Recently in Religion Category

Don't get me wrong on this Post. I respect your belief in God, I'd probably get along with Jesus too, but Genesis ?! The Creation ?! Really how can anyone with an IQ over 68 believe in those fairytales ! And even worse, teaching it as FACTS to kids ! that's Brainwash!

Workers at a marble company in Dallas say they have a slab of natural granite that has the image of Jesus in it.

Verona Marble Company Inc. takes pictures of every slab of stone in their inventory and posts them on their website. Wednesday, the owners say a customer in West Texas spotted the image among dozens of pictures and called to tell them about it.

Those who look at the 6x10 foot slab say they can see the head and arms of Jesus, along with either a belt, sword or glowing book.

The company has pulled the slab from its inventory and put it on display.

Verona Marble has had the granite slab, which came from a quarry in Brazil, since December. Company owners say the image is unique, especially since hunks of granite are sliced into slabs, like pieces of bread, and no other slabs from that particular piece of granite have the image.

Granite is typically used for kitchen countertops, tubs surrounds, bathroom vanities, etc.

The slab weighs between 900 and 1,000 pounds and is worth about $1,500 wholesale.

The company owners say they feel blessed to have the piece and hope to sell it and donate the proceeds to a struggling church in Madill, Oklahoma.

http://cbs2chicago.com/watercooler/Jesus.in.granite.2.758146.html

Old Men Shouldnt Carry Heavy Church Statues - Watch more free videos

Jesus Christ rose from the dead to save his peeps!!!

PHILIPPINE health officials today warned people taking part in Easter crucifixions and self-flagellation rituals to get a tetanus shot first and sterilise the nails to avoid infections.

Every Good Friday in the predominantly Roman Catholic Southeast Asian nation dozens of men re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by having themselves nailed to wooden crosses.

At the same time hundreds of others, mostly men, strip to the waist and whip themselves until their backs are cut and bloody as a way of atoning for their sins over the past year.

The Catholic church frowns upon the crucifixions and self-flagellations which have become a tourist attraction in a number of towns around the country.

The department of health issued a health warning advising people taking part in the rituals this Friday to have tetanus shots and to check the condition of the whip they will use before lashing their backs.

It warned that dirty whips could lead to tetanus and other infections.

The health department has also warned that the six-inch nails used in crucifixions should be sterilised.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23402583-13762,00.html

Watch the video...

Pretzel shaped like Virgin Mary?
A pretzel some say resembles the Virgin Mary is turning some into believers, or believers that folks will buy anything on eBay.

YBOR CITY, Fla. -- A Florida church issued a challenge for its married members on Sunday: Have sex every day.

Relevant Church head pastor Paul Wirth said the 50 percent divorce rate was the catalyst for The 30-Day Sex Challenge.

The church set up a Web site concerning the challenge, Local 6 reported.

"And that's no different for people who attend church," Wirth said. "Sometimes life gets in the way. Our jobs get in the way."

Oh, and the flip side of the challenge? No rolling in the sheets for the unwed.

Church member Tim Jones and his fiancee agreed to take on the challenge, though he acknowledges it'll be a tough month.

But he added: "I think it's worth trying to find out other things about each other."

http://www.local6.com/news/15338180/detail.html

BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) ― A Pennsylvania woodworker said he found Jesus in a tree stump. Some are calling the find a piece of "divine pine," reports CBS station KYW-TV in Philadelphia.

Protectively wrapped in a piece of ostrich leather is what Craig O'Connor calls a slab of a New Jersey pine tree he cut down in a friend's yard in January 2007.

"When I seen it, I was just in awe, I think it's Jesus, Jesus' head … it looks like he is ascending into heaven," O'Connor said.

O'Connor is a woodworker who lives in Bensalem, Pa., about 18 miles northeast of Philadelphia. He makes unique table tops from trees, but he said the image is over the top.

"The halo is the center of the tree," O'Connor said.

Some people say timing is everything and Craig said he was destined to find the slab when he did. If the tree had continued to grow, the image would have spread and disappeared.

The question now is what to do with the unusual discovery.

"I put it on eBay, I got a $500 hit right away, but I took it right off," O'Connor said.

Craig said as a Catholic, he feels a little guilty for wanting to sell it for more money, but he thinks it's very valuable.

