Jeannie Fitzgerald
06-04-2005, 09:52 AM
I recently received the following email from a friend. Below is the reply I sent.
In light of the many perversions and jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding the attacks on Sept. 11).
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"
In light of recent events.terrorists attack, school shootings, etc I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in!!
My reply:
Rant alert!
Quare as it may sound coming from a die hard fundamentalist like me, I disagree with what Anne Graham had to say about "telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government." I support laws keeping religion in general (not necessarily just God) out of our schools and our government unless equal time or support can be given to all religions (not particularly practical given the numerous choices in the world). I saw a bumper sticker many years ago that essentially said that as long as anyone is suppressed, no one is truly free. I firmly believe freedom has to be unilateral. Suppression can take many forms. It may be targeted, such as the suppressions any Jew can tell you about. Or it could take the form of exclusion when allowances are made for major religions, such as for holidays in the schools and the workplace. Even changing Christmas and Easter to winter and spring breaks to allow for major non-Christian religions, many earth based religions (by dumb luck since many Christian holidays deliberately coincide with earth based religious events) and atheists do not allow, for example, many Native American religions, of which there are many, or Asian religions.
As long as the powers who are in public office agree with our religious beliefs, having religion in school is all hunky dory. But what happens if that power base shifts? What if by some quirk of fate a religion other than your own manages to capture a majority in government (Jews have been dealing with that for a long time)? What if that government then begins pushing its brand of religion (much like the extremists masquerading as fundamentalists are doing now)? That very thing, which had happened so much in Europe, especially England, is why our forefathers, while acknowledging God, did not want our new government in the business of governing religion. I still believe in that today. I have no problem with teaching the basics of what the major religions are and believe, along with any local minor ones, in our schools. It would contribute greatly to a well rounded education. I have no problem with a school presenting the various forms of creationism alongside the various forms of evolution theory (all theories of evolution, not just Darwinism). I do have a problem with schools deliberately excluding one or another or teaching theory as fact. What I do not believe is proper would be having Bible classes in the public schools. Nor the Torah, nor the Koran. Why should the Jewish or Muslims in this country pay taxes to pay for Bible classes (as many Bible Belt schools are trying to do). That would be no more right than Christians paying for classes on the Koran or the Torah (even though the Bible contains much of the latter).
Graham blames the lack of God in our schools for the lack of morals, conscience and knowledge of right or wrong in our young people today. BULL! Since when have the schools been responsible for raising children? The job of schools is to educate our children with the cooperation of us as parents (you teachers reading this may now snort with derision). They are not foster parents for them. Parents are the one who are responsible for teaching their children right from wrong, a job most of them are doing a miserable job of. Most children and young adults (under 40; I'm old) have no sense of right or wrong. To them it's whether you get caught or not. They have no sense of respect for others, especially for their elders or other authority. They have no work ethic. Their language is unbelievably foul (and they cannot understand why anyone would object to it). They have no sense of responsibility. They have no manners. They are selfish.They have no sense of commitment in marriage And the blame lies solely on their parents! Don't blame on a lack of God in the schools, not when vice, immorality, hatred, narrow mindedness and deception abounds in most, if not all, of the major religions (if you don't believe that, you're not reading or watching the news). It's not the job of schools or religions to raise children; it's the job of their parents. The schools and religions are there to guide parents in raising their children but if parents don't accept their responsibility, then school and religion haven't a chance.
As to the question of why God let 9/11 happen? Disasters have been happening since Adam and Eve got themselves kicked out of the Garden. Blaming God for letting disasters happen is like placing blame on parents for a child falling out of a tree while playing. It happens; build a bridge and get over it. Sure we could watch our children ever moment of their lives, protect them from every danger, every stress, every evil that could befall them but what kind of character would they develop? What kind of mettle? Would they be able to cope with adult life? In a word, no! The human race is the same way. God created us in a way that we have to be tested to develop. Why? I don't know. I don't care. I have faith He knew what He was doing when he did so. That is what it boils down to: faith! Faith is meaningless when it isn't tested. I have faith what we endure here on Earth is nothing compared to the reward we will reap after we leave this rock
Rant over. You are now being returned to your regularly scheduled email.
