More Revelations

For background read this and this.

We had another meeting this week-a meeting that the board was invited to, but chose not to attend. It turns out that their deception was worse than we originally knew.

One of the deceptions was about the sabbatical. It turns out that after the first sabbatical terms were rejected, our rabbi did agree to a sabbatical with better terms. These new terms had been discussed, but not agreed on in writing. Before the new terms could be worked out, the board resigned.

One person told us that the board made the first terms so harsh because they were using it as a negotiation tactic. This was news to our rabbi and wife-they said if they had known it was just a negotiating tactic, they would not have been so upset.

Quite frankly, I do not believe for a minute that it was solely for negotiation purposes.

Another thing we had been told was that the board had not sought after any negative comments about how things were run-that everybody came to them, unsolicited. We discovered from a deacon that was untrue. This person had been called by one of the board members and asked if they were unhappy with things in the congregation.

A third person said they sent a letter to one of the elders asking them for scriptural references as to why the terms of the first sabbatical were so harsh. They were told that this was not a matter of intellect but of heart and gave her no references.

In other words, they knew that they had no scriptural references for what they did.

In the previous two examples and in the other posts I made on this we see a pattern of deception by the elders. They have consistently told the congregants one thing and the rabbi and his wife another.

Our rabbi said that he has had partial reconciliation with three of the four members. He did also say that one of them he has had constant conflict with in regards to running the congregation, theological issues, etc.. I bet that is the same person he has not yet had reconciliation with and that person is the wolf.

Someone did say that we are all sinners, we have all been deceptive, and we should still love them. She is right.

Of course it would be great if they came back, but they absolutely should not be granted leadership positions right away. They need to turn from their deception before they could even be considered for any leadership positions. And so far, they are still being deceptive and disruptive.

They were leaders and as such, they are held to a higher standard than the rest of us.

And as a result of this, one of our deacons, who had been a deacon for years and would be an elder, resigned form his position, because it has been so hard for him. Another one is taking a temporary leave form his position.

It is amazing how so few people can cause so much trouble.

Technorati Tags: congregational life, elders, board, deception, falsehood

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Bloggy Giveaway

Shannon is hosting the winter edition of bloggy giveaways. I’ve been absent lately because I am busy entering the giveaways -I’m almost done.

Join in if you like.

Technorati Tags: bloggy giveaways, free stuff, carnivals

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Homeschool Carnival

This week’s carnival is here

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U.S. Nationals

I am a figure skating fan, so I was watching the Nationals this weekend and it was interesting. The pairs we saw did pretty well, compared to other years. There were still some falls, but most years each pair had more than one fall so this year was quite the improvement, thankfully.

The ice dancers were all good and Belbin and Agosto were fabulous. If they can hit their performances at Worlds the way they did here, they should be able to get their gold medal. Their win was well deserved.

The ladies were quite the story as the gold and silver medal winners are all to young to go to the worlds. The bronze winner will be going, but the fourth place winner can not go as she also will be too young. We are still waiting on word for who the women who will be on the team.

Emily Hughes had to withdraw due to an injured hip. Kimmie Meissner had three falls and ended up seventh overall. She could be picked to go to Worlds as she is the only one with experience, but the last few seasons she has had trouble, so it seems her experience is not much of an advantage.

The men’s competition was great. Usually the women’s competition is great and the men’s has been an “Oh well, maybe next year will be better” type of thing. Not this year-Even Lysachek and Johnny Weir ended up tied in points. When that happens, the rule is that they go to the winner of the long program to determine placement-this year Evan won the long program so he won the gold! It was exciting and very close-Evan did not win by much. I’m glad because I like Evan better, even though I thought Johnny had won.

Johnny had better jumps and spins, but Evan had better everything else, which is what gave him the edge.

We should definitely win medals at Worlds for ice dance and men. Not as sure about pairs or ladies, but I’ll be watching.

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The Wolf Is Gone

You will want to read this post for background information.

Today we received a letter from the elders of our congregation. They resigned and made it clear they would not be returning.

I found it intriguing that the main reason they resigned was because they said our rabbi made them ineffective as leaders with his comments last week. It was okay for them to make him look ineffective to us with their demands, but they didn’t like it when their agenda was exposed.

Some of the things in their letter stumped me, since what they heard were not things our rabbi said. I wonder what service these folks were in to have heard what they did.

Ultimately, they wanted to run the rabbi, he disagreed and they didn’t like it, and they were found out.

Leadership said they did not want to fire or get rid of our rabbi, but apparently a lot of people, including myself, were under the impression that’s exactly what they wanted. How else were we to interpret their stipulations that he have no contact with anyone, and if he did leave to leave without saying anything to anyone? What other way is there to interpret that statement, especially when our rabbi said the elders were correct in pointing out areas he needed to work on?

So now we see who will remain and who will join the others. I’m sure that they will be starting another congregation in the area.

