Hello Sky! Nice to meet you! ^_^ Welcome to Mene! ^_^

To answer your question: In my time on Mene I have made several Christian themed avis. I make a crucified Jesus avi every year for Easter (so you will see that in a couple weeks probably) and then I make a resurrected Jesus avi for Easter day and the week after. ^_^ I have also made a stylized star of Bethlehem.

For biblical characters, Mene has several robes to play around with. I find the white or cream colored Nero Robes work well for a Jesus avi. For objects or scenes you are only limited by your creativity. *shrugs* If you have a particular character or idea in mind I could make more suggestions. ^_^

Thanks so much for the welcome, Saravi Boo! No, I don't have any particular character or scene in mind at the moment. I was just surprised that it could be done. Hehehe. It's not that I am not a creative person, it is just that I am reeeally not so creative with avatars. ...shrug... Anyway, I am so looking forward to seeing your avatar change in the next few weeks, and again around Christmas.

Avis are what drew me to this site in the first place. The tight community is why I've stayed put. ^_^ I still love making avatars though. I struggle to leave one the same for more than a week or two but I really like this one so I'm trying to hold onto it for a little while. ^_^ I hope I don't disappoint.

Originally Posted by Saravi Boo

Sorry for the delayed response. This week has been a bit busy so far. ^_^'

Hmm...that's very different. I feel that I would much rather serve and trust a God that was willing to die for me and then be resurrected to prove his divinity. If he had fled from the cross I would wonder if he would desert me during my worst times as well. I am thankful that I have no such reason to doubt.

As for the other people you listed, I know all of them except Idrees. I don't believe he is part of our bible. However, Adam was the first human created. Noah was the only righteous man of his time and he was the one God chose to survive the great flood that wiped the rest of humanity off the face of the earth. Joseph was one of Jesse's sons who was gifted with prophetic dreams and the interpretation thereof. His brothers grew jealous of him and sold him into slavery. He ended up in Egypt and eventually became second to the pharoah. That allowed him to save his family from a great drought and famine that happened. David was chosen by God to be king of Israel after Saul who had fallen from God's grace. Solomon was David's son and was given wisdom from God as a gift. Moses was a jewish child raised as the son of an Egyptian princess. He eventually led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt and for forty years in the wilderness before they finally found the promised land. Does that cover everyone?

What do Muslim's believe about Abraham? I notice you did not mention him. In Christian beliefs, Abraham was promised a child through his wife Sarah who would be the root of God's chosen people but he wasn't patient enough and fathered a child by her handmaiden first. He eventually sent both the maid and her child away and asked God to forgive him and bless that child as well as the promised one. We believe that that child is the beginning of the Muslim faith.

We can have religious avis, we just couldn't enter them in the contests last year.

Phew! That was a lot of typing. lol.

From my researches I believe Idris is the Biblical Enoch ^^; Most of the stories do match the Islamic ones, and I simply forgot to mention Abraham We believe that there must have been around 125 000 prophets, but only 25 of them are named in Qur'an.

And Abraham, we believe was put into many tests, in order to test his love for Allah. He was put into a flaming fire by Namrud when he was young, which burned for forty days or so but he came out unharmed. And then he wanted a son, but didn't have one until he was somewhere around 80 years or so, since Lady Sarah couldn't bear a child. Lady Hajara was a hand-maiden given to lady Sarah, and she gave permission for Ibrahim (alai) to marry Lady Hajara and conceive a child. And so he got his first son, Ismail (alai) but then again Allah put him into another test, this time to leave his newborn son and his wife in the desert. He did as he was bidden, and left them with some dates and water.

They were soon finished, and the little suckling started to cry due to thirst. And Lady Hajara, searching for water for her son, ran to and fro from across the 2 mountains, Safa and Marwa (which is now practiced in Hajj, a pilgrimage to Makkah). Scientifically it is thought that when she ran to one mountain, she must have seen some sort of a mirage which made her run to the other, and so forth. Baby Ismail, crying loud started beating his leg (left or right I can't remember) on the ground 3 times, and to the amazement of Hajara water gushed out. She drank the water herself, and to the thirsty baby, and seeing the water overflowing, she told 'Zam Zam' which means stop stop, and which brings the name Zam Zam, the well where water has never dried. It is believed that it cures many diseases too, if you drink/use it.

Again Ibrahim (alai) was given another test, that was to slaughter his own little son. The son was somewhat of age, and he agreed that he should follow the command of Allah. And therefore, he took Ismail (alai) to a place and laid him on a stone, and sharpened the knife to such an extent that even a stone could split into two, so as to avoid additional harming to his son. But when he brought the knife down it wouldn't cut Ismail (alai). Then Allah sent a goat (or something, I can't actually remember) and asked him to slaughter that instead, stating that he had passed his test.

The child was not the beginning of Muslim faith, but we believe that Islam originated from the time Adam was created, but with many changes ever since, and that Qur'an was declared as the final revelation, and that Allah Himself would protect it till the end of time, without any changes. But the history of Abraham is important, because we go on pilgrimage to Makkah (called Hajj) in order to remember the sacrifices and hardships of Ibrahim (alai). When we visit there we walk across the two mountains, and do many things which Ibrahim (alai) and his family had done.

I'm sorry to type so much, but couldn't help it >.< And also, I'm not emphasizing here that your views are wrong or anything, just merely stating what I know, as you asked ^_^

Interesting. Half of your beliefs about Abraham and Ishmael parallel the biblical version but many of the latter parts of it happened to Abraham's second son Isaac; who was the promised child of Sarah. We also believe that Ishmael and his mother were eventually exiled at Sarah's behest.

