News for today's 2018: 03/17/13

Bracket Pointers

8:33 PM Tukiyooo 0

68 teams, and you can only pick one? But in the process you have to narrow down 67 different games?<br /><br />No problem!<br /><br />I have been doing brackets for over 15 years, and each time I do them badly. I follow the same pattern, and each time the result is less than ideal. But I'm here to give you some pointers - rather, I'm here to tell you the stuff I <i>used</i> to do, and tell you <i>not</i> to do it that way!<br /><br /><b>Step 1: Take Your Time</b><br />I always was so eager to get to my bracket, I would fill them out right away Sunday night or Monday morning. I even managed to draw out my own brackets so I could fill it out right away! <br /><br />But that was always a mistake. I never wanted to change my picks after I made them ("first instinct" rule), but as the week went on, players would get hurt, shots would be tossed around by a player or coach, and sometimes even momentum would shift from the power team to the underdog. Then I'd look back at my schedule on Thursday morning and go, "Man, I wish I'd waited to fill this out."<br /><br />It's a little different now, at least for brackets that include the Dayton Tuesday games as part of their contest. That takes away two days of wondering and tinkering. Other online bracket contests may just skip those four games and wait till Thursday, and in those cases it's best to wait until right before tipoff of the first game to send in your picks.<br /><br /><b>Step 2: Ignore the Records</b><br />I got mildly irritated if I printed out a bracket that didn't have team records on them. If a team had 25 wins while another one had only 19, well it was only <i>natural</i> to select the team with more wins, right?<br /><b> </b><br />Not entirely. Sometimes I would get so focused on the records that I would forget that some teams played mostly second-tier squads, while those who had a few more losses than most had tough schedules.<br /><br /><b>Step 3: Follow Momentum</b><br />If a team has made a tough run in their respective conference tournament, especially a team that wasn't favored to win (Ole Miss, for example?), it doesn't hurt to pick them to get through the first weekend of play.<br /><br />Case in point: in 2011 Connecticut was the #9 seed in the Big East Tournament. But they won that tournament, and then blew off six straight wins to take the whole NCAA tournament. Momentum is huge. <b> </b><br /><br /><b>Step 4: Your Favorite Team Won't Last the First Weekend</b><br />It is common to have young children pick their favorite team to go all the way - forget the fact that their favorite team is a 10-seed and their second round opponent is probably going to be Duke. Kids don't care about that.<br /><b> </b><br />Usually I don't pick Michigan to get past the Sweet Sixteen. I remember having friends who picked Michigan, and I just shake my head. Don't let loyalty sway your picks.<br /><br /><b>Step 5: Don't Pick too Many Upsets</b><br />One year I decided to have three brackets: one of my normal picks, one where I had all upper seeds winning, and one where I had all lower seeds winning. I knew the lower seed bracket wouldn't have too many wins, but I was shocked to see how few I had! But I think what really surprised me was that my upper seed bracket did a lot better than my normal bracket.<br /><b> </b><br />It's savvy to pick the upset teams, but make sure to keep it to the few that have a shaky top seed. More importantly, the brackets tend to burst on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so pick those upsets in the <i>second</i> round. That's when the top seeds will fall. (VCU over Michigan, anyone?)<br /><br /><b>Step 6: Have Your Champion in Mind</b><br />I used to pick game-by-game, and then I'd get to the championship with the same two teams four years straight! Now, I try to have my Final Four in mind when I make my picks. Every other pick revolves around those Four teams, but doesn't affect what I pick in the long run.<br /><b> </b><br />So there you have it: all the stuff that I used to do that I'm trying to get you to avoid. No need to make the same mistakes as me, eh? Of course, you may have your own methods: coin flip, best colors, mascots, or more technical thoughts, but the most important step to consider in all of this:<br /><br /><b>Step 7: Don't Think Too Hard.</b>

Bracket Pointers

68 teams, and you can only pick one? But in the process you have to narrow down 67 different games? No problem! I have been doing brackets f...

THE MR ROGERS POST: WHOSE FAULT IS OUR BAD REP?