"One hundred grand, they got $28,000 for a grilled cheese sandwich," O'Connor said. "One hundred grand for a piece of beautiful New Jersey pine with a picture of Jesus Christ ascending to heaven."

http://cbs2chicago.com/watercooler/Wood.Jesus.Pennsylvania.2.652103.html

A composite image shows, at right a bonfire which locals believe resembles the silhouette of late Pope John Paul II making a blessing, in a picture taken by amateur photographer Grzegorz Lukasik, atop Matyska mountain in southern Poland, on April 2, 2007, during a vigil marking the second anniversary of the Polish pope's death. Data on Lukasik's digital camera says the picture was taken at 21.37:30, exactly the hour when the pope died. Picture at left shows Pope John Paul II waving to faithfuls as he leaves the Vatican, in this Aug. 8, 2001 file photo.
(AP Photo/Grzegorz Lukasik/Plinio Lepri)

NEW YORK -- It angered Catholics before an April exhibit was canceled, but a chocolate Jesus is being resurrected at a New York Art Gallery.

The six-foot milk chocolate sculpture titled "My Sweet Lord" depicts a nude, anatomically correct Jesus Christ hanging from an invisible cross. It will be flanked by a set of chocolate Catholic icons, including the Virgin Mary and half a dozen saints when the exhibit opens later this month.

The original exhibit had been scheduled to open four days before Good Friday, when Christians mark Christ's crucifixion. That prompted an outcry and even death threats directed at the artist who created it.

But Cosimo Cavallaro said he also got a lot of positive mail from Catholics and theologians, and even people in monasteries. Saying "there is nothing offensive about this," Cavallaro predicted a better reception this time around.

http://www.wftv.com/foodnews/14368261/detail.html

Nepal's state-run airline has confirmed that it sacrificed two goats to appease a Hindu god, following technical problems with one of its aircraft.

Nepal Airlines said the animals were slaughtered in front of the plane - a Boeing 757 - at Kathmandu airport.

The offering was made to Akash Bhairab, the Hindu god of sky protection, whose symbol is seen on the company's planes.

The airline said that after Sunday's ceremony the plane successfully completed a flight to Hong Kong.

"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," senior airline official Raju KC was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Nepal Airlines has two Boeing aircraft in its fleet.

The persistent faults with one of the planes had led to the postponement of a number of flights in recent weeks.

The company has not said what the problem was, but reports in local media have blamed an electrical fault.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6979292.stm

I just guaranteed myself a ticket to hell...

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart said 425 of its stores will sell Biblical action figures aimed at Christian parents who prefer their children play with Samson, David or Noah rather than with a comic book character or Bratz doll.

Wal-Mart Stores spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said the world's largest retailer believes there's demand for faith-based toys.

The toy line will be in some Wal-Mart shelves starting in August, mainly in the Midwest and South, but also in California and as far northeast as Pennsylvania.

The toys include a 3-inch figure of Daniel in the lion's den, a 12-inch talking Jesus doll and a 13-inch Samson action figure.

http://www.wftv.com/family/13706515/detail.html

There are no real prizes.
No birds were harmed during the filming of this post.
Happy Monday!

JESUS and Satan are facing off in a horn-honking version of Armageddon in Connecticut.

Last month, small-business owner Claudette Soden put up a hand-painted sign soliciting honks for Christ in front of a parking lot she shares with a tattoo parlour on Rubber Ave, Naugatuck.
But her white "Easter: Beep for Christ" sign prompted Phil Young, of No Regrets tattoos next door, to put up a sign of his own.

His black placard asked drivers to "Honk twice for . . ." followed by a cartoon of a red devil, the Waterbury Republican-American reported.

"His sign is not bothering me, but I know it's bothering Jesus," Ms Soden, who runs Photos Onto DVD, said.

Mr Young said: "More people have been killed in the name of God than over anything else and so I don't think people should fight about religion. Satan is part of the same religion as Christ, so it's a contrast, not a competing religion."

Honks have filled the air since, and it looks like it isn't going to end soon.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21512439-663,00.html

Drop us a comment and tell us what you are giving up for Lent.

I've already given up Religion in years past so I'm going to give up eating fish and only eat beef for Lent.

Later...
RAT
P.S. - Sorry I missed posting Mardi Gras picts yesterday. I'm really pissed at myself since New Orleans is my birth city.

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. -- Bible verses painted in a western Kentucky school bathroom to cover up graffiti have been removed after a parent complained to school officials.

Dr. Bob Lovingood is the superintendent of Christian County Public Schools. He directed that the scriptures be covered.

A parent had complained to Lovingood, saying the scriptures in a Christian County Middle School girls' bathroom violated students' constitutional rights.

The scriptures were painted during the recent winter break by middle school volunteers. Over three days they replaced vulgar images and profanity with upbeat art and inspirational messages.

http://www.wftv.com/education/10755873/detail.html

MORTON, Texas We've seen the image of "Jesus" on toast. Even the "Virgin Mary" on a tree.

But folks in the small West Texas town of Morton say they've seen the "Holy Mother" made of ice inside a freezer at the local grocery store.

It started as one drip from the ceiling of a freezer at Morton Thrifty Foods grocery store. Now it has become quite the sanctuary for a lot of Catholic believers.

"I wanted to cry when I saw it," said Stephan Santos, who was visiting the ice formation. "My mom has all saints in her house. But this one just got to me."

Store employee Alma Avalos first spotted the formation in the back freezer of her store, noticing what had been a few drops of water from the ceiling that had frozen.

"I went in there, and it started forming like some kind of ice, and then Friday I went in there, and it was shaped like that," Avalos said.

As more and more people heard about the "Virgin Mary," they started coming in droves to see her, and the grocery store moved her into a freezer in the frozen foods section.

Some have had their prayers answered after visiting the ice statue.

"I had a lump in my breast, and yesterday, when I went home, it disappeared. I don't have it no more," said one woman.

http://cbs2chicago.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_012222605.html

SAN MATEO, Calif. A San Mateo woman may face thousands of dollars in fines for what she calls "messages from God" that she has painted all over the outside of her home.

Estrella Benevides' house on Cottage Grove Avenue has become a traffic-stopping sideshow in San Mateo.

Benevides has painted a series of long, rambling messages on her roof, garage door, on signs and banners in front of her house, and even her car.

"I started writing on my house about four years ago," she said. "It was a message coming to me from God."

Benevides said she gets divine inspirations to paint after reading the bible, and it doesn't matter when.

"She goes up there in the middle of the night," said neighbor Robert Owlett. "At two, three o'clock in the morning, she'll be up there painting with work lights."

Neighbors like Owlett said the house has now become a neighborhood nuisance.

"It's an eyesore," Owlett said. "Everybody makes jokes about the neighborhood."

Benevides admitted that she has been held on two recent psychiatric evaluations. She also said she lost custody of her 4-year-old son in 2005 and that some of her messages reflect anger over that.

But whatever the reason, Benevides said she has every right to paint her home with the messages.

"It is not illegal based on the constitution because the First Amendment says Congress shall make no law abridging the free speech of the people," she said.

But Benevides is facing potential fines of up to $10,000 a day if she's in violation of city sign ordinances.

San Mateo city officials say they have no quarrel with the content of her messages, just the size and placement of it; no roof signs are allowed in residential areas, nor are signs over six feet tall.

"We're not commenting on the content or the source of the inspiration, we just want to make sure that it's consistent with our codes in terms of signage size," said Robert Muehlbauer, a neighborhood improvement and housing manager.

Benevides said she has no intention of taking her signs down.

The city will hold a special hearing on Jan. 17 to decide whether she is in violation of any ordinances.

http://cbs2chicago.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_009021325.html

A Santeria priest is suing a Dallas suburb to keep officials from enforcing ordinances he believes restrict him from practicing his religion.

In a federal suit, Jose Merced alleges that Euless city officials denied him a permit to perform Santeria ceremonies with animal sacrifices inside his home, even though people outside would not have been able to see or hear them.

The 45-year-old Merced insists that blood sacrifices of animals are essential to practicing Santeria, a religion that mixes Roman Catholicism with African beliefs.

Police have gone to his home at least four times in the past two years, citing complaints from a neighbor over animal slaughter.

http://www.local6.com/family/10623513/detail.html