Larry Devich
Monday, April 24, 2006
CNN.com - Warriors of the future will 'taste' battlefield - Apr 24, 2006
CNN.com - Warriors of the future will 'taste' battlefield - Apr 24, 2006
This is cool, in a creepy dystopian Sci-Fi sort of way... ¶ 4/24/2006 04:43:00 PM 0 Comments
This is cool, in a creepy dystopian Sci-Fi sort of way... ¶ 4/24/2006 04:43:00 PM 0 Comments
THE MARTYRS OF ARMENIA (24 APR 1915)
THE MARTYRS OF ARMENIA (24 APR 1915)
Armenia is located at the east end of modern Turkey, with some of its traditional territory now in Turkey and some across the border in the former Soviet Union. The Armenians were converted to Christianity around 280 or 290, and are accounted the first country to become predominantly Christian. Their country is located at a spot where empires have clashed for centuries, and they have often been caught in the middle. For centuries they have been dominated by their moslem neighbors, most recently the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.
The Turks were concerned about the possibility of an Armenian revolt. In 1895 and 1896 the Turkish Army killed about 100,000 Armenian civilians. Then in 1915, early in World War I, with Turkey fighting on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Russia fighting in alliance with the British and French on the other side, the Turkish government accused the Armenians of plotting with the Russians to assist a Russian invasion of Turkey. That spring, around 600,000 Armenians were killed by the Turkish Army, in an attempt to exterminate the Armenians completely. Much of the slaughter took place on 24 April 1915. The survivors were driven eastward and escaped into Russia. On 29 November 1920, most of Armenia was annexed by the Soviet Union.
It is sometimes said that the issues here were national, political, and ethnic rather than religious, and that the victims therefore do no qualify as martyrs. However, many of the Armenians, when about to be killed, were given the option of saving their lives by converting to Islam. Few did.
PRAYER (traditional language):
O Almighty God, by whose grace and power thy holy martyrs of
Armenia triumphed over suffering and were faithful even unto
death: Grant us, who now remember them with thanksgiving, to be
so faithful in our witness to thee in this world, that we may
receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
PRAYER (contemporary language):
Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyrs of
Armenia triumphed over suffering and were faithful even unto
death: Grant us, who now remember them in thanksgiving, to be
so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may
receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever.
+ For information, visit James Kiefer's Christian Biographies + ¶ 4/24/2006 03:21:00 PM 0 Comments
Armenia is located at the east end of modern Turkey, with some of its traditional territory now in Turkey and some across the border in the former Soviet Union. The Armenians were converted to Christianity around 280 or 290, and are accounted the first country to become predominantly Christian. Their country is located at a spot where empires have clashed for centuries, and they have often been caught in the middle. For centuries they have been dominated by their moslem neighbors, most recently the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.
The Turks were concerned about the possibility of an Armenian revolt. In 1895 and 1896 the Turkish Army killed about 100,000 Armenian civilians. Then in 1915, early in World War I, with Turkey fighting on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Russia fighting in alliance with the British and French on the other side, the Turkish government accused the Armenians of plotting with the Russians to assist a Russian invasion of Turkey. That spring, around 600,000 Armenians were killed by the Turkish Army, in an attempt to exterminate the Armenians completely. Much of the slaughter took place on 24 April 1915. The survivors were driven eastward and escaped into Russia. On 29 November 1920, most of Armenia was annexed by the Soviet Union.
It is sometimes said that the issues here were national, political, and ethnic rather than religious, and that the victims therefore do no qualify as martyrs. However, many of the Armenians, when about to be killed, were given the option of saving their lives by converting to Islam. Few did.
PRAYER (traditional language):
O Almighty God, by whose grace and power thy holy martyrs of
Armenia triumphed over suffering and were faithful even unto
death: Grant us, who now remember them with thanksgiving, to be
so faithful in our witness to thee in this world, that we may
receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
PRAYER (contemporary language):
Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyrs of
Armenia triumphed over suffering and were faithful even unto
death: Grant us, who now remember them in thanksgiving, to be
so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may
receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever.
+ For information, visit James Kiefer's Christian Biographies + ¶ 4/24/2006 03:21:00 PM 0 Comments
Evangelical Catholic
As I sit this morning on a BART train enroute to San Francisco I have decided to write a brief post here.
