Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin

Friday 31 October 2008

Thoughts on Halloween


Should Christians take part in Halloween celebrations?

"When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do."


Verses such as this make my husband and me feel that is probably not a good idea to celebrate Halloween. We believe that if we are in any doubt as to whether something is right or not, it is best to err on the side of caution and not do it than to take part in something we feel might be sinful.

(I am not condemning those who do choose to celebrate Halloween - after all, let he who is without sin cast the first stone - but it is good to discuss why we do things as it helps us to consider whether our actions are right regardless of which "side" of the issue we are on.)

Fortunately for us, our church does not try to do anything for Halloween and our daughter is not in school so there is no pressure (other than trick or treaters calling) for us to take part in it however it is still important to consider such issues and be clear about them in our minds even if it is not a pressing practical concern.

Milehimama wrote a very good post about why her family do not celebrate Halloween and Jennifer did a post about alternatives to the usual Halloween activities.

Sunday 26 October 2008

My Web Wanderings (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Monday 20 October 2008

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

  • tags: pro-life

    • The
      center of the American abortion industry is the state of Kansas.  This comes
      as a surprise to many, since Kansans tend to be simple, down-to-earth, conservative
      people—the kind that one would least expect to find inside the walls of an
      abortion clinic.


      Of
      all the states in this country, why Kansas?  What makes Kansas special when
      it comes to abortion?  The answer is simple: Kansas is home to George
      Tiller
      , the most prolific late-term abortionist in the entire western
      world.  


      Since
      1973, George Tiller—or "Dr. Tiller", as he likes to call himself—has
      performed thousands upon thousands of late-term abortions.  He is renowned
      among the pro-choice community for his impeccable record of safety: unlike
      some abortionists, he has yet to kill a woman in the process of terminating
      a pregnancy.  His apparent skill as an abortion practitioner has won
      him numerous awards, including the National Abortion Federation's highest
      honor, the Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award.

    • Among
      pro-life advocates, he is famous for the cruelty with which he treats the
      unborn.  No case illustrates the extent of this cruelty better than the tragedy
      of Baby
      Sarah Brown
      , one of his many victims.  In 1993, a pregnant teenager and
      her parents traveled 900 miles to Tiller's office in Kansas to receive an
      elective late-term abortion.  





      Tiller began the abortion by injecting a poisonous
      syringe through the pregnant teenager's uterus and into the upper left side
      of the unborn baby's face.  He then instructed the teenager to return the
      next day for the completion of the abortion.  




      To everyone's dismay, the baby did not die
      during the intervening hours.  After the teenager began to complain of serious
      abdominal pains, her parents rushed her to a local hospital where the baby
      was eventually born—alive.  The delivery room staff felt that life-support
      would be futile, so they wrapped the baby in a bassinet without attendance.  The teenager and her parents quickly left the scene.


      Even without medical care, the baby remained
      alive.  After many hours had passed, the delivery room staff decided to
      give her treatment.  Miraculously, she managed to survive through the entire
      ordeal.  "Sarah", as her adoptive parents later named her, lived
      until the age of 5, when she succumbed to the developmental harm done to
      her body during the abortion.  The KCl solution that had been injected into
      the side of her face had left her permanently blind and brain damaged.





      Prior
      to the abortion, Sarah was a perfectly normal baby.  The relevant medical records indicate
      that she had no disabilities or deformities.  If Tiller hadn't attempted to
      poison her, she would be a healthy 9 year old girl with an entire life ahead
      of her.  Instead, she is in a grave.

    • In
      the middle of 1998, the state of Kansas instituted a mandatory reporting policy
      that required Tiller to submit information about the abortions that he performs.  The Kansas Department of Health and Environmental Statistics has recently
      published this information: http://www.kdhe.state.ks.us/hci/absumm.html.  


      The
      information sends a clear message: the majority of late-term abortions are
      purely elective.  They typically involve healthy babies and healthy mothers.  If you are inclined to disagree, or if you have a hard time believing that
      mainstream abortion practitioners would be willing to kill babies that are
      months from being born, then I ask that you continue reading.  You will be
      amazed—and hopefully outraged—when you see the data for yourself.  

    • The
      "health" exceptions built into these statutes make them absolutely
      meaningless.  They haven't restricted a single late-term abortion.  All that
      Tiller has to do to keep his atrocities within the boundaries set by the Kansas
      Legislature is find one pro-choice psychologist in the United States willing
      to claim that late-term abortion is necessary to preserve a woman's mental
      health.  If he can do that, he can do whatever he wants.  It certainly doesn't
      seem like a very daunting task, does it?  


      Since
      the concept of "health"—especially the concept of "mental health"—has
      no established legal meaning, virtually every late-term abortion that Tiller
      performs, no matter how abusive, remains legally invincible.  If he wanted
      to, he could exact a partial birth abortion on a healthy, 40 week old infant.  He would get off scot-free.  Sadly enough, prosecutors would be powerless to
      convict him of wrongdoing.  As long as he manages to find a mental health professional
      willing to vouch for his actions, there isn't really any basis for conviction.  

