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Reed Banjanin
Louise Hearst's 1923 class ring, was found at the bottom of a spring in a housing community in Longwood, Fla.
Over nearly two decades of scuba diving, Reed Banjanin had come across several long-forgotten trinkets in the sand and silt, but none was more meaningful than one of his most recent discoveries: Louise Hearst’s 1923 class ring.
“I’m a strong believer in Christianity for about two years, and I just don’t believe in coincidences,” Banjanin, 38, told msnbc.com in an interview. “I think everything happens for a reason. I think God brought me to find the owner or a relative of the owner of that ring.”
He found the gold ring at a cave entrance last July about 25 feet below the surface of a Longwood, Fla., spring.
Reed Banjanin
Diver Reed Banjanin discovered Louise Hearst's 1923 class ring at the bottom of this spring in Longwood, Fla.
“I don’t usually go down there with a metal detector,” Banjanin said. “I was scouting around and got a hit and dug in the silt a little bit and there was the ring, sitting there.”
Hearst’s name was engraved on the inside of the ring after she graduated from Mississippi Women’s College, which later changed its name to William Carey University.
“It’s in absolute perfect condition,” said Banjanin, who works at AT&T as an electronics technician. “Without a doubt the coolest thing I've ever found scuba diving.”
Reed Banjanin
The inscription on the inside of the ring says Louise Hearst. She later changed her name to Louise Entzminger when she married.
And now, nearly a century after it was engraved, the ring has been reunited with Hearst’s grandson, 75-year-old John Entzminger who lives more than 800 miles away in Oakton, Va.
Entzminger received Banjanin’s call, on Dec. 17: his birthday.
"I just couldn't believe it," Entzminger told the Orlando Sentinel. "I had absolutely no idea that my grandmother lost it."
So how did the ring come to rest in the Florida spring? Hearst’s husband’s family was from Seminole County, so it’s believed that she lost the ring while visiting them and swimming in the spring, which was a popular spot.
Finding Entzminger proved challenging for Banjanin, who began with an online search for Mississippi Women’s College alumnae records, where he discovered Hearst was from Hattiesburg, Miss.
“I spent a good few weeks trying to find out more about her,” he told msnbc.com. “I prayed about it, and had the ring next to my bed every night.”
Eventually, Banjanin stopped looking, but a couple weeks before Christmas a friend reminded him about his search.
“I said, let me give it one more try,” said Banjanin.
That’s when he discovered Hearst had lived in Forest County, Miss., and had married John Entzminger. She died in May 1975. With the help of findagrave.com, he located her relatives and eventually tracked down grandson John Entzminger in Virginia, who plans to give the ring to his grandchildren.
“He was just amazed he was so surprised,” Banjanin said. “He’s also a very strong Christian, very faithful. We both agreed it wasn’t a coincidence. It was meant to happen at that time.”
Leave a Comment:
It's nice to see that this diver doesn't believe in "finders-keepers".
Really a "cool story" that I can relate to quite well.
About 1968, I found a class ring from a certain state high school which was mysteriously left in my shoe (not on my foot at the time) while I was playing "pickup" basketball in a gym. I had never intended to keep the ring since it was not my property, but had repeatedly failed at that time to follow through in trying to find owner.
A few years back, I rediscovered the ring in an old drawer and then used the internet to contact the high school and gave them initials engraved inside the ring. With help from a school librarian in researching an old yearbook, we came up with the owner's name and, somewhat surprisingly, his location which was only a few miles away. When I took him his ring which had been lost for about thirty years, he was surprised. I think his teenage kids were a little more fascinated with the return than he was at the time.
I am also a scuba diver who has dreamed of finding "lost treasure". Great story presented here ! This diver really had to do her homework, but surely today's computer technologies truly do help.
"Rapture of the Deep"
"MY PRECIOUS"..!
I have always wondered why God would allow terrible things to happen people here on Earth. Holocausts, Cancer, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Wars, and horrible natural disasters.
And Now I Finally Know Why...
He's Too busy running the Heaven Lost And Found Department, returning rings and such....!
GWENDOLYN, People like you slay me. God gave us free will . This diver was given a choice , return the ring or cash it in. He chose to return it. This was due in part to the morality taught in the Bible. Free Will. Those who injure and maim babies , rape , kill, toture also have free will. Thats not God's doing .
Gwendolyn , GOD does save them
CHuckline - Gollum....Smeagle.....Gollum.....Smeagle.....GOLLUM.....We must be patient if we want to see our PRECIOUS again.
Oh, gimme a break. Prove all this God nonsense.
