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  PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

  An interesting post to say the least. I respect the opinion of the writer but I felt compelled to draw out this comment:

  "They are following the Bible in many ways and I respect them for that because I know how hard it is to be a religious weird-o in our modern world."

  I have recently come to believe in a concept which is not new but I have a deeper understanding of it today. In simple terms it is the statement "Unto thine own self be true." Which for me breaks down into two categories: those actions and beliefs that feel good to me and those actions and beliefs that feel bad. If it feels good to me (and I'm talking emotionally) then I will focus on those things only. If it makes me feel uncomfortable or otherwise label myself a "weird-o" then am I really being true to myself or am I conforming to someone else's idea of what I should be or do?

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  PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

  "I homeschool my children. I teach them things that the Government probably doesn't want them to know, like the Constitution, and the role that Christianity has played in the foundation of our country. I teach them how far we have strayed as a nation from our Founding Father's original intentions."

  We are ever expanding beings with new desires, and new wants. We have to be constantly looking forward and those things that may have been appropriate for us years ago, are not so now. So, why is it so important for some to remain as we were hundreds of years ago when there is so much positive out there to be created in our futures that we are in complete control of?

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  PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

  Religious freedom can never be taken away from the person who understands that it comes from within and who stops looking for it from without!

  You can not control the actions of others. You don't even have to agree with their actions but allowing them to make their own choices and finding YOUR peace with it is EVERYTHING!

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  AlphaGnosis3 months, 1 week ago

  Hi Hunni, good to see you! :D

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    PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

    Hey AG! How the hell are you girlfriend? Good to see you too. =D

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  not2needy3 months, 1 week ago

  Hi PG, good to see you back.

  I'm all for Religious Freedom, as long as it doesn't involve harming children.

  The woman who wrote this article was very well versed in the Bible, and some of the things i can agree with. HOWEVER, the women of the FLDS church are brainwashed, and submitted their daughters, (and it's coming out sometimes their sons) to sexual abuse from the men in the church.

  This woman maintains that the call from the girl at the FLDS was a fake, and i'm not sure that it wasn't, HOWEVER, they found hundreds of teenaged girls married to and pregnant by OLD MEN!

  This lady says she's not brainwashed, or subservient, but she follows the ways of the Bible. That's good, i admire her for having the willpower to be able to do that. As much as i can admire her stamina, i can't uphold any woman who will submit her children to any kind of abuse, sexual or otherwise.

  These men knew what they were doing.

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  not2needy3 months, 1 week ago

  Here is a link of a former FLDS member, a man. Good read.

  http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/2003232/posts

  I also saw an interview with a woman on television recently. She said the FLDS mother's taught their daughters how to be home makers, and the father's taught their daughters how to be wives, raping them repeatedly. If they got pregnant by their fathers, it was because their faith wasn't strong enough, and there were abortions preformed without anesthesia as punishment. She had gotten pregnant by her father twice before leaving the church.

  I simply can't imagine the torment these girls have endured for probably hundreds of years at the hands of a bunch of perverted old men, claiming it is in the name of God.

  I have read the Bible, NO WHERE in the Bible does it say that a woman should submit to her father.

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    PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

    Hey N2N!

    Thank you for your posts, those were very well worded as always. I am with you, I do not agree with what is happening to these girls and I do not necessarily agree with the writer of the post but I have to "allow" her to choose her words and her path. What she says can have no negative effects on me unless I allow them to.

    I am learning to make my peace with the events around me even if I do not agree with them. It helps no one to get upset about events by reacting to them. Most will not understand what I am talking about but some will. I'm sure many would say that I am being selfish in that philosophy but I can be of no assistance to others if I act from negative emotion.

    These people have the power to change where they are if they so choose and receiving help is a conscious choice. If and when these people are ready to receive it or believe that they need it then it will happen. Until then, we can not project what we believe to be right on to someone else. =D

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      not2needy3 months, 1 week ago

      I completely agree with you PG, people only have as much power over us as we allow them to have, and the way we handle it is either to the betterment or detrement of ourselves.

      However, if we have learned nothing else from the Bush administration, we have learned what FEAR will do to the psyche.

      These women show no emotions, because the men don't like shows of emotion, and they allowed the men to do exactly as they chose, probably out of fear of what would happen if they showed disapproval or emotions.

      I can't let it control me, but i certainly wouldn't want to be in their place.

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        PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

        I could not agree more! I would not want to be in their place either. I do wish them well. I will imagine them well. I hope they will begin to visualize their own wellbeing and come to understand that they are worthy of all the good life has to offer them if they so choose it.

