winsomebulldog

Maybe it's my generally empathetic nature, but I don't feel I can judge this young woman without knowing a little more information. First, I can totally imaging how something like this might happen. Follow my little story: A young woman decides to adopt a little boy from Russia. Maybe she's tried to adopt here and been rejected. Maybe she's just one of those people who has always wanted to adopt a needy foreign child. It doesn't matter. She finds him so sweet and pitiful. The people at the orphanage tell her what a precious little boy he is. She's in love so she starts the process. She has other children but this is her first adoption. The 2 time she goes to Russia the boy is on his very best behavior because he's been threatened with punishment if he isn't. (Or maybe he's even drugged. Who knows?) So she eagerly signs all the necessary paperwork to bring this cute little boy into her home. Within weeks or even days of his arrival it begins to become clear that he has more than a few issues. He steals, breaks things, even causes harm to his adopted siblings and new mother. The more time that passes, the more violent he becomes. She tries to call the people who handled the adoption. She tries to call the orphanage. Everyone she talks to tells her, "Sorry, he's your problem now." Maybe she tries to take him to a therapist but therapy only works if the patient is willing. She begins to realize that the orphanage lied to her. She feels alone and overwhelmed and afraid of this child she wanted to love and care for. So she does something profoundly foolish out of sheer desperation. This is all nothing more than supposition, of course, but I can certainly imagine it happening like this. Now, there's no denying she was wrong to do what she did. But to call her a monster for it is a bit extreme I think. Unless and until we learn some more details about the situation I will not condemn her. I have friends who adopted 2 children from right here within America. They were brother and sister who were near this young boy's age when they first came to live in my friends' home as foster children. My friends are firm Christians. They got "respect and authority established right away" because that is how they raised their other 2 biological children. And here, forrestkc is where I take a bit of offense with some of what you said. Those 2 children had emotional issues from day one and still have them today. The boy was eventually diagnosed as having an antisocial personality disorder. He was incapable of forming an emotional attachment to others. Even his own biological sister meant nothing to him. In case you are unaware, these are the children who often grow up to psychotic or even serial killers. I'm not being an alarmist, but that's the way it is. If a child is unable to form any kind of emotional attachment he or she has absolutely no motivation to care about the consequences of their actions. They are narcissistic and selfish in the extreme. They may even take pleasure from causing others pain. My friends never gave up on their son. Both he and his sister are adults now and he is still uncontrollable. He spent his final month of high school in a Christian military style academy where he towed the line simply because he didn't like being punished. (His words.) He's out now and I don't mind saying that I worry about what the future may hold for him. I agree that any parent, whether biological or adoptive, has the responsibility to care for their children. But I can see how someone who wasn't warned what to expect, who was thinking that they were getting a "normal" child would be caught totally off guard by discovering their child was suffering from severe emotional and psychological problems. I'm not saying she was right to do what she did, but I think it would be only fair to give her the benefit of the doubt until someone comes forward and proves that she was as callous and unfeeling as some are portraying her. I feel inclined to believe until then that what she did was an act of desperation, albeit a very poorly thought out one.

Welcome to Worthy, Mathew. I'm so sorry to hear about your wife's and your situation. First, let me say that I'm sorry your wife's family is not living a good witness before you. But no matter what Christians may or may not "supposed to be" we are all human. That means we can give in to our emotions and less than perfect natures. It's easy to become caught up in the anger and disappointment a divorce often creates. Unfortunately, this too often leads to children being caught in the middle (whether their parents are Christians or not.) No knowing all the details of your wife's situation, I cannot hope to give you any valuable specific advice. My parents never divorced, though they were headed in that direction at the time my mother passed away. Both of them had been married and divorced before they met each other and had children from those previous marriages. I was born too late (13, 15, 17 years) after my sisters to have any real knowledge of how acrimonious their divorces were. By the time I came along, everyone was pretty much getting along fine. But I have certainly known many others who could not say the same. The only think I can say for certain is that there will come a day when your wife will probably have to put her foot down and refuse to be pulled into the conflict. She'll need to do this for her own peace of mind. As I said, since I don't know all the details, I would not feel comfortable telling you to "go do __________" fill in the blank with random advice. Perhaps, if your wife feels able she might want to consider having a conversation with both her mother and grandmother and siblings as well informing them of exactly how she feels. Fifteen years is a long time to still be fighting. And it is just never fair to make children choose sides just because parents can't get along. I don't believe there is anything at all wrong with telling her family this, so long as she is able to do it in a calm, non-judgmental way. That isn't something that's easy to do, but it can be done. If she can't do this then she may have to just withdraw from the family. I've had to do this myself and it isn't any easier than the first option. Last of all, she could always just choose to live with it. Really, it is up to her. As much as I am sure it bothers you to see her family causing her pain, she is the one who ultimately must decide what she wants to do about the situation. I say this only because I speak from experience. I've been on both sides of it: the person being manipulated by family and the person watching someone I love being manipulated by their family. The reality is that the only way for your wife to find peace is for her to deal with it in whatever way works for her. You must just support her in whatever she chooses to do. Don't try to sway her. If you do, you're just putting more pressure on her. (I can say this because when I made the choice years ago to ignore the bad behavior of my father my husband did not understand, but he did not push me to change my mind either and I will always be thankful for that.) I wish there was some easy answer to give you, Mathew, but families are one of the most complicated things in the world. I will keep you and your wife in my prayers. With your personal beliefs that may seem pointless, but believe me it isn't. Meanwhile, I hope you find the answers you seek and that you always feel welcome here. Jennifer

