Gay rights activists have been protesting outside Mormon temples since the passage of Proposition 8. Nicholas Riccardi Los Angeles Times In June, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a fateful decision. They called on California Mormons to donate their time and money to the campaign for Proposition 8, which would overturn a state Supreme Court ruling that permitted gay marriage. That push helped the initiative win narrow passage on election day. And it has made the Mormon Church, which for years has striven to be seen as part of the American mainstream, a political target. Keep reading…        Less

We look at a person outer appearance and we assume the worst. Why do we cast stones at the castaways, Jesus always surrounded Himself with the sinners, and here we are today no one wants to talk to the prostitute or the drug dealers and drunkards. Why is that? But yet you open your mouth and say I will pray for you, they don’t need you praying for them what they want is for you to come out of your comfort zone and show yourself friendly like Jesus showed Himself to the people. True ministry is outside of our four walls. And sadly but true most saints will never do any real ministry where they will make an impact on this world. All because we don’t want to come out of our comfort zones. Join me as I share with you how a prostitute in the bible humbled herself to Jesus all because she wanted a new life! Have you considered the cost? Bible | Religion | Teachings | Family Less

Recently President Elect Obama apologized to Former First Lady Nancy Reagan for joking that she held séances in the White House. The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted with astrologers during her husband's presidency. So what if she held séances? Is there something wrong with séances or with consulting with astrologers for that matter? Does the Bible speak on these activities? For the answers to these questions and more discussion on the occult from a biblical perspective, please listen in. seance | Psychic | president | occult | astrology Less

You have faith for everyone else you’ve heard all the sermons and read every scripture on faith; and yet you don’t have faith for yourself. Why is that? You pray about things in your life and you press through and yet your circumstances have not changed. Do you know why? It’s because you do not believe according to your faith. Jesus healed many people and He asked them one question, He said do you believe that I am able to do this? Now it’s time for you to respond to His question, what will be your answer? The man that was blind said yes and Jesus said “according to your faith will it be done to you.” You can read all the scripture but if you don’t have faith and exercise that faith your situation will not change. Bible | Family | Religion | Relationship | Teaching Less

