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Before your next post, please make sure your heart has not turned to stone, If it has there are new hearts available. "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." http://biblehub.com/kjv/psalms/51-10.htm

The monthly running feature about „Where are they now?“ is a very good idea. I’m encourage about life stories that are uplifting to read. There’s a practical help in understanding what Jesus taught us about being salt in the world by Pastor Dixit in Vancouver. Analogies do give us spiritual guidelines. Well written. Transforming Prayer….. Wicked indeed were the years of RCC inquisitions but not to compare to the present recent Ruwanda presecutions and killings. ”500,000 to one million people killed in what is considered a predominately Christian land” for the sake of genocide. So goes the article’s example of how many have been called to be Christian but their stubborn will did not allow His Spirit to do a heart transformation to the image of Jesus Christ. They are living Pharisees. Their outward life is pious but their inward values are wickedness and practicing evil. On page 46 the Mag’s editor speaks up. The bottom part of his message spoke about ADRA. My eyes lighted up. I am not into much about SDAism.org but totally support ADRA. When we both finish living on this earth we have made arrangements that ADRA inherits all our money and cottage for their use.

First of all, regarding my position. Both you and I have been impacted by Waggoner and Jones. I can explain my case, which I'll do briefly, but I don't know how you came about this, but the original idea came from Jones and Waggoner. The development went like this: 1.Jones and Waggoner preached on justification by faith, and had the insight that the Arminian position, that the gift of eternal life is something God offers us, wasn't the whole story. There's sort of a middle ground which falls between Calvinism and Arniminism, which is what the life raft analogy is getting at. Waggoner, for example, emphasized the fact that the gift was not merely offered, but has been given to each one. 2.Others picked up on what Jones and Waggoner were presenting, not the least of which was Ellen White, who has such statements as DA 660, that even our physical life we owe to the death of Christ, the point being that there are areas where the death of Christ is effective for every human being. 3.Robert Wieland revived instead in Jones and Waggoner, and put his own spin on their message. He had some great ideas, such as faith being a heart appreciation of the love of God revealed at the cross. Wieland spoke of a legal or corporate justification effect for all, meaning that the sins of all have been legally forgiven, and no one will be lost because their sins were not legally forgiven. Justification by faith, per Wieland, occurs when the believer believes the good news, and this justification has an impact in his heart and mind, reconciling him in fact to God, not just legally. No one (not speaking of infants or mentally challgened, etc.) can be eternally saved without being justified by faith. which again reconciles the believer not just legally, but in fact, to God. 4.Sequeira was baptized by Wieland, and put his own spin on what Wieland taught. There are many similarities, but some differences, particularly in emphasis. For example, Wieland was most concerned about justification by faith, whereas Sequeira spends more time on corporate or legal justification, as he views this as the heart of the Gospel. Ok, with that as a background, my opinion is that Jones and Waggoner (and Ellen White) were the most accurate of this group, although there are things which I really like from Wieland especially, but also Sequeira. I perceive my view to be the same as Jones and Waggoner's. I perceive Samie's view to be something of a spin-off of Sequeira's view, but still off by himself (Samie, that is), as there seems to be no role whatsoever for justification by faith, and I've never seen this idea before, so hats off to Samie for inventing something totally new, as that's not easy to do. Regarding the life raft analogy, a big flaw I see in the analogy is it does not address the reality of the actual problem, which is that we need to be converted. As Jesus Christ put it, "You must be born again". I see this nowhere in Samie's explanations. How is one born again? Where does the cross fit into this? Why must one be born again? I don't see these issues addressed by Samie. Another problem has to do with not understanding what faith is, and not understanding Romans 12:3. Romans 12:3 says that one should not think of himself more highly than one ought but according to the measure of faith given to each one. From this Samie infers that faith has been given to each one, and before one can believe, this faith must have already been given, and this happens by being attached to the body of Christ through the cross. Some problems with this position: 1.Samie never explains what this means or how this happens. Specifically, what does it mean to be "attached to the body of Christ by the cross". Unless this can be explained using other words, it's just gibberish, and to date, Samie has been unable to explain what this phrase means. 2.Samie never explains the role of the cross here. Why was the cross necessary in order to be attatched to the body of Christ? 3.The body of Christ in Paul's writings refers to believers. For example, 1 Cor. 12 is very clear about this, and if one looks at any source whatsoever anywhere one can see that the "body of Christ" is universally understood by everyone everywhere regardless of denomination as consisting of believers i Christ. Indeed, given the diversity of ideas among different denominations, it is difficult, maybe impossible, to find an area such as this where there is universal agreement as to what the body of Christ is (with the caveat that some groups restrict "believers" to being members of their denomination). But until now, before Samie, nobody has suggested that the "body of Christ" means everyone. It clearly didn't mean that to Paul in 1 Cor. 12, and nobody has ever understood Paul this way, at least I've never seen this, and I've studied Paul a fair amount, so again, hats off to Samie for finding something new under the sun, which isn't easy to do. But if one if going to invent a totally new idea, there is a large onus of proof to establish this idea, and this has been absent. 4.Nowhere is the issue of character considered. Samie emphasizes "overcoming evil with good", which is fine, and important, but how does one's character fit into the picture? How is character developed? Why is it important? How does the cross and Christ fit into this? The only thing I can recall Samie writing involving Christ and the cross in regards to this is that at the cross we were attached to the body of Christ, but my goodness, that pays short shrift to the importance of Christ and the cross in our lives, to the process of overcoming and developing character. For example, the idea that we are transformed to the same image of Christ by beholding; this is a crucially important concept. In short, Christ is missing. We need more Christ! Not just being attached to the body of Christ by the cross.

