Leaderboard

I was born in america, but they referred to me as colored. Society at large was as guilty of the difference making as anyone. Then the name changed to negro, or the american negro. It never was and probably never will be just american. Then in the radical sixties the name changed to black. American people of african descent embraced their black color and heritage. But the term black is not that accurate. There are many people who are black who have light skin color. It is a long and complicated social and historical issue. So, the term african american came into being. When I fill out government forms they want to know, who are you? What group do you fall into? Are you black? White? I work for a government agency. I hand out forms to people like this all day, every day. As fare as assimilation I see and interact with people who are much more alienated from the american myth of the melting pot than african americans. I have talked to people, as much as I can, who have been here 20 + years, and they don't know the language. If you ask them what there national flag is they will not say the american flag. They will point to the mexican flag, or the honduran flag or where ever they come from. Some show disdain for american or Western law, preferring sharia law. The whimsical notion that african americans segregated themselves is so ignorant, it is laughable, but I digress.

i am reading a book entitled, Pagans, by James O'Donnell. It is about the dying out of the traditional Roman religious culture and the rise of Christianity. I always took for granted that Christianity rose through the power of the Holy Spirit, that Pentacost just continued until the religion settled in nicely and everyone forgot about the former ways. Realistically, though, as the sect grew it was when politicians saw the power to be had through including the Christians and the move to turn the church from home groups to a multinational corporation that really brought about the death of what we now call Roman paganism. That, and some oppressive measures by the Church added to the fact that the traditional ways themselves were suffering from lacklustre. People would do things like pray towards the sun because that is the way it was always done and the way they were accustomed to. A man named Nectarius was complaining to a young Augustus about Christians coming down with too heavy a hand on the citizens of the modest town of Calama in North Africa in the year 408. A crowd had come out to celebrate an old festival with songs and costumes but not going as far as including forbidden practices like blood sacrifice. The local clergy came down on them and this resulted in a riot. A second and a third clash ensued which brought about the death of a cleric and sent the bishop into hiding. Nectarius' letter was a call to temperance in handling those who were following tradition. He was a baptised Christian citizen and did not defend anything pagan; he just wanted to keep peace. His point was that the people were peaceful and law-abiding and should not be troubled. Where should the line be drawn by the church between action and tolerance? Think about modern terms.

And talking about the KJV... There are some KJV-only advocates that believe WAY differently than Seventh-Day Adventists. How does that happen? I am impressed that the Holy Spirit plays a big part (and must play a big part) in guiding a seeker.

At the store we recently had a customer tell us that a Desire of Ages that had been given to him had sat on a shelf for 20 years and through a hectic, party-filled life. At the end of his rope the man finally gave the book a shot, and it was by reading it that he was converted. That was a conversion that saved his mortal life also. You just never know.

Our modern equivalent to the traditions kept by the common people in those days would be, say, Christmas and Easter and perhaps Halloween. People celebrate them without any religious consideration at all. The event described in the OP had to do with the reaction of the church against a public festival. The celebrants were observing a traditional festival and by this time (400s AD) the Roman fervor had waned regarding the old, multi-God system. The dynamics were changing anyhow, and I could pick up a pondering from the author as to whether it was wasted effort for the church leaders/civic leaders to legislate morality. I tried to imagine how successful a modern government would be in trying to outlaw Christmas today. Would it help create faithful Christian adherents out of those who were merely observing the holiday for its own sake?

Then again, if you belong to the body of Christ__________ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.....Galatians 3 God is Love! Jesus saves!

I think the blacks segregating themselves to certain degree. Why the term "African-American". By definition, African-American means someone from Africa living in America. I can say myself I am an Asian-American as I came from one of those Asian countries and living here in America. Is it out of desperation the Blacks calling themselves African-American? What about those blacks came from other than Africa. What about those who came from Mexico? Why don't they call Mexican-American instead of Latinos? Would you specify those from Germany, German-American? It would be endless. How are you going to call those who have a few mixed blood such as Irish, German, Italian, etc, are we going to specify those names? I would very much to see drop those hyphenated word and simply use "American".

You may want to move your border over a little, Stan. I understand the disease is catching. 9What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time....Nahum 1 God is Love! Jesus saves!

​Why?? They take up lots of "folly" cases!!!!!

Ok, I went to visit the website expecting with the title "Barely Adventist" to be the Adventist version of Playboy or Penthouse, and out of fear I was thinking "But there are few if any Adventists who you want to see bare" Especially with our views on women's ordination... I was thinking about how a psychiatric tech once told me "Ever notice that the patients who keep taking off their clothes are those who you want to quickly cover up and never anyone where you'd want to chart "Pt keeps disrobing and wandering hall, continue to monitor." Seriously, I am having fun with the title but the site was really fun! I enjoyed their articles! And yes, I only read it for the articles.

Item 17 of the 10-page agreement that one must sign in order to participate states: Participants agree that any pets they bring to the camp will have their reproductive organs properly covered from the view of others attending the camp. In addition, they agree that no reproductive activities between pets brought to the camp will be allowed on the site of the camp activities unless the pets involved are in a committed monogamous relationship.