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May 11, 2014

The Problem of God: Absentee Father

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Pattie Crider

PHL 250

Final Paper

May 12, 2014

Bonnie Religious fathers day

The Problem of God: Absentee Father

 

God has many problems to work out trying to watch over the humans he created. People are not mindful of the Ten Commandments and often seem to break them purposely as if spitting in the face of God. Humans feel let down by God and disappointed in his ability to fulfill the role of a father figure. Many people have had no earthly father figure making it even more difficult to think of God as a father when he has no physical presence in their life. I find this to be a problem of God in that he has a responsibility, at minimum, to find a way to show humans that he is there for them in life and not like so many earthly fathers who have only contributed the sperm needed to create a child.

“I don’t believe in God, and how could anyone believe in him? If this is, as we are told, our heavenly father, then he seems a rather absent one. Why doesn’t he notice at all the piss poor state of the world? [He] can’t exist or he’s a poor excuse for a father.” –Jack (YahooAnswers np) Jack doesn’t pull any punches in asking his pointed question about God being our heavenly father yet is seemly absent in so many people’s lives. Jack is not just upset with God but also with himself. In his question I pulled from Yahoo Answers, Jack goes on to share that he has a daughter he only saw once, shortly after her birth, and never again thereafter. Jack acknowledges that he is an absent father himself and is unable to make the connection of God as a father in his own life. Jack, like many others, questions why God has allowed the world to “fall to ruin” if he is such a “caring father” to humankind.

“How can I call God “Father” when I do not know what a father is? I have tried so hard to understand my friends when they talk highly of their fathers. I am angry with him for leaving our family” (Balthazar 543). The writer of this statement is not alone in his thoughts. According to The Centre for Social Justice Report, lone parent families are increasing by more than 20,000 a year and have been steadily rising over the past 40 years. The report estimates there are more than 3 million children growing up predominantly with their mothers (Richardson np). The teachings of Jesus and from the Bible are that God is our heavenly father but how can a child ever relate to this concept if their earthly father is nowhere to be found? Even those who do have both parents present in the household may have difficulties with this concept, especially if they have never engaged in biblical study through a pastoral figure, church or Sunday school. Even with such guidance, understanding an unknown figure that cannot be seen or spoken to as a father would still be difficult. Is this the problem of humans or the problem of God?

If God’s goal is to have us accept him as our heavenly father than I would lean towards this being God’s problem. Certainly a difficult one as family’s fall apart daily making finding a solution or creating a solution is nearly impossible, even for God. People, even those that are the best Christians possible, fail miserably every day, yet God somehow expects parents to be role models for their children. A difficult task if a father is not present in the child’s life. In Gannett’s article, “The Parent. The Child-And God” he refers to the parent as a trustee. He then compares God to a parent as God watches every moment on the earth instructing the man and woman to “Hold him, keep him, tend him for me. He is my boy, she is my girl: tend them for me” (Gannett np). This article written in 1903 places the responsibility back on the parents to tend to their child and raise their child in a Godly manner. Unfortunately this dual parenting system has gone by the wayside. Gannett continues that God is fate to the child and God is not the absentee, but God is present, securing by the wonderful method of his parental love. I seriously have my doubts if the three million children who have an absent father look to God as his replacement.

In a YouTube video, the concept of God as an absent father is addressed. The men in the video discuss how the neglect of their father’s led them to pray to God for support and answers, but they felt they never received answers. “God never says, ‘Good job’ as my father figure. There was never a tangible person and having the Holy Spirit inside was not enough.” After living 28 years and receiving no feedback from God the one man said it lead to suspicion in his life and questioning if there really was a heavenly father. He asked, as many people do, “Why does God let tragic things happen and do nothing?” He found this unacceptable to believe and a real problem of God. He believes there is not external force that will come in and take responsibility for the tragedies in people’s lives. He now believes we must accept what happens and realize the tragedies are not necessarily comic. “We must do what we can to avoid these evil things and prevent them. You must trust in your heart because the answers are not in the [biblical] text.” After years of struggling with the neglect of his father and the difficulties in accepting God as his replacement father, he came to a decision. This man pushed the Bible away from himself and told God the Bible was not good enough to take the place of his absence (DeSkepticon np). He broke away from both his earthly neglectful father and the heavenly father that he never quite felt was present.

