A group of terrorists burst into the conference room at the Marriott Hotel where the American Bar Association was holding its Annual Convention.
More than 500 lawyers were taken as hostages.
The terrorist leader announced that, unless their demands were met, they would release one lawyer every hour.
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Two students were being held hostage in a third world country and both were going to be shot.
One of them was a UNC student who was a country music lover and the other was a N.C. State student who enjoyed all kinds of music. Before they were shot they were asked for one last request before they died. The UNC student said, "I would like to listen to 'Achy Breaky Heart' fifty times in a row." The State student says, "Please, shoot me first."
A hamburger walked into a bar, climbed up onto a bar stool, looked at the bartender and ordered a tall cold beer. The bartender looked at the hamburger for a moment and replied, "I'm sorry sir, but I can't sell you that drink."
The hamburger thinks about that for a moment and then says, "I'm over 21. Why can't you sell me a drink?"
Pausing for a second, the bartender looks the burger over and the replies, "Sorry, we don't serve food in here."
Military Appreciation Month: At the US Dept. of Defense site below, you can add your name to a list which will be sent to all our US military personnel at the end of the month. http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html ===============
Your very own library
http://bible.crosswalk.com/
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"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book." --Abraham Lincoln
"For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." --John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630
"America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness, which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scriptures. Part of the destiny of Americans lies in their daily perusal of this great book of revelations. That if they would see America free and pure they will make their own spirits free and pure by this baptism of the Holy Spirit." --Woodrow Wilson
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." --Patrick Henry, original member of the Continental Congress
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Chocolate candy bars also contain milk, which is dairy. So candy bars are a health food. Chocolate-covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.
~ Chocolate is a Vegetable: Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans. Bean = vegetable. Sugar is derived from either sugar CANE or sugar BEETS. Both are plants, which places them in the vegetable category. Thus, chocolate is a vegetable.
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So Easy a Caveman Can Do It Music and the Human Soul
October 9, 2006
Most people simply listen to music. If they think about the origins of Bach's B-Minor Mass or St. Matthew Passion, it's probably to wonder how a man with twenty children had the time and energy to write such music.
Arguably, the most wondrous thing about music is that it exists at all. After all, it isn't necessary for the survival of our species; in fact, throughout history, there have always been dour souls who regarded music as frivolous and a waste of time that would be better put to other uses.
Yet, despite this apparent lack of utility, music is a universal human experience. Why this should be so is a subject of debate among scientists. According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, "neuroscientists and psychologists" have concluded that we are "hard-wired to be musical." They cite changes in brain activity while listening to "stirring passages of music" as evidence of this "hard-wiring."
This still leaves the questions of "how?" and "why?" Most of the answers proceed from the assumption that this "hard-wiring" has to be the product of evolution. One proposed answer is that aptitude in music "originated as a way for males to impress and attract females." Proponents—I'm not making this up—point to the phenomenon of "groupies," women who sleep with rock stars, as evidence for their hypothesis.
While that might "explain" why men want to be good at music, it says little or nothing about why they might like music themselves or why women like music.
Another hypothesis says that "music arose as a way for groups of early humans to create a sense of community." Singing together not only forged "a common identity," it also served as a "rehearsal" for "more high-stakes" activities like hunting and defense. Again, I'm not making this up.
Evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker calls these explanations "completely bogus." Pinker is right: They are bogus. But Pinker's assertion that our love of music might simply be "a useless byproduct of language" is equally foolish.
Then again, a non-bogus answer, such as "beats me," won't cut it, either. That's because the biggest challenge to the materialist orthodoxy of the kind on display in the Boston Globe article is its inability to satisfactorily account for those things—like music, ethics, and altruism—that are most distinctly human.
A worldview that insists that we are merely animals must be able to explain those traits that most set us apart from animals in terms that are consistent with that materialistic worldview. That leaves us with Stone Age groupies and "kumbaya" as preparation for hunting mammoths. What nonsense!
Truth is, these "explanations" are the best you can do if you will not entertain the possibility that the imago Dei, the image of God implanted in humans, is what makes us distinct from animals and makes us capable of appreciating truth, beauty, and goodness. It's what gave Bach his creative genius for us to appreciate.
If you ignore this reality, the result is what philosopher David Stove once called a "ridiculous slander" of human beings—the kind of slander that becomes obvious if you would simply listen.
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