Homosexuals In a Lagos Church

By Hakeem Jamiu
Daily Independence

Finally, they made their debut in Nigeria. Not that homosexuality - sexual attraction to somebody of the same sex - is alien to Nigeria ; those who engage in it have been operating clandestinely. However, all these changed last week when homosexuals from all over West Africa gathered for a convention inside a church in Yakoyo area of Ojodu in a Lagos suburb. Not a few people were shocked about the boldness of the sexual perverts in announcing their arrival. Many people were curious to find out how the convention of men /women inside a church would look like. They were more eager to see how they would preach the gospel and how they would rationalize homosexuality and still be in agreement with the Bible. Attendance was strictly by invitation and security was tight but news hounds who managed to gain entrance into the church had a lot to report. The theme of their convention and preaching is "Would Jesus have discriminated?" For the avoidance of doubt, the Bible in Genesis 19:24 says "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." The Bible explains further that the cities were destroyed because of homosexuality. The Quran condemns it and the Nigerian constitution also forbids it. But the London- based convener of the homosexual convention who dressed like a woman was in a relaxed mood inside the church. He/She was also convinced that they have not broken any law by man or by God. Majority of those who participated were men who dressed like women, walked like women and giggled like women with their earrings, weaved hairs and make up. To prove to those in doubt that they have come to stay, the organisation under which they operate - The Rainbow Coalition - has been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria.

The issue of homosexuality is so contentious to the extent that it has created a lot of disagreement between the Anglican Church in Britain and its counterpart in Nigeria . The Anglican Church of England had recognized homosexuality and this has pitched it against the Anglican Church of Nigeria which frowns at homosexuality as anti-Biblical. The scenario is unfolding in America where an Episcopalian church has ordained an active homosexual Gene Robinson a Bishop. Many observers are of the view that the conveners of the Lagos homosexuals' convention must have derived their boldness from happenings in London and America where homosexuality is fast gaining ground and legal recognition. In fact it is common these days for cities in America, Europe and Australia to celebrate same sex marriages. The argument of homosexuals against societal rejection is that they are not treated fairly by heterosexuals who are people sexually attracted to the opposite sex and who are considered as people of normal sex orientation. The homosexuals at the convention argued, among other things, that they have the right to choose their own sexual preferences and orientation as this is better than many heterosexuals who had been involved in relationships with the opposite sex but came out bruised and bitter. The convener argued further that''the two-day event tagged 'A Special Vigil Night of Gospel Praise' is a straightforward church programme which should not be misconstrued by anyone to be an unusual gathering as we are out to enlighten Nigerians that God sees your inside and welcomes you as you are and will not throw you away as people often do."

As a matter of common sense, if God thought those men could interchange for women and vice versa, He would not have created women in the first place. Also the two holy books would not have condemned homosexuality. The Quran not only forbids homosexuality but also forbids a Moslem man from marrying certain categories of women like one's mother, daughter, sister, blood sisters, and one's mother-in-law etc. I am also sure it is a taboo in the traditional setting for a man to sleep with another man so where did they get the basis for this awkward union? This leads us to another question: What is the attraction in a man dating and mating with another man or a woman dating and mating with another woman as is the case with lesbians? How do they enjoy sex? How do they feel? What do they feel? How do they relate like' husband and wife'? Is this a normal union? Talking about normality and abnormality, it has been discovered that such absurdities as homosexuality always found a safe berth in the realm of normality because they would always argue that what is normal to one individual may be abnormal to another as in the case of different strokes for different folks.

But there is a minimum generally acceptable standard for a normal behaviour and anything outside this is considered a deviant behaviour, so says Sigmund Freud founder of psychoanalysis and this is one of the guidelines that restore the sanity of society. If not for this line of distinction, those who engage in deviant behaviors like the homosexuals engage in sexual perversion would have labeled the rest of us as abnormal beings. I once engaged somebody in an argument over what constitutes an abnormal behaviour and he told me there is nothing like an abnormal behaviour especially in sexual matters. He cited an example of a friend of his whose only method of enjoying sexual satisfaction is to watch women laps while they pee! This guy would hide in a corner and peep at any woman answering the call of nature and he would ejaculate, what a man! He gave example of a girlfriend of his who would not enjoy sex except he beats her up first! He also gave examples of men who have sex with their daughters, kids, mothers, and mothers-in-law, fellow men and even animals and he said since they derive pleasure in doing so, their actions are perfectly normal! I was shocked and I came to the conclusion that God created so many human beings with different chemical and biological make up and this explains why there are various behavioral patterns in people. This is why a man could wake up and feels like killing his neighbors for no just cause other than the fact that he simply enjoys killing people! If not for the line of demarcation between normality and abnormality and the injunctions of the religions which forbids certain practices, the rest of us would have been wondering if we are the ones who are abnormal! Though the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 eliminated homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses and, in 1980, dropped it from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the fact still remains that homosexuality is a deviant behaviour.

