By Rob R
The following is a response to the first part of Masoni's post, titled “The Appeal of Religion." I have written two responses to him before on The Barb Wire, but those topics also stood alone as independent treatments of those topics and did not require a reading of his posts. This one is not so independent, so to get the fuller context of what I'm responding to might require a reading of his post here.
I don't know that I will always post a blog topic here in response to all of Masoni's posts in his series on "The Appeal of Religion." It's just that this was a long response by me and I'd have to split it up since Masoni's blog is allowing only 4000 characters.
The idea of security or hope is indeed an important part of religion and specifically Christianity. The presence of hope demonstrates an epistemic virtue of religion. This was highlighted by Pascal's Wager. [ed. note by Barb to those who've never heard of Pascal: Pascal is the philosopher who suggested there is a wager or gamble involved in belief vs unbelief. He concluded life lived with faith is meaningful and profitable and HOPEFUL even if the faith turns out to not be based in fact --whereas a life lived as an atheist may turn out fine in this life but will be horrible beyond the grave, if Christianity is true. In other words, if atheists are right, neither side loses; but if Christianity is true, the atheist loses everything.]
Granted Pascal's wager has its limits as it doesn't tell us why one should become a Christian and not a Muslim. But this is not a problem if we know its place, and for other religions, we'd have different considerations.
So if Christianity is true and one follows Jesus, then he has gained everything, but if atheistic materialism* is true and there is no afterlife, little is lost. But atheists say that a full and rich life is lost to one of superstition and religious chains. The thing is, that claim is not consistent with the experience of many including myself. I've known unethical and/or unhappy atheists or secularists who live with little to no regard for religion who lived terrible lives and I've known exceedingly happy Christians. I myself am content, though I know I've got some ways to go. The fact that there are miserable and evil Christians whose shallow or distorted religion only makes their lives worse, and ethical and relatively happy atheists, is beside the point. The point is that it isn't consistently true that atheism leads to worthwhile living and Christianity doesn't.
In short, the atheist objection doesn't work, as it is one that is rooted in a non-universal subjective claim.
Pascal's wager may be construed as an argument demonstrating that when considering two views, even if the one that gives the least hope may be more likely to be true, it is still better to hold the view that gives more hope.
Now there is another problem with Pascal's Wager, however, and this also translates to a problem with Masoni's theory on the development of religion. Pascal's Wager, like much of modern Christianity, may emphasize life after death to the point where Christianity becomes a death cult where the whole focus is on what happens after death and apart from this world.
To demonstrate how wrong this is, we need to look at the historical development of the doctrine of life after death.
To many people's surprise, most of the Old Testament does not clearly teach life after death and, in fact, demonstrates that the ancient Jews did not think there was much of a life after death. They spoke of Sheol, but that was barely an existence, if at all.
Some examples are as follows:
The dead do not praise God,
5 No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave (psalm 6:5)
10 I said, "In the prime of my life
must I go through the gates of death [a]
and be robbed of the rest of my years?"
11 I said, "I will not again see the LORD,
the LORD, in the land of the living;
no longer will I look on mankind,
or be with those who now dwell in this world...
18 For the grave [c] cannot praise you,
death cannot sing your praise;
those who go down to the pit
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living—they praise you,
as I am doing today;
fathers tell their children
about your faithfulness. (Isaiah 38)
The dead pretty much don't do anything:
5 For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, [c] where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. (Ecclesiastes 9)
So the ancient Jews mostly did not look forward to life after death. What they hoped for were blessings in this life and immortality through their children and a good name that would be remembered.
So why did they give a hoot about God and their religion? Because God was active in their history in explicit ways. God provided them with blessings and warned them that their unfaithfulness would lead to curses, and because their identity was based on their membership in Yahweh's people.
It was a few of the later prophets, particularly Daniel, who started to speak of life after death and resurrection in particular.
So what were these reasons for life after death? Just living forever is actually not a very high one. One reason was because they believed that the nature of God's love was so intense that he would preserve them after death. Specifically the view of bodily resurrection actually arose in part because of one of the reasons for believing that there wasn't life after death. That is the goodness of God's creation. The creation wasn't something to be escaped as some Christians today and ancient gnostics yesterday held. But the restoration of creation, of this world, is a part of the Jewish belief, and resurrection became a part of that expectation.
Another reason for resurrection that arose during the intertestamental period was vindication for someone who died a terrible and unjust death. As the tyrant Antiochus attempted to get the Jews to abandon their law by making them eat unclean food, he tortured 7 brothers to death, and their mother who witnessed this called out “[The] Creator of the world who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of the law.” (2 Macc 21-3)
Most relevant to the heart of Christianity, the heart of the gospel, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is not that He did so that we could live forever (an important implication, but not the central point). It implied many things God was showing us-- that Jesus was right in what he taught and that he is the Messiah who will bring God's Kingdom in fullness to this world. It was also showing us that through Jesus, God has begun to renew the created order.
Now Masoni proceeded to compare the relationship with God to an imaginary friend. I'm not confident in the comparison, knowing little about the psychology/sociology of imaginary friends. I didn't have one as a child and my sister had one which did not function in all of the god-like ways that Masoni's “vlad” functions. What we remember is that her imaginary friend, “Mousey” was her scape-goat, so when she was accused of something wrong, she'd reply, “My mousey did that.”
It's not uncommon for atheists to allege that God is like an imaginary friend or Santa Claus. The problem is that there are too many dissimilarities between imaginary friends and the Judeo-Christian God. Imaginary friends of children, as far as I know, may have magical powers, but they do not have God-like powers. But do they provide a source of meaning, of moral reckoning, with worth for individuals and communities? Are they attached to a history and plan for the redemption of the world? No.
God, like an imaginary friend, (and wind, the laws of physics, dark matter, the rules of logic and minds) is invisible. Of course an imaginary friend is personal, but those are about the only common features I see. Neither are they on the same epistemic footing as many atheists would like to imply. And I suspect that most children know on some level that their imaginary friend is imaginary. But the same cannot be said of belief in God. Even many atheists insist that once upon a time, they were real, sincere, genuine Christians when Calvinists say they weren't or when any other Christians suggest their faith just wasn't authentic enough to stave off disbelief.
Masoni notes that when he believed in God, he didn't really heed Him until he needed Him and it wasn't a daily consideration. But this doesn't display a problem with God. This is a matter of spiritual immaturity. It was noted that one would not hold to his Christian belief at a strip club or while cheating on a wife. These are instances of faithlessness and backsliding or just the fruits of a shallow faith. And unlike the imaginary friend, a Christian can't just pretend that God didn't see these things. If he could, there'd be no need for confession and repentence.
The bedroom in general was cited as a place where we wouldn't want God. The reality of our faith is actually different. God in the Old Testament actually mentioned that He didn't want the Jews mixing worship and sex like their pagan neighbors. But it isn't the case that God is not involved. Sex in the context of marriage is a Godly activity, but it is one where we are not focused on God but on the other person in our marriage... as God designed. This is why Paul suggested that couples abstain from sex for short periods so they may devote themselves to God on a greater level. But it was only to be short because sexuality is still an important part of Godly marriages.
The union of marriage, including the sexual relationship, is part of our design for what it means to be created in the image of God. This is why marriage is so sacred. The sacredness of marriage explains why the Old Testament prescribed extremely serious consequences for violating this relationship.
Some of Masoni's next criticisms have more to do with theological determinism and are thus not relevant for all of Christianity. It's not clear that God has a best exhaustive course of action for every detail of our lives as opposed to a range of good options for which we are free to pursue. Masoni asks the question: why should we bother praying when God already has everything worked out perfectly? Besides the consideration for some Christians that God doesn't have an exhaustive plan but rather has allowed his creatures to make plans as well, our prayer is an essential part of the point of just about everything, and that point is that God wants us to have a relationship with Him. Prayers of all kinds, including petitionary prayer, contribute to that relationship.
So if God answers petitionary prayer with an affirmative, He is then called an errand boy by Masoni. I don't see why this metaphor is the best one to describe this relationship. A better one is that God seeks to be our partner. This is not an equal partnership, but it is a partnership, nonetheless. God is hardly an errand boy when successful petitionary prayer often may require that we seek God's purposes in our situations.
Masoni goes on to suggest that when God changes a situation, before giving thanks, we should consider that God caused the situation to begin with. Again, this more consistently applies to the deterministic view of God. I've given an alternative view in my post ”Three Problems of Evil.”
* I include materialism because materialism brings with it the lack of an afterlife. Atheism could still be consistent with life or existence after death as in some forms of Buddhism.
Friday, June 26, 2009
The Church's Response to Obama's Gay Month Should be WHAT??
To a Pastor and his board by a friend of mine:
I pasted this directly off the White House website - [We] are wondering how the church should respond to a president that largely ignores the National Day of Prayer in May, while declaring LGBT pride month several weeks later.
Do we have a responsibility to inform the church body of these issues, as well as give leadership in how to confront the culture?
We are also greatly concerned about how these issues will affect the church and para-church organizations in the near future (ie. the Hate Crimes Bill, the Fairness Doctrine, etc.) if we choose to sit quietly by and do nothing.
Respectfully,
Dear President: We should laud the contributions of ALL Americans, not just those with abnormal sexual proclivities and diseases.
There is no good to come from such a declaration. They already are free to live in this unhealthy way; we ought not celebrate the lifestyle.
You think --as they want you to --that you are lauding THEM -that "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender is what they ARE." When, in fact, it's what they DO. And what they DO has determined what they ARE.
How on earth does "bi-sexuality" qualify as commendable? the idea that a person has found they can be intimate with both sexes? Is this something for youth to explore? It is becoming so --a fad for the teen girls to kiss on the lips --for the observation of the boys they REALLY want to attract.
The diseases of promiscuity are not less of a risk by declaring a month celebrating abnormal sexual appetites.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
I pasted this directly off the White House website - [We] are wondering how the church should respond to a president that largely ignores the National Day of Prayer in May, while declaring LGBT pride month several weeks later.
Do we have a responsibility to inform the church body of these issues, as well as give leadership in how to confront the culture?
We are also greatly concerned about how these issues will affect the church and para-church organizations in the near future (ie. the Hate Crimes Bill, the Fairness Doctrine, etc.) if we choose to sit quietly by and do nothing.
Respectfully,
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.
LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.
Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.
The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.
My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.
These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
BARACK OBAMA
Dear President: We should laud the contributions of ALL Americans, not just those with abnormal sexual proclivities and diseases.
There is no good to come from such a declaration. They already are free to live in this unhealthy way; we ought not celebrate the lifestyle.
You think --as they want you to --that you are lauding THEM -that "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender is what they ARE." When, in fact, it's what they DO. And what they DO has determined what they ARE.
How on earth does "bi-sexuality" qualify as commendable? the idea that a person has found they can be intimate with both sexes? Is this something for youth to explore? It is becoming so --a fad for the teen girls to kiss on the lips --for the observation of the boys they REALLY want to attract.
The diseases of promiscuity are not less of a risk by declaring a month celebrating abnormal sexual appetites.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Response to Blogger Candyly on N.C.'s Gov. Sanford
I wrote in previous blog about Canadian homosexuals wanting preferential healthcare for their unique problems:
How about embracing a healthier lifestyle, Folks? How much better if Obama would celebrate traditional nuclear families like his own! These are the ones we need more of --in order to be the mental health center for kids and adults --in order to produce children for the future.
No, his sin doesn't cancel out any other. Obviously Sanford would be hypocritical if he claimed to be strong for family values --as most GOP candidates do in order to get votes like mine.
I believe the Bible --where it says those who can't be trusted with small things can't be trusted with greater. In other words, if you can't be faithful to your wife and family, you lack the character traits for good leadership of a state or nation. That's why Newt probably doesn't have a chance to be GOP candidate for president. I'd vote for Huckabee or Romney first --even though I don't agree with Romney's religious theology.
