Leaderboard

A child asked his father, "How were people born?" So his father said, "Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on." The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, "We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now." The child ran back to his father and said, "You lied to me!" His father replied, "No, your mom was talking about her side of the family."

Yiddish arose from Old High German about 1000 years ago. The medieval Jews were being persecuted by Christians and wandered from east Europe to west/central Europe. The development of Yiddish happened by taking up the spoken languages of their surroundings but not in a pure grammatical way, then supplying the foreign words of the language (in this case Germany) with Hebraic elements. ‘Jewish’ is in German Jüdish with was corrupted into Yiddish. The transliterated spellings of Yiddish words and conventional German spellings are different, but the pronunciations are frequently the same (e.g., shvarts in Yiddish is pronounced the same way as schwarz in German, which means ‘black’). German and Yiddish used to be pretty much dialects of each other - though in many cases only the literal meaning is known in German, while the transferred meaning is peculiar to Yiddish. Active vocabulary is the vocabulary we use when speaking and writing, passive vocabulary is the vocabulary we hear and understand. Ashkenaz is a Hebrew name for “Germany”. Naches is a Yiddish word that means "pride" or "joy." Typically naches refers to the pride or joy that a child brings a parent. For instance, when a child is born people will often say to the new parents "May [your son or daughter] bring you naches." The "ch" is pronounced gutturally - so it's not "ch" as in "cheese" but rather "ch" as in "Bach" (the composer). Examples: You bring me such naches! Kvetch is a Yiddish word that means "to complain." It can also be used to refer to someone who does a lot of complaining, as in: "Phil is such a kvetcher!" Kvetch is one of many Yiddish words that has become popularly used in the English language. Examples: Stop your kvetching, things are not as bad as you make them sound. "Mazel Tov" (מזל טוב) is a Hebrew phrase that literally means "good destiny" but is more commonly understood to mean "good luck" or "congratulations." "Tov" is the Hebrew word for "good" and "mazel" is the Hebrew word for destiny or constellation (as in the stars in the sky). When is the appropriate time to say "mazel tov" to someone? Whenever something good has happened. Whether someone recently got married, had a child, became a Bar Mitzvah, or did well on an exam, "mazel tov" would be an appropriate (and very nice) thing to say. Pronunciation: mah-zehl tahv Examples: I heard you just got a promotion at work - mazel tov! a bisl a bit, a little bit, some Chutzpah (pronounced huuts-pah) is a Yiddish word that is used by Jews and non-Jews alike to describe someone who is particularly audacious or has a lot of "guts." Chutzpah can be used in a variety of ways. You can say someone "had chutzpah" to do something, or you could describe them as a "chutzpanik" and achieve the same meaning. Chutzpah can be used to describe both males and females. Examples: Rachel invited her boss out to dinner last week and convinced him to give her a huge raise. That took chutzpah! Dreidel is a Yiddish word that comes from the German word "drehen," which means “to turn.” In Hebrew the dreidel is called a "sevivon," which comes from the root "savov" and also means "to turn." A dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side. It is used during Hanukkah to play a popular children's game that involves spinning the dreidel and betting on which Hebrew letter will be showing when the dreidel stops spinning. Children usually play for a pot of gelt, which are chocolate coins covered in gold colored tin foil, but they can also play for candy, nuts, raisins – anything really! A game similar to the dreidel game was popular during the rule of Antiochus. During this period Jews were not free to openly practice their religion, so when they gathered to study Torah they would bring a top with them. If soldiers appeared, they would quickly hide what they were studying and pretend to be playing a gambling game with the top. Meaning of the Hebrew Letters on a Dreidel A dreidel has one Hebrew letter on each side. Outside of Israel, those letters are: נ (Nun), ג (Gimmel), ה (Hay) and ש (Shin), which stand for the Hebrew phrase "Nes Gadol Haya Sham." This phrase means "A great miracle happened there [in Israel]." When played outside Israel. After the State of Israel was founded in 1948 the Hebrew letters were changed for dreidels used in Israel. They became: נ (Nun), ג (Gimmel), ה (Hay) and פ (Pey), which stand for the Hebrew phrase "Nes Gadol Haya Po." This means "A great miracle happened here." The miracle referred to in both versions of the Hebrew phrase is the miracle of the Hanukkah oil, which lasted for eight days instead of one. How to Play the Dreidel Game Any number of people can play the dreidel game. At the beginning of the game each player is given an equal number of gelt pieces or candy, usually 10-15. At the beginning of each round, every player puts one piece into the center "pot." They then take turns spinning the dreidel, with the following meanings assigned to each of the Hebrew letters: Nun means "nichts," which means "nothing" in Yiddish. If the dreidel lands with a nun facing up the spinner does nothing. Gimmel means "ganz," which is Yiddish for "everything." If the dreidel lands with the gimmel facing up the spinner gets everything in the pot. Hey means "halb," which means "half" in Yiddish. If the dreidel lands with a hey facing up the spinner gets half of the pot. Shin means "shtel," which is Yiddish for "put in." Pey means "pay." If the dreidel lands with either a shin or a pey facing up the player adds a game piece to the pot. If a player runs out of game pieces they are "out."