God should have had him make the dive before she died.
God should have make her knuckles bigger so it didn't slip off to begin with.
Mo..
God is invoked in every war. Babies die, women are raped, kids step on land mines, people are incinerated, tortured...
God is quoted by the most heinous of people who commit the most heinous acts. According to the Bible, God created it all.
The Bible teaches all sorts of vile things.
Do yourself a favor and take off the blinders.
Spare us the sermon.
The internet reunited the ring with the family.. The guy even gave up after a while.
Have a nice day.
shut yer yap that isnt actually true. god is not invoked in every single war. that is crap, while yes there are many wars that are invoked over religion there are just as many invoked and caused by other reasons: money, land, race, hate, recources, and even a misunderstanding or two. War is not god's fault its ours, rape is not god's fault it's the rapists, and you know what calling belivers blind is dumb because no one KNOWS if there's a god or not. You dont believe there is one but you do not KNOW and neither do I. You cant say we believers are wrong since you dont know the asnwer since you havent died.
Shutyouryap... just because you don't seem to have a belief in God, does NOT make you an authority on why things that happen come together for a reason! If these people believe in God, good for them! I'll never understand WHY non-believers have so much hatred to those that do? A sign of their true pain?
I'll pray that you one day wise up and come to your senses before it's too late, for your seemingly hateful soul! God Bless you and have a nice day too!
So very sad for you, my friend. Sad because one day you are going to get a HUGE wake up call. I just pray that you come to the realization of how wrong you are before it is too late. It's funny to hear all of the bashers of Christianity and how people who believe in a being greater than ourselves must be delusional but have chosen to ignore history and the fact that the founding of fathers of this once great country were devout believers in God. Would you say they were all delusional? It seems to me maybe they knew something you don't.
Brett.
Those "devout believers of God" who you say founded this country owned slaves, hanged people for treason, and fought wars which killed people. They also founded a country that seperated religion from state, didn't believe in religion, but were Deitists, and slept around quite a bit.
Go look up the word "Delusional" in the dictionary and you might find a picture of you.
Spare us the talking points.
As for "Christian" people "believing in a being greater than ourselves," that's just a way to escape responsibility from their own actions and make elitist claims that they are in touch with the magic sky king in the sky. You can get the same schtick from any name dropping con man in an L.A. party.
Anyway, your profit twice predicted the date of Judgement. Twice he failed.
Didn't get the memo?
Have a nice day.
Well said Brett. Couldn't agree more. Incidentally, did you know there are no nonbelievers in Hell?
shut yer yap,
Did you ever once think the reason you picked that moniker was to be a suggestion to yourself?
Yeah, no doubt. Everybody in Hell is a christian.
Actually, I'm hoping that's not true and have put in for Hell since, if I went to that other place where Santo Pedro greets you, 1) I'd be bored poopless and 2) I won't know anybody. Oh yeah and there's no internet in heaven and no sex unless you make angel and then you only get to 'cleave unto' underage virgins without their permission, I think. Is that what they taught me in Sunday school? It's dim now but I remember it sounding awful. Mary, right? Maria? And then there's a gay kid who becomes a delinquent and is killed by the cops or the authorities for kissing some other guy in a park, I think. Help me here. And then there were 'christian soldiers' marching onward (?) which seemed odd and some valley with shadows and Death. I remember the Death and Pastor Lusky thundering down from the pulpit about Hell and looking right at me one surprisingly HOT Easter as I sat shy and terrified and sweating in my brand new WOOL suit (really), a full body 'hair suit' that any illuminati would have been proud to wear, and knew instinctively that Hell had nothing on what I was experiencing right at that moment and I was transfigured. Was that my 7th or 8th year on planet? Anyway, lucky for me, Pavlov was right about aversive conditioning and every time afterward that anyone mentioned Heysoos, the memory of that eternal hour in church on Easter with an angry Pastor pinning me to my pew with his angry eyes came back in all of its ecstasy of silent and paralyzed and agonized itching over all of my little body and I ran as fast as I could the other way. Who knew I was allergic to wool? Especially sweaty wool. As I say, lucky for me. It's odd the weird things in life that do one the most good. Must've been "meant to happen at that time".
SHUT YER YAP
that is a really bad argument you made to brett...i dont think that you had one fact right in your whole comment.......
