Joshua

vivariously = vicariously or vivariusly?

Wow... been a while since I spent time thinking about why reality seems unreal to us... let's see how much I can recall. The Bible speaks of walking by faith and not by sight, how the real realities lie in the realm of the heart and the mind and all our physical perceptions are not the reality but that which lies within ourselves. Muddle over that for a while, Matrix-lovers Moving on. We live in a world that is a mistake, that was never meant to be, and is collapsing from its once perfect state thousands of years ago. As C.S. Lewis wrote, we are eternal spirits in a world that tries to hide our true identities from us. This world has no point left but to go to the end of its rope when its inhabitants become so bad that they will force the universe as we know it to be destroyed. Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Those verses above, all creation is in a frozen state waiting for the resolution to come, waiting for it all to be finished and get on to the goal that awaits. It's painful for creation to continue waiting in its imperfect state until it can finally be made right. You wonder why things seem so unreal? It's because as the first line in the first poem I ever wrote says, "Earth is a testing ground between two planes." These aren't our ultimate bodies and this isn't the ultimate reality to come, just a testing ground, a glimpse, a shadow of the true reality to come. We live in a mortal body that has yet to become the immortal one that will dwell either in the Lake of Fire or God's coming kingdom. Psalms 144:4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away. Ecclesiastes 6:12 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? Again, we see things that are nothing but a shadow of those to come, a glimpse of what they should be. We know within we are immortal yet our days on this earth are appointed and our bodies mortal ones. We also see despair around us and all seems as a shadow without hope, if light had not come: Matthew 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Where's an "All Of The Above" option when you need it, huh?

It might make people more aware of what's going into the water pollution-wise actually. You might even end up with underwater housing as a result of this and more advanced underwater weaponry. I don't see it causing much more pollution or water problems though since you can't bring all that much with you just diving to avoid swimming with too much weight. People using fish as target practice with underwater weapons meant to protect them from predators could prove a problem though, and you'd need a way to see that might not involve light beams which would alert predators, maybe underwater see in the dark goggles or something. Interesting concept though.

Hmm... I'm going to take a wild guess that most of the people picking other like either white or black.

Ooh, a riddle! *rubs hands eagerly* Let me see... There must be some hidden message here invisible to the untrained mind just waiting to be revealed... Ever is really the name of a person (girlfriend has started hating "ever") who is being hated by this fellow's girlfriend since he was involved with the zoo and when vindictive ol' Jaybird dropped off a newly-caught Kodiak bear on the girlfriend's door as retribution for their breakup, Ever, Jaybird's brother, who is involved with the zoo had a chance to catch it and get it off her door but passed on the opportunity so now the girlfriend hates him. Ever had a falling out with Jaybird because he's now hated by the girlfriend so now they each hate each other but since both Jaybird and the girlfriend dislike Ever the girlfriend is starting to like Jaybird again, case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend thing. In the time that's passed however the girlfriend has met up with this Jackson guy who like most people greatly detests the vindictive, sadistic Jaybird and just to spite Jaybird is going out with his girlfriend yet still holds ties to other girls. However he doesn't let Jaybird's old girlfriend know since he doesn't care about her and all he cares about is spiting Jaybird... Right?

The guy spoken of here? John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

