Carlene

For many years, I was the director of a social service agency. We accepted people from the criminal court system who were assigned community service (free labor). Every single one I supervised who was busted for credit card fraud was a restaurant server, without exception. We do not include the tip when we pay by CC in a restaurant. We pay the tip in cash, because they run your card, bring you the slip to sign, then go back and modify the transaction to add the tip. That's usually where/when the fraud occurs.

My local paper this AM announced the indictment of a man who had beat and kicked his pregnant girlfriend so viciously, the placenta was torn loose and the baby died. She was 5 months pregnant. The grand jury has charged the man with child abuse with bodily harm. Originally he was charged with homicide, but the grand jury agreed to the lesser charge because they did not believe he intended to kill the child, which was his biological daughter. This is an interesting case for several reasons. First, it legally defines a 20 week fetus as a "child", with standing and rights under the law. Secondly, it raises the question: did the grand jury do the right thing? Should this man have walked free, or been charged only with the misdemeanor offense of assault, simply because his victim was, as yet, unborn? This is quite different from abortion, as the mother did not choose to have her pregnancy terminated. What's your opinion?

I have a soft spot for Rosie. She had a rough childhood. And she's an overweight gay woman, trying to make a living and support a family in a thin, straight, male oriented society. She does, however, act a bit kooky at times. But not as kooky as "THE" Donald. As for Barbara Walters, I never understood what she was doing on The View in the first place.

Does this work as well with golf, I wonder? I may try it on my own "tired old man". Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Not in the south. Everything is a Coke here. But if you are in a restaurant and you want a Dr. Pepper, you have to say so. If you say "Coke", that's what you'll get.

What a touching story! I feel the same way. I miss my mom, but she just wasn't much fun to be around those last few years.

Don't forget Social Security, the baby boomer's cookie jar that Bush plans to raid. And defined pensions.

As strange as it might sound, I really don't. And since you asked, I will share something else. I didn't choose God....God chose me. And sometimes I wish He hadn't, because it's not always easy to be a Christian - to do the right thing. Sometimes "the right thing" is the LAST thing I want to do.

I was referring to historical fact - hard evidence, if you will. There are many historians who are not Christians - probably most, if fact. They concern themselves with authenticating schrolls, texts, documents, relics, etc. When that can be achieved - when the consensus of the world's most respected historians says that a fact is a fact, then it's time to stop arguing about it, in my opinion. Allah is God. Though he has many names, He is the God of Christians and Muslims and Jews. Most Christians - the logical ones, at least - freely admit that the early Church capitalized on Pagan festivals to lure converts to the Church. Jesus was almost certainly born in the spring, when the shepherds would be found in the fields, tending their flocks. The idea of celebrating the Nativity on December 25 was first suggested early in the fourth century CE, a clever move on the part of Church fathers who wished to eclipse the December 25 festivities of a rival pagan religion, Mithraism, which threatened the existence of Christianity. On December 25 (the date of the winter solstice) pagan Romans, still in the majority, celebrated Natalis Solis Invincti, "Birthday of the Invincible Sun God," Mithras. The Mithras cult originated in Persia and rooted itself in the Roman world in the first century BCE, but by the early 300s CE the rising religion of Christianity was posing a formidable challenge to the sun worshipers, especially after the Edict of Milan issued by the Roman emperor Constantine I in 313 CE allowed Christians to practice their faith in the Roman Empire. In those tenuous early days of Christianity, however, Church fathers debated strategies for supplanting the Mithras cult with their own religion. Since it was well known that Roman patricians and plebians alike enjoyed festivals of a protracted nature, Christians recognized that they needed an alternative to the December celebration of Natalis Solis Invincti. They needed a celebration in which all participants — Mithraists, Christians, and those in between — could take part with pride. Accordingly, the Church officially recognized Christ's birth, and to offer head-on competition to the sun worshipers' popular feast, the Church located the Nativity on December 25. The mode of observance would be characteristically prayerful: a Mass. In fact, Christs' Mass. As one theologian wrote around 320 CE: We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it. Although centuries later, social scientists would write of the psychological power of group celebrations — the unification of ranks, the solidification of collective identity, the reinforcement of common objectives — the principle had long been intuitively obvious. Christianity took permanent hold in the Western world in 337 CE when Constantine I was baptized on his deathbed, uniting for the first time the Crown and the Church.

