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God gave many signs of his power and presence to Israel and to Egypt in the story of the Exodus. Those signs and miracles never created faith. All through the desert Journey sings attended them and they failed grossly to have faith at the Jordan. Faith was a result of knowing Gods ways, not his actions. You can watch someone and see what they do and not know them inside. They knew God had power but this alone did not convey His love. I do have concern for how my so very human heart struggles so much to come to know the Love of God. Israel did have the wonder working God, but it was a God they did not know. So they demanded signs from Jesus, but Jesus knew it would never bring divine love into their hearts to have more miracles and signs. The kingdom of God comes with signs but they happen within not with great outward show... then those signs work out gently in the life as outward evidence that God is there...

Regarding why it was a struggle for God to send His Son, we are told (in 3 places that I am aware of) in the Spirit of Prophecy that God sent His Son at the risk of failure and eternal loss. Once we understand what was at stake, I think it's easy to understand the reticence on the Father's part. Regarding the concept of risk in Scripture, there is a book "The God Who Risks" which discusses this, by John Sanders.

I am glad you made your point, and maybe made one Hagee follower more cautious next time. I Googled how many lunar eclipses can be seen from Jerusalem each year to find out how rare eclipses are. Turns out there are lunar eclipses almost every year, so its been a sign every year since Christ died. He tried to make it more special by saying a tetrad of eclipses on the Jewish holydays and threw in a supermoon. So I searched my concordance for tetrad and eclipses and struck a blank. That did not stop me staying up to watch the eclipse - it was very pretty. I cannot say that if you have seen one you have seen them all, but to the naked eye, eclipses all look pretty similar.

Ordination, as practiced by the SdAs, is mostly a carryover of the Catholic tradition of segregating out a professional clergy from the lay masses. IMO this distinction has no place in a bible-believing church.

John 16 comes to mind:

John Hagee wrote a book "Four blood moons - Something is about to change" I did not want to buy the book but I Googled that he believes something significant will happen to the land of Israel within a year of these eclipses. I had to laugh at how unspecific these predictions were - but I am sure he had the last laugh - all the way to the bank.

The idea of agape is you put the well-being of others ahead of yourself. The idea of "love of self" is you put the well-being of yourself ahead of others.

People look for signs because it is easier than just believing what Christ said......no one knows, not even God. Sign watching has been the bane of many parts of christianity...and before in ancient history. Remember the OT story about the individual wanting a sign indicating that God had chosen him to lead in battle and that they would win? He wanted just one more sign, one more sign...... Live life and believe in the life you live, much more productive and less fearful.

In order for GOD to be LOVE It has to be outwardly directing It is not GOD is in Love with His own self GOD is Love with the Other Two and Each of the Two loving each other ..All into Each of the Three. It is passing around from Three to Three Forever in Eternity past. The Family of Triune GOD HEAD has always been looking into each others eyes and Rejoicing before Each Other It has and always will be all Three Before time began a Separation of sorts had to happen to extend that love even more outward. Before one creature was even made it was decided that That the Three would manifest itself differently as... 1.GOD on a Throne above (Father) Creation. 2.God along the side of Creation ( with others) (Michael/JESUS). 3.God inside the Creation (Holy Spirit). It would even be more Pronounced when sin came. I think that's where the confusion is. How can any of us explain GOD the Infinite with finite brains. Love is not a quality in GOD. Love is GOD.. always going out to Others. Unconditionally Self Sacrificing ....... not Conditional and Self Preserving. Love is beautifully explained in 1 Cor 13 and shown on THE CROSS If you use that as a jumping off point to explain GOD we are closer to the TRUTH of Who and What He is! God bless you all! .Ty Gibson touches on this Ancient Relational GOD i put the link up and this video happened and i can't get rid of it Maybe Tom Wetmore will just make it a link.. I can't

It is quite clear to me that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and their existence are beyond my comprehension. I am quite content to wait for heaven for more understanding as it is not worth digging myself into a ditch that leads far from both God and the bible. Mrs White states: The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven, is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the power of divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personal Saviour. There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, pp. 62, 63. (1905). Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God.... In speaking of his pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him.—The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1900. {Ev 615.2} He was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent.... He is the eternal, self-existent Son.—Manuscript 101, 1897. I don't remember James White making any statement regarding "Romish" and "trinity". Looking just now I still don't see it. Perhaps you could supply the reference please. If you haven't seen this you may enjoy it by James White: I have also come to admire much of A.T. Jones writings. He seems to understand Ellen White's caution not to try to define God, that silence is eloquence if I remember her words correctly.

A little history of Corinth where Paul wrote for women to be silent. Corinth was a sea port town where most of the population was transit. People would come from all over the world. Husbands would do business for a few months or years then go home, frequently bringing their families with them. Paul found this situation good to teach people then they bring the message home. Outside of Israel,(Israel was literate, at least the equivalent of a 6th grade reading level because of the Bible). most of the world was illiterate. Women even more so. In Corinth the men would speak Greek, maybe Latin as well as their local languages. Their wives tended to only know their home language. They would friend those from their countries. Church in Corinth would be difficult for the women. You could either translate every few lines into each language or just have the service in Greek where the husbands could understand then they could teach their wives. This is the issue that Paul was facing and that we need to remember as we study the text. The two theories from people who do not know the historical situation are the one that Paul did not want women to speak in church Or the liberal view that also says that Paul did not want women to speak for what ever reason but he was a victim of his times and it does not apply today. However, knowing the history we have a lot more options.... And I cannot take credit for being too original. It is based on things I learned over the years, especially at AUC, the Seminary, Loma Linda, and the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies, and things that have been pointed out in this discussion forum. One excellent book if : Jim Fleming's "Attitudes towards Women in the Bible." Dr. Fleming has a 5 lecture series that I heard a number of years ago on the topic. http://www.biblicalresources.net/product.cfm?product=58

kinda makes it difficult to locate anyone, then, doesn't it? And don't the Yearbook editors have anything else to do than to research down whether or not a listed pastor is ordained or not?? I'm to the point where I'd be just as happy having NOBODY "ordained" - I think it's given way too much importance in the grand scheme of life..

love me some Syfy