Mark Kelly...right stuff astronaut ponders God's plan! Existence fated, he says!

"I never use to believe in fate," Astronaut Mark Kelly - the husband of shooting victim Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz) - confessed at a prayer meeting.

According to Kelly, the minutes used to just tick by, with nary a thought about the creator.

However, in the wake of the shocking events which unfolded last month in Arizona, Kelly admitted on-camera at the podium to a rapt audience yesterday, that he has taken pause since to consider that there is such a thing as fate and destiny.

"I've been thinking lately that there must be a God and that he has a plan," the Astronaut humbly announced to ciizens of the world in so many words.

In sum, he stated his belief that something good will come of that fateful tragedy, in the final analysis.

Indeed, Kelly - who intends to take flight again in space in the near future - was bang on in his musings.

The truth of the matter is that we are not unlike actors in a play who appear on stage.

But, in the instant case of precious life itself, God's invisible hand directs all the action - the entrances, the dramas, the intrigues, and even the laughter - before our final bows on this mortal coil.

In the duration, sentient beings must pray that they be guided - and have faith in the Lord's decisions - although  they are often in the dark about the nature (and wisdom) of his overall plan.

Amen!

http://www.thetattler.biz



Mojave Cross...War Memorial site desecrated! Historical landmark stolen!

Someone obviously wasn’t pleased with the legal outcome.

Or, maybe it was just a random act of vandalism.

To most, it was a disrespectful slap at millions of Veterans it stood in honor of.

Of course, I am referring to the Mojave Cross which stood in the desert for decades braving the elements out of harm’s way - until persons unknown under the cover of night - desecrated the War memorial and made off with the coveted cross.

The Memorial became the subject of controversy and legal wrangling in the courts when activists filed a suit for a court order to remove the religious symbol on Constitutional grounds.

The briefs hinged on the issue of separation of Church and State.

The controversial litigation - which I avidly followed for the past couple of years in the local and national media (being a Christian and all) - raised the ire of the multitudes far-and-wide this way ‘n that.

The U.S. Supreme Court finally rendered a ruling recently that - ultimately - was a squeaker.

By a 5-4 vote, the Justices reversed the lower court ruling in California, that ordered the U.S. Park service remove the cross.

On  behalf of the court, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy underscored that the 1st Amendment calls for a middle ground policy accommodation toward religious displays on public ground (and  not a total ban on a symbol of faith).

In a nutshell, the court found that the 1st Amendment does not require the eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm.

End of story?

Liberty Institute, an organization representing the Veterans,  has offered a $25,000 dollar reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction of the culprit(s).

The group has vowed to build a bigger and better Memorial Cross at the site.

“We’ll show them,” vowed caretaker Henry Sandoz.

God willing!

 

 

http://www.thetattler.biz

Tom Cruise...Scientology sh** hits fan; top gun threatens lawsuits over video!

Well, the old **it hit the fan for Tom Cruise this week.



Yesterday morning, a news outlet featured a videotape of the megastar, engaging in secret ceremonies behind closed doors at Scientology headquarters.



If the disgruntled former member of the cult, who released it, intended to "embarrass" Mr. Cruise, they accomplished that feat hands down!



In one shot, Tom enters an "S" meeting, stops to salute a fuzzy blow-up photo of the creator of the organization - Ron L. Hubbard - then proceeds onstage to acknowledge one of the upper echelon of the odd-ball group that raises eyebrows daily.



I surmise the curious elbow-lift infers that all Scientology enthusiasts are "foot soldiers" in the war against, what? Ignorance? Prejudice against the Church's "personality tests"? Overzealous critics harping about the fact that Scientology is not a religion?



Heh, in the inner recesses of my mind, I do seem to recall that Mr. Hubbard was a former Science Fiction writer. Isn't Scientology just a surreal fantasy, conjured up by a very active, demented imagination?



Worse yet, Tom was caught in the flesh, talking Scientologese!



Yup, he babbled with gushing enthusiasm about SP, and KSG, and all manner of things, hidden in a secret code. SP? "Suppress the people", is what it stands for, according to insiders.



And KSG? "Keep Scientology Going" apparently.



Well, if you have a deranged mind, to.



Do you suppose they have a secret handshake too?



I must say, I was a bit envious of that Gold Medallion swinging lavishly around Tom's squeaky-clean neck a few months ago...an award, you say, for his worthwhile contributions to the sect - um - Church?



To be fair to the star, and in a bold-faced effort to gain a different perspective on 'em, I inputted the word Scientology into the online dictionary at Webster's web site. The word isn't even listed, let alone mentioned in a possible list of suspects.



