Steph,
This is not genealogy. If there's a Cates list somewhere you can
take me off it. thanks.
Steph wrote:
Thought provoking
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------||
A lot of truth in this ||
|| The following was written by Ben
Stein and recited by him on CBS || Sunday Morning Commentary.
||
|| ||
||
My confession: ||
||
|| I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.
And it || does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful!
|| lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I ||
don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas ||
trees. ||
||
|| It doesn't bother me a bit when people
say, "Merry Christmas" to me. || I don't think they are slighting me or
getting ready to put me in a || ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we
are all brothers|| and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.. It doesn't
bother || me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key ||
intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche,|| it's just
as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.||
!
|| !
|| I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't
think|| Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think ||
people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed || around,
period. I have no idea where the concept came from that || America is an
explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the || Constitution and I
don't like it being shoved down my throat. ||
||
|| Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come
from that || we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship
|| God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old,||
too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and || Jessica came
from and where the America we knew went to. !
|| ||
|| In light of the
many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this || is a little different: This is
not intended to be a joke; it's not || funny, it's intended to get you
thinking. ||
||
|| Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane ||
Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" ||
(regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and || insightful
response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by || this, just as we
are, but for years we've been telling God to get out|| of our schools, to get out
of our government and to get out of o!
ur || lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe H!
e has ca
lmly backed|| out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection||
if we demand He leave us alone?" ||
||
|| In light of recent
events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.|| I think it started when Madeleine
Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, || her body found recently) complained she
didn't want prayer in our || schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you
better not read the || Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou
shalt not || steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. ||
||
|| Then Dr. Benjamin Spock
said we shouldn't spank our childre!
n when || they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and||
we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's grandson committed ||
suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And || we said
OK. ||
||
|| Now we're asking ourselves why our children have
no conscience, why || they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't
bother them to || kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
|| ||
|| Probably, if we think
about it long and hard enough, we can figure it|| out. I think it has a great deal to
do with "WE REAP WHAT W!
E SOW." || !
||
|| || Funny
how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why || the world's
going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers || say, but question what the
Bible says. Funny how you can send || 'jokes' through e-mail and they
spread like wildfire but when you || start sending messages regarding the Lord,
people think twice about || sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene
articles pass || freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is
suppressed|| in the school and workplace.. ||
||
|| Are you laughing?
!
||
|| || Funny
how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many|| on your address list
because you're not sure what they believe, or || what they will think of you for
sending it. ||
||
|| Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us ||
than what God thinks of us. ||
||
|| Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not
then just discard it... || no one will know you did. But, if you discard this tho!
ught process, || don't sit back and complain about what b!
ad shape
the world is in. My|| Best Regards.
|| ||
||
|| Honestly and respectfully,
||
||
|| Ben Stein ||
||
||--------------------------------------------------------------------------| Have a
great day
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