Some info from NEC:

Recent publicity for Mental Health Awareness Month and Depression Screening Day encouraged people of all ages and walks of life to become more aware of mental health and to go to a depression screening if they felt the need. A common feature at a depression screening is a checklist. The one I was given was printed by a large drug company and had 20 items to respond to. If I said yes to 5 or more of the feelings and felt that way for two weeks or more, I would likely be diagnosed with "major depression." One media report stated that 70 percent of those who attend a depression screening will go on to receive treatment. What kinds of treatment will be offered? Treatment for depression today often consists of going to a professional who will give therapy and/or medication.

I agree with each of us pausing to assess our emotional well being, yet I am concerned with how quickly medication is given to individuals as the "quick fix" solution to problems. No single profession, culture, or book has all the answers. Some people feel medication helps with difficult times, and some find strength and comfort in counseling with a professional. Some people find different paths to emotional health. My view of helping would be assisting a person to see increased options in finding one's own to path to health. I don't know all the answers to the complete state of depression, but many factors contribute to what people feel. One could look at a range of contributing factors as well as a variety of solutions when looking at any difficulty in life.

Some professionals look at depression as the need of people to feel greater connection-to family, friends and the community, to the world around them. We need to have healthy relationships with others. We need to feel control over what is happening in our lives. We need to feel we have choices about what we can do each day.

Some see a link between society's messages and depression. As a growing girl I was taught to let others talk first, to be kind and polite, to expect men to hold leadership and make decisions, to be concerned with my appearance, to place others first and myself last. I received little support to pursue a career that I felt passionate about. Do we wonder why girls who receive many of those messages end up feeling hopeless and unable to make decisions? Many women try to "do it all" at work and at home. Are we then surprised when they feel overwhelmed or guilty? When senior citizens feel worthless, are they not reflecting how society too often views them? Each of these feelings are listed as symptoms of depression. Is something wrong with the minds of these people or with what our society gives them?

My view of health is that it is all right to feel sad, lonely, tired, upset, or hurt. Periods of sadness can be overwhelming and incredibly dark. Yet it is okay to spend some days lying in bed or walking on a beach thinking, relaxing, and figuring out what to do. One's physical and emotional body needs a rest and is crying out the need to do something different. Out of our periods of hopelessness, desperation and grief will come our own answers - solutions to what is causing despair and what we can do differently.

Some people find lifestyle changes helpful, such as increased sunlight, exercise, daily affirmations, visualizations, talking with friends, getting a pet, attending a workshop, reading a book, or making a career change. Writing, speaking up, and working to change what is bothering us, or working for rights of oppressed people, can make a difference. We can encourage people to ask for help, which may include letting someone else cook food, being relieved of household duties, or going for a walk with a friend. Professional counseling might promote self-awareness, positive relationships and choices. Numerous magazines and books promote ideas that people have found helpful for improving moods and relieving depression. Many people today find help from alternative approaches such as self-help books, acupuncture, yoga, and meditation.

I look forward to a time when instead of indicating something is wrong with my feelings, the checklist for depression will include questions such as these:

Do you have time for regular exercise that you enjoy?
Do you have relationships where you both give and receive support?
Do you have access to healthy foods, including carbohydrates, fresh fruits and vegetables?
Do you have safe opportunities to try something new, seek an adventure, or accept a challenge?
Do you have things to look forward to each week?
What do you have control over in your life?
What kinds of things prevent you from doing what you want?
Do you have opportunities to pursue interests you enjoy?
Do you feel comfortable asking for help in time of need?
What would help you to achieve your dreams?
Then the treatment for depression could include helping people to overcome barriers-both internal and external-that are preventing them from living the full life that they would like. A book I read to my children tells of Florence Nightingale becoming depressed when her parents objected to her goal of becoming a nurse. She later went on to fulfill her dream.

My wish for mental health awareness month is that we would each look at ourselves, not judging our feelings or the things we are doing as wrong, not in fear of symptoms and labels, but in congratulating ourselves on how well we are doing given the stress and difficulties we live through each day. Mental health is not about finding a neighbor, relative or friend and getting them to seek professional help, but in reflecting on how we can each bring our own lives into better balance. We could evaluate for ourselves when we should ask for help so that we end more days feeling we have contributed something to those around us and yet met our own needs, too. I believe mental health success comes not when more people are depending on medications or one helping person to get through their days, but when more people are finding their own answers to what makes a day worth living.

Judene Shelley is a mother with a Master's of Public Health Degree in Health Education. She has found writing to be one of her paths to health and to overcoming the disabling label given to her by well-meaning "helping professionals." She dedicates this article to the psychiatrist in the mental ward who said "Have you stopped writing things down? That is a clinical sign of your problem" and "You should be on medication for the rest of your life."

The title of the thread is any young girl, not any old hag LOL.

Gee, if I moved around, would guys ask- an American from Kenya?

