Archaeology Discovery: Rare Fabrics From King Solomon, King David Time Reveal Biblical Fashion

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Archaeology Discovery: Rare Fabrics From King Solomon, King David Time Reveal Biblical Fashion

A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) stands on the mosaic floor of a monastery unearthed (Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen)

Christian Post Report – A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) stands on the mosaic floor of a monastery unearthed during excavations in Hura, east of Beersheba April 1, 2014.

Israeli archaeologists recently announced the discovery of rare fabrics dating back to the biblical times of King David and King Solomon.

The fabrics were discovered by Tel Aviv University archaeologists as they excavated the Timna copper mines in southwestern Arabah.

Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef, who oversaw the excavation, said in a press release on Wednesday that the 3,000-year-old discovery sheds light on ancient textile trade and biblical fashion.

“Most of the fragments were tiny, some only 5 by 5 centimeters, but some were big,” Yosef told Haaretz this week.

“Timna is a unique site, practically unmatched in Israel or anywhere else in the Levant,” Yosef added. “The extreme aridity at Timna preserves organic remains that couldn’t have been preserved anywhere else, not at Megiddo or Lachish or Hatzor, and not even anywhere else in the Arava Valley.”

Along with varying shapes and sizes, archaeologists also discovered a wide range of fabric colors, including green, red, and gold.

“We found simply woven, elaborately decorated fabrics worn by the upper echelon of their stratified society. Luxury grade fabric adorned the highly skilled, highly respected craftsmen managing the copper furnaces. They were responsible for smelting the copper, which was a very complicated process,” Yosef added.

The university added in a statement that the rare weather conditions of the Timna Valley have allowed for such archaeological treasures to remain well-preserved.

“The arid condition of the mines has seen the remarkable preservation of 3,000-year-old organic materials, including seeds, leather and fabric, and other extremely rare artifacts that provide a unique window into the culture and practices of this period,” Tel Aviv University said.

“The textiles also offer insight into the complex society of the early Edomites, the semi-nomadic people believed to have operated the mines at Timna,” it added.

Vanessa Workman, also from the excavation team, told Sci-News that along with locally-produced materials, archaeologists discovered linen, which likely came from northern Israel.

“We found linen, which was not produced locally. It was most likely from the Jordan Valley or Northern Israel,” Workman told the media outlet.

The complex material of the fabrics “tells us how developed and sophisticated both their textile craft and trade networks must have been,” Workman added.

Archaeologists have found priceless antiquities in the Timna Valley since they began excavation in 2013, when archaeologists confirmed they had discovered the site of King Solomon’s copper mines.

Along with fabric, excavators have also discovered metals, ceramics, and food, including dates and grapes at the site of the dig, The Telegraph reports.

Yosef told The Telegraph in 2013 that while it was originally believed that the Timna Valley mines were built by ancient Egyptians, it is now believed that they were used three centuries later during King Solomon’s era.

“It’s entirely possible that David and Solomon existed and even that they exerted some control over the mines in the Timna Valley at times,” Yosef told the media outlet three years ago.

Source : Christian Post

John Piper: Finding Inspiration in Donald Trump, Bernie Sander and Hillary Clinton

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John Piper: Finding Inspiration in Donald Trump, Bernie Sander and Hillary Clinton

John Piper (Photo: Screengrab/John Piper)

Christian Post Report – Pastor John Piper.

At age 70, when most people are winding down their careers and thinking about retirement, or are already retired, Pastor John Piper is feeling “energized to dream great things,” thanks to the examples of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

In a post this week for his website DesiringGod.org, a site for the purpose of glorifying God, the theologian explains the reason for his increased sense of invigoration. “My rising energy has nothing to do with their policies or character. It has to do with the incredible fact that all of them want to spend their 70s doing the hardest job in the world.”

Clinton, 68, Trump, 69 and Sanders, 74, are all pursuing the highest office in the land past the typical age of retirement — something that Piper finds highly motivating. “That makes it all the more inspiring for me,” he writes, “because nothing gets me more excited than spending my 70s spreading a passion for the glory of Christ and His Word.”

Piper then makes an appeal to America’s 70 million Baby Boomers, urging them to make the most of their so-called final chapter.

“Billions of dollars are spent every year trying to get us to waste the last chapter of our lives on leisure. I’m spending one afternoon to plead with the rising 70-somethings: Don’t waste it.”