We are yet to be convinced by the Anglican Church of England and America, which gave tacit approvals to homosexuality, the Biblical basis for their evil endorsement. Homosexuals are found in many professions, including the legal profession, and one wonders if they would see issues as the rest of the society. If they are Judges, would they not be biased and their judgment perverted as their minds? If they are teachers what would they teach the kids? If they are counselors what would they counsel others? If this evil union is allowed to fester in Nigeria, we may be inviting another form of dangerous cultism on campuses. Are animals not better than these people? Animals are not known to be homosexuals and I stand to be corrected. Homosexuality is simply sexual perversion which should be condemned and discouraged in our society by all rational minds. It is freedom, liberty and frustration carried too far! Other sexual perversions are lesbianism, transvestitism (somebody who dresses and behaves like the opposite sex) and bi-sexuality. Bi -sexuality is when somebody is practicing both heterosexuality and homosexuality.

It is sad that law enforcement agents looked the other way while this absurdity was going on despite the publicity that heralded the convention and despite the fact that what they were doing is against the laws of Nigeria. If this is allowed to fester, with the current myriads of problems of hunger and frustration, in no time, our unemployed male graduates would get 'married' to rich men who could provide for them and the number of unmarried women and men/women would swell and our society would become so mad, confused, perverted and absurd. May God help us!

Find article here: http://odili.net/news/source/2008/sep/17/715.html

My Base Instincts and God's Love

By Joe Eszterhas

Seven years ago, I sat down on a curb near my home, sobbing, and asked God to help me.

I had just had surgery for throat cancer. I still had a trache in my throat. I had been told that if I didn't stop smoking and drinking immediately, I'd die. I desperately didn't want to die. I adored my wife and children.

But I knew I couldn't stop. I'd started smoking when I was twelve and drinking when I was 14. I was now 57 years old.

I cried and begged God to help me . . . and He did. I hadn't prayed since I was a boy. I had made fun of God and those who loved God in my writings. And now, through my sobs, I heard myself asking God to help me . . . and from the moment I asked, He did.

I didn't at first understand why He did. I didn't deserve His help, I thought. I was unworthy. I ignore Him for forty years and then suddenly I ask Him to help me and He does? It took me some time to understand that God helped me because He loves me. Because even though we don't deserve God's love, God loves us - all of us.

Not only did He give me the strength to be able to defeat my addictions, He saved my life. My throat surgeon, Dr. Marshall Strome, told me seven years after the surgery that I am "cured." Not that I am in remission, but that I am cured. That my throat tissue has regenerated so remarkably that even a doctor examining my throat wouldn't be able to tell that there was ever cancer there. Dr. Strome, who had removed about eighty percent of my larynx, called this "a miracle."

I call it that, too. Why did God save the life of a man who had trashed, lampooned, and marginalized Him most of his life? Why did He take the time and the trouble to save me? It certainly wasn't because I had written Basic Instinct and Showgirls, right? Was it because my wife and I had four little boys we were trying to raise? Possibly.

Or was it God's divinely impish sense of humor? "Who, you? You're praying? After
everything you've done to break my commandments and after every nasty, unfunny thing you've written about Me and those who follow Me - now you're sobbing? Praying? Asking Me to help you? Hah! Okay, fine, I'll help you. But if I do, know this: My help will obliterate the old, infamous you. You'll wind up turning your life inside-out. You'll wind up stopping all of your excesses. You know what will happen to you? You'll wind up telling the world what I did for you. You'll wind up carrying my cross in church. Yes, I make all things new - and you will be new, too."

Well, I thought I heard God saying all those things to me . . . and then all of the things God said would happen . . . did. My life has turned inside-out. I have stopped my excesses and replaced them with prayer and long walks. I am carrying the cross as often as they'll let me at Holy Angels Church in Bainbridge Township, Ohio. And I have written a book as a thank-you to God. Not just for saving my life, but for saving me.

I am witness to and the beneficiary of God's love for all of us. Am I am witness, too, to the fact that His love is so strong that it was even able to open my rusty old closed heart.