The video the two men made discussed their feelings towards God as a father figure. Years had been invested in giving God a chance to “step-up” and prove he is worthy of this title. It may be said that this is a twisted concept of how we are to accept God’s love. We are to not question how God works and instead have faith that how our life unfolds is his ultimate plan for us.  Psycho-spiritual analysis suggests that inadequate involvement of fathers can bring anger that impairs people’s understanding of how God can be “Our Father” (Balthazar 544) If this is indeed factual, than what is God doing about this problem?

Looking again at the article from 1903, it raises the importance of a “family alter” in the sanctuary home where the family bows their individual souls together at morning or at night. This is when the father and the mother and the two or three little ones live as one unit of blessedness, one household of love and has the feeling of family thankfulness and aspirations. The author states that this practice has fallen by the wayside in households placing the blame on the parents and removing the responsibility as a problem of God. He calls this the shame of the liberal faith for not lifting the souls in a household thanksgiving (Gannett np). Could this be the very downfall of a two parent family unit, the loss of giving thanks to God as a family within the household? Even if God is forced down the throat of a child daily, this will not necessarily guarantee a child will accept God as their heavenly father and be set on a course for eternal life. The lives of children and adults have changed so drastically since 1903 that the concept of a family, even one that attends a traditional church service on Sundays, also having a morning or evening gathering of thankfulness at home seems incredulous. I’m willing to bet nearly every household would state there just isn’t time in their schedule. The time once dedicated to worshipping God has been lost to careers, school, sports, television, the Internet or video games. Socializing in person or on the World Wide Web holds higher importance than praising God as a family unit and factor in the high number of single-parent homes and God is moved even lower to squeeze into the schedule. If more people are pushing the Bible away from themselves as DeSkepticon did, is there any hope for improvement for humankind through God as a heavenly father?

If human-beings are moving away from God, then Slavoj Žižek concept in his video is not that difficult to believe. While Jesus was hanging on the cross as recorded in the Bible in Matthew 27:43, at about the ninth hour into his hanging, he knows he has reached the end of his earthly life and cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Žižek claims this is the point in which Jesus realizes there is no God. He also states “Of course we cannot know what God wants from us, because there is no God” (Žižek np). This is the personal opinion of Žižek, but could it be true? God has a problem, not just that of absent fathers or being an absentee father himself, but that people have lost in their faith in him. What needs to happen for faith to be restored in humankind now that so much has ebbed away over time? An old-fashioned revival or maybe an old-fashion, vengeful act of God to get our attention that has strayed so far since biblical times? Couldn’t God just solve all his problems by sending Jesus back to earth and making those who don’t believe realize just how wrong they were? It is not God’s problem if we don’t believe in him, but our own and personally, if I find out in the long run that the Bible was a book of fiction and God was just human’s way of trying to keep people inline (which obviously would be a FAIL) I don’t see there was any harm in my beliefs. If there is no harm to this belief while living, and in death I find it all to be true, then the rewards for my belief in a heavenly father will be too numerous to write and I will in fact have held the faith regardless of God giving me proof while on earth that he is indeed above, watching over us all.

 

 

Works Cited

Balthazar, Pierre M. “How Anger Toward Absentee Fathers May Make it Difficult to Call God     ‘Father’” Pastoral Psychology. (2007) 55:543-549 Web accessed. 1 May 2014.

DeSkepticon. “Is God an Absent Father?” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 11 Mar. 2011. Web accessed. 7 May 2014.

Gannett, William C. “The Parent. The Child-And God.” Friends’ Intelligencer. (1853-1910) 24 Oct. 1903. Web accessed. 8 May 2014.