I was visited again this morning by a lovely Jehovah’s Witness. He seemed to be a very sweet person. I’m laughing like God was tickling me. In honor of that, this is a post about the benefits of no longer being a Jehovah’s Witness (beyond not having to go door-to-door on a blustery day like today). I’d like to set the stage with a satirical treatment of the benefits of being a JW. An illuminating example is this post by the Theocratic Joker: Jehovah’s Witnesses can count the time they share their faith with nonbelievers door-to-door or with young children, thus proving to God, in actual hard numbers, how worthy they are to have everlasting life. Jehovah’s Witnesses are encouraged not to attend college, which promotes independent thinking and is controlled by demons. They are happy to get a good job as a janitor or a window washer. Jehovah’s Witnesses get to celebrate the birth of a child but not the anniversary of the birth. They also do not have to worry about birthdays, holidays and Christmas, all of which are pagan and controlled by demons. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not pass a collection plate at their meetings like the demonized churches do. Instead there are collections boxes in their Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls, and they are often reminded from the platform and in their literature not to forget to contribute. They are also urged to put in their wills that when they die, their house, CD’s, jewelery, life insurance, and cash go directly to the Watchtower Society. The end is fast approaching so their families really have no need for money that should rightfully go to them. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate holidays so they do not have to be with their families during these special times to enjoy each other’s company and eat the cookies, turkey, ham, pies, and other such food. Because Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only true Christians on earth, we do not have the problems that other churches have with broken families, adultery, fornication, pedophiles, over drinking, and gossip. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not have to worry about giving food, shelter and clothing to the poor and needy in our community because we give them the Truth which will enable them to live forever in a paradise earth. Jehovah’s Witnesses are in close contact with God as he speaks to them through the Faithful and Discreet Slave and through the Watchtower. Jehovah’s Witnesses alone will live in Paradise where there will be no cars, TVs, computers, radios, theaters, washing machines, clothes dryers, refrigerators, stoves, airplanes, electric lights, or malls to buy or clothes. Just miles and miles of garden and lions to pet. Jehovah’s Witnesses go to a summer District Assembly vacation every year, at the same city every year and have a picnic at their seats during the sessions and then stay at the fine hotels that they are told to stay in. Jehovah’s Witnesses know the true meaning of the words soon, near, very soon, very near, so close, just around the corner, shortly, near future and rapidly approaching. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not have to worry about getting old or having a retirement plan. See No. 11 above. Hopefully, now you can understand the many benefits of being a Jehovah’s Witness. Now, for the benefits of no longer being a Jehovah’s Witness, I would love it if former JWs would post on that topic and link it in the comments. My dear friend Richard Francis started this ball rolling, and I think it’s a good idea to revisit this from time to time - so as to keep remembering what has been gained, and to feel the sense of gratitude that such remembering can give. The first link is Richard’s list. Reading it made me very happy. The second link includes a few of the lists made by others responding in kind. In the third link, the benefits of leaving are implicit rather than listed, but you can see some heartening trends across all of these. Ten Aspects of Freedom from Organization Freedom from Cult-psychology Narratives of Leaving the JWs When I think of the benefits of being freed from “the organization,” it’s pretty overwhelming. Much of it is very difficult to describe to someone who has not been through that kind of experience. However, there are a few major categories into which the benefits tend to fall for me. I’m probably missing some, but here is the best I can do today: Freedom: As many of the posts suggest, this is the overarching category. All of the others assume this one, which has two movements - 1) Liberating freedom from the anti-loving beliefs and practice that attend the guidance of the Watchtower leadership’s policies - from control and fear and arbitrary divisions of thinking and bad argument and small-minded judgments to complicity with all of the above and more. 2) Authentic freedom to be an free and authentic adult. That would encompass such things as being able to think things through for myself, choose whom to respect and admire, be politically concerned and active, give to charities of my choosing, experiment with diverse spiritual methods and thoughts, share authentic friendships with anyone that I can or wish to, to pay attention to and trust my own gifts and calling, and much, much, much more. Love - as in a Deeper Capacity for, and Ability to : When you view other people in terms of their possibly contaminating effect on you, when you view them in terms of points on your work report, when you view them as about to be murdered by God, when you view them as inferior to yourself, when you are threatened by their ideas and feelings, it is pretty difficult to care and to be kind and to trust and to enter into dialogue and relationship with them. If agape love is reserved for the members of a small in-group, your capacity to love others is very restricted. The love I used to know was always, always conditional - but the spirit is all about love, and the more there is love, the more love there can be. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). No-one is perfect in love because no-one is perfect, but when you can love others without restriction and prejudice, your capacity for love… increaseth (grin). Another benefit of this is that when you learn to love, you also learn that there is much that is lovable about yourself - and this helps to undo the habitual self-loathing that seemed to go along with the self-righteousness training. Spirituality: My spiritual life is much more authentic, more real, more attuned, more… spiritual. I could expand on this, but I’d rather take on that subject matter in terms of specific topics. Suffice to say that there are substantial qualitative differences in the questions I ask, the kinds of answers I consider, and a different perspective even on such things as the role of “I” on the path to God. My thoughts about who and what God might be are radically changed, and that has made a huge difference. I’ve also benefited from a range of spiritual practices that had been denied to me. Ethics: Yes, it’s related. There is a kind of immature ethics that can only define right and wrong in terms of what authority figures dictate or in terms of what results in rewards and punishments. Such an ethics keeps you in an infantilized relationship with others. A rule-based ethics can never account for the actual realities of people’s lives. Another kind of ethics is based on kinship networks and group loyalties, but is limited to those groups. As a post-JW, it becomes possible to develop meta-principles and relational thinking that try to take everyone’s interest into account, not just those of a few. When you do not fear to hear a wide range of thoughts and testimonies, you can ethically evolve beyond a reliance on projection, scapegoating and appeals to authority. It also allows you - if you choose - to consider the cultural and socio-political contexts of ethical claims. Laughter, Joy, Celebration: Enjoyment of all kinds, with only the restrictions of my own sense of ethics. I can laugh, be happy, and celebrate whatever I want to - large or small, in a manner conventional or eclectic. I love this. Creativity: I no longer have to feel that weird semi-ashamed veil that was thrown over everything to do with imagination and creativity. I can write, and dance, and sing, and paint, and imagine, and have reveries and insights and all the rest. I can be curious, and investigate, and think, and see new connections between unlike things, finding and constructing new meanings - those mysterious shimmery bits of radiance that I value so highly. Communities: Plural. It is an amazing thing to be able to participate at will in communities -groups of people that share something in common - anything! What an idea! Reading groups, political action groups, online groups, groups based on ideas or hobbies or anything! Wow! You can meet and form relationships with all kinds of interesting people you’d never have met otherwise. This one is a very special benefit, partially because when I realized that I could actually do this, it helped to counteract what was an initial skepticism toward all communities (once burned, twice shy). More than that, the sometimes-overlapping circles of my friends now mean so much to me that I can really compare it against how it once was and see what a difference my friends have made. I am thankful for true friends and for the occasional gift of a real spiritual brother or sister (in a sense that makes a caricature of the words as I used to use them). Obviously, this post is written for former JWs (and the people who love them). I don’t really think there are a great many benefits associated with being a Jehovah’s Witness. If you are a current JW then you are also welcome to post real benefits that you feel as well, if you wish to do so, and link those in the comments. I have nothing against you, but only against the cruelties of the leadership. There are so many paths to God, and maybe - somehow - this is yours. God has a way of using everything, and I don’t think that any faithful heart is rejected. One of the huge benefits of not being a JW is that I am no longer required to disrespect spiritual paths that are not identical to the one to which I am called. Nor do I have to fear you or judge you to be worldly/evil simply for the reason that you are not part of an organization to which I belong. That’s a really, really big benefit from my perspective - but of course there are many, many, many people from many religious traditions who do not agree (may they be blessed). Click here to play Less

