Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Why do women cry?

This below came across my FB stream.  I liked it. quite a bit.  It could be seen as a bit sappy, but I think it  profound. Usually, not much gets written about women which is sensible or sensitive.  And now it will be politically incorrect to distinguish male and female.  This, in spite of all that has been discovered recently about "brain sex", how the male and female brains differ significantly.  "Male and female he made them."





A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him.

"I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."



Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"

"All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.

Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked,

"God, why do women cry so easily?"

God said, "When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.

I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.

I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.

I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed."

"You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart the
place where love resides."

Monday, October 13, 2014

Impact of New Media and Technology on Individuals / Peace Prize

http://www.dw.de/german-book-trade-peace-prize-for-virtual-reality-pioneer-jaron-lanier/a-17989388

Jaron Lanier won the Book Trade Peace Prize in Frankfurt.  He has some interesting cautionary comments about the digital age without being reactionary.  I would like to take a look at him.

While saying that technology still gives him great joy, we need to be aware of the downsides.  There is a severe problem with important losses to security and independence of the individual.

Some of his books are "You are not a Gadget" and "Who owns the future?"

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Jaron+Lanier



Saturday, October 11, 2014

One Hope

One of my favorite little books is this one:

"365 Devotional Readings From Martin Luther:  Through Faith Alone"

http://www.cph.org/p-374-through-faith-alone.aspx

Through Faith Alone


Here is a snippet from June 6 reading:

Persecuted and Blessed
"In every way we're troubled, but we aren't crushed by our troubles.  We're frustrated, but we don't give up.  We're persecuted, but we're not abandoned.  We're captured, but we're not killed."
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
If the world cannot enthrall us with its delights and draw us into its sins, then it tries to drive us out with suffering and torment.  The whole time we are on earth the world tries to deceive us by showing us examples of sin or by cruelly torturing us.  It's like a mythical monster with the head of a beautiful maiden, the body of a lion, and the tail of a poisonous serpent.  The final destiny of the world, with its pleasures and cruelty, is poison and eternal death.
Therefore, God has ordained matters so that the sins of the world end up bringing us blessing.  So also the persecutions of the world aren't useless, but God intended for them to increase our blessings.  So when the world tries to harm us, it ends up serving us and making us better people.
So we see that the entire Bible and all the early church fathers agree that those who try to harm us end up being very useful to us if we patiently endure the suffering.  That is why Peter says, "Who will harm you if you are devoted to doing what is good?"  (1 Peter 3:13).  And we read in the Psalms, "No enemy will take him by surprise.  No wicked person will mistreat him" (Psalm 89:22).  But how can our enemies not harm us when they try so hard to kill us and sometimes even succeed?  It's precisely when they harm us that they do us the most good.  If we are wise, we understand we're living in the middle of blessing and evil at the same time.  It's amazing how God in his goodness moderates it all!
Paul would know.

I like the image of deception:  a head of a beautiful maiden, the body of a lion, but the tail of a poisonous serpent.

I like that God moderates it all, and that both blessing and evil are operating at the same time.

This way, our hope is in Him.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Criticism









"To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize."

I don't know.  I don't know.
It seems you can't criticize anyone. Is there one person who does not react defensively and angrily?



A perspective on cyberbullying

A thoughtful post on the impact of negativity on social media.


http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/10/10/paula-todd-how-cyberbullies-are-ruining-the-greatest-communication-tool-ever-invented/

"All of us are caught in the midst of a digital revolution that is upending the world we know, just as the sexual and industrial revolutions before it. In that context, cyberabus­ers are censors. They are pushing the talented, the ambi­tious, the kind, and the curious offline. And that’s key: the future of the Internet is too important to leave in the hands of its worst netizens.
I tell parents, youth, adults and educators this: If you are online, stay there. If you’re not comfortable, especially with social media, educate yourself. Right now. Whatever you do, don’t shun digital technology. That just paves the way for cyberabusers and means you’ll miss out on the future."

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Liberalism and Our Times

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/08/b-c-woman-says-she-was-rejected-for-job-because-shes-christian-as-company-manager-says-her-religion-offends-norse-culture/

The man does not seem to understand that we have pluralism and multiculturalism in this country.  Also you would think that the Vikings flayed more people than Christians did.

In any case, Norway will soon have issues with Sharia--you would think.  Not homosexual friendly.

Or as someone else pointed out:  the Vikings themselves were not homosexual friendly.

And how were the Norse converted to Christianty?  By the sword and conquistadors?

Today, I also read in a post, that, in a place in the United States, teachers are no longer allowed to address children as "boys and girls", since the phrase is promoting "genderism".