1.) church and state wasn't seperated till much later in American history so the founding fathers didnt get much of a say in it
2.)everyone owned slaves at the time, believers and non believers, we view it as bad now but they viewed it as customary it was just there way of life, was it wrong...yes, was it because of god...no
3.)yes some Colonists probably did have sex with the natives. but that dosent mean every single colonists was sleeping around, plus even when it did happen cheating also wasn't that serious of a crime back then either, women had very little rights and it wasn't unusual for men in that century to have sex with other women
and 4.) reiterating my point from before. people with beliefs are not delusional they are believers, your a believer too, just of somthing different, you dont know what happenes after death and neither do we, so you telling us we are wrong is truly delusional because you dont know what the answer is.
What a bunch of clinging yabahos! There are 7 billion people on the planet now - which means 7 billion unique belief systems are in play. Keep your own belief system to yourself, whatever it may be, rather than constantly seeking to publicly ram it all up someone else's resistant rectum, and the rest of the world will stop viewing you as both hapless and delusional...
It is very fortunate that they were strong Christians because strong Muslims and others can't find and return things. Also Katrina was caused because New Orleans didn't throw enough virgins into the swamp, but that may have been a logistic problem.
dudogger shut the hell up. Your on here bitching about how we state our beliefs but here you are throwing yours out and ramming it down OUR throats that you think we are hapless and delusional. unlike dicks like you, most of the world and its unbelievers respect religous people. i respect non believers and that is all i ask of them. so please do us a favor and keep YOUR BELIEFS to yourself.
To all who do not believe in GOD that have posted comments against believers. Why did you come here and have to ruin a beautiful story of the reunion of a long lost family heirloom with the family that it was intended to be handed down to just because the people in the story believe in GOD. Then after your remarks others who believe in GOD do have to stand up for our beliefs. what ever happened to ( if you don't like it don't read it ) but instead you have to use your word to offend others who are happy to be reading a good story. Believe me as you know there is allot of awful news out there that you can be using your words and wisdom wisely and not just to hurt or make others feel awful. Do remember the families in this article are very happy and proud that this article was written and are online looking to read it and what did you actually get out of possibly ruining a great moment for them. You are no greater than any oft the people you are commenting about on these and other Blogs and should be ashamed that you are wasting your time offending good people. Use your wisdom wisely. use it where appropriate. just not here. May GOD bless the families that this article was written about and the one who wrote the article as well. now let us enjoy it. PLEASE
Thank You
well said holy dozen
There are no coincidences. OF COURSE there are things called coincidences. and thats all thaey are. I mean if the guy that found the ring was a relative of hers, or if the owners family lived just next door, that would be pretty amazing. what exactly is the coincidence in this story ? that somebody found a ring, and was able to return it ?? come on, thats called life.
@shut yer yap
To answer your questions. We have free will.
If you have 2 children and one kills the other. Do you kill the one who just murdered the other as punishment? Even if it "repents" and is sorry and comes back to your loving arms. Begging for your mercy.
Know that all man is fallen and is deceived to think right is wrong and wrong is right. Some even use their free will to sway other people to think wrong things are right. They know not what they do, they follow popular belief.
You mention holy wars. People died, so many people hold grudges over it. What good did it serve?
Some people use free will to invent their own religion where god is a big bang and random events that created us. Easy to have a clear conscious when your just a bunch of meaningless atoms and nobody saw you do the bad deed. Survival of the fittest, right?
We all have lessons to learn and have a way to return to a just and loving God. God's salvation plan (Jesus). Enjoy your life and use your free will however you want. Remember that there is a God and father who yearns for you to open up to Him and seek him out.
By the way. You say, how can a loving and just God allow murder and sin to run rampant in this world. I will answer that. If He came to judge one fallen man, He would judge all. Anything that is not holy would be destroyed. Every lust, every hate, every theft... Even you in your blasphemy would be wiped from this earth. I for one am glad he has endured our sin for so long. So many lost in the world still need to be saved from it. Through God's own suffering of sin for you, a punishment He endured for you, if only you accept it.
May God bless the brother in Christ who returned this ring and thank you MSNBC for airing this news post. It was refreshing.
will
Nice story, but honestly, I don't think God had anything to do with it. A treasure hunter finds an engraved gold ring. He returns it to its owner (or surviving next of kin). Heartwarming, but supernaturally driven? Not so much.
Yeah, this god can't save babies from rape and murder, but sure as heck can return a ring!!!!!!
Yea pretty much. Faith does that to you though. You either become delusional or you already were and now you have an outlet for that part of your psyche.
Gwendolyn, the problem doesn't lie with God on this issue, He gave man freedom of choice, as He didn't want to force us to choose Him, He wanted us to desire to choose Him. Evil has been in the world since Adam & Eve, that's when they made the choice to eat from the Tree of Knowledge... People make choices to rape and murder, it wasn't God's initial plan.
