Going to Heaven, Piece by Piece

Jesus Christ Healing Icon Peters Mother-in-Law by Fr. Steven Belonick –
Over the course of thirty-four years as an Orthodox priest, I have visited countless people with varying degrees of sickness—some with curable ailments and others with grave diseases. Each visit presented me with an opportunity to witness not only human anxiety and frailty but also heroic and steadfast faith. Each visit, as well, magnified my own fear and revealed my own paltry belief in God, teaching me valuable lessons. Two such visits still stand out in my memory: my first trip to a nursing home, and going to see a diabetic named “Alex.”

Impressions of my first visit to local nursing home as a newly assigned pastor in Binghamton, New York, remain fresh. Infirm and abandoned, their own names lost amid their decaying neuro-pathways, the “residents” would continually call out for help—but would receive no response. Confined to wheelchairs and beds, they hungrily sought acknowledgement of their presence, searching for someone to talk to within their shrinking world. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Democrats Go All In for Abortion Rights

Democrats Pro Abortionby David Nather –
This was supposed to be an election in which the economy dominated the debate, social issues took a backseat and the culture wars were put on hold.

Yet in the homestretch of the 2012 campaign, abortion politics is coloring races up and down the ticket.

And it’s by design.

Democrats have gone all in for abortion rights, with none of the hedging or defensiveness they’ve shown in recent years — a subtle but striking repositioning with political consequences that extend far beyond Nov. 6.

The evidence of it is impossible to miss. The airwaves are choked with messaging about women’s reproductive health. Abortion rights advocates had prime speaking roles at the Democratic convention. Contraception advocate Sandra Fluke is a prominent campaign trail surrogate. Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood, recently introduced President Barack Obama at a Virginia campaign rally. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Big Business Is Not Conservative

Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager
by Dennis Prager –
Big business has often been at ideological odds with conservatism.

For example, many big businesses did business with the Soviet Union. A well-known example was Occidental Petroleum’s Armand Hammer — a major donor to the Republican Party, no less — who did business whenever possible with Soviet dictators. And Pepsi-Cola began selling its product in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

How is one to explain the lack of conservative principles among big businessmen? There are two things at work here.

One is an absence of thought.

Whenever I read about multi-millionaire and billionaire businessmen advocating and financially supporting left-wing causes, I am reinforced in my belief that most businessmen are proficient at one thing: making money. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Freedom To Succeed by Thomas Peterffy

Freedom to Succeedby Thomas Peterffy –
I grew up in a socialist country, and I have seen what that does to people. There is no hope, no freedom, no pride in achievement. The nation became poorer and poorer, and that’s what I see happening here. As a young boy I was fantasizing about one day going to America, making a success of myself, the American dream.

America’s wealth comes from the efforts of people striving for success. Take away their incentive with bad-mouthing success and you take away the wealth that helps us take care of the needy. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

On Consecrating the Entire Economic Order

Consecrating the Entire Economic Order by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon –
St. Luke’s account of Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree (19:1-10) is a story rich in spiritual reflection; preachers and Bible-readers, coming from a variety of backgrounds, have explored the narrative unto great profit for the education of the soul.

A certain liturgical use of the text is particularly instructive; namely, the story of Zacchaeus has long been read in the dedicatory service of a new church building. This liturgical custom—warranted by Jesus’ assertion, “Today, I must stay at your house” indicates a symbolism: The home of Zacchaeus represents the consecrated places where Christians gather to meet, worship, and commune with Jesus.

There is an irony here: Even as we insist that Jesus preached the Gospel to the poor, he sometimes did so in the homes of wealthy. The reason was very simple: the wealthy had larger homes; a greater number of people could actually assemble there. (Some folks, doubtless, will be offended by this consideration, but let me mention that the first complaint [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

The Alienator-in-Chief

Obama Alienator-in-Chief by J.T. Hatter –
It is impossible to be the leader of any large enterprise and not alienate someone, but Barack Obama has managed to alienate virtually everyone who has had anything to do with him. Who has Barack Hussein Obama not alienated in the last four years?

Barack Obama has alienated Great Britain, our closest military ally, both with insults and official actions. He betrayed the Brits by failing to support them over the Falklands and by revealing their nuclear military secrets to the Russians. Obama has singlehandedly destroyed our “special relationship” with the UK.

The United States had been Israel’s staunchest ally since the founding of that nation in 1948. No more. Obama sides with the Palestinians and openly supports the Muslim Brotherhood. He sent two and a half billion dollars to the new Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt just this year. Obama has repeatedly snubbed and insulted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has vetoed a preemptive attack on Iran to halt their clandestine nuclear weapons program. The Israelis no longer trust the Americans. Who can blame them? [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Leftism, The World’s Most Dynamic Religion

Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager
by Dennis Prager –
For at least the last hundred years, the world’s most dynamic religion has been neither Christianity nor Islam.

It has been leftism.

Most people do not recognize what is probably the single most important fact of modern life. One reason is that leftism is overwhelmingly secular (more than merely secular: It is inherently opposed to all traditional religions), and therefore people do not regard it as a religion. Another is that leftism so convincingly portrays itself as solely the product of reason, intellect, and science that it has not been seen as the dogma-based ideology that it is. Therefore the vast majority of the people who affirm leftist beliefs think of their views as the only way to properly think about life. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Global Warming Stopped 16 Years Ago

Global Warming Stopped 16 Years Ago by David Rose –
The world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago, according to new data released last week.

The figures, which have triggered debate among climate scientists, reveal that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012, there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures.

This means that the ‘plateau’ or ‘pause’ in global warming has now lasted for about the same time as the previous period when temperatures rose, 1980 to 1996. Before that, temperatures had been stable or declining for about 40 years.

The new data, compiled from more than 3,000 measuring points on land and sea, was issued quietly on the internet, without any media fanfare, [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Recognizing and Overcoming the Sin of Sloth

Sin of Sloth by Paul Kokoski –
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).

Sloth, often called acedia, is described simply as the sin of laziness. However, while this is part of the manifestation of sloth, the central problem with sloth as a capital sin is spiritual laziness – which leads to lukewarmness.

Sloth is connected with sensuality. It proceeds from a love of pleasure, inasmuch as it inclines us to avoid effort and hardship. There is in all of us a tendency to follow the line of least resistance, which paralyses or lessens our activity.

Sloth is an inclination to idleness or at least to aimlessness, to apathy in action. At times this is a morbid disposition due to poor condition of health. More frequently it is a disease of the will, which fears effort and recoils from it. The slothful person wants to escape all exertion, whatever might interfere with their comfort or involve fatigue. Like the real parasite, they live on others to whatever extent they can, becoming gruff and ill-tempered when one tries to rouse them from their inaction. [Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail