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It's interesting to me that sexual sins seem to be regarded so much more seriously than other sins. What about pastors who defraud? Or cheat on their taxes? Or lie? Betraying a partner is a grievous sin, it's true, but I suspect it's more our own prurient interest in sex, more than consideration of all sins weighing equally in salvation terms that drives our practices.

Was God reconciled to sinful man? Or - do sinful men become reconciled to God? Are both true? When did (or does) this reconciliation take place? Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The cross was a message. God our Father was saying, “This is how much I love you. You can come home.” This doesn't sound like God NEEDED a sacrifice, in order for HIM to be reconciled to us. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. This sounds like God is almost begging men to be reconciled to Him. Sounds very much like it is mankind - and not God Himself - that needs to be reconciled. The cross was a message from God to mankind. This is how much a love you!!!! Please come home! I won't harm you. To continue with 2 Cor 5:19-20: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” This verse doesn't sound like all men WERE reconciled - past tense. It sounds like they need TO BE reconciled. BACK TO 2 Cor 5:19-20: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them." So - God was NOT counting the trespasses of anyone - in the whole world. No list of sins to be "forgiven". They were already forgiven - long before Christ died. The cross was just a message - from God - that this was so. Yes Samie. I know. I believe the "Book of Life" contains the names of those who have entered into covenant with God - by faith. Their names are placed there WHEN they begin the process of reconciliation - when they "believe". During the course of their lives, they may come to love a sin, and want to cling to that sin. They may not trust God enough to let go of that sin. The sin gets in the way, of the reconciliation process. If they cling to that sin for long enough, they may discontinue the reconciliation process. They may turn away from God. But THEY choose the separation - not God. He weeps to see them go, because He knows that without Him, they will die. "Your sins have separated you from your God." Men are finally LOST because they will not be reconciled - NOT because they have "sinned".

Thanks, I've already asked my son and daughter-in-law to come and look over her things and keep what they want, or what the two grandchildren may want now or for later.

My suggestion is do nothing right away. At some time you will wish to downsize, but you may do it better when a little time has passed.

BTW, I don't recall any seven year policy in the U.S. capitalist system, when the debtors could get their indebtedness wiped clean, something set up in God's early Israelite economy. God is Love! Jesus saves!

You Won’t Believe How Black & Hispanic Voters Are Reacting To Trump in Shocking Poll 07Sep, 2015by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton This is just priceless. I dare say this is karma for the Republican RINOs. Not only is Trump now beating Hillary Clinton by 5 points in the polls, he’s captured 25 percent of the black vote and 31 percent of the Hispanic vote. That my friends, is historic and has never been seen before in the Republican Party. I would be very curious to see the percentage of Blue Dog Democrats coming over to the Trump camp as well. As for conservatives and Republicans in general, Trump has blown the field away and just keeps increasing his lead. I have seen polls now saying somewhere between 28 and 30 percent of Republicans now back Trump. The Donald is on a runaway train to the nomination if this keeps up. From The American Mirror: I’m still a die hard Cruz fan, but I have to say I enjoy watching Trump in action. I can’t help myself. He is now 16 points ahead of Kasich in New Hampshire and Bush? Please, the joyful tortoise is just tragic. Bush has lost almost half his supporters in New Hampshire since July, when he was in second place behind Trump with 14 percent to Trump’s 21 percent. Since February, he’s lost almost two-thirds of his support, when he was at 18 percent. Bush’s support in Iowa also dropped by half. In July, he placed third with 12 percent. Only 6 percent of likely Republican voters in the Hawkeye state chose him as their first pick. It would appear that Trump’s strong stance on immigration is rocking America. 56 percent of Republicans look at Trump favorably, up from 39 percent in July. Trump appears to have won over a significant bloc of GOP voters: his unfavorable ratings declined from 53 to 39 percent in two months. A landslide is in the cards at this rate for Trump and the Republicans will not be able to stop him

Bring back the chastity belt!

Thanks for sharing- I looked this up and was surprised to find out that there is a connection between low B12 and back pain. Another thing that helps back pain that is arthritis related is taking a glucosamine and MSM supplement. These increase the body's production of hyaluronic acid, which helps your joints move smoother, and have been shown to alleviate back pain. Interestingly, those with celiac disease may need more hyaluronic acid if they eat wheat even if they have no digestive symptoms because the body releases the acid into the gut. For vegans, they are available online at Swanson. Using the 2 together has really helped me, even though my pain started after a really bad car accident and was brought on by sitting for long periods on chairs with no back support. Now I no longer have a problem.

Why not just cart the debris away? http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/25/stunning-ways-driftwood-builds-landscapes/ Driftwood is an important line of defense along coastal beaches against erosion by waves, which is especially important as sea levels rise.

Praying now.

Samie, You and I are not even in the same ball park. You think reconciliation is something God could just DO, without any consent or cooperation on the part of the humans. He CAN'T!!! God will not manipulate human minds. He therefore COULD NOT reconcile all humans (to himself) at a moment before time began, because THAT happens in the human mind, as a result of HEARING and SEEING the evidence that God is trustworthy and forgiving. All that God could do, was present His evidence.

Does that come with a magnifying glass? Many travel Bibles have very tiny print!

It would be different if she was say forced to drink it, or if someone was forced to marry someone of the same sex.

When my mom died, he had me go through her stuff for that reason. That plus the fact that he couldn't bear to do it himself.

Gerry, before you get rid of anything belonging to your wife, be sure and ask your children if they'd like to have anything. When my father died, my mom started donating his things without letting me know (which was her right). But I was heartbroken, because there had been a number of items I would have loved to have had...

Could you please explain the relation of the title of the thread to what you said and winning the lottery? I see nothing tragic in winning $80 millions.

If a girl/woman does not want to get pregnant, she should avoid activities that can lead to pregnancy, or at least protect herself!

Having read this article multiple times I have to say that it really misses the mark. Despite what one might assume to be a basis of logic and reason as the preferred alternative, I find both quite lacking in this rambling opinion. There seems to be a faulty assumption that culture and emotion go hand in hand and almost seem to be one and the same. While they may overlap there really isn't always strong correlation and they certainly are not the same thing. The opinion also seems to overlook the obvious emotional and cultural elements strongly present among those opposed to WO. While rightly noting that many on both sides "present arguments based on careful study of the Bible", the overall thrust of the article seems to be premised on the sadly mistaken view that those opposed to WO are largely free of cultural or emotional influences, and by implication are the ones more apt to be relying only on Biblically sound and intellectually dispassionate reasoning.

That would seem to indicate, again, that feelings or emotions which are a natural part of humans and created within them, is some how not correct. If one doesn't feel good about what they are doing, perhaps they shouldn't do it. If you feel good about giving flowers to you spouse, do it. Is it ethical to give flowers? Oh...just don't do that in spiritual maters! Well perhaps not if one doesn't feel their spiritual experience is up to par! Who we are and what we are made of can not be excluded from decision making. Anything can be over done, overwrought so to speak. Just because something can be overdone does not excluded it from the natural part of life. The author of the article and others like it are trying to suggest that WO is just an issue that all emotions should be excluded from. The insinuation is that right, rational, which has emotions removed, thinking will lead to the understanding that God does want women as leaders in the church. Sort of like trying to remove the interaction of taste buds and smell.

