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I've always wondered about the fairness of God hardening Pharaoh's heart. Why would He do that? How did He do it without interfering with Pharoah's free will? In a recent study of the plagues, it came to me... In Ex.7:3-4; God talks about hardening Pharoah's heart. In Ex. 7:20 thru 8:7, we see the plagues of blood and frogs. Ex. 8:8 - "Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” Ex. 8:15 - "But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said." The scenario repeats itself in the plague of the gnats and flies - "So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.” 29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” 30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 31 And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go." (Ex 8:28-32) Next we have livestock dying, boils, and hail. During the hail, Pharaoh says, "“This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the emmer[b] were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) 33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. (Ex.9:27-33). What is pharaoh's response? "But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses." (Ex. 9:34-35). The same scenario is played after the locusts and darkness. Pharaoh says "take away the plague and I will let your people go." Moses prays and God lifts the plagues. Pharoah sees that the plagues are over, and refuses to let the people go. Do you see a pattern here? While the plague is ongoing, Pharaoh's heart softens and he tells Moses that he will let the people go. It is not until AFTER the plagues are lifted that Pharaoh hardens his heart. It is God's mercy in ENDING the plagues that hardens Pharaoh's heart. So it is God's love and mercy that harden's Pharaohs heart, not His wrath. That reinforces my faith in God's love and mercy; as well as reinforces my opinion that Pharaoh got what was coming to him. One less Bible mystery to ponder.

Robert, I think a hint was given by Christ Himself when told the people to, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven" Matt. 5:16 The light would be there in spite of ourselves. It has to be if people who see it are to glorify God after seeing it.

When the pastor calls for the offering, he never asks "Please give a CONSERVATIVE offering." He always asks for a LIBERAL offering! So being liberal is good, in some circumstances. In fact, in this day and age, being liberal is best, IMHO. We must be inclusive of all races, all genders, all interpretations of Scripture, if we are to live as Jesus lived when He was here on earth.

I wish him luck. The immunity from prosecution that he may be assuming is his is not unqualified or limitless. That is clear for the very language of Article 6. The exception clause that precedes the the immunity provision he apparently wants to claim. He needs to consider carefully whether reading/ revealing classified material into the Congrssional Record could fit within "except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace". Without looking into this any deeper, I would make the educated guess that it does. If revealing classified information is any one of those, he is not immune from arrest and prosecution. Depending on what the information is about, it could fit into at least one of those, maybe more.

I’m one of those conflict free lovers. At best I am relaxed in a situation in which people are pleasant and do not cause trouble. Could that be a cowardly trait of mine? To avoid confrontation? I do so love quiet situations or environment. Especially when not being annoyed by noise of any decibel level, or noise from people. Peace to me can be any state I’m in when I have calm and don’t think on any worries. Jesus was very keen on telling us to cast all anxieties, worries and fears on Him. I think that is very loving of Him to say that often. Alright, I’ll admit that I am a harmony lover. Around me needs be a total lack of violence or conflicting behaviours from another. I can’t imagine a tension free household which isn’t free from the threat of aggression verbally or physically. There are so many marriage counselling programs on telly showing in conversation how hostility and retribution is an everyday occurrence. Peace suggests sincere attempts at reconciliation and reaching the existence of healthy healed interpersonal relationships. Peace to me is tranquillity of mind because there is an absence of hostility and mistrust. Peace I also see as freedom. I am relaxing in the freedom from fear..... freedom from guilt...... freedom from condemnation ...... freedom from loosing what I love. The Hebrew word shalom, according to Jewish theology, comes from a Hebrew verb meaning 'to restore'. Although 'peace' is the usual translation, however, it is an incomplete one. 'Shalom,' which is also cognate with the Arabic word 'salaam', has multiple other meanings. In addition to peace, the word includes justice, good health, safety, well-being, prosperity, security, good fortune, and friendliness. On a personal level among us in our church community, peaceful behaviors are when we show others kindness, being considerate and respectful. Others are expecting us to be just in any dealings and tolerant of their beliefs. I believe we all are tending to wish for manifested goodwill from others. I’m quite sure others are expecting we welcome them in peace and don’t jump all over them with critic and fault finding.

Sin is, simply put, the transgression against the Law of God. This Law is multifacet and is the will of God. I believe sincerely it was put in place to regulate behavior of humans with humans so they could live in peace. Though in O.T. laws there are also ones on how to deal with animals. Then I imagine the condition in the heart of people who sin against the Law of God. I see in us sinners is an attitude of being self-assured in a superior manner that we can do 'wrong' without having to bear consequences. Arrogance is overbearing pride in doing or saying something. We are pushing the envelope way to far the moment our actions and words go against the Law of God. We in essence become a god unto ourselves when overriding the law of God to reach some goal or agenda we have. The good news of the Gospel is Salvation. Which is in essence being saved by God from evil that will destroy us. And growing the image of Christ within us by the workings of His h.Spirit living in us.

