Posts by marichi

*head explodes*

Mine explodes too.  On a daily basis.

My sister and brother in law lived in Malaysia for years!  They loved it.  That is an interesting question you asked.v

Is there a compromise?  I think the US seperation of church and state is an awesome idea.  My husband, a Peruvian, thinks the Catholic church should run the world (or at least the US) and that would eliminate all of our problems.  I would get really frustrated when the church would influence things that the Peruvian government would attempt - for instance several years back, the government wanted to do some family planning education to help battle poverty and the church squashed it.

But, right now this system is working for the Malays, and when it doesn't they will change it.  They may have to fight to change it.  But in the end, it isn't for us as foreigners, even those that live there, to judge their system. 

Original Post by lexie89:

I've come to the conclusion that the bible is literally true from reading books like The case for Christ and The case for Faith by Lee Stroebel. More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell. I will throw just one fact out here that just blew me away. If the bible is just another piece of fiction than how could people in the old testament prophesy hundreds and hundreds of years before Christ was born about his exact location of birth, how he would be born, his life on Earth and his eventual death with such accuracy?

You are assuming that Jesus actually did these things, and that his life wasn't rewritten to fit the ancient stories?  Here is a clue that this isn't the case - Mithra, the saviour in a  lived about 500 years before Jesus, and was born of a virgin on Dec 25th (which is interesting, because Jesus most likely was not born on the 12/25th), recieved gifts from three Magi who followed the starts to get there, died, was entombed and rose again three days later.  Much of Jesus' story was lifted right from this more ancient Persian religion.  Ascending into heaven was common for great figures in religion and literature before the life of Jesus.

I am not saying what that Jesus didn't exist, or that Christian values aren't valid, I am just saying that his story has probably been fictionalized- because it was written way after his death by people who weren't there. Religious historians, even the Jesuits, don't deny these facts.   And Mithra's story was probably based on the predictions from the old testiment.

For me, the bible is a nice  piece of literature, but this does not subtract from the value of it, because the values are what are the most important.  And these values included in most major religions.

A big hug from Texas. 

Good for Dave.  You need to take care of yourself also.  Get to that gym!  Sign up for a run! I hope and pray that Chris comes home. Yet, life for you, needs to go on, and maintaining you own health and well-being needs to be a priority.  Sadly, Chris's situation is beyond your control at this point, but your health and life are still much under your command.  Take care of yourself as well as keeping the search for Chris alive.

My kids (10 and 6) and I have a ritual where we all lay in my bed for a half hour or more before bedtime and read books.  Then at 9:00, they go to bed and are asleep very quickly.  The kids sleep together on a fouton, with the dog, in an open gameroom area of our house, right outside of my bedroom.  Sometimes they even turn the TV on, my daughter likes it, then I turn it off in a few minutes when she is out.  They both have great rooms, they just don't want to sleep there.  We used to try to bribe them to sleep in their own rooms, but I decided not to fight it, they will grow out of it and want privacy and space soon enough.  When I only had my son, he would fall asleep in bed with us and I would move him to his bed.  With my daughter, she falls asleep with my son on the fouton.  I think I am the only one in the family who prefers to sleep alone!

May not be storybook perfect, but here's the kicker - both my kids get at least 9.5 hours of sleep a night and we don't fight about it.  Bedtime isn't stressful.

I think sometimes we, as parents, get hung up on this storybook way we think things are supposed to work.  I remember doing the whole 'put the kid in the bedroom and hold the door shut till he exhausted himself enough to fall asleep' method that the experts often recommend, and my husband and I were just as traumatized as my son.  So, we started letting my son fall asleep in bed with us then we moved him to his bed, and he stayed there all night.  It worked for us, even though the "experts" would have been appauled.

The trick is finding something that works and making a routine.

Cute thread!  I tell my kids - Santa exists, just  not in the way you think he does.  That is what I believe, too.  Same thing about God, for that matter...

I believed in Santa until I was older because one year I had a very vivid dream that I walked down the step to peek in the livingroom and it was all decorated with extral lights and stockings (my family didn't do stockings).  It was a Christmas wonderland, and I was certain Santa was responsible.  But when I woke up in the morning, there were just the usual Christmas decorations.  I was furious with my father, as I thought he had woken up early and took everything down (because he didn't like the stockings...)

I still remember talking to friends, probably in first or second grade and having a conversation - "I am not sure, but we have to keep believing, just in case!"

My six year old still believes, but this is my 10 year olds first year of completely being in on it.  He is having more fun now, I think.