It's a Paul World

This Week's Beyond Today on Infectious Disease

2009-12-13T09:24:00.003-05:00

This week's Beyond Today program from the United Church of God is posted. The title is "A Modern Menace: Infectious Disease"

It discusses the threat of pandemic disease, how many of man's practices increase the odds of a worldwide disease plague and Biblical practices that promote good health.

Direct link is here.

Blog Changes

2009-12-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

I had blogged earlier that I was thinking of taking this in a different direction. For several reasons I've decided to narrow the focus of the blog.

Future posts will primarily be Church of God related. It's a change I've been thinking about for a while.

This Week's Vertical Thought

2009-12-11T20:21:00.003-05:00

This week's Vertical Thought commentary from the United Church of God has been posted. The title is "Creating a Goal".

The topic is putting together a game plan for the college years.

More on 2012

2009-12-07T18:35:00.000-05:00

Another perspective on 2012

This week's Beyond Today is up

2009-12-06T07:49:00.003-05:00

Titled "Is 2012 the End of the World?"

Movies, books and Websites are fanning the 2012 disaster craze. Should you be troubled? Learn the important truth!

Direct link is here.

This Week's Vertical Thought

2009-12-04T20:16:00.002-05:00

The United Church of God has posted this week's Vertical Thought commentary titled "Feel Good vs. Real Good".

It asks what the purpose of going to a church is? Is it just to feel good about yourself or is there more to it?

This Week's Beyond Today

2009-11-29T08:03:00.002-05:00

From the United Church of God is titled "Soft on Hell". The teaser says

People have conflicting ideas on heaven and hell. Since they can’t all be right, what are the real facts? Prepare to be challenged!

Link is here.

This Week's About Our Father's Business

2009-11-25T08:38:00.004-05:00

United Church of God has posted this week's About Our Father's Business titled "Focusing on Preteens" has been posted. It talks mostly about the preteen camps UCG operates.

Direct link is here.

Why Give Thanks?

2009-11-22T14:49:00.002-05:00

Is the title of this week's Beyond Today program from the United Church of God.

Direct link is here.

UCG Daily Commentary on Sesame Street

2009-11-17T11:15:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's United Church of God's daily commentary was on the 40th anniversay of Sesame Street. Never watched much Sesame Street as a kid and can't really say I know much about what it has been like in recent years although I have heard some decry a socially liberal bent.

This Week's Beyond Today

2009-11-15T20:02:00.004-05:00

From the United Church of God is titled Surviving an Economic Crisis.

The link is here.

UCG Material Posted

2009-11-13T20:17:00.005-05:00

Below is this week's About Our Father's Business from the United Church of God titled Running the Race.

The link is here.

Also posted today was an excellent Vertical Thought Commentary titled The Decline and Fall of Civility.

Vertical Thought is UCG's magazine and website directed towards young adults.

In it was this little snippet.

The French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne said it well: "Not being able to govern vents, I govern myself."I had not seen that quote before. I like it.

An Explanation

2009-11-13T20:12:00.003-05:00

I know I have neglected the blog for awhile.

First of course I was gone to the FOT. Then when I got home I came down sick with the flu, was laid up for about a week. Had other things going on. Just needed some time.

Was also thinking if I wanted to take the blog in a different direction. Haven't decided yet.

Remembering the 1984 Olympics

2009-08-26T08:10:00.002-04:00

Ran across this blurb yesterday from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

While we're talking Pasadena here, I received an interesting phone message from Harry Sneider the other day. You may recognize Sneider's name. He was the coach of Olympian Dwight Stones, one of America's greatest high jumpers.

Sneider was calling to point out it is the 25th anniversary of the 1984 Summer Olympics. While most of the events were held in Los Angeles, Pasadena and points east also hosted more than a few. Included in that number were soccer at the Rose Bowl, equestrian at Santa Anita, and team handball at Cal Poly Pomona.

