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I've been thinking about this for awhile. It seems that we have decided that God already knows exactly what will happen in every minute of every life here on earth. Though I believe it when the Bible says He knows the end from the beginning, I tend to think that thought has to do with our redemption and the end of sin. If God knows every detail of our future lives now, what kind of game is He playing? If He knew every decision Israel would make through its history, how can there possibly be what many call "conditional" prophecies? If a God with foreknowledge makes a promise on the condition of righteous acts by the people, knowing that the people will fail, He's holding a goal that's beyond their reach, and He knows they'll never achieve it. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Excellent editorial from Spectrum Magazine, May 20, 2015 Editorial: The False Discipleship of Scapegoating The notion of fervent discipleship has become, for some, a constant effort to tweet and post about heresy within the church and then make sure that the widest audience possible is aware of the perceived danger. I know Elder Ted Wilson had the best of intentions in 2010 when he told the audience at the General Conference Session, “Hold them accountable.” I am also sure that he did not envision the path this would take. The admonition to “hold them accountable” is causing our denomination to spiral into endless public shaming of perceived variant targets. As a community we have abandoned irenic generosity and have become entrenched in pursuing the illusive goal of community purification. This is not true discipleship. Jesus portrayed Spirit-filled people as a source of living water for others (John 4:13), not as a sort of honor brigade that roots out any questioning or variance protruding from a particular interpretation. As soon as we play the blame game, the devil wins; Satan, after all, means “accuser.” And accusing has become so easy with social media. Read the rest here: http://spectrummagazine.org/article/2015/05/20/editorial-false-discipleship-scapegoating

​ On one of my recent trips to Africa, I was with an African girl in a shopping mall. Africans generally dress modestly. We saw a girl who dressed more North American upscale mall outfit, I hope you understand what I mean. This beautiful girl walking with me said "She will never get a good husband' it was once of those statements that just made so much sense when she said it.

Of course if one had a choice,,, satellite phone.

As a church we have rejected most of what was instituted by the Church of Rome , in the 3rd Century, except the rule of Governance, that we are currently using. The new testament was a different model, which had every believer a minister, and not the tight structure we have today. The Priesthood is over. Pastors are not priest, nor to be compared to them.. Just my opinion, other friends differ from me, and we are still friends.

Thanks,,.... I know people generally do not like change, we see an uproar whenever Facebook changes... BUT interested in thoughts on this new layout, and by layout I mean similar to what Aubrey posted above..

That would be like someone declaring himself a Seventh-day Adventist but doesn't believe in the Sabbath, or a Catholic who doesn't believe in the pope or Mary.

​Amen! Amen! Amen!

Richard Rice once wrote a book titled THE OPENNESS OF GOD. That book discussed this same subject and took the position that God does not know in that detail. An interesting book that was published by a SDA publisher.

Jeannie, I hear what you are saying about privacy concerns. Most people would be shocked to know how much personal info about the them is already out there on the Internet without them even putting it there. Facebook does allow you to restrict who gets to see your stuff. And you don't have to share any more about yourself than you want to. I have found it to be a great vehicle for connecting to long lost friends and even relatives I had lost touch with. And their are a number in both categories I can choose to ignore, restrict contact and what they see and what I see of them, and even delete their stuff from my Facebook page. As much as I value C/A, that is not possible here. I am less likely to share personal stuff here than on Facebook because I have learned the hard way that some people who read Internet forums and even pretend to be my friend really are not. I have left certain other forums because of such problems.

​Just another reason I've chosen not to "do" Facebook. I already have all the friends I can keep up with, and I don't care to put my personal info out there for the world to see. [Of course, you CAers have been seeing more of my personal stuff lately, because so many things have come up here on CA which remind me of something I need to talk about!]

If everything that we do is preordained, then it's not free will. And if God knows what choices we will make, and the outcomes.... I don't know... that doesn't seem right to me. Wouldn't it be something akin to God watching a boring movie? Much more reasonable to think that He knows that we will have choices to make, and that He has contingency plans available for whatever choices are made.

I married at age 20 to a 22-year-old. We were both in college, straight from our childhood homes (no break to be on our own; dorms don't count) where our households had old-fashioned role separations. Though we were happily married, and he was quite mature for his age, having worked his way through SDA schools with no monetary help from his parents, sometimes I wished, in the years that were to come, that he had experienced a year or two of bachelorhood, so that he could have had some idea of the amount of work it took to pick up after him, keep the house neat, do the laundry and ironing, pay the bills, weed the yard, do the shopping, and keep meals coming regularly, on top of my own full-time job outside of the home.

