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Interesting article from Biblical Archaeology Review about 50 people in the Bible who's names have been discovered by archaeology. Usually kings: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/50-people-in-the-bible-confirmed-archaeologically/

Robert, My heart goes out to you. I have things about myself that I have hated since I was a teen (I'm now 65). Personality quirks; responses to being bullied, spiritual trauma from religious people, habits developed in ignorance or just to be "cool", etc. Some of these things I currently hate; but they are 40-year-old habits that won't permanently go away. O yeah - they go away for a while - sometimes even years. But somehow some of them eventually sneak back in... It is because of these besetting sins that I have to thow myself at the mercy of Jesus - TRUST that He is who He says He is and did/does what He says; believe that HE will help me overcome my issues in His time. He has helped me overcome many bad habits; and we're working on others. If my salvation is dependent upon my consistent behavior, I am DOOMED! It is only by the grace and mercy of God and my utter dependence on it that I have any hope of eternal life. One thing that I find helpful in times of temptation is to "think a different thought". When I am tempted, instead of thinking "how am I going to resisit?" I think "Jesus, this is Yours"; and think about something different, or start praising, or start reading a "good" book - anything to get my mind off of me and onto Him. It sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.

My day job, a fascinating story about a man's incredible journey... as a bonus, both Daniel and his wife are First Nation. www.adventist.ca/3dissue/messenger/84-5/index.html

Rather adament!!! Wish I had a CRYSTAL BALL like that! Emy.... What we have posted so far are personal opinions. A few texts thrown in here and there do not prove a point. Context is always needed. I have heard good sermons on both sides of the issue. As Greg posted, what is the correct position, unknown in my mind. Persons use the same texts, languages, word definitions, ancient manuscripts, etc, still comming up with different opinions. Maybe it was never meant to be an important issue, from Gods point of view, just human speculation. From my point of view, as I have stated before, why would God create a species of people and then change everything later? Male and female were created before sin entered the scene.....by God!! Sounds to much like Greek mythology to me when people speculate about this God changing everything for the future. Can God be trusted?

If 95 % of qualified experts in most any other field agreed, few people would pay much attention to the 5% that don't. But the exact opposite seems to happen with climate science. And truly odd that the primary fault line is the standard political divide between those who somehow think 95% of climate scientist are right or wrong about the significant evidence of climate change and that it has a man-made cause. It is as ridiculous as if half the population sided with the scientific/medical consensus that smoking is bad for your health and that the other half sided with the tobacco industry funded experts that denied the evidence as being sufficient/valid/convincing enough proof of a link between the list of health issues and smoking. But it really isn't so different since many of the climate change denier "experts" are largely funded by or in some way in the pocket of big oil and other big business that stand to gain from not doing anything about climate change.

On the lower east side of New York, there was a little street with just five stores on it. Every store belonged to a tailor, except for one, which was empty. The first was called George’s Tailors. On its sign was, "Best tailor in the area." The second was called Mick’s Tailors. Its sign read, "Best tailor in New York." Then came "The Tailor Shop". Its sign read, "Best tailors in America." The fourth was "Smith & Allen Tailors". On its sign were the words, "Best tailors in the world." So Moishe Cohen took a lease on the fifth store, the empty one, and Moishe decided to call it "Cohen’s: Best tailors in the street!"

Young Stevie Gold was nearly 12 years old and although he had a lower than average IQ, he was a dutiful and caring son. One day, he was having a chat with his father. "Dad, it’s Father's Day on Sunday and I want to get you something. Mom said I should ask you what you wanted." Mr. Gold only needed to think for a moment. "What do I want? I only want one thing – you are 12 months away from your Bar Mitzvah and I would be so very happy if you could learn at last to speak Hebrew." Stevie groaned aloud, "You know how hard I’m finding it at school to learn new subjects, Dad. I’m such a slow learner. I just don’t think I would be able to learn Hebrew." Mr. Gold looked squarely at his son and said, "Stevie, you’re better than you think you are. I’ll even help you, just as my father helped me. If you could do this for me, it would please me so very much!" "OK, I'll try Dad, just for you, but please don’t be angry with me if I fail." So next Sunday, they went to see the Rabbi and soon after that, Stevie was enrolled in the synagogue’s Hebrew classes. Over the months that followed, Stevie kept his promise by attending regularly and trying as hard as he could. One day, Mr. Gold decided to visit the synagogue and check on Stevie’s progress. He entered the class in the middle of a lesson and when it came to Stevie’s turn to read, Mr. Gold was soon dismayed to discover how little Hebrew Stevie could manage after all the months that had gone by. Stevie was very slow and made many mistakes in his reading. But even worse, Mr. Gold realized that what he was hearing from Stevie was the beginning of the Kaddish. He was shocked – the Kaddish is the prayer for the dead, the words that every son is expected to say after the father's death. "Rabbi, what on earth are you teaching my son?" argued Mr. Gold after the lesson was over. "I'm only in my 40s – I’m a young man still in good health. I go jogging and Israeli dancing every week. Do I really look so ill that you are teaching Stevie to say the Kaddish now?" The Rabbi replied, "Mr. Gold, please God you should live so long that Stevie is able to say the whole of the Kaddish over you!"

