How Charity Can Be Toxic?

 An interesting interview with author Robert D. Lupton (Toxic Charity) Click here

Chicks with Guns

"Chicks with Guns" by Lindsay McCrum
I learned how to shoot in high school as every school girl from Taiwan at that time had to. Then I was invited to join the high school shooting team since I was a good shooter and not afraid of guns. I was eventually kicked off the team due to my deteriorating eyesight (nearsightedness). But my fond of guns never really went away. A few years ago when my church held an outing for gun range, I made sure that both of my children (son and daughter) learned gun safety and how to shoot.

This week I leaned that 15 to 20 millions women in the US own guns in the book titled "Chicks with Guns" by Lindsay McCrum.

What Is In the News: Woman, Humanity, Ethic, Science, and Culture Bondages

1. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot.

--Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer who was terminally ill with cervical-cancer and died at age 31.  Before her death, doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital removed two dime-sized pieces of her cervix for research without her permission.

--Henrietta Lacks' cells were the first human cells to be grown successfully in a lab. Her cells proved to be so prolific and sturdy that researchers everywhere wanted them.

--Over the years, billions of her cells have been grown in labs---estimated to be enough to circle the equator three times.

The Road of Life

Today is the kind of day that I feel I just can't "pedal" anymore....and I am reminded about this poem:

At first, I saw God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.  He was out there sort of like a president.  I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I really didn’t know Him.

But later on when I met Christ, it seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride, but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal.

I don’t know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since.

The Biblical Model of Jesus' Humanity--Part 2

Visual Demonstration of the Movement of the Model

Jesus’ life, ministry, and his interaction with people, even in his death and resurrection, demonstrated again and again that he functioned as a totally integrated human being and that he related to people and addressed their common human conditions in an integrated and wholistic way.  Out of who he is (his being) and out of his completeness and wholeness, he lived, taught, and related to others and God.       

             Diagram 2 is an attempt to show the movement of integration.  The more the four arrows in the middle were pushed outward, the more the four circles overlapped, and the more the area of “integrating” of the different aspects increases (movement from 2.1 until to the very outline of the circle in 2.3).  When the four circles are fully overlapping (when the four aspects fully integrated with each other), the model becomes “one circle” in 2.4.  Therefore, 2.4 shows a four-times twisted and collapsed cylinder, similar to a compressed, modified “Moebius Strip” which is a one-sided non-orientable surface.[1]  

              The circle 2.4 represents Jesus, who indeed is a multi-dimensional, dynamic, and wholistic being!  His life is like a world class quartet that plays the most beautiful, rich, and heavenly music!  

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                [1] Eric Weisstein, “Math Resources” [Information on-line] (Wolfram Research, updated periodically, accessed 4 June 2007), 1; available from Mathworld.wolfram.com; Internet.

The Biblical Model of Jesus' Humanity--Part 1

            Visual Model of Jesus' Humanity

              The four aspects of humanity are presented in four different colored circles (labeled 1 to 4).  The purpose is not to separate them, but to differentiate them for discussion purposes only. 

  
               The four circles have neither beginning nor end, and each is connected to the other in a continuous line to emphasize their connectedness and wholeness; not their separateness.  The four circles are also equal in size to demonstrate that all four aspects of humanity are essential and equally important.  The overlapping of the four circles depicts the interaction (labeled 5-8) and the total integration (the center, labeled 9) of the four aspects.  The dotted lines used in the model signify that the four aspects are openly and continuously acting and interacting, firstly with each other, and secondly with their environments, with God and Satan acting as two major influences.  Lastly, they are being influenced and acted upon by the environment.  Satan might be the ruler and authority of this dark world and of the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm (Eph 6:10-12), but God is the ultimate King and Ruler of all.