Joshua

Welbis gave some excellent replies but I'd still like to expound on the matter a bit further: I assume you are referring to evolution? There is both macroevolution and microevolution. Macro is the unproven belief that everything came from nothing which violates the Law of Biogenesis since all life must come from life. Micro has been proven as with Darwin's finches that small changes occur within species, they adapt. Macro was cleverly snuck in and proclaimed fact when micro was and people commonly confuse the 2. Evolutionists have been struggling to find transitional forms, missing links, and new dating methods to support their pet theory that everything came from dirt rather then God, in vain. Well, I happen to love reading All correct. It's good to see you are indeed searching the Scriptures to see what they say. The thing you are missing however is that as the Scripture says, our sins have separated us from God: Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Without Christ we are His enemies: Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Until we are saved God is not our Father. You will see here who is: John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 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. Just before this, Christ says: John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. I was going to speak of justice but will answer that for the next section. God is perfect in every sense of the word, He is both perfectly loving, and perfectly just. Being righteous He can not tolerate or waffle on evil and rebellion or He would no longer be perfect. That we without God are the children of the devil is clear for left alone the world turns to the most foul depravities one can think of. Without the governments God permits no order exists and man turns to the desires of His heart. You see, God knows our hearts, we are guilty not only of what we have done but what we would do if we could get away with it. How many times would you have done the unspeakable if restrictions in life had not disallowed it? Our own conscience bear us witness for what we are within if we only listen to them. 1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. The true story is often given of a just judge in California when a girl was brought into the court for speeding. Being just he had to bring the gavel down and fine her. But the judge ironically was her father and stepping down he took out his wallet and paid the fine for her. God being perfectly just has to pronounce the sentence, being perfectly loving He paid the fine for us, if we'll only accept it. He sent HIS only begotten Son to us and guess what we did? We killed Him. The whole rotten race of man crucified their Saviour. God always had only one begotten Son, not adopted as we are into His family when accepting Christ as His Saviour. He sent that Son to die for us and when we reject Him we place ourselves on the same side as those who crucified Him. We too are guilty. And our sins placed Him there, on that cross. The Father sent His beloved, here is the parable for you to read: Luke 20:9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. 10 And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. 11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. 13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. 14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. 15 So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? 16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid. If you are on death row and someone offers to take your place, don't you then have free will? We've been given the free will not to sin but none of mankind will ever do it, and thus must suffer the penalty for sin: Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God will judge us according to our works and our punishment will be determined thereby. However, eternal life to dwell with God is not a right but a privilege, and one we automatically exempt ourselves from by sin, which is equated to rebellion against God. As for bowing the knee to Hitler, they chose not to worship him believing him unworthy. With God His power and majesty will be such that every knee will bow to Him, whether out of awe or God's power I know not. Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. I've heard this brought up before, and as you'll notice in Numbers 31 that was of Moses' judgement that they had rebelled against God, the Lord speaking in 31:25-29 says no such thing. You are assuming that because Moses said to do it God condoned it. However, as seen here, Moses gave divorce as a commandment because he gave in to what his people wanted, not because God wanted it. I would assume there was some pressure on Moses in this case as well and since nowhere in the Bible does God say to have women raped it was simply Moses giving into pressure. Matthew 19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. Hmm... that children being killed for the parents was not normally permitted since the Law commanded Israelites not to do so: Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. Maybe you won't like this, but the absolute answers to your questions concerning this lie herein: Romans 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. One interesting thing to notice is that God often refers to whole nations as entities or as one person, and pronounced judgment upon all, I'd expect that the case with Pharaoh. To be perfectly honest with you this is one case I don't know how God works with, perhaps because the lusts of their fathers they would do, the Egyptian children would've grown up to garner even more punishment to themselves which dying before birth they would be exempt from or perhaps that was simply their appointed time as determined solely by God since time and