I will thank Him forever because He gave me new life and a heart which is truly able to love for the first time in my life. His love is mine.

Find Article here: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/09/my_base_instincts_and_gods_lov.html

Joe Eszterhas is the author of a new memoir called "Crossbearer." He has written the screenplays for sixteen films, totaling over $1 billion in box office revenue. His blockbusters include Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, Flashdance and Showgirls. A former senior editor at Rolling Stone, he is the author of five previous books - the second, "Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse," was nominated for the National Book Award.

Literalism and the Last Days

By Ben Witherington III
Beliefnet Columnist

I was riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1968 with my friend Doug, when my dad's '55 Chevy blew a clutch, and we had to coast off the road into a Gulf station. The mechanic at the station was clueless about what to do. So Doug and I found it necessary to hitchhike back from the mountains of North Carolina to our hometown in the center of the state.
The people who picked us up were an elderly couple in an old Plymouth. As we got going and the conversation picked up, we discovered that the couple were both Christians; indeed, very conservative ones. My friend Doug mentioned the recent Apollo missions orbiting Earth, and it was at that juncture that the driver, the husband, said, "The world is not round."

This dumbfounded Doug. "Why do you think the world isn't round?" he asked. The answer the old man shot back was simple. He said, "Because it says in the last book of the Bible, 'The angels will stand on the four corners of the earth,' and if the world has four corners, it can't be round, can it?"

What was wrong with the old man's answer? It wasn't his faith in the Bible that was the problem, but his assumption that a piece of apocalyptic literature like Revelation was intended to teach us about the shape of the world. In other words, the man had made a fundamental mistake about the genre of that last piece of biblical literature.

The term "genre" means literary type or kind. It involves a sort of compact between an author and an audience in which it is understood that a certain kind of information will be conveyed and not other kinds of information. For example, it would be a genre mistake if one went to a dictionary to look up directions for how to travel from North Carolina to Mississippi. Or again, it would be a genre mistake if one went to a phone book to find the definition of a word. Different types of literature intend to convey different kinds of information. This is why it is so important that we treat the gospels as gospels, the epistles as letters, Acts as ancient history, and Revelation as apocalyptic literature. Each type of literature operates under different conventions.

Let us consider the most difficult of these literary types-- apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literature is one part prophecy and one part wisdom literature, a hybrid that began to appear on the scene during the period of Israel's exile in Babylon and thereafter (confer Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel). This literature involves the use of vivid images and hyperbolic descriptions to convey messages about the interaction of the human and the divine in human history. It is a highly metaphorical kind of speech, involving visions, oracular prophecy, elements of letters, and a variety of other things.

In a sense, apocalyptic literature is coded language that requires a decoder to understand it. It is indeed referring to real persons and events in human history, but it is doing so using metaphorical rather than literal descriptions. The author does not really believe there is a literal beast with several heads and multiple horns roaming the Mediterranean crescent. But he does believe the Roman Empire, with its hostility toward Christians, is like such a beast. Thus, when the author speaks of the angels standing on the four corners of the earth, he is speaking metaphorically to refer to the fact that God's messengers will be coming from all points of the compass.

When I was a child, one of the things I used to enjoy doing was picking up the doormat outside the front door of our house to see what was under it--usually, little bugs and spiders and other crawling things. In a sense, apocalyptic literature seeks to peel back the tapestry of history and show the underlying spiritual forces, both good and evil, at work in space and time.

Apocalyptic literature is also meant to comfort a persecuted minority religious group; while everything seems to be going wrong, God is nevertheless still in his heaven and in control, and all things will ultimately turn out well for those who love God and are called unto his purposes.

In sum, apocalyptic literature is visionary in character and deals with either the other world (that is, heaven and hell) or the future or, often, as in the case of Revelation, both. But the conceptual framework within which it treats such topics is metaphorical, using images to describe a transcendent reality. One would not know any of this unless a person had studied Revelation in the context of other early examples of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature.

At the end of the day, the problem with the elderly couple's worldview is not that they took the Bible seriously. It is that they tried to interpret figurative literature literally, and so violated the genre conventions or rules of interpretation that the inspired author took for granted when he wrote the work. Revelation does not intend to teach geography, but it certainly does intend to say important things about history, theology, and theological cosmology.


Find article here: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/52/story_5280_1.html

Copyright © 2008 Beliefnet, Inc.

