Mankind at stake if GAY MARRIAGES continue – Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday weighed in on a heated debate over gay marriage, saying same-s*x unions called into question what it means to be “true men”.

“In the fight for the family, the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question,” Benedict said in Italian during an end-of-year speech.

While he did not specifically refer to gay marriage, it was a clear bid by the pontiff to block the spread of the legalisation of gay marriage which is gaining ground in the West. France, Britain and the United States are expected soon to join a dozen countries where homosexual couples can legally wed.

“The question of the family is the question of what it means to be a man, and what it is necessary to do to be true men,” Benedict said.

The pope spoke of the “falseness” of gender theories and cited at length France’s chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim, who has spoken out against gay marriage.

“Bernheim has shown in a very detailed and profoundly moving study that the attack we are currently experiencing on the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child, goes much deeper,” he said.

He cited feminist gender theorist Simone de Beauvoir’s view to the effect that one is not born a woman, but one becomes so — that s*x was no longer an element of nature but a social role people chose for themselves.

“The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious,” he said.

The defence of the family, Benedict said, “is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears.”

In an article for Britain’s Financial Times newspaper on Thursday, the pontiff reminded the country’s increasingly secular population the Church was not just concerned with morals, but also social issues.

“It is in the Gospel that Christians find inspiration for their daily lives and their involvement in worldly affairs — be it in the Houses of Parliament or the Stock Exchange,” the pope said in the article.

He also stressed the need for the Church to dialogue with atheists and agnostics who agree with the church’s social codes.

He spoke of the possibility of forming an “alliance” based on a common respect for the “law of nature,” in reference to the traditional marriage between a man and a woman.

On Monday, the Vatican’s newspaper described laws on gay marriage as an attempt at a communist-like “utopia”, a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out in France to support legalising both marriages and adoption for gay couples.

France’s parliament is to debate the government-backed “marriage for all” bill early next year.

With President Francois Hollande’s Socialists enjoying a strong majority, the bill is expected to pass despite vehement opposition from the right and religious groups.

If I Get A Gal For BJ Only Would it Be Cheating?

From married,

I want your reader’s perspective on this issue. I’ve been married for 3 years to a beautiful woman (inside & out) and we have a baby girl thats two years old. Life is good and God has been kind to us in all things but the major problem is our sex life….do not get me wrong, sex with my wife is beautiful, intense and fulfilling apart from the blow j!..the increasingly lack of it leaves me a bit empty and unhappy.

For 3 years I have not cheated on my wife and don’t intend to except if things continue as they are…..lately my wife finds blow jobs “demeaning” and a chore that lasts for like three minutes instead of the fun it once was…we both work a 9-5 pm shift.

Her head game used to be tight but now its uneventful..don’t mean to sound uncaring, I know she gets tired from work, the baby and me…I practically have to beg her to put it in her mouth for longer than five minutes.

We’ve spoken about it but things haven’t improved..infact learnt that women tend to give less head as the relationship progresses..is this true?..I love my wife and don’t want to cause her pain but I can’t live without my blow j too (I love it…men really do)…spoke with some friends and almost all are telling me to get a ‘headmistress” that their Madams don’t give enough BJ’s..should i get a girl for BJ only?..would it still be cheating?..(heard its the new thing for guys)…dunno if i can handle the guilt tho (before God and my wife)..am i just being selfish?..i do give her head anytime she wants it tho..which is like 5 times a year..lol..really at crossroads right now..the thots of a BJ less marriage is something i really can’t come to terms with..iImiss my BJ’s

Brandon Woodard’s background seemed picture perfect. Go figure. He’s a young Black man, 31 years old. He grew up in L.A. living the best life his parents could give him. And it was pretty good. Very good. There was private Campbell Hall High School. And then there was College at Loyola Marymount, at $55,000 a year for tuition. And Brandon’s parents made sure he had his ride – a Range Rover so he could make the rounds of the typical college student’s life. So far, so good. So, how did it go so bad?

EXECUTED ON THE STREETS OF NEW YORK

Brandon ended up executed by a hit man on 58th Street in New York City. There are still pictures. There is moving video. We see the gunman, in Khaki pants, slip his hood over his head and follow Brandon, for about ten minutes, before gliding up to the victim and pulling the trigger on a semi-automatic right into the back of Brandon’s skull. Then – the gunman calmly walks to his getaway car (Lincoln MKZ). His driver pulls into the mid-afternoon traffic. No rush, no squealing tires.

BRANDON AND THE LAW

It turns out Brandon was a second year law student and was a day away from a final exam. So, what’s he doing in New York. And why a professional hit, or at least that’s what it looks like?

Brandon liked the high life. That was true even on the last night of his life. He booked himself a suite that likely clipped him for about $850.00, according to info from the 6 Columbus hotel. He checked out, had breakfast at a French café, where the waiter said he seemed very nervous. But that was just the last night of years of living it up, big parties and fancy clubs and doing all he could to hang out with sports stars and celebrities of every kind. He’d be happy to lay down a big chunk of cash to get just the right table in just the right club.

BRANDON’S TROUBLE

Brandon seemed to get himself in an awful lot of trouble. He had a rap sheet with about 20 convictions. In fact, he had a court date in Beverly Hills on a cocaine possession charge coming up next month. He’d had a felony hit and run. Theft. Burglary. There were domestic violence problems. He got himself thrown out of an Usher concert – and threatened a big-time lawsuit. But, why an execution? And why go to law school? Sure, they’ll let you pay the fee and take the tests. But when it’s time to pass the bar and get a license to practice – a criminal record like Brandon’s is, well, a non-starter. He could NEVER practice law. Or maybe he could pick up some tips on how to do a better job of staying out of the way of the law. (Although, that is a pretty expensive lesson.)

