4everHis

You may want to investigate what the parameters of a school year needs to be in the state in which you reside.  You may also want to consider that not everyone learns the same way.  Your child may need more than the time you've allotted to master the material necessary for his/her grade.  When your children are younger, you will want to ensure that they become excellent readers and accurate mathematicians.  This can often take more time than you have specified.  Finally, March to September is a long stretch of time for a child to remember the concepts learned previously.  It seems from your statement that this is all theoretical, but nonetheless, you may want to consider other factors before cementing your ideas.

In going "all in" you may want to consider that the Doctorate will not open doors for you.  Another choice might be to audit theology classes on a Bachelor's level (assuming you have the prerequisites to enroll in a college).  Auditing would give you the information and the study, but would alleviate the time constraints and pressures that being a student would add to a new marriage.  Everyone else has given you good advice.  What does your fiancee think about your prospective plans?

Maybe they can do the same for the Olympic games...

Seriously, the Super Bowl service is an embarrassment.

I believe the rich young ruler was admonished about having his priorities askew.  

Just sayin.

Oh, by the way, we will be in our regular spots Sunday Morning and Sunday Night and we will have everyone there because my Pastor makes a big deal about showing up for the Lord's Worship on Super Bowl Sunday as a testimony to all who know us.

Ban NN for his rant mixing proper English and "conversational", "dialectical" English.

Oh, and Happy New Year to all the previously banned.

Tonight we had panko-parmesan crusted chicken, au gratin potatoes, baby leaf spinach sauteed with onions.

Have you ever had roasted Brussel Sprouts?  (that is the only way I can tolerate them) :)

Ban HC for noticing the 4ever absence and Ban Rosie for banning HC who missed me. :) 

Ban Rosie because she is banning everyone.  It's almost Christmas!  Ban the crowded stores :)

Thanks for the heads up for this retailer.  Great prices.  Have you ordered from them before?  Do you recommend them?

Silly me....I thought it was a special Christmas dish.:)

Ban Rosie because she is points out there are parts of Florida that receive snow, and that grieves me.

Ban NN for having such a rotten schedule that I'm actually thankful for what I have to do today. :)

Ban Rosie for using 55 degrees in a post about Florida.  :)

Ban NN for showing beautiful pictures of snow because we never see that in sunny Florida! :)  (I'm not sure we want to either, I just want to say that it is a brisk 70 degrees out today.)

I'm late to the game on this thread, but for me, we had some challenges that absorbed every fiber of our being, and as such, internet contributions dropped off the list.  Then, time is always a consideration.  I do think that if we all commit to working at it, we could make it more active.  I was very active on the ladies' forum, less so here.  (I wish we could access some of the old studies we had on the ladies separate forum.)

If everyone would reach out to a member through private message or email, you could gather back some of the contributors you are missing.  I know for sure when we had our challenges, I would have welcomed knowing someone missed my presence, and I would have asked them to pray for me, even if I couldn't get back to contribute here daily.  Happy Christian, you may remember when we private messaged every member on the ladies' forum to invite them to some of the studies.  It did generate a bit more traffic.  Just a thought. :)

What is "Repas de Noêl"?  Sounds interesting.

Today, I roasted chicken breasts atop red and yellow peppers, onions and garlic sliced thinly, au gratin potatos, and zuchinni.  I love the convection feature on my oven (we have both regular and convection as an option for our appliance) as it allows everything to get done more rapidly and it provides a nice crunchy, toasty top for the potatoes while still keeping the boneless, skinless chicken breasts moist internally.

To the OP:

Many things in life will not be chapter and verse, but you will have to use principles to determine how your family will operate.  For example, are electronic games sinful?  I know some families who will not let their children use electronics for games and others who will.  Each has a principle that they use for their family.

I think the bigger question is "Am I capitulating because I want to keep my kids happy since I always say no, or am I allowing this because I truly find it childish and harmless and it will be a fun time for my son and me.?"

You indicated both are true for you.  Then your parents call you out on it, seemingly ironically.

You need to decide what works for your family and go with that.  You do need to consider the testimony value, as well as the understanding your child has about your family rules and the faith from which they stem.  (At this age your child may not even be saved and should just OBey because it is your family's rules rather than in OBedience to the Bible principles about worldliness.

