Dillards 43: Tweeting for God

[Rachel333]

I volunteer in an ER and last week I was in a conversation where one of the nurses was telling a tech who was considering nursing school that she should go for it. The nurse said that she was never a good student but she made it through nursing school and while it was hard work she felt like if she could do it then anyone could do it.

Regarding height predictions, I ended up way taller than predicted, even considering that my parents are quite tall. I guess I got a particularly tall mix of genes! I'm jealous of my siblings, who are all either tall but male and thus their height is socially advantageous, or tall for a woman but not outrageously so.

[AlwaysExcited]

7 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

But - and I really do have to ask - why the fuck does Lithuania need American evangelical or extreme fundamentalist missionaries?  Lithuania is majority Christian anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania#Religion

Wrong Kind Of Christian. But lets not give Dillards any ideas. Last time an extreme American fundamentalist tried to save Baltic states from the evils of gay agenda, it was a literal shit storm.  

[AlwaysExcited]

8 hours ago, singsingsing said:

Right, that was kind of my point. Like there might be 50 people in my city who speak Lithuanian (I looked up the census data, there are, haha) but what are the chances they have any kind of language classes, or would be willing to provide intensive language instruction to prospective missionaries (or even capable of doing so)? I'm guessing not super likely.  

True, I was thinking more about the options of a regular person. 
I mean, if a not-fundie wanted to learn a Lithuanian (or whatever) language, had a good motivation, public school/college background, some determination, time and money, it would be very hard, but not impossible to find someone willing to teach. For fundies chances drop to 0, though. 

ETA: Sorry about double post. Clicked submit button too fast. 

[jozina]

Double the height at 2 (definitely 2 - not 3) is a good guide, but it isn't perfect.  If you hit puberty early/late, have just had or are about to have a growth spurt at 2, had serious illnesses or failure to thrive as a baby, have serious illnesses later on or several other things it may not work out.  It isn't too bad though.  My husband's predicted height by it is about 5 inches off, but mine is spot on.

I cannot imagine Jill as a nurse either given her background. It's a difficult job which requires a lot of grit and diligence, plus nursing courses are academic.  If she'd grown up in a different environment, but as it is no way.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

3 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

I volunteer in an ER and last week I was in a conversation where one of the nurses was telling a tech who was considering nursing school that she should go for it. The nurse said that she was never a good student but she made it through nursing school and while it was hard work she felt like if she could do it then anyone could do it.

Regarding height predictions, I ended up way taller than predicted, even considering that my parents are quite tall. I guess I got a particularly tall mix of genes! I'm jealous of my siblings, who are all either tall but male and thus their height is socially advantageous, or tall for a woman but not outrageously so.

I offer to take your all centimetres in excess  I am quite vertically challenged 

[mstee]

I don’t think Jill would make it through nursing school. I’m in a bachelors program currently and it is tough. There are so many days when I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I started out with a lot of nice people who have dropped out. Jill seems like the type who could perform basic skills well and interact with patients well but not be able to get through the classes. Besides the large amount of prerequisite science classes, you also have to do lots of critical thinking to do well overall. I don’t think she has the foundation for that. 

Plus I could totally see her trying to “save” the patients’ souls.  That’s a no no. 

[Lurky]

The thing is, for people saying "Jill wouldn't have made it through nursing school" - she never even had a chance to try! It was something she really wanted and was motivated to learn, but she was kept deliberately stunted, through her SOTDRT and then because her parents are arseholes.

(I've known a load of people who had really dire educations and difficult lives, who did education as adults, access courses to university, and got degrees.  I don't think having a bad education as a child hamstrings people forever, and there are lots of ways to remedy things and go on to achieve amazing academic things.  And Jill is still so young, technically she could be in a community college next year, starting a journey into education - except for the fact her cult would never allow it.  If she ends up homeschooling, I hope she becomes the type of homeschooling parent who learns along with their child, exploring things they're interested in, rather than the type who hands them a pile of books or pops them in front of a computer, but I know that's unlikely)

[nastyhobbitses]

8 hours ago, Lurker said:

@Gobsmacked, he actually loved the practical side and worked in a hospital as an orderly  to pay tuition.    He had problems with the science academics in his last year, even though he  worked hard at it. 

But thinking of Jill as an RN stretches reality since her parents made sure their children are limited in their life choices.   Besides the obvious deficiencies of their education, can you imagine any of them getting up to be on time  for a early morning class or to be at a shift at a hospital ready to work at 7 am?

Not to mention the religious bugaboos about modesty and making every activity, no matter how mundane, "ministry" (seriously, I'm sure at least one Duggar or Bates kid is this close to proclaiming that taking a shit is "ministry" because the smell reminds all in the vicinity of the fate of sinners).

If we could go back in time to 1989 and tell Michelle and Jim Bob to stay the hell away from Gothard and raise their kids in a normal home (and stop after Jinger or so), I could see Jill going to U of A and becoming a very bubbly, successful nurse. As things are now, she's absolutely not equipped for that kind of life.