I have published a new book, this time a novel (parable). I decided to publish it as an E-book through Amazon. You can obtain it and have it downloaded to an area reserved for you in an Internet "Cloud," then read it on a Kindle device, or on your computer (using a free downloadable app from Amazon). Here is the link for the book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q7COXT4 Angel In the End of Time: A Parable of the End Times (Kindle Edition) Ronald R. Lambert (Author) Kindle Price: $4.99 Book Description: Many people seem to have gotten the idea that the interpretation of Bible prophecy is something like a competitive sport, and vie with each other to see who can come up with the most fabulously fanciful version. But 2 Peter 1:20, 21 strictly forbids fanciful interpretations: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” This leads us to recognize what must be the one and only reasonable way to avoid a private interpretation of Bible prophecy. That is to follow these three basic rules of interpretation: (1) Allow only the Bible itself to define all its prophetic symbols. (2) Allow context to indicate when in history to apply the prophecies. (3) Use common sense literary analysis—especially noting how the phrases involved are used elsewhere in Scripture—to determine whether a given passage should be taken literally or symbolically. The fact that these simple rules do work, and provide consistent results with symbolic prophecies written many centuries apart in three different languages, is one of the strongest evidences for the divine inspiration of Scripture. It shows that all the prophecies did come from One Divine Mind. Jesus Christ did much of His preaching employing stories that helped his listeners understand what He was trying to get across. This story is told from the viewpoint of a former guardian angel, Laron. We meet him as he chooses to address the family and friends of the young lady who had been his charge, who was killed. Then he proceeds to Atlanta, Georgia, where terrorists detonate a small nuclear bomb. Next he must hasten to the White House, and try to resist the efforts of the enemy (fallen angels) to persuade the president to authorize use of a much more powerful nuclear bomb to prevent any contagious diseases that may have escaped from Level Four containment in the Centers for Disease Control from spreading throughout the countryside. After that, we follow Laron through the key events outlined in Bible prophecy for the time of the end, including the final organized conspiracy to place the whole world under the control of one religious authority, that unfortunately is not on God’s side. There is no “Secret Rapture.” All living on earth face a final judgment based on the choice they must make, whether to put their faith in the righteousness of God the Creator and Redeemer, or in the supposed righteousness of the creature--humans and human institutions. The Mark of the Beast is the Mark of creature worship. A note about E-publishing: authors typically get 70% royalties, so can afford to charge much less for books, allowing more people to be able to afford to read them. While the E-publisher does not get as large a percentage as a print publisher, the E-publisher has negligible actual publication costs. Amazon currently has about 60% of the E-book market. Next to Amazon is Barnes & Noble, with 30%. More and more public libraries are offering rental of E-books. Also, I discovered that going to the Amazon Kindle library, I find a lot of short stories available by themselves, some of them by well-known writers. For example, there are a couple of short works by Lee Child, that feature his popular character, Jack Reacher, that are available no where else, at prices of $1.99 or lower. In the past, to get a short story published, I had to get some magazine editor to like it enough to publish it in his magazine (such as Analog Science Fiction, where I have been published several times). Or someone compiling an anthology of short fiction might solicit short stories already published, and occasionally some that are new, to include in his anthology. The market for short fiction thus has always been very tight--until now. Now it is easy to get a short story or novelette published. I would hate to see the demise of printed books, but clearly E-books are the way of the future. They allow much greater freedom, and make literature much more readily available.

