Abigail

Not entirely sure yet if we will make it or not, though we will certainly try. However, Tennessee is just a little too far for us to travel with kids for only a two day stay.

Look forward to hearing more from you D. :) I'm going to post some more to, on the healing part, as I have time.

The Curse of Eve By Tova Bernbaum Can be found here Experts "Every time a woman is faulted for leading a man to evil thoughts or behavior, we are harking back to the era of Eden. The offensive notion that a woman can provoke rape or molestation by the way she looks is also a byproduct of this mentality. . . . . . . Interestingly, this portrayal of Eve as an icon of feminine deceit is featured more in Christian liturgy than in Jewish works, which may be linked to Judaism's divergent interpretation of the Original Sin. According to the Torah, the story of Adam and Eve is far more complex than a simple "she led him to sin" tale.. . . . . Our sages explain that G-d commanded Adam not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and to relay the message to his wife. However, rather than entrusting Eve with G-d's exact commandment, Adam informed her that they were forbidden to touch the tree. . . . [interesting, because I don't recall VPW saying ADAM changed it, I thought it was EVE who changed it] but Eve's curses included the added shame of subordination. G-d said "And he shall dominate you," . . . . . describing something as a "curse" means just the opposite -- that this is not the way things ought to be. Nor does the fact that G-d is the author of a curse imply that G-d wants us to accept it as a fact of life -- at least not in the Jewish tradition, it doesn't . . . . . It is believed that Sarah was the first woman to begin to unravel the curse. That is another premise of Judaism. We don't wait for someone else to come and change or fix the world, we believe it is our job to bring about changes and fix world. I think I will share more on this over time.

I find it a very useful thing when my mind won't shut down and I can't fall asleep. 10 minutes of tongues and I am sound asleep.

Allan, Having studied Judaism has given me a far deeper understanding of Jesus and his teachings that you will ever begin to get out of PFAL. And I have no issues with writing the word God. What you were reading as G-d, were quotes from an article. However, I know many Christians and Jews alike who won't write it, and I respect their beliefs regardless of whether or not I hold them as my own.

Clay, I like the notion of the computer being the substitute for the campfire. The cool thing about that is that we have a much more diverse group of people we can converse with this way! In the Jewish religion, discussion and debate about Torah is very much encouraged. Bramble, I definitely hear you on that one!

Well Roy, you certainly make coming here a more pleasant experience, that is for sure. My motives are many and change with the day, my mood, and the topics of conversation taking place. Mostly I come to converse with friends and to converse with people who have opinions that differ from mine, in the hope that we can exchange information and both walk away with more information and perhaps even as better people.

The best for fried green tomatoes is matzoh meal. It browns up real nice. I dip mine in egg batter, then in matzo meal, then fry.

It depends. Many people here I simply have no need to trust. What they post, or their presence in general, has no impact on my life. I can take them at their word and give the benefit of a doubt because of that. If they are full of it, I figure that will be exposed over time. And TIME is the biggest element of all in building trust. IF over time, their posts don't expose them as being full of it, after reading numerous posts by a person, I will then begin to truly trust that they are who they say they are. Of course, there is more to it than that. Certainly, whether I like the person or not - have similar values, has an impact. But even when the values are different, if there is mutual respect, trust can still be established. And that's my before coffee ramblings for the day. :D

I can't quote the link to the article, because I don't know where it is - I get them in my email. So I will give credit where credit is due and try not to cut and paste too much of it. It is by Rabbi Pinchas Winston and Torah.org and is titled: SHLACH The Forest and the Trees "However, the level of Torah that we possess is the product of the second set of tablets that Moshe descended with eighty days later, after the Jewish people were finally forgiven for their involvement with the golden calf. Those tablets had not been carved out by G-d, but only written on by G-d, and therefore they lacked much of the holiness that the first set of tablets contained. . ." "The essential difference between the two levels of Torah is this: However, after the children of Israel did not merit the First Tablets that were broken, they were given the Second Tablets . . . . in them are the Negative Mitzvos, all of which are for the sake of protecting them and to distance them from impurity and zuhama, which is death, and that is the Torah we have now. Thus, it speaks of the forbidden and permissible, impure and pure, guilty and innocent, profane and holy, sin ....... It is a combination of right and left,, and life and death, as it says, “Behold, I place before you this day life and good, death and evil . . .” (Devarim 30:15). Hence, with this level of Torah there is no guarantee that one will automatically be elevated; rather derech eretz must precede it to make sure that the person knows how to extract the “good” and use it to improve himself and his clarity of G-d. Indeed, a person lacking the proper “derech eretz” can easily use Torah as a source of rationalization to ultimately avoid that which the Torah requires. . . . Perhaps the most dangerous attitude a Jew can develop is one that assumes that just learning Torah will keep him on the straight-and-narrow, when time-and-time-again we have seen that this is not necessarily so. In fact, a person can come to use Torah to avoid seeing the very thing that the Torah was given in order to help us see. Hence, and this is the crucial point: the Spies rejected Eretz Yisroel based upon Torah, at least as they saw it. Yehoshua and Caleiv accepted Torah based upon Torah, as they learned it. Incredibly, here were two very diverse opinions based upon a single Torah, For, how many people really know what the Torah Ultimately wants from us? We throw terms around like, “fear G-d,” and “perfect character traits,” but many times at the end of the day, these terms and others like them come out so different through the subjective ideas of the individual. Therefore, each and every one of us have to ask ourselves, when confronting a situation that, by Torah standards is controversial, “Am I using Torah as an excuse to avoid the issue that Torah really wants me to confront? Am I relying upon a majority to that which I ought not to, or not relying on one that I ought to, one that is not the kind of majority Heaven relies upon?” Bold added by me, obviously. I guess what struck me about this was the documentation that even in Biblical times, people had some different understandings of what the Torah said, or how to apply what the Torah said. You may not get that completely out of what I quoted - it was a long article. The other thing that struck me was the importance of considering what others had to say regarding spiritual matters, but also to be honest about looking within yourself to see if you are rationalizing or justifying.

