I Hate It When That Happens!

You might think think that a mosque built in Mecca would at least point supplicants in the right direction for their daily prayers--an important point of Islamic doctrine.  All those new high-rises in Mecca have given people a birds-eye view of the city, and to everyone's chagrin, over two-hundred mosques are pointing in the wrong direction!  Now, the faithful are wondering, are their prayers heard when they've been pointing the wrong way?  Click here: BBC NEWS | Middle East | Mecca mosques 'wrongly aligned'

Speaking of Islam, cell phones are creating a number of problems for Muslims.  So a new Fatwa has been issued which decrees that it is a sin to use verses from the Koran for your ring tone.  But if you have to go to the bathroom make sure that your cell doesn't play a verse from the Koran while you are doing your business.  That's a double-sin.  Click here: Channel 4 - News - Fatwa on mobile phone usage

Here's a new pastor scandal--stealing church funds to pay for botox and plastic surgery.  What's worse, the guy isn't even on TBN.  Why does a parish priest in an episcopal church need botox and a tummy-tuck?  Click here: FOXNews.com - N.Y. Pastor Accused of Stealing Church Funds for Botox and Prescription Drugs - Local News | News Ar

Sadly, there a huge market for Ken Samples' recent book on Christian worldviews (A World of Difference).  According to a recent survey, less than 1% of young adults hold to a "Christian" worldview.  Good thing we've got all these hip pastors and youth groups to teach 'em.  Wait, that's the problem.  Click here: Survey: Less Than 1 Percent of Young Adults Hold Biblical Worldview| Christianpost.com

Comments

[Lloyd]

Interesting. There are so many polls out there, with some saying that Christianity is on the decline in the U.S., and others saying that it is on the rise.

Probably, very few Americans would hold a Christian world view, because very few of them would even know what the five essentials of Christiany are. (Let alone all of the other important doctrines in the Bible.)

My two 13 year olds are about to finish their Lutheran Confirmation classes, so they will certainly have a Lutheran, Christian world view. These classes actually have a lot more home work, than do their regular school classes.

You have to wonder, with the polls, how many people are J.W.'s and Mormons, that the pollsters count as Christians?

The Holy Christian Church is "invisible" in the sense that only God can tell with certainty who is and who isn't a part of it.

As I look around the world and follow the news, and talk to people that say that they are Christians, I don't see many of us left.

[hb]

I was laughing at the boo-boo with the mosques and the cellphone infractions; but, then I read the last article. I stopped laughing...

[Si Hollett]

That the Mosques point vaguely in the right direction is at least something. The oldest Mosques have two Kibblah's - one pointing at the Dome of the Rock, the other pointing at Mecca. It seems that there was a change about 850AD (not in Mohammed's life time, which is what the Hadith say).

Kind of funny that they care so much about the exact way it faces: from further afield it's very easy not to point the right way. I feel sorry for all those poor Muslims in SE Asia, NW Europe, the Americas, etc, who can only really point it in roughly the right direction - they may miss Mecca, the city itself, by 100s of miles and their praying, even if Allah exists, won't be heard because they are pointing at somewhere else in the Middle East!

[Philip Walker]

It's all right; the Earth isn't a perfect sphere or even a perfect spheroid, so the odds are that if the prayers keep swinging round the planet, sooner or later they'll hit Mecca. Of course, it could take a long time and the cat might have died by then, but hey, Allah can't be held responsible for delays in transmission, surely?

[DB]

$84 grand for botox and prescription drugs. With all that botox his face should be smooth as a billiard ball.

[mrsauk]

re: the botox story--was anyone reminded of "burn after reading"?

[Zrim]

mrsauk,

Brad Pitt was good and Malkovich never lets me down.

Extra credit: in what other Coen film did George Clooney star where he uttered the two-kingdom line: "That's not the issue Delmar. Even if that [baptism] did put you square with the Lord, the State of Mississippi's a little more hard-nosed."

[mrsauk]

Zrim,
one of my all-time favorites...o brother, where art thou. the soundtrack is great also.

[Zrim]

mrsauk,

I know, right? That's how revivalist spirituals are supposed to be done--by talented folk singers. Great stuff.

[Akhmed al-Ger]

I thought Mohammedons were misguided!