5:38 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last week, I shared this Rollie Williams link in praise of Fred Rogers on my FB page: <a href="http://www.upworthy.com/the-nicest-man-in-history-had-a-shocking-secret-you-never-knew-about?c=ufb1">http://www.upworthy.com/the-nicest-man-in-history-had-a-shocking-secret-you-never-knew-about?c=ufb1</a>The basic point was that Fred Rogers was a great guy and his shocking secret was that he was a Christian. The author said Mr. Rogers’ message was the opposite of the  “lack of love and compassion” that characterizes most of Christianity. It praised Rogers for his caring, generous spirit (my words) and for keeping his faith secret (actually, he was not at all secret about his faith. See. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eliot-daley/fred-rogers_b_862976.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eliot-daley/fred-rogers_b_862976.html</a>While proselytizing was not his ministry – and that could never have happened on publicly funded TV even if he had wanted to – Mr. Rogers’s religion was never a secret. He even concluded his acceptance speech for his Emmy, “May God be with you.”) I take the thrust of Rollie Williams’ post to mean that secularists should not despise all Christians because, although most of us are harsh, judgmental jerks, some Christians are ok – so long as they keep their relationship with Christ a secret. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Feeling my faith damned by faint praise, I shared the Williams link saying I was left perplexed. While Rollie Williams’ view of Christians is wrong on the facts, I still want to know how he came to think this of us. He is clearly a well-intentioned person trying to be magnanimous and affirming the core values we actually hold. His objection isn’t to our message, but to us, the messengers. He reminds me of a seminary classmate who in her younger days rejected Jesus, claiming she believed instead in Aslan – only later to learn that Aslan was C. S. Lewis’s fantasy avatar (so to speak) of Jesus. I want to understand how we look to Rollie Williams and why. I received a number of very good, insightful comments. I was particularly engaged by three comments taking different perspectives:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fr. Torey understood the Mr. Rogers article as reflecting the narcissistic, solipsistic (my words) culture in which “there is nothing more worship-worthy than one’s opinions.” (He was not talking about the author of the article but the cultural context). I agree wholeheartedly with Torey’s view of our culture and the state of religion in it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dave was one of several voices denying that Christianity is generally “lacking in love and compassion.” I focus on Dave because of his broad encounter with Christianity. He has been an Episcopalian, a Presbyterian, a Southern Baptist, and a “contemporary Evangelical.” Yet he has not found the kind of Christianity Williams decries in any of the churches where he has worshiped. I mostly concur with Dave. While I have, on occasion, encountered mean-spirited bigotry in churches of several stripes, I have encountered more of it in secular settings. Like, Dave, I have never personally been in a church where love and compassion were not the overwhelming moral message. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Deacon Scot may, at first, seem to be at odds with Torey and Dave. But I am going to substantially agree with him too. Scott lays the blame for the ill-repute of Christians with the Christians themselves, saying we have portrayed Christ as a fool and God as a “petty tyrant,” and that if we presented a faith people with half a brain or half a heart could accept, the churches would be full. I don’t think Dave is talking about the hate-mongering Westboro Baptist Church or Franklin Graham’s Islamophobic prejudice. He is a Deacon of a progressive Episcopal Diocese. But Dave is saying that we mainline Christians have not presented a true account of our faith, that we have not been outspoken in presenting the God of Love in contrast to the hateful God of the Left Behind Series brand of Christianity. We have ceded the name “Christian” to the crazies. I think Scott is right. We, mainline Christians and moderate Evangelicals, bear our share of responsibility for the low stock of the gospel in society, and the part about our portraying  God as “a petty tyrant” is precisely right. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So after giving credit to these insightful commenters who have sparked my thoughts, here’s my take on why so many people regard Christians as mean-spirited bigots, when on the whole we are not. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I. PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in; tab-stops: 408.75pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 44: 22; Isaiah 53; 1 Peter 3 & 4; and Matthew 5: 10 all say that righteousness will subject us to persecution. “Righteousness” does not mean stern faced judgmental piety. It means “right relationship” with God, the earth, and each other – right relationship with the past, with the present, with the future, and with eternity. In a culture drunk on subjectivity and pathologically averse to deep or committed relationships, especially those rooted in tradition, faith in transcendent mystery, and inconvenient moral duties, a lot of people are going to find us problematic. The Wisdom of Solomon Ch. 2 is in point. To the extent that we assert that there is such a thing as righteousness (a network of right relationship) and try to adhere to it, we make ourselves unpopular in a culture that finds righteousness objectionable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But is that what is going on? 1 Peter 4:15 reminds us that just because we are Christians, that does not mean our persecutions are necessarily unjust. Christians can do wrong and be called to account for it by non-Christians. Which of these two scenarios is going on?<sup> </sup>The answer is: both.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are Christians who are hate-mongers. Take a look at <a href="http://www.godhatesfags.com/">http://www.godhatesfags.com</a>. There are also Christians who have stood silent while the hate-mongers act in our name. Good people, like Rollie Williams, object. So let’s give our critics that much.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But then there are times when Christians act righteously and are persecuted for it, sometimes by other Christians. Christians were beaten and jailed in the Civil Rights Movement and various peace movements. Those churches, such as the Episcopal Church, that have defended the rights and dignity of LGBT persons have paid a huge price. We have been slow and inadequate in our stand for LGBT persons, but to the extent we have done the right thing, we have paid a price.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But mostly we are judged, not from the religious right, but from the secularist perspective of the Williams post. What is going on there? Sometimes it may be innocent confusion. But I know Christians whose secular friends know good and well that they are not bigots. Yet the friends are distinctly uncomfortable with their religion. It is an elephant in the room. It is a disfigurement from which even our friends avert their eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If asked their view of Christians, such secularists will say it is our judgmental bigotry, though they know that is not the case. It is our inconvenient insistence on a transcendent reality from which arises a moral order, our claim that there is a network of right relationships in which life flourishes. Some things are true which is inconvenient for those that are false; some things are right and others wrong. We may be wrong about truth and we may behave wrongly, but we still insist that there is Truth, there is Goodness, there is Beauty – which just makes us Platonists – but we go on to insist that all these transcendent values are One and that One is personal, which makes us Theists, and so on until we turn out to claim that God has come to us in Jesus – we are, like it or not – and many do not – Christians. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I believe this is Fr. Torey’s point. Some of our persecution is “blessed” and it is our place in a fragmenting disempowering society of solipsists to be Socratically inconvenient.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">II. DISENGAGEMENT FROM THE WORLD<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But what about the increasingly large number of people who genuinely, sincerely believe what the Mr. Rogers article says – that “love and compassion” are the opposite of the Christian message presumably of hatred and dismissal? Let me tell you a few very short, super simple stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">After my mission trip to Kenya, my luggage needed a new zipper. The young man at the luggage repair shop asked me what I’d been doing in Africa. I told him about the Anglican Church’s work to save young women from genital mutilation and forced marriages and our efforts to fund their education. He said, “Where is your church? That’s a church I’d go to.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">When I went to help clean up a community center in Las Vegas on MLK Day, several young people who were there working on behalf of Starbuck’s or their fraternity, discovered I was a bishop and said, “Where is your church? If you’re here, we want to be there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">I went a community organizing training in Texas this year. All of us trainees who were over 50 were church folks. The ones under 30 were not.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">But two of the young adults said, each in their own way, “if I’d known Christians like the ones here I’d still be in the Church. In fact, I’m going to give it another try.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">My point: a lot of people, especially young people, don’t know anything about Christians except the bigots. Whose fault is that?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">James Davison Hunter, in his book, To Change The World: The irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_17?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=hunter+to+change+the+world&sprefix=Hunter+to+change+%2Cstripbooks%2C295">http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_17?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=hunter+to+change+the+world&sprefix=Hunter+to+change+%2Cstripbooks%2C295</a>traces the story of how mainline Christianity began to systematically withdraw from the wider culture in the mid-19<sup>th</sup> Century. We sold the hospitals, gave away the colleges, entrusted social services to the state and to secular non-profit agencies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mainline Christianity withdrew from a challenging world in which righteousness makes inconvenient demands on us. We withdrew inside the four walls of our churches and became a spiritual support group to each other. We have progressively made ourselves largely unknown and utterly irrelevant. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Those Christians who still live “in the world,” confront the larger culture in aggressive domineering ways reflective of their belief in an aggressive domineering God. Hunter analyzes the failures of both the Christian right and the Christian left to dominate the culture through power politics. Another example of aggressive domineering confrontation is proselytizing, selling the gospel like a product, using manipulative threats and promises. People rightly reject aggressive domineering confrontation in both cases. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Hunter invites Christians to “faithful participation” in the larger society, working alongside people of other faiths and people of no faith, for the common good. His point is that “faithful participation” is socially and politically effective. My experience is that when we engage the world through “faithful participation,” people learn that we are not bigots and some of them even want to join us. Those who continue to despise us will at least be harder pressed to despise us for the wrong reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In sum, the negative impression so many secular people have of Christians is, as Scott says, a case of our reaping the whirlwind. If we want people to believe we stand for something good, decent, kind, and compassionate, then it is incumbent on us, not just as individuals, but as churches, to act boldly in the larger society. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">III. UNPERSUASIVE, BORING, AND BANAL BELIEFS<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Scott also argued that our belief system isn’t persuasive to people who have half a mind and half a heart. In my opinion, Scott is right, but I want to take this more expansive format to flesh out the problem more than he could in a FB comment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">A.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">   </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Petty Tyrant Versus The Fellow Sufferer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Many clergy today are more at home with a simplified psychology than they are with a mature theology. The result is that some of us don’t talk about God much and those who do don’t speak of God very well. Even in mainline churches, I hear God talk that betrays a very problematic image of God. In fact, some mainline Christians don’t like to talk about God because the only God they know is the Petty Tyrant. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Petty Tyrant God is the one who sends all sorts of blessings and curses into our lives to reward, punish, teach, test, or otherwise manipulate us into doing what pleases him. Or he (and it is a “he”) pulls the strings of the universe to accomplish a secret plan in which all will work out – but he doesn’t plan to let us in on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">No one with half a heart is going to love that kind of God – fear maybe; cow tow before, maybe – but love, no way. So 20<sup>th</sup> Century theologians gave us another God – the helpless God who really can’t do anything about this mess the world is in, but this God is infinitely empathetic – the Fellow Sufferer Who Cares. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Misery loves company. The folks with half a heart can like this God well enough, but the folks with half a brain will know such a God is not much help in a crisis. The Fellow Sufferer is an Innocent Bystander – but is that what we mean by God. It’s a far cry from “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light in accessible hid from our eyes” or “King of Gory, King of Peace.