Science of Faith

I lost a friend recently to multiple sclerosis. Well, we'd been out of touch for some time. Anyway, she was God-fearing, God-following, good Catholic, and so on. The instant I heard about her passing, I thought "Ok, she was a believer, but what sort of Almighty takes someone like that at a young age leaving 2 young kids and a husband?".

Then of course, I got into the debate (just me behind my own table, thanks) about did *G* listen to the prayer? Probably. I think in terms of Morgan Freeman: "I answer every prayer, but the answer is sometimes 'No'. " Did *G* (easy substitute here for the altruistic view of Almight powerful being who moved us from one spider web to another) invent MS? Did G create us in his image with nerve sheaths that can be destroyed?

Did G create the means for us to discover these nerve sheaths and figure out "Oh that MS is very clever!" ?

Here we go, right? What's science. What's faith. We defined God to sort out our limits right? Then we defined Faith to define how we define an 'Almighty' and what's good or bad right? Did we define Science to reach to that next plateau beyond faith and an almighty?

This is where faith, G, and science all fail me, and I just fall back on 'hope'. I'll get back to this later.

MJ, Al Sharpton, and James Brown

I have a sense that I will feel somehow dirty or at least unclean the next time I hear Eminem and don't break the radio or at least shut it off.

Rev. Al really speaks to EVERYONE when he decries the violence in music toward the African American culture. And violence is what it is: emotional and verbal violence, inspiring physical acts. Al said James Brown's last complaint to him was there is no music today that you can sit down on the porch with and listen to it with your Grandma.

"No music" might be too general. There's a good deal of it out there. But there is a sub-culture that has embraced the violent aspect, and I don't see it changing course any time soon.

Ok, fine. Caught me.

I rooted for the underdog... the unlikely challenger... given a better mainstream media, she might have been The Story of the Day.

She's not plastic and she's not Barbie. And she's got a serious case of "Girl Next Door".

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miss-Boiling-Springs-Caroline-Byrd/101773159672

Keep on rocking Miss Byrd!