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Palm Sunday

Goshin said:
A couple Sundays ago we had a Romanian missionary in to speak. He and his family are American but live mostly in Romania, running a small church there.
He spoke extensively about the masses of Ukrainian refugees pouring in, many with only the contents of one bag or backpack, some without even that.

My church agreed to provide needed items and funding to help the refugees.

I say this not to brag on my church as such (I won't even name it), but to demonstrate, amid all the criticism of Christianity, that Christian churches do more to help people in need than any other single entity. Every soup kitchen and homeless shelter in my area is run and funded by a church.
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It's been awhile, but I once did a research study on charity and if I'm not mistaken your statement here bore out to be true. Despite all their faults Christians, for the most part, are the most charitable people. And their acts of charity have inspired non-Christians to follow suit.
 
Rumpel said:
This picture is NOT a good picture for Palm Sunday.
Don't you know what PALM SUNDAY means?
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How about you talk about what it means, specifically, to you?

I attend an "evangelical" Protestant church, and while Palm Sunday is spoken of from the pulpit there aren't a lot of specific traditions surrounding the day practiced in my church.

I'd be interested to hear about what your church does.
 
Overitall said:
It's been awhile, but I once did a research study on charity and if I'm not mistaken your statement here bore out to be true. Despite all their faults Christians, for the most part, are the most charitable people. And their acts of charity have inspired non-Christians to follow suit.
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I've long asserted that Christianity has an "image problem", one largely created by the media and a small number of controversial figures.

If a preacher does something immoral, or a prominent televangelist says something that can be construed as idiotic, the media is right there, making it headlines all week.

Yet you very rarely hear, in major news media, about the small-church pastor who works 100 hours a week for a tiny salary, trying to help drug addicts, council families in crisis, comfort people in the hospital, console those who have lost a loved one, rescue someone who is wrecking their life, talk to someone who is troubled, and raise money to feed the homeless. Not sufficiently titillating for the masses I suppose.

Those pastors are the majority, not the megachurch/tv flash and glitter crowd.
 
Goshin said:
I've long asserted that Christianity has an "image problem", one largely created by the media and a small number of controversial figures.

If a preacher does something immoral, or a prominent televangelist says something that can be construed as idiotic, the media is right there, making it headlines all week.

Yet you very rarely hear, in major news media, about the small-church pastor who works 100 hours a week for a tiny salary, trying to help drug addicts, council families in crisis, comfort people in the hospital, console those who have lost a loved one, rescue someone who is wrecking their life, talk to someone who is troubled, and raise money to feed the homeless. Not sufficiently titillating for the masses I suppose.

Those pastors are the majority, not the megachurch/tv flash and glitter crowd.
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Quite true. The actions of a few should never overshadow the good works of the many. Yet to those looking for fault they do. It's one of the reasons I never speak of my personal background.
 
Overitall said:
Quite true. The actions of a few should never overshadow the good works of the many. Yet to those looking for fault they do. It's one of the reasons I never speak of my personal background.
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I've seen the job my pastor does. Half the people he visits in the hospital or conducts funerals for aren't even members of his church.

He works his keister off dealing with some of the hardest most heart-breaking things that exist in this world. When anyone asks for help his answer is always Yes.

I've always considered myself a tough man, but I couldn't do what he does. I would break under the strain. He has certainly earned my respect.
 
bluesmoke said:
I didn't say you implied that Jesus dying would relieve the world of wars, poverty, etc. All I said was that it didn't. What you say it did for people does not change that fact. Walking around with God's love in you does not put food in your stomach. It may make you feel better about things, but it doesn't make those things any better. Nothing you said was concrete. Nothing you said implied a translation of the spiritual to the actual to improve the plight of life in the world.

If you accuse me of lying and can't prove it, then you are the one lying.
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I never said it did that. So yes, you are the one lying.
 
Goshin said:
I've seen the job my pastor does. Half the people he visits in the hospital or conducts funerals for aren't even members of his church.

He works his keister off dealing with some of the hardest most heart-breaking things that exist in this world. When anyone asks for help his answer is always Yes.

I've always considered myself a tough man, but I couldn't do what he does. I would break under the strain. He has certainly earned my respect.
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...and a lot of us DO crack under the strain.
 
Overitall said:
God isn't so much concerned with quantity. Even if only one person accepted His invitation, His son would have still sacrificed his life for that one.

The Bible makes it clear that God is a God of justice. Justice demands allowing a choice. Sometimes, some atheists remind me of bratty children. They demand that their daddy allows them to do something and when he does they then complain that he allowed them to get hurt when they did it. How's that saying go? "You want your cake and want to eat it too."

The reason things will only get worse is because of man's choices.

Yea, that there is proof that men can do evil things. Maybe God shouldn't have created mankind and then evil men would not exist. But then neither would the very good men that are trying their best to save the people of Ukraine. Would you prefer the existence of no one in order to avoid the evil ones?
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Yes.
 
devildavid said:
The torture dance.
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Most people I know are thankful for the "dance" despite the heartaches that come with it. Of course you might be an exception to that and that's sad, imo.
 
