"," Said Booker T. Washington

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

I think I have learned that the best way to lift one's self up is to help someone else.

The world cares very little what you or I know, but it does care a great deal about what you or I do.

You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.

I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.

No one can prosper who learns not that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

Atheists spread, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

Atheists Spread Anger Where There Is Peace -- "Do you realize how angry and self-loathing you would have to be to actually make it your life’s work to pull people away from peace and goodwill?"

Did Religion Make the American Civil War Worse? -- "Faith may have inflamed the conflict, but one lasting legacy of the war may be the toll it took upon American faith."

The 5 Tiers of Homeschooling -- "Christian homeschoolers are an eclectic group. We hold varying viewpoints on many subjects, and embrace many styles of living."

I enjoyed the Atlantic article about religion and the Civil War/War for Southern Independence/War Between the States. I think it is a worthwhile. I was a little confused, though, by the author's assessment of Lincoln's religion. Initially he wrote, "Even a man of such modest religious visibility as Abraham Lincoln, who never belonged to a church and never professed more than a deistic concept of God. But later says, "Lincoln was certain that 'God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet'." I'm no expert on Lincoln and his faith (or lack thereof), but it seems curious to label a man a Deist who believes that God intervenes in the affairs of men. Doesn't the Deist's god usually not concern himself with the affairs of men? I wonder if it is possibly missing that Lincoln basically believed the theology (of God) that was taught by the church of his birth even though he never was a member? Maybe someone with more knowledge of Lincoln can answer.

God is bigger and other quotes

The posting of quotes by human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources.

"God is bigger than any lines we can draw." -- Reba Riley

"Let your trials make you better, not bitter." -- copied

"Whenever the Gospel is so hashed and cooked up that it becomes palatable to the taste of human wisdom, it ceases to be the Gospel that Paul preached." -- Sir Richard Hill

"How can a universe of mindless matter produce beings with intrinsic ends, self replication capabilities and coded chemistry?" -- Antony Flew

Free, free, free!

Salvation is a free gift! The people of God are: 

• Freely loved, Deuteronomy 7:6-8 
• Freely chosen, John 15:16-19, Eph. 1:4 
• Freely accepted, Ephesians 1:6 
• Freely adopted, Eph. 1:5, Gal. 4:5-6 
• Freely reconciled, II Cor. 5:18-20 
• Freely justified, Romans 3:24 
• Freely saved, Ephesians 2:5-8

(copied, author unknown)

We get rain when we need it

I haven't posted any recent news from the community of Sandy Valley. Mostly, it's been hot and dry. Which reminds me of an old resident named Jim. Jim lived and died in Sandy Valley on the very farm where he was born. Jim was altogether a simple country farmer. Not a pastor or a theologian who would parse meanings to suit the situation. Not a city slicker with no understanding of the effect and importance of rain. A farmer who depended on the rain to survive. His life and livelihood was the farm and farming. But he would not shave his belief to fit his convenience or what appeared obvious to others. 

One particularly dry August, Alton Dove stopped by to see Jim. Alton was also a farmer. The conversation naturally turned to the drought. 

"It sure is hot and dry," said Alton. "We sure do need some rain." 

Jim replied flatly, "We'll get the rain when we need it." 

Aghast, Alton inquired whatever in the world did Jim mean? "Surely you can see we need rain! The ground is parched and turned to dust; the crops will fail if we don't get some rain." 

"Neither man nor ground nor crops decide when we need rain," Jim explained. "Only God decides that. We'll get rain when we need it." 

"Well, I guess God thinks we need a drought," harrumphed Alton sarcastically. "Indeed it does looks that way," 

Jim summed up. "We'll get rain when we need it."

Time, and other quotes

The posting of quotes by human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources.