Tree of knowledge? Really...Not sure that tree had much knowledge based on what mankind is doing at this time...
Diving in Hawaii once (1971), near the blow hole on Oahu, I found a mans wedding band in about 30 feet of water. It "blinged" when I went over it, and again when I backed up. Dove down, and it was encrusted (actually being held in place) by coral. Up for air and back down, managed to break it free. Big mans ring, for sure with an inscription '5-23-62'. Guess things maybe didn't work out and he tossed it? Ended up scrapping it finally for about $100 a couple years ago. I know when I saw the initial "bling", I thought I had located some serious treasure.
Gwendolyn, God gives people freedom to make their own choices. He has given every person on Earth to decide right from wrong. He does not control people, instead he encourages however it's up to you to decide which road to take. If you want to steal or kill then that's your decision. If you want to do good then that's your choice. but I do believe Christains do have an extra connection to the Lord because they are saved and want to follow God's word.
"they made the choice to eat from the tree of knowledge"
Perfect example of what I mean, delusional.
Oh Ye of Little Faith.
Oh Ye of Little Faith.
Jerry...Good one!!!!
God works in mysterious ways.
You cannot change whacked.
i don't want to be in you shoes on judgement day!
buster - your god did NOT give me anything. My freedom to make choices was bestowed upon me by my parents and the fact that as an American, we have choices. (Republicans try to remove these choices for women)
My desire to do right or wrong comes from my humanist desire to be fair and just to my fellow mankind. Who needs a phony god for that? In fact, I'd rather be around people who believe like me than someone who's just trying to be good because their 'god' told them to do it in some cryptic bible passage.
And, there's always the 'inconvenient' fact that religion is the biggest driving factor in global death and suffering. Catholics VS protestants, jews VS palestinians, @!$%#e VS sunni, etc.
In short, your god(s) 'ain't there'. Look within yourself for peace.
Charles H: There is no such thing as Judgement Day. God is a loving being who does not judge. Happy I could clear that up for you.
No, it's Catholics versus everybody else.
Beau,
I will have to give you the "dipstick award" of the day for trying to turn a story about returning a found ring into an opportunity to make a political statement bashing Republicans.
Please congratulate yourself on your self-appointed intellectual superiority.
Funny how unbelievers are always quick to use a feel-good story into an opportunity to bash God. It must suck to be a hater. Me, I'd rather live believing there is a God and die and find out He doesn't exist, than to live believing there's no God and die only to find out He's real. If the first scenario is true, then I would've lost nothing because there was nothing to lose or gain to begin with, BUT...if the second scenrio is true then I would've lost EVERYTHING. If you're willing to bet on eternity, that's your choice, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). If you want to call me a fool for believing, that's OK because God says you're the fool for not believing (Psalms 14:1)
I would believe this entity had something to do with it ONLY IF this guy can definitively prove that BEFORE he went metal hunting at this particular location, his god either wrote or told him where to find the "1929 graduation ring of Lourice Hearst", at which point he tells his wife, friends and/or family this, then AFTERWARDS he finds this ring in the very location this god sent him to look.
Let's face it, it was is purely coincidental wheras he has a higher chance of finding a beer can tab than a long lost graduation ring. Every once in a while those who use metal dectors will have a hit, but it's not because an entity is out there having fun removing valuables from people so people like him can find them, its because the people were either careless or something broke (like a clasp or strap). If he were to go out to Nellis AFB golf course and searched long enough, he might find my diamond egagement ring that fell out of my pocket while playing there over 10 years ago :o)
Grandkid will give it to his grandkid who will gives it to their kid who finds zero value in a graduation ring of a great grandmother they never met, who graduated a school that no longer exists, and will trade it for cash at one of those gold kiosks in the mall.
Michael,
That is what is commonly known as living in fear.
Fear is the only thing that religion has, to hold onto people. They use it unabashadley to make money off of fools like yourself.
And like most RNJ's you ONLY believe out of fear....!
It's funny how an omnipotent God (at least according to his followers) is able to give man freedom of choice. When man does bad things by choice, according to one poster above, "it wasn't part of the plan". Hmmm... why then wouldn't the Omnipotent One then "correct" the plan with a wave of his hand (or magic wand or nose wiggle) and put everything to rights? Perhaps he is too busy following the Kardashians on Twitter. Maybe that might explain why he's unavailable to save 230,000 innocent men, women and children from death by tsunami... or earthquake...fire...falling off a horse and being paralyzed... etc, etc. Pretty shoddy attention to detail, for sure.
