[Faith-talk] Purpose of this list, was Re: halow wean part one of two

Sun Oct 19 05:05:55 UTC 2014

Hi Greg,

Excellent thoughts. I was on the list for I'd guess five years. Then was off 
and resubscribed. I  saw this list only christian based back then, with 
unfortunately hardly any traffic and most traffic was either 1. prayer 
request or 2. forwards from someone who I do not believe is subscribed here 
now. Everyone complained of the countless forwards of mostly devotions and 
finally it stopped.

Then I resubscribed and it was low traffic with prayer requests, discussions 
of accessible information, and some articles.

I don't mind discussing how we should live our faith out including whether 
to celebrate Halloween. I do hope its respectful though.
I can see things degenerating though when disagreements come up.

I share your sentaments though of discussing more of the intersection of 
faith and blindness which was
the original purpose. We as listers can do that if we want.
We can not respond to controversial posts and they will die off.
It will only happen if we make it so.
That said, I suppose I don't mind some controversy. We are all human after 
all.

When you said
"We can all engage in discussions about the way our faith intersects with 
our blindness, around topics such as physical healing, the problem of evil 
and suffering, or any number of topics that sighted people so often want to 
discuss with us. And we could all do so with a healthy respect for one 
another’s views."

Right on! Toward that end, I'll post some messages for accessible matterial 
and some experiences of living the faith. For me, it is Christian; I was 
raised United Methodist, and while I'm not an active member of a church now, 
I still attend sometimes a methodist church where my mom works the 
preschool. I can attest to the fact that socializing and fitting in at 
church is challenging as it is in any institution.

For those that go to church, enjoy it this sunday!

Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Greg Aikens via Faith-talk
Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 11:09 PM
To: justin williams ; Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion
Subject: [Faith-talk] Purpose of this list,was Re: halow wean part one of 
two

The problem is not that people from diverse backgrounds are contributing. 
The problem as I see it, is that so often the content has nothing to do with 
faith and blindness together. In the case of posts like this one on 
Halloween, there is nothing related to being blind. The only responses one 
could give are, “I agree,” or “I disagree,” which is basically what we have 
happening. The other problem I see is that when a post does have blindness 
related content, such as Brandon’s asking for volunteers to help him test 
his method for teaching Tarot to see if it is accessible, the thread often 
gets bogged down in non blindness related issues, such as whether or not 
Tarot is a legitimate religious expression, etc.

In my opinion, this list would be a more valuable resource if we limited the 
content to items that concern blindness and faith together. We should all be 
able to relate to and offer support or advice to blind people of any faith 
who are having access issues, trouble accessing religious materials, 
services, etc. We could all offer advice to blind people who are struggling 
to find a place to serve in their church/synagogue/mosque/temple etc. We can 
all engage in discussions about the way our faith intersects with our 
blindness, around topics such as physical healing, the problem of evil and 
suffering, or any number of topics that sighted people so often want to 
discuss with us. And we could all do so with a healthy respect for one 
another’s views.

This list doesn’t seem like a great forum for debating the truth or 
falsehood of certain systems of belief. It doesn’t even seem like a great 
place for inter faith dialogue, just for the sake of dialogue. I’m sure 
there are literally hundreds of email lists that already exist for those 
purposes. I know that is not how the list has been used in the past. I just 
think it might be a good approach.

-Greg

It does seem like a good list for connecting with other blind people of 
faith over our common experiences and to ask questions, share resources, 
etc.

