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I may be wrong, but it seems to me that there has always been a section for "church budget" on the tithes and offerings envelope. It has nothing to do with support or nonsupport of conference activities. I've never seen "online" giving software, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to have the church budget as a separate line...

anyone up for a word game? Give the name of a city or town, with the first one beginning with the letter A; next person names one beginning with B, and so on. BUT, the city/town's name *must* have something to do with nature (flowers, trees, birds, animals, geology, etc). Here's my offering for "A": Ashland, Oregon (for the "Ash" tree) anyone think of a town (anywhere in the world) with its name beginning with B that can be connected in some way to nature?

Writing in Appendix B, in a section labeled "Chronology," on page 448, in SELECTED MESSAGES, VOL. 3, W.C. White said: Perhaps present arguments over creation dates are not as important as some would make them to be.

First Step Toward Apostasy.--One thing is certain: Those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan's banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the testimonies of God's Spirit. Lt 156, 1903. {PM 360.1}

not sure if I would try and "convince" someone that they are *worshipping* on the wrong day... while there's nothing in the Bible that changed the Sabbath to Sunday, neither is there any prohibition of worshipping on Sunday. ("Worshipping God" shouldn't be limited to a specific day.) That said, the fact that God saw the Sabbath as important enough to include in the 10 Commandments should make it apparent that it was *His* idea to have an official day of worship set aside - and He declared it to be "the 7th day".... If it was me, I would simply state my reasons for believing in the Sabbath, and not argue about it. Bible-thumping is never a good idea...

Just how God accomplished the work of Creation in six literal days He has never revealed to mortals. His creative works are just as incomprehensible as His existence (Spiritual Gifts 3:90-93).{LHU 52.7} The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat the work of Christ in man’s behalf and to fasten souls in his snares. To hold the people in darkness and impenitence till the Saviour’s mediation is ended, and there is no longer a sacrifice for sin, is the object which he seeks to accomplish.{DD 5.1} For six thousand years, faith has builded upon Christ. For six thousand years the floods and tempests of satanic wrath have beaten upon the Rock of our salvation; but it stands unmoved.{DA 413.4} For 1000 years, Satan will behold the results of his rebellion against the law of God. His sufferings are intense. He is now left to contemplate the part he has acted since he rebelled and to look forward with terror to the dreadful future when he must be punished.{HF 399.2} I have read about other chronologies where say they were comparing the reign of various kings and it could be that those were the types of things she was referring to as well as perhaps getting exact prophetic dates to the day.

My problem, too, exactly, unless I print by hand very slooooooowly. I usually listen to an audio Bible to help clear my mind to enable me to go to sleep, usually around 6 am. If I awaken later and my mind starts rehashing events, I put the headphones back on and listen to the Bible again. I rarely hear the end of the cd. But the time period while falling asleep, before I turn on the cd, and the time period waking up are the times when I think mainly about spiritual themes and ideas pop into my head. I have to turn on a flashlight so I can see to write the thoughts down, otherwise, they are gone, sometimes forever. The scribbles, though, are sometimes nearly impossible to decipher... My favorite way to study, though, is to make my own "audio bible" using text to speech to create unique compilations of scripture. This is another good source for ideas that may or may not be mainstream religion.

Rainbow City, AL

What I said was that it is the most potent weapon. However, education requires participation, and receptiveness to being educated, or in other words learning new and different ideas. Education opens doors and opportunities and brings hope of better things. Evil holds power over those who are ignorant and uneducated and maintained power most effectively by denying them the opportunity for education. In the immediate context of the opening post, the suppression of women in particular is indeed most threatened by educated women. In an ultimate sense it is education in a spiritual sense that is the answer to stopping evil. Jesus' great commission was to go and make disciples. Disciples are students, learners.

There are many thoughts and ideas that come to people that are neither "good" nor "bad" -- they simply "are".... I might choose to paint my house blue. Or white. Or purple. The decision I make would not be inherently "good" or "bad" (except to my neighbors, perhaps). And at the risk of stepping on toes, I further submit that dreams are neither good nor evil. They are simply manifestations of the subconscious mind. (But I withhold that judgement on the dreams of scriptural persons, which I consider to be of supernatural origin and not the result of eating a bad loaf of challah.)

I disagree. If the above were true, we would all be puppets with no free will. In addition, the above idea lends itself nicely to folks who have the propensity of condemning anything that doesn't agree with their own ideas and perceptions - because they consider their ideas to be God-given, and if someone has a different idea, [according to the above] it must be of the devil.

good thing the apostles didn't see that study...