Theology + Cal Thomas + Joke Stealing

I'm typing this on TUE. My news & commentary re:  my angioplasty & stent procedure will wait until FRI. In the early days of my blog, I published most weeks a post entitled "Theological Thursday."

Theological Thursday Returns

From Omaha World Herald (12/30):  "Nine are killed in attack targeting Coptic Christians. A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire FRI outside a church in a Cairo suburb & at a nearby store, sparking a shootout that killed at least 9 people, including 8 Coptic Christians, authorities said. It was the latest attack targeting Egypt's embattled Christian community."  COMMENT:  Our Christian brothers & sisters in Muslim countries continue to be persecuted, although our mainstream media doesn't pay much attention.

From Norfolk Daily News (1/12):  Authorities in northern China's coal country this week demolished a well-known Christian mega-church underscoring long-standing tensions between religious groups & the officially atheistic Communist Party. Witnesses & overseas activists said paramilitary People's Armed Police forces used excavators & dynamite on TUE to destroy the Golden Lampstand Church in the city of Linfen in Shanxi province."  COMMENT:  Contrary to popular belief, Christians in Communist China also continue to suffer persecution. 

NDN (3/2):  "Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre reopens. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem reopened early on WED after Israeli officials suspended a plan to impose taxes on church properties in the holy city . . . religious leaders say their non-church priperty provide valuable services for pilgrims & their local flocks & fund important services like schools & health clinics . . . "  COMMENT:  Israel is good to have as a political friend in the Mideast, but it's not well-known that there is little sympathy for Christians in this country. Did you know that there are Lutheran schools in Palestine? I don't know of any in Israel proper.

Wit & Wisdom of Cal Thomas

From OWH More Commentary (10/25/17):  #My granddaughter, too . . . I asked my adult daughter & oldest grand-daughter if they had ever encountered sexual harassment. My daughter said at a previous job her boss 'invited' her to sit on his lap. She refused & no longer works there. Even more shocking was the response I received from my granddaughter, who is a nurse at a hospital in San Antonio, TX. I reprint her account (with her permission) because it contains a lesson, not only for men, but for the male-dominated culture.

"''It's a tough subject to speak on. Personally, I have been sexually harassed many times in my workplace & generally speaking, all the jobs i have ever had, there has been sexual harassment . . . 

"'As a mother . . . I think it's important to teach our children to stick up for themselves always, & it's never OK for someone to harass them in any way. It's equally important for boys & girls to learn this. It's important to teach right & wrong & promote what is right ALWAYS!

[Cal Thomas continues.] "Powerful stuff, but in an age when the lines between right & wrong, good & bad are blurred, if not eliminated, & with culture & opinion polls defining moral stands which are constantly in flux, sexual harassment is only one of many consequences when 'societal norms' are obliterated."

Dept. of Shameless Joke Stealing

From Reader's Digest The Criminal Mastermind (Oct. 2017):  "THE ISSUE:  A CA drier was fined $478 for driving alone in the car pool lane. THE EXCUSE:  He wasn't alone. He had the articles of incorporation for his business with him. Since the Supreme Court regards corporations as people in 1st Amendment cases, so should traffic court."