How to be pure and faultless, a primer

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" - James 1:27

What if I were to tell you that right now, in a specific geographic area, there are over 1,600,000 women and children roaming the streets, displaced from their homes and without hope? And, in addition, these women and children are seen every day by American citizens, not just on television, but face-to-face. Yet, in all our church services, where we pray for the safety of the troops, for the wisdom of our leaders, where are our prayers for those who need it more than all?

According to the Red Cross, there are over 2 million internally displaced Iraqis, 82 percent of whom are women and children under the age of 12.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" - James 1:27

What saddens me so much is the hypocrisy in the church. We sing "I want to be like Jesus" yet conveniently ignore his commands that make us uncomfortable, that challenge our view of the world.

If the discussion is too hard, if we can't stomach any more arguments over the legitimacy of the war in Iraq, can't we at least ignore that part and focus on the concrete things that we all agree on? The word of God -

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" - James 1:27

Taken mostly from - http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/03/i-never-saw-them-as-human-bein.html

Amazing Times, Part II

Snippets harvested from this article

Gee, it's too bad that the US can't be as up to date on these new medical techniques. Too bad that congress and El Presidente can't get their act together and get a bill passed funding research. (The first is too scattered, the second just vetoes everything)

 

Finnish patient gets new jaw from own stem cells

Scientists in Finland said they had replaced a 65-year-old patient's upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen.

Researchers said the breakthrough opened up new ways to treat severe tissue damage and made the prospect of custom-made living spares parts for humans a step closer to reality.

...

She told a news conference the patient was recovering more quickly than he would have if he had received a bone graft from his leg.

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She said the team used no materials from animals - preventing the risk of transmitting viruses than can be hidden in an animal's DNA, and followed European Union guidelines.

Stem cells are the body's master cells and they can be found throughout the blood and tissues. Researchers have recently found that fat contains stem cells which can be directed to form a variety of different tissues.