Friday, June 28, 2013

God Speaks: How Science Changed the Heart of an Atheist

Some people are always looking for proof of God's existence. Faith is not enough, and some seek to disprove what their heart might be telling them is truth.

Famed Atheist, Anthony Flew, has spent most of his life spreading the word that God does not exist. A scholar and lecturer, this has been his life's work. Until recently.

His work has included using Science to prove or disprove the existence of God. Science couldnt do it, and instead, led him to change his lifelong belief.

Now, he says, God exists.

Read more in this story from NBC news:

There is a God, leading atheist concludes

Philosopher says scientific evidence changed his mind 

 

updated 12/9/2004 6:04:35 PM ET
 
A British philosophy professor who has been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century has changed his mind. He now believes in God — more or less — based on scientific evidence, and he says so on a video released Thursday.
At age 81, after decades of insisting that belief is a mistake, the professor, Antony Flew, has concluded that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. A super-intelligence is the only good explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature, Flew said in a telephone interview from England.
Flew said he was best labeled a deist, like Thomas Jefferson, whose God was not actively involved in people’s lives.
“I’m thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins,” he said. “It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose.”

A gradual conversion Flew first made his mark with the 1950 article “Theology and Falsification,” based on a paper for the Socratic Club, a weekly Oxford religious forum led by the writer and Christian thinker C.S. Lewis.
Over the years, Flew proclaimed the lack of evidence for God while teaching at Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading universities in Britain, in visits to numerous U.S. and Canadian campuses and in books, articles, lectures and debates.
There was no one moment of change but a gradual conclusion over recent months for Flew, a spry man who still does not believe in an afterlife.
Yet biologists’ investigation of DNA “has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce [life], that intelligence must have been involved,” Flew says in the new video, “Has Science Discovered God?”
The video draws from a discussion last May in New York organized by author Roy Abraham Varghese’s Institute for Metascientific Research in Garland, Texas. Participants were Flew; Varghese; Israeli physicist Gerald Schroeder, an Orthodox Jew; and Roman Catholic philosopher John Haldane of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
‘Follow the evidence, wherever it leads’ The first hint of Flew’s turn was a letter in the August-September issue of Britain’s Philosophy Now magazine. “It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism,” he wrote.
The letter commended arguments in Schroeder’s “The Hidden Face of God” and “The Wonder of the World” by Varghese, an Eastern Rite Catholic layman.
This week, Flew finished writing the first formal account of his new outlook for the introduction to a new edition of his “God and Philosophy,” scheduled for release next year by Prometheus Books.
Prometheus specializes in skeptical thought, but if his belief upsets people, well, “that’s too bad,” Flew said. “My whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato’s Socrates: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.”
Discussion among the unfaithful Last week, Richard Carrier, a writer and Columbia University graduate student, posted new material based on correspondence with Flew on the atheistic Web page Infidels.org. Carrier reassured atheists that Flew accepted only a “minimal God” and believed in no afterlife.
Flew’s “name and stature are big. Whenever you hear people talk about atheists, Flew always comes up,” Carrier said. Still, when it comes to Flew’s reversal, “apart from curiosity, I don’t think it’s like a big deal.”
Flew told The Associated Press that his current ideas had some similarity with those of U.S. “intelligent design” theorists, who see evidence for a guiding force in the construction of the universe. He accepts Darwinian evolution but doubts that it can explain the ultimate origins of life.
Flew, the son of a Methodist minister, became an atheist at 15.

Read more here at:  http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6688917/ns/world_news/t/there-god-leading-atheist-concludes/#.Uc3Q5OsgJMA

 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Shock Ads Against Teen Pregnancy Also Promote Abortions?

We have all seen or heard about the eye popping ads featuring a teen age boy who appears to be
pregnant.  Seemingly, this might be an effective device to wake up teens to the realities of sex at an early age, but the truth is that the people behind the ad are not promoting abstinence, but abortion.

