people who proclaim to belong to religions of love. 

It is time people started thinking for themselves and stop hiding their bigotry or ignorance behind their so called religious dogma.   If you really do believe you belong to a religion of love then your task is easy, if you really do have love in your heart then there is no way that you can continue to use your religion to persecute people - it is impossible to persecute anyone if you have love in your heart..

Religion was used to justify slavery, justify segregation, justify the oppression of women (still doing so in some religions/doctrines) and it is still being used to justify the oppression of gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgender people and it is wrong.

I am actually past debating this issue, because as far as I am concerned it is insulting and dehumanising to any LGBT person to even have to have this debate.   As Ellen said:  "Larry was not a second-class citizen. I am not a second-class citizen. It's ok if you're gay."

If you proclaim that you are a Christian and you can't see that oppressing and persecuting LGBT people is wrong, then please take the time to look around on the internet as there is plenty of information around to help you read scripture in a new light when it comes to LGBT people and Christianity.

I approached this subject initially with love. I couldn't reconcile what I had been taught in a Christian church about Jesus/love and the persecution of LGBT people by far too many in the Christian church and also that many others in these churches weren't speaking out against this persecution.

What was happening to LGBT was against everything that I thought the Christian church stood for, so I did a lot of reading of the 'clobber' scriptures and their historical context and it was so blatantly obvious to me that these scriptures do not relate to any gay person in a loving committed relationship.

Yes scripture states that promiscuity is a 'sin' but it is just as much a sin if you are heterosexual or gay, there is no distinction. Being gay doesn't automatically make a person promiscuous, that assumption is a false stereotype that seems to once again be portrayed far too often to clobber LGBT people.

If you are not sure where to start looking for alternative information regarding Christianity and homosexuality here are some links to get you started:

 

NO LONGER SILENT – Clergy for Justice

 

Metropolitan Community Churches

 

The Bible and Homosexuality

 

 

Homosexuality: Not a Sin, Not a Sickness

 

 

What the Bible Says - And Doesn't Say - About Homosexuality pdf

A Letter to Louise - A Biblical Affirmation of Homosexuality

If you don't believe there is a message of hate coming from Christianity then just take a look for yourselves.  It is time for people to really speak out about this issue.............

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.Continued in Part 2

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As Catholics were responsible for writing the New Testament (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit), the Catholic Church doesn't "interpret" the Bible. We explain it. Protestants can only "interpret", because they are not the author (guided by the Holy Spirit), and therefore, can only guess at the possible meaning of a chapter, passage or phrase, just as anyone can only guess at any author's intentions in any other book. As the author, the Catholic Church is the only proper authority to consult in matters pertaining to the Bible. (Source)

Interesting statement isn’t it.  Rather pompous actually.  It didn’t come from a mainstream Catholic source so that is refreshing and no I am not about to start bashing the Catholics.  It is a great example of how some people, groups, churches believe that they have the monopoly on Christianity and what they believe is the only way.

Well I have recovered from two weeks spent examining the “Young Earth Creationist Theory”.  I honestly thought they had put me off Christianity for life, but I was wrong.  I woke up this morning and there had been a shift in my thinking.  No I haven’t been struck down by some awe inspiring revelation and have become a born again Christian, I am just me.

I have decided to close the book of the Old Testament as I don’t feel I need it.  I am probably not a typical Christian, and maybe I am a “cafeteria Christian” and I am fine about that.  If a day of judgement comes then it will not be other Christians who judge me, so I am not out to please other Christians and do it their way.

I try to be a good person and I don’t always succeed and that is okay.  When I think of all that should be good, compassionate, loving I have an image in my head and that image is Jesus.  Unfortunately it is white Jesus, but that is because I have seen his image so many times that it is who I see even though I know in reality Jesus would be of Middle Eastern appearance.

From what I can gather from the gospels Jesus did not concern himself with things such as did man live with the dinosaurs and a whole lot of other stuff that people seem to needlessly concern themselves with.  I think the basic teachings of Jesus are love, compassion, acceptance, and looking after the unfortunate in this world.  Trying to do the best that we can, knowing that sometimes we will fall short and it is okay.

Shouldn’t our number one priority in life be to help others, rather than attempt to control them and dictate what they can and can’t do and what they can or can’t think.  Wouldn’t it make sense to lead a good life and hopefully inspire others to lead a good life as well?