With the Big Bang it at its core believes everything came from nothing. Dirt poofed out of nowhere and some whirled around this piece and others around this piece and became worlds and moons and some water got involved somehow and *poof!* Here we are Through observation the Law of Biogenesis is accepted which states that all life must come from other life, which obviously contradicts the Big Bang Theory. As for Genesis, it clearly uses a solar day as its unit of time at the least after the fourth day. This means in the next 72 hours not only were all plants and animals made but man as well. Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.There is macroevolution and microevolution, macro the belief that everything came from nothing, or interspecies evolution, and microevolution, meaning evolution within a species or species adaptation, which is proveable. Macro however has never been proven and is admittedly unproveable, and even illogical according to the Law of Biogenesis.In Genesis 30 some cattle become slightly different cattle, and looking in Genesis you will see God commands the animals to bring forth "after their own kind."Many people shocked at how so many animals could fit on the ark don't realize that not only were young animals probably brought on, but that if this was near the beginning of time animals wouldn't have changed to so many types as we think of them. Microevolution would mean there was one original cat species from which jaguars, lions, etc... come from, one original dog species from which coyotes, wolves, etc... come from, etc... Just as people who spend too much time in a desert climate get dark skin as a race or who spend too much time in a tundra climate get a pale complexion and squinted eyes to adjust for the glare off the snow, so the animals would adapt with minor changes as with the finches Darwin observed. Darwin hoped that transitional forms would become more apparent but after 200 years now they are still lacking. We should see cat-dogs, bird-fish, mammal-reptiles, etc... all over the place if evolution holds true, but we do not. All the dating methods once presented as fact have been disproven including potassium-argon dating, carbon dating, and most recently carbon 14 dating. Last I heard they were saying Dendrochronology or tree ring dating was the new flawless method of dating things. Just look at all the supposed missing links that have been frauds or mysteriously disappeared, or else have larger cranial cavities suggesting intelligence even greater then ours (perhaps why we use only 10% of our brains now, mankind isn't getting smarter, living shorter as we do then in Biblical times perhaps our brains never get the chance to develop as they did for those who lived hundreds of years). There are flood legends from here to China and some of the ancient Biblical cities have been excavated like Ninevah, which scholars firmly refused to believe could be as great a city as the Bible made it out to be for being so ancient... until they excavated it. Luke's attention to detail has helped archaeologists find whole cities, just read "More Than A Carpenter" by Josh McDowell where one instance is quoted of this happening. And the Bible does not claim simply to be just a bunch of stories as the Catholics would like to believe, it claims to be devoid of the fallacies brought by men and the very Word of God, divinely inspired, divinely constructed, and divinely preserved. 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:Luke 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.Psalms 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

So many people want to support abortion because of the rare cases where a woman was raped or where the woman's life is in danger. These are rare cases and certainly don't constitute the majority of abortion cases every year.AND WHAT PEOPLE FAIL TO REALIZE IS THAT BEFORE ABORTION WAS LEGALIZED ABORTION WAS ALLOWED IN THOSE RARE CASES OF RAPE OR THE WOMAN'S LIFE BEING IN DANGER.A child's brain and vital organs mature within just a few weeks, something the whole trimester stuff ignores. Also, the staunch abortion advocates also champion partial birth abortion which can involve a child being born normally and the law says that if they don't touch it it isn't born, so they can wheel it into a back room and just let it starve to death. There was one woman whose baby lived from an abortion and she realized she'd made a mistake and tried to keep it alive, begging the abortionists to call an ambulance but they refused, and the baby died in her arms. She is now among the many opposing abortion as evil, as is the woman who first opened the Roe vs. Wade case, who regrets having done it.And finally, so many know this about God knowing children when they are in the mother's womb:Psalms 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.But what of this one? According to the Bible we are responsible as humans even BEFORE leaving our father's body!Hebrews 7:9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. 10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

One thing I see bypassed in conversations about oil prices and the Iraq War is the matter of the US oil reserves. The US hoardes huge amounts of oil for its military needs and so the nation doesn't just instantly go dry or dependent on other nations. Once in a while the US will open those reserves and give them to stations to drop prices, which is why such fluctuations can occur. My point is, the US could be getting excess oil from Iraq and just storing it, since the military has such absolute control over the country. It also might be politically desirable for them to do this since it would persuade the American public that the war wasn't just for oil. Then after they deem a sufficient enough time to have passed they start selling the oil at a higher profit, and with Iraq's and Afghanistan's troubles that might be less of a market for the oil to come from otherwise.Me, I'm not persuaded one way or the other, I just think these are possibilities to consider that no one ever seems to focus on.

I think a lot of this has to do with how we size up people we see. We feel more comfortable I think when we feel we can place people in a box. It can be almost a matter of pride to size up someone and feel we know what they are or are not capable of. I think we need to realize that each person is unique and that there is no one-size-fits-all way of treating or reacting to people. Maybe it also has to do with our nature trying to group people so that we can act accordingly depending on what we think we know about them. I think the average person uses many facades or fronts and depending on which people they are around, they are seen differently. When we reach the point where all people around us see us relatively the same then we can know we are no longer stereotyping and treating all equally indeed. I think that that in itself is a tough goal to reach, and something rarely achieved.

