Maxwells vote for Ted Cruz

[Jana814]

8 minutes ago, sparkles said:

Nathan posted during one of Melanie's hospitalizations and made a specific point of mentioning how they managed to get through the ordeal without having to resort to watching THE BEAST, unlike those other poor, unsaved patients. It was a heaping helping of smug, sprinkled with a generous topping of holier-than-thou.

I remember reading that. I thought he was very smug for saying a thing. The fact is that Steve Maxwell can't figure out that someone can be a good person without praying multiply times a day. He has taught his children that as well.  

[blessalessi]

I just think it is a shame that he has been on the receiving end of so much grace and compassion, but he doesn't seem to have any to offer to others outside the family. It is easier to understand selfishness when it comes from a place of personal want.

The Maxwells are good candidates for the discussion about when to stop cutting young adults slack and hold them fully accountable for their horrible beliefs, I think.  There is a tiny part of me that has sympathy even for the forty year old children who have never been far outside the cult boundaries.  

But Nathan must see how his mother is a million times healthier now than she ever was while bringing up too many children.  And yet every time he posts to the blog, he comments that "Nope, no baby news but we wish there was!" He has five healthy children, a wife who is lucky to have survived however many pregnancies amd miscarriages, and who seems to be enjoying raising her kids and chickens and whatnot, instead of laying on pregnancy-related bedrest. And yet he STILL wants more babies for Jesus.

[SPHASH]

 You would think that Susannah's passing would have a humbling and chastening effect on the Maxwell's but unfortunately it hasn't

[Jana814]

8 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

 You would think that Susannah's passing would have a humbling and chastening effect on the Maxwell's but unfortunately it hasn't

No it has not. If anything I think they got worse. 

[Arete]

I don't hold Nathan completely responsible for his awful beliefs.  I hold Steve and Teri responsible.  You can't isolate and indoctrinate human children that way and then expect them to find the way to a healthy worldview by themselves.  Not that it doesn't happen, but all the adult kids live in a self contained Maxwell bubble.  They just don't spend enough time in the non Maxwell world.

Nathan is always giving a baby status because babies aren't just a part of his theology, they are the sum total of his theology.  If you are a good person, God rewards you with babies. Imagine the implication for them when you aren't getting babies.  It's so fucked up.

[Dandruff]

3 hours ago, Jana814 said:

I think it must be so hard for Melanie to see her sisters-in-law have easy complication free pregnancies. 

I can imagine NR Anna giving birth to #4 during a brief break from chores.  She probably also experiences far less stress during pregnancy than Melanie.  No birth control, no abortion, no choice, no matter what.  <shudder>

[blessalessi]

28 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

 You would think that Susannah's passing would have a humbling and chastening effect on the Maxwell's but unfortunately it hasn't

I would not hope for the actual death to be a humbling or chastening thing for anyone, though the fact that Steve has written about physical illness as "a trip to the woodshed" from God, is part of what makes my heart go out to Mary and her annual rememberances of Susannah, because who knows what sense her young self made of the bereavement, given that warped way of thinking?   I don't imagine even Steve is enough of an asshole to suggest something like that, but guilt is a way of life in that family that who knows?

I hope Nathan and Mel were far enough out of the "immediate" family to see Susannah's death as a tragedy/part of God's plan or whatever else that might explain it in sad but not punitive terms.

I would expect Nathan to be humbled by the warmth of the widespread support though, to the extent that he might have more respect and appreciation for other people as human beings, just like him.  It is one thing to be an arrogant, entitled snit because you "grew up around cameras" and were taught to judge and snitch on other people as a way of life, but I would have hoped that he might learn some humility as an adult from all the people who shared their own stories, and sent good wishes without judgement or expectation of anything back.

He did show sensitivity to Mel's emotional state after the last birth, which is probably a major miracle after 40 years of weekly meetings with asshole Steve, so there is that.

[Emilycharlotte]

Hi everyone, long-time lurker posting for the first time. I believe all Christian denominations acknowledge Palm Sunday. I've belonged to four Baptist churches over the years (two "lite", two independent/fundamentalist) and Palm Sunday was always observed--focus of sermons/music/Sunday School lessons, handing out Palm branches, etc. This is also true of the large evangelical church my son attends. The Baptist church I go to now has a communion service on Maundy (sp.?) Thursday; others have held Good Friday services.  

About the "God's grace is sufficient" thing--there is a verse somewhere about how God's grace is sufficient, because his power is made perfect in weakness, meaning, I think that at our lowest points, when we have no resources of our own to draw on, we can rely on God's grace to carry us through. I have personally found this to be true during hard times in my life, but I would not  say it to someone who had lost a child, or anyone, anymore than I would say "He is in a better place," or whatever. When someone is grieving, you say "I am so sorry,"  and "Can I do anything to help?", period!

[refugee]

On 3/12/2016 at 8:49 PM, Trynn said:

Why would you shut down the IRS? Without taxes, how will we ever pay for all those damn wars we get involved in?

I mean: how will we pay for roads and schools and libraries?

Somebody probably answered this already. I'm pretty sure what's involved is some sort of flat tax. Everybody pays (except maybe those below the federally determined "poverty line"). No exemptions, no loopholes? I wonder how the fundies would feel if they understood that such a thing would mean no charity exemption. It was amazing to us, how much impact our tithe had on our tax amount. Yes, we gave 10% to the church and deducted it off our taxes, and it made an impact. No home mortgage deduction, either, which might affect people deciding whether to buy or rent -- big impact on the building and realty industries.

On 3/14/2016 at 5:27 PM, Black Aliss said:

In Cruzistan everyone will be Christian, and we all know Christians are honest in all aspects of their lives, including paying taxes.

Hah! You just reminded me of a Q&A session at our former church, where one of the (really wealthy) elders debated with the pastor about whether the tithe came off the gross or the net!

(He was a "net" advocate, while the pastor argued for the "gross")

[refugee]

On 3/19/2016 at 8:38 PM, mango_fandango said:

In Germany people take their dogs everywhere too, although I've yet to see one in a supermarket. It makes me laugh because my dog is so naughty he'd just be barking loudly and pissing people off.

Aigh. I saw a service dog once in Trader Joe's, in the cheese section, licking the packages of cheese, and its person (not blind, either, but in a wheelchair) just blithely carried on conversing with someone, paying no attention to the dog. (And how could the other person in the conversation not have noticed???)

What would the etiquette be in such a situation? At the time I felt like it was a no-win situation, whether I said something or didn't say something. The dog's owner just laughed. Maybe she was covering embarrassment. I don't know.

We raised a service dog puppy, so I know how much effort goes into training them to ignore humans' food.

On 3/21/2016 at 1:57 PM, Arete said:

Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.

Palm Sunday is also recognized in Anglican/Episcopal churches, as well as some evangelical churches. The non-denom Baptist-leaning church some of our family attends gave out palm branches to everyone who wanted one, to wave while singing worship songs last Sunday.

[Black Aliss]

Whenever I see that video I hope that Nathan and Melanie were able to get some nice photographs of Susannah without all the tubes after she passed. I can understand them wanting to keep those pictures private and I can also understand the Maxwells only wanting to use the "dramatic" photos in the video, but I hope they have photos that just show her as a beautiful newborn baby.

[mango_fandango]

Sarah has definitely acknowledged Palm Sunday in the past. http://blog.titus2.com/2014/04/13/the-first-palm-sunday/ I just don't think they acknowledge it every year. Resurrection Sunday is the biggie. 

[anjulibai]

2 hours ago, refugee said:

Somebody probably answered this already. I'm pretty sure what's involved is some sort of flat tax. Everybody pays (except maybe those below the federally determined "poverty line"). No exemptions, no loopholes? I wonder how the fundies would feel if they understood that such a thing would mean no charity exemption. It was amazing to us, how much impact our tithe had on our tax amount. Yes, we gave 10% to the church and deducted it off our taxes, and it made an impact. No home mortgage deduction, either, which might affect people deciding whether to buy or rent -- big impact on the building and realty industries.

Hah! You just reminded me of a Q&A session at our former church, where one of the (really wealthy) elders debated with the pastor about whether the tithe came off the gross or the net!

(He was a "net" advocate, while the pastor argued for the "gross")

Not to mention the deductions for all those dependents. 

[blessalessi]

3 hours ago, Emilycharlotte said:

About the "God's grace is sufficient" thing--there is a verse somewhere about how God's grace is sufficient, because his power is made perfect in weakness, meaning, I think that at our lowest points, when we have no resources of our own to draw on, we can rely on God's grace to carry us through. I have personally found this to be true during hard times in my life, but I would not  say it to someone who had lost a child, or anyone, anymore than I would say "He is in a better place," or whatever. When someone is grieving, you say "I am so sorry,"  and "Can I do anything to help?", period!

Thank you for this. I am no longer a Christian and I cannot personally even parse the sentence about God's grace being sufficient, but it is really helpful to hear interpretations other than the negative ones I internalised during my church days. 

To the bolded, I think that this is probably the only genuinely helpful response anyone of any faith or belief system can make to bereavement, without knowing for certain how the recipient would receive it.

