Rescue Me: Tales of Rescuing the Dogs Who Became Our Teachers, Healers, and Always Faithful Friends by Val Silver My rating: 5 of 5 stars Rescue Me is a collection of tales about a subject I am personally very passionate about -- animal rescue. The stories are told by multiple people, and as a result some of them are more poignant than uplifting...the authors may not speak with "one" voice, but these stories told from the heart will almost certainly touch yours. The book is worth buying just for the story of Biscuit the "do-over" dog, that went from death row in the animal shelter to become a therapy dog. Another story that resonated with me personally were the delightful "Lollipop Can't Hold Her Licker" that opens with an unforgettable hook line: "Oh. My. Gawd. Your dog looks just like Gene Simmons." With their unified message, the authors said all the right things that another person familiar with the needs and difficulties and a passion for animal rescue wants to hear: spay and neuter. Adopt, don't shop. Senior dogs need homes, too. Animal rescue is a labor of love, and that love shines through in the stories in this collection. Amazon helped decide the number of stars this book deserved -- five stars meant that I loved reading it, and four meant that I only liked the book. While I found it objectionable that one author described the wonderful, baying voice of a Basset Hound as a "God-awful sound", I must admit that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, just as not every aficionado of music appreciates Gene Simmons of KISS. View all my reviews … [Read more...]
Contemplating the crucifixion and resurrection
Unless these are the first words I've written that you've ever read, you probably know that I'm not particularly shy about admitting that I consider myself a Christian. By that, I mean specifically that I believe Jesus really lived roughly two thousand years ago, and was crucified and died on a cross. Furthermore, I believe that God raised him from the grave, and Jesus ascended into heaven, just like the Bible says. And today is Easter Sunday, the holiest day on the Christian calendar. In my opinion, it's not a bad idea to contemplate the resurrection on an Easter Sunday. On the basic points concerning Christian beliefs, I believe it is safe to say that the vast majority of other people who considers themselves a Christian would agree with me about the divinity of Jesus, and that his resurrection really happened. Where we may or may not agree is on the question of why Jesus suffered, died, and rose again. Those who, on faith, accept the Bible is literally true, and without error will assert the answer is original sin -- in other words, it's Adam and Eve's fault for listening to Satan, and partaking from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I will admit that I have my doubts about that particular belief, but I will explain why in a moment. My approach to reading the Bible is rather straightforward -- I assume that what I am reading is true. The problem with that approach, of course, is the content of the Bible itself. How do you reconcile when two accounts contradict each other? There are clearly instances where the same story is told … [Read more...]
Face Palm Sunday
Yesterday was Palm Sunday. The face palm moment came early. Before church, I visited a place on Facebook called The Battlefield. The group consists of theists and atheists who are interested in (more or less) cordial debate. I felt compelled to respond after one of my atheist friends asserted if Sir Isaac Newton were alive today, he would reject Young Earth Creationism and more than likely be an atheist, according to these statistics. Several replies came to mind. Naturally, I responded with all of them. First of all, such speculation is both silly and irrelevant. Newton has been dead almost 300 years. It's impossible to say what he would be like today. And it seems rather foolish to assume modern science would be anywhere close to where it is today if Newton hadn't lived and accomplished what he did, when he did. The issue of Young Earth Creationism is semantic, and especially for this argument. It can help divide Christians from each other, but does not separate theists from atheists, the more important point of contention in that forum. Secondly, historically speaking, the polar opposite has been true in regard to the relationship between super-intellect and spiritual beliefs. Polymaths like Newton, da Vinci, and Emmanuel Swedenborg were if anything uber-religious people, and most certainly not atheists. Modern polymath Michael Guillen has three PhDs, and he's a Christian. The appeal to modern authority falls flat because Newton was the authority of his time. If he were alive today, it would be reasonable to assume that Newton would still be an authority … [Read more...]