Overitall said:
Most people I know are thankful for the "dance" despite the heartaches that come with it. Of course you might be an exception to that and that's sad, imo.
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The opinions of most people you know is sentimental. I am capable of seeing reality without being "sad", whatever that means.

We don't get the opinions of the victims of evil people who die. Or the opinions of those who suffer and die for any reason not of their own making.
 
devildavid said:
The opinions of most people you know is sentimental. I am capable of seeing reality without being "sad", whatever that means.
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If you don't know what that means, then you obviously lack sympathy/empathy towards others. I find that sad, and I know what it means.
devildavid said:
We don't get the opinions of the victims of evil people who die. Or the opinions of those who suffer and die for any reason not of their own making.
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No, but we do get those of the loved ones surviving those victims.
 
Overitall said:
If you don't know what that means, then you obviously lack sympathy/empathy towards others. I find that sad, and I know what it means.

No, but we do get those of the loved ones surviving those victims.
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Your use of sad is a condescending judgement of me. And you know nothing about me, so your analysis of me is more of the same.

And are all victims thankful for the experience? Does it make their lives better? Someone with true empathy would know.
 
devildavid said:
Your use of sad is a condescending judgement of me. And you know nothing about me, so your analysis of me is more of the same.
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I can only go by what you say in your posts. I judge your comments.
devildavid said:
And are all victims thankful for the experience? Does it make their lives better? Someone with true empathy would know.
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You still don't understand the significance of the song I posted. I did so because I can relate to it in a personal way. I've lost loved ones -- family and friends. Their memory lives on within me and I treasure those memories. I can deal with the pain of their loss because of those memories.
 
Overitall said:
I can only go by what you say in your posts. I judge your comments.

You still don't understand the significance of the song I posted. I did so because I can relate to it in a personal way. I've lost loved ones -- family and friends. Their memory lives on within me and I treasure those memories. I can deal with the pain of their loss because of those memories.
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Having loved ones die happens to all of us. Your statement was about having evil people exist or no people at all. I chose none at all. If we did not exist, we wouldn't know the difference. Existence alone is not necessarily a thing to be thankful for. It all depends on the individual.
 
devildavid said:
Having loved ones die happens to all of us. Your statement was about having evil people exist or no people at all. I chose none at all. If we did not exist, we wouldn't know the difference. Existence alone is not necessarily a thing to be thankful for. It all depends on the individual.
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It all depends on the experiences you have in life. That's the "dance". We don't like having our toes stepped on, but having the opportunity to dance at your daughter's wedding is worth the pain we might suffer. I don't know why you don't understand this. Have a good day.
 
devildavid said:
Your use of sad is a condescending judgement of me. And you know nothing about me, so your analysis of me is more of the same.

And are all victims thankful for the experience? Does it make their lives better? Someone with true empathy would know.
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Ah, you are so exquisitely sensitive to comments about you, and yet here you are presuming to know that the opinions of most people we know are "sentimental."
 
nota bene said:
Ah, you are so exquisitely sensitive to comments about you, and yet here you are presuming to know that the opinions of most people we know are "sentimental."
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Back to scolding.
 
Overitall said:
It all depends on the experiences you have in life. That's the "dance". We don't like having our toes stepped on, but having the opportunity to dance at your daughter's wedding is worth the pain we might suffer. I don't know why you don't understand this. Have a good day.
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I understand that not everyone has the same things in their lives. Some don't have what you call the dance
 
devildavid said:
I understand that not everyone has the same things in their lives. Some don't have what you call the dance
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I understand that and my heart groans for them. :(
 
nota bene said:
Again, how exquisitely sensitive to your own feelings but not to others'.
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Who are the others? No one that posts here. Did their feelings get hurt? Did they know what I posted? I take things personally that are addressed to me personally. That includes scolding.
 
devildavid said:
Who are the others? No one that posts here. Did their feelings get hurt? Did they know what I posted? I take things personally that are addressed to me personally. That includes scolding.
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Three ways to put out a fire is to "suffocate it by ensuring that it cannot have access to oxygen, to cool it with a liquid such as water which reduces the heat or finally to remove the fuel or oxygen source, effectively removing one of the three elements of fire". Adding more matches to it won't work.
 
devildavid said:
I understand that not everyone has the same things in their lives. Some don't have what you call the dance
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To have the dance, you have to go to the dance. You have to ask someone to dance.
Maybe the first one says no. Keep asking. Eventually someone will say yes, if you're halfway trying.

I'm reminded of a young man I know for whom life is an uphill slog in almost every way. You know what he does? He gets up every morning and keeps slogging up that hill. When he gets a No he tries again elsewhere. He never, ever gives up, and never will... he will reach the top of that hill by sheer will and determination.

Some people have it hard. I've had a rough time of it myself in many ways, but I keep going. When I go down, I'll go down swinging.

What else are you gonna do? Giving up is no fun. :)
 
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