chance happens to all, perhaps it has to do with God's judging and referring to whole nations as one person or entity. The verses however I have given you pertaining to the subject and you can express your thoughts on them and then we can look further into them if you wish. I'm surprised you missed the big thing with the nations from that area, child sacrifice. It speaks constantly of them as worshippers of Baal, Molech, etc.. so that the people in worship "made their children to pass through the fire", a great abomination in God's eyes for which He destroyed whole nations, and when Israel followed the example of those nations God punished them greatly, the whole Old Testament tells the story of their punishments for doing so. God chose to use Israel as the refuge for those who did choose to worship Him. But as always His pattern, they first had to choose to come to Him. There are several cases in the Old Testament of non-Jews becoming Jews by coming to Israel but many did not precisely because they didn't want to worship any but their idols. For those who should choose God's way of governing He commanded Israel to provide a means for the feeding of all: Leviticus 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Death and suffering are the results of sin, or rebellion against God. Death did not come into the world until Adam rebelled against God. Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Remember Adam's punishment in the garden, the suffering and toil to be his and how the earth would begin to work against him? By mankind's disobedience to God they brought suffering and pain upon themselves, Christ came that we might be freed from those consequences and be a part of the coming kingdom which will be without such things. You could say mankind ruined the first perfect world God made so He will just make another one where mankind can't ruin it since those who will be a part of it will already have their sins paid for and thus can't bring the consequences of sin into the kingdom. Faith is a most logical stepping stone since: Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And faith is not hope, faith is belief, which can come from absolute facts as well. The devils James says believe in one God as well, and they tremble, but that kind of faith is dead and isn't enough to save. Just believing there's one God, or intellectual orthodoxy is a kind of faith, but it's not enough. God has provided not only His Word but the Holy Spirit who works in the lives of people as their lives themselves are a testimony to others of how Christ can change lives. And you mention other books, but what others claim to be utterly without flaw or fault? And how easily can mistakes be found in them? God has done what needs to be done to keep us from Hell by paying the price for our sins. Faith is simply strong belief in something, belief in "evolution" or macroevolution is nothing more then a kind of faith, like it or not. If you look at history I think you'll find it interesting how some of those persecuted by those causing the witch trials, Inquisition, Crusades, etc... were actually those who lived the Gospel more then their attackers, like the Anabaptists. My Scofield has the following on Isaiah 45:7: 1(45:7) God is not the author of sin (Hab. 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:13; Ti. 1:2; Jas. 1:13; 1 Jn. 1:5). One of the meanings for the Hebrew word ra carries the idea of adversity or calamity, and it is evidently so employed here. God has made sorrow and wretchedness to be the sure fruits of sin. If you look at Christ He first had to perceive what was in the minds of the Pharisees, and while He looked into the future as easily as we look into the past, it seems He first had to look. I've heard this brought up about free will before. The Bible uses the word omnipotent but not omniscient. The question then becomes does God knowing all things first have to examine that knowledge to know it or make use of it? Does He first have to examine it or look at that area of the future to see it? Interesting question I think. You say Alpha and Omega or beginning and ending means All-Knowing, and God does have all knowledge, the question is whether He acknowledges or uses it all simultaneously and whether He must first examine it to know it, having all knowledge is different from knowing all knowledge.... God built Satan as an angel and gave Him great power, wisdom, and glory, but it was so much for him that he rebelled. You'd have to see my answer just above again otherwise though I suppose. Often with this there is talked of an age of accountability for each person which is what is believed to be the age an individual person realizes what they are doing as wrong and thus becomes responsible for their actions. Whatever isn't of faith is of sin because you are doing that which you inwardly know to be wrong. However, a baby doesn't have that knowledge of right and wrong yet, so... Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. The Bible does tell us to go out and care for orphans and widows and to be compassionately caring for others. Well, the first thing you're building this whole thing around is faulty, it doesn't say the difference between good and evil, but merely to know good and evil. You can know it but not know it well or adequately, just enough to make you lose faith and thus have sin. Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Well, I think I answered a lot of your stuff... Hopefully you're still on the site and we can discuss this further... but for now, I'm getting some much-needed sleep... Almost 11 am now (yes, am, not pm) and I need it. Night Notice from buffaloHELP: Fixed double post issue as per request. Fixing BB code issue. Still not showing correctly--coming back later to fix codes.

