Soap Box Day Today

[Teresa]

  Well.. as long as GOD said it.. and it can be proven as such... then I will believe it.

Not to get into a heated debate.. but.......................... the bible was written at least  200 years AFTER Jesus was no longer walking the earth.,
The are many books of the Bible that are missing and have been purposely taken out, so I have many many many questions on and about "The Bible".. I also know that stories repeated, rewritten and interpretated over a span of decades sometimes change.

That is all I am gently saying..

**Let me say also that Mother and Father God are my very best friends in the whole universe. I talk to them every day lots of times.. I appreciate and love the angels and my guides and all those that are God's helpers...who interview and help me with everything I do.**

[Diane Amberg]

Thanks Teresa...you just kept me from sticking my foot all the way down to my stomach. I love the "naked archaeologist" and the really, really old history. My sister in law recently returned from a trip to Israel and the surrounding area and saw a lot of the oldest things. She was fascinated by it all.   

[pam]

Thank you Teresa, took the words right out of my mouth That was the argument I was gonna skip lol. There have been several versions of the bible thru history and what went in it depended on who was in power at the time in the church. You could write ANOTHER bible with what they don't put in the current one. Let me say I am also a very spiritual person and am a big fan of Jesus, I'm just not a very big fan of organized religion. imagine that!

[Teresa]

Well .. religion.. like politics.. can be very emotional and can't really be argued without a frenzy taking place.
Personally I am not a person who wants any part of  organized religion. ( been there and done that) but I also feel it is everyone's choice how and where and when they pray and talk to their God.
I prefer Gods open spaces, woods etc..as I believe God is everywhere all the time, so I don't need to go into a building that is man made with man made rules to feel close to the higher powers.
But I understand that we are all wonderful individuals and if meeting with a group in church is what helps and makes people feel the closeness... then by all means do it.
Whatever works for you..should be what you do. As long as it makes you be the best you can be.. and you have love in your heart.. then go for it! 

[pam]

Lol, think we go to the same church  God/dess is where you find em.

[Diane Amberg]

That's me too. I'm Presbyterian by registry and family history, but I rarely go to church services.There is a remembrance garden at the rear and a vespers area in the woods out behind. That's more to my liking.

[Wilma]

I had a soap box subject picked out and a couple of paragraphs written ready to put on here tonight.  Then I read Sixdogsmom's post on the conserve thread and she suggested something that I hadn't thought of.  She was talking about the cost of living rise and mentioned the housing situation and the people going under from bad investing.  That reminded me that there was some talk of the government bailing out the people that were in trouble with their mortgage payments.  Since this didn't affect me in any way or I didn't think it did, I didn't pay much attention to it.  Now I wonder if some of our increased costs are due to this situation.

I am wondering if you think the government should be helping people and mortgage companies that so clearly used poor judgment in buying homes.  I have always wondered why people need such expensive homes and now I wonder how can some of them afford to buy them to begin with.  And if there was some indiscretion in making them eligible for the loans, should the mortgage companies be bailed out?  I think that in this country of free enterprise, a company should sink or swim on it's own merits and not with taxpayer money.  If I use poor judgment in how much I put on a credit card, I am certainly not helped to pay it off to get out of trouble.

[sixdogsmom]

There is always bankruptcy court, and it seems not to affect anything about future credit. I know that in theory it is supposed to suspend all credit for the bankrupt person, but it doesn't seem to work that way. The credit card companys make a deal with the credit card holder and accept pennies on the dollar for the amount. Of course it ruins your credit, but there seem to be ways around that. Mostly though, credit card users are paying for all this with outrageous fees and rates. We use a credit card all the time but pay it off every month. I keep a small bank account as a cushion for taxes, insurance and extras if there is enough. We also keep a family bank account used to pay bills. We use the credit companys' money all month at no cost and receive perks as we use the card. I know this is not the way they want it to work, and many folks owe a balance. That is the danger, owing a balance. Right now cell phones seem to be a problem with young people. They get a cell phone because it is cool to be talking to your friends in the middle of Walmart ar wherever. Most of the time, they cannot really afford that cell phone and end up closing the account early and paying a humungous penalty. Cool ain't so cool anymore then. I too think they are cool, but cannot justify the expense. I answer the phone too much as it is. Enough!!   

And no, I do Not think the government should be stepping in to pay off a mortgage that should not have been issued in the first place.

[Devyn-Leann]

No one has written on this thread for a while. And some of you might've seen mine coming. I didn't want to continue on Heather's hardest things thread.

