What site do you suggest for printable coupons? There are far too many to sift through, and if anyone has good go-to sites, I'd surely appreciate their names. Thanks!

I can't recall the details, but I do recall that I didn't at all like any of the following books at all. The only think I can warn you about is that they weren't any good compared to the first. :(

Is this to me? I don't blame Christianity for all historical evils, but plenty of historical evils have been committed in the name of Christianity (and in the name of plenty of other religions) I would find that pretty difficult to dispute. If a person says they commit evil in the name of god, I'm willing to take them at their word. Since I don't believe in gods, I know it's bunk, but it sure gives plenty of people a rationale. Sorry. I won't be back to this thread because it's making my blood pressure rise.

False equivalence. None of these people did these things in the name of non-religion. They did it without religion, which is a different thing entirely. You can't draw a clear line between these men's evil and their lack of faith in a deity. There are plenty of evils you can find where people point to their deity as a reason for their evil, however. I can think of two times in the Bible off the top of my head where god commands his armies to kill every man, woman, and child in a city. He's commanding genocide. And many very lovely people on this board have plenty of rationale as to why this was ok. I used to when I was a Christian. Many many people commit evils in the name of their gods because they believe their gods are commanding them to do so. Many people are willing to nod their heads and say, "yes, it's ok because god said it was/is." And I have to agree that if not for religion, people would find all sorts of other reasons for killing each other, but religion has certainly been a very popular one for a very long time. While evils have been committed without religion as well, I have yet to see any connection between atheism and evil. But I've certainly seen a great deal between religion and evil. I'm sorry for getting off the thread here, and will sign off of this one.

Can you explain this? Show me where an atheist has said, "By my belief in no gods, I will kill thousands of people for it." Some atheists have done evil things, but none has been done for the sake of their non-deity. I, in turn, will be happy to show you examples of where people have murdered thousands of others because their god commanded it. I'll start! Or, should we start another thread? I don't want to hijack.

That's just the point I was making! We may both see reasons to want to convert the other. You don't see a problem with a group going into a school and doing that. I do. I rather thought that was the incident you were referring to. I'll watch the links. I see from the web addresses that there was an apology for whatever this incident was. That sounds good. I wish all groups who overstep the line would apologize as these folks have apparently done. I don't expect that though. Also, I see a HUGE difference between a person using their role as a UPS driver to perhaps convert me and a person "befriending" me as a way to convert me. The first is ok. The second makes me ill. This, to me, is one of the ways Evangelical Christianity waters down love. I don't befriend you because I seek your friendship. I befriend you because I want to convert you. It make me so ill! Compound this with an adult trying to "befriend" a minor in this way. There are no words!

:iagree:

I'd like to see that video. Can you link, please? As to "eternal implications" you're right, we certainly disagree. You think we have an eternity and that what we do here impacts that. I don't think we have an eternity, and I believe that these days, months, years here are the important things. I think all of the time I spent praying, converting, studying and discipling others were wasted. I wish I could have them all back and spend time investing in the present and in reality. It would have been a mercy if someone would have been able to reason me out of my faith (not that reason would have done it). Much in the same way, I spent years "ministering" to people and trying to show them Jesus. So, the point is, some atheists do believe we have something to offer. Namely, freedom from religious superstition and oppression. Freedom from beliefs that have been used to support unspeakable evils since the beginning of human understanding and are still used today to dehumanize so many people. If you can't understand that. . . well, what can ya do? Edited to add: Finally, I think there would be many, many good things that would be left. . and grow. . . if there were no more religion (including Christianity). Many, many reasons why it might be good for the world for people to give up their supernatural beliefs. I won't go into those here, but when you said you couldn't imagine why anyone would want to convince someone away from their deity--well, I'm sure there are many of us here who can!

That's a wonderful thing for them to do! An after-school, night-time party alternative is great. It's not on school grounds and sponsored by the school.

Examples? And do you think this is ok? Do you want your children being influenced in this way? If so, and you're willing to allow every religion to come into schools under the guise of "tutoring" and "volunteering" but with the goal of conversion. If so, that's consistent at least. I don't want any sneaking religion smuggled into the schools by people with ulterior motives.

You really wouldn't have any trouble with someone mentoring your children with the goal of converting them? Fascinating!

