Your country is listed as "none"

Babylon wasn't on the drop down menu... ;)

50 miles south of Bagdad. How's that going for you?

I think, Babylon can be everywhere, just like Zion - when you see it spiritually. New York City is a good example for a Babylon seen spiritually.

---

Account frozen...

Your country is listed as "none"

Babylon wasn't on the drop down menu... ;)

50 miles south of Bagdad. How's that going for you?

I think, Babylon can be everywhere, just like Zion - when you see it spiritually. New York City is a good example for a Babylon seen spiritually.

You mean Greenwich Village?

---

me@rescam.org

Expert will review financial reporting
Judge 'mystified' by diocese's accounting system

---

me@rescam.org

Judge 'mystified' by diocese's accounting system

Maybe the entire church should go back to college and relearn how to do their accounting the right way, the political way, the standard way, the only way that makes sense to all of the well trained robots we have masquerading around as educated people... ;)

---

It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Translation: based on observation, up there in ... well, is it warm or cold (?) ... Vancouver, kenzieB has seen a sleigh, flying reindeer leading it, and a big fat guy in a red suit with a bushy white beard sitting in the sleigh, a big sack of ... presents (?) ... in the sack. Thus, based on observation, Santa is theoretically possible, and she may have sat on his lap when a wee tot.

Ohh, now I remember you, you sick puppy! But be quiet, this post is meant to inflame Jeffrey, not you. I sill owe you a minstrel's apology.

I'm not sure we even know what we're saying to each other 1/2 the time.
What's this second, minstrel, apology you owe me now?

---

Capitalize on this good fortune, one word can bring you round ... changes.

BEING A PERSON OF FAITH DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE GOING TO GO ON CRUSADES, BURN WITCHES OR FRENCH ARMY GIRLS. GIVE US A BREAK, HOW ABOUT IT? WE'RE ALL NOT THAT LITTLE OLD AUNT IN THE PILLBOX HAT WITH THE BONEY FINGER THAT SHE USED TO SHAKE AT YOU WHEN YOU WERE BAD IN SUNDAY SCHOOL (OR SABBATH SCHOOL IF YOU GREW UP AN ADVENTIST). DON'T CONFUSE HER WITH GOD OR HIS MORE COMMITTED FOLLOWERS.

JUST ONE MAN'S OPINION

I didn't want to quote your whole post, but I agree with you in most of what you said. I don't know much about SDA's either, but if they are all as sensible as you are, I will have to find out more. I once took a comparative religion class and noticed many similarities; one of my friends took the same class and couldn't stop pointing out the differences to me. I guess it depends on your attitude.

I chose my church because its take on Christianity makes the most sense to me. SDA's are pretty literal, but one interesting thing that sets them apart is their belief that the writers of scripture were God's penmen and not his pen. If you get away from the idea that the Bible is divine dictation, you see it instead as the record of many Godly men telling what they have learned from God while they were here. It is not a book of magic, it is a character study. If you read it all, you can find God's character clearly written. What is not clear, you can leave it and come back to it later and you will finally understand.

There are nuts in my church just as there are in every church, government and organization on the planet. Always someone wants to exercise power over others. That was the original sin. It appears everywhere one man wishes to dominate others. The only place I've seen the level of vitriole you see on religious "discussions" is when you get into political ones. Power & Greed are the same everywhere. I know liberals who are kindly loving people who would never harm a fly. I've known them vindictive and evil. The same goes for conservatives, Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Muslims and politicians. Every man tries to find God for himeself. Some do, some don't. Everyone gets his or her chance I believe.

There are those who serve God who for whatever reason cannot believe he exists and there are those who wear the robes of a priest and have served only themselves their whole lives. God will sort them out. I think this world exists to separate the wheat from the chaff so God will know His own. God doesn't terrify people to call them to Him. The terrorist tactics, the hell-fire and damnation don't come from him. Dante's hell came from Dante's mind and Greek mythology, not from the Word. It contradicts everything the writers of scripture have said about God's character.