Richardson, Hannah. ‘A million children growing up without fathers.’ BBC.com. 9 June 2013. Web accessed. 9 May 2014.

YahooAnswers. Society & Culture>Religion & Spirituality. “Isn’t God an ‘absent father?’” Answers.yahoo.com. 2007. Web accessed. 1 May 2014.

Žižek,Slavo .The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology. Dir. Sophie Fiennes. Zeitgeist Films, 2013. Film.

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Apr 24, 2014

Does God Love?

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Pattie Crider

PHL250

04/24/2014

Does God Love?

 

The pain in my chest is overwhelming today and I wonder how much I can endure. I’m angry at God and can’t understand why there must be so much suffering. God if you love us why do you let tragedy into our lives? I want to love you. I want to believe you love me and all of us on earth, but you make it difficult. Is it a test of our faith? If it is, you are taking it to a level I can barely endure.

“Aunt Peggy! Hi, it’s Pattie. I’m calling to see what time you want us to come for Easter dinner.”

“Oh Pattie, I have terrible news. My Frankie died in his sleep last night. I’m still having dinner and want you to come, but I’m pushing it back to later in the day. More of our family will be coming.”

I felt like I had just been punched in the gut. Frankie, my 34 year-old cousin was so full of life. He made even the grumpiest person smile with his antics. I sat down to let what my aunt had just said sink in. Frank was gone. I wouldn’t see him at dinner tomorrow and he wouldn’t get all the kids wound-up to the point we would have to yell at him to settle down as if he were 8 years old himself.

I went to Philadelphia the next day and ate dinner with my family but there wasn’t much praising of God, or even a prayer thanking him for giving up his son for our lives. We were all thinking the same thing, “Why did he take our Frank?” My aunt did not plan a funeral for Frank, no opportunity for us to gather and see him one last time. No prayers or hymns asking God to welcome him into Heaven. We left Philadelphia still dazed, hugging our family members, some we haven’t seen since we were children, hating that the only reason for our reunion was the death of our dear cousin. I will be honest; we weren’t thinking about God’s sacrifice of his son, we were thinking about ourselves and the loss of a man we loved dearly.

I came home and tried to get back into the swing of things. I was making progress, accepting that Frank made poor choices in his life and perhaps God took him out of love to save others from the dangers he could have brought into their life, particularly his young son’s life. I almost convinced myself that God did this out of love and Frank is now in Heaven with his wings, no longer suffering severe back pain from a work injury.

Then yesterday happened and my anger towards God is nearly at a boiling point. My dear friend for some unknown reason shot herself to death Tuesday night in her home. I cannot understand why and I’m overwhelmed with guilt for not calling her more often or stopping to see her at work. She was literally two minutes up the road and I barely saw her in person. She always seemed happy even, when I dropped off her Girl Scout cookies last month. Would a God who loves take or allow her to take her life? I am so angry that this happened and even angrier at myself for not being a better friend.

Last night my dad called about 8:30 PM to tell me my mom isn’t doing well. She is in Pittsburgh recovering from the first of two surgeries necessary for a small intestine transplant. The thought of losing my mother terrifies me. I am praying to God to make her strong and to give me the strength to get through this unbelievable amount of stress going on in my life. My mom is the most kind, caring and loving person I know and did nothing to deserve the suffering she has endured for the past 20 years. If God loves, why does my mother’s pain continue? My dad said they will probably move her to critical care because she is having such difficulties breathing. It is devastating to me that she isn’t even strong enough to talk to right now. In fact, she is so weak we don’t want to tell her about the loss of Frank in fear she will begin crying and her body won’t be able to take the stress.

I want to believe in a Christian, loving God. That is the God I pray to asking him to hold my strength as I get through the loss of my cousin and friend, as I try to be patient with my mother’s recovery, as I finish my last term in college, as I try to get custody of my daughter from my abusive ex and finish the divorce he started six years ago. The stress is incredible and I try to have faith that God will be by my side, especially since I have a life growing inside me that should not be touched by the drama and sadness taking place.

