end of the world postponed...

It's a good news/bad news situation for believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse. The good news is that the Mayan calendar may not end on Dec. 21, 2012 (and the world may not end along with it). The bad news for prophecy believers? If the calendar doesn't end in December 2012, no one knows when it actually will — or if it has already.
Looks like end-of-the-world theorists may need to find another ancient calendar on which to pin their apocalyptic hopes...

(from live science)

priceless

mercy

If grace is getting what you don't deserve, then mercy is NOT getting what you DO deserve. It's like 2 sides of the same coin - God's amazing grace and His tender mercy.

When God looks down upon His fallen creation, He has mercy on those whom He has created. Though we deserve nothing but punishment and death because of our sin, He shows mercy to us because of the suffering and death of His Son Jesus Christ on our behalf. Instead of punishing us and condemning us for our sin, He offers us His love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. When we believe in Him, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus and receive His forgiveness and salvation, we are not only freed from the chains of sin and death, we are also freed up to do good works, and to show mercy to the people around us who need it.

Because God has shown this tender mercy to us, we strive to do the same for our neighbor. As God's loved and adopted children, we are called to treat people with dignity, kindness, gentleness, and respect.

And as we go about our new missions of mercy as free and forgiven children of God, this short little seven-word prayer, spoken by the tax collector in one of Jesus' parables, is one of the best prayers we can ever say - "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner."

lost michelangelo

A family in Buffalo, N.Y. may have had a painting worth $300 million tucked behind their living room sofa for 27 years, reports the New York Post.

An expert has analyzed the painting and believes it to be a lost Michelangelo -- an unfinished painting of Jesus and Mary -- potentially one of the biggest finds of the century.

How did the family get the painting?

Its history points to the work being done by Michelangelo around 1545 for his friend, Vittoria Colonna. The Pieta painting was passed to two Catholic cardinals, eventually ending up in the hands of a German baroness named Villani, according to the Post.

The work ended up in the family after Villani willed it to her lady-in-waiting Gertrude Young. Young was the sister-in-law of Kober’s great-grandfather and she sent the work to America in 1883.

Now in a bank vault, the painting, according to experts, is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions - perhaps, like those seen at the New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art -- even $300 million.

nicene creed according to the scriptures

I Believe (Rom. 10:9, Jas 2:19, John 14:1)

In one God (Deut. 6:4, Is. 44:6)

The Father (Is. 63:16, 2 Pet 1:17, Matt. 6:9)

Almighty  (Gen. 17:1, Ps. 91:1, Rev. 4:8)

Maker  (Job 4:17, 35:10, Is. 17:7, 54:5)

of heaven  (Gen 1:1, 8)

and earth  (Ps. 104:5, Jer. 51:15)

and of all things  (Gen 1:31)

visible and invisible.  (Ps. 89:11-12, Amos 4:13, Rev. 3:5, Col. 1:16)


And in one Lord  (Eph. 4:5)

Jesus Christ,  (Acts 10:36, 11:17, Rom. 1:7, 5:1, 1 Cor 1:2, 6:11, 2 Cor. 1:2, 8:9

Gal. 1:3, 6:14, Eph. 1:2, 3:11, Phil. 1:2, 3:20, Col. 1:3, 2:6, 1 Thes. 1:1, 5:9,

2 Thes. 1:1, 2:14, 1 Tim. 6:3, 14, 2 Tim. 1:2, Philemon 1:3, 25, Heb. 13:20,

Jas. 1:1, 2:1, 1 Pet. 1:3, 3:15, 2 Pet. 1:8, 14, Jude 17, 21, Rev. 22:20-21)

the only-begotton  (John 1:18)

Son of God  (Matt 3:17, John 3:16)

Begotten of His Father (Heb. 1:5)

Before all worlds  (John 1:1, Col. 1:17, 1 John 1:1)

begotten  (John 1:1, Heb. 1:5)

not made  (Mic. 5:2, John 1:18, 17:5)

Being of one substance with the Father  (John 10:30, 14:9)

By whom all things were made  (1 Cor. 8:6, Col 1:16)

