Isaac Asimov: The Last Question

 I found a video of this last month on YouTube which I will share with you, however, if you prefer to read it here's a link that I found to this short story. Can't believe it's publicly available. Perhaps this is something worth saving to your hard-drive before it's taken off the internet due to copyright.

Upon finding out the story, I just see it as an instant favorite. Seems to combine A.I., questions about the universe with even a biblical origin story. I've been using A.I. to ponder the fate of the universe - don't worry much about it though it's trillions or more in the future, not imminent.

This is of course a sci-fi story taking place in the future. Who knows what mankind's fate will be after thousands of years let alone millions of years.

Here's the video that discusses The Last Question [VIDEO]

Ascension Presents: Do Catholics Believe in 'Signs from the Dead'?

 

[VIDEO] This message is for those who have experienced grief from Father Mike Schmitz.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

 I've got religion on my mind lately, I won't elaborate any further. Just wanted to share this song I heard at a Catholic Church many years ago. When this post is published it will be Sunday, so I hope you have an enjoyable and restful one.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

What a fellowship! What a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms!
What a blessedness! What a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms!

Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms
Leaning, leaning leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms!
Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms! [REFRAIN]

What have I to dread? What have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on th everlasting arms! [REFRAIN]

"Spotlight"

I have a knack lately for watching controversial films. Today I saw Spotlight about a team of investigative journalists looking into the many allegations of sexual misconduct with minors by priests. The movie had me groaning as far as the various allegations of the misconduct, but I only took it as something that happened between a minor and a priests.

I know of no one who had truly been abused as many young Catholic parishioners had. It somewhat doesn't help that I'm personally not Catholic. How would I have responded if my child had been abused sexually by a clergyman I thought I could trust.

We see how it was handled by many involved especially the victims. Many didn't want to acknowledge what happened and hadn't for many years afterwards. They weren't ready and if it involved their parents they probably didn't believe it either. Thankfully the work of an investigative journalist team exposed more than the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston was able to cover up.

Sometimes courageous people on a mission and willing to stand on their own can truly expose something very big. Unfortunately such people become a target in a variety of ways, but these individuals know something is going on and hopefully influence others to take a look.

Today's Easter weekend message: "That's My King!"

[VIDEO] Since it's now Easter weekend perhaps it's appropriate to show an religious message. This video I got wind of via Mancow's radio show is an edited clip of a sermon delivered by Dr. S.M. Lockridge. It was certainly a great message and caught my attention when I saw it on TV - Mancow had a daily simulcast on local TV of his radio show.

In any event inspite of the bible quote you see in the subtitle above, this is a long way from a religious blog. Indeed I do not consider myself a religious person. However, just as easily as now I want to put more focus onto Cubs games, perhaps it's time to focus on doing religious things. Crack open a bible or go to church services.

Perhaps now is the time for that, again, in my life.

Also if you want to hear Dr. Lockridge's full sermon - apparently a whole hour - you can watch it here.I have yet to hear the full sermon, but hopefully it's as good as that 3 minute video you see above.

One last question in relation to this video: "Do you know him?"

Mary Mitchell: Black clergy hypocritical on same-sex marriage issue

Remember what was posted her last Friday about whether or not Black ministers are chasing the wrong issue with their opposition to gay marriage. Well Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell has her own take on this issue.

So I’m not impressed that a group calling itself the African American Clergy Coalition has geared up to battle a bill that would legalize gay marriage in Illinois.

The coalition is attempting to persuade 20 Black Caucus members, who may be the key to passage of the legislation, to vote against the measure.

The coalition, led by the Rev. James Meeks, has partnered with Cardinal Francis George to conduct an “aggressive street campaign” that includes robocalls to African-American households.

“It’s time for the church to wake up,” said Meeks, who also was a vocal opponent of same-sex marriages when he was a state senator.

But it seems hypocritical for black clergy to put this kind of energy into blocking people who want to get hitched legally while doing so little about the absence marriage in the communities where most of their congregants live.

To his credit, in 2010, Meeks challenged 25 unmarried couples in his church to take the plunge at his expense.

Unfortunately, marriage rates in the black community have been in decline for decades. In 2011, there was a lot of moaning and groaning when the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that only 52 percent of black women will marry by age 30. That means 48 percent of black women will sit out their prime childbearing years, or give birth without the support of a committed spouse. Today, 70 percent of black children are born outside of marriage.

Researchers blame a host of factors for black people not getting married, including high unemployment and their failure to inherit or accumulate wealth. Instead of marriage, a lot of people have serial relationships that may or may not involve cohabitation. The problems associated with these kinds of arrangements are well-documented. Children of unstable families are more likely to do poorly in school and end up in the criminal justice system.

Here's a real ball of fire thrown here!

Additionally, black clergy need to be careful about where they throw stones.

Despite the hostile attitudes they may encounter, there are gays and lesbians in the black church, and some of these young people are being victimized.

For instance, the black church was recently rocked when the pastor of one of the country’s largest megachurches was caught up in a gay sex scandal.

In 2010, five young men accused Bishop Eddie Long, of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, of lavishing them with gifts and coercing them into sex acts. Long admitted giving the gifts but denied engaging in sex with the men. The pastor settled the cases out of court.