Dodgeball was always fun, even find some people occasionally who are still interested in it. There was this fun spin-off of it as well, pin bon bardemon (probably spelled wrong) where there were bowling pins on both side and teams could win by knocking down those pins as well as getting the other team out. Never tried the frisbee game though. At my elementary school I remember having many future pitchers there, one was huge for his age and could throw the ball so hard it would break open parts of the stage. Had some awful good competition going there and we were fortunate to have 2 principals during my time there who also loved the game and even played with the kids in it. After they got promoted the school went downhill though and it could end up closing, been a revolving door of principals ever since.

I wonder how the college age group went? I'm in one at my church although it's out until August or so starting a month or so ago Too bad Junebug probably won't be on the site again any time soon. I was talking to someone recently about such groups and one idea is to contact members through email or phone either to remind them about group meetings coming up or else to give them information/reminders about what is being studied in the group. Studying lessons relating to Ravi Zecharias or Josh McDowell might prove useful as well, and of course Bible study should be integrated in there.

Alright, forgot the "not", should be not married to. I don't check my posts much on this site since I can't edit them anyway, have seen way too many posting mistakes then I'd like... The thing with murder is that it's not just what we do that we are guilty of but what we'd do if we could get away with it and no one would know. If you've been so angry at someone you'd kill them if you could get away with it and no one else knowing but don't do it because that's not the case, does it make you any less guilty? Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. God has permitted governments to exist on the Earth to keep some semblance of order until He does judge everything and to Christians it says not to resist governments but submit as long as submitting doesn't go against the Bible and to pursue peace with all men. I guess the thing you consider so improbably and distasteful a possibility has already happened to Christians because they acted in such a way. Just look at the early Christians, Anabaptists, who refused to fight back and were killed in droves, in some of the most horrendous ways you could think of. They died praising God and praying for their enemies and yet by the grace of God Anabaptists (though going by a slightly different name) still exist today.

ending Xisto forum posts abruptly through...

Lol, a topic just for me, huh? Let's see, I jumped off a 2 story house onto a cherry tree (they don't even normally grow that tall) when I was in 8th/9th grade or so. The police came on the roof too because I was believed suicidal. Came close to drowning several times including once when I jumped off the diving board when I was young and didn't bother to mention I couldn't swim My mom got in a lot of car accidents before that I was in and I was driving once and the rain was coming down so bad that I ended up missing a turn-off and hit a huge rock bigger then a beachball. I faced down 3 guys to help a friend who were into the gang scene and claimed a car down the road had some more guys with guns. I had some bad asthma attacks when I was really young and a very bad case of bronchitis that was pretty serious. And just a few months ago they found out from an eye exam symptoms of Horner's Syndrome which can be caused by spinal cord injuries among other things (meaning potential paralysis and all that good stuff can be involved) and can be life threatening. I missed an appointment however and don't know if I have it or not. They made getting the appointments sound so urgent and since it would've taken so long to reschedule I just figured if anything was going to happen it would happen before the appointment anyway, soo... Anyway, been several months now and nothing's happened, so... *shrugs* Been on multiple anti-depressants at one time, possibly life-threatening, when I was younger. Quite a few years someone put me in a chokehold from behind around the neck during a basketball game too. Let's see, what else... That's everything off the top of my head anyway. Maybe I'll think of more later.

When you think about how much we rely on our sources of information and of everything we see, how lies could be facts and vice versa... It really makes you appreciate how much we go by faith in everything. Ultimately I think the one revealing factor in something is the degree of truth you can see in something, in other words if you can search it utterly without finding any fault or error in it then maybe you've finally found something you can believe in.

I think government-provided health care is tied to this as well. Isn't a hospital refusing to treat a dying person without payment first as much accessory to murder as this? Yes, our government is entirely messed up. It convicts people for crimes they don't commit, arrests demonstrators against wars however peacefully they protest, and through the Patriot Act can take any American at any time and throw them in a prison camp on some island to do whatever they want. But government corruption has ensued only because of a complacent, uncaring, American people.

I'm in college now and I think you'll find there are things to miss about highschool. For one thing there's not the structured intermersing of people for all groups. Instead you'll mostly just be seeing from your one field of study. The people who make it to different colleges or chose career paths other than college you'll no longer be seeing... In other words, the groups of people you'll meet will not be as diverse. Unless you make an active attempt to get involved with other people you can just as easily go home from each class without really getting to know anyone in your classes. You're not going to have as many classes a day as you had in highschool for one thing. You won't have them as frequently. And most likely there will be more work-oriented people there who aren't going to focus as much on getting to know others. Unless you're involved with a sport or use a certain facility you won't have the physical activities like PE and it won't be freely accessed either (tryouts and physicals at the least). I think you'll be more likely to find bad teachers as well, ones straight out of career fields just looking in essence to punch a timecard and go home rather then find anything meaningful from teaching. Also, you may find they think themselves more important then your average highschool teacher. They're more likely to just throw information at you and consider their job done then a highschool teacher I think. If you want to learn the material you may have to do it yourself since some don't even use the textbooks and have bad teaching methods.So, without highschool you can say goodbye to a system which leads you into friendships and relationships with other people, fun physical activities, old friendships, and teachers which often care less about the students. Just my thoughts.

On the contrary ma'am, I'm saying all of us, myself included, don't deserve to live... period. We don't get out of it by being good or following some ideology, we get out of it by finding mercy by trusting in Him, Jesus Christ our God, to save us since He will never forsake those who are truly trusting in Him. If you take a look at the 10 Commandments which most people will agree are a pretty basic standard for the most part, you'll see we all fall short somewhere. The chances of anyone never breaking any of these few even is astronomical: -Never hate anyone, since hatred is equated to murder. -Never tell a lie, however a small. -Never lust after someone you're married to, that's equated to adultery. -Never steal anything. God's ultimate standard is perfection, it's why Christ said to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. We all fall short and that's why it says the whole world is guilty before God. The whole point doesn't lie in showing others to be worse then anyone else (aside from that we all sinners worthy of death) but to find mercy ourselves and help others find mercy as well. In other words, since we are all by default the enemies of God since God's standard is perfection and anything less is literal rebellion against Him, we need to get in a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ's payment for our sins. Simple as that. You might find this ridiculous but this means humans cannot say a murder or rapist or thief needs to be killed for their crimes by other humans since we are all guilty of death. God being perfect is the only just Judge who can administer vengeance properly, and if Christ never came for anyone to believe in Him, we'd all be in serious trouble. Christ is our escape, God providing us a way out from His wrath and just judgment on our sin. God is perfect and thus perfectly just and there has to be a payment for our sins. I saw this movie "National Treasure" recently where the cop told the main charachter at the end that someone had to go to prison. The star ended up getting the "bad guys" caught in a trap by the police so they ended up going to prison instead of him... but this is in essence the dilemma God is in. Someone has to pay for our crimes, He's given us the option to have our penalties fall on His head instead of ours, but if we refuse then we'll just have to get what we had coming in the first place. For if we refuse the perfect sacrifice of God Himself... what escape do you really think is left? This was all I was trying to say all along, I'm not trying to make myself look better then anyone else or say anyone else needs to be punished to make myself look good. I'm all to happy to admit I deserve death, in fact I'm sure a lot of the saints in Heaven will be ex-murderers and drinkers and the lowlifes of society who fell as low as they could get and realized how much they needed God. But God can save anyone, if they are willing, and truly repent. Maybe this all sounds ridiculous to you as well, that even Hitler could've gone to Heaven if He'd repented. But you see, when Christ comes into a person's life He changes them from the inside out, and they are no longer the same person. They will turn from their sins (repentance) and forsake them utterly. They are given a new spirit that gives them utterly different desires and passions and which loves others easily. And it comes with peace. I can try to explain it to you further but I think anything I could say would be inadequate in this matter. And if it should be possible for a person to rebel so greatly against God that they should lose their salvation the Bible explicitly states in Hebrews 6:4-6 that they never regain their salvation for they seek to crucify Christ afresh. Whether that can happen or is simply hypothetical and whether those who do not dwell according to the Bible after being saved were really ever saved to begin with is controversial. Hopefully this clears some things up though.

