All posts filed under: z401

Strong marriages and good friends key to a long, happy life

Published by

In 1938, the Harvard Study of Adult Development started tracking the lives of 268 sophomores to find out what the keys were to a long life. One of the original recruits, John F. Kennedy would go on to become US president. Over the years, the study was expanded to include a few hundred more people. They were expecting to find eating right, exercising and avoiding drugs, smoking, and alcohol would be key factors. But the researchers were surprised to find that strong relationships, marriages and friends, were equally important to good health and long life. Robert Waldinger, a Harvard psychiatry professor and the study’s lead researcher, said: “It wasn’t their cholesterol levels that predicted how they were going to grow old. It was how satisfied they were in their relationships. The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80.” […] “The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health. Taking care of …

Violence: Are we ready?

Published by

A few years ago, I was driving on a wide and busy road. It was a warm summer evening, and I was caught in a slow stream of traffic. It all seemed normal. On the other side of the wide road, and slightly ahead, I noticed a group of people. I glanced over at them, and it looked like an argument was starting. It looked a bit scary, when I looked closely. One older man was talking to some younger men. The older man was not old, just older than the others. He was probably native. The young men were white, and they looked like skinheads. They had short hair and work boots, and they seemed aggressive. The boots are important in this story. If we could describe a racialized and ugly encounter, like a scene in a movie, this was it. Then the fight started. The lone, older man was shoved, and he fell to the ground, on his hands and knees. The fight continued, and I can still picture one of the young …

Over 500 anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe in 2021

Published by

According to The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, there were more than 500 anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe last year, with many more unreported, CBN writes. With 124 reports France had the largest number of anti-Christian hate crimes, followed by Germany (112), Italy (92), Poland (60) and the United Kingdom (40). CBN provides a breakdown of the organization’s findings: READ: ‘Chilling Effect’ on Faith: 500+ Anti-Christian Hate Crimes in Europe, Many More Unreported

Smoking weed more dangerous than smoking tobacco, study

Published by

Since Marijuana has already been classified as a safe drug by the political and cultural elite, don’t expect it to be treated like cigarettes anytime soon. But a Canadian study conducted by Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa found that smoking Marijuana is more dangerous to a person’s airway health than smoking cigarettes, The GrowthOp reports. The researchers came to this conclusion after studying the chest CT scans of tobacco smokers, Marijuana smokers and non-smokers over 50 years of age for a period of 15-years (2005-2020). Though the test group was small, the study concluded that when comparing the rates of emphysema among the three groups, it found, that 75% of marijuana smokers had emphysema compared to only 67% of tobacco smokers and 5% of non-smokers. In her article for The GrowthOp, Angela Stelmakowich adds: Beyond emphysema, though, “rates of bronchial thickening, bronchiectasis and mucoid impaction were higher among marijuana smokers compared with the other groups,” study authors write. Additionally, gynecomastia was more common in cannabis smokers, noted in 38 per cent of the …

Roman Catholic doctrine: Praying to the saints

Published by

When it comes to praying to the saints, the Roman Catholic Church knows it is walking a fine line, because of the repeated admonitions throughout the Bible against contacting the dead. Leviticus 20:6 explicitly warns that God will oppose any person who consults mediums (those who consult the dead) or familiar spirits (literally the souls of dead family members). Similar warnings are found in Leviticus 19:31, and Deuteronomy 18:10-11. So how does the Catholic Church get around these warnings? Well, first it states that people are not actually praying to dead saints, they are simply asking these saints to pray for them. Suggesting that asking the dead to pray for you is different from prayer is just a matter of semantics. In fact, they are praying to the saints, even when asking. To support their position of praying to the saints, Catholic theologians point to passages in the Book of Revelation that picture people in heaven praising, worshiping and even petitioning God (Revelation 4:10, 5:8, 6:9-11). They theorize that Mary, the mother of Jesus, can …

To the ‘Holy Ones’ in Corinth: Insights into How God’s See the Church

Published by

By Dr. Michael Brown We are often in the habit of reading the Bible without paying attention to what we’re reading. The words are so familiar that we just gloss over them. Or the biblical terminology has lost its meaning to us, so the significance of what we’re reading fails to register. In that light, we should revisit Paul’s words to the believers of Corinth. He wrote, “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people . . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:2, NIV, my emphasis). Or in the old English of the King James Version, “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints . . . .” Five more times in this letter Paul referred to the believers in Corinthians as “saints” (or “holy ones”) which was a common expression for God’s people in the Bible. Yet these believers were hardly saints (and I don’t mean that in the later, …

‘God give us strength’ found scrawled on the walls of a Russian torture chamber in Ukraine

Published by

After Ukraine liberated the city of Kherson earlier this month, they discovered the horrors of a Russian torture chamber, where one person had scrawled the words, “God give us strength,’ along with a cross, on a wall. The Russians had captured the city during the early days (February to March) of its invasion of Ukraine but were forced to abandon the capital city of the Oblast Region after relentless pressure from Ukraine. The Daily Mail reports: Among the sinister finds were gas masks and bottles of liquid – now being analysed – while inmates had scrawled ‘God, give us strength’ on the walls and made markings to count the days they had been held. In inhumane conditions, the invaders interrogated ‘local patriots’ who ‘refused to cooperate with the enemy’, said the Ukrainian government. The torture chamber is the latest of several that have been uncovered in the city, abandoned by Russia as they faced defeat at the hands of Ukraine’s advancing army. Horrifying testimony has started to emerge from victims of Russian torture while investigators …

Americans will have a 1 in 179 chance of being killed if the current murder rate trend continues, study reports

Published by

A recent study conducted by Just Facts reports that if the current murder rate continues that Americans will have a one in 179 chance of being murdered. Breitbart provides more details on the study: The organization explained in a study published on November 4: Based on a misunderstanding of new FBI data, NewsNation is reporting that 14,677 murders occurred in the U.S. during 2021, a supposedly large decline from 2020. In reality, that figure is far from complete, and comprehensive records from death certificates show that about 24,493 people were murdered in 2021. … Murders have become so common over the past two years that if the murder rate remains at the 2021 level, one out of every 179 people in the U.S. will eventually be murdered. Yet, certain politicians and media outlets are downplaying this bloodshed, while others are blaming it on Covid—a claim at odds with the facts. Just Facts argues that the FBI and legacy media are trying to downplay the murder epidemic by citing incomplete data. They are using a system …

China’s Xi Jinping publicly humiliates Justin Trudeau

Published by

While at the G20 conference in Bali, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a one-on-one meeting with Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It primarily involved concerns about the CCP’s continued interference in Canada including espionage and trying to influence our democratic elections. That conversation was leaked to the public. Apparently, China’s tyrant for life didn’t like his dirty dealings being exposed publicly and confronted Trudeau about their conversation being leaked. The Daily Mail provides more details: Toe-curling footage has emerged of Chinese President Xi Jinping humiliating Justin Trudeau with a dressing down on the sidelines of the G20 conference. […] Xi appeared visibly frustrated as he confronted Trudeau about how details of an earlier meeting between them, which was held yesterday, had been leaked to the press by Canadian government sources. The source had told the media that Trudeau had raised ‘serious concerns’ over suspected domestic interference by China during his first talks with Xi in more than three years. Xi, trying to mask his anger with a pointed smile, was filmed by Canadian …