With his 70-something zeal for Christ “heating up,” Piper knows that the impact of even the most noble efforts of any president pale in comparison to one’s work for the Kingdom of God.

“They [presidential candidates] only get to be president of a tiny territory called the United States. I get to be an ambassador of the Sovereign of the universe. They only get to change the way some people live for a few decades. I get to change the way some people live forever — with a lot of good spill-over for this world in the process.”

The theologian hopes that Baby Boomers will use Clinton, Trump, Sanders and former President Ronald Reagan — who at age 76 challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” — as sources of inspiration. Piper also makes note of other highly productive 70-somethings, including theologian Charles Hodge, Benjamin Franklin, and John Glenn who, at age 77, became the oldest person to travel in space.

Finally, Piper wittily tells readers, “Make no mistake. The Bible believes in retirement. It’s called Heaven.”

Email me: [email protected]
Follow me on Twitter: @kevindonporter

Source : Christian Post

Christian Satellite Channel Gives Hope to Refugee Children Fleeing Syria With On-Air Education Programming

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Christian Satellite Channel Gives Hope to Refugee Children Fleeing Syria With On-Air Education Programming

SAT-7 (Photo: Terry Ascott/SAT-7)

Christian Post Report – SAT-7 educational work for children in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, taken in February 2016.

As more and more people fleeing war in Syria continue to arrive at refugee camps in neighboring countries, one Christian satellite channel has been offering on air-education to children in core curriculum subjects, alongside messages of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

SAT-7, which was launched in 1995 as the first Arabic language Christian satellite television channel, has been broadcasting its “My School” program five days a week through SAT-7 Kids channel since 2015, which teaches young children core curriculum subjects, such as Arabic, English and Maths.

Rita El Mounayer, the chief channels and communications officer at SAT-7, told The Christian Post in a phone interview on Thursday that the program is doing more than just teaching school subjects, as it is providing children and families with hope for the future amid the humanitarian crisis.

“It’s a catastrophe, and I don’t think there’s a solution coming in the next few years. There are millions of refugees that have lost hope with their governments, lost hope with their countries, with their neighbor, and even lost hope with God,” El Mounayer, who grew up during Lebanon’s civil war, told CP.

“The majority of the people in this conflict are innocent. These people are the poorest of the poor in their home countries. They come to Lebanon or Jordan or Turkey, and they cannot afford to rent an apartment, so they end up in camps,” she added.

Official United Nations statistics state that as many as 4.7 million Syrians have been registered as refugees, with the vast majority of them stationed in neighboring countries, such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and others.

El Mounayer noted that 1.5 million of those refugees are in Lebanon, and many of them are women and children, with men often being left behind back home to work or fight in the ongoing civil war.

She said that SAT-7 works with the local church and with people on the ground, and is very sensitive to the messages it broadcasts, since it deals with people who are facing real hardships and know what it means to live in the Middle East, and what it means to be a Christian.

People from all backgrounds and all walks of life have suffered in the five-year long Syrian civil war, with the humanitarian crisis growing in numbers also due to the rise of the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria in the past two years.

The SAT-7 chief channels and communications officer explained that the Lebanese government has made attempts to bring education to the close to 450,000 refugee children younger than 12 who are living at the tents, but for various reasons at least half of them have no real chance at going to school.

The local church, including Catholics and Protestants, has also been helping and has opened community tents for basic education, but SAT-7 saw an opportunity in the fact that despite the often meager surroundings, almost every family tent has a small TV and a satellite dish that catches many channels.

El Mounayer revealed that the “My School” program started with the first grade last year, and took curriculum from Syria, which it adapted to the curriculum in Lebanon. In 2016, the program is moving on to the second grade, and plans are for the project to continue through the fifth grade.

She explained that the mission is to broadcast “a message of hope, peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation.”

“We feel that this is the time that we can contribute to the wellbeing of a human being, no matter if he’s Christian, or a Muslim. Our mission is to present God’s love to many, to present Jesus’ salvation to many, and at the same time to try and work for the wellbeing of a person,” she continued.

“To try and give them a second chance in life. And this second chance, we believe, is in education. Because when you educate a child, they will grow up to think, to analyze, to have opportunity to go to university, find a job, get married, have kids, and have dignity in their own societies.”

El Mounayer explained that the on-air school is focused on education in the core subjects, and that while for example sentences used to teach children to read and write in English or Arabic are often based on Christian or biblical values, the program does not come with a religious agenda.

