"Born Yesterday"

Seen that burger/fast-food commercial on TV that says something like "This baby boy was literally born yesterday but even he knows the King's double cheeseburger is bigger than so-and-so's for a buck"?

It's not my all-time favorite TV commercial. In fact, the entire series of ads seems worse than third-rate. Is the burger chain trying to say that people somehow intuitively know whose burgers are better? Or are they saying that anyone who'd buy their competitors' burgers is less intelligent than a 1-day old child?

I've probably seen those ads dozens of times but I've still got no idea what the advertising agency's message is, or why they chose to say it that way.

The reason is because I'm pretty sure a 1-day old baby doesn't have much of an opinion about whether a burger comes from golden arches or from the crown-wearing competitor down the street. I'm not even sure a 1-day old baby knows a double cheeseburger from a bathtub.

But I could be wrong: guess I'll have to wait till the next popular opinion poll tells me what 1-year olds really think ... and whether they truly prefer so-and-so's double cheeseburgers over so-and-so's burger before making up my mind.

---

I wasn't "born yesterday" and if you're reading this post I'm assuming that neither were you. Not only was I was born more than ten thousand days ago (chances are that you were, too) but the simple fact is that I don't remember a single thing that happened when I was 1 day old.

Not one single thing ... and yet in Big Picture terms, that day was such a critical event in my life. Yet if you took all the days of my life, your life, and all the days of everybody that was born since then and added them together, the total amount still wouldn't represent a dot the size of housefly's eyelash on the earth's timeline since the creation.

We just haven't been here that long. It makes me wonder about self-help gurus who claim to have "formulated enlightened answers about life."

---

I wish I could say I'm amused at how many people I know who adhere to and manage their lives according to daytime TV pundits, best-selling self-help authors, astrology charts and obscure new "self empowerment" theologies, but I'm not. It's more like feeling your eyes sting after being struck in the heart with a rock ... and then wanting to weep out loud at their loss.

Because in each case someone's path is drifting away toward inner space because they're convinced that in the latest new book, talk show appearance or DVD release, they've found an ultimate truth (an "ultimate" truth means "The last or furtherest," by the way) and the key to their success and the answer their eternal well-being.

Never mind that none of those amazing new "insights" existed until the self-help book and video industry created that profitable niche market for itself.

---

Like the fast food commercials I mentioned, today's self-help gurus strike me as hollow and self-amused. The book jackets and video labels I've seen seem consistent on this interesting point: the author (or the dude in the video) worked for years trying to manage their own life without success and failed before arriving at or discovering their bold new approach. So in other words, that guy (or lady) who seems so smart on the screen was just the same as you or me ... and spent years and years messing up, making the same of mistakes and missteps as you and I.

Excuse me, but Huh? Then why are we expected to believe that guy's teachings ... especially if he also claims to be "continually growing, learning and expanding the eye of his mind"? How do we know that their teachings won't change, grow or expand again during the next 10 years? Sounds to me like they're already admitting that their knowledge is incomplete (but of course, that new book and DVD combo is scheduled for release next spring).

Here's something else. Except for some fringe kooks, so far as I know the self-help gurus all admit to being imperfect and flawed from birth. So why should I believe he's perfect now?

And guess what else: Exactly none of the self-help maestros have been bold and confident enough to proclaim in court that they are God's own and unique son. Neither has any of them ever declared that faith in his personal sacrifice has personally assured them eternal life ... and not just a "happy happy" life where all their goals and dreams come true.

Wonder why we haven't seen that?

Because I wasn't born yesterday, I'd have a hard time believing what any of these "teachers" taught unless they offered incontrovertible proof. What kind of proof would get my attention? Like say, returning from the grave after a public execution, teaching to hundreds and hundreds of witnesses for 40 days and then ascending into heaven.

Seems like someone who claimed to have all the answers about life and death would be willing to back up their claims by providing evidence ... or at least provide a demonstration that what they said and taught was true by putting their own life on the line. Is that asking too much for the limited time offer of $24.95?

It's not ... because eternity is more precious than that. And that's why no one should trust their eternity to any prophet, teacher, shaman, seer, guru, sage, astrologer or any "self-help authority" who was born flaws and imperfect, and who didn't literally prove that everything ... every single word ... he said was true. Literally.