However, Sneider also notes that the Ambassador College campus was used as a training center for hundreds of Olympians in preparation for the L.A. Games.

While the 1984 Games was victimized by a Soviet Union-led boycott (inspired by a U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Games), it should be remembered for how well organized and run the event was, from start to finish and from venue to venue. And profitable, too.

I was out in Pasadena at Ambassador during that time and saw what was going on. What stands out to me was for all the concern about smog during the Olympics the air quality ended up being the best that week of any time I was out there.

Yes it was well run and made Peter Ueberroth a household name.

Harry Sneider was a fixture out there at that time and it was a common sight to see Dwight Stones training .

Growing up in the Church

2009-08-04T09:38:00.002-04:00

John from Church of God Perspective has an interesting post on growing up in the Worldwide Church of God. It's not uncommon to see people on the internet blame that on whatever problems they had as a child or have as adults.

I won't say certain alleged abuses did not occur or in some cases were apparently condoned but I will say that was not my personal experience. I would contend that most of the stories I have read of wildly dysfunctional families would have occured regardless of circumstance or religious belief. In some cases doctrines or teachings may have been twisted to support wrong behavior.

His post is a bit lengthy and I don't want to take parts of it out of context by quoting segments here. It's worth a glance and he has 3 conclusions near the end I will quote.

1. Resentment over being “different”. Instead of making it a strength, they view it as a weakness.

2. Resentment over hypocritical attitudes in the Church. While this is somewhat normal, it really is put into perspective when you realize that all men are hypocrites (cf. Ps 116:11). You know the old saying that if the Church if full of hypocrites, then you might as well join because one more won’t make it worse.

3. Blaming parental attitudes upon the Church.

See the full post here.

Some Good News for Sabbath Keepers

2009-06-20T07:42:00.003-04:00

It's usually a mixed bag for Sabbath keepers and employment laws. Here, a United Church of God member won.

United Parcel Service (UPS) will offer monetary damages and religious accommodations to a 19-year employee at UPS’s Bartlett, Tenn., facility to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The lawsuit, EEOC v. UPS, Inc. (Civil Action No. 2:07-cv-02576 filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee), charged UPS violated federal law by refusing to accommodate the religious beliefs of one of its drivers and trying to force him to work past sundown on his Sabbath, which violates his tenets as a member of the United Church of God.
Religious discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which mandates that sincerely held religious beliefs of employees must be accommodated by employers as long as it does not cause an undue hardship on the company. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement. UPS denied that it engaged in discrimination against the employee.

Under the terms of the three-year consent decree settling the suit, UPS will pay $23,500 to the employee as damages. UPS also agreed to maintain a policy which comports with Title VII in order to provide reasonable accommodations for employees’ religious beliefs. In addition, UPS must conduct training on the prevention of discrimination based on religion for all of its Bartlett managers. The employer is also enjoined from discriminating against employees by unlawfully denying religious accommodation and from unlawfully retaliating against employees who participated in this proceeding. UPS agreed to provide a variety of options to reasonably accommodate the employee’s religious beliefs, including allowing the employee to be relieved of overtime; to use accrued vacation days; to request personal holidays; to request unpaid leave when available; and to use allotted unexcused absences.

“Religious discrimination is not to be taken lightly,” said Faye Williams, the EEOC’s regional attorney for its Memphis District, which covers Tennessee, Arkansas and Northern Mississippi. “All employers must respond reasonably to an employee’s religious accommodation requests.”

I don't believe UPS is unionized. Usually Sabbath keepers are out of luck when members of a union. Courts have usually found union contracts trump discrimination laws.

I also found this is not the first time UPS has lost a Sabbath discrimination case. An earlier one in 2006 cost them $311,000 when they were found to have discriminated against a Seventh Day Adventist.

As I said Sabbath keepers get a mixed bag of legal protection. Here's the Wise case I blogged about earlier. Here's a case with the post office and another case here of a UCG member and Lockheed Martin.

