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'Why would any rational human being sign up for this?" The question came up the other day as we discussed one of our public affairs staff sergeants possibly separating for a job in the private sector. There was a certain ease and even a slight euphoric relief about the conversation. He had opted to stay with us. He re- enlists Monday. The question was posed by our senior master sergeant — a man who has re-enlisted multiple times over his distinguished 26-year career. In the last few days, our staff sergeant had been really torn. Like most of us, his...

Reviews / comments by both Owen Gingerich and Michael Behe at link.

Rick Warren Gives Thumbs Up to Rwanda's Vision 2020 PEACE Plan American pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren praised Rwanda’s Vision 2020 plan, which seeks to develop the country into a middle-income economy by the year 2020. Tue, Jul. 17, 2007 Posted: 12:45:06 PM EST American pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren praised Rwanda’s Vision 2020 plan, which seeks to develop the country into a middle-income economy by the year 2020. The popular preacher and social advocate visited Rwanda over the weekend to check up on the progress of his PEACE initiative-funded projects in the country. “I have read about...

Western Individualism is most pronounced in America, and especially the part of the country where I grew up and now live, Texas and Oklahoma. Yet that attitude resounds in the early pages of our nation’s history, from a Tea Party in Boston Harbor to those shots fired at Fort Sumter replying what they could do with their tariffs on cotton. Often that undercurrent cuts against identity with a group. "I am an individual." Echoing in that statement are the words of Patrick Henry emblazed in our psyche, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Identity with a group somehow seems...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — No hymnals. No pews. No steeple. No stained glass windows. And no women. This ain't your grandma's church. Organizers of the Church For Men say that guys are "bored stiff" in many churches today. The Church For Men meets one Saturday evening a month, drawing about 70 guys dressed in everything but straight-laced shirts and neckties. The service features a rock band, a shot clock to time the preacher's message and a one-hour in-and-out guarantee.

FORT HUACHUCA — In the Bible, 40-day events have special meanings. On Sunday, a program designed to help the fort’s Christian community to strengthen their beliefs started 40 Days of Purpose on the post, Chaplain (Col.) Glenn Woodson said. “Forty days is significant. There are a number of examples of that number of days in the Bible,” he said Monday. In the Old Testament, Noah experienced 40 days of rain, and Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai before returning with the 10 commandments. In the New Testament, Jesus wandered in the wilderness for 40 days and spent the same...

In Paul Kagame, Rick Warren says he has found a partner for his PEACE plan. But the Rwandan president may have another purpose. KIGALI, Rwanda – In the reception area outside Rwandan President Paul Kagame's offices – in the second of several reception areas patrolled by armed guards – a television entertains guests with an American drama about Jesus.

Frenzied speculation on Sunday Night Football about how the NFL would punish Terrel Owens after a spitting incident roused John Madden's sense of purpose. To paraphrase, "this is not what the NFL is about. Great games and who is going to the playoffs, that is what this game is about. What has happened to us?" This affair illustrates that media failure is not only the result of bias. ...

IUKA, Miss. -- In April, 150 members of Iuka Baptist Church voted to kick Charles Jones off the deacons' board. The punishment followed weeks of complaints by Mr. Jones and his friends that the pastor was following the teachings of the Rev. Rick Warren, the best-selling author and church-growth guru. After the vote, about 40 other members quit the church to support Mr. Jones.

While North Korea was gearing up to launch a long range missile and five rockets into the Sea of Japan this week, sending a grim message to the entire world, out at Saddleback Church Rick Warren was announcing that he will soon be bringing his message of purpose to North Korea where he reportedly will be addressing an audience of 15,000. “God is using Rick Warren to be a messenger of peace!” gushed one Saddleback member. There is great hope in Lake Forest that Rick Warren's message in that stadium will cause Kim Jong II to drop his nuclear purposes...

MEChA advisers at Jurupa Valley High School are reviewing the Chicano student club's constitution after the group was criticized by anti-illegal immigration activists. A student called on the Jurupa Unified School District board to ban MEChA following last month's school rally on immigration legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally. Senior Josh Denhalter called MEChA a separatist group that advocates a Mexican takeover of the Southwest. Jurupa Valley is not the only MEChA chapter that is examining itself. Students in the Beaumont High School chapter are debating...

I am a combat veteran. I joined the VFW my first day back in the States, and am a life member. I flew forty missions in the Gulf War, and have received many citations for my combat service, and my non-combat service. There is a flare up underway about John Murtha's combat/decoration history here, here, and on this page is a Brit Hume video on the subject. Based on what I have read in the opening paragraphs of Forgotten Soldier and the entirety of Stolen Valor some people have a habit of exaggerating their combat records...if they have one at...

Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life, has sold tens of millions of copies and over 16,000 attend his church, but some critics have gone public with claims that he is not the real deal, as far as Christianity is concerned. Claims that Warren is presenting a watered-down Christianity, to his being a pantheist and practically everything in between, has found their way into writings on the internet, on the radio and even a book. Today's show, with Author & cult expert Richard Abanes regarding his book, addressing these claims is well worth the listen. We started getting email responses...

Throughout the course of history, the overriding tendency of those in power is to manipulate that power to their own benefit. Regardless of any noble premises on which governments might be founded, over time they nonetheless degenerate into self-serving conclaves, whose ultimate purpose is the betterment of their own lot through the implementation of their own agenda. In the end, those at the apex of power assume dictatorial control, while the rights of the common person are obliterated. The latest rash of outrageous Supreme Court decisions demonstrates that this nation’s governing institutions are already well on their way down that...

