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Considering or reckoning one dead to sin is not the same as being in reality dead to sin. As John states, "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves." Growth? Yes! Perfection? No!

Does ANYBODY actually plan to use the Chat Room? I have not found anybody there thusfar. Maybe we can agree on a time like Friday evening 9 pm Eastern if there is any interest. Nuff Sed

A good reasons to vote no, or absolutely no to woman's ordination, is because you recognize the authority the Catholic Church put in place for Church Governance and Church administration. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Just my opinion, and I can say that I have really not had many good experience with female pastors, except those who are really active in ministering to people. I know three right now that are outstanding.

especially about other people, including your family and friends... Remember that unless you post in the Natter Matters forum, whatever you post here, including your "status updates," can be seen by the public. I cringe sometimes when I see very personal information being written, albeit in a concerned way, about others...

Man Collects $21,000 In Change, Donates Every Penny To Help Cats The Huffington Post | By Alena Hall Email Posted: 10/02/2014 9:14 am EDT Updated: 10/02/2014 10:59 am EDT Never underestimate the true value of a handful of pocket change. Rick Snyder, a 69-year-old resident of Manatee County, Florida, refused to sit still after he retired. Instead, he tended to one of his passions outside of work: caring for the feral cats living throughout his community. "I've always liked animals. I've been taking care of feral cats for years and I started noticing a lot of change laying around," Snyder told the Bradenton Herald. "So I started picking it up and keeping track of it." Snyder caring for one of the stray cats in Manatee County Since having this idea more than 10 years ago, Snyder has managed to collect $21,495 in loose change weighing more than 1 metric ton, reported the Herald Tribune. Waking up around 4 a.m. each day, Snyder would walk through town, and gather coins from vacuums at local car washes and vending machines along his way to take care of the cats. He told the Bradenton Herald that he walks anywhere between 45 and 48 miles each week and collects an average of $5.60 in change each day. After beginning the collection process, Snyder set an initial goal of $10,000 for himself, according to BayNews9. Once he surpassed his second goal of $20,000, however, he decided to give it all away to the Gulf Shore Animal League, a nonprofit organization run entirely by volunteers that spends the majority of their time helping cats in Manatee County. Cheryl Wade, the president of the organization, told the Bradenton Herald that Synder's donation is the largest they have ever received from a single individual. Snyder with his spare change collection from the past decade "I’d like to thank the many who are too lazy to pick up a penny," Snyder told BayNews9. With the change, the league will be able to continue adopting cats, and funding their spay and neuter program. They will also offer care for kittens before they are ready for adoption. Snyder and volunteers from the league gathered Tuesday to move the coins from his 151 peanut jar collection system to plastic bags that could be delivered to the local bank. Snyder holding one of the many bags of spare change he donated to the Gulf Shore Animal League "One of the problems we have being retirees is we become too self-involved," Snyder told the Herald Tribune. "My advice is, we need to get involved in something else. Do something for someone else." While this initial donation has been deposited, Snyder continues to gather abandoned pocket change throughout Manatee County and prep his next contribution that will help his feline friends.

I think so, JoeMo. Maybe that is what "by beholding we become" means to some degree? There is a peace and joy seeing God work in us both to will and to do, isn't there, LHC?

Interesting to note that gossip falls in the same classification of wickedness as murder in the Creators eyes. …28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,…Romans 1 God is Love! Jesus saves!

It seems that the one thing that renders a person sinless and incapable of sinning ever again is death. Dead men do not sin. As long as there is life there is hope. And as long as there is life, there is the possibility of sin.

You will never find peace through your growth. You may be thankful to get beyond certain besetting sins, but at the end of the day that will not give you assurance. Peace with God comes through justification by faith. Here's Paul: Romans 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."

Teresaq, Your previous few posts have spoken to my heart, As I have been contemplating the meaning of Yom Kippur, I have been considering the same things you speak of. Have I experienced victory in every area of personal weakness? No; but I seem to be experiencing more frequently than I was trying to do it on my own. The more time I spend time "hanging out" with my Father and His Son,the less time I spend obsessing over my pet issues. When Paul says to pray continually, could He just mean "hang out" with God?

