Monday, March 22, 2010

The Father Daughter Retreat Will Soon be Upon Us! :)

The 2010 Vision Forum Father Daughter retreat will begin this Friday! Are any of my readers planning on attending? If so, perhaps we could meet! :)

15 comments:

  1. I could write a long comment on each of your posts with questions but I'll make a short one here.

    You often quote the Bible and and use it as some kind of evidence and proof, to what happens in today's society.

    Whenever someone wants to publish a book consisting facts that person must use footnotes and sources to proove where that statement/fact comes from so that the reader can look it up, for instance a study about alcohol habits.
    The Bible, of course, has no footnotes nor any scientficital studies. How can one then quote such an "unsure" source and use it as evidence? For that doesn't work then.

    Of course, if we assume that the Bible is that old, then footnotes didn't exist. How can you then apply something from their society to our society today? When inventions and culture's changes so rapidly today thanks to influence from other countries and people.

    I understand that people wants to have a belief to be able to handle their everyday life but I am very sceptic to why people choose to follow something so outdated such as the Bible or the Koran.

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  2. By the way, since I opened this page again (less than 5 min ago) your counter states that ~ 550 babies has been killed in abortion.
    Interesting fact indeed, but how many of those were embryos/"germs"? According to WHO it must be of certain weeks and most countries does not allow abortions of those babies. Until then you can't call them "babies".
    Then we must see how many of those babies by all means are conceived by rape and how many are aborted due to health risks.

    Of course there are secret clinics which abort babies but those are rare. A problem here is the unwanted pregnancies. It seems as in America you don't know what birth control is and all seem to be unaware of what sex can "cause". Greater education and NO home schooling and we won't have so many abortions!! <3

    And a suggestion, add a counter with "xxxx many spermatozoids are killed by condom's each day!"

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  3. Great questions. Let's deal with the authenticity and reliability of the Bible first, and then I'll address your comments regarding abortion.

    First, the Bible is completely reliable, for it was inspired by God Himself. Everything it says is true. While it is not a science textbook, when it speaks of things relating to science, it speaks accurately. For example, did you know that in the book of Isaiah (written between 739 and 680 B.C.), the Bible says (in Isaiah 40:22) that the earth is round? This was stated as fact long before man knew that to be a scientific fact. Verse 22 says, "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in". Furthermore, did you know that the Bible makes reference to the earth being suspended in space? The book of Job (arguably the oldest book of the Old Testament), in 26:7 says, "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." These are scientific statements made millenia ago, prior to modern scientific discoveries. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that recent studies and discoveries in space have supported a young earth (around 6-8 thousand years old), evolution has often been proven wrong (by those who are actually willing to admit such!), etc. etc. As you can see, the Scriptures must be providentially inspired by God, or else such scientific fact could quite likely not have been stated so accurately so long ago.

    Furthermore, many Old Testament prophecies regarding certain cities and places being destroyed came true, down to the smallest little detail, years after the prophecies. The prophets spoke as the Lord gave them utterance! For example, read the write-up here regarding Tyre and Sidon (scroll down on the page a bit):

    http://www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch06/default.htm

    There are those who try to discredit the Bible and its claims. Did you know, however, that there are far fewer manuscripts that have been discovered pertaining to Julius Caesar than the huge number that have been found (and that are alike in what they say; the Lord definitely preserved His Word!) that are Bible fragments. And yet people who question the Bible wouldn't even think to question the existence of Julius Caesar and various events in his life.

    You asked, "How can you then apply something from their society to our society today?" I do not apply their merely cultural to ours today; what I do is apply the Lord's commands, precepts, etc. to today. If the commands line up with their cultural practices, though, so be it.

    And, just for the record, the Koran is entirely unreliable. It's a horrible book, not at all inspired by God, etc. If one lives out that book, one can and should murder all who disagree with them theologically, treat women like dirt, etc.

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  4. As to abortion and babies, embyos are human beings; they are babies. Allow me to ask some questions, if you don't mind. When cats are pregnant, what are they pregnant with? A dog? A horse? No, of course not! Cats are pregnant with kittens. Dogs are pregnant with dogs, horses are pregnant with horses, etc. Women are pregnant with human beings, from start to finish-from conception to birth. The very reason why abortion was outlawed in America for so many years (for example, in the 1800s), was that, despite the fact that sonograms were not available in those days, people had enough common sense to know that what was inside a woman's womb was a baby-no matter what the number of weeks gestationally. Ask any abortion doctor if what they took out of the mother's womb was a baby, and, if they were honest, they would admit that it was-it looks just like one, as it does on a sonogram! Some point to the scam by Earnst Heckel and try to say that his drawing showed that in the womb, an embyo is at one time a fish-like creature, at another a pig, then a human, etc. to attempt to say that a "fetus" is not a baby until a certain time. However, it was uncoverd later that Heckel's work was a complete sham.

