Several years ago National Geographic...
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Several years ago National Geographic magazine did a feature on the one hundredth anniversary of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The article featured two pictures side by side. Each was taken from the same location, with the bridge in the foreground and the Manhattan skyline in the background. But the one picture was taken when the bridge first opened, and the other was taken in modern times today. The bridge, for the most part, looks the same in both pictures. But what has dramatically changed is the shape of the city's outline. One hundred years ago, the most dominant buildings were churches, with dozens of steeples reaching higher than any of the other buildings around them. But in the picture of today's skyline, those church steeples seem to have disappeared, as towering skyscrapers have taken over the New York skyline. The churches themselves, though, have not disappeared. But you do have to look a lot harder today to find them. Paul commented on the changes that had taken place in the Thessalonian church. He noted how they had turned away from idols to the true and living God. -- Bowen