Historic Nomination

How do you describe this? The magnitude of it; the sheer audacity of its possibility. This is unimaginable. This is beyond words. I'm speechless, I'm astounded. My tears flow freely. My heart, oh my heart, is about to burst with pride. I've never been more proud to be a black man in America. 

I look at my children and I now can see a bright future for them in this land I call home. I see a future of limitless potentials and unrestricted opportunities. I see an America in which they climb the greatest of heights...wherever and whenever...they choose. I see for them an America that'll look at

 them and judge them not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I see an America that'll listen to their message and not hear their accent.

Thank God Almighty that I'm here to witness this day!!!! God bless America!!!!!

A Fading Light, A Hidden City

By Akin Ojumu

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14 KJV).

I was in Mexico City the other day, attending the annual meeting of the International AIDS Society (IAS), AIDS 2008. The meeting lasted 6 days and 6 nights, each filled with stuff that’ll make the skin crawl and many a righteous soul sick. It was 6 days of wanton display of the debasement of the human spirits and 6 nights of parade of sickened souls; men and women, in one accord, provoking to wrath the Almighty God.

And I was there, for 5 of those nights and 5 of those days, when evil descended upon the Hill of Mexico. I sat there and watched as the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and the spiritual wickedness in high places took over Mexico City. Crouched and crunched in a corner, I was bedazzled with mind numbing revelry and debauchery.

The AIDS 2008 was supposed to provide opportunities for the presentation of important new scientific research and for productive, structured dialogue on the major challenges facing the global response to AIDS. I was looking forward to attending a wide variety of session types that would enhance my understanding of the disease. Instead I was confronted with the basest of the ugliness of hearts of men who have gone berserk.

It’s over a week since I got back, yet the stench of the corruption still stings as I write this. It was such a putrefying sight. Word fails me in describing what I saw and heard in Mexico. But I’ll try and paint the picture for you to see.

The meeting was well underway by the time I got there. Like a blast of scalding steam blown into the face, I was welcomed to the meeting with a program booklet and a sachet of condoms. That was the first inkling that I was in for a ride of my life.

Why in the world would I need a sachet of condom at a scientific meeting? The answer would come soon enough.

You hear a lot about Harm Reduction in the field of HIV-AIDS these days. It is the prevalent thinking among most of the so-called experts. As a universal theme, it thread across the different talks and presentations given at the AIDS 2008 meeting.

In very recent past behavioral change was the gold-standard of HIV-AIDS Prevention efforts. It was packaged and pushed by all stakeholders. But now behavioral change has been jettisoned for reduction of harm.

The prostitutes – oops- sex workers for instance no longer want to be discouraged from selling their bodies for money. They instead are demanding full recognition of their “profession”. And they were given the platform at the meeting to spew their venomous ideas.

Take for instance the talk given by one Ms E.R., a prostitute from Argentina. Ms E.R., of the Argentina Association of Female Sex workers, issued a “stirring” call for the full recognition of sex workers’ rights and for the ability of sex worker organizations to develop and implement effective HIV/AIDS programs rooted in the realities of their lives. E.R. stated that evidence shows HIV prevalence has been lowered in regions such as South America, where sex work is actually recognized as “work”. According to her, critical to reducing HIV infections among sex workers is fighting stigma and discrimination by continued efforts to decriminalize sexual work, end police violence, and sensitize the media. She rejected programs that respond to these conditions by seeking to rehabilitate or retrain workers stating that there is no scientific evidence that they are effective in stopping HIV. Instead she called for freedom from repression as the best way to build an effective response to HIV among sex workers. She concluded her presentation with the following statements:

“We don’t want to cook. We don’t want to knit. We don’t want to bake. All we want to do is have sex!!!!”

I was dumbstruck to say the least. I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. But they were not done with me yet. Another session was dedicated to men who have sex with men (MSM).

The speaker at that session is another one of those experts in the field. Here was how they introduced him - well “her” really.

“…..a man of principal (sic) and actions, Dr. J.S. is a physician and a public health specialist. Dr. J.S. founded the first ambulatory HIV clinic in Mexico, La Clinical Condessa, here in Mexico City, and for the past five years, he has been the head of the National HIV/AIDS program in Mexico, Sinsida. In this role, he launched Mexico's universal access to ARV policy, and has led government-wide anti-machismo and anti-homophobia programs, as well as appointed the first trans-gender woman to an official position with the Mexican government. For the past two years, Dr. J.S. has also served on the board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria…”

Dr J.S. began his/her presentation this way:

“…….First let me start with a few definitions. MSM is a construct which tries to capture behavior in that tight entity. Sexual orientation includes homosexual, bisexual and heterosexual. MSM is a category that includes gay and non-gay identified men, bisexual situational sex between men, prisons, schools, militaries, male sex workers and some trans-gender persons. MSM includes a wide variety of traditional and local terms worldwide….”