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Short simple point: We aren’t offering the world a compelling portrait of God. Our better theologians actually are offering a profound, beautiful, intellectually credible, compelling portrait of God. Unfortunately, they don’t speak the language of the people in the pews or even a lot of the people in the pulpits. It isn’t that people aren’t smart enough. People are plenty smart. The problem is that academic theologians are talking to each other in the language of academic theology. That’s what they are supposed to do. But we are not training clergy to translate the deep wisdom of our faith into English – not dumb it down – people are smart – translate deep truths into common language. Take the trouble to explain it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is do-able. Commercial break for a moment of shameless self-promotion: My forthcoming book God Of Our Silent Tears may be challenging at times, but it is in English. It does take the God images of Rahner, Hart, Sobrino, Hick, Adams, et al and make them accessible to bright people who want to think about what they believe. I am not alone. Shirley Guthrie’s Christian Theology does a good job of it as well. If clergy make the effort, we can present a God who will be more than acceptable to people with half a brain and half a heart. We can present a God who will enrich people’s lives beyond the reach of imagination. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">B.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">   </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Triumph of the Therapeutic<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Know that I write this as one who has spent more time on the metaphoric couch than most and do not regret it. I respect therapy. Three members of the next generation of my family are therapists. I have been to Esalen, Omega, the Gestalt Institute, etc. etc. etc. I do psychosynthesis work almost daily.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">But therapy and religion, while touching each other and sometimes overlapping each other, are not the same thing. Philip Reif wrote 40 years ago about the displacement of religion, which offers a large frame of reference for life, with the therapeutic model focused on the individual self. Eventually we came, as Reif predicted, to a society in which the most influential spiritual leader was a talk show host. <a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/oprah-and-triumph-therapeutic">http://ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/oprah-and-triumph-therapeutic</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Since mainline Christianity abandoned the larger society, I am glad someone as beneficent as Oprah stepped in to take our place. But the cultural shift in Western religion has been the replacement of Christianity with a creed that is currently known as Moral Therapeutic Deism. This short article truly is worth a read. <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/aprilweb-only/116-11.0.html">http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/aprilweb-only/116-11.0.html</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Again in the absence of a healthy robust Christian presence in the world, MTD is not that bad. As a trend of the rock of intellectual culture rolling steadily downhill from Kant to Kierkegaard to Camus to – God help us – John Lennon, it was inevitable. In the absence of authentic witness from Christianity and other world religions, this is what we got. God became the “cosmic butler and on call therapist.” We learned to be nice, get help as needed, and hope to go to heaven when we die. As secularism goes, it could be a lot worse. But the Christianity Today version of MTD<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[i]</span></span></span></a>is sometimes not so different from what mainline churches, mega-churches, and even contemporary evangelical churches offer as an alternative to the angry judgmental religion that rightly offends moral secularists. Such an innocuous worldview is a far cry from the Christian faith people have gone to the stake to defend.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Another social media discussion I am following has leading Christians saying of MTD, “what’s wrong with it?” Again, I say, “not much” for secularists. For the intentionally “spiritual but not religious,” it’s fine. But for the Church: As practiced by some, it is the brand of religion Marx called the “opiate of the masses” helping people adjust to the world instead of changing it. MTD can easily reinforce the ego; indeed make ego-goals the be all and end all of life, instead of the fundamental problem with life as it has been held to be by the great religious teachers from Buddha to Jesus to Mohammed. For the Church, it is offering a cut rate watered down version of what psychotherapy can do considerably better than we can.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Finally, if Christians are right that Creation and our spiritual journey through it are wonderful and mysterious gifts, we need a word view larger than the version of MTD that Christianity Today describes. If St. Augustine is right that human beings have an innate sense of the vast mystery, that we are wired for God (and there is neurological evidence that we are wired for God), that “our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee,” then MTD is ultimately not satisfying. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">I offer no defense for aggressive domineering Christianity. I am against it. I offer no defense for the inward looking disengaged from the world support group churchianity of the modern mainline denominations – except that I do deny that they are hate-mongers or bigots. For those who are outside the Church, if MTD offers them some modicum of grace and comfort, then I am glad for it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">But if the Church is to be the Body of Christ, we need meatier stuff. We need faith and spiritual disciplines that equip us to engage in the world-changing Kingdom Mission. We need spiritual resources for an adventure in which we will have to contend against powers and principalities – both spiritual and temporal that repress the children of God and make us less than we were created to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">If we are not a crucible of transformation in which lives are set on fire for a mission that invests this life with deep meaning and offers hope for joy in eternity, then we are boring. Domineering aggressive Christianity is at least interesting, albeit in a bad way. If we are boring, then we will understandably be either ignored entirely or tarred with the same brush as the bigots.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">IV. CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The stock of the gospel in our culture is low. We can blame the culture for that, and we will be partly right. The technological juggernaut of consumerist culture is not as God would want it to be. If this were the Kingdom, if this world were already as God wants it, we would not be praying, “Your Kingdom come.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">But our mission is not to blame the culture. It is not to condemn, harangue, or berate the culture. Our mission is to faithfully participate in the culture. That will not be easy. But as Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.” I hope we try it and see if it changes Rollie Williams’ opinion of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div><br clear="all" /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />  <div id="edn1"> <div class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span></span></a> From following social media conversations, I know that some people like to embrace the label of MTD but actually adhere to a larger worldview than the definition that arose from a survey of adolescent beliefs.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></div></div></div>

