Monday, February 18, 2008
conversion story retold with more wisdom
Its a wonder how grown up I think I am sometimes. That I always know what is best for everyone else, but when it comes to myself I screw it up like a child. And granted there is always positive things out of child-like faith. But acting like a child when it comes to how I deal with others is not as positive. Today, I listened to a conversion story. This story was one from Mac and Katherine Barron about how they themselves as protestants became Catholic. They themselves had similar upbringing as myself, meaning regular church attendance, youth groups, summer camps, mission trips etc. They gave their conversion stories to Christianity in general first, and while they both had more open relationships about faith with their family, again it seemed similar to mine. I had my conversion at a church camp that one of my friends had invited me too. Listening to this story, I really began to identify with Katherine. The one thing was that her parents were still nicer than mine to me about this. But as I look at what steps I took versus, the steps that they took together, there were different circumstances, and I don't think at times the wisest steps were taken for family unity to still be there.
Friday, February 15, 2008
I know I'm supposed to have a theme here and not just post songs in my mind, but this one fits.
"The First of the Century" by Straylight Run
granted the video has its own artist views. But they do have a point.
"You know, you can be
The first of, this century.
To bleed through, to find truth.
To know what, you should do.
You know, it could be, anything.
Sometimes (sometimes)
You might find (you might find)
A crack or (a crack or)
A fault line (a fault line)
But dressed down (but dressed down)
Or made up (or made up)
You'll find (you'll find)
A real love (a real love)
A place to, come home to, at night.
So what did we pay for?
And why did we care?
What were we after?
And why was it there?
Desire gave way to a false sense of hope,
And we fell for the lie that it's what we all chose.
And I yelled to my friends, "you'll all be okay!"
But they didn't believe me, they still don't today.
They never do anything they haven't before.
In the same solemn room with no lock on the door.
And over and over and over again,
The same failed solutions to all the same problems.
Scream, why! why!
I can't understand
Why the things that I do never go as I planned.
And the vultures begin
Their slow circling.
The dogs lick their teeth,
Bright, white, and gleaming.
But just hold your sun
We've barely begun.
To fight until now.
So, let's see what you've got.
This wide open shot.
Take it or leave it.
'Cause
We're getting out.
We're getting out, oh.
And you'll never find us again
No, never find us again."
granted the video has its own artist views. But they do have a point.
"You know, you can be
The first of, this century.
To bleed through, to find truth.
To know what, you should do.
You know, it could be, anything.
Sometimes (sometimes)
You might find (you might find)
A crack or (a crack or)
A fault line (a fault line)
But dressed down (but dressed down)
Or made up (or made up)
You'll find (you'll find)
A real love (a real love)
A place to, come home to, at night.
So what did we pay for?
And why did we care?
What were we after?
And why was it there?
Desire gave way to a false sense of hope,
And we fell for the lie that it's what we all chose.
And I yelled to my friends, "you'll all be okay!"
But they didn't believe me, they still don't today.
They never do anything they haven't before.
In the same solemn room with no lock on the door.
And over and over and over again,
The same failed solutions to all the same problems.
Scream, why! why!
I can't understand
Why the things that I do never go as I planned.
And the vultures begin
Their slow circling.
The dogs lick their teeth,
Bright, white, and gleaming.
But just hold your sun
We've barely begun.
To fight until now.
So, let's see what you've got.
This wide open shot.
Take it or leave it.
'Cause
We're getting out.
We're getting out, oh.
And you'll never find us again
No, never find us again."
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Maybe I am am a crazy Pro-lifer
So, today I have been fascinated reading all the threads from the feministe blog that dawn eden mentioned in her blog as they were totally bashing her. I personally think Dawn Eden is great. I agree with her. The one thing that I noticed about the comments made by the people is how they don't know how to argue, they are so defensive in their arguement, that all they do is poke fun or reprimand those that are different than them. It is actually funny how wrong they are about the other side. They are very good at using extreme cases that prove their points while forgetting the majority that contradict them. There was one thing that I did agree with, many of those who say they are pro-life use contraception. Most of those who use contraception, however, are not aware of the effects of using it. They simply think of it as a way of planning out their families as society says too. Well to counteract this I want to explain Natural Family Planning. No one who commented on the feministe threads had any clue about it except that it was one way to get around using contraception. So what is Natural Family Planning or NFP?