Many black people have but their full trust in Barak Obama. That he will bring a better day and deliver them from the woes of America. Has the deliverer come? Come join us as we dicuss this according to the Holy scriptures in the Bible. Obama | Barak | Salvation for blacks | messiah for blacks | Freedom from slavery Less

Dr. Mark Bailey, President of Dallas Seminary and professor of Bible Exposition, discusses how to represent God in our culture. He encourages us to depend on God in times of need, which will testify to our society that He is true and worthy to be worshiped. Less

What will President-elect Obama's promises of change mean for the Middle East? JOURNAL guest host Deborah Amos sits down with Elizabeth Rubin, the Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Slate magazine columnist Fred Kaplan. And, EXPOSE on THE JOURNAL follow a team from the Denver Post's award-winning reporting on the broken justice system on Indian reservations across the country. And, for Veteran's Day, veterans speak up about the best ways to thank them for their service. Less

Dr. Anita ministers on a different aspect of this familiar scripture, sharing parts of her own personal testimony. Dr. Anita | Christian | Ministry | Elder Care | Nursing Homes Less

Wow! As we celebrate four years, I guess it’s somewhat apropos that, as the very first Christian podcast not based on repurposed church sermons, we have one of the fellows who was at ground zero of the beginning of Jesus Music…the precursor of Contemporary Christian Music. Chuck Girard was one of the founding members of the group, Love Song, which first started singing at Calvary Chapel Bible studies in Costa Mesa, California. This was at the very beginning of the Jesus People movement, which began at Calvary Chapel. Even before this time, however, Chuck was there during the early days of rock ‘n’ roll, recording with several bands, including The Castells and The Hondells. This interview is full of music clips and several full songs that you are sure to enjoy. Chuck’s newest CD, Evening Shadows ,is available now. Click here to buy! Chuck Girard “Evening Shadows” (mp3) from “Evening Shadows” (Seven Thunders Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Napster Buy at Rhapsody Stream from Rhapsody Buy at Puretracks Buy at mTraks More On This Album Less

Dr. Kevin Bradford, Missionary in Residence and adjunct professor of World Missions, discusses three "wishes" in Mark 10. He encourages us to depend upon God in faith while responding to His purpose for our lives. Less