A friend wrote:

My response:

Yesterday I had my weekly special-time with our two-year-old
granddaughter. I do the weekly shopping with her, and part of our ritual
is for her to eat a couple of beans, a few grapes, (how do I pay for
them at the register? Check-out chicks have an interesting time with
that :-) a cheese-stick etc.

Yesterday she wanted more beans: how many beans should a two-year-old
eat at one sitting? I said 'No' and began talking about numbers. She
soon accepted my 'No' and was smiling and chatting again...

Now, naughty me, I over-rode her freedom to eat what she wanted. What
kind of grand-father does that make me?

Here's an imaginary interview with Jesus about homosexuality, posted
sporadically on these newsgroups over the past dozen years. Some of the
statistics/aetiology issues need updating, but generally I'd still
affirm this general stance. (Expect in response 'corrective' - that's
the softest word - opinions from others either to my ideological/
theological left or right :-)

Rowland Croucher

****

Interviewer: Jesus, you had a reputation for hanging around with those
on the edges/margins of society. But some of my homosexual friends and
clients wonder why you said nothing about homosexuality, even though it
was rife back then. We're in a 'bi' bar in San Francisco... why are you
here?

# Jesus: Hi! I was invited by a friend. Remember when Matthew threw a
party for his mafia-type mates? I was enjoying myself before the
religious leaders gate-crashed it.

More... http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/12135.htm

--

Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher

The Seeds of Wrath

Governor T has ruled Luang Prabang province (LPB) for 20 years, during
which Lao Christians have been jailed, tortured, deprived of jobs,
schools and health. His cruel administration has closed all LPB...

Reaching Young Adults

In 1994, a commission convened by the Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University, with Joseph A. Califano, Jr. as chair,
issued a rather alarmist report, "Rethinking Rites of Passage...

AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* CHINA REACHES AN OFFICIAL FIGURE OF 130 MILLION
CHRISTIANS

* REPORT ON ASIAN REGIONAL PRAYER SUMMIT

* KIWIS STAND UNITED IN PRAYER AT SOLEMN ASSEMBLY

* INCREASING NUMBER OF DOCTORS IN THE UK REFUSING TO PERFORM
ABORTIONS

* AFRICAN CLERIC SAYS CHURCH HAS A PROPHETIC ROLE AND MUST
NOT REMAIN SILENT

* MILITANT BUDDHISTS SEEK TO ELIMINATE CHRISTIANITY IN
LAOS

-----------------------------------------------

CHINA REACHES AN
OFFICIAL FIGURE OF 130 MILLION CHRISTIANS

China's top religious official Yie Xiaowen has rejected decades of
ambivalence toward religion by declaring that "religion is one of the
important social forces from which China draws strength." He also
admitted that the number of Christians in China has reached 130
million, including some 20 million Catholics!