THE MR ROGERS POST: WHOSE FAULT IS OUR BAD REP?

Last week, I shared this Rollie Williams link in praise of Fred Rogers on my FB page: http://www.upworthy.com/the-nicest-man-in...

Soft Scrub Advanced Surface Review and Giveaway!

2:47 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><u>Cleaner for GRANITE, MARBLE and GLASS COUNTER TOPS! </u></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK6P5AdF8SYLrrKK9kHwGH9_hxg93vj0fsO-oAjLPel93Br9Ro0LdeIbfwxqbtctzo11-FUQLrAdckEtMBtz_vBzyZV-bC8B7Lb2Ss8780mdEzYESkiW4kVJ9sCzgWVBj93ix_SEeb08g/s1600/soft+scrub+advanced+surface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK6P5AdF8SYLrrKK9kHwGH9_hxg93vj0fsO-oAjLPel93Br9Ro0LdeIbfwxqbtctzo11-FUQLrAdckEtMBtz_vBzyZV-bC8B7Lb2Ss8780mdEzYESkiW4kVJ9sCzgWVBj93ix_SEeb08g/s320/soft+scrub+advanced+surface.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cleaning routine has just got a bit easier.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With Soft Scrub Advanced Surface Cleaner you can use it on surfaces including stainless steel, glass cook tops, granite and marble counters.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Liquid made in a gel form is tough on stains and easy on your most delicate surfaces.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So save time with keeping those big plastic buckets in the closet and squirt some Soft Scrub Advanced Surface on the surface of whatever it is your cleaning then carefully wipe it away with a sponge, paper towel or a cloth and voila, grease and grime be gone! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This stuff works like magic!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I rubbed some on the stove and my god, it looks just like new!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can even use it in a stainless steel sink and have them sparkling like new!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No rinsing needed!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQZNwafx81fSbYSBDtRa05aKUQbrhCoiih-GkWQMPy2nWmOs5aRSVXul81iPA814cLo2Qv5ufV4oCXCHKD3r8C25mGLr4Jj4UXG-xPruLvkxWJFq7-M63Fl8lWY8yxj-tKulNkybVHJI/s1600/soft+scrub+advanced+surface+coupons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQZNwafx81fSbYSBDtRa05aKUQbrhCoiih-GkWQMPy2nWmOs5aRSVXul81iPA814cLo2Qv5ufV4oCXCHKD3r8C25mGLr4Jj4UXG-xPruLvkxWJFq7-M63Fl8lWY8yxj-tKulNkybVHJI/s320/soft+scrub+advanced+surface+coupons.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.softscrub.com/BeHappySweepstakes">http://www.softscrub.com/BeHappySweepstakes</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can experience the magic yourself, Enter to win here!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Three coupons to give away to three lucky readers!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">1. What surface is the toughest in your home to clean?</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">(such as glass counters, Granite Tops or marble)<br /><br />Want an extra entry?<br /><br />2.  Must Follow my blog.<br /><br />3.Then also follow me via Twitter, here. https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss<br /><br />4. then Re tweet my post about the giveaway and if you tweet on your own make sure you use #AdvancedSurfaceCleaner</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">5. leave me a link here to your tweet.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">6. Like their face book page as well please!<br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SoftScrub?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/SoftScrub?fref=ts</a></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to FCC guidelines:</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Soft Scrub sent me a bottle of their new glass and surface cleaner for free in exchange for a product review. All the opinions expressed are my own.</span></div></div>

Soft Scrub Advanced Surface Review and Giveaway!

Cleaner for GRANITE, MARBLE and GLASS COUNTER TOPS! Cleaning routine has just got a bit easier. With Soft Scrub Advanced Surface Cleaner yo...

Purex Natural Elements Tropical Splash Review and Giveaway!

