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Cricket

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Posts posted by Cricket

  1. I do. I don't want to get political because it's against board rules but we had a president who said God told him to end the tyranny in Iraq. He said he was on a mission from God. That might not matter to you, but it does to me and to many other people. I don't want people in charge who believe God is telling them how to run the country. It's dangerous. It's scary.

    Is this what you are referring to? http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/10/09/2003275089

  2. I find this argument interesting in that it would likely never be considered seriously outside the context of human behavior. Imagine if one were to say, "Modern astronomy doesn't have any satisfying answers to me as to why the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. Astronomy can only explain the hows, never the why." If someone were to come here and argue this statement, I suspect they would not receive such a polite, if not aloof welcome. 

     

    When you look back in time, you see a history of one phenomena after another for which a supernatural explanation has been replaced by a natural one. Why the sun rises and sets; what thunder and lightning are; how and why illness happens and spreads; why people look like their parents; how the leopard got its spots; what is the moon made of, etc. Supernatural explanation are constantly being replaced with natural, physical explanations. I find it fascinating that we humans think that our part in nature is somehow removed from the ordinary mechanics that explains everything else, that somehow we are elevated above and beyond what is otherwise considered mundane. But how fascinating, and not at all mundane our world really is! How many mysteries give rise to more interesting things to consider and apply in so many creative ways, mysteries for who the supernatural explanation was never really satisfactory in comparison with the natural explanation. From 3D printing to bio-printing, exploring and understanding the world and accepting answers by virtue of the facts rather than personal faith has opened up so many inspiring possibilities! It's one thing to not understand how they work, but to assume that just because one doesn't understand, the answer could just as well be anything any individual imagines it to be is fascinating to me. 

     

    But back to the OP and her question. This god of the gaps keeps getting smaller, and "God" is no longer an acceptable answer to auditory messages from unseen voices. Natural explanations are not only more plausible, they're more reliable, and we can interact with the findings through medicines as well as inspiring further research. Instead, this god has been reduced to such nebulous and evasive gaps as a vague form of communication understood through secret messages written out in various events, stolen moments of seeming clarity, emotional highs (or lows), and coincidences that are more appealing when explained by mystery than simple chance. Increasingly, we find we can interpret human behavior through natural explanations (such as schizophrenia and seizures, all the way to the "mundane" explanation of behavioral conditioning). This god of the gaps has gotten so small, it's relegated to hints here and there. When people try to apply the claims as they once were genuinely believed to be true, they are met with shock and sadness [Church Reportedly Tried to Raise a ‘Possessed’ Toddler From the Dead].

     

    Funny thing is though, your explanations are within only what you deem logical.  God of the gaps isn't something people of faith believe in but it is the role you delegate to god because you simply can't conceive of anything else.  One doesn't have to ignore science in order to believe in the spiritual realm and yet you keep insisting that one does. That just isn't true no matter how often it is said.

    • Like 6
  3. Just throwing this out there since I haven't been part of this conversation.  I really can see both sides.  I understand why some people say there is no god.  For me, though, I can't get past this pesky person named Jesus.  I can't get past how the New Testament makes sense in light of the Old Testament, that prophecies were fulfilled and that Christian theology makes logical sense.  Modern psychology doesn't have any satisfying answers to me as to why people act the way they do.  Science only makes sense if there are unbreakable laws governing the universe which, to me, implies a creator/designer.  Science can only explain the hows, never the whys.  Whys don't exist.  (I just could never believe that.)  Chemical processes just aren't enough of an answer.  Materialism will never be satisfactory to me in the same way spiritualism (for lack of a better word) will never be satisfactory to someone else.

    • Like 8
  4. Sounds like the neighbor wanted to play the "hero". I'm so tired of this attitude.

     

    I had a woman getting ready to call the cops on me last summer because I left both my boys in the van to get a shopping cart. I kid you not. I was less than 50 feet away from the van (which I had left running with the AC on because it was 102), and when I started walking back to the van she had already pulled out her phone and yelled at me, "Oh my God, I thought you were leaving them. I was fixing to call the police." I yelled at her, "They're fine. The AC is on, and I would never leave my boys." Seriously, I was so angry. Here I am trying to keep them safe in the van until I had a cart because there was less chance of them getting hurt there then me trying to get a cart with a running 4 year old and a baby.