I'm glad that a happy coincidence brought the ring back to it's owner's family.
wow... you're an angry little man beau. i believe and this is my OPINION that GREED of power and or $ is the biggest factor in global misery and death.
Kind of stunning how many sad, pitiful people there are in the world that someone else's simple faith in supernatural intervention in a situation or the influence of a god in an event scares and/or provokes them to try desperately to prove it's not true. It appears at the casual glance that the fear lies in those who feel they absolutely have to stomp on anyone's reference to or belief in a deity out of...what? Fear that it might be true and they could be wrong? The idea that there is a being who defines right and wrong, and they aren't it? The possibility that there may be someone in the universe who is more powerful or knows more than they do? Not sure what it is, but it sure is peculiar...
what does it matter if he believes in god the way he does, if it brings him peace and he uses it in a peaceful and productive way, its not a bad thing. by ridiculing their beliefs arent u becoming the very thing u claim to hate? someone who uses their own beliefs to look down on someone else who doesnt believe the same way? thats how those religious wars, killing in the name of a god, genocide, etc etc etc starts. its not the belief in a god, its what you do with it.
Spry Lynnx,
Louise & 1923... And to all of you who believe in God that is good... To all of you who don't, why do you bash them that do?... What does it hurt for them to believe in a God that does good and helps them and directs them?... You believe your way and let live and they believe their way and let live... You believe when you die you probably turn to dirt and that's it they believe in a beautiful here after... So where in does the real problem sit?
medic 400, thats why its called mans freedom of choice.i think you need to stop following whoever on twitter.
Gwendolyn , GOD does save them
BEAU BENNETT, I pray you will one day find God before it's too late. Trust me my friend, your life is much better with him in it.
rach-3633810 "Tree of Knowledge"?? Dang, and all this time I've been wracking my brain in college over books and a computer screen. Gimme some of that fruit and save me a ton of time and money!!
Seriously though, a nice "feel good" story in a time where the news rarely has anything good to say. Whether or not it was spiritually driven but it was spiritually motivated. And no matter what your religious beliefs, it is still nice to hear from time to time.
Why not just contact the company that made the ring (there were only three at the time) I (we) do this all the time.
It takes me about five or ten minutes to find an owner. I am sure most times it would take much longer to find someone honest enough to want to return a gold ring. God did not do this. You did. It will make God proud to have you as one of the family.
Think about what the "old folks" used to say: "I'd rather live my life like there is a God, and die to find out that there isn't, than to live my life that there is none, and find out there is". But, please allow me to give you a few facts about the Bible, the word of our Lord and Savior:
It contains 66 books; written by 40 different authors; over 1500 years; in 3 different languages; in 3 different continents with not one historal error or contradiction. This should be pretty significant proof that it could only be done by our Lord.
I was driving on Cape cod late in the summer ,after Labor Day, and I was looking for a beach to use my metal detector on. I was in an unfamiliar area near Wellfleet and I saw a "Beach" sign with an arrow. Bear in mind that "The Cape" is all beach and this was one I had never been to before. Anyay, the beach was quite deserted in the late afternoon with only one other car in the parking area .I started detecting and no one was in sight until after moving down the beach and around a small cove I saw a group of ladies a couple of hundred yards further on down the beach. My first thought was that they must own the car at the parking lot. I continued toward the group and as I approached one of the ladies came toward me while all the other ladies were busy looking in the sand for something. The lady asked if I could help them find their key to the car. They had been looking for over an hour and had been praying to for "GOD" to help them.Well the keys were found quickly and they couldn't thank me enough.... Yes, they were a group "NUNS" on vacation.... You can believe it or not, but it has remained with me over the years that, yes there was a reason I was wandering around looking for a strange beach. And, yes, there was a reason for everything that I did that day .This is for those of so little faith.....Kayak
I like these mini faith/religion debates but they never really get anywhere. Nonbelievers look for answers and reasons to believe in a higher being and the faithful are just that, faithful. There simply aren't any true answers for nonbelievers because if there was, this discussion would never happen.
For instance, Christians believe in miracles. Diseases get cured, peoples lives get saved in one way or another, people can suddenly walk again, or what ever it might be. You get the idea. Now I pose this question. Has an amputee ever had a "miracle?" Surely a Christian amputee has prayed that he would get his arm or leg back. Has that ever happened? Does God not like amputees?