I agree we need to focus on God and not primarily on sin because He gives us the power to overcome sin. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, or is often compared to a mirror in SDA circles. It shows us what is wrong but cannot cleanse us; only Christ can do that. We need to be motivated by love for God and not merely dislike of our sins. We are to hate sin, but not just because we look better when we are slimmer, say, but because of what sin does to God. I realize maybe that is not my main motivation these days, but it needs to be.

The 4th commandment is not about which day you worship on, we should worship every day, it is about which day your REST on and which 6 days you WORK on.

Hi Robert, There are three general steps for gaining victory over habitual sins. 1. Contemplate. Consider the love of God. The things of earth truly do grow dim in comparison to him. Love for him motivates us to truly desire change. 2. Decide. Choose to follow God. While it is true that we must have God’s power to actually carry out this choice, at the same time, he must have our decision. 3. Depend. Rely on a strength outside of what you possess – God’s strength. Get super aggressive with this one. The violent take the kingdom of God by force. Be like Jacob who held on with all his might, crying out, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” For many years I struggled with habitual sin. Things got progressively worse until I felt crushed by the weight of my guilt. The sky seemed like brass above me, sealing my prayers out of heaven. There was no peace for me. I was lost and I knew it. It was terrifying. One night I was praying that same old prayer, “God, please forgive me.” There in the moonlight as I was slumped beside my couch, a text from childhood came into my mind, “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.” I had no peace, but here was an offer of peace extended by him who had taken the punishment for me. God’s love and grace melted my heart, and I cried out, “God, I can’t stand to hurt you anymore. Please, help me do what is right.” From that time on, when I was tempted I would get away to a private place, often the bathroom, kneel down on the floor and pray, “God, I do not have it in me to do what is right. If it is left up to me, I am done for. Please, give me your strength, a strength outside of what I naturally possess. Make me willing to be willing. Do not leave me here. I am depending on you to help me.” I would stay there until I felt a resolve come into my heart, and I knew God had given me the victory and I was safe to face the temptation again. Usually it did not take more than five or ten minutes, although there have been a couple of severe battles that lasted many hours. Notice how in my experience, the first step was to contemplate the love of God. When I saw his love, an attraction for him sprang up in my heart. It was then, in comparison to his beauty, that sin truly looked horrendous. The second step was when, based on my attraction to God, I decided to follow him. It was not just a wish for righteousness, not just a half-hearted decision, but a deliberate choice to obey God. Of course I had no more power than at any prior time, but the choice to follow God led to the third step, which was to depend on him. He then gave the grace and power required to actually be victorious. And let me say that victory is even sweeter than I had imagined. To kneel in prayer knowing that I have held nothing back, to live day by day with a clean conscience, to relish the thought of his coming – these rewards are tremendous. Yes, God is still working on me, revealing new sins that need to be surrendered, and new heights that need to be conquered. It is often two steps forward, one step back, but little by little he is granting me similar victories today as I press on to apply his will in my life. This experience can be yours too, if you will contemplate, decide, and depend.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2-4 (KJV) Temptation is often seen as an enemy. But here, James is saying be joyful when you are tempted. This I will admit stumped me for awhile. But when I realized that every time you successfully resist temptation, you validate God and his law. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 I believe that the more you study God's word and hear the Holy Spirit, the better you will hear his direction when you come to a temptation moment. I have found that things I easily fell into, sometimes even presumptuously thinking God will forgive me later (winks at my sin), I come to a moment where it is a God or the devil moment. The choice becomes that much clearer in those moments. So, temptation becomes another moment to say to God, the angels, sometimes people around you, "I will follow the Lord." And gaining victories will bring new victories next time around when you continue to walk with the Lord.

Red Search references someone who supports the Concordant Version of the Bible. [NOTE: THE Concordant Version has both the OT & The NT. Some of my comments will relate to both and others will only relate to the NT.] The Concordant Version (CV) dates to the 1909 work of Adolph E. Knoch. To read his statement as to what he did and his thinking see: http://www.scripture4all.org/ISA2_help/Articles/The_Concordant_Method/The_Concordant_Method.htm I gave the above URL in the interests of objectivity. In brief, and going beyond what Knoch said about his work: 1) Knoch preferred the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus. I do not necessarily have an issue with this. It is simply his preference. 2) With a 1909 date, his work is clearly dated and lacks current understanding of the meanings of ancient words. While the Concordant Version may have had some updating, it still lacks in this area. 3) Fundamental problem with the CV is that his translation is NOT based upon the text. Rather it is based upon an unusual use of a concordance. This idea of his work being problematic reflects my basic position that a lexicon is what should be used in translation, rather than a concordance. A lexicon gives word meanings. A concordance tells us how a word has been translated in the various verses in which that word has been used. Knoch took each instance of the use of a word and attempted to translate it with one singe English word in every place where it was used. In actual practice, he was not able to do that. But, as much as possible, he only translated into one English word. 4) English words, as in other languages, often have multiple meanings. One simply can not translate them into one singe word in another language as the other language may not have the same subset of meanings as does the English. IOW, the work of Knoch has a fundamental flaw.