Recently, in a Fox News Special Report All-Star panel discussion I heard a panelist use the phrase “First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People”. That discussion focused on the persecution Christians are experiencing in a part of Iraq now under the control of the jihadist group knows as ISIL (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – a/k/a ISIS). Specifically, ISIL has given Christians (who have been living in that area for 2,000 years, pre-dating Muslims by 600 years) an ultimatum to convert to Islam or get out and/or be fined and/or face death. Since I wasn’t familiar with the Saturday people/Sunday people phrase, I researched it and I was embarrassed to learn that it’s been in use for quite awhile. In fact, it’s found in the title of a best-selling book, by Lela Gilbert, published in 2012. The following excerpt from Ms. Gilbert’s Weekly Standard blog helped me begin to understand this phrase and its background:
“‘First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People.’ Such graffiti can sometimes be found in Muslim neighborhoods in the Middle East. The ‘Saturday People’ are, of course, Jews, today nearly gone from Muslim lands. Now the ‘Sunday people’—Christians— are in the crosshairs, and they, too, are fleeing at an alarming rate. Both religions are unwelcome in many Muslim-majority lands for reasons of Islamist ideology—the declaration of jihad, or holy war, against infidels.”Continue reading →
This article has been written, specifically, to address a most rare exception, a comment on a previous article that’s been Pending Approval for quite a while. The comment in question was made in response to an article entitled Lookin’ For Hate In All The Wrong Places. It said,
“remember… there is a brand new covenant, which basicly breaks down morality to: ‘he who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to HIM it is sin.’ are you foolishly going to argue that homosexuals in their heart of hearts feel that theyre sinning? if so, youre very disillusioned. and thus, by the very biblical passage ive quoted… they arent sinning in being homosexual.”Continue reading →
A wonderful compliment to Here I Raise My Ebenezer’s series on Securing the Legacy of the Greatest Generation. While we’re still blessed with their presence, let’s honor them and take time to get even better acquainted.
It was the end of a long day for the 91 WWII veterans who left Chicago at 6:30 a.m. to tour War Memorials in Washington, D.C. But 9:00 p.m. was the beginning of the celebration for us; those who were welcoming them home. In the morning the veterans were nostalgically sent off with the Andrews- Sisters-style music of the Legacy Girls. After arriving in Washington, the veterans toured the Lincoln Monument, the newly-constructed WWII memorial, the Korean memorial, the Viet Nam memorial, the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Udvar Hazy National Air and Space Museum. And now at the end of their day a brass band played all the patriot songs while scads of volunteers donned in orange shirts passed out American flags to the friends and families who stood behind parade route guide ropes in Chicago Midway Airport Baggage Claim area. The bright faced, highly enthusiastic and helpful volunteers informed us of what the veterans in their 80’s and 90’s had experienced during the day and our role in welcoming them home. The spirit of the crowd was high. It didn’t take much imagination to put myself back at the end of WWII and be a grateful, relieved, joy-filled spectator at a “Welcome home, soldier” parade. In Midway Airport the anticipation was growing and when the bagpipes began, we knew the first veterans were headed to the start of the procession. When we saw them we were almost hushed with awe. Unlike 70 years ago, these were not young men and women, but people who had lived their lives and for many a wheel chair or an oxygen tank were their constant companion. However, I only saw one veteran break through the line of spectators to get to the restroom.
The volunteers led the way for us by reaching out to shake the gnarled hands of these freedom fighters while, saying, “Thank you for your service.” It didn’t take long for us to get into the groove.
My dad was one of the first ones to emerge and one of the few that walked the distance. He stopped along the parade route to give mom a kiss and then continued responding to the flag-waving crowds. He worked it like he was going down the aisles on Sunday mornings greeting people. He didn’t pass up a kid and even stooped to talk to many of them. Each veteran had a U.S. Sailor to push his wheel chair or carry his accumulated paraphernalia from the day. Dad’s navy escort was attentive to his every move and ready to catch this elderly man if he started to fall. I caught her grin as Dad displayed more energy than she might have anticipated from him.
In a recent article, entitled Get Out of the Villages!, I made reference to an “unfathomable rift that Americans have allowed to develop between themselves and fellow-Americans, due to differences in political views, etc.” Nearly every day, I witness contributions being made to further widen this self-made abyss. Recently, I saw a post on Facebook that I viewed as exemplifying this problem. Since I think it can also serve to point towards the solution needed to close this gap, I want to discuss it here.
The Facebook post in question included the photo of the nine women, shown above, along with the caption “The amazing diversity of FOX News”. The, obvious, implication is that Fox News is lacking in diversity. To me, this was so blatantly inaccurate, I immediately posted the following comment: Continue reading →
Securing the Legacy of the Greatest Generation – Part Four
DESPERATE NEED
In Part Three of this series, Get Out of the Villages!, I talked about Baby Boomers and others stepping up to make a positive difference with America’s kids today as a desperately needed contribution in Repairing America’s Social Fabric. Certainly, that desperate need exists in other aspects of American culture too. With this article, I want to acknowledge an instance of this job getting done through keeping America’s social fabric intact. It’s the exemplary job of role model and true American hero being done by a fellow-Baby Boomer, the leader of the Lieutenant Dan Band, Gary Sinise. Continue reading →
Arguably, the most common question for people to ask God is, “Why God?” Most often, this question is posed in the context of encountering a significant challenge. Yesterday, as the result of hearing a Bible study on the story of Job, I recognized what is probably the least common question for people to ask God. Continue reading →
For some time now, I’ve wanted to change Here I Raise My Ebenezer to facilitate adding shorter articles, published more frequently, in addition to the longer articles that I’ve been publishing four or five times per month. Well, this is the first of those shorter articles. Its sole aim is just to let you know about the related change on this blog site.