[Carm_88]

Jill's personality as it is now, I don't think would make for a very good RN. She has the right attitude but I don't think she has the leadership skills and take charge attitude that is sometimes required. I guess it also depends on where she was working, due to the shower curtain incident, I don't really see her doing well in an ER. 

[albanuadh_1]

Jill and nursing school; Josh and law school; J'girl and vet school... who knows? But they were NEVER given the chance to try and succeed or try and fail.

[Cleopatra7]

37 minutes ago, Carm_88 said:

Jill's personality as it is now, I don't think would make for a very good RN. She has the right attitude but I don't think she has the leadership skills and take charge attitude that is sometimes required. I guess it also depends on where she was working, due to the shower curtain incident, I don't really see her doing well in an ER. 

I agree. I could see Jill being a nurse if she had been raised in a more conventional home and been allowed to mature emotionally and intellectually. Jill as she is now is a stunted girl-woman who can’t be alone and has difficulty making her own decisions. What’s really sad is that this is considered the ideal outcome for a daughter raised under quiverfull.

[Palimpsest]

11 hours ago, Lurker said:

I don’t understand why anyone believes that Jill could have gone to nursing school to become a registered nurse.  It is hard and you need to have a solid academic background for acceptance then to keep up with the coursework.  Just because she had a heart for nursing doesn't mean anything in the real world.  

You assume that everything in life is static and that Jill's SOTDT education automatically limits all her options for eternity.  With enough interest and determination someone like Jill could do remedial classes to get up to speed and go to community college.  There are also direct entry nursing programs.  It would take a lot of work, granted, and it would be even more challenging to find the time now she has children.

[SilverBeach]

Jill could likely have completed a certified nursing assistant (CNA) program and maybe even a licensed practical nurse (LPN) program here in the states. Registered nurse (RN) or higher? I have my doubts.

[Rachel333]

It's never too late either. My aunt (who is a former missionary) decided in her 60's that she wanted to be a nurse. Midway through nursing school her son died but she still managed to keep going and is now an RN and enjoying working as a nurse.

[Hashtag Blessed]

3 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

Jill's personality as it is now, I don't think would make for a very good RN. She has the right attitude but I don't think she has the leadership skills and take charge attitude that is sometimes required. I guess it also depends on where she was working, due to the shower curtain incident, I don't really see her doing well in an ER. 

Maybe not an ER nurse, but she could have been a geriatric nurse, or a pediatric nurse. And who knows, maybe she could dig deep and find the grit to do really well in any nursing field? We’ll never know though, because her family and pos husband would never support her decision to try.

[Palimpsest]

1 hour ago, Hashtag Blessed said:

she could have been a geriatric nurse, or a pediatric nurse.

Or even a nurse-midwife. 

Say what you want about Jill but in some ways she has more intestinal fortitude than I do.  As an apprentice lay midwife she attended quite a few births and even uncomplicated births can be a bit gory.  She still knuckled down to the books and managed to pass that exam.

I get quite queasy reading some of the graphic details about childbirth that some of you post on FJ! I tend to think of the childbirth threads here as the contraception threads. 

[Dandruff]

For Jill to become a nurse, I believe she would have had to do rotations involving the viewing/touching of naked man parts.  Can imagine how that would go.  

10 hours ago, jozina said:

Double the height at 2 (definitely 2 - not 3) is a good guide, but it isn't perfect.  If you hit puberty early/late, have just had or are about to have a growth spurt at 2, had serious illnesses or failure to thrive as a baby, have serious illnesses later on or several other things it may not work out.

I'm over two inches shorter than my predicted height, and shrinking.  Puberty was on time, don't know about a growth spurt, had failure to thrive and serious illnesses later on.  I wish I had gotten those two inches though, since I'm on the short side.

[calimojo]

Why must we convert anyone?  What gives Christians, or any religion the right to come into a country and try to convert people to their faith?  I have never understood this.  I completely understand people of faith, having a desire to help people living in dangerous and desperate situations, doing what can be done to help.  I understand a church sponsoring a group who go into Africa, for example and help to find a source of drinkable water, Or Build a school, or help to establish hardy crops that will grow in drought, that can be a reliable food source, or work with the locals to build homes or a local hospital, etc. 

If by doing these things, with no strings attached, local people have an interest in the role faith has played in motivating others to do well, then fine, share your own faith experience.  If the local people find themselves inspired by that, again, fine.  But it should not ever be the outward focus of the work. 

Why is Christianity so insecure about its message that it feels compelled to use methods of bribing, withholding, guilting etc in order to pick up new followers?  Why not just live the principals.  Let them speak for themselves and have enough faith to know that there will be some who, on their own, show an interest and who, on their own, may seek conversion? A religion that gets conversions by saying, If you listen to my testimony, you can have a days worth of clean water is not a religion, it is a manipulation.  It is a form of extortion. 

