Some Feel Good News

With all the bad news out there, here's a few feel-good stories.

Like this one about car ministries--churches that fix cars for parishioners and neighbors.

It's got a great lead:

"Slumped over the wheel of a stubborn car that just won't start, many a desperate person has pleaded with God for help.

For mechanics Craig Brandenburg and Teang Ie, praying for automotive miracles is just part of the routine at Cedar Park Assembly of God church, where every weekday the two service a steady stream of cars in their mechanics ministry.


Apparently, car repair programs are booming at churches, often serving single moms who just want someone they can trust to fix their car. That's what's happening in Fairfield, Conn., said Pastor Dan McCandless.



"If their vehicle went kerflooey, they were sunk," said McCandless. "And they're scared to death to get ripped off."



Or how about this
Chicago Tribune piece about clergy that use humor in sermons. It's also got a snappy lead:


There was a minister, a priest and a rabbi...

If that sounds like a beginning of a joke, it's OK with Pastor Dan Marler, Rev. Gene Smith and Rabbi Steven Bob, three clergymen known for using humor in their sermons to connect with the flock.


And life can't be all bad when The Life of Brian is in revival, can it?

I know it's not a joke, but the Decauter (Alabama) Daily thinks that the constitutional right to freedom of religion" is a little nutty.

Too many nuts believe that religious freedom means they can go anywhere and preach any thing because of this constitutional right.


The editorial is about freedom of religion and schools, and argue that nutcases and religion ought to be kept out of school, even in the Bible belt.

The Sinful Bible

An AP story on Bible proofreaders mentions the most famous Bible typo of all--the 1631 edition of King James Version, known as the "Sinful Bible" for rendering the 7th commandment this way:


"Thou shalt commit adultery."


"Obviously, you try to make sure anything that says, `You shall not,' you make sure you have the `not,'" Doug Gunden of Peachtree Editorial and Proofreading Service, told the AP.

The Grudens have a "calling" for paying attention to detail, says the AP< because of the nature of their work. "Bible readers are less forgiving of errors because they expect perfection in the Bible text," said June Gunden.

Still, it's a lot safer to work in the world of Bible publishing than in was a few hundred years ago, when presenting the Bible in anything but Latin could get you killed, or even worse. Here's a few tidbits I found in from Benson Bobrick's "Wide as the Waters," a history of the English Bible


Like the case of John Wycliffe, who is 1428 was declared a heretic for translating the Bible into English. His sentence? His body was to be burned and his ashes scattered on the waters, far away from the consecrated ground of a church cemetery.

Lucky for him, he was dead - Wycliffe died of a stroke in 1384. William Tyndale was not so lucky. He was burned at the stake in 1536 for the same crime.