Miracles

Miracles... They happen everyday according to those that believe in them. Primarily by those of the Christian faith.

I myself am a Christian. But I don't go to church or fall to my knees in prayer at the drop of a hat for every little thing. I also question the Bible and it's texts. But that is all for another post, on another day, in a different blogging area. Not for here.

Let's get back to the original topic of this post. Miracles.

Miracles are from the hand of God. They can occure in subtle ways, or "larger than life" ways.

For all technological and medical purposes (of the late 70's era) I should NOT have lived past my first twenty four hours after my birth. I'd had so many problems at birth, that they even told my father that I would *most likely not* live long enough to even make it by air to another hospital that was waiting on my for life-saving surgery, let alone make it through the surgery its self. Or the first few days after that.

But here I am standing today. Thirty four years later. Walking, talking, I have had kids (biologically), I can eat and drink independently. I am doing EVERYTHING that the doctors and "Specialists" all claimed I would *NEVER* do in my "short" life.

Most would say that it is all a miracle. I pulled off the impossible (for their time of technological and medical knowledge) and was deemed a "miracle child" that was placed in medical magazines, medical journals and dictionaries, and featured in news papers.

"Miracle" is defined by Wikipedia as this..

"A miracle is an unexpected event attributed to divine intervention. Sometimes an event is also attributed (in part) to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that God may work with the laws of nature to perform what people perceive as miracles. Theologians say that, with divine providence, God regularly works through created nature yet is free to work without, above, or against it as well.

A miracle is often considered a fortuitous event: compare with an Act of God.

In casual usage, "miracle" may also refer to any statistically unlikely but beneficial event, (such as surviving a natural disaster), or simply a "wonderful" occurrence, regardless of likelihood, such as a birth. Other miracles might be: survival of a terminal illness, escaping a life threatening situation or 'beating the odds.' Some coincidences may be perceived to be miracles."

Now would I consider having my children as miracles? Yes, indeed. Seeing as honestly, my overall health was in jeopardy with each pregnancy (five of them that resulted in three babies). Also add in the fact that my chances were even more greatly slimmed by the fact I have a severe case of Ovarian Cystitis, mainly on one side, but both have them. So really, I should not have even gotten pregnant in the first place, let alone five times (where I lost two of them).

Would I attribute my survival to God performing a miracle? Yes... And no. God, I feel decided my overall fate (seeing as my heart stopped about four times during my 18-hour surgery as a newborn). But it was the doctors and nurses who treated me during the surgery and at birth that used all of their medical skills and knowledge to repair the damage within my body.

Do I feel that those in a career of religion (clergy, priests) have the "right" to deem/state that something that happened to a parishioner of their church outright a "miracle"? No. I feel that this kind of decision is a PERSONAL-based decision between you and God/Jesus Christ.

Do YOU believe in miracles? Why or why not?

Has something you feel is "miraculous" in your life happened? Feel free to share it.

More Stars, ET & Creationists. Oh My!!

This morning, after checking my emails over on Yahoo I'd decided to click over to MY YAHOO and check out the latest stories of the morning.

This is what I had found... Evidence for ET is mounting daily, but not proven.

Pretty interesting read, if you ask me. Oh.. You didn't. But I'm saying it anyways.

So the run down is that Astronomers have found evidence of more stars in the universe than they had previously thought. Three times as many as a matter of fact. And that is A LOT... Many more galaxies and suns as well, if you sit and think about it, seeing as suns are just huge stars themselves.

Also, the scientists have found that a microbe can actually LIVE and thrive in ARSENIC. Which has had lead them to think that they can live in some pretty harsh conditions that us humans very well cannot.

From the article... "The evidence is just getting stronger and stronger," said Carl Pilcher, director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, which studies the origins, evolution and possibilities of life in the universe. "I think anybody looking at this evidence is going to say, 'There's got to be life out there.'"

In *my* humble opinion, I agree. We as THE leading and MOST intelligent species of our planet would be completely naive and all-out stupid to believe that within this vast and (seemingly) unending universe that we are the ONLY life forms out there.

We will NEVER (in my mind) know truly how many life forms that there are out there beyond the reaches and outer fringes of our galaxy.

Now, in the Christian texts of the Bible, within Genesis, it states... (via BIBLE GATEWAY)

"1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."