After all, I wasn't born yesterday ... and neither were you.

I believe it

- Nathan Gray photo from The Anderson Independent Mail

(Saturday night excerpts from PerryNoble.com)

Now…the reason for this post is quite simple, SOME people are going to be tempted to “play hooky” tomorrow because of the “major winter storm” that has passed through our area! :-) So here are a few things to keep in mind…

• SO many people have no idea what their purpose is in life, what they are supposed to be doing, why they are even on this planet…tomorrow begins the process of getting that figured out.

• AND…tomorrow would be a GREAT DAY to invite someone to come to NewSpring Church with you!

• ONE MORE THING…a blizzard hitting an NFL town would not keep people away from a championship football game; it would actually create more excitement! We have a better message than the NFL…and LOTS more reasons to be excited…so let's get to church and celebrate!

Visit the NewSpring Web Campus here on Sundays at 11:15am, 6:00PM and 8:00PM EST ... from anywhere in the world. Really.

A new flu

(blog lite: 'It Only Hurts When I Laugh' Department)

Earlier this week I noticed some new symptoms, including a tickling feeling that turned into a sore throat and then a nagging cough that felt like bronchitis. The next day I received the usual headache, body aches and all the annoying ones you'd expect.

At least the weather is cooperating and it's not 18 degrees and snowing outside .

Yes, it is. :-)

10 - updated at 9:59p

- photos from Barron Cooley

Happy 10th Birthday NewSpring!

Ten years ago, New Spring Church began as a bible study of 15 people. Today, New Spring church has campuses in four locations -- with one more on the way -- averaging 14,100 people per week in attendance.

Today that many, and more, attended the BI-LO Center today in Greenville, S.C., for a single, unforgettable service that brought the attention of our state ... and our nation ... to the power of our awesome God.

6,914 people have professed their faith in Christ and been saved in those ten years. And today, 10 years later, this is just the beginning.

You can watch the entire service here on January 26 at 11:45am and 8pm ET.

-just heard that between 300-400 people were saved at today's service. Wow.

"I can't believe what I saw on the church parking lot!"

A few months back I wrote a post because I'd been wondering, Why did God allow the temple in Jerusalem, the House of the Holy, to be destroyed? Wasn't the temple supposed to be God's House?

If God is all-powerful and almighty, why would he allow that to happen? Why didn't he intervene and stop it?

---------

Bad things happen to people. In fact, you can take a look around and see bad things, tragedies, happening to undeserving people all over the world.

Bad, "unfortunate" things have been plaguing people for several hundred millennium ... and will keep on happening, until Christ returns. Without sounding trite, it's safe to say that if you're a human being ... bad, painful and irreversible things are inevitable.

We call calamities like floods, earthquakes and tsunamis "tragedies" for one reason: because we're powerless to stop or prevent them.

So if you're a believer and accept God Almighty's infinite power, it might make you wonder "Then why did God allow his temple to be destroyed?"

----

Ten or twelve years ago I was invited to a friend's wedding. After the ceremony I was walking across the parking lot with some friends when one of them reached into her purse and lit a cigarette. We didn't notice the three men walking toward us until one of them stopped and sternly told her, "Smoking's not allowed on church property."

She shrugged, crushed out her cigarette and walked another ten feet to her van. She climbed inside, opened her purse and lit another smoke. Then she looked back at the man and said, "Let that s-- -- - b---- come over here and say another word."

Don't smirk or make a face: I couldn't help wondering, Would Jesus have approached that young woman and told her the same thing?

--------

Does God consider a church parking lot, or any other part of a church building, to be holy ground? Those three men sure acted like it was, and I felt glad that a confrontation was avoided. But it didn't take long before I started wondering which sins weren't allowed on church property, and how strenuously those rules were enforced.

I wondered how many children had been spanked silly on the same church parking lot after a service, for no other reason than that their parents had been fighting the night before and still felt angry 12 hours later ... and the kids happened to be nearby and were too small to fight back.

I wondered how many deacons had stood on the same parking lot and whispered plots to fire and replace the preacher ... without first letting him know the source of their grievance.

I wondered how many women had been on that parking lot and stared, snickered and gossiped about "that woman" ... the one who had the gall to wear "that outfit" to church.