From here the guy/gal went on and on and finally concluded with the following statements:

“……And, finally, yes, I am married, so I would like to thank my husband for his patience during all these weeks previous to the conference.”

The listening audience broke into wild applause. Yes they clapped for him and he seemed to love it. So he continued.

“Yes, I said husband. I did not make any language mistake. We got married where it is legal, almost four years ago. And of course, condoms and testing are part of our lives. Thank you very much.”

Now you know how that left me. Hollow and drained.

And then there was the global village. It was more like a global cesspool if you ask me. This was where participants from various countries and organizations displayed and showcased the activities and programs in which they are engaged. Like the leaves of the mustard tree where the birds of the air came and gathered, the global village was the focal point of evil. It was such a scary place. On display were the wares of MSMs, Transgenders, Drug Addicts, Pimps and Prostitutes.

They were all over the place with their haughty hearts. They walked with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes - walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet.

And what did I do about all of these? Nada…Nothing!!!

In Mexico I was a light, but I failed to shine. I was city on a hill, but I hid myself. My righteous indignation was diddly-squat in face of overwhelming evil. The forces of darkness danced circles around me. My face was cherry red with humiliation. I was beaten fair and square, tongue talking and all.

In my heart I asked,

“Where was the body of Christ when children of men sank into this perdition? Where was I? Where were you?”

At church, perhaps.

While we are busy with our countless church activities, the world slips further and further into damnation. In the midst of our arguments over the length of the beards of Aaron, hapless souls are heading straight to eternal damnation. While we are intellectually engaged in the deconstruction of the Holy Scriptures, the souls of men and women are bound for everlasting destruction.

Oh yes as we collect the tithes and offerings and build gorgeous edifices of worship, the edifices of salvation for the souls of men crumble all around us. As we obey our denominations’ bylaws and follow the meaningless sacraments, mindless ordinances, and man-made doctrines that our various parishes promote and practice, men, women, and children fall into Hades.

Alas brethren, we’ve got to stand up and fight the good fight of faith. It’s not enough to go to church, say our prayers, or read the scriptures. We’ve got to confront evil squarely.

We are light; we need to shine. We are a city on a hill; we’ve got to be seen. We are His voice; we must be heard.

People, we’ve got to,

“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, in order to harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12).

For,

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5 KJV).

Choosing Your Religion

By Elizabeth Devita-Raeburn

I try on religions the way other people try on jeans. I started young. In elementary school, I was always game when a sleepover ended with an invitation to tag along for morning services in a church or synagogue. While my friends squirmed, I sat absorbing every detail. I envied the way everyone seemed to know when to sit, stand, or kneel, as well as the tunes to all the psalms.

Sunday mornings during college, while most of the campus slept off a hangover, I sat in a pew with a Catholic or Baptist friend nursing mine with a Diet Coke and wishing I could take communion. Those wafers fascinated me (the communal wine glass, however, grossed me out). And I was always disappointed that I'd yet to see Baptists speak in tongues.

After college, I got more eclectic. I saw psychics. I consulted mediums. I went to Quaker meetings. I read up on Buddhism. I meditated. I did yoga. My parents, who aren't religious, wondered whether I was suffering from some childhood trauma--and at times I did feel a little off center. But the older I got, the more I realized I wasn't the only one. In my spiritual quest, I'd seen and met lots of people looking for...something. There was a 3-month waiting list for one of the mediums I consulted. The Quaker meetings were brimming with people from other faiths--curious about the less dogmatic approach of services sans priest or rabbi. (Quaker meetings have no leader; they're silent unless someone feels moved to speak.) And my yoga classes were always packed with people in search of something more than a workout.

Take it from Billy Graham and material-girl-turned-mystic Madonna: Many of us feel a need to believe in something larger than ourselves. And now researchers are beginning to uncover the biology behind this urge. Scientists say that some people may have a gene that makes them more spiritual, and they are discovering that religious feelings may come from specific areas of the brain.

To me, the news is as welcome as an unexpected invitation to Kwanzaa dinner or to a winter solstice bonfire. It means that I have no reason to be embarrassed by my try-anything approach to spirituality. In fact, there's a good chance it's something I was simply born with, like my double-jointed elbows and overly sensitive taste buds.