Anywho, does anyone care to share any testimonies, prayer requests, or Easter plans? The thread is intended for more than just religious discussion. ^_^ I'll start. My husband had some teeth pulled last week and he had developed a dry socket. The dentist was out of town so he couldn't get an appointment until Monday (yesterday). Well, yesterday morning he woke up with substantially less pain than he had been in over the weekend and when he went to his appointment the dentist said everything looked like it was healing nicely. ^_^ That's an answered prayer. Praise the Lord! ^_^

For easter my church is filling at least 40,000 eggs for the community to pick up and there will be face painting and singing and door prizes. It's really fun but I always get stuck being to busy to enjoy it. But oh well, this year i''m doing it for the glory of god.

We have many Christians here in our country too, but I don't think they celebrate Easter >.< And if they do, they don't show it! But Easter here would be nice, pretty pretty colours =3

That's neat Kitty. My church is really small so we don't do a community outreach for Easter. We do some stuff during the summer and for Christmas though. For Easter we have a sunrise service and then we have breakfast together. Then we have our regular service later in the morning.

I don't see how any Christian wouldn't want to celebrate Easter. I mean, its the celebration of Jesus' resurrection. It doesn't have anything to do with pretty colors though, not really. Most people just wear light colors because it happens to fall during the first days of spring. lol. Several of my Easter dresses have actually been black (though they did have flowers on them). ^_^ Lex, maybe the people in your area celebrate the true meaning of Easter; rather than the secular world's version with eggs and bunnies.

I wouldn't know about that Boo, maybe it has to do with some being Hindu-Christians, I suppose? You can't find Christians in our area though, as I love in a Muslim populated place. But just 15-30mins away there are all sorts of religions, churches, temples, movies and mosques, and maybe this time I should take a point to open my eyes wide and look at the churches =) Maybe they do celebrate Easter but as you said being very subtle about it ^-^

What is a Hindu-Christian? You can't really be both.

I think they are basically Tamil people who converted to Christianity? I don't really know about them, because as I mentioned, I haven't talked to anybody personally And I think it has to do with the fact that there were no actual Christians in our country. The first people here were the Sinhala people, who recieved Buddhism from an Indian king. And then there were few Muslims who were doing trade. Christianity only started spreading after the Western nations colonized our country. Therefore, the few people who followed Christianity were the people who were originally either Sinhala/Buddhist/Hindus ^^

Random fact: This Monday (14th April) will be the Sinhala & Tamil New Year, and I guess it'll be quite fun There's no celebration on our area, but you get holidays in classes and they put awesome shows on TV

---------- Post added 04-08-2014 at 11:32 PM ----------

And just thought about this: You don't mind me posting on this thread, do you? Or am I being tiring? If so I understand, and I'll leave in peace =) Just wanted to know because I subscribed to this thread just now and was thinking of visiting here often

I've never heard of Tamil or Sinhala. ^_^' What country are you from? That is, if you don't mind telling.

No I don't mind you hanging out with us as long as you remain respectful of the purpose of the thread. ^_^

My church had our homecoming this weekend. We had a special guest singer and a huge potluck lunch. The singing wasn't exactly to my taste (I loved the lyrics but not the style) but the older crowd in the church really seemed to enjoy it. Yesterday we had Bible study. We are doing a series on the Fruits of the Spirit. So far we are up to goodness. That's pretty fun.

It's raining here and thundering.

Tamil.. Is a South Indian language, which came to our country. And Sinhala are the native people of our country, who are believed to be the descendants of lions o.0 Pretty far stretched, I know And no problem! :D I'm from Sri Lanka ^^

That's great! What is the fruits of the spirit?

The fruits of the Spirit are nine traits that Christians should exemplify. The Bible says that we differ from the world because of the "fruits" we produce. They are love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, goodness, faith, and self-control.

That's a very long way from here. ^_^

Thank you for making this thread, Saravi. :]

Long story short: I was born & raised in a Christian home, went to church, etc. I accepted Jesus into my heart at the age of 7. I was a pretty sheltered child through middle school, until high school when I attended public school (still a shy - a wallflower to say the least). I barely rebelled against my parents, meaning I never did anything I would regret later. I've always been living under my parents' faith to say the least; now, I'm branching out & discovering it for myself - why do I believe what I believe?

As of today, I'm active in my church & sing in the choir - a firm believer of the power of praise. Whenever Satan tries to remind me of my past, I remind him of his future. Praise music always puts me in a better mood. Though I struggle to find the time, I feel myself longing to spend time with God & get to know Him more - when I do, it is so sweet.

Favorite verses:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."
- Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal rock."
- Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)

"Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you for I am your God.
I will strengthen, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
- Isaiah 41:10 (NASB)

Favorite Artists:
TobyMac, Natalie Grant, Hillsong, Jesus Culture, Bethel (recent), and many more. :]

Welcome Laurelle! ^_^ Did you just join Mene? I am very fond of Jesus Culture too.

I have a prayer request...
Could anyone possibly pray for me, I'm going to be applying to a job and I need streangth I need to know it's for me and it's the right time.

Being Bipolar makes me quit things makes me give up a lot...

I'd really appreciate the prayer.

Originally Posted by Saravi Boo

Welcome Laurelle! ^_^ Did you just join Mene? I am very fond of Jesus Culture too.

Thanks~ and yes, I am new to Mene.
I want to see Jesus Culture culture when they were here in town; but I had clinicals plus work that weekend -_- ... next time. ^_^

I will definitely pray for you Fox. ^_^ Sorry it took so long to reply. I have no weekend internet. Good luck with the job. I understand some of what you are dealing with. My hubby struggled with bipolar disorder for years. The Lord healed him of it about three years ago though and I praise Him for that. I pray he will do the same for you. ^_^

Did everyone have a good Easter? ^_^