- by Maurice Berry This is one great sermon. It's 1 hr 20 mins, so its on the long side, but well worth the time!! https://www.youtube.com/watch

The words "OUR", and "US" include more than one, but not necessarily three. God the Father said to His Son, "let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness".

Most Bible commentaries note that this verse is NOT FOUND in any ancient manuscript older than the 16th century. It was translated into the Latin Vulgate by Erasmus, who was shown a forged Greek manuscript. One must assume that Erasmus was under threat when he did this, because the Catholic Church had become very powerful by this time. No serious Bible scholar today sites this verse in support of the Trinity doctrine.

O yes! BTW.... I believe we all understand, as adults, when we disagree with each other here on what ever topic.. It is not a put down or an insult. It is only that when we attack or berate the motive/ character/intelligence of the person. I know, I know ..everyone knows that..I just had to add that.

If there were cell phones back then, people might have posted your picture all over the Internet and other people might have said what a rotten spoiled brat you were, that yout parents should have taught you better, that you should have respected your education better and that the whole world was going to hell in a handbasket because of your entire unruly generation. Lucky for you, there weren't cell phones or tablets for insta-share. Lucky for us though...in general, and statistically speaking, parents ARE doing a great job of parenting these days. There is less violence among that age group in years, less use of illegal and illicit drugs, less teenaged prgnancies; greater volunteerism, greater college enrollment, greater charity. Find a group of 13-24 year olds and spend some serious time with them. You'll see what I mean. Else, read some statistical data available on the web. Google "crime rates among teens past 40 years" and "teenage pregnancy rates" and "helicopter parenting" and "college enrollment rates".

Is the church a hospital for the healing of sick saints? Or has it become a convalescent home for the incurably ill?

Treat others like you want to be treated is how that goes.

There ins't the slightest indication this had a single thing to do with race.To even indicate this would not have been an issue if the girl were a smart mouth belligerent white girl is simply stretching to make it racial. Imagine a class room full of students that decide to take their cell phones out during class. Why are cell phones even allowed in a class room? Great way using texting to cheat when the mood strikes. My point is that there was time, and opportunity to take a less forceful, less confrontational approach. De-escalating the confrontation between the teacher and the student was a part of that The student was asked three times.She refused to comply. To believe the girl would have calmly sat in her desk while they moved it to the hall is not to reasonable. She had already defied authority that she did not appear to believe could do anything about her challenge. While it is possible her outburst could have been influenced by the death of her mother, I am not so sure I believe that a reason,more like an excuse after the fact. It is more likely defiance of authority was a pattern.

The girl lives in an orphanage, having recently lost her mother. They got some sick, racist, sadistic, evil people in this country, and a few on this message board.

Its Bias when the mod try to get answers from the candidates? Its Bias because the candidates didn't want to give straight answers? Its Bias because the candidates wanted to shift the focus from their none answers? What I saw was a lot of whining and complaining in the very few brief moments I could catch during commercial breaks from other programs I was watching....every single time!! Deflect...deflect...blame is the name of the game. By the way I did not watch the other party 'debates' because I'm sure they had complaints also. The media is always a convenient 'whipping horse' for politicians when pressed for answers instead of deflection. Whining children!! By the way, Carly Fiona gave better answers than the others with out going in search of a bush to circle around.

I removed all the posts here that did not directly support this cause. Other issues like voting on Sabbath should be done in the theology Townhill.