When Jesus returns in glory, the unsaved will cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall on them, and to hide them (to cover them) from His face. (Rev 6:16) On that day the people would much rather die than face Him. They will see death as their only hiding place – their only 'refuge'. I suggest that many years ago, when Jesus stood in the Temple courtyard, a flash of that same Divine glory came from His face. That very same glory which brings terror to the hearts of men at the Second Coming of Jesus, was manifest in the Temple courtyard during His first advent. Many Temple guards were on duty that day, and many able-bodied men were present, and yet none of them stood up to this one unarmed Man. They ALL ran. But there was something very different about this event. The mechanics of the event may not be fully understood... Things were happening which were outside of human reckoning. And yet I do not believe that Jesus literally took hold of the tables etc. and turned them over (this is what man's anger would do). But when the glory flashed from Jesus' face, the people fled in a panic. Yes, Jesus "did it" – He turned over the tables etc. – but not in the way that we naturally imagine. The sudden reaction was "hide me from the face of Him that stands among us!" In the rush to escape the condemnation of His presence, the people do not even think to gather up their money. It is because of Him that they flee. It is because of Him that the tables are overturned. It is because of Him that the money is “poured out”. And yet His hand did not take hold of a single table, nor the scourge in His hand strike a single person. The buyers, and the sellers, and the animals – their own physical forms – these are the agents that literally enact the havoc throughout that broad Courtyard scene. "When divinity flashed through humanity, not only did they see indignation on Christ's countenance; they realized the import of His words. They felt as if before the throne of the eternal Judge, with their sentence passed on them for time and for eternity." (Desire of Ages p.162) On that day the people were able to flee -- they were able to escape that terrible feeling -- but the day is coming when there will be no-where to go. Additional Thoughts. * In John's account we find something that is not specifically mentioned by the other writers. Jesus said to “them that sold Doves, Take these things hence; make not My Father's house an house of merchandise.” (Jn 2:16) It strikes me Jesus addressed those words to the Dove sellers. These sellers were the ones that targeted the poorest classes of people; those that were least able to afford a “proper” offering. * “And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up.” (Jn 2:17) For some people it may be difficult to differentiate between “zeal” and “passion”, but I love the words that say, “His zeal never led Him to become passionate.” (Evangelism p.636) Zeal for God's house ate Him up – it “consumed” Him, and yet I am confident that the casting out of the sellers and buyers was NOT a passionate act. And again, we have it – “His zeal never degenerated into passion.” (In Heavenly Places p.54)

Question, If for whatever reason you visited a local SDA church for the Sabbath service and discovered that the format and events of that service were no different to what would be done at a local Assemblies of God church, would you approve or disapprove? For those who may not have ever encountered the Assemblies of God or a Pentecostal denomination before, that format of meeting would resemble something like this, (note that this might only be in part during the weekly meeting and varies from week to week). Opening Praise and worship songs - flowing, all members standing. Singing in the Spirit - Singing in Tongues. Prayer, (which may lead into further prayer in Tongues) Prayer in tongues - General across Congregation, Single Tongues and interpretation by another members with potentially a prophetic focus of what G-d is saying to the congregation. Words of knowledge "there is one amongst us here that has a sore knee, come forward and be healed" and similar cases. Communion - every second week, bread and grape juice in thimble glasses. Offering Sermon Altar Call - invitation to be born again, personal prayer for members needs, Anointing with oil of the sick. Slaying in the Spirit - prayer that ends with the person becoming overwhelmed by the presence of G-d and falling over backwards. Personal Prophecy, Songs to finish and often through the altar call. Fellowship.