There is conversion, however, but with a politician it may be difficult to recognize sincerity. Sanford may be a real Christian in his BELIEFS. Maybe "eternal security" belief about "once saved, always saved," would incline him to think he could get away with betraying his marrige vows and not pay an eternal consequence. For sure, if his wife forgives him, he is getting off easy. She needs to forgive him for her own sake--but by the Bible, she doesn't have to stay married to him. Adultery is grounds for divorce. God forgives adultery--if we are truly remorseful. But it's not easy to be truly remorseful over one's sin, once that sin has taken deep root in the mind/soul as a pleasure. Being sorry about getting caught isn't remorse. I felt this man might like to continue with the Venezuelan mistress. I didn't hear him say it was over. He should step down now --if a republican Lt. Gov exists to take his place. Had Clinton stepped down for Gore, Gore might have been president instead of GW Bush. Instead, the democrats looked bad to a majority, defending Clinton.
Chuck Colson is an example of one who truly converted --and would be trustworthy in any endeavor, I think. He heads Prison Fellowship, an international prison ministry --after coming to Christ as an adult. He'd be a good presidential candidate --except for age. I'm sure we have candidates of his calibre in the GOP, but I don't know who all they are. I know many, many moral men in positions of responsibility. I don't know why we have to elect rascals.
The difference between dems and GOP was brought out on a cable news show: Democrats don't make much claim to be moral or champion good morals, so they can slip and slide and stay in office as far as their voters are concerned--like Clinton-- and never be called hypocrites. After all, democrat adulterers live the way they believe, so there is no hypocrisy. GOP makes their values violators and hypocrites step down --at least until they can get another GOP in his place.
I've heard dems say, Well, "NOBODY is moral --everybody does it." but I'm sure you don't want to concede that about your husband, do you? It's not true of him, I dare say, raised as he was with Christian values --and it's not true of my husband either.
Qualification: we ARE all sinners and Jesus suggested all men are adulterers for having thought adulterous thoughts at times --making lustful observations at least --especially when women advertise their wares provocatively as in ever-present porn and immodest dress. Nevertheless, there are MANY MANY good Christian men who do not wallow in sinful thinking --who would never go to Venezuela to be with a mistress on Father's Day or any other.
Sanford never did say he had sinned against God --and he said more about letting his sons down --than about letting his wife down. He wept over letting down his Christian guy friends. His wife is probably so mad at him (for knowing what a jerk he has been for months, unable to give up an online girlfriend halfway around the world) that he feels less remorse for betraying her. He didn't cry about what he did to her. Those emails to the lover would be the last straw for most wives. So humiliating to a wife to have her husband salivating over someone else --and so publically!
It's a sorry mess.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
How about embracing a healthier lifestyle, Folks? How much better if Obama would celebrate traditional nuclear families like his own! These are the ones we need more of --in order to be the mental health center for kids and adults --in order to produce children for the future.
Blogger Candyly answered: Like ultra Conservative Family Values Governor Sanford? That's the way to do, apparently!
No, his sin doesn't cancel out any other. Obviously Sanford would be hypocritical if he claimed to be strong for family values --as most GOP candidates do in order to get votes like mine.
I believe the Bible --where it says those who can't be trusted with small things can't be trusted with greater. In other words, if you can't be faithful to your wife and family, you lack the character traits for good leadership of a state or nation. That's why Newt probably doesn't have a chance to be GOP candidate for president. I'd vote for Huckabee or Romney first --even though I don't agree with Romney's religious theology.
There is conversion, however, but with a politician it may be difficult to recognize sincerity. Sanford may be a real Christian in his BELIEFS. Maybe "eternal security" belief about "once saved, always saved," would incline him to think he could get away with betraying his marrige vows and not pay an eternal consequence. For sure, if his wife forgives him, he is getting off easy. She needs to forgive him for her own sake--but by the Bible, she doesn't have to stay married to him. Adultery is grounds for divorce. God forgives adultery--if we are truly remorseful. But it's not easy to be truly remorseful over one's sin, once that sin has taken deep root in the mind/soul as a pleasure. Being sorry about getting caught isn't remorse. I felt this man might like to continue with the Venezuelan mistress. I didn't hear him say it was over. He should step down now --if a republican Lt. Gov exists to take his place. Had Clinton stepped down for Gore, Gore might have been president instead of GW Bush. Instead, the democrats looked bad to a majority, defending Clinton.
Chuck Colson is an example of one who truly converted --and would be trustworthy in any endeavor, I think. He heads Prison Fellowship, an international prison ministry --after coming to Christ as an adult. He'd be a good presidential candidate --except for age. I'm sure we have candidates of his calibre in the GOP, but I don't know who all they are. I know many, many moral men in positions of responsibility. I don't know why we have to elect rascals.
The difference between dems and GOP was brought out on a cable news show: Democrats don't make much claim to be moral or champion good morals, so they can slip and slide and stay in office as far as their voters are concerned--like Clinton-- and never be called hypocrites. After all, democrat adulterers live the way they believe, so there is no hypocrisy. GOP makes their values violators and hypocrites step down --at least until they can get another GOP in his place.
I've heard dems say, Well, "NOBODY is moral --everybody does it." but I'm sure you don't want to concede that about your husband, do you? It's not true of him, I dare say, raised as he was with Christian values --and it's not true of my husband either.
Qualification: we ARE all sinners and Jesus suggested all men are adulterers for having thought adulterous thoughts at times --making lustful observations at least --especially when women advertise their wares provocatively as in ever-present porn and immodest dress. Nevertheless, there are MANY MANY good Christian men who do not wallow in sinful thinking --who would never go to Venezuela to be with a mistress on Father's Day or any other.
Sanford never did say he had sinned against God --and he said more about letting his sons down --than about letting his wife down. He wept over letting down his Christian guy friends. His wife is probably so mad at him (for knowing what a jerk he has been for months, unable to give up an online girlfriend halfway around the world) that he feels less remorse for betraying her. He didn't cry about what he did to her. Those emails to the lover would be the last straw for most wives. So humiliating to a wife to have her husband salivating over someone else --and so publically!
It's a sorry mess.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Obama's GLBT Pride Month --June--the Traditional Wedding Month
Well, he's done it. IN the last days, the Bible says, men will call good evil and evil, good. That's what it is to suggest by presidential proclamation, as Obama has done, that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders should be proud of their abnormal, unnatural, unhealthy, expensive, family destroying, self-sterilizing sexual proclivities.
Should I be proud to be obese? No. Should addicts of any kind be proud of their addictions? No. Should we have pride-parades for having sex with our own sex? with both sexes? for rejecting the normal, healthy sexual bodies we were given in order to have surgeries to try to fool ourselves and others into believing we are the opposite sex? Is there really such a thing as being "born in the wrong body" such that we should mutilate healthy, functioning bodies into something else? Is the gay lifestyle healthy? NO, NO, NO, NO, and NO.
Canadian homosexuals are currently protesting that they don't get preferential treatment in Canada's healthcare system. They say that certain ethnic groups with high incidence of certain ailments get some preferential care; why not the gays whose average lifespan is now said to be 55 --much lower than heterosexual males? The lesbians have more breast and other cancers; the gays (males) are subject to all sorts of diseases unique to their lifestyle. And suicide. Therefore, they think they should get extra helps. They also blame all their ills on straight society which doesn't approve their difference.
How about embracing a healthier lifestyle, Folks?
How much better if Obama would celebrate traditional nuclear families like his own! These are the ones we need more of --in order to be the mental health center for kids and adults --in order to produce children for the future.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Should I be proud to be obese? No. Should addicts of any kind be proud of their addictions? No. Should we have pride-parades for having sex with our own sex? with both sexes? for rejecting the normal, healthy sexual bodies we were given in order to have surgeries to try to fool ourselves and others into believing we are the opposite sex? Is there really such a thing as being "born in the wrong body" such that we should mutilate healthy, functioning bodies into something else? Is the gay lifestyle healthy? NO, NO, NO, NO, and NO.
Canadian homosexuals are currently protesting that they don't get preferential treatment in Canada's healthcare system. They say that certain ethnic groups with high incidence of certain ailments get some preferential care; why not the gays whose average lifespan is now said to be 55 --much lower than heterosexual males? The lesbians have more breast and other cancers; the gays (males) are subject to all sorts of diseases unique to their lifestyle. And suicide. Therefore, they think they should get extra helps. They also blame all their ills on straight society which doesn't approve their difference.
How about embracing a healthier lifestyle, Folks?
How much better if Obama would celebrate traditional nuclear families like his own! These are the ones we need more of --in order to be the mental health center for kids and adults --in order to produce children for the future.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Open Letter to Pastor Art Cribbs
Rev. Art Cribbs and Official Board
San Marino United Church of Christ
San Marino, California
Dear Rev. Cribbs, et al:
We saw you on the news today in opposition to Proposition 8, apologizing on behalf of all Christians everywhere who oppose gay marriage.
We know this is nothing remarkable for the UCC, as they have long had such a stand in favor of gay marriage. It is presumptuous of you, however, to apologize on behalf of ALL Christians in the Bible-believing, Bible-following churches which the UCC is not--when it comes to social issues.
Perhaps you are under the false impression that homosexuality is genetic, an untruth that has fueled the gay agenda for years. Now the American Psychological Ass’n. has reversed itself and admitted that there is no proof to date for a gay gene.
Surely you see that it just isn’t true that any two people who love each other should be allowed to marry. E.G. we have laws against incestuous relationships, bigamy and polygamy, pedophilia and so on. There are limits to sexual intimacy. NO limit on love –but on sex? Yes. For the public good we have many laws regarding sexual union, such as outlawing prostitution, statutory rape, marriage between close relatives. Pedophiles, incestors, rapists and adulterers also feel “compelled” to “love” whomever they please; but we have outlawed and at least discouraged (in the case of adultery) some couplings for the common good. No pride parades for ALL love relationships. Homosexuality is one of those unions which we should likewise not encourage by celebration.
NO one is saying any two people can’t “love.” In fact, it would be greater love if they didn’t draw potential straights into their affliction –but they do, enticing youth when they are most vulnerable and sexually volatile. Real love is not inevitably or necessarily sexual love. Your advocacy overlooks the fact that homosexuality is unnatural and typically quite promiscuous in the beginning, causing many STD infections and much expense to sustain their lives. It deprives us of children for the future of national security, social security, welfare. The fewer children we co-create and raise to be responsible, tax-paying, procreating, faithfully married citizens, the more difficult to sustain government help for all.
We need to be teaching parents how to raise kids with normal gender identity and attractions. It can be done. The broken home has contributed to the gender identity crisis in our country --along with Oprah and others promoting transgendering and movie stars and comedians promoting gay marriage –like Wanda Sykes and Ellen DeGeneres.
Gay advocacy is a path we should abandon –and not only because God says so but for common sense, public health, and for “the common good.”
Sincerely,
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
San Marino United Church of Christ
San Marino, California
Dear Rev. Cribbs, et al:
We saw you on the news today in opposition to Proposition 8, apologizing on behalf of all Christians everywhere who oppose gay marriage.
We know this is nothing remarkable for the UCC, as they have long had such a stand in favor of gay marriage. It is presumptuous of you, however, to apologize on behalf of ALL Christians in the Bible-believing, Bible-following churches which the UCC is not--when it comes to social issues.
Perhaps you are under the false impression that homosexuality is genetic, an untruth that has fueled the gay agenda for years. Now the American Psychological Ass’n. has reversed itself and admitted that there is no proof to date for a gay gene.
Surely you see that it just isn’t true that any two people who love each other should be allowed to marry. E.G. we have laws against incestuous relationships, bigamy and polygamy, pedophilia and so on. There are limits to sexual intimacy. NO limit on love –but on sex? Yes. For the public good we have many laws regarding sexual union, such as outlawing prostitution, statutory rape, marriage between close relatives. Pedophiles, incestors, rapists and adulterers also feel “compelled” to “love” whomever they please; but we have outlawed and at least discouraged (in the case of adultery) some couplings for the common good. No pride parades for ALL love relationships. Homosexuality is one of those unions which we should likewise not encourage by celebration.
