Category Archives: Christianity

Nasty and rude: Trans activist brings stuffed shark to mock surfer who lost arm in shark attack

When they go low, we go high.”

Riley Gaines is a former competitive swimmer and a fierce advocate for women’s sports. She speaks out against biological men competing and hijacking women’s sports, robbing women of many opportunities. Because she speaks biological truth, she is hated by the left. They always show up to protest her events.

Bethany Hamilton is a professional surfer who lost her left arm in  a shark attack in 2003. She credits her Christian faith for helping her heal and Bethany’s story is portrayed in the movie, Soul Surfer.

They spoke at an event last Friday, doing readings that celebrate female athletes. Of course, trans activists showed up to disrupt the event. One activist showed up to protest the event carrying a stuffed toy shark, in an apparent mocking of Hamilton’s shark attack (from Riley’s X):

Despite the presence of this miserable creature, the event was a success. Read more details about the event here.

Way to win over  hearts and minds by showing such blatant hatred for women.

DCG

Pic of the day

Someone waited three years in Rio de Janeiro for the perfect moment to take this pic (Twitter):

About the statue: Christ The Redeemer is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Constructed between 1922 and 1931, the statue was created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida sculpted the face. Voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the statue is 98 ft. high, excluding its 26 ft, pedestal. The arms stretch 92 ft. wide.

~E

Research shows conservatives are happier than (il)liberals

Anti-Trump protester screams in agony as Trump was sworn in as President (source).

Ross Pomeroy writes for RealClear Science, August 27, 2022:

It may be one of the most surefire findings in all of social psychology, repeatedly replicated over almost five decades of study: American conservatives say they are much happier than American liberals. They also report greater meaning and purpose in their lives, and higher overall life satisfaction…. [T]he entire gap…equates to about a half-point on a four-point scale, a sizable happiness divide.

According to social scientists, here are four reasons why conservatives are happier than (il)liberals:

  1. Marriage: Conservatives are more likely to be married, and marriage tends to make people happier.
  2. Religious belief: Conservatives tend to be more religious, and religious people tend to be happier.
  3. Belief in a meritocracy: Social psychologist Jaime Napier, Program Head of Psychology at NYU-Abu Dhabi has conducted research suggesting that views about inequality play a role. Conservatives are less concerned with equality of outcomes and more with equality of opportunity. While American liberals are depressed by inequalities in society, conservatives are okay with them provided that everyone has roughly the same opportunities to succeed. The latter is a more rosy and empowering view than the deterministic former. Napier told PBS:”One of the biggest correlates with happiness in our surveys was the belief of a meritocracy, which is the belief that anybody who works hard can make it. That was the biggest predictor of happiness. That was also one of the biggest predictors of political ideology. So, the conservatives were much higher on these meritocratic beliefs than liberals were.” 
  4. Psychological health: In A Simple Theory of the Self, p. 79, psychiatrist David Mann, M.D., defined psychological health as the capacity “to confront oneself and others with the absolute minimum of subterfuge.” It turns out that by Mann’s and other measures, conservatives are psychologically healthier than (il)liberals:
    1. Two studies explored a more surprising contributor: neuroticism, typically defined as “a tendency toward anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and other negative feelings.” Surveyed conservatives consistently score lower in neuroticism than surveyed liberals.
    2. In 2011, psychologists at the University of Florida and the University of Toronto conducted four studies, aiming to find whether conservatives are more “positively adjusted” than liberals. They found that conservatives “expressed greater personal agency, more positive outlook, more transcendent moral beliefs, and a generalized belief in fairness” compared to liberals. They added: “The portrait of conservatives that emerges is different from the view that conservatives are generally fearful, low in self-esteem, and rationalize away social inequality. Conservatives are more satisfied with their lives, in general… report better mental health and fewer mental and emotional problems (all after controlling for age, sex, income, and education), and view social justice in ways that are consistent with binding moral foundations, such as by emphasizing personal agency and equity. Liberals have become less happy over the last several decades, but this decline is associated with increasingly secular attitudes and actions.”

Pomeroy concludes: “So if you need some cheering up, maybe turn to a conservative friend rather than a liberal one.”

~E

Words of Wisdom

~E

An act of kindness: Hody Childress donated money to pharmacy for those who could not afford medication

A generous man: Hody Childress (center)

God Bless Hody.

From Daily Mail:

“An Alabama farmer spent some of the little money that he had to help members of his community to pay for their medical bills. Not even Hody Childress’s family members knew about his generosity until shortly before his death at the age of 80 on January 1.

The revelation about his acts was first revealed to many at his January 5 funeral, after the town’s pharmacist told family members.

Childress’s daughter Tania Nix told The Washington Post that she didn’t know what prompted her father to go to Geraldine Drugs in Geraldine, Alabama, a town of around 900, each month and give $100 to the pharmacist to help those struggling.

Nix did speculate that when her mother struggled with multiple sclerosis, her medical bills and drugs were expensive. Her mother, Peggy, passed away in 1999. He began his altruistic tradition in 2012.

Nix said that a woman recently wrote to her to tell her that Childress’s money allowed her to afford an EpiPen for her son, while another said that she burst into tears in the store when she was told that there was a fund that would help her to pay for her and her daughter’s prescription.

The pharmacist at the drug store, Brooke Walker said that Childress told her when he first handed over the money: ‘Don’t tell a soul where the money came from – if they ask, just tell them it’s a blessing from the lord.’

Nix said that a woman recently wrote to her to tell her that Childress’s money allowed her to afford an EpiPen for her son, while another said that she burst into tears in the store when she was told that there was a fund that would help her to pay for her and her daughter’s prescription.

The pharmacist at the drug store, Brooke Walker said that Childress told her when he first handed over the money: ‘Don’t tell a soul where the money came from – if they ask, just tell them it’s a blessing from the lord.’

The pharmacist told a family member that she didn’t let Childress’s donation go on painkillers, only antibiotics and life-sustaining medication.

On two occasions she used the money for non-medical reasons, once to help a woman who was in an abusive relationship to get back on her feet and once to help an elderly man who was caring for his special needs son and his wife, who had broken her hip, to pay for a used washer and dryer.

Nix told WaPo that her father told about his donations as he became gravely ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease over the holidays.

She said: ‘He told me he’d been carrying a $100 bill to the pharmacist in Geraldine on the first of each month, and he didn’t want to know who she’d helped with it — he just wanted to bless people with it.’

Read the whole story here.

h/t Breitbart

DCG

What is a woman? The Church of England doesn’t know.

Woman def: An adult, female, human being (hotchickabus beatusyensys). Woman has been known to make Man (douffaramakus goofballferensis) do and say stupid things just by walking across the room wearing a tank top and shorts. source: Dictionary of Rational Thought and No Wok BS.

The Church of England has now gone on record saying it has “no official definition” of a woman.

What?

Really?

At first, I was inclined to think this news was a joke, something left over from from a lame April Fools Day prank. But, after a little digging, I found that it was all too true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

British journalist Gabriella Swerling, writing for The Telegraph reported ” The Archbishops and York and Canterbury attend The Synod Eucharist Commission on a recent Sunday. The Church of England has come in for criticism after Dr Robert Innes, the Bishop in Europe, said ‘there is no official definition’ of a woman. In a written reply to a question submitted to General Synod, a senior Bishop said that although the meaning of the word woman was previously “thought to be self-evident, care” was now needed.

The question was posed as institutions grapple with the ongoing debate surrounding trans rights and what defines “a woman.”

While the new stance has been welcomed by liberal wings of the Church, the comments have also provoked criticism – with gender-critical campaigners saying that “whether your starting point is biology or the Bible”, the answer to the question of what is a woman remains the same.

Rev Angela Berners-Wilson, England’s first woman priest, said that she is “not totally happy” with the answer, but added that the issue is “sensitive”.Church officials are currently engaged in Living in Love and Faith (LLF), the institution’s ongoing and landmark project aiming to tackle how questions about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage fit with the Church.

The issue of defining what a woman is emerged in written questions to the General Synod, the Church’s legislative body, in which Adam Kendry, a lay member of the Synod and a representative of the Royal Navy, asked: “What is the Church of England’s definition of a woman?”

In response, Dr Robert Innes, the Bishop in Europe, said that “there is no official definition”.

The Bishop in Europe, who was also replying in his role as chairman of the Faith and Order Commission, said in his written response: “There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy.

“The LLF project however has begun to explore the marriage complexities associated with gender identity and points to the need for additional care and thought to be given in understanding our commonalities and differences as people made in the image of God.”

Rev Angela Berners-Wilson, who became the first woman to be ordained as a priest in England in 1994, and who has recently retired, told The Telegraph in response to the Bishop of Europe’s answer: “I’m not totally happy with it. I mean, I do think certain things like men can’t have babies just to say the complete obvious thing.

“But I think we need to be very sensitive and maybe we need to reexamine our boundaries.”

Maya Forstater, executive director of the Sex Matters campaign group, described the Bishop’s answer as “shocking”, saying that “the concepts of male and female did not need to have a formal official definition” because “they are older than human life itself”.

She added: “When the Government redefined women through the Gender Recognition Act, the Church of England could have stuck with its long-established understanding, which makes sense whether your starting point is biology or the Bible.

“It is shocking that they so readily gave up the definition of man or woman for the state to amend, as if this fundamental truth did not matter.”