Kayak, Those types of things happen on a daily basis. Hardly a reason to put faith in any type of god. If you don't believe me. I can point you in a direction that will give you enough reading material to last a long while.
I think it was the Great Pumpkin that did it.
The Great Pumpkin also gave Tebow a touchdown.
The Great Pumpkin is not like your Christian God..Creating contradicting forces and kickin' back with a box of popcorn and a remote, watching them tear each other apart and kill Earth....
Pray to the Great Pumpkin. He also makes a tasty pie.
Have a nice day.
cajungrannie, the bible is full of historical errors and contradictions. What planet are you living on?
Sometimes, the Almighty or those close to Him give you a little pep at just the right time. Who am *I* to question whether it was divine providence or not? Regardless...it really was quite beautiful.
You know, non-christians never find anything or if they do they don't make any effort to return them to their owner. Or, if they do try, they are thwarted at every turn in trying to find the owner.
Little narrow minded aren't you?
In what way?
They NEVER find anything EXCEPT of course when they do!!!??? Whatever...LOL. Love it when people contradict there own arguments. Saves time! :)
Ed- I'm fairly certain he was being sarcastic.
Richard, can you show me any proof backing what you just said??
Richard, narrow minded in that you say that non-christians never find anything or that if they do, they don't made an effort to find the owner or are thwarted at ever turn trying to find the owner. That is very un-christian of you to say.
Wow! Where did you read that? I read the article twice, never saw any place where he said that about anyone. When people like you put words into others' mouths it is always to make it seem as if you are being attacked for what you do or don't believe, problem is, more often than not it is your backhanded way of attacking what they believe. This is just a story about a man who believes because he asked God for help finding the owner of the ring's family he received the guidance and found them. How is anything he said an attack on you? You're not a victim, you're a bully, trying to bully those who don't believe what you believe. Get over it.
Well said. as for the others, it is easier to ignore idiots. It saves time, and they will never learn no matter what you say.
Abe Lincoln was an atheist.
" http://atheistempire.com/greatminds/quotes.php?author=6 "
Am I the only one who realizes that Richard is not Christian nor a believer? He is using sarcasm to say that " non-christians never find anything or if they do they don't make any effort to return them to their owner", this is how Christians feel.
I am a believer, and I respect your right to believe what you do or don't, and I expect the same respect in return. That said, many of the so called "Christians" sit around condemning others for their beliefs or disbelief but many of the Atheist are exactly the same way, condemning those who believe, fact is what ever someone else believes is not your business and if it offends you then that is your ego talking not your intelligence. Your over inflated ego is what makes you believe you're right and everyone not like you is wrong. Learn to accept others and make room in your hearts for them, you may find your life enriched beyond measure for it. I have Atheist and Christian friends and love them for who they are, believers or not doesn't matter.
The thing that troubles me her grandson is 75 did the math he was born in 1936 only 13 years after the date on the ring . Is this the grandson or the son ? Typo???
Mercury - On what planet do you spend most of your time? What a pantload!!
(with sincere thanks to Barney Frank)
It's a nice bit of news. He found the ring, researched it and returned it to the owner's family. Whether or not Divine Guidance was involved is up to the individual reader. The religious content here is small and certainly not worth all the heated argument. It's a ring, folks, not the True Cross.
JEM,
Did you know he was Tall, White, Wore a Beard, and oh my gosh, he was a cough, cough, Republican!!!! The Sky is going to FALL!!! Help Us Mr. WIZARD!!!!
Do none of you get sarcasm when you read it?
You can't even compare a modern day republican to an Abe Lincoln Republican...Republican's back then had a whoooollllee different set of morals & values than today's bought off republicans do. Not all of the repubs today are corrupt, but the majority (a very large majority) of the ones in a power position are...
and the reason us 'non-believers' get into arguments more often with the religious sect is simple...they try to portray their beliefs as 'better' and 'the morally correct way'. Its always been like this. Up until recently 'non-believers' would've been cast as a demon of society, now that we have the ability to choose our beliefs (or non beliefs w.e), we voice our opinions. And some (on BOTH SIDES) take it too far...
Either way it was nice of the guy to do that...
Thanks, Richard - unlike the rest of these lip-flapping goobers, your distinct tongue-in-cheek intent was not lost on me in the least. Well-put!
This is exactly why the right-wing is so devoid of satire...
To Richard-1439774:
Wow, were you born this shallow or is it your "Christian" faith that makes you this way!
It's called sarcasm, read it again, you'll figure it out.
It's called sarcasm, read it again, you'll figure it out.
It's called sarcasm, read it again, you'll figure it out.