    What makes abortion wrong is that it is the murder of a human being. There have been botched abortions of very young babies who actually survived the abortion, and the doctors have left those children to die. It is obvious that "embyos" are babies.

    The baby is not responsible for how he was conceived. In other words, if it were a rape, for example, yes, that was a terrible situation that occurred. But you don't blame the poor child for it, by killing it. As for the health of the mother, health is defined by 10 people in 10 different ways. That's why if someone gets an abortion (I don't savor the thought of anyone getting them, but if they do), it is only lawful to do so for the life of the mother-not merely the health.

    Unwanted pregnancies are indeed a problem. But, if people don't want to get pregnant (the vast majority of unwanted pregnancies are to unwed mothers), then they should not be sexually active. While there may be many unwanted pregnancies, abortion is not the only answer. There are countless couples who yearn for children, but can't have them. Imagine how joyful they would be if teen mothers would choose to instead give their babies up for adoption rather than killing them. I know what birth control is, and I know what sex can cause. That was my point above.

    I have to say I am really shocked by your assertion that if there were no more homeschooling, there would not be as many abortions. Children who are homeschooled are usually not nearly as promiscuous as public schoolers, where condoms and the like are freely distributed, and premarital sex is thereby encouraged.

    If I have come across as disrespectful, I apologize-the abortion issue is an emotional one! :) Thank you for taking the time to comment.

    Rebekah

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  5. Hi Rebekah,
    I've often visited your blog, and was happily surprised to see that you too will be at the F/D retreat this weekend. I am so looking forward to it, and now I am also looking forward to meeting you, Lord willing.
    That was all that I was really intending on saying, but after reading the comments on this post, I want to meet you even more. You answered those questions so knowledgeably, with grace too. The world needs more Christians like you.
    Thank you for the encouragement.
    God Bless!
    Hannah
    PS I was just thinking that even a quick post, such as the one above can be a tool for God, and a witness for Him. Thanks for reminding me of that.

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  6. Hi, Hannah! I'm so happy to hear that you will be attending; it would be great to meet if we could. Thank you for your kind words! I, too, am so excited about the retreat! :) Is this your first one?

    Thank you for your kind words about my response to Becharm. I appreciate your kindness very much. :) That was very sweet of you. And, what a great point-simply having comments like that to reply to may very well be used of God to bring someone to Himself. Thanks for the reminder! :)

    I hope to be able to meet you sometime this weekend; that would be fun! Have a wonderful time!! :)

    Blessings to you,
    Rebekah
    ~~~~~~~~

    Yay, Stephanie! :) I'm so looking forward to meeting you, Lord willing!

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  7. Sadly I haven't got much time to reply right now but still.. About the abortion issue.

    I think that we all know that no human will carry a horse embyo in its womb, but that wasn't my point. My point was that the human embyo isn't a human which can be killed unless it's of a certain age. Before that stage it's just a lot of cells, but it hasn't what makes it a human being.(Not sure how to explain it in English, really :)) If you then make an abortion it's not killing, just abortion.
    When doctors fail to abort the embyo or baby it's of course bad, but an embyo or what you'd call "a small baby" wouldn't survive outside the womb anyway. What's worse is when a baby is aborted due to health reasons and it ends up being half alive. This is just a sad mistake made by the doctor.

    There are many mothers whom were raped and decided to keep the baby and of course, if they can deal with seeing what's a part of the rapist and see the child as an own person it's good.

    Though many of us couldn't handle the thought of carrying, raising, taking care of and loving what that horrible person made to me. It's not the childs fault, no, but the child has his genes, the child will always belong to him whatever happens. The child will probably, in apperance, resemble him. Could I, or many others, love that? No, because the abuse itself will follow us for the rest of our lives and that's perfectly enough to break the joy of life.

    To give it to someone else was not an option. I'd still have to carry it and give birth to it. It would still be a mix of him and me, which I never agreed on. As for childless people - don't you think it's Gods will that they can't concieve then? If everything else seems to be.

    I don't understand the sense of not having sex before marriage. It's something weird which humans has invented. Giving away free condoms is a great thing to do. This prevents disases which can kill and make people sterile from being spread. Also it does prevent unwanted pregnancy. I don't think you can kill the sex drive in people by not giving them condoms. The curiosity and the ego for satisfaction will always be there. People whom cannot have sex even ends up being frustrated (Especially in the victorian society where sex was bad).


