Just What You Need!

I want to tell you about a great resource out there for you to find something good to read everyday in, including:

• encouragements, 
• scoldings, 
• poetry and songs,
• stories (about good people and bad people, and the consequences of their choices), 
• illustrations, 
• sermons, 
• and even miracles.

It's got a reading schedule of sorts in it, and you can follow by days of the month or days of the week.

It's for everyone: men, women and children, married, single and widowed, old and young, country folk and city people, plain and PhD'd, saint and sinner.

You may be bogged down with a lot of books and online sources and worksheets and mailings and e-mailings and daily readers - but you can have it all in one, and, bless you, you've already got one or two in your house, and you can find it online, too: it's the Holy Bible! 

Find one small enough to carry with you for reading in the elevator or waiting room.

Put one by your bedside and in your bathroom reading shelf.

Get one that's got a dictionary/concordance in it, if you doubt your own research skills.

Pick one up in another translation to compare and find deeper, more beautiful, broader and more specific meanings.

Find a local Bible study group (they're everywhere) to go even further in your understanding and appreciation, as well as to get encouragement to keep on reading and growing every day.

Cover it with your favourite wall paper or wrapping paper to match your room.

Copy out thoughts on your own choice of paper, napkin, notebook or arm, for re-reading and memorizing throughout the day or week.

Take notes right on the pages!

If you need a copy of the Bible, know that it's the world's best selling book, so you're likely to find it anywhere; just find your local church, and even if they don't practice everything within it's pages, more than likely they will have a book for you to take home and keep.

Maybe you were looking for a blog or a book or an e-mailing or an online group, because you think you need them. They can be a help - for sure! - but this book has got everything you need.

Pick one up today!

 

scripture art above from :  http://www.scripturewallart.com/acts.html

Another Book for Prudes

Girls taught to value sex over achievement and intelligence

Yes, that's the title and the findings presented and discussed in a recent article for Scotsman.com. The article, by Malcolm Law, concerns a new book by Carol Platt Liebau, "a leading political commentator in the US and the first female managing editor of Harvard Law Review". In her book, she points out what most of us already know: that today's young women are being taught to believe "sexy" equates to empowered. That being "sexy" is just another choice for liberated women.

"The author said "promiscuity and sexual aggression" were now being seen as the only way to achieve admiration. And she suggested girls now competed for attention based on how much they were sexually willing to do for boys."

That's what concerns most of us "old fashioned ladies": that the new age of women, is actually just the old age of male dominance in a new outfit. And the new outfit is pretty flimsy.

She said: "The overwhelming lesson teenagers are now learning from the world around them is that being 'sexy' is the ultimate accolade, trumping intelligence, character and all other accomplishments. In a culture that celebrates Paris Hilton [and] thong underwear, there's scant modesty or achievement that isn't coupled with sex appeal. Girls are being led to believe that they're in control when it comes to sexual relationships.

"But they're actually living in a profoundly anti-feminist landscape where girls compete for attention on the basis of how much they are sexually willing to do for the boys. And living in an overly sexualised culture takes a toll on girls."

• Prude: How The Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls is available in the US on Amazon, among other places, and soon to be available in other countries as well. In the reviews that I have found, it seems that this is not a predominantly "Christian" book, and the damages presented are from the practical standpoint, such as economic and emotional, rather than merely the spiritual point of view that most of us "religious" folks are used to. The world finds it difficult to listen to us when we shout out that young people's souls are in danger. But maybe if they see that the results of that disaster also affect their country, they'll listen. God doesn't make rules and laws to be cruel; but because God knows how best we work, and if we follow the instructions, things always work better than we could make it on our own.

By the way, I always despised being called a "prude", as if it were an ignorant or evil thing to be "prudent" in behaviour.

This book is also reviewed in the UK Observer

... in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation ...

More on World Modesty

The Jewish Press: The Book Shelf reviews "Sometimes You Are What You Wear: An Argument for Tzniut"; by Author: Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran The reviewer calls it "an impassioned call for the wisdom of the ages to make itself felt in today’s world."

An excerpt from the review:

The rabbi takes the position that the modern world has turned children into “commodities” that serve to benefit a corporate bottom line but not the children themselves. He declares that the superficiality of the modern world, with its emphasis on body image, has done a profound disservice to our youth, with the result being illicit behaviors, alcohol and drug abuse, and eating disorders among other psychological struggles.

Tzniut, on the other hand, teaches the reader not simply to “look,” but to “see with meaning.” It teaches how to focus upon some aspect of Creation and not to see just its outer, most superficial quality, but instead its inner, more meaningful aspects. Discussing the concepts of “outside” and “inside,” Safran maintains that physical appearance should be designed to call attention to one’s worth and nobility, to a good soul. “Beauty diminishes but a good name endures,” he writes, quoting Jewish writings. Tzniut is the way to achieve an enduring good name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Editing this article much later, because I wanted to post this neat article somewhere! World modesty seemed a good topic to post it under. In The Times of India article: Girls Go Mild!, the author points out that in India, home of modest Hindu and Muslim women, the "raunch" of Bollywood, gotten from Hollywood, is not appreciated either. "Raunch doesn't give you what modesty can -- a lifetime of self-respect, everlasting love and romance. Model Ramneek Paintal agrees, "Raunch is short-lived. Modesty takes you far." "

Lovely Things

My husband recently bought me a copy of the 2 CD set of C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves". Read by the author. Unabridged. A 32 page study guide is included. What better way to find a way to think of things that are lovely, that make for love and kindness and affection, than to pull up a chair and listen to an older Christian man, who is a very thoughtful person, explain the meanings that he finds behind the old Greek words which we translate all into the broad word, "love".

From AudioFile
The four Greek words for our word love are "storge" (affection), "philia" (friendship), "eros" (sexual or romantic love) and "agape" (selfless love). In what is claimed to be the only professional recording of C.S. Lewis's voice, one can hear the mother of all audio programs about love and its vicissitudes. The speaker sounds stiff and academic at first--not as warm as he is in print--but this impression evaporates after a few minutes of listening because the essays are so pithy, exciting and surprisingly relevant in today's climate of impetuous relationships. The four cassette sides are integrated by the refreshing seamlessness of Lewis's thinking and many illuminating examples. For those interested in C.S. Lewis the person or those involved in any kind of love relationship, repeated listening will be utterly involuntary. T.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the edition of this title which was available at one time on cassette tape.

One reviewer quoted and wrote: "For news of the fully waking world you must go to my betters": But Lewis is a Great Place to Start.

Please look into listening or reading "The Four Loves," by C. S. Lewis.