She insisted that SAT-7 does not want to be seen “as if we are using the need, and the pain, agony and vulnerability of these people to promote Christianity. We are trying to give them a chance in education in these particular 90 minutes.”

She added that there are advertisements that promote what comes next on SAT-7 programming, and if people stay tuned they can watch Bible stories, biblical songs, and other material of the kind, but reiterated that the daily 90 minutes of “My School” is “solid 90 minutes educational” material.

“I hope and pray that one day, we will have a whole educational channel. Even if we don’t have passages of the Bible to read, we are going to put in a lot of our values as Christians, especially living in the region, and how we can live together, and reconcile,” El Mounayer said of hopes for the future.

“Even though we are a Christian channel, we want the whole world [to know] that we care about our society, our culture, our people, and that we want to help.”

More information about the “My School” program is available on the SAT-7 website.

Source : Christian Post

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Christian Post Report – Pro-choicers can now avoid looking at the words “pro-life” on the internet thanks to a new Google Chrome extension.

In a partnership with the National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund, an unnamed proponent of legal abortion created the extension program called “Choice Language,” which automatically changes any reference of the phrase “pro-life” anywhere it is found on the internet to the term “anti-choice.”

The extension is only available using the Google Chrome web browser. Not only does it change the the term “pro-life” in major news headlines, it also changes the wording of direct quotations.

Source : Christian Post

Archaeology Discovery: Rare Fabrics From King Solomon, King David Time Reveal Biblical Fashion

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Archaeology Discovery: Rare Fabrics From King Solomon, King David Time Reveal Biblical Fashion

A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) stands on the mosaic floor of a monastery unearthed (Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen)

Christian Post Report – A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) stands on the mosaic floor of a monastery unearthed during excavations in Hura, east of Beersheba April 1, 2014.

Israeli archaeologists recently announced the discovery of rare fabrics dating back to the biblical times of King David and King Solomon.

The fabrics were discovered by Tel Aviv University archaeologists as they excavated the Timna copper mines in southwestern Arabah.

Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef, who oversaw the excavation, said in a press release on Wednesday that the 3,000-year-old discovery sheds light on ancient textile trade and biblical fashion.

“Most of the fragments were tiny, some only 5 by 5 centimeters, but some were big,” Yosef told Haaretz this week.

“Timna is a unique site, practically unmatched in Israel or anywhere else in the Levant,” Yosef added. “The extreme aridity at Timna preserves organic remains that couldn’t have been preserved anywhere else, not at Megiddo or Lachish or Hatzor, and not even anywhere else in the Arava Valley.”

Along with varying shapes and sizes, archaeologists also discovered a wide range of fabric colors, including green, red, and gold.

“We found simply woven, elaborately decorated fabrics worn by the upper echelon of their stratified society. Luxury grade fabric adorned the highly skilled, highly respected craftsmen managing the copper furnaces. They were responsible for smelting the copper, which was a very complicated process,” Yosef added.

The university added in a statement that the rare weather conditions of the Timna Valley have allowed for such archaeological treasures to remain well-preserved.

“The arid condition of the mines has seen the remarkable preservation of 3,000-year-old organic materials, including seeds, leather and fabric, and other extremely rare artifacts that provide a unique window into the culture and practices of this period,” Tel Aviv University said.

“The textiles also offer insight into the complex society of the early Edomites, the semi-nomadic people believed to have operated the mines at Timna,” it added.

Vanessa Workman, also from the excavation team, told Sci-News that along with locally-produced materials, archaeologists discovered linen, which likely came from northern Israel.

“We found linen, which was not produced locally. It was most likely from the Jordan Valley or Northern Israel,” Workman told the media outlet.

The complex material of the fabrics “tells us how developed and sophisticated both their textile craft and trade networks must have been,” Workman added.

Archaeologists have found priceless antiquities in the Timna Valley since they began excavation in 2013, when archaeologists confirmed they had discovered the site of King Solomon’s copper mines.

Along with fabric, excavators have also discovered metals, ceramics, and food, including dates and grapes at the site of the dig, The Telegraph reports.

Yosef told The Telegraph in 2013 that while it was originally believed that the Timna Valley mines were built by ancient Egyptians, it is now believed that they were used three centuries later during King Solomon’s era.

“It’s entirely possible that David and Solomon existed and even that they exerted some control over the mines in the Timna Valley at times,” Yosef told the media outlet three years ago.