Why did God allow the Jerusalem temple to be destroyed?

------

I believe that God allowed Roman armies to ransack and destroy the temple because even though the Creator had dictated its architecture and physical dimensions, by 70 A.D. the Holy of Holies ... man-made and man-maintained ... continued to be worshiped by men.

I believe that's a heresy and a slap at God's face. I believe that with his ascension at the completion of his ministry on earth, Jesus replaced the man-made building and became the living temple.

Building? We don't need a building: our faith is in Christ.

God is too big for any building ... and we have no right to vote on what is sinful and what is not, or to speak to each other in coded Elizabethan English and smugly consider ourselves "reverent," or to claim that any part of a building, from the steeple to the pews to the stained glass windows to the parking lot outside ... or anything else man-made or mortgaged ... is Holy. Or that we have the authority to designate any physical thing is to be worshiped or considered sacred.

Only Christ. He is the reason our sins are forgiven and that we have eternal life. Period.

Makes me wonder why churches (and their pastors) would waste time ... and mock God's grace ... preaching anything else.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

-Revelation 21:22

Eye Witness, or "I think so"?

If you're a believer, have you ever thought about what it'd be like to have been one of the first disciples?

I have, but pride tells me that would've been a bad idea ... because all my mistakes, doubts and misunderstanding would've been recorded in scripture, most likely in my own words, too ... for all the world to see.

---

Imagine if you could go back in time 2000 years, knowing everything you know now, meet Christ and be chosen by him to be a disciple. Could you picture yourself participating back then?

I imagine there's lots of people who'd answer with a loud and enthusiastic "Yes!" ... people who eagerly see themselves walking beside Jesus and being his indispensable & knowledgeable assistant, a second in command taking advantage at every opportunity to usher John, Thomas, Peter and James aside to help clarify Christ's words and confidently explain everything about the gospel that they kept missing.

What's the problem with that?

The problem is that being God, Jesus spoke more clearly, more persuasively and more to the point than you or I could ever imagine. But his disciples still didn't always get it.

Those 12 men weren't chosen because they already knew everything about just how to do synagogue the "right" way, or according to how much scripture they could recite from memory, or because they'd lived perfect lives, or because they'd served in their local temple, and being called as a disciple was Christ's way of rewarding their efforts.

After Christ's ascension, 10 of the 11 remaining disciples were martyred rather than deny their faith. Maybe it doesn't seem like the disciples "got it" as quickly as we think we do today, but after coming face to face with the resurrected King, the disciples permanently "got it" ... in a big, world-changing and permanent way.

---

Well, ever thought about moving in time and being an eye witness to Christ, seeing first hand what it'd be like walking with him, hearing his words, spending time in his presence, sharing in his ministry and spreading the gospel? Ever wondered what that would be like?

If you're a believer, think about going to that time ... and about being there right now.

God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

-Acts 2:32

"But I LIKE it better where I was."

About the only TV I watch any more are the documentary channels. Seems like shows about maritime disasters, particularly, always catch my attention.

The circumstances leading up to and the conditions contributing to each tragedy are always different. But then I realized that when a rescue was involved, after the survivors had been gratefully plucked from the sea ... there was one thing that never happened.

Something that, among the thousands of accounts of people saved from dozens of sinking ships over the past hundred or so years, was never recorded as happening a single time. Not once.

No one was ever either found drifting at sea, or was saved from the deck of a doomed ship, and upon being rescued glanced around and snorted to the Captain, "I had more fun and had more friends on my old ship than I do here. Things were more exciting where I was and everybody knew how to have a good time. So I'm going back to the ship I'm used to ... and besides, all the people on your ship are hypocrites."

Not one time.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

-Romans 6:1-3

Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

- 1 Corinthians 15:33-35

Self-sufficient?

Everybody needs goals, right? One of the wishes I keep seeing expressed on blogs is the goal of being Self-sufficient. Problem is, I don't understand what that means.

How "self-sufficient" does self-sufficient mean? Does being self-sufficient mean that a person no longer needs air, food or water? Does being "completely self-sufficient" mean that person creates the compounds they need all by themselves?