    Yeah, it's OK if you indeed came across as disrespectful, it's very emotional to me too. Even though I never intended to make an abortion I had to. Still I wasn't a homemaker or what it's called, I went to school and then such things can happen. Though this happened at a busstation kind of, oh whatever where.

    I hope I'll have time later to reply to your first, longer reply also

    Greetings
    / Eve.

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  8. Rebekah,

    Just wanted to let you know that becharm/Eve's name leads to a site which isn't something you'd want to have your site link too... Wanted to let you know incase you want to fix it.

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  9. Hello Rebekah,

    I am not going to VF's retreat, but we did meet you and your daddy a couple years ago at one (maybe 2?).

    I whole heartly agree with you on the subject of abortion! I recently gave a speech on that very subject. Life starts at the very beginning! I am saddened to see what others say regarding it and it's a very emotional topic for me too!

    As too God's will for a couple to adopt a child when they can't have their own... The Bible strongly holds up adoption (the Lord has adopted us) and perhaps adoption is God's will for the couple to open their house and hearts to one who doesn't have parents, etc.

    Blessings,

    ~S

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  10. Anonymous,

    Thank you for that good point! I'll keep her comments here, simply for the sake of discussion, so that people can understand what my responses are in reference to. However, I trust that with your gracious warning, none of my readers will pursue the link to her site.

    Thank you again for the warning and words of wisdom!

    Blessings,
    Rebekah
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Hi, Shiloh! So nice to hear from you! :)

    I'm sorry we weren't able to see each other there this year!

    I would have loved to hear your speech; I'm sure it was excellent. Keep up the good work!

    Absolutely. I couldn't agree more with your words regarding adoption. Adopting a precious little child is such a beautiful picture of what Christ did for us!

    Thank you again for your comment; it was great to hear from you!

    Blessings,
    Rebekah
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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  11. Eve,

    Let me ask you a question if you don't mind. If you believe that an "embryo" is simply a mass of cells and is not a baby up until a certain point, then why do you view abortion as an emotional issue? If it's simply a mass of cells or a lump of tissue, then people would be crazy to be emotional about getting rid of the lump or have difficulty making a decision. Therefore, I think that everyone, deep down, whether they're willing to acknowledge it or not, know that an "embryo" is a baby regardless of its age. After all, everyone views abortion as an emotional issue!

    Second, it is intellectually confusing to say that an embryo is not a baby until a certain age. Who determines what age it is? Who determines when it's suddenly a baby? Is it when it can survive on its own outside the womb? Well, that can't be it, for, many years ago when the technology of today was not around, babies born at 27 weeks would likely never have been able to survive outside the womb. Today, however, preemies of that age are usually able to survive outside the womb. So, are we going to say that many years ago, 27 week old babies were not human, not true babies, but that they are now, in our day in age? Such a position is faulty. Again, I mean no disrespect at all to you personally, in saying this! Please understand that.

    My point in my prior comment about horses having horses, etc., was to show that pregnant horses are pregnant with horses-not some lump of cells and that, likewise, pregnant women are pregnant with human babies.

    We could debate this back and forth, but I think that deep down, we both know that an "embryo" is a baby from day 1-long before birth. Abortionists know this and deal with the fact every day when they see the mangled bodies they take out of the woman. I don't mean to be graphic, but sometimes we really need to wake up to exactly what abortion is and what it does. The fact of an "embryo" being a living human being is shown in the fact that if someone murders a pregnant woman, he is charged with 2 counts of murder. An "embryo" (baby) has its own DNA, unique blood type, beating heart, and the list goes on. It is a living human being from the moment of conception.

    You said, "When doctors fail to abort the embyo or baby it's of course bad, but an embyo or what you'd call "a small baby" wouldn't survive outside the womb anyway. What's worse is when a baby is aborted due to health reasons and it ends up being half alive. This is just a sad mistake made by the doctor."

    Why is it bad if you believe it's somehow just a lump of cells? Do you see the inconsistencies here? Either it's a baby from conception or it's not. And, if, in your view, it's not, then there is nothing sad or bad about botched abortions or abortions in general. However, botched abortions aren't just bad mistakes-they are attempts at murder that often result in mangled little children. Any abortion doctor who sees the aborted baby (or baby that is living through some mistake of the abortionist), knows that what he is dealing with is a precious human life; he just doesn't care.

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  12. You said, "There are many mothers whom were raped and decided to keep the baby and of course, if they can deal with seeing what's a part of the rapist and see the child as an own person it's good.