For 15 years, I was the director of a social service agency that provided direct aid (food, clothing, etc) to low income and crisis-struck families. Sometimes it was hard to read over the intake sheet and still keep a straigt face. One of the questions was, "Have you received assistance from any other agency, or any churches, in the last 90 days". I bit my lip to keep from laughing in one man's face. He had written, "I went to the Baptist church and got gas".

I could be wrong, of course, but I think she was referring to my post - the one just before her "goodbye" message. Sherri obviously wanted to change the tone of the thread - get us off the subject of George Bush (even though that IS the whole point of the thread). She wanted to change the subject - to the band and how well it works with good restriction. I suspect that my response was "unreasonable" in her estimation. And I'm sorry she feels that way - if she feels that way - but I stand by my post. And more importantly, I stand by the appropriateness of my post. It is NOT unreasonable to post an anti-Bush message in the Rants and Raves Forum, especially when the thread is about Bush and specifically, what a rotten job he has done as president. I think Sherri should start a "George Bush is a brilliant leader and the best president in history" thread if that's her opinion. I think it will be a short thread, not to mention a misguided notion, but I absolutely will defend her right to post it.

Thank you. I just think it's pointless to argue with history. And it's anti-intellectual. If you're Episcopalian, your church was founded by Henry VIII in 1534 as the Anglican Church. If you are Baptist, your church can be traced back to Amsterdam in the early 1600's. Methodist? John Wesley, an Englishman, 1739. Mormon...Joseph Smith, 1829. Christian tradition records that the Christian Church in Rome (the Roman Catholic Church) was jointly founded by Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and that Peter was its first bishop. The term "Catholic Church" is first recorded in 110 AD by Ignatius of Antioch in a letter of undisputed authenticity to the Church at Smyrna. In this and other letters, he insists on the importance of the bishops in the Church and speaks harshly of heretics. You do not have to agree with anyone else's idea of when, where, or how to worship, but recorded history is seldom open to interpretation.

LOL....no, my husband plays golf 4 or 5 days a week. His mother walks two miles every day, though. And unfortunately, DH isn't much help when it comes to his mom. I do all the cooking, the laundry, etc. I get to take her to the doctor, the dentist, the grocery store, the pharmacy, etc. I get to mend all the clothes that she won't throw out when they become threadbare, in spite of the fact that she has a closet bursting with clothes she's never worn. And because she is hearing impaired but won't wear her hearing aids, she can't carry on a conversation with the doctor, so I get to stay in the exam room thru her pelvic, her anal check, and her breast exam. I know my MIL much better than most people know theirs....LOL

Paganism does, indeed, pre-date Christianity. Some Pagan rituals were around even before Judaism, which is over 3500 years old. I know that Christians like to think that Christianity began in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, but it just ain't so. I once saw a sign outside a church in the little town of Whitney, TX, and the sign read, "Founded 33 BC". In actuality, this denomination was formed in 1957. Sometimes, in our earnest zeal to be righteous, we Christians turn out to be dead wrong.

My grandparents had a large working farm for all of my growing-up years. I was fine with the gifts of eggs and whole milk and home-churned butter. I loved my grandmother's pickles and her produce was the BEST. But the hogs and cows went to the lifestock auction and were never seen or heard from again. Once we meet it, we don't eat it.

My daughter was in Blue Birds/Camp Fire Girls and one of my sons was in Boy Scouts. They were always very accommodating and whenever there was a camp out on the weekend, someone would take my child to the nearest Catholic church so he/she could attend Mass, while the others had a non-denominational chapel service. This wasn't something I asked them to do....the scout leaders just took it upon themselves to do it.

Good grief! Kind of makes you wonder what those Egyptians were smoking, doesn't it?

Wow! That's the first time I have ever heard anything like that. My mom was born left-handed too and was forced to use her right because it wasn't considered "ladylike" to be a leftie. But no one related it to the devil, nor did they tie her hand behind her back. The nuns just whacked her with their ruler....LOL My middle son is left-handed. Most people make the sign of the cross in this fashion:forehead, chest, left breast, right breast. But what came naturally to Patrick was forehead, chest, right breast, left breast. We had a DRE (Director of Religious Ed) at church who told him he was doing it backwards and it was a "bad habit" he needed to break. I challenged her on this and we took it to the Monsignor. He said it didn't matter...that there was no "wrong" way to make the sign of the cross. I wanted to stick out my tongue and gloat like a 4 year old, since I never liked the woman in the first place.