"Time is that quality of nature which keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn't seem to be working." -- Anonymous

"History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn’t have to get caught in that." -- Robert Johnson

"Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them." -- H. Jackson Brown

"Although I am a sinner, yet I despair not; for Christ, who is my Redeemer and my righteousness, liveth. In Him I have no sin, no fear, no sting of conscience, and no fear of judgment; for in Him there is no condemnation. I am indeed a sinner as touching this present life; but I have a righteousness of God which is above this life, who is Christ my Lord. In Him I rejoice!" -- Martin Luther

"Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art." -- Claude Debussy

"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." -- Johann Sebastian Bach

"There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself." -- Johann Sebastian Bach

"When you hold a grudge, you want someone else’s sorrow to reflect your level of hurt but the two rarely meet." -- Steve Maraboli

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade." -- Tom Peters

The Son of God

In Friday's links I posted Was Jesus the Son of God? It's Complicated by James D. Tabor. I always include a disclaimer with my links, but want to follow up with this further "disclaimer".

When asked the question, "Do you believe that Jesus was the Son of God," Tabor concludes that answering is quite complicated. Certainly the Bible is no Kindergarten reader, and an eternal God who is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient is a wee bit more than we can truly comprehend. But the gist of Tabor's piece is that he doesn't believe that Jesus is the Son of God in the way the question is posed -- and that does call for a little subterfuge. The three words "son of God" can (and does) have different meanings -- even in the Bible. Don't let anyone use that to confuse you about what the New Testament clearly claims for Jesus -- He is eternal God incarnate who died to take away the sins of the world, rose again for our justification and is alive in heaven. If folks like Tabor don't believe the New Testament claims, that's one thing. To claim the New Testament doesn't proclaim the divinity of Jesus is quite another.

Unintended consequences, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• A Chick-fil-A owner shocked his employees in the best way after shutting down for renovations -- "A Chick-fil-A owner recently had to shut down his Austin, Texas, restaurant for five months for renovations."
• An Unintended Consequence of Wal-Mart Pay Raise: Unhappy Workers -- "...Wal-Mart employees are calling the move unfair to senior workers who got no increase and now make the same or close to what newer, less experienced colleagues earn."
• Ben Carson responds to Hillary Clinton on abortion -- "I spent my entire career as a pediatric neurosurgeon, frequently staying up all night, fighting, struggling to save the life of little babies, even operating on babies inside the womb. So I don't think it should be hard for anyone to understand that I am totally opposed to killing babies."
• Everybody Has A Tattoo, But Nobody Talks About The Side Effects -- "...long term risks, like organ toxicity or cancer, are still unknown..."
• Hey Christians, Say Goodbye To Religious Freedom -- "Today, the state is inclined to substantially burden a Christian by the mere fact that someone’s feelings are hurt."
• How Much Does America Love Ice Cream? Yahoo Food Has the Scoop. -- "When asked to choose a favorite desert, ice cream is the obvious winner and is twice as popular as its closest competitor, cake."
• Hymn Lining: a Disappearing African-American Tradition -- "... meet Troy Demps, 86, who is trying to preserve the haunting art of "hymn-lining"."
• Middle Tennessee Sacred Harp Singers -- "Under the direction of Mrs. Neil Wright, the MTSC Sacred Harp Singers give splendid performances in early English Madrigals, Sacred Harp Hymns and white spirituals, and Southern folks songs and ballads."
• Was Jesus the Son of God? It's Complicated -- ...in my experience, most often, the question is "Do you believe that Jesus was the Son of God." In good Socratic fashion one is tempted to reply, "Well what do you mean by the term 'Son of God,'" and such a counter question is certainly more than subterfuge.

Should it bother us?

"It should bother us as a society that we have use for aborted human organs, but not the baby that provides them." -- Michael Wear

Old Books on Google, et al.

The posting of links to books does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific books linked.

Here are some interesting, and sometimes unusual, books and articles that I found online:

• Border Radio -- By Bill Brammer in Texas Monthly, March 1973(not exactly old, but, oh well)
• Duties of masters to servants: three premium essays -- By Holland N. McTyeire, C. F. Sturgis and A. T. Holmes, 1851
• Earth-Burial and Cremation -- By Augustus G. Cobb, 1892
• Federal Harmony -- Printed by John Norman, 1793
• Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican -- By Brantz Mayer, 1853
• Promise and Deliverance -- By S. G. DeGraaf, 1977 (not exactly old either)
• The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland -- By Robert William Billings, 1845

Merritt’s Misunderstanding and Barber's Remonstrance

Southern Baptists cozy up to GOP after pulling back 

Merritt’s Misunderstanding -- Jonathan Merritt’s recent RNS article, “Southern Baptists Cozy Up to GOP after Pulling Back” entirely misunderstands, I think, the nature of what happened with the Ben Carson matter earlier this year and with the SEND North America conference. At least, as someone who had some involvement in the former matter, I can say that Merritt’s analysis misses the mark on what I was trying to do. This wasn’t about political parties.

