Twinky

Joy to the World https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=joy+to+the+world+traditional&mid=CB06A7362C4350ED6C49CB06A7362C4350ED6C49&FORM=VIRE

I'm intrigued by this. How did your LC get involved with JAG and some incident that you suffered PTSD?

Pleased to say that the YMCA in my city is not a bad place. But not a luxury place either. And nary a hint of PFAL about it.

Here's a funny song. My choir is singing this at our gala concert next week. A different look at the "Christmas story." Watch to the very end! (I hasten to add that we are doing some more "serious" stuff as well.)

I'm sorry to hear this. I think I only knew Kit via this place, but she was kind to me.

Ah, no thanks. Actually I did quite enjoy the RoAs that I attended but I was working all the time so it was different from "field" people coming in. And setting up for RoA was often fun, too, a respite from the usual very boring and repetitive things that we endured in rez. However... There's a big Christian festival for two weeks every summer in my country. Churches from all over get invite people to attend (no pressure) and often camp in "church groups" though again no obligation. I find I can't bring myself to attend, no enthusiasm - in fact, a profound wariness of group celebration. of this type. So I suppose RoA and the forced fun that the general populace seemed to have has left its mark on me. Maybe I should make the effort and dispose of that bugbear.

No song, but my Thursday evening (yesterday) was spent sitting outside enjoying a delicious home-cooked meal of pork loin chop, six different fresh veges, followed by sticky toffee pudding topped with ice cream; and accompanied by a tasty bottle of red wine, Merlot. All beside my firepit, which was burning perfectly, brightly to start and a lovely deep warming glow later.

Interpretation, whatever. You need to look at the whole Bible to understand what Jesus knew. And then you have to figure out his understanding of it, which will include some cultural taboos at various times throughout the OT and during his lifetime. Did Jesus "interpret" in relation only to Jewish culture? After all, he didn't visit Gentiles in their homes and we have no indication that he ate other than kosher meats. He was in many ways a strict Jew. And yet he saw much bigger things. He understood and foresaw "all nations" coming into God's love. And he certainly cut through cultural barriers of his time, by speaking with and (gasp) even touching women, to heal and to help. I would recommend the book The Bible Jesus Read, by Philip Yancey - you can pick it up at various bookshops including online secondhand places. The Bible Jesus Read | Philip Yancey | 9780310231868 | Awesome Books. It's very readable and will give you a new perspective.

Way to go! ... not. A very painful way to die, and to achieve absolutely nothing for it. He could have achieved so much more had he chosen to protest by a less violent method. I don't know that that would have been part of his cultic background, though.

We here have pretty much all had to deal with these issues, one way or another, even in not "born into" TWI. This place is but a shadow of what it used to be, but there is a lot of help and healing in the earlier posts. I stumbled across GSC - oh my, it must be 20 years ago - and what I read then firstly enraged me ("who would say such things about such a wonderful ministry?!") and then healed me, as I realised that it wasn't me that was so screwed up and useless, it was and is TWI. The wisdom and help available is immense, if you can seek it out. We've been there. We understand, without you having to explain. ("Why didn't you just walk away?" "What's the matter with you?" "You're so weak/stupid/...") Help, and be helped. It's why this place is here. Even after all these long years.

Wonder what happened to any of these CORPORATE ASSETS. Cars, motorcycles, plane(s), bus(es). Should have been sold if surplus to requirements, and the money go into general residue for the benefit of those entitled under the CHARITABLE PURPOSES of TWI. I'm guessing that the charitable purposes could well have been the private, individual, livings of head honchos. The more abundant lies life, and all that, y'know.

Crommett is a director on a number of overseas subsidiaries. Don't know anything of him personally.

Dunno, Charity. There were wars before and wars after the promise of specific land. Wars, famine, water access/rights, minerals... Greed, and refusal to share, is what runs the world as we know it. And such will continue until our planet is exhausted. (What worries me is that this is continuing into space, with people now wanting to mine the moon and asteroids - as if someone has rights to those, hahahaha.) (But that thought is way off topic.) A good question we can't know the answer to. Maybe ask it when Christ returns? According to VPW, that's what Eve thought ("I have gotten a man from the Lord."). But I don 't believe that interpretation. Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom before they can accept help - they "come to the end of themselves." Maybe that's where society was then?

