Escape from Elba
National => Religion and Politics => Topic started by: Administrator on July 30, 2018, 12:20:08 PM
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Enjoy!
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The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
- Galatians 5:22-23
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May God bless us all!
God is all about love and goodness.
Salute,
Tony V.
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The Italians know the secret of life. Here is an article that everyone, everywhere, can learn from, it is about the Italian immigrants in Roseto, Pennsylvania, USA, they had ZERO crime and they had ZERO people on welfare, read this article and you will see that there is a better way to do things than what is happening now, plus the people of Roseto, Pennsylvania, were healthier and they had fewer heart attacks. And they did it without any help from the government (although in a nation "Of the people, by the people, for the people" the government is us, and the government is part of our team, we in the USA are self governing). And we always knew that it was healthy to go to parties, and to throw parties!
The whole "Rugged Individualist" thing is really, really, really, BAD.
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14.2 "The Roseto Effect"
I. HEALTH AND CULTURE
People are nourished by other people. The importance of social networks in health and longevity has been confirmed again by study of a close-knit Italian-American community in Roseto, Pennsylvania. At first blush, Roseto seems a diorama of what once was the nation's ideal lifestyle-neighbors who looked after one another, civic-minded joiners and doers who formed the grass roots of American-style democracy. It seems to showcase those virtues that have all but disappeared elsewhere in what has become what we are now--a nation of strangers.
At one time the village came to be a living laboratory demonstrating that neighborliness is good not just for the body politic (community) for the human body (self) as well. Now Roseto is changing, becoming a community of suburban commuters with satellite dishes, fenced-in yards, and expensive cars.
Thirty years earlier, medical researchers were drawn to Roseto by a bewildering statistic: in defiance of medical logic, Rosetans seemed nearly immune to one of the most common causes of death. They died of heart attacks at a rate only half of the rest of America. Doctors were mystified in that residents led what medical textbooks predicted would be short lives.
The men of the village smoked and drank wine freely. They spent their days in backbreaking, hazardous labor, working 200 feet down in nearby slate quarries. At home, the dinner tables each evening were laden with traditional Italian food, modified for local ingredients in ways that would drive a dietitian to despair.
The Mediterranean diet, with its use of olive oil rather than animal fat, has been touted lately for health benefits. But, poor immigrants couldn't afford to import cooking oil from their homeland and instead fry their sausages and brown their meatballs in lard. Yet, the resulting hefty bodies contained unusually health hearts. Why?
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II. A RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY
Study of the "Roseto Effect" began with a chance conversation over a couple of beers. A local physician happened to mention to the head of medicine at the University of Oklahoma that heart disease seemed much less prevalent in Roseto than in adjoining Bangor, occupied by non-Italians.
When first studied in 1966, Roseto's cardiac mortality traced a unique graph. Nationally, the rate rises with age. In Roseto, it dropped to near zero for men aged 55-64. For men over 65, the local death rate was half the national average.
The study quickly went beyond death certificates, to poke, prod, and extensively interview the Rosetans. Instead of helping to solve the puzzle, all the data simply ruled out any genetic or other physical sources of the Rosetan's resistance to heart disease. Two statistics about Roseto were eye-catching: Both the crime rate and the applications for public assistance were zero.
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III. HEALTH AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Subsequent study showed that all of the houses contained three generations of the family. Rosetans took care of their own. Instead of putting the elderly "on the shelf," they were elevated "to the Supreme Court." The scientists were led to conclude that the Roseto Effect was caused by something that could not be seen through the microscope, something beyond the usual focus of medical researchers.
It seemed that those groaning dinner tables offered nourishment for the human spirit as well as the body. In fact, all of the communal rituals--the evening stroll, the many social clubs, the church festivals that were occasions for the whole community to celebrate--contributed to the villagers' good health.
In "The Power of Clan," an updated report on studies by Stewart Wolf, a physician, and John Bruhn, a sociologist, cover a broad period of time from 1935 to 1984. They found that mutual respect and cooperation contribute to the health and welfare of a community and its inhabitants, and that self indulgence and lack of concern for others exert opposite influences.
Tracing the history of Roseto, the sociologists found that early immigrants were shunned by the English and Welsh who dominated this little corner of eastern Pennsylvania. According, the Rosetans turned inward and built their own culture of cooperation and as Wolf and Bruhn noted, "radiated a kind of joyous team spirit as they celebrated religious festivals and family landmarks."
"People are nourished by other people," said Wolf, noting that the characteristics of tight-knit community are better predictors of healthy hearts than are low levels of serum cholesterol or tobacco use. He explained that an isolated individual may be overwhelmed by the problems of everyday life. Such a person internalized that feeling as stress which, in turn, can adversely affect everything from blood pressure to kidney function. That, however, is much less likely to be the outcome when a person is surrounded by caring friends, neighbors and relatives. The sense of being supported reduces stress and the disease stress engenders.
"We looked at the social structure of healthy communities," Wolf said, "and found that they are characterized by stability and predictability. In those communities, each person has a clearly defined role in the social scheme."
Into the 1960s, Roseto was the epitome of predictability and conformity. In clothing, housing or automobiles, any display of wealth was taboo. Women knew that, from their teens on, they would work in one of the many small blouse factories scattered throughout the village. Even the evening meal followed a rigid cycle.
"Monday" recalled 66-year old Angie Martocci, "almost everyone in town ate spezzati (a spinach and egg soup). Tuesdays, it was spaghetti and gravy (tomato sauce). Wednesday was roast chicken and potatoes. Thursday, spaghetti again. Fish on Fridays, of course. Veal and peppers on Saturday; and antipasto, meatballs and spaghetti on Sunday."
All of that conformity reduced the distance between the haves and have-nots, thereby reinforcing everyone's sense of conformity also spared Rosetans the stress that comes with freedom of choice. (My comment: the anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis in his video series Millenium that individuals in a tribal society grow up in a defined world where people know their place and their relationship to others. We grow up with freedom, he says, in a limitless world where we are often lost and terribly alone.)
Possibly the strongest conformity in the village was the work ethic. No only did everyone work here, they worked toward a common goal--a better life for their children. The reverence for work was the legacy of Roseto's first priest, Rev. Pasquale de Nisco. Arriving in 1896, De Nisco practiced what he preached. Taking up a pick and shovel, he started clearing ground next to the church to build the graveyard, where he now lies. Above all, De Nisco, whose influence is still strong in Roseto, preached education.
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IV. THE EFFECT FADES
In the slate quarries and blouse factories, the men and women of Roseto labored to be able to send their children to college, which they did at a rate far above the national average. By World War II, Roseto had a small white-collar class and was prospering. And of course with that, life began to change.
Wolf and Bruhn's study took place just as Roseto's golden age of community was drawing to a close. They were able to predict that Rosetans then under 30 would not long be content with their rigid, traditional lifestyle. By the '70s, homes on the outskirts of town were in the suburbanized style that had become the American norm: large single family houses, swimming pools, fenced years, country clubs, and churches outside of the community.
