Bonnet Rippers

Branches that hang low and ruin passing coverings on female Amish heads? I wish...

I learned a new expression day before yesterday: Bonnet Books. So I Googled it and learned another new one: Bonnet Rippers.

Great. Just great.

There’s a new kind of romance novel out there and its plot includes forbidden love, a mysterious outsider and a heroine who has to decide between new love and her old life.

But these are not sexy Harlequin-like romances nicknamed bodice-rippers.

These are bonnet rippers.

Amish love stories are occupying many of the top spots in religious fiction.

[…]

The books’ plots usually include a young Amish woman who falls in love with an outsider. The woman is young enough, however, that she has not yet officially entered the Amish church, so she still can make a decision to leave the community.

[…]

In most cases, the woman does leave with the community and the reader perceives a happy ending.

If she doesn’t turn her back on her faith, does the book qualify as a bonnet ripper? (Get it? In case you don’t…she keeps her faith and her bonnet, ripping neither.)

One more quote from the article:

The books are marketed at conservative Christian readers, often showing up in devotional sections of bookstores.

Those things qualify as devotional?! 🙄

Source: ‘Bonnet rippers’ new kind of romance novel

Abortion: Veracruz Dice No

Life: Veracruz Says Yes

In Mexico’s state of Veracruz, human life begins at conception:

On Nov. 16, 2009 the legislature of the Mexican coastal state of Veracruz passed a law declaring that life begins at conception and ends at natural death.

So, do you think the source of this story is sympathetic or scornful toward the decision? To help, here’s more of the article begun above:

Veracruz now becomes the 17th state in Mexico to criminalize abortion in a string of hotly contested and reactive measures set off by Mexico City’s April 2007 legalization of abortion.

The reforms to the Veracruz State Constitution include a last-minute stipulation by the National Action Party PAN that women who illegally obtain abortions can avoid jail time by accepting medical and psychological treatment.

[…]

The debate in Veracruz, fueled by passion and anger, is characteristic of the larger fight throughout Mexico on the issue of abortion that spans the personal and the political. The abortion wars in Mexico involve political issues, such as the direct intervention of the Catholic Church in a secular state, and health issues deriving from the high incidence of complications from clandestine abortions.

On a personal level, the abortion debate forces the society and politicians to examine the hidden implications of stringent abortion policies and clandestine abortions on the health and lives of Mexican women.

If you’re still not sure where the article’s author stands, here’s the title: Mexico’s Abortion Laws: A Step Backward for Women’s Rights.

Therefore, laws that ban organ sales could be announced in articles similarly titled?

For example, US Organ Sale Laws: A Step Backward for Human Rights

Well, anyway, I’m thankful to believe that human life begins at conception.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Headline Archive

November 24, 2009

headlines as they appeared shortly after 9:30 pm Pacific Time

CNS News

Top Catholic Cardinal Says ‘No Way’ Catholic Members of Congress Can Support Senate Health Care Bill That Funds Abortion

United Nations Says HIV Outbreak Peaked in 1996

Economy’s Slow Rebound Not Strong Enough to Boost Employment, Economists Say

As Obama Pushes Health Care Bill, His Job Approval Drops to 48 Percent, Says Gallup Poll

Philippines Declares Emergency After 46 Killed in Political Violence

Read it all

Kidnapped in Columbia

Sixteen members of Colombia’s Kogui tribe were recently kidnapped in an attempt to force them to recant their Christianity, says Voice of the Martyrs Canada. Currently held in a remote location, these believers won’t be released until they renounce their faith in Christ.

Consisting of men, women and infants, the group was captured during a community meeting summoned by the Kogui governor. Believers were taken prisoner by the governor and his followers; community leaders shouted insults at the Christians throughout the night. Non-Christian leaders who supported the imprisoned believers were shamed.

The governor intends to eradicate the Christian faith from Kogui members through imprisonment and forced denial of the faith. The world’s highest coastal range, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, is home to the Kogui people, and Kogui Christians number around 120 of the entire 11,000-member tribe.

Reportedly, two of the kidnapped infants have fallen seriously ill. Pray for their recovery and for the immediate release of these believers.

Source: Mission Network News

Attention, Mennonites!

Thanks to Google Alerts, I came across a blog post this morning that confirms the obvious to me: People notice our faces. (And they read our faces.)

I’ve thought many times while out among The General Public, What are people reading in my face?

I wonder that as a regular human.

And as a child of God.

And as a Mennonite.

When people see my face, do they see anger, distress, impatience, covetousness, lust, peace, joy, tranquility, happiness, contempt, fretfulness, coldness, suspicion, scorn, Jesus?

What do they see?

What do I want them to see?

What does God want them to see?

Hmmm. This sounds like Attention, Christians!

Well, to help you chew on that, chew on this:

The Mennonites I encountered growing up always aroused my curiosity. My observations made me sure they must be a humorless, fearful people. Being a bit shy myself which probably means I thought too much of myself, I didn’t try to initiate conversations with them. In the Bi-Mart on River Road they would catch me watching them. I would smile, they would smile back. Their facial expressions seemed so serious, even fearful, and I presumed anxious to get back to their safe little communities. At least, that’s how I perceived them.

I liked it that the girls were always in dresses, but I thought it odd that they wore sneakers with skirts. I suppose I would have ignored that if they had acted like they were more comfortable standing next to us in the check-out line. I knew their clothing was related to their faith, and I admired them for that. But I wondered, if they know God, why do they seem so depressed?

[…]

Had I been judging an entire community by a small handful of people who may be just having a bad day, or something?

Ouch! 😥

Read Kathy’s full post here: Hearing Heart Blog: Has the Mennonite Faith Changed, Or Have I? (Thank you, Mrs. Davis!)

So I ask again, Can the world see Jesus when they look at your life? And my face?

That’s No Fowl on That Perch!

The missing link is broken, folks!

A few days ago we saw Ida fall from her overhyped status as an ancestor of humans. Now some scientists are claiming that Archaeopteryx should lose its status as an ancestor of modern birds. Calling Archaeopteryx an “icon of evolution,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) borrows a term from Jonathan Wells while reporting that “[t]he feathered creature called archaeopteryx, easily the world’s most famous fossil remains, had been considered the first bird since Charles Darwin’s day. When researchers put its celebrity bones under the microscope recently, though, they discovered that this icon of evolution might not have been a bird at all.”

According to the new research, inferences about growth rates made from studies of Archaeopteryx’s ancient fossilized bones show it developed much more slowly than modern birds. While the WSJ is reporting these doubts about Archaeopteryx’s ancestral status as if they were something new, those who follow the intelligent design movement know that such skepticism has been around for quite some time.

[…]

But old theories die hard, Ruben said, especially when it comes to some of the most distinctive and romanticized animal species in world history.

“Frankly, there’s a lot of museum politics involved in this, a lot of careers committed to a particular point of view even if new scientific evidence raises questions,” Ruben said. In some museum displays, he said, the birds-descended-from-dinosaurs evolutionary theory has been portrayed as a largely accepted fact, with an asterisk pointing out in small type that “some scientists disagree.”

“Our work at OSU used to be pretty much the only asterisk they were talking about,” Ruben said. “But now there are more asterisks all the time. That’s part of the process of science.”

With a hat tip to The Berean Call, I suggest you read the full article: Evolution News & Views: The Demise of Another Evolutionary Link: Archaeopteryx Falls From Its Perch.

Above all, love God!

since November 9, 2005