Tired_Old_Man

I would never force Brooklyn to eat more than she could eat. When she stayed with me for the weekend while Tina was in NY, I asked her what she wanted for dinner. She said she wanted "eggs and crackers like last time". I had given her eggs and buttered Ritz crackers for breakfast a week or so ago. So I gave her a small bowl of salad first followed by about 8 crackers and two scrambles eggs. She cleaned her plate, drank a full glass of chocolate soy milk and then asked for some Cookies, which I gave her for dessert.

A more important question might be that: "As one who wants the 10 commandments to be the basis for our national laws, how can one respect and support a president who lies about life and death issues like BuSh does?"

I understand your point, but I didn't make Tina eat the sundae, I just said that I thought that giving any to Brooklyn would be a bad idea. Some may see that as trivial, but Tina could have said, "No thanks" to the free sundae. Brooklyn has a "sweet tooth and a half". She asks for treats all the time and even says things like, "I am not hungry for food, but I am hungry for a cookie". I also wish I could manage our grandchildrens' picky eating habits, but my daughter-in-law is the most picky adult that I have ever met. She orders the same 2 or 3 items at every restaurant we go to and my wife cooks what my daughter-in-law will eat when we have family meals at our house (Christmas, Thanksgiving). When I try to coach one of the grandchildren to eat something new by offering them a "bite" of my food, my daughter-in-law says to leave them alone, because she grew up that way and she is fine. Picky does not equate to being skinny, BTW.

I posted that to show how Christian Fundamentalists can corrupt just as easily as Muslim Fundamentalists can. While the leaders of Muslim Fundamentalist terrorists are often well off financially (Osama for example), Muslim Fundamentalist terrorism flourishes in poor areas. The leaders behind the movement of Christian Fundamentalists are also well off quite often, but they have found a way to bring people into their fold without poverty as an excuse. And then there is the US government hiding behind Christianity when they kill and maim civilians through there pawns; US military personnel.

I think we have much that we agree upon, but if you will allow me to play "Devil's advocate", let me pose a question. Suppose you knew a person who said he had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and he prayed, went to church and gave to charities as good Christians should do, but he was also committing crimes, including killing, lying continually, breaking every rule with no remorse and said that he would always continue those way;, would you consider him a Christian? Before you answer: Yes, I know that we are all sinners, but when I sin, I feel sorry for it and ask for forgiveness, while the person I am describing is so arrogant as to think that because he uses Jesus in his prayers and claims Jesus as his personal savior, he is immune to the requirement of following the teachings of our Lord. Granted whether you consider him a Christian or not, it will be left for those above us to decide his eternal fate, but I would still like to hear your opinion and/or anyone else's.

But how about all the Christians (and even some Jews) who are converting to Islam? Islam is growing very fast in the USA and only some is from immigration. Much is from conversion.

I will try that. Thanks again. A Man (generic sense) can never have too much knowledge.

I do not believe that my faith means that only people who believe in Jesus will go to Heaven. I believe that Muslims and Jews and others have just as much right to Heaven as I do. I believe that just because each Holy Book contradicts the other, that there is only one right way. Example: The New Testament of the Bible says that you must go through Jesus, the son of God, to get to Heaven, while the Qur'an says that believing what Jesus was instructed to say by Allah will get you into Heaven, unless you believe that Jesus was the son of God (or a God himself). The Qur'an also says that you do not have to follow the teachings of Jesus, but that following the teachings of Moses or of Mohammed will also get you into paradise. Actually, the paradise of the Qur'an is on Earth, rather than somewhere else. It might be considered a “Heaven on Earth”. Then again, according to "Revelations", Jesus will rule on Earth for 1000 years. So similar, yet so much debate.