As people moved and achieved material success, they found those gains at the expense of traditional communal values with which they have been raised. One person said, "I'm sorry we moved; everything is modern here and we have everything I need here, except people."
The principal of the elementary school said that children's lives changed. They went from days filled with activities to lives of watching from the sidelines. She found she had to teach children how to play jacks and marbles. The strongest evidence that change had come to Roseto was in 1985 when the town's coronet band, founded in 1890, demanded for the first time to be paid for playing at the church's big festival.
As Wolf and his colleagues continued to monitor the health of the community, they noted that social change in the village was accompanied by increasing health problems. In 1971, the first heart attack death of a person less than 45 occurred in Roseto.
Nationally, the Americans' vulnerability to heart attack began to decline because of the widespread adoption of exercise programs and healthier diet. At the same time, the Rosetan's rate rose to the national average.
Roseto has lost its statistical uniqueness. Yet, it makes clear to a visitor that it retains a sense of community--one that would be the envy of almost any place else in the nation. For many families, eating remains a ritual of the communal nature of life here. On Sundays, extra chairs are drawn up and leaves are added to dinner tables all over town for a ceremony that satisfies both physical hunger and the hunger to be surrounded by people who share our lives.
At Rose's Cafe, the only restaurant remaining in town, proprietor Rose Pavan calls everyone by name. Anyone with questions about menu items is swept into the kitchen for a sample. Children, most in Catholic school uniforms, flock in for an after-school snack--just as parents did back when Rose's was Mary's Luncheonette.
A visitor is bound to come away from Rose's with a full stomach and even fuller appreciation how far the rest of us have drifted from the civic-mindedness that marked much of the nation's history.
(My comment: this article is drawn from a series done by The Chicago Tribune on America's loss of community. Other articles focused on our changing urban/suburban social fabric. They noted the social changes implied by suburban homes where the garage is in front and both parents are employed, often an hour drive away. This article was especially relevant for medical anthropology's emphasis on bio culture, the interrelationship between culture, health and disease.)
If older Rosetans are concerned that they have traveled too far down the path of materialistic fulfillment--a path that seems never to end in lasting contentment--shouldn't other Americans be at least as concerned?
We now know that people's reaction's to the same stressful experience vary widely and those who have a greater sense of control, support and satisfaction in their lives are less at risk of illness. Those who get sick most seem to view the world and their lives as unmanageable while those who stay healthy have a greater sense of coherence and control through faced with the same problems. The Rosetans, to put it in Darwinian terms, were a successful adaptation.
A wide range of illness reflects the role that ineffective coping and inadequate support play. The highest rates of tuberculosis have been found among isolated and marginal people who have little social support, although they may live in affluent neighborhoods. This article focused on heart disease, others are indicators of social life as well. These include respiratory diseases, accidents, and mental illness. Studies in England have shown that civil servants with the highest rate of death from coronary heart disease occurs amongst those with little social support. We are indeed nourished by contact with others.
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V. SOCIALIZING AND LONGEVITY
A study published in the British Medical Journal in 1999 found that people more than 65 who like to eat out, play cards, go to movies and take part in other social activities live an average of two ½ years longer than more reclusive people. Simply mixing with people seems to offer as great a benefit as regular exercise. Social and productive pursuits are equivalent to and independent of the merits of exercise.
In a similar study at Harvard, it was found that those who were most engaged in productive pursuits were 23 percent less likely to die than those least involved in such pursuits. When each activity was examined individually, doing a lot as opposed to not much, extended live in almost every case regardless of the activity.
Does humor matter? While it is popularly accepted that laughter speeds healing and fights disease, some researchers say that laugher isn't the best medicine after all. A review of humor research does not confirm a direct therapeutic effect of laughter.
Does love matter? In a study of 10,000 married men, it was found that-in the subsequent five years-men who felt love from their wife had significantly less angina that those that felt no love.
People who perceived themselves as socially isolated were found to be two to five times more at risk for premature death from all causes. Persons with low interpersonal conflict in their lives do best.
..... CJ '99
Resources
Condor, B. "Romantic Rx Studies link love and intimacy to improved cardiovascular health" Chicago Tribune April 2, 1998.
Grossman and Leroux "A New Roseto Effect" Chicago Tribune October 11, 1996.
Justice, B. Who Gets Sick New York: Tarcher/Putnam Books, 1987.
McFarling, U "Humor's touted medical value faces skepticism" Chicago Tribune July 7, 1999.
Shaffer, C. and Anundsen, K. "The Healing Powers of Community" Utne Reader September-October, 1995.
"Whether bingo or brunch, study touts socializing" Chicago Tribune August 20, 1999.
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Here is another article about the Roseto Effect...
Link...
http://tinyurl.com/Roseto-Effect
Salute,
Tony V.
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Philippians 4:8 New International Version (NIV)
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
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May God bless us all!
Salute,
Tony V.
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Matthew 25:31-46 King James Version (KJV)
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
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May God bless us all!
Salute,
Tony V.
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Psalm 82:3-4 New International Version (NIV)
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
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May God bless us all!
Salute,
Tony V.
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I met Nick Vujicic at the Anaheim Film Festival back in 2010, he starred in a short film titled "The Butterfly Circus," it is a great short film, and Nick is awesome. Nick was born with no arms, and no legs, but Nick still believes in God, and Nick lives a good, full life, and he is happy.
Link for "The Butterfly Circus."
http://youtu.be/p98KAEif3bI
Salute,
Tony V.
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In Hollywood there used to be housing for homeless actresses, run by nuns. When a young lady would come to Hollywood to be an actress, and if she ended up homeless, then the nuns would help her for free, until she became successful, or gave up and went home, or whatever.
And hostels are good too. Like the hostel I stayed at in Rome, Italy, it was only 15 dollars a night. Hollywood needs more hostels. The tourists would love the hostels too.
Salute,
Tony V.
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On the issue of helping the homeless... The old people are getting old, and they are dying, and there needs to be a new generation of young people to step forward to help the homeless.
My friend Rose, she was the daughter of an American soldier who served in the Philippines during World War II against the Japanese, and after the war he stayed in the Philippines, and he married a Filipina woman, so Rose was automatically an American citizen. She wanted to help the USA because the USA saved the Philippines, and also she wanted to help America because her father was American, and so she came to the USA and attended college here, she attended UCLA, and then she became a school teacher in Compton, California, and she taught public school in Compton for twenty years. After she retired from teaching she went to work helping the homeless with my friend Lisa, and she helped the homeless for over thirty years, up until she died. Rose and Lisa were best friends. (Also, Rose's cousin Gloria Arroyo was President of the Philippines. Her whole family served other people.)