NO one is saying any two people can’t “love.” In fact, it would be greater love if they didn’t draw potential straights into their affliction –but they do, enticing youth when they are most vulnerable and sexually volatile. Real love is not inevitably or necessarily sexual love. Your advocacy overlooks the fact that homosexuality is unnatural and typically quite promiscuous in the beginning, causing many STD infections and much expense to sustain their lives. It deprives us of children for the future of national security, social security, welfare. The fewer children we co-create and raise to be responsible, tax-paying, procreating, faithfully married citizens, the more difficult to sustain government help for all.
We need to be teaching parents how to raise kids with normal gender identity and attractions. It can be done. The broken home has contributed to the gender identity crisis in our country --along with Oprah and others promoting transgendering and movie stars and comedians promoting gay marriage –like Wanda Sykes and Ellen DeGeneres.
Gay advocacy is a path we should abandon –and not only because God says so but for common sense, public health, and for “the common good.”
Sincerely,
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
NO GAY GENE!
APA revises 'gay gene' theory
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 5/14/2009 6:30:00 AMBookmark and Share
The attempt to prove that homosexuality is determined biologically has been dealt a knockout punch. An American Psychological Association publication includes an admission that there's no homosexual "gene" -- meaning it's not likely that homosexuals are born that way.
For decades, the APA has not considered homosexuality a psychological disorder, while other professionals in the field consider it to be a "gender-identity" problem. But the new statement, which appears in a brochure called "Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality," states the following:
"There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles...."
That contrasts with the APA's statement in 1998: "There is considerable recent evidence to suggest that biology, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person's sexuality."
Peter LaBarbera, who heads Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, believes the more recent statement is an important admission because it undermines a popular theory.
"People need to understand that the 'gay gene' theory has been one of the biggest propaganda boons of the homosexual movement over the last 10 [or] 15 years," he points out. "Studies show that if people think that people are born homosexual they're much less likely to resist the gay agenda."
Matt Barber with Liberty Counsel feels the pronouncement may have something to do with saving face. "Well, I think here the American Psychological Association is finally trying to restore some credibility that they've lost over the years by having become a clearly political organization as opposed to an objective, scientific organization," he states. (Hear audio report)
With the new information from the APA, Barber wonders if the organization will admit that homosexuals who want to change can change.
Matt Barber"It's irrefutable from a medical standpoint that people can leave the homosexual lifestyle," he argues. "Homosexuality is defined by behavior. Untold thousands of people have found freedom from that lifestyle through either reparative therapy or through -- frankly, most effectively -- a relationship with Jesus Christ."
LaBarbera agrees. "Change through Christ is possible -- and it's one of the most heartwarming aspects of the whole gay debate," he shares. "Many men and women have come out of homosexuality, mostly through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The fact that these professional organizations will not study that, will not acknowledge that, shows how 'in the tank' they are for the homosexual movement."
LaBarbera stresses that even though elites will not recognize the change, that does not mean the change does not exist. In fact, both Barber and LaBarbera believe that God changes people through Christ -- regardless of the sin.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Even Darwinists Doubt Latest "Missing Link" -- from OneNewsNow
Even Darwinists doubt latest 'missing link'
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 6/3/2009 6:40:00 AMBookmark and Share
A spokesman for the Discovery Institute says the alleged "missing link" find is nothing new.
Missing link Discovery Institute senior fellow John West says the recent fossil hailed as the missing link between humans and primates is nothing more than "hype." The fossil known as "Ida" was recently unveiled during a press conference in conjunction with a book, website, and a documentary that aired on The History Channel. (See earlier story and picture of "Ida")
According to a Sky News report, the fossil find debunks creationism and brings the need for religion into question. But West questions the find.
"And it's interesting if you actually look, many evolutionists themselves are saying that this was just hype," he contends. "Because in fact, evolutionists themselves cannot agree on what this is supposed to be a missing link to."
West says it seems like every year advocates of Darwinism come out with a new "missing link" that they claim settles the debate. But then when they take a closer look at the evidence, they start to backpedal. He claims that happened a few years ago with a fossil named "Tiktaalik" that evolutionists believed was a transitional species between fish and land creatures.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Johnny Hart Cartoon Collection--I Did it HIS Way
My husband just picked up a new cartoon book titled I Did It HIS Way by Johnny Hart --creator of the BC and Wizard of Id comics -- syndicated in 1000 papers. (Of course, we are reminded of the contrast with Frank Sinatra's I Did it MY Way.)
Hart started his career at age 27 --and became a Christian at 56 because his tv serviceman and son were Christians who tested his set with Christian programming and he got interested. He had been drinking way too much and subject to depression --until after he moved to the town of
You might be amused that two of his girl characters are called "Cute Chick" and "Fat Broad." Fat Broad is always giving the serpent (Satan's symbol) a hard time.
Also, it is of interest that Hart received a lot of criticism for expressing his faith in his cartoons, but that didn't stop him. Trudeau of the Doonesbury strip expresses his liberal cynicism and politics and apparent agnosticism, but Hart wasn't supposed to be ideological.
It's also interesting that Christian TV played a role in his coming to faith.
His children and grandchildren inherited his talents and a grandson is the lead artist today, with his widow heading the business.
There are a couple of photos of Johnny --a short man at 5'6" and very cute with a most amiable face. The book says his children and grandchildren adored him. I bet he was fun to know.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Monday, June 1, 2009
Reflections on The Kite Runner
Our minister had been talking about this movie, so we rented it. It was based on a book written by an Afghani man after 9/11.
It starts in the 70's before the invasion of that nation by the Communists from Russia. Two little boys are best of friends; one is the son of the family servant of the other boy's father. The servant boy's family has been with the aristocrat's family for generations.
Kite-flying is a sport for children in Afghanistan, apparently. And the sport involves "cutting off" the other kites so they are downed and there is only one kite still in the air. The "kite-runner" then is one who runs to gather the downed kites as trophies, apparently.
This is a story about cowardice and courage, shame and redemption, fathers and sons, immigrants, exiles, and also great evil from without a nation--and from within.
One memorable line is something like, "The mullahs want to control our souls; the communists tell us we have no souls."
This film should be seen by everybody --adults that is --including those GITMO detainees and those liberals who think there is no evil in the world that would justify a war effort. It has a PG13 rating, but I wouldn't show it to my middle school students because of some of the evils depicted.
The hypocrisy and cruelty of the Taliban (such as are the detainees at GITMO) is not emphasized by Geo. Bush in this case, but by an Afghani-American who wrote the book.
American Islamic families, a wedding and repentance before Allah are demonstrated. There are some twists and turns toward the end that redeem a sad story --concluding with hope for the future.
There are also orphans in the story living in great poverty and peril --and I understand our pastor's interest in that theme --since he and his wife brought home their little adopted son from Ethiopia.
While not exactly a cheerful story, it is inspirational and the ending is hopeful.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
It starts in the 70's before the invasion of that nation by the Communists from Russia. Two little boys are best of friends; one is the son of the family servant of the other boy's father. The servant boy's family has been with the aristocrat's family for generations.
Kite-flying is a sport for children in Afghanistan, apparently. And the sport involves "cutting off" the other kites so they are downed and there is only one kite still in the air. The "kite-runner" then is one who runs to gather the downed kites as trophies, apparently.
This is a story about cowardice and courage, shame and redemption, fathers and sons, immigrants, exiles, and also great evil from without a nation--and from within.
One memorable line is something like, "The mullahs want to control our souls; the communists tell us we have no souls."
This film should be seen by everybody --adults that is --including those GITMO detainees and those liberals who think there is no evil in the world that would justify a war effort. It has a PG13 rating, but I wouldn't show it to my middle school students because of some of the evils depicted.
The hypocrisy and cruelty of the Taliban (such as are the detainees at GITMO) is not emphasized by Geo. Bush in this case, but by an Afghani-American who wrote the book.
American Islamic families, a wedding and repentance before Allah are demonstrated. There are some twists and turns toward the end that redeem a sad story --concluding with hope for the future.
There are also orphans in the story living in great poverty and peril --and I understand our pastor's interest in that theme --since he and his wife brought home their little adopted son from Ethiopia.
While not exactly a cheerful story, it is inspirational and the ending is hopeful.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Doc and His Mother-in-Law
As some of you know if you've followed this blog, my mom has been with us since Valentine's Day and she is afflicted with dementia at 89 --which has been coming on for several years. She told me on the phone that day that she was feeling "sort of lonesome," so I invited her here. Rob went to get her, a three-hour drive. She would usually say she has too much to do to come visit us, so her visits were very rare.
I found I had to help her with shower and dressing because she hasn't the strength to open the shower door or turn on the faucet. I hold the shower head, one of those with a hose and a slider. She didn't seem to mind me doing this from the first, though she doesn't see the need of it.
On Sundays, I have to get her ready and then me. Rob or Jon does the breakfast for them while I run off to music and teaching duties at church. Today, she wanted to wear her old, fuzzy, pilled periwinkle blue sweater with her aqua slacks --which clash color-wise. But it's her favorite outfit. I guided her to a cotton knit navy blue slacks with white shirt and a navy and white striped cotton sweater that I bought for her. It's very springy, contemporary and nice-looking on her. She usually says, "I can't wear this!! It's black! I can't wear these stripes!!!" On Sunday, I also hide the fleece jacket she lives in all week because she's always cold. She has a London Fog jacket that looks nicer for church.
Tonight, Jon said there was a funny story about my mother that happened after I left this morning. He heard this huffing and puffing headed toward the kitchen and thought my mom was having trouble breathing. He said, "What's the matter, Jane?"
"(huff, puff) O I just hurt all over. (huff,puff) I can hardly walk. It's my hip pain. It's all my joints."
"Show me where it hurts."
"(huff puff) it's my stomach, right here. Well, (huff, puff, huff, puff).....what it is --I'M MAD!!! I'm mad at Barbara. I don't see why I can't wear whatever I want!" (She was also mad earlier about the hairdo from the hairdresser --for some reason it wasn't just right. Said, "That girl oughtta be fired!" )
"Well that looks really nice, what you have on, " he said. "You know, Jane, as we get older it's just inevitable that our kids become more like our parents to us --and tell us what to do --and we become the kids. Sometimes my kids tell me what to do, too" (not so true that I can think of --except that we DO accommodate them when it comes to the grandkids and where to eat and things like that.)
Mom brightened right up and giggled at the thought of his kids telling him what to do, I guess.
Anyway, next thing he knows, she's whistling in her room and then singing the children's song,
"Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord!"
Miracle cure! Some Doc!
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
I found I had to help her with shower and dressing because she hasn't the strength to open the shower door or turn on the faucet. I hold the shower head, one of those with a hose and a slider. She didn't seem to mind me doing this from the first, though she doesn't see the need of it.
On Sundays, I have to get her ready and then me. Rob or Jon does the breakfast for them while I run off to music and teaching duties at church. Today, she wanted to wear her old, fuzzy, pilled periwinkle blue sweater with her aqua slacks --which clash color-wise. But it's her favorite outfit. I guided her to a cotton knit navy blue slacks with white shirt and a navy and white striped cotton sweater that I bought for her. It's very springy, contemporary and nice-looking on her. She usually says, "I can't wear this!! It's black! I can't wear these stripes!!!" On Sunday, I also hide the fleece jacket she lives in all week because she's always cold. She has a London Fog jacket that looks nicer for church.
Tonight, Jon said there was a funny story about my mother that happened after I left this morning. He heard this huffing and puffing headed toward the kitchen and thought my mom was having trouble breathing. He said, "What's the matter, Jane?"
"(huff, puff) O I just hurt all over. (huff,puff) I can hardly walk. It's my hip pain. It's all my joints."
"Show me where it hurts."
"(huff puff) it's my stomach, right here. Well, (huff, puff, huff, puff).....what it is --I'M MAD!!! I'm mad at Barbara. I don't see why I can't wear whatever I want!" (She was also mad earlier about the hairdo from the hairdresser --for some reason it wasn't just right. Said, "That girl oughtta be fired!" )
"Well that looks really nice, what you have on, " he said. "You know, Jane, as we get older it's just inevitable that our kids become more like our parents to us --and tell us what to do --and we become the kids. Sometimes my kids tell me what to do, too" (not so true that I can think of --except that we DO accommodate them when it comes to the grandkids and where to eat and things like that.)