Could the Hebrew God really be what looks down at us? Not really caring, but just going on with business as usual because what he started with Adam and Eve has been a bust and we humans are just the mess left behind that he must try to tidy up daily? I can’t say I’d blame God if that’s how he feels. God demanded we obey and worship him but most of us fail. If his love is contingent on a transaction in which we fulfill, I’m not surprised by all the suffering the world endures, or even my own suffering. I would expect the pleasure he gets from our creation to be minimal because the reality is we humans suck at upholding even the simplest of obligations. We had the opportunity to have perfect lives and it was ruined in the Garden of Eden with rebellion, sin and crimes against one another. So those original sins perhaps are the cause for the suffering we have every day. I don’t believe it’s fair. I feel bound to God through the love I was raised to believe in and feel towards him, but the weight of life and the recent happening in my personal life make holding this love difficult.

I don’t want to believe that God doesn’t love us. That belief is what keeps me holding my faith. I want to believe God loves us and there is a reason for everything that happens, whether it is the death of a loved one or the surprise of becoming pregnant at 43 years old. I don’t want to think there has to be bad to compensate for good or that all this happens randomly with no higher power involved. It would obliterate everything I’ve been taught since I was old enough to understand Bible stories. I instead place my life in God’s hands and will replace my anger with stronger faith because anger and hate will never make things better and only bring me down further.

This wasn’t a fictional story, I just couldn’t bring myself to write fiction when my reality is so tangible right now and making me question whether God does love. I will continue to believe he does in the Christian thought because to allow the Hebrew view of God enter my life would not be beneficial to my family and me. I need to believe God is good and God loves otherwise, all I’ve been taught would have been the fictional story.

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Apr 6, 2014

Perrydell Farms~where the chocolate milk rules

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My natural field science course had a field trip to Perrydell Farms Saturday and I not only was I educated, I picked up delicious chocolate milk and chocolate peanut butter ice cream too.

Perrydell farms is a third generation dairy farm that originally was not specialized. Tom, one of the owners, said in the beginning the farm had everything– chickens, pigs, cows and crops–but after World War II all the farms, including Perrydell began specializing. Tom thinks this is a downfall to farms and has begun building up farming crops and having other animals again. Except for pheasants, which fly away every time he releases them.

Here’s a little history about the farm from their website.

Perrydell Farm is a working and fully self sufficient dairy farm. We own 170 acres of land and also rent an additional 180 acres where we plant and harvest almost everything we need to feed our cows.

The farm was bought in 1923 by Howard Perry. His two sons, George and Roger eventually took over the farm and they had the foresight to start bottling their own milk in 1963. Because of this approach, the farm now supports four families from the milk of only 130 cows. This is quite an accomplishment in today’s farming economy.

The farm is now owned and operated by George’s sons, Tom, Greg, and Chip. Everyone in our family stays involved in the farm, since there is always work to be done. We consider this a blessing in disguise that always ensures our family will be together and close.

At Perrydell, they make white milk, chocolate milk, orange dream milk, strawberry milk, buttermilk, cream, ice cream and yogurt and sell it in their store along with other local farmer’s products. Tom said Rutter’s and Turkey Hill were really mad when they opened their farm store in the early 60’s because it shut down the huge companies milk delivery routes in the area. It wasn’t too long after his store opened, the two huge competitors began opening their own farm store. Tom’s family stuck to ONE…you know how Rutter’s and Turkey Hill’s went. The milk I bought on Saturday had been in a cow the morning before, Rutter’s and Turkey Hill can’t top that!

The farm is open to all visitors. You can go see the calves, check out the cows (they’re all girls–it’s a dairy farm), see them get milked and even trying milking them if you would like.

Great tour, I highly recommend checking out the farm. Tom and his son Ean were super nice. The products are fresh and delicious with no additives and no hormones used on the cows.

90 Indian Rock Dam Road • York, PA 17403
717-741-3485

~P.