Lisa was born wealthy, and her father owned a banana plantation in the Philippines. Lisa is Christian, and she was taught that to those whom much is given, much is expected from, and so Lisa was raised doing public service and was raised helping others. After her father died, she sold the plantation, and she moved to America. She opened a night club in Los Angeles named "Manila Gardens" which was hugely successful. And she opened other businesses, and she invested in Real Estate, and she did some developing, and everything she touched turned to gold, everything she did was successful. Finally, after she amassed over one hundred million dollars, she retired and she went to work helping the homeless people full time. She bought houses and she filled the houses full of beds and she filled the houses full of homeless people, and she cooked and cleaned and stuff for the homeless people, and she ran everything to take care of homeless people. Some of the homeless people would help Lisa after they got healthy, they would help Lisa to help other people. My buddy Tom worked for Lisa, and many other people helped her. And Lisa and Rose would take a cooked pig to the park to feed everyone at the park for free. And on Thanksgiving Lisa and Rose would cook a thousand turkeys for the homeless. Lisa is still helping the homeless, the last that I heard Lisa has around one hundred homeless people living in her houses. But, Lisa is getting old, and new people have to rise up to do the work that Rose and Tom did, and that Lisa and others are doing, young people have to devote their lives to serving other people. The happiest people I know are the ones who devote their lives to serving other people, people who are on a mission, and whom have a life of purpose, are happiest. Young people need to learn from Lisa while Lisa is still alive to teach them. And not only here in Orange County, but in other areas, young people need to learn the joy of serving others.
Maybe someday I will travel the world with Princess Charlotte Casiraghi of Monaco donating libraries for poor children and cool stuff like that. I will do service for others in whatever ways I can. We all need to do service for others.
Salute,
Tony V.
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In Hollywood there used to be housing for homeless actresses, run by nuns. When a young lady would come to Hollywood to be an actress, and if she ended up homeless, then the nuns would help her for free, until she became successful, or gave up and went home, or whatever.
And hostels are good too. Like the hostel I stayed at in Rome, Italy, it was only 15 dollars a night. Hollywood needs more hostels. The tourists would love the hostels too.
Salute,
Tony V.
The Oban Hotel in Hollywood, on Yucca, would make a great hostel, they can fill it full of bunk beds, and people could get to take a nice hot shower and sleep in a nice comfortable bed for 15 dollars per night.
Also, one idea that I had, is that I wrote a poetry book, and I thought about making copies of my poetry book, and then paying the homeless people to go door to door in the neighborhoods selling copies of my poetry book. The homeless people could earn enough money to shower and sleep in a hostel by selling copies of my poetry book, and they could earn a little money for food, etc, depending on how many books they sell. It is an idea.
Salute,
Tony V.
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What's the difference between a priest and a pimple?
A pimple waits until you're 12 to come on your face.
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People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.
When you spend years building, someone could destroy it overnight;build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; be good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you have anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa
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Salute,
Tony V.
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In Hollywood there used to be housing for homeless actresses, run by nuns. When a young lady would come to Hollywood to be an actress, and if she ended up homeless, then the nuns would help her for free, until she became successful, or gave up and went home, or whatever.
And hostels are good too. Like the hostel I stayed at in Rome, Italy, it was only 15 dollars a night. Hollywood needs more hostels. The tourists would love the hostels too.
Salute,
Tony V.
Trouble is downunder...we have overseas backpackers bludging free food and hostel accommodation meant for down and out Aussies...not meant to subsidise the holidays of tourists.
Those running the free food vans/'down and out' restaurants for the homeless/poor/lonely Aussies are just too nice...a new system should be introduced..."Aussies only, no bludging tourists...show your ID and Medicare card or buzz off"!
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What's the difference between a priest and a pimple?
A pimple waits until you're 12 to come on your face.
Not all priests are pedophiles.
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https://www.theonion.com/report-reveals-jesus-christ-may-have-benefited-from-fat-1833717521
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https://www.theonion.com/report-reveals-jesus-christ-may-have-benefited-from-fat-1833717521
I eagerly await Bambi's correction of this. Or of my comment.
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I try not to think about the implications of someone who persists in thinking The Onion is a serious news outlet.
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https://www.theonion.com/report-reveals-jesus-christ-may-have-benefited-from-fat-1833717521
I eagerly await Bambi's correction of this. Or of my comment.
Report Reveals Jesus Christ May Have Benefited From Father’s Influential Position To Gain High-Powered Role As Lord And Savior
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No kiddin'.
So, that would be "Jewish privilege"?
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https://www.theonion.com/report-reveals-jesus-christ-may-have-benefited-from-fat-1833717521
I eagerly await Bambi's correction of this. Or of my comment.
Report Reveals Jesus Christ May Have Benefited From Father’s Influential Position To Gain High-Powered Role As Lord And Savior
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No kiddin'.
So, that would be "Jewish privilege"?
Deific privilege.
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https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-jerusalem/how-the-religious-right-transformed-israeli-education
On the road to far right theocracy.
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Archbishop José H. Gomez
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The Church wants a Los Angeles where every human life is valued and welcomed. A Los Angeles where the poor and vulnerable, the elderly and sick, are protected. And we want a Los Angeles where everyone is working together to promote human dignity, strong families and human happiness.
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It does not have to be "dog eat dog" and it does not need to be the "jungle," we can be loving, and we can do what he Bible says and we can love our neighbors, and we can help the poor and the needy, and we can help the fatherless, etc.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Unplugging for Shabbat?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/how-taking-a-break-from-tech-for-shabbat-brought-new-purpose-to-this-internet-pioneers-life/2019/09/27/df19778e-dfe5-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html
Or, let Walter explain it...
https://youtu.be/GPo9OBrIOi4
Yes I'm aware of the irony posting this on Saturday.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-51255414?fbclid=IwAR05jF0_UKSS9hu6LmceCyPbo4DOX-zwM6ZKd562QNp__dMJuvux3ZALXas
No Franklin Graham for Liverpool, at least not in that facility.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/vicar-fire-alight-stephen-beach-st-budeaux-church-online-virtual-sermon-a9418436.html
Hot under the dog collar?
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https://www.facebook.com/rachel.organes.kenneth/posts/10118924140871811
The War on Hanukkah continues in the stores of America!
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https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/02/why-lent-and-other-sacrifices-make-us-happy/618053/
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https://apnews.com/article/religion-buddhism-dalai-lama-0f95496cb1ed092694234f1d4284a741
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If your nativity scene lacks a caganer, then it is just really missing something!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/14/us/pastor-invalid-baptisms-resignation/index.html
Because God, the omniscient, cannot tell what the priest meant.
Or because God, the merciful, will refuse to recognize the baptisms that used the word "we" instead of "I" and therefore those people have souls at risk.
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I just watched a video of Pastor Don at a local church, and he reminded everyone to live in the land of the living, and wait on God, and do not live in fear, and trust that if there are hard times that God will help us to rise above the hard times. We must not waste time living in fear, but instead we need to be waiting on God, and we need to be serving God.
Salute,
Tony V.
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I just watched a video of Pastor Don at a local church, and he reminded everyone to live in the land of the living, and wait on God, and do not live in fear, and trust that if there are hard times that God will help us to rise above the hard times. We must not waste time living in fear, but instead we need to be waiting on God, and we need to be serving God.
Because waiting on God worked so well for those killed in war after war, in church after church, in school after school...
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Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about how once you become a Christian and once you learn the ways of God, then you need to be discerning. You need to follow the ways of God, and avoid the ways of evil people.