Mom brightened right up and giggled at the thought of his kids telling him what to do, I guess.
Anyway, next thing he knows, she's whistling in her room and then singing the children's song,
"Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord!"
Miracle cure! Some Doc!
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Friday, May 29, 2009
Muckraker Makes Muck Again --Muckrageously!!
Mudrake posted the following definition --because I told him in private correspondence (i.e. it's private when I comment on his moderated blog, because he refuses to allow me or any other conservative Christian woman to comment at his blog--it's a Boys' Club) --So I told him that he "sounded stupid" on the topic of Liberty U. not allowing a democratic party club on campus since the u. opposes abortion and gay marriage --and they are a private uni. I knew he would not post my comment or I would not have called him "sounding stupid" in a public forum --I knew he would not print it, but instead, he did something that makes him sound even MORE stupid. First, he posted the following definition:
stu-pid: 1 a: slow of mind : obtuse b: given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner c: lacking intelligence or reason : brutish
2: dulled in feeling or sensation : torpid
3: marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting : senseless
So I told him in an unprinted comment that he qualifies at least for no. 3 above --by some things he has done, like posting names and addresses and creating sock puppets with phony profiles using our names.
So once again, being "dulled in feeling" and "lacking reason," he created a profile for Barb and posted on his blog the following --which I obviously did not write:
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
stu-pid: 1 a: slow of mind : obtuse b: given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner c: lacking intelligence or reason : brutish
2: dulled in feeling or sensation : torpid
3: marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting : senseless
So I told him in an unprinted comment that he qualifies at least for no. 3 above --by some things he has done, like posting names and addresses and creating sock puppets with phony profiles using our names.
So once again, being "dulled in feeling" and "lacking reason," he created a profile for Barb and posted on his blog the following --which I obviously did not write:
You know, I hardly know anyone else who can tell himself off like this! It's amazing!!! A muck-rageous feat! This is not my blog style, Muckaluck! though there is probably a lot of truth in the above comment attributed to me!You are stupid! I said it and I mean it!! Secular humanists like you (or should I use the more correct word, ATHEIST???) are ruining this country. The sinfulness, the porn, the homosexuality, the free sex, the aborted babies, the attempts to take God out of the classroom, and more.
God's wrath will be on this nation again- with more hurricanes and drought and locusts and plagues due to the disobedience of His Laws!
Jesus weeps at gay marriage and homosexuals running free all across America, and we will pay for this abomination- we already paid for this wit the natural disasters etc. 'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.'
But by the blood of the Cross will ye be set free. For the Jesus says, 'Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.' - 1 Corinthians 9
Stupid is as you think, muddly!!
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Thursday, May 28, 2009
RE: Sotomayor and Hysterical, Libelous Charges from the Left
Over at Mudrake's blog, Microdot wrote, "I made a typo, it was Senator Inhofe who said she was "too ethnic".He also made caommets [sic] that her love of Puerto Rican cuisine would taint her palate and make her less able to make clear decisions."
I read this and didn't recognize that Microdot was joking --so I thought, why would any politician be guilty of such crude racist humor--or calling someone "too ethnic?" When, in fact, it was in the mind of Microdot to come up with crude racist humor. I don't think I'm the only one who would think Inhofe had really made the crude remarks upon reading Microdot's comment. I doubted it, but to be sure I looked up what Inhofe really said.
What he really said was reasoned and based on her own oft-quoted statements about race and background influencing how she will make judicial decisions. And her statement that appeals courts "make policy." And then she said, in effect, "Ha, ha, of course we don't REALLY make policy--I'm not supposed to say that" --in what the press described as a "light moment."
Well she was honest. Courts DO make policy and they are not supposed to. That's why the Supreme Court decision should have gotten McCain ALL the votes of pro-life supporters.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
I read this and didn't recognize that Microdot was joking --so I thought, why would any politician be guilty of such crude racist humor--or calling someone "too ethnic?" When, in fact, it was in the mind of Microdot to come up with crude racist humor. I don't think I'm the only one who would think Inhofe had really made the crude remarks upon reading Microdot's comment. I doubted it, but to be sure I looked up what Inhofe really said.
What he really said was reasoned and based on her own oft-quoted statements about race and background influencing how she will make judicial decisions. And her statement that appeals courts "make policy." And then she said, in effect, "Ha, ha, of course we don't REALLY make policy--I'm not supposed to say that" --in what the press described as a "light moment."
Well she was honest. Courts DO make policy and they are not supposed to. That's why the Supreme Court decision should have gotten McCain ALL the votes of pro-life supporters.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Monday, May 25, 2009
LIFE WITH MOM --MEMORIAL DAY MEMORIES 09
Rob R. has missed his calling. He should do something in geriatrics. He is so good with my mother who has dementia, at 89.
We had a glorious three day weekend at the lake --best memorial day weather in years. We had stopped going that early because it was too cold to put the pier in. We have a super, fancy- looking metal pier --that is harder than heck to put together --and so it takes some time. Some of the family men have waders to wear, but some do not --and in any case, it has always been chilly --so we had started going in June --only to find that those weekends weren't much better.
So this one was warm and sunny --just lovely--with the Irises and Lillies of the Valley in bloom --and other beautiful flowers around the island.
My Mom didn't do well with the sleeping accommodations. We have a dormer room upstairs with several twin beds --and give that to the family with kids. We thought of putting her up there but feared she might be disoriented in the night and fall down the stairs. The other married child gets the queen bed and a private room--which was fair since she did most all the cooking and food planning/purchasing, etc. (We reimburse, but she plans and buys, and everything is immaculate and so nicely done, and our son, her husband, helps to buy, load and unload, fetch and carry, etc. She cooked roast beef in her slow cooker in that bedroom, I learned, as the kitchen is very small. Had no idea til it started to smell delicious.)
Grandma R., my husband's mother, is 87, has all her mental faculties still, but is physically limited and has to be near a bathroom and can't do steps. So all we can offer her is the couch in the living room --which she always says is good enough. Grandma M., my mother, walks better, and isn't so bathroom dependent, can do the two shallow steps to the porch and back, but she wants to be hotter than Hades all the time, bundled up like an Eskimo. OK , I exaggerate a little -but not much.
Well, my mom was an absolute "princess" --she was NOT sleeping on the fouton double bed on the porch.
"It's COLD on the porch! I never slept on this thing before --I refused to sleep here before, and I'm NOT sleeping here now! And this couch has been used for so many other things--and it's hard --and lumpy"...and on and on. It is actually quite comfortable --as porta beds go.
It was the warmest room in the house as we were air-conditioning the rest of it. Chrissy was going to be out there with her in a fouton chair/single bed. It was warm to the point of being hot and stuffy --but Mother was sure it would be cold --and she got very indignant.
"Well, Mom, I don't have anywhere else to put you!" "
"Well, what about such and such room?" she said.
"Mom, besides the fact that your grandson and wife already have that room, that bed is too high for you --you can't get up into it." (Even though I got a low profile box springs, thinking she might use that room someday, she couldn't get her short-legged self in it in the past. She usually stays in a deluxe first floor room, near a bathroom, at her sister's house --but her sister hasn't arrived at the lake yet.)
"Mom, this is the best I can offer you."
"Well, it's too cold. I can't sleep there."
"It's NOT cold, Mother. It's about 78 degrees in there right now. Do you want to sleep in a chair, because I don't have another bed to offer!"
She was really mad at me about this. Mom's main requirements of life are food she likes (which includes lots of coffee --fortunately she doesn't know the difference between decaf and regular,) a bed she likes and can call "hers" even for a short time, and warmth. She has a germ phobia and washes hands often --always has. And the daily newspaper--which I just subscribed to for her. She's like a child in loving sweets. She's fairly petite, however --in part because we don't think she was eating at all well on her own, before she came to live with us. She would cook her daily egg for breakfast, but we think she lost ability to open cans or use her microwave. Yet, she had a little fit the other day when I gave her a cold bologna sandwich for lunch.
"This is COLD. I can't eat that."
"It's supposed to be cold, Mom. It's a luncheon meat, cold meat sandwich." I finally warmed it for her in the microwave with melted cheese. That was better. She used to feed ME boloney as a kid.
Her daily chores are keeping track of her purse, her glasses, her belongings, and luggage.
So anyway, we tucked her into this perfectly comfortable, good quality fouton bed, with 3 layers of blankets, her nightgown, her robe, and her fleece sweater/jacket --and she admitted she was not cold. But the first night, she whispered to herself all night long and my daughter said she could not sleep for Grandma's indignant whispering.
That brings me back to Rob, whom she adores for staying with her (as he was going to college in her city) during the years when the memory banks were starting to shut down.
We got home here and she asked Rob who had made her bed. I told her it was made up Friday with fresh sheets, and is always made up, and she had slept in it the night before we left for the lake. And then, it occured to me to tease her that I thought Rob might have put his friend Clint in it Sat. night. Clint is a friend through church who came up to help put the pier in but wanted to go home Saturday night. So Rob drove him home and returned the next day.
And she said, "He DID???!!! Put somebody in my bed??"
He said, "Yes --and several hoboes, too --not together of course --but one after the other. They came to the door and said, 'Hey, Gov'nor, can you spare me a dime?' and I said, 'Sure, and would you like to sleep in my Grandma's bed?' and of course they were delighted to do so."
Now, confused as she is, Mom always knows that Rob is kidding her --and she gets this big kick out of it! Thinks he's so funny. And while it loses something in my retelling, he IS funny! And she always knows --that when he tries to charge her 10 dollars for a cup of coffee, he is just being silly. As confused as she is, I don't know how she knows that he's not serious. Though she did wonder if he really put Clint into her bed.
This morning as I was helping her get dressed, she told me when I mentioned my husband, 'I didn't know you were married to him. He just told me this morning. I guess I had forgotten that."
"Well, Mom, did you think we were living in sin? or what? He's the father and I'm the mother of those 4 grown-ups out there --did you think we weren't married? Who did you think he was, coming home to my house every night and being there in the morning when you got up?"
Well, she didn't know --just "didn't remember" that he was my husband --that we had married. "That was too long ago."
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
We had a glorious three day weekend at the lake --best memorial day weather in years. We had stopped going that early because it was too cold to put the pier in. We have a super, fancy- looking metal pier --that is harder than heck to put together --and so it takes some time. Some of the family men have waders to wear, but some do not --and in any case, it has always been chilly --so we had started going in June --only to find that those weekends weren't much better.
So this one was warm and sunny --just lovely--with the Irises and Lillies of the Valley in bloom --and other beautiful flowers around the island.
My Mom didn't do well with the sleeping accommodations. We have a dormer room upstairs with several twin beds --and give that to the family with kids. We thought of putting her up there but feared she might be disoriented in the night and fall down the stairs. The other married child gets the queen bed and a private room--which was fair since she did most all the cooking and food planning/purchasing, etc. (We reimburse, but she plans and buys, and everything is immaculate and so nicely done, and our son, her husband, helps to buy, load and unload, fetch and carry, etc. She cooked roast beef in her slow cooker in that bedroom, I learned, as the kitchen is very small. Had no idea til it started to smell delicious.)
Grandma R., my husband's mother, is 87, has all her mental faculties still, but is physically limited and has to be near a bathroom and can't do steps. So all we can offer her is the couch in the living room --which she always says is good enough. Grandma M., my mother, walks better, and isn't so bathroom dependent, can do the two shallow steps to the porch and back, but she wants to be hotter than Hades all the time, bundled up like an Eskimo. OK , I exaggerate a little -but not much.
Well, my mom was an absolute "princess" --she was NOT sleeping on the fouton double bed on the porch.
"It's COLD on the porch! I never slept on this thing before --I refused to sleep here before, and I'm NOT sleeping here now! And this couch has been used for so many other things--and it's hard --and lumpy"...and on and on. It is actually quite comfortable --as porta beds go.
It was the warmest room in the house as we were air-conditioning the rest of it. Chrissy was going to be out there with her in a fouton chair/single bed. It was warm to the point of being hot and stuffy --but Mother was sure it would be cold --and she got very indignant.
