Wheetsin

I've had this conversation I can't count how many times, even just in the past few years, that some kind of misunderstanding or miscommunication occurs. Being curious about people's faith doesn't mean you're concerned about it. I don't think that asking, "In your faith have I comitted an unpardonable sin?" is at all the same thing as asking, "Am I forgiven in your faith?" or as stating, "I"m curious about the state of my grace with god." It's just asking an opinion, and opinions are exchanged all the time without any deeper meaning. I ask people what their faith dictates all of the time. Just like I ask my husband all the time about laws or beliefs in his home country. I ask my peers what they thought about Happy Feet, but it doesn't mean I believe there are penguins who sing with a Cuban accent. I just want to know what they think. I've had people tell me that in order to deny the existence of god, you are acknowledging god exists, because you can't deny something that isn't knowable. I deny the existence of a little purple man who runs out and turns on the fridge light every time I open the door, but that certainly doesn't mean he exists.

So much to say, so little time. Blast!

And for the person who believes suicide is unpardonable - What would your personal faith believe about people who sacrifice themselves for the gain of others? The person who runs into the burning building, knowing they will never get out, in order to make sure the families do? In my husband's country, circa 1984 there was a man who committed suicide so that his child could be given his organs for transplant. His son would have otherwise died. And there was also a mother who consented to kidney transplant for her daughter, even though she was told she had no chance of surviving the operation. Would your god condemn those people to an eternity in hell?

No worries on the scholarly-ness of this talk, sincerely just want your opinions. I'm just truly curious about & interested in how different people, not even different faiths, interpret the bible. My father is methodist, my mother is catholic. Neither of them will give me the same answer as another methodist or catholic because they each have their own meaning. Yes, I should have clarified. By alright, I meant forgivable, not... ignored. You say it's pretty much impossible for a non-believer to commit the unpardonable sin. How would you classify an atheist? Is an atheist a non-believer, and therefore unable to commit the sin, or is an atheist someone who intentionally denies the existence of god and is therefore blasphemous? And I'm curious about how you would perceive agnostics in terms of your faith and their - what's the right word - fate? Or what about people who perhaps know your god as something else, say someone who believes there was a great being who started all life, but they attribute that to an extraterrestrial rather than a deity? Being able to be the objective third party in this, here's what I perceive: *assuming character* It's forgiveable to murder each other, commit heinous acts and atrocities, give in to your every temptation, destroy life, brutalize nature, hate, loathe, and any other "evil" you can think of, but it's not OK to deny my existence. Do the worst thing you can imagine to another man, but if you so much as think I doesn't exist, you're screwed. There's something inherently and ultimately hypociritical in that. IMO.

Hey Laurend, I had an "oh shit"right after my consultation. Until then it was just kind of this surreal idea - more something to just really think about & consider than to take action on. Walking out of the surgeon's office, after my consultation & setting a surgery date, I had a weird sort of reality-shock panic hit me hard. That was over a month before my surgery, and I was worried I would feel that way the entire time, but I didn't. It came in and rolled right back out, just like a wave. Mys urgery was on a Wed, and the Saturday before I had a little anxiety. Off and on. The next day I was fine. The night before surgery I went to bed early, slept soundly the entire night, woke up just like it was any other day. No nervousness, anything. This is the exact opposite of what I expected, considering that for all intents & purposes this was my first surgery, I was terrified by the thought of an IV, etc. I had one more moment of panic, it was after I'd been brought back to the prep area. They closed the curtains so I could change into my gown... I changed, and then *swoop* in it came and it brought me to tears. And I'm not a very emotional person, so that's saying a whole lot. I was standing there in this gown, willing myself to climb into the bed, and just couldn't do it. I had to ask my husband to tell me I was doing the right thing. I had to use an awful lot of brain power calming myself down. Just like having the date, there was something so FINAL about actually crawling into that bed. All in all the little attack only lasted maybe 10 seconds, and looking back I can think "how silly"... at the time I never really tried to leave or walk out, but there was something so incredibly frightening about actually getting in that bed. Well I made it, and when they came over to get my vitals my pulse was something like 140. It only went up because like *that* I had 3 people on me, all doing something different (starting the IV, giving me a heparin shot, putting a hat on my head, etc.). By this point the meds they give you are doing their job, and you're aware and mentally sharp, but very go with the flow. If you think it would help you, the first day I could (I think later on the day after surgery) I journaled everything I could remember about the entire process in painstaking detail. Everything about pre-op, what I remember of the operating room, the first things I remember in recovery, etc. I'd be happy to share it with you. Since surgery was the great unknown, I know it would have helped me to be able to read a detailed account of what happens.

