I wish it were that easy. Hundreds and hundreds of little boys and girls are now being prostituted as we type merrily away on our keyboards. (ecmafrica.org See this site, a Christian ministry to child sex slaves, if you don't believe it.) Do you think, if we could just convert all of those children to Christianity, that they wouldn't be in that position? What about those children who ARE Christian? What makes you so much more special than they that you would never be forced into prostitution, but these Christian children are? Curiously, T.

Ooh! Well, you can slice the loin thin and pan fry with a flour and spice dredge. We never did roasts, I don't recall. We had lots of hamburger and had lots turned into sausage. Hmm, I reckon you can put the hams and roasts in the crockpot though. Do you have the sweet meats? Yum! What happened to the rest of it? Did you have it ground? T. I'm unfamiliar with icing the animal--or the meats. We hanged ours out back to let the blood drain, but it was cold where we lived.

:iagree::lol: Yeah, men better not come over here 'cause I'm afraid I'll rip their clothes off and have my way with them.

My husband is introverted, and most of his friends are male. I'm extroverted and have friends of both genders, though I'm closer with my female friends. We're comfortable with that, and we trust each other. The night my husband and I returned from our honeymoon, there was a big flood in our city. A woman (half of a couple we were friends with--our missionary mentors--and whose husband was out of town) called us in the middle of the night asking for help to roll up some carpet in the basement My husband said, "sure" he'd be right there. Husband told me to enjoy my sleep, went over after avoiding the major street flooding, and came home and went to sleep again. Didn't think anything of it. For the next several days the friend complained that I didn't come and that it looked wrong for my husband to be going into her house. We were devout Christians at the time and didn't even think about the possible "impropriety" of what this might look like. But she was very upset. I bit my tongue. I needed an emergency drive to the airport several years ago, and while a friend's husband was available, that would have looked wrong for me to be in a car alone with him for any amount of time. I understand folks maybe not wanting to have serious friendships with members of the opposite sex, maybe. But, really? Does it have to be like this? I think the only people who think things like this are so bad, or look bad, are religious :) Makes me wonder. T.

I was torn between non-believer top two most knowledgble. I was born again at 13 and read the KJV cover to cover that year. I was a missionary with a well known, international evangelistic group until a couple of years ago. Comparative religion was my thing. I could argue dispensations, Calvinism, Arminianism, Anabaptism, the various views on the rapture, universal salvation. I've read the Bible in more versions than I care to remember, as well as spent years poring over my Greek interlinear NT translation, etc. I loved discussing various positions and various doctrines with JWs, Mormons, Amish, Mennonites, Unitarians, Buddhists, Muslims, and made it a point to have ready Biblical responses ready for any place our beliefs collided. There are so many times I consider popping into one of the Bible and doctrinal discussions here because I can still debate/discuss those issues from my original, chosen viewpoint, but I'm so done with those days I don't want to waste any more of my life. But, I have no doubt that I could still pass myself off as a very devout, knowledgable missionary and disciple-maker. :) T.

Hooray!!!! I'm thrilled for you! T.

I've thought about you all often since you first shared this. I do wish you the very, very best, and hope that justice will prevail! Hang tight. We're for you! T.

I'm afraid I can't see the place from which you got this tidbit, but I can see the little red x-box there. I might try to take it and google it and read the source material. There are two way to look at this: 1. The story of Jesus is like hundreds of myths before his, indicating that his story is the true one. 2. The story of Jesus is like hundreds of myths before him, indicating that his is just another myth like the predecessors. I think it's the second.

Hee! Starting on our honeymoon!

:grouphug: You've been very brave about this whole thing. Hang in there.