"Well, Mom, I don't have anywhere else to put you!" "
"Well, what about such and such room?" she said.
"Mom, besides the fact that your grandson and wife already have that room, that bed is too high for you --you can't get up into it." (Even though I got a low profile box springs, thinking she might use that room someday, she couldn't get her short-legged self in it in the past. She usually stays in a deluxe first floor room, near a bathroom, at her sister's house --but her sister hasn't arrived at the lake yet.)
"Mom, this is the best I can offer you."
"Well, it's too cold. I can't sleep there."
"It's NOT cold, Mother. It's about 78 degrees in there right now. Do you want to sleep in a chair, because I don't have another bed to offer!"
She was really mad at me about this. Mom's main requirements of life are food she likes (which includes lots of coffee --fortunately she doesn't know the difference between decaf and regular,) a bed she likes and can call "hers" even for a short time, and warmth. She has a germ phobia and washes hands often --always has. And the daily newspaper--which I just subscribed to for her. She's like a child in loving sweets. She's fairly petite, however --in part because we don't think she was eating at all well on her own, before she came to live with us. She would cook her daily egg for breakfast, but we think she lost ability to open cans or use her microwave. Yet, she had a little fit the other day when I gave her a cold bologna sandwich for lunch.
"This is COLD. I can't eat that."
"It's supposed to be cold, Mom. It's a luncheon meat, cold meat sandwich." I finally warmed it for her in the microwave with melted cheese. That was better. She used to feed ME boloney as a kid.
Her daily chores are keeping track of her purse, her glasses, her belongings, and luggage.
So anyway, we tucked her into this perfectly comfortable, good quality fouton bed, with 3 layers of blankets, her nightgown, her robe, and her fleece sweater/jacket --and she admitted she was not cold. But the first night, she whispered to herself all night long and my daughter said she could not sleep for Grandma's indignant whispering.
That brings me back to Rob, whom she adores for staying with her (as he was going to college in her city) during the years when the memory banks were starting to shut down.
We got home here and she asked Rob who had made her bed. I told her it was made up Friday with fresh sheets, and is always made up, and she had slept in it the night before we left for the lake. And then, it occured to me to tease her that I thought Rob might have put his friend Clint in it Sat. night. Clint is a friend through church who came up to help put the pier in but wanted to go home Saturday night. So Rob drove him home and returned the next day.
And she said, "He DID???!!! Put somebody in my bed??"
He said, "Yes --and several hoboes, too --not together of course --but one after the other. They came to the door and said, 'Hey, Gov'nor, can you spare me a dime?' and I said, 'Sure, and would you like to sleep in my Grandma's bed?' and of course they were delighted to do so."
Now, confused as she is, Mom always knows that Rob is kidding her --and she gets this big kick out of it! Thinks he's so funny. And while it loses something in my retelling, he IS funny! And she always knows --that when he tries to charge her 10 dollars for a cup of coffee, he is just being silly. As confused as she is, I don't know how she knows that he's not serious. Though she did wonder if he really put Clint into her bed.
This morning as I was helping her get dressed, she told me when I mentioned my husband, 'I didn't know you were married to him. He just told me this morning. I guess I had forgotten that."
"Well, Mom, did you think we were living in sin? or what? He's the father and I'm the mother of those 4 grown-ups out there --did you think we weren't married? Who did you think he was, coming home to my house every night and being there in the morning when you got up?"
Well, she didn't know --just "didn't remember" that he was my husband --that we had married. "That was too long ago."
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Penn Jillette Defends Evangelism
Thanks to Craig French of Antipelagian for posting this tidbit.
Penn Jillette is a comedian, magician, and reads for many a commercial on Comedy Central programming. He's also an atheist but here, he gives an account of a positive experience he had with a fan who sought to proselytize him.
Penn Jillette is a comedian, magician, and reads for many a commercial on Comedy Central programming. He's also an atheist but here, he gives an account of a positive experience he had with a fan who sought to proselytize him.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Transgendered 8-Year-Old -- Boy Becomes Girl --Or Does He REALLY!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/05/18/dnt.ne.transgender.kid.ketv
On CNN today: An eight-year-old is transgendering from male to female, with parental encouragement. What a life sentence! He has expensive surgeries to face, to mutilate his normal healthy body (and I hope we don't have to pay for it) and hormone treatment and the fact that most normal males will not want to date a transgendered female or marry one --who cannot bear children --who is, in reality, a fake girl. And he would have to tell that about himself to be intimate leading to marriage --or he'd be committing fraud, leading to annulment. Nor will girls feel comfortable having over-nighters and sharing showers and bathrooms with a transgendered girl --who is really biologically male. I believe he really will NEVER seem normal to others --and never really PASS for female. He will be very odd --and he will never forget that he has this secret which his parents think he can perpetuate for life simply by starting into a new school where they don't know about him. His hormones are going to kick in--and he may have all kinds of emotional upheaval as the doctors tinker with his normal healthy body making it abnormal for the rest of his life.
In fact, that's what he's trading: a normal, healthy male body, for a fake female body that needs constant tinkering via surgery and hormones all his life in order to help him pass as a female.
This child did not come to the conclusion that he was in the wrong body without adult influence. Children learn what they really are from their parents. Something went awry in this case. Parents are VERY powerful in teaching their children. These parents have failed by letting their kid wander around in uncertainty about his sexual identity ---letting him "choose," in effect --with no knowledge that he has opted for giving up his normal, healthy body for an abnormal artificial one. So they tell him that he will have surgery and hormones, etc. some day, and that he can choose to change his sex --what does the kid know about that and what it means?? NOTHING!
Little boys and little girls are so much alike in their voices, in their "girlyness," in their baby-ish qualities --that call forth effeminizing "babying" by parents --which is appropriate for both sexes of little kids--to a point. But normal, sensible parents teach their children that they are boy or girl --by how they treat them, what they tell them, what they do with them, how they direct their interests and activities. They don't say things like, "he really looks like a little girl" or "He'd really make a beautiful girl with that hair --that skin --those eyelashes," or "Look how graceful he is! He can dance like a girl," or "Bobby's so clumsy --he really isn't very athletic --I think he'd make a better girl than a boy."
I remember when Oprah featured such children on her program--watched by so many suburban women. The letters flooded her website from mothers who thought their boys were possibly girls in the wrong bodies --because their boy toddlers put on Mom's high heels, carried Mom's purses around the living room, put scrunchies in their hair, tried Mom's make-up, preferred pink, played with dolls, etc. Some of the mothers said they were TRYING to be gender neutral in how they raised their kids. Some of them drew conclusions because children did the above things --and some of the fathers were furious to see the mothers encouraging the confusion instead of simply and subtly separating the feminine things from the child's playthings and directing him more toward Dad's shoes, shaving cream, mudpies, trucks, farm sets, etc. Boys have to have some fun, too, and if they are only around their mothers and sisters who squeal with delight over American Girl dolls--or if girls are raised only around boys and men (as was the famous pregnant "man,") it's no wonder they have an interest in the things of the opposite sex and identify with the opposite sex. This 8 year old's favorite toy was his American Girl doll. Who was the dumb bunny who gave it to him!!?? who cultivated his interest in these dolls? Geesh!
I knew a man whose grandmother fascinated him with her jewelry collection and willed it to him--he grew up with an abnormal self-image and fixation for jewelry and other things of more interest to women than most men--including other men.
Parents direct their children's sex identity --no question about it. How could we be so erroneous in the modern age! Just one more travesty in child-development psychology. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became as fools."
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
On CNN today: An eight-year-old is transgendering from male to female, with parental encouragement. What a life sentence! He has expensive surgeries to face, to mutilate his normal healthy body (and I hope we don't have to pay for it) and hormone treatment and the fact that most normal males will not want to date a transgendered female or marry one --who cannot bear children --who is, in reality, a fake girl. And he would have to tell that about himself to be intimate leading to marriage --or he'd be committing fraud, leading to annulment. Nor will girls feel comfortable having over-nighters and sharing showers and bathrooms with a transgendered girl --who is really biologically male. I believe he really will NEVER seem normal to others --and never really PASS for female. He will be very odd --and he will never forget that he has this secret which his parents think he can perpetuate for life simply by starting into a new school where they don't know about him. His hormones are going to kick in--and he may have all kinds of emotional upheaval as the doctors tinker with his normal healthy body making it abnormal for the rest of his life.
In fact, that's what he's trading: a normal, healthy male body, for a fake female body that needs constant tinkering via surgery and hormones all his life in order to help him pass as a female.
This child did not come to the conclusion that he was in the wrong body without adult influence. Children learn what they really are from their parents. Something went awry in this case. Parents are VERY powerful in teaching their children. These parents have failed by letting their kid wander around in uncertainty about his sexual identity ---letting him "choose," in effect --with no knowledge that he has opted for giving up his normal, healthy body for an abnormal artificial one. So they tell him that he will have surgery and hormones, etc. some day, and that he can choose to change his sex --what does the kid know about that and what it means?? NOTHING!
Little boys and little girls are so much alike in their voices, in their "girlyness," in their baby-ish qualities --that call forth effeminizing "babying" by parents --which is appropriate for both sexes of little kids--to a point. But normal, sensible parents teach their children that they are boy or girl --by how they treat them, what they tell them, what they do with them, how they direct their interests and activities. They don't say things like, "he really looks like a little girl" or "He'd really make a beautiful girl with that hair --that skin --those eyelashes," or "Look how graceful he is! He can dance like a girl," or "Bobby's so clumsy --he really isn't very athletic --I think he'd make a better girl than a boy."
I remember when Oprah featured such children on her program--watched by so many suburban women. The letters flooded her website from mothers who thought their boys were possibly girls in the wrong bodies --because their boy toddlers put on Mom's high heels, carried Mom's purses around the living room, put scrunchies in their hair, tried Mom's make-up, preferred pink, played with dolls, etc. Some of the mothers said they were TRYING to be gender neutral in how they raised their kids. Some of them drew conclusions because children did the above things --and some of the fathers were furious to see the mothers encouraging the confusion instead of simply and subtly separating the feminine things from the child's playthings and directing him more toward Dad's shoes, shaving cream, mudpies, trucks, farm sets, etc. Boys have to have some fun, too, and if they are only around their mothers and sisters who squeal with delight over American Girl dolls--or if girls are raised only around boys and men (as was the famous pregnant "man,") it's no wonder they have an interest in the things of the opposite sex and identify with the opposite sex. This 8 year old's favorite toy was his American Girl doll. Who was the dumb bunny who gave it to him!!?? who cultivated his interest in these dolls? Geesh!
I knew a man whose grandmother fascinated him with her jewelry collection and willed it to him--he grew up with an abnormal self-image and fixation for jewelry and other things of more interest to women than most men--including other men.
Parents direct their children's sex identity --no question about it. How could we be so erroneous in the modern age! Just one more travesty in child-development psychology. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became as fools."
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Summer Time for Church Kids
CLC is over for the summer. Next we send off about 40 youth to summer church camp at Somerset Beach, MI. And have a Vacation Bible School in July. And a roller skating party. And an all-church graduation banquet. And of course, Sunday School. I promised a handful whom we are not funding for camp that I would do something special with them --maybe a swim party at my house. It is because they are too immature in their behavior (and they are young) and require one-on-one counselor/teachers --which does detract from positive experience for the majority --and typically stirs them up, too. Like the little girl who giggles during class prayer --and gets under the tables, gleefully heedless of class goals and the short time we have to accomplish them.
CLC HONOR COUNCIL ~ Seventeen of my TrailBlazers (grades 3 & 4 ) came to receive their banners with the badges they earned. One of them has Oppositional Defiance Disorder or ODD--not the same one as the girl mentioned above. She came to me in tears before the meeting because she knew she hadn't earned many badges and said she didn't want to go up front. I said I needed her to sing with the others --and I wouldn't embarrass her about the number of badges --we wouldn't make a big deal of it --and she could hold her banner facing her if she didn't want people to notice she didn't have as many as some of the others. After the Honor Council, she asked me when the next one was so she could get her badges. She actually can make up everything missed this year in order to get the 2-year award --and she can make up the first two years --to work toward the 6-year award given after 6th grade. I WAS able to commend her and her cousin for being people who often say --or write on the board --"I love CLC. I love my church." And they love us teachers too and give us hugs--as do several of the girls.
