Leaderboard

Discipline, yes, beating them with a stick, no. Sadly the context of the verse has been read out of the verse over the centuries. The verse was written to an agrarian society familiar with the life of shepherds and the rod they carried to keep their sheep together, to keep them in line and to even rescue them from harm. The rod was used to guide the sheep to extend the reach of the hand of the shepherd. It wasn't used to beat them or punish them for going astray. But the shepherd could use it as a weapon against threats to his sheep by wild animals.

Switch to Mac and never look back...

It's easy for her to say... She's always been gorgeous!! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/04/jennifer-aniston-without-makeup-cake_n_6100540.html?utm_hp_ref=celebrity&ir=Celebrity

I just had to buy a new laptop and it came with windows 8. I have one thing to say about it: I absolutely hate it. I can't wait to put Linux on it. I don't know how anyone can put up with this junk.

this is interesting... the map shows the most *popular* job in each of the states in the US.. (not the most common job) IOW, it shows jobs that are disproportionately concentrated in each state. For example, in New York, there are about 7,180 fashion designers, out of a total of 8,635,400 employed people. So fashion designers account for about 8.3 out of every 10,000 jobs in New York. In the U.S. as a whole, there are about 17,370 fashion designers out of a total of 132,588,810 employed people. So about 1.3 of every 10,000 jobs in America are in fashion design.

"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." (Romans 6: 16-18) This verse doesn't guarantee that we will never sin again; but it does state that we don't have to sin anymore. That being said, I fail miserably at my own "sin management. On the other hand, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). This tells me that none of us have ever been sinless.

A man is struck by a bus on a busy street in New York City. He lies dying on the sidewalk as a crowd of spectators gathers around. "A priest! Somebody get me a priest!" the man gasps. A policeman checks the crowd but finds no priest, no minister, no man of God of any kind. "A PRIEST, PLEASE!" the dying man says again. Then out of the crowd steps a little old Jewish man of at least eighty years of age."Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I'm living behind St. Mary's Catholic Church on Third Avenue, and every night I'm listening to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man." The policeman agrees and brings the octogenarian over to the dying man. He kneels down, leans over the injured and says in a solemn voice: "B - 4. I - 19. N - 38. G - 54. O - 72."

Miriam Epstein is making scrambled eggs when her husband Moishe bursts into the kitchen. "Careful," Moishe cries. "Careful! You’re cooking too many at once. Too many! Scramble them! Now! We need more butter. They’re going to stick! Careful! Now scramble them again! Hurry up! Are you crazy? Don’t forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. Use the salt! The salt!" Miriam turns to Moishe and asks, "What is wrong with you?" Moishe calmly replies, "I wanted to show you what it feels like when I’m driving."

Religious Liberty issues, in part (Note that I said in part.") are a function of law. As this happened in another country, we can only depend on what we know of the Court's reasoning in this situation. However, in the United States, the Courts would probably not consider this to be an issue of the religious rights of the school. Catholic universities, with the exception of Seminaries and some other schools, do not function as a part of the worship system of the Roman Catholic Church. s The right of the Catholic Church to worship as it pleases in not infringed upon by allowing someone to take an exam on a day other than the Sabbath. Further, Roman Catholic Universities, in the U.S., generally admit students who are not Roman Catholics. On that basis, they assume a requirement to abide by the anti-discrimination laws. NOTE: I am not saying that is the only basis for their requirement to abide by those laws. I did my graduate work in psychology in a University that was run by a religious denomination. (It was neither Catholic nor SDA.) My final examinations for my degree were scheduled for a Saturday. I requested a religious exemption and it was immediately granted with no trouble.

Can you show where anyone has made the claim that the LGBTQ is worse than anyone else? This does seem to rapidly becoming a protected "sin". Unless you condone and affirm this lifestyle you are a hopelessly narrow minded self righteous bigot. Standing ready to use force and sue anyone that believes to take part in a gay marriage is wrong.They should be allowed to live with those they choose without harassment. Those that believe it to be wrong as in any other sin should be allowed their beliefs without harassment or lawsuits ,or condemnation from the more liberal faction .Many denominations don't have a problem performing a gay wedding ceremony.Those will be ignored in favor of those that feel it violates their conscience ,put them out of business or sue.