Maybe that was the plan. If he knew the law – would it help him stay out of trouble? It’s hard to tell what he was thinking. Maybe it was just a front – because it turns out, police say, Brandon already had a job.

THE INVESTIGATION

After the hit, Brandon collapsed and blood was everywhere. A skateboarder saw the horror, called 9-1-1 and tried to tell Brandon to hang on. But it was too late. Well, police tracked down the rented getaway car and they’ve interviewed the driver. They’re pulling the case together.

And it looks like Brandon already had a high risk profession – law school could not protect him from the consequences. London’s Daily Mail reports Brandon was a drug mule – carrying packages of illegal substances (could have been pot, or coke, or many more and all of the above) for dealers who paid him what likely was lots of cash in return for the risk.

Newspaper reports say police in LA had confiscated a big chunk of cash from Brandon that was due to his dealers. There’s speculation Brandon made his quick trip to New York to talk things over with his bosses – show them he was still a man who could be trusted. Perhaps there was a way to smooth things over. There was. It was a bullet.

LEGAL TROUBLE RUNS IN THE FAMILY?

Brandon’s mother was the successful head of United International Mortgage, in Southern California. But the state has pulled the mortgage company’s license while it does some investigating. Brandon had a stepfather. And his biological father is a retired attorney, who wonders if he’d been able to spend more time with Brandon things would have been different. And Brandon was father to a little girl.

Friends say Brandon Woodard liked to present himself as an entertainment promoter and an up and coming rap star. And he did become a famous name after all – just not the way he planned – in a shocking, blood soaked execution on the streets of New York.

http://cassandracenteno.com/2012/12/19/brandon-woodard-what-went-wrong/

MYSTERY: Children horrified as they encounter a TALKING TREE

The incident, which has left tongues wagging, occurred on Thursday in Gwemombe Langani Village under Chief Mazvihwa.

The stump is said to be only talking to children and women. According to a witness the “talking stump” was first discovered by some boys who were playing soccer while herding cattle.

“When their plastic ball rolled near the stump, one of the boys who had rushed to pick it up was forced to abandon the ball and run for dear life when he heard an intimidating male voice coming from the stump. The boys later fled the scene leaving the cattle unattended when they discovered that the voice was coming from an old tree stump near where they were playing,” said Mrs Fadzai Mufari, who claimed to have seen the talking stump.

Mrs Mufari who stays a few kilometres from the place where the “talking stump” is located said she could not believe the children’s story when they stormed her homestead seeking refuge.

“I could not immediately buy their story but when they insisted, we then went to the scene as local elders. When we arrived at the scene in the company of the boys we were so disappointed and, Mr Machona, who was among the elders who were present, threatened to beat up the boys as we all concluded the boys were fooling us after nothing unusual was discovered at the particular stump. Instead there were more stumps at the scene but the boys kept on singling out one stump although nothing came out of it,” she said.

Mrs Mufari said she was then shocked when two local women came to her homestead on the same day claiming that they had also witnessed the stump talking.

“The two women indicated to me that the stump was talking to them like a male person proposing love. I then accompanied them to the scene and was shocked when the stump started talking. The voice was hoarse and it kept on proposing love to us while threatening that there will be no rain if we turned down its proposal. What is however frightening is that the stump only talks to women and children,” she said.

Mrs Mufari said they have since approached the village head and he is expected to approach Chief Mazvihwa.

“The problem is that men are not taking the matter seriously because they are getting second hand information. The stump only talks to women and children. If women or children are accompanied by any male adult, there is nothing from the stump,” she said.

Chief Mazvihwa confirmed the incident when he was contacted yesterday. He, however, said he was yet to visit the scene after getting a report from some villagers.

“I got information to that effect but the problem is that all my aides are men and the stump is said to be only speaking to women and children. It’s really a mystery in my area and I am hoping to visit the scene,” he said.

Chief Mazvihwa said the talking stump could be an angry spirit.

The Nativity – The Biblical Account
To read the biblical account of the nativity, see Luke chapter 2.

The Book of Luke records the visitation of the angel appearing to the father of John the Baptist, who was a priest serving in the temple of God. As you read the story, you will note that Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, were relatives. Luke also records the visit between the two women and the song of Mary.

Luke describes the birth of Jesus in the town of Bethlehem. The circumstances of His birth in a stable, the appearance of the heavenly host and the shepherds all take center stage in the great space of time that God created at the precise moment.

Matthew also tell of the nativity. Matthew begins with the genealogy of the Christ. The ancestry begins with Abraham and leads all the way down to Joseph, the husband of Mary. He tells of the angelic announcement to Mary that she, above all other Hebrew women, would be the bearer of the Christ child.

Soon after the birth, King Herod entertained the Magi or Wise Men from the Far East. As most political figures do not like rivals, King Herod determined to find this “new king” and sought to destroy all the children born around the time that the Wise Men saw the star proclaiming Jesus’ birth.

The young family fled to Egypt, led by the Holy Spirit, to live safely until King Herod died. They then returned to Nazareth where Jesus grew and became known as the carpenter’s son.

All of these events were foretold throughout the Old Testament. You can find references to Jesus in the Psalms and other books. God is the great Conductor who orchestrated each wonder in such a way that could not be duplicated by man. God purposed to save His creation from the beginning of time.

All of the Old Testament followers of God looked ahead to the coming of the Christ for their salvation. The daily sacrifices were the atonement until Christ came in the flesh and paid the ultimate perfect price.

The Nativity – Making it Personal
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), we look back to His birth and crucifixion as our salvation. The celebration of Christmas is the perfect gift given to us. It is the gift of God Himself indwelling His own creature to pay the only perfect penalty in order that we may live with Him forever.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).