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I too was able to spend some quality time with Neil when he came to visit friends here in the DC area. With both of us possessing the gift of gab we did have a nonstop gabfest. It seemed we hit it off like long lost friends, kindred spirits really. In his last weeks he talked about wanting to be able to come back and visit again. Sadly it wasn't possible. I will miss him.

He was one of a kind, that's for sure. While we never met in person, we did have quite a few private chats and I called him Uncle and he called me his cyber niece. I was always hoping he could beat it, I miss him, and I can't wait to see him in Heaven.

This is really sad! I hate to say it, but I was afraid of this day. We know that eventually we all die, but when its this close, it really hits home. I know I've never met him personally, but the way he interacted with us, here on the forum and on FB, it felt like you did know him personally. He will definitely be missed. I'm actually writing this post with tears in my eyes. Yes this is really sad!!

That's like me- a lot of quiet thinking as I digest the reality. He was sick for a long time with the kind of cancer he had. I was amazed... What I remember the most was his dramatic, kind of flamboyant way. He was quite talkative. On the board here he had a way of pushing people's buttons. I used to imagine him posting then sitting back and smiling at the response.

This was the first time that a quiz nearly tore me apart. I literally could have chosen either response for all but say two of the questions. It was very difficult for me to choose! In the end I came out as left-brained. It is strange, cause in my work I do accounting which as you know is very precise. In my job I am pretty fussy. But at home I am the worst housekeeper, cook really well, wear whatever (to my kids' despair), have a comfortable, organised mess in "my" areas where I keep my reading pile or art supplies. The question about whether I would rather learn a new language or take an art course- I would like both equally as well. But right now it is the language I am learning. I think I have ongoing paradoxes going on in my head. It drives me mental at times because I feel like rebelling from the side which has been strong or gets too extreme. And it is not new... When I got out of school I had aptitude tests because I could not decide on a career choice. The results came back; I had scored in the top 10% in everything. They told me I could go in for anything I wanted. I ended up no further ahead than before I took the tests. So, what actually happened? I got pregnant at 18 and began a career as a mother in a very difficult situation. Mother and teacher as I educated at home. The right brain gave me the courage and creativity to create the curriculum to what sort of education I wanted for the kids (which included socialisation with as many different people groups as we could manage, work experience and the ability to think independently) and do it at a time when the option was not yet popular. The left brain enabled me to be organised and persevere, much more than I do on my own. Pam, you really opened up some thoughts in sharing this test! It was a struggle! Well done!

i think music would be higher ever since i was very very young i was drawn and deeply effected by the music around me and drive my buddy crazy (sometimes- we love similiar stuff ..more or less) with me saying " can i put on some music? " Very interesting Pam!

I see no biblical statement that disagrees with that explanation and much to find comfort, especially in the middle paragraph. Knowing God's predisposition to allow all His created beings freedom for themselves, it seems trust that He is Who He says He is, is sufficient to meet all our need. 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. ...40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.....Hebrews 11 God is Love!~Jesus saves!

LifeHiscost: All three members of the trinity bore our sins and experienced the second death, while Jesus being human had the actual experience of death. The second death is being overwhelmingly attracted to God but refusing to yield to this desire. In the garden, the humiliation and the cross. Jesus longed to run into his Father's arms. The Father and the Spirit longed to run into Jesus' arms. They all wanted to be together but refused because they knew that if they did not allow sin to separate them from each other that it would separate us from them. The reason why the lost don't raise from the second death is because they refuse. Jesus' resurrection shows that if they would allow themselves to be with God all the sins of the world cannot keep us apart.

Just reading this..... I'm very sad. We always had a friendly banter back and forth. Yes he was provocative and that's what made him so much fun. I had the blessing spending a few hours with him a couple of years ago when we came to DC. It was great meeting the man behind the posts. Seeing Neil is another reason to look forward to being in the earth made new.

I am sad at his passing. Glad that we got to know him here and looking forward to meeting in the resurrection. My condolences to his friends and family.

Neil Dewey, long-time member, passed away yesterday.