However Jayne Ozanne, synod member and founder of the Ozanne Foundation in 2017 – which works with religious organisations around the world to tackle prejudice and discrimination of LGBTQI people – described the question as “passive aggressive”.

She said: “Mr Kendy’s question is sadly a prime example of a passive aggressive question that is designed to upset the LGBT+ community and particularly the trans members in our midst.

“It’s time these anti-LGBT attacks stopped and that we learnt to acknowledge that life is not quite as black and white as some appear to think it should be.”

Dr Jane Hamlin, president of Beaumont Society charity, which supports trans people, added: “I am puzzled why some people are so obsessed with defining ‘woman’. Why might this be an issue for the Church of England?

“Is it that women should be treated more favourably or less favourably? Why does it matter to the Church of England whether someone is a woman or not a woman? Surely it only matters to the individual themselves.”

~ Grif

The street dog who guards a storm drain

This is a truly amazing story about a very remarkable street dog in Istanbul, Turkey.

Benny, the dog, is a saint whose selflessness and compassion put we humans to shame.

~E

Sunday Devotional: Always be prepared

Luke 12:32-40 

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom….
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven
that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come.

Although the above passage pertains to the End Times of the Second Coming of Jesus the Christ, in truth, our individual deaths are the end times for us. And, just as the Second Coming will come “at an hour you do not expect,” so also is our own death.

That was impressed on me by the recent sudden, wholly unexpected death of a parishioner at my church.

A devout Catholic and an active member of her church, Marilyn had driven back to her house to gather more items to donate to the church’s annual garage sale. Bent over by her degenerative spine infirmity, Marilyn walked with difficulty. As she exited her car, her clothing got caught in the door and she fell onto the driveway. Her car rolled over and crushed Marilyn. When she was taken to ER. she was pronounced dead.

Marilyn’s death shocked the church community. Though in her 70s and disabled by her spinal infirmity, it was not a deadly affliction and she was active despite her disability.

We tend to live our lives as if we would live forever. This is especially so when we are/were young. Only as we age and begin to lose family and friends, does death  — including our own death — becomes real.

Marilyn’s sudden death — by a freak and wholly unexpected accident “at an hour you do not expect” — is a warning to us “to be prepared” because we really don’t know when our time will come.

How should we be prepared? Here are some suggestions:

  • Apologize to any and all whom we have hurt or harmed by word or deed.
  • Forgive those who hurt us, even if they had not apologized nor asked for forgiveness. “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us” –The Lord’s Prayer.
  • Examine our conscience and ask for God’s forgiveness for our sins. (Catholics should make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and go to Confession on a regular basis.)
  • Designate a family member or a trusted friend to have your legal and/or medical power-of-attorney.
  • Draw up a Will and make sure it is legal in your state.
  • If you have pets, make provisions in your Will for their care.

Lastly, let not a day pass by without thanking God for everything He’s given you, and telling Him that you love Him with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, and with all your strength.

May the peace and love of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, be with you,

~E

The Catholic Church is Under Attack

 

The Catholic Church is under attack by radical pro-abortion terrorists who have rampaged across the country, looting, ransacking, and burning Catholic houses of worship. According to CatholicVote, there have been more than 150 violent attacks in 39 states since 2020. The most recent church burning was Sunday, (July 26, 2022) when the St. Colman Catholic Church in West Virginia was burned to the ground. The church was built in 1878 and was declared an official historical site in 1984. The church was already a smoldering ruin when firefighters from the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department arrived at the scene Sunday. The destruction was total.

In December 2021, Catholic Vote President Brian Burch wrote to
Attorney General Merrick Garland saying:

“We, the undersigned representing millions of Americans, are writing to voice our concerns over the increased attacks against churches, pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations in the aftermath of the leaked draft opinion in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,”.
“In December of last year, the Department of Justice was asked how it was investigating the repeated attacks on churches in the United States,” the letter continued.

“The Attorney General was also asked to investigate those complaints and take appropriate action as is your duty. Since that request there has been public silence.

”The letter went on to point out the remarkable uptick in violence after the Supreme Court leak.

Since the May 3 leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs, those attacks have intensified. Two pro-life organizations in Madison, Wisconsin and Keizer, Oregon have been firebombed as well as a pregnancy care center in Buffalo, New York. Seventeen churches or pro-life organizations have been vandalized with pro-abortion or anti-religious slogans. Among those, a tiny Black Baptist church in rural Mississippi was spray-painted with depictions of rape, and four churches in Olympia, Washington were vandalized on the same day with phrases like “abort the church.”

A recurring slogan has been: “If abortions aren’t safe, then neither are you.