I give Sarah a pass for saying what she said on this post though, because whether she "grew up around cameras" or not, I see the Susannah posts as being as much about them processing their own grief as anything else.

[salex]

So, will they change their mind if the article about Cruz having affairs is proven?  National Enquirer, as I was reminded this morning, has been accurate more than a few times with their charges of affairs and politicians.....

Though, I can't imagine finding 5 women in the usa, in addition to his wife, who would have sex with him.....

[defraudingjezebel]

26 minutes ago, salex said:

So, will they change their mind if the article about Cruz having affairs is proven?  National Enquirer, as I was reminded this morning, has been accurate more than a few times with their charges of affairs and politicians.....

Though, I can't imagine finding 5 women in the usa, in addition to his wife, who would have sex with him.....

Haha! This was my exact thought process: the National Enquirer has uncovered a number of political scandals (John Edwards, probably being the biggest and most recent)... but who in their right mind would voluntarily sleep with Cruz? It'd be like doing Grandpa Munster! 

But yeah, I'm sure if the accusations gain traction that the Maxwells will stop mentioning Cruz on their blog. 

[PennySycamore]

@defraudingjezebel,  please don't insult Grandpa Munster by comparing him to Ted Cruz!  Grandpa Munster is better-looking that Cruz and has some charm which Cruz totally lacks.  Al Lewis, who played Grandpa was also a leftist.

[blessalessi]

 

4 hours ago, refugee said:

Aigh. I saw a service dog once in Trader Joe's, in the cheese section, licking the packages of cheese, and its person (not blind, either, but in a wheelchair) just blithely carried on conversing with someone, paying no attention to the dog. (And how could the other person in the conversation not have noticed???)What would the etiquette be in such a situation? At the time I felt like it was a no-win situation, whether I said something or didn't say something.

I don't know about etiquette, but I would hurrry my sniggering self into the next aisle and report the cheese-licking dog to the first shelf-stacker in sight.

[kpmom]

Hell, I'd sleep with Herman Muenster and the whole Muenster clan before I'd sleep with Ted Cruz.  And throw in the Adams Family too.  Yes, Lurch and Cousin It too.

[Black Aliss]

6 hours ago, refugee said:

Aigh. I saw a service dog once in Trader Joe's, in the cheese section, licking the packages of cheese, and its person (not blind, either, but in a wheelchair) just blithely carried on conversing with someone, paying no attention to the dog. (And how could the other person in the conversation not have noticed???)

What would the etiquette be in such a situation? At the time I felt like it was a no-win situation, whether I said something or didn't say something. The dog's owner just laughed. Maybe she was covering embarrassment. I don't know.

 

That was no service dog. Calling a dog a service dog, even putting a service dog vest on it, doesn't make it a service dog. I would talk to the store manager and tell him that a dog had been licking the cheese packages.

The law says you can't ask someone to prove that their dog is a service animal but you are allowed to ask what, specifically, the dog is trained to do. A manager is also within the law to ask someone to remove their service animal if it makes a mess, acts aggressive toward other customers, or damages/contaminates the merchandise.The law also doesn't cover emotional support animals.

[SPHASH]

If the Ted Cruz allegations are true who are the Maxwell's going to vote for since they dislike Trump so much

[Trynn]

I would think that service animals are trained better than this? I mean, I could be wrong, but I read a book about it, and I thought they were highly trained.

[Bethella]

3 minutes ago, Trynn said:

I would think that service animals are trained better than this? I mean, I could be wrong, but I read a book about it, and I thought they were highly trained.

Even highly trained service animals are still animals and sometimes their instincts can overcome their training. A friend from college had a guide dog from Guiding Eyes for the Blind (https://www.guidingeyes.org/) a reputable training organization. The dog was usually very well behaved but occasionally he gave into his weakness for people food. One time we were at a school picnic and someone was holding a plate of food just above the dog's eye level. After 20 minutes or so of temptation, the dog stole a hamburger off the plate. 

[Jana814]

11 hours ago, SPHASH said:

If the Ted Cruz allegations are true who are the Maxwell's going to vote for since they dislike Trump so much

I doubt the aligations are true. But I wonder that also. 

[anniebgood]

15 hours ago, Jana814 said:

I doubt the aligations are true. But I wonder that also. 

But since they don't listen to the radio, see the news on TV, or read the scandal mags at the market how would they know? The Enquirer was spot on with John Edwards and his mistress so there might be a grain of truth. I think it's a possibility. Power makes them so attractive (even if he looks like a smashed sandwich).