Sunday Dispatch Megathread

[the iron horse]

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“The Lord is first, my family and friends are second, and I am third."

~Gale Sayers

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“Heaven is full of answers for which nobody ever bothered to ask.”

~Billy Graham

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It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

~Antoine de Saint Exupéry



Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

~Proverbs 4: 23

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“Jesus bases everything on God-realization, while other teachers base everything on self-realization.”

~Oswald Chambers

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Q. Isn’t it elitist to say that people must be followers of Jesus in order to get into heaven?

A. It can certainly sound that way – and unfortunately some Christians project an air of arrogance and exclusivity in how they live out their faith and then communicate it to others. But authentic Christianity is anything but arrogant or exclusive. Let me illustrate.

Imagine two country clubs. The first has a strict set of rules and only allows people in who have earned their membership. They have to accomplish something, obtain superior wisdom, or fulfill a long list of demands and requirements in order to qualify for acceptance. And despite their best efforts, lots of people just won’t make the grade and will therefore be excluded. In effect, this is what other religious systems are like.

The second country club throws its doors wide open and says, “Anybody who wants membership is invited inside. Rich or poor, black or white, regardless of your ethnic heritage or where you live, we would love to include you. Entry will be based not on your qualifications or efforts but only on accepting this invitation. Jesus already paid for your membership. So we’ll leave the matter up to you. You decide. But we will never turn you away if you sincerely and humbly seek admittance.” That’s what Christianity is like.

Which country club is being snobbish? Christians aren’t being exclusive; they’re being inclusive. They’re not being haughty; they’re being hospitable. They’re not pretending to be better or more accomplished than anyone else. Instead, they admit their own weakness and invite others who feel weak or needy to join them in order to find the help that they’ve found through Christ.

Preacher D. T. Niles summed up genuine Christianity well when he explained that we are simply “one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.”

Says Revelation 22:17: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”

~from Investigating Faith with Lee Strobel

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“I read the New Testament, specifically the Gospels and I was struck at their divinity, feeling that humans could not have figured this out on their own. We’re just not bright enough.”

"I grew up going to church and had my pre-conceived notions of who Christ was. Actually I had always thought of Christ as being a Santa Claus figure or someone who would always let you do whatever you wanted (so long as you were) nice to people. Then a friend of mine who was a youth minister got me to read the New Testament, specifically Matthew. (Before then) I had no idea who Christ was, even though I thought I did. So I read Matthew and that was it! After the first three or four chapters I then realized that it was the most powerful thing I had ever encountered. I was totally sold on it!"

~ Moby

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“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

~ John 8:12

When you’re sad and when you’re lonely
And you haven’t got a friend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all that you’ve held sacred
Falls down and does not mend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

When you’re standing at the crossroads
That you cannot comprehend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all your dreams have vanished
And you don’t know what’s up the bend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

When the storm clouds gather ’round you
And heavy rains descend
Just remember that death is not the end
And there’s no one there to comfort you
With a helpin’ hand to lend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

Oh, the tree of life is growing
Where the spirit never dies
And the bright light of salvation shines
In dark and empty skies

When the cities are on fire
With the burning flesh of men
Just remember that death is not the end
And you search in vain to find
Just one law-abiding citizen
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

~ Bob Dylan

Nick Cave + Kylie Minogue - Death is not the end - YouTube

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The right things are right not because God commanded them
but God commanded them because they are right.

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The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

~ James 5:18 (The Message)


“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”

~ Karl Barth

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"When you become a Christian, you don't become sinless. The idea is to sin less. We're all sinners. We're never going to be clean till the day the good Lord is standing in front and judgment comes. But to me, I try to live my life. I do fall off, and occasionally I fall off hard and I have to get down on my knees and beg forgiveness. So it's not an easy ride, and it's not professed to be either.”

~ Nicko McBrain, Iron Maiden drummer

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“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

~ Romans 10:13

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Now, remember, Jesus did not go around simply being nice to people. This is where the idea of “loving others” has gotten turned into a “get well” card. Christians honestly and sincerely believe that being nice is what they are called to do.

No, you are called to do something far more powerful than be nice; you are called to love. And what love has in mind is not “How can I keep things running smoothly here?” but rather, “What does this person truly need?” This will change everything in the way you relate to people; it will help you love them.

~John Eldredge

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“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’

Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

~ Matthew 25:34-40 (The Message)

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“Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither.”

~ C.S. Lewis

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“Christianity is not a religion, it is the announcement of the end of religion. Religion consists of all the things (believing, behaving, worshipping, sacrificing) the human race has ever thought it had to do to get right with God.

About those things, Christianity has only two comments to make. The first is that none of them ever had the least chance of doing the trick: the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins (see the Epistle of Hebrews) and no effort of ours to keep the law of God can ever succeed (see the Epistle of Romans).

The second is that everything religion tried (and failed) to do has been perfectly done, once and for all, by Jesus in his death and resurrection. For Christians, then, the entire religion shop has been closed, boarded up and forgotten.

The church is not in the religion business. It never has been and it never will be, in spite of all the ecclesiastical turkeys through two thousand years who have acted as if religion was their stock in trade. The church, instead, is in the Gospel-proclaiming business.

It is not here to bring the world the bad news that God will think kindly about us only after we have gone through certain creedal, liturgical, and ethical wickets; it is here to bring the world the Good News that ‘while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.’ It is here, in short, for no religious purpose at all, only to announce the Gospel of free grace.”

~Robert Capon

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“And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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What if God was one of us?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV2I2KykhrQ

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“People tell me, "You're such an optimist". Am I an optimist? An optimist says the glass is half full. A pessimist says the glass is half empty. A survivalist is practical. He says, "Call it what you want, but just fill the glass." I believe in filling the glass.”

~ Louis Zamperini, author of Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian's Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II

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"The number of intermediate varieties which have formerly existed on earth must be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory."

~ Charles Darwin


"The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution."

~Stephen Jay Gould,Professor of Geology and Paleontology, Harvard University

[BVS]

Originally Posted by the iron horse

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"The number of intermediate varieties which have formerly existed on earth must be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory."



~ Charles Darwin





"The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution."



~Stephen Jay Gould,Professor of Geology and Paleontology, Harvard University

Stephen Jay Gould was an evolutionist, and has often said his writings do not make Darwin's findings unscientific. Creationists have tried to take his findings and misinterpret them, you got duped.


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