In the Jewish religion, sex between married couples is a Mitzvah, particularly on the sabbath. There are even some rituals that go along with it, including a ritual bath for the woman. I find the concept rather romantic. However, sex is viewed as an expression and culmination of something special, and not just a physical act born out of desire. The use of birth control in Judaism has also been much debated and there are those in the more orthodox practices who oppose it. As with sex, bearing children is also a Mitzvah. However, while the less orthodox groups encourage having children, they also leave decisions regarding birth control and the number of children up to individual families. Dot, I wish I had an anwer to your specific question, but I do not. It is very difficult to argue with or against someone's religous beliefs. However, I am glad you started this topic, as I think it is an interesting one.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. So far, I think the kids are taking it better than Sushi and I, but they don't remember much of Scrappy's younger healthier days when they could climb all over him and play fetch with him. Nicki, our Husky, seems mostly oblivious to his absence as well. But then, she has the personality of a cat and is very aloof. Buster, on the other hand, is taking it hard. Buster was Scrappy's caretaker in this past year. If Scrappy needed to go out in the middle of the night, it was Buster who would climb the stairs and wake me. If Scrappy wanted back in, it was Buster who would bark for us to let him in. For the past two days, Buster has been significantly less playful, it seems as if he is just watching and waiting for Scrappy to come home. Yesterday, after lunch, when I went to bring him back in so I could return to work, his whole body started shivering, as if he didn't want to come back in until Scrappy came home. I used to get annoyed at tripping over Scrappy everytime I turned around. Now I miss it. Time will lesson the pain of his absence, I know. But for now, I am not ready to let go of that, I hold it in honor of what an incredible part of our family Scrappy was.

I find this to be a very interesting topic as this debate has gone on throughout the ages, not just within Christianity, but with Judaism and many pagan religions as well. Honestly, I think there are valid arguments to both sides. I very much believe in planned pregnancies, and I believe we should not bear more children than we can take care of. However, the availability of birth control has changed sexuality in our culture tremendously, some for good, some for bad. I think it is great that we are culturally somewhat more open to communicating with each other on this subject. But I think something precious and wonderful has been lost with the advent of "free sex" and graphic movies. J - I think you will find the change followed the women's lib movement of the 20's.

You are a wonderful man and I am ever thankful you are a part of my life. I look forward to many many more birthdays with you.

Approximately 15 years ago, my ex-husband and I lived in a rather rough neighborhood and he worked nights. I thought I would feel safer with a dog and decided I would really like a German Shepherd. Of course, I couldn't afford to buy a dog from a breeder or I wouldn't have been living in that neighborhood in the first place. So off to the Humane Society we went, to see if they had one. I was met by a plethora of barking puppies and dogs of many sizes and breeds, but no German Shepherds. One dog in particular caught my attention. Amongst all the chaos there he was, quietly gnawing on a chew toy. He was a Great Dane/Australian Shepherd mix. He was the strangest looking dog I had ever seen and I couldn't decide if he was funny looking or beautiful, but I knew he was the one for me. Because I was renting, I had to have a form filled out by my landlord granting permission for me to have a dog. My sister stood guard over the puppy (so no one else would take him) while I went and hunted down the landlord. Some time later, permission slip in hand, I returned to pick up my faithful friend. The first year or so was a little rough. There was the couch he chewed the arm off of. The two gallon jug of bleach he dragged onto the living room carpet and chewed a hole in. The time he literally chewed up every pair of shoes I owned, except the ones on my feet. But he was a very intelligent dog, and sweet. We grew together, he and I. I learned what doggies need and how to teach them. He learned how to let me know what he needed - and what he could and could not eat. In the end, he was the best dog I have ever had ( and we had quite a few of them when I was growing up). When the kids came, he was very protective of them. I remember napping on the couch with Aaron when he was only a few days old. A woman from my fellowship was over using my computer and she tried to approach me to ask me a question. Scrappy wouldn't let her near me. But he was also very gentle and loving. As the kids began to crawl and then walk, they would climb all over him and he would lie there and give them kisses. When he'd had enough, he would just stand up, brush them off, and go lay down somewhere else. But in the past few years he began growing tired. He couldn't manage the stairs anymore, couldn't jump up onto the kid's beds to sleep. Then his hearing began to fail too. Yesterday we took all three of our faithful pooches to the dog park. I suspected, but didn't know for certain until we arrived, that it would be Scrappy's last trip there. He couldn't walk around the park with us. He could only go about 1/2 block before his back legs would just give out on him. He tried to play in the water and got stuck - we had to go get him out. Eventually, he just gave a very sad sigh and laid down to watch the rest of the dogs run and play. In that instant, I knew it was time. So today, we made our last journey to the vetrinarian's office. He was one of the very first patient's our vetrinarian ever had - it was a hard day for him today as well. I stayed with him and held him until it was over. I will miss my faithful friend. Here's to you Scrappy. You were as much a part of our family as any one of us humans and we will miss you terribly. May you rest in peace as you lived in peace.

yeah, Dot, it's called abstenance (sp).

I can't "prove" God did or didn't tell another person something, so I see no point in commenting on it for the most part. I suppose I might say something like "nice truck" in the latter situation. In the former, unless its a situation in the forums where a particular issue is being debated, I would tend to ignore the remark.

I dunno if this is just plain silly or completely outrageous. Story Here The City Council in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid has passed a law requiring residents to have proper window treatments that also must be hung properly. People are no longer allowed to cover their windows with blankets, garbage bags or insulation. Violators will receive warnings and could face up to six months in jail and a one-thousand-dollar fine.

You gonna go Greasy? I STILL haven't made it to a Hell froze over in Michigan festival yet!

I came out just slightly left of the middle. I'd say it worked out pretty accurately in my case.

hey Shell, Michigan just passed a law that requires a MINIMUM 25 year sentence for crimes involving children under 13 AND a tether when parolled. Progress is slow, but it is being made.

Greek, I can't help but wonder how you would feel/what you would think if America's Christian King promoted heavy taxation so that no one would go hungry or homeless. No one would lack healthcare.

well Shell, all that laughter makes it hard to see the keyboard, so who can blame you. roflmao CK - you sure keep things entertaining, thanks for sharing.

Sogwap, I think you have a valid point. IF (and boy is that a big if) I could take what I learned from PFAL, and IF VPW never did the awful things I now believe he did, and IF LCM and others hadn't taken PFAL and shoved their application of it down our throats - then yeah, I could say I got some good things out of PFAL. There is therefore now no condemnation, by grace ye are saved, etc. I learned those things at a time when I desperately needed to forgive myself and couldn't. I desperately needed God's forgiveness and didn't think I could ever receive it. So yeah, those lessons from PFAL pulled me out of a lot of stuff. Could I have learned those same lessons from another church? Perhaps, but I didn't. However, would I want my kids to take PFAL, knowing what I know now about the man who taught it? Nope. Because to me, that would be teaching my kids to trust the teachings of a rapist, and that I would never do.

Yeah, Mark, I agree with you to a point. BUT (you had to know that was coming), I am of the opinion that "closed sessions" wherein decisions are rendered should be very few and very far between. I am also of the opinion that unless there is a crisis/emergency, decisions shouldn't be made over night. I am on a school board. I follow our city council meetings quite closely. I fervently wish that our state and federal government operated more like a school board or a city council. That to me, is how our government is supposed to operate. Congressmen are supposed to represent the people who elected them -they are supposed to vote according to what those people want. If it actually worked that way, there would be far less corruption and far fewer "special interest groups" who were able to get their way by bribing candidates with campaign contributions. That being said, yes I think the moral caliber of the person who is going to represent us counts. BUT, if those elected truly represented us, their moral caliber could simply be measured by honesty and integrity and it wouldn't matter much if said representative was a liberal Christian, a Conservative Christian, a Jew, an athiest, a Muslim - because said representative would be doing what his constituency wanted instead of just what he/she wanted.