EnnisP, Author at NowTHINK!AboutIt

This Week In Divorce – India’s Muslim Minority

October 25, 2017 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

It’s A Microcosm
Of The Culture Jesus Faced

On August 22, 2017, India’s Supreme Court banned the Muslim practice of triple-talaq also known as instant-divorce by which a husband could unilaterally divorce a wife instantly by simply saying the word “talaq” to her three times.

The law was so lax that sending the words by text or WhatsApp was sufficient to execute the divorce.

At one time, triple-talaq was the norm in other countries also but India is the last country to ban it by judicial decree. To quote US News:

…While judges or politicians elsewhere across the Muslim world, from Morocco to Indonesia, have managed to reform Islamic laws, bringing them under their own courts or codifying them, this never happened in India.

Until now.

The article also mentions that many of these instantly-divorced women become destitute and homeless.

Calling triple-talaq insensitive is an understatement. It was the worst kind of cruel. It’s banning was celebrated by the ladies.

I mention it here because this represents a modern-day microcosm of marriage practices in the first century. Males were dominant, capricious and arbitrary. Easy divorce was not only possible it was expected during Bible times and the outcome could be just as devastating. [Read more…] about This Week In Divorce – India’s Muslim Minority

Prayer – Universal, Accessible, Immediate, Personal

August 6, 2017 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Prayer Is A Tool
Not A Drive Thru Window

Have you ever lived in a world where the only means of communication was sending smoke signals?

No, I’m sure you haven’t but you can imagine how involved the process was.

You had to collect dry fuel to start a fire, wet fuel to create smoke and then generate a spark to get the fire going. None of that is easy to do.

There was no simple way to start a fire without matches and you couldn’t skimp on fuel. You needed clouds of smoke, not puffs. And to regulate the smoke you needed a blanket.

Sending smoke signals required a lot of hard, skillful work just to get started.

Distance was a consideration too.

Smoke dissipates quickly so line-of-sight and distance were critical factors. If the recipient was too far, the connection was lost.

Smoking your message from Venezuela to California wasn’t going to happen. [Read more…] about Prayer – Universal, Accessible, Immediate, Personal

What To Expect From Your Hospital Stay

July 20, 2017 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Grateful everyday for medical science, doctors, facilities and staff.

Some Things
Should Be
Automatic

I spent time in the hospital recently. It was short. Only one night, but it gave me perspective on what should or shouldn’t happen in a hospital. I walked away a little wiser and thought I would share the lessons learned.

I’m not a doctor, nurse or hospital technician so this is not intended as medical advice. I’m speaking as a patient and you don’t need any qualifications to be a patient.

The Op

My sinuses were blocked and had been for a very long time. The solution was to remove polyps and, of course, reconstruct the septum. The procedure is done under general anesthetic but is considered minor surgery. Many people go home the same day, but in my case, the infection/blockage was worse than the scans indicated and my nasal/sinus passages weren’t easy to navigate which means the op took a little longer and was more invasive than usual.

Make no mistake, though, major or not this op is personal. Proverbially speaking, it’s in your face. [Read more…] about What To Expect From Your Hospital Stay

IT – Life’s Biggest Obstacle

June 21, 2017 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

IT kills but IT won't die.

You Either Fight With
Or Against IT

Fight IT!

Not him. Not her. Not them. Not that.

IT! That is the trigger. You need look nowhere else.

IT is the obstacle, the non-personal problem standing in your way. IT is that thing that says you can’t do better, you’ll only get worse so there’s no sense trying. Just give up.

And IT is universal. Everyone is plagued with IT. IT is the same for everyone.

IT looms larger for some only because they see IT, observe IT, discuss IT, name IT and believe IT, but they rarely get IT right.

IT isn’t outside you or around you. IT doesn’t happen to you. IT is not the kids, the boss, the wife, the school or anything you can see.

IT loves your inabilities and will take on the appearance of something you can’t do only to draw attention away from all the things you can do. What you can’t do, your inability is not IT.

IT is not god but IT craves and feeds off belief. God wants you to win. IT wants you to do nothing. IT is inertia. IT opposes constructive activity of any kind. Circumstances may flatten you. IT works with circumstance to keep you down.

IT is internal, the little guy on the inside with the annoyingly persistent chatter. The whisper we magnify. But IT has no voice other than the one we give it.

And forward progress isn’t the only issue. The obstacle, whatever IT is, naturally moves us backward. The evidence of IT is self-absorption, self-satisfaction, self-pity and smug complacency. The fruit of IT is insidious decline.

IT is the reason we can’t lose weight, get fit, develop a new skill or reach the goal.

The problem is you can’t destroy IT. IT kills but IT won’t die. IT is always in the background. The trick is to never give in to IT, feed IT or believe IT, but don’t waste time or energy hating IT. IT fades only when we focus on the next step, the one IT doesn’t want us to take.

THINK!About……IT

HOPE: Now or Later or Both

January 25, 2017 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

What Does Hope
Really Mean?

One problem with reading the Bible is the fact that there is a large span of time between the moment it was written and time you read it.

Even the newest parts of the Bible are still a couple thousand years old. It was written at a different place, in a different culture and at a different time, so we shouldn’t be surprised when the words change a bit.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not questioning inspiration or suggesting the words are unreliable. All I’m saying is that words do take on varying shades of meaning over time. They don’t change entirely, but enough to need qualifying. Without qualification, you get the wrong message.

Not to worry. We know the ancient languages and the meanings of the words as they were used in the past. We also understand these words as they were used over time. We’re not in the dark, but to understand the difference we need to study the process. We call that study etymology. It’s a science.

The word Hope is a good example. [Read more…] about HOPE: Now or Later or Both