Zog Blaster

and millions of people living in 1918 will never die!

When I browse Yahoo Answers on my iPhone, every so often I hit a page with a broken advert. This broken advert appear to be blank (I cannot see any content), but it constantly expands down, non-stop, so that all the page content below it constantly gets pushed down.

When this happens to an ad under a question, the answer box and all the answers constantly move down, and so are unusable.

Is this happening for anyone else? Does anyone have a work-around?

Given that I have absolutely no interest in learning more about Jehovah's Witnesses religion and beliefs, and am very happy and peaceful in my own faith, what is the most helpful thing to say at the door?

By this, I mean the thing that makes the Jehovah's Witness's life easiest. Currently, I quickly and politely make it clear that I'm not interested in having a discussion and shut it down, as I don't want them thinking I'm secretly, deep-down interested (as I've heard some JW claim online, when explaining why they don't necessarily leave when someone says they're not interested).

But, my concern is that you have your scoresheet thing to fill in, saying how long you've spoken to people and how many people and so on, and that doing badly on that scoresheet can be a source of anxiety to you.

So, given that I have absolutely no intention of taking part in a Bible study with you, and have no interest in learning more about your beliefs, do not want more visits, will not agree to a Bible study, does it look better on your scoresheet if I shut the conversation down within a minute, or let you talk for 5 minutes or so? Does letting you talk for longer, while I don't listen, simply eat into your time for no extra benefit, or boost your score?

And if I did that, would it make them think I was interested, when I'm not?

I know what the plain meaning is to me, but I'm also aware that that meaning is incompatible with the belief held by about 2/5 of Christians, that the bread and wine are not really Jesus's body and blood. Usually when I don't see how other people might interpret a passage, I find looking it up in a translation they use shows some likely possibilities, but even in the NIV I find it hard to come up with plausible alternatives.

So, separated brethren, what does your Church teach this passage means when it says "For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgement on themselves" and "So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord"?

I quote the entire passage below (from the NIV) for the lazy.

-----Quotation from 1 Corinthians 11, NIV-----

 17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

 33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34 Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.

Over the years, my personal style of prayer has more and more become just setting my worries before God, bringing up people or situations I'm particularly praying for without specifically asking for anything or using many words, and then sort-of 'listening'. I now feel quite weird and presumptious asking for things.

But I am now praying with a toddler fairly often, as his main experience of praying. We cross ourselves and say the 'Our Father', and then we say some personal prayers. We tend to include quite a lot of thank yous, a bit of looking forward to things, some praying for specific people, and bringing up any worries. But all of the personal prayers feel a bit awkward, because I'm not very good at putting them into words in a way that makes sense to him, and because I don't feel comfortable about putting in 'requests'.

I tend to be very led by him (he always has a choice about whether we say prayers, and he usually chooses 'yes'. He has a choice about when we've finished, or when we should say more. He has lots of opportunities to suggest prayers), but he is still very young and I am very aware that I'm the one modelling how to pray for him, so it's not like he can lead the actual prayers!

I'm trying to do this with an eye to the future, for example teaching him the 'Our Father' which I will gradually explain as he gets older, and which will allow him to join in with others; starting and ending by crossing ourselves so that he learns to address his prayers to God, and so that the Trinity makes more sense when he's older. But I'm struggling with the more personal, spontaneous prayers, and they're the backbone of most prayer lives.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this, or useful formula prayers that I could use to get started and then adapt? What have you found effective?