Check out this story from LifeNews:

Web Site Behind Ads With Pregnant Teen Boys Promotes Abortion

by Nancy Flanders | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 6/22/13 3:55 PM


Chicago, IL (LiveActionNews) — If you live in Chicago, or anywhere else with a news channel, it’s likely you’ve seen one of these ads depicting pregnant teenage boys. The Chicago Department of Health followed Milwaukee’s lead by plastering them on billboards and buses across the city in an attempt to lower their teen pregnancy rate, which is reportedly 1.5 times higher than the national average.
Shocking? Yes. Will they grab the attention of hyperactive, immature teenagers? For a second. Are they likely to stop teens from engaging in risky behavior? I don’t think so. Especially since the website these ads direct teens to tells them that it’s actually okay to engage in risky behavior.
unexpected chicago 

Casual Sex
BeYouBeHealthy.org asks teens to proclaim that they are “at least friends” with someone before they have sex with him or her. As in, as long as the person isn’t a stranger, it’s okay, it’s safe, it’s healthy. The trouble with this? First, many teen girls think sex will get a boy to love them. They will likely end up hurt and confused when it doesn’t work out the way they fantasized. Second, sex with all of your friends will increase your chances of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HPV, which can cause cancer.
Sex Tips for Teens
The website directs teens to a different site called The Sex-Ed Loop. This site offers weekly sex tips via text messaging for teens. They let teens know that while it’s illegal to have sex under age 17, no one can stop them. They also have a Pinterest page. This Pinterest page has some inappropriate and tactless images, including lips with the words “So what if I like to suck dick” and tips on how to get your sex drive back. The Pinterest page also features unsuitable images.
Abortion
BeYouBeHealthy.org and SexEdLoop.com both promote abortion. They let teens now that they can access abortion without anyone informing their parents. Teens who visit this site will be directed to Planned Parenthood…a lot. They are told to go there for free condoms and for birth control and health services. While BeYouBeHealthy.org does list the side-effects of different birth controls, nothing seems to talk about the side-effects and risks of abortion.

Read more here: 
 http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/22/web-site-behind-ads-with-pregnant-teen-boys-promotes-abortion/
 

Friday, June 21, 2013

Making Whole: Healing Through Art: Sticks and Stones

Select thin, narrow branches for this project
by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal. 

The old adage: "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but Names Will Never Hurt Me" was something your Mother may have told you when you were picked on by other children. Meant to teach you not to let the hurtful words of others effect you emotionally, both adults and teens can still reflect on this lesson and find meaning.

Adults may look back and find that although names Did indeed hurt, they also made us tougher, and taught us lessons about friendship. Teens or pre-teens who experience bullying present day may learn that the negativity that surrounds them can be wrestled into submission by controlling their own reaction to it. 

This dimensional art project uses natural elements of tree branches and stones, along with a glass vase to illustrate the adage and the beauty of self awareness.

Sticks and Stones:
 

 What you need: A straight round, tall, clear glass vase, 
Thin tree or bush branches, trimmed to the same height as the vase
Small and medium sized  pebbles and stones in whites, grays and blacks

Think about the old saying "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but Names Will Never Hurt Me."  What does that saying mean to you. When did you hear it? What memories do you tie to the saying.  What does it mean to you now?

For Adults:
How did the negative and difficult experiences of your youth help shape you into the person you are today. What were the positive outcomes of those experiences?

For teens or pre-teens: 
How do we give power to the "names" and negative thoughts of others? How can we take that power away?

Think about the power you have to overcome negative influences. While doing so, choose branches and place in the vase in an appealing manner, fill the vase moderately full with branches.  You'll be able to view the branches through the glass vase and as you do it should resemble a wooded forest.  All branches should be trimmed so that they are straight across the top.

Add the pebbles and stones, allowing them to fall into and amongst the tree branches. You'll see them get caught, some will fall through. Much like how we dwell on some memories, and let others go completely.  Reflect on your memories while you work on this meditative art piece.

Once complete, you'll have a stylish reminder of how difficult things can turn into beautiful form ... how we can overcome darkness and make our past pain into present day strength.




Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

House Passes Bill on Late Term Abortions

Late term abortions are the most grotesque abuse of life we can think of, and the House finally is taking the first steps to end abortion abuses.