Carlene, would you interpret that to mean anyone who says, "Jesus fucking christ" is in good standing, or worse - who commits murder, adultery, sodomy, etc. is a-ok, but someone who in a fit of grief expresses contempt for god is screwed? So it's ok to torture handicapped babies and rape old women, but don't say anything bad about god? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm truly curious about how you/your faith would interpret what you quoted. And admittedly I'm also working off a classic definition of blasphemy, not an interpretive definition.

Hi! I have no experience with them. In this particular thread, we all were treated by the same surgeon, who is not affiliated with WLSC. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Here's my LONG answer. It's hard to pin-point, but always in the front abdominal area. Ranging from about where my band is, to just below my belly button. It will "move" a little, I think. Or maybe it always hurs everywhere and is just stronger some places than others, I don't know. When it hurts enough that I'm paying attention to it, it also hurts enough that I'm trying to put it out of my mind. Maybe 4 on a scale of 10, though I'm really bad about ranking pain. I think that most often it's an inch or so above or below my belly button. When it strikes & wakes me up, there's nothing I can do other than rock myself. Not that the pain is that intense, but because nothing makes it any better. Changing positions sometimes helps for a few seconds, and sometimes it makes it instantly worse. Pain releivers don't do much of anything for it. The only time I've been successful in doing something to help with the pain (took a shower just a little hotter than I could stand... skin was numb & deep red when I got out, pain dulled significantly) it could have also been coincidence since that was a desperation move after about 6 hours of late-night pain during a business trip w/ me needing to present in front of 300 ppl the next morning! No plumbing issues or anything that accompany it... At first I thought it was linked exclusively to the sweetners, but it was too inconsistent. There's a much clearer link to fatty foods. That's why I wonder about the gall bladder, but it could just be an intolerance, or who knows. I have a physical next month and will def ask doc about it.

Euthanasia!

This may be late info, but don't be nervous, they don't really do a whole lot. The most valuable thing I walked away with was a copy of my surgeon's post-op diet. They could have e-mailed me that. The meeting was about 2 hours. She asked about what I ate now, then proceeded to tell me that my "selective and special" eating habits would probably comply well with the band. Then she really went through the lecture they give to RNY patients... my stomach will be the size of an egg, something the size of an m&m is all I can get down, I can't do red meat for 6 months, etc. My surgeon's program really caters to RNY, so obviously some of the information was a little invalid. She gave me a list of supplements to take, wished me luck, and I left. About 2 months later I called her because I had lost something like 65 lbs, had lost all appetite, and wanted to make sure that the supplements I was taking were enough considering the lack of food intake. She didn't really know what to say, and told me, "Just get your Protein, that's all that matters". Tell that to my calf & thigh muscles.

Meringue is to food what Ron Jeremy is to porn.

Are you asking how long it took to lose 100 pounds, or for people who had 100+ to lose - how long for them to reach goal? If it's the former, I think I hit 100 before my 6 months was up. If not it was shortly after. I don't recall offhand, I'd have to go back to my weight logs to know for sure. If it's the latter, dunno, I'm still about 60 - 75 lbs from goal.

First of all, yes it is a topic to be discussed under politics & religion. That's a lot of what happens in R&R, and R&R is the appropriate location for it. If there is a problem with a topic a moderator will handle the issue. What can or cannot be discussed is unfortunately not decided at your discretion. Once you get a paycheck, you're no longer a volunteer. Enlistment is a contract, and volunteers aren't held in contract. When you're stationed somewhere, you aren't volunteering to be there, you're told to go so you pack up and go, no questions asked. Our military is absolutely not made of volunteers. They choose to enlist, they choose not to go a-wol. Not a whole lot of other choice involved. I lived 20 years in a military family, I know that too well. You can voice your opinion, but others with whom you disagree need "bands on their mouths"? How exactly does that work? Is your opinion more valuable than theirs? That's your opinion. And you voice it, and no one is telling you that you need a band on your mouth (aka keep your mouth closed). Please show other members the same respect you wish to be shown. Clinton's what? Yeah, Charlene. Carlene. Go get another job! That's the answer!