Tomorrow Mike and I have tickets to the Giants vs. Mets at what is now called AT&T Park... yuck, the old name of Pacific Bell Park was much nicer, you could forget that it was a corporate thing since Pacific is where we are after all, but AT&T? Pure corporate drone stuff. Ah well, the game is the thing! It's always fun to go to a ballgame and the Giants are doing all right so far this year. I have no comment on the persecution by the press of one player for allegedly doing steroids while ignoring the fact that probably a majority were using them prior to 2002 when they were actually banned by baseball. Go Giants!
My mom and I are planning a trip to New England this fall, a fall colors tour. I've only been to the east coast once, that was when I visited Joy in Washington DC, so this would be a new thing for me. I've heard the colors of fall are amazing, here you get a few trees changing but for the most part the west coast is evergreen stuff.
Now to the subject of the post, Lutherans are not Protestants.
That might come as a surprise to some people but it's true. Lutherans are catholic Christians. We are not "Roman" but we are most certainly catholic. The Via Media: Lutherans have retained the historic liturgy of the church catholic, maintain the holy sacraments as means of grace (including the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion), profess the ancient creeds, and follow the church year. At the same time Lutherans profess the gospel of justification by faith and the firm belief in the scriptures as the sole measure of our knowledge of God and His plan for our salvation.
For these reasons Lutherans can be said to be both protestant and catholic and yet neither protestant nor catholic. This is the nature of a middle way between the two.
Sadly many so-called Protestants have actually moved closer to Rome over the centuries, mixing in various types of works into their theology, things YOU need to do in order to be saved, instead of keeping to the true catholic faith of justification by faith. Read the linked post for a detailed discussion of the differences. I think they are very important differences. After all, if one is depending on their own works they are not depending on Christ!
I remember now why I quit using the blogger.com site for this stuff. It can be rather unreliable. I've been unable to post this morning for the last hour, other things work but not the posting. I may go back to using my own system exclusively. I wonder if I can swipe this template and strip all of the connections to blogger.com from it? That would be tedious but I think I might undertake the task if this doesn't correct itself pretty soon.
I finally got a coherent error message that tells me there is a problem with the server at blogger.com and an engineer is working on it...
Finally, four hours later, I'm able to post! Such things happen though, I think I'll still keep using blogger.com, it is worth the money I pay for it since it's free. ¶ 4/24/2006 07:31:00 AM 0 Comments
Tomorrow Mike and I have tickets to the Giants vs. Mets at what is now called AT&T Park... yuck, the old name of Pacific Bell Park was much nicer, you could forget that it was a corporate thing since Pacific is where we are after all, but AT&T? Pure corporate drone stuff. Ah well, the game is the thing! It's always fun to go to a ballgame and the Giants are doing all right so far this year. I have no comment on the persecution by the press of one player for allegedly doing steroids while ignoring the fact that probably a majority were using them prior to 2002 when they were actually banned by baseball. Go Giants!
My mom and I are planning a trip to New England this fall, a fall colors tour. I've only been to the east coast once, that was when I visited Joy in Washington DC, so this would be a new thing for me. I've heard the colors of fall are amazing, here you get a few trees changing but for the most part the west coast is evergreen stuff.
Now to the subject of the post, Lutherans are not Protestants.
That might come as a surprise to some people but it's true. Lutherans are catholic Christians. We are not "Roman" but we are most certainly catholic. The Via Media: Lutherans have retained the historic liturgy of the church catholic, maintain the holy sacraments as means of grace (including the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion), profess the ancient creeds, and follow the church year. At the same time Lutherans profess the gospel of justification by faith and the firm belief in the scriptures as the sole measure of our knowledge of God and His plan for our salvation.
For these reasons Lutherans can be said to be both protestant and catholic and yet neither protestant nor catholic. This is the nature of a middle way between the two.
Sadly many so-called Protestants have actually moved closer to Rome over the centuries, mixing in various types of works into their theology, things YOU need to do in order to be saved, instead of keeping to the true catholic faith of justification by faith. Read the linked post for a detailed discussion of the differences. I think they are very important differences. After all, if one is depending on their own works they are not depending on Christ!
I remember now why I quit using the blogger.com site for this stuff. It can be rather unreliable. I've been unable to post this morning for the last hour, other things work but not the posting. I may go back to using my own system exclusively. I wonder if I can swipe this template and strip all of the connections to blogger.com from it? That would be tedious but I think I might undertake the task if this doesn't correct itself pretty soon.
I finally got a coherent error message that tells me there is a problem with the server at blogger.com and an engineer is working on it...
Finally, four hours later, I'm able to post! Such things happen though, I think I'll still keep using blogger.com, it is worth the money I pay for it since it's free. ¶ 4/24/2006 07:31:00 AM 0 Comments