Ah, for this minesweeper it doesn't record a score for custom ones anyway

Alright, for starters I'd like to say I loved some of those last posts by Switch and TheFurious1, Horus had a good post on where Catholocism is really from as well. I was impressed with some of the answers to this, but I think there's still some stuff left for me to cover Now, with that said, my reply to the original post: Amby, about God foreseeing disaster, He clearly is able to look into the future like we look at the present, although whether He knows it already without needing to look is debatable. You seem to think that Him making Adam and Eve when they would fall was a failure on His part, when in actuality He knew that it would give Him a chance to give to mankind even greater blessings then they would originally have had: 1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Hebrews 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? 1 Corinthians 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. The thing with those peoples wiped out by the Israelites was that they worshipped Baal and Molech so that they practiced child sacrifice, had temple prostitutes, raped women who came to the towns, etc... And God having the right to kill all who sin chose to execute judgment on them just as He has the right to execute it upon us all at any time. God being perfectly just can not allow justice to go by the wayside, He is the only perfect judge and there must be a payment made for sin. The wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23) and someone had to die. Abraham and Isaac make a good example of what had to happen, God sent a lamb to die in Isaac's place just as He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb, to die for the sins of all mankind. It has been said that even as the Father let Isaac live He knew at the same time that in the place of Isaac (who symbolized all mankind) He must one day send His own Son to die that all who trust in Him might live. You are assuming that the Catholics who've committed such atrocities were Christians even though they did not love others as themselves and do no harm to others as Christ commanded. Here are some of the practices the Bible condemns as being of those to come: -Worship angels and have voluntary humility Colossians 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, -Forbid to marry and say you can't eat certain meats 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: -Worship Mary Luke 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. -Will use philosophy and the traditions of men Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. -Will use Jewish fables and commandments of men Titus 1:14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Also, this is said of Babylon, a great city or institution that is called the great harlot. This is spoken of as happening in the last times as well, why it is in Revelation when speaking of the plagues to come and judgments: Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great ***** that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the ***** sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the *****, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. 21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. Oh, and as for Mass, right after talking about His flesh being bread Christ said this: John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Wow, nice record! My one on this computer is 304. Haven't played it in a while though. When I first started off playing it I just figured out how it worked on my own and didn't even realize you could mark mines with flags I actually beat it on expert without flags before someone stopping by saw me playing and let me on to the fact that you can mark them with flags Made it a whole lot easier I can do a lot better on it now, something just to relax and work those brain muscles a bit. I prefer my MVP 04 demo as my quick recreation game now though I was just playing it and CANNOT believe you got 96 seconds... are you sure this is the basic 16 X 30 board with 99 mines for the Expert level? I was just trying it and was at best halfway through by 96 seconds... Hmm... I just cannot believe that is possible for a normal human being to do ...

You say the Bible was written by men and all men are sinners. But the Bible claims to be written by inspiration of God and that the fallacies of men have nothing to do with it: 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So, the argument that it was written by men holds no water until you can prove that it is not flawless, and in all my years of actively debating with those who have tried to do so, I have yet to find one single certain contradiction. That the Bible DOES say homosexual sex is a sin is clear, just read Romans 1:26-27, Leviticus 18:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 1 Timothy 1:10. On the other hand homosexual sex is stamped under fornication just like adultery, premarital sex, and yes, divorce. Let's see... I figure that just got about 90% of this post's future readers jumping up in outrage HOWEVER, we are all sinners and ANY sin will send you to Hell, it isn't by being good enough that we get to Heaven but by trusting in Christ alone for our righteousness. HOWEVER, there is NO excuse for a Christian having homosexual sex as there is no excuse for a Christian to steal, lie, have sex outside of marriage (one man + one woman as decreed by God), or to hate others. Once saved our old body with our lusts is crucified and we are born again, given a new heart, a new Spirit, a new mind. In short, we're no longer slaves to our former lusts, saying you can't help what you feel is no longer an excuse, for we are now slaves to righteousness. And God changes us more and more as we submit ourselves to Him to make us more like Him. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. If a person says they were saved several years ago but are still walking in a great sin like sex outside of marriage, homosexual sex, stealing, lying, etc... I personally would have to question whether they were ever saved at all. Salvation is a heart transaction between you and God and we can see the fruit of a changed life, a changed heart, and the works that that will produce. If there is no change, that there was ever a changed heart is suspect. Long story short, I think you are forcing others to go against their beliefs if you force churches to wed homosexuals, if they want to wed they should be able to even if they have to wed themselves. It's not homosexuality that will send them to Hell but any sin, and we're all guilty. The ultimate deciding factor in whether we reach Heaven or not is whether we have gotten in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It has to be His payment for our sins we are trusting in to save us, and not anything we or anyone else can do. One person I know likes using this analogy of this island (santa something I believe) that lies about 26 miles off the coast of California. You can try swimming out there but no matter how good you are eventually you'll fall short. So we all fall short, Jesus Christ is the one bridge to getting across, and if trying to make it any other way, we'll all fall short. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

