As anyone familiar with this blog knows, I homeschool my kids. I’m really not a fanatic about homeschooling, in general. It’s something we do for many, many reasons, but I wouldn’t presume to tell other people what they should do. I’m perfectly willing to accept the idea that public schools are the best choice for many families. However, like many homeschoolers, I sometimes find myself … Continue reading There are things I don’t understand
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on why parents who teach their children creation science or intelligent design in a way which elevates those teachings to a fundamental of the Christian faith are putting their children’s long term spiritual well being at risk. In the comments on that post (which were remarkably civil for this topic BTW, thank you to all who commented!), someone asked how I teach my kids to be faithful Christians while also accepting the science of evolution and geology and such. I think this is a good question and figured I would share how it works in our house.
The first thing I tell my kids is that God is always willing to meet us where we are. He doesn’t wait for us to get it all together or have a good grasp of life to reach out and reveal himself to us. Thousands of years ago the ancient Hebrews had no numbers for billions. They did not know what elements or atoms or DNA were. They did not know where sickness came from or what the stars were. It would have been literally impossible for them to understand a universe which was billions of years old, stars made out of burning gas shining many billions of light years away. They could not have comprehended that life was composed of atoms linked together into molecules which linked together to make macromolecules which worked together to create all the tissues, fluids and such of the human body. They could not have comprehended what DNA does, how it replicates itself, how it gets passed down from generation to generation while various mutations occur which can, over time beyond their words to even name, result in a diversity of life they weren’t even aware of.
In other words, it would have been impossible for the one true God to reveal his role in and purpose for creation to the ancient Hebrews in a way which reflected the scientific reality of this amazing creation. Continue reading “Raising Christian Evolutionists”
I’m still waiting to get my internet back on, so I don’t have time to blog properly about this, but I just wanted to direct everyone’s attention to an Outlook article from the Washington Post on homeschooling written by an actual homeschooling parent, no less! (I’m sure I’m the 5 kabilionth homeschool blogger to point this article out, but hey!) Continue reading Did you know that homeschoolers sometimes leave their homes?
Be sure to check out this fantastic column over at Slate by Emily Yoffe (aka Dear Prudie) on the disaster of normalizing single parenthood. Continue reading While I’m gone . . .
When I was a Catholic, I went through the stations of the cross several times, including a couple which included props and sound effects. It’s one of the reasons I never felt the need to go see Mel Gibson’s snuff movie – as a former Catholic, I was well aware of Jesus’ suffering on the cross. It was real for me already.
However, since The Passion of the Christ, the movie, accomplished the task of helping Christians experience the horror and suffering of Jesus’ passion and death, the Episcopalian Relief and Development Agency has apparently decided that they can move on other, important topics. Like reducing our carbon food print and promoting third world debt relief. From an article about it on Slate:
This year in time for Lent, Episcopal Relief and Development, the relief agency of the Episcopal Church, began offering a variation on the Stations of the Cross called the Stations of the Millennium Development Goals. It features eight stations, one for each of the global priorities identified by the United Nations in 2000, from eradicating poverty to promoting gender equality. Where each of the 14 stations of the traditional Stations of the Cross represents an event leading up to Jesus’ death—”Jesus is condemned to death” and “Jesus falls the first time,” for example—the alternative version, promoted by Episcopal Relief and Development, shifts the focus to righting global problems. At Station 8, “Create a Global Partnership for Development,” participants are reminded that a “fair trading system, increased international aid, and debt relief for developing countries will help us realize” the U.N. goals. An optional activity at Station 7, “Ensure Environmental Sustainability,” asks that “pilgrims calculate their carbon footprint and come up with three strategies to reduce it.” . . . A suggested activity for Station 4, on reducing child mortality, calls for participants to shade in drawings of children’s faces, coloring-book-style.
Goodness. Continue reading “Forget Stations of the Cross! It’s stations of the UN!”
Those of you who have been coming to my blog for a little while will remember that my family has been going through a very challenging time due to my husband’s 3rd job loss in 2 1/2 years. Many of you even generously donated money to help us out, for which my husband and I are extremely grateful. So, I wanted to pass along the … Continue reading Update on job situation
My daughter Michaela is just over 3 years old. It’s funny how quickly you forget what a 3 year old (or 4 year old or 5 year old) is like. The other day she was taking forever to wash her hands after going to the bathroom. When I went in to check on her she was very carefully washing her elbows. “I’m washing my elbows … Continue reading Michaela Rose
My goodness. A high school outside of Chicago has recently decided to move a piece of pornographic work (“Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (Parts 1 & 2)”) from it’s “required” to its “optional” reading list for an AP Literature class after parents and an advocacy group spent months complaining. How good of them. I suppose that simply having access to porn … Continue reading Pornification goes to high school!
Over at Crunchy Cons, Rod has a post up linking to a rather unfunny piece by Diogenes on Catholic World Daily which is meant to mock those who have or would like others to, ask for forgiveness for the sins of our ancestors. A clip from the piece:
It’s back in style: the political fashion of issuing official “apologies” for wrongs committed by others — especially long-dead others — in order to cash-in on the compassion sweepstakes and dutch rub the opposition in the process. Australia’s Labour Government apologized to the aboriginals last month, and now Canada appears ready to follow suit. Perhaps the following Mea Culpa, first offered in response to the initial wave of vicarious mortification, might bear repeating:
Bless me, Father, for my ancestors have sinned. It has been two episodes of 60 Minutes since my last confession.
— My parents were unwelcoming of government mandated integration in their working class neighborhood. At least, I ‘m not absolutely sure they were unwelcoming, but they had a statue of the Sacred Heart in the parlor, and that was typical of the kind of people that put property values before justice in those days. For these and all their other sins of bigotry I ask pardon and penance.
I think it’s safe to say that our pastors are doing a really, really bad teaching the flock how God wants us to deal with the sins of our ancestors. The gap between what God calls us to do and how many Christians, even good faithful Christians, think about what is the right way to deal with the sins of our for-bearers could hardly be greater. A commentator on the Catholic World News sight where the item was put up had this to say: Continue reading “The sins of the fathers”
This is hilarious. Remember those Where’s Waldo books? This is a funny spoof of Where’s Waldo and The Bourne Identity. Warning: there is a little bit of language here, so you may not want to watch it with the kiddies watching over your shoulder. Continue reading The Waldo Ultimatum
The Upside Down World 