The problem has been resolved,especially since there is not a actual set date for the Muslim religious day, and the Muslim community is still not happy. Straight across the board,unless someone can draw a link between winter holidays and religious observance of some kind. I assume the parents of the other students aren't happy either,but such is life.. No one has ever prevented Muslim students from having a day off for religious reasons. Now they have fairness,there is no mention of the dreaded Christmas holiday. Of course now Sunday should be closely looked at. As their religious day is Fri shouldn't schools be closed then to. Sat was not closed because of SDA's but as we benefit from that as Sunday keepers do,Fri for Muslims must be taken into account. Don't forget the Russian community,their Christmas does not fall in the winter holiday break so something certainly needs to be done to address their religious holiday of Jan 6th Equality for Eid was not happy with the MCPS' decision. (WTOP File Photo) What do you think of the school system's decision to get rid of the references to religious holidays? Post a comment in this story, comment on WTOP's Facebook Page or use #WTOP on Twitter. ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Montgomery County Public Schools will remove religious labels from school holidays, but members of the Islamic community say the adjustments to the school calendar do nothing to gain parity and a day off for the Muslim holiday of Eid. The school board approved the school calendar for the 2015-2016 school year Tuesday. The calendar will no longer reference specific religious holidays but rather state simply that school will be closed on dates that correspond with holidays, such as Eid, Yom Kippur and Christmas. Saqib Ali, a former Maryland state delegate and co-chair of Equality for Eid, was not happy with the board of education's action Tuesday. "Equality is really what we're looking for," Ali said. "Simply saying we're not going to call this Christmas, and we're not going to call this Yom Kippur, and still closing the schools, that's not equality." School board members said they were sympathetic to the desire to have Eid recognized and close schools but that legal precedent in Maryland bars them from closing for religious purposes. "We can't close for religious holidays. We can only close for operational purposes," like high absenteeism, school spokesman Dana Tofig said. Read more: http://www.wtop.com/41/3740504/Montgomery-Co-ed-board-strips-religious-holiday-references-from-new-calendar#ixzz3JDLSd8r3

Hey ladies and gents this is my first theed so take it easy on me. they are making a move called Heaven-The First War. Any of you heard of this movei before? and if so that are you thoughts? Personally I think its cool and could be used for a good cause as long as its not another Noah I just watched it on GodTube... and then the promo video on Kickstarter. the title of the video is Heaven - The First War Animated Movie - Teaser. anyhow here is the link. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heaventhefirstwar/heaven-the-first-war?ref=category P.S I searched for heaventhefirstwar and found it.. its 18secs long.

The facebook site looks great! I can not wait!

it is in pre-pre-pre production but I know 3AngelsTube if they are invloved im sure its not foolishness , I will be backing and shareing it on my facebook it looks like this is a GREAT opertunity for our denomination!! I thinkwe need to get behind thing. they have a facebook page too, some ASI pepole I know have join and they are on the up and up. so as of knwo I'm HeavenTheFireWar Woot!!

You may be safer in Kabul than in Detroit.

Liberal=They don't agree with my interpretation of the Bible Conservative=They don't agree with my interpretation of the Bible The words obviously have different meanings, but.......the above is how they are most often used in religious circles.

Post # 206: Obtuse.

My DIL is a Russian immigrant.When she came to America she did so with the knowledge that she should assimilate into american culture.Not america assimilate to the culture of the country she left behind voluntarily. Christmas in Russia is Jan 6th. For some reason the very large Russian community here does not expect that to receive the same recognition that our traditional christmas does. My DIL teaches her children about Russian culture but not with the expectation of it replacing american culture.

Notice that they have voluntarily come to America. Equality does not mean that any and all that come here get to change our national holidays and insert their own. Had they wanted all things Muslim they should have stayed where they were. Maybe put as much effort into changing things they don't like about their culture as they do ours. Of course there they might have lost their heads. No one is stopping them or anyone else from observing any holiday they wish. As was noted that holiday didn't seem important as it never affected attendance. It is only important now as a power play

Baloney. Religious freedom, as defined in the US Constitution, is the free expression of religion. What you're saying is "no expression" of religion. There is no one saying a Muslim can't celebrate Ramadan or any of their other religious holidays. That they are suppressing the rights of others to celebrate their religious holidays tells us what they are all about. And that the school district goes along with them is shameful.

What a most beautiful word! Peace. I love it. It has so many connotations. When I was full time working and going through the day with peace of mind, it was because my conscious was clear before God. And I was confident that the decisions I had to make were the right ones for the duties of the day. The best part of experiencing peace is when singing along in a group, or alone, and a deep insight into the text comes up to mind. Then tears flood my eyes with the reality of God within me, God for me, God guiding me. I am being protected from evil. The peace that passes understanding enfolds me and gives me a sense of well-being.

and then there are some here who are sheep in wolves' clothing... I kinda have an affinity for them... :)