If anyone doubts that Ben Franklin was a man of faith at the end of his life, read what he said at the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
“The manner in which the whole of this business had been conducted was such a miracle in human affairs, that if I had not been in the midst of it, and seen all the movements, I could not have comprehended how it was effected. I had no doubt of our finally succeeding in this war by the blessing of God. This is the greatest revolution the world has ever seen....I have lived a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men! If it had not been for the justice of our cause, and the consequent interposition of Providence in which we had faith, we must have been ruined. If I had ever before been an atheist, I should now have been convinced of the being and government of a Deity. It is He who abases the proud and favors the humble! May we never forget his goodness to us, and may our future conduct manifest our gratitude.” --Benjamin Franklin
“Profoundly impressed with confidence in God’s providence, and exemplary in his respect for the forms of public worship, no philosopher of the eighteenth century was more firm in the support of freedom of religious opinion, none more tolerant or more remote from bigotry; but belief in God and trust in his overruling power formed the essence of his character. Divine wisdom not only illumines the spirit, it inspires the will.
“Washington was a man of action, and not of theory or words; his creed appears in his life, not in his professions, which burst from him very rarely, and only at those great moments of crisis in the fortunes of his country when earth and heaven seemed actually to meet, and his emotions became too intense for suppression; but his whole being was one continued act of faith in the eternal, intelligent, moral order of the universe. Integrity was so completely the law of his nature that a planet would sooner have shot from its sphere than he have departed from his uprightness, which was so constant that it often seemed to be almost impersonal.” —George Bancroft
Happy Semiquincentennial 4th of July, America!
Mormon Kids Talking Greek, Back to Cyril Lucaris
Remembered to cover some comments made by young neoMorm Chandler Hendry on the topic of John 1:1. Then we got back to the Confession of Cyril Lucaris, part of our broader study of the Confession of Dositheos from 1672 in Eastern Orthodoxy.
This was Benjamin Franklin's proposed seal of the United States of America.
His pitch to the seal committee read as follows:
"Moses in the Dress of a High Priest, standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his Hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity."
Thomas Jefferson proposed a similar design, with an emphasis on the pillar of fire and cloud that led the Israelites through the wilderness.
The Founding Fathers saw America as an echo of Israel, often invoking the Exodus as a picture of our separation from Britain.
Army Sniper “The Reaper” Reflects on the Worst Mission of His Life
“We’re being engaged by a sniper, so I’m trying to do a snap bang. I hear the crack, and I wait for the report from the rifle - like lightning and thunder. I pinpointed it to this tall building. It’s the only place I would be if I were a sniper. I go to pick up my head and crack, bullet goes by. Pemberton goes to roll over, crack, bullet snaps and pops up dust next to him. Then he started getting way more accurate.”
“We’re calling in for airstrikes. I’m damn near crying, bro. I’ve never cussed out a colonel in my life, but I cussed this colonel out. We need bombs. We need help bad. We’re about to be on CNN getting our freaking heads chopped off. So then we called in for bombs to be dropped on our location. They could not drop any bombs. Why? Obama’s rules of engagement, bro.”
@IrvingNick33
“He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:6
Keep sowing seed through suffering.
You will see the harvest, and be glad.
Why does no one care?
In Africa, Arab Muslims are enslaving black African Christians.
The media, progressives, Palestinian protesters, the UN, and even the Pope remain silent.
Eastern Orthodoxy on the State of Non-Orthodox
Started off with some comments about the childishness of many on line today, but spent most of our time on Eastern Orthodoxy and specifically thinking about a conversation Gavin Ortlund had with Jonathan Pageau, focusing on the Synod of Jerusalem. Then we began reading the Confession of Dositheus and we will continue that on the next program. Remember, I have been telling you the EO stuff was coming! But as we saw today, much of this conversation has tremendous meaning in other areas of theology and apologetics.
Islam is not compatible with our American way of life. Sharia Law is against our Bill of Rights and against the Declaration of Human Rights.
Wake up now before America repeats the sickness that has infected the United Kingdom…
“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’”
Genesis 9:12-16 (ESV)
Becoming a father activates a part of the brain -- "the Dad Brain"
"Warren Farrell, author of The Boy Crisis, explains: “When a man becomes a hands-on dad, he activates his ‘dad brain’ — a nest of neurons that would otherwise remain dormant.”
Becoming a father literally stimulates brain growth.
These benefits accrue, however, only if the father is actively holding and playing with his baby. A study published in Trends in Neurosciences says, “Infant contact itself seems to modulate endocrine systems and activate neural circuitry in fathers in a manner that is strikingly similar to that in mothers.”
Amazingly, the “dad brain” begins to be activated even before birth, while his wife is still pregnant. In The Life of Dad: The Making of the Modern Father, anthropologist Anna Machin reports, “Research has shown that fathers and mothers who live together during pregnancy exhibit similar levels of circulating oxytocin within the blood.��
Apparently, no one had ever thought before of testing a man’s blood during his wife’s pregnancy. We now know that, even before birth, fathers are being biochemically primed to be a full partner in the parenting team.
The message from science is clear: A strong emotional bond between fathers and their children is encoded into the wiring of the male brain. God has designed the male neurochemistry for fatherhood."
source in replies
A worthy mission statement:
“The church of God lives in conflict and victory; her mission is to destroy everything that is bad in the land.”
~Charles Spurgeon
“An infallible Church does not mean a Church which makes no mistakes, but only one which will neither acknowledge its mistakes nor correct them.” ~George Salmon (The Infallibility of the Church, p. 119)
A Few Loose Ends and then the Archbishop of Detroit at a New Mosque
Picked up on a few developments since the last program out of Ogden including the "Nazi hunting" piece by Sauve, and then moved to a video of Archbishop Edward Weisenburger speaking at a mosque opening in Dearborn (Detroit area), identifying the place as one of true worship, where God is active, and even made reference to the Islamic prayers (which, of course, specifically identify Christianity as a religion that has been led astray). We discussed how this tells us a lot about how Romanism has changed, and is changing, over the centuries.