The God Gene

It turns out that spirituality seekers like myself probably carry--embedded in our DNA along with the gene that determines whether we can roll our tongues and all the others that make us not only human but unique individuals--a particular version of a gene called VMAT2. Genes come in different flavors, which is why all of us have colored irises but some are brown and others blue or green. The VMAT2 gene comes in two forms--one of which, it seems, makes people more likely to seek out transcendent experiences (Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia doesn't count). Some call it the "God gene."

The link between VMAT2 and spirituality is the discovery of Dean Hamer, Ph.D., a geneticist at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, who came upon the microscopic miracle worker quite unexpectedly. Hamer's job is to track down the links between behavior, personality, and the risk for diseases such as cancer and AIDS. One of his recent projects was to study the genetic basis of cigarette addiction. He gave some college students a personality test called the Temperament and Character Inventory. Then he took blood samples from the students and analyzed their DNA. His conclusion: There may well be a gene that makes some people more prone to getting hooked on smoking.

Mission accomplished. But not long after Hamer finished that study, he ran into the psychiatrist who'd designed the personality test, Robert Cloninger, M.D., of Washington University in St. Louis. In casual conversation, Dr. Cloninger made a comment that caught Hamer's attention. "He said, 'More people pray every day than have sex,'" Hamer recalls. (It's true: Surveys show that 59 percent of Americans have a daily prayer habit, while only 5 percent can say the same for nooky.) Hamer was intrigued. The sex drive is our most bottom-line biological urge--without it, we wouldn't be here. So if people pray more than they get laid, does that mean that religion could be just as basic a human need?

Conveniently, the personality test he'd given the college students contained questions designed to measure "self transcendence"--that is, the ability to get lost in an experience and feel connected to something larger. Hamer looked again at the DNA samples and the questionnaires and found that the most spiritual people tended to have a particular version of VMAT2. Why? Hamer has a theory. VMAT2 controls feel-good brain chemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine, which keep us upbeat and motivated to seek out pleasure, like from coconut panna cotta and back rubs. Hamer thinks this same family of chemicals may also prime us for religious experiences--their levels fly off the charts when people take hallucinogenic drugs like LSD or Ecstasy. So, Hamer reasons, maybe people with the spiritual version of VMAT2 are feeling a natural form of that out-of-this-world high.

But many biologists say linking a character trait to a single gene is too simplistic. And Hamer himself acknowledges that the God gene isn't the end of the story. About 50 percent of us have it, he estimates, based on his study's findings, yet 91 percent of Americans believe in God or some universal spirit, according to a recent CBS News poll. Which goes to show that any number of things--from the midnight Masses your parents dragged you to as a child to the summer you spent trekking the Appalachian Trail--can influence your spiritual beliefs. Okay, so having the "religious version" of VMAT2 may not mean you're destined to sell all your worldly goods and head to Kathmandu. But Hamer claims you're a lot more likely to browse the religion aisle at Barnes & Noble than someone with the other version.

Zapped into Zen

But what does it mean to be spiritual, anyway? What exactly is going on in your head when you finger a rosary or chant om shanti in yoga class? Michael Persinger, Ph.D., coordinator of the behavioral neuroscience program at Laurentian University in Ontario has been studying just that.

Persinger believes that when we sense ourselves in the company of a divine presence, be it Jesus Christ, Yahweh, or Allah, a part of the brain called the right temporal lobe is firing on all cylinders. This brain area, located just above the right ear, is where we process noise--everything from the comforting hiss of a Starbucks espresso machine on Monday morning to the jarring screech of a siren coming up behind you on the highway. This is the brain area that helps us enjoy a Mozart symphony or the latest Strokes hit. It's also an area that's subject to seizures--experiences that can cause intense hallucinations. Is it coincidence, Persinger asked himself, that saints and visionaries tend to hear the voice of God--from Moses, who had that famous run-in with the Almighty at the burning bush, to Saint Paul, who converted to Christianity after Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus? He didn't think so. Persinger wondered whether the temporal lobe might be the brain area that's activated when we feel a holy being is nearby--and possibly even communicating with us.