September 7, 2015 Labor or Service? “Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work.” (Deuteronomy 5:13) The term “labor” to many seems to connote drudgery or routine, repetitive, demeaning toil. As used here in the fourth of God’s Ten Commandments, however, the Hebrew word abad means rather to “serve” and is so translated 214 times in the King James. Only one other time is it translated “labor,” and that is in the first rendering of the commandments (Exodus 20:9). Thus, the command could well be read: “Six days shalt thou serve. . . .” Furthermore, the word for “work” (Hebrew melakah) does not denote servile labor but “deputyship” or “stewardship.” The one whom we are to serve or act as deputy for, of course, is God Himself when we do our work. In the ultimate and very real sense, the Lord is our employer, and we serve Him, not man. Therefore, “whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23). Every honest occupation, if carried out for the Lord’s sake and to His glory, is “divine service,” and every Christian who holds this perspective on his or her work (be it preaching, or bookkeeping, or homemaking, or whatever) is in the Christian ministry—for “ministry” simply means “service.” Note also that God has ordained not a four-day or five-day workweek: “Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work,” He says, thus commemorating the six days in which He worked in the beginning, “for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth” (Exodus 31:17). One day, Lord willing, we shall hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:21). Then, throughout the ages to come, “his servants shall serve him” (Revelation 22:3) with everlasting joy. HMM

Chaim Yankel is sitting alone at Yitz’s Deli when in walks his friend Moishe who takes one look at Chaim Yankel and asks what’s wrong. "Well," said Chaim Yankel, "my wife asked me that famous question women ask. Now I'm in deep trouble at home." "What kind of question?" asked Moishe. "She asked me if I would still love her when she gets old, wrinkly and has gained weight." "That's easy," said Moishe. "You just say, 'Of course I will.'" "Yeah," said Chaim Yankel , "that's what I meant to say, except I said, 'Of course I DO...'"

David and Bernice are visiting Israel and are out for a stroll when they walk into a pet store and see a parrot with a red string tied to its left leg and a green string tied to its right leg. David asks the store owner the significance of the strings. “This parrot can teach you to speak Hebrew,” said the store owner. "It’s is a highly trained parrot. If you pull the red string, he speaks Hebrew; if you pull the green string, he speaks English.” "And what happens if I pull both strings at the same time?" asks David "I fall off my perch, Einstein!" squawks the parrot.

It seems rather strange to try to remove emotions from spirituality. It is kind of like removing breathing from life. Look at all of the emotionalism in the the Psalms. The whole range of emotions get covered there. A major author of them was described as a man after God's own heart. If emotional responses and motivations are wrong how do we reconcile that with simple texts like "Jesus wept"? Frequently, Jesus is described as being "moved with compassion". And lets not overlook the several times he was described as being angry. Emotional Jesus. We are his followers. To deny emotions should have a part in our religious/spiritual life is to strip it of its essential meaning. God is love. And don't try to neuter love by saying it is just a principle. Because then you really don't have love. You have duty.

Just realized that I have had of number of members asking about what the "church" is doing about the pope coming to the USA but nothing so far about migrants.

Capitalism without these is pure greed (evil). In fact it's called "Laissez-faire Captalism". In fact Ayn Rand promoted such...Pure greed...nothing heavenly about it at all.

Its okay Pam, I'm with you. Would have thought they would give up by now...samo-samo....just more religious spam. The subject has been beat to death. Talk about zombies!!!

Advindicate is not a forum. C/A is a forum. Big difference. The proper thing to do is at the end of an article is to state who the person is, and what they do... if someone is the Editor, then that is stated. If the author is employed somewhere, that is usually stated. If the person is retired, that is usually stated. It's not a complicated task..

Unfortunately, I have had a number of colleagues who have been fired for adultery. Some IMHO some should never lead a congregation again and some with the right therapy and appropriate period outside ministry should be allowed to return. Circumstances are different and people are different. In the past, some conferences have had some disastrous responses to pastoral iindescretion but our administrators have leaned a lot. These are tough tough situations to deal with. I've had to sit on committees dealing with these kind of things and it is heart wrenching.

That's super great Kevin H if you and WO advocates can convince anti WO people if WO has actually been consistently practiced through the thousand of years Bible history.. But ofcourse don't use the gay movement style of "it's become simply inevitable" only.. That's forcing without adequate reason..

So you think this country should not have separation of church and state? Whose interpretation of the Bible should be enforced?

Co Aspen - you're not the first one to get busted for using the c word for a rooster. That is so funny I darn near laughed my donkey off.

An important section of the above document is the following: