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Samie, Have you ever been around a really strong magnet? I have. When I used to administer anesthesia, I sometimes took care of little children, who had to be sedated for an MRI. We had a protocol - to make sure everything metal was removed from anyone in the MRI room, before they turned on the magnet (Magnetic Resonance Imagery). If you didn't take off your earrings, that magnet would pull them from your ears, and might tear your ear in the process. We had to have plastic stethoscopes, etc. etc. When the magnet came on, anything metal would fly across the room to stick on the magnet, with such force - it could hurt anyone in the way - like a bullet hitting them. Well - God is the "magnet". And we are like the metal. But God has given us the power to RESIST, but we have to really dig our heels in. Otherwise we will be drawn to Christ. You Samie, talk like the FORCE or "power" has to be "in" us. It doesn't. I just has to DRAW us from the outside - like the powerful magnet. Now - once we "open" our heart/mind "door" and allow Christ to come in, THEN we become part of the magnet. We become "magnetized" - as it were, and God is able to use us, to draw others to Himself.

One of my favorite preachers was one who described eating with the natives in New Guinea. He described how he ate by not stirring the pot too much. Obviously, some in the world have it different than we do in the western world. I can think of a number of practices that missionaries have done to "connect" with the natives that would be faulted in western culture. Even know of one missionary who went naked with the natives! But speaking of diet, it reminds me of a joke defining hunger: If you were eating a bowl of rice and found some worms in it, you would throw away the bowl of rice. If you were really hungry, you would pick out the worms and keep on eating. If you were starving and saw one of the worms crawling away, you would throw him back in the rice and keep on eating! I do continue to support the right of an individual to make their own decisions and do know that people often change them when confronted with difficult circumstances.

HEY ALL this Sunday MAY 14 IS Mothers Day i AM wishing all mothers a HAPPY Mothers Day i hope all mothers enjoy and have a good day dgrimm60

In olden days, the family of Jacob lived in Egypt. Times were good until the new pharaoh was raised that did not know Joseph. When that happened, the family, which was big now, was turned to slavery and could no longer keep the Sabbath holy. God did not strike them down as a people for non-compliance. But the way they were forced to live did have an effect on them. When they were finally freed, they needed to learn to trust Him anew. They needed to learn anew how to live. When the way was opened and the people lived in the wilderness then there WERE consequences for desiring meat and trying to gather manna on Sabbath. They had problems in the wilderness. Who knows how much of those problems were connected to their having to live apart from God in compromise for so many years? We do what we can and leave the rest to the Lord. How that translates in individual situations will vary. I think there would be a difference between a faithful heart and one that is rebellious but that is an issue that God can handle. And personally I would rather bring it to my Saviour for help than fellow humans.

This is how I feel. The congregation we attend was a "company" for many years. We recently organised as a "church". Things are more formal now; office holders from Sabbath school teacher to assistant greeter are held by tithe-paying, baptised members of the local congregation. Now most of the sermons are delivered by professional clergymen. I personally preferred the days when we were a "company" and we didn't worry about all these formalities. I was baptised as a teenager in the mid-80s. At the time I did sign on to the "27" as they were back in the 80s. Today I could not sign on to the 2015 version of the 28; I'm not sure I could even sign on to the 80s version of the 27. My personal habits are not in accordance with SdA dogma. I see no reason to resign my membership or resign my "offices", nor do I feel any need to discuss any of my doctrinal differences with church members. The internet has been a blessing for me as I've been able to discuss some of these issues in a semi-anonymous manner.

I was baptized as an SDA in 1977. In a certain sense, I will always be an SDA. That being said, if I were ever disfellowshipped for some reason, I would still attend an SDA church. The membership is irrelevant to me. That being said, I have no problem attending other churches. I attend Charismatic churches when I feel like in need a Holy Spirit refill. I attend Catholic Churches when I'm with my predominantly Catholic families. I know certain priests as friends rather than clergy. I attend by daughter's non-denominational (basically Baptist) church where her husband is the pastor. Outside of the fact that we meet on Saturday morning and the vegetarian breakfast we serve, one would never know they were in an SDA Church if they were to visit. We meet at the Comedy Club in Denver ( "a funny place to go to church"), there is no mention of EGW, and no offering pleas (yet we are well funded by people who attend). Visitors don't even know who the pastor is because our attitude is that we are all pastors. It's probably also that we don't have an assigned pastor; but we do quite well just taking turns leading out in the message - one book of the Bible at a time. It's great not to be forced into a box when worshiping Yahweh!