I would SO give Switch a reputation point here if I could Great post! One thing I've stressed and continue to is exactly this, that our society is just going to keep getting worse and worse until it brings judgment upon itself. So looking at the ironies of a society which creates criminals and then penalizes them may provide us some insight into the workings of things and even enlightenment perhaps, but hoping for a perfect world before the final judgment is fruitless, our world has been trying to get better and we've gone from Hitler to a larger scale of murder with abortion. The sheer scale of murder, adultery, and abuse of women and their children in this world has got to be about as high as it's ever been. Just because people are learning doesn't mean they're coming to the knowledge of the truth.

I do think our society has become obsessed with the outward appearance and how pleasing things are to our eyes. Advertisements of all sizes and shapes appeal to our eyes and tell us to succumb instantly to that which appeals to our physical senses.I think the world needs a wake up call to the things which are really important. Maybe people would treat those around them better if they realized true beauty lies in the nature of a person. A humble spirit, modesty, compassion for others, gentleness, kindness, honesty, innocence, devotion, and perhaps a blending of some of the aforementioned which for lack of a better term I would call being "sweet" are all very attractive qualities in a person. However, our society no longer reflects on these things and for the sake of advertising would just as soon we didn't reflect on them.So many people are inwardly seeking a person with the above qualities but then try to "catch" the person they are thinking of through physical means. If you try to catch a person through physical means, guess what kind of person you'll get? A physical person... One who focuses on the physical and is only interested in what pleasure your physical being or belongings will bring them. So many people find this exact scenario and when their mate sees no more pleasure physically to be attained from them... just leaves, because that's all they were ever sticking around for in the first place.

I really like this reply, right on. If we ask a question with the clear intent of finding the answer and seeking truth it can't be stupid since the very seeking of truth is in itself a worthy cause, and a wise one. I think this is essentially something warrior is getting at. Even if someone with a low IQ asks a question obvious to others it would be debatable whether it is actually a stupid question since it is asked with a wise spirit of knowing truth. Essentially saying something or someone is "stupid" is subjective and the one clear guideline of determining a question's stupidity lies in the spirit with which it is asked. To ask something knowing the answer is stupid or foolish and asking something to genuinely truth is wise. The question lies in how we know whether the asker of the question knew the answer already or was really seeking truth. I think I essentially just expounded a bit on what Warrior said and made it a bit more wordy

Well, I'd been assuming you were accepting the rights of the constitution as valid, like freedom of speech. You are right, none of us have any rights at all, does that make you happy? Or are you arguing that you have more rights then me? I have told you what I believed, if you don't like it, fine, although using a little logic would be nice rather then saying I don't have any rights to do anything. THAT is the very spirit that brings in slavery and killing of other groups, not simply believing there are absolutes. I am both a Jew and a Christian according to the New Testament, why would I want to kill myself? You are right about one thing, I am a servant, and I do have the mind of Christ. I don't have my own mind anymore, I have been born again and given a new mind, a new Spirit, and a new heart. Frankly, I didn't like the old "me" much anyway, and I am very happy that he is gone and crucified with Christ. Because it means I am finally alive. And I am not going anywhere, and noone can pluck me from the hand of my Father, no matter how many of my other rights they try to eliminate. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, we should all examine ourselves to see if joy and love dwell there or only jealousy and spite for those who do not know emptiness within themselves.

The Intro: The word top doesn't even belong in there, makes the wording sound awkward if not being grammatically incorrect. Also development doesn't belong there either and it should just say "involved in repairing and selling" and diversity doesn't really work well there either. 2nd sentence, the first "to" doesn't belong there and the word care is NOT the right word to use.... Well, I could go on, but am not going to bother. I'm just pointing out that if it is your work you really didn't give the guy anything of quality that will look professional to any professional with a decent handle on the English language. Content yourself with the fact that if anything it makes his site look worse and... really, I'd suggest not looking into a career as an intro-writer any time soon

