Life as a Christian Woman

Well, it has been a rough couple of weeks as you can probably tell by the drop in the frequency of posts here. My shoulder is still giving me problems, and I just had an MRI done today. It will be another couple of weeks before I find out what the treatment is going to be or exactly what is wrong with it. Thank you for bearing with me through this painful time. Some wonderful people have come forward to write guest posts for both this site and my other at Her Daily News. Over on that blog, Beth from Astrology Explored has been sharing her extensive experience in the corporate world with a series of posts on handling problems and issues that come up in the work place. Please visit and read her posts, and leave her a “thank you” comment for helping me out this week.

While I have been spending much less time on the computer, my spam comments began to pile up for this site. I finally started going through them the other day to make sure a legitimate comment had not been blocked. I must say I am appalled. Probably 98% of the comments stopped by the Akismet spam filter are pornographic in nature. It made me wonder, with the easy access to porn now through the Internet, when do we teach our children, and especially our sons, about it?

The “sex talk” and a talk about pornography are, to me, two separate issues. In the sex talk, I believe we should teach our children about the basics and the biology, but also about God’s intended plan. Our children should be taught that in the sanctity of marriage, sexual relations with our spouses are a blessing from God that join a man and a woman physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Sex is not a bad thing, and our children need to know that marital sex is a healthy part of a marriage.

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Jaime from Fiction Scribe offered to write this post on choosing appropriate video games. As a Christian mother, I know it can be hard to find games that are appropriate both for the age of the child and religious beliefs. I know next to nothing about games, except the ones my son plays, so I asked someone more knowledgeable to give some advice. Jaime makes some good points, and hopefully her tips will make your game-choosing a little easier.

The Christian Gamer

The Christian Gamer. In this day and age, can there really be such a thing? Sure there are a few Christian games out there, but will they keep your child entertained like mainstream games will?

Let’s not worry about that for now.

Knowing what games are appropriate for your children can be a hard subject for any parent, but the Christian parent has it even a bit harder. Here are some quick tips about video games that will help you in deciding what’s appropriate for your child.

• Pay attention to the ratings on the game. They will usually be in black and white and in one corner of the game box. If you are unfamiliar with what the ratings mean, check with a sales person.

• Remember that the ratings are not the be all and end all. Use them as a first factor in your research, but not the determining factor.

• Try to go to smaller games stores. Sales people in those types of stores (instead of stores like Wal-Mart) are more likely to have played the game you’re looking at or at least have played something similar. It’s not bad to do your research, and most salespeople should be more than happy to show off their game knowledge.

• Read the book. Each and every game should come with a book introducing how to set up the gaming system and about the game. Some (mostly RPGs – Role Playing Games) will even give a prologue-like introduction. This book will give you clues to what the game is about, the themes involved, and just what your child will be doing in the game.

• If you’re looking for some safe starter games and games you can play with your child, there are still board games (in video game form) like chess and monopoly out there. However, be careful because there are also a lot of gambling games out there and you need to pay attention.

• Some of the most popular games out there are RPGs – Role Playing Games. Your child gets the opportunity to control one or many characters in an often complex story line involving love, hate, and your other basic soap opera components.

• Know where you draw the line. Where do you stand? Do you not mind shooting as long as it’s not shooting other people, or do you not want shooting at all? Do you not mind fighting as long as cartoon characters are doing it? You need to determine what your lines are before you get started because a lot of games sit on the fence in those regards.

• Finally, remember to check in on your child’s game playing. Just because it started innocently doesn’t mean your child can’t find cheat codes and easter eggs (special codes to make funny things happen in the game) online to make their game play more…interesting.

I recommend The Sims games (not the expansion packs for younger gamers) like The Sims Family, Sim City, Sim Hotel, etc because they can encourage you to learn time management (work, play, etc), money management, and other skills.

As for games that involve violence but not on a human-to-human scale, I recommend games like Spyro, Sonic, Zelda, Mario (like Mario cart would appeal a lot to young boys who will get out the play-fight urges without a shoot-’em-up game), and Rayman. Spyro and Zelda especially can encourage your child’s problem solving skills, as many of them involve puzzles of different kinds. I know a lot of puzzle-type games in my youth put me on to logic puzzles, number and word crossword puzzles.

In the end, know where you stand and try to find someone who knows what they are talking about to quiz about the games. Like I said, most gamers like to show off their knowledge and will be happy to help.

christian, christian video games, child-appropriate games, christian gamer, christian mothers

The one statement contained in the Gospel account that often gives women pause is His words, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” A mother’s first instinct is to think, “Did Jesus just backtalk Mary?!” Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding feast. Compared to raising Lazarus from the dead, this may seem rather banal. It was a miracle, though, as no alchemist has ever been able to duplicate it. This is also a time when Jesus asserts his independence from his earthly mother, Mary. This act, more than the wine itself, is central to the story.

“And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.” (John 2:3-4 KJV).

At first glance, this seems like the ancient equivalent of “No! I won’t do it!” What mother can hear those words and not immediately react in anger? But Mary didn’t react that way in John’s account. She simply told the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5). Mary knew it was the time for Jesus to begin his ministry of miracles and prove his lineage as God’s Son. Were His words to her backtalking, or the natural progression of any male asserting his own independence from his mother?

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While some churches continue to debate whether women should work, the reality is that a large percentage of Christian women do have jobs or are searching for jobs. Maybe your husband’s income isn’t enough, or maybe you are a Christian single mother trying to support your family alone. Whatever your case, there are job search programs and support for working Christian women.

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The most frightening statement of the century: “The negative influence of religion and its subsequent contribution to child abuse from religious beliefs and practices requires us to ask whether organized religion is an institution that needs limits set on how early it should have access to children.” (Nasiretti)

The Center for Inquiry has gained cosultative status at the U.N. They will now use that status to promote their stated mission as “A global federation committed to…secularism.” According to LifeSite.net, the chairman for the Center for Inquiry’s India chapter, Innaiah Nasiretti, stated religious influence is a “severe shortcoming in the global campaign to protect children” and a contributor to child abuse saying, “In one form or another, all religions violate the rights of children.” The Council for Secular Humanism is part of this organization and bills itself as “North America’s leading organization for non-religious people.”

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If you are single mother, you always have a part of your mind that lies in wait for the question. Those questions about fathers, or the lack of, are a natural part of a child’s curiosity about his or her family. Christian single mothers often have the support of men in their churches to act as role models and examples of a different kind of family. But what about on Father’s Day (Sunday, June 17, 2007)?

Father’s Day is of particular concern because it celebrates something, or someone, that is missing in one-quarter of American households. These single mothers face the decision each year of whether to attend church that Sunday. Churches usually place a heavy emphasis on holidays such as Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, and the music, sermon, and Sunday school activities reflect that fact. So do you take your child to church and risk them reacting badly to not having a father? Do you stay home and try to distract them? Do you talk about it or not talk about it?

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