For “Scripture Sunday”, but late again.
Stephen Hawking and the Big Question“Stephen Hawking’s brilliant mind revolutionized the world of theoretical physics—but did he ever find an answer to “the big question” that drove him?
For Stephen Hawking, there was only ever one big question.
During his university years, everything came easy. He rarely studied or took notes because, in his words, “Nothing seemed worth making an effort for.” The exception was cosmology. He was drawn to the subject because it involved “the big question: Where did the universe come from?” (Kitty Ferguson, Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind, 2013, p. 31).
He spent his career in pursuit of answering that question, even as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) slowly destroyed his ability to move his own body. Over time, he lost all muscle control with the exception of the ability to flex a finger, twitch his cheek muscles and move his eyes.
But that was enough. Those few muscle movements were all he needed to turn the world of physics on its head and make a lasting impact on how we look at the universe itself.
A theory of everything
In 1973 Dr. Hawking spent months trying to decipher how quantum mechanics interacted with the forces of gravity. Since he was unable to write or even turn pages, “friends turned the pages of quantum theory textbooks as Dr. Hawking sat motionless staring at them for months. They wondered if he was finally in over his head” (“Stephen Hawking Dies at 76; His Mind Roamed the Cosmos”).
But he wasn’t.
Dr. Stephen Hawking was temporarily released from the constraints of his wheelchair when he took a zero gravity flight in 2007.
He succeeded not only in performing an astronomically complicated calculation entirely in his own mind, but also in making an astronomically important discovery. The result was a completely new way of looking at black holes—those supermassive collapsed stars so dense that even light itself can’t escape their pull—and the discovery of Hawking radiation.” Continued at: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/blog/stephen-hawking-and-the-big-question/
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The Patrick You Didn't Know
“Who was "Saint" Patrick? What did he believe? What did he teach? And was he really Irish?
sxc.hu/shannahsin
Saint Patrick’s Day is a well recognized holiday in the Western world. Celebrated in mid-March with no other Christian holidays around it, Saint Patrick’s Day has taken on a very festive atmosphere. While many picture wearing green, three-leaf clovers, leprechauns, green beer and corned beef, do any of those things really have anything to do with Patrick himself?
Do you know who Patrick was—and more importantly what he taught?
Let’s start with what most people think they know. We have been told that Patrick was a Catholic monk who brought the Trinity doctrine to the people of Ireland. And along the way he drove all the snakes from the Emerald Isle. He became so renowned that the Catholic Church made him a “saint.”
None of that is true.
The Scottish slave in the Celtic Church
Patrick’s given name was actually Maewyn Succat (or Sucat). He took the name Patrick most likely because of the area he was from in Scotland. That’s right, Patrick was Scottish, not Irish! Here’s what Patrick said himself of his background:
“I, Patrick…had Calpornius for my father, a deacon, a son of the late Potitus, the presbyter, who dwelt in the village of Banavan…I was captured. I was almost sixteen years of age…and taken to Ireland in captivity with many thousand men” (William Cathcart, D. D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches , p.127).
Patrick labored for six years as a slave until he managed to escape back to his native Scotland around A.D. 376. He believed he had a calling from God, however, to go back to Ireland to teach God’s Word to the people there. The Catholic Church, while having had an impact in England and later Scotland, did not have a significant foothold in Ireland until the 12th century. They didn’t even acknowledge Patrick for about 200 years after his death.
Patrick was connected to what is known as the Celtic Church. It was very much opposed to what was taught in the Roman Catholic Church.
While we have little of Patrick’s history and teaching written by himself, what’s taught about Patrick now didn’t surface until about 500 years after his death. It was the Catholic priest Jocelyn, writing around A.D. 1130 who wrote most extensively about Patrick. He ignored much of what was known then about Patrick and inserted a Catholic background into Patrick’s story. Patrick never wrote about a connection to Rome or popes or that his authority came from there. So if Patrick wasn’t Roman Catholic, what did he teach?
Patrick’s actual teachings
In A.D. 596 Pope Gregory sent a group of monks to England to try and bring the Celtic Church under the authority of Rome. However, the Celts refused to acknowledge Gregory’s authority and rejected the teachings of the Roman Church. In Ireland the monks found that the Celtic Church permitted their priests to marry. They also practiced baptism by full immersion in water. The Celtic Church also rejected the doctrine of (papal) infallibility and veneration, transubstantiation, the confessional, the Mass, relic worship, image adoration and the primacy of Peter ( Truth Triumphant , by B.G. Wilkinson, pg. 108). The latter list is of specific Roman Catholic doctrines that the Celtic Church knew were not taught in the Scriptures.
Patrick also rejected the merging of church and state (a main teaching of Catholicism). He believed and taught the same as Jesus in John 18:36 that God’s Kingdom is not of this world. The Celtic Church had local ecclesiastical councils and kept Saturday as a day of rest, (A.C. Flick, The Rise of Medieval Church, pp. 236-327). In this matter of a Saturday (Sabbath) rest, Dr. James C. Moffatt wrote that, “They [the Celtic churches] obeyed the fourth commandment [the Sabbath commandment] literally upon the seventh day of the week” ( The Church in Scotland , pg. 140).
Patrick (and the Celtic Church) observed the other “festivals of the Eternal” (Leviticus 23), believed human beings were mortal (that is rejected the teaching of an immortal soul and the doctrine of going to heaven or hell), rejected the Trinity doctrine, followed the food laws of Leviticus 11, refused veneration of “saints” or worship of Mary, and believed that only Jesus Christ is our mediator (Leslie Hardinge, The Celtic Church in Britain ; B.G. Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant ).
The Celtic Church had a long history before the Catholic Church pushed deeper into England, Scotland and Ireland. Celtic writings speak of individuals coming from Asia Minor who brought with them the doctrines they received from John, Paul, Philip and other apostles of Jesus. A Catholic “father,” Bede, (who lived in the mid 700s A.D.) who wrote about the Celtic Church:
“They ignorantly refuse to observe our Easter [Pascha, or Passover] on which Christ was sacrificed, arguing that it should be observed with the Hebrew Passover on the fourteenth of the moon” (Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica ).
What about St. Patrick’s Day?
Conrtinued at: https://www.ucg.org/vertical-thought/the-patrick-you-didnt-know
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A Common Mistake Killed Her Dog, Now She Is Sharing His Story To Save Others
BY ANDREA POWELL
“Christina Young had to endure the sudden loss of her beloved dog, Petey, after a common mistake was made. This could be happening in many homes right now!
Young’s boyfriend, Christian, came home one day expecting Petey to greet him with a wagging tail and wet nose, but that didn’t happen. When he entered their home and Petey was not at the door, he became alarmed. Christian went further into the home, where he found their best friend, lifeless on the floor with a chip bag over his head.
Photo: Facebook/Christina Young
Young posted to Facebook, “He was able to get them off the counter [and] we will forever blame ourselves for leaving [them] out. He ate every chip out but, of course, went back for crumbs…. With there being nothing left inside, every time he would go for more he would inhale, making the bag tighter and tighter around his head…ultimately resulting in suffocation .”
Photo: Facebook/Christina Young
Young couldn’t understand why Petey couldn’t get the bag off his head with his paws. She dived into researching the subject and found that it is more common than she thought. She was not alone, and she was not the first to wonder why there was not more information or awareness of this. She goes on to say, “3-5 pet suffocations get reported every week, and 42 percent of those occur while the owner is in the next room. It only takes about 3 minutes for their oxygen to drop to fatal levels.”
In her research, she discovered that literally any bag can cause suffocation and needs to be out of reach for your dog. She never imagined this could happen, and you may not have either.
She ends her post with a plea to all pet parents, “So I just ask that in honor of my boy, Petey, that you be extra careful, warn other dog owners, and give your fur babies some extra love today and every day after this. I pray none of you ever have to experience your heart breaking this way.” From: http://blog.theanimalrescuesite.com/chip-bag-petey/
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Dog Fighting Is Not Entertainment!
Please tell YouTube to remove all videos containing any form of dog fighting.
The Animal Rescue Site received a disappointing letter from YouTube in response to our request to ban dog fighting videos. Rather than agree to remove them, YouTube merely reiterated their flagging policy, and did nothing to acknowledge the harm these videos are causing. Your signatures are more important than ever -- help us tell YouTube that we won't take no for an answer!” http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/ars/petition/YoutubeDogfighting
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Update.
Zack and I did a little bit of work in the mini-house, but most of the week was taken up with messing with my van. My granddaughter helped me get it dropped off to get the oxygen sensor replaced and Chris took me to pick it up. I had only driven it 14 miles when the light came back on again !!! I took it straight back so they scanned it again and said that it needs a catalytic converter now, and that’s $550. It is a very quiet vehicle and it doesn’t smell of rotten eggs like bad converters usually do.
The van still has to be driven the required 100 miles to make sure the oxygen sensor is OK, so I drove to church as usual. I was told that I have all the necessary paperwork if I am stopped for having out of date tags and inspection.
My little timid ‘Puddin’, foster cat, went to her new home, but I haven’t heard how she is getting along yet. Luna, the Siamese, and I miss her, and Luna keeps on looking for her.
One morning, I was standing in my kitchen when water dripped on me. Zack and I found out that the ceramic-lined water heater connector that goes in the top of the water heater had developed a pin point leak. Fortunately I had another one, so with Chris’ help, as she is very strong because she trims horses feet, we got the old stubborn, calcium-ridden, corroded one off, and replaced it.
For the church pot-luck, I made a par-boiled shredded beet and carrot salad made with orange, lemon juice, olive oil, not vinegar. Also a potato, leek and parsley dish, and another of cabbage with onions and matchstick carrots. We had a lot of other dishes and veggies, and everything was enjoyed by all. Two separate familes who each have five children couldn’t come, so it was a lot quieter in the dining hall. They keep all their children quiet during the service, so they get a bit rambunctious afterwards.
The Bible readings were Exo. 35:1-38:20, about the Sabbath and the making of the Ark of the Covenant and the Altar. The Teaching was about “False Doctrines”, how they were foretold, and that we can see them being taught even today.
Claudia isn’t at the nursing home near the church as she is back in the hospital on the west side of Houston, near her daughter’s houses, so I couldn’t go see her.
I did get another cheaper estimate for the converter, but I am going to investigate this further when I can leave here without going the long way around. There was a bad fire at the storage units down the street, and the road will be blocked most of the day.
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