To test his theory, Persinger designed a bizarre-looking cap studded with wire coils. Blindfolded volunteers don the headdress and enter a dark room. Then Persinger turns on the juice. The helmet creates a mild electromagnetic field that penetrates deep inside the wearer's right temporal lobe. This field interferes with the normal electrical impulses of local brain cells, coaxing them to fire instead in patterns that Persinger has specially calibrated to stimulate spiritual experiences. And within minutes, 80 percent of people sense a presence in the room with them, usually just over their left shoulder (the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa). Sounds creepy, but most people actually enjoy it--so much so that they ask to do it again. But Persinger won't let them. "I don't want it to become an entertainment machine," he says.

What does it all mean? Persinger thinks the brain chemicals controlled by Hamer's God gene are especially active in the right temporal lobe. In time, he expects the various strands of research--on genes, brain chemicals, and specific God-activated brain areas--collectively to confirm that spirituality is centered in the right half of the brain.

The Power of Prayer

So if there is a spiritual drive, and it's as strong as the ones that compel us to gorge on Taco Bell and flirt with handsome strangers, then what's it for? One possibility: Just as our instincts to eat and to have sex sustain our species (our genes' main task), perhaps those of us who have faith also have an advantage in the survival-of-the-fittest game.

Studies show that being religious may improve your health. For example, people who read the Bible or pray daily and who attend religious services at least weekly are 40 percent less likely to have a common type of high blood pressure, according to a 1998 study by Harold G. Koenig, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center. People who worship more than once a week also have better- functioning immune systems, according to a 2004 study by Susan Lutgendorf, a psychologist at the University of Iowa. And a 1998 study of depressed elderly people found that those who had a strong internal faith recovered 70 percent faster.

If religion doesn't actually make you healthier, it might help steer you toward the straight and narrow, which will keep you safer. According to Dr. Koenig, a leading researcher in the field, people who belong to a church or other religious community are less likely to do risky things like smoke cigarettes. Meanwhile, social contacts--pancake breakfast in the church basement, anyone?--help people cope with stress. And perhaps most of all, faith encourages optimism, which has been shown time and again to help people live longer and better.

No Need For A Creed

But what if praying comes about as naturally to you as reciting the periodic table? No worries. It's not as if there's some particular creed or religion that leads to a healthier life. Meditation will do the trick just fine. The physical benefits of meditation are well known--like prayer, it bolsters the immune system, lowers blood pressure, and over time can improve stress-related conditions, including insomnia, arthritis, and heart disease. Nonbelievers, rejoice! And new research is turning up more and unexpected health benefits to meditation.

For one thing, it seems to make people smarter. A recent study showed that the brain area responsible for planning, decision making, and other high-level activities doesn't deteriorate with age in longtime meditators. And even newer research suggests that meditators may be getting the same mental and physical pick-me-up that we normally get from sleep. Bruce O'Hara, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at the University of Kentucky, has discovered that meditation gives people a huge performance boost: 40 minutes in the lotus position is the equivalent of drinking 4 to 5 cups of coffee. In his latest research, which isn't yet published, he got a clue as to why. O'Hara recorded meditators' brain waves with an EEG (electroencephalogram) machine and found that their brain cells were firing in unison, much the way they do during deep slumber. "Meditation could be restorative in the same way as sleep," he says. So if you're bleary the morning after a boozy girls' night out, you might try some deep breathing before operating heavy machinery.

I find all this very reassuring. My theory about myself is this: I think I've got the God gene. (I can't know for sure; although testing for the gene is pretty straightforward, no one's doing it commercially right now.) But since I didn't grow up following a particular religion, I have no ready outlet for my spiritual drive. Which explains, I guess, the hodgepodge of alternatives I've dabbled in--the psychics, mediums, and all the rest. Still, through meditation, yoga, and guest appearances at Passover seders, Easter sermons, and Ramadan feasts, I satisfy my spiritual cravings--and likely stay mentally and physically balanced. It's a bit messy, a little unorthodox--but for me, it's religion. 

Find article here: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/14/choosing-your-religion_n_118907.html

Platitudinous Ponderosity

"In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your conversational communications demonstrate a clarified conciseness, a compact comprehensibleness, no coalescent conglomerations of precious garrulity, jejune bafflement and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous verbal evaporations and expatriations have lucidity, intelligibility and veracious vivacity without rodomontade or Thespian bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous propensity, psittaceous vacuity, ventriloquial verbosity and vaniloquent vapidity. Shun double-entendres, obnoxious jocosity and pestiferous profanity, observable or apparent."

I love words.

Beautifully crafted and eloquently uttered words get me all juiced up.

