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administrator
01-11-2007, 07:55 AM
No apologies for forwarding this.

An eloquent comment. from CBS Sun morning show.

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The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are,but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbour as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in. My Best Regards.
Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Amen!

bigG
03-11-2007, 11:37 PM
i wasnt a big fan of this post when i first saw it last night but it really got me thinking today.thanks for putting up .in fact i think i will be chewing on that for awhile.i dont know why i was so negitive about it.its actually a positive post really

Hugh Jarss
04-11-2007, 12:16 AM
i wasnt a big fan of this post when i first saw it last night but it really got me thinking today.thanks for putting up .in fact i think i will be chewing on that for awhile.i dont know why i was so negitive about it.its actually a positive post really

I can certainly understand your reaction Big G... because while the overall message is a positive one, it also has content that is disturbing, for instance it throws all our children into one category of "have no conscience, don't know right from wrong, and it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves."

Well I'm pretty sure that my children, and the vast majority of children, do not belong in that category and it is labelling of the worst kind for him to have said so. Not to mention EXTREMELY negative.

Also, while striving to send a message to be more open to other peoples' religious faith etc, it tries to send the message that only the bible SHOULD be taught from in public schools.... (surely if the bible is to be taught from then the holy scriptures from ALL religions should be part of the curriculum).... thereby making the writer guilty of the very thing he is accusing others of.

It makes no allowance for the fact that there are other religions that do not come under the banner of Christianity, and makes no allowance for the fact that many people are more comfortable with the belief of a God being something other than "The Lord".

I also think it's a great post though, and if nothing else, it got us thinking about something other than mowing, beer and the gorgeous hot women in our lives..... actually, I don't really think much about beer.. ;)