May 13, 2008

DO THOSE DOUR BRITS NEED GOD?

A group of British lawmakers says residents of the United Kingdom are unhappy mostly because they've abandoned God and religion. Does faith inevitably lead to happier lives? What do you think?

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SAVING SACRED STRUCTURES

I have an affinity for sacred spaces -- churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, chapels.

Which is why I occasionally take people from my church on tours of sacred structures around Kansas City. It helps them see how others use their sacred space and gives them a better sense of the richness of the institutions that help to make up our social fabric.

(The photo here of Christ Temple Church at 34th and the Paseo, formerly the Beth Shalom synagogue, is one of the places we've toured.)

But what happens when those structures wear out, need help, get abandoned or otherwise run into trouble? That's where Friends of Sacred Structures steps in. This is a really wonderful organization that does a great deal without many resources.

In its 15-plus years of existence, It has helped to secure the future for at least 100 sacred structures, starting with the salvation of White Oak Chapel, which was built by descendants of slaves in 1912 in Kansas City's Northland. (Another of the structures it has helped to preserve is Christ Temple, pictured here.)

FOSS is redefining its mission a little these days because it has recognized that some of what it has been doing falls under the "community development" description. When, for instance, it helps a church to rehabilitate a building that is used for various neighborhood programs, from recreation to day care, it is having an effect that goes beyond simply preserving worship space or making new uses for such space.

So FOSS is gearing up to speak to people and foundations around town, hoping to raise about $1 million over the next few years that will be used as matching funds to help congregations maintain and restore their sacred space, some of which is used for largely secular purposes. Toward that end, FOSS has created an "Ambassadors Program" that will help volunteers raise awareness in the community and seek funding.

If FOSS succeeds over the long term, it will mean stronger neighborhoods for Kansas City and a richer collection of sacred spaces. The FOSS Web site will tell you how you can help.

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P.S.: There's a new free Web research tool that might be helpful for Bible study groups and others. It's called ChunkIt, and you can see a demonstration of it by clicking here or you can download it by clicking here.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

Comments

[Joe Barone]

Faith does not necessarily lead to a happier life here on earth. Even Mother Teresa had her midnight of the soul.

[Joe Barone]

Again you share a really interesting link (Friends of Sacred Structures). Thanks.

[Dolores Lear]

Beautiful religious temples, are not GODs Temple of LIFE.

Matthew 6:24. KJV. (Jesus) "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

How can a person Kill or approve Killing LIFE, for the government, and also Serve their God, that said to Humans, Thou Shalt Not Kill?

Ezekiel 20:30. "Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? "

God's Daily Promises, e-mail 5/12/08. "What do you serve your mind? Philippians 4:8. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
Fulton John Sheen. "No one would allow garbage at his table, but many allow it served into their minds."

Me: Why are our Minds Certain, that God gave Man divided Governments, so they could Kill each other in Self Defense? These are not the teachings of God.

Matthew 5:27,28. (Jesus) "Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Jesus was Celibate, and also the males of his Movement, even if sexually active before.

IS it Time, for males to become like Asexual/Celibate like Jesus, and Take Care of all the Overreproduced Starving and Homeless Life, instead of building and taking Care of Pagan Temples?

GODs Temple is our Planet and All LIFE.

[Patricia]

Thanks for the info on FOSS and little White Oak Chapel, Bill. I looked around for a pic and could not find, but did see that it is now on Stroud's land. I also happened upon the historic Liberty African-American tour.
http://www.historicliberty.org/tours/AfricanAmericanTour.htm
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ChunkIt sounds like a great tool and I will download. I love Project Gutenberg.
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It seems strange that in such a secular country as Britain, lawmakers would release the linked report. It's even stranger to me that the report doesn't seem to be sourced with surveys or......anything besides opinion.

I think there's a grain of truth in what they say, although I think that it is woefully prejudiced to find Christianity as the only answer. Spirituality and other religions have like effects, in focusing people on the non-material, instead of material things.

There have also been studies showing that when people focus outside of themselves on volunteer and charity work, or giving, that there are similar benefits.

I know some pretty miserably unhappy Christians.

[Patricia]

This is the most e-mailed article on the NYTimes today:
"The Neural Buddhists"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13brooks.html?em&ex=1210824000&en=787e405a3a54e904&ei=5087%0A

[Dolores Lear]

The Bible is about the Physical Atom Elements combined with the Spirit Electro-Magnetic Force Elements. Without the Spirit/EMF Element, Physical Life cannot be Alive. The breath of God in the beginning was the Spirit/EMF.

What is Important Love? Love for Saving Sacred Structures with Unequal Praying Hands, Or, Love of Saving Humans, that are Starving, Homeless and Dying from Disease, with their Equal Serving Hands?

What does it mean to Love to 'Take Care' of GODs Planet, and the Life on it? Has Love for Unnecessary Things, Overcome the Sharing Equally of GODs Resources?

Who Put a Pricetag on GODs Resources? GOD, God, or Fallen Mis-bred Humans?

Why is Unequal Flesh Lust Heterosexual Body Birth, with 'Life After Death in a Spirit Heaven' Teachings, More Important to Humans on Earth, than Eternal Physical Life?

Fallen Humans Should Strive for, with their High Tech Science, for 'Equal 'Eternal' Physical Asexual Life 'After Birth', God's Way, on Planets and in Spaceships?

Eternal LIFE is for the Physically Living, not for the Physically Dead, that Return to the Atom/Body and Electro-Magnetic Elements/Spirit of GOD.

Jesus, and the God that made Human Life on Earth, will return Alive, Physically in Spaceships, at the Judgement Day.

They are not Dead, in the Religious Spirit Heaven, but Alive in Perfect High Tech Physical Human Bodies.

So, How Do We Adjust Our Society, With Our High Tech Science, To Stop All Death, And Save Pure-bred Physical Life After Birth, Eternally?

It 'Is' Humanly Possible Today!

Patricia.
Thanks for "The Nureal Buddhist" reference on Spirit.

[Just Thinking]

It seems that God has written in our hearts what we need to know in order to see Him and find Him. We can look at the Universe and see His glory and power. We can look at the wrath against those who do evil and understand a universal sense of good and bad. We can look into our consciences and see God, more universally than people might ever have believed until recently, through a type of moral grammar or innate language. Our own biology rewards us when doing good for others.

Someone loves God when they want and work to be in harmony with what He wants for us. It is expressed in the language of the Universe and in the language of conscience. Violating the law of wrong and right often leaves people in a state of anxiety, fear or dread of impending doom, emptiness, depression, and may even cause mental illness through unresolved conflicts of violating one's own conscience but continuing to believe that one is a 'good' person.

On the other side of the wrath-reward coin are built-in, scientifically-observed, biological rewards for loving others. For example, levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin are elevated when we do good things for others, when we have good things done for us, and even when we just witness others doing good for others. A wide range of anti-depressants available today work by reducing the natural destruction of serotonin through a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. The natural way of elevating levels of serotonin comes by producing more serotonin, which happens when you do good for others; here is an recent article about how money can buy you happiness if you spend it on others:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2042446720080320?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true
BTW Ecstaty, cocaine, etc. can permanently destroy serotonin receptors.

I wonder how evolution programmed unselfishness.

[Dolores Lear]

I wonder how GOD programmed unselfishness.

I Know how God our Ancestors programmed Unselfish Male and Female Human Clones, without Flesh Lust, Hate and Greed, 'in the beginning' of Life as we Know it on Earth.

By High Tech Science Reproduction, in a High Tech Womb, that corrected all the Genetic Defects in the seed, that cause all the Flesh Lust Sins.

Feeling good about helping some Humans, temporarily, while we Kill All Life on Earth, with our pollution and weapons is Selfish. Our Planet, does not show Unselfishness by it's Humans.

They store up the wealth, while many Humans and other Life Species Starve, or are Killed by Weapons and Disease. Why?

Judging the Planet as a Whole Unit, Selfish is the name of the Game of Life, on our Home Planet, or there would be no Wars, Killing, Inequality, Inhumanity, or Starving and Homeless Brothers/Sisters.

Sharing Equally of the Resources and Work, with All GODs Children, is the Only Way for Eternal Physical Life, on a Planet or in a Spaceship to Exist.

Whatever Equal Life After Death is, has nothing to do with Equal Life After Birth, on Earth and in Spaceships.

GOD is a GOD of the Living and the Dead. God our Ancestors, are only involved with the Living, After Birth.

There is Eternal High Tech Reproduced Physical Life, on Earths and in Spaceship, and Genesis Proves this Truth of Life as we Know it, with our High Tech Science Knowledge today of High Tech Space Travel, and making a fetus in the lab.

We only need a High Tech Womb to make Pure-bred Genetic and Physical Pure-bred Humans, like the Gods of Earth, that made Humans in their Human Image.

[Patricia]

You're welcome, Dolores.