NFP is a way of naturally using the woman's cycle to either achieve or postpone a pregnancy without contraception. There are times when a couple can have sex and there are times when they abstain if they are not wanting to get pregnant, if they want to get pregnant these times they abstain become the times that they partake in because they want to concieve a child. They know when and when not these times are by a few checks done every day. To understand this however, one needs to know about a woman's cycle.
The first part of a woman's cycle is called Phase 1, it has a more scientific name that i forget at the moment, but its when a woman has her period until the first day that she starts producing vaginal mucus. During this time there is little to no chance of getting pregnant if a woman was to have sex. The little chance comes from the end of the phase 1 where someone might misjudge whether or not mucus has started. It is why it is recommended that if a couple is first starting this they abstain for the first 3 months until a woman has a grasp on her cycle. It is important to take a woman's temperature every morning at approximately the same time to watch for temperature jumps and also to check for the start of vaginal mucus as the start of phase 2.
The second part of a woman's cycle is the fertile part of her cycle, phase 2. You need again to take the temperature everyday around the same time to see shifts in the woman's basal temperature. In this part of a cycle a woman produces a range of vaginal mucus, Though this may take a cycle or two to learn what the mucus does. You will at least know you have mucus, be it tacky or stretchy. The tacky mucus usually comes at the beginning and end of the phase while the stretchy more clear stuff comes usually for about 6-7 days in the middle of phase 2. If you are wanting to concieve the ultimate time to have sex is during this time, as this is the time a woman is ovulating.
About 2 days after a woman ovulates her temperature spikes up about 4 tenths of a degree and she is now into the luteal phase or phase three, the last phase of a woman's cycle. This phase is where a woman has no chance of pregnancy unless by divine intervention, or carelessness of phase boundaries. The first three days may have some tacky mucus present, but on the evening of the third day as long as the mucus has dried up and is no longer present, then the couple can have sex and have no chance of getting pregnant. This phase can be 9 to about 16 days long in woman. However, this phase usually is consist in a woman within 1-2 days, so if you find your luteal phase to be 12 days, it will always be around 12 days give or take a day. During this phase a woman's temperature stays high as she is producing progesterone. It may drop in the last day or so of the phase when the progesterone lowers for the period to start again.
So this is NFP in a nutshell, I have a few more things I need to do tonight, so I am going to leave it at that. I'll clean up any lose ends next time I post and explain why its so great to use this method. (Why even a man enjoys it let alone us girls who get respect from it.) Until then...
NFP is a way of naturally using the woman's cycle to either achieve or postpone a pregnancy without contraception. There are times when a couple can have sex and there are times when they abstain if they are not wanting to get pregnant, if they want to get pregnant these times they abstain become the times that they partake in because they want to concieve a child. They know when and when not these times are by a few checks done every day. To understand this however, one needs to know about a woman's cycle.
The first part of a woman's cycle is called Phase 1, it has a more scientific name that i forget at the moment, but its when a woman has her period until the first day that she starts producing vaginal mucus. During this time there is little to no chance of getting pregnant if a woman was to have sex. The little chance comes from the end of the phase 1 where someone might misjudge whether or not mucus has started. It is why it is recommended that if a couple is first starting this they abstain for the first 3 months until a woman has a grasp on her cycle. It is important to take a woman's temperature every morning at approximately the same time to watch for temperature jumps and also to check for the start of vaginal mucus as the start of phase 2.
The second part of a woman's cycle is the fertile part of her cycle, phase 2. You need again to take the temperature everyday around the same time to see shifts in the woman's basal temperature. In this part of a cycle a woman produces a range of vaginal mucus, Though this may take a cycle or two to learn what the mucus does. You will at least know you have mucus, be it tacky or stretchy. The tacky mucus usually comes at the beginning and end of the phase while the stretchy more clear stuff comes usually for about 6-7 days in the middle of phase 2. If you are wanting to concieve the ultimate time to have sex is during this time, as this is the time a woman is ovulating.
About 2 days after a woman ovulates her temperature spikes up about 4 tenths of a degree and she is now into the luteal phase or phase three, the last phase of a woman's cycle. This phase is where a woman has no chance of pregnancy unless by divine intervention, or carelessness of phase boundaries. The first three days may have some tacky mucus present, but on the evening of the third day as long as the mucus has dried up and is no longer present, then the couple can have sex and have no chance of getting pregnant. This phase can be 9 to about 16 days long in woman. However, this phase usually is consist in a woman within 1-2 days, so if you find your luteal phase to be 12 days, it will always be around 12 days give or take a day. During this phase a woman's temperature stays high as she is producing progesterone. It may drop in the last day or so of the phase when the progesterone lowers for the period to start again.
So this is NFP in a nutshell, I have a few more things I need to do tonight, so I am going to leave it at that. I'll clean up any lose ends next time I post and explain why its so great to use this method. (Why even a man enjoys it let alone us girls who get respect from it.) Until then...
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Experiences from the March
Here are a few videos from our experiences at the March. It was a great time. I hope you enjoy the video. Sorry for the slight shakiness of them. Also sorry for the delay on getting it up here, I have been under the weather most of the time since getting back from DC. Though, I am finally on the road to recovery, at least I think so.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Interesting Misuse of Privacy in Court Cases and the Degradation of the state of Marriage
I have been told by those that I love that I am someone that is such a radical that they cannot believe that I am who I am. They believe that I am an idiot for what I believe and that I need to learn ethics, and at this general ethics because Christian ethics has led me to be this idiot. Well I decided to read an ethics book. It is by J. Budziszewski entitled "True Tolerance: Liberalism and the Necessity of Judgement." Well from reading about a 1/3 of it so far everything I have read in it is brilliant. This guy is completely ethical, and did not alienate me or change my point of view. He actually made me feel like I had something to fight for, in that my rebellion against what society tells me is right, is what I should be doing. In Budziszewski's words true tolerance is a formula where "an evil must be tolerated in just those cases where its suppression would involve equal or greater hinderance to goods of the same order, or any hinderance at all to goods of higher order." To be truely tolerant is to walk a fine line of when to know to stand up for something that will help towards a greater good, and when to sit back because it will do more evil to stand up then to let it go. It doesn't mean not having an opinion or thinking everything has the same value, to be a neutralist. It means standing up for what you believe in when the timing is right, when you are going to work towards a greater good by doing so. I hope that with God, this is what my life will contain, these chances to make a difference towards the greater good. I think that by living the lifestyle that Keith and I have chosen being open to life and defending life through NFP in former and being pro-life activists in the latter, I think we are leaning towards true tolerism as long as we do not abuse others in doing so.
For a long time I have been trying to understand why society and those around me have certain views on what a women should be allowed to do with her baby and what a married couple should be allowed to do in their own lives. And in this book I came upon a section that what entitled "Abuse of the Concept of Privacy" Budziszewski explains how the martial and family norms have been so degraded by "eccentric Judicial interpretations of privacy." He explains that there is two types of privacy the first being the innocent form concerning what people should know about one's affairs and what one does with one's "things". This type of privacy fosters the intimacy of relationships in a good way. However, the second type of privacy is not innocent, Budziszewski describes it as "concerns not what others may know about my affairs or do with my things, but what I myself may do and whether others may discourage me in any way from doing it. Probably because jurists fail to distinguish false privacy itself from true, false privacy is often defended in the name of the same goods which true privacy nutures." (p.50 TT) This type of privacy slowly poisions marriage and what is good about it. The following four cases have been ruled in favor of false privacy.
1) Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), by use of false privacy somehow made it seem criminal for married people to not be able to use contraception.
2)Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) used false privacy to be able to then distribute contraception to unmarried folk as so they could procreate as they liked.
3)Roe v. Wade (1973) used false privacy to allow a woman to kill her unborn child during all nine months of pregnancy, and a sister court cause allowed it for almost any reason.
4)Atkisson v. Kern (1976) used false privacy to allow unwed people to cohabitate in a manner that they had to be together for their children that they had been allowed to have as a result of case 2, and at the cost of our goverment dollars funding it.