The signers of the letter pointed out that the “silence” of federal law enforcement officials like Garland “endangers Americans even more.” In recent weeks, police arrested a would-be assassin near the home of pro-life Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Within hours of that incident, another radical abortion group published details of the daily movements of another pro-life member of the Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

“Since May 2020 over 150 incidents have occurred across 29 states and the District of Columbia at Catholic properties alone,” the signers noted, adding that under 18 U.S. Code § 247, the Attorney General is obligated to act against attacks on religious properties, as well as efforts to obstruct the free exercise of religion.
“We call on you to publicly condemn these unlawful attacks; to commit to vigorous efforts to prevent them, and to investigate and prosecute them; and to proactively engage with the affected faith communities to ensure their concerns and security needs are being met,” the signers wrote.

“We would request a meeting with your office as well as the Civil Rights Division to discuss what plans are in the likelihood these attacks will intensify.”
The letter was signed by CatholicVote President Brian Burch, Marjorie Dannenfelser of SBA Pro-Life America, Kevin Roberts of The Heritage Foundation, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life Action, and many others.

In May, a radical pro-abortion group known as “Ruth Sent Us” openly called for abortion activists to storm Catholic churches during Holy Mass. On social media, the group even spoke of “beating” pro-life Catholics.

Earlier this week, a domestic terrorist organization calling itself “Jane’s Revenge” declared “open season” on pro-life groups. “We promised to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures,” the group stated. “Rest assured that we will, and those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti.”

A group of at least 124 House Republicans last Wednesday (June 22) sent a letter to Attorney General Garland calling on him to investigate such attacks as domestic terrorism.

“We write to express serious concerns over recent attacks targeting religious organizations and crisis pregnancy centers and request the Department of Justice respond with how its National Security Division plans to investigate these acts of domestic terrorism,” the letter said.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 8, 2022 / 06:00 am

The Department of Homeland Security warned on Tuesday that “faith-based institutions” could be potential targets amid a “heightened threat environment” in the United States.
The DHS alert followed an unconfirmed report that it had notified Catholic bishops of “credible threats” if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, is overturned.

In a June 7 bulletin from the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS), the department responsible for public security said: “In the coming months, DHS expects the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.”

“These targets could include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, schools, racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents.”

CatholicVote has created an interactive tracking report of the 152 Catholic churches that have been attacked since May 2020.

~ Grif

Tracker: Over 400 Attacks on U.S. Catholic Churches Since May 2020

~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parents offer forgiveness to drunk driver who killed three of their children

From The Daily Mail:

The parents of three kids mowed down and killed by a drunk driver have received not one but two standing ovations at the Vatican after a powerful address about forgiveness.

Western Sydney couple Danny and Leila Abdallah were invited by the Pope to share their harrowing story with thousands of parishioners at the 2022 World Meeting of Families in Rome on Saturday.

Their three children Sienna, 8, Angelina, 12, Antony, 13, and niece Veronique Sakr, 11, were killed by Samuel William Davidson who was drunk and high on drugs while behind the wheel in Oatlands on February 1, 2020.

Flanked by their children Liana, 12, Alex, seven, Michael, six, and 14-week-old Selina, the Abdallahs spoke to a global audience on the eve of would have been Antony’s 16th birthday.

Ms Abdallah recalled the heartbreaking moment she learned her children had been killed as her husband explained why they’ve chosen to forgiven the driver through the I4Give campaign the family has set up.

Their speech was so powerful it brought the Catholic world to their feet, including a contingent of Australians in the crowd at the Vatican proudly holding the national flag.

Bishops around the world were so moved by their story that the Abdallahs may also get a face to face meeting with the Pope himself, depending on his health.

The Abdallah family today

‘There’s been more than two years and I must choose to forgive myself and the driver every day, to not retreat into hatred,’ Mr Abdallah told the Vatican and millions watching online.

‘I choose to forgive myself for telling my kids to go for  walk. I choose to forgive the offender in obedience to my Father in heaven.

‘If my children were here today, they would say ‘Dad, forgive him.’ 

‘When you forgive the other person, you start to heal.’ 

His wife Leila added: ‘I would not have imagined we would be in the Vatican on the eve of my son’s birthday to speak about forgiveness to the world.’

Ms Abdallah received an overwhelming round of applause after revealing she didn’t hate the driver and had forgiven him.

‘As Christians, we’re meant to forgive,’ she said. 

‘I believe the Holy Spirit has moved my lips to forgive in that moment.’

‘You can’t control what happens in life, but you can choose how to respond. We choose forgiveness over hatred, we choose love over revenge and we choose to turn the day of tragedy into a day of forgiveness.

‘Forgiveness is the core message of our Christianity. All our prayer is about forgiveness. And when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we say, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ And these are words to be taken seriously.’

Read the whole story here.

DCG