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A simple definition that I sometimes use is this : Mercy is when you do not get something [bad] that you deserve. Grace is when you get something [good] that you do not deserve.

The apostle Paul was persuaded that not even "death" has the power to separate a person from the love of God. I would go so far as to include the Second Death in that declaration. And so, even when Satan and all the wicked are gone, the love of God endures for them. I have no doubt whatsoever about this. God loves with an everlasting love, and He is no respecter of persons, especially not in this area. Yes, the flow of a river can fail, and structures can fail, but the love of God does not "fail".

Seems like kind of an odd choice of questions, and very few of them.

As was clearly said, it was Obama's *father* who converted, at the age of 6. Obama was not raised Muslim. Apparently the truth is irrelevant as long as the slur can be made to stick.

Ephesians 2:14 definitely says that the LORD has "abolished" a "law contained in ordinances". So THIS is one instance where the LORD has "abolished" a law that He commanded. Very significant I think! Just what that law covers, is open to debate. Some say it covers everything within the Sinai Covenant, including the 10 Commandments. Some say it covers all of the prophetic (ceremonial) law. Some say it covers only the commands that Israelites avoid social or business interaction with the uncircumcised. Christ has broken down the diving wall. This is a reference to the wall which shut out any uncircumcised person from the Temple Court where sacrifice was offered. Ephesians 2:11 "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh-- who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, . . . 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God," Both circumcised and uncircumcised "have access" to the Father - thru Christ. Both circumcised and uncircumcised will inherit the land promised to Abraham - according to Galatians 3-4. OK - When James told Paul to go up to the Temple to offer purification sacrifice, and to pay for those sacrifices for 4 other men, James specifically excluded the Gentiles from any requirement concerning the Temple or sacrifices: "But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled and from sexual immorality" (Acts 21:25). SO - Those not of Hebrew descent, and uncircumcised, do NOT need to travel up to the Temple to offer sacrifices - period. Both Jew and Gentile believer have access to God the Father, thru Christ. NO SACRIFICES NEEDED!

Wikipedia on Barack Obama Senior, Barack Obama's father: "When he was about six years old and attending a Christian missionary school, the boy converted to Anglicanism when strongly encouraged by the staff. He changed his name from "Baraka" to "Barack".[1]" It's simply untrue that President Obama was born into a Muslim home. Care to withdraw a falsehood? Indeed, an instance of bearing false witness against your neighbour?

David Trimm is a denominational historian who is employed by the General Conference. If you watch Hope TV, you will likely see him. He will be visiting the Boulder SDA Church on September 26, 2015 You may want to plan to visit on that day.

It is one of the two understandings that you will run into in our schools. There was at least one pastor, his name was Fifield (spelling?) who was teaching this in the 1800s, a friend of the Whites. There may have been others as well. Then Lynn Harper Wood (who has a building named after him at Southern) came to this understanding in the 1920s. A number of his students taught it, such as Paul Heubech and Felix Lorenz. Others learned it from him but never really learned how to present it and as pastors ended up just giving the traditional evangelistic meeting sermon. I was taught it at Atlantic Union College where most if not all the people in the Religion department taught it. There have also been people here and there who have come to this understanding. Probably the two best known, but most controversial has been Graham Maxwell and Jack Provonsha. They were students together at PUC. While there Lynn Harper Wood came for a week of prayer. Neither remember Lynn Wood teaching about hell fire that week or having any influence on their later thinking on this field, but said that they were very impressed by his week of prayer and that he treated the theology students as peers instead of students. They also told me that there might have been something that they did not catch at the time and don't remember, but years later as they developed their theologies they ran into Lynn Wood as he had retired and was surprised to learn his understanding of hell. Now Provonsha was a bit more liberal on other issues, and because Maxwell developed a similar theology some of the criticisms people have created towards Provonsha they unfairly project on to Maxwell. And even the criticisms towards Provonsha is actually ideas that go far beyond where Provonsha was. Also, Maxwell has questioned some of the understandings how religion works because it was based on misunderstandings of hell. He did not give alternative possibilities only telling us that we need to reevaluate in light of the truth about hell fire. But others have said that if Maxwell is questioning some conservative views then he must be a liberal and teaching like the "Moral Influence Theory" and other things that he was equally uncomfortable with. Sadly there are a number of people who like what Maxwell is teaching, however they have it mixed with the false accusations and thus have a mish-mash theology mixture of what Maxwell was really teaching and what he was falsely accused of teaching. Because of this I do mention Maxwell and Provonsha with caution. but they did the most to spread this understanding. People have developed this from different locations and at different times. In the Soviet Union when the church could not practice in the open, there were still families who worshiped at home and on their own or in closely regulated churches. One Adventist family was the Dudah family. Daniel Dudah became a minister. He was given permission to attend a Lutheran seminary. White there he brought a number of Mrs. White books to compare and contrast what she taught with what he was learning. During this time he came to understand Mrs. White to be teaching this view of hell fire. He thought that all Adventists got this idea from her. When more freedoms came and was able to contact with the General Conference and the church at large, he was surprised that it was not taught by all Adventists. His next stage was believing that he was the first person to find this in the Bible and Mrs. White. However he eventually learned that there are others and became close to Maxwell. There was Jonathan Gallager in England who also came to this understanding. I have to confess while I agree with his view on hell fire and some other points where I think he could have a better understanding of the Bible. Also, in the 1960s (maybe late 50s) Richard Nies came to this understanding. He studied religion and theology but ended up working in the mental health field and became a psychologist. Sadly he died at a young age. I was very impressed by a net series in the 1990s by Mark Finley. This was an evangelistic meeting series there they were using satellite TV. In his sermon on hell fire he actually presented both sides without giving a commitment to either but where it was free for the local pastor to conclude one way or the other. But he gave the Biblical and Mrs. White quotes that lead to this view.