The city of romance got a lesson in love’s hard knocks Sunday, as thousands flocked to the French capital’s first divorce fair.

The fair’s organizer, Brigitte Gaumet, said she had the idea for the event after President Nicolas Sarkozy divorced his second wife months after taking office in 2007.

“For me, that crystalized that divorce has lost its stigma and is really a commonplace thing,” Gaumet told The Associated Press.

“Lots of people going through divorces – and also people getting separated or who are widowed – are looking for information on how to bounce back and how to reconstruct.”

“We have long had the Marriage Fair,” a massive annual trade fair in Paris catering to brides-to-be, “and I thought, ‘why not a fair for people going through separations?,”‘ said Gaumet, adding that some 4,000 people visited the event over the weekend. “That’s a real success for a first-time exhibition.”

At the fair, held at a conference hall in northwestern Paris, the stands offering legal advice attracted the biggest crowds.

Read more here.

[From me]

Why not have non-divorce fair? People seem to be divorcing without the help of experts. Why not offer help for people who are struggling with their marriages?

What do you think?

In a recent episode, Larry David urinates on a painting of Jesus. It is amazing that Curb and HBO have managed to unite Christians, Muslims and Jews. They even managed to offend people in Hollywood. Maybe this is part of HBO’s plan.

Can someone explain to me how urinating on anyone’s Savior, prophet or God is funny? What happened to tolerance that we have been hearing from Hollywood? What happened to uniting our nation? If this is funny then I guess I have no sense of humor.

[Johnson City Press]

Jonesborough resident Jim Stevens admits he’s not a particularly religious person, but even he is awed by what he has seen nearly every morning for the last couple of weeks on the driver’s side window of his Isuzu pickup truck.

It was two weeks ago today that an image, resembling the face of Jesus, made its first appearance on the window. Stevens, who said he has a “bum shoulder,” was having friends from Rogersville help move some items. He entered his truck from the passenger’s side to put his drink inside the vehicle. He said when he went around the truck to the driver’s side, the image was there. Initially, Stevens said he figured the image would go away and that would be the end of it.

Read more here.

[From me]

Do we really know what Jesus looked like?

[Telegraph]

A team researching water-repellent leaf behaviour at Duke University in North Carolina took the high-speed images, showing water drops bouncing on the surface of a leaf. James Dacey, a reporter for Physics World, wrote the story up for the magazine’s website – and noticed the Octopus’s-Garden-composing, Thomas-The-Tank-Engine-narrating 1960s icon staring back at him.

Under the picture, captioned “The Starkey Effect: Ringo keeps psychedelia alive”, Mr Dacey says: “Bizarrely, everybody’s favourite mop-topped Liverpudlian seems to reveal himself in the high-speed photo images of water-droplets being ejected from the leaf surface.”
Starr’s features and mop-top haircut can indeed be seen in the images, even though they distort as the droplet bounces.

Read more here.

[From me]

The 25ms looks like the character on the movie Scream. 26ms looks like a young Cher.

What do you think?

[HT] Wes Kenney

After opening in a new location, The Cathedral of Christ the King, a local Charismatic church affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America, started playing a recording of church bells every half hour — every day — from morning to night. To neighbors, it was a rude shock interrupting the peace and quiet of the community. To the church, it was a way to worship God.

Inevitably the case ended up in court where the judge sided with the neighbors — she ordered the bells silenced except on Sundays and church holidays. The church leader, Bishop Rick Painter, was given a 10 day jail sentence, which was suspended, and three years probation.

Watch here: playerIndex?id=8979580

Read more here.

[From me]

Is this something really worthy of going to jail? Do you think upsetting the neighbors is going to bring people to Christ? I’d be upset if those bells woke me up too.

What do you think?

Church volunteers greet visitors entering the lobby. The worship band begins its set and a pastor offers to pray privately with anyone during the service. When the sermon is done, it’s time for communion, and the pastor guides attendees through the ritual. Later, worshippers exchange Facebook and e-mail addresses so they can stay in touch.

There is nothing remarkable about this encounter, which is replicated countless times each weekend at churches around the world. It’s all happening online. The World Wide Web has become the hottest place to build a church. A growing number of congregations are creating Internet offshoots that go far beyond streaming weekly services.

Read more here.

[From me]

I know that many people say there is no way to have a service via the internet. However, I have worshiped with Lifechurch.tv on many occasions via the net. It really is unique way to worship. Now I believe the in person worship service is best. But before you dismiss the internet version I encourage you to try it once. You get to interact with people all over the world on the chat room and discuss what the pastor is preaching on. The music is great and even gives you opportunities to purchase the CD’s of the artists they are playing. Lifechurch.tv even allows you to podcast the music for free. In fact everything they produce is free. There is a prayer line that you can call and talk to a live person and they really do pray with you. Or you can send them an IM. Then at the end of the message their is a time to make a decision. There is actually a button you push to raise your hand.

Knock it all you want but the dozen times I have worshiped with Lifechurch.tv impacted my spiritual walk. Again, I believe in person worship is best but this can be a means of getting people into physical church in their city. Try it some time yourself.

What do you think?

[Chicago Tribune]

At Lighthouse Church of All Nations in Alsip, the congregation can get more than just prayer at the Sunday worship services.

If a lucky — or “blessed and highly favored” — churchgoer is in the right seat, they can also receive a cash prize.

At each of the three Sunday services, the Rev. Dan Willis pulls a number of one seat from a bag and the worshiper in that seat wins a cash prize. Two of the churchgoers win $250 and the third gets $500. The church gives away $1,000 each Sunday, Willis said.

The cash prize is part of Willis’ recent focus on helping his congregation pay bills and begin a debt-free life, he said.

“We’ve had soooo many of our people displaced from jobs, facing foreclosure,” he said. “When people’s faith was high, their debt was down. When their faith was down, their debt was high. I realized the two are connected.”

Willis concedes the cash prize is a gimmick to fill the pews. But he’s unapologetic about the plan, because it’s working. On a typical Sunday, his church draws about 1,600 people to its three Sunday services. But since the money giveaway started, about five weeks ago, the congregation has grown to about 2,500 each week, he said. The money for the giveaway comes from the church offering. Lighthouse is a non-denominational church.

Read more here.

[From me]

Sounds like the debt reduction teaching is sound. I’m just not comfortable giving away money to get people to church. But I’m willing to change my mind if people’s lives are changed.

What do you think?

Suspects in an attempted burglary at a Carroll apartment Friday night weren’t too difficult to identify.

A resident of 1844 Randall Road called 911 to report two men with their faces painted black were trying to break into an apartment.

Moments later, Carroll police officers pulled over a car matching the suspects’ vehicle a couple blocks away and found the two occupants with faces blackened by a permanent marker.

Read more here.

[From me]

What were they thinking? Can you imagine the conversation while they used a permanent marker on their faces?

What do you think?

A blue, cross-like design emblazoned on T-shirts at Penn State University has some critics seeing red.

The shirts — intended to foster school spirit — sport a vertical blue line down the center with the words “Penn State White Out” emblazoned across the chest, forming a design that some say resembles a cross. The back of the shirt depicts the same blue line obscured by the words, “Don’t be intimated … It’s just me and 110,000 of my friends.” Roughly 30,000 of the shirts have been sold.

Penn State says it has received six complaints about the shirt, including one from the Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia branch, from people who say it connotes a Christian cross. The logo design also has become the focus of controversy in the student newspaper, “The Daily Collegian,” which has received several letters to the editor on both sides of the issue.

Michal Berns, a junior majoring in media law and policy, said she refused to buy the $15 shirt because of its religious connotations.

“At first glance, you don’t necessarily think that’s what it looks like, but when you look at it more, it does look like a cross,” Berns told Foxnews.com. “That’s the reason I didn’t purchase it.”

Read more here.

[From me]

O please!

What do you think?