It's called sarcasm, read it again, you'll figure it out.
Lol sry, the spam filter apparently posted my reply several times...
I just thought you were trying to push your point home about it being sarcasm...
People who don't catch or comprehend sarcasm really miss an awful lot of life as it whizzes by over their little pin-heads...
I disagree, Bruman. God absolutely had something to do with it, or Banjanin would've never found Entzminger at all.
See i dont get it, god made us to make our own decisions why would he have something to do with this, it seems to me he was a nice guy and put effort to find the family. Not like anyone can prove god anything to do with it. Just stick with faith they say, coming from a book corrupted and twisted by man to suit them selves. richard: wtf....see tree hugger's comment dumb ass. Great story though! we do need more people like him.
God sure has a lot of time to micromanage the ever loving sh** out of this little dustball. You'd think he'd be busy watercoloring quasars or something. But nope, he sends rings to people. Amazing. Maybe this is the ring that will rule them all.
I'm pretty sure the person that engraved her name into the ring, and the internet had WAY more to do with it than God.
This is what cracks me up about ultra religious people. All the scientific methods he used are listed right there. Searching the internet for records (he even listed the findagrave.com website) and knowing the person's name from the engraving are why he found her grandson. There was no magical invisible man helping.
"Must have the precious. . ."
Nice story.
I believe that the ghost of the woman wanted the ring so she seduced the Flying Spaghetti Monster and He made this happen.
Perhaps the woman's spirit was giving her relative a message.
The fact that he BELIEVED there was a connection, is what drove him to go that extra mile and find this woman's relative, otherwise, he would have thrown it in a drawer like 98 per cent of the population would have done. I say it's a very good thing that he acts on his beliefs. It what makes this a better world.
Yes until his faith is that god tells him to judge people, maybe even punish or kill them.
But you must respect the faith of people I suppose.
It's not true faith that leads to war, judgments, and abuse of those who not of the same belief system, it's human ego. Those who lay those acts at the feet of true faith are copping out and looking for excuses for their behavior. True Christians know that they are to love the sinner and hate the sin. God didn't go on an extended vacation and ask anyone to cover for him, so those that run around condemning others are only condemning theirselves.
Faith allows people to believe in things with no rational justification.
You are referring to your interpretation of Christian faith, but we must respect all interpretations of Christian faith, including militant ones. If you say no we do not have to respect all then you will state a reason why. But faith is beyond reason.
Who's being judgemental on this thread? You Atheists are. which is about all you seem to do. Now there you go making me be judgemental about you. You want Christians to respect your beliefs then STFU and respect theirs. No law says you have to agree with us but nothing in our faith says we have to put up with your disrespect either. You want to pass judgement on us fine but since you are not Cesar or God your judgement is about as meaningless as your opinion.
I am not an atheist.
At any rate I do not expect you to respect any belief of mine that I cannot rationally justify.
You however seem to think that a persons beliefs deserve respect even if they are totally irrational, because they are a matter of "faith."
If I see a dangerous lie, i.e. religion, I will call it a dangerous lie.
Oh @!$%#!! WE made YOU judgemental.. you pompous little @!$%#. No one made you do anything. That's the point. YOU choose how YOU will behave, not your Gigantic Invisible F
riend. Take ownership of your own actions, and maybe someone will take you idiots seriously!!
Thanks PT - I wholeheartedly agree. Doesn't matter what others think of this man's beliefs - they are HIS beliefs. It's that simple. And he acted on them. And a very good thing came out of those actions. It is a wonderful story about someone going out of their way for a total stranger. He sounds like an honest, honorable man who did something for no other reason other than it was the right thing to do. I see no reason to turn this story into another screaming, no win series of comments debating why or how this happened. It simply did, and I for one am glad there are still folks out there like Mr. Banjanin.
Jean and Dave it cuts both ways. You think faith is a lie and that there can be no God because you can't see him. You can't see oxygen either but it is proven to exist. 200 years ago you would have been laughed at by scientists for suggesting it. There is no empirical evidence that God exists because you can't come up with a test for it yet but I challenge you based on your own pseudo-scientific know it all blather to prove that God don't exist. None of this crap about giant invisible friends or spaghetti monsters but pure indisputable scientific proof that there is no God. Prove us believers how you are so much smarter than all the billions of believers from every corner of the human race that came before you.
Tea Earl Grey, heres you proof I am god and Im here to tell you that there is no god.There I said it , it feels good to get that off my chest.
