Welcome!: Jerusalem's Western Wall at risk of collapse ...

April 21st, 2008: Cartoon #1506 'It's OK, I'm with the neighborhood watch.' April 25th, 2008: Cartoon #1610 'What have you done! The money's better.' April 22nd, 2008: Cartoon #3417 'I think you'll agree that this comparison, though unpopular, has some real merit.' April 25th, 2008: Cartoon #3422 (Anti-Virus software now comes with Vitamin C)



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back in december, my workplace watched a video by pastor john bevere about submitting to authority, including familial authority. according to pastor bevere (and many other christians), scripture declares that the husband is the head of the household and the wife's duty is to submit to him.on the day we watched this video and discussed it during our staff meeting, i found myself in complete disagreement with pastor bevere's stance on the roles of husband and wife. needing to process these things with some older and wiser people, i called my parents that night to get their take on the whole husband is the head and the wife submits idea.i learned that my parents heartily support the mutuality argument for marriage; that is to say, that husbands submit, too. we talked about various points in the new testament, and while there is scripture to support both sides of the argument, my dad cautioned me to look at the totality of a message in scripture and not just pull out isolated verses (i.e., prooftexting). these are the things we talked about that night:ephesians 5:21 says: and further, you will submit to one another out of your reverence for Christ. yes, i am aware of the verses that follow this one. but far too many people - especially christian men (and married christian men) - completely gloss over this verse as they rush to read 5:22-24.my dad is a pastor, and has seen this himself. one time a member of his church met with him to talk about his marital troubles. the man angrily exclaimed, my wife is supposed to submit to me! thats what scripture says!" my dad placed a bible in the mans hands and asked him to find the exact scripture that said so. the man opened the bible and read ephesians 5:22. my dad gently responded by asking him to read the preceding verse.in 1 corinthians 7:4, paul writes that husbands and wives are to submit to one another in their sexual relationship: the wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband also gives authority over his body to his wife. if spouses are to submit to one another in the most intimate part of their marriage, that idea of mutuality should spill over into every area of their relationship.when i read the gospels and look at how Jesus treated women, i would argue that he was the only perfect egalitarian to ever walk this earth. he saw women as worthy disciples, worthy financial supporters, and worthy messengers and eyewitnesses. after his resurrection, he appeared to mary first, even before his disciples.in john 4, Jesus traveled all the way from judea to samaria because he valued a woman that everyone else scorned. in contrast, his male companions were shocked to find him in conversation with her. time and time again, Jesus encountered women who, according to the rest of the crowd, were scandalous, unworthy, or stupid. yet Jesus always responded with tenderness, acceptance, and affirmation.at one point Jesus disciples were arguing about who among them was the greatest. Jesus responded, "you know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. but among you it should be quite different. whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave." (matthew 20:25-27)Jesus wasnt just blowing hot air here. after all, what in all the gospels can top the story of Jesus, the king of kings, stooping down to wash the grime off of his disciples feet? i see in each of these verses and stories a model for mutual submission in marriage, as well as every other relationship.author dorothy sayers captures Jesus egalitarianism best in this incredibly poignant summary:perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the cradle and last at the cross. they had never known a man like this man - there had never been such another. a prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, who never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as 'the women, God help us!' or 'the ladies, God bless them!'; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously, who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no ax to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as a he found them and was completely unselfconscious.there is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words of Jesus that there was anything 'funny' about woman's nature. but we might easily deduce it from his contemporaries, and from his prophets before him, and from his church to this day.See full article here (link)



Damn drain from my head to my toes of every feeling I can store.I’m a little sore for being awake and thinking of you more.More desperate to feel that love I know is very hard to keep in door.Losing hope as time passes more and more to you in my arms, oh lord.Lucky for a night which made realized how it will be to have you.Making love to Hitler it seems when I’m like a capitalistic Jew.Many experiences in both our souls but never complains but few.Sex is not love and loving you made me submit to you with true.You can use me anytime if there is a full moon and I we find us boo.I wish it would have been different but you know I have issues I do.I never been able to take my heart and give it to anyone too.But you are one of the ones who can reach it can you feel me the ones of the few.What can we ask for, when we know what the future hold and is not us.Boos in the world of cyber junk and managing stores but we missed the bus.I like you and you do too I hope, but we are just making pus.Maybe we should keep up until we make it happen or until dusk.
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But now a portion of one of Judaism's holiest sites, Jerusalem's Western Wall, is crumbling.The rabbi charged with watching over the structure, which the faith believes to be the last remnants of a retaining wall from the ancient Second Temple, has warned that a section repaired more than a century ago is again at risk of falling.Because the weakened stonework is high on the 60ft wall, the danger from any falling fragment to the crowds who pray at its foot each day is particularly acute.We found that the stones at the bottom of the wall, the stones from the Second Temple period, were strong and stable, said Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch.
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