Source : Christian Post

Chrissy Teigen Says Infertility Was a Blessing From God’

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Chrissy Teigen Says Infertility Was a Blessing From God’

Chrissy Teigen (Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok)

Christian Post Report – Model Chrissy Teigen arrives at the 58th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, February 15, 2016.

After speaking publicly about her and husband John Legend’s decision to use in vitro fertilization to conceive, Chrissy Teigen addressesd critics who accused her of trying to play God.

One Twitter commenter said she posted a message to Teigen saying “used to like” her before learning that she chose her baby’s gender. Suggesting that Teigen’s decision was “messing with the natural blessing from God,” the user quipped that Teigen probably chose the baby’s eye color, among other things.

The feisty mother to be snapped back, asserting on Wednesday that her “natural blessing from god (sic) was infertility.”

The model and TV host revealed to People magazine this week that the IVF process allowed her to choose to give birth to a girl.

During an interview with the magazine about her new cookbook, Cravings, Teigen said she chose to have a girl because she knew “John would be the best father to a little girl.”

“It excited me to see … just the thought of seeing him with a little girl. I think he deserves a little girl. I think he deserves that bond. A boy will come along. We’ll get there too, so it’s not like we really have to pick,” she stated. “But he definitely is very lucky to have a little girl. And this girl is going to be so completely lucky to have John as her papa — it’s crazy!”

Following her public announcement about how she conceived, her twitter feed exploded with both support and criticism.

After reading the comments Teigen joked that as well as the baby’s gender, she had to ensure that her daughter would share her love of bacon, be something of a magician and have a common shoe size.

As the criticism continued, she tweeted, “Reading everything tonight, I think I made a mistake in thinking people understood the process better than they do, which is my fault.”

The overwhelming concern the actress’ followers cited about Teigen’s announcement was the fact that she and Legend chose their baby’s gender, which many felt should have been determined by God.

“We didn’t create a little girl. We had multiple embryos. Girls and boys. We simply chose to put in a female first (and second),” Teigen explained.

Finally agreeing to disagree and put an end to the Twitter debate, the fashion guru maintained that she was not against anyone’s beliefs, but added that she didn’t think it was right for others to impose their beliefs on her.

“I am not mad at anyone’s beliefs but I don’t really actively seek out people to make them feel bad about their decisions either,” she said.

Source : Christian Post

Ex So. Baptist Missions VP Cries ‘Foul’ Over Reason for Firing 30 Communications Missionaries

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Ex So. Baptist Missions VP Cries ‘Foul’ Over Reason for Firing 30 Communications Missionaries

David Platt (Photo: Courtesy of Bill Bangham)

Christian Post Report – David Platt, president of the International Mission Board, closes the Pastors’ Conference on June 15, 2015, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, with a sermon on Revelation 1.

A former high ranking administrator at the International Mission Board cried “foul” in an online posting last week following a statement by IMB President David Platt that 30 communications missionaries let go last month were downsized as the result of their failure to keep current in the digital age.

Calling Platt’s statement about the team “patently inaccurate,” Ken Winter said the team’s “stellar efforts have been grossly undervalued and maligned.”

Winter, who a year ago stepped down as vice president of church and partner services, in a Feb. 19 blog entry in which he spoke fondly of about 200 “gifted and godly” men and women who accepted a “voluntary retirement incentive” offered by the IMB, but had choice words about the suggested deficiencies attributed to the 30 others who were involuntarily “removed.”

“Purportedly ‘our mobilization efforts … have not kept up with our times’ and [we] ‘struggle with employing new methods for reaching a changing audience’ and ‘have been disconnected from our field strategy,'” Winter wrote.

Referencing a Feb. 17 Baptist Press release, Winter presumably was speaking of comments made by International Mission Board President David Platt, at a Feb. 16 meeting in Ponce, Puerto Rico, of Baptist state paper leaders.

In the release, Platt reportedley told leaders: “We are way behind in the development of a digital mindset that builds on customization and flexibility rather than predictability and uniformity. Our field and stateside communicators struggle with employing new methods for reaching a changing audience.”

Referencing an earlier statement he made about the difference between God’s perfect and God’s permissive plan, Winters objected to Platt’s assessment of the communication team’s effectiveness.

“Again I experienced that same feeling that I wasn’t witnessing God’s perfect plan – but this time, every fiber of my being also cried ‘foul’! Because I also know this team,” said Winter, who served with the team nine years.

To read the full article in Christian Examiner, click here.

