johniam

Lenny Briscoe live forever! I liked him in that movie FX. He was the mob guy Bryan Brown did a fake assassination of.

Sounds like Dick has trouble "staying in fellowship".

Vickles: quote: Who is to say that Jesus was not a homosexual? He was hardly found amongst women. He traveled with 12 men. He ate with them, slept with them and lived with them. He did have contact with one woman and that was mary magdalene and she was a prostitute. One woman, huh? Luke 8:2,3 - and certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities Mary called Magdalene out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others which ministered unto him of their substance. Did you catch the 'many others' part? Remember how the man born blind whom Jesus healed was cast out of the synagogue? Which meant he could no longer buy or sell at the marketplace? If they'd do that to someone who merely said that Jesus healed him, then they certainly wouldn't let Jesus himself buy or sell, right? That's why he needed someone to buy or make stuff for him. He either chose to ask these many women, or they volunteered to do it. Neither scenario fits the profile of a male homosexual. Do you really think God's going to buy..."bible has been translated so many times in so many languages. Who knows what that means?"?

Eagle: I think it's entirely possible that this clergyman WAS having problems in his walk; felt he didn't have the believing or confidence to pray for your kids, but was too ashamed to say so. But you saw his face. If he really thought your KIDS weren't worthy of prayer, then how much did he REALLY think of YOUR worth as a believer? That is VERY screwed up. Seems to me an attitude like that would be pretty hard to disguise.

I think having kids makes a difference, but even without kids to think about, it's got its comfort zones. You don't HAVE to go in debt, or spoil your kids with too many gifts just cause it's Christmas. I like making my kids happy, but I don't have to go to extremes to do so. Hey, didja notice that, yes, TWI railed on Christmas all the time with stuff like Merry Christ is dead, happy ho ho, reproving people for even saying the words 'Christmas' and 'Easter', etc. but they didn't dare to go out of their way to mess with people's schedules like they did other holidays. They'd schedule stuff for Easter and Thanksgiving; even had a limb leader schedule a limb meeting on New Year's day once, but they didn't DARE have region meetings or anything like that anywhere close to Dec. 25th. We had a good time on the 24th. We drove thru a catholic shrine near us that has a super light show every year. Kids loved it.

Ditto for "Crumb". I recorded that off the Independent Film Channel (digital cable) in 1999. He did some music in the mid 70's. He called his group 'R. Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders'. The music was funky, jazzy, like the music he was listening to in the beginning of the movie. Put out at least 2 albums. Wouldn't mind hearing that again. Probably have to try ebay.

They do rodeos on astroturf??? Sure wouldn't want to be a bull rider. Ouch!

They got married in '76 upon Donna's WC graduation, so they must have married in Emporia. Is there a legal shortcut if you divorce in the same county in which you married?

This has never been an issue anywhere I've worked. Sounds like this woman that pushed the diversity class has arrived at the same kind of absurd conclusions about straight people that some straight people arrive at about gays.

Tonto: quote:I don't remember hearing of any abuse from G.B. I just thought he was a goof-ball. That's the impression I get from GB too; he lives right across the river from me. I went to his fellowship a few times. He did the adult fellowship and C did the kids. I don't know...that camp I was at had a lot of teenage girls at it and they all seemed perfectly comfortable with him. By the way, who haven't you seen since? The M's or the H's?

Yeah, that's been all over the news here lately. Why does it somehow have to be a man's fault if a woman does something wacko? Lisa Montgomery and Bobbie Jo Stinnett met on the internet and attended the same dog shows. This woman is a sick diseased pig and I hope she gets the death penalty!

I'd like to hear from PMosh and Lindyhopper on this one.

I'm interested in Steve's question, too. That's a serious thing to lightly accuse someone of. Four summers ago my 11 yr old daughter spent 3 days at a camp presided over by guess who. They are with Chris Geer and until last year sent their ABS to Joe Guarinni, by the way. Daughter had a great time at the camp; the other girls were really nice to her and she assures me nothing bad happened. So I would really like to know if this is real or somebody's "memorex".

Kathy: Bear with me a bit. Prov 26:4 answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him Prov 26:5 answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit What I noticed about this is that if I do what verse 4 says, then my choice is to protect myself (lest THOU), and if I do what verse 5 says, then my choice is to help someone else (lest HE). Many situations involving ourselves and others require choices like that IMO. quote: I don't go looking in the Word according to God or The World According To Garp either for validation for my belief terrorism and radical thinking is wrong. I just know it's wrong. OK, here you're protecting yourself. Nothing wrong with it. This suggests to me that if you smell terrorism and/or radical thinking you immediately 'circle the wagons' and position yourself so there's little possibility that whatever it is will be able to hurt your heart. That's OK; we all have to do that at times. quote: But what about my seeing others only as the world defines them. And more to the point, what if I allow my view of what they should be to blind me? What a loss of richness to myself I've brought on Is it possible to 'circle the wagons' and hurt someone else? Sure. Is that what you mean by throwing out the good with the bad? It's going to happen, IMO. There is virtue in taking the risk of trying to help someone else, but some times you just gotta protect yourself no matter who it hurts.

Oak: quote:I've got news for ya: I don't recognize the sabbath day, let alone keep it holy I do not worship the biblical god I've got a lot of graven images around casa de oak, mostly turtles, and a few Santa Clauses, but I don't worship them I don't make a habit of taking Jehovah's name in vain, but I'd like the option if I feel the need The others I can pretty much live with, but I have a hard time with the coveting sometimes So even if the 10 commandments were posted all over the place, you are not penalized for said violations of them. Therefore, the government is NOT actually telling you which God to worship, what his name is, etc. Hey, I got a bunch of Grateful Dead concert videos and AC/DC and such. That probably trumps your turtles. I was melting all the gold and silver in my house in the fire place, and BAM, out came these videos. Honest! I don't really put total stock in the 10 commandments. I don't have them up on my walls. This is the grace administration, right? I just don't like seeing the blatant bigotry being directed against Christians by the various media first, and later trickling down to the government. Did you watch SNL last night? Nice Christian bashing, huh? Let's see...if you voted for Bush, you are a bigot who lives in Dumbfu*kland, you molest your daughters, and you're too emotional to have a discussion with if you rightly call the blue state people the bigots THEY are. Then on the weekend update that idiot who's supposed to be a Christian only talks about crushing the wicked people with God's help, of course. So anybody who talks about God must be like that. Fuzzy Zoeller gets in trouble for mentioning fried chicken and collard greens in the same sentence as Tiger Woods (took 'em till 10 days after that tournament to dig it up, I might add), but it's OK for SNL to blatantly spew their bigotry on network TV. I couldn't care less if the 10 commandments are ever in a government building again, but forceably removing them is just one more building block toward the day when someone might actually be able to tell you what you can and can't have on your walls in your own house. Raf apparently wants to keep his blinders on.

Raf: quote:The bottom line is this: Government does not get to tell me who my God is what his name is or whether I can erect a statue to another God. I agree with that, too, but all these cases strike me as the government telling me which God NOT to worship and what his name better NOT be, etc. These liberals want to make our country worse than the government portrayed in "1984". There's got to be a middle ground somewhere.

Raf: I think I agree with Linda that voting in an elementary school doesn't tempt anyone to be a third grader. I do agree with you that if I'm charged with a hate crime I wouldn't want to see "black power" written across a judge's robe. That reminded me of an old Mad magazine cartoon where a guy was in a hotel room overrun with cockroaches and when he went to complain to the desk clerk, the desk clerk was a giant cockroach.

Garth: OK, I guess what I don't understand about your question is that the "socialist freeloaders" you refer to are receiving government money. I don't see how allowing the 10 commandments in a government building is giving money to anybody. Again, I say that the 10 c's are not AN establishment of religion.

Oak: quote:Without the use of illustrative analogies, can you define the difference between an establishment of religion and the establishment of religion? I'll sure try. TWI is AN establishment of religion. The catholic church is AN establishment of religion. If congress passed a law in which anyone who SITd for an hour per day didn't have to pay taxes, said law would respect TWI. Likewise, if they passed a law with the same benefit to those who did 10 hail marys and 10 our fathers per day, that law would respect the catholic church. While I agree with your intersection analogy, I think in this case that there is no such thing as THE establishment of religion, or THE poster on GSC, or THE resident of Fla. because there is more than one of each of those. These non stop cases where someone or something is penalized for supposedly having religious symbols is a rabid, foaming at the mouth liberal/atheistic agenda. A few years ago in MI (confirmed blue state) the warehouse foreperson at my job said that no one could wear tee shirts with any religious statements on them. Some dick head in the place must have called the ACLU. Interestingly, one guy continued to wear his Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar tee shirt after the warning. That's not a religious statement, is it? Yeah, right.

I read the entire Bob Snow interview. Was pleasantly surprised. He differentiates between a sect and a cult. My biggest beef with the whole "cult" frenzy is that it's just another form of political mud slinging in practice. Bob Snow specifically said, and the interviewer concurred, that for a church to claim that some organization is a cult based on doctrine, such as Jesus Christ is not God, is misusing the word 'cult'. Rather, to him, a cult has to really abuse its people to deserve that label. I agree. All those books on cults from 20 yrs ago all said that TWI is a cult ONLY because of JCING, thereby admitting they also believe Jews and Islamics are "cults" since those two groups also don't believe Jesus is God. They wouldn't dare admit it directly, knowing they'd be called Nazis. But the abuse described on GSC merits a label such as "cult". I'm glad to see that someone on the professional end of this can see clearly.

Garth: Are you the poster on GSC, or are you a poster on GSC. There is a difference which your own anal, obsessive/compulsive, nitpicky attitude won't allow you to see. I don't even understand your question. Your posts would be a lot easier to understand without the excess of hyperbole in them.

Raf: quote: The amendment is that Congress shall pass no law respecting the establishment of religion Actually, it says "respecting AN establishment of religion", not THE establishment of religion. Don't tell me this is irrelevant. The means the and an means an. Are you the resident of Florida, or are you a resident of Florida. The 10 commandments do not constitute AN establishment of religion. They constitute morality with a God behind them, but not AN establishment of religion. Did you hear that news story about someplace in the Tampa area that had to remove Christmas trees from some public display because they supposedly were religious symbols. The insanity continues. Next, those of us who are born again will have to leave our holy spirit at the door when we enter a government building.

Snicker.

Mostly time. Time I might not have had if not for TWI and the word taught. It also cost me a few false friends and a broken heart. Unlike some, I gained much more than I lost from TWI.

quote: So johniam, where are you saying the original idea came from? And what is the acceptable alternative to eternal punishment? Eternal reward? There are two choices here. One hundred years is less than a spit wad in the ocean compared to eternity. This makes it easy for me to down play both eternal punishment AND eternal rewards. Those phrases are really oxymorons. Eternity is forever; punishments and rewards are temporary responses to temporary events. The human mind cannot adequately process eternity. Those who get eternal life get just that: life. Those who don't get death. They just simply won't exist anymore. No need for torment; God is not sadistic. Just because someone hurt you doesn't give you the right to hurt them back forever. That's just an emotional response limited to humans and, again, God will have none of that. As for VP and LCM, they probably jizzed away some rewards, I dunno.