Survey: Churches Losing Youths Long Before College
June 30, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moral Decay
“The next generation of believers is draining from the churches, and it causes me great personal and professional concern,” said Ken Ham, founder and president of Answers in Genesis and a Young Earth creationist.
Hoping to shed light on what he believes is a monumental problem, Ham enlisted the services of America’s Research Group to study why young people were leaving. The results, published in Already Gone, will shake many churches to their very core, Ham states in the new book.
While previous surveys have shown that Christian students tend to quit church during their college years, the data collected by ARG found that most of them were already gone in middle school and high school.
According to ARG’s survey, 95 percent of 20- to 29-year-old evangelicals attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years. Only 55 percent went to church during high school. And by college, only 11 percent were still attending church.
“They’re sitting in our churches right now … and they’re already gone,” Ham said during a “State of the Nation” address last week.
Delving deeper into some of the reasons for the exodus, the research group found that nearly 40 percent of the surveyed twentysomethings first had doubts about the Bible in middle school. Another 43.7 percent said they first doubted that all of the accounts and stories in the Bible are true during their high school years. Only around 10 percent said they first became doubtful about the Bible accounts during college.
Among those who said they do not believe all the biblical accounts are true, the top reasons they gave for doubting the scriptures were: “it was written by men” (24 percent), “it was not translated correctly” (18 percent), “the Bible contradicts itself” (15 percent), and “science shows the world is old” (14 percent).
Huge Underground Chamber Found In Israel
A 2,000-year-old underground chamber has been discovered in Israel’s Jordan Valley.
The largest human-made cave in Israel, the 1-acre (0.4-hectare) space is thought to have begun as a quarry. In subsequent centuries it may have served as a monastery, hideout for persecuted Christians, or Roman army base, experts say.
Archaeologists working in the valley found the cave this past March when they came across a hole in a rock face.
As they were about to enter, two fearful-looking Bedouins appeared and warned the team that hyenas and wolves inhabited the cave.
But science prevailed, said team leader Adam Zertal, and once underground, “our eyes opened to see something unimaginable.”
The archaeologists peered into a huge hall lined with 22 thick pillars—giving the “impression of a palace,” added Zertal, of the University of Haifa in Israel.
“We didn’t have much light—it was complete darkness,” he said. But “even with the torches, we saw how glorious it looks.”
Etched into those columns were 31 Christian crosses, Roman letters, a Zodiac sign, and what looks like the Roman army’s pennant—all of which surprised the researchers.
“It surely was not just a quarry,” Zertal said.
Around the first century B.C. and the first century A.D., when the chamber’s creation likely began, the Roman-appointed King Herod the Great, who ruled the region from 37 to 4 B.C., had returned from Rome with plans to develop the Jordan Valley.
Thousands March In Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade
June 29, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moral Decay
About 2,000 participants in a gay pride parade have marched peacefully through Jerusalem.
In past years, the gay pride event in the holy city provoked violent protests, even stabbings, by ultra-Orthodox Jews and extremists. But this year, except for one egg-throwing incident, there were no clashes.
Police said they arrested the egg-tossing protester. Others put up signs and demonstrated in an ultra-Orthodox section of Jerusalem, far away from the parade.
The marchers waved rainbow and Israeli flags and donned rainbow dresses, shirts and headbands.
The parade was more restrained Thursday than a gay pride march in more secular Tel Aviv earlier this month. One marcher scolded another for removing his shirt, saying, “This is Jerusalem.”
Police sources said Wednesday that this year the parade is not expected to stir violent protests.
Police believed the controversial event would run smoothly as leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community – who in past years have led anti-gay protests – decided not to protest to avoid exposing their young people to the issue of homosexuality.
As a result, only 1,600 police officers were assigned to the parade, compared with 12,000 in 2006.
Surprising Number of Teens Believe They Will Die Young
June 29, 2009 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
A surprising number of teenagers – nearly 15 percent – think they’re going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behavior, new research suggests.