LHC, That does seem to be just a further cop out. I am not asking for any of the ideas you have suggested. The reason I first asked the question, "Then why do you keep sinning?" was not to accuse you or trap you or censure you nor embarrass you. It was simply to make the point that the proposition that you indicated that God will give the victory, etc. has been greatly misused by many in the perfectionist ideology and the last generation theology crowd. The premise that is that we can achieve a state of sinless perfection, and must before the Lord's return. God has promised, so we just need to claim it and we can overcome all sin in our lives. But asking my question simply unmasks the singular lack of success and the exercise in futility in that ideology. Not a single person advocating the Last Generation Theology ideas can with honesty and confidence answer that they are yet free from sinning. I really did not expect that you would either. It is not to put you down or discourage you. It is simply facing the reality of our sinful existence this side of the Second Coming. Our only hope of salvation is the accept that we are only righteous by faith, by accepting that our Substitute is righteous and we can only be saved though His righteousness. And in the context of this thread we are no better or worse off than anyone in the LGBTQ community.

I've done some research into this subject over the years, and Martin Luther didn't begin to make antisemitic statements until towards the end of his life. At the time he was suffering from many major health issues including depression. He had heart problems, severe arthritis, kidney stones, and various digestive issues. I also wonder if he didn't suffer from something like alzheimer's as well for he began to be quite vulgar too. His writings were just as bitter and vulgar about the pope as they were against the Jews during this portion of his life. When we see these kinds of behavioral changes in people in the last years of their lives it's very hard to dismiss alzheimers, dementia, as well as the issues lack of oxygen in the brain due to heart problems can cause, as not being at the root of them.

I found this encouraging and to be modeled on the Biblical model of resolving theological differences within the church. http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/mark-finley-offers-5-steps-for-resolving-disunity-on-women%E2%80%99s-ordination#.VEtAfz_O5eY.facebook

i will mull on this a bit, and surmise a bit. the legalist have a great investment in being right, and they will be saved because they are right. and on the wo issue they are right. and to have someone like Finley open neutral ground is not right for them. they will be courteous, and talk behind closed doors in their own circles about the fall of the sda churches, and how entire churches will be lost... as made known in the E White writings... and it never occurs that it is the Spirit of self righteousness that will cause the light to go out from entire congregations. it was this same spirit that turned on Jesus. they will bear with this great "apostasy" because they believe the church will seem about to fall but will make it to the end, so they will never leave the church. this is not unity. it is Jesus who is right. only Jesus. In Jesus their is no disunity.

I think some here have missed your point. I did not understand you to be saying that all you need is sincerity. But rather that the problem is the suspicion of the other side as not having proper Chrisitan motives, for example hat the other side is not sincere in their POV. And I also read your comment to say that you are not questioning the motives, or sincerity, of anyone and by doing so one can reasonable conclude that there is room for differences of interpretation and on this because the evidence does not support a firm conclusion one way or the other. That really was the outcome of the TOSC. No consensus could be reached. No clearly prevailing right or wrong conclusion could be reached that could be agreed upon by all. The objective at this point is how do we move forward. The growing sense is that we must respect these differences as valid and allowable. That this is not something that should divide us. Just as the NT church recognized that they could all move forward together in unity, allowing a divergence of practice between the Jewish and Gentile believers on a number of key points, most significantly the Jewish practice of circumcision. It was well founded and established by Jewish history, culture and Scripture, but not essential for the faith and should not be imposed on the Gentiles.

Why? Because they are not informed of the facts. Luther made a lot of statements that would sour milk.

Excellent comments Kevin. I happen to personally believe that any church who believes as our church does .... in Salvation by Faith .... that it can rightly be called a 'liberal' church. Any church that believes in legalism as in keeping the commandments in order to obtain salvation .... I would classify as conservative. Our denomination is not a legalist church. However .... there are legalist churches in our denomination. So .... we are blessed to be able to take our pick. Do we want to attend a conservative church or a liberal church. I get tired of legalism at times and need some fresh air before returning to conservative churches. I can do it on occasions but it is draining.

There is definitely a truth and definitely a right side. However the unassuming nature of God does not force us to the correct side. It is by discussion, disagreement leading us to deeper Bible Study that will lead to conclusions so that we are blessed in that flesh and blood does not tell us but the Holy Spirit. The problem here is that one group tends to have a picture that they are defending the Bible and the other side is just trying to be liberals and explain the "Proof" texts as "cultural biased" and thus not to be followed. What they fail to recognize is that both groups are trying to be fair to the Bible. This is different than being "Sincere." The not willing to accept this keeps the two sides from really listening to each other, from blinding themselves to Biblical arguments for the other view and from examining their view in light of this other information.