Source : Christian Post

Christian Teens Accused of Mocking Islam Are Jailed for 5 Years in Egypt

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Christian Teens Accused of Mocking Islam Are Jailed for 5 Years in Egypt

Egyptian Coptic Christian (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)

Christian Post Report – Christians attend Sunday service in the Virgin Mary Church at Samalout Diocese in Al-Our village, in Minya governorate, south of Cairo, May 3, 2015. Copts have long complained of discrimination under successive Egyptian leaders and Sisi’s actions suggested he would deliver on promises of being an inclusive president who could unite the country after years of political turmoil. However, striking out at extremists abroad might prove easier than reining in radicals at home. Orthodox Copts, the Middle East’s biggest Christian community, are a test of Sisi’s commitment to tolerance, a theme he often stresses in calling for an ideological assault on Islamist militants threatening Egypt’s security.

Three Christian teenagers have been sentenced to five years in jail by an Egyptian court after they were accused of mocking Islam.

The three boys, ages 15 to 18, were sentenced Thursday in Egypt’s Minya province. They were charged last year with insulting Islam after recording a video while on a class field trip.

The video, recorded in January 2015, showed the boys pretending to be Islamic State militants by reciting Quranic prayers and pretending to slit each others’ throats.

Maher Naguib, the defense lawyer for the teens, told the AFP that he plans to appeal the judge’s harsh ruling.

“They have been sentenced for contempt of Islam and inciting sectarian strife,” Naguib told the AFP, adding, “the judge didn’t show any mercy. He handed down the maximum punishment.”

The boys’ teacher, who filmed the video on his mobile phone, was sentenced to three years in jail in a separate trial.

Activist groups, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, have spoken out against the recent ruling, arguing it unfairly targets Coptic Christians in the strict Muslim majority country.

The EIPR said Thursday that the court is using the excuse of “protection of religions, general system, and public morals” as a reason to “impose restrictions on the mother of all freedoms: freedom of expression and faith.”

Mina Thabet, a researcher at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, told Fox News last May that the boys are being prosecuted for participating in a harmless teenage prank.

“They are some kids who decided to have fun in a private place,” Thabet told Fox. “They were on a trip with their teacher, but somehow rumor got out that they’d thrown down the Quran, and had insulted Islam, so that led to their arrests.”

There have been numerous court cases in Egypt where Coptic Christians are sentenced to harsh prison sentences for allegedly “insulting Islam.”

In 2014, 32-year-old Bishoy Armia Boulous, a journalist who converted from Islam to Christianity, was sentenced to five years in prison after he was accused of “instigating” Muslim-Christian conflict by reporting “misinformation … in order to depict Egyptian Christians as victims of discrimination.”

In August 2015, Medhat Ishak, a 35-year-old Coptic Christian, had his jail sentence extended after he was arrested for handing out Bibles at the Mall of Arabia in October 2014, according to Morning Star News.

Christian watchdog groups have criticize Egypt’s harsh punishment of Copts, with Doug Bandow, a senior fellow in international religious persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, saying in last year that Christians continue to suffer persecution under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

“Egypt has the most Christians of any Islamic country in the Middle East, around 8 million or so. They face a lot of persecution and it’s been consistent,” Bandow said at a Family Research Council panel discussion about Christian persecution worldwide that was attended by The Christian Post in August. “It was consistent under [President Hosni] Mubarak. It occurred under [President Mohamed] Morsi, and it occurs today under Al-Sisi.”

“The International Christian Concern, in their May issue, had a very extended discussion of what is going on there. They note that basically, there has been very little improvement under Al-Sisi,” Bandow continued. “He has made some public statements and made some small gestures, including for Copts that were murdered in Libya. Nevertheless, they noted that the extremist groups and restrictive laws directed at Christians are far from gone.”

Source : Christian Post

Is ‘Bachelor’ Star Ben Higgins’ Christian Faith Being Concealed on Hit Reality Dating Show?

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Is ‘Bachelor’ Star Ben Higgins’ Christian Faith Being Concealed on Hit Reality Dating Show?

The Bachelor (Photo: Screengrab/ABC/The Bachelor)

Christian Post Report – Ben Higgins stars in Season 30 of ABC’s “The Bachelor.”

Is Ben Higgins’ Christian faith being downplayed on “The Bachelor”?

Even though this season’s star of ABC’s popular reality TV dating show has conveyed his Christian beliefs in his private life, on social media and even in a blog for People magazine, one fan contends the show is concealing far too much of his faith.