You know what will happen if Heather brings this to her mission board? Nothing. Nothing at all. You know what it will do for anti-Christianity feeling? Nothing. People who are already non-Christian or "anti-Christian" are certainly willing to believe that Christians are only as noble or corrupt as anyone else. After all, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." You know what will happen to Christians who find themselves questioning their religion? They'll probably keep questioning, because there are certainly more things to question the very real humanness of all people. Or, they'll question other things. They'll question because they're people, and even solid Christians question. That's ok. Or, maybe it isn't.

Good for you, Heather!

Ohh! The link is not to the skit I'm thinking of, but it gives me another place to search through! Thanks so!

I can't even find it on HULU. ARgh! The really sad part is that I'm still looking. . . .brother *rolls eyes at self* If I ever do find it, it'll probably be anti-climactic. :)

Yes, yes. S.A. would be quite dangerous, but. . . seriously, some places are just thrilled to see the missionaries coming in. :) It's just a game. You pretend to hide, we'll pretend not to see you. Sometimes we'll "catch" some of you and send you home. You give us enough goodies, teach English, whatever, we'll acknowledge each other with a wink and a nod. The pseudo cloak-and-daggerness of it is kind of thrilling, to some folks, I think. At least in places where lives really aren't at stake. I think this OP is savvy enough to know what she's doing and not be putting her school, family, people in danger. Sorry, OP, I can't remember your name.

Blah, I Still can't find it. I've been googling and youtubing "Jan Hooks, Alec Baldwin SNL telephone skit" and just about everything I can think of, but I can't find it. Blah.

These countries know there are illegal missionaries in their countries. We're not giving cities, organizations, addresses. And don't you mean "Southeast Asia"? :) That was the special secret word we were supposed to use when referring to missionaries being in China. *rolls eyes*

She'll be 18. She won't need Mommy's and Daddy's permission to leave. That's part of the issue. According to the law, "adult" is an arbitrary age. Daughter needs skills to deal with that.

Yes, this girl needs her mother. She needs guidance and someone to help and talk to. What is offensive and self-righteous about that? Most people aren't saying "ignore this behavior." Is that what you're talking about? Most people are saying, "talk to her. Talk to her. Give her information. Help her." This is concern. This is parenting. What exactly do you disagree with?

THANK YOU! I still haven't been able to find it. I bet I'll track it down now :)

Good job! Glad it turned out like it did. I'm not surprised that it was some sort of deception thing on the son's part. I still think it's darn weird that the parents leave the kid with a loaded gun and tell him it's there for him in case robbers come. Stupid, frankly. Kid's more likely to kill a friend than kill a bad guy. . . . Maybe this will help wake up the parents too. But, yay! You done good :) Your DH, too! Couple things: Around my neck of the woods "accidentally killed self cleaning gun" is euphemism for suicide. Also, a 10 year old boy in our local homeschool community just killed his best friend with a handgun earlier this year. I'm so glad things worked out better for you! You may have saved some other child.

:grouphug: I do hope this father is a responsible, reasonable man. My own father was law enforcement--a game warden. We had all sorts of weapons in the house. He would have blown a gasket if any of us kids had been so so STUPID! I hope the best. Hang in there, Mama!

NM

I can't imagine why anyone would dislike the Colonel :lol: OK, I've got a place to start, I'm googling like mad for Alec Baldwin and SNL skits. . . Shwetty balls keeps coming up. Of course. I haven't found the one I'm looking for yet. Thanks for the help, I'll find it yet!

Ok, I saw a bit of the Women of SNL show a couple of weeks ago, and there was a funny sketch I'd never seen before. I don't know who was in it, or ANYTHING. I'd love to find it online and show it to my husband. I just laughed to hard. (I think it must be from the last 5 or 6 years, shockingly.) It's a simple concept. Fancy living room. Man answers phone, woman is in room, does not want to talk to person on the line. The entire skit is the woman making pantomime of telling what the man to say, and the excuses he's supposed to use, claiming the woman is not there, where she had gone, when she will be back. It just becomes more and more absurd and it's quite manic. Very funny. To me :) Anyone have any idea who was in this?