MadMax, I have a must read book for you- link Email me if you get time. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Well.....I find more and more that a lot of people feel this way. In fact, I was, as recently as 5-6 years ago, put off by the church in general. Quick story - My team had just lost a heartbreaking close game in Hoop-It-Up in downtown Dallas in the semifinals. I was upset, very upset, because the team we played was down, and they became desperate as time was running out. So they began to just violently foul each of us as soon as one of us got the ball. Two of my teammates were injured because of this, and the "referee" that was assigned to our court didn't do ANYTHING to restore order. He just let it go. They ended up winning by one point because we refused to play the way they were, and we continued to play our normal game. Anyway, I marched off angrily to the bus station to go home. As I am standing there waiting, FUMING about the game, a group of 3 high school kids on some sort of mission trip to downtown Dallas decide they want to pray with me....ask me to hold hands with them, and accept Christ as my Lord and Savior. WRONG TIME, WRONG PLACE!! Anyway........that was just one instance of many that turned me off. The good news is, having had that experience, now that I am a believer, I work hard not to avoid doing to others what might turn them away. You'll always have the ones that use the sledgehammer technique like these guys (funny video from a local church in Dallas): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSK1kB9IfKw Enjoy.
OK, one question: If divorce in the US increased as morality decreased and communism/secularism/etc increased...and the US is higher on the list than 99% of Europe (Belarus is higher) by that logic doesn't it mean that Europe - France, Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, etc. - is more moral than the US? Go Euros? Go democratic socialists? Go fascists? I pledge allegiance to your mamma.
a little misleading... unwed couples having children in Europe have increased over 600% since the 1970's.. co-habiting couples have increased more... the rate of break up for unwed couples in Europe is twice their divorce rate, So where there is less divorce much of it is factored due to the increase in unwed co-habitation vs. marriages. Fewer marriages because of more unwed couples= less divorces The unwed couples who break up are not counted toward divorce numbers. Source- British Office of National Statistics German Federal Statistics Office France- National Institute Demographic Studies