“Athough you would never know it if you consume ‘The Bachelor’ only through the show itself, he [Higgins] seems to be an evangelical Christian,” writes one Slate blog contributor. “On the show itself, spirituality gets only the most fleeting, veiled references and dog whistles.”

In his blog for People magazine, however, Higgins is vocal about his personal faith, and how he relied on it to get through the nervous first moments on the show.

The Bachelor(Photo: Screengrab/ABC/The Bachelor)Christian Post Report – Ben Higgins stars in Season 30 of ABC’s “The Bachelor.”

“I quickly said a little prayer,” writes Higgins, “and thanked God for continuing to be with [me] on this constantly weird experience we call life.”

If the portrayal of Higgins’ Christian faith is in fact minimized in any way on “The Bachelor,” perhaps it is because there is no need to make a special effort to emphasize what has already been made obvious by the star.

Higgins previously talked to People about how his personal boundaries on the show are influenced by his faith, and about the infamous Fantasy Suite where couples go to get one-on-one time.

“I based [boundaries] on my Christian faith and also the fact that a lot of people are going to be watching this show and seeing a representation of dating, relationships and how a man treats a woman,” he said. “I want them to get a good picture of what a healthy relationship can be.”

As previously reported by The Christian Post, even “Bachelor” alumnus Sean Lowe has spoken out about Higgins’ faith, saying that Higgins has “a heart for Jesus,” and that he (Lowe) was looking forward to seeing how his friend glorified God through the show.

“One thing I’m especially excited to watch is how Ben uses his platform to glorify God,” Lowe wrote in a post for Patheos. “I think to this point, Ben has been painted as the ‘good guy,’ but I’m hoping America gets to see why he’s the good person he is.”

Email me: [email protected]
Follow me on Twitter: @kevindonporter

Source : Christian Post

Christian Athlete Peyton Barber Says He’s Joining NFL Draft to Help Homeless Mother

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Christian Athlete Peyton Barber Says He’s Joining NFL Draft to Help Homeless Mother

Auburn Tigers (Photo: Reuters/Mike Blake)

Christian Post Report – Auburn Tigers are seen here in this 2011 file photo.

Christian athlete Peyton Barber has announced his plans to enter the NFL draft early, saying he will do so to help his homeless mother.

Barber, a running back for Auburn University in Alabama, told reporters this week that he is planning to enter the draft earlier than expected so he may receive an NFL paycheck and help his mother’s living situation.

“My mother is homeless right now,” Barber told reporters during an Auburn scouting combine held Wednesday. “Right now, she’s staying with her sister. It’s her and her three kids staying in an apartment back home.”

Barber, who is a sophomore at Auburn and could wait two more years before entering the draft, added that his mother continues to support him despite her dire personal situation.

“She really just asks me if I’m OK and how I’m doing,” he said. “She never pressured me to do anything. I just decided to do what’s best for me and my family.”

The sophomore athlete has previously shared his faith in God on social media. Earlier this week, before revealing his motivation for entering the draft, Barber quoted megachurch pastor Rick Warren on Twitter, writing: “God’s love is like an ocean; you can see its beginning, but not its end.”

Barber also referenced God’s grace in an October 2015 message, writing: “It’s crazy how God let’s things shake out. Learn to embrace the cards your [sic] dealt!”

The athlete announced his plans to enter the draft last month right before the deadline to do so.

He told Al.com last week that deciding to enter the draft was “definitely a tough decision,” but one he ultimately made for his family.

“(Leaving Auburn and declaring for the NFL Draft) was definitely a tough decision, if not the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life,” Barber told the media outlet.

“At the same time, I felt like it was the best decision for me and my family just because of the circumstances that had been going on. At the same time I realize that the running back position is in a certain sense devalued (in the NFL), and to add on to that I don’t have that many miles on my body and I know that the scouts look for that. Coming off a 1,000-yard season I felt like I had nothing to really prove,” Barber added.

Although some sports critics believe Barber is too inexperienced for the draft, the college player’s running back coach Gary Sylvestri of Milton High School told the Ledger-Enquirer that he believes the young man is “ready.”

“When we texted before the game, I told him if he got the opportunity to take it and run with it, don’t give it back,” Sylvestri told the media outlet. “I know I’m biased, but I knew he was ready.”

During his Wednesday press conference, Barber also told reporters that he suffers from ADHD and dyslexia. He is the cousin of two NFL players, Dominique Barber and Marion Barber III.

Source : Christian Post

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