Or does being "self-sufficient" mean that a person can be involved with a spouse, a job or with their children, and yet is completely sufficient apart from all those things?

What about when the "self-sufficient" person becomes sick or gets old? Do they grow new body parts, like salamanders, and regenerate themselves?

Or does being self-sufficient mean something else to the person who's anxious to claim it?

---------

I can see why folks would be eager to describe themselves as self-sufficient. Being self-sufficient is thought to express a sense of strength, independence and assertiveness but also, and let's not kid ourselves, a subtle warning: Pay attention to me, because I don't need you. I'm self-sufficient.

But being "self-sufficient" is a lie. Being "self-sufficient" means that self will always be insufficient and ultimately found to be lacking ... no matter what the self-help books and gurus say.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

- Psalm 62:7

This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

- Jeremiah 17:5

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

- Colossians 2:8

Produce

(blog lite)

Yesterday afternoon I went across the street to buy some fresh produce and, looking at what the store had on its shelves, wish I'd had a camera with me.

Three dollars a pound for pinkish tomatoes that were so small I could pick out three of the biggest and hold all three in my hand at the same time. "Giant" Avocados the size of a tennis ball and green peppers so discolored with splotches it looked like they'd started to rust.

But it's always like that.

Here's a picture my friend Gary Wishnatzki took of a Camino Real strawberry he found in one of his fields in Plant City, Florida.

I've known Gary since I was about three years old, and still remember his dad grew the best tomatoes I ever tasted (I also remember watching TV at Gary's house ... the first time I'd seen color TV :-)

Gary said the recent cold has made the strawberries taste sweet as sugar, too.

"Well look, you didn't even say anything about Haiti."

What should I say?

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

- James 1:27

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

- see Luke 10:25-37

Let's leave my religion out of it

I'm not wild about religion. I'm just not. Neither yours nor mine.

To participate in your religion, I might have to dress up in a coat and tie, sing to organ music from the 1800s, stand up and shake hands with people I don't know and sit through a Children's Hour without squirming.

I don't like every thing about that other guy's religion either ... because I'm not into a prosperity gospel, waving my hands over my head, or rolling around the floor and speaking in tongues. But that's OK, because you'd probably find things in "my religion" that you don't like, either.

Well, I don't like ketchup on my hamburgers ... but I'm not gonna label you a heretic if loving ketchup on your Whopper happens to be your choice. And I'm not about to condemn another church just because "their" music isn't "my" church music.

When believers gather as a church to praise and worship God, He's the only focus.

Not praising organ music, Sunday School, stained glass windows, suits and ties or worshiping "our" religion. Only Him.

What you, I, or people the generation before us liked ought not to have anything to do with it.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

- James 1:27

Iron Age

(What's in the kitchen?)

I've hated my teflon skillets for years. Especially on a boat, my skillets' bottoms ride the burner elements unevenly and that means that food cooks unevenly, too. So I started reading, and decided to give iron skillets another try.

Vintage (pre-Griswold) Erie, PA skillets and Dutch ovens from the 1880-1905 era are unbelievably expensive ... so I checked Amazon and ordered the three Lodge pieces (below). Even with shipping, the total price was less than half of one 12-inch vintage Erie frying pan.

Iron skillets aren't just heavy; they lay flat and hold still on the burners, too.

All we need is a little bit more ...

We live in a society where ordinary table salt is about to be regulated, and yet pornography is not.

We have Federal legislators willing to tax private Health Insurance, but who're unwilling to tax the lucrative health packages they receive in Congress ... which of course are paid from public funds.

We demand that the government keep us safe and protect us from terrorist attacks, yet uninvited guests stroll through White House security and smile for the cameras ... without fear of being punished for doing so.

As citizens, polls indicate that the vast majority of us are convinced politicians are crooks, liars and thieves.

Then why are so many people arguing that the solution to our problems is more government?

---

Government, and more of it, is no solution.

The solution is repentance and faith in the living Christ.

By request

Somebody wanted to see this post again; I'm glad to repeat Saturday, May 2 2009 here today.

Lucky Charm Christianity; Fortune-based Faith

I forget who, it may have been an 17th century philosopher, but "some famous guy"* made the point that logically it makes more sense to believe in God than it does to be an atheist, because if you believe in God and turn out to be mistaken, then you've lost nothing (and have probably lived a more benevolent, charitable life as a result).