I think that while it can be done as revenge or to hurt a specific person or individual it can also be done just against anyone as a reflection of the emptiness inside a person. You don't have things so you want to destroy what others have. Perhaps it's a reflection of pain, you have pain so you want to cause others pain. Maybe it's just a twist on sadism.

Seems like people either love my replies or hate them fiercely Always good to have a level of controversy around what you say, since truly standing up for something means you can't agree with everyone. When times seem easy it's then that you have to question if you're really standing up for what to believe in. Had to throw that in in an attempt to add to the conversation somehow

Actually I've heard it said that the word gay has been used more and more instead of homosexual to try and pretty up the idea, gay means happy rather than homosexual which in itself tends to emphasize a disorder rather than what homosexuals are trying to sell as a different gender itself. For all those people who don't like the term though why not just use the term 'homosexual'?

In the Bible God tells us that once we are saved and thus His children He hears all our petitions, and that where two are three are gathered together in the name of Jesus, He is there in the midst of them. Great encouragement to have. It is often said that prayer is the Christian's greatest weapon since it brings us into contact with God. It is useful for walking closer to Him and teaching us to lean more and more on Him, to praise Him and worship Him, to present requests (and if they are according to His will He may answer them, and I myself see prayers answered), to pray for others, and to thank Him for food which is the way it is sanctified no matter what it is. Prayer for a non-Christian I agree is pointless except for getting in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ so that you do become a Christian. Otherwise we are enemies of God and not His children. And you don't become a Christian just by accepting some set of doctrines or calling yourself a Christian as some seem to think, and it's not by doing good things either. As Ravi Zecharias says, saying you're a Christian doesn't make you one any more then going in a garage makes you a car. Here's the way, the key: Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

And yet if someone goes into relationships expecting nothing serious to come from it are they really even looking for a serious relationship to begin with? And it may be that there could've been a serious relationship but it never stood a chance because it was instantly treated as a commonplace thing. It's like abortion, the baby might've been a wonderful person but was never even given the chance to grow. Another thing, if you're not expecting a relationship to be serious in the first place why are you messing around with it? I guess that's at the core of all this. What is the purpose of seeking non-serious relationships and what does it say about a person's motives in dating?

At the same time I think perception only has so much of an impact since anyone can read or look at something and if you see no mistakes or flaws in a line of reasoning whatsoever despite looking at as many points of view as possible while still seeing nothing that finds contradictions in it, then perhaps you've found an element of truth. I guess I'm saying that while what we see is largely affected by our perceptions we can still find truth by how uncontradictable something is.

Maybe you could organize a public protest against Runescape at your school? Walk around the front doors with "Down With Runescape" signs or something I'd like to see that

Mike, aren't the videogames a part of their environment?

Interesting if controversial post as always Mike Let's see... Now for mine: Point 1: No one but God has the right to end lives, He's the only One sinless and perfect and the only just judge this universe has. Point 2: Science or any point of view is something to make people believe in something, what's your point? If no one believes in something how much is it really worth? Point 3: I've said before I've been against the Iraq War and all wars indeed, I've made the point before that to follow the Gospel means never fighting back against anyone and always returning good for evil. Take a look at how New Testament Christians like Paul, Stephen, Silas, and Barnabas acted towards others when they were persecuted. And to see the continuation of that, look at the Anabaptists who were burned at the stake, left out in the cold to freeze to death with their garments cut short, and even worse things like having your tongue fixed to a hot wheel and dragged around, burned in oil, etc... And while dying they forgave their enemies and prayed for them. You seem to think the Catholic Church which was doing the burnings and freezings and genocide is the example of Christianity, when it seems far more likely that the ones being killed by them like the Anabaptists carried on the ways of the early Church.

Daniel, out of curiosity, do you believe the Catholic Church teaches that good works or being a good person gets you to Heaven? Do you believe if you're just a good enough person or do good enough things or live a good enough life that it will be enough to reach Heaven?