Sin
God's plan made a hopeful beginning,
But man spoiled his chances by sinning.
We trust that the story
Will end with God's glory,
But at present, the other side's winning.
--Robert Bork
judge and former nominee for the Supreme Court
Six Slits Sink Ship
Scientists now say that a series of slits, not a giant gash, sank the Titanic.
The opulent, 900-foot cruise ship sank in 1912 on its first voyage, from England to New York. Fifteen hundred people died in the worst maritime disaster of the time.
The most widely held theory was that the ship hit an iceberg, which opened a huge gash in the side of the liner. But an international team of divers and scientists recently used sound waves to probe the wreckage, buried in the mud under two-and-a-half miles of water. Their discovery? The damage was surprisingly small. Instead of the huge gash, they found six relatively narrow slits across the six watertight holds.
Small damage, invisible to most, can sink not only a great ship but a great reputation.
--USA Today (4/9/97)
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Stanley William McKenna Walker was the son of a wealthy British shipbuilder. At age 50, he was the heir to a $4 million estate in England. But, this man had become a wino on Chicago's skid row. For many years, he barely survived by eating left-over garbage and sleeping in two-bit hotels.
When his millionaire father died, the authorities searched throughout the saloons and flop houses of Chicago, trying to find him so they could inform him of his new inheritance. When they finally located him, they discovered that he had just died the night before in the doorway of a Chicago rescue mission.
Unconfessed sin may not cheat the believer out of salvation, but it will steal his chance to enjoy the rich inheritance that is his now!
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The application blank for a new driver's license carried this question, "Have you ever been arrested?"
The applicant wrote down, "No."
The next question was, "State why?" The applicant wrote, "Never been caught."
The hostess at a children's birthday party was chatting with one of the little girls. "My, your younger brother is shy," she said, "He hasn't moved from that corner all afternoon."
"He's not shy," the little girl said. "He's never had a neck-tie on before and he thinks he's tied to something."
Sin and Satan can make us feel like we're tied to something.
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When a man in Macon, Georgia came upon a wild dog attacking a young boy, he quickly grabbed the animal and throttled it with his two hands.
A reporter saw the incident, congratulated the man and told him the headline the following day would read, "Local Man Saves Child by Killing Vicious Animal."
The hero, however, told the journalist that he wasn't from Macon.
"Well, then," the reporter said, "the headline will probably say, "Georgia Man Saves Child by Killing Dog."
"Actually," the man said, "I'm from Connecticut."
"In that case," the reporter said in a huff, "the headline will read, "Yankee Kills Family Pet."
No one will need to worry about God getting the story straight.
Be sure your sins will find you out!
There's this old priest who got sick of all the people in his parish who kept confessing to adultery. One Sunday, in the pulpit, he said, "If I hear one more person confess to adultery, I'll quit!" Well, everyone liked him, so they came up with a code word. Someone who had committed adultery would say they had "fallen".
This seemed to satisfy the old priest and things went well, until the priest died at a ripe old age. About a week after the new priest arrived, he visited the Mayor of the town and seemed very concerned. The priest said, "you have to do something about the sidewalks in town.When people come into the confessional, they keep talking about having fallen."
The Mayor started to laugh, realizing that no-one had told the new priest about the code word.
Before the mayor could explain, the priest shook an accusing finger at the mayor and said, "I don't know what you're laughing about, Your wife fell three times this week."
Be sure your sins will find you out!
Two young men applied for an engineering position. The two applicants, having the same qualifications, were asked to take a test by the department manager. Upon completion of the test both men missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the second of the two and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other final applicant.
The rejected applicant said, "And why would you be doing that? We both got 9 questions correct. May I ask what made you decide to take the other applicant given the same qualifications and the same scores on the test?"
"We have made our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," the officious manager insisted.
"And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" asked the rejected applicant.
"Simple, the other applicant answered, "I don't know" on question #5. You put down, "Neither do I."
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