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| | Author | Messages | |
Java Lover
Posts:0
 | | 10/12/2007 9:15 PM |
 Alert | An oldie but a goodie in my inbox today...
You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.
Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house
The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.
As the three of them w ere about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband.
He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.
Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.
He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?
Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.
A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. Sh e had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?
"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says." She read the words " United States of America "
"No, not that; read further."
"One cent?" "No, keep reading."
"In God we Trust?" "Yes!" "And?"
"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!
When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. Yes, God, I get the message.
It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And, God is patient..
The best mathematical equation I have ever seen:
1 cross
+ 3 nails
--------
4 given
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| | Bionicbunny
Posts:599
| | 10/13/2007 5:15 PM |
Alert | Wow, I think this was meant for me to read today.
Thank you for the reminder! | | | |
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| | luceee
Posts:272
| | 10/14/2007 6:53 AM |
Alert | What a wonderful message.
I will surely look at a penny in a different way from now on.
God bless. | |
Love Comes To The Forest | |
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| | Noel
Posts:42
| | | ilovesubway
Posts:53
| | 10/14/2007 8:27 PM |
Alert | "In God We Trust" wasn't added to the penny until 1909..
just FYI  | | | |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 10/15/2007 10:19 AM |
Alert | Posted By ilovesubway on 10/14/2007 8:27 PM "In God We Trust" wasn't added to the penny until 1909.. just FYI 
Convenient thing you forgot though: The Lincoln Penny, the very first penny that was nationally distributed and recognized universally as US currency in the US (before it there was a fragmentation of different coins) was minted in...wait for it...1909! You conveniently left out that it was there right from the start, instead opting to make it sound like it was an afterthought. | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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|  | ilovesubway
Posts:53
| | 10/15/2007 3:45 PM |
Alert | | In God We Trust first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.. Almost 100 years after the formation of the US. IT first appeared on paper money in 1957. | | | |
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| | JasonY
Posts:2591
| | 10/15/2007 3:46 PM |
Alert | | Most of the founding fathers were Christians........ | |
"My favorite health club is the International House of Pancakes" -- Lewis Black | |
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| | Sinbad
Posts:3046
| | 10/15/2007 4:07 PM |
Alert | Posted By JasonY on 10/15/2007 3:46 PM
Most of the founding fathers were Christians........
So can someone tell me "what happen to today's fathers?"
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Just doing it one day at a time. Change is good and it should be looked upon as an improvment! not a problem.
______________________________________
***************************************
San Diego Super Chargers! GO!!!
Joined old forum March 2006
Post count: 3068 + these | |
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| | JasonY
Posts:2591
| | 10/15/2007 4:10 PM |
Alert | | Apathy is the killer of nations and societies........ | |
"My favorite health club is the International House of Pancakes" -- Lewis Black | |
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| | ilovesubway
Posts:53
| | 10/15/2007 4:12 PM |
Alert | Posted By JasonY on 10/15/2007 3:46 PM
Most of the founding fathers were Christians........
And yet they still set us up to have a separation between church and state .. What a bunch of smart guys.. | | | |
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| | JasonY
Posts:2591
| | 10/15/2007 4:14 PM |
Alert | Posted By ilovesubway on 10/15/2007 4:12 PM Posted By JasonY on 10/15/2007 3:46 PM
Most of the founding fathers were Christians........ And yet they still set us up to have a separation between church and state .. What a bunch of smart guys..
Which is good, to protect us from corrupt church leaders. Now the problem is, who is gonna protect us from corrupt government leaders? | |
"My favorite health club is the International House of Pancakes" -- Lewis Black | |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 10/15/2007 5:03 PM |
Alert | Posted By ilovesubway on 10/15/2007 3:45 PM
In God We Trust first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.. Almost 100 years after the formation of the US. IT first appeared on paper money in 1957.
Acknowledgment of God came well before that though. Sound familiar?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | | AuntieEm
Posts:159
| | 10/16/2007 1:01 PM |
Alert | Posted By ilovesubway on 10/15/2007 4:12 PM Posted By JasonY on 10/15/2007 3:46 PM
Most of the founding fathers were Christians........ And yet they still set us up to have a separation between church and state .. What a bunch of smart guys..
Only because at that time each state practiced a different religion. | |
I'm walking 60 miles over three days in the Arizona Breast Cancer 3-Day because everyone deserves a lifetime! http://08.the3day.org/goto/emma | |
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| | IrishCream
Posts:277
| | 10/18/2007 11:13 PM |
Alert | Posted By JasonY on 10/15/2007 3:46 PM
Most of the founding fathers were Christians........
Most of the founding fathers were Free Masons. That is a far cry from Christianity, although I can appreciate the fact that Christians today want to bring Christianity into everything.
In the case of our currency, God is the most common name for the creator and thus was universally recognized as the "Source" in which we, as Americans, place our trust. Christians really must face the fact that God itslef is not a Christian only term! Jesus was a fabulous human being who brought us so much knowledge. If Christians want to applaude "God" and recognize him for their religion's sake, why not have our currency say "In Jesus we place our faith"?