Technorati Tags: leadership, elders, religious life, wolves

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More Vaccination Machinations

This time, the battlefield is New York-the basics of the story are the same-if children are not immunized by a certain date (January 28th in this story), they will be excluded from school.

This story has an angle I have not seen in other stories about schools and vaccinations:

“Rita M. Palma of Bayport said she and her husband, Ronald, had
considered taking legal action against the Bayport-Blue Point School District over its immunization policy. She said it denied their request for a religious waiver last August after a two-hour hearing and then compelled two of their children to receive inoculations.”

She would be correct in suing them, because the board or district has no legal power to refuse exemptions. Here is what the New York law does say:

“Immunization requirements shall not apply to children whose parent, parents, or guardian hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required, and no certificate shall be required as a prerequisite to such children being admitted or received into school or attending school.”

When we scroll down that page we come to this section: NY CLS Pub Health Section 2164 which says in part 6:

“The form shall provide for the execution of a consent by such person and it shall also state that such person need not execute such consent if subdivision eight or nine of this section apply to such child.”

Part 8 deals with medical exemptions, so I will not post that part. Section 9 tells us:

“This section shall not apply to children whose parent, parents, or guardian hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required, and no certificate shall be required as a prerequisite to such children being admitted or received into school or attending school.”

You can read all the sections of the law yourself at the link I provided under my “this is what the New York law does say”. The point is that in reading the law, nowhere does it say that the school board/district has to approve an exemption.

Therefore, if you are a parent or know a parent in New York that is under the impression that they must go to a hearing to have the school district/board approve their religious exemption, show or tell them about this post. Print out a copy of the New York law and give it to them. Print out 2 copies-one for them to keep and one to show the school. Sometimes the school does not know what the law says and by showing it to them, you can avoid hassle.

Secondly, parents, no matter what the school tells you, vaccinations are not required. You do have the right to avoid them if you choose. And no, the school does not have the authority to approve or reject a religious exemption.

Technorati Tags: vaccinations, exemptions, religion, legal rights

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COH

This week’s Carnival of Homeschooling is here.

I am having lots of computer troubles lately-I keep getting kicked off line, numerous times in an evening. Since I normally post here at night, this is making posting difficult. The post below this one was supposed to be up yesterday, but due to all the difficulties of staying on-line I could not get it to post.

If posting is erratic here, you now know the reasons why.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling, education, teaching, learning, computer troubles

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GPS in Soldier’s Uniforms

The Israeli army is considering putting GPS chips in soldiers uniforms. This is supposed to cut down on friendly fire incidents.

It does not appear to me that the army has thoroughly considered all the implications of this device. If their field commander can track them at all times, so can the enemy. Do they want their enemy to have that advantage?

Notice this sentence in the article:

“NATO has made GPS indicators a standard.”

This means that soon this will be required for every soldier that is part of NATO, since standards will morph into a requirement.

If Pat Tillman had had one of these, it would have made his murder easier to accomplish.

Technorati Tags: gps, chips, tracking, NATO, soldiers, uniforms

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Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

We have a wolf in our congregation. We may have more, but we definitely have an alpha male wolf.

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

Matthew 7:15

Two weeks ago we were told that our rabbi was being put on sabbatical, partly to get some rest and partly as a punitive measure. Right away when I heard that, I felt something was not right. We were also told that this was a decision that had been mutually agreed on and that a sabbatical had been discussed before these events came up.

Some people pressed our board for more details, but the board said they did not want to stir up discord.

This last week we heard our rabbi’s side and things happened a bit differently than what we were told. It turns out that while we were being told that the sabbatical was partly for rest and partly punitive, our rabbi himself had been told that it was purely a punitive action.

It was not a mutual agreement. There was no give and take or back and forth about it-our rabbi was told he must take the sabbatical.

The board had given him a list of conditions that he rejected -the most heinous one being that he leave without saying anything to anyone in the congregation. Now this man had not been fiscally irresponsible, nor had he done anything immoral. The only reason to ask him to leave like that was to cast doubts on his character and to degrade him.

Obviously there is a power struggle going on. The alpha wolf is the instigator and he was able to get enough of the other board members to agree with him.

I do not know what the outcome will be. There is a concern that there might be a split, which people said they don’t want. I understand that, but I do not know if it is possible to avoid a split. If the alpha wolf is not repentant and does not step down, he will still want control once the rabbi comes back. And he could very well be watching for any little mistake to be made so he can get what he ultimately wants-total control of the congregation.

And the board lying about the sabbatical does not help their case for wanting us to trust them.

Interesting days are ahead.

Technorati Tags: religion, politics, trust, control

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First Temple Seal Found In Jerusalem

There has been another find in Jerusalem:

“The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible,” she said. “One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find.”

More here.

Technorati Tags: archaeology, temple, Jerusalem, seal

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