The study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they’re invulnerable to harm. Instead, a sizable number of teens may take chances “because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake,” said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.
That behavior threatens to turn their fatalism into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over seven years, kids who thought they would die early were seven time more likely than optimistic kids to be subsequently diagnosed with AIDS. They also were more likely to attempt suicide and get in fights resulting in serious injuries.
Borowsky said the magnitude of kids with a negative outlook was eye-opening.
via IndyStar.com | AP National | The Indianapolis Star.
Pope: Bones Found in Rome Tomb Belong to Apostle Paul
Pope Benedict XVI says bone fragments found in a tomb beneath the floor of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside-The-Walls are probably remains of the Apostle Paul.
The pontiff announced Sunday that carbon dating tests run on the fragments, which were found inside a stone sarcophagus discovered beneath the floor of the basilica, confirm that they date from first or second century.
“This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul,” Benedict said, speaking Sunday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-The-Walls.
Christians have traditionally believed St. Paul was buried beneath the main altar of the basilica, which was built in the late fourth century. The 8-foot-long sarcophagus containing the bone fragments was discovered in 2002.
The pope’s announcement came on the eve of the Feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, a major feast day for the Roman Catholic Church.
Paul and Peter are regarded by the faithful as the greatest early Christian missionaries.
Ark of The Covenant Not Going To Be Revealed
June 29, 2009 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
Yesterday, millions were waiting to watch eagerly the Ark of the Covenant revealed. A day passed but it was not made public. “No, the ark is not going to be revealed. Nobody could touch it. If you do so, God will smite you.” Abune Paulos Aba Gebremedhin said.
Paulos puts the blame on the Adnkronos journal, which originally posted the news, and rectification later on.
“…I am here to say what I saw, what I know and I can testify. I did not say that the Ark will be shown to the world.” Paulos is quoted to say on Adnkronos web site site.
Paulos also talked of building a museum in Axum, a structure that will receive and retain the treasures built for centuries and centuries to Axum, the news posted on Adnkronos site revealed.
The museum, funded by the foundation of the prince and that should be built within two years, could also be placed the Ark of the Covenant, but this needs to be decided by the Holy Synod, the supreme body of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, according to Aba Gebremedhin.
China Calls To Replace Dollar With World Currency
China’s central bank has reiterated its call for a new reserve currency to replace the US dollar.
The report from the People’s Bank of China PBOC said a “super-sovereign” currency should take its place.
Central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan has loudly led calls for the dollar to be replaced during the financial crisis.
The bank report called for more regulation of the countries that issue currencies that underpin the global financial system.
“An international monetary system dominated by a single sovereign currency has intensified the concentration of risk and the spread of the crisis,” the Chinese central bank said.
The dollar fell after the report was released. The US currency dropped 1% against the euro to $1.4088, and declined 0.8% versus the British pound to $1.6848.
Ark Of The Covenant To Be Unveiled Friday?
June 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world’s most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos.
Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, “Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of searches and studies for centuries.”
The announcement is expected to be made at 2 p.m. Italian time from the Hotel Aldrovandi in Rome. Pauolos will reportedly be accompanied by Prince Aklile Berhan Makonnen Haile Sellassie and Duke Amedeo D’Acosta.
Locust Swarms Destroying Crops Across Ethiopia
June 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
Locusts are destroying crops in seven regions of Ethiopia, where people rely on subsistence agriculture.
What causes these Biblical-sounding events? Why a swarm? Scientists discovered a few years back that at low densities, the insects were unorganized and went their separate ways. But when the group’s density increased, the bugs fell into an orderly line and began to follow the same direction.
Cashless Society By 2012, Says Visa Chief
June 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under new world order
Peter Ayliffe said that, by 2012, using credit and debit cards should be cheaper and more convenient than cash.
Some retailers could soon start surcharging customers if they choose to buy products with cash, because of the greater cost of processing these payments, he warned.
Visa Europe briefed the British Retail Consortium last month on new “contactless” cards that can be waved in front of a scanner to make small payments.