And it says in Proverbs to be careful who you hang out with if you are a Christian, if you are a Christian then you do not spend time hanging out with evil people. Also of note, is that who you hang out with is a reflection of you.
For example, many times I have lived in bad neighborhoods because I am poor, but I did not become friends with the drug addict criminals who I had for neighbors. I would lock my door and stay home alone and I would not make friends with the drug addicts and criminals.
If you are a good Christian, then you do not need to be hanging out with bad people. You need to be discerning.
And it has been hard for me, because I had uncles who were criminals, and I had to learn that they were not role models, but instead they had problems from not having a father and not being raised right. Dealing drugs, and going to prison, that is not the way to be. And it is not healthy for a Christian to hang out with people like that.
I have a neighbor who is into meth, and as soon as I found out that she was doing meth I lost all respect for her, and I will not have anything to do with her. I am not going to be friends with her. I need to be discerning like the Bible says.
So, that is what Dr Charles Stanley talked about today. Be smart in the choices you make in who you spend time with. And for me, I would rather be alone than be with bad people. Sometimes it is hard being alone, but I would rather be alone than be around bad people. And when I do find a wife, she will be a good Christian like me, and she will be into what I am into, and she will hate illegal drugs just as much as I do, etc.
If you are a Christian, then you need to have Christian friends, and you need to be discerning.
Salute,
Tony V.
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I just watched a video of Pastor Don at a local church, and he reminded everyone to live in the land of the living, and wait on God, and do not live in fear, and trust that if there are hard times that God will help us to rise above the hard times. We must not waste time living in fear, but instead we need to be waiting on God, and we need to be serving God.
Because waiting on God worked so well for those killed in war after war, in church after church, in school after school...
Christians who die go to Heaven, and they spend eternity in paradise. Not only are Christians better people when they are alive, but Christians go to Heaven when they die. And by doing good deeds here on earth, we store up treasure in Heaven. God sees our good deeds.
Salute,
Tony V.
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I just watched a video of Pastor Don at a local church, and he reminded everyone to live in the land of the living, and wait on God, and do not live in fear, and trust that if there are hard times that God will help us to rise above the hard times. We must not waste time living in fear, but instead we need to be waiting on God, and we need to be serving God.
Because waiting on God worked so well for those killed in war after war, in church after church, in school after school...
Christians who die go to Heaven, and they spend eternity in paradise. Not only are Christians better people when they are alive, but Christians go to Heaven when they die. And by doing good deeds here on earth, we store up treasure in Heaven. God sees our good deeds.
Your theology is yours, Tony.
Your definition of Christian is "only those who behave the way Tony thinks they should," which is incredibly convenient.
But I will tell you that enough folks have died as a direct result of people who think they are being good Christians that I don't buy it.
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Here is what the Bible says in Proverbs 13: 20-25
20 Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces. 21 Disaster entraps sinners, but God-loyal people get a good life. 22 A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren; ill-gotten wealth ends up with good people. 23 Banks foreclose on the farms of the poor, or else the poor lose their shirts to crooked lawyers. 24 A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them. 25 An appetite for good brings much satisfaction, but the belly of the wicked always wants more.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Here is what the Bible says in Proverbs 13: 20-25
20 Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces. 21 Disaster entraps sinners, but God-loyal people get a good life. 22 A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren; ill-gotten wealth ends up with good people. 23 Banks foreclose on the farms of the poor, or else the poor lose their shirts to crooked lawyers. 24 A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them. 25 An appetite for good brings much satisfaction, but the belly of the wicked always wants more.
And yet, ill-gotten wealth frequently just builds and seldom does it end up with good people.
Banks foreclose on the farms and homes of the poor without negative repercussions. Crooked lawyers have been making off with property of the poor and/or ignorant throughout the life of this country.
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Sometimes in life our reality does not match up with our expectations, and that is just the way that it is, and it does not make us bad people.
We have 60,000 homeless people in Los Angeles alone, and certainly that was not their goal in life. It does not make them bad people, it is just the way that it is.
When I was a kid I used to study the dictionary to learn new words so that I could be a better poet. I am a natural as a poet, for me writing has never been like work, nor has acting. Eventually I will get my book published, and I will get my movie script made, and people will see what I have to offer. Then, success will lead to more success.
Just sometimes life is hard. The writer James Baldwin was so bitter by the time that he became successful that he left the United States and he moved to Europe. Life is hard if you try to make a living as a writer, or as an artist.
I do not want to be bitter like James Baldwin turned out to be, and I do not want to bring down others with negativity.
I am human just like the 60,000 homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles, and just sometimes life is hard. They are not living the lives that they planned, nor am I. But, being negative will not help. Nothing positive comes from negativity.
And hopefully I can be a positive force for good somehow as things progress. Instead of being negative, and being angry, I need to be positive, and I need to look for healthy ways that I can progress.
It is what it is, and being angry and bitter will not change anything. And complaining to my Mom will not help, etc. The only path is the path forward, and I need to move forward with a positive attitude.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about how we need to trust God, and about how we need to learn to listen to God and he talked about how when we are Christians then we need to behave as Christians and God will judge and reward us in Heaven for good deeds done here on earth.
Our salvation is all about having faith in Jesus, our salvation is not based on deeds, but we will be judged and rewarded for good deeds in Heaven. God sees our good deeds.
And a good Christian life with faith in Jesus and a life of doing good deeds and loving your neighbors is the best life, and you will be rewarded for eternity in Heaven.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about how we need to trust God, and about how we need to learn to listen to God and he talked about how when we are Christians then we need to behave as Christians and God will judge and reward us in Heaven for good deeds done here on earth.
Our salvation is all about having faith in Jesus, our salvation is not based on deeds, but we will be judged and rewarded for good deeds in Heaven. God sees our good deeds.
And a good Christian life with faith in Jesus and a life of doing good deeds and loving your neighbors is the best life, and you will be rewarded for eternity in Heaven.
In Dr. Stanley's opinion, what happens to somebody who leads a good Jewish life or a good Buddhist life, for example, and a life of doing good deeds and loving their neighbors? Are they punished for failing to believe in Jesus by not being rewarded with an eternity in Heaven?
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Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about how we need to trust God, and about how we need to learn to listen to God and he talked about how when we are Christians then we need to behave as Christians and God will judge and reward us in Heaven for good deeds done here on earth.
Our salvation is all about having faith in Jesus, our salvation is not based on deeds, but we will be judged and rewarded for good deeds in Heaven. God sees our good deeds.
And a good Christian life with faith in Jesus and a life of doing good deeds and loving your neighbors is the best life, and you will be rewarded for eternity in Heaven.
In Dr. Stanley's opinion, what happens to somebody who leads a good Jewish life or a good Buddhist life, for example, and a life of doing good deeds and loving their neighbors? Are they punished for failing to believe in Jesus by not being rewarded with an eternity in Heaven?
The Jews are God's chosen people, and the Bible says those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who do bad things to Israel then bad things will happen to them.