Ode to Joy, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• Donald Trump is now leading with women and young people, GOP in desperation mode --"The first Republican primary debate is less than 72 hours away and all signs point to Donald Trump taking center stage."
• 'Largest Confederate funeral in a century' says goodbye to a Southern black man -- "The same town that's home to the Ole Miss Rebels and the university's former mascot Colonel Reb, just held the largest Confederate funeral and procession the city has seen for over the last 100 years."
• LDS church releases never-before-seen pics of ‘seer stone’ used by Joseph Smith -- "The images of the small, smooth brown and black colored rock were published in a book containing the original printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon, a central text of the Mormon faith."
  
• Ode to Joy -- "Join a choir. Science shows it’ll make you feel better."
• Parking karma comes back and bites Urban Meyer -- "The parking space gods can be a ruthless and vindictive group, even if you happen to be the head football coach of the defending national champions."
• Scalia Gets It Pretty Much Right -- "By departing from tradition and becoming more inclusive and less doctrinaire, the court has deprived itself of any brakes that might stop the train it has set in motion. Many will think this is a good thing. The question Scalia and the other dissenters raise is whether it is a legal good thing."
• Shape Note Singers Revive The 1911 'Sacred Harp' -- "What’s so interesting about it is just the way that it’s an artifact of what 'Sacred Harp' meant to people, how people were understanding it as fitting into their lives in the modernizing New South of the early 20th century."
• Singing Changes Your Brain -- "Group singing has been scientifically proven to lower stress, relieve anxiety, and elevate endorphins."
• Teacher punishes kid because of his religious beliefs -- "An Indiana teacher at Forest Park Elementary School is under fire for keeping a 7-year-old segregated from the rest of the class for three days after getting the kid to admit he doesn’t believe in God."
  

Two Ships from Southampton

On August 5, 1620 two ships set sail from Southampton, England -- destination America, the New World. Many of the "The Pilgrims" had been living in Leiden, in the Netherlands and hired the Speedwell to bring them to Southampton. There they met the Mayflower, a ship that had been hired in London. This ship was about 80 feet long on deck, and 100–110 feet long overall. There were several false starts on the voyage, due to the Speedwell leaking and needing repair. After docking twice, finally at Plymouth, England, they decided to leave the un-seaworthy Speedwell behind.  The Mayflower probably had about 65 passengers in the beginning, but after the Speedwell's unfortunate demise, they stuffed 102 passengers and about 30 crewmen abroad. The Mayflower left for America alone, departing on September 6. At this time the Pilgrims had left England, they had already been living on board the two ships for almost a month and a half. From that time the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days till they sighted Cape Cod (Massachusetts, well north of their intended landing) on November 9th. The difficulties of the voyage included mostly sea-sickness in the beginning. Later they encountered many very treacherous storms. There were two deaths on the journey.

Nearly 300 years later, April 10, 1912, the remarkable, massive and "unsinkable" RMS Titanic set out on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City. The ship was over 882 feet long. Her maximum breadth was a little over 92 feet and her total height was 104 feet. She was the largest ship afloat at the time. On this maiden voyage the ship included about 885 crew members and carried over 1300 passengers -- about 1/3 of her capacity. Five days out to sea -- early a.m. April 15, 1912 -- she collided with an iceberg and sank into the North Atlantic Ocean. Over 1500 met their fate in those icy waters, and some survivors died afterwards. The unsinkable ship that sank remains one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.

Soda drinks are mostly unhealthy

An interesting article about drinking sodas is found HERE. 

"...cutting the habit is harder than you think - not only is caffeine addictive, but so is aspartame. 

"Diet soda may even hook you worse than regular soda, because artificial sweeteners don’t quite satisfy the body like sugar does." -- From "Infographics claiming soda is unhealthy are mostly true"