    • Abortion
      advocates often deflect negative attention by insisting that late-term abortions
      are in the best interests of the babies that are aborted.  They claim that
      if the babies are not "terminated", they will live lives scarred
      by illness.  The truth is that the vast majority of the babies condemned to
      death by late-term abortion are healthy and capable of living meaningful lives.  


      There
      also exists a common misconception that late-term abortions are limited to
      medical emergencies.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  From 1998 until
      2000, only one out of the 1168 abortions that Tiller performed after viability
      was done during a medical emergency.  Upwards of 97% of his late-term patients
      weren't even from Kansas—they flew in from other states to have abortions
      that they had scheduled in advance.  

    • It
      is inconceivable that the poisoning of a viable unborn baby before an induction
      could be necessary to avert physical health damage to a pregnant woman.  The
      death of a baby doesn't cure any physical illnesses.  What, then, are the "health"
      problems that are leading to these abortions?  Again, the answer lies in the
      nebulous concept of mental health—a loophole that has been tailor made to
      legalize elective abortion throughout the nine months of a pregnancy.  The
      argument put forth by the abortion industry is that unwanted babies, if they
      are allowed to live, pose a threat to the psychological well-being of the
      mothers who will have to raise them.  Consequently, they must die.  


      Let
      there be no confusion: the motivation behind these abortions is not the termination
      of an unwanted pregnancy.  Once pregnancy has reached viability, doctors can
      perform abortion without engaging in an act of killing.  The motivation behind
      these abortions is the destruction of an unwanted fetus, the elimination of
      an unwanted child.  Tiller himself seems willing to concede the point.  From
      his own mouth, "it is unplanned and unwanted motherhood that shipwrecks
      women's lives, not unplanned pregnancy."  (George R. Tiller, Victory Rally
      and Declaration of Reproductive Independence, Wichita, Kansas, July 13, 2001
      <http://www.prochoice.org/Voices/Providers/Tiller.htm>)

    • From
      January of 1999 to December 1999, Tiller performed 574 abortions after 22
      weeks.  302 of these abortions were performed on viable babies.  All of the
      abortions were done for "health" reasons; not one was done to preserve
      the life of the mother.  


      During
      the same period, Tiller performed 182 abortions with the PBA method.  Every
      single one of these abortions was performed after viability.  As in the previous
      year, he was asked to indicate, for each patient , whether the procedure was
      done to protect the patient's physical health or the patient's mental health.  His answer in every case was mental health.  

    • From
      January of 2001 to December 2001, Tiller performed 635 abortions after 22
      weeks.  395 of these abortions were done on viable babies.  As usual, all of
      the abortions were done for "health" reasons.  Not one was done to
      preserve the life of the mother.  
    • When
      considering the statistics on post-viability abortion, it is important to
      remember that they deal with "viability" as it is defined by an
      abortionist who is definitely no friend of unborn children.  George Tiller
      is well-known for putting the unborn at a disadvantage when making determinations
      about their chances of survival outside the womb.  His own former employee
      has testified to his deceptive tactics:




      "Tiller [would determine
      the baby’s] BPD (biparietal diameter), which is a measurement of the babies
      head.  Tiller gave me this simple explanation of what a BPD is: at this certain
      angle, the baby’s head is roughly egg shaped.  The ordinary method of measurement
      is to go from the top of the egg to the bottom of the egg.  That is the widest
      point of the angle.  But Tiller said he goes from side to side on the egg and
      gets a much narrower measurement.  He does not keep the photos in the medical
      records and he disposes of the babies, so there is no way to go back and see
      what he has done."



      She
      was viciously attacked by the abortion industry, but, as the statistics verify,
      her statements were very close to the truth:


      "I
      was there for about seven months, which is a fairly representative amount
      of time. In over 95% of these babies, perhaps more, there was nothing wrong
      at all. Nothing.  And these were third trimester abortions."  

    • He is killing babies that his
      clients—many of them teenagers—have felt move in their wombs for months.  What
      could be worse for a teenager's "mental health" than to spend the
      rest of her life with the after thought that she chose to have her baby killed
      in a grisly late-term abortion?  How could a twisted experience like that help
      the mental outlook of a teenager?  