Take the test: http://www.arealme.com/left-right-brain/en/ (it's just for fun)

Hi Kevin, I think you're on to something. At least it make sense to me that the law of sin and death is what Paul defines in chapter 6 when he says the wages of sin is death. In Chapter seven he suggests the law gave him knowledge of sin. It echoes what John says in 1John 3:4 KJV, ".........sin is the transgression of the law."

HEY ALL yes he will be missed by family ---friends BUT he is sleeping in JESUS dgrimm60

here's my results: Right brain inclined · IMAGINATION RATIONAL SYMBOLIC ORDER DIGITAL MATH ANALYTIC OBJECTIVE IMAGINATION MUSIC MEMORY CREATIVE INSTINCT EMOTION ART Left brain 40% : 60% Right brain

This is the second in a short series of guest blogs from my friend, Gaby Phillips. I find her perspective extremely helpful in wrestling through the issues of how Adventists can and should relate to Islam. It is tempting to buy into morbidly negative views of Islam, on the one hand, and overly positive ones, […] The post How God Seeks to Heal the World appeared first on Jon Paulien's Blog. View the full article

BigMark's two cents worth of advice could save thousands of dollars on hospital, rehab, or funeral costs. Street riding has huge risks, so maybe riding where there is little or no traffic is the safest. I have seen on the local news where a retired couple on a motorcycle were both killed when the husband failed to negotiate a turn and ran into a tree. Generally, if you crash on a motorcycle you will get hurt, maybe seriously, maybe fatally. I'd love to get another bike for back road riding, but I need less stuff, not more.

Here it is a oneness of opposites. Our big mistakes are when we take part of the truth and use it against the rest of the truth. There are Bible texts where we are so use to explaining them away and coming up with excuses that we miss the message. Daniel 2 could have been not the 7 periods consisting of 4 kingdoms, but it could have been 7 periods with 4 KINGS: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Diarus and Cyrus. Old and New Testament passages where the messianic kingdom/second coming is imminent are giving a message offering the event to have been just as imminent as the Hebrews were on the borders of the promised land but had to go out for another generation. Jesus could have been born during the Babylon exile to lead a second great exodus home. But on the other hand God knew what the response would be and when the perfect time for the fullness of time would be. The fullness of time for the first coming does not make the Old Testament prophecies of the immense false. Yes, on the one hand God sees the end from the beginning and knows when the perfect time of the second coming will be. However he works with our free wills and gives each generation (some with more possibilities than others, which Dr. Jim Valentine called "Crisis Periods") where God offers the chance to either prepare their children and grandchildren to be the last generation, or offers a generation themselves to be the last generation. But while God gives us the freedom to close the work, he sees the end from the beginning and knows when the best time to come will be

Maybe I'm wrong, but in really looking at the syllabus, it doesn't state that a student can't use the terms, "husband," "wife," "boyfriend," "girlfriend," etc, when the student is talking about themselves. Rather, it appears that the students are not to use those terms when speaking to, or referring to, others. I don't know. I kinda feel sorry for students these days...

The communion service is derived from Passover. That's why unleavened bread is used. Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.” ’ ” The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. (Matthew 26:17-20) What is done with the communion leftovers is probably derived from God's Law of Moses where any leftovers from the Passover sacrifice were to be burned before morning. ‘They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread dand bitter herbs. ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. (Exodus 12:8-10) Since Paul tells us that Jesus is our Passover sacrifice (1Cor 5:7) and Jesus spoke of the wine and unleavened bread as representing his body and blood (Matt 26:26-28), it would make sense to deal with the leftovers accordingly. Since the first-century believers were still celebrating Passover as a Scriptural feast once each year, destroying the leftovers may not have been much of an issue.

I'm currently reading Bill's book Overcoming Through Jesus and have been so blessed. I look forward to thanking him for this beautiful picture of God's saving grace when we meet in Heaven.