     

    People really need to learn some common sense and learn to mind their own business.

     

    I once got a lecture on the dangers of kidnapping because two of my kids were in the car, buckled into their carseats, with the windows down while I was standing on the sidewalk less than 20 feet away and facing them.  Apparently, anyone could have grabbed them and ran off.   :huh:

    • Like 2
  5. Laying down ones life to aid another is distinctly different than killing someone else with a gun.

     

    Good grief.

     

    Bill

     

    So if my husband kills an intruder who intends to harm us, he's just simply killing someone else, not putting himself in harm's way to protect us.  Okay.  Got it.  Not really sure I want to know what your opinion of soldiering is.

  6. I don't think I've been reading "the Cookbook Bible."

     

    This found familiar?:

     

    “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

     

    I'm frankly disappointed by the hypocrisy.

     

    Bill

    It also says "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." It is not hypocritical for some in a church to put themselves between others and harm.

    • Like 5
  7. We attend a co-op twice a month. There are four families, all doing a CM-style approach to schooling. We cover the fun extras like folksongs, hymns, picture study, composer study, Shakespeare, handicrafts, poetry. Kids range in ages from 1 to 17. All kids are together for every subject except for their literature discussion groups. Then we break down into three groups. We meet for about five hours. We do two terms per year (three months each) and then have a family night at the end of each term to show the dads and other extended friends and family what we have been doing.

  8. When we lived out in the country, I didn't think much of it. Now that we are in town, I usually check a local news website the next morning to see what happened. Gunshots aren't all that uncommon in our neighborhood but rarely is it someone actually being shot. One night we thought for sure we heard a shotgun blast very close. Dh and I went outside to see what was going on (why would we do that?!) Turns out it was fireworks.

  9. I still go to the doctor with my 16 yo ds.  At his sports physical this past year, I asked if he wanted me to leave the exam room or stay with him and he said he wanted me to stay.  Dh hates going to the doctor by himself so I always go along with him.  I've only had one dentist tell me I wasn't allowed back.  The dentist my kids have been seeing for the last two years always lets me back with the kids.  Same with the eye doctor.  I've taken elderly neighbors to the doctor and they insist I also go into the exam room with them.  Like other pps have said, it can be good to have someone with you. 

  10. I don't want to see sports separate from college, but I think the DIV III and the Ivy League both have a model that should be followed.  There are no athletic scholarships offered at these schools.  The athletes are students first and must meet the academic standards of the school in order to be admitted.  The NCAA (for Div III) with its stupid farce of an "eligibility center" is not involved at all.

     

    If the NBA and NFL had minor league systems like Major League Baseball, those football and basketball players seeking to turn pro could be drafted out of high school directly into the minor league systems.  With minor league systems in place, no one would have to pretend anymore that these players are attending college for "the education." 

     

    However, there is too much money in college basketball and football for this to ever come to fruition. Plus, if there were minor leagues, the NBA and NFL would be required to pay the players for the 60 plus hours a week that they put into their sport and provide disability coverage if a player was injured "on the job", something that doesn't happen now because the colleges and the corrupt NCAA can exploit these players by claiming these players are "students."  

     

    I'd like to see this.  My oldest ds is a gifted athlete but not gifted academically.  He works very hard but only manages a high C/low B average.  He'd probably earn a college scholarship for his athletic ability but wouldn't be able to handle a D-I school academically.  Luckily, he's into baseball so he has some options.  Kids who are gifted athletes need an outlet for their abilities too!  It shouldn't have to be tied to schooling.

     

  11. This just popped up on my FB. I always feel sad when a perfectly gorgeous woman chooses to surgically alter her face. I know I don't know what she is thinking but I thought she was so pretty before. She looks completely different. It would be weird to look in the mirror and see a different person looking back at you.

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