September 11 could be seen from space

 

September 11 could be seen from space (Image: NASA)

The NASA astronaut photographed the scene from 250 miles above Earth, capturing a haunting image of a smoke plume rising from the Manhattan area.

Never Forget

 

Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, our nation witnessed the unimaginable. Nearly 3,000 lives were taken when four hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
 
For many Americans, the day started out as any ordinary day would. Thousands of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors, first responders, and coworkers left their homes, not knowing they would never return. But it wasn’t just their lives that were affected – our nation as we knew it changed forever.
 
As coverage of smoke and rubble took over the airwaves and television screens, the most destructive and deadly terrorist attack to occur on American soil unfolded. Countless first responders, military personnel, law enforcement officers, health care professionals, and good Samaritans answered the call to help, some making the ultimate sacrifice. 
 

Right values: Light in an age of confusion. Next time a doctor tells you antibiotics are not working as well as they used to.

 

Right values: Light in an age of confusion

Thirty years ago Peggy Noonan, speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush and author of several books on values, warned that Western culture is full of harmful messages, and that our values are deteriorating before our eyes ("What's Happened to Our Values?" Ladies' Home Journal, March 1995, p. 70).

Envato

As mentioned in the previous article, over the decades the values of society have changed, leading to many questioning if there are any moral absolutes, and wondering if there is a reliable source we should go to to determine right values?

The Bible says the Architect and Designer of life presented us with moral and spiritual laws, the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Romans 7:14). They define human behavior and morality, yet in spite of this many regard them as no longer appropriate, and that no single source can determine the validity of values. News commentator Ted Koppel once remarked that when Moses descended Mount Sinai he wasn't carrying with him the Ten Suggestions on the tables of stone.

A classic argument claims the Ten Commandments were meant only for the ancient Israelites, or that they are part of an "Old Covenant" and therefore obsolete, in spite of the fact that the Bible clearly tells us they are not Jewish laws, but God's laws for mankind (John 14:21; Revelation 22:14).

God instructs mankind how to live, but He leaves us the choice of whether we will follow His way (Deuteronomy 30:19). He laments that we often make wrong choices, rejecting His moral absolutes and bringing suffering on ourselves: "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29).

The Apostle Paul wrote that "the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law-indeed it cannot" (Romans 8:7, New Revised Standard Version). Sadly, most people know little about the Ten Commandments or where to find them in the Bible (read Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). Those who take the time to study the commandments find they're not a list of "Do nots," but are in fact God's guide to a life full of blessings. The commandments are relevant to us today and are designed to protect us, our families and our communities. They're a guide to transforming the way we think, what we do and how we live.

Jesus Christ defined the purpose of God’s law as teaching us how to apply the two great principles of loving God and loving each other. When someone asked Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus responded by quoting from two Old Testament passages, declaring: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:35-40).

God gave us the Ten Commandments because they constitute the highest moral standards and define love. We can think of the Ten Commandments as a lighthouse shining its trustworthy beam through the dense fog of ethical relativism and pointing the way to a life in harmony with godly principles. King David honored God's commands: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). He lamented that human beings do not naturally look to God's laws as lights to guide their lives: "Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law" (verse 136).

• The Good News magazine (Nov-Dec 1996)

• https://www.ucg.org/good-news/good-news-magazine-november-december-1996/right-values-light-age-confusion________

Next time a doctor tells you antibiotics are not working as well as they used to, remember this number.

Eighty percent of all antibiotics sold globally are pumped into farm animals, mostly to keep them alive long enough in cramped conditions to reach slaughter weight. Not because the animals are sick. Just because the system needs them to survive long enough to be profitable.

And then we wonder why superbugs are becoming a genuine public health crisis. The two things are directly connected, and the meat industry would very much prefer you did not join those dots.

Does it change how you feel about your next meal knowing this?

Go Vegan for the animals

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