I see Jesus as an inspiration for me to be a better person and I believe that is what he would expect of me.  It doesn’t even matter to me that some people don’t even think he existed, as for me it is what he represents that matters.

As far as the Bible is concerned I actually don’t care what some authors say, I really don’t care what Paul has got to say.  I am more interested in what Jesus had to say and I honestly cannot say that he has been portrayed accurately in the Bible, but I know what he represents to me and that is all that counts.  It doesn’t take much to know right from wrong; I don’t need to read every passage of the Bible to know right from wrong and I don’t need Bible passages to justify my actions.  I accept my actions as my actions.

If I see Jesus as love, then it makes sense that only good can come from that.  I don’t need to believe in Genesis to know Jesus is love and it is ridiculous to waste time debating things such as that when there are people in the world who need help. They don’t care if Genesis is true or not, they just need help.

If it is important to you that whatever creation theory supersedes the theory of evolution then fine spend your time, energy and money debating it.  But I will not be, as there are far more important things in life than worrying about where we came from and whether dinosaurs walked on the Earth side by side with men.

The arguments put forward by the “Young Earth Creation Theory” nearly turned me away from Christianity.  When the pathetic, grasping at straws actions of Christianity look stupid in the eyes of others it can only do Christianity harm. 

The “Young Earth Creation Theory” is NOT science and therefore cannot logically be taught in a science class.  It is based firstly on the religion of Christianity and the creationist’s actually admit it.  Everything is based on the premise that the Bible is factual and since that cannot be proven scientifically and must be accepted by faith, the theory cannot be taught in a science class.  A lot of what has been presented isn’t even remotely close to fact, let alone science, some of it is based on legends and myths, it doesn’t even rate in a history class as fact.

I do not believe that the theory of evolution has the answer to every question regarding creation, but no scientific theory is perfect and a scientific theory should not be based on Myths, legends or a book that relies heavily on faith.

I was going to examine the Tower of Babel but all I will say is that it is a legend to explain why we have different languages and why we are scattered all over the world.  I would discuss it further but I just can’t be bothered.  To be honest my belief in Christianity is at an all time low and here is why.

Although dinosaurs are fascinating, some readers may say, “Why are dinosaurs such a big deal? Surely there are many more important issues to deal with in today’s world, such as abortion, family breakdown, racism, promiscuity, dishonesty, homosexual behavior, euthanasia, suicide, lawlessness, pornography, and so on. In fact, we should be telling people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, not worrying about side issues like dinosaurs.”

Actually, the evolutionary teachings on dinosaurs that pervade society do have a great bearing on why many will not listen to the gospel, and thus why social problems abound today. If they don’t believe the history in the Bible, why would anyone trust its moral aspects and message of salvation?

If we accept the evolutionary teachings on dinosaurs, then we must accept that the Bible’s account of history is false. If the Bible is wrong in this area, then it is not the Word of God and we can ignore everything else it says that we find inconvenient.

Given their views that the Bible must be taken literally I can imagine what their views on homosexuality, euthanasia and suicide would be and I would say not very favourable.  But I do wonder just how far they are prepared to take the literal view of the Bible.  Do they suggest that we go back to the original laws and punishments such as stoning adulteress’s or cutting people’s hands off? Or will they too be selective in what they believe?

Before I started this post I was able to compartmentalise the evolution/dinosaur issue away from the teachings of Jesus and file the Bible’s view on the age of the Earth as ancient inaccurate history and focus on the teachings of Jesus and be inspired by his teachings.  Now that I have written this rather long winded post and I have been told by the “Young Earth Creation Theorists” that I MUST accept the literal version of Genesis as fact, I actually trust the Bible even less than I did when I started.  On the whole I accepted the Gospels and now I am not so sure.  The creationist’s endeavour to increase my faith has actually driven me further away. There is no way I can accept the Noah Story as fact, and their attempt to explain the presence of dinosaurs and man at the same time on Earth has just dropped the credibility of the Bible in my eyes down to a level I am not sure can be retrieved.

I know what the literal view on homosexuality is and I will never accept that view as it is so far removed from my image of the Jesus of love, compassion and acceptance.  To have that attitude forced on me is driving me away from Christianity.  I will not reject anyone based on them being gay and nor should I.

