A professor at Florida Atlantic University asked students to write the name 'Jesus' on a piece of paper, place the paper on the floor, and then stomp on it. While most blindly complied, some refused to do so, and one student even went to school administrators to complain.
Ryan Rotela, a junior at FAU who was enrolled at the class, told local media that he went to school officials to protest the assignment. "Anytime you stomp on something it shows that you believe that something has no value … So if you were to stomp on the word Jesus, it says that the word has no value."
Initially, FAU defended the assignment and the curriculum from which it was derived. They have since recanted and apologized. "This exercise will not be used again. The University holds dear its core values. We sincerely apologize for any offense this caused," said Florida Atlantic University, a multi-campus institution, in a prepared statement posted on its website.
The story made quite a splash on both news and social media outlets, with many decrying it as yet "another example of secularist anti-Christian sentiment."
While this news story shocks and offends all who hold the name of Jesus dear (and even many who don't), I've got more news for you. You effectively "stomp" on the name of Jesus each and every time you fail to honor Him, whether that be in attitude, action, or principal. Before you call for sanctions against the professor or the school administrators, ask yourself, "How have I stomped on Jesus today?"
"How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29) .
Canadians best not blaspheme the hallowed name of Santa:
In Kingston, it’s not the Grinch but a 24-year-old man who police say stole Christmas.
As Christmas-themed floats slowly rolled down Princess St. during Kingston’s annual 2012 Santa Claus parade, an intoxicated man shouted blasphemous lies to shock children: Santa doesn’t exist.
The man, whose gelled hair “looked like a set of devil horns protruding from his head,” was reported to Kingston police, Const. Steve Koopman said.
Police arrested a 24-year-old man around 6 p.m.
“It was pretty despicable that someone, during this time of the year, would tell kids Santa isn’t real — which of course we would argue,” Koopman said.
So let me get this straight, in Canada it's a "despicable," arrest worthy offense, and blasphemous no less, to declare that the fictional Santa Claus is not real, while in the US it is increasingly found to be illegal to display on public property a manger scene declaring the historical reality of the birth of Jesus.*
Our world is indeed upside down. What is fictional is lauded and protected, while what is real is derided and condemned.
Although we don't condone a crazy man disrupting a family friendly Christmas parade, the Kingston constable has it all wrong. What is truly "despicable" is that "someone, during this time of the year, would tell kids Jesus isn’t real — which of course we would argue."
"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie …" (Romans 1:25).
*Follow this link to see the most recent battle (in CA) over a nativity display.
Michel Lotito had an unusual appetite, diagnosed from an early age with Pica, a rare phsycological disorder, causing him to "compulsively swallow non-food items," everything from metal and wood to plastics and rubber.
Over the course of his life it has been reported that he consumed 11 bicycles, 7 shopping carts, 1 steel safe, 1 cash register, 1 washing machine, 1 television, and hundreds of meters of steel chains, turning his penchant for curious consumption into a lucrative entertainment career.
Lotito admitted that eating his first bicycle was not easy. "I started with the metal parts, and only after that came the rubber tires," Lotito recalled. "The tires were really difficult to eat. Metal has no taste, but rubber is very unpleasant."
However, these meals were nothing compared to his largest meal—a Cessna airplane. Yes, Lotito, over the span of a few years, is said to have consumed an entire airplane made of tons of aluminum, steel, and rubber.
Turns out, the French entertainer had a superhuman digestive system which was incredibly resilient enough to endure consuming just about anything.
After examining his stomach, he was told by doctors he was capable of consuming 2 lbs (907 grams) of metal per day due to his extra thick stomach lining and intestines.
Lotito may have been able to eat practically anything, but he still had to take care of himself in the process. Therefore, he had quite a useful technique to minimise any internal damage.
In 1980, a newspaper reported: 'Lotito must be very careful. He lubricates his system with mineral oil, for one thing. He also stretches the meal over several days. He chops all the metal into pellets, and washes them down with copious amounts of drinking water.'
Lotito's unusual appetite, though his body was uniquely suited to "endure" it, was neither healthy nor genuinely gratifying. Nothing in those nuts and bolts and tires could actually nourish or satisfy his body's physical needs. And no amount of feeding the desires of his mental disorder could satisfy the emptiness of his spirit. Like Lotito, we are self-deceived if we think otherwise.
The Bible teaches about the dangers of excessive or unnatural desires. Human cravings, when not aligned with God's will, can lead to emptiness, dissatisfaction, or even destruction. Just as eating metal is harmful to the body, indulging in desires outside of God's design are damaging to the soul.
“Each one is tempted when, by this own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:14-15).
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:1-3, ESV).
"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16, ESV).