In a way, I wonder if it would be good to stop doing the badges since we are so intent on outreach. We could do the same lessons and Bible memory activities without long-term awards to keep track of. From our bus outreach, I think we only had one set of parents come who knew their girls were getting all their badges. One of their children was "pulled through" her verses by my sympathetic helper --who "walked her through" her verse recitation of 7 verses in one night--probably not really memorizing. But what is it like if your kid's lack of achievement is made noticeable by the badge ceremony? The mother told me on the phone how thrilled she was that the girls were getting their awards.
This is what it's like: "Junior Jones got all 10 of his badges. Citronella Bernstein gets a certificate of participation. Henrietta Hippensteel got 2 verses." And we clap for each one as they receive their banners --or certificates if they had only one badge.
THIS IS THE ONLY AWARD CEREMONY I KNOW OF WHERE WE RECOGNIZE and call attention to NON-ACHIEVEMENT ALONG WITH SUCCESS. We say the program is optional --something kids can choose to work for if they wish--but then they all come to the program --or don't if they don't want to be embarrassed. I wondered if some parents don't come because they fear their children won't have badges.
We're also sensitive to seeming biased if most of the white kids got their badges because their parents go to our church regularly and understand the CLC goals and badge system. The racial minority parents (we have 3 races represented plus biracial) let us have their kids on Wednesday nights but aren't as involved in the program or our church themselves --so if their kids don't self-organize, they may not have the advantage of parents who prod them and care about the badges. As it turned out, we had some Afr. American kids who got all their badges and white kids who did not --it was pretty even this year . It is the 2nd year for these children to be bussed in --so some of them know about the system and did more this year than last. And that's the good thing about it--when kids really enjoy working for badges and do get them, representing good attendance, organizing to make up for absences, and memorizing Bible verses. We also gave special division awards to 3 girls and 3 boys this year for good character and good behavior, regardless of their badge achievement or lack. I could have given those equally to 8-10 of my children who were always respectful and easy to call to attention and showed consistent good behavior.
But I nearly had an ulcer worrying about whether or not we had given all the kids good help with their badges here at the end of the year--and throughout the year. There were some classroom management and record-keeping issues involved about which I have better ideas for next year. The bottom line is that some kids are more self-organizing and achievement-oriented than others --and they managed to get badges with no extra effort on our part as teachers --and some students could care less --until we have honor council. THEN they all wish they were getting all their badges and had paid more attention about attendance, make-up activities, and saying the verses to the teachers. I telephoned some of them --but didn't reach all of them--to have them go through their handbooks with me --so they could mark the verses they still needed to say and the activities they still needed to make up. None of it is too difficult for their age or for those with at least average abilities. But they have to knuckle down enough to know which verses they have to recite to us and which activities they need to turn in or tell us about --in order to complete the badge--and then they left the books at home and did not have focus on what they still needed to make up. I'm holding the master list and having everybody barrage me with their personal issues of all sorts . And here comes a mother to wonder why her little boy was the only one blamed for standing the table on end --I sent him out to the program director after he did it--like sending a student to the principal. She comes in and notices I have 2 boys horsing around the bathroom door and wonders if I know I have kids in the hall. Yup --I assume so --since there is always a run on the bathroom during any "down time." I run a tight ship when I'm presenting a lesson--but anytime we have independent work or are in transition from one activity or one place to another --things get a little loose! and not with my permission either.
Some who came to the last club night did make-up work --and others bounced off the walls while we were trying to catch up their peers. As I mentioned above, one boy lifted one end of a long table up in the air to show he could --we were fortunate he didn't bring it down on someone's bobbing head. I was pretty upset with him. And of course, his excuse later, to his mother, was, "Someone else started it." His diligent and truly lovely and distraught mother lamented that he was always the one to get caught and punished when other people started it or were involved and did not get caught and punished. I said the boy's problem is that he's the common denominator in almost every skirmish or tattle tale event in the class: "Brucie wrote on my shirt --Brucie said my mama is fat --Brucie told me I live in a "crack house" --and "Brucie kicked me," --"Brucie called me a retard!" -- "Brucie spat on my gingerbread house," and so on. He is probably a leader type, and we all hope he will figure out that he wants to use it for good some day.
I had a little speech written out about the highlights of our year --and after we sang the song, "I am a Promise" (about potential and being what God wants me to be), I forgot to share my speech, recapping their wonderful behavior at my house and the nursing home when we went caroling, the wonderful experience of seeing the Passion Play together at Fremont Alliance Church, their preparation and serving of the Tastes of AFrica for Missions Month, the wonderful Fun nights and neat crafts and the Fall Harvest Party with all the games and candy. I wanted to say how much I really loved these kids and hoped they'd be back next year --and how I hoped to see them incorporate God's Word into their lives so they might enjoy His blessings all their lives. And I should have commended my two assistants, who have been really nice to work with.
But after the song and the badge presentations --I forgot! Imagine that!!!
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
CLC HONOR COUNCIL ~ Seventeen of my TrailBlazers (grades 3 & 4 ) came to receive their banners with the badges they earned. One of them has Oppositional Defiance Disorder or ODD--not the same one as the girl mentioned above. She came to me in tears before the meeting because she knew she hadn't earned many badges and said she didn't want to go up front. I said I needed her to sing with the others --and I wouldn't embarrass her about the number of badges --we wouldn't make a big deal of it --and she could hold her banner facing her if she didn't want people to notice she didn't have as many as some of the others. After the Honor Council, she asked me when the next one was so she could get her badges. She actually can make up everything missed this year in order to get the 2-year award --and she can make up the first two years --to work toward the 6-year award given after 6th grade. I WAS able to commend her and her cousin for being people who often say --or write on the board --"I love CLC. I love my church." And they love us teachers too and give us hugs--as do several of the girls.
In a way, I wonder if it would be good to stop doing the badges since we are so intent on outreach. We could do the same lessons and Bible memory activities without long-term awards to keep track of. From our bus outreach, I think we only had one set of parents come who knew their girls were getting all their badges. One of their children was "pulled through" her verses by my sympathetic helper --who "walked her through" her verse recitation of 7 verses in one night--probably not really memorizing. But what is it like if your kid's lack of achievement is made noticeable by the badge ceremony? The mother told me on the phone how thrilled she was that the girls were getting their awards.
This is what it's like: "Junior Jones got all 10 of his badges. Citronella Bernstein gets a certificate of participation. Henrietta Hippensteel got 2 verses." And we clap for each one as they receive their banners --or certificates if they had only one badge.
THIS IS THE ONLY AWARD CEREMONY I KNOW OF WHERE WE RECOGNIZE and call attention to NON-ACHIEVEMENT ALONG WITH SUCCESS. We say the program is optional --something kids can choose to work for if they wish--but then they all come to the program --or don't if they don't want to be embarrassed. I wondered if some parents don't come because they fear their children won't have badges.
We're also sensitive to seeming biased if most of the white kids got their badges because their parents go to our church regularly and understand the CLC goals and badge system. The racial minority parents (we have 3 races represented plus biracial) let us have their kids on Wednesday nights but aren't as involved in the program or our church themselves --so if their kids don't self-organize, they may not have the advantage of parents who prod them and care about the badges. As it turned out, we had some Afr. American kids who got all their badges and white kids who did not --it was pretty even this year . It is the 2nd year for these children to be bussed in --so some of them know about the system and did more this year than last. And that's the good thing about it--when kids really enjoy working for badges and do get them, representing good attendance, organizing to make up for absences, and memorizing Bible verses. We also gave special division awards to 3 girls and 3 boys this year for good character and good behavior, regardless of their badge achievement or lack. I could have given those equally to 8-10 of my children who were always respectful and easy to call to attention and showed consistent good behavior.
But I nearly had an ulcer worrying about whether or not we had given all the kids good help with their badges here at the end of the year--and throughout the year. There were some classroom management and record-keeping issues involved about which I have better ideas for next year. The bottom line is that some kids are more self-organizing and achievement-oriented than others --and they managed to get badges with no extra effort on our part as teachers --and some students could care less --until we have honor council. THEN they all wish they were getting all their badges and had paid more attention about attendance, make-up activities, and saying the verses to the teachers. I telephoned some of them --but didn't reach all of them--to have them go through their handbooks with me --so they could mark the verses they still needed to say and the activities they still needed to make up. None of it is too difficult for their age or for those with at least average abilities. But they have to knuckle down enough to know which verses they have to recite to us and which activities they need to turn in or tell us about --in order to complete the badge--and then they left the books at home and did not have focus on what they still needed to make up. I'm holding the master list and having everybody barrage me with their personal issues of all sorts . And here comes a mother to wonder why her little boy was the only one blamed for standing the table on end --I sent him out to the program director after he did it--like sending a student to the principal. She comes in and notices I have 2 boys horsing around the bathroom door and wonders if I know I have kids in the hall. Yup --I assume so --since there is always a run on the bathroom during any "down time." I run a tight ship when I'm presenting a lesson--but anytime we have independent work or are in transition from one activity or one place to another --things get a little loose! and not with my permission either.
Some who came to the last club night did make-up work --and others bounced off the walls while we were trying to catch up their peers. As I mentioned above, one boy lifted one end of a long table up in the air to show he could --we were fortunate he didn't bring it down on someone's bobbing head. I was pretty upset with him. And of course, his excuse later, to his mother, was, "Someone else started it." His diligent and truly lovely and distraught mother lamented that he was always the one to get caught and punished when other people started it or were involved and did not get caught and punished. I said the boy's problem is that he's the common denominator in almost every skirmish or tattle tale event in the class: "Brucie wrote on my shirt --Brucie said my mama is fat --Brucie told me I live in a "crack house" --and "Brucie kicked me," --"Brucie called me a retard!" -- "Brucie spat on my gingerbread house," and so on. He is probably a leader type, and we all hope he will figure out that he wants to use it for good some day.
I had a little speech written out about the highlights of our year --and after we sang the song, "I am a Promise" (about potential and being what God wants me to be), I forgot to share my speech, recapping their wonderful behavior at my house and the nursing home when we went caroling, the wonderful experience of seeing the Passion Play together at Fremont Alliance Church, their preparation and serving of the Tastes of AFrica for Missions Month, the wonderful Fun nights and neat crafts and the Fall Harvest Party with all the games and candy. I wanted to say how much I really loved these kids and hoped they'd be back next year --and how I hoped to see them incorporate God's Word into their lives so they might enjoy His blessings all their lives. And I should have commended my two assistants, who have been really nice to work with.
But after the song and the badge presentations --I forgot! Imagine that!!!
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Monday, May 4, 2009
The Psychology of Atheists
from Rob R
I have heard from a couple of sources of a study that demonstrated that many prominent atheists hated their fathers.
I shared this with a small group from my church and I was challenged on the notion to support this claim. I don't know if this is the source but it's pretty good. This video is of Paul Vitz who's a psychologist who wrote Faith of the Fatherless which is a record of his study of 72 major proponents of atheism and their relationships to their parents, particularly their fathers.
Here is an hour long lecture by the author. I admit I have not yet seen it all.
I would just highlight a couple of claims made by Vitz.
He isn't saying this is true of all atheists. He distinguishes between mild atheists, who don't view their atheism as central to their identity and don't make a big deal about it, and intense atheists who do and who have a major axe to grind against religion. His hypothesis is mainly about intense atheists. And of course upbringing does not determine one's religious outlook. You're going to have exceptions such as intense atheists who have a good relationship with their father like John Stuart Mill. No doubt your going to have people who've had a rough relationship with their fathers and are theists. Billy Wayne, a preacher who spoke at our church came to mind, though Billy is reconciled to his formerly abusive father who has come to faith.
As for the significance of this, of course Vitz rightfully notes that this does not directly reflect on the truth claims at stake with theism vs. atheism. He notes that what he is doing is turning the tables on atheists who have tried to use psychology as a weapon against religion in these matters.