    Though many of us couldn't handle the thought of carrying, raising, taking care of and loving what that horrible person made to me. It's not the childs fault, no, but the child has his genes, the child will always belong to him whatever happens. The child will probably, in apperance, resemble him. Could I, or many others, love that? No, because the abuse itself will follow us for the rest of our lives and that's perfectly enough to break the joy of life."

    First of all, I think this idea would oftentimes prove to be false when that mother lays her eyes on that precious little one. Yes, the baby may very well remind her of the rapist and the abuse she went through. But, as for not being able to love the child itself, who, as we said, is not to blame whatsoever, I don't think that would be all that common. But, even if it were, this is a human life we're talking about here! I don't want abused women to go through difficulties and sad situations, but the fact remains that what is in a pregnant rape victim's womb is a human, and she therefore has no right to have it murdered just because in order to give birth to and live with him or her would be uncomfortable. We simply do not have that right. We have to endure, realizing that that precious baby has worth as a human being, and that it is not for us to kill it, simply because that may in some way make our lives easier. In addition, think about the guilt that that woman may live with the rest of her life! That guilt weighing her down would likely outweigh any lack of comfort she would have in raising that child. For sake of discussion, consider the following scenario: let's say you were a young child being cared for by a single mother who was very poor. Let's say that caring for you, in her mind, costs too much, and that if you were simply not in the picture anymore, she would at least have enough money to buy food and clothing for herself, etc. Because of this, she decides to murder you. Now, this is a horrific scenario. However, so is abortion. Now, in this case, do the ends justify the means? Does her comfort and ease make her murdering you ok? Of course not! You are a human being with worth, and to murder you is a despicable sin. It's the same thing with the scenario you mentioned. The ends simply do not justify the means.

    As for childless people, yes, it is God's will that, for some reason, they cannot have biological children. The reason for this may be that He desires for them to be able to adopt many very needy orphan or foster children instead.

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  13. You said, "I don't understand the sense of not having sex before marriage. It's something weird which humans has invented. Giving away free condoms is a great thing to do. This prevents disases which can kill and make people sterile from being spread. Also it does prevent unwanted pregnancy. I don't think you can kill the sex drive in people by not giving them condoms. The curiosity and the ego for satisfaction will always be there. People whom cannot have sex even ends up being frustrated. "

    First, I have to strongly disagree-it is not something weird that humans invented. It is a rule laid down by God Himself so as to protect us and keep us from harm. You mentioned condoms preventing disease and unwanted pregnancies. First of all, condoms are not full proof-they sometimes fail and result in a pregnancy occuring. Furthermore, do you realize that sexually transmitted diseases would not exist if everyone saved intimacy for marriage and then only had sex with their spouse? There would be no such thing as sexually transmitted diseases at all, for they are transmitted through having multiple partners, etc. Also, many unmarried young women, when they give their virginity away, end up being terribly upset, weighed down with guilt and misery, often abandoned by their partners, etc. Do you see how much heartache would be done away with if we simply heeded the Lord's loving command, which He issued forth for our good? Also, I and many others I know, are dedicated to saving intimacy for marriage. And, I can tell you-we're far from frustrated! :) We are happy and joyfully anticipating great marriages.

    Again, I hope I did not come across as disrespectful. Thank you for your input.

    Rebekah

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  14. Rebekah, if you want to keep people from linking from your blog to Becharm's, that is easy to fix. Instead of just allowing her comments, you can cut and paste them into the comment section yourself, thus eliminating her link.

    You can keep the original comment as proof that you are not altering the content at all.

    Just a suggestion. You don't want to be misquoting or misrepresenting what she says, either, - or be accused of doing so.

    A few months back I noticed that one blogger was accusing someone who had left comments at her blog of being a racist. I asked if we could see the original comments, since they were not made available to anyone else but the blog owners.

    I thought that to be quite unfair to the person who was being accused. The blog owners refused to post the originals, so there was no way to check to see the legitimacy of the accusations. I concluded that the whole thing was a hoax. Those who are unwilling to produce the original comments are not trustworthy sources of information, IMO.

    I am glad to see that you do not do that kind of heavy-handed, unfair thing. You let Becharm make her comments, and then you respond graciously. I hope that Becharm appreciates that. Her blog is not terribly offensive, but there are some graphic images that are adult in nature.


    Your answers to her are very well done. She raises issues that are on many people's minds, too.

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Hi!! Thank you so much for visiting my blog! Please come back often. Thank you for your comment as well; your input is always most welcome! Even if you disagree with something, I encourage you to leave a comment; I just ask that you do so in a loving and Christ-like manner.

God bless you!

~Rebekah S.