The Gospel According To Cory

Sermon #05- Difference

2008-06-12T21:18:00.004+12:00

What is wrong with the world and schools these days !?
Do they discriminate for no reason these days !?
What have they got against difference !?

I have to admit my school is probably the most accepting school in the city. We have a different range of students, ethnicity is so widely accepted in my school that you can be friends with someone for 3 years and not notice they're brown or white.

Lots of people daily are discriminated against because they are of different race, belief and or sexual preference. The most discriminated group is that of gay, bisexual or lesbian students, they are all still people and deserve to be treated normally.

Do not continue this, what your doing it is suffocating our safe society.

I dare you, for one whole day be different. Hangout with people you usually wouldn't or just be creative. Just do something please !

Sermon #04 - Consumerism

2008-01-31T20:34:00.002+13:00

We are consuming more than any past civilizations, and we have problems they didn't have.
Doesn't that say something about our culture of nonsensical buying?
Every year billions of tons of waste comes into existence around the world, and what is it? Garbage? No it's the crap we buy to satisfy our consumerist souls.

We are so dependent on brands and labels now that whenever a new item comes out, if it doesn't have a logo we recognize it won't sell. The companies that make the worship-able items we fork out money or credit cards for are the worlds richest and most overly consumerist bunch of people on the planet.

But not all companies are the bad guys. For example 77% of Starbucks have recycling programs."Starbucks" is one of the most popular shops on the planet and there are 5 new stores opening every day.

More people these days can identify the symbol of a very successful fast food restaurant then a church.The very successful restaurant I mentioned is none other than McDonald's. Since 1955 McDonald's has sold well over 100 billion hamburgers.

Everyday hordes of useless products are sold to us the willing consumerists.The things we buy aren't always the things we need, these days we are buying more crap then usual.Our world is sick, this madness must stop, what are we teaching our children? And what will they teach theirs if our society keeps on living this way?

We are the ones to blame, not governments, music, TV, school, but ourselves. We are the cause and solution, if we talk about this problem now we can do something to stop it.

In amongst all this consumerism, are the largest spenders and the largest group of people targeted by advertising campaigns. Youth, they are the biggest group of consumers. Take this statistic for example, 60% of American teens have a cell phone, thats about 1 out of 3. They also account for 25% of the total amount of money made by the cell phone companies. 2min20secs

Cell phone companies are just one of the many companies making big money, the worlds leading brand in personal music players "APPLE" recently announced that their product the Ipod has reached sales of over 140 million. Apple also dominates 70% of the music player market with the ipod.

Teens these days view money and the whole buying stuff for the hell of it ideology as a way of asserting more independence.

I'll leave you with a fact:

Americans discard 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour,
enough bottles to reach to the moon every three weeks!

From the book 50 Facts that should change the world, fact #45

Sermon #03- Violence

2008-01-29T19:07:00.000+13:00

We live in a world that is darker gloomier and more violent then our ancestors. Everyday someone somewhere is being killed. People are being killed just because they won’t hand over something in their possession or because of going into another gang’s territory wearing the wrong colors.

We live in a world of chances were if a person brutally beats another person, they are forgiven and given a second chance. Our world lacks discipline, at school if a child misbehaves or doesn’t follow instructions they are given chances upon chances.

Children go around beating other children because it reminds them of their favorite video games. We need to stop the violence, stop the senseless killing, stop the madness and ultimately stop hurting our fellow man.

In Kenya because an election didn’t go the way people wanted what did they do? They went out into the streets and murdered their fellow citizens.

Our world is sick, this madness must stop, what are we teaching our children? And what will they teach theirs if our society keeps on living this way?

We are the ones to blame, not governments, music, TV, school, but ourselves. We are the cause and solution, if we talk about this problem now we can do something to stop it.

Once again, our world is sick people, it must be cured !

Opening Quote

2008-01-29T19:05:00.001+13:00

"Oh dear, oh dear!"

Said the Rabbit. "I shall be to late!"

And so, when the White Rabbit ran away,

Alice wanted to see what would happen to it:

So she ran after it:

And she ran, and she ran, till she tumbled

Right down the rabbit-hole.

Excerpt from the book Alice in Wonderland

Sermon #02- The Strap

2008-01-29T19:01:00.000+13:00

I'm sure that at some point in your education life, you have wished that the disruptor's would be punished. But all teachers can do these days is tell them off, give them a detention, or send them to the principal. It isn't enough, when our grandparents and their parents were at school. The strap was just that. A strap, and the cane meant pain. Back then teachers could punish students instantly and not be accused of assault. Now if a teacher lightly smacks a student on the arm, the student will take the opportunity to accuse the teacher of assaulting them. But I'm (as I'm sure you are) sick of all the people that disrupt the ones that want to learn.

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.
Kahlil Gibran

Sermon #01- Social Clique's

2008-01-29T18:58:00.000+13:00

I am sick of the people that think they are cooler or smarter, or just better than the rest of us. No matter where you are there is always a clique of some sort. Some of these are groups of people that share the same like and dislike of music, others clothes. In every school there is always a dominant clique that say what people wear, what music they listen to and what words they speak. Some cliques shun others that are (in there eyes) socially inferior, others accept anyone. Cliques always have one thing in common, they all have a place that they have claimed as “their spot”.No one is allowed in these places if they are not in the clique. These people think that they are normal and think everyone else who doesn't agree with them are different. Cliques will always be around, but maybe, just maybe we can make that change. If you are in one of the cliques mentioned above. You should be ashamed of yourselves, for making others feel bad. Just because they aren't the same as you.

Make things change so everybody is equal, be nice to your fellow man!

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the
recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
Theodore Isaac Rubin