You're making my head hurt! I had to read it twice to wrap my brain around it. This is not your fault, of course. It makes perfect sense and is in fact a good point! I just have the remnants of a migraine and when my head is hurting I have trouble thinking.... wait, I have trouble thinking even when my head doesn't hurt! Oh my gosh, I'm losing it!

I have long struggled to understand much about the tenants of the Catholic faith. And please don't misunderstand me here. I am not trying to insult them or belittle their beliefs. I just don't UNDERSTAND them. No man is infallible. No one other than Christ himself. No human is without sin. No one human has a preferential link to God. All the saved are the same, we are joint heirs with Jesus and have the right and privilege to approach God's throne in person to make our petitions known. I don't care who your are or what denomination you call home, there is no one within it that is somehow above the reach of sin. I love my pastor and his wife to death. I respect them both immensely both as individual people and as those that God has called into His service as leaders within His church. But I do not believe either of them is perfect or somehow better than me just because of that calling. They are both just sinners saved by grace, exactly like I am. They can be wrong and make mistakes and trip and fall, just like me. And I've seen them make mistakes. More importantly, I've seen them stand up and admit those mistakes without hesitation. That is the mark of a true servant of God. As my pastor says often, "If you find out you're on the wrong road, turn around!" It's that simple. The leadership of the Catholic church has been on the wrong road for a while. There is no doubt that they have made more than one effort to hide the abuse perpetrated by some of their priests. Having said that, I have little doubt that there are vastly greater numbers of priests out there who are sincerely dedicated to the work of the Lord and would never dream of doing something this horrific. Basically, I place some measure of the attention this situation gets on the fact that it is happening within the church. Let's face it, the mainstream media loves to take every opportunity it can to make Christians look bad. Politicians tell lies and commit crimes all the time. It's reported, depending on how "juicy" the story is. But what happens afterwards? Most of the time not a single thing. (We re-elected a president who was not only a liar, but an adulterer.) But let a preacher or priest do something wrong and it makes all kinds of news, followed by a general condemnation of Christianity as a whole for being such hypocrites. Child abuse in any form is disgusting. Sexual abuse of the innocent is beyond horrific. I am angry at the leaders in Rome for not stopping it years ago. Instead they hid it and paid victims off and condoned it with their silence. Shame on them, I say. And I pray for anyone who makes the mistake of worshiping a man instead of placing their trust in the only way of salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. Men are fallible. They can fall and do any terrible thing. To believe otherwise is not only foolish, it's potentially dangerous both spiritually and physically. I pray for all the victims out there, whether they were abused by a priest or a minister or coach or scout leader. God help them all find healing and peace in Him.

This is just so WRONG! I'm half laughing and half shamed by it! Now this is more like it! I'm not sure I'd personally have the guts to do this, but I know good and well my husband would. He is a flat out master of bull! It's an ongoing inside joke with us. He'll say something outrageous with a perfectly straight face and I'll just shake my head. Then he'll start laughing and say, "You aren't buying this at all, are you?" Lord, that man makes me laugh!

It sure feels like the end of the end times is approaching faster and faster! Once God's chosen people become persona non gratae in the world, it's all over!

Welcome to the Worthy Boards! God Bless You!

I have heard the question posed, both from my own pastor and from others: If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Sadly, I'm afraid that it might not be an open and shut case for me. I suppose it would depend on who was called to testify. Not because I'm ashamed of my Christianity, but because there have been far too many occasions where I did not behave as a Christian should. It's something I regret and something I hope to change with God's help.