The way I've always understood this is: God grants a chunk of land to certain peoples whom he favours, to keep them safe and to give them a base. Also, he had a plan for redemption and that plan needed a safe place for the Promised Seed to be raised in safety, surrounded by safe people. A "layette," if you like, in modern parlance. A baby cot, perhaps. As the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God himself says that he will clear it as they advanced; they would not have to fight for it. Deut 2 sets out some of this, but there is much in the early chapters of the Bible on this theme. In fact, the Israelites never fully, properly, occupied all of the land that was promised to them. The far northern part was never fully realised. In the parts where they lived, farmed, prospered, the Israelites were to be an example to the nations around them. They were to welcome strangers (reminding them that they were once strangers in a strange land - Egypt), and allow them to live in their land, their community, without harassment. The Israelites were to have no king, no "boss man" but were to look to God as their leader and protector. They were not supposed to have horses etc and put their trust in material defences. They were to look to the Lord and pray for his protection. Time progressed, they demanded a king, some of the Israelites fell away, and God had to narrow his vision to protecting the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. From time to time, the ancient tribes were captured and carried off to foreign lands - perhaps a forerunner to events millennia later? They took with them their culture, their beliefs, their lifestyle. That they spread the gospel as they understood it is clear from other OT records. For example: Daniel was carried off to Babylon, rose to high rank, and is credited with teaching that lasted at least until the magi/astronomers came to see the baby Jesus. Another example: Naaman, army commander in the army in Aram, was a leper. His slave girl told him to seek help from the prophet of Israel. Thus we see that the wider outreach of God's love is being spoken about and demonstrated. Eventually the Promised Seed was born, lived, and died. Purpose for the "layette" achieved. But I do not think this is the only reason for no longer holding the "promised land." God wants his name known everywhere. He wants his people to be an example of how to live righteously according to his standards. Jesus sent his disciples throughout Israel to spread the gospel, to bring it first to the chosen people. He even sent his first tranche of disciples out without any weaponry, and strictly forbids that. But later, he knows that the gospel is to spread throughout the world, not restricted to a small group of people, but to show that God's love is for, and available to, all. A small middle eastern piece of land was no longer sufficient to hold the chosen people; God is (re)claiming the whole earth for himself for his chosen people. Disciples now are to be the "salt of the earth," salt representing commitment. Salt in a big heap isn't much good and turns the land sour. It's poisonous. Salt in small quantities, sprinkled in food, is good for preservation, flavour, enjoyment. Do we want to keep our baby cot? Maybe, as a relic and a reminder. Maybe even treasure it, as we might treasure our childhood teddy bear or blankie. But it's served its purpose. Do we want to return to, to stay, in our baby cot? Nah, life is much richer than that. Do I say that the land currently known as Israel should not exist? No, I am not saying that. There is much that could be said, but this is not the place for that. I am carefully refraining from political comment on the land currently known as Israel and the situation therein; I'm just looking at the historical roots and later background of the promise.

I encountered on Zoom a man whom I'd witnessed to decades before - passionately interested in God and became a staunch Wayfer. He now has somewhat different beliefs. He is convinced that the Earth was created and populated as stated in Genesis 1, and that the exact day that God took rest can be calculated back. It was a Saturday. That is why we should honour the Sabbath - on Saturday, and that day has been calculated and can be ascertained Biblically. It has also been carefully preserved by Jews. Keeping the "sabbath" on any day at all that is not Saturday will, apparently, result in damnation, because it is a defiling and disobedience to Ex 20:8ff. Exodus 20 - “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. | ESV.org Safe to say, I don't agree with this PoV and have (for other reasons) discontinued conversation with him. We just don't know what time lag, and what events, happened between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2. Do we need to? Or do we simply need to disregard prophets and priests who claim to know?