Jesus had some good advice on this. To paraphrase, He said that if you're having issues with someone, the first person you should talk to is the person you're having issues with. If that doesn't work, bring in a 3rd party (ideally a mutual and trusted friend and confidant). If that still doesn't resolve things, the last option is to bring it to the church (or the boss, or the family, etc.). Sometimes the best option is to simply agree to disagree and move on. I find this approach particularly useful at work. If there's anything I hate, it's when people have an issue with me and go directly to my boss without coming to me first. Then suddenly - BAM! - you're being chewed out about something that you frequently had no idea was a boo-boo. My experience is that the boss' solution to a problem is frequently more onerous than one you and your antagonist could agree to without a boss as a mediator. I have been a victim of maliciousness here; and I confess, I have probably been the originator of some of it too. Thanks for bringing this issue forward, Pam.

while I agree that some things should be made public (such as the history and whereabouts of sexual predators), my OP had more to do with posting in a public venue, personal matters (such as medical or mental health issues, relationship issues, and the like) of other people. Such issues are not necessarily on a continuum of good/evil (though I understand there are those who feel everything is either "good" or "evil'...) It is just a matter of respecting someone's privacy and boundaries...

Don't leave it up to the Church. Just do it.

A monk his entire adult life, Brother Andrew was responsible for training new scribes in the art of copying by hand -- word for word -- the holy writs. One day an eager new scribe, Brother Jonathan, asked if anyone had ever made a mistake. "Oh no," said Brother Andrew. "These words have always been correctly copied from generation to generation." Skeptical, Brother Jonathan asked Brother Andrew how he knew. "My son," said Brother Andrew as he shuffled off toward the monastery's library, "let me get you the first volume ever written, and you will see that it is just as correct today as it was then."Many hours passed. Finally Brother Jonathan decided he had better check on the elderly monk. At the library, he spotted Brother Andrew sitting alone in a candle-lit corner, tears running down his wrinkled cheeks. "What's the matter?" Brother Jonathan asked. "I can't believe it," Brother Andrew responded, his voice quivering with emotion. "The word is celebrate. Cel-e-BRATE!"

If you lust for 1ms you've sinned. BTW, Jesus never sinned even by a thought. Also, according to Christ, if you hate someone you've murdered them in the eyes of the law. On the cross Jesus had every right to defend Himself, come down and save Himself. He had the right to defend Himself with lethal force, yet not for a moment did Christ hate His murderers. Instead He chose to die eternally so they might have heaven in His place. That's agape and agape is the fulfillment of the law.

I can only speak for myself. I had to change how I was praying, how I was thinking and dealing with my issues. I have been granted victory in some areas, but haven't quite switched over to the new way of thinking in other areas and am still struggling with those issues, and believe me I am struggling! LOL For me it is learning a new way to think. I am utilizing the 12 step groups and A.T. Jones (and Waggoner) on RbF, which according to my understanding, simplified, is living by the promises of God, believing them, not trying to do it myself and if there is anything else I am not thinking of at the moment. Our struggles can be complicated and often we need to just sit down, calm down, and talk to God, which is one of those that hadn't come to mind at the moment. I'm honest about how I feel. (I hate her! for example) I don't try to whitewash what I feel, just admit to God what I feel. Amazing how quickly it then disappears, tho. I think JoeMo touched on the essential part tho. A part I think we often forget. God does want to deliver us from our sins, I believe, but for our good more than for His, for our happiness more than anything else.... But above all He wants to hang out with us...and that is hard for me to learn. I get caught up in the feelings of the moment, of the "trying to", that I forget to stop and just talk to God about it. I think that is building relationship, isn't it? Talking to Him the same way I would a trusted human?

you're not a slime-dog....you're the son of THE King -- a "prince," if you will....

I started praying like a conversation with God rather than a rote list of routine praises and requests. I would ask God questions and then just start writing what I thought His answer was. With practice, the answers seemed to be His Voice more often than my imagination (not always, though). I visualize us walking somewhere - in His time or our time - having a conversation. Sometimes it's just banter; sometimes it's silence; but more often than not, most times things get spiritual (imagine that!). I have learned through these conversations that God cares more about about a friendship or parent-child relationship than He does about overcoming of our own volition. He is so rich, so powerful, so loving, and so gracious that He will adopt anyone who wants to be His child; and He teaches us the Family traditions and the Family business once we are already His children. As any parent with multiple children knows, some children learn faster and better than others; but we love them and accept them just the same. So it is with God and us. It amazes me why Someone as awesome as God would care about some slime-dog like me. But I'm sure glad He does!

I've often 'run' to Christ and victory was not assured. Some issues .... I've prayed for years for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in my life. And the request was denied. I long for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But how and when it is applied is up to God and not up to my prayers. God is in control. Not my wants and prayers.

That is how I understand it. We are told that Satan is much, much stronger than we are. There is no way we can resist the enemy in our own strength and win. But when we run to Christ victory is assured. Satan sees Christ and just as he quivered and fled in the desert with Christ, he does the same when we seek to be in Christ.

Nuff, I've been in there a number of times... if you're there next Friday evening, I'll try to remember to pop in!

He has one more court to stand before, of which he by all obvious outward evidence, has no advocate to stand in his place. Which If it is a fact known only to God, is not something Christians will exult over, something I'm asking for grace to accomplish as heartfelt. God is Love! Jesus saves!

Because submitting is something you do....Walking in the Spirit is something you do. So if you submit, God will resist the devil....That's why Jesus said, "without Me you can do nothing" ...nothing good that is.

It was the turmoil he caused that prevented me from an opportunity to go to Haiti back in 1985...

... and gives some homeless people a break....

lets not forget what the sins of Sodom were, so we do not replete them.

I wonder just what must go through the heads of guys like that.

Who is man, finite man, that thinks he can describe something we can not fathom... yet...

Back in 2007 AMAZING FACTS published my 8th book entitled "What About the TRINITY?" I was rather shocked to hear that some within Adventism actually doubted the existence of the Trinity (which I always capitalize, it is a form of writing "God" and you would never write God as "god" would you?...) Yes, SDAs in the beginning had an unclear understanding of the Trinity, but when Sister White published THE DESIRE OF AGES it was settled -- the Holy Spirit, which in Scripture is always referred to as "he" and not "it," was officially understood to be the 3rd PERSON of the Godhead within our church! *Edited by Gail as inappropriate* Jesus himself talked of the importance of the Holy Spirit, and how sinning against Him will NOT be forgiven, so there it is -- if any believer on this planet thinks it's OK to "downplay" the importance of admitting that the 3rd Person of the Godhead *IS* God, they are merely voicing their spiritual ignorance and they need to "update" their understanding. Far before the Universe existed God existed -- in multiple parts, all equal -- because He/They/Them knew there was a purpose and a need for it to be that way, which later played out as sin entered God's Universe. God the Father could not come down to Earth and die for us, God needed to remain 100% alive and sustain the Universe! And God knew that He would also have to be "invisible" to monitor fallen mankind so we couldn't see Him, but someday in Heaven we probably WILL be able to see Him -- even angels on this planet can be invisible, there are length waves of light that are beyond our ability to see -- so one day we'll probably see the Holy Spirit as He really is, and not just shape-shifted into a dove or whatever other form He might choose! Until then, I strongly suggest that anyone who doubts the Trinity seriously, SERIOUSLY pray about it -- it does not harm to believe -- but it might do a lot of harm "not" to believe... As I included in my Trinity book, our bodies are comprised of something like 63 trillion individual cells -- yet we all still think that each of us is just "one person"... So why is there a problem with believing that God is God in Three Persons?

The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God’s people upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels’ messages and the third, unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” One of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the law of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God’s law. The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind 31nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks. All this cry about changing the old landmarks is all imaginary. {CW 30.2} I forgot to mention that the judgement hour message and the Sabbath are tied in with the cleansing of the sanctuary and how originally sudying the time prophecies of Daniel led to understanding we were living in the last days and the time we especially need to be putting away all sin. Also the three angels messages- I mentioned the fearing God and glorifying Him because the judgement hour is come, but not the Babylon is fallen, come out of the churches that teach false doctrine, and the third angels message, that those who do not receive the seal of God being sanctified by Him and cleansed by His grace will receive the mark of the beast signifying apostacy because they fear the religio political beast power that will force others to either receive the mark or be killed and will out of fear not keep God's Sabbath.

Suggestions that the idea of the Trinity came from 2nd Temple Judaism: http://www.layevangelism.com/qreference/chapter10e.htm http://www.newrepublic.com/article/103373/books-and-arts/magazine/jewish-gospels-christ-boyarin Objections to the idea that the idea of the Trinity came form 2nd Temple Judiasm: http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/176972/how-the-trinity-impacted-judaism-via-kabbalah/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism's_view_of_Jesus Comment: There is a wealth of material available on this subject, including material that supports Pam's idea that there may be a pagan influence in the doctrine of the Trinity. If one googles: " the concept of the trinity comes from Second Temple Judaism" One will find a large number of listings. I have only posted a couple of URLs. I do not claim that any of what Ihave posted is authorative. I simply find it interesting. As a matter of fact, I believe that much of what I find posted on the Internet is interesting, but not authorative. So, I am posting this comment, with URLs simply to stimulate your thought and perhaps further study. Again, I am not posting it because I think it is authorative. Have fun. Enjoy yourself and any further study that you may give to this subject.