And I had a good friend who was a Messianic Jew who found Jesus. That is the hope, that the Jews will find Jesus.
The same thing with all people, hopefully they all find Jesus.
And the whole thing with Jesus is about forgiveness of sins, a life of service to other people, loving your neighbors, and then eternity in Heaven.
Sadly we have some bad preachers like Joel Olsteen who are getting rich but are not doing service to help other people. I like Dr Charles Stanley a lot, I watch him every Sunday, I think he is a lot better than Olsteen. Being a Christian is about good deeds and love, it is not about getting rich off of religion.
Dr Charles Stanley would try to bring the Jews and the Buddhists to Jesus, out of love he would try to bring them to Jesus, he would want to share salvation with all.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Roy Rogers was a good Christian, but he was also involved with the Shriners and the Masons, and some people claim that the Shriners and Masons are not Christians. I do not know.
Salute,
Tony V.
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https://weeklysift.com/2022/03/14/how-did-christianity-become-so-toxic
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Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about how we need to trust God, and about how we need to learn to listen to God and he talked about how when we are Christians then we need to behave as Christians and God will judge and reward us in Heaven for good deeds done here on earth.
Our salvation is all about having faith in Jesus, our salvation is not based on deeds, but we will be judged and rewarded for good deeds in Heaven. God sees our good deeds.
And a good Christian life with faith in Jesus and a life of doing good deeds and loving your neighbors is the best life, and you will be rewarded for eternity in Heaven.
In Dr. Stanley's opinion, what happens to somebody who leads a good Jewish life or a good Buddhist life, for example, and a life of doing good deeds and loving their neighbors? Are they punished for failing to believe in Jesus by not being rewarded with an eternity in Heaven?
The Jews are God's chosen people, and the Bible says those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who do bad things to Israel then bad things will happen to them.
And I had a good friend who was a Messianic Jew who found Jesus. That is the hope, that the Jews will find Jesus.
The same thing with all people, hopefully they all find Jesus.
And the whole thing with Jesus is about forgiveness of sins, a life of service to other people, loving your neighbors, and then eternity in Heaven.
Sadly we have some bad preachers like Joel Olsteen who are getting rich but are not doing service to help other people. I like Dr Charles Stanley a lot, I watch him every Sunday, I think he is a lot better than Olsteen. Being a Christian is about good deeds and love, it is not about getting rich off of religion.
Dr Charles Stanley would try to bring the Jews and the Buddhists to Jesus, out of love he would try to bring them to Jesus, he would want to share salvation with all.
Salute,
Tony V.
So your response to josh is, according to Stanley they are fucked unless they convert. Damned to Hell because like most people in the world they adhere to the faith of their parents. Boy, we are so lucky to be brought up by Christians so we do not have to make the soul crushing decision to turn our backs on family, friends or culture to save ourselves. Seems a little unfair of God to stack the deck like that, but at least the deck is stacked in our favor!
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Heaven for the climate, hell for the company.
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Dalai Lama, March 20, 2017
All religions have the potential to create better human beings, but since 1 billion of the 7 billion human beings alive today have no interest in religion, and frequently even believers don't take their faith that seriously, we need a more universal approach to developing inner values without relying on this or that religious tradition.
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The Bible says to become wise by walking with the wise people, and that is what I need to do, I need to walk with the wise so that I can learn. And the film school is where the wise people are in my neighborhood, I need to go have lunch there and check the place out. It is only ten miles way, I can ride my bicycle there and have lunch.
Salute,
Tony V.
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The Bible says to become wise by walking with the wise people, and that is what I need to do, I need to walk with the wise so that I can learn. And the film school is where the wise people are in my neighborhood, I need to go have lunch there and check the place out. It is only ten miles way, I can ride my bicycle there and have lunch.
How do you determine which ones are wise?
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Stant Litore
Let's talk about Paul - and (un)learn a few things.
In the same way that the actual Norse in history bore little or no resemblance to the machismo Vikings of Hollywood and of white nationalist fantasies, and in the same way that the pop-culture Viking is largely a product of both a few pieces of text and art yanked out of context and the misinterpretation of burial sites, artifacts, and texts when seen through a heavily patriarchal lens ... in the same way, the Paul that we get told about or that we read about in English Bibles, and the teachings of Paul that we get taught are very different from the Paul one encounters in the New Testament epistles in Greek. The problem is that we're taught to read, translate, interpret, and teach Paul very selectively and with little regard for context. Yanking a few verses out of context and with only cursory attention to the Greek, for centuries we've constructed and maintained a version of Paul that teaches silence and submission for women.
I'm probably opening a can of worms with this, but I'll post this quick because I am seeing a lot of posts on the apostle Paul in the wake of recent events, and the Paul that everyone misquotes and talks about is a historical and literary anachronism, a fantasy, just like the Hollywood Viking. Or like the alpha wolf. In the twentieth century, a researcher observing wolves taken out of context - wolves living in captivity - interpreted what they observed as evidence that wolves fight their way ruthlessly up a pack hierarchy, so that there is in every pack an alpha male and an alpha female. But the researcher misinterpreted what he saw, because he was seeing it out of context. Wolf packs in the wild are a single family, consisting of two adult wolves and their cubs; once the cubs are grown, they go form their own packs; captive wolves are a bunch of strangers thrown together by force, trying to figure out who the de facto parents will be. Relationships in an actual wolf pack are not those of alphas and betas, but of parents and cubs. For decades, the 'alpha male' theory was taken for granted; after all, that was what the evidence showed, right? Right?
In the same way, we wrench passages from Paul out of context and misinterpret what we see. Usually, what we think we see tends to confirm prejudices or preconceptions we already have or that we expect the writer to have.
Paul - the Paul that we actually encounter when looking more carefully into the epistles - was taught and mentored in the faith by women. He wrote the letter to Romans in part as a letter of recommendation for Phoebe, a woman and apostle from another church community who was almost certainly the first human being to read, teach, and interpret Romans - delivering, reading, and teaching that letter upon her arrival among the church in Rome. (Letters between first-century churches weren't just dropped in an envelope and delivered to the local mailbox; they were read aloud and interpreted by the person who brought them.) Paul repeatedly referred to women as coworkers, co-ministers (sundiakonoi), and co-apostles. He deferred, in terms of great respect, to women with seniority in the faith, who were "in Christ before I was." He appointed other women to found and lead churches, and honored women repeatedly as apostles and leaders of the early church. According to Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth, he also traveled with a female apostle and co-worker, an "adelphe gune" or 'sister woman.' Paul cited travel with a sister woman as a common practice, noting that Peter and others traveled with female coworkers, too. Clement of Alexandria, in the second century, describes the sister women as members of co-ed apostolic teams. In the gender-segregated homes of many Greek-speaking communities in Asia Minor and Greece, early churches that met in women's private spaces in the house were convened, organized, and granted access to by women. (A lot of things changed in the organization and practice of Christianity - and in how its teachings were interpreted and taught - once it shifted from a faith that was read, taught, and practiced in private spaces convened by women, to a faith that was read, taught, and practiced in public spaces authorized and presided over by men.) Paul traveled, taught, endured prison, and worshipped alongside female apostles.