to see a larger image: click on http://i.imgur.com/HhqlkMK.png

In the opening post, the following question was asked: My first problem with the opening post, and the direction that this thread has gone is that there is a failure to distinguish between Pentecostal and the Assemblies of God (AOG). The AOG is but one small part of the Pentecostal movement. Pentecostals consist of a very large number of denominations. That which accurately describes the version that is practiced by one denomination often does not fit the practices of another part. As Wikipedia says: Carefully consider the above: 1) Some 700 denominations. 2) Some 279,000,000 Pentecostals. 3) An estimated one-half billion Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians. By the way: Some people use the terms "pentecostal" and "charismatic" interchangeably. From this perspective, that which applies to Pentecostals may not apply to AOG. I have a further problem with bringing Rodney Brown into this discussion. NOTE: HIs name is also spelled "Browne." Rodney Brown has an independent ministry. His ministry is nor formally a part of the AOG. That distinction has not been made clear in this discussion. People reading here, although it has not been said that he is AOG, might think that he is a part of the AOG. Certainly he has clergy friends who are AOG. But, his ministry began independently and his relationship to some AOG clergy came well into the development of his independent ministry. Again, as Wikipedia says: In fact, Rodney Brown has been criticized for what are called excesses in his ministry. IOW, there are those who may be Pentecostal and believe that he goes well beyond what is appropriate for Pentecostalism. Would we want people to look to David Koresh, and Waco, Texas, for a view of the SDA Church. Yesterday, I followed one of the Internet links that was posted as being a good statement of another religious group. I then looked to that website to see what it said about SDAs. Well, it had plenty to say about us, which most of us would consider to be untruthful.

In Australia there is an Israeli cafe company called "Max Brenner", they are popular for hot chocolates and other chocolate items. The owner is Jewish. Members of the political left, including a serving member of the Australian Greens - Senator Lee Rhiannon in our parliament from time to time hold rallies outside of his stores and call for them to be closed. They describe it as a "Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions". Yet these rallies which often degenerate into abuse and heavy police presence only ever target Jewish business owners, not unlike in Germany in 1936 when Hitler also began to segregate and initiate hate speech on Jewish people for no other reason than that they are Jewish. If the Israel issue really mattered to these people the same thing would be done outside of Chinese businesses re Tibet or Russian businesses over the Ukraine for example. Yet the fact is that 70 years after Auschwitz its always targed towards the Jew - Yet again. I wonder how many in here would be prepared to wear the Star of David or a T Shirt with the flag of Israel or any other item that might look Jewish in certain neighbourhoods in your own nation? Several Jewish people have been bashed in our streets again for no other reason than that they were recognised as being Jewish. The fact is that we do not do enough to remember what happened at Auschwitz and we are now already seeing the rise of Anti Semitism across Western Countries, France perhaps being the most prevalent. How do you shut the gate once the horse has bolted? - You cant, but you can refuse to participate in it and you can speak against Anti Semitism when you see it happening.

I would agree with those sentiments but *add* that if American drone strikes killing innocent civilians of all ages don't sicken you, you *also* have a broken moral compass. Same with Israeli missiles. In humanity, and in inhumanity, there is no 'our side' and 'their side', there is only human beings living and dying, saving and killing. By all means point your outrage, and your work, in the direction of killers. Just don't discriminate.

The Boulder SDA Church is attempting to become an active participant in the life of the community. As part of its reorganization, it has a section of leadership the is dedicated to developing new methods of reaching out to the community. This group of leaders consists of a broad spectrum of its members--youth, retired, health care employees, Phd. scientists and more. AS part of this evaluation, this group considered the fact that this area is known for it emphasis on healthful living to include vegetarian/vegan diets. So, it decided to attempt to reach this community. A website has been established where people with vegetarian/vegan interests can meet and communicate: http://www.meetup.com/boulder-vegetarian-cooking-community It is not an exclusive SDA website. Rather it is a website where such people can meet and communicate. But, it will have a SDA presence. You will note that it has only been open for a short period of time. As such, it was decided that a professionally responsible cooking school would be held which focused on a "plant based" diet rather than a vegetarian/vegan diet. People would be invited to attend, and the school would be live-streamed over the Internet would allow for Internet viewing at a later time. That school was held yesterday evening (January 24, 2015). More than 30 people attended, which include some non-SDA, community people. That was the first step. In an additional outreach, members to the community are invited to attend the monthly potluck that the Boulder congregation has at 12 Noon, once a month. Community people are invited to bring their favorite vegetarian/vegan dish to share. You will find the announcement of the next (February 14) potluck listed on the website. As the website is intended to be a community website, you may find announcements posted that might not be posted in a SDA Church. In any case, this is an innovative outreach to the community. Yes, it does have some aspects of a traditional SDA approach. The Boulder congregation wishes to combine the new with that which has worked well in the past. It does not automatically throw out what has been done in the past. It is willing to experiment and see what works. For those who wish to view congregational meetings, they may be viewed at: https://new.livestream.com/bouldersdachurch To view the congregational events stored on the above website you will need to either sign in through Facebook, or you can sign in through listing your e-mail address and a password. The password is: SDA7sda The cooking school, is available for viewing as well as other congregational services.