As a 10 year old, my older cousin, who was then in college, made me memorized the above quote. I would recite it to him, like a chant, over and over again. He was teaching me how to impress the ladies. According to him, the best way to win a girl's heart, especially if you have a dough devoid wallet, is to have your vocabulary wallet all packed with big sounding words.

Hearing some of us preach the message of salvation, I'm reminded of my cousin.......enticing the sinner with our empty rhetorics.

Our extemporaneous verbal evaporations and expatriations lack lucidity, intelligibility and veracious vivacity and is thick with rodomontade and is bombastically Thespian.

Here is Paul to the Corinthians:

"When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 2:1 and 4)

In this day and age of heavy commercialization and showbiz, the very essence of the Gospel is lost in the midst of banal, trite, and stale remarks which are oppressively and unpleasantly dull and lifeless......platitudinous ponderosity.....lacking nothing but the most important thing, the demonstration of the awesome power of God.

Lost in the shuffle is the real meaning of Christianity, which is, purely and simply, LOVE. The crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior is reduced to mere church membership, church programs, and the ceaseless gyrations of religious exercises.

When Nicodemus came that night, Jesus told him very simply:

"Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

How did Jesus heal the blind guy by the Pool at Siloam? He spat on the ground, made mud of the spittle, applied it to the guy's eyes and told him to, "Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam."

The woman with the issue of blood simply touched the helm of His garment. And the man full of leprosy that asked him, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." He reached out His hand and touched him saying, "I will be thou clean." The leprosy left him immediately.

He gave no long sermons and had no need to "get the congregation in the spirit", with beautiful songs and slow playing piano, when He healed the man with palsy, let down through the rooftop. He saw their faith and told the man, "Man thy sins are forgiven thee."

And to dead Lazarus, He said, "Lazarus come forth."

No fanfare. No dramatization for full effects. No speaking of tongues, and no long prayers.

Lofty words and useless sacraments won't get us any closer to God. Love without dissimulation, is all He requires of us all.

Family Feuds and the Work of Forgiveness

By: Connie Saindon, MA

People forgive in a variety of ways, from efforts that seem like two steps forward and one step back or all at once. How do you salvage the family and restore trust when issues of wrong doing, abuse, kidnapping, alcoholism, and so on have occurred?

Fuels for family feuds occur when there has been a violation of justice or fairness. Fairness of the give-and-take balance in relationships develops trust between people. Trustworthiness builds assurances that ones' needs will be met without manipulation or threats of retaliation. Hurts in families can last for years and even be passed on down through generations cutting both wide and deep. Perhaps you too are familiar with the "I haven't talked to my sister since I left home at 18." "No one invites Uncle Joe after he ran Dad's business into the ground 23 years ago."

Murray Bowen, M.D. coined the term "multi-generational transmission process" to describe how families pass on legacies from one generation to another. This famous saying describes the same idea: "The sins of the father are visited upon his sons." (Of course we know legacies are passed on down to daughters and from mothers too.) Individuals and families have been wounded by past events that range from mild to severe. Family members lack trust and feel a destructive sense of entitlement ("You owe me!"). " Not until she apologizes will I consider forgiving her." "Not until he admits what he did will I be OK, again." Feelings of both guilt and blame are clues to the need for forgiveness work.

One can either Exonerate or Forgive:

Exonerating work doesn't require contact with the family member (s). Three aspects of exonerating are:

1. The damaged person seeks to lift the load off of the longterm pain.

2. To do this the person needs to first identify what they must do to protect themselves from further hurt by this person. Also, they need to expand their understanding of the circumstances of the victimizer (their limitations, intent, personal and family history). Deeper understanding and possibly empathy of what their life was like at the time of the offense will be gained.

3. Exonerating a victimizer enables the victim to stop the damage from continuing to affect their lives so much. This frees up the victim to deal with healing some of the accumulated guilt and shame. It does not require further involvement between the victim and victimizer.

Forgiveness work involves resolving a relationship after damage has occurred and restoring the mutual respect balance. This involves some risk as the person can be hurt again. Forgiveness work involves setting realistic goals and making plans to build and test trustworthiness. The overt act of forgiving involves the victim allowing the victimizer to directly address the past damage and hurt. They accomplish the work of forgiveness through:

1. Agreement
2. Acknowledgment
3. Apology

Past hurts and old wounds can restrict one's life in numerous ways. Exonerating can help free family members up from unnecessary burdens of past baggage. Forgiveness work can help families get fresh starts building trust with a balance.

Find Article here: http://www.allprodad.com/playbook/viewarticle.php?art=342