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There is certainly grounds to debate whether or not The Great Controversy Project is the best way to reach people in our society today.

These things are social signals, so it depends on the social context. I'd hope in general that your clothes wouldn't cross your mind at church. So they should be physically comfortable, and similar enough to those of others that you don't feel as though you stick out like a sore thumb. Jeans at a suit church or suit at a jeans church won't work so well. God doesn't care, I don't think: "man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart". That is to say, the clothes are relevant only as they are reflections of the heart... and hypocrisy before God is impossible.

I don't see why it would be hypocritical. One should always dress for occasion, and it's really a matter of both personal and institutional preference. You go to an interview and you generally wear something less casual. If you present a tech keynote, people generally purposefully dress down since it's a trend. On the other hand, if you pitch a financial report, you dress up. I'd like to say that dress doesn't matter, but it simply not the case, given some cultural expectations in any given context.

Up until yesterday I have been at the forefront of talking about the Church being a hospital for sinners. Yesterday, my wife caused me to have an epiphany. The Church should not be a hospital for sinners. In the world of today, people spend 3-days in the hospital treating a single problem. Then they return to their prior existence, minus that problem. But, they may nto be healthy. The Church should be an Assisted Living Facility. People come there because they need assistance on an on-going basis. Rather than addressing one problem, they are helped in all areas of their life in which they may need help. They likely remain there for an extended period of time. There is typically no expectation that they will reach the place where they no longer need help.

When doing PC work I have background music of God-praise coming out of my speakers. I use my IE browser for the URL because it seems to automaticly connect with Windows Media Player. Then I minimise the player and adjust the sound level. I close down the browser because it is not necessarily needed. I jump around to other browsers or just keep up the on-going organisation of folders and files I've been doing. http://www.hymnsandfavorites.com/haf.asx

Here is an article I got from the TED newsletter:

What This Dad Does When He Finds Out His Son Is Bullying Kids Is Priceless This guy might look like a bit of a rough nut, but how he handles things when he discovers his son has been bullying other kids at school shows his true values, attitudes, and parenting skills! Timothy R Srobenhorst’s Facebook post implies that he probably knows how to fight, and that he’s passed that those skills onto his son for self-defense. What he hadn’t passed onto his son was the maturity to know when to use those skills, rather than being a bully. Well if his kid hadn’t gotten the message before, he certainly will after this! Srobenhorst posted the following status on his Facebook profile in mid-March along with this picture, after being appalled to learn that his son was being a bully. “I teach my kids they do not start fights but if someone puts their hands on them they finish it,” he wrote. “This is what happens when you become a bully! I don’t put up with it and at 4:30am today my son found out what happens when you prey on people for no reason and bully! Please share this to end this behaviour everywhere! Nothing changes until you take a stance and it only takes one person to start a revolution!” For anyone who might not be able to make out what this homemade posters says, it reads: “My name is Kayden Robenhorst. I am guilty of being a bully at Pulaski Middle School. My punishment is the following: 1) 50 pushups on my fists 2) 10 incline pushups 3) running 1 mile (all at 4:30am) 4) I will also be doing landscaping to both of my dad’s houses, and 5) I will apologize to the boy I bullied in school in front of the whole class today.” After suffering an embarrassment like this, I think it’s safe to say that young Kayden won’t be bullying anyone anytime soon, which means that Timothy is doing one hell of a good job as his father! Well done, Timothy, for taking a stand against bullying everywhere.

I'm sure most of us have heard the saying that, "A church is a hospital for sinners -- not a rest home for saints." Following along that idea, has anyone ever wondered why no one ever gets "well"?? It seems to me that a church is more like a palliative care center, rather than a "hospital." So, rather than "curing," the focus should be on alleviation of the *effects* of sin... not only offering the "Blessed Hope" in the form of sermons and evangelistic efforts, but on actively helping and providing for others in big or small ways... just being friends, visiting -- just making people feel like they *matter*....

And the man who superintended the more than doubling of our national debt said that what Bush racked up in debt was unconstitutional and morally wrong. Then he turns around and makes Bush look like a miser....

Bergdahl is also charged with aiding the enemy and endangering his fellow soldiers. That's the most serious charge against him. It's ironic isn't it that both Barack Obama and Susan Rice called him honorable, and said he served with "distinction". Really? A deserter and someone who endangers his own comrades is honorable and that is serving with "distinction"? How is it that the President of United States and one of his top cabinet members sees a deserter that way? Does that tell you anything about them? It should. To me only two reasons for exist for this sorry state of affairs. 1. They are so anti US that they want to encourage desertion and undermine the morale of armed forces of the United States. 2. They are so dishonest that outright lying the way they did for a supposed political advantage during an election creates no sense of shame in them at all. How about the fact that Obama bypassed Congress to exchange what has been described as "the general staff" of the Taliban for a deserter? Do you really think he had the best interests of this country at heart when he did that? I can't see how. He had 3 other options for getting Bergdahl back at the time and those options were being actively pursued, yet he chose to put our enemies back into the field of combat. Why?

Wow. The parallels between the Presbyterians and the Lutherans of pre-world war II are amazing. The leading Lutheran theologians of that day in Germany didn't believe in God either. You see where that led them.... They became supporters of Hitler.

I agree.... We are not born justified. If Paul believed he was born justified he would never have written Galations 2:17 and talked about seeking to be justified by Christ.

I agree Pam... even if your best is "bargain basement" I feel it is disrespectful to not have them clean, pressed, etc. I have seen lots of blue jeans (denim) in various churches; If one is attending a Cowboy Church then by all means denim. Even then they can be pressed,& clean. As one fellow said, "these are my very best glad rags." Jesus lived in a different time, society, etc. To paraphrase Zig Ziegler, "If you wanta feel better about yourself, Get Up, Clean Up, fix up and things will Look Up, I submit that perhaps when we put on our Sabbath Best for church that we will experience an uplift in mental & spiritual health.

for myself, I'm of the opinion that when I come into the presence of God at a pre-appointed time that I want to dress in my best... it's a matter of respect and honor... I understand not all share that opinion..

We should welcome all who want to worship/learn/develop a relationship with Christ to come as they are. As such it is O.K. for platform staff to dress in a manner that reflects the variety of people who are welcome. At the congregation that I attend people on the platform will be dressed in jeans, suits, ties and other. So also will be the congregation.

I would never wear a suit to a church event, and in fact, don't even own one. If I were pastor of a small church, I might rip out the pews, get rid of the piano and organ and pulpit, and bring in comfortable lawn chairs for the simplest of meetings. No fanfare, pomp and circumstance, or sermons, just the reading of scripture and sharing in small groups. Church culture, including the dress code, has very little to do with the Kingdom of YHVH.

I have been to churches where one of the musicians always wore jeans when leading the worship in song. That said, I recently was at a job club where people were given advice on how to go to a job interview. Jeans were a definite no-no. Makes me wonder why we would do earthly things all dressed up but think it is probably OK to go to church without a thought as to what we wear. Now this same town, you go past a funeral home where there is a large crowd, and half the people there are in jeans and a t-shirt at a funeral! So, while there is no real commandment, and there often local customs, and really dressing up may even be a violation of recommendation to dress modestly, you have to really look at what you have to wear and exactly what were you going to church for anyway? If able, I would never feel comfortable dressing in jean and t-shirt for church, but then I would never think to put someone else down that came to church in jeans and t-shirt. I was reading a discussion of modesty in dress and the writer made the point that if you wear clothing bought at an anymore expensive place than Walmart, you were immodestly dressed. The author suggested that ideally a Christian should spend no more money on their clothing than what they would pay at the local Salvation Army. Actually, he recommended shopping at a second hand thrift store.

In the congregation that I attend the phone number is projected on the screen. At any time someone can text a question to the preacher and a response will be made immediately.

I know for sure I don't want to be where he is when enforced sunday worship on pain of death for those who refuse to accept it, goes down. God is Love! Jesus saves!

And don't forget that there is a real "and" between morning and evening in the sacrifices while it is more of an implied dash in evening-morning. The "evening-morning" is related to the "evening and morning" of Genesis 1 but is also cyclic language. In Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy we have the Hebrew cyclic equivalents. A week for the Hebrews were 6 days and the Sabbath, the 6 months of the growing season with Passover ending/starting the one season and Yom Kippur ending/starting the other season. 6 years and the Sabbatical year. And in Leviticus we have 6 Sabbatical years and the Jubilee. Thus the Hebrew day is the cycle of the sun or for us a literal day. A month, a year, and in Leviticus a sabbatical year. In Deuteronomy it would be Day, Month or Year. Daniel tends to follow more Deuteronomy and the Jeremiah reform based on the discovery Moses of the book of the law (either Deuteronomy or the foundation of Deuteronomy). Thus the cycles we can apply to Daniel is 2300 days, (and the prophecy was given the year that included 2300 days until the fall of Babylon) 2300 months or 2300 years. A little foot note: Notice that if you study Leviticus 23 or Deuteronomy you don't have the day-thousand year cycle. The texts "A day to the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day" is NOT given in the context of cyclic time and does not say "Oops, Moses forgot to mention this cycle in Leviticus 23 or Deuteronomy so let me correct his mistake."

Kevin, I was interested to look at the idea of the morning and evening sacrifices... and yes, sure enough they seem to be described consistently as morning and evening... in that order. (Ex 29:38-42, Num 28:4, 1Chron 16:40, Ezra 3:3, etc.) Thank you for this very interesting detail... even the "jots and tittles" have their place and significance. The 2300 evenings-mornings do not appear to relate to the sacrifices. In fact I cannot find one place were the daily (or "perpetual") offerings are described in that way... again, as I say, it seems to always be the other way around (i.e. morning -- evening).

JoeMo: The sacrifice is "Morning and Evening" the 2300 is Evening-Morning. Also the year that Daniel got the message was the year that had 2300 literal days until the fall of Babylon. Deuteronomy 4 predicted that the exile was to be the last days. Of course this was conditional on the spreading of the Gospel. In the year that they only had 2300 days left the message came that there were only 2300 days left to spread the Gospel if they wanted to go home in a second great exodus lead by the Messiah. It was 1150 days from business as usual.

For more on this see: http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story2443-first-woman-gets-adventist-doctorate-in-theology-in-south-korea 1) She graduated with a doctorate. 2) She was blind! 3) That school had never before admitted a female student. 4) For another interesting aspect of her life, read the sidebar as to her marriage.

http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story2397-adventist-church-adopts-stance-on-vaccines