I want to continue my soapbox of teen pregnancy. The piece I wrote yesterday really got me thinking. And I have never really expressed my thoughts about it until now. As you read, and some of you know me personally, I became pregnant in the summer of 2004. I was to be a senior in high school. At the beginning of each school year my friends and I would run the "joke" of who would get pregnant that year. Until, it happened to me. I felt horrible about the things I had said. Now I was in the girl's shoes who were the butt of our joke. AND, I became pregnant in a small town, in a small school. Where people are always talking and ALWAYS have their opinions. I was terrified. I knew as soon as I got the results of my test that I couldn't give up my child, or even "kill" it. We talked about it over and over and over again. It was our mess and we were going to deal with it ourselves. We waited as long as we could to tell our parents. Billy was 23, had a college degree, and a job he loved. I was in high school. I didn't want to disappoint my mother, or my grandparents, and worse...set a terrible example for my sisters. Those were things constanly on my mind. I was an unmarried young mother to-be. I was, a statistic.

When it finally came out that I was pregnant. So many people were negative. My favorite teachers became my enemies. My "friends" were distant. I even had teachers tell me it was expected that I would not go to college. Can you imagine how this made a student feel? I felt like trash. I was on bed rest most of the time, out in the country, in MY own house doing schoolwork that was brought to me a daily basis. No one informed me of graduation plans, those in charge thought I wouldn't celebrate that day.

Billy and I had no help when we were expecting. We didn't cry out and complain. We didn't think, "Why us?" We paid our bills, insurance, and for the things for our child. Billy worked. He paid for us, with his own money. Not my mommy and daddy, not his parents. We didn't beg and plead for help. We had our child and took him home to a safe, happy, and healthy home. Once again, that was ours, that we paid for. We didn't receive a Welfare check. We didn't depend on the state for money. We didn't even get WIC. (Which I'm not saying is a bad thing at all, I think it's wonderful) I was still in high school. The principal gave me 2 more weeks at home and only a week of going half days. I would be up half the night and still get up and go to school each morning. I never cried and complained about it. I just did it. People still acted the same. Girls looked at me like I had some nasty baby making disease. Some thought it was incredible how strong I was. The people who were the nastiest to me are the ones who kept me going. When my baby got sick, I went and picked him up and took care of him. When he had to go to the doctor, I took him. I never once depended on someone else to take care of MY child.

I proudly graduated my senior year, WITH my class. I graduated with no scholarships that I had a applied for because an anonymous figure at the school never turned them in. My son was 3 months old then, and attended my graduation. I am in college. I pay for it. I don't need any help just because I had a baby when I was a teenager. Some people still look at me the same. Some days it gets me down, and some days I just think, at least I will still be young when all the other moms with kids my age will be OLD!!

I just don't understand why it's the girls like me, and marinemom's daughter who are also quoted in these statistics. Mommy and daddy didn't raise my baby. I didn't live at home. I didn't get free money. Billy and I worked our butts off (and still do) for our child. We ARE still together. It wasn't a "slutty" act. He wasn't some random guy. Does anyone get my point? Some of these girls are 16 and don't even know who their child's father is!!! And their parents are the ones taking care of the grandbaby, as well as STILL raising them. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, Billy and I got a house and I lived with him. My mother begged me to stay with her, but I felt I needed to take responsibilty for our act. And I did so in my own house. To this day Billy and I have never received a penny from Welfare. And we will never apply for it. We don't need it. We can take care of ourselves. I feel better knowing that we are able to take care of ourselves. Our son, now 3, is a healthy normal little boy. He doesn't have green skin or any teen pregnancy disease.

If I can juggle housework, school work, Billy, and a baby, then I can do anything. I'm very proud of myself and ashamed that I ever got ashamed of my "situation". My sisters still look up to me, and often refer to me as one of their heroes. If I could go back and change things, would I? Absolutely not. The Lord gives us obstacles. I would, however, tell girls to think about what they're doing...I mean, really think about it. There are some days when I want to beat Billy over the head with a skillet and send Lane to stay with his grandparents for a week, but I get past it. I still love both of them, and I always will. Some girls don't get as lucky as I did. You can't just think about what you want then, you've got to look at your future. Do you want to be up 4 or 5 hours during the night calming a baby with colic? Do you want to be spending your prom dress money on diapers and formula for your baby? Or do you even want your parents spending their retirement money on raising your baby? You can't just think about yourself, you've got to look at the whole picture. And that's something I've learned. Whew, I think I'm done now.

[pam]