What many Creationists (those that solely believe in what the Bible states word for word, and that God made the earth and it is NOT *millions/billions* of years old, but only *thousands* of years in age) believe is that Evolution and Astronomy Sciences were just made up nonsense to have some other "explanation" than a god/deity forming everything out of nothing. They do not believe in the "Big Bang" theory or take stock in anything regarding the "Evolutionary Scale". And being that the Bible does NOT state that there are other forms of life BEYOND us, then it can't be true.

Most (but not all) Astronomy Scientists are Atheists. They do not feel that there was a deity design to the universe, let alone believe that ANY gods exist.

Now some are said to be Agnostic, where they cannot prove, nor can they prove the existence of a deity. Nor can they prove or disprove that an intelligent being such as the Christian God made the planets and the universe.

Then, you do have a small handful of people that work within the various fields of Science that do believe in the Christian God.

One thing that they all do have in common is that they ALL rely on the evidence presented to them, theoretical measures, probability measures and anthropology to have gotten as far as they have in the fields of Astronomy, Biology and Evolution.

It just amazes me that people can sit there and FLAT OUT deny the REAL possibility of life on other planets within our very own solar system, let alone outside of the galaxy that we call "home".

To the Creationists, how can you be SO sure that those "six days" were not actually 6 million/billion YEARS? So someone said days in the Bible. Man had written and *REWRITTEN* that Book so many times, who HONESTLY knows for sure what God ACTUALLY said at this point? Do you not think that one second to God is a THOUSAND YEARS to us? Remember that saying? I was told that many times over.

So, take that second in "our" time and expand it out to those six days, put those six days in to God's version of "days"/time and see what you come up with... I suck at math, but I can safely say that it's WAAAAY more than "thousands" of years, my friends. You are looking at more along the lines of the millions or even the *billions* mark.

I myself am a Christian. I believe in God and Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, only to ascend to Heaven and that one day, He will return as it is written within the Book of Revelations.

BUT!!...Yeah, I have one.

I cannot sit here in good conscience and claim that science is wrong and that indeed there is NO OTHER life out in our vast galaxy and in the outer reaches of space. For me to do so would be just plain ignorant. Nor can I state that the earth is only *thousands* of years old. If that was the case, then we should be walking with dinosaurs, having volcanoes going off and earthquakes shaking all around us.

It took MILLIONS, if not BILLIONS of years for our planet to cool down, fill with water, and for the continents shape and shift. Plus species had to start somewhere, right? And no I do *not* believe that it started with Adam and Eve of the Bible. We started out as microbes, bacteria and from there evolved over those millions/billions of years in to what we are today. Homo Sapiens.

So as far as Extra Terrestrials, Astronomy, Cosmology and other sciences go for this Christian woman, I love it, love learning about it all, and truly believe that YES there *IS* other life out in the universe and that we are *NOT* alone by any means.

It's not shameful, ridiculous, or even hearsay to go beyond your belief system (be it Christianity or otherwise) to look at things on a larger, broader scale. Science (in any form) is NOT perfect or exact. But neither is religion.











Please watch the rest of this 5-part series via YouTube.

Halloween

It is one of my two most favorite Holidays. Christmas is the other one.

The reason I love Halloween so much is because, for one night, I can escape in to another realm of thinking. I can be who I want to be. Not who I HAVE TO BE. Which of course is wife, mother, sister-in-law, daughter and daughter-in-law.

This year, I am planning on doing a cool project with my youngest daughter's Kindergarten class. It's going to be Jug Jack-O-Lanterns that will also serve as a Trick-Or-Treat bucket.

My kids, my husband and I all love to dress up on Halloween. We love seeing all of the different costumes, the smiles on all of the children's faces, and we love hearing "trick or treat" from the little ones. Especially those that are still trying to learn how to talk.

Here is a bit of a rundown on the history of this spook-tastic holiday from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween...

"Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration.

Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films...

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".[1] The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".[1] A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced Kálan Gái av).

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".

The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces.[4][5] Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.[6] Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual...

The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Eve, that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hálȝena mæssedæȝ, the feast of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556."

