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Journal
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Written by Sarah
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Friday, 16 May 2008 08:57 |
Wow. I know, I know, it has no obvious relation to theology, but check THIS out! Figured ya'll would appreciate bantering about this gadget of the following: - The XO to XP Geek Factor
- The 3rd world on-line Globalized Economy Factor
- The Missiology via Service thru Education Factor
It's all good... or is it? (discuss amongst yourselves...) Peace, Sarah PS: Just so ya know, Jim MIGHT be getting his laptop back from the doctor today. Not that this means I'll be online more once I get the thing back. If I get online at all it'll be to look at the kid's summer camps, plan a CHEAP family vacation, pay the bills, look into family banking options... then there's trying to figure out if we can afford to buy a house right now, looking into mortgage options, home options, school options, neighborhood options, and all those other little stessors pleasures in life. sigh. So, I'll still just be lurking for awhile. A looooong while.
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Last Updated on Friday, 16 May 2008 15:39 |
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Written by holmegm
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 13:36 |
The Reason for God: A Critical Interactive Review I am calling this review "critical" because I want to "critique" the book in the old fashioned sense - interacting with it, looking and strengths and weaknesses and most of all engaging with a few of the major questions and issues raised by it. I hope this will be seen as "constructive criticism" rather than an attempt to put down or be negative about a book which I am frankly grateful for. We give praise to the Lord that at last we have a major popular work which really does scratch where it itches! Besides which in apologetic terms I have the utmost respect for Tim Keller. I doubt there is a better apologist in the Western world today. I do not "critique" as an equal but as a learner.
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Journal
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Written by jonathanbrickman0000
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Monday, 12 May 2008 21:34 |
From Mr. Graham's own testimony, it would appear that he does not publicly deliver the Gospel when sinful men make it illegal, at least in China. I think, hope, and pray that he will realize the betrayal in his words, and quickly. I do not think he will long stand upon a doctrine which denigrates personal evangelism in many parts of USA, Canada, China, and many other places of the world. I think, hope, and pray that I am not wrong.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 May 2008 07:00 |
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Written by holmegm
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Monday, 12 May 2008 09:17 |
From Beliefnet: When you called President Bush to say you were endorsing Senator Barack Obama, how did he respond?
He had shared his thoughts with me about Senator Obama months before I called and told him I was going to endorse. And he says he likes him as a person. He told me that early on, before the Senator even announced he was running for president. He has a tremendous amount of respect for him. While the differences between President Bush and Senator Obama are very, very clear, allow me to share with you what their commonalities are. One, they have deep, resolute loyalty to their country, to their families, and to their God. They are both Christians.
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Journal
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Written by holmegm
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Friday, 09 May 2008 18:42 |
The Emerging Synagogue? While following a relatively uninteresting trail of research recently (which I won't retrace here), I happened upon Synagogue 3000 (S3K). This consortium of rabbis and other Jewish leaders is committed to offering “challenging and promising alternatives to traditional synagogue structures.” They call themselves "Jewish Emergents," and their understanding of their mission is, in some ways, very similar to that of the Christian Emergent movement.
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Written by SteveGus
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 15:07 |
I quoted this in a bit of dialogue I was writing, and did a double take. One of those odd moments where you type something and all of a sudden it doesn't look right. Does this have a subject-verb agreement problem?
I checked the Bible. (Romans 6:23). It stands that way in each version I consulted: the KJV, the NRSV, the NIV, the ESV. Perhaps they are all quoting Tyndale.
But wouldn't you expect that a plural verb would be used with the plural-form mass noun "wages":
- The wages are paid every Friday, not
- ** The wages is . . .
On the other hand, it _must_ be grammatical, if only because texts like the King James Bible *define* English grammar; they are not subject to correction by higher grammatical authority. Usus norma loquendi, &c.
What, then, is the technical explanation? I can think of but two. One, that "sin" is the felt true subject. You can't recast the sentence into a similar form while keeping the syntax error light from blinking:
**The wages of Taco Bell is the minimum wage. The genitive relationship in "The wages of Taco Bell" versus the metaphorical "the wages of sin" marks it as serving a different function. Or does it? I can't see the difference, myself. The other is that the inner parser sees it as a highfaluted, inverted form, and corrects it internally to read:
*Death is the wages of sin.