Haha! I was visiting with an evangelist friend of mine that used a canned sermon called "Everyone Has Their Price". He would pull out a handful of insects and grubs and asked "How many of you would eat these for $1.00?" No hands. "$10?" Still no hands "$100? $1,000?" By the time he got to $5,000, hands started going up. When he got to $50,000, virtually every hand in the church went up. He tried the same sermon on his first trip to Africa. He asked "How many of you would eat these for $1.00?" Virtually every hand in the church went up. If he had done his homework, he would have already known that certain insects - especially large grubs - are considered a delicacy among some African cultures.

Samie says that God "forgave all sin" - past/present/future. Then He says God will NOT FORGIVE the failure to "overcome evil". Grief! That's like saying God will forgive all sin - except sin. Ridiculous.

I am really amazed that you can stick to to your obviously erroneous doctrine with so much evidence against you; singing so much out of tune with most believers. Besides universalists and new agers, what "denomination" believes like you do - that one is saved from birth - believer, pagan, or atheist. IMHO this is not even a salvational issue; while my frustration with you is beginning to border on salvational. I'd best leave this conversation before I say anything that could get me banned here.

Then Samie said: Those verses don't say that repentance is necessary for forgiveness. Yes they do - if confessing and forsaking does not fit your definition of repentance, then what does? Or is your next rabbit trail that "having mercy" is different than "forgiveness"?

Really, Samie? First of all, have you ever heard of an analogy? Rachels' analogy is just a model that demonstrates reality. It is not reality itself. Second, Rachel never said the iron filing had the ability to resist the magnetic pull. Iron filings do not have a free will that I know of - they CAN'T resist. We humans on the other hand DO have a free will. We have the ability (and inborn inclination) to resist.

Frying makes everything yummy!

Paul said, "I die daily!" (1Cor 15:31) If Paul actually died WHEN Christ died, then why does Paul need to DIE over and over and over - daily? This verse suggests - to me - that our crucifixion "with Christ" is something that happens by CHOICE, over and over - as we CHOOSE to follow Him. Paul is obeying the command of Christ. Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." To be "crucified with Christ" is to DENY ones self. Matthew 10:38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (NRS) Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Here Jesus words make it a CHOICE to DIE with Him. We "take up" the cross. And we "follow" after Christ. These words do NOT convey the idea that every human being who ever lived, was [past tense] crucified, along with Christ, on the same day and died at the very same moment WHEN Christ died. The TENSE in these verses "follow" and "come AFTER" convey the idea that we choose to follow in Christ's footsteps, NOT that our death is something already DONE FOR US. Luke 14:27 "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

i know and thanku although im always very out .............. That was me a very timid, naive, co dependent, self loathing, and closeted on fire christian young man over 30 years ago not knowing how to handle such situations. But I assure you ..If it was pork dumplings I probably would have freaked out visibly and gave her a bible study on why we don't eat such flesh! So zealous! ...Since then I have visited more primarily non English SDA churches like Hispanic and Polynesian .. where fish and chicken are found in their potluck dishes and Im very gracious!

B/W, What you say is great for us religiously liberated caucasian folks in a nice western church where everything we would ever want to eat is within a few miles and a few bucks (dollars not deer). The majority of the world does not have that privilege. Talk to frontier missionaries trying to "connect" with a primitive godless culture in the Amazon or Southeast Asia, Central Africa. They have a choice - eat what if offered as a gift to "connect" with the people (or survive), or alienate them and starve. I guarantee if I was starving to death, I would eat dog (if it was medium rare). This is not just the situation for missionaries; it is the situation for Muslims, Buddhists,Hindus, and others who leave the faith of their families to become Christians. They are rejected by family and community. If they are lucky enough to find an SDA mission that can house and support them, they are doomed to eat whatever they can scavenge. Chances are they were not brought to Jesus by SDA's anyways. Those who are brought by SDA's are especially blessed.