United Church of God Policy Change

2009-06-09T09:15:00.002-04:00

Apparently there has been a change to the United Church of God policy as it applies to elders speaking to outside groups. It was originally posted on a council member's blog and has since been picked up elsewhere.

Guidelines Regarding Elders of the United Church of God Speaking to Other Churches/Religious Organizations

The United Church of God, an International Association (hereafter UCGIA), acknowledges that the Body of Christ is a spiritual organism transcending corporate boundaries. We do not claim that all Christians are among our fellowship, neither do we claim to be the only organization through which God may be working. UCGIA desires, therefore, to promote unity and cooperation and to share our beliefs and teachings within the broader Church of God community.
UCGIA also believes that a Christian teacher, in following the examples of Jesus Christ and the apostles, is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God with other individuals and religious organizations, whenever granted opportunity. This responsibility encompasses professing believers and non-believers.

Without commenting on the specific cases which may have brought about this change, since I don't necessarily know all the relevent facts, I think this is a good change on balance. I'm sure there is some disagreement on it though. I think this comes most into play with other Church of God groups. Personally I see nothing wrong with an elder once in a while being given a chance to build a bridge.

We'll see how this plays out and is implemented.

Proposition 8 upheld

2009-05-26T13:06:00.002-04:00

The California upheld the prop 8 ban on gay marriage although it allowed those already performed to stand.

I think the court was afraid to overturn proposition 8 as much as they may have wanted to. Overturning it would have opened a whole can of worms.

Good News Commentary

2009-05-13T09:41:00.003-04:00

The Good News Commentary of a couple days ago was titled The Pope, the Mideast and Prophecy. I mentioned a couple weeks back I was reading Hitler's Pope, The Secret History of Pius the XII by John Cornwell.

It's a fascinating account that shows the how the papacy and leaders of Europe used each other for their mutual goals.

UCG Material Posted

2009-05-09T07:30:00.005-04:00

Links have been posted to the United Church of God's Council of Elder meetings that took place after the GCE.

I've also uploaded the sermon from Robert Dick on the GCE Sabbath that got a few people buzzing.

We also have here the latest About Our Father's Business which is the first of a multipart interview of Robert Dick regarding his 14 years in UCG.

General Conference of Elders Report Posted

2009-05-06T12:31:00.002-04:00

The United Church of God General Conference of Elders report for May 3 and 4 has been posted.

Clearing something up

2009-05-04T18:01:00.003-04:00

Thought I would address something that has been going around the different blogs that generally comment critically on the different COG groups.

It seems a couple of comments that Robert Dick made in his message at the GCE on the Sabbath caught some people's attention.

Gavin at Ambassador Watch quotes from elsewhere

The sermon yesterday was given by Bob Dick, a minister from Portland. I don’t know all of the details of what he said, but it’s my understanding that they said that the truth can be found anywhere, that HWA is no longer unique, and that they need to change how they relate to the people around them.

One commented

Could we be witnessing WCG1994 bring repeated in the UCG? That would be incredible.

That's simply not what's happening here. This was not the infamous Joe Tkach WCG sermon that blew up that organization.

Robert Dick stated that many of the things that used to make us unique such as Sabbath observance, clean and unclean meats, stances on Easter and Christmas, parts of prophecy, others can be found teaching them. He did not say the truth could be found anywhere. He didn't say it could be found in Islam, Buddism, the New Age Movement. He didn't say it could be found in mainstream denominatiions. He said parts of it could now be found elsewhere, and he credited the work Herbert Armstrong had done, but no where else had the total package.

Some have pulled his statement second hand out of context and applied it to their own point of view.

The generally critical Shadows of WCG blog has it mostly right.

I do not personally think that there are any massive changes that are going to occur within the United Church of God. It was only recently that a video came out entitled “Our Heritage of Faith“. This video is abounding in the songs of old, praise of Herbert Armstrong, and many video clips historically reminiscing on the old Worldwide Church of God of which UCG broke off with.
A look at the United Church of God Website shares no hints of change. And there has not been, to my knowledge, an underground tidal wave toward liberalism or mainstream Christianity in the United Church of God.