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Mar 27, 2014

Hellgrammites Make My Skin Crawl

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Pattie Crider

Natural Field Biology

Paper 3

April 5, 2014

Hellgrammites make my skin crawl

Fishing and camping was a huge activity of my family when I was a teenager. My father would drag my brother and me to the Conewago Creek with a hoe and a homemade bait catcher fashioned from two bamboo sticks and netting with holes about a quarter-inch square. My brother and I would each hold a stick and my dad using the hoe would lift the rocks  in the rapids loosing up anything underneath. I dreaded catching the black worm-like hellgrammites because they were just disgusting to look at and I was certain they would pinch me.

The hellgrammite (also spelled helgramite) is actually a fly, I’ve since learned, and is just as ugly in that cycle of life. It is called a Dobsonfly, is an insect, and its scientific name is Corydalus cornutus, part of the megalopteran family Corydalidae. Figure 1 is an example of an Eastern male and female Dobsonfly, note the size of the pinchers. The Dobsonfly is the largest nerve-winged insect in a family of over 220 species and most closely related to fishflies living in most of Eastern North America, east of the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. In the fly state they can grow as long as 5 inches from their pinchers to the tips of their four wings and have multi-segmented antennae emerging from the sides of their creepy heads. They fold their wings along their bodies when not in use. Both sexes have mandibles or pinchers but the males are so big (up to an inch) that they can’t hurt humans because they are unable to get any leverage. They’re not poisonous but they do give off a nasty stink. The female’s pinchers are smaller and like when in the larva stage, they can pinch and break human skin, just as I suspected as a teenager. They eat other insects found in fresh water such as May flies and caddis flies.

Not pretty

Not pretty

Dobsonflies live most of their lives, about 3 years, as larva and grow to about 2 to 3 inches long and are called hellgrammites at that time. (See figure 2) Along the sides of their body, they have two rows of nine breaking holes to breath outside of water and two sets of gills to breathe while in the water. If they aren’t eaten by the aquatic life (frogs, fish, and turtles) or caught as bait, they will crawl onto land around June and at night, sometimes traveling up to 100 feet and burrow into the ground. After about 2 weeks it will shed it black exoskeleton and transform into the dobsonfly, yellow in color with traces of brown. It only lasts for a week in this state in order to mate during the month of July when the weather is hot as insects seem to love. It remains nocturnal during this phase of its life. They lay eggs in a mass between 2,000 and 3,000 in leaves and vines near fresh-running water and when the egg masses dry they look like bird dropping. The eggs will all hatch at the same time and the larvae will crawl out and live for a day or two on dry land before entering the water.

Is your skin crawling too?

Is your skin crawling too?

The hellgrammite has been given many nicknames, some going back as far as the original Dutch settlers from New York. Some of the most popular nicknames are Alligator, angle dog, bloomer, hell driver, go-devils, grampus and crawlerbottoms. I personally called them fugly.

Works Cited

Hall, Donald. “Eastern Dobsonfly.” University of Florida Entomology & Nematology. July 2007. Last Updated Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2014

“The Helgramite.” Forest and Stream; A journal of Outdoor Life, Travel, Nature Study, Shooting, Fishing, Yachting (1873-1930) Jul 24 1890. 10. ProQuest. Web. 27. Mar.                   2014.

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Mar 16, 2014

Amish Godmother Meet and Greet

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Well I’ve seen it all now. For the sum of $53.74, you can “meet” Amish Esther and her brother John from Discovery Channel’s Amish Mafia.

https://www.facebook.com/amishgodmother <—–Esther’s Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/events/1384110315197728/ <——link to her “event”

That blows my mind since I could have met the Godfather himself, Levi, for I think, just $10 or $15! And the money from his events are donated to charity!

Here’s a couple comments from Esther’s Facebook page concerning the fee for meeting her and John. I think this is a fundraising event for John’s attorney fees!

How to rake in the fan $$

How to rake in the fan $$

Yeah, gonna pass on spending $53.74. I’m sure you’ll be heart broken Esther.

I wanna meet Hot Ass Mary and Ass Kickin’ Wayne!