I want to talk about one of the most disgusting things I know of in 21st Century America: THE CONDITIONS THAT EXIST IN NURSING HOMES. My father-in-law died after a 8 year stay in a nursing home in 1995, my step-father died after a 6 year stay in 1999 and my mother-in-law is in a nursing home for 3 years now. These people were and are being abused by being deprived of the most basic of care; food and Water. Let me digress. During the last year or so of my father-in-law's stay, my Wife, Tina and I were often visiting both her father and my step-father on the same day. We noticed on a few occasions that nurses would duck away from us. Curious as to why, we made it a point to see who was avoiding us. We found out that at my step-father's nursing home, it was nurses we knew from my father-in-law's home and vice-versa. These nurses were working full-time jobs at both homes. The homes were not affiliated in any way. Add it up, if a person works two 40 hour a week jobs and makes sure that she has different days off on each job, she still has to work both jobs on 3 days each week. If she works an 8 hour shift plus 30 minutes off for lunch, and if it takes 30 minutes to get to her first job, 30 minutes to go between jobs and 30 minutes to get home, that only leaves 4:30 for washing, getting dressed, getting undressed and sleeping. My step-father's home was in one borough (Queens) of NYC and and my father-in-law's was in another borough (Brooklyn). The problems this causes are immense. Today, I called a Nursing Home advocacy group in NYC, because my mother-in-law is in the hospital in serious condition and I wanted to check on the advocacy group's rating of my mother-in-law's nursing home. As soon as I said, my mother-in-law was in the hospital, the advocacy group phone rep asked, “Urinary Infection?” How did she know? She said she could not answer, but when I suggested the reason, she agree with my assessment. The nurses are too tired to change the resident's diapers regularly, so they withhold water, juices, Soup, lettuce (salad), fruits and Jello, anything consisting mainly of water that would cause urination more often. I do not want to come off as anti-nurse. Nurses, by and large are the unappreciated backbone of the medical profession of the United States. Low pay and over-reaching for the American dream have caused many nurses to overextend themselves financially and time wise. My father-in-law was physically abused by attendants who always claimed he fell out of bed. Black eyes are not “falling out of bed” injuries. The problem of physical abuse makes the news every so often, but this hydration abuse is much more prevalent and may be killing our parents and grandparents. My wife has been crying all day. She only got back from a two week stay in NY last week and she is heading back again next week, right after she sees her cardiologist. We live in Florida where nursing homes are terrible, so we can't even think of bringing her here. But in NYC, which is supposed to have better quality nursing homes, things are falling apart. It looks like my brother-in-law may have to hire a private nurse to come in and make sure my mother-in-law gets food and water, and gets her diapers changed. She has Alzheimer's, as did her husband. My step-father was a multiple stroke victim. Both of the men had constant urinary infections. My step-father was in a home that cost him $93,000 a year. He was not doing it on the cheap.

I asked. "If you had neighbors next door to you and the parents that lived there along with their cousins in the house next to them, were holding White Supremacy, Neo-Nazi meetings for young children in their backyard every night, including teaching that Whites should kill Gays, Blacks, Catholics and Jews, do you think it ever comes to a point that society should step in? How about when they start teaching guerrilla warfare, and arms and legs are broken weekly in the practice?" But I would like anyone to answer if they think that these children should be taught such hate, just because it is the parents doing the teaching. Parents do not own their children and if they abuse their children, the children can be removed from their custody. Is there also a limit on how much of a parent's belief system a child can be taught before it becomes so detrimental to the child as to be considered abuse?

That is true, but the vast majority of people will fall back onto the deity they were raised to believe in or the deity who the society they are in believes to be the true deity. It is human nature to try to fit in.

T he Qur'an says that Jesus was a prophet (or messenger) of Allah, but not the son of Allah even though Mary was impregnated through Allah's power. It also says Jesus died and rose again to life and went to Heaven. However, Allah equated all his prophets as equals though only Jesus was sin free. * 019.016: And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East, 019.017: And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. 019.018: She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art Allah-fearing. 019.019: He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. 019.020: She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither have I been unchaste? 019.021: He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. 019.022: And she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place. 019.023: And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! 019.024: Then (one) cried unto her from below her, saying: Grieve not! Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee, 019.025: And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee. 019.026: So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal. 019.027: Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing. 019.028: O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. 019.029: Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy? 019.030: He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, 019.031: And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive, 019.032: And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. 019.033: Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! 019.034: Such was Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. 019.035: It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is. 019.036: And lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. 019.037: The sects among them differ: but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. 019.038: See and hear them on the Day they come unto Us! yet the evil-doers are to-day in error manifest. 019.039: And warn them of the Day of anguish when the case hath been decided. Now they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not. 019.040: Lo! We, only We, inherit the earth and all who are thereon, and unto Us they are returned. * It also says that accepting Jesus as God or son of Allah shall earn a person the eternal fires. I don't have enough time to find that part right now, but I know I read it.