He goes on to say there may be some subtle changes.

There are always changes, changes in approach, changes in priorities, perhaps changes in how some things are administered.

This does not portend some turnaround on core beliefs. Been there, done that. I'd be among the first out the door. This was simply an observation of the religious society around us.

New Twist to the United Church of God GCE

2009-05-03T19:41:00.003-04:00

Seems Victor Kubik is twittering the event. Check his site out for updates.

He's reported the council members selected were Bill Eddington, Melvin Rhodes, Scott Ashley and Richard Thompson.

This week's Beyond Today is up

2009-05-03T07:58:00.001-04:00

Titled Character in Crisis from the United Church of God

Judges and Justice

2009-05-01T21:42:00.006-04:00

With the pending departure of Justice David Souter we will be hearing a lot of talk about judges and justice. Barack Obama today gave some insight into his view of the role a judge plays when he talked about wanting to appoint a justice that doesn’t abstractly apply the law but understands how it effects people. Previously he stated he wanted a judge with empathy.

His critics have jumped onto those statements as code for judicial activism and charge that the role of judges is to impartially apply the law, not make new law or try to even things out. They state that is the role of the legislative branch of our government.

Justice is a political football in our country. Both political parties search out judges that will apply, interpret and even make law that promotes their political views.

The Bible has a lot to say about the role of a judge and the judiciary.

People get into the law today for various reasons. Some find it interesting. Some see it as a path to wealth; others are attracted to the power. Some of course enter it with the intent of seeking justice, as they perceive it.

When Moses could no longer decide every matter the Israelites brought to him he appointed others to help.

"Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them…”(Exodus 18:21)

At its most basic the requirements were men of ability, integrity and morality.

King Solomon understood his human inadequacy to judge properly and asked “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” (I Kings 3:9)

It would be interesting to know how many judges today earnestly pray for the wisdom to make right decisions.

Ultimately as King Jehoshaphat of Judah reminded those he set to decide matters “Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment.” (IIChronicles 19:6) That's a responsibility that should sober anyone.

The idea that justice for the downtrodden and powerless of society should be sought and fought for is biblical.

There are many admonitions such as “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.” (Psalm 82:3). In Amos 5:12 is the charge “For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.” Isaiah 1:17 says “Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

Often those people are denied justice due to a lack of resources or the undue influence of the powerful and wealthy.

Yet the opposite is just as wrong. Today we sometimes see decisions made simply because someone or a company is perceived as having deep pockets and that they won’t miss the money. It’s considered a form of social justice. But was it really justice that someone gets millions for spilling hot coffee on their lap or someone was acquitted of a crime because they belong to a group that has been wronged in the past? Do two injustices equal justice?

Moses commanded “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.” (Lev 19:15) and in Exodus 23:3 is “Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.”

In other words don’t find for the poor simply because they are poor. Don’t decide for the rich and powerful just because they are rich and powerful. Judge righteously based on the merits.

Today our justice system is corrupted. In many jurisdictions judges are elected. They take money from donors to finance a campaign, donors that obviously expect favorable decisions. There’s a term for that. It’s called bribery. As Deuteronomy 16:19 states … “neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.” Corporate interests expect a return on their investments. Other groups such as unions and PACs expect the same.

Judges that are appointed have been no better. Some have been caught up in corruption scandals. Others make decisions that shocks the conscience yet are unaccountable.

Justice is not liberal or conservative. Justice is not democrat or republican. Justice is not left or right. Justice is not male or female, black or white, Asian or Hispanic.

Justice is justice.

Too often today Lady Justice is peeking beneath the blindfold and has her right hand outstretched in search of payment. The scales too often represent the competing special interest groups.

Justice cries out in the land but is too often unheard.