Most early Xians were Arian in orientation:

Arius taught that God the Father and the Son of God did not always exist together eternally.[5] Arians taught that the Logos was a divine being created by God the Father before the world. The Son of God is subordinate to God the Father.[6] In English-language works, it is sometimes said that Arians believe that Jesus is or was a "creature", in the sense of "created being". Arius and his followers appealed to Bible verses such as Jesus saying that the father is "greater than I" (John 14:28), and "The LORD/Yahweh created me at the beginning of his work" (Proverbs 8:22).[7]

Controversy over Arianism arose in the late 3rd century and persisted throughout most of the 4th century. It involved most church members—from simple believers, priests and monks to bishops, emperors and members of Rome's imperial family. Such a deep controversy within the Church during this period of its development could not have materialized without significant historical influences providing a basis for the Arian doctrines.[8] Some historians define and minimize the Arian conflict as the exclusive construct of Arius and a handful of rogue bishops engaging in heresy;[citation needed] but others recognize Arius as a defender of 'original' Christianity,[citation needed] or as providing a conservative response against the politicization of Christianity seeking union with the Roman Empire.[citation needed] Of the roughly three hundred bishops in attendance at the Council of Nicea, only two bishops did not sign the Nicene Creed, which condemned Arianism.[9] Two Roman emperors, Constantius II and Valens, became Arians, as did prominent Gothic, Vandal and Lombard warlords both before and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Lucian of Antioch had contended for a Christology very similar to what would later be known as Arianism[citation needed] and is thought to have influenced its development.[citation needed] (Arius was a student of Lucian's private academy in Antioch.) After the dispute over Arianism became politicized and a general solution to the divisiveness was sought—with a great majority holding to the Trinitarian position—the Arian position was officially declared heterodox.

Arianism continued to exist for several decades, even within the family of the emperor, the imperial nobility, and higher-ranking clergy.[citation needed] But, by the end of the 4th century it had surrendered its remaining ground to Trinitarianism in the official Roman church hierarchy.[citation needed] In western Europe, Arianism, which had been taught by Ulfilas, the Arian missionary to the Germanic tribes, was dominant among the Goths and Lombards (and, significantly for the late Empire, the Vandals); but it ceased to be the mainstream belief by the 8th century, as the rulers of these Germanic tribes gradually adopted Catholicism, beginning with Clovis I of the Franks in 496. It was crushed through a series of military and political conquests,[citation needed] culminating in religious and political domination of Europe over the next 1,000 years by Trinitarian forces in the Catholic Church. Trinitarianism has remained the dominant doctrine in all major branches of the Eastern and Western Church and later within Protestantism.

Anyone who tells you this is a quack; it is a long hard road of very hard work.

Arthur2sheds? Where is that from? Hitch-hikers Guide? Or Monty Python?

Love is the active concern over the growth and well-being of that which is loved- Erich
Fromm

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way that you feel
as every fairy tale comes real; I've looked at love that way.
But now it's just another show. You leave 'em laughing when you go
and if you care, don't let them know, don't give yourself away.

I've looked at love from both sides now,
from give and take, and still somehow
it's love's illusions that I recall.
I really don't know love at all.

-Joni Mitchell

I note that the argument only arises when each claims him to be their own and by their definition of him. I do not quite understand why this should be important. Is there a basic argument over the basic teachings- love g-d and love one another? If not, why not just settle on that and call it a day? Does it really matter what some one who follows these things calls him/herself?

Is it a single "unified" belt

Where do you get a "prophecy"? Even in KJV, the man is understood to be Judas, just like in English grammar we have a concept call "the You understood"

And this is why in modern terminology Epicurus, who taught moderation is seen as a hedonist; The Word again is a stoic reference to the "Artistic Fire"

Interesting that outside of the gospels there really is no historical witness, for example both references in Tacticus and Flavius Joseph are demonstrated forgeries

I learned that I used to think my view of people was tilted due to my working life; here I have found very few of us have escaped childhood without some sense of shame, guilt, insecurity and I am sorry that my view of people was correct

There is, of course, the third alternative- there is a g-d but one that does not conform to your definition

LOL! It is hard to chat up a woman who keeps humming and dancing to Midnight at the Oasis ...put your camel to bed...shadows playing on faces, traces of romance in your head....

(With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.

New Living Translation
(Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines.


Translations from (now I forgot them new standard?- you know, the dumbed down versions)

The difference is in intent, I did not consider the health benefits, etc; I merely followed the recommendation of my instructor at the time

LUKE 17:21

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The context of a what a messiah would be is a secular.political leader, for example- Bar Kochba, Constantine, etc.

Perhaps, but can one both return the money to the priests and then hang himself and not return the money to the priests, not hang oneself and go buy a field?

Read the text

1. Having grown up around alcohol abuse- I avoid imbibing alcohol- nonreligious
2. I avoid the consumption of flesh- religious