In his teachings, Paul advises serenity, not silence (these are very different words in Koine Greek!). He and his colleagues taught radical interdependency not only for married couples but for the entire community, and Paul spoke on economic modesty (as did James, at length) but did not speak on what we would recognize as sexual modesty. In a New Testament letter aimed at first-century Corinth, his plea not to wear fancy jewelry and not to flaunt one's hairstyle has nothing to do with not attracting men; it has to with not flaunting your wealth and privilege while partaking of a community where God shows no partiality, where members of all social classes are present, and where all are to be treated as siblings, on equal footing before God. All, regardless of gender, slave or free status, ethnic heritage, or social class and privilege.
We have been taught to read, translate, and interpret Paul through a very problematic lens, and quick passages from texts by Paul have been appropriated to support everything from gender hierarchy to passive submission to worldly governments, things that Paul was actively disrupting in his writings and his deeds in the first century. This kind of thing happens all the time; if a subversive or radical text cannot be suppressed, it gets tamed, sanitized, excerpted, and appropriated by the empire it's subverting, in order to preserve the status quo. That's how, every January, we end up with a lot of white people tweeting about how Martin Luther King, Jr., the nonviolent protester and civil rights activist, would frown on protests against racial injustice. Which is utterly nonsensical, as King was no champion of the status quo. Reading Paul with rather more care than most, King wrote that we have a duty to break unjust laws. King wrote that "a riot is the language of the unheard." And King was repeatedly jailed and finally assassinated. (Paul was, too, actually.) But by sanitizing, misrepresenting, and appropriating King's teachings, one can use King as a literary weapon to maintain the very conditions he resisted. Long ago, the Roman Empire did the same thing with Paul, and we still use cherry-picked and problematically translated quotes from Paul today to enforce views that are inimical to Paul's actual teachings about love, interdependency, peace and interwoven community, justice, and grace.
I examine a lot of this in my book "Lives of Unforgetting: What We Lose in Translation When We Read the Bible":
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NTRT4DP. Chapter 2 is about how we misread biblical passages to support our own gender prejudices; Chapter 10 reviews the lack of scriptural support for homophobia (you might even note that it's significant that Paul never once mentions it when writing to communities in Greece in which what we would recognize as bisexuality was widely accepted, or that the issue never came up again in church teaching until the twelfth century; it's something we read into the text rather than something we get from it); and Chapter 13 looks at what the New Testament has to say, in context and in Greek, about authority.
If you want to understand what passages on modesty meant when read in communities in the first-century Mediterranean world (because these were very different cultures with different premises and concerns from our own), read Richards' and O'Brien's book "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible": https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BL3JXYE
And if you want a really close look at the textual and linguistic evidence, Marg Mowczko's blog is a fantastic resource for deconstructing the patriarchal lens we wear when we read the epistles in the New Testament; her blog is both meticulously researched and largely accessible to any reader: https://margmowczko.com/
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The Bible says to become wise by walking with the wise people, and that is what I need to do, I need to walk with the wise so that I can learn. And the film school is where the wise people are in my neighborhood, I need to go have lunch there and check the place out. It is only ten miles way, I can ride my bicycle there and have lunch.
How do you determine which ones are wise?
The Bible says that you can tell a tree by its fruit. And right off you know they are wise if they are at the film school, they go through a whole process in order to get accepted into the film school, and you know that the professors are good if they teach there. And you can talk with the people and see who is wise.
And like with me, I attended the AADA, so when the film students are looking for actors they know that I will not just show up and waste their time. I know how to act. Many great filmmakers also attended the AADA including Cecil B. Demille.
When you go have lunch on the campus of the film school, you can expect to meet some really cool people.
And I am going to check out the bookstore, etc.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Vatican News
Following the World Meeting of Families, Gabriella Gambino, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, discusses the successes the Meeting has shown, especially in demonstrating how the worldwide Church is itself one big family.
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Christians need to work together as a team and we need to help other Christians. Especially now with the war in Ukraine.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Sonny Barger just died, he was friends with my Grandmother a long time ago and he was always nice to her, he was the founder and president of the Hell's Angels motor cycle club, he used to hang out at the original McDonald's in San Bernardino where my Grandmother worked as a car hop, he called her "Miss New York" because he said she had class.
The thing is, Sonny had millions of members in the Hell's Angels, and he was a leader who had a big club, and he could have led them to do great wonderful things, like helping the homeless and feeding the hungry, and doing all of the things that God asks us to do in Matthew 25: 31-46. Sonny taught the Guys freedom and loyalty and they shared a love of motor cycles, and they had brotherhood, but there was no reason to make it about "Hell" and instead imagine if they were just the "Angels" and they rode around on motor cycles helping the homeless and the poor. There was no reason to make it evil, they could have been about doing good things.
And I have been thinking about the music that I listen to, it was all about satan, and drugs, and I do not need to listen to that kind of music. They can sing about God if they want to make it religious. If I was a producer and club owner then I would want to try to help to produce and support the good Christian bands. I know where a Christian music school is in Rome, The Saint Louis College of Music, and you can find Christian musicians there, I lived across the street from the music school on Via Urbana and the whole neighborhood was full of musicians. One guy who owns a shop there used to play guitar for Peter Gabriel. The whole neighborhood is full of Christian musicians.
Imagine the good things that Sonny Barger could have done if he was a Christian, he could have had millions of people in his club to help orphans, etc. And imagine the good things that Ozzy Osbourne could do if he wanted to help the orphans and stuff.
Life is short, and my favorite people have always been the ones who lived life with purpose to serve God, I love good, honest, loving people, who live their lives helping other people and doing good things.
When I was a teen I was in Youth For Christ and it was awesome, we went to Mexico to help orphans, and to help the people living in a garbage dump, that is the kind of stuff that I support. I support helping people and doing good things.
And I do not support big music festivals where all of the bands sing about satan, I am not into it anymore. I would rather go to a music festival about Jesus.
Willie Nelson has shown what good people can do when they use the arts to serve humanity, his Farm Aid concerts have helped a lot of people. The same way that they do Farm Aid concerts then the bands could do other good things. Imagine if the bands were all good Christians and if they were all helping orphans and if they were all doing good things.
Shakira builds schools in Colombia for the children, Shakira is awesome, her charity is The Barefeet Children's Foundation. As a producer then I would seek to produce people who are like Shakira and who have a positive impact on society.
Life is short, and we need to live our lives with purpose. And we can have a better society by elevating the good people who do good things.
And businesses can be altruistic and it is in their best interest as they build a good reputation with the people if they do good things and if they support the communities, etc, and support things like Little League Baseball, etc, and the Cub Scouts, etc.
There is no reason to be evil. And we do not stop wars by being evil, we prevent wars by being good people and by appealing to the best in humanity.
Salute,
Tony V.
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The Ten Commandments
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make idols.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
And the Golden Rule is to love your neighbor and to treat other people the same way that you yourself wish to be treated.
Salute,
Tony V.