As I was preparing this post, a 20/20 promo for a segment on the "cruiser", sprang across the screen...so, I was inclined to tune in.



Clips catching Tom demonizing psychiatry were downright scary - especially in view of the fact - he alleges that scientologists have the “the authority".



On what?



If this revelation (no connection to the scriptures) wasn't enough to hurl Cruise fanatics over the brink, they hit bullion when Andrew Morton - who released an unauthorized biography this week on the diminutive actor - was on hand to toss in his two cents worth.



"Tom thinks they are super beings," he actually opined with a straight face.



Ironically, the interviewer, added,



"After observing Mr. Cruise the past few months, it appears to me that he needs some psychiatric therapy."



Ouch!



If asked, maybe Dr. Phil will step in and lend a hand.



On a morning show, the reporter noted that word from Cruise's camp is that any individuals posting the video on their web site, will face litigation.



Why don't you just zap 'em with your super powers, Tom?



Andrew Morton's timely tome apparently focuses on the childhood years, as well. The insightful writer uncovered gems like...the fact that Tom collected model airplanes (Top Gun, right?) and played the "sun" in a 5th grade pageant.



As to the quirky, early stint on stage, a former teacher noted that,



"Even 30 years later, it still gives me goose bumps (thinking about it)."



When it was also revealed that Tom Cruise once impersonated Woody Woodpecker, a Bay Area Reporter quipped,



"We'd bet his Woody is memorable."



My money says Cruise suffers from a Napoleon (small man's) complex.









Tom, psychiatrists usually prefer a horizontal position on the couch...

The Universe...does it have a purpose?

The John Templeton Foundation asked a handful of scholars the profound question...Does the Universe have a purpose?

Here is a sampling of the responses:

Yes. The fact we can ask such a question at all suggests an affirmative answer...

- John F. Haught, Science & Religion, Woodstock Technological Center, Georgetown University

Unlikely. While nothing in biology, chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy, or cosmology has ever provided direct evidence of purpose in nature, science can never unambiguously prove that there is no such purpose. As Carl Sagan said, in another context: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence...

-Lawrence M. Krauss, Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Case Western Reserve University

Not sure. To assert that the universe has a purpose implies the universe has intent. And intent implies a desired outcome. But who would do the desiring? And what would a desired outcome be? That carbon-based life is inevitable? Or that sentiment primates are life's neurological pinnacle? Are answers to these questions even possible without expressing a profound bias of human sentiment? Of course humans were not around to ask these questions for 99.9999% of cosmic history. So if the purpose of the universe was to create humans then the cosmos was embarrassingly inefficient about it...

-Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, Director, New York City Hayden Planetarium

Yes. Frankly, I am psychologically incapable of believing that the universe is meangingless. I believe the universe has a purpose, and our greatest intellectual challenge as human beings is to glimpse what this purpose might be. My belief is not the result of a blinding flash of a road-to-Damascus revelation. Nor is it the imprint of a nurturing home environment.

- Owen Gingerich, Professor emeritus, Harvard University, & Astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Institute

Yes. Namely, to defeat and rise above our animal natures; to create goodness, beauty, and holiness where only physics and animal life once existed; to create what might be (if we succeed) the only tiny pinprick of goodness in the universe - which is otherwise (so far as we know) morally null and void.

-David Gelernter, Professor of Computer Science, Yale University

Indeed. The question of purpose is closely related to the question of whether something like the God of Western monotheistic religions can be known to exist by studying the order, goodness, and grandeur of the universe. Already, around 1750, David Hume pointed out that if one is looking at evidence of design, then all of the evidence must be taken into account: not only order and goodness but disorder and evil as well.

-Nancy Murphy, Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary

No. In the absence of evidence, the only reason to suppose that it does is sentimental wishful thinking and sentimental wishful thinking, which underlies all religion, is an unreliable tool for discovery of truth of any kind.

- Peter Atkins, Fellow, Professor of Chemistry, Lincoln College, Oxford

Very likely. It turns out that the observed features of the natural world appear to be fine-tuned for biological complexity. In other words, everything from the mass ratios of atomic particles, the number of space dimensions, to the cosmological parameters that rule the expansion of the universe, and the formation of galaxies are all exactly what they need to be to create stars, planets, atoms, and molecules. But where does this apparent fine-tuning come from? Is it the manifestation of a plan for the universe? An arrangement by a superior will to prepare the way for complex creatures? Is it God's signature? People of faith believe it is so. They read purpose in the universe as a painter sees beauty in a view on the ocean.

- Bruno Guiderdoni, Director, Observatory, Lyon, France.

*To read the complete excerpts: http://www.templeton.org