Despite the settlement, one of the accusers, who said he was gay, released a tell-all book in February alleging that he and Long were in an abusive gay relationship.

 OK, so the Black church should tackle the issues of out of wedlock births and the lack of commitment between men & women in Black communities instead of chasing down the issue of gay marriage. In addition, Mitchell is right, there are gays & lesbians who attend church on Sundays as well. Even worse we see an example of a sex scandal when it comes to a Black minister.

I generally don't support gay marriage although I do accept civil unions. At the same time gay marriage should be the least of our concerns. Besides if this is an issue that socially conservative people want to address then perhaps instead of focusing on gay marriage perhaps they should focus on the issue of why people are choosing not to get married.

This is really old news but we have a new Pope!

[VIDEO]I'm two days late but hey better late than never. This blog was around when the now retired Pope Benedict was elected Bishop of Rome in 2005. He retired earlier this year and now the Roman Catholic Church and Vatican City now has a new leader and his name is Francis I.

BTW, in the speculation as to who will be the next Pope could be an America. Well this Pope is American, except he's from Argentina. Meaning he's from Latin America.

I do wonder from the time of the white smoke to the unveiling how long did it take for Francis to change from his regular Cardinal uniform to his Pope outfit?

Pilgrim Baptist Church to be reborn from ashes of 2006 fire

Pilgrim Baptist Church to be reborn from ashes of 2006 fire - Chicago Sun-Times

Since this historic church went down in flames in early 2006, I've written a lot about this building. In addition the church were involved with scandals involving none other than our Ousted governor who pledged money to Pilgrim only for the money to not be accounted for. It was in fact sent to a school that leased space in the building. In fact, there were concerned about whether or not a government in this country could directly give money to a religious institution.

Well it looks like a new effort is beginning to bring this church to light, and they're not waiting for gov't funds to rebuild. Certainly good news for a building that was designed by the famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. Let's hope this succeeds.

Related

• Fire rages at Pilgrim Baptist Church...
• Pilgrim Baptist Church to get a grant...
• Did gov break vow to help church?

 

 

The last Jew of South Shore Gardens

She died this past April and I just now found this article. Found it very interesting. She was the last Jew in the area called South Shore Gardens. Well I just refer to that area with it's boundaries as Pill Hill although that may not entirely be accurate:

Gloria Kolodny Chanenson, the last Jewish resident of the Chicago neighborhood of South Shore Gardens, died while visiting her daughter in Cincinnati on April 8, at age 90. She refused to move from her home, which was built in South Shore Gardens in 1954. South Shore Gardens suffered an acute epidemic of white, and especially Jewish, flight between 1967 and 1972, while the neighborhood was new and building up. These tumultuous times were reviewed in the book "The South Side" by Louis Rosen (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Inc., 1999). The neighborhood is bounded by 87th Street on the North, Jeffrey Boulevard (2000 East) on the West, 93rd Street on the South and Anthony Avenue on the East.
...
When their neighbors began to move in the late 1960s, the Chanensons decided to stay in their home, and they became friendly with their new African-American neighbors as they moved in. "We integrate the neighborhood," Irving said. Eventually, only a few other staunch and stubborn Jewish families refused to "go with the flow." Among the last couples to remain in their homes in South Shore Gardens or neighboring Pill Hill were Esther Malkin Lesner, a retired elementary school French and adjustment teacher, and her husband, Samuel J. ("Sam") Lesner, retired movie and night club critic of the Chicago Daily News and a columnist for the Hyde Park Herald; Minnie Brainin Lieb and Dr. Bernard Lieb, a physician; and Dr. Max Martin Jacobson, a distinguished ophthalmologist who had studied in Vienna early in his career, and his wife, Eugenia ("Jeanne") Rydnik Jacobson, a pianist and piano teacher.

These three couples all died while remaining in their neighborhood homes, and Irving passed away in 1990, leaving Gloria as the last Jew in the South Shore Gardens area and probably the only Jew in the entire South Shore-South Chicago area from 71st Street southward to the city limits and from Lake Michigan to Stony Island Avenue.

An interesting story taking place on the South Side.

If you want to know more about this racial change that took place in that particular area then I would like to refer you to this post I had written in 2005 about a book I had checked out of the library. It was about this very community that was populated by the Jews and what happened when Black Americans started moving in.

I went to a Catholic Church for the first time...

On Wednesday night I went to St. Elizabeth Catholic Church located in the Bronzeville (also known as the Black Metropolis because it is a historic black neighborhood) neighborhood at about 41st & Michigan Avenue. And don't think I went to mass, it was actually for a memorial service of a family friend. And I thought it was nice.

The church was a lot more intimate than I'm used to. A nice pit with a table where the candles were lit and the podium in the background with a water fountain in the back. A big chair for the pastor. The benches were arranged in an unusual pattern that created a pit. It was arranged in the usual two rows of pews with a center aisle and outside aisle. I'm think I should find my way to a Catholic Church service one day.

I want to share this song that we sung during the memorial service there. It was nice.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

What a fellowship! What a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms!
What a blessedness! What a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms!

Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms

Leaning, leaning leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms!
Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms! [REFRAIN]

What have I to dread? What have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on th everlasting arms! [REFRAIN]