Well, I don't care to have it done, thank you. And certainly not by using the channel of the public school. Take heed, lest you fall.

I don't recall anyone saying that a person who is gifted in teaching or coaching shouldn't volunteer. Or that a Christian with these talents shouldn't volunteer. Doing it through an organization whose end goal is conversion is the problem. Again, if it were a non-Christian group coming into schools to volunteer, but the unspoken goal of the group was conversing children to another religion, would you have a problem with that? If so, you can understand my objection.

You bet!

:iagree:

I've been thinking about this lately. I didn't have one planned until I was 40 and then every 5 years or whatever they're suggesting now, but my doctor suggested a baseline this year (I'm 35) because I had been having a bit of an ache in the breast that used to get infected when I was nursing. Well, why not, I thought. Well, it came back "suspicious." I have a follow-up next month. I don't know what this is to say other than. Listen to your body, above everything else. If I hadn't had this crop up, I'd certainly wait between. And maybe I still will if this turns out to only be calcium deposits. T.

It depends on your definition on "sinister." I think ulterior motives, whether "good" or not are always "sinister." It's deceptive. "I'm here to help" ("but what I really want to help with is converting you.") Maybe I'm different here, but even as a Christian I'd have rather had my child mentored in school by a person interested in them and their studies to that end--even if they were of a different religion, than a person who mentored them and helped them in their studies with the real end being "I want this person to convert." And if one is unable to divorce the two, and their friendship and interest in me has an end goal other than friendship, I want nothing to do with it. I'm beyond playing games now.

Unfortunately this is not at all uncommon. I was with a Christian missions group that had something like the "Jesus Muslims" approach you mentioned in the world's largest Muslim country. Many of my friends who went into "closed" countries as missionaries went as English teachers. It is not at all unusual, and it's why I'm so very careful.

I will do my utmost to explain to my children that Evangelical religious groups always have the goal of converting. All the invitations, meetings, and outings, are done for one reason--conversion. I will do all I can to dissuade my children from becoming involved in these groups, though I will not prohibit it. Knowledge is power.

It seems a generalized statement. What is the context? Yes, I think it basically means, "take the log out of your own eye first."

We love Herriot here! The kids have the beautifully illustrated collection as well. As far as drinking and how it is portrayed--often times your child is going to find that drinking alcohol isn't portrayed as "positive" or "negative" because it just isn't that way all of the time, particularly in cultures where it's as normal as eating. One of my favorite bits of trivia is that the average Puritan drank more than the average American today. That, and the folks on the Mayflower brought more beer than water on board with them. For many thousands of years alcohol has "been" without being "bad" or "good"--beyond often being safer to drink that water :)

Can anyone help me translate this??? I think that I understand most of it but I'm not sure if it is a rebuke or a philosophical statement..... A tout ceux qui font du mal aux gens gratuitement sans se demander l'impact que sa peut avoir !ne trouvez-vous pas que l'on vit déjà dans un monde bien dur qu'il y a déjà énormément de difficultés a vivre tranquille, foutez nous la paix et balayer devant chez vous au lieu de balayer devant chez les autres !!!tout ceux q...ui sont d'accord avec moi Well, let me see. "To all of those who do evil to people liberally, without asking themselves about the impact it could have. Don't you find that we already live in a hard world wherein there are already enormous difficulties in living peacefully? Let us work peace and worry about our own affairs instead of meddling in others. All of those who are with me. . . " This is how I'd take it. I don't know why it ends that way, however, and the exclamation points throw me.

There's no reason the OP shouldn't talk about the situation here to determine whether her reaction was reasonable or not, which is what the OP did. And how she should respond. There's nothing non-Biblical about that. If she gave the woman's name and was here to defame here, that would be unBiblical.

You can watch the episodes free online at pbs.org for a short time. Sherlock was available until mid-December. My family and I have been Loving them!

OOH! Sorry, I didn't read well! I thought you wanted suggestions of places to live INSTEAD of Boulder. You can disregard my following (and previous) post. I prefer Ft. Collins to Boulder. It's smaller, but home to a wonderful university and less urban. Of course, it depends on what you like. Boulder is Colorado's Berkeley. Coloradoans consider it "10 square miles of Boulder surrounded by reality." Either is lovely though. But for my money, I'd be in Fort Collins all the way.