What seems odd to me is that one of the fundamental Baptist beliefs is that all are sinners worthy of death, not just homosexuals but everyone. We all deserve death, and those which have found mercy should also be merciful, knowing the only difference between people is not that one is better then another but that one has found mercy/escape from the wrath to come, eternal life, and a personal relationship with the eternal God. The Bible says that with what judgment we will be judged, and that we should thus be merciful as we have received mercy. This is why Paul didn't fight back when he was stoned and beated, imprisoned and tortured. This is why Stephen in the book of Acts prayed to God rather then struggle against his attackers, even praying for them to find mercy and forgiveness as he died.And judgment by the way means a sentence or punishment as a judge would mete out, or trying to have such a sentence pronounced as is done here. Simply disagreeing with someone is not judgment as some would use it. When we try to point the finger at the sins of others to show them as bad and us good we fall into the position the Pharisees did of trying to cast stones when we ourselves are not without sin. Only the sinless can judge in justice, which is why God has said vengeance is His, for all the world is guilty before God. And it is why Jesus Christ who is God is the only One who could not only pay for our sins but forgive them, since He being God also is the only man without sin.

Well, let me tell you about an article I read in a magazine recently (USA Today I think) about this ship, I believe it was called The Mercy if I remember right. The ship set out to help people from the Tsunami with volunteers and on the way ended up finding many, many people to help and went well out of its way to help them. What's more, the volunteers went all out willingly all choosing to go the extra mile and spend their own time to help people in need. A physician said feelingly that it was what he had become a physician for. Because of this India and nations around it which once hated our guts have suddenly overwhelmingly changed their attitudes towards us. This because of ONE act of kindness done by a few people with compassion in their hearts for the suffering of those they didn't know. We are not just responsible for those of our country, the suffering of others should be as ours, period.

I've always just thrown out the best answers I could think of to such questions, if people find them insufficient, well, then that's their problem. Me, I'll just keep going on with my business and if they aren't impressed with my answers, tough :unsure:I haven't thought much on it, but I think people actually admire those who act without worry of what others think. When you speak honestly to the best of your ability so that you feel good about what you said at any given later time and can account for it to ANYONE with a good conscience, and don't care how others react to that... I think it has an impact on people. I'm not going to think too much on it though precisely because I don't really care one way or the other on the subject, although you can think further on it if you wish. :PMaybe I've said something here that will prove beneficial to someone, as is ever my wish.

Darkness loves darkness, and hates the light. What you're saying essentially is you only want to hear what you already believe and what won't prove your beliefs wrong. If someone were to reasonably sit down and discuss something with you, not trying to pass some private interpretation to you that needed you to read some book, without getting angry or yelling to try and emphasize their points and override yours, if they were just going to sit down and use logic to convey their points, would you listen if it wasn't something you wanted to hear? A closed mind is not one that doesn't have set beliefs, but that refuses to hear out other beliefs for fear they will shake a person's faith in what they believe. Light doesn't fear darkness for light reveals all that comes to it. But darkness will not come to the light for it will cease to exist. I guess the thing I most object to is your saying you don't want to hear wrong things with what you believe, in other words, you're essentially saying you're happy with the lies you know and don't want to hear anything that shakes your faith in them, correct? Otherwise, why would you not want them to "point out the wrong things with my religion", essentially that admits that there are wrong things with your religion, along with admitting that you are refusing to look at them. Wasn't this whole post started so we could reasonably discuss "intelligently" what we believe with logic and not simply accusations or charachter assassination? Was that not the spirit with which this topic was started? Or am I wrong in this?

Fact of the matter is that people are not going to act justly or as they should, it's human nature to be evil and unreasonable. How I look at it... You look at the War on Terror and the abu ghraib abuses but these are just reflections of the gross miscarriages of justice overlooked even on the home front. If the American people have reached the point where they will do nothing about abortion, the death penalty, innocent people spending years of their lives in prison with at best a "sorry we goofed" statement, and the police, prosecutors, and childcare "welfare" officials who cause so many problems for innocent people get off virtually scot-free, what makes you think they will go out of their way to do anything for those not even in their own country? This isn't just America either however, not anymore anyway, the rest of the world is copying many of America's practices, for the worse in many cases, and the world in general is one which turns a deaf ear to the cries of those in need. I heard a statistic before, something like half the world has a surplus of food and the other half doesn't have enough, or something like that... Long story short, I'm saying that if there is going to be any real true reform in all these issues, there would have to be a changing of the people in this world who condone such problems. You would essentially have to change the very nature of people, and they say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. The essential nature of people is very, very resistant to any kind of change. Well, I believe there will be a resolving of all these issues, but only when the earth is populated by people who have had their very natures changed. And that will come only after this earth has been destroyed and a new one created, and the only ones left to inhabit it those with the love of Christ in their hearts. Scoff at the idea as much as you want but the fact remains that you need the natures of the people inhabiting a society changed, and I don't think you can give a more likely scenario for such a thing occurring.