The entire procedure, and even the idea of it, is gruesome. To think that there are people who think that this is morally acceptable boggles my mind. To think that so-called Christians support this, and the political party that makes it a part of their political platform, is to me beyond belief. How do they justify this to themselves? I just can't see how. It's so morally repugnant--and by that I mean all abortions--I just cannot understand how someone who calls himself a Christian can be in league with this. The Bible tells us to defend those who cannot defend themselves and abortion support is exactly the opposite concept. I just have to shake my head in disbelief.

This is the strangest pro-abortion argument I've ever seen. Because the Roman Catholics are against abortion we should be for it.... Do you know what a partial-birth abortion is? The "doctor" grabs the head of the baby when it, but not the rest of the baby, is out of the birth canal and crushes it. Your argument is that life does not begin until the baby is out of the womb. Really? What was it before? Inanimate? Dead? If it was how did it grow and develop? Dead things, inanimate things, do not grow and develop. Note that Webster's dictionary says that conception is the initiation of life. That means abortion is the taking of a life of someone who cannot defend themselves. That's called murder.

​Brotherly love, From what you wrote above, are we to understand that you are saying that God lied to Daniel? God's messenger told Daniel: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (12:4). And again: "And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end" (12:9). The time of the end is identified by the messenger in his words to Daniel as a time when knowledge shall be increased and when men shall run to and fro. Our modern time fits that criteria; past ages do not. Saying that Daniel is not specifically intended for the time of the end (our modern time) is truly sophistry. The word of God clearly states that Daniel is for the endtime when knowledge is to increase. At the time of the end, I studied Daniel and Revelation and knowledge has increased. I have 8 time dated tweets in twitter's archives from Sept 2011 to Sept 2012 that demonstrate that knowledge has increased. My understanding of Daniel and Revelation allowed me to accurately tweet (100% correctly before it happened) that Benedict was a short timer (Sept 2011). Naysayers said, DAH he is an old man. Based on Bible prophecy, in 2011 & 2012; I tweeted more specifically: 2012 is pope Benedict's last year. I continued studying Daniel and was even more specific: he might last till May 2013. Then in September 2012, I tweeted: Pope Benedict might last till the Spring of 2013. KNOWLEDGE HAS INCREASED: Pope Benedict did not make it till the spring of 2013. And now that it has happened knowledge has continued to increase, I understand from Daniel and Revelation why Pope Benedict left office before 29 March 2013. What you boldly deny as sophistry is prophecy fulfilled. Obviously the sophistical prophetic position that you have presented here has missed something. In spite of the evidence, some folks will fight for their opinion rather than to change. Others will reexamine the evidence and follow where it leads. Still another class will be overcome with uncertainty and doubt not knowing what to believe. I pray that I will always follow the Light and grow in brotherly love. Christian regards, His child henry

In the matter of EGW, as is well known, humans did not lay hands upon her and ordain her. Humans believed that God had ordained her. So, the question becomes: Is one ordained because humans decided to ordain a person, or is one ordained because humans, in recognition that God had ordained that person, issued the credentials of ordination.

There seems to be such a hatred for those who need help...

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​As long as there is no longer a traditional meaning to marriage in a civil situation why can't they marry. If they all love each other should they be denied the right to live as a married threesome and enjoy the benefits?

American turned its back on God a long time ago: Legalized abortions= 80,000 v Native American Genocide = (let's be conservative) 10 million Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 135,000 men, women and children in a matter of seconds. CIA inspired coup's, Support of despotic regimes all over the world. When God was in schools and public places many Americans could not vote or enjoy simple human dignities. Reading the Bible in school did not bring the nation closer to God it just gave a veneer of religiosity. Sin isn't just about sex it is about injustice, mistreating the poor, lying (saying its the land of the free when people are not free), using God's name in vain, (saying God bless America as you drop bombs on innocents to further your own economic interests). Only now has American gone away from God? You're kidding right. This goes for all the other countries in the world too. Not one has clean hands.

Actually the ones that do this are not "my friends" but rather friends of friends etc. Doesn't change that fact tho. If men in this age group are seriously looking for a mate they are not going to be attracted to a foul mouthed young woman that thinks all men are a irresponsible overgrown mama's boy. The same goes for young women,generally the type of man they attract will have similar character and values. You simply don't see this same put down of women. For either sex why on earth would you be attracted to a person that is constantly putting you down? Men are not the villain's anymore than women are. For every undesirable trait found in men,one can be found in women.If either can't find a responsible mature partner maybe they need to take stock of the character they are projecting and the places they are looking

Whether it is men or women generally they will attract the character and values they exhibit. What I read on facebook still surprises me. Most of the time it is young women complaining about not being able to find a decent man.They do this with a string of profanity and crude language,while posting suggestive pictures of themselves. What type of man do they think will be attracted to that behavior?