Just saying...
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“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson | |
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| | TheBoymaker
Posts:793
| | 10/19/2007 12:16 PM |
Alert | Actually, only nine of the 56 signers of the DOI were Freemasons.
Thirteen of the 39 signers of the Constitution were Freemasons.
Thirty-three of the 74 generals of the Continental Army were Freemasons.
What does it mean? Well, nothing really. In 1991, a survery of pastors at the Southern Baptist Convention revealed that 14% of pastors and 18 % of deacons were Masons. In 2000, the same survey counted over 1,000 SBC pastors who were Masons. Some Christians find that threatening, believing that there is some conspiracy to eliminate the government and religion to create a one world order. Personally, I think that Conspiracy and Athiesm should be considered religions. I've known more zealots to be Conspiracy Theorists and Athiest than to be God fearing Theists.
Anyway, the mason link doesn't surprise me because many of these men were highly educated and likely came from some form of wealth or prestige. Freemasonry evolved from a trade organization to something much more exclusive and symbolic.
As for the country being Christian, a number of of the Founding fathers were distinctly Christian, but they did not wish to impose that on this new world. So it's true to say that many of the Founding fathers were Christian, but it's not true to say that this country was ever a Christian nation. The principals upon it which it was based are best described as Deist. Deists believe in God as Creator, but they reject supernatural events and the belief that God interferes with people personally.
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Poster formerly known as Sassafrass. | |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 10/19/2007 11:55 PM |
Alert | Some Christians find that threatening, believing that there is some conspiracy to eliminate the government and religion to create a one world order.
Conspiracy? What rock have you been living under?  Europe is consolidating, there are talks for a North American Union... Hey, it's even predicted in the Bible! | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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| | HiggsBoson
Posts:641
| | 10/26/2007 3:47 PM |
Alert | Posted By TheBoymaker on 10/19/2007 12:16 PM
Actually, only nine of the 56 signers of the DOI were Freemasons.
Thirteen of the 39 signers of the Constitution were Freemasons.
Thirty-three of the 74 generals of the Continental Army were Freemasons.
What does it mean? Well, nothing really. In 1991, a survery of pastors at the Southern Baptist Convention revealed that 14% of pastors and 18 % of deacons were Masons. In 2000, the same survey counted over 1,000 SBC pastors who were Masons. Some Christians find that threatening, believing that there is some conspiracy to eliminate the government and religion to create a one world order. Personally, I think that Conspiracy and Athiesm should be considered religions. I've known more zealots to be Conspiracy Theorists and Athiest than to be God fearing Theists.
Anyway, the mason link doesn't surprise me because many of these men were highly educated and likely came from some form of wealth or prestige. Freemasonry evolved from a trade organization to something much more exclusive and symbolic.
As for the country being Christian, a number of of the Founding fathers were distinctly Christian, but they did not wish to impose that on this new world. So it's true to say that many of the Founding fathers were Christian, but it's not true to say that this country was ever a Christian nation. The principals upon it which it was based are best described as Deist. Deists believe in God as Creator, but they reject supernatural events and the belief that God interferes with people personally.
The Founders were much more influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment and Liberalism than the Bible. The "Jefferson Bible" removed many of the supernatural events as Jefferson did not believe in the Divinity of Jesus. I'm sure some here would say I'm not really a Christian if I didn't believe in the Divinity of Christ, his miracles, wanted to remove parts and re-edit the bible, etc. I find it very hard to believe many of the Founders would identify with those on the Christian right if they were alive today. Sure Jefferson's views don't represent all of the Founders, but the idea that "The Founders were Christian" therefor justifies the political views of todays Fundamentalist Christians is ridiculous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Enlightenment
Many of the United States' Founding Fathers were also heavily influenced by Enlightenment-era ideas, particularly in the religious sphere (deism) and, in parallel with liberalism (which had a major influence on its Bill of Rights, in parallel with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen), socialism and anarchism in the political sphere.
Thanks,
Higgs | |
Liberalism and capitalism address themselves to the cool, well-balanced mind. They proceed by strict logic, eliminating any appeal to the emotions. Socialism, on the contrary, works on the emotions, tries to violate logical considerations by rousing a sense of personal interest and to stifle the voice of reason by awakening primitive instincts.
-- Ludwig Von Mises | |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 10/26/2007 4:29 PM |
Alert | "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
"The general principles on which the Fathers achieved independence, were... the general principles of Christianity." - John Adams
"The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart." - Thomas Jefferson
"We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come." - Samuel Adams
"I am a Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ." - Thomas Jefferson
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." - George Washington
"The future and success of America is not in this Constitution but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded." - James Madison
One founder does not a group of founding fathers make. There are more quotes from other founders that back up my point. Do not fall for revisionist history that says we were not founded on Christian principles. | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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