Love and hugs,
Jeannie
In light of the many perversions and jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding the attacks on Sept. 11).
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"
In light of recent events.terrorists attack, school shootings, etc I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in!!
My reply:
Rant alert!
Quare as it may sound coming from a die hard fundamentalist like me, I disagree with what Anne Graham had to say about "telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government." I support laws keeping religion in general (not necessarily just God) out of our schools and our government unless equal time or support can be given to all religions (not particularly practical given the numerous choices in the world). I saw a bumper sticker many years ago that essentially said that as long as anyone is suppressed, no one is truly free. I firmly believe freedom has to be unilateral. Suppression can take many forms. It may be targeted, such as the suppressions any Jew can tell you about. Or it could take the form of exclusion when allowances are made for major religions, such as for holidays in the schools and the workplace. Even changing Christmas and Easter to winter and spring breaks to allow for major non-Christian religions, many earth based religions (by dumb luck since many Christian holidays deliberately coincide with earth based religious events) and atheists do not allow, for example, many Native American religions, of which there are many, or Asian religions.
As long as the powers who are in public office agree with our religious beliefs, having religion in school is all hunky dory. But what happens if that power base shifts? What if by some quirk of fate a religion other than your own manages to capture a majority in government (Jews have been dealing with that for a long time)? What if that government then begins pushing its brand of religion (much like the extremists masquerading as fundamentalists are doing now)? That very thing, which had happened so much in Europe, especially England, is why our forefathers, while acknowledging God, did not want our new government in the business of governing religion. I still believe in that today. I have no problem with teaching the basics of what the major religions are and believe, along with any local minor ones, in our schools. It would contribute greatly to a well rounded education. I have no problem with a school presenting the various forms of creationism alongside the various forms of evolution theory (all theories of evolution, not just Darwinism). I do have a problem with schools deliberately excluding one or another or teaching theory as fact. What I do not believe is proper would be having Bible classes in the public schools. Nor the Torah, nor the Koran. Why should the Jewish or Muslims in this country pay taxes to pay for Bible classes (as many Bible Belt schools are trying to do). That would be no more right than Christians paying for classes on the Koran or the Torah (even though the Bible contains much of the latter).
Graham blames the lack of God in our schools for the lack of morals, conscience and knowledge of right or wrong in our young people today. BULL! Since when have the schools been responsible for raising children? The job of schools is to educate our children with the cooperation of us as parents (you teachers reading this may now snort with derision). They are not foster parents for them. Parents are the one who are responsible for teaching their children right from wrong, a job most of them are doing a miserable job of. Most children and young adults (under 40; I'm old) have no sense of right or wrong. To them it's whether you get caught or not. They have no sense of respect for others, especially for their elders or other authority. They have no work ethic. Their language is unbelievably foul (and they cannot understand why anyone would object to it). They have no sense of responsibility. They have no manners. They are selfish.They have no sense of commitment in marriage And the blame lies solely on their parents! Don't blame on a lack of God in the schools, not when vice, immorality, hatred, narrow mindedness and deception abounds in most, if not all, of the major religions (if you don't believe that, you're not reading or watching the news). It's not the job of schools or religions to raise children; it's the job of their parents. The schools and religions are there to guide parents in raising their children but if parents don't accept their responsibility, then school and religion haven't a chance.
As to the question of why God let 9/11 happen? Disasters have been happening since Adam and Eve got themselves kicked out of the Garden. Blaming God for letting disasters happen is like placing blame on parents for a child falling out of a tree while playing. It happens; build a bridge and get over it. Sure we could watch our children ever moment of their lives, protect them from every danger, every stress, every evil that could befall them but what kind of character would they develop? What kind of mettle? Would they be able to cope with adult life? In a word, no! The human race is the same way. God created us in a way that we have to be tested to develop. Why? I don't know. I don't care. I have faith He knew what He was doing when he did so. That is what it boils down to: faith! Faith is meaningless when it isn't tested. I have faith what we endure here on Earth is nothing compared to the reward we will reap after we leave this rock
Rant over. You are now being returned to your regularly scheduled email.
Love and hugs,
Jeannie