Of course. The attacks have already begun. Next will be the attacks on him not being black enough because he's conservative. The liberal media will always find some excuse to attack a conservative Presidential candidate. If they had been able to find some dishonesty, character defect, etc... they would have already have attacked that. They are reduced to "religious baggage" because they can't find anything else. Take it for what it is, a personal attack, as Carson's political positions are thought out very well and he will destroy his opponents in any debate on the issues. As usual, it's attack the person not debate the issues.

From what has the believer been saved? Or is being saved? I doubt there is any such thing as instant sanctification since in my own life I see God has to deal with either my stubbornness, or ignorance. Sometimes sin just seems justified, certain feelings indulged, justified. Other times I really had no idea it was sin...peeling that onion, layer after layer. I also think we probably make this whole sin thing far more complicated than it really is. I struggled in a certain area for decades, begged God, beat myself up as I have been taught by some poor churchies, blah, blah....then I just concentrated on "For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do...". When I saw myself doing what I wished to give up and the temptation would come to give up, feel hopeless, despair, all that good stuff, or try in some way even tho I had never succeeded before, I would put everything out of my mind and concentrate on that verse, and a couple of others. Then one day my "will" had been worked enough by God, that He was now able to empower me to do. Over time thoughts had come to me that I could accept or reject and as I accepted them, they transformed my mind, my thinking. And I was now empowered and found myself no longer doing it. The same has been becoming true in some other areas, ways of dealing with certain issues...Am I sinless? You know what they say: "A watched pot never boils". LOL I don't need to worry about it. I just need to look to Jesus, and not to how bad or hopeless I may be. He has been pretty good at letting me know when and what I need to change. I either accept or reject. But worrying one way or another isn't, hasn't, done me a bit of good in my 63 years. Works pretty good. Self- and other- condemnation will never change or transform anyone. Neither will hopelessness, or navel gazing, or listening to what man considers sin, or whatever else we do. Only looking to Jesus and filling my mind with His word. Oh, and I did have some support from some good people in this journey also.

I'll post here what I read from my daily Natural News e-letter.... U.S. hospitals operating today can't even stop the spread of bacterial superbugs like MRSA, c.diff or CRE. Doctors and health care staff in West Africa are rapidly infected by Ebola due to the extraordinary transmission properties of the virus, causing medical staff to either flee or be killed. During a widespread pandemic in this country, most people will be sent home to die, with no medicine or professional medical care whatsoever. This is why it's so crucial for people to stockpile natural herbal medicines at home and learn how to hydrate themselves, boost their own immune function and avoid infecting others in their own home. FACT: Every person who has survived Ebola so far has survived entirely because of their own immune system. No doctor on the planet has ever saved any Ebola patient. If you wish to survive an Ebola infection, you have to save your own life. World history is filled with accounts of medical pioneers using plant-based medicines to save lives during pandemics and plagues. On July 31, 2014, for example, President Obama signed executive order 13674 which allows the U.S. federal government to arrest and quarantine any person who shows symptoms of infectious disease. This executive order allows federal agents to forcibly arrest and quarantine anyone showing symptoms of: ...Severe acute respiratory syndromes, which are diseases that are associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, are capable of being transmitted from person to person, and that either are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic, or, upon infection, are highly likely to cause mortality or serious morbidity if not properly controlled. It's so crucial to make sure you maintain a strong immune system and avoid showing any symptoms of any disease. Even having the sniffles or coughing in public could get you quarantined and killed in a pandemic outbreak. Some websites to consider for your own education in survival and preparedness include www.SurvivalBlog.com www.theOrganicPrepper.com www.SHTFplan.com www.Survivalist.com and www.BioDefense.com

They were good friends. However, when Sue saw her husband and Sarah sitting on the front porch, in full view of the neighbors, engaged in close personal contact, she realized that the friendship extended beyond what was acceptable to her. So, she took action. Part of that action was requiring her husband to put up with the hyperactive child that drove him crazy.