For Race, I write: "HUMAN".

My heart goes out to you and your family.

Some members may be celebrating Ron's departure thinking him the loser in the battles that have taken place during this past week, however, Ron may have won, because his style has brought many of us closer together. I have not seen so much honest conversation, and compassion between the literal Bible Christians, the figurative Bible Christians and the non-Christians since I have been posting here at LBT. Ron's departure may indeed have been a reason to celebrate, but not for the reason that some had assumed.

Some members may be celebrating Ron's departure thinking him the loser in the battles that have taken place during this past week, however, Ron may have won, because his style has brought many of us closer together. I have not seen so much honest conversation, and compassion between the literal Bible Christians, the figurative Bible Christians and the non-Christians since I have been posting here at LBT. Ron's departure may indeed have been a reason to celebrate, but not for the reason that some had assumed.

I will start a new thread and take a poll.:huytsao

Sounds good to me.

Ms. gadgetlady. You are an intelligent person and though these people claim to be Christian, you do not believe that they are (and I also do not think they are) Christians, however, they are attracting people who are either less intelligent than you or have an emotional need to be part of a larger group (in place of family). The call of religion under the big top of Jesus is a seductive allure, and when an eloquent speaking, ordained Christian minister tells them that he can save their souls and they can also get to kick some butts of Niggers, Fags and Jews, they can not resist. The families that many of these new recruits have come from are no less dysfunctional than the hate groups they are joining as their extended families. These ministers can tone it down for the media, but their stripes are set fast in place. Yes, you can see that calling yourself one does not a Christian make, but I am sure that many in these groups might question your Christianity since you do not agree with their minister; A MAN OF GOD.

I know you were addressing Sunta, but... That was a good reply. No proof, just faith. When has faith not been enough?

You had better be careful what you write. Someone might assume that you and I are agreeing on some points, which could get you in a whole lot of trouble. You might lose your right to counted among the Right. When they take me to Guantanamo Bey, they may look to see who my cohorts were and too many agreeable replies by you to me, might make you a candidate to join me in Cuba.

I saw some election campaign adds last year that were being run around the different states in which the Republican Party asked the voters to vote for that Republican Party congressional candidate even if the voter had a gripe with the Iraqi war policy, because unless the Republican Party held the house majority, Nancy Pelosi would become "Speaker of the House". These adds were not really for the Republican Party candidate as much as against Nancy Pelosi. This was not denied by a Republican Party spokesperson on a TV political talk show. The ad went on to list why Nancy Pelosi would be bad for America. The #1 Reason: If Nancy Pelosi is "Speaker of the House", she will attempt to make a new cabinet department and cabinet level position, to be known as SECRATARY OF PEACE. How could anyone want a SECRATARY OF PEACE? Why would the US government want someone to work on World Peace full time? That is outrageous.

I know that there are many Christian Conservatives (like I assume you are) who would vote for a man like Alan Keyes. However, there are a lot of Christian Conservatives who are not like you, gadgetlady, etc and who are racists. There are White Supremacy groups, Skinheads and Neo-Nazi groups who are headed by Christian Ministers, and while members of those groups would vote (and probably do vote) for White Conservatives, I doubt they would vote for a Black Conservative, like Mr. Keyes. That might be enough to quash his chances against anyone other than a Democrat who is asleep at the wheel.

I found about 4 books entitled "Egyptian Book of the Dead". Can you tell me the name of the author?

I will go to Amazon.com right now to buy "Egyptian Book of the Dead". And then I will give you an even better answer!!