Zig Ziglar Quotes

Zig Ziglar Quotes

US News---Churches celebrate Darwin`s birthday

Feb 12, 2006, 13:35 GMT

NEW YORK, NY, United States (UPI) -- Nearly 450 Christian churches in the United States are celebrating the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin Sunday.

The churches say Darwin`s theory of biological evolution is compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between religion and science, the Chicago Tribune reported.

'It`s to demonstrate, by Christian leaders and members of the clergy, that you don`t have to make that choice. You can have both,' said Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who organized the 'Evolution Sunday' event.

A variety of denominational and non-denominational churches, including Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Congregationalist, United Church of Christ, Baptist and a host of community churches, are participating in the event, which grew out of Zimmerman`s The Clergy Letter Project, another effort to dispel the perception among many Christians that faith and evolution are mutually exclusive, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Origin source

瓦尔登湖——林中生活散记

瓦尔登湖——林中生活散记

Greeting Valentine's Day with this post. ^_^

The History of Valentine's Day


As early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite to passage to the God Lupercus. The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned a woman companion for the duration of the year, after which another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice, the early church fathers sought to end this practice... They found an answer in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some two hundred years earlier.

According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage.
This was around when the heyday of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire's boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage.

Valentine, a bishop , seeing the trauma of young lovers, met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor, impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully.
On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.
"From your Valentine"
While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after.


Valentine thus become a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name.

The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.

情人节的历史 (华语版)

Google Local - Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK

Location of Gang Yi's University - Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK

The 2002 Nobel Prize Winner in Peace--Jimmy Carter(USA)

The 2002 Nobel Prize Winner in Peace--Jimmy Carter(USA) (Chinese version)
The 2002 Nobel Prize Winner in Peace--Jimmy Carter(USA) (English version)

Face of Muhammed - Drawings of Muhammed

欧报纸登默罕默德漫画引发阿拉伯国家大抗议
言论自由真的是一个严肃而长久的话题。这次丹麦的“face of Muhammed”事件，算是引起了一场宗教教条与自由言论的论战。言论自由是每个人应有的权利；宗教准则又是信徒忠贞的依据。不过讥讽的言论是不是“言论自由”应该保护的呢？恐怖主义和极端主义的火舌怎样才能得到控制？真不知道人类愚蠢的斗争何时才能平息。

发表漫画的blog: 值得一看！
Face of Muhammed - Drawings of Muhammed

(for above link, give thanks to Loong. ^_^)