I think we all get a little hypocritical occasionally. I never do it intentionally, but like you, there have been times when I thought I was in the right but God revealed to me, either through the words of another person or through a Bible verse or study, that I was ignoring that beam in my own eye while trying to point out the speck in someone else's. All we can do when that happens is repent of it, apologize if necessary, and thank God for the lesson learned. I've come to suspect that the biggest sin we all have to face on a daily basis is pride. I know it's one of my major flaws.

Yep, I'm with you on this.

I have always liked this man. Now I know why! He's got principles AND a backbone!

I share your struggle with this. Not so much because I feel a need or desire to defend myself most of the time, but I often find myself having to bite my tongue to keep from flying off the handle in defense of others. And I'm not saying here that I don't struggle with pride. I do. I just don't tend to lose control when I'm the one getting the abuse or mistreatment. ANYWAY.... I have made the same prayer you made more than once in my life. I'm a talker. If God didn't bridle my tongue sometimes, Heaven alone knows what I'd say! So I'll pray for you that God will help you know when to speak and when to remain silent, as Jesus did. God Bless!

Of course we all know that without contraceptive instruction kids are never sexually active. Pull your head out of the sand, Southworth! I have to disagree with you on this one my friend. In the past, I would have shared your opinion, but I've come to realize that justifying this kind of thing by saying, "well, they're gonna do it anyway, we might as well make sure they're safe about it" is something of a cop out. We, as a society, have stopped teaching our children that sex before marriage is wrong. Abstinence is a foreign concept to many adults these days, never mind their kids! Am I saying that they wouldn't ever have sex if they were being taught Biblical principles? Of course not. But maybe we ought to stop working so hard to teach them how to do it and making them feel accepted when they do wind up as unwed parents at 16 or 14 and start teaching them that it's just plain wrong and they have no business at all getting sexually involved with anyone other than their spouse!

Oh, give it up, wyguy, those little dancing smiley faces are a farce! Seriously, I do know exactly how you feel. I watched the news earlier this evening just to see the weather and it was so sickening. Add to that how weary I already am at a pretty young age, and I'm ready for the Lord's return. I do know He's in control of it all, though, so I do my best not to dwell on the depravity I see around me every day. And I have a great appreciation for the beauty of this universe God created. I'm a photographer who cannot resist a flower or sunrise or sunset or even a tree. But like you, I find myself wondering how much more beautiful the world to come will be. And I long for an end to the struggle we face here as well.

WARNING! Long winded and round about answer ahead! I have gone through a LOT of grief in my life and have lived with clinical depression pretty much as far back as I can remember. Also, though my mother was a Christian, she was a CHRONIC worrier and passed that wonderful trait on to me. (I must inform you at this point that I have learned not only the futility of worry, but also the sinfulness of it and so generally do not succumb when it comes knocking.) So, having said all this, I admit to not necessarily feeling a powerful drawing toward Heaven, but I certainly feel a repulsion for Earth! Honestly, if I wasn't a Christian who knew God was in complete control of everything, I'd be scared to death of what I see going on around me. Society as a whole seems to be going to you know where in a handbasket and it just gets worse and worse every single day. The news makes me downright nauseous anymore. And the mess being made in Washington isn't helping matters any either. I have a lot of family in heaven and I long desperately to see them once more. But having suffered from the worst that depression has to offer, I cannot allow myself to dwell on how much I miss them. I think there's a part of me that's a little afraid that if I spend too much time thinking about heaven, I'll just lose interest in this world altogether and that leads to a dangerous place for someone like me. So, I long for Heaven, but I don't dwell on it. Though, the way things are going in this world, I do hope we don't have to be here to see it get much worse.

Yes, by all means we must make sure the Muslim nations who despise us have no reason to fear us.

Biting? There was no mention of cannibalism. Why, why, why, oh why, Wy! LOL yes there was, "Drugs made from human body parts, would that not be a form of cannibalism? Weeeeeellllll, maybe. But don't they also make vitamins from human placentas? Gross!

True. Obama is, and has been, a supporter of Obama only. He must have awesome neck muscles to hold up that swollen head. Yes! I have begun to refuse to watch him on television because he just seems to be so very proud of himself! And that inspires unkind thoughts in me. I know I'm supposed to pray for our leaders but I just don't want to when I have to look at his blatant arrogance. Makes me want to toss my shoe at him like that guy did at Bush!

Is it any wonder? We've reached a point where being a Christian makes you something of a target, for insults if nothing else. It is no longer politically correct to believe in God or the Bible. Worse, it's become socially acceptable to belittle Christians. I fear that the time is rapidly approaching where the liberties promised in the Constitution will no longer apply to Christians. Perhaps we've already come there to some extent. How many legal cases have the atheists won?