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The Ten Commandments
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make idols.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
And the Golden Rule is to love your neighbor and to treat other people the same way that you yourself wish to be treated.
Salute,
Tony V.
That's one version of the Ten Commandments.
We (Jewish people) are taught that there are 613 commandments (mitzvot) in Torah.
And for my money, I prefer the Platinum Rule over the Golden Rule: Do unto others as others would have you do unto them.
It means I buy you the present you want rather than the one I want.
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Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about how we inspire and encourage other people on their relationship with God, and how we help them on their Christian journey.
We need for people to know that we are a Christian by our behavior and by how we treat other people, for instance when we went to poor parts of Mexico and helped the orphans and the needy, then they knew we were Christians by our behavior. And we need to bring good things to society so that we change society and improve society from our relationship with Jesus, and then encourage and help other people on their path with God. Because we are Christian we must make society better by us being here and we must help other people on their own journey with God. We are to be like Salt, and like Light, to bring flavor and clarity to society, and to help other people as they travel their own path with God.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Dr Charles Stanley always talks about stuff that I need to hear, he is a great preacher.
Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about having gratitude at this time of Thanksgiving, and also about not becoming discouraged as we face disappointments in life.
We are to be grateful because we are children of the all powerful God who created everything, and as such we are to be loving to others, and generous, and kind, etc.
And we are not to become discouraged by disappointments, God is all powerful, and sometimes during the hard times we are being molded and shaped and formed, we are growing and evolving during the hard times, our character is becoming deeper, and we need to have faith in God and we need to keep going while knowing that God has great plans for us, and God will use us to help others. And when others are disappointed then we can help to encourage them so that they do not give up and become discouraged.
There are some very beautiful people who have experienced extremely hard times and who went on to succeed and to help other people, and who are grateful instead of being bitter, and who kept going instead of becoming discouraged, with the help of God.
I need to be grateful for my blessings, while I trust that God loves me and that everything I went through was part of God's plan to shape and form me to be the person he wants me to be for the path ahead, as I try not to be discouraged.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Today Dr Charles Stanley talked about how some people become evil, and with a depraved mind, they shut out God until God just turns them over to their own sinful desires, and then they lose out on everything that this life was supposed to be about, God has a plan for Glory for all of us and it would be a tragedy to miss out on the glory and to become separated from God, and some people become very evil.
Then Dr Charles Stanley talked about Noah, and how the whole world was evil except for Noah, and God told Noah to build an Ark and God wiped out all of the evil people. Noah found favor with God, and Noah listened to God, and Noah trusted God, and Noah obeyed God. We need to listen to God, even if it is making movies instead of building Arks, we need to listen to God as we go through life, and we need to trust God, and we need to obey God.
There is a lot of evil in the world, and Noah was saved when the whole world was evil, because Noah listened to God, Noah trusted God, and Noah obeyed God.
Salute,
Tony V.
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In Touch Ministries
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24
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I learned this at a very young age, even when I knew I was being under-paid and felt like slave labor, then I still did my best for the customers and I did a good job, and God was watching me so God knows. I will have many rewards in Heaven.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Rest in Peace Dr Charles Stanley, you were a great man of God.
Dr Stanley always seemed to know exactly what I needed to hear.
I hope a great new preacher rises up to replace him on Channel 5 KTLA on Sunday mornings.
Salute,
Tony V.
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God has given me miracles, and I am so lucky that I have God in my life, so I considered going to a school in Oregon to become a Preacher, but the school turned out to be very expensive. I do not understand why it is expensive for a Christian school, it should be free, as God is not about money.
The world needs free schools to train preachers, and the world needs Christian hippy communes where the people can work and live and where they can worship God.
God is not about money.
Salute,
Tony V.
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When I went to Mexico with Youth For Christ in the 9th Grade, then all of the most beautiful women from Quartz Hill High School went with us to Mexico, and several of the women were Cheerleaders, the most popular and beautiful women at my High School went with us to Mexico, we were like Bob Hope with the USO when we showed up to help the orphans and the people living in a garbage dump. Back then I was like a young Sean Penn. I was born in the desert and it was only 60 miles to Malibu, the beach is close to the desert. So it was like Sean Penn showing up with a bus full of Cheerleaders to help the orphans. It was a wonderful trip to Mexico, and we created wonderful memories to look back on.
Salute,
Tony V.
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A lot of people now are fake Christians, they only care about money, etc, and they are not serving the Lord like the Bible asks us to including in Mathew 25; 31-46.
I was able to do real Christian service when I went to Mexico with Youth For Christ to help the orphans, and people living in a garbage dump, we took them food and gifts and money and we showed them the love of Christ. That is what Christians do, I was not paid, and there was no reward in it for me, it was about helping those orphans in Mexico and serving God.
Also, as a teen I worked for the Burbank YMCA for two summers, and it was all about serving the Lord, I was not paid, I only made $40 per week for toothpaste, etc. I washed dishes, and I cleaned toilets, etc, I worked very hard, and it was all for Christ.
But now people are fake, and they only care about money. A friend in Quartz Hill, Earl, ended up homeless, and he went to the Church of Christ in Quartz Hill to worship and to pray for help. The church kicked Earl out of the church and they would not allow him to worship. They only cared about money and they did not care about serving God. They should have helped Earl, they should have let him worship and they should have helped him to get into the homeless shelter and to get help and housing so that he could get back into life. They should have helped Earl. I would never go to that church again after that. They are all fake Christians.
And guys like Joel Olteen only care about money, you would never see them helping the orphans in Mexico and giving money away to help the poor.
If we were smart, then the good Christians would control Mexico instead of the drug cartels. And our streets would not be full of homeless people if the Christians were doing as the Bible asks us to do.
I like Italy because Rome is the Christian capital of the world, and they are real Christians who help the homeless and who help the poor. And my dearly departed wonderful friend Lisa from the Philippines was Roman Catholic. The Philippines is a good Catholic country and a lot of the doctors here in the USA who are helping the homeless are from the Philippines, etc, etc, etc. My friend Rose was a cousin of the former President of the Philippines, Gloria Arrroyo, and Rose spent her whole life helping the homeless. Rose and Lisa were real Christians.
Salute,
Tony V.
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If you need a church in Anaheim, we have the Calvary Chapel Open Door Church...
https://ccopendoor.org/
The Minister is a retired Postal Worker who is very humble, Pastor Don, and the Church welcomes everyone including the homeless people.
In the movie "The Jesus Revolution" they have the Calvary Chapel in the movie, and also Harvest.
Salute,
Tony V.
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On the issue of helping the poor, groups such as Kiwanis, and churches, etc, can sell bottled water to raise money to help the children, etc.
For instance, there is a mountain stream in Tehachapi at the old Burbank YMCA summer camp and the water is pure and sweet, and the water can be bottled and sold by Kiwanis to raise money to help the children, etc.
Churches and charities can have products in the stores to sell to raise money to do charity work, etc. Such as the Paul Newman Spaghetti Sauce which raises money for charity, etc.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Universal Studios could have a new Christian channel, with all Christian shows and movies.