So what is it?
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 May 2008 16:18 |
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Written by Joel_bound4life
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 16:59 |
I head up a chapter of Bound4Life in Utah. Bound4Life is a prayer/fasting movement dedicated to ending abortion. I thought that I would officially give the organization a For The Win status, and shamelessly try to rally support behind this cause with this journal article. Hopefully that is not a misuse of this section of the site. If it is, rebuke me and I will repent ;) Check the site: http://bound4life.com I used to frequent this site back when it was Christdot. I like the new layout! Joel
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Last Updated on Friday, 02 May 2008 21:02 |
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Written by Sarah
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 08:19 |
Okay - so I've let my elder son set up a gmail account. AND - I'm changing my gmail account and trying to transfer my contacts over... So I'm reading all these instructions about contact and data transfer in google-land, and I'm realizing that Google Apps are kinda cool. I could set up a family domain name and have each of our calendars, contacts, and email networked! Wicked! ... before I plunge off the deep end here and go go google goggling, anyone have any sage advice about the pros and cons of hitchhiking the family network? Oh, and there is NO budget for network hosting. Sorry. Heck, I'm not sure if I can afford off-site data storage yet. ;-) BTW: last time i asked about monitoring kid's computer activity, the non-tween-parenting geeks among you gave me lots of advice... some of it good, some of it less than practical. I figure networking is pretty generic, so if ya'll have information about that it'd be dandy. But if any of you parents-of-computer-using-kids out there have tips I'd LOVE your input. :-)
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 April 2008 08:30 |
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Written by Karolyne
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 07:49 |
Legalized Euthanasia or Legalized Murder? by: Karolyne Ross9/17/07updated 3/3/08, 4/21/08 There are End of Life Organizations that specialize in the care of the dying person and most of these go by the name of “Hospice”. I have always believed in the ethical, loving care for the dying person, being allowed to die with dignity and if wished and possible, to do so in the comforts of their’ own home. I’ve had friends who have also worked for Hospice organizations that are very ethical people and believe as I do. But in the last 15 years, I have found that I have had trouble with some of the practices of some Hospice workers that I have witnessed with my own eyes and ears. Exodus 20:13 says, “Thou shalt not kill,” one of the 10 commandments of the Bible. Simple! Easy to understand! To the point! For the past 30 plus years I have been involved in medicine and I have many times been present when one of my patients has died while under my care. One of my nurse aids or myself would sit at the bedside of the patient till the family or friend were able to arrive, so they could be with their loved one at the end, being able to say goodbye. I believe that no one should have to die alone if possible. Upon the person’s passing, you would then cry with the family or friend, while feeling their hurt and lose with them. It was then my job to notify the doctor of what had occurred and the time of death, with them always trusting my word. The doctor would then give the order to release the body to the funeral home, with them signing the death certificate the next day without ever having seen the patient. Oxygen… It’s Keeping Him Alive- I was the night charge nurse in a nursing home. I had done my initial rounds when I distinctly heard the alarm of an oxygen concentrator, a machine that delivers oxygen to a person without having to use oxygen tanks. I went to see what was happening and saw the same nurse that I had just met moments before. She was an LPN that had been assigned by the local Hospice agency to sit with and care for the dying man in the room. She said that she didn’t know what was wrong with the machine, that it’s alarm sounded and she had just finished checking it out and it seemed to be functioning just fine at the moment. I told her that if there should be any more problems with it, I would be happy to replace it with another machine. As the night continued, the machine alarm sounded two more times and I decided to change it out. Later in the night, I decided to do an additional unscheduled round, as things were pretty slow and went to see if the agency nurse would like to take a break. When I entered the room, the alarm of the new oxygen machine sounded as I watched the Hospice nurse turn the machine back on. I confronted her and asked what she was doing, as I now knew the source of the problem with both machines. She said, “He’d already be dead if it wasn’t for the oxygen… it’s keeping him alive.” I informed her that the gentleman had signed on his Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) sheet that he had requested oxygen for comfort measures, that when the oxygen was off he would become restless indicating that he was in