JoeMo, The way you wrote part of that it almost sounds like the police are the "rough customers".... That sounds like a very good program. The local church here is wanting to build a community resource center to be used as a thrift store, a hot meals kitchen, a place for people to stay during a disaster, and a few other purposes. Along with that there are plans to have a large community garden where people can come and work in it and get produce in return for their labor.

if the original post was in Townhall, it will probably be from one of these threads.. in Townhall Started by Gregory Matthews, 19 Jul 2014 in Townhall Started by darkeale, 26 May 2013 in Townhall Started by darkeale, 26 May 2013 What is your book to e-book ratio? in Townhall Started by Gail, 14 Apr2013 Sony tablet- would YOU buy one at that price? inTownhall Started by Gail, 31 Aug 2011 Old old book on the Sabbath in Townhall Started by Stan, 27 Jan 2011 Kindle and Adventist Publishing in Townhall Started by Stan, 28 Dec 2009 Amazon Kindle / Kindle 2 eBook in Townhall Started by timewarp, 02 Mar 2009

In an interesting legal case, Emily Herx, a teacher at a Roman Catholic school alleges that she was fired from her position as a teacher at the St. Vincent de Paul School due to the fact that she was attempting to become pregnant due to in vitro fertilization (IVF) which violates Roman Catholic beliefs. The Church attempted to get the lawsuit dismissed and failed in that attempt and the case went to trial. That jury trial awarded Ms. Herx the sum of about 1.9 million dollars. That award has since been reduced to the sum of $543,803. It remains to be seen whether or not the Roman Catholic Church will appeal that decision. In view of the fact that media reports of this case have often contained errors and partial information, I am submitting the following: To Shepard the case, see: Herx v. Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend To view a listing of the legal documents and decisions involved go to: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1361846-emily-herx-lawsuit.html http://indianalawblog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=herx To see the ruling that reduced the amount awarded her, go to: http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/courts/Award-in-Herx-case-decreased-4447811 In fairness to the Roman Catholic Church and to see some of their thinking, go to: http://www.aleteia.org/en/education/article/the-real-reason-teacher-emily-herx-was-fired-for-using-ivf-5806364098035712

Beloved Mr. Cub, Hall of Famer Banks dies at 83 http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/107316594/beloved-mr-cub-hall-of-famer-banks-dies-at-83

The Book of Negroes: How much do you know about it? It is a book that has draws rave reviews. It is a TV miniseries that will soon be shown on television. It has been said to rival the ROOTS miniseries. For a starter look at this element of history, see: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h58.html For more information: It is on the Internet.

Quote: Dr. Samuel Kohn, chief Rabbi of Budapest, Hungary, in a recent work (Sabbatarians in Transylvania, 1894, pp. 8, 9), says, "In Bohemia Sabbatarians sprung up as early as 1520. Such Sabbatarians, or similar sects, we meet about 1545 among the Quakers in England. Several leaders and preachers of the Puritans have re-transferred the rest day from Sunday to Saturday; and the Christian Jews who arose in England and partly emigrated to Germany, and settled near Heidelberg, believed, indeed, in Jesus, but they also celebrated the Sabbath and regarded the Jewish laws in reference to meats and drinks." -- Idem, p. 38.(Dugger, Andrew N. and Dodd, Clarence O, The History of the True Religion, 1968, Jerusalem, pp. 237-8) Sabbath keeping quakers? go figure :)