In one year, the average human heart circulates from 770,000 to 1.6 million gallons of blood through the body. This is enough fluid to fill 200 tank cars, each with a capacity of 8,000 gallons.
See Ps 139
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Comments:
Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over?
"Long ago ...I resolved that I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him." --Booker T. Washington
SOLAR SYSTEM FUN http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ Ever wanted to see what Jupiter looks like from Saturn? View planets and their moons from different points in the solar system.
NEW WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE http://www.lowermanhattan.info/rebuild/new_design_plans/ Seven architectural teams have created new plans for the World Trade Center site in New York. You can view their designs and comment.
SUPREME COURT RULINGS http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/resources.html Read the rulings in Supreme Court cases through this Web site. You can also read briefs, court rules and court filing guides.
KIDS' SITE: MAMA MEDIA http://www.mamamedia.com/ Send kooky animated cards, play with noisy stickers or create your own cartoon at this fun site!
{Double click on the web addresses above for additional information:}
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BEYOND DEATH'S DOOR
Death haunts humankind. Poets, philosophers, and other writers throughout the ages have sought to explain, understand, and cope with death.
Ernest Hemingway, the famous author, was obsessed with the reality of death. His father, an intellectual, had killed himself when Hemingway was a young man. As a result, Hemingway wanted to demonstrate to all humanity that he feared neither life nor death. Ironically, when he was sixty-one years old, he committed suicide in a moment of rage and human weakness.
The Bible recognizes the inevitability of physical death. In Hebrews 9:27 we read, "Man is destined to die." In a sense, everyone is terminally ill. Unless Christ returns in our lifetime, our pilgrimage through this world will end in death.
Longfellow succinctly observed, "The young may die, and the old must." Physically death is the most stubborn and persistent enemy of humanity. But it is not the most dangerous foe.
The Bible distinguishes between physical death (which everyone eventually faces) and spiritual death (which everyone initially experiences). Death basically means separation from something or someone. It implies loneliness. A person begins life separated from God and spiritually dead because of his or her sin.
Sartre, the famous French existential philosopher, accurately observed, "Man is alone." Apart from a personal relationship with God and commitment to Him, every human being is spiritually dead and very much alone.
The Bible also mentions eternal death or "the second death" (Revelation 20:14). This is eternal, irreversible separation from God. Anyone who refuses to commit one's life to Jesus Christ during his or her lifetime here on earth will experience this eternal death.
Physical death clearly is not the end of our existence. The question is where you and I will spend eternity--in heaven or hell? There is no other option. The reality of death and hell should motivate Christians to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the unconverted.
Approximately one-quarter million people die each day around the world. Most pass into a Christ-less eternity. History frequently records their agonizing last words when they realize that by rejecting Christ they are left without hope.
Francois Voltaire, the noted French infidel, once stated, "In twenty years, Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear." Yet when he faced death he cried, "I am abandoned by God and man!" Voltaire's doctor expressed astonishment at the emotional torment his patient experienced before passing into eternity.
In contrast, the great evangelist John Wesley declared on his deathbed, "The best of all is, God is with me!" He finished his pilgrimage satisfied and content to be in the presence of his Lord.
Death need not haunt us as Christians. If we have committed our lives to Jesus Christ, we have a glorious future awaiting us beyond death's door.
To Ponder
If you discovered you had only six weeks to live, would you be afraid of the thought of dying? Why or why not? If the Lord doesn't return first, at the end of your life what do you want to say as your last words? Luis Palau
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DIVERSITY WITH A TWIST
Some campus conservatives have discovered a fun way to expose a double standard.
Some people say "why not?" Others say "absolutely not!"
http://www.boundless.org/2002_2003/departments/campus_culture/a0000699.ht ml
(Not amalgamated with 'Thought & Humor')
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Voting with Their Feet: Big Bio in the Golden State
If someone had suggested a year ago that cash-strapped California would be asked to amend the state constitution to siphon $6 billion (yes, $3 billion in principle and $3 billion in interest) into the biotech industry and its university affiliates, people would have laughed. But they would not have been reckoning with the power of the embryo stem-cell research hype. Millions of dollars have already been spent to get the signatures needed, and millions more are being raised for a TV ad campaign. Perhaps the most bizarre proposition in American history will be on California's November ballot.
As my colleague bioethicist Dr. Nigel Cameron recently pointed out in an op-ed in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, this $6 billion of funding is intended to sustain biotech researchers with public funds so that they can pursue projects that private investors have decided are literally worthless. And it is a project that nation after nation around the world has already declared to be a felony.
In our new book, HUMAN DIGNITY IN THE BIOTECH CENTURY, Dr. Nathan Adams of the Christian Legal Society argues that cloning human embryos for research is fundamentally unjust; and Bill Saunders of the Family Research Council draws the inevitable connection between the abuse of human embryos and the Nuremberg trials.
And there's more to the debate than ethics. We also need to grasp the cloning proposition's bizarre economics. It's being said that this vast investment will actually save healthcare costs, as well as cure diseases, even though it has to be imposed by hype and ballot against the wishes of California's elected representatives (who will need a supermajority, by the way, to overrule its plans).
As Nigel Cameron points out, the claims for cloning and embryonic stem cells are so preposterous that making them in a securities prospectus would result in doing jail time. But they're being aggressively sold to the people of California. Even if so-called "therapeutic cloning" could work, cures using the cloned stem cells would be extraordinarily expensive. And this is not a matter of my opinion. California's business community has already made up its mind. If it believed all of this hype of those behind cloning, venture capitalists would be pouring funds into the field expecting to reap vast profits. Instead, investors have already voted with their feet.
Some of us were present in the White House two years ago to hear President Bush deliver a remarkable speech on human cloning and the need for biotechnology to be subject to ethics. "Advances in biomedical technology," the president said, "must never come at the expense of human conscience. As we seek what is possible, we must always ask what is right, and we must not forget that even the most noble ends do not justify any means." I don't think it can be said better than that. And it's in that spirit that we have written and edited HUMAN DIGNITY IN THE BIOTECH CENTURY, a good basic text on how to approach the ethical questions being raised by biotechnology advances. It will help thinking Christians understand the challenges that lie ahead and separate good science and real hope from spin, hype, and outright lies. http://xrl.us/c8ih
(Not amalgamated with 'Thought & Humor')
"BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a daily commentary on news and trends from a Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide, BreakPoint transcripts are also available on the Internet.
BreakPoint is a production of The Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
Chairman: Charles W. Colson Dean: Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D. Managing Editor: Jim Tonkowich, D.Min. Senior Writer: Anne Morse Associate Editor: Roberto Rivera Associate Producer: Teresa Woodward Wilberforce New Media Editor: Gina Dalfonzo List Maintainer: Larry Wilson
As you read the Scriptures with your family, I hope you'll have a new appreciation for who the "Word made flesh" really is: He's the Creator who existed before time. He's the Logos Who made heaven and earth, and Who steers the stars in their courses. He is the Truth that is ultimate reality. He is the 'Babe of Bethlehem & the 'Word' of John 1. If you know of others who would enjoy receiving BreakPoint in their E-mail box each day, tell them they can sign up 1-877-3-CALLBP or http://www.breakpoint.org (Not amalgamated with 'Thought & Humor')