Of course in and of itself, the psychological reasons behind a worldview may be emphasized to the point of ad hominem attack. This is to be avoided but at the same time, that such a psychologically unhealthy situation should be fairly consistently linked to a set of beliefs should make one wonder.
Vitz has further comments here though I am not sure that there is information here that wasn't in the video.
I have heard from a couple of sources of a study that demonstrated that many prominent atheists hated their fathers.
I shared this with a small group from my church and I was challenged on the notion to support this claim. I don't know if this is the source but it's pretty good. This video is of Paul Vitz who's a psychologist who wrote Faith of the Fatherless which is a record of his study of 72 major proponents of atheism and their relationships to their parents, particularly their fathers.
Here is an hour long lecture by the author. I admit I have not yet seen it all.
I would just highlight a couple of claims made by Vitz.
He isn't saying this is true of all atheists. He distinguishes between mild atheists, who don't view their atheism as central to their identity and don't make a big deal about it, and intense atheists who do and who have a major axe to grind against religion. His hypothesis is mainly about intense atheists. And of course upbringing does not determine one's religious outlook. You're going to have exceptions such as intense atheists who have a good relationship with their father like John Stuart Mill. No doubt your going to have people who've had a rough relationship with their fathers and are theists. Billy Wayne, a preacher who spoke at our church came to mind, though Billy is reconciled to his formerly abusive father who has come to faith.
As for the significance of this, of course Vitz rightfully notes that this does not directly reflect on the truth claims at stake with theism vs. atheism. He notes that what he is doing is turning the tables on atheists who have tried to use psychology as a weapon against religion in these matters.
Of course in and of itself, the psychological reasons behind a worldview may be emphasized to the point of ad hominem attack. This is to be avoided but at the same time, that such a psychologically unhealthy situation should be fairly consistently linked to a set of beliefs should make one wonder.
Vitz has further comments here though I am not sure that there is information here that wasn't in the video.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
HOME SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAM
At least 90 people enjoyed the first ever The Choice ~ Home School Co-op spring concert entitled How Beautiful is the Rain, Tuesday night, at the Holland Free Methodist Church. Stephanie Hulbert directed these home-school children in a variety program that included a 16-voice "Choice Choir" singing 2 part "partner songs," including an opening gospel number after they came down the aisle, Let Your Light Shine Before Men, followed by a spiritual, Chariot's A-comin.' (It was called the choice choir since the name of the co-op is The Choice; it was not a group selected by audition, but for any who wanted to be in it. They believe this first concert will result in more interest and a larger choir in the future.)
Most delightful was the smaller ensemble of children aged 7 and 8, performing a rain song with Orff instruments and All Things Bright and Beautiful with outstanding solo features. Also fun and entertaining was the whole choir doing a choreographed "show choir" style piece, I Can't Stand Still under those Raindrops. Two music classes, ages 7-10, performed America.
Mrs Hulbert, Mrs. Bell, and Mrs. Parmelee, sang Stormy Weather as a trio appropriate for the rain theme, followed by the Choice Choir, singing How Beautiful is the Rain.
The Choir finale was This Little Light of Mine, arr. by Jennings.
Piano students included Jacob Hulbert, accompanied by his brother Gabe on the conga drums, and Evalee, Wade and Jack Deily and Mikaela Bell.
Other students had vocal solos in the choir numbers and accompanied various numbers with the Orff instruments.
We also saw a stilts demonstration by Noah Claytor --who came down the church stairs on stilts, navigating the microphone stands as we held our breath.
The Anatomy class performed their entertaining spoof on the Macarena song, called "My Cranium, " which did enumerate all the major bones of the body.
The 3-6 years old class performed the Superman Blessing, to bless the refreshments shared afterwards by all the students.
All choirs sang with a lovely, very tuneful, true children's choir sound with excellent diction and no noticeable "droners." Their poise and stage presence were remarkable, such little ladies and gentlemen.
Mrs. Hulbert is Rob R's sister and she has her music education degree from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. Patty Parmalee (Sharon Brillhart's sister) was the accompaniest. Deb Claytor was in charge of a lovely reception afterwards.
The Choice Co-Op is a Friday gathering of home school students who have classes taught by the various teacher moms. 38 of the students were in the music classes. I don't know if that's all the students in the co-op or not.
The academic results of home schooling (and parochial schooling) prove that money is not the requirement for a good college preparation. (Patrick Henry College is a new college comprised of mostly former home school students. They beat Oxford U. at debate, winning international competition.)
I believe the co-op meets at the Epiphany Lutheran Church on No. Reynolds Rd. --on Fridays.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Most delightful was the smaller ensemble of children aged 7 and 8, performing a rain song with Orff instruments and All Things Bright and Beautiful with outstanding solo features. Also fun and entertaining was the whole choir doing a choreographed "show choir" style piece, I Can't Stand Still under those Raindrops. Two music classes, ages 7-10, performed America.
Mrs Hulbert, Mrs. Bell, and Mrs. Parmelee, sang Stormy Weather as a trio appropriate for the rain theme, followed by the Choice Choir, singing How Beautiful is the Rain.
The Choir finale was This Little Light of Mine, arr. by Jennings.
Piano students included Jacob Hulbert, accompanied by his brother Gabe on the conga drums, and Evalee, Wade and Jack Deily and Mikaela Bell.
Other students had vocal solos in the choir numbers and accompanied various numbers with the Orff instruments.
We also saw a stilts demonstration by Noah Claytor --who came down the church stairs on stilts, navigating the microphone stands as we held our breath.
The Anatomy class performed their entertaining spoof on the Macarena song, called "My Cranium, " which did enumerate all the major bones of the body.
The 3-6 years old class performed the Superman Blessing, to bless the refreshments shared afterwards by all the students.
All choirs sang with a lovely, very tuneful, true children's choir sound with excellent diction and no noticeable "droners." Their poise and stage presence were remarkable, such little ladies and gentlemen.
Mrs. Hulbert is Rob R's sister and she has her music education degree from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. Patty Parmalee (Sharon Brillhart's sister) was the accompaniest. Deb Claytor was in charge of a lovely reception afterwards.
The Choice Co-Op is a Friday gathering of home school students who have classes taught by the various teacher moms. 38 of the students were in the music classes. I don't know if that's all the students in the co-op or not.
The academic results of home schooling (and parochial schooling) prove that money is not the requirement for a good college preparation. (Patrick Henry College is a new college comprised of mostly former home school students. They beat Oxford U. at debate, winning international competition.)
I believe the co-op meets at the Epiphany Lutheran Church on No. Reynolds Rd. --on Fridays.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
Monday, April 13, 2009
Reflections on Family Life at Easter-time
I listen to my young friend say "2 children only" in this day of family planning options. And I can recall when I might've said the same thing --as I couldn't imagine even being pregnant or being a mother --though I loved my dollies and playing "house" as a child. But I really wasn't around pregnant women much as I grew up. Birth control pills 40 years ago made me sick --and my first pregnancy was really difficult --nevertheless, four babies came to live with us --one after the other --until 2 C-sections in a row --the first because labor came early and preemie John nearly expired before he was born --so the next delivery was a planned C-section and in those days, they feared natural delivery after ONE C-section --and thought there was a limit to such surgeries. After the first one, I sure didn't want to keep having C-sections. I had the first one without anesthetic taking. Anyway, the 2nd one was reason for the OB to suggest tubal ligation--which is how we turned off the baby machine. And I've never felt guilty about it. However, each unexpected pregnancy brought a delightful person into our house --and I think bigger families are joyful ones --as are extended families with cousins and grandparents.
One wonders what we are doing to ourselves with all the abortions, late parenting plans and late marriages with their higher risk of infertility, and all the divorces and re-marriages. We have all this freedom and technology with which to do whatever we please, and the choices we make aren't necessarily good for us. God can redeem those blended family and step-parenting situations, late marriages, and single parenting, too, and make them all joyful, but there is a built-in sense of belonging that occurs when people commit to family life and work at obeying Christ in their homes, "striking the original match." We loved our children so much, and they, us, that divorce would have been very sad for all of us. How blessed they are by the father I chose for them! whom I believe God chose for us. How blessed WE were, to have them come into our home.
These four people and their spouses and the grandkids are our social network and community --apart from church. We had all 12 of us, including two great-grandmothers in their late 80's, at our Easter table. And it is always a lot of fun. Amusing is my mother who "can't eat very much" --and eats and eats --and will say after leaving a restaurant and arriving home, "What's to eat?" And she's not overweight --yet. Since her knee surgery, she's on her feet all the time, pacing from one end of my house to the other --wondering where all the people are --and if she should go to the mailbox --and "where is Rob?" (her favorite --as he lived with her some and looked after her, when he was in college in her city.) She washes dishes for me without soap, just wiping them with a dirty dishcloth, and puts them in the drainer -- and I say, "Thanks, Mom, now we're going to sterilize them," and I put them in the dishwasher and she's fine with that. No offense. She fusses over her suitcase and purse a lot. But doesn't really beg to go home. Since she's come on her extended visit, since Feb. 14, she has been to Elmwood's musical, their pre-contest choir concert, choir practices, CLC, CLC talent show, Tenebrae Rehearsal, Tenebrae Service, visiting Stephanie's house and home-school co-op, stephanie's Easter weekend brunch last Saturday, EAster services, Fremont Alliance's Easter pageant, and Christ in the Passover presented by Jews for Jesus, etc. etc. And numerous restaurant outings.
The grandsons, 7 and 9, have heard a story about Grandpa and Grandma that they love to quote a line from, "You're weavin' all over the road, Barb!" My husband said this before he took over the driver's seat and was mocking my driving by demonstrating the weaving --and here came the police!!! And when the officer asked my husband if he knew he was weaving all over the road, our carload burst into laughter --and explained that hubby was only imitating wifey, so as to get her to drive better! Our son in law happened to be along on that car-ride to Chicago --back in the girls' college days. For awhile he called us "the Weavers."
Shared faith, shared memories, shared silliness, shared chocolates, shared holidays --all part of the rich fabric of family fun in a functional family. Our son came home from college, filled with new-found insights and wisdom, and announced we were a dysfunctional family -- and my husband said, "You haven't seen dysfunctional!!" I don't even remember why he said it. But we know that any stress we experience in our family is minor compared to the world's. We know that we are blessed --though far from perfect individuals --especially me. I am the one most blessed by a kind and generous, energetic hard-working and loving husband --and children who are kind to me --who want to come home and see us fairly often. Our daughter made a statement at her wedding, that she knew we loved her --and that her father loved her mother and that he always would. If he ever thought he wouldn't, that sure was a challenge to him! He has always believed that divorce is destructive to children --at any age. And so I have been secure in his love, through all the vicissitudes of life and body. His grandfather, especially, set such a pattern for him. And he believes in the Bible --that he is to love his wife as his own body --and so he does.
The CHURCH --when it teaches and preaches the Bible, making disciples, it still holds the keys to FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE --and the greatest of these is LOVE.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
One wonders what we are doing to ourselves with all the abortions, late parenting plans and late marriages with their higher risk of infertility, and all the divorces and re-marriages. We have all this freedom and technology with which to do whatever we please, and the choices we make aren't necessarily good for us. God can redeem those blended family and step-parenting situations, late marriages, and single parenting, too, and make them all joyful, but there is a built-in sense of belonging that occurs when people commit to family life and work at obeying Christ in their homes, "striking the original match." We loved our children so much, and they, us, that divorce would have been very sad for all of us. How blessed they are by the father I chose for them! whom I believe God chose for us. How blessed WE were, to have them come into our home.