I do agree with the finder of this ring. It was all God who helped this come about. This story brought tears to my eyes. Gold prices are up and this man could have made a nice profit but instead made a friend, learned some history, and returned a lost treasure. He pleased God and hit the jackpot of all!
Not sure why it bothers some people when people express that they are Christians. It is a nice story, but honestly I think Bruman-2766805 likes to have 'proof' of everything. I like to call them God Winks. You can call it coincidence. Either way....it is divine.
I'm a christain and a firm believer in finders - keepers.
I find your wallet. You will get it back with everything inside minus the cash.
A gold ring? Cha Ching! We are going straight to the "we buy and sell gold" shop.
Steve L. your a dip@!$%#! I'm sure your parents would be very proud!
You wouldn't be a firm believer it you lost your wallet will everthing you had in it now would ya douche rocket hahaha !!!
I have found several things and returned them to families.... (1) An 1863 Bible I bought in 1964 ( I was 16) the family was in N.C. originally but ended up in Oklahoma. (2) A pictire album form the 1920,s with tin type in it.... found family in Illinois and 2 of the children that were in the album were still alive at the ages of 87 and 94. (3) A frind gave me a box she had found and it had a Purple Heart and a letter., with a few other items... I found the nephew and sent it to him . He lived only 65 miles away in Missouri...... It makes one feel so good to get lost items back to the original families..... This was a great story.
I don't understand why this had to become a discussion on religion. It is a nice story, and if this genleman wants to believe that he was assisted by his Deity then let him. Last time I checked there is freedom of religion in this country. But I guess since we have freedom of speech also, then you are all free to say what you will.
I concur Alan.
Great post Alan. i was thinking the same thing. Thanks
Thank you Alan! People get so uptight if someone says they believe something happened for a spiritual reason and the person listening to the story doesn't believe in God. I personally don't and I married into a HUGE family who is very religious and when they say something along the lines of "Thank God for this" or "God was keeping an eye on me that day" I don't bristle up and tell them they're wrong. I'm glad that they had a good experience because they're family and I'm happy when things go right for the people I hold dear. Why can't everyone just take a deep breath and be happy that someone still took the time to try and do something nice for someone else?
@Richard 1439774
Richard, or Dick, if I may. I've found two wedding rings (among countless other items) in my time and both were returned to their rightful owners. One belonged to a woman and was worth over $4000 dollars. I had every opportunity to do the wrong thing and keep it for my own profit. Even though I am "non-christian" I did the right thing and returned the ring. I've been a fine upstanding person my whole life in part because I was raised right by my parents. They instilled good morals and taught me to be caring. I've also decided myself to be a good person, since in fact it is my choice in the end.
How very "Christian" of you to talk down at those who are not as devout as thou. . . .
Kadams...Love your response...Hits the nail on the head.
Perfect. Modern Christians display an astonishing self-righteousness.
It is nice to see that there are believer's in faith, and not afarid to post it.
Great discover, and tenacious efforts, always lead into happy endings.
I though Asian massage and a $20 tip was all it took.
It always amazes me how much energy people put in to denouce a God.
I'm still not sure if I believe in God or not, but I don't need to scream every time that "there is no God", it is almost like you are trying to convince yourselves that there isn't, if you believe he doesn't exsist then why are you so afraid of him that you feel the need to always post "there's no God"
jeesh... The more you scream there is no god, the more I start thinking there is.
He's a strong believer of Christianity for two years. But after that, the statute of limitations runs out and he's back to being a pagan.
I believe that the ghost of the woman wanted the ring so she seduced the Flying Spaghetti Monster and He made this happen.
Now that's freakin' funny!
R'amen thou Pastafarians!
I believe that there is such a thing as "divine intervention." However, we are told in the good book that we will not know the means or meanings of many things until we are with Him. I'm very, very sorrowful about the evil that is done in this world, but just for now can't we be happy for a family who has a small momento of someone they lost long ago?
Hey why you all cuttin on God? Some of you must think that your the allmighty and can answer all that is or isn't of God's will!!!
What a great story. These are the stories that help restore bit of my faith in humanity.
Neat story. As far as was it GOD was it not GOD who cares cant we just read the story and think cool what a nice guy or wow to find something that small in a body of water amazing really people grow up show some consideration for people and there beliefs or non beliefs.
Seems that no simple story can be taken for what it is, just a neat story, without turning it into a some deep discussion (having nothing to do with anything) and leaving it at that. If the guy thinks it happened thru devine providence, so be it. Same if it came to him in a dream he was having about Howdy Doody. Isn't there anyone out there who can figure out a way to bring politics into this discussion?