It's a wonder to me that in fourty years we have come to think that all of this is so accepted in society. No one would think twice about telling someone that they can't use contraception. No one would think twice about unmarried people living together, especially not in gov't subsidized housing where it happens all the time. And the right to have an abortion and/or to use the morning after pill is what women want, right? Why? Why? Why? I must ask. Why have we let society degrade in this manner, what is the cause of it? Well, to try to understand why, I looked at the characteristics of the generations that made these decisions, and were a product of these generations. Well there were 2 crucial generations that were involved in the development of these defining political moments. The main contributor being the baby boomer generation, this generation was one that was politically active in its protests and its human rights movements. While they did some good with civil rights and rights of the handicapped, they set us back a ton when it came to what they thought was sexual revolution and women's liberation. The following generation, known today as Generation Jones, also had an impact in this, all I could find about this generation was that it was cynical and had a major distrust for governmental authority. They felt like they were lost in a way I think they were, as the generation before them made major decisions that would cause their children to feel even more alienated. Next, is the product of the sexual revolution and women's lib, generation X. This generation is known for its lack of traditional values and its general cynicism. Working amongst this generation, I find this very true. Probably why my generation, is the opposite of these people, we again are like the revolutionists of the baby boomer generation, except, imagine this, we are fighting for morality and ethics. Granted not all of us are in this boat, many of us are so disoriented from past generations propaganda that we are stuck in a rut that hopefully we will remove ourselves from one day. But even though we are stuck in these ruts, we want to help others and make a difference. The only dilemma is now how should our generation do it. I think that I am starting to see a way for myself. Thank God for that.
For a long time I have been trying to understand why society and those around me have certain views on what a women should be allowed to do with her baby and what a married couple should be allowed to do in their own lives. And in this book I came upon a section that what entitled "Abuse of the Concept of Privacy" Budziszewski explains how the martial and family norms have been so degraded by "eccentric Judicial interpretations of privacy." He explains that there is two types of privacy the first being the innocent form concerning what people should know about one's affairs and what one does with one's "things". This type of privacy fosters the intimacy of relationships in a good way. However, the second type of privacy is not innocent, Budziszewski describes it as "concerns not what others may know about my affairs or do with my things, but what I myself may do and whether others may discourage me in any way from doing it. Probably because jurists fail to distinguish false privacy itself from true, false privacy is often defended in the name of the same goods which true privacy nutures." (p.50 TT) This type of privacy slowly poisions marriage and what is good about it. The following four cases have been ruled in favor of false privacy.
1) Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), by use of false privacy somehow made it seem criminal for married people to not be able to use contraception.
2)Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) used false privacy to be able to then distribute contraception to unmarried folk as so they could procreate as they liked.
3)Roe v. Wade (1973) used false privacy to allow a woman to kill her unborn child during all nine months of pregnancy, and a sister court cause allowed it for almost any reason.
4)Atkisson v. Kern (1976) used false privacy to allow unwed people to cohabitate in a manner that they had to be together for their children that they had been allowed to have as a result of case 2, and at the cost of our goverment dollars funding it.
It's a wonder to me that in fourty years we have come to think that all of this is so accepted in society. No one would think twice about telling someone that they can't use contraception. No one would think twice about unmarried people living together, especially not in gov't subsidized housing where it happens all the time. And the right to have an abortion and/or to use the morning after pill is what women want, right? Why? Why? Why? I must ask. Why have we let society degrade in this manner, what is the cause of it? Well, to try to understand why, I looked at the characteristics of the generations that made these decisions, and were a product of these generations. Well there were 2 crucial generations that were involved in the development of these defining political moments. The main contributor being the baby boomer generation, this generation was one that was politically active in its protests and its human rights movements. While they did some good with civil rights and rights of the handicapped, they set us back a ton when it came to what they thought was sexual revolution and women's liberation. The following generation, known today as Generation Jones, also had an impact in this, all I could find about this generation was that it was cynical and had a major distrust for governmental authority. They felt like they were lost in a way I think they were, as the generation before them made major decisions that would cause their children to feel even more alienated. Next, is the product of the sexual revolution and women's lib, generation X. This generation is known for its lack of traditional values and its general cynicism. Working amongst this generation, I find this very true. Probably why my generation, is the opposite of these people, we again are like the revolutionists of the baby boomer generation, except, imagine this, we are fighting for morality and ethics. Granted not all of us are in this boat, many of us are so disoriented from past generations propaganda that we are stuck in a rut that hopefully we will remove ourselves from one day. But even though we are stuck in these ruts, we want to help others and make a difference. The only dilemma is now how should our generation do it. I think that I am starting to see a way for myself. Thank God for that.
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