fact- not comfortable. I then relieved her of her duties and informed the Director of Nurses (D.O.N.) in the morning of the incident, at which time I was informed that Hospice would be notified and they would deal with the situation themselves as the patient was their responsibility, not ours. Going to Help Her Die Now- A beautiful young woman had been admitted to another nursing home, due to her inability to care for herself any longer, as she was dying of end stage HIV/AIDS and was now under Hospice care. As her health deteriorated, Hospice nurses would visit more frequently. She and I would spend time together talking and she often spoke of her family, of the Lord, how much she wanted to live and about her life’s ambitions. One day she became unresponsive and as I talked to her while caring for her, she never groaned, flinched, grimaced or furrowed her forehead or eyebrows. I was well aware of the med orders that were listed ‘as needed’ or PRN for pain, anxiety, anxiousness or restlessness. But as I continued to care for her, she made no response at anytime to indicate any discomfort of any kind. That day, two Hospice nurses arrived to see the patient and asked when her last medications had been given. I looked up the times and told them. They then asked why I hadn’t given her anything at her next scheduled dose? I reminded them of the Dr. orders that read PRN, then told them of my findings while caring for her, that she had showed no signs to indicate the need for their use. They then demanded that I give the medications now, as I was the one who had the narcotic keys and they didn’t have access to the meds in this controlled setting, which is obviously different from that of when they visit in the person’s home. When I continued to refuse, they then went to the D.O.N. She came to investigate what they had told her and I relayed the same message to her as I had the two of them. She then read my documentation in the chart and checked the patient for herself and said that I had been correct in my assessment and had the right to withhold the medications. One of the Hospice nurses then told the D.O.N. to give the medications instead. The D.O.N. refused also, but instead told them that they could give the medications if they wanted to take the responsibility on themselves, to go ahead. She then instructed me to open the med cart and they signed out the meds they wanted. The following day, only one of the same Hospice nurses came to the nursing home to see the patient. She came to the nurses station, looked me square in the face, smiled and said that she was going to help her (indicating the patient) die now, left and went into the patient’s room shutting the door behind her. Twenty minutes later the Hospice nurse came out of the room and informed me that this beautiful young woman was dead. I have ever since questioned within myself if she had died due to the disease, that she may have actually been that close to death, or had she died due frequent med dosing and what that nurse may have done to her? Another woman had been a patient for quite awhile in the same nursing home and had been diagnosed with cancer some time before. As the disease progressed, she was finally admitted to Hospice care. Approximately a month after the death of the young woman, one of the same Hospice nurses came in for her routine visit and again told me that she was going to help the patient die and thirty minutes later this woman was dead also. All that day, I had been with the patient and not once had she complained, stating that she didn’t need any pain medication when asked. She had been sitting up, going through her usual routines without any problems, other than progressing weakness, her routine that day was as she had every other day. Not once had she complained that day or the day before, or the day before… He Said He Didn’t Need It-My girlfriend came to me upset a short time after the funeral of the unexpected death of her father. She had questions about the local Hospice agency that had cared for him. She said that her father had been diagnosed with cancer a couple of years earlier and at his last doctor visit, it was suggested that he accept Hospice care in his home to help him and his family, as he had up to six months to live. Her father and family all met together with the Hospice nurse and all the paperwork, decisions and arrangements were completed in one visit. She then said that the nurse gave her father some liquid that the she identified as Morphine and said that he was to take X amount of it every four hours around the clock for pain. He said that he didn’t need it, that he didn’t have any pain. The nurse told him that he had to take the medication and instructed the family that if he was unable to do so for himself at anytime, how they were to give it at regular intervals. The nurse then gave the initial dose to him. She also informed the family of how Hospice has direct contact with certain physicians and how they can have the medication and it’s dose changed at anytime without any problem or questions if needed. After the first day of his taking the medication, he became confused. The second day, he was unresponsive. The third day, he died. Free Drugs-I worked with a Hospice nurse, who part-timed at the nursing home. He would occasionally go out to the trunk of his car and get medications