But, as the argument goes, if you're an atheist and turn out to be wrong, then you've lost everything. In fact you're lost, for all eternity.

So why not believe in God?

Makes a perfect kind of sense, so far as human sense goes, and that "just to be safe" approach to faith seemed pretty bullet-proof, at least in terms of logic, for about 400 years.

Unfortunately, the argument makes so much sense, Play It Safe Christianity lasted, and expanded, well into the 20th century. Get saved now so you don't go to hell forever. Why take chances?

Nobody ... well, almost nobody, not even folks who don't believe in hell, wants to take chances when it comes to something as serious as spending the rest of eternity burning in a lake of fire ... so why not play life safe n' smart, and either believe in God, or accept Christ or adopt whatever religious approach fits best ... just in case it turns out that there actually is a divine being and an afterlife, after all?

Logically, what sense does it make to take needless chances? Why not play it safe?

* Blaise Pascal; Pascal's Wager

-- --

What did Christ ask? That we accept him based on probability theory, or that we believe in him with our hearts? Did he command us to place our faith in him, or to hedge an everlasting bet in safety?

Safety and "not taking chances" didn't rank very high on Christ's list of worldly priorities: logically, "playing it safe" sorta contradicts allowing yourself to be flailed, humiliated and nailed to a cross between two thieves.

-- --

"Perfect sense" Christianity and "Play It Safe" faith is as close to knowing Christ as some believers will ever get.

For those interested in their own well-being, faith in Christ translates to a fingers-crossed faith and a hope that Christ will intercede on their behalf to protect them from harm and keep them safe from all kinds of calamities and misfortune: "Lord, let's make a deal. I'll believe in you if you believe in me. Wha'dya say?"

Lord, put me first and keep me in front of the line ... unless some kind of suffering, persecution or profession of faith is involved.

-- -- --

"But Joe, I believe the Bible teaches that God wants to reward me and make those who follow Christ rich!"

I believe that, too.

But God's riches and rewards won't have anything to do with money, with having luck, with playing it safe ... or with being content and having lots of stuff.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

- Philippians 4:12

My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

- Colossians 2:2-3

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

- Philippians 3:10-11

How can something so small make me feel so sick?

I got a flu shot last year soon as they became available. A few weeks later, I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache (I only get one or two headaches a year) and chills, soon followed by nausea and the distinct impression something's wrong. Within minutes I was ...ah, lowering my head and dissociating myself from last's night's dinner.

Funny how regurgitating can make you almost instantly feel better.

-- --

About every two weeks for the past two months, it's felt like the flu's coming back ... which results in two or three more days flat on my back. Fatigued, listless and aching. It's not just me: other folks have complained about the exact same symptoms.

Compared to lots of the other viruses out there, the seasonal flu variety virus isn't particularly nasty. At least, not compared to Biohazard Level 4 viruses like Ebola, DENV (Dengue Fever), the Marburg Virus, Lassa Fever and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever.

Makes me start wondering, "Viruses aren't even alive, so how can something so tiny ... which scientists have measured as being only about .000003937 inches in size ... cause an adult human being to get soooo sick?"

In every case, the answer always comes back to this: A virus infects a specific host according to specific receptors and the availability of factors required for viral multiplication in the host cells.

---

Sin reminds me of a virus.

Different people are susceptible to different viruses, but all people are susceptible to some viruses.

Some viruses will make you sick; other viruses are inevitably fatal. It's hard to grasp what the symptoms are like, until you've been infected.

Being inoculated will not prevent you from becoming sick.

Many people have a hard time accepting that something so small and so ubiquitous can eventually make a person so urgently (and unexpectedly) sick.

Some people are more worried about getting sick from a virus than they are about recognizing the consequences of "So what? It's only a tiny sin."

Advanced Theology & Stuff

I borrowed this from JNelson at Philosophy Over Coffee. I sincerely hope that no one except theologians are offended. :-)

Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and James Cone find themselves all at the same time at Caesarea Philippi. Who should come along but Jesus, and he asks the four famous theologians the same Christological question, "Who do you say that I am?"