I belong to a specific church because it is there I can share my faith with others who believe as I do - that God is a God of love, not retribution, joy not terror, freedom not slavery. He's not a hocus pocus, nose twitching Santa Claus figure. We can't say some magic words and make God dance. We can't quote scripture, wave a magic wand and expect manna to drop out of heaven. I have seen miraculous things, but never at my bidding - always in his time. God obeys hiw own laws - including the laws of physics. Miracles look magical because we don't know how they are done. That doesn't mean they aren't according to the laws of physices at whatever plane of existence or dimension of physics that God exists on.

Both science (albeit only recently) and scripture teach that the universe had a beginning and end and that time began with light and will end at last. How different is the Big Bang and "Let there be light!" Relativity, space travel, psychology - so much of what we are only now learning can be found hinted at in scripture as though the writers did not fully understand what they were seeing, but reported it as best they could find words.

As to the bitter squabbling over which sect has it right, Christ himself said that we should be careful how we judged others. He said that the very standard by which we judge will be the same standard by which we ourselves are judged. I've decided that since I want God to be pretty forgiving with me, I ought to be pretty forgiving of others. So who am I to call you names for what you believe.

Scientists keep looking for a "theory of everything". It's kind of hard to reduce God to mathematics. I wish them luck for the closer they come to finding such a theory, I believe, the closer they come to meeting God.

Imagine if you will a great plane upon which many people are scattered. A great light appears in the center of the plane. Each person begins to move toward the light from where he or she stands. The path toward the light is straight and narrow for each person, but each person does not travel by the same path. As we draw closer to the light we all become closer to one another. God doesn't ask us to come to him by someone else's path. If we try to get on someone else's path, we take our eyes off the light and stop moving toward him. Better to keep trying to find that light.

It doesn't matter what you believe now. Go toward the light. That's all there is to it. The rest of this stuff will sort itself out as you go along. It's silly to argue about it. It doesn't help to say, "My way is better." People sometimes change churches because what they believe has changed because they are a little farther along the way toward God. They should never be lured aside looking for a better brand of magic. There is no magic. Only God. Only love we cannot fully comprehend.

Just one man's faith...

---

Tom King

In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature.
Carl Sagan

Well said, Tom!

I actually didn't want to say "my way is better", I wanted to say: my way (chosen by me) is better for me. That's a slight difference.
I think that there are as many ways to delight as there are people. so every-one has his own way, and a right to choose it. And I appreciate the belief of everyone, may it be closer to or more away from God than mine, when, no, if they only believe strong enough to LIVE their belief.
God will sort out later which way has been the right one (if there is only one way), and who obeyed His rules more. It's up to Him, not up to me to judge.

---

Account frozen...

Bishop Robert Brom of the Catholic Diocese of San Diego (center) blessed and rededicated statues at Good Shepherd Parish in Mira Mesa yesterday. The statues were desecrated by vandals in December.

---

me@rescam.org

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying,

"Oh, that You would bless me indeed,

and enlarge my territory,

that Your hand would be with me,

and that You would keep me from evil,

that I may not cause pain."

So God granted him what he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

---

LETS BEGIN IN 2010

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying,

"Oh, that You would bless me indeed,

and enlarge my territory,

that Your hand would be with me,

and that You would keep me from evil,

that I may not cause pain."

So God granted him what he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,

Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed,

and enlarge my coast,

and that thine hand might be with me,

and that thou wouldest keep me from evil,

that it may not grieve me!

And God granted him that which he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 KJV


Odd that the NKJV and the CSB are the only two Bibles that read that way... ;)

---

It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain." So God granted him what he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 KJV

Odd that the NKJV and the CSB are the only two Bibles that read that way... ;)

The translation from the original Hebrew (as translated by the Jewish Publication Society) is very similar to both the NKJV and the KJV:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying: 'Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest work deliverance from evil, that it may not pain me!' And God granted him that which he requested.