~P.

Filed Under: Amish Mafia · Tagged: , , , , , ,
Mar 13, 2014

Ew….It’s chickenpox!

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Pattie Crider

Natural Field History

Essay 2

March 15, 2014

Chickenpox Made Me Sick

When I was a young child my aunt called my mom to report my cousin had contracted the chickenpox and my mom, being an excellent mother, told my aunt to bring my cousin over and infect my brother and I so she could “get this virus out of the way.” There wasn’t an anti-virus back in the 70’s so my mom saw this as the opportunity to hit the milestone in a child’s life by having the chickenpox and never dealing with the virus again.

Chickenpox is the common term for this virus; its medical name is varicella. Varicella is caused by the single-cell, herpes virus, varicella-zoster. It is categorized with other viral rashes such as measles, German measles, fifth disease, mumps and roseola. Chickenpox can infect someone at any age but usually happens to children between the ages of 2 to 8 years old. I don’t recall being in school when I was intentionally infected so that put me around age 4 in 1974. Advancements in medicine have now made it that children can be vaccinated against the varicella virus and 90% of those who receive the vaccine never develop chickenpox, lucky them.

The cause of chickenpox can be due to a mother becoming infected while she is pregnant, though neonatal infection is rare. Usually, the virus is passed through the air and sometimes through direct contact of the ruptured lesions. The lesions (see fig. 1) are a rash that start as red bumps (papules) and fill with a clear liquid (blisters) and when they rupture, the virus is spread. They form a scab during the healing process (ulcer) and are no longer contagious. The incubation period lasts from about 14 to 17 days. The symptoms 24 hours prior to the rash appearing are a low-grade fever, headache, lack of appetite and generally feeling like crap. This virus affects males and females and can be contracted anywhere in the world and is most prevalent in temperate climates with more outbreaks recorded during late autumn, winter, and spring. This is because areas with temperate climates have more human to human interaction allowing the virus to more easily spread.

FIGURE 1

LOOKS NOTHING LIKE CHICKEN

The varicella rash usually forms on the back and belly and works its way up to the neck and face, sometimes infecting the arms and legs and extremities. Occasionally it also infects the inside of the mouth, eyes and genitalia. Naturally, the lesions are itchy making it difficult to keep a child from tearing them open.  My mother clipped my nails back and coated me with calamine lotion so I looked like a pink-polka dotted leper. This wasn’t enough to stop me from scratching the lesions open and I have permanent side effects-scars on my forehead-from my tangle with this virus. (see fig. 2) Anti-itch medications can be administered and if an infection would occur from the open blisters, an antibiotic may be prescribed. The virus is not considered deadly and most people recover with little complications. The varicella virus may dangerous if an adult is infected and it is possibly linked to the onset of shingles in older adults who had been infected as a child.

MY FOREHEAD

MY FOREHEAD

There is some good news about this virus, once someone has been infected with chickenpox; it is rare it ever returns. The bad news is there can be long-term problems from this virus. The most common is damage to the central nervous system, this can include but is not limited to dizziness, tremors, altered speech, headaches, seizures, damaged nerves and the development of Reye’s syndrome, which can be deadly.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Longworth, David L. Handbook of Infectious Diseases. Springhouse Corporation. PA. 2001. Print.

Partners in Pediatrics. Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Infectious diseases. Chickenpox.     Web. Accessed Mar. 11 2014.

Web MD. Skin problems and treatments. 2005. Web. Accessed Mar. 11 2014.

Filed Under: College, Just Life · Tagged: , , , ,
Mar 12, 2014

Mirkat: Before he got all Amish Mafia

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Esther and Imir...before he got crazy with his fists.

Esther and Imir…before he got crazy with his fists.

Esther Schmucker may or may not be with her rapper man Mirkat. Mirkat is his stage name, his birth name is Imir R. Williams and he is originally from Lancaster. Before he made the break into rapping he was working as an expediter and server at Red Robin in Lancaster, but not for long, only about 3 months. I guess food service wasn’t his bag.