As for international students,  again,  The message should be one of welcoming, celebrating of differences and recognizing universal similarities.  They should be role models in how we welcome people to our country.  How we respect their differences, yet examples of how we can still get along, we can still be neighborly and kind.  

If I were living in a foreign country and the first people I met told me how wrong my religion was, and were nice to me only as they tried to convince me otherwise, I would be so turned off and would be resentful.  instead if I was met with a welcoming attitude, and openness and interest in my life, my world, as well as a support and resource as a learn to navigate unfamiliar surroundings, I would be happy and grateful.  My good will would spread, and thus impact others.  I wouldn't live in fear of being harassed for being different, and I would not learn to resent and hate my new country. 

 

[Bad Wolf]

All saints day at church today. The priest said that sainthood is not for Christians only. It's for all people who are spreading God's message of love, peace, compassion, etc. Also, the real meaning of the word meek, from the Greek, is "power under control". 

The Duggars wouldn't like my church. 

[19catsandcounting]

I just finished nursing school. I didn't find the academic side to be incredibly challenging by itself - it was time consuming, but all about managing your time and using it wisely. A lot of people who were working and also had kids made it through the program. 

The hard part is managing the stress. You're learning a lot of new things and being thrown into new situations that are often emotionally challenging, and you have to maintain your cool without becoming a robot. You also need to be able to manage your time independently. Nursing is definitely a profession where a certain personality type will succeed.

I obviously don't know Jill, but I feel she could push through the academics if she was properly motivated. I don't think she could handle the actual job. Or even if she could, I don't think she'd like it. 

[Palimpsest]

1 hour ago, calimojo said:

What gives Christians, or any religion the right to come into a country and try to convert people to their faith? 

It was Jesus' commandment. Matthew 28, IIRC

Quote

 All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Some take it way more literally than others. 

1 hour ago, calimojo said:

Why is Christianity so insecure about its message that it feels compelled to use methods of bribing, withholding, guilting etc in order to pick up new followers?  Why not just live the principals.

Misinterpretation?  Or, as some Fundies (like Derick) seem to interpret it - "I can lie and cheat for the greater good of converting others to the LORD."

Living by principles is WORK versus GRACE!  Huge Fundie battles have been fought about "by FAITH alone."  It is a big doctrinal difference.  Or not.

I think it is also why so many Fundies think Roman Catholics are heathen and in need of conversion.  RCs tend to be big on works and leading by example.

1 hour ago, calimojo said:

I understand a church sponsoring a group who go into Africa, for example and help to find a source of drinkable water, Or Build a school, or help to establish hardy crops that will grow in drought, that can be a reliable food source, or work with the locals to build homes or a local hospital, etc. 

Eh.  Churches sponsor a lot of worthless stuff.  Africa doesn't need a well-meaning but uneducated church group to find sources of drinking water.  We are no longer in David Livingstone's time.  And, as far as missionaries go, Livingstone was an abysmal failure.

Africa needs trained and highly qualified engineers, geologists, agriculturalists, medical specialists, teachers, professor, nurses and doctors - you name it.  People who can teach and transfer their skills at already established institutions, hospitals, clinics, schools and universities - to nationals.

It doesn't need bumbling people who are just well meaning.

And don't get me started on short-term missions to build homes or hospitals.  A group of well-meaning church members have far less experience in building houses than many African nationals.  The money spent on transporting American church members to Africa would be much better spent on materials and hiring local labor - who can build things there better and earn money at the same time!

Wishy-washy White people who fund raise to go to Africa to start an orphanage burn my butt.  They have no idea that there are many people in Africa who have those skills, belong to that culture, know the ins-and-outs, but need the money to do just that.  They don't need some White asshole who thinks they can do better because they are white and "know" Jebus.

2 hours ago, calimojo said:

As for international students,  again,  The message should be one of welcoming, celebrating of differences and recognizing universal similarities.  They should be role models in how we welcome people to our country.  How we respect their differences, yet examples of how we can still get along, we can still be neighborly and kind.  

I agree.  Do you think this is what Jill and Derick are doing?  Sadly, I don't think so.

I think they do their best to be kind but have absolutely no respect for differences.

[Ilovebrownies]

Jill would never make it as a nurse.  She would have to see naked bodies, lots of penises, and be able to tolerate old men touching her breasts when getting a blood pressure, just to name a few.

[MiddleAgedLady]

Derick RT his pastor Ronnie Floyd about the San Antonio shooting at a Baptist Church. Then- Jesus is the answer, according to him.

 

 

[Georgiana]

Derick, those people were literally seeking Jesus when they were killed. This was not an issue with lack of faith. It is an issue with lack of adequate gun control. 

How absolutely idiotic can you be?

[Jinder Roles]

People are soinvested in their ideology of gun rights and their warped idea of freedom, that they don't care how many people die.

I saw an article that said that if there's no gun control after Sandy Hook, there will probably never be gun control. Sadly, I agree.