One other thing that I don't recall them directly addressing in the show that has been mentioned several times here is the seemingly small amount of blood on the shroud considering the brutal and horrific damage done to Jesus both before and during the Crucifixion. I feel the need to mention first that there is quite a bit of blood on the shroud. Some have argued that it isn't enough. The fact is, Jesus was dead when he was placed in the tomb. The dead do not bleed as their heart has ceased to beat. Assuming that the cloth He was wrapped in would have been completely soaked in blood is an erroneous notion. Not to mention the fact that with the immense damage done to Him, He very likely would have lost a great deal of His blood before His actual death. I'm not arguing for the validity of the shroud, just pointing out a few things that have so far been unmentioned and/or overlooked. As I've said before, I don't really care if it's the cloth that covered Jesus. I worship the risen Lord, not some piece of fabric!

How very true. Jesus was unrecognizable after his beatings. His flesh was torn so that His very bowels protruded, and yes, His beard was plucked. Jesus was not buried in a one-piece swath of fabric. He had a head-cloth. Whoever was wrapped in that cloth is not Jesus and it is just one more distortion about Jesus Christ that the Catholic church has propagated. I certainly will not be wasting my time watching anything to do with such a farce. A head cloth that is supposed to be that of Jesus is in a museum in Hungary (?) or maybe Poland. They would have been used together. Why do you say this is a farce? Some pretty sharp people, and some very pious people, entertain the possibllity that it might be, Where in the Bible does it say Jesus' beard was plucked out? Jesus speaks to Isaiah in the OT and tells us. Isaiah 50:6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. Very studious folks need to really examine the Scriptures and realize that Jesus' wounds are not consistent with what is imprinted on that cloth. His flesh was completely torn, and the shroud does not reveal a completely battered and torn body. Jesus was not wrapped in a one-piece cloth. The imprinted image does not conform to a 3 dimensional body. It should be distorted just like a flattened-out image of the spherical planet Earth would look like. Any projected image of a 3-D object onto a flat surface will have conspicuous distortion--and this cloth has none! It is most definitely not Jesus and it is most definitely man-made by an artist who did not understand this principle, nor had the understanding of scripture to the point of knowing that blood would pool and smear--the shroud is far too neat. Did you watch the show? They addressed the distortion and tested for ink, dyes or other pigment; there is none. The image that emerged after all of the testing is totally different from what is on the cloth. The only explanation anyone can come up with, as to how the image came to be on the cloth, is radiation exuding from a body that was levitated at the time the image was imprinted. Is it Jesus though? We won't know that until we talk to Him face to face. You said what I would have!

I'm not sure the temple traders is the best example to use about Jesus' position on asylum seekers / immigration . Agreed! How'd he make that kind of leap anyway?

Whose reality? Reality. Do I really need to explain this concept? Or do you have an argument against speciation that you would like to. . .you know. . .actually make? Lots of people don't like to accept reality, just look at immunization-refusers and climate change deniers, but the climate continues to change and immunizations continue to not cause autism. Your personally comfortable acceptance alters absolutely nothing on any of these topics. Lurker The fact that you have accepted these as truth, shows that you and a few others here have been ALTERD, LIKE A DRUNKERD. Btw, just for kicks i looked at a link you posted about macroevolution and i could not believe the intoxication i was reading. So I thought i would share it just for kicks. " A process like mutation might seem too small-scale to inlfluence a pattern as amazing as the beetle radiation, or as large as the difference between dogs and pinetrees, but it's not. Life on earth has been accumulating mutations and passing them on through the filter of natural selection for 3.8 billion years- more then enough time for evolutionary process to produce its grand history" WOW! This would be laughable if people really did not believe in it. 3.8 billion years to produce all that we see! Where is the PROOF OF THAT? I guess if you claim that anything takes millions of billions of years to happen you could say anything you want because when you need to prove such outlandish claims no one will be around to confirm these claims. It looks like billions of years is the gap filler in all the evolutionary theories that they hide behind and so they never have to prove such foolish claims. From dogs to pinetrees! See, you can say anything you want because who will be around for 3.8 billion years to see that happen? If these claims are true and the earth is suppose to be at lease 3.8 billion years old then one could conclude that today we should find some of these incredible transformations of dogs to pinetress The fossil record does not even show these incredible transformations and yet they say "it's more than enough time for evolutionary process to produce its grand history". They teach theories as fact without real proof for the claims they make. DOGS TO PINTREES.... e Love this!