Serendipity

Yesterday morning, I was watching TV (a program in ID--Investigation Discovery ) when I heard a faint knocking at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone, but got up to see who was here...and it came as no surprise that it was a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses . An older man and woman...Bibles, a fancy leather folder and a carry-all bag in their arms. Fortunately, the way our house is set up, I saw them through I window before I reached the door and decided right then I was not going to open the door. I have dealt with many of them over the years and I don't like the way they try to force you to listen to their spiel . Try to get a straight-forward answer from them about some more difficult aspects of the Bible...and they talk in circles avoiding the question...because they don't know the answer! Don't get me wrong here...I don't have a problem with anyone being religious regardless of what religion that might be. What I do have a problem with though, is h...

July 25, 2011 (NY) Religion has always been a touchy subject for me, having grown up in a dual-religion household: Protestant and Catholic. As a child, my parents wanted me to know both of their religions, my dad hoping I would remain a Catholic and my mom wanting me to chose which one was right for me. Problem is...I never did chose...and have been anything but religious all these years. Don't get me wrong...I am not an atheist...but consider myself scientifically oriented and hopefully logical. I am a person that needs concrete proof that something does exist...specifically "God". The Bible alone doesn't cut it for me. I do not disrespect anyone who does believe in God or any of the other deities...it is their choice. Trust me...there are times that I wish I could believe in God...but I struggle too hard against my own logic to attempt believing in something as vague as God.  An interesting opinion/editorial was written by a friend of mine, which is tit...

Do they? Really? Over the years, it has become a pet peeve of mine as well as a great concern over how a child should be disciplined. Maybe it's something that comes with age...but maybe it's something that no longer seems right...because doesn't violence breed violence?  I'm not talking about spanking a child with your hand on their butt...I'm talking about hitting them with a belt or paddle. What the law now refers as corporal punishment.  Where did we humans get the notion that hitting a child with something hard was discipline? "Spare the rod, spoil the child".  Biblical reference?  Not at all.  In fact, it came from a 17th century poem titled “Hudibras” by Samuel Butler. The actual verse reads:  “What medicine else can cure the fits Of lovers when they lose their wits? Love is a boy by poets styled Then spare the rod and spoil the child.” At the time that this was written, it referred to the spanking of a woman,...