2:30 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sent a bottle of the new Purex Natural Elements laundry tropical splash detergent with dirt lifting action for a review and giveaway from Purex Insider.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The scent of this detergent is amazing!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can it not be with the scent of pine apples and coconut with exotic flowers thrown in?!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am in love with all things tropical, so when I was sent this bottle for review I couldn't wait to start the laundry!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I threw a load in and carefully opened the bottle, and was blown away by how  great it smelled.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ahh, the scent of coconut and pineapples.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was like being on the beach in the summer time sipping on a pina colada and reading a good book with suntan lotion.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I liked about this detergent is that it didn't dry out my skin on contact whatsoever like others do.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not only does it smell nice, it's also gentle on skin!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Facts:</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dirt lifting action</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hypoallergenic</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dye Free</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fresh nature inspired fragrance</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSpglsD3T2DdZE_d8fGCiLSo4PZ1qv-BmztHQHiONX_yu8PkuWzfhRJWiuhhyphenhyphenNT8pX5ckDznTzb4MHBrg47zIveppeoBUtiiME8ozGWvfhyphenhyphenNBR9F0P51Bc-4mkl808_leWO5CCoEf2sc/s1600/purex+natural+elements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSpglsD3T2DdZE_d8fGCiLSo4PZ1qv-BmztHQHiONX_yu8PkuWzfhRJWiuhhyphenhyphenNT8pX5ckDznTzb4MHBrg47zIveppeoBUtiiME8ozGWvfhyphenhyphenNBR9F0P51Bc-4mkl808_leWO5CCoEf2sc/s320/purex+natural+elements.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can enter to win a coupon redeemable for a free a bottle of Natural Elements Tropical Splash yourself!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have 3 coupons to give away to 3 lucky readers!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's How!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">1. Is your nose ready for a tropical vacation?<br /><br />Want an extra entry?<br /><br />2.  Must Follow my blog.<br /><br />3.Then also follow me via Twitter, here. https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss<br /><br />4. then Re tweet my post about the giveaway and if you tweet on your own make sure you use #Purexnaturalelements</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">5. leave me a link here to your tweet.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">6. Like their face book page as well please!<br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/purex?fref=ts" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">https://www.facebook.com/purex?fref=ts</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIgYw67xdQgRpybNzSu5as0uN1DIahRz_J3Gmrpy9lMOAar4ghSE-GDHUpqfsruJYJLxsMb3cnDFptREccZWJHpQD8_QqIWywcDiCHZbtahphvrkmyKduZ_LbDGbdWj28W3Cvpziqp8U/s1600/purex+natural+elements+coupons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIgYw67xdQgRpybNzSu5as0uN1DIahRz_J3Gmrpy9lMOAar4ghSE-GDHUpqfsruJYJLxsMb3cnDFptREccZWJHpQD8_QqIWywcDiCHZbtahphvrkmyKduZ_LbDGbdWj28W3Cvpziqp8U/s320/purex+natural+elements+coupons.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to FCC guidelines:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Purex Brand sent me a free bottle of Purex Natural Elements Tropical Splash detergent in exchange for a product review. All the opinions expressed are my own.</span></div>

Purex Natural Elements Tropical Splash Review and Giveaway!

I was sent a bottle of the new Purex Natural Elements laundry tropical splash detergent with dirt lifting action for a review and giveaway f...