Red Robin...Yum

Red Robin…Yum

Esther would hang out, waiting for him to get off his shift, wearing her English clothes. Some people have said her clothes were more along the lines of stripper clothes, but I’m just reporting what I was told. That was back in the day though, before she got too big for her britches and Mirkat got a big head and decided to give Esther a beat down around Halloween. Things haven’t been so good since, at least not legally. 

Woman beater

Woman beater

Esther had to have some reconstructive surgery thanks to Mirkat taking a break from expediting food orders and rapping, and taking up woman beating. Everyone keeps asking why Esther looks different and by now I’m hoping it’s all become crystal clear. He seriously messed up her face and now she looks different…thinner in the face, capped teeth, you know, reconstructed.

Here's why

Here’s why

Now I’m not sure what’s going on with Mirkat and Esther. The program wants us to think that Levi (who has an English girlfriend) is there for Esther and is actually thinking they will get married in the future. I read on Esther’s Facebook page that she’s letting her hair down before she gets baptized and, I suppose, get’s real about being Amish. The local police report that Esther and Mirkat are living together and they’ve been called to the house several times since for domestic issues. Who really knows?! Esther says not to believe what the media says…I guess that means we should believe her.  Haaahahahaha! Now that IS funny. I also find it all hilarious that they’ve all blocked me on Facebook, even Levi. (Unless that’s Levi’s girlfriend who is administrator of his fan page. Boy, she would be surprised to know the things I know about Levi….he loves taking selfies!!!)

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the third episode in this season. I don’t care if they all hate me for writing about them or their girlfriends/boyfriends. They’re all fair game once they put themselves on television. If you can’t take the heat, get off the Discovery Channel.

New Amish Mafia in 7 minutes!!

~P.

Can’t Get Enough? More Amish Mafia

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/01/30/amish-mafia-heres-the-truth/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/05/10/the-amish-mafia-conspiracy-21st-century-reality-tv/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/02/13/amish-mafia-levi-called/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/01/21/amish-mafia-story/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/08/30/amish-mafia-esther-schmucker-opened-multiple-abuse-cases-against-boyfriend-this-summer/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/02/17/levi-loses-control-amishmafia/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/03/07/freeman-is-the-man/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/02/08/esther-keeps-the-kitchen-hot/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/08/13/amishmafiamoreofthecircusmobtonight/

Filed Under: Amish Mafia · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Feb 27, 2014

Amish Mafia’s Esther and Mirkat living in anything but harmony

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After vicious beating, Amish Mafia’s Esther and boyfriend living together; police called twice – LancasterOnline: Local News.

I don’t believe in blaming the victim but I already said once that this man isn’t going to change. I’ve been in this situation and know, no matter how many times they say they are sorry, they won’t do it, or say it, or scream it again, they will.

Esther you are blocking the wrong person, unless you only block me because you don’t want to read or hear the truth.

1. Amish Mafia is fake.

2. Mirkat is abusive.

Why would you go back with a man who beat the shit out of your face? Why would you set that kind of an example to your children?

Get away from him before you’re dead. That’s the advice I was given when I was in a bad relationship, and I TOOK it.

~P.

Filed Under: Amish Mafia · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Feb 25, 2014

Chat Time with Esther Schmucker, or not

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Today I was very excited to get to ask Esther why she blocks me on Twitter and Facebook.  Not just her mind you, she also orders her brothers, John and Freeman, to block my accounts. Sheesh, she does think she’s the boss!

The Discovery Channel had a chat session on the Amish Mafia Facebook page today at noon. I scrolled through, reading the burning viewer questions and finally typed in my personal burning question.

Here is a screen shot from the LIVE CHAT with ESTHER SCHMUCKER

Image

Maybe I just have the worst timing ever, but the chat suddenly came to an abrupt halt. No sweet good byes, no tune in tonight to see the show, no I love you fans….she just stopped chatting, instantly.