For our home, and our community, the mohawk style is definitely part of the "I need to stand out" "I'm different than you" "I don't conform" culture, so the Mohawk would not be a hairstyle we would be sporting or supporting.  You need to consider where you live and how things are perceived.

As to the brother with the mohawk, welcome.  I'm glad that you are doing what you feel is a Biblical reminder of your inner man.  We have young people in our community who tattoo themselves with Scripture references and phrases for the same purpose as your hair.  While I don't feel either is the best approach in my area of the country, I at least can say these people are trying to be spiritually alert day to day which is a great start.

So, I'm surmising that the seeker model church has found a way to fund itself since they don't really teach tithing?

I just think it's weird for a church to run a business that is part of the vanity industry right there on its property.

I grew up in a pastor's home and am now the wife of a pastor, Kitagrl, so I am very aware by way of experience about which you speak. Sometimes your kids' hearts will be broken. Sometimes your kids won't be able to comprehend why or how their beloved Sunday school teacher or whomever can become someone who speaks ill of their pastor or Dad in a way that is most unjust. Sometimes when your youth pastor takes a turn toward the world and sows discord among the brethren, it can be a source of disillusionment and discouragement. What we have done is to remind our children that we have to keep our eyes on Jesus. It is great to have role models, but sometimes they can disappoint us because they are human. Jesus will never disappoint us. We have to love and forgive. However, sometimes we have to break fellowship (depending on what you are talking about) because that is what the Bible requires. We tell our kids to be mindful of every choice they make since some people may look up to them in the way they looked up to Bro./Sis So and So. We pray together. However, nothing dispels their hurt except time and prayer.

You have to scoot the bull's eye dot thing on the big square on the left over to get the color, then hit check. I change my color every time I come on. I like it even better than when we had the snow thing on the top of the page a year or so ago.

If you read Bro. Matt's signature, you will see that he says to change your color use the paintbrush icon in the top right corner. So, I do change it. I just wondered if anyone else did it and what color they used. :)

What color did you make your OB page?

Right now, I have teal. :)

Chicken parmesan, balsamic green beans, pasta, fresh bread....yummo

According to today's news, he is still alive. I keep him in my prayers, and his family as well.

KJVKay, is it possible that since you have not been involved in church for several months that you are confusing what churches are actually saying with what you are hearing on TV and radio (as replacements for the months that you have been ill and moving). I personally know that on the OBL board you have found nothing but love and compassion and friendship. It is shocking for me to read these words from you. I'm wondering if you are aware that most IFB churches proclaim the Word of God and its truths rather than a political agenda. Love does not mean capitulation. It is my love for you that propels me to say that I think you are mistaken in your assessment of local churches. It is not compassionate to allow someone to live in sin and miss out on the opportunity to be close to the Lord and find the joy and peace that He brings. I'm sure if someone is a thief, and the pastor preaches about honesty, no one would say that the church lacks compassion. In fact, you'd say that the pastor is standing for truth. By the same token, if a pastor preaches what God says about any type of sin, we do not say the church lacks love. Didn't your church help you move? That was loving and compassionate, right? Finally, I am lovingly, kindly suggesting that you get in the Word of God rather than TV ministries and that you listen to preaching from God's Word regularly in a local church.

Well, Jerry, it seems we have beat the horses to death. I am an active participant in Christian education and a firm believer in its value. I concur that a spiritual education and a spiritual view of the world is invaluable. Thanks for your time and input in the discussion. The only place we disagree is to dogmatically call public schooling a sin. I leave it to us to disagree on this point and agree on many others. Hope you have great services tomorrow. :)

John, I think we may both agree that what is best is to avoid the association with the world whenever we can. I hope you saw that I personally do not utilize the services of the public school system, nor do I counsel others to send their children to public school. The original question poses two ideas to which my response was intended: that public school attendance is a sin and that poor people may/may not be exempt from it being a sin. That, and that alone is the point of my participation. I do not believe Scriptural principles show something can be a sin for the wealthy (or able) and that the same thing is not a sin for the poor (or unable for a variety of reasons). Hopefully, I am conveying this correctly. :icon_mrgreen: