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If you know of someone who is in need of a place to host a funeral following #thePulse shootings, please call the Forest Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church at 407.869.0680 and we will host that funeral (for free) and stream it live on the Internet as well for any family/friends who are unable to attend. #prayforOrlando #FLC #FLCOnline #adventiststrong

LOL - clearly haven't been swinging by frequently enough to sniff the bait. I certainly *used* to know how to solve second order ODEs (ordinary differential equations) when I did my Graduate Certificate in Science back in 2011-2012, but it does tend to be a bit 'use it or lose it' when you're not doing constant practice. I could *follow* Robert's solution, but I'm not sure I could have come up with it on my own now. Fun stuff though. I'm more scared of the trig... which is a weakness I really should learn enough to conquer. Suzie talked me down off the ledge of trying to dive back into a Masters in physics in the midst of the rest of my busy life this week. I think that really will have to wait until retirement.

WOW! Shining a light!!!

Here the fact that the New Testament was written in Greek is a big help. In the Old Testament the Most Holy was entered twice, first when they inaugurated the services at the completion of the tabernacle, then the temples. and there after the day of Atonement. In the Septuagint translators decided to make a clear distinction by using two different words. One word for when within the veil for the inauguration of the service at the start of the ministry there and a different word for entering on the day of atonement. (There is also evidence that Shavu'ot/Penticost is connected with both the giving of the law and the inauguration service). Daniel 8:14 uses cyclic terminology, May I recommend "Before Philosophy" by Henri Frankfort and others from the archaeology department of Chicago University to explain ancient cycles. According to Leviticus 25 the Hebrew cycles are 6 days and the Sabbath, 6 months and Passover/Yom Kippur, 6 years and the Sabbatical year, and 6 Sabbatical years and the Jubilee. Thus we have 2300 days, half years, full years or Sabbatical years. Since Daniel is based on Deuteronomy and Deuteronomy has everything in the Jubilee in the Sabbatical year, our options for Daniel 8:14 is days, half years and full years. Daniel 8:14 was given the year that included 2300 literal days to Belshazzar's feast. Ezekiel has a 2310 day prophecy connected to how the last 2310 days could have been of the 70 weeks had Jesus been accepted (and if you exclude the 10 days from the fall New Year to Yom Kippur, we have another application of the 2300 evenings-mornings prophecy). 1844 was ONE of the possible interpretations and applications of Daniel 8:14. I would not limit Daniel 8:14 to 1844, but it is inclusive of the text. And we find 1844 being the Sabbatical year (and if I recall correctly the Jubilee) when the church entered a new experience. On the one hand Evolution was becoming popular and before there were good and bad people but they tended to agree that there was a God and that the Bible was inspired. But now things were changing and Atheism was growing and people questioned the idea of inspiration and you had modernists who believed that the Bible was not inspired and the fundamentalists with an extreme view of inspiration. Historicism was being replaced by Dispensationalism. On the other hand the Rosetta stone was starting to be translated unlocking ancient languages. Robinson explored the Holy Land opening up serious (instead of traditions) studies in Biblical geography opening the door for archaeology and where we were able to investigate the pages of scripture like never before. 1844 was the Sabbatical (and Jubilee ?) year that enters this whole new cycle and experience. Why didn't the "Investigative Judgment" start before 1844? Because we are also talking about milestones in history with things that on the one hand there are gradual changes every day, but there are milestones where these gradual changes come together and we can make a distinction between events before and after. 1844 is one of these milestones and is also ONE of the days in the cyclic times that fit Daniel 8:14

Not to take away from the Apopka church offer, but churches of other denominations in the Orlando area are also doing the same thing...

i am touched by this offer to those whose lives have been so senselessly torn.

New School Prayer by a 15 year-old kid who actually got an A in class for this assignment.: Now I sit me down in school Where praying is against the rule For this great nation under God Finds mention of Him very odd. If scripture now the class recites, It violates the Bill of Rights. And anytime my head I bow Becomes a Federal matter now. Our hair can be purple, orange or green, That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.. The law is specific, the law is precise. Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice. For praying in a public hall Might offend someone with no faith at all.. In silence alone we must meditate, God's name is prohibited by the State.. We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks... They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible. To quote the Good Book makes me liable. We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen, And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King. It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong, We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.. We can get our condoms and birth controls, Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles... But the Ten Commandments are not allowed, No word of God must reach this crowd. It's scary here I must confess, When chaos reigns the school's a mess. So, Lord, this silent plea I make: Should I be shot; My soul please take! Amen

Five years ago, someone on Reddit wrote: "My friend just died. I don't know what to do." An old fellow (GSnow) wrote an answer. I thought it was excellent. Here it is:

Or in the days of Noah...

Friend of ours will no longer substitute teach in the local high school. There's only one. This is a small town. He says it's just getting to rough - to much threat of violence. How can kids learn in such an environment? Our society is become more and more like ancient Rome.

Hey Jess, I found a website where the prayer is printed: http://www.webdesignergallery.com/SchoolPrayer.html

What believers are supposed to do. Praise God for the outreach from all denominations.

I like this article and I don't like this article. I think that it mostly covers the situation, that some how we go a new direction. I think that it is a bit of a mystical "New direction" that needs to be filled in some. There are points in John 3: 19-21 that is missed by the article; and that this article turns the acceptance of Christ into a work. I believe that the speaker's name was Jim Ayers (but there seems to be another Jim Ayers who I am not sure is the same person) who took over "the Word of the Lord" Sabbath School lessons after Lesile Harding died. (Sadly this tape series only lasted a couple of years) Anyway one thing that the speaker pointed out was that prior to St. Augustine the church believed that the death of Jesus was so powerful that it saved everyone except those who actively reject it. However starting with St. Augustine the church came to believe that Jesus' death only saves those who actively accept it. Much of Christianity does not have room for God to work among Jews who don't become Christians, and certainly not among Buddhists, or any other group, with maybe the exception of someone who lives out in the middle of nowhere who died before the missionaries arrived, but once the missionaries arrived then that's it... and I don't like how this article seems to hold to this view of "Say the magic words about Jesus and give a history lesson about the cross then you will be saved." Many Jews believe that Hitler tried to destroy the Jews by killing them and that many Christians want to destroy the Jews by converting them, either way it serves the same purpose, to destroy the Jews. I like how Jesus told Nicodemus that "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8). There is something that happens but there is an invisibility that cannot be summarized in saying the right words about Jesus and giving the history lesson. The Holy Spirit points everyone to Christ, whether they understand who the man Jesus was or not. Jesus also said "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3: 18-21. Here Jesus says that the reason why people are lost is because they do not come to the light because they are afraid that their deeds will be exposed (that God is going to get them for their sins). Thus their fear of what they imagine that God would do to them causes them to pull away from the only source of life and thus they choose death. But Jesus shows us that on the other hand those who come to the light don't find a condemning God who is going to punish them for their sins, but rather that their works have changed from being evil deeds into the work of God. This indicated that the born again experience is open to all, not just "professed Christians" As I understand the born again experience, we are born with two attitudes, our sinful nature, or an attitude to think we are for ourselves by making less of the outside world. That we think we are for ourselves by esteeming ourselves more highly than others, to serve self to seek the highest place. Fighting this is a desire to want to be like and with Jesus. That which find's Jesus the one altogether lovely, the fairest of 10,000, the lily of the valley, the one sweeter than honey and more desirable than gold, the desire of all nations, the desire of ages, the one beloved of women. The typical person is lost in this battle. No matter what the best we do is still tainted by selfishness and the worst we do is still tainted by our desire to love the world as Jesus has loved it, only we think we need to manipulate creation to make changes in the world to make it fit our liking. That we have to do a better job with the world than God did. Being born again is how somehow the Holy Spirit brings to our attention this war in a clearer light. That there is something out there to reach out to and because of this to care more for those around us, people, animals, plants, things. We are more aware of the battle and choose the direction to love the world as Jesus has loved it over the direction that they were born with that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12). People start praying, how ever they understand prayer, for the same types of things that you can picture Jesus praying for (thus praying in his character/in his name) even if they don't understand the word J-E-S-U-S and the history lesson, but they are developing a friendship with the person. We find in the late Egyptian President Anwar Saddat. He was raised by his mother and grandmother with a simple form of Islam, to love Allah (God) and others and to be caring. As he became more educated and sophisticated he took on a more militant form of Islam with Islam conquering the world and making everyone else submit. However his two views were fighting in him. As he entered into the 1973 war against Israel part of him wanted to destroy Israel another part wanted a peace with them but wanted to force the peace on his own terms with his glorious views of how God was going to use Islam. As he saw all the deaths in the war he felt responsible for these death and carried the burden of how his views of religion and politics ended up in so much bloodshed. Saddat was a man of prayer, he prayed so much that a callus formed on his forehead. He began to pray even more earnestly and saw that he had to give up his "sophisticated" views and return to the simple faith of his mother and grandmother. He saw that he had to swallow his pride and work to bring peace with his enemy. Not the peace by force that was tickling his conscience as he decided to fight, but a peace out of love. He made the first move. When he first came to Israel everyone wondered what would happen when he and Golda Meir would meet. They had been full of bitterness towards each other. She would only call him "That Egyptian" and he would only call her "That old woman" As the world watched the two finally met. Golda Meir took him by the hand and asked "What took you so long?" and Saddat just laughed and laughed and they both laughed and became close friends who had a special love for each other. Saddat's decision lead to love the world as Jesus has loved it cost him his life and we will see him in heaven wearing a robe trimmed in red. But this change in his life, and the love and friendship that developed with Golda Meir is a good example of what Jesus was describing to Nicodemus about being born again. I hope this made sense and that it helps. I hope these words here color in the outline of a change of direction that the article points out, and that it is Christ, not Christianity that brings salvation. Christianity helps and has definite advantages, but let's not confuse the work of Christ with belonging to a "Christian" church.

We are all born in sin. Rom 5:12 "so death passed upon all men,for that all have sinned". God first has to bring His Spirit of truth to the mind. John 16:13 "when He the Spirit of truth, is come he will guide you into all truth" .then conviction takes place Acts 2:37 "Now when they heard this" (the truth that was preached), conviction Acts 2:37"they were pricked in their hearts", Then Peter tells them Acts 2:38 " repent and be baptized" "for the remission of sins" so God places the truth in the persons mind for conviction. when the person sees the beauty of God and the horribleness of sin, the person repents (turn away from sin) and believe the truth, God then in his own mind makes him righteous at that very moment. thus the man is indeed righteous! Any answer answer would be irrelevant to the merits of my argument since God's word is the standard. In order to get a proper understanding of 1John 1:8 you need to have the historical context and the grammar of the text clear. John wrote this epistle to deal with the Gnostic teaching. They taught that there was nothing called sin, they believe there was only ignorance which is darkness, but they have light, they would say that they have not sinned in the past or they have never sinned. So, John is addressing this idea of the Gnostics. If we read 1John 1:7,8 "Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin" " If we say that we have no ( have not is in the original) sin" further proof on the verb tense."have not" Interlinear Greek English N.T. by George Ricker Berry .so if we say we have not sinned we deceive ourselves he is not saying that if you say you have no sin......

Could even solve PDEs (partial differential equations) back in the day...

Yep. That looks right!

Same here, Pam. In the "olden days" when those "good" TV shows were new, I was so busy with my career and with raising three children that I didn't see much TV. But now I'm enjoying the reruns -- SO much better than all this shoot-em-up stuff they're making these days. [Being retired provides a lot more time for TV!]

You don't think what the Romans did to Jews and Jerusalem (in 70AD) was a "great tribulation" FOR those Jews? Think again. The roads into Jerusalem lined with crosses - for miles.

Not everyone needs to know calculus or trig to perform efficiently in their jobs.

Well done, Robert!

Under International law, Embassies are considered to be under the control of their government. IOW foreign soil. Greenland may be Danish, but it has a French Embassy. Ottawa, Canada, has a French Embassy. St. Johns Newfoundland has a French Consulate.

It is amazing how much you can lean from Yiddish jokes about Jews!

Good thoughts throughout... One factor that hasn't been considered yet, although Rachel came close, was that there is more to the picture than free choice. There is the matter of trust. While free choice would give the first pair opportunity to follow a selfish inclination, would they trust their Creator enough to submit to His warning and way? Love is based on trust, and in endowing man with the freedom of choice, the issue might then become one of faithfulness.