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          not2needy3 months, 1 week ago

          Absolutely, and they would be free to worship, whether they were in a compound or not! That's one of the great things about this country, freedom of religion. We just don't have to do it while incarcerated, albeit voluntary or involuntary!

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  Eagle_Eye3 months, 1 week ago

  Hi PG!!

  I consider freedom of religion to be free to worship how ever we wish not how we are preached to. I also believe that there should be no organized religion, Jesus was against organized religion and temples, he preferred the open spaces of nature just like me!!!

  Nice to see you girlfriend!!

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    PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

    Nice to see you too! =D

    I agree that your faith is inside you and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. You must find your spirituality based upon what speaks to you and feels the best to you and nobody can tell you what that will be for you.

    Cheers darlin'! =D

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  thaw3 months, 1 week ago

  ok ok. settle down ladies.

  i'm not going to have to seperate you two, am i??

  good to read you ladies again.

  you know, i'm not that religious, in the "formal" manner. but i respect everybody's right to practice their brand of spirituality in their own way.

  some people, like the author, are just of a submisive nature. and as long as it is not administered in a forceful, degrading nature. i wish them luck.

  reading the article, i was wondering if this was the same pg for the past. but, of course it is.

  t.

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    PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

    Hey thaw!

    Thank you for noticing that there might be something a little bit different in the way I think now.

    I recently found something that is of tremendous value to me and I just want to pass it along to others. I discovered the art of "allowing" others to be who they are no matter what.

    How are you doing? =D

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  stephen-johnson3 months, 1 week ago

  Welcome back, Kellie.

  As for the linked article, I have to reserve judgement on whether the government acted properly or not until more details about the case come out. But if, as some allege, underage girls were being forced into marriage by the FLDS, some action had to be taken.

  Catch you in another thread.

  (((Kellie)))

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    PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

    Hey SJ!

    Thank you so much for stopping by. (((((Stephen))))) right back at ya sweets! =D

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  Idamilli3 months, 1 week ago

  She claims she's not brainwashed -- that's a joke and she's only deceiving herself; she bases her belief on being submissive to her husband on the biblical teachings -- if this particular husband smacked the hell out of her she'd most likely stay with him and believe that if only SHE were a better wife/person, he'd never hit her again. Yep, it would be all HER fault. If she's really gung-ho about Old Testament teachings, then she must remind herself she's "unclean" for a few days every month and shouldn't touch certain things. In that religion, the men get multiple wives (or more accurately, SEX PARTNERS) and the women are stupid enough to think that's just dandy. They continually allow their "husbands" to rule them, because obviously the husbands think their wives aren't bright enough to think for themselves...and in that religion, they aren't!

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  Shadowolf3 months, 1 week ago

  ...anyone want my 2 cents worth???

  ...there should be both freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion...this is about aggravated child sexual abuse, raping and forcing children into "Marriages" with much older men...this is a criminal conspiracy masquerading as a religion...the ringleaders should be shot...I think it's highly ironic that so called "Christians" justify their crimes with quotes from mostly Old Testament,(Jewish Law) or the Pauline teachings...the only quotes I've seen from the Gospels are generic quotes that can mean literally anything; TOTALLY out of context...

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  TrueProgressive3 months, 1 week ago

  If you've read some of my posts, you know I'm no fan of Christianity. Nevertheless, I find myself feeling concern for the FDLS women who TX authorities are keeping separate from their children. I don't trust law enforcement, especially TX cops, to maintain strict focus on enforcing the law and not stray into persecution of those with arcane religious beliefs or practices. I have no problem with raiding the FDLS compound to investigate child abuse allegations. People seldom seem to "get" that free exercise does not include practices that violate secular laws. It's why human sacrifice, e.g., no matter how sincere its alleged religious base, is still murder. Nevertheless, I'm not convinced authorities are keeping these women from their children solely because probable cause exists they facilitated child abuse, and not simply to punish them for living the "wrong" kind of life. BTW, am I the only one who looks at those women and thinks, "American burqa."

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    not2needy3 months, 1 week ago

    I think freedom of religion is just as important as freedom of speech, but forcing anything on anyone is abuse. Everyone should be allowed to make their own choices. My son chose to start going to church at a very young age, and at that time i wasn't even going to church, he went with friends. Hence he can never say I forced religion on him.

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  Dicax_Maximus3 months, 1 week ago

  Hi PG - Welcome back !!!

  As for the article, most of whatI wanted to say has already been mentioned above !!!

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  not2needy3 months, 1 week ago

  Thanks PG, i think you're pretty beautiful too. I have always been a free spirit, some of my family would probably tell you i was too much so, lol!

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    PaganGodess3 months, 1 week ago

    I don't believe there is such a thing as too much free spirit. =D

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