oenophile

happy birthday, watered garden. may you have many, many happy returns of the day.

Jesus dying for Pilate's sins (as well as yours and mine) was an act of selfless love that did not aid and abete Pilate's murderous injustices. That is the difference! You may try to relegate the ministry of the risen Christ to chapter and verse to give yourself permission to smugly turn away from the suffering and injustice around you but be reminded of His admonition...when you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto Me.

The other day I heard news of a young boy working in a garment sweat factory who fell behind in the production line. His boss walked up to him and beat him on the face causing a laceration. The boss didn't want the blood on the garments so he took out a cigarette lighter and cauterized the laceration by burning it. Would Jesus support that boss by buying his garments? Or would such injustice irrelevant because an identical case cannot be found in the gospels? Do you think God has a passion for justice? www.ijm.org

Pecan. It's pronounced where i grew up as pee-can. Like i need to PEE in the CAN.

happy birthday watered garden...you are much too precious to ignore

75% Dixie...I jes jinned the cavarie alon' side J.E.B Stuart...yeeee hiiiiii

kendra my wow sista is married to patrick the brother.

Happy birthday Hap!!! From your fellow pinko commie in GSC chat.

whichever thursday it is...happy birthday dougie!

happy birthday george...go heels!

Ladies...a little clue about us...guys need respect. We yearn for it as much as you yearn for love. That is what Ephesians is talking about simple respect, honor. If you show us respect I promise you we will be like putty in your hands...because you will have won our hearts. Guys...Ephesians goes on to say that we are to love the woman. Don't come home and plop you arse down on the couch and flip on the tube and sit there all night like a deer caught in the headlights. Ask her about her day, tell her about yours, how you thought of her today, tell her you like the what she has done with her hair. Let her know she is your one and only. Boy, how TWIsted these truths became.

No way am I a conservative, dude!

I knew them in Ft. Lauderdale during the fog years and after.

Jerry, Please accept my apology for lumping you into the same category as Vince Finnegan. It is evident that you have arrived at the position you hold now through much painstaking study. With that said, I still disagree with your conclusion. You mentioned that Christianity is not a free ride to eternal life on the back on the Messiah. The first scripture that I recalled after reading that was the one that says that Jesus is the Author andFinisher of our faith. I also see many of the verses that you use in support of your thesis are taken from Hebrews and other epistles that were not written specifically to the church of grace. I guess the biggest problem that I have with the grace plus works formula for salvation is that God desires that we walk in His ways from a heart filled with love rather than fear. Inherent in the notion of a state of Grace that is subject to recall is fear. Another verse that comes to mind is that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. This is a debate that can go on ad nauseaum much like the trinitarian / unitarian debate. The point I tried to engage readers on in another thread that I started is...are these theological chess matches something that God wants us to major in...or would it be experiencing His supreme love and ministering it to a perishing world for which He so loved that He gave His only begotten Son?

Raf answered the self serving allegation of Messrs. Finnegan and Barrax doctrine of losing one's salvation is not self serving by observing that such a doctrine would drive away potential followers rather than recruit them. I respectfully disagree with this observation. What is the dominant emotion when one considers that one's spiritual destiny (heaven or not) is not settled and there is possibility that one's human frailties (sin) keep one out of heaven...or worse damn one to hell. Clearly, that emotion is Fear. It is a very slick move not unlike the snake oil salesmen used to employ on the unwary...create a dreadful possibility and conveniently offer the "remedy." Just another controlling device employed by those who lust for power over people.

Gee, why didnt someone tell Jesus that He didnt have to die...if we can work for it like they did in the OT. So what did his death really accomplish? Not a whole lot if Messrs. Finnegan and Barrax are correct in their theology. Can't have it both ways guys, we are either saved by works or by grace. If I receive the gift and still have to work to get into heaven then I'm not saved by grace but by my works. Fortunately, Ephesians says that we are sealed with that holy spirit of promise until the day of redemption. Messrs. Finnegan and Barrax ain't breaking that seal any time soon.

Suz, Yep I have my car back. Have a nice...I will make other arrangements..

I would like to reserve accomodations at l'hotel Suz for the dates in question.

True, there is not just one answer. As far as labels are concerned...Protestant is a label, Roman Catholic is a label, Jew is a label and TWI is a label and I don't think it takes much more than casual observation of history to see how each of these labels have been used to separate people in neat little compartments where the people who agree with your point of view enjoy a preferred status in the eyes of God while the others are villified because of their label regardless of "content of their character." More later...

I think there is a verse in the bible somewhere that says something to the effect that...can a tree bring forth good fruit and evil; can a spring give water sweet and bitter...and by their fruit you shall know them. Sure we gained a lot of knowledge in twi, how to word games (oh i mean studies)and lot of other things that were not taught since the first century, although some of them were plaigerized (oh i mean borrowed) from others. Perhaps the question we should pose to ourselves goes something like this...Is it knowledge that brings us closer to God? Seems like another verse comes to mind...something about knowledge puffing someone up. Oh yeah, God resists puffers...(no offense meant to my smoking friends in the GSC chatroom.) Yes, we learned about faith (believing), how to operate speaking in tongues and other manifestations even to understand mysteries...the great mystery even. But do those things matter a whit to God if we fail to love? I think there is another verse in the book somewhere that says if I don't have love, all of the speaking in tongues, believing, knowledge, ABS'ing doesn't amount to much...hmmm, nothing even. Could it be that is where twi as an organization and us as way zealots missed the boat? Selah. If it is by their fruit we are suppose to know them...look around this place. Look at your own life and the lives around you...then tell me if the ends justify the means? Did some good and godly things happen while we were in twi? Surely, they did happen...usually when love was in operation. Was twi an integral part of our journey with God? I would say that it probably was a part of the journey. We learned a great deal about God. Perhaps the next part of the journey for us is to experience Him for Who He really is...Love.

Chicago on 04.23.05 on my calendar.

Might not this be shades of '83, Canudigit? Jimmy V and the Cardiac Pack?

I'm not surprised that Clemson came close to beating UNC...after all this is the ACC.

Raf, I can give you a first hand account what very well be in your future if you don't quit smoking NOW! I watched my mother's death march during the last four years of her life. She had smoked 1-2 packs a day for around 40 years. She quit about ten years before before her death in 2001. Five years prior she had to go on oxygen and start a regimen of several steroids(including the high powered prednizone) in order to keep her lungs from filling up with fluid. The prednizone was necessary for her to live but the side effects were brutal...diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. I had to watch her struggle to stand up in the morning...the RA took a terrible toll on her ankles. To make matters worse she had to deal with her 20' oxygen tubes getting tangled around her feet I used to come home to find her face blue from lack of oxygen. I usually found that her oxygen tube had become disconnected from the concentrator. When she left the house she had to make sure that she had enough oxygen bottles to get where she was going and back. She also had terrible coughing attacks because of her lungs filling up with fluid. Often she would produce blood laden mucous from this coughing. Her RA got so bad that the doctors put her a high powered pain medication which caused her to become paranoid and delusional. She spent time in the psych wing of the University Hospital. The doctors reduced the pain medication and released her to a nursing home. Again her RA became unbearable so her pain medication was increased again and the paranoia and delusions resumed. She was convinced that the nurses were plotting to kill her and other patients. She also called 911 from her room several times a day to report her abduction. She also tried to escape through her window and stabbed a nurse with a Bic pen because she believed she was in danger from the nurse. During a weekend (when I decided to take a break from seeing her because I was at my wits end) she had a heart attack and was taken to Duke's ICU. She was put on a ventilator. The Duke doctors who were caring for her met with my brother and I to discuss her prognosis. They said that we had two options; (a) perform a traichotomy through she would have to breathe through a oxygen tube inserted in the incision, or (b) remove the ventilator which most likely would bring about her death. The thought that I struggled with in confronting this decision was that I was called upon to play God with my mother's life. I decided that quality of life was the paramount issue and carried more weightthan keeping a body functioning in a state of misery. The ventilator was removed and she was gone in a few hours. I had to watch her struggle to breath until the doctors decided that she was a "full go" (the nurses words) and administered an anathesia to kill the oxygen hunger. So think about this tome the next time you are tempted to light up. Peace.

O O O O O O Baby!