EU ZYPERN GENERALPROBE …… ERFOLGREICHE ERSTE SPARER-ENTEIGNUNG IN ZYPERN

2:25 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RBksLeb_36LjVTWguRjFrsqRNKgl2KT7YC6v27SZyQaNzeWBtlnpSjxr0VhhhyphenhyphennaoNZ1xjifXdWU0kxggrTw7EM4kTTchv0QTgQriVu8HtaX2Dye1CQ8ANZgUtx77NYph6eHPWl4Blfr/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RBksLeb_36LjVTWguRjFrsqRNKgl2KT7YC6v27SZyQaNzeWBtlnpSjxr0VhhhyphenhyphennaoNZ1xjifXdWU0kxggrTw7EM4kTTchv0QTgQriVu8HtaX2Dye1CQ8ANZgUtx77NYph6eHPWl4Blfr/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">EU HAT VORGEFÜHRT WIE ES FUNKTIONIERT WENN MAN WEITE TEILE DER BEVÖLKERUNG ÜBER NACHT TEILENTEIGNET</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AMNESIE TOTAL</span></b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In ZYPERN hat die EU-„Junta“ jetzt einmal richtig vorgeführt wie es funktioniert wenn man weite Teile der Bevölkerung über Nacht teilenteignet. Und zur Beruhigung aller Beteiligten kann wohl auch vermeldet werden, dass alles reibungslos funktioniert. Damit kann sich die EU-Kratie nunmehr kräftig auf die Schulter klopfen. Der Trend, hin zur Rettung der Ultra-Vermögen ist nunmehr endgültig besiegelt, man lässt dafür dann die kleinen Leute bluten. Sicher ist der letzte Satz noch ein wenig erläuterungsbedürftig, ändert aber nichts an der Tatsache. Die Staatsverschuldung ist im Falle ZYPERNS auch nur der Tarnanstrich für die erste Enteignung dieser Art. Es riecht aber doch sehr stark nach einem generalstabsmäßigen Probelauf zum Thema Enteignung, was selbstverständlich postwendend von Brüssel in Abrede gestellt wird.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">WAS LÄUFT JETZT GENAU AUF ZYPERN AB</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Vorweg, auch auf ZYPERN galt bis zum Geschäftsschluss der Banken am Freitag eine Schutzgarantie für Bankeinlagen unter 100.000 Euro. „Galt“, denn über Nacht hat sich dies geändert, natürlich auch ohne Vorwarnung. Denn in der Nacht hatte die Eurogruppe beschlossen zyprische Bankkunden ohne Ausnahme kräftig zur Ader zu lassen, um einen Staatsbankrott wegen der maroden Finanzinstitute und deren Rettung abzuwenden.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiuTdv_GBANo9Q57_FLG5pTGZKw07nUR4q4EPkI1gul4l3DnshPq_hI9AyYxAARIIZeji2bdey1jomG7sdkyMLLGzJwKh1U2sGaz5hrT5LOVWSlOg_woJEIYDz4hqkYgdSV-fvkrFmzLX/s1600/02124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiuTdv_GBANo9Q57_FLG5pTGZKw07nUR4q4EPkI1gul4l3DnshPq_hI9AyYxAARIIZeji2bdey1jomG7sdkyMLLGzJwKh1U2sGaz5hrT5LOVWSlOg_woJEIYDz4hqkYgdSV-fvkrFmzLX/s320/02124.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Die zwischen EU und ZYPERN vereinbarte Sonderabgabe beträgt demnach 6,75 Prozent für Guthaben bis 100.000 Euro und 9,9 Prozent für höhere Guthaben. Rund ein Drittel der Einlagen in ZYPERN sind angeblich in der Hand ausländischer Kontoinhaber. Man sagt, vor allem reiche RUSSEN und BRITEN hätten dort gut gebunkert. Ok, RUSSEN und BRITEN sind irgendwie keine Eurofreunde, da ist es sicherlich gut und gerecht wenn man die mal zur Kasse bittet. Die 2/3 ZYPRER buchen wir jetzt einfach unter Kollateralschaden.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NUTZNIEßER DIESER ENTEIGNUNGSAKTION SIND AM ENDE WIEDER EINMAL GROßBANKEN UND GROßINVESTOREN</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jetzt dürfen also erstmals in der Geschichte auch die ZYPRIOTEN echte Solidarität mit den großen Banken üben, genau jene die vom Staat (also den Bewohnern) zu retten sind. Die eigentlichen Nutznießer dieser Enteignungsaktion sind am Ende wieder einmal Großbanken und Großinvestoren, denen man so die Kohle sichert, indem man sie quer durch die Gesellschaft jetzt anteilig bei den kleinen Leuten einsammelt. Ob sich dahinter die Rente oder sauer erspartes von Oma und Opa oder eben die Guthaben relativ reicher Ausländer verbergen, interessiert gar niemanden.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AUFMUNTERNDE WORTE AUS BRÜSSEL</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Die Abgabe soll geschätzte 5,8 Milliarden Euro zur Sanierung der maroden Staatsfinanzen erbringen, so Eurogruppen-Chef Jeroen Dijsselbloem nach der Einigung der Finanzminister in Brüssel. Und die ZYPRISCHEN Banken hatten in den vergangenen Tagen auch noch lauthals versichert, es gelte wie in ganz EUROPA die Garantie der Geldeinlagen in Höhe von 100 000 Euro. Offensichtlich gilt die jetzt auch wieder nach der Teilenteignung, bis zur nächsten Enteignungsrunde.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dijsselbloem meint: „Wir bestrafen ZYPERN nicht“. Das sehen viele einfache ZYPRER allerdings etwas anders. Und unser deutscher Vertreter bei der EZB, EZB-Direktoriumsmitglied Jörg Asmussen, der hatte nach den zehnstündigen Verhandlungen in Brüssel die ZYPRER gar selbst für das Verfahren verantwortlich gemacht. Nun wer sollte auch sonst Schuld an der Misere sein. Und er hatte noch einen Trost für die ZYPRER auf Lager, als er sagte, dass die Abgabe abgezogen sein wird bevor die Banken wieder öffnen. Der Rest des Geldes soll dann aber wieder frei verfügbar sein. Und er musste noch extra für alle EUROPÄER erwähnen, dass ein solches Vorgehen in keinem der anderen Krisenländer des Kontinents droht. Ok, wer dem Glauben schenken mag, der ist auch gut mit dem Weihnachtsmann beraten.</span></span></div><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">KAMPFSZENEN AUS BRÜSSEL & "HANDGELD" FUER  DIE DELEGIERTEN</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Es wird am Rande von tumultartigen Verhältnissen in Brüssel berichtet. Danach soll es bei den Verhandlungen dort zu dramatischen Szenen gekommen sein. Mindestens drei Mal muss die ZYPRISCHE Delegation bei der Eurogruppe kurz davor gewesen sein, einfach abzureisen. Die anderen EUROPÄER haben aber ZYPERN zum Wohle der großen Geldindustrie vor die Alternative gestellt, entweder dieser Form der Sonderbesteuerung der Geldeinlagen zuzustimmen oder zur früheren Währung des Landes, dem ZYPERN-Pfund, zurückzukehren.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ob es noch ein wenig Handgeld für die Delegierten aus ZYPERN gegeben hat, um erstens ihr Durchhaltevermögen zu stärken und zweitens deren Gewissen für diesen Volksverrat etwas geschmeidiger zu gestalten, davon wird leider nicht eine Silbe berichtet. Womöglich hat auch eine unentgeltliche Erpressung schon gereicht. Aus Patriotismus werden die ZYPRER sicherlich dieser Maßnahme nicht zugestimmt haben. Aber wir kennen das, bei Merkel und Schäuble nennt es sich „Pflichtbewusstsein”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 4;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">KONTOZWANG UND BARGELDVERBOT GLEICH EU-SELBSTBEDIENUNGSLADEN</span></b></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmRVbUFegfwe5_3sX6db-0vxf2qKeriBWDr5VftgjLAXWn4xT9MhiuTauUUYL31q5vRE5abA0oJCDZBzQS-g8ds1sybm6jKa1uC_AY-9_CzkTdeRIg4vO2J8yYDiMqLSWiJsONQArXR5-/s1600/zypern_818_hell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmRVbUFegfwe5_3sX6db-0vxf2qKeriBWDr5VftgjLAXWn4xT9MhiuTauUUYL31q5vRE5abA0oJCDZBzQS-g8ds1sybm6jKa1uC_AY-9_CzkTdeRIg4vO2J8yYDiMqLSWiJsONQArXR5-/s320/zypern_818_hell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wer merkt denn jetzt was? Bestimmt keiner, alle schlafen sie hier den Schlaf der Gerechten und glauben sicherlich einmal mehr den Merkel’schen und Schäuble’schen Lautsprecherdurchsagen: <b>„Die Spareinlagen sind sicher“</b>! Sicher sind die sicher … sicher für den Zugriff durch die EU, aber der Halbsatz fehlt dann bei allen offiziellen Beteuerungen zum Thema, was sicherlich viele Billionen gute €-Gründe hat. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bargeldeinschränkungen und das Konto als Menschenrecht sind jetzt ideale Aufhänger, um zu vermeiden, dass die Menschen ihre Kohle unter dem Kopfkissen stapeln. Das ist aber nur der erste vorbereitende Schritt zur Enteignung, damit alle Guthaben auch tatsächlich auf Knopfdruck zum Stichtag blockiert werden können, wann immer dieser Tag kommen wird. Nur zu glauben dass dieser Tag ausbleibt, das ist dann der Gipfel der Naivität, auf den aber unsere Offiziellen den Michel einschwören.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BEI GUT 6 MILLIARDEN WIRD ES KEINE GROßE WELLE SCHLAGEN UND DIE SCHREIEREI AUF ZYPERN WIRD HIER KEINER HÖREN</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Man darf den ZYPERN-Enteignungs-Blitz-Krieg als absolut erfolgreiche erste Enteignungsmaßnahme im EU-Labormaßstab in der Chronik vermerken. Bei gut 6 Milliarden wird es keine große Welle schlagen und die Schreierei auf ZYPERN wird hier keiner hören, weil man sicherlich auch gemäßigt dazu berichten wird, wenn überhaupt.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Und jeder der noch ein wenig Sachverstand beisammen hat und dazu echte Probleme mit den Lautsprecherdurchsagen, der muss nun für sich selbst und ganz allein überlegen, wie sehr er einer solchen EU noch (ver)trauen möchte. Einer EU die sich nicht zu schade ist ein kleines Mitgliedsland binnen einer Nacht nicht nur zur Laborratte zu degradieren, nein, auch sogleich noch dergestalt die Pistole auf die Brust zu setzen, dass dieses Ländle hergeht und auf Bestellung, sozusagen über Nacht, die beschriebene Teilenteignung auch durchzieht. Ob das wohl auch in PORTUGAL, SPANIEN oder gar ITALIEN einst auch so leise gelingen wird … so heimlich über Nacht?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="DE-AT" style="mso-ansi-language: DE-AT;">via Qpress</span></div>

EU ZYPERN GENERALPROBE …… ERFOLGREICHE ERSTE SPARER-ENTEIGNUNG IN ZYPERN

EU HAT VORGEFÜHRT WIE ES FUNKTIONIERT WENN MAN WEITE TEILE DER BEVÖLKERUNG ÜBER NACHT TEILENTEIGNET AMNESIE TOTAL : In ZYPERN hat die EU-„...

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EU ZYPERN GENERALPROBE …… ERFOLGREICHE ERSTE SPARER-ENTEIGNUNG IN ZYPERN

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