54% of the modern services economy is streaming services such as movies and television shows, and Universal could have a new Christian channel.
Salute,
Tony V.
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God has given me miracles, I was in chronic pain for 2 years after an automobile accident, I should have gotten millions of dollars for my pain and suffering but all they gave me was sixteen grand, you hear the lawyers on the television talking about getting millions for people, I should have gotten millions, but anyhow, I was in severe pain for 2 years, and I was on my knees one day praying for God to take away my pain, and I felt like fire run down my spine and God took my pain away, God healed me and God took away my pain. So, today I am no longer in pain. I am so grateful not to be in pain.
Then, my Doctor told me that my blood tests were saying that I had Cancer, and the doctor told me to get my affairs in order and to prepare to die. Meanwhile they continued to run tests, and then after 2 years of tests all of a sudden they could no longer detect Cancer, I starting testing that I was healthy. So, God gave me another miracle and God healed me. I am still alive, and I do not have Cancer. This was my 3rd Cancer scare, I had a growth on my tongue that I had removed a long time ago, and I had lump in my armpit that they did surgery to remove, but everything was benign. God has taken care of me, I have had some scares but I am doing fine now.
Then, here is a little miracle that was just God letting me know he is with me... I was fishing at Newport Beach and I tied on a new lure and casted out and my line broke, and my new lure flew out into the ocean. So, I tied on another lure and I casted out. When I reeled in that lure then there was my lure that I had lost hanging from my hook, I caught the new lure that had flown out into the ocean when my line broke, I caught that lure, that is impossible, but it happened. It was God letting me know that he is still with me.
I have not been going to church like I should have been all of these years, but I have always had faith in God, and I have always been close with God. And I always try to obey the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule. I try to be a good Christian. And God has given me miracles.
Salute,
Tony V.
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God has given me miracles, I was in chronic pain for 2 years after an automobile accident, I should have gotten millions of dollars for my pain and suffering but all they gave me was sixteen grand, you hear the lawyers on the television talking about getting millions for people, I should have gotten millions, but anyhow, I was in severe pain for 2 years, and I was on my knees one day praying for God to take away my pain, and I felt like fire run down my spine and God took my pain away, God healed me and God took away my pain. So, today I am no longer in pain. I am so grateful not to be in pain.
Then, my Doctor told me that my blood tests were saying that I had Cancer, and the doctor told me to get my affairs in order and to prepare to die. Meanwhile they continued to run tests, and then after 2 years of tests all of a sudden they could no longer detect Cancer, I starting testing that I was healthy. So, God gave me another miracle and God healed me. I am still alive, and I do not have Cancer. This was my 3rd Cancer scare, I had a growth on my tongue that I had removed a long time ago, and I had lump in my armpit that they did surgery to remove, but everything was benign. God has taken care of me, I have had some scares but I am doing fine now.
Then, here is a little miracle that was just God letting me know he is with me... I was fishing at Newport Beach and I tied on a new lure and casted out and my line broke, and my new lure flew out into the ocean. So, I tied on another lure and I casted out. When I reeled in that lure then there was my lure that I had lost hanging from my hook, I caught the new lure that had flown out into the ocean when my line broke, I caught that lure, that is impossible, but it happened. It was God letting me know that he is still with me.
I have not been going to church like I should have been all of these years, but I have always had faith in God, and I have always been close with God. And I always try to obey the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule. I try to be a good Christian. And God has given me miracles.
Salute,
Tony V.
You do not want the kind of injuries that get you a $2,000,000 settlement. Not at any price.
If prayer healed you, you should return the money you did get.
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God has given me miracles, I was in chronic pain for 2 years after an automobile accident, I should have gotten millions of dollars for my pain and suffering but all they gave me was sixteen grand, you hear the lawyers on the television talking about getting millions for people, I should have gotten millions, but anyhow, I was in severe pain for 2 years, and I was on my knees one day praying for God to take away my pain, and I felt like fire run down my spine and God took my pain away, God healed me and God took away my pain. So, today I am no longer in pain. I am so grateful not to be in pain.
Then, my Doctor told me that my blood tests were saying that I had Cancer, and the doctor told me to get my affairs in order and to prepare to die. Meanwhile they continued to run tests, and then after 2 years of tests all of a sudden they could no longer detect Cancer, I starting testing that I was healthy. So, God gave me another miracle and God healed me. I am still alive, and I do not have Cancer. This was my 3rd Cancer scare, I had a growth on my tongue that I had removed a long time ago, and I had lump in my armpit that they did surgery to remove, but everything was benign. God has taken care of me, I have had some scares but I am doing fine now.
Then, here is a little miracle that was just God letting me know he is with me... I was fishing at Newport Beach and I tied on a new lure and casted out and my line broke, and my new lure flew out into the ocean. So, I tied on another lure and I casted out. When I reeled in that lure then there was my lure that I had lost hanging from my hook, I caught the new lure that had flown out into the ocean when my line broke, I caught that lure, that is impossible, but it happened. It was God letting me know that he is still with me.
I have not been going to church like I should have been all of these years, but I have always had faith in God, and I have always been close with God. And I always try to obey the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule. I try to be a good Christian. And God has given me miracles.
Salute,
Tony V.
You do not want the kind of injuries that get you a $2,000,000 settlement. Not at any price.
If prayer healed you, you should return the money you did get.
I was in severe pain at any price, for 2 years, I should have gotten a big settlement for that. And then God gave me a miracle and God healed me. I went to 4 doctors and all that they did was give me pain pills and tell me that there was nothing they could do. I did not want to get addicted to pain pills, that is how a lot of people have problems is by being in pain and getting addicted to pain pills, then they start doing heroin, etc. Elizabeth Taylor fell off of a horse and had to take pain pills, and then she got addicted to pain pills, and she had to go to the Betty Ford Center to get help for her addiction. I did not want to get addicted to pain pills so I suffered. Then after 2 years of suffering God took pity on me and gave me a miracle.
And the same when the doctor told me I was going to die of Cancer, God healed me, it was all up to God, I prayed, and then I started testing free from Cancer. For 2 years they were running tests, and then the tests started saying I was healthy. I got well.
God is in charge. With my pain, and with the Cancer, God handled it for me, and God gave me miracles.
Salute,
Tony V.
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Last Sunday Dr Charles Stanley talked about waiting upon the Lord, and not being tired from waiting, and not getting burned out, when you learn to wait upon the Lord then when the opportunities present themselves you will be able to act with freshness and vigor.
Here is an example of a man waiting upon the Lord; Lech Walesa was an unemployed electrician in Poland, but at the right time in his life he climbed a fence to make a speech and he ended up helping to lead Poland to freedom, with Pope John Paul II helping him ( Who was also from Poland), and with the help of America. At the right time in his life God took an unemployed electrician and made him a rebel leader, and God made him President of a free Poland. Lech was not tired from waiting, he became President of Poland with great vigor and freshness.
When we learn to wait upon the Lord, and listen to the Lord, then we will be able to enter the activities that God wants us to enter with freshness and vigor.
Salute,
Tony V.