As of today, when you go to https://ebenezerposts.com/, you’ll notice a new menu option. In addition to Home, About and Gary Wiram – Editor, you’ll see a new tab entitled Stones of Help. Clicking on that tab will take you to a page containing only shorter articles (presently, only this one). These shorter articles will also appear on the Home page, along with the longer articles.
OK, that tells you what the change is and its purpose. But, what about that name? Stones of Help?! To fully understand why I chose that name and where it fits in, you might want to refresh your memory on the meaning behind the name of this blog site, Here I Raise My Ebenezer, by revisiting the About page along with revisiting a previously published article entitled Setting Up an Ebenezer. With your understanding renewed , let me tell you that the origin of the name Ebenezer is a Hebrew phrase meaning “stone of help”. For me, then, Stones of Help seemed like a fitting way to define these shorter articles as building blocks meant to help Here I Raise My Ebenezer in achieving its overall objectives.
Hopefully, this change will also make it easier for you to regularly stay tuned in to Here I Raise My Ebenezer. As you do, I’m sure you’ll get a better understanding of where Stones of Help fits in. With that said, I want to remind you that I sincerely appreciate your readership and to encourage you to feel welcome to add to the discussion on any of my article topics by contributing your related comments.
Securing the Legacy of the Greatest Generation – Part Three
Going Out With a Boom
Question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. That’s the approach I’m taking in tackling the question I raised at the end of Part Two in this series – i.e. How do we go about meeting present-day challenges through reacquiring Greatest Generation values that, for the most part, are missing today?
A BETTER WAY
The “bite” I want to chew on with this article contains the values associated with how we raise our children. In Part Two of this series, I exemplified the different values that made up that part of our social fabric in the heyday of the Greatest Generation with the following overview:
“Children were raised by their families. When they got up in the morning, both Mom and Dad were there to parent them and care for them. When they went off to school, they went with kids from families in the neighborhood who knew each other. Their transportation to and from school was on foot through neighborhoods where a caring adult was present in most homes. Their teachers and other school staff knew the kids and their families. The same was true with extracurricular activities. At the end of the day, there was no warehousing of kids at a “daycare”. Babysitting was an exceptional activity, typically to afford parents a couple of hours to go out to dinner, etc. and even then, the babysitting was usually done by a relative or neighbor who knew the kids well.”
A BETTER ATTITUDE
Wow! How can we possibly reacquire a set of values like that, values that have become so very different today?! I suggest that, to find the answers related to this, we need to begin by adopting the attitude the Greatest Generation took in facing the overwhelming challenges brought on by WWII. In Part One of this series, I described this as a mindset that, unlike today, meant the average Joe or Jane lived their lives with a true other-oriented sense of community, rather than just being focused on “What’s in it for me? When our nation was threatened by the Axis nations of WWII, that mentality was evidenced through everyone putting their personal aspirations on hold for as long as was necessary to meet the crisis at hand.
That, obviously, was a winning mentality. But, perhaps, you’re thinking, “Of course, subordinating one’s own dreams was necessary to deal with the plight represented by WWII but we’re not coping with anything on a par with that today.” To that, I would say, “Really?!” Just think of the many ways, since the Greatest Generation were in their prime, in which our social fabric has unraveled, bearing tragic results on the level of the topic I focused on in Part Two of this series … School Shootings. Just looking at three of the five areas I outlined in that article, to exemplify what communities were like prior to the unraveling I mention, consider the ongoing deterioration of these things: Continue reading →
Securing The Legacy Of The Greatest Generation – Part Two
YESTERDAY’S SUPERIOR VALUES
In Part One of this series, I pointed out a number of values that were commonly held in the heyday of the Greatest Generation, values that are significantly different from (and I think vastly superior to) our related values today. My purpose in doing that was to explore how America would benefit through reacquiring those once-common values and applying them to our present-day challenges. With that in mind, in this article, I want to more specifically try to answer the question, “What are the problems facing us today that can be addressed in this way?” Once I’ve examined the “What?” question here, in future articles I intend to take up the question of “How?”.
TODAY’S DAUNTING CHALLENGES
As I’ve considered this “What?” question, it has seemed to me that applying once-common values of the Greatest Generation might offer solutions to a broad range of present-day challenges. However, to illustrate my views on this, I’m going to focus on a single concern. It’s one that’s deeply troubling and in fact, this disturbing matter is the one that got my thinking started on this topic in the first place. It’s School Shootings. Continue reading →
New Covenant Morality?
This article has been written, specifically, to address a most rare exception, a comment on a previous article that’s been Pending Approval for quite a while. The comment in question was made in response to an article entitled Lookin’ For Hate In All The Wrong Places. It said,
“remember… there is a brand new covenant, which basicly breaks down morality to: ‘he who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to HIM it is sin.’ are you foolishly going to argue that homosexuals in their heart of hearts feel that theyre sinning? if so, youre very disillusioned. and thus, by the very biblical passage ive quoted… they arent sinning in being homosexual.” Continue reading →
Share this:
Like this:
1 Comment
Filed under Bible, Homosexuality, Jesus, Sin
Tagged as comments, context, Gary Wiram, Good News, Gospel, morality, New Covenant, Scripture