These four people and their spouses and the grandkids are our social network and community --apart from church. We had all 12 of us, including two great-grandmothers in their late 80's, at our Easter table. And it is always a lot of fun. Amusing is my mother who "can't eat very much" --and eats and eats --and will say after leaving a restaurant and arriving home, "What's to eat?" And she's not overweight --yet. Since her knee surgery, she's on her feet all the time, pacing from one end of my house to the other --wondering where all the people are --and if she should go to the mailbox --and "where is Rob?" (her favorite --as he lived with her some and looked after her, when he was in college in her city.) She washes dishes for me without soap, just wiping them with a dirty dishcloth, and puts them in the drainer -- and I say, "Thanks, Mom, now we're going to sterilize them," and I put them in the dishwasher and she's fine with that. No offense. She fusses over her suitcase and purse a lot. But doesn't really beg to go home. Since she's come on her extended visit, since Feb. 14, she has been to Elmwood's musical, their pre-contest choir concert, choir practices, CLC, CLC talent show, Tenebrae Rehearsal, Tenebrae Service, visiting Stephanie's house and home-school co-op, stephanie's Easter weekend brunch last Saturday, EAster services, Fremont Alliance's Easter pageant, and Christ in the Passover presented by Jews for Jesus, etc. etc. And numerous restaurant outings.
The grandsons, 7 and 9, have heard a story about Grandpa and Grandma that they love to quote a line from, "You're weavin' all over the road, Barb!" My husband said this before he took over the driver's seat and was mocking my driving by demonstrating the weaving --and here came the police!!! And when the officer asked my husband if he knew he was weaving all over the road, our carload burst into laughter --and explained that hubby was only imitating wifey, so as to get her to drive better! Our son in law happened to be along on that car-ride to Chicago --back in the girls' college days. For awhile he called us "the Weavers."
Shared faith, shared memories, shared silliness, shared chocolates, shared holidays --all part of the rich fabric of family fun in a functional family. Our son came home from college, filled with new-found insights and wisdom, and announced we were a dysfunctional family -- and my husband said, "You haven't seen dysfunctional!!" I don't even remember why he said it. But we know that any stress we experience in our family is minor compared to the world's. We know that we are blessed --though far from perfect individuals --especially me. I am the one most blessed by a kind and generous, energetic hard-working and loving husband --and children who are kind to me --who want to come home and see us fairly often. Our daughter made a statement at her wedding, that she knew we loved her --and that her father loved her mother and that he always would. If he ever thought he wouldn't, that sure was a challenge to him! He has always believed that divorce is destructive to children --at any age. And so I have been secure in his love, through all the vicissitudes of life and body. His grandfather, especially, set such a pattern for him. And he believes in the Bible --that he is to love his wife as his own body --and so he does.
The CHURCH --when it teaches and preaches the Bible, making disciples, it still holds the keys to FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE --and the greatest of these is LOVE.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
FIFTEEN YOUNGSTERS ATTEND FREMONT ALLIANCE EASTER PAGEANT
Why Evangelicalism will not die
despite recent reports to the contrary in newspolls:
Four cars, driven by me, my husband, Rob and Chrissy, headed out to Spencer Twp into the Habitat for Humanity housing neighborhood --lovely homes on a cul de sac and neighboring street --to pick up 14 children and youth, ranging in age from 8 to 17. They all happened to be African-American plus one little blonde whose mother brought her to the church. We had Kayla, Earlkayla, Earlkia, D'Earl, Bobby, Kyle, Davon, Javon, Brittany, Ariss, Amon, Austen, Anthony, a "godsister" whose name had an apostrophe in it (a visitor to one of the families), and Breanna. Through this I had good conversations with several different parents who do not attend our church. My invitations had gone out to all my Trailblazers and their siblings, by phone.
Rob drove his grandmother and three girls. I drove 4 boys who acted as good as gold. Jon had 4 boys. Chrissy had 4 girls.
We went to Fremont Alliance Church to see The Cross of Love, their annual Easter musical. We were not late, but the place was packed, and the boys were split up and we girls had corner seats --where they were able to stand to see better. The good part about our place was that our restless children didn't bother everybody --just those in close proximity. The two youngest were a little too immature for the event and occasionally made inappropriate noises and were quite the little busy bodies --though I had one on my lap half the time. (Yes, I have a lap!) When Jesus was crucified, I was asked, "IS THAT REAL BLOOD, MISS BARB!" And my little busybodies were into the faces of their friends to report back who was crying. "SHE's CRYING!" Most of us WERE moved --so effective was the portrayal.
The best thing about our seats was its location by an entrance for the actors. When Jesus entered for the first time he entered between our two rows and the girls literally squealed in delight, "IT'S JESUS! IT'S JESUS!" and to me, "Is it REALLY JESUS!???" They were so excited and became part of the drama --as he touched each one's hand or shoulder or head as if to bless them. I was almost convinced myself for just an electric moment!
The gentleman who plays the role these recent years was unchurched until he saw this production. It touched him profoundly to see the story of Jesus enacted, the healings, the crucifixion, the resurrection. He committed his life to Christ and started to attend the Alliance church and has been portraying Jesus beautifully, ever since. He gives his testimony after the program.
When a leprous girl passed by with bandaged face, our girls giggled and jeered, "O LOOK, LOOK AT HER!" And I was embarrassed --until it occured to me, that they had once again given a realistic portrayal of Bible-days children --this time being impolite to a leper --whom Jesus healed and the bandages came off as our son John sang the song, "Healing Rain." (It's his in-laws' church.)
This church goes all out, serving home-baked cookies and punch to nearly 500 people at each of 3 performances. One of the boys stacked up 7 cookies on his napkin and was admonished by the others," Put those back!"
Four cars, driven by me, my husband, Rob and Chrissy, headed out to Spencer Twp into the Habitat for Humanity housing neighborhood --lovely homes on a cul de sac and neighboring street --to pick up 14 children and youth, ranging in age from 8 to 17. They all happened to be African-American plus one little blonde whose mother brought her to the church. We had Kayla, Earlkayla, Earlkia, D'Earl, Bobby, Kyle, Davon, Javon, Brittany, Ariss, Amon, Austen, Anthony, a "godsister" whose name had an apostrophe in it (a visitor to one of the families), and Breanna. Through this I had good conversations with several different parents who do not attend our church. My invitations had gone out to all my Trailblazers and their siblings, by phone.
Rob drove his grandmother and three girls. I drove 4 boys who acted as good as gold. Jon had 4 boys. Chrissy had 4 girls.
We went to Fremont Alliance Church to see The Cross of Love, their annual Easter musical. We were not late, but the place was packed, and the boys were split up and we girls had corner seats --where they were able to stand to see better. The good part about our place was that our restless children didn't bother everybody --just those in close proximity. The two youngest were a little too immature for the event and occasionally made inappropriate noises and were quite the little busy bodies --though I had one on my lap half the time. (Yes, I have a lap!) When Jesus was crucified, I was asked, "IS THAT REAL BLOOD, MISS BARB!" And my little busybodies were into the faces of their friends to report back who was crying. "SHE's CRYING!" Most of us WERE moved --so effective was the portrayal.
The best thing about our seats was its location by an entrance for the actors. When Jesus entered for the first time he entered between our two rows and the girls literally squealed in delight, "IT'S JESUS! IT'S JESUS!" and to me, "Is it REALLY JESUS!???" They were so excited and became part of the drama --as he touched each one's hand or shoulder or head as if to bless them. I was almost convinced myself for just an electric moment!
The gentleman who plays the role these recent years was unchurched until he saw this production. It touched him profoundly to see the story of Jesus enacted, the healings, the crucifixion, the resurrection. He committed his life to Christ and started to attend the Alliance church and has been portraying Jesus beautifully, ever since. He gives his testimony after the program.
When a leprous girl passed by with bandaged face, our girls giggled and jeered, "O LOOK, LOOK AT HER!" And I was embarrassed --until it occured to me, that they had once again given a realistic portrayal of Bible-days children --this time being impolite to a leper --whom Jesus healed and the bandages came off as our son John sang the song, "Healing Rain." (It's his in-laws' church.)
This church goes all out, serving home-baked cookies and punch to nearly 500 people at each of 3 performances. One of the boys stacked up 7 cookies on his napkin and was admonished by the others," Put those back!"
After we were seated, the pastor asked for any of the regular church-goers there to consider giving up their seats for the visitors --which they did. We hear the church put up a remote screen in their gym for an over-flow crowd on their third and last night of performance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Tenebrae was not nearly so well attended, just less than one hundred, but it, too, was a beautiful service causing solemn reflection on Christ's sacrifice for our souls' sake. We were pleased to be visited by several people we didn't know, probably due to newspaper publicity, and by some visitors we did know, like the administrator of The Toledo Clinic and his wife, and Pastor and Mrs. Merrin of Monclova Baptist.
Highlights of OUR service were Holy Communion (The Last Supper observance) the readings of the Holy Week events from scripture, by leader, narrators, and congregation, interspersed by the beautiful ensemble, "Remember Me," sung by Rob Rohrs, Andrea Conklin, Ashley Perez and Christine Rohrs; "How Beautiful is the Body of Christ" by Patty Bersinger (both songs during the Communion); and from the David Clydesdale Easter musical, How Great Thou Art: "What will you do with Jesus" by Christine Rohrs --a challenge to us, referring to Pilate's dilemma, and then a medley of the beautiful "When They Pierced Your Side --How could they Open up your Heart Anymore?" by Stephanie Hulbert and the choir, including "How Great Thou Art," "And Can it Be?", and concluding with "God so Loved the World."
Congregational songs included "The Old Rugged Cross" and "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," and a contemporary arrangment of "Amazing Grace." Readers were Bob and MaryBeth DeMatteo and Courtney Lucas. Our sound tech who did a good job was Bob Perez. Kayla Perez extinguished the candles, accompanied by the tolling of a bell, as the sanctuary darkened more and more until there was just one chime and the last candle was carried out, and the thunderous earthquake sounded --signifying Christ's death. Then the candle was brought back and placed before the cross to signify the triumph of good over evil, and life over death. And Pastor Keith Simpson dismissed us to leave in reverent silence.
I believe the church is alive and well and on the march.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We hear that Lebanese celebrities participated in a SAT-7 Easter broadcast into the Middle-east. http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001ugKI9_rGp4XOiXjGmnt1RV3CHIOHrGWHGhze70owu_MbIjKBQVNd3Qj0T7qlF21dyUNWYigch-xnEWyDGxYrfXawfj7S6ATpjU1FW-bBQnSlw-_deF2LgXLi-H7G3dLfdpLnfcP1QUStNoUdUZMvDkY8kG8d_wgJAQ_a5m6HIQQ%3D
I told you all before how the Free Methodist Church was given land by the Kurdish gov't to build a church in Iraq --last year. And there are some 50 pastors seeking ordination in the Free Methodist Church in Viet Nam organizing their congregations as Free Methodist Churches. We have children's hostels in India and schools and hospitals in Africa and many FM churches there.
Mega-churches in the USA are challenging those who have fallen away from their churches to rediscover the excitement of the Gospel message --and the reality of it.
The Holy Spirit is still among us --as we tell the old, old story --still! passing it on....
We hear that Lebanese celebrities participated in a SAT-7 Easter broadcast into the Middle-east. http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001ugKI9_rGp4XOiXjGmnt1RV3CHIOHrGWHGhze70owu_MbIjKBQVNd3Qj0T7qlF21dyUNWYigch-xnEWyDGxYrfXawfj7S6ATpjU1FW-bBQnSlw-_deF2LgXLi-H7G3dLfdpLnfcP1QUStNoUdUZMvDkY8kG8d_wgJAQ_a5m6HIQQ%3D
I told you all before how the Free Methodist Church was given land by the Kurdish gov't to build a church in Iraq --last year. And there are some 50 pastors seeking ordination in the Free Methodist Church in Viet Nam organizing their congregations as Free Methodist Churches. We have children's hostels in India and schools and hospitals in Africa and many FM churches there.
Mega-churches in the USA are challenging those who have fallen away from their churches to rediscover the excitement of the Gospel message --and the reality of it.
The Holy Spirit is still among us --as we tell the old, old story --still! passing it on....
And why will evangelicalism survive and thrive? Because we are still and again,
ever renewing our call to the poor, to children, to the unity and equality of
all races, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free -- proclaiming
liberty to the captives and deliverance to the oppressed --and helping to make
it happen, so help us, Lord!
When we get more busy about the basic Good
News, and the basic commands of Christ, living the righteousness asked of us,
straining for the holiness commanded of us --ever discipling
(teaching/preaching) in the church to those we bring from outside the church
--as Jesus said,"This is my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail
against it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
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