for the employees who complained of their little aches and pains. He called them free drugs. At one time, he informed me of a medication mixture that Hospice was currently using on their patients, which was made up of 5 medications into a paste form. It was applied directly onto the patient’s wrist and was absorbed through the skin taking affect fairly quickly. He said that it contained medication for nausea that often occurs due to the use of other medications, in addition to the disease itself. The rest was a mixture of pain and psychotropic meds used for restlessness, anxiety and anxiousness. He also stated that this mixture was very useful in helping the person in the end stage of dying to pass readily quickly. Nurses Talk in Secret-As I talk to other nurses on the issues of Hospice and their practices, most say that Hospice is a good concept when used properly, but that as in any job there are always a few bad apples in the mix. But as we talk in secret, as everyone is scared of speaking against Hospice openly for fear of reprisal including possibly losing their’ job or nursing license, we all remain in the closet not being able to tell the public of what we know. Every one speaks of the same concerns of Hospice- their policies, of patient over-dosing, including that of dosing the patient when they don’t have any complaints or are unresponsive. A nurse did say that she was caring for her own elderly mother with Alzheimer’s and was told by the Dr. that her mother may have up to 6 weeks to live. Hospice was agreed upon and came to the house, where they tried to take over and go against the family’s wishes. She says that the main reason why they’d agreed to have Hospice care was due to the difference in medication costs, that ond of her mother’s heart meds alone cost them over $170, but that Hospice costs for the same med was $5. She then walked away, refusing to say anything more. A resent phone call, mentioned a man who has had a history of heart problems and is on numerous medications and has had a defibrillator device for years, just under his skin that would shock him when his heart was doing flip-flops, to make it go back into a normal rhythm. Hospice had recently informed the man that they wanted to turn off his defibrillator and didn’t want to pay for his heart meds any longer. Another nurse mentioned that at one time she had considered working for Hospice. After seeing what they do and how they operate, she said she was glad that she hadn’t. Recently on the News- Approximately 6 weeks ago, it was on the news that a nursing home patient was given another patient’s medications and died. What really caught my attention was that the meds given, according to the news, were Hospice medications. Starved to Death-Recently, a friend of my husband’s was talking to us about the death of their father and the “undignified” way he had died, after being admitted to a Hospice Unit at the local VA. He had had cancer for years and recently developed complications of pneumonia, which caused him a lot of pain. What disturbed them the most, was that upon admission to Hospice till their father’s passing, was that their father had been refused any antibiotics for his pneumonia and not allowed any food and water, they would only give him pain medications. They said that he would ask them why he couldn’t have something to eat, that he was hungry and that he begged them for water. The family would then sneak water into him and when caught, they were scolded severely by the staff for giving it to him. They said that their father did not die from his cancer or the pneumonia, but from dehydration and that he had been starved to death. Personal Thoughts and Questions- - Hospice care is a voluntary service that is requested to come into the home. Are people aware that they have the right to cancel these services at anytime if they wish or are unhappy with them? That Hospice is a guest in the person’s home and to work along with the family’s and loved one’s wishes, not their own?
- Why aren’t patients and their families informed of the medications and their side effects, including the residual affect that occurs from many of these medications that are given to them, which causes toxification of the liver from the frequent dosing and the body’s inability to filter them out fast enough? Those that I’ve spoken to have said that they were never told any of this, only that of the disease progress and that the medication would make them rest more.
- So I ask the following question: Did the patient die from the disease or from a drug overdose? In many cases, I believe it to be the latter of the two.
- Therefore, who regulates and follows these Hospice agencies, their practices and drug usage? Or has this kind of practice become the norm and is so accepted by those in authority and society, that no one questions them any longer?
- If Hospice care is voluntarily, at what point is it going to become mandatory?
- When then did God stop being God, with us having the right to play God, choosing when a person is to die?
- Whose decision is it then, that Hospice ends this person’s life in what “they” feel is a timely manner?
Do we now have Legalized Euthanasia or is it Legalized Murder?
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 April 2008 12:43 |
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