Who for us men  (Matt 20:28, John 10:10)

and for our salvation  (Matt 1:21, Luke 19:10)

came down from heaven  (Rom. 10:6, Eph. 4:10)

and was incarnate  (Col. 2:9)

by the Holy Spirit  (Matt 1:18)

of the Virgin Mary  (Luke 1:34-35)

and was made man  (John 1:1)

and was crucified  (Matt. 20:19, John 19:18, Rom. 5:6, 8, 2 Cor. 13:4)

also for us  (Rom. 5:8, 2 Cor. 5:15)

under Pontius Pilate  (Matt. 27:2, 26, 1 Tim 6:13)

He suffered  (1 Pet. 2:21, Heb. 2:10)

and was buried  (Mark 15:46, 1 Cor. 15:4)

And the third day  (Matt. 27:63, 28:1, 1 Cor. 15:4)

He rose again  (Mark 16:6, 2 Tim. 2:8)

according to the Scriptures  (Ps. 16:10, Luke 24:25-27, 1 Cor. 15:4)

and ascended  (Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9)

Into heaven  (Mark 16:19, Acts 1:11)

and sits at the right hand of the Father.  (Ps. 110:1, Matt. 26:64, Acts 7:56, Heb. 1:3)

And He will come again  (Jn. 14:3, 1 Thes. 4:16)

with glory  (Matt. 16:27, 24:30, 25:31, 26:64, Mark. 8:38, Col. 3:4)

to judge  (Matt. 25:31-46, Acts 17:31)

both the living and the dead,  (Acts 10:42, 1 Pet. 4:5)

whose kingdom  (John 18:36, 2 Tim. 4:1, 18)

will have no end.  (Luke 1:33, Rev. 11:15, Ps. 145:13)

And I believe in the Holy Spirit  (Matt. 28:19, Acts 13:2)

The Lord  (2 Cor. 3:17)

And giver of life  (John 6:63, Rom. 7:6, 8:2, 2 Cor. 3:6)

who proceeds from the Father  (John 14:16-17)

and the Son  (John 15:26, Rom. 8:9, Gal. 4:6)

Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped  (Luke 4:8, John 4:24)

and glorified  (John 4:24, 1 Tim. 1:17)

Who spoke by the prophets  (1 Pet. 1:10-11, 2 Pet 1:21)

And I believe in one  (1 Cor. 10:16-17, 12:12-13)

Holy  (Eph. 3:16-17, 5:27, 1 Pet. 2:9)

Christian  (1 Cor. 1:2)

and Apostolic  (Eph. 2:20, Rev. 21:14)

Church  (Acts 20:28, Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:24, Heb. 12:23, 1 Pet. 2:9)

I acknowledge one Baptism  (John 3:5, Rom. 6:3, Eph. 4:5)

For the remission of sins  (Acts 2:38, 1 Pet. 3:21, Tit. 3:5)

And I look for the resurrection of the dead  (1 Thes. 4:16, 1 Cor. 15:12-13, 16, 52)

And the life of the world to come (1 Cor 15:54-57, Rev. 22:5)

Amen  (Ps. 41:13, 2 Cor. 1:20)

what is your faith?

Here is Dr. Gene Edward Veith's response to the question, "What is your faith?"  (I really like his answer.)

"I am a Lutheran Christian. Lutheranism is sacramental and liturgical, and it is also evangelical and biblical. At the same time, Lutheranism avoids legalism, affirms our life in the world, and above all focuses on the grace of Christ. For me, Lutheranism embraces the whole scope and depth of Christianity at its best." 

is there life on other planets? (from the internet monk)

Scientists say they have discovered a planet that orbits a star in an earth-like manner. And these scientists think that the newly-discovered planet may have both liquid water and an atmosphere, two things necessary to sustain life.
Do you think there is life elsewhere in the universe? By “life,” I mean intelligent life, not just some microorganism.
And if there is, how will God relate to this life? Is sin the same for them as it is for us? Would the payment for sin cost God the same on their planet as it cost him on ours?
Before you answer, you might want to read one of the books from the Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis. And read his essay entitled, “Will We Lose God In Outer Space?” In it, Lewis thought that life elsewhere in the galaxy was at least a possibility. But at the same time he says that “those who do not find Him on earth are unlikely to find Him in space.”