Where’s the love Esther? And why you have to boss your brothers around? John and Freeman didn’t care if I believed there is an Amish Mafia or not. Hell, Discovery Channel doesn’t even care what I think.

I’m not affiliated with a mob of any type, but I am a huge Levi fan!

~P.

You like me? Can’t get enough Amish Mafia drama?

Click these links to read the results of my deeper delve into the Amish Mafia or click the tag cloud labeled Amish Mafia! Thanks for stopping by to read about my guilty pleasure!

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/01/30/amish-mafia-heres-the-truth/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/05/10/the-amish-mafia-conspiracy-21st-century-reality-tv/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/02/13/amish-mafia-levi-called/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/01/21/amish-mafia-story/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/02/17/levi-loses-control-amishmafia/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/03/07/freeman-is-the-man/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/02/08/esther-keeps-the-kitchen-hot/

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/08/30/amish-mafia-esther-schmucker-opened-multiple-abuse-cases-against-boyfriend-this-summer/

Filed Under: Amish Mafia · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Feb 25, 2014

Morality: What’s God Have to do with it?

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God is NOT necessary for a moral standard

People in general tend to look to God for all the answers but in this day and age I firmly believe we need to look at our own families and friends to help instill morals. There is no scientific proof that morals are an inborn trait so that indicates morality must be taught to a child. God will have no hand in making someone moral or immoral; the only hand God has in all this morality is the judgment of the behavior of humans based on their actions.

In our textbook, Ganssle addresses two statements as facts: (87)

  1. Some geckos eat crickets.
  2. It is wrong to torture a cat to death just for fun.

He states in his opinion that both statements are true facts because the statements are moral facts, based on normativity or in simple words, what we ought to do (or not do)(89). Ganssle states the theory of individual relativism in which each human perceives what is moral or immoral individually (90) and this can vary between people. What is “wrong” in some people’s eyes may not be “wrong” to another person.  This is all based on individualism and not on God or how God created us. It is our culture and how we are raised, our cultural relativism, which instills our level of morals (93).

If God does not instill morals within humans at birth, where do humans learn moral conduct? Another source that seems likely would be through the educational system. God has been removed from the school grounds by the court system, placing the responsibility of teaching morality on the teachers. Charles Colson states in his article “Can We Be Good Without God?” “In education, the same kind of court-enforced secularism has been so successful that teachers may hand out condoms in school, but they are forbidden to display a copy of the Ten Commandments…students may indulge in any kind of activity in school, but they are forbidden to pray (464).” God has been removed from the educational system so the morality standards instilled in children are not religiously based. Colson quotes German professor of logic, Immanuel Kant, as stating that God is irrelevant, that he may exist but he is separate from the rest of life and that students are in fact “taught to have an inner capacity to do good rationally” (464), not basing their actions on God or the repercussions of breaking God’s commandments.

So what does this mean for humanity? Jack Miles offers this possibility in his book Does God Love? “Yes, the innocent do suffer and the wicked prosper. The world is immoral—in effect, ruled by a fiend (247).” Miles may be suggesting that God himself is the fiend, or that it is the devil that reared his ugly head, causing the world to be immoral. If that is the case then again, God cannot be necessary for morals if he or his polar opposite is actually the cause. In reality it does seem as those who are immoral do prosper over those who seek the higher road, showing pity and empathy towards humanity but keep in mind there are people who commit horrific crimes against others and still recognize their acts as immoral. It is the people in one’s life that instills what is right and what is wrong, not a god or the God, that people hold in their faith as a savior and judge of all humanity.

 

 

Works Cited

Colson, Charles W. “Can We Be Good Without God?”. Imprints. Feb. 16 1993. 463-466. Web. Accessed   Feb. 24 2014.

Ganssle, Gregory E. Thinking about God. Illinois: InterVarsity Press. 2004. Print.

Miles, Jack. God: A Biography. New York: Random House Publishing. 1995. Print.

 

 

 

Filed Under: College, Professional Writing Class, Religion · Tagged: , , ,
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