Thomas the Doubter, I'm sorry that you are having trouble seeing what I'm saying. For me it is a difficulty as well as these are topics that I spent 4 years at AUC studying 2 years at Andrews as well as a Semester Break at the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies. So I have a wide background that these different teachers were able to build the evidence over the years and I'm just trying to fit it into a summery. Did you read the chapter I recommended from the SDABC? "The Role of Israel in Biblical Geography" ? This may help some. Too often we are very effected by Fundamentalism, seeing the Bible as written in concrete. Too often we think that Daniel was writing about the Pope and Europe. That the people coming home from hearing Revelation read the first time were either scratching their heads saying "That was odd, I did not understand this" and that the generations to come finally understood. Or that they left from the first reading saying "The Pope is coming and after that the United States." The philosophy of the dispensationalists is that the prophets saw what looked like was a mountain range, while it was actually 2 ranges one close the other farther away with a plain in between. And the Prophets describes the two things as if they were one. While we don't hold to the dispensationalist's view of the rapture and 7 years and secular vs. religion, we still have the same idea that Daniel and John saw our day. But there are 3 ways to quote and use the Bible. First is exegesis or what the words meant to the original audience. For example we all know that Isaiah 7:14 is a prophecy of Jesus coming. But look at the situation: King Ahaz was worried about King Rezin of Aram and Pekah. Isaiah was trying to get King Ahaz to trust in the Lord. And it was a prophecy that a child was going to be born and before he knew right from wrong that the Lord would have delivered Ahaz from these two kings. As a prophecy for Jesus do you see how ridiculous this is? "Don't worry King Ahaz, in about 500 years a baby will be born and before he knows right from wrong these two kings you are worrying about will no longer be a threat. Just hold on for 500 years and you will no longer have to worry about them." The prophecy was about a specific local situation. And it raises up issues on "How will God be with us, for good or for evil?" indicating that Ahaz had his focus in the wrong place. That he's worried about these 2 men while he needs to worry about his relationship with the Lord. That God is going to take care of those 2 men and that in a very short time they will not be a threat. But for it to really be a blessing Ahaz needs to be right with God. Matthew make analogies between what Isaiah was talking about and who Jesus is and how Jesus really fulfills the principles of the text. Another place for understanding is how God wanted to bring his children into the promised land. They got to the borders, sent over 12 spies (then the history gets a little confused so the Bible gives all 3 possibilities depending on where you read. In one story 10 of the spies give a bad report and 2 give a good one. While in Deuteronomy all 12 give a good report but the people reject their report and 2 men stand up to the people in defense of the spies, and as we read different accounts through the Bible either 1 or both of these men who stood in defense of the spies were spies themselves.) Anyway we find that instead of entering into the land they had to go into the wilderness and all but the 2 men had to die and a new generation was brought again to the borders of the promised land. This time they send out only 2 spies making an application of the 2 men from the first time they were there. We are like Israel. There were times that God brought us to the borders of the true promised land, but we had to go out for another generation to have the chances. But we have lost sight of how the Lord could have come err this. As we study the Bible in this context we are able to see things about these times and how it could have been. See how the Bible reapplies the principle for later times and what happened and from these see how they can reapply to our day. This way we stand on a more sure word of prophecy instead of speculating.

My thought has always been that deep down, the Donald is a Democrat!! The reason he's running as a Republican, is because he probably thought he couldn't become the front runner as a demo, but as a repub, he figured he could beat all the candidates!! Just my opinion and thought!

I made a short post on his FB page .... it amazes me that he lived as long as he did and remained active until the last few weeks. He did enjoy pushing peoples buttons; on board and in person. RIP Neil

Bought my first Harley at the age of 17. I was a junior in HS. Rode until I was 34. Someone made a left turn in front of me in a residential area at night. 3 days is the hospital and a few thousand that I had to pay, God spoke loud and clear to me. No more riding unless the people around you are controlled (i.e. a movie set where people are actually paid to stop at red lights and not text while driving). I lost a half a toe on my left foot, but other than that, everything is normal. My advice: DON'T GET ONE. I have read about people who bought a motorcycle after retiring only to have someone run into them and kill them. Not worth it folks. Just my $.02

I haven't even been able to bring myself to write anything on his FB page...

It is sad. We have been studying his book called, Overcoming Through Jesus in our Sabbath School Class.