I don't see any correlation between "standing up for ourselves" and the war in Iraq, since the Iraqis committed no acts of aggression whatsoever against the United States - ever. Not a single one. Not on 9/11 or at any other time. That seems to be the single most important piece of information missing from your I'm-so-safe-now litany. You were never in danger from Saddam Hussein and the citizens of Iraq. Now Osama bin Laden is another matter altogether. Osama bin Laden is still alive, still training his band of terrorists, and still wants to see you dead. So you aren't really safe. Not from Osama bin Laden, and not from George Bush. Because he's screwing around in Iraq instead of hunting bin Laden down like the dog he is and killing his sorry ass. Merry Christmas to you, too.

I had a TIA about 14 or 15 years ago - in my early 40's. They put me on Plavix, too and I also bled liberally anytime I so much as got a scratch. I got so scared (what if I was in a car wreck?) that I told my doctor I wasn't taking it any more. That was about 8 years ago. I don't recommend that everyone just ditch their meds, but when you pee and there's blood dripping into the toilet and you're not having your period, it's not a good sign. I stepped on a tiny piece of glass and my God....within 60 seconds, it looked like someone had been butchered in my kitchen. You'd think there was some middle ground, wouldn't you?

It was the norm 40 or 50 years ago. The Church is a lot less fanatical now. What did they think would happen if we associated with non-Catholic children? Well, aside from not wanting us teased, harassed, and damned to hell for stuff that we weren't doing anyway (worshiping statues, or the Virgin Mary, etc) they thought we might be influenced to actually explore other doctrines. My mom did not buy into this, by the way. I went to lots of different churches with my friends when I was a kid. It was a real eye-opener. No music at the Church of Christ, but my C of C friend couldn't explain why. At another church, we had to wear dresses to a cookout in July - no jeans and definitely no shorts. I even went to a Baptist church's vacation Bible school one summer. When my kids were growing up in the '80s, they had friends who weren't allowed to go to church with us. My daughter had one friend whose parents were so adamant, it made her desperate to see what all the fuss was about. Of course, my child told her, "You aren't missing anything. It's boring."

And your friend was right. But they don't worship the statues, or the Blessed Virgin.

You are definitely right about Christians being "mean and judgmental" sometimes. My daughter was about 12 when the neighbors told her that her whole family was going to hell - because we were Catholic, and they were some weird fundamentalist, non-denominational group that spun off from a less conservative church that had, in turn, spun off from a mainstream Baptist church that was "too liberal". We (Catholics) were going to hell, they explained, because we worship statues. My daughter came home very confused. "Mom," she said, "What are they talking about? We don't even HAVE any statues at St. Michael's." I told her that if I had a dollar for every time I had heard that old chestnut, I could buy those people for what they were worth, then sell them for what they THOUGHT they were worth, and we'd be the richest family in town!

Sunta... Your very scholarly post was fun to read and you are correct that many myths of gods existed long before Christ's birth, but so did the history, written and oral, of God's existence, the creation of the world, and the Israelites flight from Egypt. The legends of gods of Rome and Greece and Egypt are, indeed, older than Christ, but Christ's coming was foretold for centuries before his birth. It is not surprising that some of the same details appear in various myths as are found in the Gospels. The Catholic Church, which has existed for 2000 years, maintains a huge repository of scrolls and ancient texts in the Vatican which, while not part of any Bible, certainly lend support and credence to the faith of the Church and the doctrine of Jesus, the Son of Man. I am not a person who interprets the Bible literally. Like you, I believe that way too much water (and not a little wine) has gone under the bridge for that. There are just too many inconsistancies...too many contradictions. Logic tells me that if God had meant for us to use the Bible as a literal rule book, he would have given us something less ambiguous - like Religion for Dummies. And yet, I believe. Because I have faith. Quicksilver of the heart...that undefinable, illogical certainty deep inside me that says I am a child of God, created in His likeness, and heir to a heavenly kingdom. For no reason that I can ever explain, I believe.

From Martin Luther's Definition of Faith... Ask God to work faith in you, or you will remain forever without faith, no matter what you wish, say or can do.