Check out this article printed in LifeNews.com:

House Passes Bill Banning Late-Term Abortions After 20 Weeks

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 6/18/13 6:45 PM

The House of Representatives today approved a that bans abortions from after 20-weeks of pregnancy up to the day of birth.
The vote for the bill broke down on mostly partisan lines with Republicans supporting the ban on late-term abortions and Democrats opposing it. The House approved the bill on a 228-196 vote with 6 Democrats voting for the bill and 6 Republicans voting against it. (See end for how members voted).
The bill, if it receives a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate, is not expected to pass and pro-abortion President Barack Obama has issued a veto threat. But pro-life groups hope to use the measure as an election tool in 2014 in an attempt to wrest the Senate from abortion advocates.
Leading pro-life organizations issued statements praising the House for the vote.
“I would hope that stopping atrocities against little babies is something we can agree to put an end to,” Rep. Kristi Noem of South Dakota said during the debate. “We’re talking about babies who, if they were born and simply given a chance, they could survive outside the womb.”
Congresswoman Wagner of Missouri added: “As science and technology continue to advance, we are changing hearts and mind. It is not only the pain of the child we must consider, but also the pain of the mother. Everyone talks about the right to choose, but no one discusses the implications of that choice. I am for life at all stages. I am for the life of the baby, and I am also for the life of the mother. I will continue to work for a day when abortion is not only illegal, but absolutely unthinkable.”
Rep. Chris Smith, the head of the pro-life caucus in the House, spoke eloquently from the House floor.
“The brutality of severing the spines of defenseless babies—euphemistically called “snipping” by Gosnell—has finally peeled away the benign façade of the billion dollar abortion industry” he said.
“Like Gosnell, abortionists all over America decapitate, dismember and chemically poison babies to death each and every day. That’s what they do. Americans are connecting the dots and asking whether what Gosnell did is really any different than what other abortionists do. A D&E abortion—a common method after 14 weeks—is a gruesome, pain-filled act that literally rips and tears to pieces the body parts of a child,” he added. “The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is a modest but necessary attempt to at least protect babies who are 20 weeks old—and pain-capable—from having to suffer and die from abortion.”
One leading expert in the field of fetal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeet S. Anand at the University of Tennessee, stated in his expert report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice, “It is my opinion that the human fetus possesses the ability to experience pain from 20 weeks of gestation, if not earlier, and the pain perceived by a fetus is possibly more intense than that perceived by term newborns or older children.”

Read More Here:  http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/18/congress-passes-bill-banning-late-term-abortions-after-20-weeks/

God Speaks:Stories of How God Works in Real People's Lives: Video: Testimony: Man's Life After Death - Experience of Hell

The book "Treasuring Grace" was inspired by a dream in which co -author Tracy Roberts feels that God spoke to her and directed her hand in the writing of the story. Many people feel God's special influence in their lives in direct or indirect ways.  This column seeks to bring you some of their inspirational stories.

If there is a God, there must be a Satan, If there is a Heaven, there must be a Hell... Good/ Evil.. there is always an opposite to the lightness of God.

We believe that we see evidence of God all around us... and we often hear stories of people who had near-death experiences and speak of their connection to God, Angels.. and heaven.

This video is a testimony of a man who clinically died in a plane crash, and who, when he was brought back to life, was able to describe his experience.. including a vision of hell.  

What do you think.... 

 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Making Whole: Healing Through Art: Stone Cairns

by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal.

A stone cairn is basically an elegant stack of stones, not held together by any mortar or cement. Found in ancient civilizations all over the globe, they are currently found in desert communities, hiking trails and used not only as an art form, but as navigational and ceremonial markers.

From larger stones at the base, to smaller stones on the top, the rocks towers can be placed in a single placement, or in groups, and in any location. Depending on the stone colors and shapes and the way the stones are stacked, the cairns convey an emotion or feeling to the viewer. For some reason, most people feel a connection to the cairns... do you? 

Collect stones from local beaches, woods or anywhere you can find them. Pick out an indoor or outdoor area where you can safely construct your cairn. Feel free to use superglue or epoxy to hold your cairn together especially if you have pets or children around who may bump or topple your cairn.

Stack the stones into a cairn. Make one or a grouping of cairns.

Process:

The act of creating the cairns is a meditative process that connects us to the earth in a healing and peaceful way.  When done in a thoughtful way, the cairns can provide a moment of peace and calm both when created and when viewed later. They provide a visual cue to take a moment and rest, relax and discharge all of our stress.  We don't know why this seems to work... but it does. 


Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

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