I guess they have a no go zone on euthanasia too.

Another point is abortion and sex education.  Personally unless there were extenuating circumstances I would not get an abortion, however I would never force my opinion on this matter onto anyone else as I believe it is a private choice between the woman and generally the man involved and their God if they have one.  I cannot believe the attitude of some Christians when it comes to abortion, they are so determined to have it outlawed due to the number of ‘murdered’ babies and at the same time the only form of sex education they want to promote is abstinence and not face the fact that due to this form of sex education, teenage pregnancies and STDs are on the increase and if teenage pregnancies are on the rise then there is a risk that abortion will also increase.  Would it not make more sense to try and prevent pregnancies so that abortion was less of a decision to have to make.  Christianity is supposed to be a religion of love, if you love your future generations you will include comprehensive sex education in schools so as to reduce the risk of STDs which maybe life threatening and also so as to reduce unwanted pregnancies.  Yes by all means teach abstinence, but it must not be the sole method of sex education/contraception that is taught and available to teenagers, face the facts the abstinence only approach is NOT working.

I would hate to return to the days when having a baby out of wedlock was such a shameful thing to happen that these women/girls were shunned.  My Dad has a cousin who would be about 65 year old now.  Due to unfortunate circumstances her and her sisters and brothers lived in a church run home for children whose parents were unable to look after them.  The boys lived in one home and the girls in another.  Their aunty visited them and looked after them most weekends.  When Dad’s cousin was about 16 years of age she was pack raped and unfortunately she fell pregnant.  The only relative that knew at the time was her aunty.  Abortion wasn’t an option and she couldn’t stay at the home or even in the same city due to the shame of her situation.  So the only alternative was to have her shipped interstate until the baby was born and then adopted.  Not even her brothers or sisters knew where and why she had disappeared, they thought she had deserted them.  After the baby had been taken care of she was able to return back to the home and it was still quite some time later before her siblings were told the truth.  My Dad’s cousin came back a different person due to her experience and she has suffered severe psychiatric problems ever since.

From my perspective the best thing you can do is teach excellent sex education to try and prevent pregnancies.  If a girl does unfortunately become pregnant then she should know that she will be lovingly supported through whatever decision she makes about the baby.  If it has been drummed into her that it is a huge ‘sin’ to become pregnant out of wedlock, then it will be difficult for that girl to approach her parents for help and she may consider an abortion.  Or she may go to her parents and to avoid the shame brought on the family they may chose for her to have an abortion.  I wonder how many pregnancies which lead to abortions are due to lack of sex education and/or the shame of openly showing to the world that a girl has ‘sinned’ (not my choice of words but the words of many Christians).  Jesus wasn’t in favour of sex outside of marriage, but he also recognised that by our very nature we will stuff up and when we do stuff up my impression is that he will be there to help us and this is exactly what he would expect other Christians to do.

It is interesting to note that in the USA being a Christian does not seem to lessen the chance of having an abortion.  Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical". 

I wonder how many of these abortions by Christian women were performed due to the shame of becoming pregnant and/or due to poor sex education.  Or maybe they had poor morals because they hadn’t taken Genesis to be literal, although I would have thought "Born-again/Evangelical" Christians would believe Genesis to be literal and therefore their moral standards would be higher.

At this time in my life I am now questioning Christianity like never before and it is due to the “Young Earth Creation Theorists” beliefs that I must accept the Bible literally.   I do not know how I feel about Jesus now, prior to this post I did, I found him inspiring and now I am in doubt of Christianity as a whole.  The only person who has had any sway so far for me not to ditch Christianity is not even a Christian and he believes that by taking the Bible literally in all aspects, is to miss the real value of its teachings and he is AJ Jacobs the author of The Year of Living Biblically.

I have no intention of debating the science of evolution that was not the point of this post.  To be honest I actually do not care how I was put on this planet called Earth, what I care about is what I do here.

I finished my post last night at 11pm and it appears that I have not quite finished, so there will be one more chapter.

Zain Bhikha was born on the 9 August 1974 in Pretoria, South Africa and has made a successful career as a nasheed singer and composer.  A Nasheed is an Islamic-oriented song traditionally, it is sung a cappella, accompanied only by a percussion instrument. This musical style is used because many Muslim scholars interpret Islam as prohibiting the use of musical instruments except for some basic percussion. 