Oh, nothing - just a reference to you not having any more kids. Sometimes people bring home "souvenirs" (pregnancies) from romantic trips. There's something I eat that causes me annoying pain for extended lengths of time. It has nothing to do with my band, I had it long before then, but have had it few times since. It seems linked to fatty foods, so I wonder if it isn't a referred pain from my gallbladder. But it also seems linked to artificial sweetners, maltitol and sorbitol in particular. Tonight is one of the nights it's hurting and I'm going on hour 4 of this constant nagging ache. Usually it strikes at night, sometimes waking me up, and can last 6 - 8 hours at a time. I don't like pain.

Lamb is not a national staple here, beef is ours. Where my husband is from it's moose, and beef is not so common and pretty expensive, so it's still weird for him to see the rows upon rows of beef at the grocery store. Lamb here is a lot pricier than other places. I pay an average of about $45 for a decent leg of lamb. That makes probably 4 lbs of ground lamb, and 4 lbs of ground sirloin or chuck is half that at most. And yeah, I'm guessing on the prices, I really don't pay a whole lot of attention. I'm bad, I know.

Sorry I didn't reply because beckamarie's answer was pretty much on target. Edit your options under "list subscriptions" for individual threads, or "default thread subscription mode" for general default.

And thus we come full circle, back to one of my earlier posts referring to the rhetoric of the logical fallacy that abortion is "bad" because it would remove great people from mankind. It's a safe argument for people to return to, and tries to deliver a powerful punchline, but just lacks in logical integrity. (IMO) And now you're saying that counseling someone = killing someone (if I interpret that correctly...), or supporting abortion = killing someone. So where do you draw your line? By your own rhetoric, are jurors murderers if the person is sentenced to death? Are people who pay taxes or vote or - in any fashion - support the legal system all murders if someone is put to death? Are defense attorneys who lose their case? If not, then why would a counselor be? (assuming you understand the criteria in counseling before judging the actions)

I remember when I was in school the cliques started in middle school, which on the coast was 6th - 8th. But even then they didn't really matter because there was still a lot of bleed over. In hishschool in California they were more exclusive, but still very open. Then we moved to MO and seriously - people from one clique wouldn't even talk to anyone else.

Last year I was shopping for one of my younger cousins - she wanted some outfits for her birthday. We were in a store similar to Jones/Macy's, in the CHILDREN'S department (cousin was about 8 at the time) and -- well, you know the underwear with the days of the week on it? They had those, in straight up g-string thongs. In the CHILDREN'S department. I don't consider myself old fashioned at all, but that really disturbs me. Just who are those underwear intended for? I have an aunt (long-time obgyn nurse) who put both of her daughters on the pill as soon as they started their periods. Preventatively. Didn't work. But that's another thread.

They're technically different. Lamb comes from younger creatures, mutton from older. Veal vs. beef. (granted dairy, and male, etc.) My maternal grandfather was from Greece. My mother and I make a big pan of baklava for each holiday. It takes forever to make it from scratch, but it's sooooo worth it. And we always have lamb to accompany our traditional holiday fares. For tday we did the rotisserie leg, marinated in Greek seasoning and basted with basil lemon butter. For the 25th we will do souvlaki. We don't however, do the lamb head tradition.

No, but DH loves him. And we get free theater tickets. Which means way too many live concerts of his. Though I do enjoy the lyrics to the ebay song.

Holy shit it happened - I've become that old person who doesn't get it. Cliques are really changing. When I was in school (I graduated HS a year early in 93) "prep" was what you called the rich/popular kids. It had to do with anything BUT being happy with yourself. The clothing was all about the brands and price tag, the friends were all about status & what car they drove. Major culture shock when we moved.

Yep. DH and I run about 5, two popular three very small, and the popular ones have been innundated. One as much as here, one more.

That's one theory. Another is that, as they would define "baby", qualifications aren't yet met. I support abortion, and it doesn't make me bristle.

My pre-op diet was only 2 days, and on day 2 I completely lost my appetite. And it has never come back. It's probably not easy to pretend that beef broth is a quarter pounder. :grouphug: