Education and the Heart
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In October of 2009, a terrible gang rape happened in California.  An estimated 10 males gang raped a girl for over two hours after a homecoming dance one evening.  As if that wasn’t tragic and horrifying enough, an additional 10 or more people were standing around watching this atrocity go on. 

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Shortly after the news hit the airwaves, media outlets immediately launched in to discussions about how such a horrible thing could have happened.  Yes, it is indeed a terrible, terrible thing that happened to this young girl.  What prompts such acts to evil?  How do we prevent such acts of evil? 

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The parents of the young girl released a statement⁽¹⁾ urging people in their outrage over the issue, to please take a constructive approach to resolving this issue.  They then implied about the need for better education, and a change in atmosphere within schools, to prevent this type of thing from happening again.  News outlets discussed with several people about ‘the solution’ for this problem over the next few days… Better security and better education were the top listed ideas.

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I wanted to take a great point I was reading about on another blog and share it with you here in my own words.  There has been an endless amount of coverage on the recent Tiger Woods tragedy or scandal or what have you.  News channels have brought in a wide range of ‘experts’ to analize why and how Tiger could have done such a thing.
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The “expert opinion” given by most of these people has been all over the board, but, notice carefully which type of ‘expert’ you never see giving their analysis… We have the publicist, psychologists, lawyers; We have friends of Tiger, and friends of his mistresses and the ladies themselves; We don’t have any ‘experts’ giving a spiritual analysis.  Why is it that a pastor or other Christian leader (or, to be fair, other religious leaders) are not considered part of the panel that discusses the analysis of what the problem is?
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Why could this be?
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One person in the media, Brit Hume, recently “appealed to Tiger Woods to find redemption and forgiveness in Christianity… and presents the issue as one of objective truth …and gets right to the heart of the matter of alienation with others and God and our need for forgiveness and reconciliation. He doesn’t present Christianity as a placebo, faith makes us feel better. He offers what Woods needs, what we all need: redemption.”⁽¹⁾  He was soon thereafter ransacked with attacks from other media outlets and even comedian Jon Stewart, who openly and blatantly mocked the Christian faith, using Hume as his primary target⁽²⁾.
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I propose that the Christian worldview… the Christian message that we call the Gospel… the Good News, is a threat to todays western culture.
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ABC Nightline aired a debate on the 26th between author and philosopher Deepak Chopra and Bishop Carlton Pearson facing-off against Pastor Mark Driscoll (Pastor of the Mars Hill Church) and Annie Lobert (founder of a Christian ministry “Hookers for Jesus”) on the topic “Does Satan Exist?”
I’ve watched all of it now on the ABC website, and would suggest either watching it when you have a chance.

So, does Satan exist?  What do you think?
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I don’t normally use my blog for causes, but I think this is a good one…

North East India Project has recently partnered with Smile Train; a non profit helping children with cleft palates. NEIP has recently sent two children in India, Alum and Tsuti, to a Smile Train doctor who has performed the first part of their cleft palate surgery; closing up the palate. Their second and final surgery, fixing their upper lip, will most likely be in 4-6 weeks, and will provide them with a new smile. The Smile Train doctor is located in Shillong, Meghalaya, which is over 300 miles from the children’s village. Word is beginning to spread around the state of Nagaland, and NEIP is already receiving more requests to help other children…

THEY NEED YOUR HELP

We want
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I get over 20+ different newsletters in my inbox every couple of days along with browsing the local newspaper website and other national news websites, so needless to say, there’s a lot of news out there… I use Digg quite a bit to keep a list of news articles I read throughout the month… many are funny, sad, terrible, and some just plain bizzare, but it’s all true.  Here’s the list for September… Enjoy!

http://digg.com/users/JPowers524/history.rss

~maximize screen for best viewing~  Posts will be continually be updated over the next few weeks as the news continues, so keep checking back.

 CLICK HERE if you wish to contribute financially to help these persecuted/displaced people of Orissa.  Be sure to contribute to the “Asia Disaster Relief Fund” 

Updated 10-04-08: PowerPoint
Someone has put together a PowerPoint Slideshow with text and images about the violence in Orissa.  It is informative and worth watching… Download here. 

Updated 9-28-08: Current Known Statistics & Affected areas
24 August to 29 September, 2008

States listed in alphabetical order

1. BIHAR

1 Church damaged: http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/2417/45/

2. CHHATTISGARH

4 Nuns assaulted: http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/2432/45/

3. JHARKHAND

1 Church attacked and attempted ‘reconversion’ of Christians: http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/2435/45/

4. KARNATAKA (several stories at http://indianchristians.in/news/content/category/7/21/45/)

4 (of 29) Districts affected

19 Churches damaged or destroyed, but attacks continuing

20 Nuns, women injured by police

5. KERALA
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John McCain’s biographical Video. One of the best canidate biographical video’s I’ve ever seen. This,
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