Also, many Christians are very against this "holiday of evil and devil worshiping". To them, it is not pleasing or glorifying to God, to prance around asking for handouts and being dressed as things that are un-holy in nature (witches, ghosts, monsters). The Chrsitian sects that are primarily against this fun night are the Fundamentalists and the Evangelicals...They feel that the holiday's Pagan ways stray too far from Godliness, that there is no 'good' that can come from 'celebrating the devil' (which to those who know the TRUE origins and nature of this night's festivities, know that those ASSUMPTIONS are very far from the truth).

Do you like Halloween? Do you and/or your family celebrate by passing out candy and maybe go and have a little fun getting some goodies in return? What are your thoughts about the one night that you can be whomever and whatever you want to be?

Exorcism

There have been many a movie made about the subject. Linda Blair's "The Exorcist" being (not very) arguably the most famous of them all. And now, we have a new version for today's generation, aptly titled, "The Last Exorcism".

It is primarily a well-known Catholic practice. And one, if done for real, and not faked in any way, being performed on a truly possessed victim, can be extremely frightening, let alone a draining task to partake in.

But Exorcisms also are performed within the Islamic, Hindu, Judaism and Buddhism faiths/religions, as well.

To get a much better understanding of the practice, please feel free to CLICK HERE and read more. Including the Scientific World's view of the practicing of Exorcisms.

One of the most famous of our time, in Germany is the story of Anneliese Michel. She was reportedly possessed by six demon entities. She had underwent an exorcism in 1975.

Apparently, the movie, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" was at least in part, based upon the story of Anneliese Michel.

Please watch the following videos to get a better idea of Anneliese's story. They are speaking in Czechoslovakian, but English subtitles are included.

WARNING!! Some of what you are about to watch can be very disturbing in nature. Viewer discretion is advised.









Of course not everyone believes in Possession, let alone Exorcism. And sadly, like always, Science and Religion will always collide.

Many people that do not prescribe to this as being a real infliction will tout that the person is just in some way, severely mentally disturbed. Be it Bipolar,Schizophrenia or other Mental Disorders.

The only ones that know for certain, if indeed Possession is for real, are those that are claiming as such.

You be the judge. Is Possession, and are Exorcisms real, or just something in your head?

Guardian Angels

Many people, especially within the Christian belief system, believe in Guardian Angels. They are an 'assigned' angel that watches over the mortal person and is with them through good times and bad.

The definition from Wikipedia states, "A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity. The concept of tutelary angels and their hierarchy was extensively developed in Christianity in the 5th century by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.

The theology of angels and tutelary spirits has undergone many refinements since the 400s. Belief in both the East and the West is that guardian angels serve to protect whichever person God assigns them to, and present prayer to God on that person's behalf.".

Take for instance, you get in to an EXTREMELY horrific car accident. One where the vehicle is nothing but a pile of metal and large car parts. One where people should not have survived. But you walked away from what should have been your death trap, with what is considered either to be mild injury, or moderate injury.

Many people would say that you must have had a Guardian Angel watching over you.

Also, most who believe in these winged souls, they most of the time feel that their personal angel is someone that knew the person in life (be it the person the angel 'serves' knew that person in life, or not) and then decided (or was told by God) to watch over that loved one until they too were called home.

Over at Angel Believes, my BFF wrote about her Whirlwind Vacation.

Naturally, Angel (yes, people her REAL name is indeed Angel) had posted gobs of pictures. But one in particular especially had caught my eye. And even she told me on the phone, when I asked about it, that she did NOT notice it, until AFTER she put the pictures on to the computer.

The picture in question? Take a look below...

Look at it closely. What do you see? I want YOUR opinion.

Angel is thinking it's her hand, although she doesn't remember raising it to that extent. And to *me*, her arm and her hand seem to be laying relaxed, next to her body.

After further inspection, with the picture enlarged on my screen, to me, it looked like jagged edges of an Angel's wing, suspended out beside the little girl's shoulder.

Note too, the transparency of the 'wing', how you can actually see through it! To me, if that was a real person's arm or hand, the mass would appear more solid, even in quick motion.

Plus, the curvature of the top end of the "angel's wing" is to perfectly curved out. As are the edges at the bottom.

What is your take on this picture? Is it appearing to be a Guardian Angel showing it's self as to prove that they are with the little girl? Or, maybe, is this a "play on light"?

Do YOU believe in Guardian Angels?