These are quotes which stood out to me, possibly for use in a sermon someday. Their presence here does not mean I agree with them, it merely shows that I might want to reference them later. The default view is five random selections. Use the tag list on the right to view all quotes relevant to that theme.
We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
For young postmoderns the issue with homosexuality is huge, but not for the reasons Christians think. They are not so much trying to defend immorality as they are trying to defend basic human decency. We're thinking about flaming pornographers, and they're thinking about Matthew Shepard. When you criticize the gay right movement, you're criticizing politeness.
Setting aside the scandal caused by His Messianic claims and His reputation as a political firebrand, only two accusations of personal depravity seem to have been brought against Jesus of Nazareth. First, that He was a Sabbath- breaker. Secondly, that He was "a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners" -- or (to draw aside the veil of Elizabethan English that makes it sound so much more respectable) that He ate too heartily, drank too freely, and kept very disreputable company, including grafters of the lowest type and ladies who were no better than they should be. For nineteen and a half centuries, the Christian Churches have laboured, not without success, to remove this unfortunate impression made by their Lord and Master. They have hustled the Magdalens from the Communion-table, founded Total Abstinence Societies in the name of Him who made the water wine, and added improvements of their own, such as various bans and anathemas upon dancing and theatre-going. They have transferred the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and, feeling that the original commandment "Thou shalt not work" was rather half-hearted, have added to it the new commandment, "Thou shalt not play."
Massive cow manure mound burns for third month Friday, January 28, 2005 Posted: 7:59 AM EST (1259 GMT) MILFORD, Nebraska (AP) -- Urban dwellers who enjoy dining on filet mignon at five-star restaurants would probably just as soon not know about David Dickinson's dilemma. Bad for the appetite, you know. But Dickinson, who makes his living in the cattle business, has an environmental problem on his hands that is vexing state officials: a 2,000-ton pile of burning cow manure. Dickinson owns and manages Midwest Feeding Co. about 20 miles west of Lincoln, which takes in as many as 12,000 cows at a time from farmers and ranchers and fattens them for market. Byproducts from the massive operation resulted in a dung pile measuring 100 feet long, 30 feet high and 50 feet wide that began burning about two months ago and continues to smolder despite Herculean attempts to douse it. While city folks might have trouble imagining a dung pile of such proportions, they are common sites in rural states. In July, crews fighting a blaze in a three-acre manure lagoon at a dairy farm in Washington smothered the flames with more of the same -- a blanket of wet cow manure. In December, Montana officials ordered the owner of a horse feedlot to extinguish a large manure fire that sent a stench over a nearby town. The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality has informed Dickinson that his smoldering dung pile violates clean-air laws and is working with him to find the best solution to extinguish it, said agency spokesman Rich Webster. Simply dumping water on the heap is not the answer, Webster said, because of concerns about runoff to any nearby water source. Dickinson first tried using heavy equipment to spread out the smoldering pile and extinguish the fire. "But the problem was, it started in another spot," he said. "We've also had the fire department out a couple of times." And still it burns. No one is sure how the fire started, but a common theory is that heat from the decomposing manure deep inside the pile eventually ignited the manure. Wilma Roth, who manages a restaurant along Interstate 80 about a mile north of the feedlot, said her customers have complained about the smoke, which wafts for miles. "I'd just as soon forget about it," she said. Dickinson said the smoke is not particularly malodorous -- although that comes from a man who works full-time around manure. "I guess it's just all perspective," he said. "To me, it just smells like smoke. I really don't know how to describe it." Decades ago, most farmers and ranchers kept their own cows and pigs until they were shipped to market and slaughtered into filet mignon, hamburger, pork chops and bacon. And with all those animals spread far apart at thousands of farms, it was easier to dispose of the manure. But huge feedlots -- where animals are shipped to fatten on a high-grain diet for their last several months -- have become commonplace. Dickinson has an average of 12,000 animals on hand, each eating about 25 pounds of feed daily, resulting in as much as nine pounds of manure a day per animal -- some 54 tons every 24 hours. Most big feedlots spread the manure over farm fields or compost it to spread later or sell commercially to gardeners. Farmers in several states are experimenting with using the methane gas from livestock manure to produce electricity. The manure is heated and produces methane gas as it breaks down. The gas is collected and used to power a generator, which sends electricity onto a power grid. Dickinson acknowledged that while some folks see the humor in his predicament, he takes the fire seriously. "It's a nuisance, and obviously we are trying to get it resolved," he said. "Everybody's been really patient."