The first attack on American soil by Islamic terrorists was the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. On 9/11, Islamic terrorists had hoped to kill 40,000 people. The 1993 attack was a dry run that did not give them the bang for their buck. Only six Americans lost their lives that day. It was a great disappointment to the terrorists. Cyanide was in the van that was blown up in the basement-parking garage of the WTC that day, but the extreme heat of the fire destroyed the poisonous gas before it killed anyone. It was a failed experiment. But...

“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.” --John Adams I've known this quote for some time now. In fact, after WWII, this quote seemed to have come to fruition. We became the technological powerhouse of the entire world. So what happened? "[I have] a conviction that science is important to the preservation of our republican government, and that it is also essential to its protection against foreign power." --Thomas Jefferson I received a letter this week from a young Muslim man sending a dire warning to Americans. He sought me...

Christina, 34, is expecting her second child. Her husband, Tom, is one year older. Unlike many of the 353 formerly unchurched we interviewed, the couple has never faced a major crisis in their lives or marriage. They obviously love each other deeply.Christina and Tom had been Christians for only seven months at the time of our interview. When they moved to a mid-sized city in North Carolina, they decided to visit a Southern Baptist church. I asked them what prompted them to visit a church."I honestly don't know," Christina responded. "I can't even remember Tom and I having much discussion...

To the Afflicted If I were to ask this audience what Christ came into this world for, every one of you would say to save sinners, and then you would stop. A great many think that is all Christ came to do - to save sinners. Now, we are told that He came, to be sure, to "seek and save that which was lost"; but then He came to do more. He came to heal the broken hearted. In that eighteenth verse of the fourth chapter of Luke, which I read to you last night, He said that the Spirit...

While public officials, schools, and the ACLU worked overtime this year to ban every vestige of Christmas from the public square, the recently invented holiday known as Kwanzaa is gaining in popularity among black Americans. These occurrences are not unrelated. In an earlier time, blacks held a strong faith in God. But over the past 40 years, the black community has largely let God slip away. Sure the community has maintained the outer trappings of religion, but the solid morality at its core is nearly gone. Enter a God-hating black racist named Ron Karenga. Born Ron Everett on a poultry farm...

From whence cometh those fears?

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Over Thanksgiving I had very little to do. I was ahead of schedule on a consulting project, which is where I like to stay. I accepted an invitation to a great cook’s home for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, which meant I would not need to cook for several days. This hostess always invited six or seven friends over and prepared enough food to feed everyone that came to the Salvation Army’s Thanksgiving dinner. Well as luck would have it the guest list included mostly liberal Democrats who were still depressed and complaining about the election their candidate and party had...

Would like to know if there are any other Christians out there that have not swallowed Rick Warren's version of the Gospel. I left my "seeker-friendly" Church after much prayer and ponder, and it took several months to make the split. I still must speak with my former pastor about this, so until I do, I will not name my former Church. I have noticed that most who follow the "Purpose Driven" material are emotionally attached to it, much like true Christians are emotionally tied to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

TAMPA - It's been on Mary Norris Vincent's mind for quite some time. ``What is the purpose of my life?'' she wonders. ``I'm like a lot of people. We try this, we try that, and we're still not happy.'' The 65-year-old Sun City Center grandmother figures it's never too late to seek the answer to that timeless question. So last weekend, she joined tens of thousands of Americans beginning a 40-day program of group discussion, worship, study and service to find her purpose and put it to work. Nationwide, members of some 5,000 churches - including nearly 40 in this...

<p>NASA has serious personnel problems. Twenty-five percent of its scientists and engineers will be eligible to retire in the next three to five years, and, as the agency's workforce has been graying, few fresh-faced recruits have been coming through its doors. NASA needs to offer incentives to potential hires.</p>

Psalm 27:4-8 4. One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple. 5. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in his pavillion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. 6. And now shall mine head head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in His tabernacle...

  Email This ArticleKids and Holiness: Making Lent Meaningful to Children    CYNDI MONTANARO How might we apply the three penitential principles of Lent (fasting, almsgiving, and prayer) to our school-age children's lives? What can we do to teach them (not force them) to do penance for the love of Christ? On Ash Wednesday, we heard Christ teaching his disciples how to do penance (Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18). He focused on three traditional areas for penance in Jewish life. These are fasting, almsgiving and prayer. How to apply these principles to our school-age children's lives? What can we do to...

...First because existence organizes. Nothing tends inertially "toward" disorganization. Even chaos at the quantum level must sum to coherent states for anything to exist. Even illusion. As with Einstein's famous dictum: "The incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it's comprehensible."This organizational tendency of the "known" universe extends to the human mind, which - being in, and as much a part of the universe as anything else - derives "meaning" from "information" that it abstracts from its environment: "Let us make man in our image...." as if Genesis were a pact?Organization and its antithesis. Good and evil.That the laws of...

Showing Elvis grace: A response to Charles Colson's BreakPoint CommentaryBy Steve Beard When Elvis Presley and his crew rolled into Jacksonville, Florida, on August 10, 1956, Judge Marion Gooding had prepared an arrest warrant for Presley charging him with impairing the morals of minors in the event that Elvis swiveled his hips. Young people at the Murray Hill Methodist Church heard Elvis denounced in a sermon entitled, "Hotrods, Reefers, and Rock and Roll." Elsewhere in town, the Rev. Robert Gray, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, offered up prayers for Presley's salvation after declaring that the singer had "achieved a...