"Ten Commandments"... the ultimate guide to human morality?

Below article is not written by me, I got it from a website (see the link at the bottom of the article). I came across it as I was browsing for fun... and to me, fun doesn't necessarily have to be "happy" or doing meaningless stuff. "Fun" should also be intellectually challenging, thinking outside the box. And tonight I decide to explore some religions' problem by googling it, and read some articles about them randomly. This is the most interesting argument so far, about the Ten Commandments, as I grew up with these and was brainwashed that they were the ultimate guide to human morality.

Here is a part of the article:

"The Ten Commandments have been presented as the ultimate guide to human morality. But a close inspection reveals that only five have a meaningful impact: do not steal, do not perjure, do not kill, don’t commit adultery, and honor your parents. Just as revealing is what is not included:

• No proscription of slavery
• No proscription of child endangerment
• No proscription of bigotry
• No proscription of racism
• No proscription of sexism
• No proscription of classism
• No proscription of blackmail or bribery
• No proscription of discrimination against LGBTQ persons
• No proscription of incest
• No proscription of torture or terrorism
• No proscription of rape
• No proscription against the mistreatment, exploitation, and relocation of native populations
• No command to treat animals humanely
• No command to take care of the Earth’s environment
• No command to help others in need
• No command to settle disputes peacefully
• No command to distribute the Earth’s resources fairly

It should be obvious that an all-knowing, all-wise, all-discerning, supernatural God could have devised a much better set of rules for mankind, a set that would have placed humanity on a more peaceful, loving, and kind trajectory that the one we have experienced."

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/08/26/40-problems-with-christianity/

And I totally agree... that the commandments are NOT "the ultimate guide" and saying that those are from God who is (supposed to be) an all-knowing, all-wise, all-discerning, supernatural being, is ridiculous. 

I am thankful for...

• The taxes I pay because it means that I am employed
• The clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
• A lawn that has to be mowed, windows that have to be washed and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
• The spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking
• All the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.
• The lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.
• The alarm that goes off the early morning hours because it means that I'm alive.

45 LIFE LESSONS, WRITTEN BY A 90 YEAR OLD

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short not to enjoy it.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.
5. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for things that matter.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye… But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words, ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose Life.
28. Forgive but don’t forget.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give Time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d  grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have, not what you think you need.
42. The best is yet to come…
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

How's This For A Positive Mutt!!

This dog was born in the year 2002. He was born  with   2   legs - He  of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not  want him.




His  first owner also did not think that he could survive and he was  thinking of 'putting him to sleep'.

But  then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted   to take care of him.

She  became determined to teach and train this little dog to walk by  himself.

She  named him 'Faith'.




In  the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard to let him feel the  movement.
Later  she used peanut  butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for  him for standing up and jumping around.

Even  the other dog at home encouraged him to walk..

Amazingly,  only after 6 months, like a miracle,

Faith  learned to balance on his hind legs and to jump to move forward.

After  further training in the snow, he could now walk like a human  being..



Faith  loves to walk around now.

No  matter where he goes, he attracts people to him.

He  is fast becoming famous on the international scene and has  appeared on various newspapers and TV shows.

There  is now a book entitled 'With a Little Faith' being published about  him.

He  was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter  movies.

His  present owner Jude Stringfellew has  given up her teaching post  and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect  soul'.
















In  life there are always undesirable things, so in order to feel better  you just need to look at life from another direction.

I  hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and  that everyone will appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful  day.

Faith  is the continual demonstration of the strength and wonder of  life.

A small request: All you are asked to do is keep this story circulating.

Never regret anything

If you can't fly...

The problem with the world is...

To Change or To Enjoy?

A Letter to Santa

From Australian Catholics Magazine - Page 9, Christmas 2011

Ten Rules for Being Human

Ten Rules for Being Human

by Cherie Carter-Scott

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life."

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

The best thing you can give

The best thing you can give children, next to good habits, are good memories.

Sydney J. Harris

Sounds Crazy to Me!

Remember

To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.

When something is taken from your grasp, you are not being punished but making way for something better .
There comes a point in your life when you realize:
who matters,
who never did,
who won't any more...
and who always will.
So, don't worry about people from your past
there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

Biasa dan Luar Biasa

Kecewa itu biasa, tapi tetap memberkati meski dikecewakan itu LUAR BIASA

Memaafkan itu biasa, tapi memaafkan meskipun disakiti berkali-kali itu LUAR BIASA

Memberi itu biasa, tapi memberi dengan penuh pengorbanan itu LUAR BIASA

Bersyukur itu biasa, tapi tetap bersyukur ketika tidak punya apa-apa itu LUAR BIASA

Faith

"Faith is taking the first step even when 

you don't see the whole staircase."

Martin Luther King Jr

Adoption

"...just because a child didn't come from inside your body doesn't mean that it's not your child. It just arrived somewhere else."

Sandra Bullock

A Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Bird watching...yer doin' it wrong

Rose - Do Read!

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze.

'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.

She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...'

'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.'

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, 'We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets'

She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose.'

She challenged each of us to study the l yrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

We make a Living by what we get , We make a Life by what we give.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

'Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.'

Happiness is...

"Happiness is a place
between too little and too much"

- Finnish Proverb