Friday, September 24, 2010

Ben Stein Commentary

Our only  hope is that we find GOD again before it is too late!

The following was  written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS  Sunday  Morning   Commentary.
My  confession:
I  am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors  was Jewish.  And it does not bother me even  a little bit when people call those beautiful  lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas  trees...  I don't feel threatened..  I  don't feel discriminated against.. That's what  they are, Christmas  trees.

It doesn't bother  me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to  me.  I don't think they are slighting me or  getting ready to put me in a ghetto.  In  fact, I kind of like it.  It shows that we  are all brothers and sisters celebrating this  happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all  that there is a manger scene on display at a key  intersection near my beach house in Malibu  .  If people want a creche, it's just as  fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred  yards away.

I don't like  getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I  don't think Christians like getting pushed  around for being Christians.  I think  people who believe in God are sick and tired of  getting pushed around, period.  I have no  idea where the concept came from, that America  is an explicitly atheist country.  I can't  find it in the Constitution and I don't like it  being shoved down my  throat.

Or maybe I can put  it another way: where did the idea come from  that we should worship celebrities and we aren't  allowed to worship God as we understand  Him?  I guess that's a sign that I'm  getting old, too.  But there are a lot of  us who are wondering where these celebrities  came from and where the America we knew went  to.

In light of the  many jokes we send to one another for a laugh,  this is a little different:  This is not  intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's  intended to get you  thinking.

Billy Graham's  daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and  Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let  something like this happen?' (regarding  Hurricane Katrina)..  Anne Graham gave an  extremely profound and insightful  response..  She said, 'I believe God is  deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for  years we've been telling God to get out of our  schools, to get out of our government and to get  out of our lives.  And being the gentleman  He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.   How can we expect God to give us His blessing  and His protection if we demand He leave us  alone?'

In light of recent  events... terrorists attack, school shootings,  etc..  I think it started when Madeleine  Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found  a few years ago) complained she didn't want  prayer in our schools, and we said OK.   Then someone said you better not read the Bible  in school.  The Bible says thou shalt not  kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your  neighbor as yourself.  And we said  OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin  Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when  they misbehave, because their little  personalities would be warped and we might  damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son  committed suicide).  We said an expert  should know what he's talking about..  And  we said okay..

Now we're asking  ourselves why our children have no conscience,  why they don't know right from wrong, and why it  doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their  classmates, and  themselves.

Probably, if we  think about it long and hard enough, we can  figure it out.  I think it has a great deal  to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE  SOW.'

Funny how simple it  is for people to trash God and then wonder why  the world's going to hell.  Funny how we  believe what the newspapers say, but question  what the Bible says.  Funny how you can  send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like  wildfire, but when you start sending messages  regarding the Lord, people think twice about  sharing.  Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and  obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace,  but public discussion of God is suppressed in  the school and  workplace.

Are you laughing  yet?

Funny how when you  forward this message, you will not send it to  many on your address list because you're not  sure what they believe, or what they will think  of you for sending  it.

Funny how we can be  more worried about what other people think of us  than what God thinks of  us.

Pass it on if you  think it has  merit.
 
If not, then just  discard it... no one will know you did.   But, if you discard this thought process, don't  sit back and complain about what bad shape the  world is  in.
My  Best Regards,  honestly and  respectfully,

Ben  Stein
 

"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.  We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.  We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount." 

OMAR BRADLEY

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