 

Zain was a pioneer in the Nasheed genre. When Zain started singing, Islamic songs were not being sung in English. As one of the first English Islamic singers he opened the door for many other artists. His albums have been launched in many countries including the United Kingdom, North America, Malaysia, France, Turkey, The Middle East, and Australia. He has performed live in cities across most continents and has become somewhat of a household name when it comes to Islamic Music.

 

You certainly don’t have to be of the Islamic faith to appreciate Zain’s music.  His lyrics are always inspirational and his voice has a natural beauty which needs no instruments to enhance its qualities.

 

 

For more information visit his website: http://www.zainbhikha.com

 

 

This is my favourite song by Zain.  Reminding us all that one day we will have to move on and we can't take all the material possessions that we hold on to.

 

 

 

This song is an anti-drug song performed by Rashid Bhikha who is Zain’s son, written by Abdul-Malik Ahmad of Native Deen from the album Allah Knows by Zain Bhikha.

 

 

A song that asks us to question our intention and look at ways to better our lives for ourselves and others.

 

 

Naadira Alli sings the song Mum is Amazing written by Zain Bhikha. 

A very beautiful and touching song.

 

 

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Zain wrote this song when he was making the Hajj pilgrimage.

 

 

Allah Knows features Zain’s friend Dawud Wharnsby Ali.

 

 

There has been some confusion as to who is singing this nasheed, some have said it is Michael Jackson and others have said it is Yusuf Islam, however it is sung by Zain on the album

“Towards the Light”

 

 

My last post was about a few things really, it was about what is real news and what is just ‘news’ designed to dumb us down and make us fight over the less important things, while the more important stuff is pushed along and we don’t even realise it.  I consider what is happening over in Burma real news and warrants attention.  I consider the Sally Field Emmy Awards ‘incident’ very incidental. 

 

Another point to the post was to disclose what I consider hypocrisy especially from some so called ‘Christians’.  It seems that the Christianity that I was brought up with and is still a part of me, is not the same Christianity that others consider Christianity. My view on Christianity is one of love, kindness, forgiveness, speaking out against injustice and when speaking out we do so in a reasonably respectful manner. I do not in my opinion see that it is our right to condemn people in God’s name; I believe that is God’s role.   I am not perfect and I do get angry and say things I regret out of anger, but I am generally the first person to admit such a thing and if tackled on it, I will at least consider my stand and refine it and apologise if required and hopefully learn something from it.  That is what life is about learning from mistakes, learning as much as possible and trying to do some good in the world. Christians are not perfect, nor are they meant to be, but I think that they do need to set themselves some reasonable standards of behaviour in this world.

 

I don’t watch the Emmy’s or the Oscars or the Grammy’s none of that stuff interests me, it is so superficial, so I would not have even known about Sally Field’s ‘incident’ at the Emmy’s had I not come across a post in the Catholic Group.  I was curious why the post was in the Catholic Vox group? Yes there was a reference to using God’s name in vain and the fact that Sally Fields had been the “Flying Nun” but the rest of the post was full of spite, anger and in my opinion a post just designed to tear some one apart. I felt disgusted that a post such as this was allowed to be in any Christian Group.  The name of the post was, “I’ve had it with Has-beens!”  I made some comments to the post and I didn’t get very far with my views, but that is fine I don’t expect people to agree with me.  I had hoped that the moderators of the group would have deleted it from the group, but I knew that they wouldn’t due to some in house politics.  I have posted to the group before about Christianity and have posted the same posts to other Christian Groups.  In the other Christian groups I have had some very good discussion and I was grateful and learnt a lot and the whole point was to get some open discussion.  However in the Catholic Vox group, I was virtually told to get out because I didn’t sound like a Catholic.  A Catholic voxer that I know posted to the group and was once told the same thing, “What are you doing here you don’t sound like you are Catholic?” There was also a reference that the Voxer did not use the word God enough.”

 

So my post from yesterday was partly in response to the post at the Catholic Vox group and I figured that if a hate filled piece (in my opinion) was allowed in the Catholic Vox group then why shouldn’t mine.  I had a feeling that it may get thrown out of the group, but in my opinion if my post was to be thrown out, then so should the other post.  Yes I was testing them, guilty as charged but I just wanted to test how hypocritical the group moderators were.  Well I came online this morning and guess what my post has been removed from the Catholic Vox Group and the other post titled, “I’ve had it with Has-beens!” is of course still there.