It seems to me that the KJV is closer to the meaning of the original Hebrew text.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain." So God granted him what he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 KJV

Odd that the NKJV and the CSB are the only two Bibles that read that way... ;)

The translation from the original Hebrew (as translated by the Jewish Publication Society) is very similar to both the NKJV and the KJV:


It is my Belief no matter what version is read if the person(s) gets the same basic message that is what is important.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying: 'Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest work deliverance from evil, that it may not pain me!' And God granted him that which he requested.

It seems to me that the KJV is closer to the meaning of the original Hebrew text.

---

LETS BEGIN IN 2010

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain." So God granted him what he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

I Chronicles 4:10 KJV

Odd that the NKJV and the CSB are the only two Bibles that read that way... ;)

The translation from the original Hebrew (as translated by the Jewish Publication Society) is very similar to both the NKJV and the KJV:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying: 'Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest work deliverance from evil, that it may not pain me!' And God granted him that which he requested.

It seems to me that the KJV is closer to the meaning of the original Hebrew text.

It is my Belief no matter what version is read if the person(s) gets the same basic message that is what is important.

Very true, however, the basic message between the statements "that I may not cause pain" and "that it may not pain me" is vast.

Bishop says he doesn't know value of assets

---

me@rescam.org

Nine Inch Nails - God Given

Hey man, please don't make a sound
Take a look around, can't you see what's right in front of you
Have a little taste, no more time to waste
You don't wanna get left behind cause it's all coming down right now

How hard is it to see
Put your faith in me
I sure you wouldn't want to be
Chained to the wrong piece of wood
You should get where you belong
Everything you know is wrong
Come on, sing along, everybody now

God given

And it gives us sight
And you'll see the light
And it burns so bright
Now we know we're right
When his kingdom comes
And thy will be done
We've just begun
We're the chosen ones

I would never tell you anything
That wasn't absolutely true
That hadn't come right from His mouth
And He wants me to tell you

Wait, step into the light
How can this be right?
I'm afraid we're gonna ask you to leave
This you cannot win
With the color of your skin
You won't be getting into the Promised Land
It's just another case
You people still don't know your place
Step aside, out the way, wipe that look off your face
Cause we are the divine separated from the swine

Come on, sing along, everybody now
God given

And it gives us sight
And you'll see the light
And it burns so bright
Now we know we're right
When his kingdom comes
And thy will be done
We have just begun
We're the chosen ones

I would never tell you anything
That wasn't absolutely true
That hadn't come right from His mouth
And He wants me to tell you

God Given

---

"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me

The Five Finger Prayer

Luke 11:5-12 and Luke 18:1-5

Our responsibility is to ask. Be assured, God listens.

As you love to hear from your loved ones, God loves to hear from us.

Prayer - an ongoing dialogue with God.

Thumb - Pray for those nearest you such as your spouse, children, siblings, family, friends and co-workers.

Pointing Finger - Pray for those who instruct, heal and minister such as teachers, health care professionals, pastors and church workers.

Middle/Highest Finger - Pray for leaders in business, police and fire departments, military personnel, and local, state and federal government including the judiciary.

Fourth/Weakest Finger - Pray for those sick and in need, locally, nationally and internationally including the persecuted church and those who have suffered natural and man-made disasters.

Fifth/Smallest Finger - Pray for your needs.

---

LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Middle/Highest Finger - Pray for leaders in business, police and fire departments, military personnel, and local, state and federal government including the judiciary.

Is this our spiritual way of sticking it to the man?

---

Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data!
I did NOT authorize this belly writing!

wtf???!!!

This is pathetic.
I haven't been here in months and it's the SSDD!!

jeffrey's STILL a one-track...uh, 'mind' and other people are STILL trying to talk sense! What is a thread liek this doing here in a science pursuit like SETI?! I ask you - honestly?!?

Man I was right to just drop this place.

It's like nobody has learned ANYTHING AT ALL.

How many went out and read 'Demon Haunted World'?
I'm sure Jeffrey didn't, because it was a proof he'd asked for long ago, and then ignores every time I bring it up!

But aside from him, did anyone else get hold of it and massage their brains??!!

---

Never Forget a Friend. Or an Enemy.