Eyesopen

You forget that I have seen you as well? You are not old either! But you are a great breakfast compadre.

Sorry Paw, I really wasn't looking to make it personal. My apologies.

I guess I'll just do the same, instead of what you so caustically suggested yesterday. I will talk about whatever I feel like talking about. Just like you. You call it false religion, I may not. We can discuss it honestly but I will not be preached to by you or anyone else. I am certain that you feel the same so why don't we try a little common courtesy and some mutual respect. So what do you think Huh Rachel? This is historical fact. You can remove history from your discussions if you wish but it IMHO would not be honest. Church history directly affects Bible history. God has no hands but ours...sometimes they dont always do what they are told but they usually do something.

I am so old that... I have to take off my glasses to see what I am reading, or grow longer arms. :blink: Do sharks have arms?

Funny how you just described my life (not including my parents). I always thought that it was strange that the youngest should be the peace maker. But there it is. And to your question; Yes my past played a big part in why I stayed and how I endured. But in like manner what I endured helped me get the job that I now have. All things work together for good for those that love God. Welcome to the Spot!

Cute poll Roy, Thanks!

Great poll Twinky! So I put that I had left of my own accord because I didn't like what I saw. This is true for the most part, but it followed being kicked out of the Corps. I never actually "declared" that I was leaving. I simply took a vote in my twig and we decided that although we loved each other very much, we no longer wanted to be involved with twi.

This corresponds with "The good times don't erase the bad, and the bad times don't erase the good" The "bad" folks usually did the bad things and visa-versa. Life itself is like a building. The foundation is not the only important part of the building. Each floor of the structure directly affects what comes after it. If we were to chuck all of the bad times and only live in a rose colored world, our life, our building would be all rose colored windows, easily broken and relatively distorted in its view. Conversely if we discard all of the good times our building would be a windowless dark, and forboding structure. All damage to this structure would occure within the walls. To be balanced we actually need some of the bad things (at least to percieve them) to help us survive in this world as a healthy individual. I don't think that this is what God had in mind originally, but it is what it is.

Now you're talking! Put food in my mouth and I'll concede almost any argument. At least until I finish chewing. This is where I was at...then I took the red pill and so much of the self condemnation and self incrimination evaporated. I didn't know that I had problems to deal with until I saw the error for myself. You know this stuff pops up when under pressure because, as any good cop will tell you, a person reacts under pressure as they have been trained to react. They don't have time to think, they will do exactly what they were taught and what they trained to do. To change how you react you need to retrain yourself and practice the retraining until it becomes the "default". I'll go back to my biscuits and gravy now...is there going to be seconds? Hey Twinky are you going to eat that biscuit or watch it grow mold?

Now THAT is a really good question! I couldn't have said it better myself.

Wow! What an exciting discussion! It probably would have gone a bit smoother had a slightly less bias or religion tainted view of history been the basis for the discussion. As it was several comments were made be both parties that cannot be documented historically. But they are what some church or other teaches as "historical truth", so I won't argue. Please do not throw in the towel...I was enjoying the discourse.

I wasn't referring so much to "corrupt" decision making as much as I was referring to decisions made or based upon false or incorrect teaching. Such as believing = recieving. Your other observations concerning twi are IMHO correct as well. But ultimately... ...you are correct with this one for sure!

Just add lots of garlic...it keeps vampires and werewolves at bay, why not el diamonia? :blink:

It's a decent article, but it is highly colored by the authors personal bias. The personal life of King James is common knowledge, that he was a coward and a sadist is not suprising most tyrants are both at heart. I personally have used the KJV so much in the past simply because for many years all of the concordances and lexicons were keyed to it and no other translations. It is becoming simpler now to use other versions and I have found that using more than one translation helps me to see the depth and flavor of the scriptures better.

So Jafin, How is your research coming? Slowly I am sure. There is a lot of information just on this site alone, and that is before you go checking out other places. I really hope you find your answers and it really is refreshing to see you looking. Believe it or not I think that George makes a very valid point. One should clarify to themselves if they really are going to accept that there is a God and that the Bible is reliable enough to give it any veracity in their life. The Bible gets its authority in a person's life from that person themself. Good hunting.

I agree! Well done! Some of the value I see in the civil public discourse of our combined experiences lies in the realization at how many of my decisions over the past 14 or so years in my life were directly influenced by lingering aspects of twi. Insidious, that is what cult thinking is, insidious. It seeps into your mind and life like water in a sponge and every little bit of pressure for good or ill it comes oozing out all over the place. And the really horrifying thing is that one can never quite get that sponge clean again. But it is wonderful to have other sponges to chat with about it all.

Did you see it in the original?

Waysider-that was hysterical!!!

I'll alert your local authorities that you call it "dancing"..that way they wont pick you up for wreckless endangerment of society in general.

I dont know about you'all but I have never fit into a "one-size fits all" anything! But I do believe that my front wheel is going in the right direction. That really is a great observation! Thanks.

Your stories make me cry...that's not good with contacts. WnW, your love and concern for your Maggie is a testament to you and your family. And I gotta say I'm not a big dog fan, not because I dont like them but because I do not have the time to really spend with one. It would not be fair to the animal. But your furball, "Happy" is just adorable! I like dogs like that, big, tail wagging, fur balls! Maybe when I retire I will have the time to care for a dog. Until then it is cat city at my house! Dot your dedication to animals is amazing! Thank you for the story, it made me cry something horrible. Now I just cant wait to get home to cuddle my cats. Indeed!

Jafin, First of all welcome to the Spot! Second, as Waysider has mentioned the majority of these topics have been discussed at great length on the board and many were fairly recently. If you use the search button on the top right of your screen you can probably track down quite a few using only a few key words. I could answer your questions with my opinion but that would only be my personal beliefs. Often, actually, usually individuals need to explore these questions for themselves so that they can reach conclusions that they are comfortable with. Those beliefs will change as you learn and grow. Some however are set in stone. The law of believing = recieving...not! Speaking in Tongues- is a gift given to every man as God wants. In other words not everyone has it, but it is real for those that do. Prayer is you giving thanks and praise to God and also for supplication to God. Body, Soul and Spirit? The words that VP said were different and not at all the same...not they are used interchangeably throughout the OT. Rapture, the Bible is fairly clear here, everyone goes that is born again. Salvation only comes from the acceptance of Christ. End result, heaven for believers. Now for my opinion: Trinity or no? I say no. To me they are very distinctly different entities. Baptism, water or spirit? I go with spirit but am not opposed to water if it helps a person "believe" better. VP man of God or malicious seeker follower? False prophet. Excommunication/ Mark and Avoid? The manner in which twi did this was wrong. It is easier in life to hang out with folks that share your basic belief system and moral values. Should you simply stop talking to any others? No, that is not a Christian attitude. There they are, take 'em or leave 'em. As I said there have been lots of threads about these and there is even a section on the front page with 10 of the top errors of PFAL, most of which I agree with. Enjoy! This place is full of information and great folks!

It never ceases to amaze me both here in GS and in everyday life there is always someone who is offended because they were not included in a discussion. Forget the fact that the discussion had nothing to do with them...it should have been generic so that everyone could get their warm fuzzy and be included. Why is it that some people cannot grasp the concept that not everything or every conversation will be relevant to them? As I see it a question was asked: Who had this ____ happen to them? Those that this question included and were comfortable in saying so, answered. Then came those that "wanted to be included". Did the question asker care about other people? They must not because they didnt ask about others... I'm sorry this just gets under my skin. Lindyhopper was curious and asked a simple question to asuage that curiosity. No slight to anyone was intended and yet it happened anyway. Yes Lindy asked for suggestions of additional questions and some of those suggested fell in with the intent of the thread. Great! But some comments by at least one poster were just stupid and had nothing to do with the thread. Obviously I'm not talking to everyone....if the shoe fits wear it, if it doesnt then dont wear it.

This sounds like a yummy twist on my German Grans potato pancakes. Basically the left over mashed potatoes were mixed with chopped onion and fried in bacon grease for breakfast the next morning. Of course they are served with bacon and eggs as well. Lots of fat and cholesterol. Yum. I'll give this one a try.

Hi Patrick, In my opinion there is no exception. God cannot be confined. Mankind as you say keeps him in a box. From our limited viewpoint you are correct. God Himself is not confined. Man limits his own "blessings". God simply works within the confines of man's ability to understand/believe...whatever you want to call it. As an example: A person does not shrink so that they can get the contents out of a potato chip bag, they simply reach in with their hand and extract the contents. Similar with God, he does not shrink simply because man cannot fathom how big He is. Next point that you addressed...perhaps you misunderstood my statement. I was not saying that you were arguing or even encouraging an argument. I was responding to another poster's comment about arguing and adding my own comment about it being normal, expected and ok. I also made a comment about it being best if it didnt get messy. All of it was simply as I said a statement in response to another poster. I agree that this is good advice from Paul, but I fail to see the connection in your response. Perhaps it is too early yet for my brain to have engaged. Garth, I wish that I could have continued our discussion with you and Socks yesterday. But what I read from you both was very interesting. The rain here caused some local flooding and I spent a good deal of my day soaking wet filling while sand bags. So I was unable to continue our discussion. Perhaps next time.