However, the consortium dismissed this vision and claimed that card processing fees, which regulators are investigating, are still too high.
One member of the consurtium said that the estimated “interchange” fee charged to retailers amounts to some 4p for each transaction.
Nick Mourant, treasurer at Tesco, said: “There is a duopoly between Mastercard and Visa in the UK. Their setting of fees is anti-competitive.”
Israel Peace Talks In Paris Called Off
A meeting between Israel’s prime minister and a senior US envoy has been canceled amid growing differences over settlement building in the West Bank.
Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot said the US put off the meeting in response to Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to heed US demands to halt settlement activity.
But Mr Netanyahu’s aides say it was the prime minister who cancelled Thursday’s meeting with George Mitchell in Paris.
They said “more professional work” was needed, without adding further details.
Instead, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is now scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday to meet Mr Mitchell.
Mr Netanyahu has arrived in Paris from Rome, on his first trip to Europe since he took office.
Police Raid Pastor’s Home For Holding Church Services
June 25, 2009 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
Last Thursday, a swarm of police officers descended on Michael Salman’s northwest Phoenix home. Armed officers herded Salman, his wife Suzanne, their five young daughters, and their visiting friends into the living room — and kept them under watch for 90 minutes while other city officials searched the grounds.
And here’s the crazy part: The officials weren’t looking for drugs, weapons, or stolen property.
They were looking for evidence that Michael and Suzanne Salman are holding church services in their backyard.
Sounds unbelievable, right? The First Amendment assures us that the government cannot interfere with the “free exercise” of religion. Surely, it’s none of the city’s business who worships where, or when.
But that’s exactly what the city of Phoenix was investigating last week.
One of the visitors in the Salmans’ home that day, Sam Atallah, came here from Syria for graduate school and now has a Christian ministry focusing on his fellow Middle Easterners. Atallah couldn’t believe his own eyes: Seven or eight police officers held the family and their guests at bay. When Suzanne had to leave the room to change her baby’s diaper, she was escorted by a cop. When Michael Salman initially demurred at producing a key to an outbuilding, the cops threatened to break down the door.
All because they’re holding church services?
“If you tell somebody in the Middle East that this happened, they can’t believe you,” Atallah says. “We came to America to get away from this kind of persecution.”
Cash To Become Extinct As Chips Take Off
June 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under new world order
Cash is accelerating down the path to extinction as new technologies threaten to mark the end of loose change within a decade.
Bank and credit union bosses say cash won’t be alone, with wallets and credit cards also likely to disappear too.
They told The Advertiser’s round table forum that cash and cards will be replaced by computer chips embedded in mobile phones, watches or other portable devices.
Can 3rd Temple Be Built Without Destroying Dome Of The Rock?
A new Jewish interfaith initiative launched last week argues building the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem would not necessitate the destruction of the Dome of the Rock.
“God’s Holy Mountain Vision” project hopes to defuse religious strife by showing that Jews’ end-of-days vision could harmoniously accommodate Islam’s present architectural hegemony on the Temple Mount.
“This vision of religious shrines in peaceful proximity can transform the Temple Mount from a place of contention to its original sacred role as a place of worship shared by Jews, Muslims and Christians,” said Yoav Frankel, director of the initiative.
The Interfaith Encounter Association at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim’s Konrad Adenauer Conference Center in Jerusalem is sponsoring the program, which includes interfaith study and other educational projects.
According to Islamic tradition, the Dome of the Rock, built in 691, marks the spot where Muhammed ascended to Heaven.
But according to Jewish tradition, Mount Moriah, now under the Dome of the Rock, is where the Temple’s Holy of Holies was situated.
Until now Jewish tradition has assumed that destruction of the Dome of the Rock was a precondition for the building of the third and last Temple.
However, in an article that appeared in 2007 in Tehumin, an influential journal of Jewish law, Frankel, a young scholar, presented a different option.
His main argument is that Jewish doctrine regarding the rebuilding of the Temple emphasizes the role of a prophet.
