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Correct...it is not voluntary just like going to the store and paying for groceries is not 'voluntary'. If we desire a service, we pay for it. Some don't so they live 'off the grid'. I see the tax we pay through various sources as a payment for services, not something being 'taken' from me. I would guess that paying taxes 'tweaks' our inborn selfish system. Taint nothing in life free, there is always price.

Oh, I'm shocked! As soon as I read Penticton, B.C., I shouted to myself about my close FRIEND, Juanita Lang, who was also from Penticton. -- Then, reading on, I see that this Mrs. Noyes was Juanita Lang's SISTER! I spoke at Juanita's funeral many years ago, so maybe I've met Mrs. Noyes. Juanita was one of my dearest friends, back in the '60s and '70s in California. She died very young, of breast cancer. Our "Advent Movement" is something like a huge fraternity! Anywhere there are groups of Adventists, there are bound to be people you know, or knew at one time. Won't it be wonderful, when we get to heaven, to see all these friends of ours who've been taken from us here on this earth! It will be a grand homecoming! God is good. We have SO much to look forward to!

Have you noticed that sometimes that people will get upset about others' responses to their posts here on C/A (or on Facebook, or other social media)? Maybe it's happened to you. I know it's happened to me. So, what's the reason behind the feeling of "ruffled feathers"? What inside "button" is getting pushed that's eliciting your irritation, or starts the wheel of self-recrimination, or makes you lash out? Sometimes, it can be fear that the comment might be right. Sometimes, the person writing the response is just a jackass. Ignore the jackasses, and learn from those whose comments have merit...

Well, I founded the First Church of the Great Armadillo, and am the sole member. Members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster all have to submit to a serious case of drunkenness in order to be unable to see any intelligence in the making of spaghetti. The false Gospel of Pastafarians invokes mystical origins of spaghetti while advocating beer volcanoes, magical mutations of tomatoes into sauce, and miraculous transformations of noodles into something as random as the Italian dish. Insisting that there are no recipes for the tasty food, numerous food fights have erupted over the differences of opinion between different sects of Pastafarians. The Dillios try to promote open-minded thinking in order to counter the outrageous claims of Pastafarians. Did spaghetti somehow create itself, or did someone with a recipe make that tastiest of foods, especially good when cheese and meatballs are added? Join the First Church of the Great Armadillo today to find the answers, and when you join, you will receive your free recipe book listing all of the secret ingredients of spaghetti from around the world. And don't forget, there is a great reward for those who feed Miracle Spaghetti to all of the hungry little armadillos, and when you get old and die, you will get to go to Texas to be with armadillos, forever.

I have The God-Shaped Brain but haven't read it yet. I think I have recommended this book on the board before:

The paraphrase is a way to make clear the idea he is trying to communicate, the paradigm he is operating from, how he understands what Paul meant to say. For example: This is the passage in Romans 3 which many consider to be the heart of the gospel. Anyone familiar with A. Graham Maxwell should be able to recognize the paradigm here. AGM, if I remember correctly, first wrote out this idea in the 1950's. Personally, I think this view is correct. Note especially verses 25 and 26. One of the key points is that the gospel is primarily about God. Our healing comes about as a result of our believing the truth about God revealed in and through Jesus Christ. That he did a paraphrase of the whole new testament is impressive; my that's a lot of work!

I told Pam this, that Emma and I had a wonderful conversation about growing up Ukranian. Of course it was all about food. I did not know that she was a Kozak; I had a Kozak uncle. My relatives were also from Saskatchewan. I knew from correspondence with Dr Noyes that she wasn't well but did not know about the cancer. Bless him for his steadfast and loving care. I will contact him soon.

That one worked. I hope it is fixed now. All I did was copy and paste the URL, which is what it is supposed to do

Yep, I knew that. Hehehe...

And if that is not effective there is the ignore button.....not that I have had to use it

They ARE very good points, indeed! What kind of faith is shown by saying but not living those statements?

Very Good.

I was hearing that there was concern that an experiment by CERN risked creating a small black hole with potentially devastating results. I saw nothing on the CERN website; so I didn't give it much credence. The rumored event was supposed to take place in late September. Either the dreaded event did not occur, or the CERN experiment never happened (probably the latter). IMHO Islam is a greater threat to bringing about end-time events than is the RCC or papacy.

I agree. The "wings" of angels wouldn't help them fly the vast, unimaginable distances they must travel between heaven and earth. But for the people of ancient times who knew nothing about those distances, the wings were an appropriate symbol of travel. After all they saw how birds flew with flapping wings. They could not have understood any other form of travel through space. However, we know that God and the angels are in a different dimension, and that there are other possible ways of travel through space besides bird-like wings. How useful would flapping wings be for traveling faster than the speed of light? Obviously none at all. If anything, they would be a hinderance.

As was pointed out at the very beginning of this topic and what has prompted this whole topic is that the Bible does not ever actually describe angels as having wings. Seraphim and Cherubim are different heavenly beings that are described as having wings. God is described as having wings. But not angels. One might assume wings where angels are described as moving through the air or appearing in the sky or hovering above the earth. But we do not picture Jesus as having sprouted wings at his Ascension doing that very thing. The Bible just says he went up. And we know that things can move through the air or hover in the air without wings. And if we believe angels have any supernatural abilities, defeating gravity would not require actual wings as would natural earthly creatures like birds. It is only in extra-Biblical sources, art and church tradition that actually puts wings on angels. Tom

Actually Bob, we also tend to assume Cherubim and Seraphim are angels. However, the original Biblical languages uses quite different words reflecting the translated difference. The role and function of Cherubim and Seraphim also seem to be quite distinct from the heavenly beings identified in Scripture as angels. The Biblical evidence supports that Cherubim and Seraphim are not angels but other heavenly creatures that attend the throne of God. The Bible does identify them as having wings, as it also describes God as having wings. The point is that no Scripture describes angels as having wings. (See the earlier posts.)