 

If that is the type of image that they wish to portray then so be it, not my problem but I really think it is a poor reflection on Christianity that such a piece is allowed to demonstrate to the world what Christianity is all about.  Atheists would love the post in question as it would give them so much material to work with.

 

If the writer of the post wants to do a character assassination on Sally Field, then fine it is none of my business.

 

If the writer wants to chastise Sally for saying the G-Bomb well I haven’t got a problem with that either, but a character assassination is not required to do such a thing and that is what I object to and that is why I do not believe the post should have been in the group.  If the post was not a character assassination then I would not have a problem with it being in the Catholic Vox group if its sole purpose was to chastise Sally about her use of the G-Bomb and how it offended the writer because he/she was a Catholic Christian.

 

I believe that Christians have a reputation to uphold and this sort of article just makes me sad.  But I could be wrong, may be I have the wrong idea about Christianity and that also makes me sad, but I don’t think I have got the wrong idea regarding many Christians.

The Catholic Vox group will be happy to learn that I shall be withdrawing my membership shortly after posting this post.

Have a safe and happy day to all :)

A very beautiful video about what real love is ..............

Love is patient, Love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.

Whether you are a Christian or not, I don't think many can fault this passage from the Bible, it is certainly my favourite passage and many will recognise it, as it is often said at weddings.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,
but have not love,
I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. 

And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing. 

And if I dole out all my goods, and
if I deliver my body that I may boast
but have not love, nothing I am profited.

Love is long suffering, 
love is kind,
it is not jealous, 
love does not boast,
it is not inflated.

It is not discourteous,
it is not selfish,
it is not irritable,
it does not enumerate the evil.
It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth 
 

It covers all things,
it has faith for all things,
it hopes in all things,
it endures in all things.

Love never falls in ruins;
but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or
tongues, they will cease; or
knowledge, it will be superseded.

For we know in part and we prophecy in part.

But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded.  

When I was an infant,
I spoke as an infant,
I reckoned as an infant;

when I became [an adult],
I abolished the things of the infant. 

For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known. 

But now remains faith, hope, love,

these three;

but the greatest of these is love.

I know I said I wasn’t going to be around for a bit, to any extent anyway.  I wanted to post this song as I thought it was worth posting and it is a beautiful entry to finish on while I am away.

 

 

 

ONE PRAYER
by Karl Anthony

If I had one prayer, I'd pray for people who hate
Maybe I’m out of my mind ...or deep in my faith
A man grows old ...when his souls in pain
Only love can loosen that chain

But if I offer you grace, will it cause any change
And do I appear weak, if I calm my rage
I think of revenge, but will I become
The thing I despise, when a heart goes numb

Ill say a prayer, hoping it finds ...people who hate
I send it now, to heal the hearts ...of people who hate

If only one song ...could silence hate
And end all the war ...before its too late
If a cold mind ...could begin to feel
Then the fear in our world ...has a chance to heal

Ill say a prayer, knowing it finds ...people who hate
I send it now, to heal the hearts ...of people who hate
......pray for people who hate
All of our thoughts ...can set the stage
For the power of love ...is larger than rage
When we take revenge ...we will become
The hate we despise ...as our soul goes numb

I have One Prayer ...for the world to hear
Its a cry for mercy ...the last of our tears
Let hate dissolve ... let the past reveal
That love has shown us what is real

Angels above, quiet the pain ...in people who hate
I'm sending One Prayer, to heal the hearts ...in people who hate

One prayer.....Pray!

(May all be loved, may all be blessed, may all feel peace....pray for people who hate)

I'm sending love to people who hate
I must be out of my mind ...or deep in my faith

 

Jeanne & Karl Anthony are dynamic! This husband and wife team have a remarkable style of communicating with Original Music and American Sign Language....it is a musical performance for all the senses!

They deliver realness, amazingly touching music, and loads of involvement.

Karl Anthony is a Producer/Singer/Songwriter/Humanitarian who creates anthems for life and Jeanne's ASL interpretation has been described as Graceful Sign Dance!