I've noticed a lot of temperature records being broken like crazy in the last few years. Both weather and animal behaviour has changed from just 10 years ago, enough that with me being only 20 I can notice the change. It's coming very rapidly and I'm surprised it hasn't garnered more attention then it has. Global warming and all the negative effects man's inventions/habits are having on the planet have something to do with it I'm sure, but me being me, I can't dispel the notion that it may simply be the end of times approaching.I think not only this but the general nature of people will keep changing for the worse until a cataclysmic judgement can no longer be put off any longer.

No friends? You should find yourself a good Bible study or youth group Oh, and I think very young children can probably get away with calling women older than them without fear of death or dismemberment As for SN, do you think Sunkist already got to him or is he on the lam?

Well, I do know that for StationRipper you can set up a station for people to listen to any music you have and that's completely legal since they don't know what they'll be hearing. You won't need copyrights for that, but for the station to be up I believe the computer hosting it needs to be on for it to stream from so a lot of the main radio streamers are those with extra computers. Would be a possibility though.

Aside from the question of whether it is right or wrong, I agree with you CK, love itself is a guideline here. Love does not harm others, and how can someone say they love someone if they knowingly do that which they know within will hurt that person? Do they really think that the other person won't mind a special bond or what bond could be there being broken by bringing others into it? And if you do act like that is there really any level of commitment or bond there to be broken anyway? What I'm saying is, if the other person doesn't care how their partner acts with others, is there really any commitment or devotion there of which they can be jealous about? If they are nonchalant about the whole thing how much do you think they really care about you? Do you really think they find you irreplaceable or just an "item" which brings them pleasure just as some other "item" is nothing more then a pleasure-bringer as well?

I was very surprised to see more then one person here agreeing that smoking is a bad thing, it seems like almost everyone here in Illinois is or has been a smoker before. I have no trouble believing that 70% statistic. To my knowledge noone in my immediate family has smoked before, my mom was considering starting but we weren't too happy about that idea and she apparently never started soo... My Grandpa John used to smoke a pipe and my Grandma Lois died of cancer believed to be related to his smoking. What's bad is my grandpa divorced her and instantly remarried several years before she died too, and didn't support her during that time, hoping she'd sell the house, which she didn't... So, I've never had too high an opinion of smokers. I don't hate them though but smoking literally makes me ill. I have an excellent sense of smell and can tell what is being cooked at our house quite often just as I'm reaching the property, let alone the porch. I have gone 20 feet away from people smoking and had coughing fits, and me and my dad have had debates on which smells worse, skunks, manure, or cigarettes (I've smelled all 3 but still hold with cigarettes being the worst). My most polite way of dealing with cigarette smokers in the vicinity is to sidetrack around them, hundreds of feet if I have to, and simply hold my breath. When they're too close though I'll also cover my mouth and nose and hurry by as quickly as possible. I just cannot stand the smell or getting it in my lungs at all... Also, I'm pretty athletic and I think people find me a bit intimidating so I've never been confronted about my habits towards cigarette/pipe smoke in the area. Did the person who got beat up tell authorities or anyone? Just curious. Cigarette/pipe smoke is one of my biggest pet peeves, and I'd be all for a world devoid of cigarette and pipe smoke. Certain employers are actually not hiring smokers who smoke even on their own time from what I hear. I have a severe prejudice towards smokers (who smoke in public areas anyway) that leads me to instantly write them off as insensitive and inconsiderate of others since they are subjecting not only themselves but all who come around them to the dangers of smoking, since second-hand smoke is even more dangerous to those around them. Hopefully the states will at least shoot taxes on booze and cigarettes through the roof.