Karl Barth stands up and says: "You are the totaliter aliter, the vestigious trinitatum who speaks to us in the modality of Christo-monism."

Not prepared for Barth's brevity, Paul Tillich stumbles out: "You are he who heals our ambiguities and overcomes the split of angst and existential estrangement; you are he who speaks of the theonomous viewpoint of the analogia entis, the analogy of our being and the ground of all possibilities."

Reinhold Niebuhr gives a cough for effect and says, in one breath: "You are the impossible possibility who brings to us, your children of light and children of darkness, the overwhelming oughtness in the midst of our fraught condition of estrangement and brokenness in the contiguity and existential anxieties of our ontological relationships."

Finally James Cone gets up, and raises his voice: "You are my Oppressed One, my soul's shalom, the One who was, who is, and who shall be, who has never left us alone in the struggle, the event of liberation in the lives of the oppressed struggling for freedom, and whose blackness is both literal and symbolic."

And Jesus writes in the sand, "Huh?"

Four at 2 and 6

Four Promises from Me

2 PM and 6PM ET

"We need to send Washington a message before it's too late!"

I was so angry last night about an on-going political issue that I sat down to fire off a post expressing my thoughts. But before I could flip open the lap top, I kept hearing a question that needed answering first: What does that have to do with sharing the Gospel?

After about 15 minutes, no matter how I turned things around and tried re-examining the subject, the answer kept coming back the same: Nothing. And so that post evaporated without even coming close to the keyboard.

---

It makes perfect sense to lots of Christians to use the power of their numbers to influence and guide public policy. There's so much evil in the world, from local merchants demanding to open their doors on Sundays, to state legislators mandating what Biology textbooks are approved for public schools, to Capitol Hill and self-serving legislative agendas, that it only seems natural for believers to want to wade into the fray as one body and demand that their rights be respected along with everyone else's.

"Let's take our faith from the pulpit to the polls," in other words. Just look at the evil times we're living in: isn't it time to stop turning the other cheek and start fighting back?

---

Rome was a fairly debauched place during the days when Christ preached the gospel. Contemporary accounts detailed all kinds of perversion, corruption and excess ... yet somehow Christ's message didn't include directives about organizing his church into political action committees "to stamp out evil and make the world a decent place."

What Jesus did say was that the day of Salvation is at hand, that he'll be coming back on the day and time of God's choosing and that when he does, God's word will be the weapon he wields to crush evil and destroy wickedness forever.

Not a handful of clever bumper stickers. Not a letter-writing campaign. Not any politician's vision, not any political action committee and certainly not either of our two political parties.

Oprah Viewer Awaiting Instructions

Actress/writer and Chicago resident Robyn Okrant decided that for one full year she would follow the advice of Oprah Winfrey to see if it genuinely improved her life. She started a blog entitled "Living Oprah" to keep track of her progress.

-

Living Oprah Quotes

"I am not attempting to prove Oprah wrong or right but I am trying to encourage women, highly susceptible to the media's influence, to question the sources."—Robyn Okrant²

"On one hand, I am concerned about the manner in which power is wielded by celebrities and on the other hand, I am doubly concerned about how willing we are to hand over our power to our gurus."—Robyn Okrant¹

"I'm interested in seeing what happens when an average American woman... tries to keep up with Oprah's advice to (as her website touts) 'live your best life.'"—Robyn Okrant¹

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/oprah_viewers_patiently_awaiting

Hey, wait a minute.

If Oprah, Eckhart Tolle and Anthony Robbins all died in a plane crash together on their way to the latest groundbreaking mind-opening self-help seminar, who would you turn to for answers then?

Who would you call if your life depended on it?

237

According to crime statistics there were 276 homicides in Baltimore in 2006, the second-highest homicide rate per 100,000 of all U.S. cities of 250,000 or more population. Though this is significantly lower than the record-high 379 homicides in 1993, the homicide rate in Baltimore is nearly seven times the national rate, six times the rate of New York City, and three times the rate of Los Angeles. -wikipedia

Literal Interpretation

(blog lite)

A few minutes ago I was reading in an online forum that in Christ's time, the only Jewish sect that denied Heaven and an afterlife was the Sadducees.

And that's what they made them sad, you see.

E-mail from Vernon