Month: September 2003 (page 3 of 3)

How Well Do We (USAmericans) Know the Bill of Rights?

Read what John Whitehead has to say.

He includes this amazing and tragic anecdote from Nat Hentoff…

“A young attorney, preparing to address a small gathering about the need to protect freedom, especially in the schools, wrote the text of the First Amendment on a blackboard. After carefully reading the text, a woman in the audience approached the attorney, pointed to the First Amendment on the board and remarked, �My, the law is really changing. Is this new?� The woman was a retired schoolteacher.”

How Well Do We (USAmericans) Know the Bill of Rights?

Read what John Whitehead has to say.

He includes this amazing and tragic anecdote from Nat Hentoff…

“A young attorney, preparing to address a small gathering about the need to protect freedom, especially in the schools, wrote the text of the First Amendment on a blackboard. After carefully reading the text, a woman in the audience approached the attorney, pointed to the First Amendment on the board and remarked, �My, the law is really changing. Is this new?� The woman was a retired schoolteacher.”

How Well Do We (USAmericans) Know the Bill of Rights?

Read what John Whitehead has to say.

He includes this amazing and tragic anecdote from Nat Hentoff…

“A young attorney, preparing to address a small gathering about the need to protect freedom, especially in the schools, wrote the text of the First Amendment on a blackboard. After carefully reading the text, a woman in the audience approached the attorney, pointed to the First Amendment on the board and remarked, �My, the law is really changing. Is this new?� The woman was a retired schoolteacher.”

What I Read Today!

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”

“For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do – submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God – his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do – the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus. May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!”

– Galatians 6:4-5; 14-18 (The Message)

What I Read Today!

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”

“For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do – submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God – his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do – the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus. May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!”

– Galatians 6:4-5; 14-18 (The Message)

What One Guy Learned About Being Christian on a Sidewalk in Front of the Supreme Court

“I learned two huge lessons at some point that night. The first was that as Christians, we have to be educated in our faith. We�ve heard it before: Always be ready to give an answer. Christianity is only effective if you can communicate it at the most basic level of society�down on the sidewalk level. We should be so consumed with Jesus Christ that we can engage others in a discussion of our faith at any given moment. When we are down �in the streets,� we need to be able to articulate our beliefs in a persuasive way�not throwing around moral judgments or using Bible verses as bullets�but to represent Christ and the power of his love.

Even more important than this, if we want to change the culture and impact other people, we have to be prepared for personal relationships. We can try to represent Christ in the protest line, from the pulpit or in litigation, but the Gospel is best spread through personal relationships and one-on-one contact. Christ shared His unique message of God�s love and forgiveness in His daily contact with other people: He ate with tax collectors and sinners; He blessed the adulteress and the child.”

What One Guy Learned About Being Christian on a Sidewalk in Front of the Supreme Court

“I learned two huge lessons at some point that night. The first was that as Christians, we have to be educated in our faith. We�ve heard it before: Always be ready to give an answer. Christianity is only effective if you can communicate it at the most basic level of society�down on the sidewalk level. We should be so consumed with Jesus Christ that we can engage others in a discussion of our faith at any given moment. When we are down �in the streets,� we need to be able to articulate our beliefs in a persuasive way�not throwing around moral judgments or using Bible verses as bullets�but to represent Christ and the power of his love.

Even more important than this, if we want to change the culture and impact other people, we have to be prepared for personal relationships. We can try to represent Christ in the protest line, from the pulpit or in litigation, but the Gospel is best spread through personal relationships and one-on-one contact. Christ shared His unique message of God�s love and forgiveness in His daily contact with other people: He ate with tax collectors and sinners; He blessed the adulteress and the child.”