HopeForYourFamily

Roger D. Butner, PhD, LMFT is a Christian marriage and family therapist.
Read "ScreamFree Parenting" by Hal Edward Runkel. It will revolutionize your relationships.

Dr. Butner's Tips for a Better Life

Summertime Family Issues?

Are you facing challenges in your family this summer that could use some expert guidance?

Have you discovered a wonderful experience, activity, place to go, or routine that works great for your family, and is worth sharing with others?

Would it just be really cool to have YOUR topic shared on TV?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, I would love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts, questions, experiences, or suggestions with me at Roger@hopeforyourfamily.com, or feel free to add your comments to this post (after you have registered as a user on my site). I will email you back personally with my perspectives, and consider using your topic on my next WAFB Parenting 101 interview coming up on the last Tuesday of June at 6:15 am.

I look forward to hearing from you!

With Hope - Roger

Geaux Green

Lorax    Click on the image to watch part 1 of “The Lorax” a television presentation of the classic Dr. Seuss tale of being a friend, rather than an enemy, of planet Earth.  (Parts 2 & 3 are also available from this YouTube video page - the whole show is about 35 minutes or so.)
Here are just a few helpful “Green” links to help you celebrate Earth Day and hopefully begin some lifelong, life-giving, Earth-renewing habits:

Earth Day 2008

EPA Earth Day

Earth Day EnviroLinks

Geaux Green

Recycle Rouge

Earth911

Kids Page - Recycling

Do Something

Christian Environmental Organization Links

Your Green Partner,

Dr. Roger Butner

Throw me something, Mister!

In the spirit of Mardi Gras, I’m reposting my thoughts from the St. Patrick’s Day parade from last year.  People seemed to enjoy reading this one, and I’ve got quite a few newcomers to the site since then.  To update the following post to Mardi Gras ‘08, simply delete the “Emerald City” comment, change “Cajun/Irish” to “Cajun/French/Catholic,” and picture me and my family skipping the parades altogether to simply stay home and enjoy the good times without the beads, beer, and rowdiness.  OK, there is still plenty of rowdiness at our house, but it isn’t nearly so loud or drunken.  Laissez les bon temp roulet!  (That’s “Let the good times roll” for all you folks outside Cajun Country.)

“Plastic and Beer”

I write this post on St. Patrick’s Day, after having spent the morning with my family at my first ever parade in Baton Rouge.  While I had never really heard much about the St. Patty’s Day parade, I’ve heard about the legendary Mardi Gras parades of South Louisiana for years.  From what I could tell, this was pretty much the same thing - but with cheaper floats and the crowd looking like they just stepped out of the Emerald City.  As I stood there on Perkins Road with my family, taking it all in, I tried to figure out what was really the point of it all.  And I think the main point was this:

People were looking to have a good time.  In South Louisiana, good times are never far away as long as there is plenty of beer and beads.  And both were in abundance in Baton Rouge today.  In the midst of this Cajun/Irish festival, I realized several things: 

Our hearts are so easily captured.  Put a few guys and gals on a trailer with some loud music and cheap plastic beads and other assorted junk, and our hearts suddenly become convinced that catching this stuff is the most important thing in the world.  I wish I could say I did not give in to this bead-snagging impulse.  But the truth is, (more…)

rethink

This probably comes too late for most of you to make plans around it. However, each of us can pray for this important event, whether or not we are able to join in the direct conversation. On January 17-19 at the Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim, California, an assembly of some of the world’s premier influencers from media, politics, faith, science, business, and technology will be joining together to rethink our culture, at an event appropriately dubbed “rethink.” Speakers/participants will include Larry King, George Foreman, Erwin McManus, Ben Stein, Robert Schuller, George H. W. Bush, Lou Holtz, Kathy Ireland, Kay Warren, John & Nancy Ortberg, Evel Knievel, Lee Strobel, George Barna, Tim Clinton, and many more. For more information, check out http://www.rethinkconference.com/

Parenting 101 Page on WAFB.com

Check out the new Parenting 101 page on WAFB.com! Thanks to Daniel and Cheryl and Jill at WAFB and Jill Rigby for the work they have put into bringing this page into reality. I look forward to seeing the new page develop in the coming weeks and months. If you like the page, and appreciate it, please pass on your thanks to WAFB. Enjoy, and God bless you as you keep working hard to raise your children well.

With Hope,

Roger

Skip “The Golden Compass”

“The Golden Compass” may look fun, but it has a VERY SINISTER DARK SIDE! No surprise, since it is based on the first book in a bold atheist’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy.

I may very well be writing more about this in the coming weeks, as the release of “The Golden Compass” approaches. Folks, I don’t know what you’ve heard about this film which presents itself as a kid-friendly adventure, not unlike the fantastic world of Narnia. This one is bad news - very bad news! I would urge you not to go, not to let your kids go, persuade your friends and family not to go, and do the same with the books on which the movie is based. I know in the world of internet hoaxes, it is easy to tune out things such as this post, which may ring of conspiracy theory. Do what I do when you hear something along these lines, check it out on www.snopes.com. In fact, here is the specific link regarding this movie: http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp   Or check out this Wikipedia article about the “His Dark Materials” trilogy.  Here is the information straight from Snopes.com, which has proven true every time I have checked it:

“The Golden Compass, a fantasy film starring Nicole Kidman that is scheduled to be released into theaters on 7 December 2007, has been drawing fire from concerned Christians. The film is based on Northern Lights (released in the U.S. as The Golden Compass), the first offering in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy of children’s books, a series that follows the adventures of a streetwise girl who travels through multiple worlds populated by witches, armor-plated bears, and sinister ecclesiastical assassins to defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God.Books of the trilogy have sold more than 15 million copies around the world, with Northern Lights winning the Carnegie Medal for Children’s Literature in 1995 and in 2007 being awarded the ‘Carnegie of Carnegies’ for the best children’s book of the past 70 years. The Amber Spyglass, the final book of the series, won The Whitbread Prize in 2001, making it the first children’s book to do so.

The series’ author, Philip Pullman, is an avowed atheist who has averred that “I don’t profess any religion; I don’t think it’s possible that there is a God; I have the greatest difficulty in understanding what is meant by the words ’spiritual’ or ’spirituality.’” Critics of Pullman’s books point to the strong anti-religion and anti-God themes they incorporate, and although literary works are subject to a variety of interpretations, Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that “My books are about killing God.” (Conservative British columnist Peter Hitchens labeled Pullman “The Most Dangerous Author in Britain” and described him as the writer “the atheists would have been praying for, if atheists prayed.”)”

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