On Oct 18, 2014, at 10:33 PM, justin williams via Faith-talk 
<faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> You mean, when only Christians were sending messages back and fourth?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Donna 
> Elliott via Faith-talk
> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 10:32 PM
> To: Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion
> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] halow wean part one of two
>
> Does anyone else miss when this list was about faith rather than 
> disagreements?  Donna
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Oct 18, 2014, at 10:23 PM, Brandon A. Olivares via Faith-talk 
>> <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Not sure what you mean by “supposed”. The Christmas tree is a Pagan 
>> symbol. No debating that. What you think about that fact is the only 
>> question.
>>
>>> On Oct 18, 2014, at 9:56 PM, qubit via Faith-talk 
>>> <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Excuse me, but you sound like the people who quote some supposed
>>> history of the Christmas tree as a pagan symbol.  I think while some
>>> people gravitate toward ghoulish costumes on halloween, I thinkthe
>>> majority dress up like anything or anyone they want just for
>>> something entertaining to do.  For example, I saw a tv reporter ask a
>>> policeman in NY whose idea it was for him to dress up like a policeman 
>>> for halloween...He laughed and said my boss".
>>> I had a friend dress like a giant crayon.  I I have dressed like a
>>> lot of things just for fun.
>>> I am not a satan worshipper.  I think that is kind of creepy.  But
>>> lots of Christians have fun dressing up and eating treats on
>>> halloween.  The only complaint I have is that it has the word
>>> "hallow" in the word, which implies something holy, which it is not.
>>> Is someone going to bite me for having pleasant childhood memories of
>>> halloween?
>>> --le
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Andrew via Faith-talk" <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> To: "Faith-talk" <Faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 5:24 PM
>>> Subject: [Faith-talk] halow wean part one of two
>>>
>>>
>>> Halloween - Part 1 of 2
>>>
>>> Should Christians celebrate Halloween? No! What the world will
>>> celebrate on October 31 is not anything that a Christian should be
>>> part of. The origin of what we know of as Halloween began in 5th
>>> century B.C., Celtic Ireland as a holiday marking the end of summer
>>> on October 31 known as Samhein (sow-en).
>>>
>>> The pagan Celts believed on that day, the disembodied spirits of all
>>> those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in
>>> search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed
>>> to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws
>>> of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the
>>> spirit world to intermingle with the living.
>>>
>>> Naturally, the still living did not want to be possessed. So on the
>>> night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their
>>> homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in
>>> all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the
>>> neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten
>>> away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
>>>
>>> The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the
>>> first century A.D., Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some
>>> of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as
>>> their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The
>>> symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our
>>> modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween. The thrust of
>>> the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As
>>> belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like
>>> hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
>>>
>>> The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish
>>> immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the
>>> favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and
>>> unhinging fence gates.
>>>
>>> Since the eighth century, the Catholic Church has celebrated All
>>> Saints' Day on November 1 to celebrate the known and unknown Saints
>>> whom the Church has canonized. The night before the celebration of
>>> All Saint's Day is known as All Hallow's Eve ("Hallows" mean "saints"
>>> both mean "holy ones" as in "Hallowed be thy name"). So, Halloween
>>> means "the evening before All Saint's Day."
>>>
>>> You can see from the pagan roots of Halloween why this has become the
>>> most important day to those who worship satan or choose to live in
>>> rebellion to God and the TRUTH of His Word. There is NOTHING about
>>> this day that honors God, remembers God, or has anything to do at all
>>> with God. It is, quite honestly, a celebration of those who oppose
>>> God and all that He stands for. THIS is why it's a day Christians
>>> should NOT celebrate nor be part of in any way.
>>>
>>> I love you and care about you so much. Tomorrow, Part Two of this
>>> series is titled, "A Christian's Response to Halloween." Do we hide
>>> in our homes with the lights off? Do we all go to church and hide in
>>> the basement so the devil doesn't get us? What exactly should a
>>> Christian be doing on Halloween? I will give you a hint. It will be a
>>> bold call to action. I can think of no better night to see souls won
>>> for Christ than on Halloween.
>>>
>>> DO NOT MISS PART TWO TOMORROW AS WE CELEBRATE A NEW HOLIDAY ON
>>> OCTOBER 31ST THAT WILL HONOR JESUS CHRIST, THE KING OF KINGS, AND
>>> LORD OF LORDS!!!
>>>
>>> In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,
>>>
>>> Bill Keller
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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