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Monday 13 October 2008

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

  • tags: Biblical womanhood

    • I do not know Sarah Palin, I do not know her relationship with The LORD. I can only observe how she lives her life and compare it to what the Bible has to say about what we Mothers and Wives are supposed to be doing IF we are serving the Lord. Mrs. Palin does claim to be a Christian, therefore her behavior and life choices are supposed to come under scrutiny. Even more so if she is doing these things in such a public fashion. I mean, is she a role model for Christian young women or not? Think carefully before you answer this. Are you going by God's standards...or the world's? Young Christian ladies are waiting on us, waiting to see if we really mean what we say about Titus 2, if we are willing to live it, no matter the cost.
    • I am questioning the Christians backing her. Not the ones who feel that they have to vote for her ticket in spite of her, but the ones that are saying she is "Esther" or "Deborah" (funny, no one mentions Jezebel). Mrs. Palin is an admitted "Christian" feminist and, in my humble opinion, being a Christian feminist is an oxymoron. Your are either one of them or the other, you CAN'T be both.
    • Many Christians are under the very mistaken impression that bad rulers come to power when God is out maneuvered somehow. No, many times (again, read the Bible) God allows Pagan rulers to be over his people as a punishment, as an indictment against them. So just because God ALLOWS it, doesn't mean it is a blessing. I would think anyone who has been a parent would get that concept. Ever heard of tough love?
    • Being a Christian isn't supposed to be easy and you can't change the rules whenever you want, fit them to whatever situation YOU want. This is why a lost and dying world is pointing at Christians and ridiculing us, because we claim to hold ourselves to a standard and serve our God, yet the second it becomes inconvenient...we start arguing semantics and looking for loopholes. How can you call anyone ELSE to holiness, to set themselves apart and accept Christ's sacrifice when you do not hold fast to those things He has called you to do in obedience to him to be a witness to the unsaved? This is how God's name and His word is blasphemed among the unsaved...by us!
      • And onto the myths...


        1. Esther won a beauty pageant. Ah, no, she was commanded to get in line to be tried out by the king with a bunch of other virgins.


        2. Esther was co-ruler. Really, than how come the woman who had previously held her position could be removed without so much as a by your leave? Esther had no say in her coming into the kingdom (as far as we can tell) and she became the King's WIFE, not his co-ruler.Verse 2:17 specifically illustrates that the King loved her, chose her to be his wife. He did not hold an interview for the best candidate for a co-ruler.


        3. Esther didn't have to obey anyone. Again, really? Read verse 2:20, she was still obeying Mordecai like when she was under him as a daughter. A QUEEN had no problem submitting to both her husband and her father figure.
    • Sarah Palin is just like Esther.."for such a time as this." I have an idea for people who like to grab "phrases" out of the Bible and then apply them to everything and anything, read the whole BOOK! Verse 4:14 is the one that I keep hearing chanted in regards to Sarah Palin. That she has come to us from God for "such a time as this", really, where is the comparison? The King fell in love with Esther and he had favor for her to the point where he married her. This was obviously God's design. She was in the KING's HEART and therefore when no one else would sway him, no one else could have his ear, no one else could dare approach him...his WIFE could. Only if he was in LOVE with and married to a woman who was of the people he had just signed a death warrant for could his heart be turned to protect her. "For such a time as this " was acknowledging the provision and providence of God AND, if you notice, her uncle tells her if she does not intercede for them that the Lord will still make a way for them. She is not the only way, she is not necessary to the Lord rescuing his people. She is a WAY that has been provided, but the rescuing is through HIM. Are these Christians suggesting that The Lord would "provide" a way to win an election (of a corrupt government) by asking a Christian wife and mother to go AGAINST his commands?
  • tags: Breastfeeding

    • ‘There can be no food more locally produced, more sustainable or more environmentally friendly than a mother’s breastmilk, the only food required by an infant for the fi rst six months of life. It is a naturally renewable resource, which requires no packaging or transport, results in no wastage and is free. Breastfeeding can also help reduce family poverty, which is a major cause of malnutrition.’

Friday 10 October 2008

Boxes and Lack of Sleep...

... are the two reasons why I haven't posted in a while.

I've no idea why but regardless of when I go to bed I am waking up between five and six o'clock every morning (I normally get up just before seven). Little Girl has also been waking but this has not been disturbing me as I've already been awake. It is really strange as the mornings are getting darker at the moment so I would have thought we would be less likely to wake up early rather than more likely.

I've also been very busy sorting out these:

Boxes of stuff
It was actually more than that as I later found a couple more boxes I'd forgotten because they were being used as a bedside table for Hubby.

I had all of my school work, Christmas and birthday cards and letters from age eleven onwards plus loads of other random things I had decided to keep over the years. I hauled everything out of Little Girl's room (which is where it is stored) and have managed to cut it down by about half:

resultant pile of boxes to keep

In order to speed the sorting process and get the boxes put away as quickly as possible I have just been sorting everything into "keep" or "not keep". I'm now sorting through a mountain of stuff sorting it into either rubbish, recycling, scrap paper, other useful stuff, and stuff to sell or give away.

not keep stuff to sort
(This is only a sample of the "not keep" stuff.)

This process is then doubled because Hubby had a pretty similar amount of stuff to sort through (we both come from families of hoarders) except that his letters and cards go back to preschool and his family are rather prolific letter writers so he has mountains of them.

Needless to say, we are planning to teach Little Girl how to be discerning about what she keeps so that she doesn't end up having to do the same in twenty of thirty years time.

Monday 6 October 2008

My Web Wanderings (weekly)

  © Blogger template ProBlogger Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP